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The Interoccupy Update for Aug. 28th – Sept 3rd

opdxmycelium — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:36:49 +0000

Welcome to the InterOccupy newsletter for the week of August 27th, 2012. If find yourself in Florida, be sure to Join the Coalition to March on the RNC, or perhaps Shutting Down Bain is more your speed. Find out how you can show solidarity with Mark Neiweem, one of the #NATO5 defendants, brutally beaten by police officers while in the Cook County Jail in Chicago last week. And of course don’t forget to check out S17′s Hub and Website to find out how to get to New York or to the nearest solidarity event in your area.

InterOccupy is committed to upholding clear channels of communication for the movement. We don’t create or own any of the newsletter content; we simply deliver the information that comes to us via the newswire and coordination Hubs on InterOccupy.net.

This Week’s Calls

These are calls scheduled on InterOccupy for the coming week. For actions and other events, see the full InterOccupy Calendar.

(All times Eastern Standard Time)

Tuesday, August 28th

2:00pm — CALIFORNIA HOMES FRAUD-CLOSURE CAMPAIGN
7:00pm — NATIONAL PLANNING CALL FOR SEPTEMBER 17TH NYC
9:00pm — PLANNING NATIONAL MOVEMENT-WIDE MEDIA WORK

Wednesday, August 29th

9:00pm — UNITED NATIONAL ANTI-WAR COALITION: PROTEST THE WARS AT HOME AND ABROAD
9:00pm — OCCUPY THE DNC – CHARLOTTE ACTIONS AND NATIONAL SOLIDARITY ACTIONS

Thursday, August 30th

1:00pm — DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL MEDIA WORK AMONG OCCUPY GROUPS AND OTHER MOVEMENTS FOR DEMOCRACY (THE AMERICAS, AFRICA, EUROPE)
3:00pm — OCCUPY MOVEMENT WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING CALL
10:00pm — DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL MEDIA WORK AMONG OCCUPY GROUPS AND OTHER MOVEMENTS FOR DEMOCRACY (THE PACIFIC, AUSTRALIA, ASIA)

Friday, August 31st

3:00pm — GLOBAL NOISE MUMBLE MEETING
6:00pm — S17 AFFINITY GROUP SPOKESCOUNCIL REMOTE PARTICIPATION

Saturday, September 1st

— No Calls

Sunday, September 2nd

4:00pm — THE PEOPLES CONGRESS, FORMING THE GOVERNMENT WE WANT
8:00pm — OPEN THE BORDER GLOBAL PROTEST

Monday, September 3rd

8:00pm — MAESTROCONFERENCE TRAINING CALL
8:30pm — OREGON OCCUPY FORECLOSURES

Newswire

Each week, we deliver all of the items to you that have been submitted to the InterOccupy Newswire. If you have an important, relevant announcement or resource to share with others you can Submit it to the Newswire and it will be included in next week’s newsletter.

Announcements

	SEATTLE, WA: MONEY AS SPEECH IS A REAL HORROR SHOW. END CITIZENS UNITED. This Halloween, we are throwing thousands of bills printed with, “Money As Speech Is A Real Horror Show. End Citizens United”, off a building in Seattle. Read More

	#J20TRIAL SOLIDARITY TO KEEP THE LIGHT ON CITIZEN’S UNITED RULING Trial for Six Defendants from Occupy The Courts Arrests Washington, DC – January 20, 2012 marked the second anniversary of the US Supreme Court split (5-4) decision in Citizens United. Read More

	PROTEST THE WARS AT HOME AND ABROAD, THE THREATS TO IRAN AND SYRIA, AND U.S. DRONE WARFARE ON THE WEEKEND OF OCTOBER 5-7. UNAC will be holding a national conference call to start the process of building actions across the country. All are welcome on the conference call please mark your calendar. Read More

	S3 CORPORATIONS AND THE 1% OUT! DEMOCRACY AND THE PEOPLE IN! LABOR DAY MARCH TO BRING DEMOCRACY TO AMERICA* On September 3, 2012 Occu-Evolve, The Money Out/Voters In, Occupy Wall Street and several of its working and Affinity Groups affiliated will lead a march to protest, listen, educate, and deepen a dialogue around the issue of democracy and the upcoming national, state-wide and local elections. Read More

