PIGS & POODLES
(The following are edited remarks by Mike Alewitz, at the Bring the Troops Home Now - Teach-In Against the Wars, UConn, Storrs, CT 3/26/11)
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It started with a Valentine card.
On February 14, teaching assistants from the University of Wisconsin–Madison distributed "We ♥ UW: Don't Break My ♥" Valentine cards to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, in order to protest against the so-called Budget Repair Bill. That act called for employee concessions to make up a $3.6 billion budget shortfall, as well as gutting collective bargaining rights for state workers.
The next day, tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated in and around the state capital demanding, "Kill the Bill!” The protests grew. Teachers and workers occupied the Senate chambers and by February 26, the crowds swelled – they were estimated to be up to 100,000 people.
International Movement
Demonstrations in solidarity with Wisconsin and against similar initiatives have now taken place in all 50 states. Expressing a newfound internationalism, protesters at these many actions have carried signs or indicated that they had been inspired by the revolts sweeping the Arab East.
The growing worldwide movement is far different than anything that we have experienced before. Vast emigrations of the world’s peoples, development of the Internet and use of satellite devices has allowed for a global shared experience.
We are all doing this together. The conditions of modern capitalism are molding us into one giant organism. When workers set up hospitals and education centers in Tahrir Square, it was copied in Madison Wisconsin. Our cultures are being shared. We are becoming a global, self-conscious, unified class.
We are collectively engaged in the largest political discussion in human history. Millions of people, whether in Syria, Yemen, Greece, Madison or Storrs, we are all grappling with the big question: What do we do now? How do we advance the working class struggle for social and economic justice?
Just Four Little Piggies
There’s some confusion about that in our newly awakened class – particularly here in the US.
In CT, this was exemplified by the fact that union leaders invited Governor Dannel Malloy to speak at a rally in solidarity with Wisconsin. Malloy is trying to do the same thing that Scott Walker is–forcing $3.5 billion worth of concessions out of working people, through a tax increase and wage cuts of 2 billion from state employees.
In reality, in CT, as in Wisconsin and nationally, there is no lack of money. The state is awash in wealth - it’s just that the working people who produced it are not going to see any of it - it’s been stolen and is being kept hostage by the super-rich.
If you took the top four hedge fund investors that live in this state – just four individuals - and taxed their wealth 100% after the first $2 billion, you would completely eliminate the budget shortfall. Not only that, you would have enough money to provide $10,000 per year for every college and university student in the state for the next four years. That’s how much money they have!
The four individuals would hardly notice. Steven Cohen and his family could continue to live in a 35,000-square-foot palace in Greenwich, with their 6,734-square-foot ice rink (complete with Zamboni machine), indoor pool, basketball court, golf course and massage and exercise rooms.
Paul Tudor Jones would keep his Greenwich mansion and his 3,000-acre wildlife preserve on the Chesapeake Bay that includes islands in the marsh shaped to form his initials, PTJ.
Tax the Corporations
Now some you may be thinking: “Alewitz, you heartless bastard – how can you consider making these poor people scrape by on a mere $2 billion?”
Well, (without getting into the issue of the trillions of wasted dollars for the war machine) as an alternative, we could raise the money simply by taxing the record profits of the Fortune 500 companies headquartered in our state.
These billions in profits came as companies continue to hold onto obscene amounts of cash while laying off workers and wringing more productivity from the remaining staff.
Take, for example, General Electric, headquartered in Fairfield - the nice people that designed the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Although GE posted a record $14.2 billion profits, they paid no Federal taxes. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
Imposing a modest tax on GE alone – just one company - would eliminate our budget deficit.
But that is not to happen under the Democratic Party government. Gov. Malloy says he does not want to punish success.
The fact is, Malloy and Scott Walker and Barak Obama serve same masters.
Poodles
We are not facing a “right wing” or “Republican” offensive – it is a 30 year anti-worker offensive by both parties. The two parties of the employers are waging war on workers both here and abroad. Right now, the Democratic Party in Wisconsin is trying to get workers off the streets and into a meaningless electoral recall campaign that is designed to fail.
For help in demobilizing people, the Democrats have turned to their pals in the labor officialdom. If you wonder why so-called labor leaders would invite Malloy to address our rally, it’s because they are completely tied to the Democratic Party. Their job, quite simply, is to negotiate concessions for the employers.
That’s why, while workers in WI were demanding “Kill the Bill,” union officials rushed in to capitulate and grant all the economic concessions.
These officials have more in common with the employers than the workers.
The Presidents of just three of the unions most affected - the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers – they each get paid between $400,000 – $500,000 a year.
In 2008, nearly 10,000 union officials or staff in the US brought home salaries greater than $100,000, consuming over $1 billion of their member’s money. That does not include the automobiles, housing allowances, expense accounts, junkets, perks and everything else that comes out of the bureaucratic trough. Below them, tens of thousands of other staff people are crawling their way up the bureaucratic ladder
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They live in a different world. That’s why they always talk about “working families” and “middle class” jobs. They try to obfuscate that we are the working class. Single moms don’t exist. The poor are invisible.
Mass Action
Instead of trying to turn our protests into a pro-Democratic Party electoral movement, they should be calling a general strike against the war and concessions. If working people shut this country down for one day, you would see an end to all this anti-labor legislations.
While our unions have grown small and atrophied, the organization of modern production has placed enormous potential power in their hands. Any number of small unions can make the wheels of production throughout the entire country grind to a halt. We will get to that point by fighting concessions and organizing against the war.
Egypt has given us all a glimpse of the power of the mass action of our class. We have to build on that. We have to learn from them. Events like the bombing of Libya and the unfolding catastrophe in Fukushima are stark reminders that if we do not take power out of the hands of these insatiable, oil-based, profit driven corporations and their poodles, the very existence of our species is at stake.
What you do individually matters – it was the heroic action of a 27-year-old Tunisian street vendor that started this. What we do collectively will determine it’s outcome.
We may not have all the solutions individually, but our collective discussion and experience will provide the answers for how to advance the struggle. Only the power and action of millions can win peace and justice.
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Above: THE PIG, THE PORK CHOPPER AND THE COMPANY MAN
Detail, The Resurrection of Wesley Everest, Centralia, Washington
by Mike Alewitz
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Mike Alewitz, Artistic Director
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
c/o Department of Art
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT 06050
