"The thousands came because they wanted to be heard themselves." On Wisconsin!

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.peoplesworld.org/wisconsin-the-uprising-the-recall-and-the-fight-to-come/

On Feb. 17, a group of protesters that started out small in font of the state Capitol soon swelled to thousands as workers, union members and their supporters descended upon the capital from all directions. Troops of student nurses marching up State Street joined firefighters, teachers, librarians and truck drivers streaming into the center of town from the other streets leading to the capital.

There were no flyers calling upon people to come out that day and here speakers or listen to famous musicians. The thousands came because they wanted to be heard themselves. They came, they marched and then they made history by taking over the state capital and holding it for weeks on end as crowds, at times upward of 100,000, rallied outside.

On Feb. 26, 100,000 rallied in the deep snow. Small business owners, farmers, students, nuns, women's rights activists, environmentalists - thousands upon tens of thousands - trudged through the snow and the cold.

Weeks later, when it was clear workers would hold out indefinitely, Walker ordered the Capitol Building sealed off and windows welded shut to try to end the occupation. His efforts eventually failed when a judge ruled the people have the right to peacefully protest inside the Capitol.

Democratic state senators in another historic action, meanwhile, fled to Illinois where they stayed to keep Walker from getting the majority he needed to ram through his union-stripping bill. When the Republicans decided then to push through the bill illegally another historic effort got underway: a huge grassroots recall drive was mounted with 105,000 of almost one million signatures collected in the first four days alone.