“I have never been prouder of our movement than I am at this moment,” shouted Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt as he surveyed the crowds of union members and their supporters that surged around the state Capitol and into the streets of Madison Wednesday, literally closing the downtown as tens of thousands of Wisconsinites protested their Republican governor’s attempt to strip public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights.
Neuenfeldt is not alone.
As a seventh-generation Wisconsinite, I have never been prouder of my state.
While Tuesday’s midday protests drew crowds estimated at 12,000 to 15,000, Wednesday’s midday rally drew 30,000, according to estimates by organizers. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, a veteran of 27 years on the city’s force, said he had never see a protest of this size at the Capitol — and he noted that, while crowd estimates usually just measure those outside, this time the inside of the sprawling Capitol was “packed.”
On Wednesday night, an estimated 20,000 teachers and their supporters rallied outside the Capitol and then marched into the building, filling the rotunda, stairways and hallways. Chants of “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” shook the building as legislators met in committee rooms late into the night
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/article_e3c6a0c3-cd9a-5ac0-91f6-9443e6356da5.html
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