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15 November 2011
An Open Letter to Mayor Sam Adams:
We, as members of the Occupy Portland Liaison Team, are officially resigning from our roles as city and police liaisons for the Occupy Portland movement. This is in direct response to the deplorable police actions of this past weekend and your refusal to communicate clearly with us during that time.
We were specifically asked by City Hall to create this Liaison Team, for the purpose of facilitating clear communication between city government, police and the Occupy Portland movement. We worked hard to assemble a capable team of activists to act as a conduit of information as agreed upon by our General Assembly.
Initial meetings were amiable and seemingly productive, as your staff was able to express concerns, some of which we shared, about conditions within the encampment. We facilitated communication and followed up by working closely with city employees and our own volunteers to address issues relevant to camp safety.
Despite our efforts, over the weekend, you decided to cave to pressure from your friends at the Portland Business Alliance, the Police Association and other groups interested in maintaining the status quo of economic injustice and issued us an eviction notice. Instead of allowing us to address conditions within our encampment in a transparent and democratic way you chose to enlist the full apparatus of police repression to destroy our encampment.
There were no efforts made by the Portland Police Bureau to communicate to Occupy Portland Police Liaisons or members of our Liaison Team during the events that transpired over the course of Saturday November 12th through Sunday November 13th. We find this highly disturbing since we were asked by your office to be the conduit of information to and from Occupy Portland.
It seems that when City Hall wants something from us you make every effort to reach out, but when you plan to do something to us, communication is halted and you let the police do the talking with their batons. Our trust in City Hall was apparently misplaced.
Thousands of Portland residents of all ages came out over the weekend to support us and help defend our constitutional right to peaceful assembly. They were greeted by hundreds of militarized riot police armed with tasers, stun batons, beanbag weapons, tear gas, pepper spray and live ammunition. This was shocking to many of us who did not expect you to respond to unarmed, peaceful and joyful protest with potentially deadly force. The next day we observed police officers clubbing our fellow citizens and friends with batons, throwing people to the ground and making many unnecessary arrests in the process of destroying our encampment.
An example of this blatant police brutality is the violent attack on Justin James Bridges, the sign language interpreter for Occupy Portland. After repeatedly communicating to Portland Police officers that he had a broken back, police officers responded by beating him and putting a knee into his back. He was hospitalized and lost feeling and control of movement in one arm and one leg due to the unreasonable and excessive physical aggression inflicted by these police officers. Justin was released from the hospital yesterday after spending the night in the hospital. Justin is now in a wheelchair.
You told us on the first day of our protest that you were sympathetic to the goals of our movement and wanted to help find a solution that works for everybody. The behavior over the weekend of police officers under your command has clearly indicated otherwise. Yours is the latest in a string of aggressive, dangerous crackdowns by city and state governments across the nation attempting to silence the Occupy movement.
You claim to support us and yet you tell your police force to destroy us. Peaceful citizens are being injured in the process.
This is not democratic; it is autocratic. Portland expects more from its City Government.
Signing on to ending corporate personhood and changing campaign finance laws amounts to a conveniently timed attempt to restore your declining reputation among members of the progressive left. While we agree with these goals, offering piecemeal crumbs of liberal reform is not acceptable as an olive branch to our movement.
We have said from day one that our fight is not with you, but rather with banks, irresponsible corporations and a corrupt federal government. By camping outside of City Hall we gave you a choice to decide to stand with us and with working class Americans. Instead you made the choice to protect unjust social and economic policies that are leading our nation into a state of financial ruin and institutionalized oppression. The actions of the Portland Police have made it clear where you stand and no amount of political grandstanding will justify your creation of a police state in downtown Portland.
We at Occupy Portland will continue to make our message heard and to stand firmly in opposition to policies and decisions that perpetuate oppression and injustice.
We are open to working with City Hall on many issues but our trust in you and in the Portland Police Bureau has been severely broken. This trust can be somewhat repaired if you choose to apologize for the actions of those under your command this weekend and hold all officers fully accountable for their use of excessive physical violence against unarmed peaceful protesters. Please address your apology to those injured, to Occupy Portland, the Liaison Team and to the Occupy Movement.
In response to your “offer” of support yesterday, we ask that you make public all raw unedited police footage related to Occupy Portland. We await your apology and delivery of this footage with an open mind because we believe there is potential for collaboration with city government in the future.
Despite acting in the interests of corporate elites, you, Sam Adams, are also part of the 99 percent. There will always be a place for you in our movement, should you honestly choose to join us.
