features archive

On Friday, 13 July, the U.S. federal government attempted to prevent the Sundance ceremony from taking place at Big Mountain, Arizona. Five Din? elders were jailed. One recieved $3000 in fines for being at the Sundance, where she recorded the following audio that tells the inside story.

You are invited to join Portland Indymedia, KBOO, the Alliance, Alternatives Magazine, the Free Learning Operation and others for the Alternative Media Convergence. If you want to get involved in alternative media, this event will give you the chance to meet media activists and organizations, and learn how to get on the radio, into print, on the web, and on TV. If you're already a media activist, you can mix, mingle and plan future collaborations with others. Tentative plans include a showing of the Cascadia Media Collective's "A Year in the Streets". This event is part of the Progressive Action Conference being held before the Nader rally that same night. For questions, or to get involved with setting up and running this event, call 503.793.2180 or send an email to oregonaltmedia@lists.riseup.net.

4 August 2001
2:00-5:00ish p.m.
Memorial Coliseum

Don't hate the media -- become the media!
Join the alternative media rEvolution at the Alternative Media Convergence!

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The scientists and corporations responsible for dangerous field trials of genetically engineered trees are gathering at Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge (near Stevenson, WA) on July 22-27. [ Conference Website ] The groups below have planned a teach-in Saturday, July 21st, from 6:30 to 8:30PM. It will be held at Portland State University, Cramer Hall, Room 71. The following day, July 22nd, a demonstration will be held at the entrance to Skamania Lodge at 4PM.

In response to the most recent crime committed by a US serviceman in Okinawa -- the brutal rape of a 20 year old woman -- actions are planned in Okinawa and around the world on Friday, July 13th, to raise awareness of what have become epidemic levels of crimes committed by US military personnel in Okinawa.

In Portland, an unpermitted rally and protest is slated for 4:15 p.m. at the Navy and Marine Corps Center, followed by a march through downtown to the Japanese Stones.

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On Tuesday, 10 July, Portland was honored with a labor-activism double-hitter. In the morning a number of labor, environmental, religious and community groups held a press conference on the waterfront to announce the launch of a campaign to convince Oregon's congressional delegation to vote against Fast Track legislation.

At noon, employees of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), joined by members of a broad array of unions, staged a rally in Pioneer Courthouse Square to highlight the low wages of DEQ employees, and to demand a living wage. It was a day marked by colorful solidarity and boisterous spirits which showed that, in the words of one speaker, "Portland is a union town".

After Years of planing and hard work Portland has another food co-operative. The Alberta Cooperative Grocery opened its doors Saturday after many staff and working members worked long hours in order to make final preperations. They are still working some bugs out of the system but were quite happy to open the doors.

This marks the continued revival of this Alberta neighborhood. On opening day the Alberta Co-op already had approximately 200 members. The Co-op is located on the corner of NE 15th and Alberta, and open Monday thru Saturday 10-8 and Sunday noon-5.

A group of Portland citizens attempted to visit Senator Smith's office today to present him with an award, but were at first rebuffed by his staff and by World Trade Center security. Though they eventually spoke with two of the Senator's aides, and were able to deliver the mock award, it was clear that Smith's office is not open to citizen commentary except under its own, very restrictive terms, and those of the World Trade Center building's private security.

The citizens' concern was the current battle in the U.S. Senate between two competing mininum wage hike bills, one sponsored by the Republicans, one by the Democrats. The delegation was led by ACORN, and included representation from Jobs with Justice, SEIU Locals 49 and 503, and Justice for Janitors.

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In a major victory for workers at the Pictsweet Mushroom Farm, Fred Meyer, a large retailer with 119 stores throughout the Pacific Northwest, has decided to cease purchasing Pictsweet Mushrooms. This decision by Fred Meyer management came after a telephone call from Mike Swaim, the mayor of Salem, who recently began speaking out against the terrible working conditions at Pictsweet. [ Story ] This victory also follows the recent Walk for Farmworker Justice, which brought increased attention to the Pictsweet Mushroom factory.

