By Shamus Cooke The Great Recession and its possible continuance has brought the issue of privatization to the forefront of American politics. But most Americans aren’t even aware that this debate is happening, because the media and politicians aren’t using the word “privatization”. Instead, less threatening substitutes are used to ram through a corporate…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw “Protecting a competitive race to the lowest wages is crucial,” said Tom Chamberlain, President of the Oregon AFL-CIO. After a confused pause, Chamberlain restated himself, replacing “protecting” with “preventing.” It was a slightly awkward moment at this strange gathering billed as a “Listening Session on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)”.…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw The Lombard Overpass of the railroad cut that bisects St. John’s – from the Willamette River to the Columbia Slough – was the site of an August 18 demonstration, with over 75 activists protesting and educating people about the proposed transportation of coal through Oregon and Washington. With faces…
This story originally appeared over at The Boston Occupier. By Doug Enaa Greene Although Howard Zinn died over two years ago at the age of eighty-seven, his legacy lives on through popular education initiatives and struggles for social justice. Howard Zinn was a pioneer in combining the roles of academic and activist. Not only was…
by Andrea Townsend Sleep Activist, “Kernel” Moses Wrosen was found not guilty on two charges Thursday, stemming from his March 2 arrest outside City Hall. Wrosen was sleeping on a wooden platform on the sidewalk in demonstration against the city’s camping ban, when police woke him up and ordered him to move the platform.…
By Andrea Townsend The Multnomah County Courthouse was buzzing with Occupiers and their lawyers on August 16 as they awaited Judge Cheryl Albrecht’s latest ruling on matters relating to numerous Occupy Portland arrests, interactions and altercations over the past year. Beginning on August 23 and continuing through November, Occupiers and their supporters will flood the…
By Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer Thanks to Occupy, most working people are well aware of the growing inequalities in wealth. But for those who lack the specifics, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich provides a useful overview: “…the rich have been getting a larger and larger portion of total income. From 9 percent in…
Story by Pete Shaw A swelling prison population is money in the bank for Wells Fargo, one of the top shareholders in Geo, the second largest prison company in the country. In their continued campaign to urge the company to divest from the for-profit prison industry — particularly Geo Group and Correction Corporation of America…
Story and Photos by Pete Shaw Jeff Locke spent years in the Metro parks system and was by most standards an excellent worker. He was a volunteer roving naturalist at Oxbow Park for five seasons, restored and maintained natural areas in Metro’s Open Space Program for two, and went on to Blue Lake Park for…
[A]t bottom, it seems, it all comes down to a simple but profound truth: that as long as ecological governance remains in the grip of essentially unregulated (liberal or neoliberal) capitalism—a regime responsible for much if not most of the plunder and theft of our ecological wealth in the last, roughly 150 years—there never will…