Sincerely,
Adriane Ackerman – City Liaison
Alaina Melville – Police Liaison POC
Jim Oliver – City Liaison POC
Kip Silverman – Media Liaison
Micaiah Dutt – Police Liaison
Trip Jennings – Police Liaison
Endorsed by:
Katherine Sherman POC Kids’ Village
Jay Dragon POC Kid Village
Kid Village
Illona Trogub Media & Communications
William Daniel Showalter
Engineer Sam
Mike Blue hair POC Occupy Portland Video Collective
Vargus Pike- Citizen of the state
Ivy Seaburg, RN Medic
Rochelle
Chase Wilson
Tony Zilka Union Liaison
*** Endorsements were received between the few hours that this open letter to Occupy Portland was released and the press conference occurring at 7:14am on Tuesday, November 15th. We welcome all additional endorsements in the comment section. We ask that non-endorsement comments be directed to the forum.***
Link to Press Conference http://www.kgw.com/news/Police-chief-133836498.html
Please add your voice to the poll on KGW’s website.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that your group is gone. There is the 1%, then the 1% of you guys, and then there’s the 99% of us that want you guys gone. You have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to essentially do nothing but cook, sleep, and do illegal drugs. I’m all for your right to protest even though I disagree with your message, but it is ridiculous that you did it by breaking the law and even more ridiculous that the city and our pedophile mayor allowed you to do it.
I stopped by Occupy Portland and talked to a few of the PPO, and **surprise surprise** they want the pedophile mayor out of office because they feel he is a terrible chief of police.
I think this article has some good points of why public support for this movement has not been more widespread.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/zuccotti-park-eviction-co_n_1094675.html
Since most of what is being protested involves deals being made at the highest levels of goverment and financial institutions that require elite access there are not the same opportunities for direct civil disobedience that will resonate with the public as the civil rights movement did. I know part of the problem is it’s nearly impossible to have a distinct message and clearly defined goals when the crisis we are facing is so vast and spread throughout our financial and goverment institutions. We need more ways to show how financial inequality effects us all. We need to realize that this movement needs to educate the public on why what we are fighting for is important and also attainable.
I endorse this response.
I also endorse us CONTINUING to occupy Portland in new venue(s). If we seem to be “going away” with our tails between our legs, the Anti-Occupy folks will have a cheap victory.
ODOT has control over the areas UNDER the “overpasses” near the river, and homeless “campers” in the past have tested a “30 day leeway before eviction” there. Granted perhaps a “new” encampment may not be as conveniently close to City Hall, etc., but we can still march to new places.
Let’s CHOOSE a new Location, or set of locations ASAP. Let’s prove to the powers that be that THIS HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.
What is your cause?
What is your plan to address it?
How does sleeping outside and breaking park ordinances advance the cause?
Unless you can answer the above as a group, without inanities like “create a psychic space” and “holistic transformation of democracy”, this movement is stillborn.
I want to see something come of this, so get your act together. Kick out the retarded anarchists and dopeheads and get your shit together, Occupy.
There are many people like me, who agree with some of the messages you guys occasionally put out, but we are losing patience quickly. Most of us believe in the rule of law, and breaking the law should only be done for good reasons. If in fact you are carrying out civil disobedience, you should be breaking the rules that are unfair. You should expect to be arrested, and if you resist, you should expect force. Complaining about it erases your credibility.
Adam, you state what many are thinking. I too love the idea of starting a conversation about some things that do need to be addressed and the Occupy movement has done that. But every time this movement forces police involvement (refusing to open Main street, refusing to leave the parks after destroying them while people are overdosing from drugs), it loses support from the masses they are supposedly representing. Like you said, many of us believe in order and the rule of law. To ask for an apology from the police after forcing them to action sounds ridiculous at best.
I saw the videos too. I saw a lot of people pushing the police and shouting obscenities while the police DID NOTHING. That doesn’t sound like a peaceful protest to me. It looked like provocation. Many of these videos were posted by Occupiers so you can’t blame mainstream media. Please get it together and focus on the issues you want to address rather than an entitled attitude that is coming across.
but only the retarded anarchists. you can keep the others. hey, adam, if you are losing patience with “you guys,” maybe what is needed is for you to participate instead of just calling plays from the sidelines.
go to nationofchange.org and read the article titled The Next Step The Occupy Movement Should take. We just need to embrace all of our brothers and sisters and show them how. Excluding and marginalizing people is the old way.
retarded anarchist?? (wtf kind of talk is that?) boy you have some real basic leaning needed… until you get that basic knowledge under control I’m not even listen to you, nor will even address your points [bye-bye!]
[first tip: don't call people retarded]
I endorse this response as well. I also endorse and support Vendeavor’s comment. Agree wholeheartedly.
GET OVER YOURSELVES!
You people are such self-important entitled losers.
The city and police have been extremely patient with all of the disruptions, damage, expense you Occupiers create.
