Labor Must Play Its "Wild Card"
by Roger Bybee Z Magazine October 2011
FORTHCOMING CHAPTER!
Contribution by Roger Bybee in It Started in Wisconsin: Labor's New Rebellion, edited by Paul and Mary Jo Buhle
Publisher: Verso of London Publication Date:Late fall, 2011
NEW ANTHOLOGY BY ERICA SAGRANS
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 Roger Bybee, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Van Jones, John Nichols, Medea Benjamin, Mike Elk, Andy Kroll, Tony Schultz, Ian Murphy, Allison Kilkenny, Billy Wimsatt, Chris Bowers, etc.
"What Wisconsin Means" by Roger Bybee Real World Labor, 2nd Edition, edited by
Immanuel Ness, Amy Offner, and
Chris Sturr
April 2011. ISBN: 978-1-878585-78-3,
$34.95 (400 pp)
Noam Chomsky: What interests me is having an opportunity to talk to people about things I think are important....There are a great many people who could be doing these things, and who simply are not invited because they’re unknown, people doing extremely good work...
Chomsky:Just today I’ve happened to read extremely good articles on these topics byRoger Bybee—byPaul Street, who ... now is the coauthor of a book on the tea party which is very good. ... On international affairs, Stephen Zunes is a very fine analyst, writing constantly, but rarely invited to give talks about things that are quite crucial...
Noam Chomsky: What interests me is having an opportunity to talk to people about things I think are important....There are a great many people who could be doing these things, and who simply are not invited because they’re unknown, people doing extremely good work.
Wade-Gervin: Who are some of these people you’re talking about?
Chomsky:Just today I’ve happened to read extremely good articles on these topics byRoger Bybee—by Paul Street, who ... now is the coauthor of a book on the tea party which is very good. ... On international affairs, Stephen Zunes is a very fine analyst, writing constantly, but rarely invited to give talks about things that are quite crucial...
Gigi Ibrahim explained that the revolution was deepening in the workplaces, and that the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood government had become the focus of discontent
A dozen retirees, men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va
The Bolivarian Workers’ Central has been holding meetings throughout the country in order to encourage worker participation in the writing of the new law
Occupy has opened the door for all sorts of progressive possibilities, but here in Oakland, we are letting a few foolish agitators hold us back in the doorway
I've recently been invited to write a twice-weekly blog in In These Times, appearing Tuesda... more
I've recently been invited to write a twice-weekly blog in In These Times, appearing Tuesdays and Thursdays (go to www.inthesetimes.com and flick the In These Times Working link at the top of the page)
I'm now a full-time freelance writer, with my immediate aim complete a book on corporate media coverage of globalization (tentatively titled The Giant Sucking Sound: How Corporate Media Swallowed the Myth of Free Trade.) I write frequently for Z, Extra!, The Progressive Populist, Madison's Isthmus alternative weekly, and a variety of publications including Yes!, The Progressive, Foreign Policy in Focus, and several websites. My work specializes in corporate globalization, labor, and healthcare reform...
I've been a progressive activist since the age of about 17, when I became deeply affected by the anti-war and civil rights movements. I entered college at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee just days after watching the Chicago police brutalize anti-war demonstrators at the Democratic Convention of 1968. I was active in a variety of "student power" and anti-war activities, highlighted by the May, 1970 strike after the Nixon's invastion of Cambodia and the massacres at Kent State and Jackson State. My senior year was capped by Nixon's bombing of Haiphong Harbor and the occupation of a university building, all in the same week I needed to finish 5-6 term papers to graduate, which I managed somehow.
My wife Carolyn Winter, whom I met in the Wisconsin Alliance, and I have been together since 1975, getting officially married 10/11/81. Carolyn, a native New Yorker, has also been active for social justice since her youth (she attended the famous 1963 Civil Rights march where Dr. King gave his "I have a dream speech"). We have two grown children, Lane (with wife Elaine and 6-year-old grandson Zachary) living in Chicago and Rachel (who with her husband Michael just had a new baby girl Talia Ruth on June 30) living in Asbury Park, NJ. My sister Francie lives down the block from me.
I'm a native of the once-heavily unionized industrial city of Racine, Wis. (which right-wingers sneeringly labeled "Little Moscow" during the upheavals of the 1930's), and both my grandfathers were industrial workers and Socialists. On my father's side, my grandfather was fired three times for Socialist or union activity. His family lost their home at one point during the Depression. My mom's father was a long-time member of UAW Local 72 at American Motors, where he worked for more than 30 years. Coming from impoverished families, my parents met through a very low-cost form of recreation: Racine's Hiking Club.
Writing, softball (although each season brings on more torn muscles and tendons), traveling, gard... more
Writing, softball (although each season brings on more torn muscles and tendons), traveling, gardening, and having fun with my wife Carolyn Winter and our grown kids Lane (Elaine) and Rachel (Michael)and especially the two grandchildren Zachary, 7, of Chicago ("It's my world, and me and Mayor Daley make the rules!")and the little Jersey Girl, Talia Ruth, born June 30, 2008 to Rachel and Mike in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where Bruce Springsteen and his homeboys still rule. ("Baby She Was Born to Run!") less
