TOM H. HASTINGS and SASKIA HOSTETLER LIPPY MD – It’s time for us to show the world that Portland is a town of peace warriors. Let’s practice activism that everyone can participate in, including our children. This world is theirs to inherit–let’s make our streets safe for them again.
Category: What’s Happening In the Movement
In India: Largest Organized Strike in Human History
PEOPLE’S DISPATCH – Despite police repression and the COVID-19 pandemic, workers and farmers and their allies across India participated in the pan-India strike action against the recent neoliberal reforms pushed through by the Narendra Modi government.
‘This Is a Really, Really Big Deal’: Michigan Gov. Moves to Shut Down Line 5 Pipeline to Protect Great Lakes
JESSICA CORBETT – Environmental and Indigenous activists celebrated Friday after Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took action to shut down the decades-old Enbridge Line 5 oil and natural gas pipelines that run under the Straits of Mackinac, narrow waterways that connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan—two of the Great Lakes.
Labor Plans Action to Defend Democracy
STEPHANIE LUCE – Strikes are rare but political strikes are on the agenda more than they have been in many years. Labor Action to Defend Democracy has come together to “plant seeds and stir the pot,” and work with community partners to protect the vote.
Portland Nonprofit Launches Attempt to Save Hospice House
EMMA HABER – In the aftermath of the closing of Hopewell House, the only hospice house in Portland, one final hope has arisen. After 30 years providing compassionate and dignified end-of-life care, Hopewell sadly shuttered its doors in 2019. With only months to raise the funds, Friends of Hopewell House, a newly incorporated 501(c) nonprofit, has launched a $5 Million capital campaign to purchase the property from Legacy Health Systems and once again open the beloved institution’s welcoming doors.
Native Americans Protesting Trump Border Wall Tear Gassed, Arrested by US Agents on Indigenous Peoples’ Day
KENNY STANCIL – “It’s obscene and offensive to us that local and state governments move to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day while the federal government blows up our sacred sites, steals our kids, militarily occupies our communities, and shoots at Native Americans.”
A Voice and a Vote for the People of the World
DONNA PARK – It is now more evident than ever that the world lacks the structures necessary to successfully address the many global problems facing it. The General Assembly of the United Nations represents the nations of the world. But the governments of these nations often seem more worried about protecting their national sovereignty than about addressing global problems that are existential threats to humanity.
As the smoke subsides, West Coast climate activists show what an effective response looks like
NICK ENGELFRIED – After a devastating wildfire season on the West Coast, climate activists are busy mobilizing mutual aid, young voters and a just recovery.
You Can Help the Homeless By Offering Dignity
JAMES RYAN – There are many ways to make a difference. One of the most important is simultaneously the easiest and most difficult: provide dignity. Please do not studiously ignore the homeless person on the park bench or look away from the one sitting on the sidewalk as you pass. Greet them or strike up a small conversation. Many homeless people report that more difficult than giving up their possessions is giving up the dignity of being seen.
What Activists Who Fought the AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About Organizing During a Pandemic
LORETTA GRACEFFO – More than 30 years after ACT UP was founded, their bold activism in response to the AIDS crisis offers critical lessons for those mobilizing around COVID-19.
With Focus on Assange, Belmarsh Tribunal Puts ‘US War Crimes on Trial’
BRETT WILKINS – The Belmarsh Tribunal—named after the notorious British prison where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is imprisoned as he faces possible extradition to the U.S.—was convened remotely Friday morning by Progressive International (PI). The activists “put the United States government on trial” for crimes ranging “from atrocities in Iraq to torture at Guantánamo Bay to the CIA’s illegal surveillance program—and draw attention to the extradition case of Julian Assange for revealing them.”
Mayors of 12 Major Global Cities Home to 36 Million People Make Unified Fossil Fuel Divestment Pledge
JESSICA CORBETT – “We’re in a make-or-break decade for the preservation of our planet and our livelihoods,” said C40 chair and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Let’s Together Deter a Coup Attempt After the Election
GEORGE LAKEY – We’re making amazing progress mobilizing people to choose democracy. Large national progressive organizations are now quietly creating alliances to be able to move swiftly after the November election, even if some that are now going all-out to get out the vote.
What Will it Take to Defend the Election? Here’s One Winning Strategy
GEORGE LAKEY – A knee-jerk protest won’t stop a Trump power grab. It’s going to take several clear, do-able strategies that together enable us to win.
Memoir Recounts Experiences in Activist Movements
JEAN MITSCH – For activists or non-activists of any age, the memoir, Activist Odyssey: Inside Protest Movements, Some of Which Worked, brings to life an historic journey by a committed activist.
After 4 Decades of Plowshares Actions, It’s Nuclear Warfare That Should Be On Trial – Not Activists
FRIDA BERRIGAN – Forty years ago, the Plowshares Eight sparked a movement of nuclear disarmers that continues to take responsibility for weapons of mass destruction.
New Webinar Series Explores How to Build Effective Movements in a Pandemic and Beyond
KATHERINE HUGHES-FRAITEKH – Waging Nonviolence and Solidarity 2020 and Beyond are launching a new webinar series featuring experienced grassroots activists from a broad array of international struggles.