	#LemonInstagrams2Congress: Fun Call To Action for Young & Old! Join Us in Celebrating National Lemon Juice Day on #A29 by sending #LemonInstagrams2Congress to air grievances in a fun, creative non-violent way for young & old! Read More

	NYC 8/29 @ 7P: FREE SCREENING OF ” THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMETT LOUIS TILL” IN RECOGNITION FO THE 57TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS MURDER Recognizing the 57th Anniversary of Emmett Louis Till’s Murder Join us August 29th @ 7pm Free Screening of The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till with Keith A. Beauchamp. Read More

	SCIENCE & SOCIETY ACCEPTING PAPERS ON ANARCHISM: THEORY, PRACTICE, ROOTS, CURRENT TRENDS Recognizing the 57th Anniversary of Emmett Louis Till’s Murder Join us August 29th @ 7pm Free Screening of The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till with Keith A. Beauchamp. Read More

	LIBERATION SUMMER ANNOUNCES S14 ANTI-INCARCERATION/CLOSE DOWN ATTICA EVENT AT RIVERSIDE CHURCH To all those who are interested in building a mass anti-incarceration movement: The SEPT 14 ANTI-INCARCERATION/CLOSE DOWN ATTICA EVENT at Riverside Church with Michelle Alexander, Angela Davis, Cornel West, Jazz Hayden and more! Read More


Statements

	JAILED NATO 5 DEFENDANT BEATEN, HOSPITALIZED; ATTORNEYS SEEK EVIDENCE On Thursday morning, August 23, attorneys for Mark Neiweem filed an emergency motion to preserve evidence related to a beating Neiweem sustained at the hands of Cook County sheriffs earlier in the week that sent him to Stroger Hospital. Neiweem is among a group of arrestees colloquially referred to as the NATO 5 Read More

	OCCUPY COLLEGES AND STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY (SDS) MERGE BASED ON COMMON PRINCIPLES OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY Occupy Colleges, a national affinity group of Occupy Wall Street, concentrated on combating the corporatization of campuses and student debt has joined forces with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) , a national student group focused on anti-war efforts and student issues which re-emerged in 2006. Read More

	WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES MEDIA WORKING GROUP The United States Media Working Group is a place for experienced journalists and new community or citizen journalists, artists, artisans, audio and video volunteers, photographers, IT and Web support. Read More

New Hubs

These are new Hubs that have been started on InterOccupy. Hubs are used by groups for coordinating actions, projects, campaigns and other types of events. You can also view the full list of Hubs.

COLLABORATIVE LOCALISM PROJECT – @collaboralism
Our mission is to facilitate the development of standard social systems in order to create an alternative parallel society that is a reflection of the ideals of the Occupy movement.

OCCUPY HAWAII INTERISLAND COORDINATION – @ohiic
Occupy Hawaii interisland coordination.

OCCUPY MINIMUM WAGE – @occupyminwage
A central gathering point for minimum and low-wage workers to organize, communicate with each other, and connect with their local Occupy.

SOCIOLOGIST OCCUPY – @occupyasa
This group is for connecting sociologists that are interested in the movement.

Hey Portland: Need a Ride to Wall Street for Sept. 17th?

opdxmycelium — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 05:04:03 +0000

If you’re interested in being at Occupy Wall Street on September 17th then get on the bus! Send an email to p91fun@yahoo.com and state how long you’re able to be gone for as travel times have not been secured yet. Do not simply reply with “I want to be on the bus” as this does not help organizing a bus. Estimates of travel time are 5 days to New York, 4-5 days at Occupy Wall St and 5 days return to Portland. That means you’ll likely be gone for 15 days. Thank the Nurse’s Union for being awesome and paying for buses.

Facebook: Occupy Transportation to OWS NW S17

Confirmed information as posted on the facebook page:

Bus is not guaranteed.

If bus does happen…..

Bus trip will a number of days, round trip estimated from previous experience with NU providing buses is around 5 days there 5 back, being at OWS for 4 to 5 days. NU will let us know after we secure the numbers going.
We need to have a very accurate count of those than can surely attend because of the cost, paid for by the Nurses Union. Their concern is because Nato cost 100K and some seat were not filled from west coast.
We all may have to help convince the Nurses union that we mean to go by giving a 5 dollar donation to secure a seat (If you can’t find 5 dollars to get a round trip ride across country then…) I will help anyone figure out how to raise money if need be.

