Category: Sections

The Class War Within

by Lester Macgurdy The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles. -Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto The throng of 8,000-plus protesters that converged on Pioneer Square in downtown Portland in early October was a massive chimera knit together by the tyranny of a world full of governments (ours among them) comprising…

A Brief Musing and Pathetically Informal Manifesto on Humanitism

by Nate Perkins This is the internet’s greatest success: It is a private club that welcomes everyone and discriminates only against those who break the social contract that has arisen organically as a reflection of humanity. – a meshnet illuminatus by the name of DngrZnExpwyClosed The humanist focuses on the human as the cardinal, atomic…

Who Speaks for Occupy?

by John Wood I’m on some of the planning lists and was involved in the December 12th port shutdown planning and in the EGT protest planning. Usually, whether or not an action had the approval of the General Assembly came up, implying that if it did not, it wasn’t a legitimate Occupy action. I went…

Tracking Tear Gas

This story is from the Occupied News Wire. It was originally published in the Occupied Wall Street Journal. by Allison Brown, Udi Pladott and Maia Ramnath for the OWS Global Justice Working Group. One of the biggest clues to understanding the connections among grassroots democratic uprisings across the world may be found by tracking connections…

Portland and 70 Cities Nationwide Stand up to Corporate Greed and ALEC

by Portland Occupier correspondents Today Portlanders join concerned citizens, students, and Occupiers in over seventy cities across the nation to target corporations and legislators involved in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The largest corporations in America, including ExxonMobil, Bank of America, BP, Monsanto, Pfizer, and Walmart use ALEC to funnel donations to legislators and…

F29 Live Blog

Welcome to the Portland Occupier Live Blog for the February 29th, Shutdown the Corporations action! Adam Rothstein here, editing the live blog, taking reports from our correspondents. Our partners for today’s media cover include OPDXLive, one of the Livestream groups hosting a dedicated page, and Portland Action Lab, organizers of the call for the day…

Defensive Black Bloc Tactics

by Shawn Fleek ‘De-arrest‘ – Street tactic used by marchers and protesters who directly engage with police to assist in the escape of individuals who are in the process of being arrested. When a participant is apprehended by authorities, one or more people will rush the officer an attempt to either confuse them or pull…

The False History and Misunderstanding of “Non-Violence”

by Adam Rothstein Recently, the Portland Occupier published an article entitled “Nonviolence Still Wins the Public,” that included a historical list of non-violent protests, intending to highlight how the peacefulness of protesters, especially in the face of violent persecution, won the day for various social movements. This was a very selective history that borders on…

Why Non-Conformity is a Good Thing

by Lana Buchanan This quote attributed by Robert Green Ingersoll to Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) is a great example of non-conformity: “The Church says the earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence even in a shadow than in the Church.” Imagine if he had not had…