Milwaukee takes it to the Streets!

MKE-IMC, 22.01.2005 01:11

In what was the largest direct-action in recent Milwaukee history, nearly 40 protestors took to the streets after a rally on Thursday, January 20th.

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What started as a standard anti-war rally on Thursday night materialized into the largest and most successful direct-action in recent Milwaukee history as nearly 40 black-clad youth took to the streets of downtown Milwaukee, blocking intersections and creating crude barricades from construction equipment.

The rally, organized by the Milwaukee chapter of Peace Action, gathered nearly 150 people to the corner of Water and Wisconsin in the heart of downtown. As our numbers grew, so did the police force's. Cops on horseback, on foot, and in cars congregated at the popular protest point. Despite the cold weather and extreme constrictions on space (as the police got nervous about the large group so tight together, we were relegated to one square of sidewalk, the others belonging to "walking pedestrians" and Bank One in a pathetic attempt to stifle our comraderie), the spirit of active resistance remained high.


Near the end of the rally, drums appeared and the general atmosphere grew festive. A youthful group gathered and began a march south on Water St, and turned east on Michigan before (to the words of Against Me!) they poured onto Milwaukee ave. Waving black flags and banners reading "Inaugurate? More like Shamaugurate!" they upset traffic, erected barricades and enjoyed a sense of revelry and freedom rarely felt in Milwaukee, a city whose radicalism has laid dorment since the 1960s (with the exception of a large critical mass in 2003 which resulted in 15 arrests).

Eubulliently screaming "whose streets? our streets!" for a few blocks, the protestors significantly clogged traffic during late rush-hour (as one commented later: "I saw many fingers"). Eight random city blocks later, one police car emerged, ordering the protests to "stop or be arrested." Some did, a tactic which proved successful as the car followed the smaller group of those who continued. Linking arms, the smaller group evaded the cop by ducking into a parking structure and splitting up.

Though downtown was soon crawling with cops, making evasion extremely difficult, not one arrest was reported (with the exception of bicyclist on the way to the rally). It was regarded by the participants as an altogether successful action, given the spontaneous planning by local organizers.

Of the action, one activist said: "the action was revolutionary in the context of it being a Milwaukee protest. It was uplifting for the local movement."

Another commented: "the fact that we all got together, took the streets, built barricades, evaded the police and ended up back together unscathed means, to a degree, we now have experience most don't have. This gives us the responsibility to learn and facilitate further activity."

Though those involved were dressed in black and covered their faces, the spirit of the reclaim the streets was celebratory, not confrontational. As one activist put it: "this kind of solidarity is worth celebrating."

yeyesyesyesyes! 22.01.2005 - 13:57 Way to go! I knew our town had some fight left in it. Come on, three socialist mayors! Keep it up, keep going, build on it. i'm out of the country for a bit, but when i come back there'd better be a shitstorm i can help out with. Your streets! Your streets! dan> e-mail:: dansesurlamerde@myway.com black and black flags 22.01.2005 - 15:39 what do black flags stand for? I guess I can kind of understand why there was no mention of the fact that many of these kids were anarchists. The people who posted weren't themselves anarchists or for some weird reason don't want to be associated with anarchists. As an anarchist I don't understand how any kind of movement for change to build an anarchist society can progress without being open about these things. regardless of this, the action was great and I hope this kind of organizing will only grow and progress milwaukee. a herd of kittens> Response 22.01.2005 - 18:02 (1) If you are reading this it is very likely assumed you know that black flags represent anarchism (though there were very few anyway), in the same way that mentioning a skull and crossbones assumes pirates. (2) If many of the people present were anarchists, many others weren't. Since this article doesn't address the specific ideologies of all of them (other than a general sense of anti-authoritarianism) there isn't a reason to pick out a certain group and emphasize them. MKE-IMC (the author) > agreed 23.01.2005 - 02:00 i still don't think a lot of people know what a black flag means. maybe that's my job not yours. pika_pik> Perhaps 23.01.2005 - 09:34 Perhaps you are right; or, rather, they perhaps many people don't understand the historical and political significance of a black flag. Serious discussions of anarchism and non-hierarchical societies are often lost in sophomoric rhetoric and romantic symbolism. The good news is that anarchist movements seem to be growing--the symbol of the black flag may return to its past importance. response> black flags are fun 24.01.2005 - 04:32  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_flag  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=black+flag&r=f  http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=black%20flag marco> HAHAHA 25.01.2005 - 00:30 "In the game Dance Dance Revolution a black flag is a score of all 'perfect' except for one 'great', just missing out on the coveted AAA grade." I really hate DDR a herd of kittens> quite the discussion at madtown imc 25.01.2005 - 06:14 quite the discussion at madtown imc  http://madison.indymedia.org/feature/display/21298/index.php marco>