So if you cannot go please let Jessica or me know and we will remove you from page, for a few days so we can have an accurate count, you can rejoin after we figure who is going and when, if we can convince NU that we know who is going and will not change their mind. Smile.
Also for those interested in going, OWS has created this handy guide:

http://s17nyc.org/support/join-us-in-nyc/

Indigenous Solidarity Tour – In PDX July 27/29th

opdxmycelium — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 00:41:55 +0000

In Solidarity with Native Peoples of this Land and our Earth

Contact: Max Wilbert, 206-395-6251, max_dgr@riseup.net

Several clans of the Wetsu’wet’en First Nation have blockaded the pathway of a proposed pipeline (actually 5 pipelines including The Northern Gateway) from the Tar Sands and tracking out to the BC coast, and have asked for activists to attend an action camp in early August to support the blockade. Organizers from the group Deep Green Resistance are traveling up the Pacific coast on a tour in late July to promote the Unis’tot’en Action Camp – the site of the blockade.

The event in Portland is a materials drive to gather supplies and donations for the Unis’tot’en Action Camp. We will be gathering tents, rope, white gas fuel, climbing gear, tarps, dried/canned food, coffee, money, and anything else that is useful in a backcountry camp setting. DGR organizers will be on hand to discuss the First Nations’ fight against the Tar Sands development and colonization, as well as what it means to work in solidarity with these struggles, and the work that we do.

Portland event details:
- 7pm, Friday July 27th – Couch Park, Portland
www.facebook.com/events/404906102880286

- 9am, Sunday July 29th – Mt. Tabor Park, Portland – near the summit parking lotwww.facebook.com/events/266185723483595/

General Assembly Moving Day and Location

opdxmycelium — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 19:52:04 +0000

The General Assembly is returning to Terry Schrunk.

General Assembly is now on Monday at 7pm following Agenda Setting at 6:30.

On Sunday, June 24th, Occupy Portland General Assembly approved a proposal to move G.A. from Sundays at Director’s Park to Mondays at Terry Shrunk Plaza at 7pm and holding Agenda Setting at 6:30 before G.A.. This move will go into effect starting the first week of July and the next General Assembly will be Monday, July 2nd. This move puts G.A. back where we started at the parks and shows solidarity and support for the ongoing vigil at City Hall. Hope to see everyone down there, and bring a friend.

J17 Labor Notes Report Back

KatRyn — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 23:33:30 +0000

Forum and Fundraiser

TROUBLEMAKERS GATHER, STRONGER THAN EVER

Reportback from the Labor Notes Conference (15 went from Portland)

Sunday, June 17, 6 – 8 pm

Letter Carriers Union Hall, 5265 NE 42^nd (s. of Killingsworth)

Panel discussion

Jamie Partridge, Letter Carriers 82

Jordan McIntyre, Painters 10

Chris Beck, OSEA 40

Amy Sprenglemeyer, UA 290

Lorene Scheer, SEIU 503

Fernando Gapasin, OSEA Metro

John Walsh, Graphic Communications/ Teamsters

Delicious Desserts, Raffle

Help retire the debt of members of the Occupy Portland Labor Solidarity Committee who went to the
Labor Notes Conference in Chicago, May 4 – 6^th

for more info, call 503-752-5112

Published on Labor Notes (http://labornotes.org)

The Troublemakers Union Gathers, Stronger than Ever

Labor Notes Staff

| May 10, 2012

If there’s one consensus opinion about the weekend’s Labor Notes Conference, it’s certainly that there’s more than any one attendee could keep track of.

Or even a dozen. Sameerah Ahmad first came to a Labor Notes Conference as a student activist and was impressed to find a place where rank-and-file workers, union activists, and troublemakers of all stripes—from all over the world—had a home.

Now she’s the director of the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, and she brought 12 members along with her to Chicago for the May 4-6 Labor Notes gathering. But even with a dozen folks participating in workshops, she said they couldn’t get to everything they wanted to at the 1,500-person conference.

“You can get depressed hearing all the stories of low-wage and immigrant workers,” Ahmad said. But at Labor Notes, “the energy is amazing.” Vision sharpens, and all of a sudden the movement that can stand up against the odds comes into view.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

With over 150 workshops and meetings, the conference provided training geared toward activists at all levels of experience. They covered a full range of topics from nuts and bolts workshops like aggressive grievance handling, beating apathy, and bargaining table tactics to sessions with a broader scope, like organizing immigrant workers, using direct action, and organizing without collective bargaining rights..

