From the open publishing newswire: The Portland Chapter of the Social Welfare Action Alliance and the Portland State University School of Social Work are holding their third Community Based Practice Conference "Voices on the Ground." This year's theme is Resistance and Resilience.
The event is being held Saturday, June 1st at PSU School of Social Work

1800 SW 6th Avenue, Suite 600, Portland Oregon Doors open at 8:30 am Program 9:00 am to 4:30 pm Lunch provided for pre-registrants

On Saturday, June 1st, 2013 at Portland State University's School of Social Work, a one-day conference will be held on the theme: ?"Voices on the Ground: Resistance and Resilience"

Hosts of this event include:
? School of Social Work, Portland State University (Community-Based Practice Concentration)
? Social Welfare Action Alliance - Portland Chapter

This third annual gathering seeks to build a network of community-oriented practitioners, and to help catalyze and consolidate community social work in the region. All are invited to attend and participate, including human service workers, activists, service users, students, academics, and other allies.

This year our theme is "Resistance and Resilience", and we are organizing around the focus areas of Human Rights, Criminalization, Revolutionary Tools and Margin to Center:

We are very proud to announce our keynote speaker, Ethel Long-Scott! Registration information available on the conference website: http://tinyurl.com/voicesontheground. While this is a fee-based event, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

From the open publishing newswire: Look for more "let's you and him fight" from Trimet. Why play along?
Trimet is a top-heavy bureaucracy with some expensive habits. It has 161 managers, believe it or not. Yep, lil' ol Trimet. Fifty-five of those managers get over $100K. Many of them get a lot more--like a quarter million per year.

Bus service has been cut back to pay for this army of overseers, and to fund $9 million in remodeling and new furniture. The top three floors of the Center Garage building, at 4012 SE 17th, stand empty. Apparently they were not good enough for the managerial class. Meanwhile the new buses are getting a cosmetic retrofit to look like Max trains; that will cost $2 million.

For the last several years, we bus drivers have been told we want too much. We have agreed to freeze our wages for many years now, on the proviso that our retirees continue to get the health benefits we fought for. We are concerned about their health; bus driving will kill from stress. I can't count the number of times I've heard that So-and-So retired, only to die within months. [...]

I'm grateful to have a good job, grateful to the public for supporting us, and looking forward to seeing my passengers on my next shift. In this, I am like most drivers. Some of us are grouches, and I'm sorry about that. But I have a suggestion for the public: Next time you're asked to bust the bus drivers, or for that matter any worker, ask yourself: Am I helping the ruling class in a race to the bottom?

From the open publishing newswire: Candlelight Vigil outside of Sen. Wyden's office - Monday evening in NE Portland

Filmed outside of Senator Wyden's office on Dec 10th in NE Portland around 5:30PM
I arrived when the vigil was in process.
Organized by  http://www.jwjpdx.org
The Light Brigade was there and can be seen in the end of this video.

 http://youtu.be/zzs0qkchNpw [26 minute video]

From the open publishing newswire: Portland Solidarity Network Wins Campaign!
We fought with our friend Beth to force her landlord to return a stolen deposit!
Join Us For a Victory Celebration this Friday (9/21) at 6 PM at the Alberta Street Pub!

Great news! The Portland Solidarity Network (PDX Sol) has won our most recent campaign! Our friend Beth received a check for her full deposit from Brian Wannamaker, the target of our campaign, and it has been confirmed that the check has cleared, thereby meeting our campaign's demand! Brian, the owner and landlord of the Falcon Art Community building where Beth briefly lived, initially refused to return Beth's security deposit after she was forced to move out because of black mold in her apartment. Brian only relented and returned the deposit after PDX Sol spent several weeks engaging in direct action. Our victory proves that a network of community volunteers and supporters committed to solidarity with tenants and workers CAN produce real victories!

