Text messages from the Wisconsin Capitol

On Saturday night, after driving through the snow from his home in rural Wisconsin, Waging Nonviolence special correspondent Quince Mountain arrived in Madison, where for almost two weeks, protesters had been occupying the Capitol building in a historic effort to prevent the passage of Governor Scott Walker’s bid to strip away the collective bargaining rights of many state employees. I couldn’t convince him to sit down in the middle of all the mayhem and write us a regular dispatch, but what he did do was better: a play by play account of what he was seeing over text message.

I first heard from him at 9:15 on Saturday night.

Capitol is on lockdown for the night. How can u lock down an occupation? Protests are so bizarre.

I’ll stay tomorrow. Big bust planned for 4pm.

Then, by 11, I got a disconcerting message.

Texting from cop car

I asked, “Why? What happened?” It wasn’t until almost two hours later that he responded.

No no. I was just hanging out talking w a cop in her car outside the Capitol.

She said there have been zero arrests the whole two weeks. And we hung out in her car and a delivery guy tried to give us pizzas “donated from Washington” but she couldn’t accept them.

The cops have been marching with the protesters twice daily. And I just read some of the cop briefing emails. Which strike me.

Wait, I should be clear. There may have been arrests. Madison pd is NOT the Capitol pd or the state troopers.

Plan for tomorrow according to email I saw is that everyone’s requested to leave the Capitol for cleaning by 4pm but that no one will be forcibly removed. Same as is stated publicly.

Yeah. Egyptians have donated food and pizzas and have sent messages.

Tomorrow breakfast w my cop friend and a state assembly staffer and an in-home therapist in danger of losing his job, among others.

I’m going to sleep I think.

After that, I didn’t hear from him again until 3:40 on Sunday afternoon. That’s only 20 minutes before the big crackdown was supposed to happen.

Trying to get into Capitol. Shouts of “we are all people” w response of “let us all in”

Cold grey afternoon

Air feels wet. State Troopers around. Kid with sign “walker is a turd”. I cringe at that kind.

Madisonians are beautiful.

But my companion rachel says in the last 10 min she’s heard more negative crowd comments than in past 12 days combined. Tense bc of troopers and impending ejection. Some angry/fearful she thinks.

“who’s house?”. “our house”

Husky Dog with placard. Can only see. One side “he sucks”

11 minutes to go.

These people do not seem like they’re leaving. The troopers have backpacks.

Friend sees sign and asks me “what’s a plutocracy?”. We look it up.

Chanting drumming stopped suddenly. Can’t tell what’s up. Some distant cheering?

Hounddog barking w vigor. More drumming.

I keep wondering how many romances were formed in weeks of rotunda sleepover.

And then 4 pm in the afternoon arrived, the time when the police were planning to begin removing protesters.

Lots of cheering. Not sure why

Capitol doors closed.

We are marching. Somewhere.

I don’t understand what’s going on at all.

Some people are leaving. Others are cheering. ?

At 4:16, I heard from him again. More news, and more confusion. People were trickling out of the building, but many weren’t leaving at all.

“we’ll be back”

I did notice this morning that parking is suspended in surrounding blocks til march 10.

Maybe 4 or 5 people have left this entrance so far.

This whole thing is so weird. It’s like playing paintball for peoples life prospects

By half-past 4, the procession out was continuing. Quince begins to learn more about the situation.

Like all these people are leaving. Peacefully. Because they’ve been asked to leave. And we’re standing around chanting “thank you” and “we’ll be back” and some people inside are chanting “let them in”

now we are singing happy birthday but I don’t know to whom.

Solidarity forever.

But the thing that strikes me mainly is that all the people look all different and come together beautifully.

Guy inside says 700 ppl are leaving bc they were asked to. The second floor.

This is all so Weird nathan. It seems so inefficient.

Sign “Scott walker is a sociopath and doesn’t care what anyone thinks”

Why does democracy have to look so much like a football rally?

Then, at 5:17, I get a surprise message. Quince, somehow, made it into the Capitol.

I’m inside building now. With holdouts.

And a million cops.

Building very much locked Down.

Each staircase blocked so people can’t go up. But people are still on other levels.

“Wow,” I say. “How’d you get in?”

Can’t say here how I got in but it is a marvel.

There are amazing signs everywhere. Gandhi and Jesus and elevator workers and vets for peace and just plain info. It’s an education in itself.

From then on, the confusion he seemed to feel on the outside turns to awe. He keeps on describing the scene. I ask if there have been any arrests yet that day.

Not yet but soon.

I’m reading the info on How to Be Arrested just now.

It’s very different inside. These people are pros.

I mean, they [the people on the outside] really are the cheerleaders. And these folks are the team. They’re Amazing Nathan.