Amalgamated Transit Union President Larry Hanley spoke to the plenary session Saturday morning. The ATU made a special effort to send members, especially from the Chicago local, and they were conspicuous in their orange “OCCUPY TRANSIT” T-shirts.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

Hanley said that in 85 percent of U.S. cities, transit fares have gone up or service has been cut. When the Chicago local’s contract expired at the end of last year, members were pilloried in the newspapers for the unimagined luxury of having a paid coffee break (which actually turned out to be 10 minutes of paid time to check their steering and brakes).

Hanley told the crowd, “We have to fight injustice and somebody has to start it. A union officer’s job is not to move paper, it’s to move people.”

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

The Friday night plenary featured Ehab Shalaby, an engineer in a textile plant and member of the Egyptian Democratic Labor Congress; Alfredo Galdanez, a leader in ROC-Chicago’s campaign at the Capital Grille restaurant; Adrienne Pagac, co-president of the teaching assistants’ union at the University of Wisconsin; and Labor Notes’s Mark Brenner.

“From Cairo to Madison, 2011 was the year people stood up—or sat in—putting democracy back on the agenda,” Brenner said. “The game changer for most of us was Occupy Wall Street. 99 to 1—I like those odds!”

Proving once again that unionists in other countries know more of U.S. labor history than we do, Shalaby, speaking in Arabic, said he was happy to celebrate “labor’s day”—May Day—in the city where it began. Demanding an eight-hour day, 400,000 Chicago workers went on strike in 1886. Four were later executed on trumped-up charges.

“Nothing is without sacrifice,” Shalaby said, recounting the strike wave that has swept Egypt since last year, and the revolution that claimed many lives.

Shalaby said his union federation is reaching out to the whole Arab world because Egypt is the door to that world. “We all live under one sky,” he said. “In Egypt we have a saying: workers of the world, unite.”

Pagac told how her union had begun the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol in February 2011. The fact that the union has high turnover means it is always organizing to maintain membership, she said—and that meant it had mechanisms in place to move quickly. Pagac said one lesson she’d learned from the four-week uprising was that there are many ways to participate in political struggle that don’t involve casting a ballot.

Galdanez, pictured below with interpreter José Oliva, said he makes $8.50 an hour as a dishwasher at the Capital Grille, target of a national campaign by the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC). He recounted stories of disrespect from managers and injuries that go untreated, conditions that ROC aims to address with its demands that the Darden Restaurant Group end discrimination and raise pay. The corporate food system, he said, literally cuts and burns workers, displaying the damage wrought to his body.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

In the Sunday plenary session, Occupy activist Michelle Crentsil lauded the cooperation of the Occupy Wall Street movement and labor but did not shy away from criticism. She pointed out that there are tensions within the 99%, and in order for labor and Occupy to move forward together, we must do the hard work of acknowledging and addressing racism and other oppressions among us.

Some unions, like the Chicago Teachers Union, UAW Local 551, SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana, the Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and AFSCME Local 3800 at the University of Minnesota, turned out big numbers and used the conference as a boot camp of sorts.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

Jen Johnson, a Chicago history teacher who spoke Saturday morning, said her union is facing off against “Mayor 1%” Rahm Emanuel over school closures, a longer day with no additional pay, and a draining of resources from the public school system into charter schools and corporate tax breaks.

The union’s fighting stance started with a caucus that organized against school closures because the old union leadership wouldn’t. When they got into office, state legislators ganged up to pass a special law limiting Chicago teachers’ right to strike. But because of the member to member organizing the union has undertaken, including practice strike votes, CTU can now present a credible strike threat.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

Union members from coast to coast are making it clear they’re hungry for a fighter in their corner. From the new leadership at the New York State Nurses to the second generation of reformers in AFSCME Local 3299 on California campuses, attendees at the conference brought plenty of reasons to be confident that rank and file workers see what so many union leaders don’t: that the power is still in our hands.

Between the workshops and special industry and sector meetings, where teachers, transit workers, and others had the rare opportunity to meet and discuss across their unions, participants had the opportunity to plan their own meetings in a DIY space.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

John Colleran is an Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2222 member, active in the Verizon strike last summer on the East Coast. He was targeted by management and fired in the strike, and has been waiting to win his job back as the wheels of the NLRB slowly grind. He particularly appreciated the “ask the experts” section of the conference, which gave him (and many others) time to buttonhole lawyers for advice.

