Wisconsin Capitol Occupation

From February 14 to early March 2011, opponents of Governor Scott Walker’s legislation to strip civic unions of collective bargaining rights filled Wisconsin’s state capitol with a non-stop protest that became one of the largest labour mobilizations in the US in a generation. Though the protests were ultimately unsuccessful, they heralded a major watershed in the US labour movement’s resistance to austerity cuts.

Protests began shortly after Gov. Walker proposed his legislation. On February 14, a group of unionized teaching assistants from the University of Wisconsin at Madison led a Valentine’s Day-themed protest at the capitol, joined by labour and student groups. Labour-student collaboration became a model for the remainder of the organizing, as state employees used their workplaces and community roles to contact people not immediately affected, widening the struggle and helping provoke a political crisis in the state.

What began as a simple defence of workers’ rights became an inclusive forum for multiple groups hurt by budget cuts.

Wisconsin state law allowed for the capitol to remain open as long as public debate continued about a pending bill. The teaching assistants noticed that the senate had failed to set a limit on the number of speakers on a floor debate about Walker’s bill, and so signed up thousands of people to offer testimony. This kept debate open indefinitely, as well as the capitol itself, and eventually turned the occupation into a twenty-four-hour speak-out, with a microphone set up in the middle of the rotunda. The microphone served as an invitation to everyone to be heard at the protest, and triggered an important shift in tone and approach. What had begun as a simple defense of workers’ rights now shifted to become an inclusive forum for multiple groups hurt by budget cuts. The boldness and persistence of the tactic galvanized thousands of people to join in, and within days 70,000 people were marching to oppose the Governor’s budget.

Protests were also well-coordinated with progressive and Democratic legislators. Three days after protests began, fourteen senate Democrats fled the state of Wisconsin to deny the GOP a quorum. This bought political space and time in addition to the literal space and time that had been seized in the capitol building.

Additionally, the occupation focused attention and support by connecting with other movements and national progressive media networks. The Egyptian revolution was in full flower at the time and lent energy and inspiration to the Wisconsin encampment. Protesters carried Egyptian flags, and several Egyptian revolutionaries sent support in the form of pizzas ordered from local business to be delivered to the capitol. Solidarity pizzas then rolled in from across the world. The occupation was also one of the first to use continuous livestreaming to document itself.

Eventually, Governor Walker’s legislation was passed in a legally suspect parliamentary gambit. The worker-student coalition that had led the occupation then switched their focus to the electoral arena, in an attempt to recall the Governor in a special election that was held in June of the following year. Unfortunately, Tom Barrett, the Democratic candidate who ran against Walker, fell short by 46% to 53%. In spite of these defeats, the Wisconsin Capitol Occupation marked a turning point in grassroots mobilization on the US left, fueling other more successful efforts against austerity and inequality, including Occupy Wall Street and the Fight for Fifteen campaign.

Originally published in Beautiful Trouble.