Ashland Activist: Systemic Change Starts with Us
IRENE KAI – The first World Peace Flame in North America was installed in the lobby of the Civil Rights Museum, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee in 2002. Ashland (Oregon) Culture of Peace Commission (ACPC) installed the second North American World Peace Flame on the International Day of Peace two years ago, 21 September 2018.
What New Orleans’ Common Ground Collective Can Teach Us about Surviving Crisis Together
SHANE BURLEY – Fifteen years after Hurricane Katrina, the Common Ground Collective’s uncommon success offers lessons on how to build effective mutual aid projects today.
Listen Democratic Party: Your Supporters Want Military Budget Cuts
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – Democratic majorities were crucial this summer to the defeat of three separate bills, introduced by progressive Democrats, to reduce military spending and/or undo the militarization of police departments. These included amendments in both the Senate and the House to the National Defense Authorization Act, diverting 10 percent of the Department of Defense budget to health care, education and jobs; as well as a Senate proposal to end the 1033 Program, which allows the Pentagon to transfer military gear to the police. The amendment’s defeat in the House was especially an outrage in that the Dems hold a majority in the House and could have passed it.
Los Angeles County Approves Plan Seeking to Combat Racism and Inequality
ASSOCIATED PRESS – Leaders of the nation’s largest county unanimously approved a sweeping plan to address systemic racism and bias in its policies, practices and services.
OR Providence Hospital Workers Call for Livable Wages
ERIC TEGETHOFF – Health care workers at an Oregon hospital say they are rallying for livable wages. Members of the Service Employees International Union local 49 are urging Providence Hospital management in Milwaukie to complete bargaining with workers.
Preparing a Nonviolent Response to a November Surprise
MARIA J. STEPHAN, CANDACE RONDEAUX and ERICA CHENOWETH – With elections four months away, and the rule of law under steady attack, people power could prove decisive in ensuring a constitutional transfer of power without violence.
Five Pitfalls Black Lives Matter Must Avoid to Maintain Momentum and Achieve Meaningful Change
DANIEL HUNTER – There are steps the Black Lives Matter movement can take to carry on the remarkable energy it has built — and steps that could cause it to disappear.
The Few Violent Protesters Are Boosting Trump’s Electability
TOM H. HASTINGS – Bring the issues raised by Black Lives Matter back to the best policing possible and remove the politics by removing the violence. We as US citizens deserve nothing less.
‘Historic Victory for Working People’: Seattle City Council Passes Progressive Tax on Big Business to Fund Relief
ANDREA GERMANOS – The Tax Amazon movement claimed “a historic victory for working people” on Monday, July 6, when Seattle’s city council passed a new tax on big businesses to fund local economic relief.
5 Lessons from the K-pop Fans who Fizzled Trump’s Tulsa Rally, and the Black Organizers who Led the Way
TAMIKO BEYER – As K-pop fans and Black organizers and artists are demonstrating, joyful, powerful movements draw more people in and reflect the kind of world we want to live in.
There’s no predicting when movements will erupt, but this classic activist resource maps their path to success
ARNIE ALPERT – With Black Lives Matter in the midst of an unprecedented moment, now is the perfect time to read “The Movement Action Plan†— a model for understanding the long arc of movements.
How Nonviolence Practices Could Help Us Transition to the Society We Want
by Michael N. Nagler George Floyd is becoming the Emmett Till of the 21st Century. The ongoing, passionate, widespread, and no longer violent demonstrations that have come in the wake of his brutal death have given us an opportunity like that of…
The Floyd Protests are the Broadest in U.S. History – and are Spreading to White, Small-Town America
LARA PUTNAM, JEREMY PRESSMAN, ERICA CHENOWETH – Across the country, people are protesting the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and demanding action against police violence and systemic racism. National media focuses on the big demonstrations and protests against policing in major cities, but they have not picked up on a different phenomenon that may have major long-term consequences for politics. Protests over racism and #BlackLivesMatter are spreading across the country — including in small towns with deeply conservative politics.
‘The Conversation is the Protest’ – How Black Lives Matter Forced us to Imagine a World without Police
ERIC STONER – Momentum organizer Nicole Carty discusses how the Black Lives Matter movement built consensus on racial justice and the strategy needed to make the goal of defunding police a reality.
Authoritarian State or Inclusive Democracy? 21 Things We Can Do Right Now
ERIC K. WARD – Take seriously — and warn others — that the attempt to create an inclusive American democracy is now on a precipice. Words and actions carry real consequences that could drive us over the edge and to a point of no return.
Don’t be Mesmerized by the Fetishization of Protest
LAURA FINLEY – White people need to consider how they can truly be allies to the movement and whether their motives to participate are more self-serving than helpful. I implore everyone who wants to be a white ally to read the tips at Issuu.com, “26 ways to be in the struggle beyond the streets,†and identify the best ways to act.
