I know we’ve been dealing with some heady stuff lately here at the ZRC, and it might seem that our focus is broadening beyond the core ‘Zombie Rights’ message that we espoused in the past. To some extent, that’s true. However, as with our efforts to build bridges into the Independent Film Community, or our agitation on behalf of fellow travelers in the Undead Rights Movement like Egyptian Mummies, we here at the ZRC think that the best strategy to advance the cause of Undead Equality is to build a broader movement, forming relationships and solidarity with those who might serve as useful allies for The Cause.

Likewise, The ZRC believes strongly in standing up for the rights of the little guy, the individual, the oppressed or downtrodden classes of the world. Zombies know the pain of being discriminated against by an uncaring and unfeeling society, and this hard-won empathy should allow those of us who act on their behalf to show common cause with others who are being treated badly by the world at large.

Thus we come to another point where our movement broadens and the ZRC makes common cause with what might be a non-traditional ally of our Movement.

Some background:

Last November Wisconsin elected an arch-conservative Republican named Scott Walker to the Governor’s mansion. To say that Walker’s tenure as Governor has been controversial would be an understatement; to characterize it as a disaster would hardly be out of bounds. Due to Walker’s intransigence Wisconsin lost almost 800 million dollars in Federal funds for a badly needed moderately high speed rail line extension between Madison, the state capital, and Milwaukee, one of its largest cities. Madison currently has no passenger rail of any sort, no rail connections to Amtrak or other cities. Further, thanks to Walker’s train-bashing, Wisconsin lost out on thousands of jobs that would have been created during this difficult economy to construct the route and then staff and maintain the trains themselves.

The loss of this line directly impacts the Zombie Rights Movement here in the Upper Midwest. The single greatest barrier to The ZRC going out and working regionally on behalf of Zombies is not paperwork, nor taxes, nor even Tom Savini, try though he does to thwart The Cause, but transportation. When we attend events in Chicago we have to drive 2-3 hours each way and pay often exhorbitant rates for parking. When we go to Indiana it’s more like 7-8 hours. The length of these drives and the fuel consumed, even in our hybrid car, forces us to stay in hotels more often as well, dramatically increasing our overhead. If Madison had been connected to Amtrak here in Wisconsin, trips to Milwaukee and Chicago would have become dramatically less costly and more convenient; eventually, when the line was to be extended westward, we could have likewise ridden it to Minneapolis. Even trips to Indiana would have been greatly aided, given that there is a large Amtrak presence in Indianapolis. Thus the loss of the train has a direct and negative impact on our work for Zombie Rights.

Compounding Walker’s economic incompetence has been his obvious scorn for democratic principles and, yes, the Differently Animated. We previously discussed his hateful and transparent plan to disenfranchise Zombie Voters in Wisconsin with an onerous and burdensome series of regulations designed to suppress both the Democratic and Zombie votes, right here on the ZRC blog.

Now Walker has a new target in his sights: public sector unions. Teachers, prison guards, state, county and local workers, all would lose their hard-won rights to meaningfully collectively bargain under Walker’s proposal:

MADISON, Wis. – Thousands of teachers, students and prison guards descended on the Wisconsin Capitol on Wednesday to fight a move to strip government workers of union rights in the first state to grant them more than a half-century ago.

The Statehouse filled with as many as 10,000 demonstrators who chanted, sang the national anthem and beat drums for hours. The noise in the rotunda rose to the level of a chainsaw, and many Madison teachers joined the protest by calling in sick in such numbers that the district — the state’s second-largest — had to cancel classes.

The new Republican governor, Scott Walker, is seeking passage of the nation’s most aggressive anti-union proposal, which was moving swiftly through the GOP-led Legislature.

If adopted, it would mark a dramatic shift for Wisconsin, which passed a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959 and was the birthplace of the national union representing all non-federal public employees.

Why is he proposing this? Ostensibly to save money; 300 million dollars over two years. This is however a smokescreen. If Walker was so concerned about the state budget he would not have just slashed business taxes by over a hundred million dollars. Added bonus: one of Walker’s beloved tax cuts explicitly can only go to fairly large businesses, not small ones, like, say, an e-tailer selling Zombie Friendly merchandise. Nope; Scott Walker doesn’t care about those jobs.

Walker is also threatening a health program for low-income women that saves the state over 100 million dollars a year, because it involves birth control, which makes him feel icky. So much for fiscal responsibility!

Walker’s actual target in attacking the public workers and their unions is, in fact, the act of collective bargaining itself, of forming a group of like-minded individuals trying to improve their lives, and this is where he comes up against the Zombie Rights Movement. Zombies are huge believers in collective action; this is one of the very few things the movies get right. Zombies work together, and want to work with you, to better their lot and make a better future. Zombies *need* solidarity just to get by in a world that hates and fears them. Yet here, in the first state in the nation to allow unionization of public employees, we have a political radical seeking to take away the rights of thousands of Wisconsin citizens, some of whom may well be Zombies, so that he can continue to hand huge sacks of taxpayer cash to big businesses and mete out punishment to groups that failed to support his candidacy.

Outrageous, isn’t it? But it gets even worse. Walker has pledged that, if there is resistance to his reactionary power grab, he will employ the National Guard to break strikes, work stoppages or service disruptions:

MADISON, Wis. —
Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees.

Walker said Friday that he hasn’t called the Guard into action, but he has briefed them and other state agencies in preparation of any problems that could result in a disruption of state services, like staffing at prisons.

An Anti-Zombie bigot like Walker calling out the National Guard? Is George Romero moonlighting on the Governor’s staff? In all seriousness, is it EVER good news for Zombies when a Zombie hating authority figure calls out the National Guard?

This is a perilous situation, for Wisconsin, sure, for civil liberties undoubtedly, for economic justice without a doubt – but most of all for Zombies!

That’s why tomorrow your ZRC President will be taking the day off his usual blogging, reviewing and activism to report from downtown at the Capitol, with pictures, video and analysis as the massive protests against Walker continue. Where else can you go to get first-hand accounts from a Zombie Friendly perspective of one of the most important stories in the United States today?

Probably nowhere else; stupid Mainstream Media. So it’s up to us at The Zombie Rights Campaign, and we’re happy to fill that role and live up to your expectations.

Tags: Mainstream Media, Public Appearance, Social Justice

This entry was posted by John Sears on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 at 12:48 am and is filed under Zombie Media, ZRC News. 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.