Greetings to all Zombie Rights Supporters from downtown Madison; specifically, I’m checking in from the downtown public library, which has very acceptable wifi.

Getting downtown for the protests was easy enough, but parking, that’s another matter. From what I’ve seen the garages are utterly packed, and there are thousands upon thousands of people walking in from all over downtown.

Everybody and their brother is here today. Lots of unions, tons of kids and parents here thanks to the school closures, various lefty groups (the Socialists had a table, naturally). Tons of signs, creative attention raising stunts, you name it, and I have lots of pictures and some video. At times it feels like there are four or five large protests going on at once; multiple rally sites, a recall effort directed at the Republicans who favor the bill, several different marching groups going around the square. Things are peaceful, but a little tense. I think the crowd expects the bill to pass despite, or perhaps *to* spite, all the protesters.

I’m posting the first few pictures below; in order not to be That Guy I’m keeping most back until I’m on the home network, to be polite to the other public wifi users.

(Walking up on State Street)

(There’s already a recall movement, trying to pull *all* of the Republican State Senators in favor of the bill)

(Another shot of the recall table. Of course, living in Madison, my Senator’s not on the recall list, because they’re not evil. At least, not *that* evil)

(The Firefighters arrive, complete with bagpipes. People went nuts.)

Update #1
Some more photos above and below. Gotta get moving again, find a place to plug-in, maybe get a hot drink before hitting the rally some more.

(More of the firefighters’ march, also, note this sign I didn’t see until I got the picture off the camera. Normally we keep it clean here on the ZRC blog but exceptions can be made.)

(The Firefighters are out in serious force in solidarity with the unions under attack)

(video of the firefighters arriving. Listen to that crowd.)

(On to the Capitol!)

Update #2:
I’ve been in and out of the Capitol since I left the library, and.. wow. I’ve never seen anything like this. Almost all public spaces are packed with people; the rotunda area is completely occupied and there’s a sit-in going. Lots of amazing pictures to upload.

A few people commented on my sign, but not a ton. It’s so hard to stand out in a crowd like this. One person said they loved Zombies though.

On the other hand I did run into a group of *Anti*-Zombie protesters, who were there basically calling for the Nat. Guard to be reserved for a future Zombie Apocalypse.

Finally, rumors are flying but supposedly the Democratic, and possibly two Republican, state senators have fled the area to avoid a quorum so Walker’s Anti-Union bill can’t proceed. Maybe even left the state.

I’m heading back to the ZRC compound to get a pamphlet designed; the protests continue on through the night and into tomorrow. I may come back down without my fancy toys, see about that sit-in, but first I want to design a ZRC pamphlet specific to this event. Plus I have a deadline for some guest posts for someone that I need to meet. Responsibility and all that.

Update #3
Back at the ZRC compound. Uploaded the first big batch of photos to Flickr; you can see the set here.

Some highlights:

(There were a ton of firefighters there today in solidarity with the state workers who are at risk with this bill)

(Also present were a number of bands and musicians. I’m not sure the accordion’s going to win people over though :D)

(There were a ton of kids and families there today; closing all the schools was a good move judging by the attendance it helped generate)

(You want to know one of the greatest things about America? Street food will pop up as if by magic around any sufficiently large social gathering. This is one of Capitalism’s greatest triumphs.)

(Most of the food carts also had signs like these, supporting the unions and the public workers)

(This is just priceless, especially the expression)

(Look out, *actual* socialists!)

Update #4
The first Youtube video is uploaded and processed, so I embedded it above with the matching photos. At this point I’m starting a new protest blog page since this first one is getting rather media heavy.

Tags: Public Appearance, Social Justice

This entry was posted by John Sears on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Zombie Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.