Labor Beat -- Chicago At The Tipping Point? Massive protests at mayor's budget hearings show extent, sophistication, and depth of the public's anger at Rahm Emanuel...
Protesters during the September 2015 Chicago budget hearings. Labor Beat photo.In early September, 2015 a series of hearings on the city budget were held in Chicago. The two hearings we document -- one on the South Side and one on the North Side -- were noteworthy on a number of levels.
Unlike the school closing hearings a few years ago [2012 - 2013], the audiences in attendance got to directly face the mayor instead of representatives of his representatives. The audiences understood now that these hearings were charades; and at one of the hearings they actually ran him off the stage and at the other they cheered when a speaker from the floor called for Rahm's arrest.
Also, greatly underplayed in corporate media accounts, most of the speakers saw 'making the rich pay' as the solution to the budget problems. This kind of talk is rocking the boat, while old forms of political control are starting to malfunction.
Rahm's re-election was far from a mandate. In the April 2015 runoff election, Rahm got 56% of the vote and Chuy Garcia got 44%. But only 40% of eligible voters actually voted. Therefore, the percentage of the eligible electorate that actually voted for Rahm was 22%. This isn't a stable political situation.
This Labor Beat video is narrated. The length 25:43.
Video url: https://youtu.be/phA59g20pmc
Rahm-not-enjoying-s.jpg
Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat (Committee for Labor Access) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. ?For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search "Labor Beat". Labor Beat is on as a cable-tv series in six U.S. cities; check our website for more info. Chicago schedule: CAN TV 19, Thurs. 9:30 pm, Fri. 4:30 pm