Fellow Verizon worker and CWA Local 1101 organizer Ken Spatta spoke Sunday on the long road of reform inside his union, which culminated in a takeover of the local in the wake of last summer’s Verizon strike.

The strike showed who the local’s real leadership was. With no warning, Spatta said, the local’s reform caucus put picketers on the street just a half hour after the national union called the strike. Reformers stepped up to captain picket lines and take extra shifts protesting at wireless stores.

The strike stalled, but Spatta said his local and the other fighters inside CWA and the IBEW are still working to mobilize against a company whose CEO makes $55,000 a day—including weekends.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

Colleran and another 50 telecom workers spent all day Friday in a strategy session that took on special import this year with both AT&T and Verizon workers facing difficult contract talks simultaneously. One of the first orders of business was drafting a petition to CWA Local 7250 President Mona Myer, asking her to drop internal union charges against Labor Notes attendee and steward Kieran Knutson, an aggressive mobilizer and contract enforcer.

The two “core” sections of the CWA and IBEW don’t communicate with each other as much as one might think, leaving participants pleased that they had a chance to think through what a combined plan of attack might look like.

Labor Notes troublemakers don’t just talk, though: Hundreds turned out for three actions through the course of the weekend, in support of SEIU Local 1 airport workers, the Restaurant Opportunities Center organizing against the wage-thieving Darden chain, and, at a huge Saturday picket line, UNITE HERE members at a Hyatt down the street from the conference.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

“Up, up with the union, down, down with the Hyatt,” shouted hundreds of demonstrators at a rally that filled a city block.

The picket line greeted hotel workers coming outside on their lunch break. Jose Guevara, a 27-year member and steward with UNITE HERE Local 450, updated participants on the long fight to save affordable health care, improve health and safety by limiting rooms each housekeeper must clean per shift, and win an agreement from the chain to allow workers in non-union hotels to organize without interference.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

A late-night concert featured Rebel Diaz and Quinto Imperio, and tours Friday and Monday introduced out-of-town guests to important labor history sites in Chicago, including Haymarket Square and the Battle of the Viaduct.

Just over a year after the tragic Fukishima disaster, Japanese labor activists took the stage at the Saturday banquet to celebrate the shutting down of Japan’s last nuclear reactors with fellow conference-goers. The nuclear shutdowns, which happened earlier that day, coincided with Children’s Day, a Japanese holiday traditionally celebrated with carp flags and banners. The carp has become a symbol of the country’s anti-nuclear movement and the hope for a better future for the next generation.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

The Japanese delegation passed out paper fish flags and waved a large carp banner from the stage. Proving that solidarity transcends national, cultural, and linguistic barriers, they led the crowd in an anti-nuclear chant.

Elise Bryant, recently retired labor educator but fully employed hell-raiser, steered the Saturday night banquet and the Troublemaker awards. One of the awardees was the UAW’s Jerry Tucker, famous for troublemaking both inside and outside his union but now laid up. After Jerry’s daughter Tracy accepted the award on his behalf, Bryant led the crowd in a healing song.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

First-time attendee Seamus Whelan, a member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, was impressed with the broad international participation at the conference—participants from more than 20 countries took part. He only wished that the Labor Notes Conference could set the outlook for the whole labor movement.

Read other impressions of the conference here.

Photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.

Source URL: http://labornotes.org/2012/05/troublemakers-union-gathers-stronger-ever

Links:
[1] http://jimwestphoto.com
[2] http://labornotes.org/http

A letter from the Occupy Portland Medical Committee

opdxmycelium — Sat, 26 May 2012 04:26:01 +0000

Dear brothers and sisters,

We got our asses kicked on 1 MAY.

Already some of our fellows have been experiencing symptoms of PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder).
Criteria includes: direct personal experience or witnessing an event involving death or threat of death or serious injury. It can even include hearing about an event that involved a loved one. First response could include fear, helplessness, or horror. Symptoms can manifest as intrusive thoughts re-experiencing the event, avoidance, isolation, numbing of general responsiveness, and an increased sense of arousal (not the good kind).

