Education & Reference
By Workers World staffA rainbow of working people from across
Kansas boldly confronted the extreme right-
wing Americans for Prosperity group at its two
locations in Topeka and Wichita on July 10 in
90-degree heat. In both locations, protesters
unfurled colorful banners and signs that
renamed the AFP the “Americans for
Austerity.”
AFP is funded by the infamous billionaire
brothers, Charles and David Koch, and other
Wall Street interests such as the MacIver
Institute and the Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation. The Koch brothers are following in
the political footsteps of their anti-communist
father, Fred C. Koch, who co-founded the John
Birch Society.
Chanting “They say cut back, we say fight
back,” “Hands off our children,” “Hands off our
pensions,” “Hands off women” and other
slogans, over 150 participants from across
northeastern and central Kansas protested in
Topeka. The diverse crowd of many ages,
genders, sexualities, disabilities and
nationalities made clear their fightback spirit,
taking up two sides of the street right in front
of the AFP office on the city’s main boulevard
with their banners, signs and bullhorn. They
received numerous honks of support from cars
passing by.
In Wichita, about 30 protesters gave the AFP
office there a similar reception.
The July 10 actions received widespread media
coverage before, during and after the events.
The protesters forced AFP to respond, which
they did with a derisive anti-worker, anti-
community statement that praised the Jim
Crow, right-to-work-for-less wage slave law in
Kansas.
On the same day the AFP protests took place,
ultra-rightist Charles Koch launched one of his
new campaigns, which includes a demand to
eliminate the minimum wage.
AFP’s goals include union busting,
deregulation and privatization. According to
environment-friendly organizations such as
the Sierra Club, the Koch brothers, through
their oil and gas industries, continue to
engage in wanton environmental destruction.
AFP money is behind politicians like Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker, North Carolina Gov. Pat
McCrory and that state’s Budget Director Art
Pope.
AFP money, along with that of other right-wing
organizations such as the American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC), has bought virtually
every Kansas politician in the current
legislature. This resulted in the 2013 session
being one of the worst anti-worker, anti-
community legislative sessions in Kansas
history.
But as July 10 showed, there is a progressive
current in Kansas. More and more working
people are starting to fight back in their own
interests, especially in response to ever
deeper austerity pushed by Wall Street fronts
like the AFP.
Thirty-four labor and community organizations
endorsed the July 10 actions. These included
the Bail Out the People Movement, Kansas
AFL-CIO, the Topeka Federation of Labor, the
American Federation of Teachers, Lawrence
and Manhattan, Peace & Justice groups, the
LGBTQ Kansas Equality Coalition-Topeka
Chapter, Kansas National Organization for
Women, the Sierra Club and the Working
Kansas Alliance.
link:www.workers.org/2013/07/18/kansas-protests-hit-right-wing-billionaires/
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