Organizers for Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon's farmworker union are encouraging people to contact Fred Meyer and thank the company for its actions, and to continue to pressure their own local grocery stores to boycott Pictsweet Mushrooms as well.

About two dozen volunteers in matching tee-shirts and bearing buttons and flyers embarked from the Ralph Nader event office in the Governor Building at about 11:45 today heading to Pioneer Courthouse Square to promote Nader's August 4th visit to Portland. Only a few minutes after arriving at the square, two volunteers were informed by uniformed security that a permit was required to flyer there.
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Field trials of genetically engineered trees are currently contaminating the environment. Some of these trees contain a gene from a bacteria that produces a toxin harmful to many insects, including Monarch butterflies. The scientists and corporations responsible are gathering at Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge (near Stevenson, WA) on July 22-26. The Global Alliance Against Genetically Engineered Trees, Native Forest Network, and local group Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering are organizing a teach in for Saturday, July 21st, followed by a protest at 4 PM on Sunday July 22, at the entrance to the lodge.

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The Walk for Farmworker Justice took place in Oregon from June 18-25. Participants in the Walk included people from immigrant, labor, religious, human rights, community, small farmer, environment, and youth organizations [ List of endorsers ]. Their goal: to bring NORPAC, an Oregon agricultural cooperative, to the bargaining table with Pi?eros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), Oregon's farmworker union.

The list of labor abuses committed by NORPAC growers is long, but includes low pay, no overtime, no breaks, exposing workers to carcinogenic pesticides, overcrowded and overpriced housing, lack of proper toilet facilities, and child labor. Workers who have attempted to claim their basic rights are met with discrimination, firings, evictions from grower-owned housing, mechanization of harvests, anti-farmworker and immigrant law proposals, and threats of physical violence.

IMC Portland, cooperating with KBOO, provided daily coverage of the event with reports in text, photo, video and audio. The feature continues to be updated as more content is produced.

[ Full Feature at portland.indymedia.org/wfj ]

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On Saturday, June 16, activists protested an Oregon Senate bill that would allocate $200 million for animal experimentation at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center. The activists deem such experimentation to be cruel, inhumane, and ineffective. The money would come from the 1998 Tobacco Settlement.

PHOTOS: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 ]

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In its original form, HB 3712 set aside $5 million to help fix hazards that keep kids from walking and bicycling to school. Unfortunately, it was amended to eliminate the bill's requirement that the state set up a Safe Routes to School grant fund. It now directs cities and counties to work with school district personnel to identify hazards that make walking or bicycling to school unsafe, and to develop a plan to address those hazards.

Although HB 3712 no longer contains funding, it is an important first step to create safe routes to school. The bill will push cities and counties to evaluate where kids can - or can't - walk and bicycle.

[ Full Story | Bicycle Transportation Alliance ]

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Earlier this year, a group of mushroom pickers at the Salem, OR Pictsweet Mushroom Farm approached Woodburn-based Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste--Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United--(PCUN) complaining mainly about pay. PCUN officials say workers also had concerns about health and safety conditions such as insufficient lighting and narrow, hard-to-climb stairs on mushroom beds. A majority of employees at Pictsweet want PCUN to represent them. To date, the company has not agreed to negotiate, much less agreed to a process to allow workers to prove majority status. Last week, Pictsweet was fined for various safety violations, including an accident that led to the loss of a hand for an untrained worker who was instructed to drive a forklift without supervision.

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Dignity Village, Portland's tented community of over 80 houseless people, has come under attack by City officials. The City has demanded that Dignity Village vacate the public land they are currently on by July 1, promising that the Portland Police will follow them and forcefully prevent their "shopping cart parade" from setting down anywhere on public land. This comes at a time when the poor and houseless people of Dignity are more organized and empowered than ever, which has taken Portland's officials, as they say, "outside their comfort zone."

In order to educate one another about Dignity Village and how people can work proactively together to prevent this, a Teach In was held on Sunday, June 3rd at the First Unitarian Church. The Teach In included updates on Dignity, guest speakers, slides and the opportunity to talk with Villagers.

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