Nothing better to do than try and piss people off. I bet you were one of the losers who came out just looking for headh to get busted. Get a life loser.
bring a riot team in …is not being patient…no matter how you spin it. What damage? The police wasted a years budget just on Riot teams. Way to go… bring a gun to a protest. Talk about sore losers! Ha!
I witnessed first hand the brutality at the hands of the “police officers”. Although many of them would not give us their names or badge numbers, at one point several of them removed the patch that was velcroed to their uniforms that said POLICE in bold white print. I personally watched them beat people with batons, throw them through the air disgustingly hard onto the cement, stand on their faces and ankles, crush media and other bystanders into police vehicles etc. These people were sitting, meditating, eating breakfast and standing there. I did not see one person resist arrest. I am outraged by the public cover up of this and by the outright lies that have been vomitted out of them mouths of our mayor and our police chief. Our vulnerability and compassion will only serve to make us stronger. The whole world is watching.
Hello all,
What exactly happened last Saturday and Sunday?
I think ‘We the People’ got robbed, routed and bull dozed again. Many supporters bought the Mayor’s excuse to evict, hook line and sinker, immediately and flipped over with little to no questioning. Many supporters and even some Occupiers are seeing it as a victory or a big success. Thinking positive and putting the positive spin is good but denying the truth in the process is not.
A victory would be when we are able to make the power establishment or our government or our representatives listen to us and work with us and then we have to be humble about the victory and build on it. It is not authentic to buy into a loss being painted as a victory or success in order to avoid the truth or pain of losing. The problem with what happened last weekend was that people had announced victory and a party and moved on even before Saturday and Sunday happened. It felt like people were trying to trick themselves into a victory to avoid feeling the pain of loss. This is not authentic. This is not honoring the people on the front lines who were still trying to hold the fort of and for Peace. These people are throwing their bodies and spirits in front of the freight train of the power establishment. When they do this, I believe that the higher layers of the 99% have more to gain than the front liners. So I feel a deep sense that they are doing it knowingly or unknowingly more for me than themselves.
Was the First Amendment right of peaceful assembly preserved? No. Did the Mayor respond to the massive turn out of public support? No. Did the City government listen to the people who showed up? No. Was there any group on Saturday night that showed its opposition to Occupy Portland? I did not see any. The answers to these questions are sufficient to conclude that wrong was done to the people. It was a failure and a loss for ALL!!
If the OM/OP had decided via its GAs that it is time to reboot to OM/OP 2.0 it would have been just fine. But on the evening of Saturday around 5pm, Adriane Ackerman, the clearest and most articulate spokesperson of OP said no such thing on the radio, live on the Adam Klugman show. The GA that evening decided to try and hold the park. We got routed because I think no sooner the Mayor announced the eviction than good numbers of supporters of OP rapidly flipped over and went along. Suddenly OP had, “run its course”. We have to be more mindful of not spontaneously accepting such decisions from the power establishment especially during these times. This is something to keep in mind. We have to push back as much as possible even if as a tactic. We cannot keep tamely following the now known power drunk and/or corrupt and/or criminal establishment. We should not hit the panic button and decide to reboot to OM 3.0 when OM 2.0 hits the wall. A self fulfilling prophecy works a lot quicker and more powerfully when it’s a negative than a positive. Immediately not accepting the orders and dictates from on high does not mean violence. It is the principle of questioning authority, most needed especially during these times. It’s simply, peacefully and genuinely asking why?! This is the least I can do when I am not in the direct line of fire and supporting the OM/OP. We cannot fall to the excuse of the violence of provocateurs and other hot heads and withdraw our support, waver or change our minds. We must strongly and loudly say that we are all for arresting and evicting any and all violent elements.
The First Amendment Right to Assemble Peacefully was bull dozed. The violence on camp was used as the excuse to bull doze the entire camp. In the Mayor’s statement of eviction there was no mention of attempts to arrest and evict the violent elements. The Mayor’s statement sounded like he was expecting the OP to police itself and rid itself of the violent elements. The OP does not have any authority or skill to do this. Moreover, peaceful folks can hardly be asked to police and evict the violent. All the violence was right there in those two squares, if the Mayor and Police chief willed they could have deterred those violent elements. That is the Mayor’s and the police’s job. It would have been so different to have the police confront the violent elements to protect the Peaceful Occupiers.
If OP did not act in concert with the police to identify and arrest these violent elements then is something to keep in mind for OP 2.0 whatever that may be. The Mayor also sounded like he was doing OP a favor by indulging OP and its supporters. If he thought that Occupation was unlawful notwithstanding the First Amendment he should have made a strong good case for it. Overall he took a weak and even duplicitous stance in support of OP and did the usual thing of using brute force. He is at best looking at OP as a local issue of homelessness, drug usage and mentally unstable people. I truly hope he is sincere about that part but I doubt it.
