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The following is a press release from the media committee, as requested by an emergency meeting open to the public.
PORTLAND, ORE. — Late Saturday night and early into Sunday morning, an emergency Occupy Portland meeting composed of concerned individuals, including people from several committees, was held to discuss what many volunteers felt was becoming a growing problem. They discussed, at length, the issues surrounding illicit drug use, violent behavior, and otherwise disruptive conduct that was being exhibited by some of the people camping at Chapman and Lownsdale Squares.
Many of the occupiers present at the meeting expressed exasperation and frustration at what they felt was a dangerous distraction being perpetuated by people who use the area as a “free drug space.” In an ongoing survey of occupiers there has been an almost universal consensus that safety and violence are primary concerns.
At the meeting it was decided that in order to address the situation some kind of action had to be taken. Ideas that were discussed included obtaining a permit for the space to allow exclusion of dangerous or unsafe elements, involving the police immediately to address situations as they arise, and even stopping services that the camp provides to those who do not involve themselves in the process or the movement.
While the group that met felt that some of these actions, such as obtaining a permit, could not be taken without a larger discussion among the occupiers, other actions, such as limiting services and police involvement, seemed more feasible.
Many of these problems have been brought as concerns by others, including the City and the Portland Police, but previously Occupy Portland has attempted to solve these through dialogue and outreach. The meeting was called because it was felt that those options had been exhausted and the problems not solved.
“As part of the 99% it is our duty to listen to all those who we try to reflect,” Patrick Dougherty said as a camper at Occupy Portland. “Their concerns have been clear. People say they support the movement, but they preface it with concerns about some of the people who use the camp instead of working with the camp. And frankly, these things concern many of us too.”
Occupy Portland didn’t create these problems however it has become a space for some of them, and it distracts from the message of the movement and the effort of our volunteers. Occupy Portland will never support dangerous, violent or destructive behavior, as restated by the General Assembly on Saturday, and volunteers will be meeting Sunday afternoon to discuss further steps to take, including coordination with the City and the Portland Police to address these issues.
While Occupy Portland is open to anyone, and we do not wish to exclude people, behavior which is destructive to the community should not be tolerated or allowed. We do not wish to be an impediment to the efforts of social workers and public safety officials who exist to address these issues.
Those who met planned to work with the Portland Police, established drug treatment programs, and other civil services to eliminate these problems from the space. It is important that any movement which tries to address society’s concerns is welcoming to the people of the city, and we will immediately work to eradicate the aspects of the camp which abuse our goodwill and inclusiveness at the expense of the people’s voice.
Occupy Portland was formed out of a popular sentiment that systemic problems within society were preventing the 99% from having a voice in our government, in our economy, and in our lives. We continue to focus our efforts on these things, and in creating a space for the people, we must remove the elements which are a danger to themselves and others.
Well said. This needs to be done. Not a party or a rave. A movement.
I agree with this completely. The needs of these people are beyond the means of occupy portland. homeless shelters are sending people to our occupation to get aid and many are not part of the movement. its really unfortunate. the whole idea behind “solidarity” is no person left behind but we simply dont have the resources or volunteers necessary to address these bigger issues which really shows where the cracks are in our society when it comes to social services for these people. I think we need to do whatever is necessary to make camp safe and to continue our work. Thank you so much to everyone who has volunteered so far, your efforts are unimaginably appreciated by everyone involved.
this press release is amateurish and naive.
do you really think that cops want to help occupy portland? no, they want to see it disappear, and to have that disappearance be as clean and orderly as possible.
and so what now, when you see someone drinking on a bench will you report them to the cops? if so, the cops probably won’t do anything because they don’t care, and you have just turned yourselves into the snitch committee.
hearing such a strong desire for snitching and cooperation with the police, coming from entrenched committee members, makes myself and others feel unsafe at camp. congratulations, by inviting the police to bust people carte blanche you have divided the camp and created another safety issue.
How timely! WOMAN FOUND DEAD AT OCCUPY VANCOUVER…. DRUG OVERDOSE. Occupy Portland, clean up your camp, it’s a political movement, not a shelter for homeless, not a haven for addicts, and not a place for recreational drug use. Somehow you seem to be exempt from all the rules but as a reminder Portland’s law is no drugs and/or alcohol in public spaces. Please be responsible and enforce these rules.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/woman-found-dead-at-occupy-vancouver/article2226958/
When is the next meeting and where?
deb
I have been concerned that the actions of a few would distract from your message and lead to less public support.
