Monthly Archives: December 2011

Occupy Milwaukee To Host Teach-In Dec. 6, Stop Foreclosures Now!

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From Occupy Milwaukee:
By October of 2008, over 936,439 US residents were forced into foreclosure. Tearing people from their homes, sending working families into endless amounts of debt and financial ruin, this crisis was NOT an accident. It was caused by the greed of the plutocrats on Wall Street and the negligence of their puppet government.
On December 6th, Occupy Milwaukee will be hosting a teach-in on the Foreclosure Crisis and it’s local impact on the people of Milwaukee.
We will also discuss ways in which the 99% are fighting back and ideas for how we can locally take a stand against the injustices caused by the 1%!
Join us Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 for the National Day of Action to Stop Foreclosures!
Teach-In at Bucketworks
706 S. 5th Street, Milwaukee
7 p.m.
Other resources on how to stop foreclosures:
The Moratorium Now coalition is a member of the Bail Out The People Movement
To research foreclosures in your area: http://www.realtytrac.com/home/
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WI AFSCME Call For Support For Machinists On Strike At The Manitowoc Co. / Dec. 10 Rally In Manitowoc

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From an Dec. 5, 2011 WI AFSCME email:

Dear AFSCME Brothers and Sisters,

When Scott Walker attacked your collective bargaining rights, fellow workers across the state and country stood with you.  Today, some of those workers are under attack and need us to stand with them.

Since Nov. 15, nearly 200 Machinists have been out on strike at Manitowoc Cranes.  The issue isn’t wages or benefits — but the fundamental right to a union.

Sound familiar?

Executives at Manitowoc Cranes have taken a page from Scott Walker’s Union-Busting Handbook.  At the last minute, the company slipped union-busting language — similar to Walker’s rights-stripping bill — into their proposal.

Workers voted overwhelmingly (180-2) to reject the union-busting proposal.  It was a courageous vote in these union-busting times.  It also comes as these families are heading into the holidays and what could be a long, cold winter.

We need to send a message that union busting will not go unchallenged in Wisconsin – in either the public or private sector.

This Saturday, Dec. 10, union supporters will flock to Manitowoc for a 1 p.m.  rally supporting our striking brothers and sisters.  We need a big show of AFSCME green in the crowd.

When Walker attacked us, workers from all sectors came together to send a message that was seen and heard around the world.  The Machinists stood with us then.  Now it is time for us to stand with the Machinists.

We’ll get you more details on the rally later this week.  But please mark your calendar today for this important event.

In a sign of solidarity, the AFL-CIO also is asking for donations to the Machinists’ Strike Fund.  Your contribution can be sent to: Strike Fund, c/o Machinists Local 516, P. O. Box 222, Manitowoc, WI 54221-0222.

Thanks for all the your hard work keeping our momentum strong as we gather signatures to recall Scott Walker.

Your support for Manitowoc Crane workers will help keep our momentum building — making absolutely clear that Wisconsin will not stand for Walker-style union busting in any form.

Solidarity!

Jim Garity, President
AFSCME Council 40 Paulette Feld, President
AFSCME Council 24 Brian Stafford, President
AFSCME Council 48 		Rick Badger, Executive Director
AFSCME Council 40 Marty Beil, Executive Director
AFSCME Council 24Rich Abelson, Executive Director
AFSCME Council 48

Paid for by AFSCME Council 11, Doug Burnett, Executive Director

 

Machinists on strike at the Manitowoc Co. on the picketline.

Machinists on strike at the Manitowoc Co. on the picketline.

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‘Impunity’ Film Screening at UW-Milwaukee Dec. 10

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Sponsored by the Latin American Solidarity Committee:
‘Impunity’ film screening on Saturday, Dec. 10 7-8:30 p.m.
UWM Student Union Room 280, 2200 Kenwood Blvd., Milwaukee, WI
Film followed by Q & A with Cecilia Zarate Laun from CSN, “Colombia Support Network”, Madison.
In 2005, the Colombian government under President Uribe offered right-wing paramilitary soldiers reduced sentences of five to eight years if they laid down their arms and confessed their crimes. They were accused of torturing, slaughtering and “disappearing” more than 400,000 civilians and forcibly displacing millions from their land. “Impunity” mainly consists of the accused’s videotaped testimony intercut with peasants’ reactions, contrasting the cold-blooded enumeration of atrocities by those who committed them with the grief of those who suffered them.Many war-torn countries struggle to find a post-conflict equilibrium between coexistence and accountability. Judging by Juan Jose Lozano and Hollman Morris’ docu “Impunity,” the Colombian government’s much-touted Peace and Justice initiative is doing a poor, patently hypocritical job of it.’Before being extradited, the most vocal defendant, one “HH,” remarks, “When we say that we cut off a peasant’s head, raped his wife and stole his land, nobody is shocked … but when we talk about who profited, we are attacked.” ‘

A Colombian jurist’s tally of the Peace and Justice Law’s results corroborates the latter opinion: Of 31,600 demobilized paramilitary members, 3,600 were held for prosecution, 600 were tried and only two were convicted.

Link: http://www.impunitythefilm.com/

Cecilia Zarate Laun is the Program Director of the Colombia Support Network an organization that focuses on linking grass roots rural communities in Colombia who had organized themselves in a non-violent resistance way, to US communities in order to avoid being displaced and helps them to protect their lands from multinational or government development projects. CSN is located in Madison and has been active for 24 years educating the American public through delegations to Colombia, bringing speakers, publishing the newsletter Action on Colombia, publishing news on its web site and creating action in the US to defend human rights, a negotiatied solution to the conflict and peace with social justice in Colombia.
For more info contact Babette 447-8369 or lascmilw@gmail.com
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Fight The Attacks On Medicaid, Badgercare, Milwaukee Meeting Dec. 8

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Panel and community discussion

The Governor & Legislature are cutting Badger Care and Family Care. This will affect tens of thousands of people in Milwaukee County and throughout WI. who use these critical programs. What will we do? What can we do?

Hear from a panel of speakers followed by discussion and planning.

Learn what is happening and voice your concerns

December 8, 2011

7-9 p.m. Discussion

Light refreshments 9-9:30

First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee

1342 N. Astor Street, Milwaukee

Building accessible to al

On bus lines #10 & #30

Call the church at 414-273-5257 to reserve childcare or for additional information.

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Dec. 3 WI BOPM, Fight Back Meeting In Milwaukee

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Organizers from numerous organizations throughout the Midwest (Madison, Rockford, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Chicago & Detroit) as well as from New Jersey/NYC participated in a Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement and Occupy 4 Jobs fightback meeting at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 union hall Dec. 3 in Milwaukee. Participants raised demands such as a moratorium on foreclosures, a federal jobs program, an immediate stopping of immigrant raids and deportations, cancellation of student loan debt, the freeing of political prisoners and more. Support was raised for the postal workers and transit union riders and workers under attack. The meeting was dedicated to Troy Davis and his sister, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier & all political prisoners.

Some of the participants of the Dec. 3 meeting.

Some of the participants of the Dec. 3 meeting.

Participants at the Dec. 3 meeting.

Participants at the Dec. 3 meeting.

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