features archive

On February 20, 2002 at 6:30pm, the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) will present a reading and signing by Peter Phillips of Project Censored at the Portland State University Smith Center Ballroom. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale.

The Primary Objective of Project Censored is to explore and publicize the extent of censorship in our society by locating stories about significant issues of which the public should be aware, but is not, for one reason or another. The project hopes to stimulate responsible journalists to provide more mass media coverage of those issues and to encourage the general public to demand mass media coverage of those issues or to seek information from other sources. The Essential Issue raised by the project is the failure of the mass media to provide the people with all the information they need to make informed decisions concerning their own lives. To find out more visit Project censored on the web at http://www.projectcensored.org/

IPRC and IndyMedia representatives will speak, and related informational tables will be set up for browsing.

That same evening at 8:30, Political Songwriter, David Rovics will play at the Red and Black Cafe. For more info See the Newswire

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The Swiss-Jewish pressure group Aktion Kinder des Holocaust (Children of the Holocaust) is threatening legal charges against two members of the Swiss IMC for allegedly publishing anti-semitic material.

Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff had posted a series of cartoons called "We are all Palestinians" to promote an International Campaign for the victims of the notorius Lebanese Sabra & Shatila massacres. This series was also published throughout the Global IMC network including the Israeli IMC. AKdH, who are campaigning against Nazi websites, consider the cartoons antisemitic and hold IMC Switzerland responsible for the contents of their open posting newswire.

From a statement by IMC Switzerland : "The filing of a lawsuit is a further step against Indymedia. After the newswire was flooded with postings in December, Indymedia is now attacked via judicial channels. We will maintain our commitment to a public discussion about the content and aims of Indymedia in order to do our bit for a movement against any form of oppression, be it racism, antisemitism,sexism or other."

[ IMC Switzerland | Full statement from Latuff | Latuff's We are all Palestinians cartoon series. ]

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Since Christmas, The Peace Elves have been going out on Portland bridges weekday mornings and holding signs to spell out peace messages. With good spirit, and the determination to continue even with cold and rain, they are still going out regularly. According to an account from one elf, the response from passersby has been very positive, casting more doubt on just how many people really do support the open-ended war of pResident Bush. The Peace Elves would like to see more people joining in, to cover more bridges. [ Read More on the Newswire | Photos ]

In what is being called an "historic breakthrough" by PCUN (Pi?eros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste), Oregon's farmworker union, the NORPAC growers' cooperative has finally agreed to "establish guidelines for farmworker unionization on the farms of growers who supply products to NORPAC". This is big news. NORPAC has resisted the entreaties of PCUN and its allies for over a decade. In a show of good faith, PCUN has called off the boycott against NORPAC that has been in effect since 1992. [ Read more ]

This victory comes after years of struggle and illustrates that a fight for justice can succeed in time. Churches, labor, students, and activists all contributed to PCUN's campaign to "stop sweatshops in the fields". Last Summer, a coalition of such folks held a seven day Walk for Farmworker Justice to call attention to the misdeeds of NORPAC and the Pictsweet Mushroom factory in Salem. The coalition asked to speak with Rick Jacobson, President of NORPAC, but he refused, calling the boycott "misdirected" and claiming that NORPAC had no authority to negotiate. [ Read more ]

The final straw for NORPAC seems to have come from Sodexho, the largest non-commercial food service provider in the world, which gave NORPAC a deadline of February 15th to "establish a clear, just, collective bargaining process" with PCUN. Sodexho threatened to take their business elsewhere if NORPAC did not meet the deadline. The company provides food service on many campuses and was pressured by students to reconsider their relationship with NORPAC. Bon Appetit and ARAMARK are two other food service companies that ceased business with NORPAC as a result of student activism. PCUN worked with the Campaign for Labor Rights to educate students and school administrators about these issues. [ Read more ]

The list of labor abuses committed by NORPAC growers is long, but includes low pay, no breaks, exposure to carcinogenic pesticides, and child labor. Workers who have attempted to organize have been met with discrimination, firings, evictions from grower-owned housing, and threats of physical violence. That NORPAC is now willing to negotiate is a significantly positive change. [ Read more ]

PCUN has also been working to gain justice for workers at the Pictsweet Mushroom plant in Salem, Oregon, which fired much of its workforce rather than negotiate with the union. That struggle continues, but not, as NORPAC's decision shows, without hope for victory.