Why did the Mayor not act on Saturday night? The answer is obvious, it was not possible under the public eye and there was a far greater risk of violence. So that action was right but only tactically. Evicting OP when the public had gone was a cowardly act which is now being touted as smart. The Just action would have been to acquiesce and listen to the public support and possibly let a smaller contingent continue to occupy one park. This smaller contingent would have proved their mettle and credentials to be the authentic Occupiers by risking peaceful arrest. This would have been an act of Leadership based on Wisdom and Courage and not brute power and force. The Mayor could have worked closer with OP to keep the camp clean, safe and prevent the violent elements from returning. This could have encouraged other supporters from upper 99% to come and occupy in shifts on occasion. We could have transformed the problems in the camp community into community involvement and involving the upper and upper layers of the 99% that we critically need. We lost a huge opportunity to engage the community and repair OP; instead the Mayor did the mediocre and pedestrian thing of bringing out a bull dozer. We live in a society of short attention spans and fashion seasons, and then there is the “out of sight out of mind” phenomenon. Hence being able to keep even a small part of the camp was critical. This is another reason why it is a huge lost opportunity.
There is a critical question to answer. How do we deal with the saboteurs, provocateurs and other assorted hot heads in the future? First expect them, do everything to identify them, do not buy into the main stream media focusing on them, they are not a part of a peaceful movement and above all do not let them tarnish the general majority of peaceful people. Do not beat ourselves up because there is a minority of violent fools among us.
In the future have to be more forgiving of the OM members and our mistakes and seek a lot more accountability from our representatives and leaders. It is the principle of fighting up and supporting down. It is a good social principle to follow to lift up the down trodden and get the high flying off their high horses a bit to be a more cohesive society. We live in a society that beats down on the less powerful and kisses up to more powerful, we have to change this in our hearts and minds and souls. If there is something wrong happening within OM/OP, point it out plainly so it can be addressed. We should be the last persons to blame and beat ourselves for errors of a nascent growing movement when we know of the humongous crimes, cover ups and capers that the 1% in big business and big government have pulled off.
The OM movement should focus more on public awakening and re-education and less on engaging with politics and legislation. The current generation of politicians are all bought and paid for. Ironically 99% of them are beholden to the status quo, quid pro quo, corruption, reciprocal dealing and power this is what they have learned and practiced. OP working with the city council, Oregon and US legislation is a waste of time so little to no time should be spent on it. When sufficient numbers of people are awakened in our citizenry who live and practice our Bill of Rights (and duties), we will automatically elect more and more of such people into public office to fulfill the ideal of a Government of, by and for the people and whose Just powers are derived from consent of the Governed for Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness for ALL.
Sincerely,
Portland Area Resident
A Human Being
Ordinary US Citizen
I endorse the resignation.
As a former police accountability activist, I wasn’t surprised to see the rows and rows of riot gear police at a peaceful protest. Portland has a long history of such police action. I was surprised to see 5 police officers on horses, kicking and urging the horses into the crowd of peaceful protestors because years ago we had received a promise from PPB that they wouldn’t use mounted police officers for crowd control. Apparently that’s been rescinded. Fortunately, the horses refused to move forward into the people. If anything, such police action could have provoked serious problems.
There were a few people who tried to stir up violence but the peaceful protestors handled those instigators quite well. So, instead of the credit going to the police who lined up against the people looking like a military occupation, the credit for a peaceful protest should go to the protestors.
To “STEVE”: Crap talk belongs in the forums. This comment area is for endorsements (as noted above) so take your own “self important entitled” putdowns and register them there. Looks like time to GET OVER YOURSELF thinking you have even a clue about this movement, since you obviously don’t.
YHBT
When did you exactly plan to DO something then? Occupying a park accomplished what sorts of legislation to correct what is happening in our financial world? How did you plan to go about action versus words? I truly believe our country is in trouble. I agree with the talks OWS and OP have spurred, but its all TALK. How can you of all groups be taken serious, when all you care about is camping in the park while complaining about how bad it is. Is this truly your intention, to sit in tents, complaining to one another about how bad things are, instead of DOING something? How have you tried to fix what is broken? Care to answer any of these questions?
Cool story bro!
