Operation: Shake the Ground! is expected to unite 40 liberal orgs, including Sousaphones Against Hate, a big brass-playing ensemble of lefties marching against oppression with the motto: Resist and Protest. #wiright #wipolitics Click To Tweet

UPDATE TO ORIGINAL STORY

MacIver News Service | June 25, 2018

By M.D. Kittle 

MADISON, Wis. – A coalition of left-wing organizations prepared to stop Foxconn Technology Group in Wisconsin “any way we can” has gotten the band together – literally – for a day of protests during the tech giant’s groundbreaking ceremony this week. 

Nothing says oppression quite like an advanced technology manufacturer investing billions of dollars into southeast Wisconsin and creating tens of thousands of family-supporting jobs.

Operation: Shake the Ground!, a coalition press release states, is expected to bring together 40 liberal organizations, including Sousaphones Against Hate, a big brass-playing ensemble of lefties marching against oppression with the motto “Resist and Protest.”

The coalition features a “diverse group” of liberals, “with a core team made up of landowners and residents of Mount Pleasant, Racine and Kenosha; students and youth leaders; environmentalists; civil rights advocates; interfaith communities; transportation advocates; public school teachers; UW professors; union workers; farmers; and indigenous leaders,” according to the press release.

The coalition’s so-called stand against oppression and “corruption” is slated to begin at noon Thursday in the pavilion at Smolenski Park in Mount Pleasant.

Of course nothing says oppression quite like an advanced technology manufacturer investing billions of dollars into southeast Wisconsin and creating tens of thousands of family-supporting jobs. Ironically, Foxconn makes the components for the many of the smartphones and personal tablet devices these radicals have used to organize their anti-business rallies.

But these ground shakers see the Foxconn development deal – the largest of its kind in U.S. history – as a “boondoggle … passed by an unrepresentative state legislature, politically motivated to boost the governor’s reelection bid.” 

Gov. Scott Walker and President Donald Trump will be joined by Foxconn CEO and founder Terry Gou and a number of local, state and national dignitaries at Thursday’s groundbreaking in Mount Pleasant. The growing Racine County community is the site of the planned manufacturing campus (the size of 11 Lambeau Fields) expected to employ 13,000 people at maximum capacity. Contractors charged with building the massive facility are expected to employ some 10,000 construction workers over the next five years to get the job done.  

Critics, led by the Democratic Party and their allies on the left, have decried the hefty state incentives tied to the project. The “pay as you go” development deal will provide state tax credits if Foxconn fulfills its job-creation promises and hits its combined investment pledge of $10 billion. 

Extreme environmentalists in particular hate the development plan, predicting that the production facility will destroy southeast Wisconsin’s air and waterways. While they have blasted Walker’s administration for softening permitting standards, Foxconn has and will face rigorous state and federal requirements that demand substantial mitigation and other environmental safeguards. 

As MacIver News Service first reported earlier this month, the coalition of the willing liberal groups has a longer-term strategy than just groundbreaking protests.

This month the company said it would install a $30 million recycling system at the plant to sharply reduce its water consumption from Lake Michigan.

None of the safeguards proposed by the state and Foxconn have appeased the leftists. 

As MacIver News Service first reported earlier this month, the coalition of the willing liberal groups has a longer-term strategy than just groundbreaking protests. 

“We want this to not only be against Foxconn … but also be against those things that are happening due to the corruption of Walker being in office. But it will mainly focus on Foxconn,” one of the leaders of the campaign said during a June conference call that MacIver News attended. 

Perhaps the liberal coalition hasn't checked the latest MU Law School poll, which shows 56% of registered voters statewide believe the Foxconn plant will substantially improve the economy of the Milwaukee area. #wiright #wipolitics Click To Tweet

The protest, organizers say, is largely about the “landowners and residents impacted directly or indirectly by the misuses of eminent domain and blighted zone rulings…” But it all reeks of progressive politics. 

The latest press release, sent out last week, notes the coalition will be conducting voter registration during the rallies.

A rally at the Mount Pleasant Village Hall will feature “voices from all over the state concerned with the economic, political, social and environmental repercussions from the Foxconn deal and the corrupt legislative body that approved it,” the press release states. 

The lineup of guests and speakers includes “Assembly, Senate and Gubernatorial candidates from throughout the state.”

Coalition members insist, “Luring Foxconn to Wisconsin is the biggest mistake of Scott Walker’s tenure as Governor.”

Perhaps they haven’t checked the latest Marquette University Law School poll, which shows 56 percent of registered voters statewide believe the Foxconn plant will substantially improve the economy of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The poll also found that 52 percent of respondents believe the state is heading in the right direction. In a politically divided Wisconsin, Walker’s approval rating, at 49 percent, is higher than his disapproval rating for the first time in nearly four years.

