A Question

Why did the Wisconsin protests -- that went on for months and were driven by determined student union members and joined by every public service union in the state -- ultimately fail to budge the Governor and Legislature from their course while the leaderless and seemingly formless "occupation" actions in New York and now many other cities quite possibly might succeed?


Read this first person account:
The People's Microphone: In Zuccotti Park

by Miss ExPat

at Corrente, and the beginnings of an answer might start to form.

The difference between the two, I think, is not so much one of intent, though that's part of it, it is more a matter of transformation.

The protesters in Madison, for all their outstanding efforts, were trying to hold on to something and they failed.

The participants in New York and so many other cities are trying to create something that has never been before, and they just might succeed. No, I'd go farther and say they must succeed.

At any rate, Miss ExPat's testimony is a remarkable document. Well worth the time and effort.

It's as if Wisconsin was a prelude, a necessary prelude.