How naive can you be? Remember all of the people who were saying that the city and police can’t be trusted? Remember when we said that your collaboration with them was just a means for the city to try to control and undermine the occupation? You people – the liasons – should bear the full guilt and shame of your collaboration with the city and police. If you claim to not have known better, it’s only because of your refusal to listen to other members of the occupation. Shame on you. If you had any honor, you’d leave in disgrace and let the rest of us get on with our work, rather than looking for ways to collaborate in the future. GTFO.
very astute and well said… many of us knew this in advance but the fresh new learning curve of the movement caused us to all start “at the naive beginning” …well it didn’t take long..now you [we] see the police and the media were not *ever there to assist in the movement ….. what a long dragged out “learning the hard way all over again” – Thanks for saying it here…. Ive been biting my tongue and hoping maybe I was wrong. ~joe anybody
I endorse this. I feel though that the apology should specifically come in both a written format and in a facilitated meeting format with media accessibility.
Due to the fact that our Mayor is subject to, just as the rest of our national government is, corrupted inverted totalitarianism and therefore only a figure-head within the system I would ask that a demand be made for a forum inside city hall facilities (possibly during city council) to legitimize this process as a statement from our city officials, not only from Sam Adams.
Occupy needs response from ALL of our city officials, especially Nick Fish and Reese. I encourage the Liaison team and those that endorse this statement to take this farther than Sam Adams and deeper through the corrupted system and hold accountable those that are truly pushing the “autocratic” agenda.
This is obviously much much deeper than Sam so I emphatically suggest you consider this as a next step.
Thank you for your hard work and brilliant efforts!
BTW – Reply should be expected within 3 days…;-)
I applaud the Liason Team for this articulate and perceptive letter to the mayor, and as we move forward, I urge them to learn from their experiences with the city.
I, too, endorse this message! The media has attempted to paint us occupiers as a bunch of lazy hippies and clueless anarchists. But this letter proves that not only are we NOT lazy OR clueless, we can spell! And communicate in an articulate way!
Props to those involved with drafting this letter! Well done!
WE ARE THE 99% WE ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH!
I am pretty sure that if you “have a broken back”, it’s not the best of ideas to put yourself in a situation where you have been repeatedly told you are breaking the law and will be arrested? Nice job of littering and leaving behind such a deplorable mess. You kids sure are green!
Good decision. Apparently mayors of 18 cities coordinated these police state actions during the past week. Now we know who we cannot trust. That’s you Sammy.
I endorse this response fully and wholeheartedly.
I endorse this letter.
an Open Letter to Mayor Sam ? C’mon folks you got
3 or 4 hundred troops at your disposal. How difficult was it
to assemble them in front of Mayor Sam’s home and read the letter aloud to him before he left for work in the morning?
Are you planning to put Mayor Sam down for the count in the next election? How about a recall petition and throw the bum out of office?
Of course you know the Police Chief gets dumped next, eh?
a liberal is someone who walks out of the room when an argument turns into a fight
a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged
Sam is not running for mayor “next time’ – I think Police Chief Mike Resse is-(was?) – But who wants a riot cop for Mayor???
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Vendeaver’s comment to STEVE asking him to take his response elsewhere. Isn’t that what the majority of Portland was asking the encampment to do? If any of the major news channels had made this direction, they would have been blamed for censorship. How about a complement/criticism sandwich? How about: “Thank you Sam for letting us stay as long as you did…You’re communication with our liaison team was a bit lacking in the 11th hour…Thanks for minimizing the force and holding back the tear gas.”
They rat f**ked you. No other way to put it.
Mungen Cakes endorses this message.
Thank you for standing for all of us who cannot march (bad knees) Please keep it up and know that all over the city there are people like me who think you are the hope of the future.
The mayor of Oakland let it slip that this was a coordinated effort across the country – to clean out the protests before the holiday shopping season. How about you help people find ways to give this holiday season without supporting the establishment. Local businesses, charitable donations, etc.
Blessings on you all.
Are you kidding me? Justin is not in a wheelchair you drama queens. He won’t even release his medical records because everyone would know that your one martyr is a phony. Last I read he was being released from the hospital. NEWSFLASH: If he had any spinal damage or loss of feeling they wouldn’t be sending him home. There is even a video of the “brutality”, and the fat guy just falls over, and the police pull him out of the crowd. The police don’t even come in contact with the guy before pulling him out. Get over yourselves.
As a dedicated participant in the occupy portland movement, I, Laura Gapper, enthusiastically endorse this message and the actions of the liasons. Thank you for all your hard work and attempts to work with city hall, and thank you for doing the right thing and not trying to maintain a line of communication that clearly is only for the benefit of those in power and has nothing to do with the safety and wellbeing of protesters. Violence will not be tolerated and certaintly shouldn’t be rewarded. Thanks again liasons.
Endorse this statement. Very disappointed with Adams and company. Massive over-response and disrespect for human and civil rights by the Portland city government is shameful. A kindly-faced police state is still a police state.
