Category: Sections

If a Tree Falls: Including the Many Voices of Occupy Portland

by members of the Livestream Team This week, Occupy Portland’s General Assembly passed a proposal implementing an online system for chat-room participants of the OPDX Livestream channel to voice consensus. The passing of this proposal is an innovative and positive advancement for the greater Occupy Portland community, overcoming fears and objections through working together and…

Report from MLK Day Action Against Wells Fargo

by Eliana Machuca On Martin Luther King Day, those arrested on the November 17th National Day of Action against the banks participated in a rally and march, raising awareness of the fact that Wells Fargo profits off of tax payers through bailout funds as well as through its investments in the private prison industry. Members…

Racism 101

by Ahjamu Umi Is the Occupy movement racist? The obvious answer is yes, but there are still going to be plenty of people who wouldn’t agree with that assessment. In fact, it’s a pretty safe bet that a significant number of activists within Occupy would argue Occupy isn’t racist. It’s also probably true that many…

Sleep Is A Human Right

by Shawn Fleek On the evening of January 31st, an overnight sleep-in is scheduled outside of City Hall in Portland, to raise awareness of the city’s camping ban and to attempt to overturn the ban. The following morning at 8:30 AM, a rally will be held on the same topic. Though these actions are not…

Healthcare Cascadian Style – Notes from the Occupy Portland Health Fair

by illona trogub With one-third of Americans suffering from one of the big seven treatment-needing diseases and one-sixth of Americans being uninsured, corporate healthcare in this country is not working. As the saying goes, “Prevention is the best medicine”. However, there’s not much money to be made by Big Insurance and Big Pharma if their…

From Oakland, to All of Occupy

By Vargus Pike & Adam Rothstein January 28th was a day blackened by the dark armor of riot police clear across the North American continent. In Oakland, the efforts of Occupy protesters to build a community center in a long abandoned convention hall were blocked by brutal repression at the hands of law enforcement. Over…

How Does Non-Violence Work?

by Lester Macgurdy I’ve made a point to ask Cccupy Portland members this titular question and most of the time the person asked had no idea. On the other hand, regardless of what was usually a complete lack of understanding, a great reliance and support of non-violence was still professed. This is the “I know…

God and Country Inc.

Supreme Court Recognizes Privilege of Religious Institutions over Labor Law. By Gene Ogorodov The Supreme Court made a ruling on the second landmark First Amendment case in three years—Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC. On 11 January 2012, the Court’s unanimous decision on this case has further secured the rights of corporations hitherto…

Observations on the Portland Local Candidate’s Forum

By Vargus Pike Members of the Green Party and the Oregon Progressive Party in conjunction with members of Occupy Portland held a local candidates forum Friday January 27th. The event, in a room above the People’s Co-op on SE 21st Avenue, was an opportunity for Portland mayoral candidates and city council candidates to meet, greet…