Jana Thrift of the Occupy Eugene Media Working Group produced this mini-documentary about the People United parade we are having tomorrow, 11am Wayne Morse Freedom Plaza.
Author Archives:
Help Pitchfork Rebellion Stop Big Pesticide
The people and forests of Oregon are being poisoned. These families of the Hwy 36 corridor now have the proof. It has been submitted and simply ignored.
Please come support them in this fight to make this well documented case public knowledge. Only then will things begin to change.
Who is the enemy you ask?: Monsanto, Oregonians For Food And Shelter, and the timber industry to name a few major players. Another perfect example of money in politics VS humans, land, water, and living ecological systems which are all being destroyed beyond repair.
Pitchfork Rebellion is an Uprising of Forest Dwellers who are tired of being abused by Big Timber and Big Pesticide – i.e. ‘Big Agriculture’ – and who believe, as documented in our ongoing Investigation of the Influence of Big Business on State and Federal Agencies, that the government agencies charged with protecting the environment and the public health have been effectively co-opted by private industry to the profound detriment of the environment and the public health.
EMERGENCY FORECLOSURE OCCUPY OREGON MONDAY ACTION!
Please call and write your state congressperson Monday!
We need Senate Bills 1552 and 1564 passed without Rep. Whisnant’s amendments that help the banks more than homeowners.
Perfidy is a word reserved for heartless and treacherous betrayal. This is the word to describe the cynical abuse being visited on the voters who elected Oregon Representatives Whisnant and Hanna.
Whisnant requested and Hanna assigned foreclosure reform Senate bills 1552 and 1564 to Whisnant’s House committee. Whisnant re-wrote these bipartisan bills to not only protect banks from prosecution for the fraudulent foreclosure practices which are increasingly coming to light, but to prevent the Attorney General’s involvement. A more cynical betrayal of the public trust is difficult to imagine.
Whisnant and Hanna support current bank practices of foreclosing on properties while pretending to be renegotiating problem mortgages; and for refusing to meet face-to-face with homeowners facing foreclosure.
The Senate agreed that these practices are wrong and passed SB 1552 and SB 1564 to correct them, but not only is Whisnant satisfied to keep these measures buried in committee, he’s substituted language which would worsen the situation for struggling Oregon homeowners, while giving banks license to commit even worse abuses, and a get-out-of-jail card.
If there were ever an example of a lawmaker working against the interests of the people, and using the powers of government to benefit corporations, it’s playing out right now in the Oregon House of Representatives. Perfidy is “the deliberate act of violating faith, a vow, or allegiance; treachery; the violation of a trust reposed.” Is there not honor in the Oregon House of Representatives sufficient to pass SB 1552 and SB 1564?
Don’t let banks write our laws, run, and ruin our country! Make them accountable for their crimes.
Regards,
– Your Name
You Call to Action!
1) Send the above email to your State Rep. Cut and paste the message above the dashed line, above. Call them too and ask they support Senate Bills 1552 and 1564 without Rep. Whisnant’s amendments.
2) Forward this email in its entirety to your friends, colleagues, teachers, fire departments, police chiefs, mayors, other government officials – anyone and everyone who is concerned about the quality of our schools and other services.
MORE BACKGROUND ON THE ISSUES:
Playing Politics with the Lives of Struggling Homeowners
BY SCOTT MOORE
The dastardly ALEC – corporations writing laws for legislators
This Email Action Campaign is from the Occupy Eugene Neighborhood Action Committee.
Volunteer Opportunities Updated
We have updated our volunteer opportunities page and invite you to see if there’s something you can help with.
Volunteering with Occupy Eugene is a chance to participate in one of the most exciting social change protest movements of our lives.
The time couldn’t be better to get involved as many of us have been involved since October and we can help you get situated quickly in a role that works best for you. Lots of exciting things will be happening this Spring. Help make sure that 2012 is a year to remember for the 99%.
Opinion: Wake Up
Author: Lotus Occupied
Editor: OE Communications
This opinion piece was approved by the OE Communications committee by receiving the minimum number of at least 6 votes needed for publication.
Hey you! Yes, you. I want you do do something for me: REVOLT!!
Wake up. Wake up and join the revolution!
Wake up and realize that unless you get mad at the system, you will never be able to break out of this docile little box you’ve been numbed into. Turn off your television–better yet, KILL YOUR T.V. It is the single most hypnotizing tool used by the 1% to keep you ignorant of the current state of our world and the more you allow its images to permeate your brain and consciousness, the further from revolution you will find yourself.
