Month: February 2012

ILWU and EGT — The Victory That Wasn’t

by Lester Macgurdy “Immediately upon execution of this Agreement, the ILWU Entities shall immediately cease all action directed against EGT (including, but not limited to picketing and any other form of disruptive activity), its partners, members, and their affiliates and employees, and anyone doing business with them, and shall actively discourage any other person or…

Protest and Movement: What This Means for Occupy

by David “Däv” O’Bryant Protest and Movement: Distinctions Political protest, whether with an aim toward raising social consciousness within the broad public or with that of challenging authority in the hopes of pressuring power to concede to demand, sometimes (though by no means always) occurs within the framework of a wider protest movement. Unlike specific…

Why Prison is Profitable

by Ahjamu Umi I wrote my Master’s Thesis on the politics of imprisonment and comparative economics. The imprisonment portion of the 70 page research centered on the state of California, where I lived at the time, and the 160,000 people who are imprisoned there. My research confirmed the obvious facts. Eight out of ten people…

The Prisoner’s Dilemma

Tracy Mattner Nowhere is the hierarchical structure of our society more apparent than at the airport gate. Once on board, first class passengers recline comfortably while the coach masses shuffle slowly past and into the economy cabin. Zone four passengers are forced to gate check their carry-ons, even though there are remaining spaces in the…

Will Occupy Spring Forward Or Melt Down?

By Shamus Cooke A healthy debate has finally gripped the Occupy Movement: there is now a discussion over strategy. Most Occupiers have learned that raw enthusiasm alone cannot bring victory to a social movement; ideas matter too. Action divorced from strategy equals wasted energy, divisiveness, diversions and unnecessary mistakes. Not all tactics push the movement…

Black Bloc: Occupy the Black Bloc!

Editor’s Note: This Tuesday, Feb. 21st, come to the basement at St. Francis at 7PM for a community discussion on the black bloc and the future of Occupy Portland tactics.  Had enough of discussions about Black Bloc? No? Good! Because we’re running a three-day series on Black Bloc tactics. Click the Black Bloc Series tag…

Black Bloc: Two Wrongs Never Make a Right!

Had enough of discussions about Black Bloc? No? Good! Because we’re running a three-day series on Black Bloc tactics. Click the Black Bloc Series tag to read the other articles, delving into the controversy currently sparking throughout the Occupy movement and beyond. By Vargus Pike In the realm of mathematics two negatives when added together…

Speak Out Against Chemical Weapons

By Rochelle Saliba If you showed up at a seminal Occupy Portland moment—eviction day, Shemanski, Jamison—you either were a witness to, or the victim of, tactics currently being deployed by our local police state. Some people bristle at the notion that Portland does indeed constitute a police state. Portlanders, like most Americans, are understandably shaky…

Black Bloc: Things Were Smashed, and Rightfully So!

Had enough of discussions about Black Bloc? No? Good! Because we’re running a three-day series on Black Bloc tactics. Click the Black Bloc Series tag to read the other articles, delving into the controversy currently sparking throughout the Occupy movement and beyond. This article was originally published on Indymedia. by (A)-Team What makes something worthy…

Share Your Stories with Occupy Voices

By Michel Losier This coming weekend a project called Occupy Voices will be collecting interviews at the Occupy Solidarity Social Forum (OSSF) this weekend in Olympia, on Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and Sunday starting at 10am. They will also be set up at the Occupy Portland office at St. Francis on Thursday, February 23rd,…