TRANSLATION PODCAST

Forum du Mouv, March 10, 2011

Eric Lange : And we carry on by going to the United States, and meet again our friend Jean-Christian Rostagni, good evening Jean-Christian.

J-C : Good evening Eric.

Eric Lange : The Mouv's Forum, the only brodcast who has some listeners who write in Le Monde.

giggles

Eric Lange : I am very proud of my listeners, I am very proud of them!

J-C : The only broadcast in any case, which mentioned what we are about to talk about ... It is with you that we launched that ... To the best of my knowledge, in France nobody else has mentioned it.


Eric Lange : Nobody takes me seriously when I mention in the hallway," hey guys, there is a revolution in Wisconsin ..." Everybody laughs, but it is true. So we are we in this Jean-Christian ? We need to summarize what is going on. There is part of Wisconsin population which manifests against some decisions that the Senator isn't it ...

J-C : That the Governor ...

Eric Lange : That the Wisconsin's Governor, sorry, wants to pass, decisions about notably the right to strike, if I understand well....

J-C : That's it. There is a financial crisis, as there is in about every state in the U.S., just as that is the case as well in about every State, period, in the Western world. So they don't have enough money, and they need to find a solution : either they tax more, either they need to ... eliminate some services, or here, in the present case, reduce the compensation for those who provide those services. So I ask you, what do they choose, well they choose to pay less the folks who work in the public service.

Eric Lange : They lower State Employee's salaries, that's it.

J-C : That's it, in an authoritarian fashion. Theoretically, those who are not happy may resign and go look for work somewhere else, except that when one has made a career in public service, hence you have acquired benefits that one might want to maintain, and besides that, one might not have a training leading to something else but public service. Someone like my spouse for instance, who is an elementary school teacher, is as such destined to be a State Employee. Because unless she starts working for some private school .. there is not a whole lot of them, they are not necessarily interesting etc... The majority of education is still delivered by public schools, and .. well .. thank goodness we are not in Wisconsin .. although the same thing may happen tomorrow in North Carolina .. and then at that rate, one's salary is cut down and one just have to shut up. And as if that was not enough, .. and what needs to be said is that Wisconsin public employees, have already agreed to some pay cuts, because in the end they are rather disciplined there, they are no Bolsheviks, unlike what some would have us believe. So, all that isn't enough, the Governor wants to strip them of the right to go on strike and have collective negotiations. And that is something completely dogmatic, which really has not much to do with the economic crisis, since as I just mentioned, unions have already agreed on pay cuts that were asked from them so that we could get out of the crisis if you will. But that's not enough , they also need to give up on the right to strike because that is something ideological, that is part of a national agenda, that I say is from the "International Tea Partyist," .. and....

Eric Lange : What is crazy in this story is that , all right.., some may have that kind of debate, but what is crazy is that there is a popular movement. Usually, .. we are more used to Americans not marching, accepting, being submissive.., and here people carry on, carry on protesting, marching in the streets ?

J-C : Yes, yes, because as I was writing in that Tribune in Le Monde, there is a "fed up" phenomenon, for years people's income has been eaten a little here, a little there, and on the top of it, with the example from the Arab world, the Americans have felt "this time, that's enough!, Enough is enough!" And you know in Wisconsin they are disciplined, as I was saying two seconds ago, they even accept terms that personally I would never cave in, but they accept anyway because .. In Wisconsin the population is rather Scandinavian originally, and so they tend to have a comparable temperament, .. more or less german, we don't make too many waves, and if we are asked to produce an effort well, we are stoic, we produce the effort. But here, after a while on the other hand, .. they are as well very unionized, historically, and when they are asked things that fundamentally go against fundamental union rights, and I would go as far as saying "fundamental human rights," isn't it? In France if my information is correct we have the right to strike written in the constitution ...

Eric Lange : Absolutely ...

J-C : Because that is a basic right. And when that is questioned, then "enough is enough" and people go down in the street as we have seen for several weeks. One thing has occurred that we might need to tell again for the listeners who do not have a color set, what we need to explain then is that in order to stop a law that we Governor was going to pass, the law that would abolish the right to strike, the Wisconsin Democrat Senators run away!

Eric Lange : Oh yes, that's it, in order to prevent the law from being voted in, since they need to be physically present in the State for the vote to happen ...

J-C : For the quorum to be met, one more senator was needed to meet the quorum, which is why the 14 Democrat Senators run away to Illinois, and as a matter of fact, the Indiana Senators , for comparable matter, not exactly the same stuff, but something similar, did the same thing ... I don't know where they are with the Indiana story, we don't hear about it anymore, but the Wisconsin fellows are still there, in Illinois. And so all this was creating a problem because we were idled, The Governor was camping on his position, he absolutely wanted his law to pass, and at the point at which he was he would have lost face otherwise. And on another hand, the Democrat Senators could not come back either, as they were engaged in a direction .. they could not make a U turn. So we were in a dead end, and yesterday something happened that was more or less unforeseen, a coup, the Wisconsin Republican Senators made a maneuver that consists in changing the law .. in creating a new text, so that it may then go through without the quorum ...

Eric Lange : Oh without the quorum .. and it it went through ?

J-C : And as a result, yesterday night it went through in half an hour, at dusk .. Everybody is up in arms in the United States because American public opinion is on the strikers' side because they consider that indeed, abolishing the right to strike is a little tough to stomach ...

Eric Lange : Jean-Christian, Jean-Christian, I interrupt you because we need to accelerate a little, one last thing, I see in one of the photographs that you sent us, there is an American magazine with Stephane Hessel with "Indignez-Vous" ...

J-C : Yes, absolutely, .. that's "The Nation" magazine, which is a leftist magazine, that publishes that, as a matter of fact, in relation with what is going on in the United States, .. and...

Eric Lange : it is surprising !

J-C : Yes, It is a nice cover, the colors are pleasant, and it is indeed the photograph that you were kind enough to put on your blog, and that I used myself, as the head photograph on my blog for this tribune in Le Monde.

Eric Lange : it is surprising. Jean-Christian...

J-C : Shall we as well say, may we ask the listeners, if they feel like it, to chip in 3€, 4€ for the campaign to send the Wisconsin Republican Senators to retirement? What can be done in the United States, that, to my knowledge, is not done in France, it is possible to cancel the mandate of elected officials that are redeemed corrupted or whatever. They are therefore organizing that in Wisconsin to recall those renegade Senators who are compromised in this...

Eric Lange : giggle, All right ... giggle... Jean-Christian, Jean-Christian Rostagni, thank you. If the listeners want to know more, your Tribune is published today in Le Monde today. We put all the links with your blog to see your photographs and so on .. and if you want to give 3€ so that the Republican Senators go back .. get into retirement .. why not. .. giggle .. giggle.. Thank you Jean-Christian.

J-C : All right, thank you Eric, good evening!

Eric Lange :See you soon, Jean-Chritian. 01 45 24 20 20, the revolution in America, do you believe in it ? Imagine, if that would not change the world ... A deep social movement in America ...

Indignons Nous

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