The American Egypt

A display of civil disobedience is taking place in Wisconsin as a part of the greater conflict between the American left and right. Did the Egyptian (or rather Tunisian) plague, which is spreading throughout the countries of northern Africa and the Middle East, reach the U.S. as well?

Comparing Egypt and America is like comparing apples to oranges, someone could say. America is not a grim dictatorship and Wisconsin is regarded as one of the most “socialized” states in the country, where the number of social safety nets resembles Canada more than Texas. But even the protesters themselves have said that they reap inspiration and determination from Egypt. The American blogosphere and media are full of analogies comparing the protests in the Middle East and North Africa and the protests occurring in one of the coldest outposts of America.

The documentary director and creator, Michael Moore put the U.S. union leaders in contact with Kamal Abbas, the head of Egyptian unions. This resulted in a call for solidarity of Egyptian union workers with their American counterparts. “We stand with you as you stood with us,” Kamal declared. He also reminded everyone that up until a few days ago, he did not believe that the protests in Egypt would change anything. The head of AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka said, “…the peoples’ movement for democracy in Egypt and the role unions are playing for freedom and worker rights inspires us and will not be forgotten.” Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) has also made these transatlantic comparisons.

The protests in the Midwest definitely have a common denominator with what is happening in the Arabian countries. They both are manifestations of the growing social frustration and the fatigue of the drawn out economic crisis. People living in distant places around the globe, despite the cultural differences among them, can both recount stories of the lack of options, the growing costs of living or unemployment. Toutes proportions gardées.

So, what is going on in Wisconsin? The new Budget Repair bill, pushed through the state congress by Republican governor Scott Walker, would curtail the rights of public sector workers to do collective bargaining through their unions. It would also shift more financial burden on the workers, who would have to pay more for healthcare, insurance and retirement out of their own pockets. The reason for these changes is to save the budget, which is saddled with huge debts. The proposal resulted in waves of protests and an occupation of the state capitol. The Democratic senators in turn went into hiding, because according to the state law, the Wisconsin Senate cannot vote on bills with the opposition party present. Walker wants to use the National Guard to restore order because the local police department is taking its time. This comes as no one’s surprise; after all, they are unionized and will have to negotiate their contracts with the state and local authorities. Students have also shown solidarity with the protestors (some universities cancelled classes) and even the football players from the Green Bay Packers joined in. People from 12 countries and 38 states have sent in orders to the local pizzerias to help feed the protestors. One of the orders came from Egypt. The rest came from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Korea and Turkey. It would be interesting to see if the members of Solidarity could send a pizza to their brethren protesting in Madison.

That it is hard to come to terms with losing privileges that have been previously safe is nothing new. But Wisconsin might set a precedent to limit workers’ rights because other states have been drawing up plans of their own. One only needs to look at American news headlines; negotiations in regards to collective bargaining and resulting protests have taken place in Texas, Iowa, Nevada, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Indiana. Wisconsin has become the main front of the fight that is being waged by the smaller unions, which have to rely more and more on public sector workers. (I wrote about this crisis previously, in an article entitled “Union Mess”.)

It’s worth noting what is taking place in Wisconsin because it is not only the future of unions in the U.S. at stake. The financial situation forces the government, from the federal level to the most local of administrations, to radically cut their budgets. Policemen, teachers, administrators, librarians — wages are frozen. There are many looking on with sympathy in the private sector. They have already gone through the wringer of the recession and also pay taxes and have an innate fear of big government. The polarization of American society is becoming more apparent. The result of the collective row between (utilizing proportionately, well worn analogies) united America and liberal America will be very interesting and the results will be felt around the world.