features archive

Krzysztof Krol, anarchist activist from the city of Poznan, will speak about current situation of the anarchist movement (and resistance in general) in Poland, followed by movies. Also discussion about how the anarchist movement publishes books and newspapers in Poland. Followed by exhibition of 30 color photos of anarchist activity in the country.


Event is at Laughing Horse Books, 3652 SE Division (at 37th), 2:00 to 4:00 PM on Saturday 30 October, phone 503-236-2893.

read more >>

We've lost our light.
That's the first reality of American Politics. We no longer are carrying the torch of our forbears. The people who stood tall to abolish slavery, to fight for a woman's right to vote, to fight for millions of workers in dungeon factories and mines to have the right to form trade unions, to increase their standard of living and their safety, the farmers who came out of east Texas in 1887 and started the populist progressive revolt - the greatest reform movement in American history, that we are still benefiting from although at a depreciating level. Consider what they gave up. What did they risk? They risked their livelihoods.

There was no welfare pay, there was no unemployment compensation, no social security, no disability payments - NOTHING. They put their families lives on the line for dignity, safety, for a decent wage in the coal mines, and in the auto plants and the steel mills.
We should be ashamed of ourselves. All we have to do is turn off the television and start focusing on some serious pursuits of justice, so we can pursue happiness.
You cannot pursue happiness without pursuing justice. That's what the Declaration of Independence was all about. The pursuit of happiness was preceded by the inalienable rights of human beings.

You know what's interesting. What's interesting is what television has done to all of us. We can't begin to exaggerate the numbing, mind closing trivialization of the human mind that occurs when starting at age two the television becomes our electronic baby sitter. Through ages 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 - 30, 40 hours a week we are sitting on couches when we should be exercising our young bodies. Being persuaded to buy junk food, to nag the parents to buy junk food, being persuaded that violence is the solution to life's problems, being persuaded that just sitting there, watching, frying our little brains, reducing our attention span, shrinking our vocabulary, de-socializing our interactions with other human beings including our own family.... is a good thing.

read more >>

Here are a few images of tonight's full eclipse of the moon in Portland.

I hope you all had a chance to see the wonder of tonight's eclipse. These eclipses, and many other wonders of nature, will continue indefinitely -- regardless of who's in office. Whether we pay attention, or are around to do so, is another topic.

related: [ Red Moon (May 15, 2003) | RED Sox and the ECLIPSE of Bu$h ]

read more >>

This past Friday, over 1,500 teachers protested President Vicente Fox's visit to Ciudad Ju?rez in defense of their social security. Recently discovered federal proposals call for the privatization of state workers' social security program, the State Workers Security and Social Service Institute (INSTTEE, Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado) and raising the retirement age. An independent teachers union, the National Coordination of Educational Workers (CNTE, Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educaci?n), has pledged to create "a front of national resistance" against the proposed reforms. The attempted privatization of social security is the most recent round in a long-time effort by the Mexican state?whether in the hands of Salinas and Zedillo's long-ruling Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI) or current President Vicente Fox's right-wing National Action Party (PAN)?to impose extremely unpopular neo-liberal reforms.

The protest was extremely militant. The teachers first gathered at the Chihuahua state government building. From there, a car caravan made its way to the prestigious Misiones de Los Lagos country club, where Fox was to meet with local government and corporate leaders. When Fox arrived on the road to the country club, the mass of teachers followed Fox's caravan into the country club, moving past several security barriers onto the club's private property.

EN ESPANOL

read more >>

A friend of mine is a high school teacher in a community near Portland. She heard that the Boston police killed a young woman with a 'less lethal' shotgun. Being herself a victim of police brutality of the local kind, specifically the police riot that occurred on August 22, 2002 in downtown Portland, wherein members of the Portland police bureau used the same type of weapon indiscriminately against defenseless people, she wanted to share the danger of these weapons to one of her fellow teachers at school.