The symptoms cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupation, or other important areas of functioning. Let’s not forget nightmares, dissociative states, amnesia, psychic numbing, feeling detached, sense of foreshortened future, difficulty concentrating, irritability, emotional outbursts of anger. Also triggering i.e. when an event resembles or symbolizes the trauma such as the weather or a smell or a sound. Sleeping disorders and restricted range of emotion are common.

Do not despair. Symptoms usually resolve. If you are still having symptoms after a month you should consult a professional (moms and grandmas are not good at treating all the aspects of PTSD). You are not crazy (well some of you are but not because of this). This condition involves changing neuronal pathways to protect us from this insult to our mortality and sense of well being. Although possibly adaptive to traumatic events it is not the way we want to live our daily lives.

It will destroy relationships and meaningful lives. Let’s not let this dysfunctional pathway get ingrained in our brains. If you are affected it is probably a good idea to stay away from contentious events until you are back on your feet. Let’s help each other. Let’s protect each other. We are one. You are not alone. nihil illegitimus carborundom
(don’t let the bastards grind you down)

Peace

The Medical Committee of Occupy Portland

Here is a list of resources for those experiencing trauma.

Mental Health Crisis Services

Call-In
Multnomah County Crisis Call-In Center
503-988-4888
Toll-Free 800-716-9769
24 hours a day

Walk In
Cascadia Urgent Walk-In Clinic
Serves adults, children and families
2415 SE 43rd Ave
Use west entrance on SE 42nd/Division
Hours 7am-10:30pm, 7 days a week
Bus#4

House Calls
Project Respond Mobile Outreach
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Throughout Multnomah County
Call Project Respond at 503-988-4888

Medical Resources

Outside In Medical Clinic
1132 SW 13th Ave Portland
503-535-3890
Must be homeless and under the age of 30 to be seen at this Clinic

Old Town Clinic
727 W Burnside St Portland
503-228-4618

The Wallace Medical Concern
West Burnside Street
503-489-1760

OHSU Richmond Clinic
3930 NE MLK
503-418-3900

SW Community Health Center
7754 SW Capital Hwy Portland
503-977-0733

Mercy and Wisdom Healing Center
2 NW 3rd Ave Portland
503-227-1222

Quest Center for Integrative Health
2901 E Burnside St Portland
503-238-5203

Can Your Help the Occutour?

opdxmycelium — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:15:23 +0000

From Alex Pio of the Occutour

Occunauts brokedown on the side of the road in Utah on their way to Chicago, after visiting amazing encampment at Occupy Salt Lake City.

Hey folks,

Occutour needs help! I occutoured until Friday when I had to leave, and on Sunday the transmission fell out of the van, they’re now stranded in green river, Utah.

Anyways, I’m putting this out into the occupy universe for it to work its magic, I know several things that could help them now:

- another car
- money to repair the transmission (Send them some funds HERE)
- a ride to Chicago
- world peace

If any of you can help with any of the above, or know someone who can, please email info@occutour.org

Alex

About the Occutour:

Our country is at an impasse. Its education, healthcare, and justice systems are dysfunctional. Wealth inequality is at unprecedented levels, corporations have hijacked the government, and climate change is under way. Consumption – rather than community – has long been touted as the key to happiness. People are suffering.

The Occupy movement exploded last fall, bringing this national discontent to the forefront – igniting conversation, protest, and action across the nation. What happens next?

The OccuTour provides organizing, learning and action support for communities to turn discontent into change by:

1. Providing a selection of workshops, panels, discussions, and activities customizable to the needs of specific communities to spark conversation, inform, and build capacity for social change advocacy.

2. Offering our skills and motivation to help build and grow local organizing projects.

3. Documenting the state of activism, alternative livelihoods, and the changing face of civic involvement in communities across the United States.

NATO PROTESTS: Get on the Bus to Chicago! May 14/15

opdxmycelium — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:40:10 +0000

NATO – THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION WILL BE MEETING IN CHICAGO ON THE 2oth and 21nd of MAY. THE BUS FROM PORTLAND WILL BE LEAVING EITHER THE 14th or 15th of MAY.

Because understanding NATO is first and foremost, please visit here: natoprotest.org to learn all about this incredibly corrupt alliance that continues to “intervene” in poor parts of the world only to take their resources, kill or depose leaders with integrity and replace them with corrupt leaders.