This statement, once again shows that the Occupiers are thoughtful, dedicated and courageous individuals. Thank You!!
Great to see such a difficult situation handled so gracefully. Best of luck with the implementation of this plan.
I agree.
My father is mentally and fortunately able to be in a private facility. If he were in the Occupy Portland camp there is no amount of goodwill that could stop him from creating violence and fear around him.
When I first suggested that Dad needed help we couldn’t give him my brothers and sisters were angry. It wasn’t easy for us as a family accept that the situation was out of our control, just as it is difficult for a compassionate group of people to accept that there are people who are beyond reason.
Our hearts had to grow to be able to love him and let the professionals give him what relif is possible.
It will take maturity, patience and love to keep Occupy Portland strong and peaceful.
We at the UNION have told you this 3 weeks ago when we pulled compressors out of that homeless soup kitchen…only to be belittled by Nat and his LIVESTREAM team saying we lie and dont even live in Oregon aND HAVE NEVER EVEN BEEN TO THE CAMP…Now what do you think NAT?…You have lied created division in the troops and just about ended this movement because you where just unwilling to lesson to any one but you’re self…get over you’re self and get back on track…I TOLD YOU SO…
And an ‘I told you so’ helps how exactly? Feel free to act like an adult any time you wish, and learning how to spell might be hurt either.
This is not okay. Meetings called up in the middle of the night / not following the GA process are not able to generate policy statements like this. A posting like this reflects the bias of the authors and is unacceptable. Please stop this, you who are posting semi-unilateral statements. To others on this team, activity like this not only hurts your working group’s reputation, but also seeds distrust and division in our movements. This is wholly inappropriate and must be removed immediately.
Note, I am not even speaking here to my concerns with the content and language (which are filled wiu prejudice). Follow the process and rules of decency (not shittalking your fellow octopuses on the Internet). Without these we have nothing holding us together
if anyone is going to have an emergency meeting to discuss such vital plans, please make an effort to have livestream or another recording device on hand. even audio or detailed notes would help.
also, when and where is the meeting today? as an educated and experienced social worker and an active member of occupy portland, i believe i have some valid input. again, video or detailed notes would be helpful for those of us not present to view all sides of the story.
and wasn’t this comment section of the website going to go away? i know things take time, but i just want to make sure that i heard that announcement correctly.
Dear occupiers,
Moving in a positive, effective direction. Nice to see the public acknowledgement of the tent city issues.
Also, wondering why my post of yesterday was never approved…feels like a censorship action from out here.
Also, still looking for the missing 7 nights of GA minutes and ran across the comment below referring to 15 people present at the GA, but 90 attending thru a livestream. How do those of us on the “outside” who are vested in the mission get hooked up with the livestream?
Thanks for posting,
Blessings and enlightenment to you
Oops, here’s the comment from the 11/1 GA referencing “livestream”.
We have for the first time in history, the ability to form communities remotely and effectively, through the internet. We must utilize this power to help our movement succeed and include this “abstract” community. Tonight at the GA, by the end, when there were still proposals attempting to be passed, there were reportedly 15 people at the meeting in person, while there were ninety users still watching from the warmth of the indoors, via livestream.
“Occupy Portland will never support dangerous, violent or destructive behavior, as restated by the General Assembly on Saturday.”
Can someone rectify this with the press release from the PPB that states;
“The Occupy Portland General Assembly approved a declaration of “non-violence” toward people, however they rejected the “non-violence” proposal toward property, they rejected a proposal to abide by park rules, and they rejected a proposal to give police information prior to protesting.”
http://t.co/VzqJIM1t
Not supporting “Destructive behavior” and then rejecting “the “non-violence” proposal toward property”, seem to be at odds.
The problem isn’t the homeless or street youth. It’s specific individuals using the movement as a shield to engage in dangerous drug activity, and the plan is to remove them and make it very unwelcoming for them to return. Childish finger pointing or blaming a class of people is not helpful.
The headlines read: Woman Found Dead at Occupy Vancouver.
