Category: Sections

Howard Zinn: Life and Legacy

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…

Sleep Activist Wins in Court

  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.…

Pussy Rioters on Bike Swarm Portland in Solidarity

By Elona Trogub Three members of Pussy Riot, the anonymous feminist group that’s half performance art, half punk band, have been found guilty of hooliganism, motivated by religious hatred. Now Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30 will spend two years in a medium security prison for their ‘crime’–a one minute performance…

Bikes In the Street for PFC Manning

By Hart Noecker, PDX Bike Swarm “Man has no right to kill his brother.  That he chooses to do so in uniform merely adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.” ~ Percy Shelley “Damn it feels good to be back in the streets!” somebody shouted.  It might have been me.  After riding…

Occupy Trials Lined Up on Fall Court Docket

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…

Fluoridation VS. A Junk Food Tax

By elona trogub In this twisted world of ours, the solutions that most often move forward are those that end up creating a whole new set of problems. Dr. Robert Kehoe, the scientist who convinced the world that the use of leaded gasoline was safe (which has since been phased out of use due to…

In Which I Describe the Non-Voter

By Shawn Fleek Excerpted from Shawn Fleek’s “Certain About Everything, Except What To Do” The person I’m referring to would spend ten minutes describing rampant government corruption, the lack of participation, societal apathy, the cesspool of campaign finance, corporate power, and more. But they will not register to vote and participate in the official rule-making…

Transition from “Listening” to Action on Coal

By Nicholas Caleb Senator Ron Wyden held a “listening session” in Portland on Monday to discuss the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, the latest in a line of sneaky, corporate, anti-democratic policymaking. Although the US Trade Representative is currently keeping all the details of negotiation secret from the public and most of Congress, we know (from leaks)…

Inequalities, Taxes, and More Inequalities

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…