Category: Sections

Portland and 70 Cities Nationwide Stand up to Corporate Greed and ALEC

by Portland Occupier correspondents Today Portlanders join concerned citizens, students, and Occupiers in over seventy cities across the nation to target corporations and legislators involved in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The largest corporations in America, including ExxonMobil, Bank of America, BP, Monsanto, Pfizer, and Walmart use ALEC to funnel donations to legislators and…

F29 Live Blog

Welcome to the Portland Occupier Live Blog for the February 29th, Shutdown the Corporations action! Adam Rothstein here, editing the live blog, taking reports from our correspondents. Our partners for today’s media cover include OPDXLive, one of the Livestream groups hosting a dedicated page, and Portland Action Lab, organizers of the call for the day…

Defensive Black Bloc Tactics

by Shawn Fleek ‘De-arrest‘ – Street tactic used by marchers and protesters who directly engage with police to assist in the escape of individuals who are in the process of being arrested. When a participant is apprehended by authorities, one or more people will rush the officer an attempt to either confuse them or pull…

The False History and Misunderstanding of “Non-Violence”

by Adam Rothstein Recently, the Portland Occupier published an article entitled “Nonviolence Still Wins the Public,” that included a historical list of non-violent protests, intending to highlight how the peacefulness of protesters, especially in the face of violent persecution, won the day for various social movements. This was a very selective history that borders on…

Why Non-Conformity is a Good Thing

by Lana Buchanan This quote attributed by Robert Green Ingersoll to Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) is a great example of non-conformity: “The Church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the Church.” Imagine if he had not had…

Philosoraptor, Occupy, and Social Change in the Age of the Internet

This story was originally published on The Symbiosis Project. by Sam Smith Hi, I’m Sam from Occupy Tomorrow. I want to talk about something very interesting is happening in our culture right now. There are essentially two forms of culture we interact with every day: Read only culture, and Read/Write culture. Read only culture is…

Purchasing Prisoners, Creating Criminals, and How Occupy Could Be Next

This story is from the Occupied News Wire. It was originally published in the Occupied Wall Street Journal. by Arvind Dilawar Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), owner of the largest private prison system in the United States, recently sent a letter to 48 states offering up to $250 million to manage government-owned detention centers. The…

Occupy Portland Members Shot While Sleeping

by Lester Macgurdy In the early morning hours of the 21st of this month, two Occupy Portland participants and former Chapman and Lownsdale encampment residents were shot in an act of random violence while asleep under the Morrison bridge. Both men are reported to be in fair condition. The victims have been identified as Carter…

Portland’s Artisan Economy

by Angela Horton I used to work for a private business owner selling a line of retail food products at Portland farmers markets. Her brand is well-known and has an established customer base, as it’s been a part of the local food scene since the ’90s. I enjoyed the independence this job afforded me and…