Woman dies at Occupy Vancouver. Drug overdose. Timing is impeccable given the most recent post on Occupy Portland’s homepage.
I tried to post a comment & the story HERE earlier but my comment was apparently moderated/not posted. If you want to read about this story you will have to Google it.
it is unfortunate that occupy portland is allowing the blame to be passed on to the movement. You should understand that the health and safety has been compromised by those how have developed these policies. within the encampment it seems that we are being divided by a double standard that was born out of laws passed by our elected officials and when rights come into question they are conveniently hidden behind to either act or not act depending on the purpose that best suits law enforcement. police are using their roll as peacekeeper to say there is something wrong but hiding behind their roll as law enforcement when it suits them. They have chosen to enforce laws at their discretion and that my friends is why there is a threat to public health and safety.
The occupy zone needs to be declared a safe space and a drug and alcohol free zone. Involving police is a great way to create more division, as many of us have had so many issues with the police that we want nothing of their kind anywhere near us. Instead, occupy should create it’s own security, and kick folks out of the encampment that refuse to comply with a safe space/ drug/alcohol free policy. I
I fail to see how calling us names when we’re making constructive progress on a problem accomplishes anything. Maybe it’s time to back off and let things take their course.
That said- I will be at the meeting today and I am looking forward to working with people to actually resolve the problems that plague our camp despite our best efforts so far.
Cheers, Occupy family! I love you.
Wow that’s great! I’m so happy these concerns are being addressed! I want to support the 99%, I am 99% but I see the camp being highjacked by the bottom 1%. I’m so grateful you are addressing these issues.
I want to bring my friends and hang in the camp but I am too old and middle-class to want to hang out with ickyness.
Thrilled that you’re working this out!
Maybe we could continue the soup kitchen by serving over the chain and have them line the sidewalk.
PLEASE tell me this is sarcasm. And if it is not, this is far too close to the view of reality/poverty/illness/desperation that’s been the wool pulled over the eyes of so many. Ask yourself why are the police associating individual actions to a group. This is to undermine the movement itself. I suggest that if the police were concerned about protecting our rights and want to help, aks them for direct communication equipment so that volunteers can contact them for their help. If the police are really interested in open communications with OP then let us know their whereabouts and their intentions just as they have asked from us. I would think that knowing where they are in order to gain quick responsive access would go a long way in elevating the escalation of some of these individual incidents.
This is a bit over the top. This is a bit elitist. This is a bit shameful. How about engaging these people before writing them off? Most at camp are to scared to talk to these folks, why? Because they do hard drugs and scream at invisible people? A lot of those folks respond to compassion, respond to conversation and how about a little empathy. A lot of those folks have exhausted all of their options and we should try to remember that some of those folks were in these parks before we decided to occupy. Don’t perpetuate the status quo, try going out of your comfort zone and embracing these folks truly as part of the 99%. We are their voice too!
Problems of addiction are problems created and exacerbated by the current economic system. My understanding, as a witness to and participant in the Occupy movement, is that it is this system we are struggling to change. To address the economic disparities without also paying attention to the ways in which they destroy people’s lives is short-sighted and ineffective.
The Occupy camp is a microcosm of the whole. Naturally there will be ugliness, whatever that looks like to each of us. Personally, I find the collaboration with the Portland Police and their presence in the camp much more disturbing than knowing that people are taking drugs.
I know that we’re all working had to build new ways of interacting, of creating a small society that works for everyone. In doing that, let’s not fall into the trap of demonizing and marginalizing those already most victimized by capitalism.
Just my 2 cents
with love and care…
I watch the news and see how you are all getting into trouble with drug use, violence towards portland police, the destruction of the two banks this morning, and the large drug use which has made it to the local media. This is nasty and I was for this movement in the beginning, but YOU have lost control and everything is falling to complete crap because you in fact lost control. The news states you have formed a new group called, “REAL OCCUPY PORTLAND” will you can’t polish a turd and hope it looks and smells differently. What you have done is insulting to many regular Portlanders who are apart of that 99% but you losing control and acting a fool downtown have made yourselves look like the 1%.
This is my THIRD attempt to post this response. I am not SPAM and therefore should not be moderated/blocked.