I whole heartedly endorse this letter, as well as the liaisons who have worked with both the police and the city. We will no longer submit to the demands of a city government that responds to peaceful people with violent threats and weaponry. We will not allow our constitutional rights to be trampled on by city authorities who feel our movement makes Portland look bad because it brings the city’s hidden problems into plain sight. We will not comply. We will only grow stronger from here.
I do not endorse this, particularly because the resignation of the liaisons is unproductive and accomplishes nothing (at best).
The hyperbole is over the top. Were there problems here? Yes. Was this another Oakland? Not even in the same ballpark. Again, just as with Jamison, hyperventilating and drumming up the omg outrage over what DID go on leaves you NOWHERE to go when they actually start busting heads.
To Anonymous, shouting “how naive can you be,” the answer is, put a liaison team in place WHILE continuing to afford the police and city as much trust as they actually deserve. One can be appropriately mistrustful of authority and also attempt to work with it.
Is your organization planning on paying for all of the expenses as a result of this protest? As many Oregonians, my family is struggling – we work hard to survive. We also have a disabled child and we are not on public assistance. I am concerned because your group’s activity is only going to cost taxpayers MORE money – MY money that I need for my children and family. My disabled child also needs therapy and medical attention that is not covered by insurance. My family is in debt – a lot of debt just to give our child a chance.
I find it offensive that my child’s educational programs are being cut because the state has so little funding – while a group like yours created a situation to cost taxpayers MORE money. I have participated in protests before, I want fair treatment for people. However, you should find a way to send your message without destroying our parks and costing taxpayers more money.
Your actions are counterproductive and you are undermining your cause by punishing the general public – people who you would want to join your efforts. You may feel you have a peaceful protest – but what about the damage to the parks?
We are ALL struggling to get by – please don’t cost my family more money. I beg you to think about others who may be in a worse position than you. My child needs his educational program intact. There is a good chance that he will never speak or function independently – and that is directly related to the amount of programs available to him. I understand your plight but please don’t cost the taxpayers more money. We can’t afford the damage that you have caused.
While I endorse the resignation letter to Mayor Adams as a temporary measure, I have strong feelings that communication between any involved parties remains crucial. If we are truly about the 99% (a group in which you included Adams) we cannot “play their game” and change our tactics when the other side chooses to breach agreements, use force, or do any of the other things they will try to do to cause us to self destruct. I hope the mayor will apologize but no matter what I hope we will remain a peaceful, open movement that can move beyond the moment and continue to grow using the tactics of solidarity, peaceful protest and continuous actions to effect the changes we seek. One of the most important actions is communication. I am incredibly proud and heartened by the work that is being put into Occupy Portland and the entire Occupy Movement. I am amazed at the way modern technology and social media has created transparency and accountability. I only hope we can do better than past movements and revolutions that have been co-opted or destroyed by using the tactics of their adversaries. Please continue to use dialogue and inclusion as well as protest and and peaceful resistance. Thank you for your incredible work.
Why doesn’t somebody from the movement just run for Mayor in the next election – quit complaining about your rights and exercise one of them – the ability and freedom to run for the top public office in this city. Then you can show us all how it should be done. The opportunity is yours – will you take it? You know you guys weren’t going to be able to live in the parks indefinitely – that is very short sighted. Maybe a few thousand were down in support of you Saturday night, but another million plus in this town were not. You do NOT have the full support of this community and you do not speak for us – You do NOT speak for the major populace of people of Portland (again that’s the million plus that didn’t show up) – please only speak for your group. You do not represent the rest of us with your actions and statements.
I, Carsen POC for the Concrete Kids and Tent City Rockers fully endorse this message.
vendeavor…”this comment area is for endorsements”…wow, so only those who agree with you can post comments. I thought this was about free speech.
Yes, you poor thing, you couldn’t post a comment. Free speech denied! Oh, wait…
Yes I like endorse message. He’ll try to come crawling back. His statement to OccupyWallSt to “focus, please’”was ridiculous. He has limited focus himself. The PPD get what they want and answer really to no one. Mayor shouldn’t have been playing both sides.
What I would hope is you brush off these ‘promises’ and ‘betrayals’ personally and just keep going. I am really older and though it may seem forever late – change is coming. You will help bring it about. I am the 99% too.
Thank you for writing this great letter to the Mayor. You very eloquently stated what I wanted to say. I have been following your website and live stream to learn about this movement. I am very impressed! After seeing what happened with the police this weekend, I will now be taking the next step with volunteering and marching. A heartfelt thank you to all the Occupy movements for restoring my hope.
I, Ann Anderson, fully support this letter.
Very well written, I hope it is read & responded to by those who can make things right.
