Wisconsin Protests Violent? Give Me a Break!

Labor Unions brought us the minimum wage. Labor Unions brought us the eight hour day. Labor Unions brought us the weekend.

But as we can see from Governor Walker’s new bill in Wisconsin, labor unions are under attack. He doesn’t seem to understand that collective bargaining is incredibly important to keep large corporations from walking all over the hardworking, blue collar worker.

This isn’t really new. In the past, labor unions  were attacked as being “violent” and “anarchic”.  This portrayal was the result of violence erupting between strikebreakers and strikers, and most notably the Haymarket Square riot in 1886, where the labor group, the Knights of Labor had a protest that quickly turned into a riot, a bomb went off and seven police were killed and the subsequent shooting from the police killed four.

The protests in Wisconsin are, for some reason, also being called “violent” by the right. Oddly enough, this is coming from the same people who support the Tea Party, whose rallies have hosted signs that read “We came unarmed this time” and supported candidates who said things like  ”Second Amendment remedies” 

Having the Right criticizing labour unions is one thing, but calling a very peaceful protest “violent” is quite another. What we are seeing in Wisconsin is not violence or, as one blog put it, a bunch of “union thugs”. It is a group of hardworking, blue collar workers fighting for their rights. These are teachers, police officers and fire fighters [the last two actually aren't hurt by the law, but are striking and protesting for the rights of their fellow man. It's worth noting that Walker got endorsements from the Milwaukee Police Association, the West Allis Professional Police Association and the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters. And he's not cutting their rights. Hmmm, seems like political favoritism doesn't it?]

I guess this attack on public servants isn’t surprising given the behavior we’ve seen from our Republican friends. Speaker Boehner says “so be it” to cutting federal jobs jobs, and Ohio governor John Kaisch called a police officer an “idiot”. 

When will the right finally wake up and see that what’s going on isn’t a violent fringe group whining and being lazy [a la the Tea Party] but a group of hardworking Americans who want rights that took centuries of fighting to finally achieve. The right to collectively bargain. The voice for the voiceless. 

I support my brothers and sister in Wisconsin,  as should anyone with a heart and brain.