|
A small collective in Chicago formed by anti-capitalists in a planning meeting for that city's mobilization to the protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit in Miami in the November of 2003. Midwest Unrest organized a pre-mobilization consulta, and took part in the week of protests that was met with a style of repression now often referred to as the Miami model. Then it organized a protest against the Central American Free Trade Agreement that December, and became something of a fixture of citywide and anti-fascist protests in Chicago.
The collective experienced internal conflict the next August over allegations of rape that were levelled against one of its members, who was eventually expelled from polical activities of the group, but is still in close assosiation with some of MU's members who excuse his behavior. Anti-authoritarian workers at the Young Women's Christian Association carried out a full-day sexual violence training which helped MWUR members develop through the crisis.
More recently, the MWUR collective participated in a citywide campaign to prevent threatened srvice cuts and fare increases by the Chicago Transit Authority. Through aggressive agitation in public hearings, meetings and flyering, the group pushed the Fare Strike tactic set for December 15 of 2004. The CTA postponed its decision for six months in what many community groups in the city heralded as a total victory.
External links
Midwest Unrest (http://www.midwestunrest.net)
|