I endorse the position expressed by the liaison team in the above letter. I believe they were right to extend an invitation to the city to communicate effectively with the occupiers, and I believe the mayor abused this relationship by sending the police force to assault the occupiers. I commend the protesters for their ongoing restraint, even in the face of the violence perpetrated by the PPB.
Sam Adams will not be running for re-election. It is crucial that we elect a voice of the people in our next mayoral election. This type of violence should not be done in our name!
I fully support the occupiers and protesters. For those of you who are unsure of what the cause and goals of this movement are let me explain. The power elite and governments of the world have illegally occupied the land of this great earth for centuries. While we have all stood silent and allowed them to pillage the earth, they have have taken advantage of us all by stripping away our rights and natural resources. We will no longer remain silent and stand aside while allowing this to happen. While some protesters have caused conflict with the police, most have been peaceful and did not deserve the brutality they received in return. This will not be forgotten. Who’s at fault here? Most protesters have stayed in accordance with the law yet they still face opposition from the power elite and those who wish to protect the status quo. There are more of us who wish to see change, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I’d like to finish with a message to the powers that be: Do the right thing and allow the people to assemble, allow us our rights. If you continue to do “business as usual” you shall be stricken down by the hand of God. If money is your God, then your dogma and your God are dead! They can no longer protect you. Heed my words, you’ve been warned. Power to the people! We must protect earth from the downpressers. Everything is at stake.
Standing up against injustice has never been easy, nor unimportant. Strength, courage, determination, and resilience to you!!
I fully endorse this message. A violent response to a peaceful message only shows fear that they can’t control or digest that message. Sam Adams and the police showed what cowards and liars they truly are.
I agree w/ Joel
Thanks
what a fantastic climax to the monthplus Occupy Movement,
what a start for getting a handle on the shovel to dig out from under the crap we’ve had dumped on us for 30 years, if not 50 years.
great press conference, well reasoned and expressed. thank you.
I endorse this message!
Thank you, Liaison Team, for your courageous, idealistic, creative, persistent, hard work and incredible self-control and grace. You make me so very proud of, grateful for, and impressed with, you! I empathize with how hard it was/is to be so betrayed so many ways after all you did for the greater good, and for everyone. I understand your ethical dilemma. We need good communication and teamwork, but how can that happen with those who lie and cheat, and use violence? They lied about timing. They intentionally suckered you into cleaning up one park and then interrupted your efforts and blamed you for the mess they caused, even when we know that could never excuse their police brutality or violation of oath of office and police work and violation of Constitutionally-recognized inalienable human rights. You obeyed and cooperated and then they punished you for trusting them. They told you to clean up the camp; you did; they stopped you then stole and vanadalized and destroyed private property needed for survival. They told you to go to a specific park; you did; they arrested and beat you. They told you they cared about grass and tree roots and then they brought in heavy machinery with caterpillar tread and heavy dump trucks doing far more damage than you could ever have done. They told you it was about feces, but they refused to allow you portable toilets or compost toilets, and they haven’t cleaned up human feces/urine all over town for decades, and still there regardless of where you were or were not. They told you it was about violence, but they sent mentally-ill violent people to you and didn’t help. They waited until you had almost decided where to go when to make it safest for all, and then they interrupted to terrorize, using people paid to stop terrorism. Each so-called excuse was for problems that have existed for over a century or as long as syringes have been around, and remain in other parts of town, yet those restaurants, hotels, condominiums, churches, etc. that have it on their sidewalks, etc. are not evicted with riot police. Each problem blamed on you already existed and remains with each business in the alliance against economic justice. You accomplished more good in those three parks than the city has in decades. At each decision, they timed it to undermine your good-faith efforts and make it worse for all, and inexcusably taking from public coffers that should have gone to address the real issues you highlighted. I can find no fault with any of you or your good, hard work. I wish I could help you find the best next step, but you do have my admiration, gratitude, prayers, and moral support. Love!
It is better to reach out in vain, than to deny any support out of fear of betrayal.
Let me begin by saying thank you very much for your individual and collective efforts on behalf of not just Occupy Portland but all those disenfranchised by a country that no longer gives voice to the less fortunate – the 99%. Your efforts should be acknowledged as I do now. Thank you.
Your obviously reasoned response to events has been to no longer liaison with the Mayor. To what end? Solidarity? No, because the very definition of solidarity is mitigated by your collective decision(s). The entire reason for a Liaison Team, irrespective of setting, is to facilitate communication that may not be ideal. If communication were perfect what would be the need for a liaison? I ask that rhetorically because the answer is clear.
