Occupys spread all over Wisconsin

Green Bay, Wis., Nov. 1.

Across the state of burgeoning Wisconsin Occupy Wall Street encampments, activities and events continue to grow.

On Nov. 1, members of Occupy Green Bay supported a Wisconsin Jobs Now protest at Lambeau Field, where a multinational, intergenerational crowd of dozens of students and workers protested a Gov. Scott Walker speech to business executives, raising their voices to demand jobs. Occupy Green Bay also sponsored meetings Nov. 4-5 in Green Bay and on Nov. 4 marched throughout the downtown area and visited bus stops to distribute leaflets about their upcoming events.

On Nov. 2, Occupy The Hood-Milwaukee sponsored a People’s Hearing at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 hall in Milwaukee to demand that bills targeting convicted felons, which are now in committee in the Wisconsin Legislature, be killed.

The bills would make it virtually impossible for convicted felons to get a job and if employed would make them indentured servants of their employers because the bill would prevent felons from suing their employers for discrimination. The bill’s provisions would be retroactive if passed. The packed, hours-long People’s Hearing heard from a rainbow of speakers and labor, community and student representatives who denounced the racist, anti-worker bills while also calling for a federal jobs program, a moratorium on foreclosures, and that the banks pay for the economic crisis they created. Occupy Milwaukee canceled its General Assembly, encouraging its participants to attend the People’s Hearing instead.

Also on Nov. 2, students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee sponsored a rally and march on campus. After a speakout at Spaights Plaza on campus, students and their allies took to the streets to march around campus. Two students and a photojournalist from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel were arrested during the march. This is the third journalist the Milwaukee police have arrested in the past three months.

On Nov. 3, Occupy Appleton sponsored a press conference at Chase Bank and then throughout the Nov. 4-5 weekend sponsored events at City Park. Occupy Eau Claire, Occupy Stevens Point, Occupy La Crosse, Occupy Madison and Occupy Sheboygan are all in motion.

The next major event for Occupy Milwaukee is a Nov. 17 Day Of Action called “We Declare A State Of Emergency For The 99%,” which will begin at 3:30 p.m. on North Avenue over Interstate 43 and will assemble at Carver Park, 911 W. Brown St., Milwaukee. For more information: www.occupymilwaukee.org or wi99.org.

On Dec. 3, the Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement will host a People’s Meeting at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 hall at 724 N. 26th (and Wisconsin) from 1 to 4 p.m. This discussion and planning meeting will be a gathering of labor, community and student individuals, activists and organizers including Occupy Wall Street participants from across Wisconsin and beyond. For more information: www.wibailoutpeople.org.

— Report and photo by Bryan G. Pfeifer