By Barbara With, October 29, 2016 All photos by Barbara With, except “Boys On Horses,” by Joe Brusky Today I made my first visit to the Sacred Stone Camps, the now-famous water protector settlement in Standing Rock, North Dakota. I arrived at Standing Rock casino well past midnight and arose early the next day to get to … Continue reading Standing Rock Will Prevail
It was horsemanship day at the Red Warrior Camp in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, and we had set ourselves up in the minimal shade of a small break of willow trees. It was the only shade around, and people drifted in to watch the riding events, joining us away from the blistering sun. We started … Continue reading Drone To Be Wild
We arrived early to the eerily fortified University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee campus, cameras in hand. Police were everywhere, whole sections cordoned off with temporary metal barricades, motorcycle cops buzzed the neighborhood, and sniffing dogs, nose to the ground, moved in their purposeful patterns zigzagging their handlers behind them. Donald Trump would be appearing in a … Continue reading Student Coalitions Rise Against Trump Hate
We greeted those arriving to the Music Under Glass event at the Mitchell Park Domes, Thursday night, to remind them that it was the current County Executive Chris Abele whose mismanagement put the future of this Milwaukee landmark in jeopardy. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, Abele’s destruction doesn’t end here. Milwaukee has over $200 million in deferred … Continue reading Milwaukee Has Had Enough of Chris Abele
Food and Water Watch has just published a report: The State of Public Water in the United States. It is an excellent read, filled with history of public water utilities and useful data about the cost of water across the country, from both public and private, for-profit providers. It’s also long, so here are some … Continue reading Privatized Water: All About the Profit
By Michael H. Carriere As the national spotlight remains on Flint, Michigan, Republicans in another Midwestern state – Wisconsin – are quietly easing restrictions on the private purchase of municipal water systems. This attempt to privatize water and sewer utilities is just the latest in a long line of policies put forward by Wisconsin Republicans to … Continue reading Is Wisconsin the Next Flint?
A reporter at Wednesday’s press conference in Milwaukee asked Senator Larson (D) a question about the validity of the comparison between the toxic poisoning in Flint, Michigan, and the Water Privatization Bill (SB432 and AB554) that is moving through the Republican controlled Wisconsin legislature faster than cherry pits through a coyote. “After all,” the reporter … Continue reading There Is No Clean Water Without Clean Government
This is how the legislative process now works in Wisconsin. A company called Aqua America registers as a lobbyist, hires former Republican legislator and Assembly Majority Leader Steven Foti as a lobbyist, and he works to get a new law passed that will bring business for Aqua. The company has had success nationally selling its … Continue reading Who is Aqua America?
You turn on your tap and orange colored rusty crud comes out. It smells bad and tastes worse. You’ve been told not to drink it, not to bathe in it, not to wash dishes in it, yet there are few alternatives. Worse, you now understand that it is laced with lead, leached from pipes due to … Continue reading Detroit Light Brigade & the “Arrest Snyder Road Trip”
Illumination Against Gentrification. Photo by Patrick Chang. In Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox For Revolution, the tactic “Light Brigading” is described “To broadcast a message through collective action; to frame nighttime actions with a key message; to make creative use of overlooked public spaces.” The end of 2015 brings us an inspirational collaborative project: “Illumination Against … Continue reading Community Building Through Light Brigading