[ Joint PCUN/NORPAC press release | PCUN website | NORPAC website | portland indymedia Walk for Farmworker Justice feature | U of O "life of a strawberry project" ]

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Not content to label groups such as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) as "terrorist organizations", corporate business leaders also declared that Ben & Jerry's, the Ford Foundation, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and others are either "terrorists" or "terrorist supporting". Though the primary questioning before the Sub-Committee was slated to be directed toward former ELF spokeperson Craig Rosenbaugh, representatives of several multi-national corporations were on hand and offered testimony of their own in which they made clear their belief that various groups advocating "domestic terrorism" are being financed by and share "interlocking executive boards" with various progressive companies and organizations throughout the North American continent.

Craig Rosebraugh, present under Congressional subpoena, invoked his 5th Amendment rights to all but two questions. The chair of the sub-committee openly taunted Mr. Rosenbaugh's legal strategy and flatly informed him and his legal counsel that the sub-committee would likely reconvene for the purpose of charging him formally with Contempt of Congress. This in stark contrast to the various Enron executives who have pleaded the 5th but who will likely never be cited for contempt.

Here in Portland, activists and supporters gathered at the Federal Building to listen to speakers, current ELF spokesperson Leslie Pickering, Alan Graf of the National Lawyers Guild, and Lisa Distenfano, co-founder of Sea-Shepard. The 60 or so people then marched around the downtown, to Pioneer Sq, and back to the Federal Building. The police once again felt compelled, as everyone was dispersing, to arrest one man on a skateboard.

[ Read More on the Newswire | Another Account | Questions asked of Craig Rosebraugh | Portland Action | Photos #1 | Photos #2 | Greens warn that accusations of 'terrorism' erode rights |Protect Civil Liberties |Craig Rosebraugh's Submitted Written Testimony part1 | Testimony part2 ]

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In January, a group of people from all over the world began the cross-country Hiroshima Flame Interfaith Pilgrimage in Washington state. They are carrying a flame that was started from the burning embers of Hiroshima, Japan, when that city was destroyed by a U.S. nuclear attack in 1945. The walk will stop at nuclear sites and Native lands across the U.S. and end at the United Nations in NYC in May. [ Read more ]

The Pilgrimage was in Oregon from 2-9 February, and arrived in the Bay Area on the 11th. Walkers reported gunshots outside Junction City, Oregon, but warm welcomes in Portland, Eugene, and San Francisco.

One of the walkers is portland indymedia reporter, who has been posting a multitude of text, photo and audio accounts of the walk. You can follow the progress of the walk as it crosses the country in the special feature, portland.indymedia.org/dharmawalk.

Other indymedia stories: [ Interview with walkers | "Flame Walkers Radiate Passionate Conviction in Eugene" | "Patriotic Correctness: the Hiroshima cover-up" (cartoon) ]

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Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the best-known justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, came to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon on February 10th. Social justice and environmental and advocates from across the Northwest -- organizing under the name Rally for Justice -- mobilized a high visibility rally and protest to speak out against "the right-wing extremism Justice Scalia has brought to the Supreme Court" and to express their opposition to the nomination by pResident Bush of future justices with Scalia's positions. Over 400 folks showed up, with drumming, sax and harmonica accompanying the marchers with imaginative signs and banners calling for campaign finance reform, among other things.

[Scalia protest pictures | Rally for Justice website | Call to action | Opposing view: 'Cult of Scalia' - a fan page ]

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Two public hearings this week will give the public an opportunity to voice their opinions about the future of Portland General Electric (PGE). Enron filed bankruptcy 4 days after proposing to sell PGE to NW Natural Gas in November 2001. Now the U.S Bankruptcy Court holds the fate of PGE. The court is required to act on behalf of Enron creditors, mainly New York banks and other financiers. They could ask the court to authorize the sale of PGE's assets to companies not subject to utility regulation here in Oregon. This strategy of using a bankruptcy case to sell regulated assets out from under state regulation is not new; it is now being pursued by PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) in California.

There are two real alternatives to selling off the state's energy assets. These assets can either be transferred into state or local governmental control. This was the intent of Oregon voters in the early 1930's, when they passed a voter initiative to amend the state constitution. This amendment, placed into the Oregon Constitution (Article 11-D) in 1932, gives this state the right to control its own water power. If this month''s special session of the Oregon Legislature would activate the State Power Authority and transfer to it the state's ownership of PGE hydro assets, the Authority could then acquire other PGE assets by eminent domain, without U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval.

Failing that, city municipalization of Portland's energy supply is another option ratepayers could pursue. Larry Tuttle, from the Center for Environmental Equity has attempted to put forth an initiative that would put a Public Utility District in place, to control PGE assets, an initiative which was contested in court.

