By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Poor and working people from across the state of Wisconsin participated in an all-day Occupy Fond du Lac’s Peace Rally and Occupy Wisconsin’s state General Assembly May 5 in Fond du Lac, a city of 43,000, 60 miles northwest of Milwaukee in the area known as the Fox Valley.
The theme “No War with Iran,” was Occupy Fond du Lac’s response to for another United States war in the Middle East, said Occupy Fond du Lac youth and student leader James Loki. Dozens of youth and students from throughout the Fox Valley and Wisconsin attended the day’s events.
“Almost half our federal tax dollars go to fund the U.S. war machine,” he said. “That money is from the 99 percent and should be spent on education, jobs and healthcare — not war profiteering.”
The day began in Veteran’s Park in downtown Fond du Lac with a series of speakers with marches to the city and county jails to protest the prison-industrial complex and to the Armed Forces Recruiting Center to protest the wars the United States is waging in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Speakers from Occupy Milwaukee, Veterans for Peace, WI Bail Out The People Movement, Occupy Fond du Lac and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression spoke at the protest sites or helped lead chants.
Protesters enroute to the protest sites hoisted various signs including “Jobs Now: Make The Banks Pay,” “Legalize, Organize, Unionize” “No Justice, No Peace” and “Bail Out The People Not the Banks,” stopped at banks on Main Street to demand these institutions stop foreclosing and evicting on millions of poor and working people and that they cancel student loan debt among other demands. Chants on the march included “Racist police have gotta go,” “Free Palestine,” “Money for Jobs and Education not War and Incarceration” and “Bail Out the People Not the Banks.” At Veterans Park, the Fond du Lac city police station and the Armed Forces Recruiting Station, protesters staged a street theater die-in to remember the 7,000 U.S. military and 1.5 million Iraqi civilian casualties and other victims of the wars waged by the United States worldwide.
Occupy Wisconsin Adopts Program
Kellie Jacobs-Stewart works public relations for Occupy Wisconsin and drove across the state from St. Croix Falls to help organize in Fond du Lac and to help facilitate the first-ever statewide General Assembly that began in the late afternoon.
“I’ve never been political, but I felt I had no other choice but to join in pointing out the 1 percent,” she said. “I’ve seen people losing their first amendment rights, our government hindered by special interest groups, and people in our communities losing their homes while banks continue their monopoly. We have to stand up for our rights.”
Those present at the Occupy Wisconsin General Assembly unanimously agreed that the following issues and demands would be the focus of Occupy Wisconsin in the immediate future: Mobilizing to protest NATO in Chicago; Assisting to build June 6 “Keep It In The Streets” actions statewide after the June 5 gubernatorial recall election; Oppose iron ore mining in Wisconsin; Cancel student loan debt; Stop foreclosures and evictions, moratorium now!; Opposing the American Legislative Exchange Council and other anti-worker, right wing organizations; Solidarity with the immigrant rights movement: stop raids and deportations; Justice For Trayvon Martin, Bo Morrison, No to police brutality and vigilante terror; Endorsed the Article 5 campaign; Endorsed the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and opposing Carlos Montes frame-up by the FBI; Oppose budget cuts to public education in Madison and statewide; Support the 11 x 15 campaign, an effort to reduce the prison population in half by 2015.
The day concluded with protesters engaging in a street protest and solidarity singing at night on Main Street with neon letters spelling out “Tax the richest 1 %” provided by the Overpass Light Brigade (http://www.facebook.com/OverpassLightBrigade).
For more information and coverage of the May 5 events and future Occupy events in Wisconsin:
facebook.com/Occupy.Fond.du.Lac / occupywi.org / wibailoutpeople.org/ occupyriverwest.com
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