The short-term goal is to stop #Foxconn. The long-term mission is to fire up the liberal base to take out @GovWalker and the GOP Legislature that championed the largest development deal of its kind in U.S. history. #wiright #wipolitics Click To Tweet

Original story

MacIver News Service | June 4, 2018

By M.D. Kittle 

MADISON, Wis. – Left-wing activists committed to doing whatever it takes to stop Foxconn Technology Group’s massive manufacturing campus in southeast Wisconsin are planning to rain on the tech giant’s ground-breaking picnic.

Organizers held a conference call Sunday evening to talk about their plans for a rally and demonstration on June 28, the day Foxconn is scheduled to hold its ground-breaking ceremony on its proposed $10 billion plant in Mount Pleasant. MacIver News Service obtained the call-in information and covered the planning session.

“Take a stand against Foxconn. For our fellow Wisconsinites, join the effort and help us SHUT FOXCONN DOWN,” a progressive coalition Facebook alert states.

The idea, organizers say, is to assemble a coalition of diverse progressive groups – from environmental organizations to civil rights leaders to Foxconn-hating politicians. While each group will bring its own social and environmental complaints to the table, they will all rally around their abhorrence of the Foxconn economic development plan, according to the coalition-building plan.

“We want to stop it in any way we can,” a coalition member told participants on the call. “If we can’t stop it, we want to give them bad publicity. We want to be able to, like, make them aware that the community is aware. We want to show that, ‘Hey, we’re not going to give you an easy fight here.” 

“Take a stand against Foxconn. For our fellow Wisconsinites, join the effort and help us SHUT FOXCONN DOWN,” a progressive coalition Facebook alert states.

The short-term goal is to stop Foxconn. The long-term mission is to fire up the liberal base to take out Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature that championed the largest development deal of its kind in U.S. history. 

“We want this to not only be against Foxconn … but also be against those things that are happening due to the corruption of Walker being in office. But it will mainly focus on Foxconn,” one of the leaders of the campaign said during the call. 

The anti-Foxconn group plans to bring into the coalition representatives from indigenous rights organizations, social justice groups, lawmakers and someone who represents the “youth voice.” 

“We’re contacting some of the high school students that are speaking out against the NRA right now because they have a huge crowd of those in Milwaukee,” the lead organizer said. 

Coalition organizers plan to be at Monday night’s special meeting of the Mount Pleasant Village Board, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. They are hoping to speak out against the project.

Group members talked about making the focal point of their resistance movement the Mount Pleasant-area residents facing the loss of their properties to make room for the Foxconn factory, but it was clear by Sunday’s conference call that the left-wing activists have broader objectives in mind.   

“Beyond the immediate need for citizens to show up in support of the victims of Scottconn (the group’s portmanteau combining Gov. Scott Walker and Foxconn),we will also be discussing the planned Action for the 28th,” the group’s email urged. The email also seeks “volunteers to help with Voter Registration.”

“Additionally we will need volunteers and eager helpers willing to be trained by MKE Street Protectors to assist in facilitating and monitoring our action to ensure the safety of attendees as well as creative writers to submit LTE’s not only to the news outlets in the affected area but also our hometowns throughout the state,” the email stated. 

Media cooperation and partnership is definitely a big part of the rally and planned demonstration. As of Sunday, the plan was to hold a rally first at a park or the Mount Pleasant Village Hall and then march to a planned demonstration against the Foxconn project, before rallying again. Some on the call wanted to make the event a day-long protest, but a top organizer reminded the group of the importance of the news media’s deadlines and schedules. 

“If we do it as a longer event, it’s best to make it six or seven hours max, just because we don’t want people coming and going throughout the day and then when we actually have the rally portion most of those people aren’t there, and it doesn’t look like it’s as impactful because when we have media there we want that to be during the main rally,” the organizer said. “And we want to show all of the different groups that are there all at the same time advocating for the different causes and expressing the different concerns they have.”

Foxconn’s manufacturing campus in Racine County is expected to ultimately employ 13,000 people at the plant itself, and many more thousands to construct the facility and to serve it. The production plant will make liquid crystal display panels. It comes with a hefty state incentives package based in large part on job-creation goals. 

Extreme environmentalists in particular hate the development plan, predicting that the production facility will destroy southeast Wisconsin’s air and waterways. While they have blasted Walker’s administration for softening permitting standards, Foxconn has and will face rigorous state and federal requirements that demand substantial mitigation and other environmental safeguards. 

The anti-Foxconn coalition campaign is brimming with liberal politics. One participant on the conference call said he attended the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s state convention in Oshkosh over the weekend, where there was plenty of anti-Foxconn talk by the crowded field of Democrat contenders for governor. 

“There was universal disdain for Foxconn,” he said. “I’m sure they (the candidates) would welcome any kind of demonstration that would take place that would kind of help their credibility as well and maybe get some of them to actually show up.”