Voices from the massive pro-union rally in Wisconsin

[struggle4progress]

MADISON, Wisc. | Sat Feb 26, 2011 7:12pm EST
(Reuters) - ....

Joel DeSpain, spokesman for the Madison Police Department: "Last week's protest drew somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 people. We're in excess of that -- somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 -- but we don't have a firm number yet. What we do know is that it is one of the largest protests in Wisconsin history. And it's the largest sustained protest we've ever seen in Madison since the Vietnam War. And there were absolutely no problems. Democracy took place and we had absolutely no problems" ....

Amy MacDonald, 35, a stay-at-home mom from Madison, Wisconsin: "I was so moved by the whole scene. There were so many people in peaceful opposition to what the governor is doing and it just really meant a lot ... It was 15 degrees outside and people were totally undeterred. People need to know about the persistence here because it's going to be a long struggle with lots of ups and downs ... It was very Wisconsin. People were congenial and happy and calm and nonviolent and it was just really important to see that people can come together and express themselves in that way and hopefully be effective but do it in the right way" ....

Vicki Guzman, a Canadian government employee and a member of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, who spent $400 to rent a car and drive the more than 600 miles from her home in Guelph, Ontario to be among the demonstrators. "It's about solidarity, eh? I lived here for 11 years and saw a lot of protests, but nothing this big."

Jeff Skiles, US Airways co-pilot who helped safely ditch a packed passenger jet on the Hudson River in New York City in 2009: "On that day, there were many many heroes: pilots, flight attendants, traffic controllers, firemen, policemen, folks in the ferry boats, EMTs. We didn't abandon those passengers to save themselves. We all worked together to save everybody. That's a lesson that people in this capitol building need to learn ... Every one of them was union" ....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/27/us-wisconsin-protests-quotes-idUSTRE71Q01120110227