Beth initially got in contact with us after seeing our posters, and we took on her campaign with Beth as a member and active participant. We began by delivering a letter to the Falcon Art Community offices that demanded the return of her deposit in full. Thirty-four people came out to support Beth by crowding into the Falcon Art Community's office and handing over the demand letter. (Watch a video of the event here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj2kqiDDr7o&feature=youtu.be) We continued our fight after the demand delivery by engaging in a campaign of direct action - a strategy that empowers individuals and their communities to directly confront those responsible for their exploitation without relying on lawyers or bureaucratic institutions. In the case of our campaign, PDX Sol and our supporters persisted in confronting Brian until he did the right thing and returned Beth's deposit. We relied on nothing more than the strength of our unified voice and the power that comes from public pressure.

[Previous PIMC Post 8.2.12]
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/08/417229.shtml
[Previous PIMC Post 8.21.12]
 http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/08/417582.shtml

homepage:  http://pdxsol.wordpress.com
phone: (503) 446-6065

From the open publishing newswire: The Trans-Pacific Partnership's extraordinarily one-sided rules, which go beyond NAFTA in several ways, are intended to be a new floor in the ongoing effort to lock in the domination of industrialists and financiers through the multi-national corporations that they control. The negotiations among 11 countries are secret. That we know anything at all about it is due to leaks.

Imagine a world in which which labor safeguards, safety rules and environmental regulations will be struck down because a multi-national corporation's profits might be affected. A world in which measures to reign in financial speculation are illegal. A world in which the task of governments, codified in law, is to maximize corporate profits.

Haven't heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership? There is good reason. It is a proposed trade agreement being secretly negotiated that would not only codify the one-sided rules heavily favoring corporate interests exemplified in the North American Free Trade Agreement, it would go beyond them. And many of the harshest rules proposed to be included in the TPP are being pushed by the Obama administration.

To continue reading, please go to  http://wp.me/p2cpPS-2x
homepage:  http://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/

Related Video Post by Jim Lockhart:  http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/08/417213.shtml#404070

From the open publishing newswire: On a daily basis, we are bombarded with messages in the corporate media that any European Union country defaulting on its debt would constitute armageddon. Greece/Ireland/Spain/choose your country must pay back the banks in full, no matter the social cost, we are told ad infinitum.

Argentina's government defaulted on odious debt and instead spent the money on investments and social services. Argentine workers took over their factories rather than let them be shut. That path was not an easy one, but Argentina's economy was the Western Hemisphere's fastest growing while wages rose and poverty declined... armageddon was not the result. No fire fell from the sky.

Quite the contrary, Argentines soon were far better off by saying no to the pitiless austerity that had been imposed on them.

Article continues at:  http://wp.me/p2cpPS-1u

homepage:  http://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com

From the open publishing newswire: I'm with Code Pink Portland and We Are Oregon. I was asked to speak at the demo on April 23 in front of Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Below is an expanded and updated version of my remarks.

I was asked to speak here on how Wells Fargo's policies affect women in particular. Before I address that issue, I should say that for the last quarter century I've been working with people who became disabled through motor vehicle accidents, on-the-job accidents, or serious illnesses. First they lost their health, then their jobs and health insurance. After they depleted their life savings, they lost their homes. Seeing one person or family go through this is pretty upsetting. Hearing the same stories for 25 years, in the so-called "richest country in the world," is enough to make my head explode.


This brings me to the issue of Wells Fargo's crimes against women. I'm sure you've heard that Wells specifically targeted black and Hispanic communities with subprime loans. Women got the same treatment. According to the Consumer Federation of America, although women and men have roughly the same credit scores, women were 32% more likely to receive subprime loans than men. This was true across the board—within every income and ethnic group. According to Maria Poblet, executive director of Causa Justa (Just Cause), the majority of foreclosures have been on female-headed households.


With all these lucrative investments, 2011 was a banner year for Wells Fargo. Yesterday, April 24, they voted to give CEO John Stumpf an annual salary of $13 million, plus additional compensation worth $7 million.

 http://www.ebisupublications.com/

From the open publishing newswire: Love our coffee? Find out more about where it comes from!

Come down to the Red & Black Cafe this Friday, 4/27, at 7:00pm for a great presentation by Santiago Paz of the CEPICAFE coffee growers co-op of Peru. CEPICAFE (  http://www.equalexchange.coop/profile-of-cepicafe-in-peru ) supplies the coffee that you enjoy everyday at the Red & Black Cafe through our fellow co-op coffee roaster, Equal Exchange.

