The Rise of Chicago's 99% Against Rahm Emanuel, "Mayor 1%"

[marmar]

The Rise of Chicago's 99% Against Rahm Emanuel, "Mayor 1%"

Tuesday, 05 November 2013 09:41
By Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview


Will Rahm Emanuel's effort to establish a privatized neoliberal outpost in Chicago succeed? Not if the ongoing uprising brushfires turn from kindling wood into a contemporary Chicago fire of political resistance. Kari Lydersen, author of "Mayor 1%," tells Truthout Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is representative of the neoliberal wing of the Democratic party, and he's getting significant pushback in his efforts to expand privatization and limit protests.

........(snip)........

Truthout talked with journalist and author Kari Lydersen about her newly released exploration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's disconnect with the needs of the city he governs.

Mark Karlin: I think you state your position on where Mayor Rahm Emanuel stands in terms of the Occupy Movement standard when you titled the book "Mayor 1%." In that sense, does he represent the ascent of the neoliberal corporate wing of the Democratic Party?

Kari Lydersen: Yes I would say he represents the ascent of the neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party . . . but the way that the nickname "Mayor 1%" is used in Chicago and the way I see it, it is also more than that. It's clear that Emanuel's political philosophy and his approach to solving Chicago's problems centers around shifting public resources to the private sector. This isn't necessarily all bad, though it is problematic, especially in terms of the impact on public sector jobs, public education and public services for the most needy. Even more disturbingly, I see "Mayor 1%" as referring to the feeling among many people - especially low-income African Americans - that the city is being reshaped in a way that doesn't include them; that the symbolic and literal structures that make up their neighborhoods and daily lives are being dismantled as the city's resources are being shifted to cater to the "1%" or at least a much smaller percent of the current populace.

MK: Didn't Emanuel pull in something like $18 million in a few months as a rainmaker for a Chicago finance firm after leaving the Clinton administration, before his successful run for Congress?

KL: Though he had no academic credentials or formal professional experience in the field, he made about $18 million in about two years, brokering a handful of high-profile deals. This could clearly be seen as a statement on both the nature of high finance and politics. Emanuel is undoubtedly smart and knows a thing or two about money, but ultimately he was being paid for his connections past and future.

........(snip)........

MK: Now we get to the subtitle of your book: Rahm Emanuel and the rise of Chicago's 99%. Except for the teacher's strike, not many people nationally are aware that the Windy City has become a hotbed of resistance to the abandonment of the public commons. Let's start with how Emanuel was taken to school by the Chicago Teacher's Union and its savvy president. Can you discuss a little about that ongoing battle and how Emanuel may have won a few skirmishes, but lost that public relations battle?

KL: People on all sides of the education issue generally agree that Emanuel essentially "lost" the teachers strike of 2012, both in terms of public relations and the actual outcome. The teachers did not get everything they wanted, and Emanuel did achieve the longer school day, which had been one of his main goals all along. But the battle showed massive public support both for the teachers union and the very concept of public education, and Emanuel and his appointed Board of Education came out looking really bad - like petty bullies, changing their message erratically and ultimately conceding more than the teachers in the contract. Then-schools CEO Jean Claude Brizard became the fall guy for that debacle. The new CEO, Barbara Byrd Bennett, at least started out with better relations with the union, but the recent closing of almost 50 public schools and the heavy-handed way the process was carried out over the past year became basically an extension of the battle with the teachers union and parents . . . and it continues. Not only were all those schools closed, infuriating and saddening many parents and students and meaning hundreds of layoffs . . . then the schools that "survived" the closings suffered massive budget cuts. Schools in relatively well-off north side neighborhoods were among those sustaining severe budget cuts, so Emanuel managed to alienate a whole contingent of white, upper-middle-class parents who might not have been as opposed to him last year. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19810-the-rise-of-chicagos-99-against-rahm-emanuel-mayor-1

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Ooof

"Not if the ongoing uprising brushfires turn from kindling wood into a contemporary Chicago fire of political resistance."

This sentence makes me cringe even more because you just know the writer thinks it is great. Yeesh.

[loudsue]

3. And you don't??

Rahm Emmanuel is an asshat, and is a BIG part of the problem with the democratic party.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. I'm talking about the prose.

It's awful.

I don't care about the content, which is just the usual prognostication for the true believers.

[Chisox08]

4. It is great.

Rahm Emanuel is trying to sell the city and it's services to the highest bidder. He is going after city employees and their unions with the zeal of a Republicon. He is not filling vacancies, firing and laying off teachers and teacher assistants, pushing for more charter schools while closing public schools that he claims is being under used, even though those schools attendance levels only dropped to just above the state average. He is ignoring the city's poorest residents and just about every word out of his mouth is a lie.

[kysrsoze]

7. I agree 100% with you. Rahm is a complete asshole, and checks all the Republican governing boxes

[mopinko]

13. trumbell school- built for 1,000, used by 200.

it's kinda funny that i didn't see any actual number until the reporting about how many showed up at the receiving schools. only about 2,000 kids total affected. in 50 buildings?
he did the hard thing closing those buildings. hopefully they will be intelligently reused..
(neighbors should occupy them and plant gardens this spring, tho.)

[liberal_at_heart]

14. this is one of the problems with our education system. Lower enrollment could mean smaller

classrooms but because the way our system is set up we shut down schools, send kids to other schools and over crowd those schools. It's a vicious cycle and the system is broken.

[mopinko]

16. this hasn't been done in my life time

so, if it is a cycle, it is a slow one.
most of the receiving schools were low enrollment. afaik, no schools ended up overcrowded. it was mostly a matter for area real estate changes that resulted in families not being in the area any more.
this hit poor areas hard because a great deal of the change was caused the a huge belt of highrise public housing being torn down. those kids are not there any more. been gone for several years now, but no one had the nerve to do what needed to be done.
the adults prolly outnumbered the kids in some of those schools.

[Enthusiast]

22. PLUS ONE! nt

[liberal_at_heart]

6. damn right it's great.

[hatrack]

2. Jesus, Emmanual working with a Breitbart butt-boy?

You've got to be fucking kidding me!?!?

[mopinko]

17. to what do you refer?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. I received my copy this past weekend. nt

[kysrsoze]

8. I've heard rumors of Luis Gutierrez running against him... I REALLY hope so.

[riderinthestorm]

9. Oh please let it be so!! K&R. nt

[QuestForSense]

18. It's funny how things change.

Gutierrez' whiney-ass used to get on my nerves big time, but now it humanizes him. Plus, he's gotten a handle on it. The buyer's remorse for Rahm is pretty much city-wide. Like Christie, he rode in on Obama's shoulders. But while the mouth smiles, the eyes never do. Get the hook!

[Stuart G]

11. thanks for posting...k and r...nt

[geardaddy]

12. That wave is coming to Minneapolis

with the latest election.

[MNBrewer]

15. You think Hodges will be a 1% mayor?

[geardaddy]

20. I'm not sure.

She's not a friend of the unions.

[HooptieWagon]

19. But of course.

Emmanuel is DLC. Shine the light on them, and in fact they are little different than republicans. Hold on tight, Hillary is coming. So is the TPP.

[pansypoo53219]

21. neo-liberal? wall street democrats. soulless democrats.

[Scuba]

23. Kick