This front page post on Occupy Portland is very timely as recent headlines read “Tragic Death Rocks Occupy Vancouver”
“A 20-something female died late Saturday afternoon of what authorities are calling a “medical emergency” after she stopped breathing in a tent at the Occupy Vancouver site.
The woman, whom Occupy participants were calling “Ashley” was found unresponsive by Occupy’s medical team around 4:30 p.m. and was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The death, following an overdose at the site Thursday, prompted Mayor Gregor Robertson to say there is an urgent need to shut down the site due to “life safety” issues.”
I think maybe the gap of understanding how this works is incomprehensible to some. The Police are familiar with a few speaking for many, just as the 1% has the money, which I guess now equals speech, speaks for the 99% This concept is so engrained in their thought process that they can’t possibly understand that these troubled individuals are not representative of the the movement. It is stated that this movement is a peaceful protest, that OP does not condone violence, yet the focus is being made on individuals and deducing that these individuals represent the whole. Is it that hard to understand that these are the people of portland in oregon a state in the United States of America? If anything, because there are so many in need at one location you would think that it would be that much easier to help these people.
this ”occupy portland press release” is extremely disconcerting. first of all, operating without GA approval is not operating within the guidelines of ”occupy portland”. you do not speak for us as a whole and yet you try to portray it as such. as a result, this ”occupy portland” press release, if you dare call it that, is extremely divisive. secondly, yes, people have problems, we all do, and we all bring some of our problems into the camp. like for instance, the control issues that i see happening with this group that wrote this ”press release”. but, alas, there are other problems that we all face in this community- sexual assault, for instance. we need to find a way to deal with these issues constructively and as a group if this movement is going to survive. this will happen NOT with a small group deciding to force people out, but with dialogue and GA decisions made to ensure safety. we can work on this. together. and if you’re not together with us, then i suggest that you pack up and go home, because a small group making decisions for the large group is a serious safety issue for me- ie, the one percent. why are we here if we’re not going to struggle together? ”…in creating a space for the people, we must remove the elements which are a danger to themselves and others.” power hungry academics who think they know what’s better for a community than the community itself are one of these elements that should be eradicated. houseless individuals are a HUGE part of this movement. if you ostracize them… you need to get a better look at the side your playing on.
why is my comment still ”awaiting moderation” when other people’s posts have been put up? this amounts to censorship. plain and simple. only posting one point of view in your comments amounts to the same type of media as fox news. if my concerns are not addressed, i will bring them publicly.
I assume you’ve all seen this:
Venice For Change: Dear Occupy Wall Street, It’s time to purge the violent Anarchists and Vandals. Love, the 99%. http://meb.tw/rYzSHc
I have no idea what the numbers are for the PDX camps, but what they describe there seems to be the way to go.
Wisdom worth considering from someone who has been there done that. Here is a sample, please access the rest through the link provided above.
“It is OK to draw boundaries between those who are clearly working toward our goals, and those who are clearly not. Or, as an earlier generation of change agents put it: “You’re either on the bus, or off the bus.” Are you here to change the way this country operates, and willing to sacrifice some of your almighty “personal freedom” to do that? Great. You’re with us, and you’re welcome here. Are you here on your own trip and expecting the rest of us to put up with you? In that case, you are emphatically NOT on our side, and you are not welcome in our space.”
As many of you know, a survey has been conducted of the Occupy Portland Camp/Movement over the last few days. I am the person who is creating a report of the results of that survey, and I hope to be able to forward that report to interested people by Tuesday afternoon. For the moment, I want to say a couple of quick things:
68% of respondents who took the online version of the survey want the camp to remain in its current spot as long as possible. The percentage of folks wanting the camp to stay open will most likely go up as we enter the data from interviews inside the camp. In summary, the survey shows that most respondents want the camp to stay open in its current location.
I hope folks dont start stating publically what ‘the survey’ shows, until the complete results are available for everyone to read. Again, I hope this is ready by Tuesday afternoon.
I spent quite a bit of time in the camp this weekend, talking to a wide variety of residents about what is working well and what needs attention. Although everyone is aware of problems, there is also a lot of excitement and hope that the camp can continue. Although there are difficult situations that arise, there is also quite a bit of solidarity and creativity there.
All the best!
i WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE FEW YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO TAKE THIS …LOL…YOU’RE LIVESTREAM FEED AND FORUM IS UNDER TOTAL CENSORSHIP AND ONLY ALLOWS ONE VIEW TO BE HEARD….WHY IS THAT?
