[Campaignforrealdemocracy] Message from Wisconsin

[Mark Barrett]

We received this just now in time for today's meetings, please read
out! *Greetings to the People’s Assemblies Network!*
We join you today, April 9, and every day in the global resistance to
corporate power and the austerity that power seeks to impose in order
to feed its greed.
Like all of you in London today, we understand too well that
capital has no conscience and no flag loyalty as it scours the planet in an
insatiable quest for people and natural systems to exploit. Like all of
you, we understand the just cause and moral imperative of defending our
democratic traditions, our people, and our principles against a
coordinated attack by corporate elites and the politicians they own. And,
like all of you, we know that we have to do much more than fight back. We
also have to advance a genuine
people’s movement that values every human being and insists on essential
public services and human rights.
Though the challenges are formidable, we are awed and humbled by the
uprisings we’ve seen all over the world.
The people of Northern Africa and the Middle East have been an inspiration.
Under the most oppressive
regimes they are not only making a statement but making a difference with
stunning results that just months ago
few would have predicted.
Here in Wisconsin, we have held the longest and largest sustained labor
protest in U.S. history. We trudged
through the snow in the coldest winter to rally for the right to
collectively bargain over the conditions of our
work. We occupied the Capitol for two weeks, fortified by worldwide support.
The United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Spain, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Iran, Afghanistan,
Antarctica, Egypt, and more—over
70 locales in all—sent in support and donations to make sure we were fed and
equipped.
Across America, protests have blossomed like spring flowers. People from all
walks of life—union, non-union,
public and private sector, employed and unemployed—have turned out to show
support for us and assert
demands of their own. Rebellions large and small have sprung up in Ohio,
Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee,
Pennsylvania, California, Maine, Montana, Idaho, Maryland, Florida, Iowa,
Texas, Washington DC, New Jersey,
and even in our smallest state, Rhode Island.
And in London, on March 26, hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the
streets to demand—not ask, not
beg nor plead—that the coalition government cease its plans for deep
spending cuts that would cause huge job
losses and jeopardize the health and welfare of the people of the United
Kingdom.
Everywhere we look, we, the people, are taking a stand—empowered, united,
and strong. No dictator’s edict, no
billionaire’s bullion can stop us. It’s our time. It’s our future. It’s our
world.
 *Forward! *
 The Wisconsin People’s Assembly
http://www.WisconsinWave.org


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Apathy is Dead !
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