Perhaps I should have prefaced my remarks with also applauding both sides for restraint. Yet, condemning both sides for encounters that were less than ideal. There were numerous encounters in which people in the crowd were telling the police to F@^ off and die etceteras. [I am not suggesting they do not have a right to do so (although, to suggest that that right is cut and dry reflects a failure to interpret statute...I digress)]. My larger point is that such actions escalate situations whether with police or in a bar shooting pool. To this end, the police showed restraint. Additionally, the movement showed similar restraint and again both sides should be applauded for this. Like it or not, perfection of restraint was not achieved by either side. However, I am not writing to fall into that pit of endless debate.
I am writing because, as I alluded to above, the essence of being a liaison is to facilitate and the very nature of the job suggests imperfection. Whether the imperfection in communication between parties is manifest via intention, neglect, ignorance, or simply oversight, each of these highlights the very reason to have liaisons. Does it feel good to be ignored? Or dismissed? No. When that occurs, individuals can feel like a pawn or ‘tool’ of the other-side. Perhaps that side views you as such – Fine.
But, when trying to build a movement that could affect so much change those personal slights seem insignificant. Advocating for those without health insurance, removing corporate influence from all levels of government, a taxation system that is clearly unfair. The list of ailments within our society that arise from inequality are too numerous to list and too important to abandon in whole-or in part.
Make no mistake as political parties and corporations feel threatened by the Occupy movement (in Portland or elsewhere) the assaults on the movement will grow. Whether it main-stream-media, communication blackouts by elected officials, and corporate funding of opposition groups. All this and more is on the horizon because this is a war – not a war of ideas – but a war in which battles have practical implications. I think some have an idealistic view, myopic if so, of what is needed for change. I hear repeatedly ‘love is enough’ or ‘love will change the world’, ‘be tolerant of everyone no matter how they act, behave, or express themselves’ and that is simply nonsense. As an ideal, it is a wonderful aspiration and I endorse the sentiments completely. However, as a practical matter in a society blinded by capitalism, materialism, and a system in which those in power maintain allegiance based on how big their donors pocketbooks are – those sentiments reflect a profound naiveté in terms of what will facilitate change.
As but one example, a much more productive avenue would have been to compose an open letter to appropriate media and governmental agencies expressing your good faith efforts. Further outlining a cogent and logical framework of how communication broke down and then take the high road saying you will endeavor to help the mayor and associated parties improve their abilities in communicating with their constituency because the movement is much more important than their failures to communicate.
This did not occur and members of the Liaison group lost an opportunity. I’ll end this note as I began – thank you.
You sure are full of yourself – why not run your own protest the perfect way – like you say you can. Was not impressed, medium sized words and all.You write as if you are some head of state in exile.
“But, when trying to build a movement that could affect so much change those personal slights seem insignificant.”
100% agree. So many committed to OP have challenged critics to view the cost of the park encampment as a the necessary cost of transformation and to contrast that with the very real cost of our current economic situation. And they have challenged people to accept that change is uncomfortable.
The relationship with the city and inherent communication issues with predictable fractious discussions will be ongoing as each group has differing scope of responsibility. THIS IS ALSO UNCOMFORTABLE. Is not this discomfort a small price to pay for the greater good? It’s called a learning curve and will be UNCOMFORTABLE until everyone is speaking the same language.
It’s not personal….
I’m in solidarity w/ the media team liaisons leaving. The police and mayor failed and act as if they could care less. They chose to use weapons, chemicals and military tactics on peaceful citizens of Portland. They turned the occupy movement into a police state. It was horrible an uncalled for. The mayor and city sided w/ BUSINESS FIRST & WALL STREET – and they stuck guns in the faces of the movement. They pitted the 99% of the police against the 99% of the citizens whom are their friends and family and neighbors, the very ones they are suppose to be protecting. Shame on the Mayor the chief and the attorneys.
What is to be gained by the actions and statements of the liaison team? What leverage does the liaison team have? And why should the mayor care if they don’t talk to him?
Get TB (below)to advise the team ASAP!
what will be gained –> is there will be “no cozy” dialog or relationship…the cops blew it…The ex-ed out the dialog and communication and picked up their riot gear tools for pain and COMPLIANCE.
Now the people are speaking up …. in fact these liaison team members were ones who tried the hardest to keep open communication, and they were slapped in the face with violence and being cut out of any dialog …its time to cut the sheet.
I just went to the Mayors office on my lunch break, to get a comment form to fill out with my complaints of the police action on citizens which was “ordered” by the Mayor.
I told the desk clerk I was not happy with the mayor sending riot police and weapons into a peaceful gathering of citizens.
I will be filling this out and dropping back off in his 3rd floor office in City Hall.
I urge others to do the same.
Solidarity = Love
[...] The city liaison team of the Occupation was ignored prior to the eviction from Lownsdale and Chapman…, leading to unnecessary, serious [...]