http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/2015/July
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Peace and War: Native Ground The American Indian Movement and other tribal collectives working to restore peace, justice & freedom. ThePortlandAlliance.org/nativeamericanportal
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Lots of Poetry! ARTS Stephen Paul McCandless, a Pacific NW artist, works with mixed media on various
surfaces, creating intricately detailed surrealistic images. ThePortlandAlliance.org/mccandless if you are in downtown Portland in the next four days to stop by and see twelve different images from my newest project The Far North, Portrait of the Arctic. They are on view through July 12th at People's Gallery of Portland, SW Morrison and SW Fifth, on the Third Floor of the Pioneer Place Mall, in downtown Portland. more info at: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/visualarts.html Commentary by Call them what they are, Monsters! Accepting Submissions!
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There were fires in at least six predominantly African American churches. Arson at religious institutions has decreased significantly over the past two decades, but this remains haunting.
Jeanette Dudley, the associate pastor of God's Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia, got a call a little after 5 a.m. on Wednesday, she told a local TV news station. Her tiny church of about a dozen members had been burned, probably beyond repair. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco got called in, which has been the standard procedure for church fires since the late 1960s. Investigators say they’ve ruled out possible causes like an electrical malfunction; most likely, this was arson.
The very same night, many miles away in North Carolina, another church burned: Briar Creek Road Baptist Church, which was set on fire some time around 1 a.m. Investigators have ruled it an act of arson, the AP reports; according to The Charlotte Observer, they haven’t yet determined whether it might be a hate crime.
Two other predominantly black churches have been the target of possible arson this week: Glover Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Warrenville, South Carolina, which caught fire on Friday, and College Hill Seventh Day Adventist, which burned on Monday in Knoxville, Tennessee. Investigators in Knoxville told a local news station they believed it was an act of vandalism, although they aren’t investigating the incident as a hate crime. (There have also been at least three other cases of fires at churches this week. At Fruitland Presbyterian Church in Gibson County, Tennessee, and the Greater Miracle Temple Apostolic Holiness Church in Tallahassee, Florida. Officials suspect the blazes were caused by lightning and electrical wires, respectively, but investigations are still ongoing. A church that is not predominantly black—College Heights Baptist Church in Elyria, Ohio—was burned on Saturday morning. The fire appears to have been started in the sanctuary, and WKYC reports that the cause is still under investigation. The town’s fire and police departments did not immediately return calls for confirmation on Sunday.*)
These fires join the murder of nine people at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church as major acts of violence perpetrated against predominantly black churches in the last fortnight. Churches are burning again in the United States, and the symbolism of that is powerful. Even though many instances of arson have happened at white churches, the crime is often association with racial violence: a highly visible attack on a core institution of the black community, often done at night, and often motivated by hate.
the rest of the story: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/atlantic
Sankofa, Survival, and Science Fiction:
This keynote speech was delivered at the
Portland State University Multicultural Graduation,
June 12, 2015 in Portland, Oregon.
It is such a privilege to be at this year’s Portland State University Multicultural Graduation — I look forward to this graduation every day, to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our students of color. I am so honored to be the keynote speaker, and to have been chosen by the student leaders to do so. Yall know the Cultural Resource Center student leaders are phenomenal, so this is definitely an honor!
This is such an incredibly important time for each of us here — students obviously, but also parents, friends, family, faculty, and staff. It makes me so happy to see so many brilliant students I’ve had the opportunity to get to know graduating here today. This is a time to celebrate the immense amount of work and sacrifice and dedication that got each of you graduating here.
As a former Portland State student and graduate, I have literally sat where at least one of you is sitting right now. I’ve known the unbounded joy of having made it through, of getting not only the tassel but the cloth stole with the Adinkra symbols on them.
rest of Walidah's speech... ThePortlandAlliance.org/walidah
The Charleston church massacre has occasioned a revival of symbolic and “reconciliation” politics by old school Black preachers. “They forgive, they call for reconciliation, and they make symbolic demands whose acceptance or rejection will not seriously alter the balance of power.” The Black political class would much rather fight the Confederate flag than confront the police.
“The misleaders are counting on presidential election year fervor to drown out the new movement.”
The Confederate flag is in ignominious retreat, shunned by GOP presidential hopefuls and officeholders and banned from the shelves and catalogues of Wal-Mart, Sears and eBay. In hot pursuit, vowing to exorcize the demons of old Dixie, is a suddenly aroused array of Black preachers and politicians that have found new relevance in wake of the Charleston church massacre.
The slaughter of nine innocents by a white youth intent on fomenting race war has, at least temporarily, energized and elevated the politics of symbolism, by which great victories can be claimed without putting a dent in real structures of power. Dylann Roof’s rampage also reminds Black folks that the Republicans began replacing the Democrats as the White Man’s Party half a century ago, and have since provided a haven for all manner of white supremacists and their paraphernalia. Hillary Clinton, who has participated in the murder of many millions of Black, brown and yellow people but, like most of her ilk, has the good sense to avoid association with swastikas and Confederate insignia, will profit from the carnage at Emanuel A.M.E. The “Confederate” presence in the GOP makes the Democrats the “Black” party, by default, eliminating the need for Democrats to actually Photo of the woman who scaled the SC flagpole
and pulled down the Confederate flag.
do anything of substance for Black people. The infinitely evil Ms. Clinton (“We came, we saw, he died”), who shares responsibility for the genocide of six million Congolese, becomes a “lesser” evil.
