by Michael Schultz There are some hard truths that we must swallow in order to be free of some of the shared illusions that have infiltrated our subconscious and unconscious minds. In this short essay, I’ll be expressing some of these truths. Once Occupy has fully swallowed these hard truths, they can be spread out…
Category: Essays & Letters
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…
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…
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…
American Nightmare: How The WTO Is Impoverishing The US
by Bruce R. Dennis When this country was founded, it was based on democracy, freedom, and an opportunity to live what eventually became known as the “American Dream”. The direction that our elected leaders have taken us in the last few decades goes away from democracy in favor of corporate domination, with the ultimate goal…
The World War Web Rages as Anonymous Hacks the Intertubes
By: illona trogub A bloodless battle rages over the interweb netterspace. Where once proud but downtrodden citizens picked up their guns and pointed them directly at those who wished them ill, now we see masked avengers who, behind closed doors, fire millions of tiny ping packages at their enemies. Along with publicly releasing the private…
State of the People Address
by Adam Rothstein Some human being decided that tonight, he was somehow empowered to tell the rest of us how it is, and how it is going to be. Well, fine. I respect a person’s right to talk about crazy made up things, like nation-states, politics, and the general good of our economic situation. Some…
Message in a Bottle
by Buddy Bee Anthony Occupy is, at its root, a gallant, worldwide fight for survival as sentient beings; a battle for human liberties for the working/middle class and poor. It is a street fight against the judiciary, the legislative branch, and the media (who has also, for the most part, been sadly complicit in this…
Scan This
by Lester Macgurdy I hate committee meetings. I always have the same recurring fantasy when stuck in another of these seemingly endless rant fests: a kindly infiltrator sneaks up behind me and pumps a round of double-aught buck into the back of my melon. I picture my head exploding like a piñata filled with raspberry…
Is there Really Such a Thing as a Middle Class?
by Ahjamu Umi We constantly hear the term “middle class” thrown around by politicians and the corporate media as a term designed to define everyday people, but never do these folks make even a half-hearted attempt to define what that term means. I would argue that a major reason why the term is never defined…