THIS INFORMATION IS FROM 99Solidarity.net -

99Solidarity has begun sending email updates to occupiers signing up for the Chicago Bus Trips. Please be sure to add info@99solidarity.net to your address book to ensure the updates do not get filed as spam.

99% solidarity is excited to participate in nonviolent direct actions in Chicago from May 18 to 22, 2012. We have secured buses to bring people to these actions from several U.S cities.

We are currently working on the travel schedule, agenda and other important details of this trip. We will be contacting you with updated information shortly. For now here are a few updates:

The Bus trip is free
50 people from each city must sign up and board the bus for the trip take place. If a city has less then 50 sign ups, then we may have to cancel the bus for that city.
Meals will be provided on board the bus to and from Chicago
We are working on housing and meals while in Chicago

There are several direct actions and events that we will participate in while in Chicago including:

May 18 – The People’s Summit
May 19 – the 99% Solidarity People’s Convention
May 20 – CANG8 rally and march.

Please visit 99solidarity.net often to get the most up to date information and be sure to invite your friends and fellow occupiers to join you on this exciting, historic trip.

In addition, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @99solidarity

Currently, a bus (or more) will be leaving from Portland in time to arrive in Chicago on May 17.

They’re also leaving from these cities:

New York City
Washington DC
Boston, MA
Providence, RI
Burlington, VT
Salem, NH
Philadelphia, PA
Atlanta, GA
Oakland CA
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA

__________________________________________________

So tell your friends and get on the bus!

They do have a voluntary pledge of Non-violence and Mutual Respect and a voluntary Action Agreement. A word of warning, if you go to register for the bus, the action agreement loses its “voluntary-ness”.

There’s also the Chicago Principles which everyone in the movement should familiarize themselves with.

The Chicago Principals

Our solidarity will be based on respect for a political diversity within the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. As individuals and groups, we may choose to engage in a diversity of tactics and plans of action but are committed to treating each other with respect and working towards a common goal of peace and justice.
As we plan our actions and tactics, we will take care to maintain appropriate separations of time and space between divergent tactics.
We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, limiting our action to “free speech zones,” and violence, or attempts to divide our movement through the conscious creation of divisions regarding tactics, organization, strategies, and alliances.
Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.

May Day Re-Cap

opdxmycelium — Thu, 03 May 2012 02:08:25 +0000

Thank you to all who came out yesterday to make May Day a spectacular show of love, solidarity and strength from the protesters and a showing of ignorance, hate, and fear from the Portland Police Department. If you captured any footage that could be useful in court, please contact the ELK Legal Krewe at 503-902-5340. Please do not post it online as it can potentially create legal problems for protesters in the future.

There’s a far more in-depth re-cap of all the excitement for those who missed out and for those who want to wax nostalgic. The Portland Occupier did a fantastic liveblog that can be checked out here.

STUDENT STRIKE AND PICKET OF PPS

STUDENTS STRIKE AND PICKET THE PPS

WHY?
Students on Strike is the beginning of a student led campaign aganist budget cuts and the falling quality of our schools. On May 1st in conjunction with International Workers Day – a day celebrating the victories that popular and grassroots movements have made – we will rally at PPS Headquarters and nonviolently shutdown work to express our grievances in an act building towards the May 11th mass demonstration at Pioneer Square currently being organized by Teachers, Parents and Students.

Why shutdown? Because we need to show that we will not stand by as another budget cutting austerity measure is pushed through as we have seen before in the past. Because we need to show that we mean business and that we won’t settle till solutions are found.

Why PPS Headquarters? Obviously PPS isn’t the source of the problem. There are larger economic and political reasons why we are being forced these budget cuts. It’d be great to bus thousands of kids down to Salem or to Washington DC, or the homes of every Multi – Millionaire and Billionaire who enjoys low taxes – but right now that’s not an easily realizable thing. However, PPS Headquarters is home to those who can put pressure on the people who are voting on where our money goes. These workers are facing cuts as well. More than anything this is symbolic; PPS Headquarters is after all the epicenter of the district and of its affairs.
We will hand out literature inviting other PPS employees to join us marching to downtown on May 11th.

PORTLAND LIBERATION ORGANIZING COUNCIL (PLOC) GIVES ALICIA JACKSON HER HOUSE BACK

WHY?

