They’re Lobbying for You

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yes, the Solidarity Sing Along, an ever-changing assortment of citizens who have dropped by the Capitol to sing in protest of Scott Walker every weekday since March, can certainly be considered a lobbying group. Fortunately! Because a last minute revision to the new DOA policy requiring permits and payment from protesting groups of more than 4 people specified that the policy does not apply to lobbyists.

On December 16, the Walker administration’s heavy-handed policy went into effect. Shared indignation brought out hundreds of citizens who sang together at noon on a bright, cold day, belting out these new lyrics by Doleta Chapru to the tune of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

You better speak out, No time to be shy, There’s mischief about, Its maker is sly Walker has invaded our town.

So, sing in the Capitol, March in the streets, Document wrongs with Cameras and tweets . . .

You may not realize that members of the Solidarity Singalong and other citizens have been lobbying for the public good in the corridors of the Capitol since February. Some folks have given up their jobs, or cut back drastically, in order to attend legislative sessions, hearings, and committee meetings to document wrongs with cameras, Tweets, and blogs. Attorneys have donated their time to defend these Lobbyists for the Common Good whenever they are arrested for testing unconstitutional restrictions that are at odds with the ideal of an engaged citizenry.

We should all be grateful for this new breed of influence-peddlers in Wisconsin—and in the Occupy movement. They fight for what is best for people, even when it’s not best for large corporations.

Photo: Kristian Knutsen

All We Want for Christmas is a New Gov’nor

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Thank you, Scott Walker, for inspiring me to write this poem:  

How The Gov’nor Stole Christmas by Carrie Scherpelz

Every Who Down in Who-ville Liked Christmas a lot...

But the Gov’nor, On high ruling Who-ville, Did NOT!

The Gov’nor hated those Whos! Their whole Christmas season! Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn’t screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But, Whatever the reason, His heart or his shoes, He spent lots of time on despising the Whos, Ignoring all of their needs with a sour, Gov’nory frown From high in his office above, he looked down.

And THEN They’d do something he liked least of all! Some Whos down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing. They’d stand side-by-side every noon and start singing!

They’d sing! And they’d sing! AND they’d SING! SING! SING! SING! And the more the Guv thought of the Noon-Hour-Sing The more the Guv thought, “I must stop this whole thing! “Why for three hundred days I’ve put up with it now! I MUST stop Whos from singing! ...But HOW?”

Then he got an idea! An awful idea! THE Gov’nor GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

“I know just what to do!” The Guv said, laughing aloud. And he made a quick call to the DOA crowd. While he chuckled, and clucked, “What a great Gov’nory trick! “I can stop all this singing that makes me so sick!”

“All I need is a Song Law...” The Guv looked around For anti-song laws, but they could not be found. Did that stop the old Gov’nor...? No! The Guv simply said, “If I can’t find the right law, I’ll make one instead!” He called his attorneys who wrote twenty pages of rules And he smiled to himself ‘cause now he had TOOLS!

THEN He notified the Press And shared the good news That the singers in Whoville Were soon going to lose . . .

The very last of their rights, Their Freedom of Speech! The very First Amendment— That one all teachers teach!

He’d already stolen, with a smile most unpleasant, Their Bargaining Rights and every last present! Their train! Public Transit! Recycling Aid! Money for schools! Progressive law! Medicaid! The Guv stole open meetings and then voting rights! He just Divided all Whoville, and betrayed all their trust!

The worst thing about it—he made deals with the Kochs That made life much harder for ordinary folks. The Whos’ hearts were broken and then he did this, “You must pay for SINGING!” he said with a hiss.

The Whos down in Whoville didn’t think that was funny. The one thing the Whos did NOT have was money.

“If you don’t pay, go to jail,” said the Guv grimly. But the Whos had lost jobs and lost wages, so dimly They peered at the Guv and said, “Governor, why, “Why are you taking our Singing now? WHY?”

But, you know, that old Gov’nor was so smart and so slick He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick! “You Whos cost too much and you’ve caused too much damage.” “By singing? What damage? It’s all we can manage To just make a living in Whoville down here.” The Gov’nor ignored them and turned a deaf ear.

“Pooh-pooh to the Whos!” he was happily humming. “They’re finding out now their comeuppance is coming! “They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do! “Their mouths will hang open a minute or two “The all the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!”

“That’s a noise,” grinned the Gov’nor, “That I simply must hear!” So he paused. And the Gov’nor put a hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound he didn’t quite know. It started in low. Then it started to grow...

The sound wasn’t just Singing. Why, this sound was SINGING! It couldn’t be so, But his ears were ringing.

He stared down at Who-ville! The Guv popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, Was singing! Not just a few Whos but ALL! He HADN’T stopped Singers from coming! MORE CAME! Somehow or other, thousands came just the same!