This is a good decision and an important turning point. Your political message is getting drowned out by the media attention focused on problems created by those who are drawn to the prospect of shelter, free food, and access to toilets. Occupy Portland will not be taken seriously by the mainstream public as a political movement until the disruptive distractions are ended.
This is absolutely necessary. The Occupation must not be allowed to become an encampment for misfits and antisocial elements or people who will not participate constructively. The 99% are watching to see how this develops. If it is not corrected, it will bring the movement down.
Wonderful ideas. Do it.
@ Galen,
Good luck. The Occupiers ARE the anti-social elements. How many laws does OP perpetually break on a daily basis?
You people are not even close to being 99%, you are 5% of the bottom. If 99% of the population were like the Occupiers, the entire country would be a stinking cesspool like the OP camp.
I’m really encouraged to hear this. I live a couple hours south of Portland, and came to visit the protest last night for the first time. Literally within 1-2 minutes of entering the camp, I had to jump out of the way of two guys who were in an extremely violent fight! Needless to say, this and other things I came across gave me a pretty negative attitude about the protest. I wish you the best of luck with getting things “back on track”. At this point, it’s not something I’d be willing to support.
Your only hope at this point is to find a vacant building you can lease and use door security to prevent the homeless druggies from joining you. You need to take your movement indoors and vacate the downtown parks. Clean the parks up and try to restore them to original as much as is possible. Then have regular street demonstrations for your various causes. It’s the only way you can regain any public favor. Otherwise, your movement is doomed allright.
Please get this taken care of. This disruptive element is taking all of your energy and keeping you from your main purpose–making the 99% heard. You are losing people like me who want to see economic equality and social justice. I realize that the disruptive element is a symptom of this (and could be pointed out when talking with the media) but it is making it nearly impossible for you to get your message out. I want to come back to the encampment to visit.
Shannon
Dear Occupiers,
Oh, sigh……my comments are’nt posted and I don’t know why. I can’t find GA minutes so I don’t know what’s going on. I am trying hard to listen by reading the GA minutes and forums and I am trying hard to speak by posting commentary, but it’s moderated out. I don’t understand this movements methodologies, they just seem so full of evangelical zeal, and a hostile attitude toward reasonableness. It is so interesting to read complaints about the few speaking for the many, when the 15-50 engaged and voting at the GA meetings are essentially making decisions for the majority of the 99% who live in PDX (about 495,000 of them). As for me, I need the park vacated and repaired by OP (both with labor and funds) before I can even begin to take this movement seriously. This is the most important conversation of the 21st Century and it’s been wasted on territorial skirmishes, questions of ownership of land that doesn’t even belong to you and internal management fiascos, as well as insistence on counterproductive and disruptive statements (Jamison Square). I fear you cannot see the forest for the trees. Please take some time to step back and look at how the energy is being expended. If so much time is spent squabbling about the park, then it should go, so the time can then be spent on how to better engage the 99% of the public. We the people need to overturn the Supreme Court decision awarding corporation personhood. The best way to do this is thru a National Convention…what a great symbol that would be…so much better than a tent.
Please post
Gratitude and Blessings
i think it would be a mistake to involve the police, and i think it would be a mistake to seek a permit, and it is slightly disturbing to see these two options listed as first alternatives. the occupation is a voluntary, intentional community, and anyone who does not agree to conduct himself or herself according to the norms adopted by the community should simply be asked to leave. this would include, incidentally, actively participating either in whatever needs to be done to operate the camp and/or participating in the political messaging (marches, etc.). among the alternatives mentioned, “limiting camp services” comes closer to an acceptable approach, which should include directly calling out unacceptable behavior and requiring individuals to account for themselves. i do understand that in come cases you are talking about people who simply cannot communicate on rational planes. in those cases, it would be better to connect with nonprofit social service agencies than to engage the police. as individuals, obviously the police are among the 99 pct., but in their functional role, they are acting on behalf of the 1 pct.
When people are engaging in violent or menacing behavior, theft, vandalism, or hard drug activity, then it is appropriate to involve the police.
The entire camp needs to be a drug and alcohol free zone and this needs community enforcement. Easier said than done, but it’s critical — and I’m pro-legalization and no great supporter of the police, BTW.