The Pacific Green Party is sponsoring a forum to discuss these two options -- to exert local or state control over energy utility assets -- on Tuesday February 19th at the Multnomah County Library.

Public testimony will be heard by the Oregon Public Utility Commission 7 p.m. on both Wednesday and Thursday in Salem and Portland.

Oregon State representatives contact info

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The 5th Annual Homelessness Marathon will be broadcast on KBOO 90.7 fm starting Tuesday night at 4 p.m. and running all night through 6am Wednesday morning. Hosted by "Nobody", the 14 hour broadcast occurs outside, in the cold, to give a voice to America's forgotten and cast aside and to shine light on the issues they face everyday.

This is the first time the non-funded consciousness-raising event has been held on the West Coast. Street Roots is co-sponsoring the event and will be present on-site in front of KBOO at 20 SE 8th. The street will be closed to traffic all night as a variety of people join the crew for a couple of hot meals and to gather in the 2 tents set up for performance and commiseration. Nationwide, events will be held in various cities and there will be a live call-in number. The broadcast is expected to be carried by more than 50 stations.

Other articles from the newswire:
kboo community radio hosts the homelessness marathon |
homelessness marathon raises more than hopes | Complete hobo symbols

Hundreds of people attended Peace Festival II in Salem on Saturday. In the afternoon, people marched from Willamette University to the Capitol Building, in solidarity with the anti-WEF protests happening at the same time in NYC, and to demand an end to the "war on terrorism". Puppets, masks, drums and banners proliferated. Workshops at the University included activism, theatre, roots of violence, Peacemaking, Activism on the Internet, and organizing, among other issues.

From the newswire: [ "Salem Peace Festival and march a success!" | "Where was everyone? Peace march in Salem: photos & story" | "The people united will never be divided" | "Photos From the Salem Peace Fair" | "More on the Salem Peace Fest" | "Panorama Photos - Salem Peace Festival" | "yet more photos" ]

Anti-WEF actions in NYC
In New York, protests are being held in anger at the World Economic Forum's agenda, with street actions continuing in spite of a massive police presence in Manhattan.
[ Full reports from New York Indymedia | a Portlander's report ]

World Social Forum
In Brazil, the meeting of the World Social Forum is offering an alternative world view and solutions to the problems presented by the policies of the world's richest nations and individuals who are meeting at the WEF. [ World Bank Insider Speaks Out ]

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For ongoing coverage of the peace movement in Portland, Corvallis, Eugene and around the state, check in with the new special feature section, portland.indymedia.org/9.11. This page collects portland indymedia coverage of actions and issues, newswire posts from local people, links to peace groups and is free of corporate spam. Don't trust the Oregonian, Register Guard or anything you see on TV? You shouldn't. Come here for the truth, and publish your piece of it! [ portland.indymedia.org/9.11 ]

Sunday, the 20th of Jan, was a sombre but inspiring day of rememberance in the city of Genoa. On the city streets more than 20,000 people remembered Carlo Giuliani and the brutal attacks by police on hundreds of people in a touching passionate and peaceful demonstration.

This Wednesday, Portland indymedia will be hosting its monthly video showing. Along with the monthly Indyreal, the excellent 30 minute video produced by the global indymedia network, Portland indymedia will also be showing a video made from footage shot on the streets of Genoa during the G8 protests.

Additionally, there will be local videos from the visit by resident bush, and of the nurses' strike.

The showing is at It's A Beautiful Pizza at 7pm this Wednesday the 30th.

Genoa Background [ 20,000 march in Genoa last sunday to remember | Past Portland Features | Past Global Indy Features ]

Indymedia depends upon numerous people to write newswire articles and create features. Anyone interested to learn more about writing, video, and other aspects of independent media is welcome to attend the weekly editorial workgroup get-togethers at the red and black cafe each saturday at 4pm.

With the new tools in hand, independent media has the opportunity to break the grip of commercialized media with its sanitized and monotonous worldview

Indymedia Activists at Work and Play

Another proposed change to the city's police code would make it unlawful to sit on a public bench if police think it interferes with "the public use or enjoyment" of the bench.

Retail leaders have been lobbying the city to toughen up on street people who sit and lie on sidewalks. But civil rights advocates are attacking the code rewrite, saying that changes would violate constitutional rights and would allow police to selectively enforce laws against the poor.

The city attorney's office began rewriting the code two years ago as a housekeeping measure to eliminate obsolete and confusing language. It gradually evolved, with comments from police and business groups among others, but without formal public discussion.

