Charles Woodson, an All-Pro defensive player with the NFL champion Green Bay Packers, publicly announced his support of those protesting Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's intention to eliminate public employee collective bargaining rights.Woodson's statement, in its entirety, appears in the Green Bay Press Gazette. The paper's related story notes other Packer players who have made public statements in support of the protest.
Pretty interesting to see how protests from the Middle East may have started the whole thing....and spreading in places as wide apart as Libya and Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteThere are some historical precedents for wildfire protests and revolutions (Europe 1848 is one example).
ReplyDeleteThe American protest is quite different from the Middle East versions. Wisconsin is a layered, nuanced situation. Walker's "demands," beyond the extinction of unions, is pretty breathtaking. The governor, for example, has requested the legislature to permit the gov to sell public utilities to anyone in no-bid situations. (The Koch brothers have skin in the Wisconsin utility game.) The corruption is simply incredible, worse -- far worse -- than Italy in the early 1980s.
In my view, we are now living in the first stages of an American cultural revolution, one in which the right-wing has a better than even money chance of winning. It's deeply depressing to think about; I suppose there's always living like a pirate in Ibiza or some other offshore refuge.
The Middle East episodes are specific to each country, and will ultimately involve international players, including governments and major multinationals. We're seeing that unfold now in Libya, where there's some real money involved. That was not the case in Tunisia, a country that has few desirable resources. I don't think we know the whole story about the events in Egypt, and we may never know them.