Some one is going to be killed…raped…or worse…already have people being beat up, robbed, intemadated…by a small group of strret hoods and LIVESTREAM will not address any of this…all they want is to hide the truth..censorship and lie to people saying every thnig is cool…I think NAT IN LIVESTREAM has some how gotten into the donated funds and who knows whats happen to that money????why are you still telling every one its all cool in one forum nat and in another you tell every one some thing needs done???…aRE YOU THE ONE TAKING ALL THE DONATED FUNDS HOME?
I no longer support your movement in Portland..You people have made a joke out of it..Maybe it is because young college kids started this and that is why its such a mess..I am sad because this was hope for so many people..People like me over 50 whom have lost their homes and cannot find a job….Shame on you kids for making a joke out of this..Next time get some street smarts before you start a occupation..You may have an education but sure dont have street smarts..I am so sad….
As a union member who fully supports the movement, I am deeply saddened to say
that I can no longer bring my family down there to support this.
Pot smoke billowing around, and homeless people grunting and babbling at my
5 year old daughter is frightening for a child and not cool.
When my daughter says, “daddy, what is that icky smell?”, and I have to explain to her
that “well honey, that is pot and its bad.” etc…. not too mention the possible second hand smoke!!
NO MORE!
You will not get 85% of the support of the 99% until you have a CLEAN
home to invite them into.
Homelessness isn’t an issue outside the occupation movement. It’s where we’re all headed. Don’t equate the lack of shelter with laziness, and violent behavior, and drug addiction–as though no one with $$ could POSSIBLY be a lazy, aggressive addict! Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book, and by the sound of this press release, many occupiers are falling for it. Don’t get me wrong. Violence, apathy, and drugged distraction are both disruptive and counter-productive. I know that many people in the occupation have worked hard to address these issues with dialog, and that this late-night, secret meeting was thought of as a last resort. But the tactic of deciding who gets to eat donated food based on whether or not you feel like they’ve done enough work? The idea that people camped in the park aren’t a part of the occupation, even if they’re physically occupying? Good grief! You don’t speak for ME, that’s for sure. This action feels as though it grew from self-righteousness and ego, rather than from compassion. Community IS the movement. Don’t crap on it, and then claim that it’s in the name of public security. Aren’t we protesting, among other things, unjust wars fought in the name of national security?
There is nothing wrong with asking people who join your revolution to act in a way that supports your goals, and ushering them out the door if they are more harm than help.
This is such an opportunity missed. I said from day one you need to go about things in a legal manner — which includes getting permits and not camping out illegally.
Doing so has only brought people not interested in any social movement whatsoever. Of course bad behavior is occurring, you’ve appealed to the scofflaws.
What sends a more positive message to Portland and the rest of the world?:
Protesting peacefully (and vociferously) every day for a month or camping out on public for a month causing untold and unrealized damage?
Day by day, the movement is losing positive public perception from this bad behavior and destruction of public property.
I’d disband this group, help this city clean up this mess, and start over and do things LEGALLY.
When this group cleaned up after the Portland Marathon, many people thought that was a class act.
Start thinking along those lines, somehow this movement has deviated.
Here’s the thing- the Occupy sit-in concept was very creative and successful. It has gotten a lot more daily media coverage than the marches against the Afghanistan/Iraq war. But the people who made it happen can go on to do new, creative things too. They don’t need to keep devoting their energy to this marathon action.
So what next? The political Occupy people don’t need to shut down the camp. They can just start walk away and maintain their network connections with peope they’ve met, and start planning their next thing. The campers can support themselves as they would anyway. Nobody is required to go out of their way to haul in supplies.
I spent Saturday at Chapman Park. Got there too late for the march so I hung out at the crossroads and played my guitar and enjoyed the delicious food from the kitchen. The cafe rocks! Once in a while someone would call for help on a community chore and people would volunteer–things got done. It was a layed back scene all day.
Are the crossroads at Chapman the center of the universe? I’m not sure. Will positive world change start there and spread everywhere? It’s our only hope.
I wish the GA was held at the crossroads. I hope you don’t become a corporation or let someome vote at the GA via the internet. You don’t need a leader. You need to keep occuping and keeping each other warm.
