One of the blogs I read fairly regularly is BoingBoing. Usually, they have one neat post every other day or so. Sure, they are liberal (boy that’s an understatement) but I find the trade-off worth it. Last week, they made this post comparing the protests in Wisconsin to the protests in Egypt. I let it slip by, but as the week went on, it nawed (knawed?) at me. I’ve come to the conclusion that they are not the same thing and I’ll explain why. However, I do think these protests are like other protests…I’ll also explain this.
First, let me say that I am assuming the protests in Egypt were to overthrow an oppressive government as reported by the media. I know there are people who think otherwise, but the democratic revolution idea makes sense to me since Egypt didn’t let the people govern themselves.
Is the government of Wisconsin oppressive? Does it need democratic reform? I don’t think so. Heck, they just had a free election in November. From what I can tell, the protests in Wisconsin are against a bill submitted by the new governor there. The teachers unions are upset that the bill would remove most areas covered by collective bargaining. The governor is saying these cuts are necessary because his state doesn’t have money to continue this. To me, it looks like the unions are wanting to keep getting their “fair share” (as defined by them).
It sounds like the protests in Wisconsin are more like the protests in Greece 2 years ago. Or the student uni fee protests in London 2 months ago. Similar protests also happened elsewhere in Europe last summer. In these cases, the governments have had to make cuts because money simply doesn’t exist.
I think Greece (and the other PIIGs protests have finally come to the US)
So, what do you think? Which is it?
Image attribution:
Top image from wxmom via flickr
Middle image from messay.com via flickr
Bottom image from RobW via flickr