Chicago. US Politics. The big picture. Bully, Thug. Emmanuel.

The mayor of Chicago Emmanuel is a bully and a thug. He was kicked out of Washington because his head was too big and he was too arrogant to fit into the Obama bourgeois machine. Now he is back in Chicago as a consolation prize. And what is he doing?

Chicago is one of the richest capitalist cities in the world. It is a world city. It has the board of trade, it has the stock exchange, it is head quarters to many transport and retail corporations, it has high tech. In other words its capitalist class has great wealth. However it also has massive poverty and directly related to this it is one of the most segregated cities in the country. Segregation is part of divide and rule, keep working class people divided, weak to try and fight for their interests and the rich can carry their profits to the banks by the truck load.

So the bully, thug Emmanuel, in the interests of his rich corporate backers is going after working people and the Occupy movement. He is going after the union workers in all the public sectors. Library workers and hours are under attack at the moment. Demonstrations against all attacks by this thug are to be limited in time, fines are to be increased on demonstrators, increased numbers of cops are to be put on the streets against demonstrations. Meanwhile Emmanuel makes clear he intends to continue to support the epidemic of foreclosures, wage and benefit cuts that are taking place. .

This Emmanuel is a crude bully and thug, a creature of the corporations. The Chicago Federation of labor has the affiliation of hundreds of thousands of trade unionists in the area. It is potentially the most powerful force in the area. It can close down the economy. It is the responsibility of the Chicago Fed to take on this Emmanuel and his corporate criminal backers. It should call a conference to launch a mass direct action campaign for a better life for all working people and to confront and bring down Emmanuel and his corporate backers. This campaign should carry out the tactic of mass direct action, strikes, occupations etc., and should be the basis for the building of a mass workers party in the area to replace the corporations' monopoly of politics through the Democrats and the Republicans.

The left and activist movement should also come together in a united front of struggle with mass direct action tactics, should take action itself and at the same time work to mobilize the federation of labor. In this way the corporate thug Emmanuel can be defeated.

Sean.