It’s great to hear you’ve been occuping Schrunk all night. You need more room.
The goverments and leaders have failed. The people must succeed!
I’ve been down to the camp 4 times. It is clear that you have many folks that are there to do dope and other shit and take advantage of the protesters service centers. You *will* lose the support of the 98% not there if you do not set and maintain boundaries on this kind of behavior. Women and children need to feel and be safe.
Get rid of the troublemakers, focus of the message of the movement and for heaven’s sake, clean up the parks. Form as a non-profit, get permits so you can exclude folks, and get indoors for the winter. You need us to sustain you and we need you to keep it alive…so get rid of the druggers and those who choose violence or the movement will die an embarrassing death..which would be a loss for us all.
I understand that homeless people, the mentally ill, and the crusty kids can be scary sometimes. To me, it’s the drug and alcohol culture that makes it difficult for me to connect with these people.( And just for the record, I believe in the intelligent use of entheogenic substances, but not the self-destructive abuse of hard drugs, so I’m not an anti-drug crusader.)
That said, many of these folks have a warrior spirit that we would be mistaken to marginalize. Frankly, I don’t want to be part of a movement that is totally white, middle-class, pacifist and boring. Fire and passion, if channelled intelligently and tempered with wisdom can be one of our greatest strengths. Let’s not throw water on it before we’ve had a chance to learn ways to integrate the movement’s (Jungian) SHADOW into the whole.
Bad behavior MUST be directly and seriously dealt with, and I’m not against getting the police involved when the behavior is actually criminal. But I’m hoping that we can evolve creative ways to help folks learn that service to our revolutionary community will be healing for the soul, even if that just involves playing in a drum circle. By the way, if I hear one more smug idiot dissing on the drummers, I’m going to barf. Limit times, sure. But drumming and other music is good spirit medicine.
It never looks like you want it to. The camp should just continue on course to become a most compassionate homeless/recovery center/foster home. Those who can, should go home and rest and invest their energies is the movement. Those who run the kitchen and the engineering and the security and the information should be relieved more often and have shorter, less strenuous, stressful shifts. Leave a legacy of compassion to fellow Portlanders in a reclaimed public space. Solve problems in the camp by re-imagining what you think the camp should be.
Since my move to Los Angeles, and attending Occupy LA. I have noticed something. They just do not allow the stuff that’s allowed at OCP. No one is getting hammered. There is no violence. What measures are they taking to curb such behavior? They will not allow anyone to set up a tent if they will not attend GA. People of the encampment, This isn’t just YOUR movement. I know there are quite a few people there working hard. However, when you look at Oakland, Atlanta, LA, NY, Melbourne and Chicago, they are getting arrested! Why not you? When Thoreau was asked by Emerson why he was in jail, his only response was “Why aren’t you?” These people are going out in multitudes getting things done. You talk about Solidarity, well show some! As a once Occupier of Portland, I can really say I’m disappointed. Go occupy Wells Fargo by the hundreds! Go somewhere that city doesn’t want you and protest and speak out! Do something aside from drugs and fighting to get arrested for. Otherwise, go home and let some people with balls take over.
Occupy and the world.. please remember that the city of Portland, and it’s police, are also part of the 99% – neither are of the 1%. Be careful to not divide Occupy Portland into an “Us” against “Them” fight when “They” are working to keep the peace.
Now that being said, be aware that like internet “trolls,” I figure that there are those who are existing in the Occupy Portland camps who are there to cause dissension and disturbances, to tarnish the public image of Occupy Portland, and to cause distractions and division. Stand your ground as a micro society within this city, to maintain community, while demonstrating a peaceful and non violent protest.
Godspeed!!!
I am speaking as someone who was at the “secret” meeting and who has been one of the most active voices for keeping our movement non-hierarchical, accessible, and free from vanguards. I hope that people who know me are glad that I tagged along and I’d like to share my point of view.
First, the meeting was far from secret. It was very quickly thrown together because it was in response to a very time-sensitive situation which threatened to cost our movement a lot of support. There were 20-25 people there, most of whom live at the camp, all of whom have been working very hard for this movement, and many of whom spoke diligently to keep the process as transparent and honest as possible, considering the circumstances. Those few of you who are crying about GA process don’t seem to realize that camp representation was better at this meeting than it has been in weeks at the broken GA, and that we acted only as an autonomous working group and then only on topics where we achieved 100% consensus.