Living in a family house fully paid for, Alicia Jackson, facing foreclosure out of fear and confusion (as most homeowners in this situation are) self-evicted. There was no reason why Fox Capital should have so easily acquired her property. Therefore, the Portland Liberation Organizing Council made it’s first reverse-eviction, reclaiming her land in the name of community and her house as her own. With 1 in 7 homes empty, there’s no reason why developers and banks should be allowed to sit on empty property. This is capitalism in crisis and in direct opposition to humanity. To learn more about the Portland Liberation Organizing Council or P-LOC, visit liberatepdx.org . To join the Rapid Response Eviction Protection Text Loop, text @ploc-openrrn to 23559. A fuller story is available at the portlandoccupier.org

GENERAL STRIKE MARCH

Protesters gathered under the Burnside Bridge to march through the city, displaying the diverse tactics that can be used in protest. Several were beaten and arrested for nothing more than “looking guilty”.

UNDOCUMENTED/UNAFRAID ACTION

WHY?

MAY DAY MARCH – INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

WHY?

Roughly 5,000 Portlanders filled the streets this May Day to show their love, strength, solidarity in this common struggle for social and economic justice. As the cogs of this massive economic machine, we rarely acknowledge the importance of every worker. On this day, we celebrate the power we have when we work together. In 1958, the US Government was so scared of May Day that they changed the US holiday to “Law Day”, in fear of the 99% being reminded that they are the ones that truly hold all the power.

PCASC ACTION

WHY?
Mobilizing around Wells Fargo during the main march, the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee targeted Wells Fargo for investing in GEO Group, a private prison corporation. Groups like GEO work within ALEC to pass laws that land more innocent people in jail. Private prisons create contracts with States to make sure the prison population stays at least 90%. What happens if crime drops? They write new laws criminalizing something else. This is the system we’re fighting, folks. If you or your company banks with Wells Fargo, please move your money.

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

WHY?
Because as Emma Goldman says, “If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution.” This festive activity turned into a skirmish with police as protesters tried to move from Pioneer Square to the Justice Center. A fuller story can be found on the Portlandoccupier.org

Please visit the portlandoccupier.org for full scoops on the day’s events.

East County Teachers Vote YES for Strike!

opdxmycelium — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 19:21:08 +0000

From the Occupy Labor Solidarity Committee

MEDIA CONTACT: Bruce Scherer, Oregon Education Association
503-351-3181, bruce.scherer@oregoned.org

PRESS RELEASE – April 11, 2012
Parkrose and Gresham-Barlow Educators
Vote to Authorize Strikes

At separate meetings, members of the Parkrose Faculty Association (PFA) and the Gresham-Barlow Education Association (GBEA) voted in overwhelming majorities to authorize their respective bargaining teams to call for a strike in their bargaining crises with their districts.

Both local union bargaining teams will follow the statutory process and give the district a minimum of 10 days notice before striking. GBEA members announced an April 25 strike date. PFA members have not established a strike date yet.

Jerry Landreth, teacher and PFA member: “For months we have been bargaining with our district over a variety of issues. The district has not been constructive in this process. The district seeks to change our workload and to negatively affect our ability to plan quality instruction for our students.” Additional issues include the Parkrose School District demanding to take $700 out of PFA members’ pockets, per month, for the next five months to pay for the district management’s deficit. This comes out of the district acting unilaterally about cuts to the working school year without bargaining these changes with its employees.

Jerry Landreth: “This $700 per month for the next five months will mean many of us losing our mortgages. This would affect our families. Many of us are living paycheck to paycheck as it is. Many of us are parents in this district. Many of us will not be able to afford living here anymore. That goes too far.”

GBEA members face similar bargaining tactics from their district affecting working conditions. Regina Norris, teacher and GBEA member: “For months we have been bargaining with our district over a variety of issues. Meanwhile the district has taken the strong action of implementing most of its onerous proposal on us. The district seeks to change our workload and to negatively affect our ability to plan quality instruction for our students. The district needs to bring its available resources to the classroom. The district needs to provide for planning time and a reasonable workload to ensure we have the ability to create quality lessons for our students.

MORE INFO:
PFA: On Facebook, search for “Parkrose Faculty Association”
GBEA: www.gbeaonline.org

SPOKESPEOPLE:
Parkrose Faculty Association: Jerry Landreth, teacher
Gresham-Barlow Education Association: Regina Norris, teacher
Gresham-Barlow Education Association: Tom Urbanowicz, teacher