A Letter to Mayor Sam Adams and his Portland Police

photo by Big Jon

by The Organizers

To Mayor Sam Adams, Portland Police:

People of the City of Portland, representing all walks of life, will gather in Pioneer Square at 7:00pm on June 11, 2012 to express solidarité with people in Québec and around the world who are asserting their rights to education without lifelong debt-slavery. This event will also mark the beginning of a local effort to organize ourselves against the profiteering of education by the people and institutions that make up the economy’s financial sector. There will be music. There will be dancing. We have invited the public, including yourselves, to join us. This is about highlighting the importance of education, and asserting our right to it. We write to strongly express our desire for this to be a safe event for all.

With that said, we feel it is important to state that we will not pull a city permit for the use of Pioneer Square on June 11 because, in short, public space in the United States was made into a commodity during the last century. We reject the legitimacy of this process and the restriction of expression that has resulted from it. Additionally, the safety that city permits claim to provide explicitly requires our submission to the authority that you frequently abuse. The safety you offer has costs, both in terms of dollars and in the otherwise free movement of our bodies. As recent history demonstrates, to refuse this offer of safety is to accept fully any violence that you may choose to use on us. Again, we reject this. A continuation of your history of violence would not surprise us; still we write to demand better of you, our public servants. Regarding the offer of safety that your permits represent, we write to say “No deal.”

This event will be safe because we, the organizers, will ensure the safety of the people who choose to attend it against any and all people who choose to disrupt it. We thank you for your cooperation in advance.

Sincerely,
The Organizers