When she told her friend what she had heard about the killing in Boston, she replied that my friend was certainly mistaken, the police would never kill someone like that. Well, sadly, that is exactly what happened in Boston and that is exactly the type of tragedy we in Portland are very lucky not to have encountered due to the negligent and reckless use of force by members of the Portland Police Bureau. [ read more ]

[ Seattle Police Suspend Use of Controversial FN303 Gun | New "Less Lethal" Weapon Deployed in PDX ]

read more >>

The Washington Post has just published an online video showing that the "back door" on the Deibold touchscreen electronic computer voting system is wide open. With nearly one-third of the nation's votes going through these paperless electronic Jim Crow voting systems and the late and ineffective reaction from the Democratic Party one has to wonder how the Democrats will possibly be able to the challenge the theft of the election after the fact and with no paper trail to point to or in fact whether they really want to.

So the corporate media gets on the story and pretends that the alternative media that surfaced story of electronic voting machines and the leaking of the Deibold software package for the touching voting system on to the Internet doesn't exist and that the legal actions that Deibold took against Internet activists didn't happen. But I guess with the Progressive Democrats facing a political extinction they're beginning to realize that they miscalculated the swing vote strategy and that they must now mobilize to challenge albeit too late the theft of the election.

read more >>

Recently I posted, saying that I had two large boxes of nice women's clothing - winter and summer - that I wanted to see go to an organization or neighborhood group that planned to distribute clothing free of charge to those who needed it.

I got only one response on IndyMedia, but the same announcement on Craig's List brought over 50 replies within 12 hours. And these were only the people fortunate enough to be able to get access to a computer and the list.

Here are just a few of the groups requesting help, should any of the rest of you have winter coats, women's clothing, or blankets you want to "rehome":

read more >>

In THE KNOW theatre Bill Ellis will be previewing a new RNC protest video and in the main gallery there will be an exhibition of photos from the RNC protests by Bette Lee (black & white images) and Brian Thomas (color images). Bette is the Portland Alliance's staff photographer and Brian Thomas uploaded to Portland Indymedia photo essays on all the big anti-war protests. Brian will also briefly highlight the new edition of "If Monks had Macs," his landmark working man's guide to Western Civilization.

A portion of the sales from the Alberta Street KNOW show will go to NYC legal defense fund. There will be a separate multimedia anti-war art show at the Alberta Arts pavillion with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Northwest Veterans for Peace.

Presentation at 8 pm on Oct. 28
Photography on display starting at 5 pm
at The Know 2026 ne Alberta

Photos from RNC 2004 (Bette Lee) | dnc & rnc 2004 actions | other team cascadia posts

read more >>

I just got polled on the phone. Questions like how much you think Bush and Kerry are "tough enough to fight terrorism". They asked if I'd vote for Bush, Kerry, Badnarik, Cobb or undecided. I said I'd write in Nader. They insisted I choose one of the above or be excluded from the poll. They then promised I'd get to choose Nader in a later question if I chose undecided, but that question never came.

When I agreed to say "undecided" ONLY after he promised I would get to have my preference for Nader registered in the poll in a later question, he then asked if I was leaning Bush or Kerry, and after threatening to exclude me from the poll because I insisted that none of the options was accurate at all, and refusing to let me just skip the question, and saying there was no "other" option, he then said, "so did you say you're leaning Badnarik"? I said I'm voting for Nader and that there's an active write-in campaign for Nader and he should expect to find other voters like me responding in this way.

The poll was conducted by "Pacific Crest Research" according to the poll-taker. But I can't find any such entity on the web that would be doing polls. They asked about Measure 36 but mentioned no other ballot initiative. I wonder if it was a push poll of some kind, trying to pressure Nader voters to choose someone else, or would-be Nader voters to believe that there is no official write-in campaign for Nader, which of course there is.

read more >>

One of the things that I want to say about this that I haven't yet said is that a two party dictatorship is much smarter than a one party dictatorship. If you really want to control someone, what you do is you give them the illusion of choice. Then they perceive themselves as being free, and there's nobody more enslaved than the slave who doesn't even know that he or she is enslaved.

One of the things the Nazis did that was really brilliant is they would give the Jews what some of the Jews would call "brain busters." They would give them the choice "Are you going to have a red identity card or a blue identity card?" A lot of the Jews then spent a lot of time going "Oh, my gosh, um, am I going to have a better chance at surviving if I get the red one or the blue one?" Of course it didn't make any difference at all. But they didn't know that so they would spend all this time figuring out if they should register as a tinker or a shoe-maker. Once again it didn't matter in the slightest but they are spending all their energy doing that instead of spending their energy trying to bring down the whole system. That's sort of what our choices are reduced to. It's a brilliant strategy on the part of any oppressor. It's a classic tool of abusers - false choices. If you can get the abuse victim to participate in her or his own degradation then you've got them, and then you barely need to do anything.