I laugh to myself now because I know that far from the revolution is right where you would like to be–pushing reform, much to the chagrin of the 99%. I get it that you disagree with situations, actions, and disobedience of those around you; I know that you disagree with the current trajectory and actions of Occupy Eugene; I get it that you would like to see an end to the tension between the governments you reside under and your fellow community members but I CANNOT and WILL NOT sit around and listen while members of the community I live in are torn down for their courage and asked to PLACATE the “powers that be” in the interest of “respect and trust”. No. My answer is no.
To those who prefer to “reform” the system instead of feed the “revolution” I offer this:
Tell me how many people were evicted from the camp that had no where else to go, how many lost their homes (tents), how many starved because they did not have regular access to food, how many froze into the cold evenings following Christmas because there was no more shelter for them, how many scurried back to their bushes and bridges alone, and dejected, and REjected, and then tell me that you don’t think we need revolution. Look into the eyes of children who spend their time playing video games instead of spending time with the family at dinner and SEE the dysfunction, look into the eyes of the elderly who are stuck eating cat and dog food because they are too poor to support themselves, look into the eyes of the addicts and alcoholics wandering rootlessly, look into the eyes of the upper-middle class glazed over with consumeristic stares while they buy more CRAP they don’t need, look at the way our men drool over our women, and the way little girls grow up thinking they’re fat while little boys beat them up on the playground, look into the eyes of the zombie in the mirror and ask yourself WHY?! WHY DOES IT ALL FEEL *SO* WRONG?!
I’ll tell you why:
Our food is poisoned and full of chemicals, our water supply is tainted and will soon be owned by huge corporations, some people don’t have enough energy to heat their homes, our marine life is dropping because huge corporations like BP pollute our oceans illegally which are now covered in slick oil, forests are being torn down for their timber and never replaced, wildlife is dwindling while cattle is bred for mass murder, human beings are getting sicker and sicker while pharmaceutical companies invent more and more “miracle pills” with side effects a mile long, health care is a joke and owned by BIG PHARMA who prospers on–you guessed it–illness.
Our corporate governments have been weaving this tight little nest of laws that actually work to suppress your constitutional rights, but before I get there, lets talk money. You wake up one day and find a job so you can go out and support yourself and have a family…you know, house, car, job, wife (husband), 2.5 kids, picket fence, the works. The American dream. So you get the house, wife, and subsequent *stuffs* and raise children who also want to grow up and live the American dream, and then one day you realize that you were born into this giant, disgusting, continually cycling machine that keeps people as slaves to capitalism by encouraging breeding (sexualizing EVERYTHING) and consumerism (selling EVERYTHING). You realize that when you walk into that job you perpetuate the cycle, you must check your morals at the door, forget you make $8 an hour and then help *huge* corporations swindle your fellow human beings out of their HARD EARNED money and hand it lovingly, and with a smile, over to the 1% and their corporations…and then teach your children a good work ethic. It’s revolting in that I-just-threw-up-in-my-mouth kind of way.
The money they get is used to buy influence on legislation–they buy votes, they buy congressmen, they buy anything and everything they can–“they” get bigger and bigger. You realize that your time is valuable–corporations want it. They want you to spend it making money to buy their things, they want you to spend it watching T.V., they want you to fetter it away on meaningless Big Macs and fries, while they addict you (and your children) to cheap food with chemical additives. Yellow #5 anyone? Laws are passed like the Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act allowing your fellow Americans to be indefinitely detained without trial or even charges simply because they are “suspected of terrorism”. Terrorism is anything said or done that can be perceived as “against the government”. PIPA and ACTA seek to censor your internet, penalizing you and protect corporations. You see your local Eugene councilman (I won’t mention names here, lol) call a group of silently protesting topless women “TERRORISTS”, and their acts “TERRORISM”, right before you see American cops BEATING peaceful people protesting those same corporations monopolizing your time and the confusion sets in. Protesting is terrorism? or is it a constitutionally protected right called *free speech*? Who do the police work for? How can the government imprison its own citizens–doesn’t it work *for* the people? How can local CIVIL SERVANTS be so blind to wars and real terror and so bent on fear-mongering that they call breasts terrorism thereby marking the breast owners enemies of the state? What if that was your wife, aunt, friend, daughter? What if these elected officials bending to corporate will are your grand-father, father, uncle, friend, or son?