America's war on black girls:
"But Black girls are never deemed feminine enough for their sexual and adolescent vulnerability to register for white people. They are frequently viewed as aggressors by both police and regular citizens alike, even for doing very adolescent things like mouthing off to those in authority. This is the reason why education scholars suggest that Black girls are suspended from school six times as often as white girls, because even simple adolescent forms of testing boundaries are perceived as far more aggressive based on race."
get the whole story: The Portland Alliance Tom Engelhardt Portal: http://www.theportlandalliance.org/engelhardt
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Summer of Peace All Oregonians - June 30 thru Sept 21 |
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9 AM PDT Join us, for the 100-Day Countdown to the UN International Day of Peace, featuring messages from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Dr. Jane Goodall, and others, including a performance on the amazing World Peace Violin by Scarlet Rivera. * The Heart of Democracy Summit (August 18 - 20) |
rest of story: ThePortlandAlliance.org/oregonpeaceandjustice
Greece and The Collateral Damage of Austerity
By Robert C. Koehler
“Officials in France and in Brussels said on Monday that they were unhappy and dumbfounded with the no vote, but let it be known that they would hold the door open to the possibility of a compromise between Greece and its creditors.”
Dumbfounded? Why? Because the godlike power of the creditors was insulted?
Mainstream coverage of economic matters — the above quote is from the New York Times — seldom cuts very deep into the world of money, seldom questions who’s in charge, and seldom dares to suggest that an economic system ought to serve humankind rather than vice versa.
The austerity packages Greece has endured as its condition of economic bailout over the past half-decade — dictated by those who wielded financial power and were determined to profit enormously off of the suffering of Europe’s economic losers — ...
get the rest of the story: Alliance PeaceVoice Portal
and find out about: Absolute Power
By Robert C. Koehler
“The existence of the approximately 14,000 photographs will probably cause yet another delay in the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as attorneys for the defendants demand that all the images are turned over and the government wades through the material to decide what it thinks is relevant to the proceedings.”
This was the Washington Post a few days ago, informing us wearily that the torture thing isn’t dead yet. The bureaucracy convulses, the wheels of justice grind. So much moral relativism to evaluate.
“They did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation,” CIA director John Brennan said at a news conference in December, defending CIA interrogators after a portion of the 6,700-page Senate Intelligence Committee report was made public.
Serving the nation means no more than doing what you’re told. Really?
God bless America. Flags wave, fireworks burst on the horizon. Aren’t we terrific? But this idea we celebrate — this nation, this principled union of humanity — is now just a military bureaucracy, full of dark secrets. The darkest, most highly classified secret of all is that we’re always at war and we always will be. And war is an end in itself. It has no purpose beyond its own perpetuation.
This is the context of torture.
At least this is what occurred to me as I reflected on the most recent non-news, that the existence of many thousands of photographs of U.S. black site operations are out there somewhere, classified but known and pulsing. What more can we learn that we don’t already know?
get the rest of the story: Alliance PeaceVoice Portal
2015
Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival
ORFTC Fair Trade Monitor
Monthly fair trade update from the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign
June 2015:
"The clock is ticking on the TPP. There may not be enough time left in Obama's presidency to introduce the trade deal, and it has little to no chance of moving forward during the 2016 Presidential election. We have built tremendous momentum in this fight, and if we keep it up, victory is within reach."
Check it out!
What Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secretive, multinational trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on its enforcement. The main problems are two-fold:
(1) Intellectual Property Chapter: Leaked draft texts of the agreement show that the IP chapter would have extensive negative ramifications for users’ freedom of speech, right to privacy and due process, and hinder peoples’ abilities to innovate.
(2) Lack of Transparency: The entire process has shut out multi-stakeholder participation and is shrouded in secrecy.
get the skinny: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/tpp
Checkout the newest information on challenging the TPP!
peace.more information at http://www.theportlandalliance.org/occupation
Todd Boyle brings us Chris Hedges talking about revolution...
more from Todd Boyle below...
DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE www.drugpolicy.org
Contact: Tony Newman 646-335-5384
June 29, 2015 Tamar Todd 510-593-4908
July 1: Possession and Home Cultivation of Marijuana Becomes Legal in Oregon for Adults
Oregon Joins Washington, Alaska, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. in Ending Marijuana Prohibition
Oregon to End Wasteful and Racially Disproportionate Marijuana Possession Arrests; State Expects Significant Fiscal Benefits
Beginning July 1st, adults 21 and older will be able to legally possess up to 8 ounces of marijuana in their home and up to 1 ounce of marijuana outside their home. Adults may also grow up to four plants as long as they are out of public view. The regulatory structure allowing for commercial retail sales is still in the works and will not be implemented until next year. ...
get the rest of the story: No Fear, No Compromise, & No Surrender!
at the Marijuana Reform Portal: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/marijuana
One Year Ago...