[ AUDIO FILE: DERRICK JENSEN IN PORTLAND ]

read more >>

Amid a hostile environment consisting of a dubious Executive Director, a questionable consulting firm, an uninvolved Board, and a City Council willing to hush the public's voice and spend Cable Access funds elsewhere, Freedom of Speech at Portland Community Media is at risk of being destroyed.

As if having the national media taken over by a half-dozen media moguls weren't enough, Public Access stations across the nation are facing an onslaught of interests bent on destroying the last vestige of the public's voice on our own airwaves.

Here in Portland, this trend has taken on many forms. The most disturbing of which has been the recommendation of PCM's Executive Director to "brand" public stations and limit certain programming - such as shows of a political nature - to being broadcast as little as one day a week, thus creating a veritable Free Speech Zone within Public Access.

[ City Council and Comcast want to steal away Cable Access ]

read more >>

Monsanto and Scotts have engineered a grass that is resistant to Round Up. They planted a test plot in Oregon and pollen then escaped into the wild. The GE grass is now under review. We need your comments by today at 5pm - and its easy!

Click here to visit the center for food safety's website and submit your comments.

Thanks for taking action - Here's the link!

I know privacy is an issue. You do have to give a name, but don't let that stop you. You do not need to list an address or anything. The only other requirements are an email and a state.

www.nwrage.org

read more >>

Sure, let's question the ruling order, but in the mean time, folks should vote against 36, and other harmful ballot measures! I can understand not voting for "representatives" if you don't believe in representative democracy, but what about the more direct democracy of ballot measures, where the people actually do decide on things like putting anti-gay discrimination in the Oregon constitution, or putting caps on punitive damages as the insurance companies would like. Sure, these are not the questions that "proletarian" wants addressed, but they are being put to you.

It's not the best system, but I think folks should at least for (or against) Oregon's ballot measures.

I will try to respect people's decisions to not vote, but I really think it's everyone's duty to at least stand up to discrimination--and one important way to do that right now is by voting against Measure 36. I think I will pretty pissed at folks who talk about "questioning the ruling order" and social justice and self-determination and stuff, but refuse to vote against Measure 36, especially if it passes.

Why I Don't Vote

Other Related Articles: [ Vote No on MEasure 31 | Why we must pass Measure 34 | Measure 26-64: What effect it will have on People? | My Night at Dignity Village, by Teresa Keane, Pacific Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate | Recall Secretary of State Bill Bradbury! | Did PGE Shareholders violate Oregon election laws? | Jack Herer in Town for Book Signing and to ask voters to Support Measure 33 | Vote No On Constitutional Amendment 36 | Pacific Green Party fields record number of candidates | PGE wins round 2, but PUD effort will continue | Shame on Wu - Why Did Congressman Wu Vote to Send Patients to Jail? | Candidate for House District 42 calls for industrial hemp production | Waste Defense of Marriage Coalition Money | Measures 31, 32, 34, 35, 38 - How To Vote ? ? ? ? ? | Measure 33 - What's The REAL Deal Here? | Measure 36 Violates the 1st Amendment | Vote NO on Measure 31 - It helps only the major parties | News4Neighbors Endorsed Sam Adams for City Council | Why we must pass Measure 34 ]

read more >>

Mayoral Candidate Tom Potter has positioned himself as a progressive with a vision. Former Portland Police Bureau Chief Tom Potter has cast himself as a populist. He has spoken about his vision for "Community Policing" and how it was lost in recent years to a more militarized model.

The truth is somewhat different. Potter while giving lip service to putting more cops on the street, gave Portland (and much of the Nation) a more militarized model of the police. Under his direction the paramilitary branch of the Portland Police Bureau grew by almost as much as 3000%, and the number of patrol officers shrank in proportion to the population of Portland. Shootings by police were epidemic, and were characterized by unusually large discharges of bullets - the FBI statistics at the time put us at the third highest in the nation.

