We Are Wisconsin - The Wisconsin uprising in the words of the activists, writers, and everyday Wisconsinites who made it happen

by Erica Sagrans (ed.)

In February of 2011, the people of Wisconsin changed the political landscape in America overnight. In response to their governor's move to strip workers of the right to organize, Wisconsinites fought back--occupying their Capitol for days on end and protesting in record numbers throughout the freezing winter. Their bold action inspired progressives across the country, sparking a new conversation on organized labor, direct action, and civil resistance. We Are Wisconsin provides an up-close view of the struggle, in the words of the grassroots activists, independent journalists, and Wisconsinites who led the fight. Alongside the real-time, fast-paced story of the Capitol occupation told by those on the inside, this collection looks at what happened, what it means, and what comes next. Contributors include Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Van Jones, John Nichols, Medea Benjamin, Mike Elk, Andy Kroll, Tony Schultz, Ian Murphy, Allison Kilkenny, Billy Wimsatt, Chris Bowers, and more.

300 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Thomas Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

We Are Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Uprising, Erica Sagrans, ed., 2011, 295 pages, Dewey 331.8809775, ISBN 9781934690482

Day-by-day reporting from the protests of Wisconsin then-governor Scott Walker's Act 10, introduced 2011.02.11 Friday, stripping collective-bargaining rights from Wisconsin public-sector workers. Protests grew to more than 100,000 at the capitol 2011.03.12 Saturday, then gradually tapered off. There was a successful petition to hold a special election to recall Walker, but Walker won the recall election, against Milwaukee's Democratic mayor, who seemed not particularly keen on being governor. Act 10 became law and is still law. Republicans still have a lock on both houses of the legislature--although their Democratic opponents get more votes in aggregate--due to partisan gerrymandering. As of 2023, we have a Democratic governor and a Democratic supreme court, both of which help.

The best thing to come out of the protests were connections between people. Groups came together to build tiny houses for homeless people, other social service, political action, and music.

Other books:

The Fall of Wisconsin:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

We're Still Here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Labor journalist Mark Gruenberg's writings at People's World: https://peoplesworld.org/authors/mark...

[Stephani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely repetitive chapters. I would only really suggest reading a few chapters and not the full book because it just says the same exact thing, but written by different authors. Pretty disappointing.

[Jacob Dougherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great chronicle of the 2011 protests in Wisconsin, mixing tweets and posts from protesters with articles written by national figures and pundits. Brought back some good memories as I celebrated one year since the protests began.