Israeli warplanes pound Gaza strip
09 Jul 2014 Israeli warplanes have pounded targets in the Gaza strip ... leaving 28 people dead and more than 100 wounded. ... The deaths brought to 28 the number of fatalities since the launch of Israel's Operation Protective Edge early on Tuesday, with the Jewish state not ruling out a ground operation to stop the rocket attacks. (Editors' Note... This military assault on civilian
targets in Gaza is a form of collective punishment. tmf
thepeaceresource.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/endgazawarcrimes/
Glen Anderson: Military "Solutions" Are Really the PROBLEM-
a workshop given at Fellowship of Reconciliation of Oregon and Washington'
annual conference at Seabeck, July 4th 2015.
See the whole video at a portal for Videographer... Todd Boyle
ThePortlandAlliance.org/toddboyle
cartoon : by Angelo Lopez
https://www.facebook.com/angelolopezartist/about
No Strikes. No Troops.
No War in Iraq.
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/commondreams
Congress, the president and the supremes have surrendered:
the rule of law is gone in America and the Fortune 500 are in the driver's seat.
There were 28 of them in house and 12 in the Senate and the story of how Obama worked with the worst of the Repubs to get his gift to the corporations rammed through a reluctant congress is only now being exposed. What will labor and the liberals do when these 40 come up for re-election?-MM Munk's Musings:
http://www.theportlandalliance.org/Munk
The U.S. military facility on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean represents a horrific example of the human costs of war and imperialism.
"... the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson convinced the British government to detach the Chagos Archipelago from colonial Mauritius and create a new colony, which they called the British Indian Ocean Territory. Its sole purpose would be to house U.S. military facilities."
http://www.theportlandalliance.org/Munk
Portland Alliance Iraq Portal
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/iraq
We are mistaken about Iraq
by Bert Sacks
“Those Iraqis have been fighting each other for centuries,” a friend
recently said to me. I have heard this mistaken view too often.
I told him I had been to Iraq nine times, all before the 2003 U.S.
invasion of Iraq. Not a single Iraqi ever said to me, “You need to
know I'm Shiite” or “I should tell you I'm Sunni.” Not doctors, not
taxi drivers, not hotel staff, not families we visited. Baghdad had
many mixed marriages of Shiite and Sunni, as well as mixed neighborhoods. An Iraqi-American friend confirmed that often
people didn't know the religious sect of their neighbor
– or if they did, they didn't care.
Peace prevailed in the neighborhoods. What happened?
July Vigil for Keaton OtisDate/Time
Sunday, July 12, 2015 at 6:00 PM
Location
NE 6th and Halsey
Portland, Oregon more info: at Keaton Otis Portal
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/keatonotis
Iranian officials reveal to MEE that real progress has been made with a deal likely emerging as early as 9 July
Fast Track traitors being uninvited from the Labor Day picnic (which they have been at every year) is a great first step.
NW Alliance Portal to NW Labor Press: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/nwlaborpress
Obstacle to Peace: The Race Border
by Ellen Lindeen
The Summer Institute that I am attending is called “Conflict Transformation across Borders.” Although a University of Massachusetts Boston graduate course, it is offered in Ecuador, South America, because much of the classwork is about border issues between Ecuador and Colombia, including the status of the estimated 200,000 Colombians who have fled their country’s long-standing civil war in search of refuge in Ecuador. It seems that the world is witnessing a crisis in terms of borders.
The U.S. is building a wall along its southern border to keep Mexican people from coming into the country. Israel has almost completed a 26-foot high concrete wall to keep Palestinians out, although the wall violates the border recognized by the UN. Fleeing migrants in the Mediterranean and the Bay of Bengal have also captured the attention of the world. Africans from many countries, Syrians, Bangladeshis, and Rohingyas from Myanmar are escaping persecution and human rights abuses in their home countries.
However, the issue of reaching a different country safely and being granted refugee status is a complicated one. These asylum-seekers simply know they must flee to survive. Tragically, at least 1,800 people in flight have already drowned in 2015. Many of these boats are not even allowed to reach shore because if they do, the United Nations 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and 1967 Protocol will apply. These documents clarify the receiving countries’ responsibility to protect those who are threatened by persecution and need refuge. Some countries use their borders to keep citizens in while others use their borders to keep people out.
Human beings live in a world largely defined by boundaries. Geographic borders determine where people live, to what nationality they belong, and what human rights they are able to realize. Despite daunting circumstances, many people choose (or are forced) to leave their homes in hopes of being accepted in another place. However, at times the most significant borders people must negotiate are not physical at all. All of us face boundaries within our own countries, whether they are of race, gender, economic status, faith tradition, ethnicity, status of citizenship, sexual orientation, age, or ability.
the rest of the story: http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/racism
Here Are the Navy’s Plans to Bomb the Arctic
"People have only as much liberty
as they have the intelligence to want
and the courage to take.”
Emma Goldman
The right to rebellion is the right to seek a higher rule... GEORGE ELIOT |
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