In addition to this, there was a blatant disregard for the rights of protest. In addition to demonstrations marked by liberal use of sweeps and pepper spray, there were scandals involving illegal infiltration and surveillance of legal peaceful protesters.

NW Laboratory"

read more >>

Because of an impasse between the US and Brazil and Argentina on commercial issues ranging from dumping to subsides, the 34-country Free Trade Area of the Americas, originally scheduled for ratification by the end of this year, has been put on hold.

"Miami has come a long way to make our city the permanent secretariat of the FTAA," said Mario Artecona, executive director of the Miami Business Forum, a coalition of private-industry executives. "It would be great. It would be the cherry on top of the sundae. But we have to keep on working.

Even if the FTAA is delayed a few years, the city has too much momentum going, he said. Even without the treaty, Miami has established itself as the capital of Latin America in the past two years, said Mr. Artecona.

[ FTAA IMC I stopftaa.org I portland imc FTAA-Miami Coverage I Songs about FTAA-Miami ]

read more >>

In Thursday's Mail Tribune, Jacksonville City Administrator Paul Wyntergreen claims the decision to order riot cops to force protestors east of the intersection of California Street and Third Street was something that wasn't expected and thus unavoidable. He is quoted as saying, "It was a sudden change of plans and we had to change gears suddenly". Are we supposed accept this as a reason for an aggressive assault on peaceful protestors? When Bush was ushered from the Expo to the Jacksonville Inn through an alley, demonstrators remained along California Street. Are we supposed to believe that only after the President had finished dining did it occur to the police that protestors needed to be moved back a block?

What were the responsible law enforcement agencies doing while Bush was eating dinner?

Police had nearly one hour to address the "security perimeter". Instead, while Bush skipped his broccoli, police officers (from as far north as Salem and as far south as Yreka) donned bullet proof vests and shields and committed a type of tyranny that is becoming common protocol on Bush campaign stops. To be blunt, Sheriff Winters and J'ville City Administrator Paul Wyntergreen are being deceitful. And why wouldn't they be? They made an irresponsible, dangerous decision. Politically it's imperative for them to point fingers anywhere other than at themselves. What happened in Jacksonville, as anyone who witnessed it can testify, was police repression of free speech. Police CHOSE to shoot less-than-lethal weaponry, the same that killed a college student in Boston this week. Police CHOSE to intimidate and terrorize law-abiding citizens that never imagined fear would be used to silence their voice.

read more >>

Griffin treats 911 as if it were an isolated item from the remote historical past. He even refers to himself and some of his sources as "revisionists," as if they were academics rewriting a long established historical text.

When the 911 Team contrives the next national security event, 911 will indeed become academic. When the "homeland" goes code red, this period of vocalized dissent may prove, historically, to be just a momentary luxury.

This looks like a three-phase coup. Phase one: the 2000 election, phase two: 911, phase three: coming right up? The Team may be engineering a code-red election crisis as I write. September 11th is just one climax in an ugly process that is ongoing.

read more >>

Ten protesters and 3 children gathered outside a Republican Rossi event this morning at The Academy in Vancouver. Republican Rossi for Governor was billed for 11 a.m. Protesters were called by the Democrat Party to show Chris Gregoire for Governor signs. All did, except mine which read, "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, THINK GREEN PARTY. NO BUll SHit 2004." Although I left the Dems during the 1st 100 days of Clinton's 2nd administration, I got the message probably because I supported D. Kucinich.

A protester read off a list of Rossi's poor record. We visited. One said she voted Green, except for President. I invited her to the Clark County Green Party meetings. After 11:15 a woman came out of the building, and as she did so, she pulled out a Gregoire sign.

I asked her what was happening in there. She said Rossi was speaking at the moment. (The slime slipped in the back/side entrance.) I wanted to see, so I went up to the door. A wheelchair amputee blocked the entrance. I asked him to move twice. Each time there was no response. Then I asked him why he wouldn't move, and he said because I was not a part of "them." I asked him twice if he was a veteran because I cannot understand why a veteran would be Republican. When he again did not answer, I said. "No speech is also freedom of speech. Peace," and walked back to the Dem protesters.

read more >>