In 1939 John Steinbeck wrote "The Grapes of Wrath, a novel that recounts the hardships and heroism of American workers in the Great Depression. The book was banned, censored and burned while the author was persecuted and harassed.
is an optimistic book, which recovers the value of the working class at its worst: "... and in the eyes of people reflects the failure, and in the eyes of the hungry is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and become heavy, taking weight, ready for harvest. "
In this new crisis, 80 years after that, the American working class pays the consequences of the party that bankers never stopped celebrating. A time to pay the costs, the newly elected Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, proposed a bill in the public sector pension void, raises the cost of health insurance, union dues automatically removes and limits the right of collective bargaining wage only to the point.
Walker took office in January 2011 as a representative from the GOP moderate. His first measure was a tax amnesty to multinational companies and state that cost the treasury $ 170 million. To reduce a budget deficit of $ 130 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, tries to paralyze the activity of public sector unions as part of a nationwide anti-union offensive. American law delegates to each state the state labor market regulations.
The governor notified National Guard to
On Monday 14 February 30 000 workers almost immediately halted activities and almost took the Capitol (Congress) government in Madison, capital of the State of Wisconsin. On Tuesday 15, hundreds of demonstrators marched through
Some of the banners read "Hosni / Walker," referring to the Egyptian revolution. Others said: "This is our Tahrir square," or "if Egypt can obtain democracy why not Wisconsin?".
On Friday, 18 teachers across the state went on strike indefinitely. The local team of packers Green Bay, recent winner of the Super Bowl, issued a statement expressing support for the protests. 80 000 people marched to the Capitol in Madison on Saturday 19 and during this weekend's protest moved to the nearby city of Milwaukee.
Given the size of the mobilization, the initiative could not be handled by the state Senate. Democratic Caucus left the meeting without a quorum, undertaking a series of trips around the country, which gives them a legal license to miss sessions.
quite rightly John Nichols, of the popular magazine The Nation warned the measures the governor could have national implications, "If the Governor Walker manages to knock the collective bargaining rights
Initiatives similar to those of Wisconsin are discussed in Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. But also in states ruled by Democrats such as New York and California. The protests have already spread to Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
About 10 000 workers marched on the Capitol in Columbus, Ohio's capital, on February 23 against the attempt by Republican Gov. John Kasich of striking unions. In Indiana the Democratic caucus also was absent from the meeting where the issue should be addressed. In 14 states of the country held rallies and vigils in support of the struggle of workers in Wisconsin.
governments seek to reduce their budget deficits that have been eroded by the economic crisis and bailout packages in Wall Street. So move the costs to public sector workers. In the conflicts we see today in Wisconsin and Ohio there is a similar background. It is the great recession of 2008 that entered its thirty-seventh month without signs of stopping.
For their part, national unions are providing resources and personnel to support strikes in state sections, providing for the extension of the conflict in time and space.
Analysts say that is no exaggeration to compare the situation in Egypt with the protest process in the United States, a process of backward third world, with 30 years of dictatorship. The union and student activists who lead the two processes do not seem to understand well: Saladin Muhammad Nusair engineer held up a banner in Tahrir Square
What is at stake in Wisconsin, As in the Arab world is much more than a matter of local labor. It is likely that the U.S. labor movement has decided to end the war against the working class began three decades ago under President Ronald Reagan and supported since then by Republican and Democratic presidents
As stated by Noam Chomsky, "maybe it's the beginning of what we really need in the United States, a rising democracy," exactly what happens in the Arab world.