The city and downtown business have started forcing their ways on street performers, protestors, and the homeless under suspect reasoning. Do these businesses really feel it is good business to dictate their rules onto the public?

City Mulls Loitering Crackdown

In 1999, the USDA ranked Oregon 6th in the nation for food insecurity and WORST in the nation for outright hunger. More than 40% of those receiving food aid in Oregon are children. The problem is serious here, and the situation in Afghanistan is disastrous.

Rally Friday, January 25, to address local famine, at 5 pm Pioneer Square
Portland Peaceful Response will organize the week's Friday rally to focus on the famine felt locally. Full rally details: Friday Rally to benefit Food Not Bombs.

Local organizers held Peace Words: a marathon benefit for the children of Afghanistan and Oregon last Saturday, January 18th.

Wondering where all the money to help pay for services in times of stress went to? Corporate greed drains local tax base and gives all to executives while hiding profits in hundreds of subsidiary accounts: Enron paid no taxes.
And the politicians who looked the other way or colluded: Bush and Enron: Profiting off Displaced Costs

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OHSU's budget is coming under reviewFriday, 18th January by Oregon state legislature with a proposed 33 million dollar cut in OHSU's budget. OHSU is lobbying hard to keep its special money, even while spending millions of dollars of wasted money on its primate research center, which has not produced a single cure to a single disease in over forty years of cruelty! A call in campaign and your participitation at a town hall meeting are requested to deal with the issue.OHSU Budget Cuts! Demand Accountability for Your Tax $$!

SHAC Continues Protest in Little Rock

On Monday, the entire crew of SHAC protestors met in front of the Stephens, Inc. office in Conway, a small town outside Little Rock that was most definitely not expecting a crowd of people on their doorstep demanding proof of divestment and holding Warren Stephens accountable. One advocate was arrested and is right now awaiting arraignment. SHAC ATTACK 2002, DAY 3
Twenty to thirty activists cycled their way around Portland today in solidarity protests with those rallying in Little Rock Arkansas. Starting at the Bank of America on MLK and Multnomah, the rally sailed to Northwest Portland, then to other locations.

At 3:30pm Sunday, a 50 x 100 foot banner was dropped from the Broadway Bridge facing downtown Little Rock, in full view of the monolithic Stephens, Inc. building. Ironically, also in full view was the Bank of America building, a prime target of the SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) campaign against animal torture. On it was the challenge"STEPHENS, INC. SOLD OFF HLS? PROVE IT TO US! WWW.SHACUSA.NET". It was an awesome sight to see that unfurling over the sparking afternoon water. SHAC ATTACK 2002, Day 2 | Video

Taxpayers and well intended donors fund meaningless animal-based research looking for reasons for corporate caused cancer. Why it is without worth to use animals for barbaric tests and the hidden purpose: This from the NAVS website particularly applies to HLS and Stephens, Inc. as they hide behind claims of "important medical research" when in fact, their sustenance is household product application testing for liability purposes only: 'The manufacturers of cosmetics and household products claim that they perform tests on animals to ensure the safety of their products under customary use or possible abuse when in reality it is to limit the company's liability to its customers in case of a lawsuit.

Some more instances of murder-for-profit schemes tied in useless research: So, Zeneca, the originator of Breast Cancer Awareness month is the manufacturer of carcinogenic petrochemicals, carcinogenic pollutants and a breast cancer drug that causes at least four different types of cancer in women, including breast cancer. Profiting From Breast Cancer

ACTIVISTS CLAIM VICTORY AS LAB'S LARGEST INVESTOR ANNOUNCES DIVESTMENT; Request Identity of New Financier as Proof

In a press release published January 8th, Stephens, Inc. announced that it had divested its interest in Huntingdon Life Sciences, the notorious contract testing laboratories (household products and cosmetics, not medical as they so often state). This announcement came 6 days before SHAC (stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty), an animal advocacy organization, was to pay another visit to Little Rock, and let Warren Stephens, CEO, exactly how they and the rest of the Animal Advocacy world feel about him funding the torture death of 500 animals each day. From the october29.org website: "Warren thought it was over, but he couldn't have been more wrong. Throughout the months of December and January Stephens Inc and their partner, Bank of America, will be visited all over the country by activists. We will end the tour in Little Rock on January 13th and 14th., followed by a national day of action against Stephens Inc. Warren needs to understand- there's no where to run, no where to hide. For more information on the tour, visit www.SHACUSA.net. [ full newswire story ]

Not only is resistance to the ongoing "war on terrorism" alive and lively, it is also being expressed in a variety of forms. On Friday, 11 January, citizens in Portland and Eugene held several public events to seek peace and educate the public on the issues. In Pioneer Square in downtown Portland, Buddhists not Bombs enjoyed their largest turn-out yet for what has become a regular meditation-for-peace event, despite harassment from the Square's private security in recent weeks. Following this action, the Portland Peaceful Response Coalition held a rally to protest the mistreatment and illegal detainment of non-citizens, and marched to the INS office to bring their complaints to their local source.

