The national media ignored the huge rally in Madison this weekend as well as the solidarity rallies that took place all over the country, but I suspect they got a lot of local coverage.
Here’s a picture a reader sent in from Madison.
And here’s one from St. Paul.
There’s a solidarity rally in Rochester on Wednesday that I hope to attend and I’ll have some pictures from that later this week.
Keep fighting.
stuckinred
Wonder if anyone will go strapped?
Radon Chong
In a way, it feels lame to complain that the national media isn’t covering these rallies. It seems too close to the way wingers whinge about the MSM. That said, it is fairly mind boggling to note the difference in coverage between the rallies these past few weeks and pretty much any Tea Party event. I’d go so far as to say that this rather stark contrast may even be the real story here.
aimai
The lack of national coverage reminds me of a fascinating point made by Paul Fussell in his book “The Great War and Modern Memory.” He points out that Irony and loss of faith in national institutions arises naturally in war time when the soldiers, among others, realize that their actual experiences are not reflected in the national press and national discussion. In the case of the First World War the front was so close, physically speaking, to London that officers could and did receive mail and daily newspapers in their trenches nearly instantaneously. They could go home, see a show, dine with friends and be back in the trenches the next day. This made the disjuncture between the real world of war and death and the social world of the political and artistic elites incredibly jarring.
I felt the same way when I turned out for the big anti war rallies before the Iraq war and found them pretty much nowhere in my local papers and the national scene. I’m hoping that the lack of national coverage just hardens the resolve of our unions and union supporters to organize more extensively locally–and whether the lack of reporting will also strenghten grassroots forms of communication like facebook and twitter since you simply can’t rely on national coverage to whip up enthusiasm.
What about flash mobs? I’d like to see more use of them in this matter, as well as in US uncut.
aimai
joel hanes
Those wishing to donate to a PAC that’s organizing the immediate recall campaigns against eight WI Republican state senators, and then another in Nov 2012 against Gov. Walker,
wil find that PAC here
BGinCHI
@aimai: Agreed, and great point from Fussell.
The phenomenon now is that the Tea Party rallies and the whole “movement” was hatched as a media event. It was meant for coverage and not as anything reaching into the roots of an actual conflict.
The collective bargaining rallies, on the other hand, are actually about conditions and political policy, and are therefore work for the media who have to come up with an overall narrative for them. While this shouldn’t actually be difficult, the media is so programmed and inept that it can only cover sensational stories tailored for particular outputs.
Corporate media indeed.
minachica
Latest from Madison: This morning, Walker’s administration changed the rules for access to the State Capitol. They are currently not allowing anyone but employees to enter. This is after they assured everyone last night that the building would be open at 8 am this morning. Reportedly there are only about 50 protesters left inside from last night.
Also, staffers of the Dem. senators may not get paid for the month of February, due to new rules requiring the Majority Leader to sign off on their timesheets. The codes on the copiers have also been changed so that Dem. staff can’t use them.
This is getting petty and ugly.
TooManyJens
@Radon Chong:
If the Tea Party had occupied a state capitol for 10 days or so and had a rally of over 100,000 people with solidarity rallies in every (?) state, they’d have every right to complain if there was a virtual media blackout on it.
Just because they whine about the media not being right-wing enough doesn’t mean we can’t complain about legitimate issues.
Hart Williams
The same thing used to happen in the waning days (OK, always) of the Soviet Union. Good to know we’ve got a “free press” and “journalism” to protect us from that kind of Soviet-style propaganda and control of news.
Oh, wait.
stuckinred
@minachica: Rules, in a knife fight?
Dan B
Doug — any details on where/when the Rochester rally is happening on Wednesday?
MattR
@TooManyJens: Unfortunately that Rovian tactic works with too many people. The Left complains that Glenn Beck sees George Soros behind every liberal initiative. That gives the Right the right to complain if any Demorcat tries to tie the Koch brothers to various conservative groups. It does not matter that there are facts to support the claims about the Koch’s while Beck’s claims about Soros are made up out of thin air.
stuckinred
@MattR: Morning Joe was all over that this morning. “Those on the left who screamed about the rep tactics during the last 2 years. . .blah blah”
Gustopher
Someone should be organizing protests of the media headquarters. And by “someone” I mean “not it”.
They might cover protests if they have to walk through them to get to work. And NYC does have a good, strong union presence and all the media headquarters.
