First of all, let me make clear that I know a few of the people who marched onto the Morrison Bridge, and I admire them for their courage and dedication. I also was involved, as a student activist from Reed College, in the planning of the March 15 march, and I admire the people I met there just as much. I'll admit that I'm more sympathetic to the more mainstream side of the movement, and that I know more about it, but I do want to see more communication between both sides.
From this perspective, I want to try to address the issue of solidarity. I think that if we are ever going to make real change in this country and in Portland we're gonna need big-time solidarity. And I think that there is a real break down in solidarity in Portland. This includes a failure of the peace movement to adequately address the needs of oppressed people here at home, as well as a split between the radicals and the more mainstream activists in the peace movement. I think we all need to work very hard on this first break down in solidarity. I think the same is true for the radical/mainstream split, and I think that BOTH sides are responsible for making this happen. This means that mainstream activists need to condemn and act against illegitimate police violence in all its forms, no matter who is the target. It means that they should never apologize for this violence or blame the victims for the violence. It also means that when a joint labor/radical march is about to take direct action that the organizers know will bring about repression, that those organizers of the direct action inform EVERYONE in the march what they are about to get themselves into. We are all responsible for the predictable results of our actions. If I can predict that my actions will provoke the cops to attack a crowd which includes little kids, then maybe I will rethink my actions.
If we want real solidarity in Portland, the first step has to be opening up communication. I think it's important to remember that many in the crowd (me included) didn't even know what was happening on the Morrison Bridge. It's hard to see anything from below. More importantly, though, this action was not planned in coordination with the March 15th coalition, and so there was no way to organize some sort of solidarity on the part of the crowd. I think this shows that we need to talk to each other and go to each other's meetings so that we can begin to build real human ties. Neither side will be willing to put its ass on the line for the other until both recognize the hard work, honest dedication and courage of the other side.
I think that if we truly show a willingness to listen to each other, learn from each other, and work together, that we will be in a much better position to build a movement for lasting change in Portland.
The next planning meeting of the coalition that organized the March 15th rally is on Thursday, March 20th, at 6:30 pm
Friends Meeting House
4312 SE Stark
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And it wasn't organised previously, we can't do that and expect to surprise the police. We had enough solidarity within the bloc. The mainstream activists can march on streets pre-blocked off so they aren't heard. We however will not.