Consider this a Dress Rehearsal for November: Here’s How We Can Respond
DAILY KOS COMMUNITY MEMBER – To respond fully to the present circumstances, we should understand how Trump’s recent actions fit into his election strategy, which we can expect will focus more on stealing the election than winning it fairly. So let’s start by looking at things from his perspective.
Faith Groups In 14 Countries Divest From Fossil Fuels
BRIAN ROEWE – A total of 42 faith organizations from 14 countries pledged to divest from fossil fuel companies or avoid such investments in the future. Organizers said it represents the largest joint divestment announcement by faith communities to date.
Abolition 2000 Denounces White House Discussions to Resume Nuclear Testing
ABOLITION 2000 PRESS RELEASE – The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons on May 23 unanimously adopted a statement condemning recent reports of White House discussions to resume nuclear weapons testing.
One Activist’s Memorial Day Memory
TOM H. HASTINGS – To me, Memorial Day will always be a peace holiday. It should commemorate the hundreds of millions who did not die from thermonuclear warfare this year. May we be so lucky until next Memorial Day.
The Established Order Has Never Been Weaker – Movements Need to get to Work
CAM FENTON – All around the globe, governments are starting to move forward with reopening plans that lift some degree of COVID-19 social distancing. With that comes talk of recovery and rebuilding. While some of the attention is on green stimulus and a range of progressive demands for just and equitable recoveries, the only way we can win any such advances is through movements that are prepared to take on the fight.
Oregon Department of Agriculture Considers Permitting New Mega-Dairy, Easterday Farms, While Small Dairy Farmers Dump Milk
STAND UP TO FACTORY FARMS (Press Release) – Stand Up To Factory Farms, a broad coalition of environmental, food safety, family farming, and animal welfare organizations fighting to protect Oregon from mega-dairies, calls on Governor Brown and the Oregon Department of Agriculture to protect small dairy farmers during the COVID-19 outbreak and enact a mega-dairy moratorium on new and expanding dairies.
Oregon Steps Up Food Resources During Hunger Crisis
ERIC TEGETHOFF – The new coronavirus outbreak is devastating the economy and leading to surges in hungry people. Oregon Food Bank is stepping up to meet the challenge and believes we can emerge stronger from this crisis.
Coronavirus Is a Historic Trigger Event—So Let’s See a Social Movement Rise
PAUL ENGLER – There are times in history when sudden events — natural disasters, economic collapses, pandemics, wars, famines — change everything. They change politics, they change economics and they change public opinion in drastic ways. Many social movement analysts call these “trigger events.†During a trigger event, things that were previously unimaginable quickly become reality, as the social and political map is remade
Stockpiling Bombs vs Stockpiling Ventilators and PPE
BEN COHEN – Why didn’t we stockpile ventilators and PPE? Because our government spent our money stockpiling bombs instead.
Rights Of Nature Law Forces Revocation Of Fracking Permit
COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND – In an extraordinary reversal, two weeks ago, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit for a frack waste injection well in Grant Township. DEP officials cited Grant Township’s Home Rule Charter banning injection wells as grounds for their reversal.
Female Protesters Often Lead to Effective Mass Movements
RASHAAN AYESH – Gender-based violence, WhatsApp message taxes and the rising cost of bread have set off some of the largest protests in the past year, and women were among the first in the streets, often risking their personal safety.
Resistance in the US Borderlands
PEDRO RIOS – From challenging narratives justifying violence to know-your-rights trainings and cultural actions, border communities are building a powerful movement.
By Prioritizing Electability We Hurt the Movements Needed to Beat Trump
GEORGE LAKEY – The trouble with pragmatism these days is that our country is becoming less predictable by the minute. What is going on among the 40 percent of the electorate that didn’t bother to vote in 2016’s general election? How about the new voters who’ve become naturalized citizens in the meantime, or the many who’ve turned 18? How much will the Russians skew the results?
Can Civil Disobedience be seen as ‘Good Behavior’ in a Time of Climate Crisis?
ARNIE ALPERT – While New Hampshire seeks to prosecute #NoCoalNoGas campaigners for “bad behavior,†activists continue their struggle against the region’s worst offender.
Sunrise PDX Is Latest Progressive Group to Oppose Oregon Cap-and-Trade Bill
BLAIR STENVICK – A bill that would aim to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon is dominating this year’s short legislative session. But while the political dynamic in Salem is mostly focused on Democrats who support the bill and Republicans who oppose it, the bill is also receiving pushback from progressive environmental groups in Portland.
Epidemic Violence on Indian Reservations Must Be Addressed
GAIL SKENANDORE and TOM HASTINGS – We believe a light needs to shine on the pockets of escalating violence on Indian reservations. The intersection of guns, drugs, poverty, scant education, substandard health care, high unemployment, and corruption are literally producing conditions that invariably redound the hardest and worst on young people of color.
Blocking Trains and Removing Coal, Climate Activists Fight to Close One of New England’s Largest Power Plants
SARAH FREEMAN-WOOLPERT and ARNIE ALPERT – By escalating from symbolic actions to obstruction, the #NoCoalNoGas campaign is mounting a serious challenge to the fossil fuel industry with a growing network of climate activists.