Now, if you are still reading, I will tell you that, yes, there are some people who have grown far too influential; that threats of flexing that influence were the very reason that the meeting was thrown together at the last minute and conducted with less-than-ideal openness. This is not the fault of the “vanguards.” It is the fault of those people who have not done their share, who have allowed a few to provide too much. It is the fault of people who think that talking at the GA is a viable alternative to actual consensus or action in response to the issues we face. It is the fault of people that believe occupying one’s computer chair is a viable alternative to visiting the parks. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of people who have stepped up, and the numbers are increasing every day, but we still need more people to do so. If enough people heed this call, the resulting cultural shift will disarm potential vanguards AND fix the issues that were discussed at the meeting.
Don’t be afraid of autonomous action and emergency councils hijacking the movement. Participate in autonomous action and councils, emergency or otherwise. Don’t let fear prompt you to abandon the movement to undesirable behavior. Let love and faith prompt you to take it back with appropriate behavior.
I, for one, think that seeking police involvement should be a last resort because it presents a serious risk to our cause. I, for one, believe that we have the power to prevent harm and mitigate problem behavior ourselves. I, for one, believe that we have the responsibility to act, through the GA or whatever means is most effective, to keep this movement alive and thriving. Yet I am not capable of doing it all myself.
There were an estimated 10,000-12,000 people in our initial march. If just one tenth of those people were active at camp, neither addiction nor violence nor hijacking would be a problem. Step up. Stop complaining on the internet and start participating on the ground. It is a solution that will serve both sides of this debate and prevent many of the problems looming in our future.
[...] is 20/20, and things could always be better; but it’s not like they’re not having similar problems in other cities. Moreover, this is the first time a lot of these people have participated in any kind of political [...]
This Movement is much too important to…
The people who are not legitimately involved with the Movement should be asked to leave the encampment immediately.
Enlist the authorities to assist (Adams, Leonard & Reese)
I’ll be happy to help.
I am grateful to those who have worked hard to build this movement and stand up for what is right. You have had a profound impact. I will continue to focus on goals like eliminating corporate personhood, exposing the connections between warmongering, money, and the destruction of our environment, wages that actually can support a family, taxing the rich, etc but I can’t do the work around people who use.
I don’t do drugs or alcohol or prescription meds and won’t spend much time in places where people are partaking in any mind or mood-altering chemicals, whether that is a cocktail party or the street or a therapy group where everyone is on anti-depressants. The distinctions drawn between homeless drug addicts and “responsible” drug users sound classist to me. High is high.
To me being stoned means you aren’t present. This is serious business and I think it requires clear minds and presence. As Jesse Jackson once said “Why is it you feel the need to anesthetize yourselves?” I would also ask: Are we so limited in your creativity that the only way we can relax or have fun is to put mind altering chemicals in our bodies? What about dance, music, conversation, nature, etc,?
One more thing: having boundaries is a good thing.
Well said and for a lot of reasons, I too can’t be in the presence of mood altering chemicals or mood altered people (homeless, wealthy, houseless, old, young, addicted or partying…none of them). I would love to help and participate, but the current environment both at camp and the GA (close proximity to camp) is just too much of a challenge to my physical and emotional status.
Blessings and Enlightenment
When I heard about this press release, and the late-night safety meeting, I knew what the next step would be. The group that published this press release has forced the Mayor’s hand, and Sam Adams now says that the camp must be vacated by this Sunday. What else did they expect would happen? I do not mean to suggest that all those involved in the meeting intended to see the camp closed down, but if they thought any other outcome was possible they were fooling themselves. You drew public attention to internal conflict at the camp, shined a big spotlight on issues that while urgent do not need to be how the public stereotypes the occupation movement. You fed into people’s worst prejudices about activists, and occupiers. You painted a landscape of “us” and “them,” where the ostracized others–with no where else to go if the camp is evicted–are likely to be the only people brave and desperate enough to try to hold the camp when the police come. And you wanted to deny them food, because they weren’t doing enough. Shame, shame on you.
[...] the other hand, a press release on the OccupyPortland.org blog last weekend announced the conclusions of a late-night “emergency” meeting to address the [...]