These people are going to try to stay.

The cops are so tired. And bored I think. These people just project Solid. It’s really something. I feel so privileged to see this.

the Madison cops are NOT going in the Capitol. So state troopers and Capitol police are inside. But I have not seen a single confrontation. I think some people (whoever is in here now) will resist arrest if it comes to that.

“Resist how?” I ask.

By “respectfully letting the officer know that they do not want to leave but cooperating physically”. OR “by respectfully refusing to leave and sitting down or going limp”. I think. At least that’s what one 8.5×11 paper tacked to a walls suggests.

There are also signs reminding protestors that the cops are on the same side.

It’s a wonder, seeing a house of government dressed up like this. There are papers and cardboard on every wall and moveon letters thick up the staircase and drum buckets and people with tally marks in black marker on their forearm– one for each day of occupancy. There is not a single bit of litter on the floor. In the center of the rotunda a guy is sleeping under a flag for warmth.

It smells like ripe apples.

It’s 6 pm. There was a tense mood earlier, but now that has turned to celebration as it becomes clear that the protesters won’t be forcibly removed.

People are dancing like crazy on floor two.

Is that a topless woman?!??

A few minutes later, more observations. The planned cleaning of the building—which was the unsuccessful pretense used earlier to remove the protesters—proceeds as planned, and the protesters cheer it on and help out.

There is a box labeled “contact solution”.

For a second I thought it contained something really cool.

Someone is buffing the floor and ppl are cheering. A media photographer snapped an artsy shot of the streaks in his wake.

There are diapers and wipes and it looks like protesters brought their own TP and there are medics and legal observer and sleepy people and child care and people teaching classes and giving briefings and there are places to leave messages and “meet friends” and there are also apples and bananas which I can’t find.

Some chick just took my picture.

Favorite signs: “Seafarers for union rights” And “violinist for labor”

People are suddenly yelling like mad and cheering and standing. It’s off the hook

Quince isn’t sure at first why there is so much excitement. He asks if I’ve heard anything. I haven’t. Then he gets word:

Ok. A republican senator switched!

Someone just walked by offering everyone batteries.

I thought I’d seen it all but there is a straight up choreographed dance routine. For real.

F—ing riverdance is here. They want their democracy back.

My friend Wajid is a leader of joyous song. I’m proud of him. He squatted for years on a holdout farm in the middle of Madison. I lived there a while.

(I am also, it occurs to me, the only clean shaven dude here. That’s not a cop)

These are the people who all refused to leave at 4.

I got in after that.

Passing out vitamins!!

Apparently we get to stay the night. No arrests

So yeah. People totally get to stay. And they’re bringing us food. And everyone is facilitating the building cleaning. And tomorrow at 8am building opens again.

Cap Police filing out. One just said excuse me on his way past. Must be shift change.

There is some bread. U think it’s fair game?

Ppl doing cartwheels in the rotunda.

I bet people would think twice now before putting their state capitols in college towns. Or vice versa.

By 8:30, people have calmed down a bit.

Now comes the part of the night when random people are approaching me for a hug. I would fit in better at a tea party rally.

An hour later, things get more serious, and people start planning for what will come next.

People are now in these little groups strategizing and even though I’m with my awesome friend Wajid I’m pretty uncomfortable.

Making ground rules for the meeting. Setting the agenda. Etc etc. There’s like 18 of us. Debriefing and.

At midnight and beyond. I go to bed in New York, but in the Madison Capitol, among the people who have made it their temporary home, meetings and discussions continue:

Wow. I’m really getting an education.

Big lesson so far is the beginning of a sense that waging nonviolent action is painstaking.

The next day our correspondent remained inside; protesters who tried to leave even just for a breath of fresh air were not allowed back in. Authorities are clearly intending to make the protesters will leave, but they have yet to take forceful action to make them do so. Receiving his text messages over the course of the day was surreal as I worked at my computer, and rode my bike into Manhattan, and went to a dental appointment where CNN was reporting that Charlie Sheen is demanding a multi-million dollar raise. Needless to say, I was glad that at least someone was paying attention while history is being made.

Here’s a sampling of Quince’s dispatches over the course of the day.

9:17 am

There is a confrontation? Not clear. A guy in the center is yelling about tension. People are asking cops yelling why aren’t people allowed in?

Use of the word fascist. And peace.

These teachers union guys on the bottom are running a certain part of the show.

But I don’t feel a lot of confidence in a revolution this morning.

Coffee might help.

Now they’re singing “we love u” to the police.

9:45

Guy from fox business network clear to say he’s not fox news network. “we’re straight”

10:01

My friend just texted asking if I’m willing to get arrested.

“Why?” I wrote.

Oh. And now he wrote “jail is awesome for trans folks”. I suppose, huh?

