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Written by Louis Weisberg
Oct 24, 2011
About 2,000 people marched in Milwaukee Oct. 15 as part of the Occupy movement. – Photo: Ben Slaine
The pro-union cries that shook up Madison last winter echoed on the fall streets of Milwaukee on Oct. 15 as about 2,000 people marched to protest what they called the corporate takeover of America.
The protesters were part of the Occupy movement, which claims that decades of corporate-influenced government policies have created a new class of uber-wealthy political donors while dooming the economic prospects of the poor and middle class.
Although unfunded and loosely organized, the Occupy movement has been growing steadily since demonstrators began camping out on Wall Street more than a month ago. Oct. 15 was the movement’s busiest day thus far, with demonstrations in dozens of U.S. cities, from Boston to Seattle, as well as in Europe, where a rally in Rome turned violent.
In Chicago, police arrested 175 demonstrators. But Occupy participants there have vowed to remain camped out on a corner across from the Federal Reserve Bank through May, when Chicago hosts the 2012 NATO and G8 summits.
"Right now there are 85 occupations and 2,000 in the works," said Eric Meyer, a volunteer coordinator of Occupy Milwaukee.
The unifying theme of the Occupy movement is "we are the 99 percent," contrasting its followers to the nation’s wealthiest 1 percent of citizens. The occupiers say they are the middle class, working class and poor people whose incomes have stagnated or fallen over the past 50 years while wealth became concentrated at the very top.
This is a movement based on facts rather than ideology, questions rather than answers. Its adherents point to figures compiled by the government, such as statistics showing that from 1980 to 2005, more than 80 percent of the total increase in American income went to the top 1 percent. This occurred during a time when taxes on corporations and the very rich fell, resulting in a crumbling national infrastructure and cutbacks of government services, services that both support and employ middle- and working-class Americans.
Republicans have claimed for 30 years that tax cuts to corporations and the rich would result in job growth and economic opportunity for all Americans – the so-called "trickle down" theory promoted by Ronald Reagan. But statistics show that although the United States still leads the world in research, technology and innovation, income inequality in the nation is at an all-time high, greater than that of unstable developing countries such as Guyana, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
"It hasn’t trickled down," Meyer said bluntly.
Some protesters who gathered before the march in Milwaukee’s Zeidler Union Square on Oct. 15 were more vivid in their analysis of Republican economics. One held up a sign proclaiming, "The only thing that trickles down from the top 1% is piss." Another sign compared super-wealthy Americans to the Russian oligarchy.
"Rich got bailed out, we got sold out," marchers chanted as they headed east on Michigan Avenue, waving signs with messages such as "democracy is not for sale" and "incarcerate corporate criminals."
While their theme might have been reminiscent of the French Revolution, their mood was upbeat and collegial – Midwest nice rather than storm-the-Bastille angry. Some passing marchers thanked police officers in bulletproof vests standing guard along the route.
Overwhelmingly white, the marchers represented the full range of ages. A small contingent of blue-haired ladies holding a sign that said "Grannies against greed" marched side-by-side with pierced and tattooed college students.
Veteran gay protester Ray Vahey, of Equality Wisconsin, carried a large rainbow flag.
"This is a collective bunch of people who are looking for social justice, and that is part and parcel of the LGBT rights movement," Vahey said.
Milwaukeean Brian Berdin held a large flag containing the Human Rights Campaign’s equal-sign logo, although he said he was unaware of its meaning. "But I support LGBT," Berdin said when told. "I support human rights all over the world."
Turning north on Water Street, marchers stopped for speeches in front of Chase Bank, 111 E. Wisconsin Ave., where Julio Guerrero was one of several demonstrators holding yellow crime-scene tape.
"We think it’s a crime that banks and corporations have more control over government than we do," said Guerrero, who described himself as a college student working full-time and barely making ends meet.
Several speakers with bullhorns struggled to be heard over the din of the crowd.
"The rich make the rules. We don’t make the rules, so why do we have to live by their rules?" Guadalupe Gallardo, of the group Voces de la Frontera, asked the crowd.
Marchers continued north to M&I Bank, 770 N. Water St., where they stopped for another round of speeches. Scot Ross, director of One Wisconsin Now, lambasted Gov. Scott Walker for cutting support to the University of Wisconsin system while doling out tax breaks to his corporate campaign supporters.
Chants and signs calling for Walker’s recall were interspersed throughout the event, giving the protesters a local target and reviving memories of last winter’s protests in Madison. More than 100,000 people gathered around the Capitol in February to protest the governor’s budget bill, which in addition to slashing education funding also took away nearly all collective bargaining rights from public unions.
Meyer told WiG that the Occupy movement is non-partisan. He said both political parties had sold out the American people. "They’re archaic institutions that have lost touch with the culture," he said.
Meyer said LGBT people should embrace the occupy movement, because it’s about social justice and equality.
"Obviously the LGBT community has been disenfranchised and ostracized from conservative society in America for years and years and years," Meyer said. "I think it’s garnering a lot of respect now. But with gay marriage, right-wing politicians and PACs are keeping LGBT people as second-class citizens with their radical ideologies. I think it’s important for the LGBT people to be involved with us."
Meyer said he hoped "a strong organization" would emerge as the result of bringing together "a concentrated group of like-minded people in one space."
"I’m hoping for an occupation that stays an occupation – that keeps on spreading messages and ideas," Meyer said.