And the Guv, with his Gov’nor-feet cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so? “I can’t put them in jail! No room for them all! “They stand hand in hand! Who can I call “To drag them away, without looking small?” Then the Guv thought of something that started to gall. “Maybe my law,” he thought, “was NOT smart to make. “Maybe (I hope!)...no one saw my mistake!”

And what happened then...? Well...in Who-ville they say Did the Gov’nor’s small heart Grow three sizes that day? Did he admit his mistake, they all wonder, Or did he instead blame someone for his blunder?

NO MATTER . . .

The millions in Whoville kept singing together Solidarity songs, no matter the weather!

(Thanks for the photo of Solidarity Singers singing recall carols round the tree, WisLightkeeper!)

good news, bad news

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What a great week we’ve had! First came the announcement that in just 12 days, Wisconsinites collected over 300,000 Recall Scott Walker signatures. Then came the unveiling of the new Solidarity Sing Along Holiday Songbook full of carols with creative lyrics, like “Wintering in a Walker Blunderland.” Followed by a Recall Walker light show on the Capitol steps courtesy of some inventive folks who traveled here from Milwaukee.

This article explains in detail how the signs were created for a massive night time rally to kick off the recall on November 15Â http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/15/1036886/-Walker-Recall-Day-1:-Night-RallyMassive-Success!?via=blog_461110)

Inspired by their fancy light-up signage, I illuminated my own “Recall Walker Here” petition-collecting sign. My technique:

1. Buy two-for-$5 necklaces at Walgreens
2. Tape to sign
3. Go into the night with light bulbs at steady, flashing, or fast-flashing speed!

After all this good news came the bad. Yesterday the Walker administration radically restricted the use of our Capitol building and grounds, cracking down on freedom of speech, especially protests, and on what is possibly the world’s longest running labor protest, the Solidarity Sing Along. It has been going strong for almost 230 days.

The 22-page document specifies, among other things that:

•All “events” must have a permit except for “spontaneous” events, and spontaneous events must occur in response to a “triggering” event that occurred in the previous week or is occurring. [NOTE: I consider Governor Walker a “triggering event” every day of the week.] Events that are advertised by social media and other means 7 or more days before the event are not “spontaneous”.

•Events held during working hours, 8-12 and

1-4, will be under 90 decibels.

•Extra law enforcement will be charged to the protesters at $50/hour for Capitol police and at whatever other law enforcement charge for reimbursement and the charges incurred may be required up front before the permit is granted.

So much for free freedom of speech. As of December 16, our Solidarity Singers may be arrested.

Please contact your state representatives and write a letter to the editor of any of the Wisconsin papers to make sure they know about this and encourage them to take action to protect our free speech.

recall math

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as most Wisconsinites know, in order to recall Scott Walker we need to collect at least 600,000 signatures in 60 days. In the first 4 days, 105,000 signatures were turned in. No official word about our progress since then, but all over the state, people have been very busy with their petitions and clipboards.

A retired Madison math teacher, Ray,

asked me not to use his last name because—believe it or not— several ordinary signature-collecting citizens have received death threats this week. Ray organized the Recall Walker drive-thru shown in the photos. Our team of eighty volunteers took 2-hour shifts at various roadside locations, working from 8-4 every day for a week. Together we collected 2701signatures—and had a lot of fun in the process.

Here are some highlights:

• The record for cars in the drive-thru at one time is 7 cars plus one cement mixer.

• Scott Walker signed our petition. That is, Scott Walker the real estate agent.

• Santa signed on his way to work at the mall.

• A neighbor offered to bring us hot coffee and volunteered the use of his bathroom.

• We got lots of excited honking, smiling, waving and thumbs up as cars drove by—and a few fingers

Unfortunately, a driver ripped up one of our petitions. We noted his license plate number, and he will be charged with a serious felony. It’s hard to believe this incident and others like it are happening now in Wisconsin. But it’s not surprising since Scott Walker has caused such deep division and has modeled derisiveness.

When people thank me for spending hours outside collecting signatures I answer, “My pleasure”. It’s true. Every signature I collect makes me happy—a total of 188 as of today.

we the people are the media

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The Recall Walker campaign in full swing is exhilarating and absorbing. But we must at the same time keep our eyes on the horrifying police brutality against people in America who simply try to exercise their rights as citizens.

On November 9 at UC Berkeley, several thousand students, faculty, and employees of the university protested a proposed 81% tuition hike and increased privatization of the UC system, among other things. The crowd gathered peacefully to petition for a redress of grievances. As hundreds of students linked arms to form a human chain, riot police began beating them mercilessly without warning or provocation.