[On what happened last night:] I walked in at this key moment where ppl were almost leaving but didn’t. Just chose not to. And last night so many ppl I talked to attributed that to who got on the mic when. Like these five ppl basically just worked the crowd and were like “we didn’t need to leave”. Like ending exactly when the main push to eject ppl happened. And they just stayed.

10:39

So it’s like… A standoff? 25 cops with dogs at every door and only letting anyone in for each person who goes out?

11:30

[While in the bathroom, he hears a noise.]

Is that a saw or grinder? Or some ocd senators beefcake electric toothbrush?

Oh. the grinder was to grind off the screw heads [to keep people from breaking in with screwdrivers]. They did a nice job. I’d give it a B.

11:50

Hymns.

Or at least hallelus.

12:37 pm

Tmrw at 4 pm the gov reveals probably nasty budget.

So ppl are trying to stay in bldg. Gov trying to “threaten and bully the senators”

People don’t even want to let the gov in the building. Though I’m sure he’ll get in.

1:06

Release: “no additional protesters allowed til the situation has resolved”. What situation???

Firefighters now in playing bagpipes. National anthem. A few ppl singing.

Right now it seems there are more cops than protestors.

Some ppl want to kill the whole bill. I wonder if some wouldn’t just settle for keeping collective bargaining.

Solidarity version of Barney theme song

There isn’t actually some clear unity of motive and method. Yet something coherent comes out of this. It’s quite a thing to see, for me.

2:51

Woman from Pakistan. “interesting. I’ve grown up in a country under martial law and it’s amazing how similar this is”

4:25

Keeping absent senator office warm while he’s in Illinois. Quiet place for napping, and someones gotta do it.

People talking about (second?) “jumper” who got arrested for climbing cap building.

“what an idiot. Makes us all look like lunatics”

There’s also the ecstatic dancing and the nightly “ohm in the dome” ritual and the unshaven days of sleeping on pieces of foil and the solidarity version of the Barney theme. I mean, just in case there were no building scalers to project lunacy.

What if some people just like climbing buildings better than singing we shall overcome?

I think much of this is aesthetic. Ritual. Tradition. Who you want to go to bed with.

Is that reductive?

Curled up under democratic senator chris larson’s desk.

Texting.

3:46

Ok so there’s lots of affidavit submitting going on.

One public health nurse testifying that she’s seeing symptoms of norovirus. Which is some respiratory nastiness that happens on cruise ships, people think.

Exiled senator chris Larson likes to run marathons and triathlons it looks like. There are some real swell pictures.

4:52

So I guess yesterday the teamsters ordered 500 pizzas when they meant pizza for 500.

Whoops.

5:15

Some woman just walked in and cops apprehended her but she just came in anyhow and they let her go.

Figuring out what orders police are operating under is like playing that summer camp game where people pass each other sticks a certain way and u do it right or wrong til you can infer what the rules are.

"Whilst channel 27 does a piece about how we have no access to food"

5:55

Things getting weird. I wanna leave but I’m not.

Ppl are making weird claims like that it’s been “extremely difficult to get food or basic medical supplies”.

At which I point out that I’ve eaten a bagel and a croissant and a pbj and 9 slices of pizza and a chocolate bar etc etc. And coffee and tea and donuts and.

And ibuprofen and lavender and skullcap and wipes and contact solution and foil blankies and and and.

I also ate two oranges, a banana, a pear, and a Clementine.

Oh. Did I say a croissant?

And a granola bar.

Homemade

There were cookies too

And the pizza had macaroni on it.

I haven’t had dinner yet tho.

Sandwiches and salad are coming.

So anyhow I just suggested at first gently that maybe we shouldn’t mislead people by saying it’s been Extremely Difficult.

it just seems like a pointless claim when there are so many blatant violations to focus on like people just not being allowed in there.

So anyhow. Re press release. They kept insisting how Extremely Difficult it was to eat here and I was like, “has anyone in this room wanted more to eat today or needed a medical supply and not gotten it? Have heard of anyone else with difficulty?”

Ppl Were like “I’m vegan so it’s been a little tougher” and “there hasn’t been enough lettuce”

Oh there were also scones.

8:20

Had a nice chat with representative Brett Hulsey. He talked about how freedom family fairness and future are core values that drill deep. Unlike, say, rights. Rights is secondary. Freedom is the core underneath.

I am happy for the freedom to use representative hulseys office.

9:19

News of window jimmying and directions in Spanish. People camping outside on the lawn. Tent city erected And razed Sleeping bags only on lawn I’m wiped. Mainly annoyed at everyone for being so busy and loud. For being good protestors, basically.

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Article originally posted on Waging Nonviolence

Photo Credits: Flickr CC Los Albatross