Santiago will provide a brief presentation on the issues facing the legitimacy of the "fair trade" coffee label, including how small farmer co-ops are joining together to reinforce social democracy for this certification. If you've been hearing about how big corporate chains are compromising fair trade, and want to separate the facts from the fiction, this event is for you.

The Red & Black Cafe is located at 400 SE 12th Ave., in Portland, OR.
We are a worker-owned and operated business, and an IWW union shop

From the open publishing newswire: MAYDAY 2012: The Light of Hope March & Rally with an important announcement about Driver's Licence Access Restoration

Speaker: Governor John Kitzhaber

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Rally: 6 p.m. | March: 7 p.m.
Location: Oregon State Capitol
900 Court St. NE
Salem, Oregon


FLYERS:
in english:  http://causaoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/May-Day-2012-POSTER-ENG.pdf
en espanol:  http://causaoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/May-Day-2012-POSTER-ESP.pdf


homepage:  http://oregonmayday.com

From the open publishing newswire: On Wednesday, March 21st at 12 noon, members of the community and the Portland Solidarity Network, with and on behalf of Gary and Julie Frost, will be holding another picket outside the Home Forward offices at 135 SW Ash Street.

The picket is part of the Solidarity Network's current campaign, Home Forward is Home Backward ( http://www.HomeForwardisHomeBackward.org), which is fighting to stop Home Forward from unfairly evicting the Frosts from their apartment in the Humboldt Gardens. This week's picket is one in a series of actions designed to tell Home Forward's management' that their residents and the community at-large will not accept mistreatment and retaliatory evictions.

Campaign volunteers, alongside individual community members, have been working overtime - on their own time - since the Frosts were given a ninety-day eviction notice in January. This is the third consecutive weekly picket at the downtown offices, and just one of many escalating actions that will be taken until Home Forward withdraws the eviction and allows the Frosts to remain in their apartment and/or provides them alternative suitable Section 8-compliant housing.[...]

Portland Solidarity Network - Home Forward is Home Backward
(503) 446-6065
 portlandsolidaritynetwork@gmail.com

From the open publishing newswire: Coinciding with the International Day of the Migrant, immigrants and allies will take to the streets in a permitted, family-friendly rally and march. This will be an opportunity to join with the Occupy movement, and send a strong message against the racist laws, policies and institutions that are systematically targeting immigrant communities, such as Secure Communities, E-verify, wage theft, free trade agreements and increased detentions and deportations.

We reject the scapegoating of immigrants in the same way we refuse to blame Muslims, the poor, public sector workers, women, and other victims of this recession. We blame the recession on those who caused it, the most wealthy 1%. The 1% want immigrants to have zero rights so that they are easily exploitable and can be paid slave wages, thus lowering the wages of all working people.

When: Saturday, December 17 | 10 am Rally & 11 am March
Where:South Park Blocks between SW Salmon and Main

homepage: http://www.pcasc.net

Related Video Post

From the open publishing newswire: A 15 minute video from the press announcement outside of the World Trade building on 2nd street. A half dozen speakers talk about the upcoming West Coast Port Closing on Monday 12/12/11. Members of the press and community attended this, and one police officer.

Occupy Portland: West Coast Port Shut Down on 12-12-11

This was recorded on 12/9/11 "Press Announcement for WEST COAST PORT BLOCKADES in Portland Oregon ((( i )))

@occupytheport http://westcoastportshutdown.org/

From the open publishing newswire: A protest November 17 east side of steel bridge 8 in the morning

8 am -Thursday

east side of steel bridge
protest
police have bridge closed to everyone but the Max this morning
can they do that?

This is a Jobs With Justice event:
 http://www.jwjpdx.org/

[The Steel Bridge, like so much of our infrastructure, is structurally deficient and in need of repair. This is work that needs doing, even while thousands in Portland are unemployed! Bridges like this one are symbols of politicians failure to pass a jobs bill or do anything to help the 99%, while the richest 1% keep getting richer.]