There’s nothing civil about attacks on the working class!
Today, the Wisconsin legislature is opening a session to hear on a series of bills proposed by the GOP, which constitute a naked power grab to diminish the authority of the incoming governor and attorney general. Among other things, they seek the ability to replace the attorney general with a special counsel puppet at will; to infringe early voting rights; to move the Wisconsin presidential primary to March so fewer people show up for conservative Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly’s election in April.
This by itself is an affront to democracy in our state. But moreover, the reason the Republicans are making such efforts to reduce the power of the voting public is because they know the rest of their agenda is so brutal and inhumane that a fairly represented public won’t allow for it. They seek always to ravage the state’s schools, dismantle our healthcare system, impoverish the workers and then punish them for being poor. The Republican party’s purpose is nothing more or less than this: to take everything they can from the working class and give all of it to the ruling class.
This is why we call on Governor-elect Tony Evers to use all of his power to protect and aid the people of Wisconsin, not to seek common ground with, or reach across the aisle to, those from whom we need protection.
That being said, we recognize that no elected official is going to give the working class power over our own lives, regardless of their party; we have to organize and take it for ourselves. But this task is made easier when we face less oppression from our current government, so it’s essential that when they move against us, we show up in strength and solidarity, a mass of people fighting for their common interest.
To that end, we call on the people of Wisconsin to do the following today:
- Pack the capitol for the Joint Finance Committee hearing today, starting at 12:30p, room 412 East.
- Join the rally at the State Street steps today at 5:30p: Facebook event
- Call your state legislators and state your opposition to this special session and the bills being considered. You can call the AFL-CIO hotline at (866) 832-1560 to be connected your legislators.
- Contact everyone you know in the areas represented by the Republican legislators and ask them to pressure them. The Wisconsin Democrats have set up a virtual phone bank system you can use to contact Democrats in these areas.
There is a hope that these two legislators, in particular, could vote against the measures:
- Sen. Rob Cowles, (608) 266-0484 Sen.Cowles@legis.wisconsin.gov
- Sen. Luther Olsen, (608) 266-0751 Sen.Olsen@legis.wisconsin.gov
If we fight together, we will win a better world. See you on the streets!