Chomsky: Uprising in the USA?The protests in Wisconsin are probably more significant than those in Egypt, but it is safe for the press to cover those that are far away. The ones in Wisconsin are much more alarming and so they must be played down in order to keep the public from reacting to a legitimate problem that directly affects them!!! (The article also talks about unions a great deal. Some of you might recall what happened in Trona during the 1970s.)
There has been a huge attack against private sector unions. Actually, that’s been going on since the Second World War. After the Second World War, business was terrified about the radicalization of the country during the Depression and then the war, and it started right off—Taft-Hartley was 1947—huge propaganda campaigns to demonize unions. It really—and it continued until you get to the Reagan administration.
Reagan was extreme. Beginning of his administration, one of the first things was to call in scabs—hadn’t been done for a long time, and it’s illegal in most countries—in the air controller strike. Reagan essentially—by "Reagan," I mean his administration; I don’t know what he knew—but they basically told the business world that they’re not going to apply the labor laws. So, that means you can break unions any way you like. And in fact, the number of firing of union organizers, illegal firing, I think probably tripled during the Reagan years.
LINK:
http://www.alternet.org/story/149953/chomsky:_uprising_in_the_usa/?page=1