Radon Chong
@TooManyJens: I’m with you, TMJ, really I am. If Tea Partiers could pull off something like this, no doubt we would have nonstop fawning coverage. All I’m saying is that even completely legitimate complaints about media coverage ends up feeling, to me, like just so much wanking. It has been as clear as can be for at least a decade what our national media is. Whining about it, while completely justified, doesn’t really do us any good. That is not to say that I am going to quit my whining, because I will not.
trollhattan
Evidently, the Baggers(tm) sent some pro-yellers to ours.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/02/weekend-reading-comparing-comp.html
Discourse is alive and…well…emphasizing the “dis.”
A Farmer
If Barack Obama is social-ist, what would tea partiers make of Floyd B. Olson
jwb
@BGinCHI: I agree, except the media is not inept. They are doing exactly what they are paid to do.
TooManyJens
@Radon Chong:
I don’t know. The right has spent thirty years working the refs, and it’s paid off big for them. Of course, they have the advantage that the class interests of Big Media coincide with their policies.
Scamp Dog
…but I suspect they got alot of local coverage.
Here in Denver, all it got was a story on the last page of section B. There were two photos, one of a tea partier talking to a protester and the other one of a raised fist.
Having been at the rally, I didn’t notice any tea patiers myself, and the article didn’t mention that the attendance was over 3,000 until the third paragraph. Since the number was barely worth mentioning, there’s no point in a photo showing the size of the crowd.
Liberal media, right.
Tonal Crow
I went to the SF rally on Saturday. We nearly filled the square before City Hall. I’m ready for the next rally!
Scamp Dog
FYWP! That first paragraph is supposed to be a block quote, and WP and my iPhone are conspiring to keep me from editing to change “patiers” to “partiers”. Grrr.
singfoom
Madison will keep rolling. Even if they don’t allow any more in the building itself, the infrastructure around the Capitol building can sustain a prolonged protest for a long long time.
I never made it into the Capitol on Saturday because the line was 45 minutes, but I hope they keep up the pressure there as well.
For the size of the rally, I would have expected more media coverage as well. There were certainly enough media satellite trucks there. I saw the MSNBC crew out and filming, but no FoxNews crew though there was a truck…
They’re not going to give up and they’re not going to go home. If they keep up the pressure, I really do think Walker and the Republican Senate will remove the collective bargaining language and hopefully the no bid contract language from the bill.
Genine
@Scamp Dog:
Yeah, I was at the Denver rally, too. It was a huge group and a lot of people honked their horns as they drove down Lincoln. It’s a shame it didn’t get more coverage. The turn-out was good and I firmly believe there would have been more if more people knew about it.
Does anyone know if there’s another one planned?
And for those who’d like to see- here are photos from the Denver rally.
andy
I love that second picture. The GOP’s long con is long indeed…
giltay
Well, as a well-known media elite once said (I’m sure of it): Ten people holding a protest is a big story. One hundred thousand people holding a protest is a statistic.
(Note: I renounce Stalin and all his works. And broccoli.)
Elie
This is a process that we should expect — the delay and fealty to the old way, the old vision and reality for a time. While I think that there are some elements of a planned effort by the MSM, I also think that humans get attached to world views and opinions all the time that have no political implications. Why is that important to remember? Change is always hard. Making it into a conspiracy by the opposition can have demoralizing impacts on our own advocacy rather than just expecting it at least in part as human nature.
We must not seek to demoralize our own efforts — where possible. Way too much of that in my opinion.
JCJ
Here is a good photo gallery from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel web site
http://www.jsonline.com/multimedia/photos/116991513.html#id_47116723
rich2506
We had a demonstration in Love Park, Philadelphia PA. Yeah, I started it off by quote an LTE from a buddy of mine who noticed that our local paper had NO coverage of the rally the next day.
terraformer
I was at the St. Paul rally – it was about 5 degrees and snowing, but it felt great to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with people who cared enough to get out there. Keith Ellison gave a rousing speech.
alwhite
@terraformer:
Dang! I knew I should have given BJ a shout out when I was in St.Paul. Sorry we missed you
Gov Olson was a legend in Minnesota, as a kid in the 50’s & 60s even the Republicans gave him a shout out because they knew that farmers and workers had to be recognized. Floyd would be as big a pariah as Bill Ayers because he stood with decent people against our corporate masters.
RalfW
I look forward to all the (3? 4?) “We never saw this wave of anti-Republicanism” talking heads bullshit moments in Nov 2012. Followed, of course, by more kowtowing to the Republican frame, no mater how discredited.
gelfling545
Another rally here in Buffalo on Wed. too. From a sign one participant carried Sat.: “Are you listening, Andrew?”