Friday, February 25, 2011

50 states, 100,000 protesters?

Our latest photo. Today in Trenton, NJ


That's our guess for this weekend. We know there'll be a huge rally in Wisconsin, possibly the biggest one yet. And among the labor movement, community groups like Jobs With Justice and moveon.org, and a mom in New England, there will be at least one rally in every state tomorrow.

Rally Girl reports:
Rallies are planned at every state capital, but don’t think protests and protestors will be limited to a measly 50 locations. The Teamsters and other groups are expecting hundreds of protests to draw at least 100,000 protesters this weekend.

The big rallies where we'll be looking for lots of Teamsters' signs include Madison, Miami, Asheville, N.C., Portland, Ore., Williamsburg, Va., Washington, D.C., and Boise, Idaho.

Other rallies will take place in Fargo, N.D.; Tucson, Ariz.; Frankfort, Kent.; Chicago, Ill.; San Diego, Calif; and Lincoln, Neb., just to name a few. Rallies are planned all over Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, West Bend, Tomahawk, Sheboygan, Hudson, St. Croix Falls and we expect quite a few other places.

A rally in Portsmouth, N.H., is being organized by a mom who wants to show solidarity with Wisconsin workers and stand up against reckless legislative attacks against New Hampshire's middle class. Reports Beth Dinan at The Portsmouth Herald
Judy Stradtman, a Portsmouth mother of two, is one of the organizers and said her protest sign will likely read: Protect working families and the middle class.

“There are some very dangerous things happening in the legislature and people, I think, feel really distressed,” said Stradtman, who has a local history of political activism. “We have the opportunity to make a statement and are feeling more confident in the ability to push back.”

...A Facebook page launched Monday under the name Protect NH Families announces the Feb. 26 rally and in 48 hours, 3,200 people signed on as liking it. Stradtman announced the rally on her group's Facebook page, Seacoast Solidarity...

To find a union rally nearest you, check out http://www.stopthewaronworkers.com/. You can also go to a moveon.org web page that lets you type in your zip code and find the closest rally. (Rally Girl is going to a protest in the District of Columbia.) You can also take the Jobs With Justice pledge.

UPDATE: A group called US Uncut is organizing rallies in 50 cities at Bank of America branches. US Uncut protests corporate tax dodgers and unnecessary budget cuts. It's targeting Bank of America because we could "uncut" $1.7 billion in Pell grants if just that one bank paid its taxes. Click here to find a rally near you.
As Brother Ed Sills of the Texas AFL-CIO said, “The battle is national and it is joined.”