From a heartbreaking eyewitness description of the following video: “The young man in the front that police keep beating even after he's unable to get up is a first-year graduate student in my department named Josh Anderson. As you can see from the video, neither he, nor any of the other students being beaten with batons strike back at the police with violence. Instead, you can see him, barely able to stand, gingerly raise a peace sign after being repeatedly struck on the head, neck, ribs, and legs.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buovLQ9qyWQ&feature=player_embedded

“In the next video, the first woman (in pink) that the police drag out of the crowd by her hair is Professor Celeste Langan, a beloved professor of British Romanticism and media studies in my department and director of the UC Townsend Center of the Humanities. When the police violence occurred again, they broke the ribs of another English professor, poet Geoffrey O'Brien. When the police wouldn't stop beating him even after he too had fallen to the ground,

a good friend and fellow graduate student, Ben Cullen, rushed in and demanded that they stop. The police, in turn, rained multiple blows on him, bruising his ribs as well. And just in case it's not clear yet that the violence was not only against 'some kids looking to make a fuss,' the police also thought it necessary to jab 70-year-old former Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Hass several times in the stomach with a baton as well.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHXuf6qJas&feature=player_embedded

The reason I entitled this blog post We the People are the Media? Thanks to the writing and videos of citizen reporters, we know what really happened. No one can deny the bone-chilling, heart-warming experience of these brave students despite the inaccurate AP account of “officers pulling people from the steps and nudging others with batons.”

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Ready, Set, GO!

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Tomorrow is opening day of the Signature Hunting Season in Wisconsin!

Thousands of people are poised with clipboards and petitions to fan out across the state in order to gather about a million signatures to recall

Governor Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. Although it may sound insane to attempt such a thing in November and December weather, we’re excited. Talk of recalling Scott Walker began almost as soon as he was elected but, according to state law, we had to wait a whole year to begin.

We have already recalled and replaced two Republican Senators this summer, and we may try to recall more Senators while we’re at it with our clipboards. I’ve been calling Wisconsin’s unprecedented grassroots effort “overthrowing our state government one recall at a time”. Thanks to the far-sighted framers of our state constitution, we can take these extraordinary measures—although recalls demand extraordinary effort so they will never be undertaken lightly.

Last week, all over the country, voters occupied ballot boxes to express their strong preferences. For example, Ohio’s unpopular anti-collective bargaining measure was overturned by a huge majority. Now is the time for all Americans to pay very close attention to the health of our democracy and to Occupy Polls. We must remind our legislators—through elections and occupations and protests— that they were elected to represent people, not the powerful special interests that lobby and donate to their campaign coffers. Here once again is my video To: Occupiers Everywhere From: Wisconsin

http://youtu.be/f0i5c8Z9bsM

unleashing creativity

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As an artist, I have a unique appreciation for the Wisconsin uprising. In addition to the usual outrage about the extreme right takeover of our state, I feel a thrill that so many people are expressing themselves in amazingly imaginative and creative ways.

The every-weekday Solidarity Singalong at the Madison Capitol brims with original protest music and artistry. For over 200 days, during the noon hour, hundreds of people have been singing with a lot of heart—though not much talent or experience—and we’ve been told that, against all odds, we’re starting to sound pretty good!

Meanwhile, banner artistry has blossomed. One Solidarity Singer, Val, created the banners you see in these photos. She is a young mom with four children, yet she finds the time to sew expressions of the songs we sing. Look closely and you can see that they tell stories—including the crank phone call from “David Koch” to Scott Walker, orange-shirted Democrats shouting “Shame!” on the Assembly floor and Supreme Court Justice Prosser choking Justice Bradley.

And at least a dozen instrumentalists have learned through lots of practice how to play well together. Since they sound better every week, they’ve gained the name Learning Curve.

I shot this two-minute video of the Learning Curve’s impromptu jam session on October 21. It’s guaranteed to make you smile in solidarity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BHJ2Jrh5GBk

occupy design

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you may know that several months ago, the Canadian magazine Adbusters called for a protest on Wall Street, providing the spark that ignited a movement across the country and the world. The power of creative marketing is enormous.

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed primarily at influencing an audience in a preferred direction. It was originally a neutral and often benign term to describe advertisements such as public health recommendations or calls for citizens to participate in a census or election.

Today “propaganda” has a strong negative connotation, especially in describing how the world's largest corporations use biased ads, newscasts and politicians to manipulate public opinion. They tell us that consumerism is the path to happiness, that governmental regulation causes our problems, and that economic globalization is both inevitable and a boon to humanity.

A brand new website, Occupy Design, brings back the original sense of the word: truthful propaganda for the public good—not for the benefit of huge corporations. A grassroots project, it connects designers with demonstrators in the Occupy Together movement. It was created in less than 24 hours October 14-15 by a team of designers, programmers, artists, and demonstrators in San Francisco. Their goal is to share custom-designed, open-source visual icons around social justice themes. Visit the site today to download and print poster designs that bring compelling statistical evidence to life.

And if you’re a designer, you can download a toolkit and help create infographics. occupydesign.org/guide/for-designers/ Please spread the word so we can get facts in the hands

of more people!