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Populist Storm on Its Way to a City Near You
It’s dubbed “Rolling Thunder,” and if Jim Hightower’s vision comes true, it’ll be a revolutionary storm, one that keeps getting bigger, stronger and louder as it moves across the country.
The storm got kicked up in Austin, Texas, on March 23, when union members, social justice advocates, environmentalists — progressive people from all over the map — came together at county fairgrounds for a day of fiery speeches, live music and networking.
Hightower, the Texas-based political humorist and populist who spoke recently at CWA’s Legislative-Political Convention, described it this way: “It’s a county fair with guts. A revival with a reason. A concert with consciousness. A festival with funk and function. The Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tour reawakens a great American tradition of asserting the power of regular people to fight for their rights.”
CWA is one of the national planning partners for Rolling Thunder, and members of Locals 6132 and 6186 worked as volunteers at the Austin event, taking tickets, managing parking and serving as gofers for whatever needed to be done. Scores of CWA members attended, all encouraged to wear union shirts.
“The CWA folks here came through for us in a tremendous way,” said Sean Doles, communications director for Hightower, noting the special help of Danny Fetonte, District 6 area director for organizing.
“Danny did everything we asked of him. We kind of gave him a wish list and he really went above and beyond. He took us to talk to union folks and get them involved,” Doles said. “It was just tremendous what he did — what everyone did in manpower, in resources and in spirit.”
The event, starting at noon and going into the night, featured food and information booths, entertainers and well known speakers that included columnist Molly Ivins, filmmaker and writer Michael Moore and Jesse Jackson Jr.
One of the booths was set up by Local 6186, the Texas State Employees Union. Volunteers answered questioned and passed out information about the local, which represents 10,000 state and university workers. Hightower himself was a member when he served two terms as Texas Agriculture Commissioner.
“It was very much a fair, very lively,” Local 6186 Vice President Mike Gross said. “There were lots of organizations, progressive people of all different stripes and kinds and issues passing out information.”
It fit Hightower’s vision of connecting “farmers with environmentalists, Democrats with Greens, progressive businesses with labor, Teamsters with turtles, the bowling league with the League of Women Voters, bubbas with bean sprout eaters.”
“It’s the only surefire way we can create meaningful democracy,” he says. “And the more fun we have along the way, the more people will want to join us.”
The Rolling Thunder tour is scheduled to come to Chicago on June 15; Tucson, Ariz., on July 28; Seattle on Aug. 17; and Minneapolis on Sept. 14, with other stops pending. For more information, and to get involved, go online to:
www.rollingthundertour.org.
The storm got kicked up in Austin, Texas, on March 23, when union members, social justice advocates, environmentalists — progressive people from all over the map — came together at county fairgrounds for a day of fiery speeches, live music and networking.
Hightower, the Texas-based political humorist and populist who spoke recently at CWA’s Legislative-Political Convention, described it this way: “It’s a county fair with guts. A revival with a reason. A concert with consciousness. A festival with funk and function. The Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tour reawakens a great American tradition of asserting the power of regular people to fight for their rights.”
CWA is one of the national planning partners for Rolling Thunder, and members of Locals 6132 and 6186 worked as volunteers at the Austin event, taking tickets, managing parking and serving as gofers for whatever needed to be done. Scores of CWA members attended, all encouraged to wear union shirts.
“The CWA folks here came through for us in a tremendous way,” said Sean Doles, communications director for Hightower, noting the special help of Danny Fetonte, District 6 area director for organizing.
“Danny did everything we asked of him. We kind of gave him a wish list and he really went above and beyond. He took us to talk to union folks and get them involved,” Doles said. “It was just tremendous what he did — what everyone did in manpower, in resources and in spirit.”
The event, starting at noon and going into the night, featured food and information booths, entertainers and well known speakers that included columnist Molly Ivins, filmmaker and writer Michael Moore and Jesse Jackson Jr.
One of the booths was set up by Local 6186, the Texas State Employees Union. Volunteers answered questioned and passed out information about the local, which represents 10,000 state and university workers. Hightower himself was a member when he served two terms as Texas Agriculture Commissioner.
“It was very much a fair, very lively,” Local 6186 Vice President Mike Gross said. “There were lots of organizations, progressive people of all different stripes and kinds and issues passing out information.”
It fit Hightower’s vision of connecting “farmers with environmentalists, Democrats with Greens, progressive businesses with labor, Teamsters with turtles, the bowling league with the League of Women Voters, bubbas with bean sprout eaters.”
“It’s the only surefire way we can create meaningful democracy,” he says. “And the more fun we have along the way, the more people will want to join us.”
The Rolling Thunder tour is scheduled to come to Chicago on June 15; Tucson, Ariz., on July 28; Seattle on Aug. 17; and Minneapolis on Sept. 14, with other stops pending. For more information, and to get involved, go online to:
www.rollingthundertour.org.