In Eugene, Students for Peace marched from the University to the Federal Building downtown, where they joined the Justice Not War Coalition's regular peace vigil. The next day, Wellsprings Friends School in Eugene held a very successful Peace and Justice Festival that included a variety of different cultural, spriritual and intellectual activities, and was well-attended by the community.

PSU Community leaders, students, and members of the corporate press attended a press conference at PSU's Smith Center to discuss remarks made to the Oregonian by Oregon Senator Gordon Smith.

PSU President, Daniel Bernstine, opened the meeting with a letter he received from Senator Gordon Smith allegedly containing an apology for the statements. The conference was then opened to speeches by members of the Association of African Students, MEChA, the Rearguard, and the Women's Resource Center.

While Smith apologised for implicating PSU with charges of terrorist fundraising, he did nothing to alleviate fears of "terrorist" activity on campus where he is perpetuating an atmosphere of fear. We wonder what terrorists he is referring to as the list seems wide and open these days.

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The Portland Buddhist Action Group has been holding weekly meditation vigils at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The fledgling group is working to bring social justice concerns to the attention of American Buddhists and to engage a Buddhist involvement in social change. The group is currently seeking to become a local chapter of the national Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

Investigations into the harassment of Enji, a founder of the group, during the meditations by Pioneer Courthouse Security has uncovered disturbing revelations on corporate involvement with the public square and downtown businesses' move to regulate human behavior and to privatize freedom of expression in public spaces.

Check out what these people had to say about the meditators and come down to the square at 4:30 today (and on all Fridays) before the PPRC demonstration and sit down on the machine.

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In late 2001, pResident Bush vowed -- right there in the corporate media -- that 2002 would be "a war year". The Commander-in-Thief does not speak for everyone, however. As 2002 starts, the peace movement is in full swing around the world, across the country, and here in Oregon.

The Portland Peaceful Response Coalition will continue to hold weekly rallies every Friday at 5:00 p.m. in Pioneer Courthouse Square. This Friday, they are encouraging people to "speak out against the Department of Justice's dragnet" which is targeting "5000-6000 Middle Eastern men that may have overstayed their visas" and in protest to Senator Gordon Smith's ignorant accusations of PSU. From the Square, people will be marching to the INS building at SW Broadway and Hoyt Street. [ Details ]

Also in Pioneer Square, Buddhas Not Bombs have been meditating publicly every Friday at 4:30 p.m., to show their opposition to the "war", despite being hassled by the private security there. How is this meditation tactic being perceived by the public? Read interviews with people who were there last Friday as well as with Enji who has organized the group.

In Eugene, the Justice Not War Coalition will resume Friday rallies at 4:00 p.m. at the Federal Building at Seventh and Pearl. This particular Friday the Students for Peace will have a "Superhero Costume March to Stop the War". People will be meeting at 3:30 p.m. at the EMU Courtyard to march to the Federal Building. Who's a superhero? Organizers say: "this means you!" Next Friday, the 18th, there will be a showing at the University of "The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight it", which is about conscientious objectors during World War II, some of who will be speaking on a panel afterwards. The panel will be followed by a film on Afghanistan from Human Rights Watch. [ Details on all these events ]

Also in Eugene, the Wellspring Friends School will be holding a Peace and Justice festival on Saturday, January 12, from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. The event, which is intended "to promote understanding and seek alternatives to violence and war", will feature music, story telling, war-tax resistance infromation, dance, and speakers from the religious and Islamic communities. [ Full details ]

Mark February 2 in your calendar for Peace Festival Two, a statewide peace event being planned by a wide variety of activist, labor, spiritual, ethnic, educational, and environmental groups. Attendance is hoped to be high. You can download a poster for the event here.

Check the portland indymedia calendar for more events, and for updates on these.

Not everyone in Oregon agrees that seeking peace is the best response to war, though. One anarchist view, for example, posits that "to demand peace within the civilized order of the world would be analogous to asking a bird to fly without wings." [ Read more ]

And, last but not least, if you attend any of these events, tell your story here on portland indymedia. Post your stories and pictures to the open publishing newswire for everyone to see! Don't hate the media - become the media!