One day, there isn’t enough money for you or for your children and you lose your home which was illegally foreclosed on by Bank of America. After that, you find yourself sleeping on a bench in a park and your children wards of the state. You are now a criminal considering you don’t pay monthly rent nor do you have a physical address. As if that weren’t bad enough, you’ve become “what’s wrong with the world” and you didn’t even know it was coming. It slowly invaded while your children were being sold into the same capitalistic slavery that put you there. It is a system of oppression and control sold to you for three monthly installments of $9.99, expressly delivered to you at the low price of your free will. No thanks necessary, just your loyalty will ensure your “regularly scheduled programming”.
So here you sit while so many of your fellow human beings eat shitty food, watch violent television full of hyper-sexualized images, and view the world from Facebook, happily numbed from the brain down, while real activists are on the streets revolting against the state, being chased by the Bicycle Brigade, and reacquainting themselves with their civil liberties. They realize that this system of slavery with its oppressive laws must be torn down because it *IS* slavery, it is corrupt, and it is *too big* to re-form into something good for humanity. They rage against the machine. They are not afraid because they are too many to fail. Join them.
Occupy. Revolt. Smash Capitalism.
Occupy Eugene to City, “Show Us the Money”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: press@occupyeugenemedia.org
occupyeugenemedia.org, @OccupyEugene
Occupy Eugene to City, “Show Us the Money”
As freezing temperatures return once again to the Eugene area we continue to be concerned about the 4,000+ homeless people in Lane County and wonder how they will survive. While many of us are sharing this Valentine’s day with our loved ones, we wonder if the City will show that they too “have a heart” by living up to their commitments to help our citizens in need.
During a Dec. 14 meeting, the City Council of Eugene passed a proposal to spend up to $100,000 to open a 7 night a week “Egan-like” facility to help those with mental health and addiction issues throughout the winter.
Then, two days before Christmas, the City moved in to close down our occupation site in Washington-Jefferson park that had been providing shelter, safety, and an estimated 500-800 hot meals per day to people in need.
While the City did open an emergency shelter at the Lane County Fairgrounds on Dec. 22 to accept some of the people that were displaced by the closure of our camp at Washington-Jefferson, that shelter only stayed open for 2 days closing on Christmas Eve morning and sending people out into the streets to fend for themselves.
Feb. 14 marks two months since the City Council voted to approve funding for a temporary “Egan-like” facility, and to date we have seen unsatisfactory efforts from the city in terms of following through on their own proposal. Was the vote by the City Council just a “Christmas Miracle” meant to make us all feel good for the holidays, or does the City of Eugene actually plan to follow through on their proposal of spending $100,000 to help our most vulnerable citizens make it through the winter?
This press release is from the Communications Committee of Occupy Eugene that has been empowered to speak on behalf of the larger Occupy Eugene body.
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Revive Eugene’s Kesey Square
Occupy Eugene – Kesey Square Action from Reid Bryant Kimball on Vimeo.
“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.”
– Ken Kesey
Reclaim Kesey Square as a place for street artists, entertainers, friends and activists to gather as a community. Join in every Friday, noonish to dusk-ish.
Since the breakup of the Washington Jefferson Park occupation site, many of the displaced homeless have been harassed by some within the Eugene Police Department.
They have been unfairly targeted, charged with small crimes, and then told they can’t return to a 20 block area surrounding Kesey Square.
This “Downtown Public Safety Zone” is being used to discriminate against the homeless. Alley Valkyrie demonstrates how easy it is to break these laws, and not get arrested because she doesn’t look homeless.
Join in every Friday, noonish to dusk-ish.
Occupy Eugene Medic Tent in the News
Here is a very nice video report by KMTR about Occupy Eugene’s new free medic tent.
Occupy Eugene Press Conference on Stopping Foreclosure Sale
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: press@occupyeugenemedia.org
occupyeugenemedia.org, @OccupyEugene
Occupy Eugene is helping to stop an alleged act of legalized theft — the fraudulent sale of Mrs. Schickling’s home and property. A flurry of activity will occur in the early morning hours as members of Occupy Eugene work with Mrs. Schickling at both the Federal and County Courthouses in an attempt to stop the foreclosure sale.
Our efforts will begin at the Federal Courthouse where Mrs. Shickling and Occupy Eugene will seek to have a federal judge approve an emergency injunction to stop the scheduled foreclosure auction to be held at 10 a.m. at the Lane County Courthouse. If that fails, Mrs. Schickling is prepared to tell the auctioneer at the Lane County Courthouse that she is paying off the mortgage in full. It is our understanding that if the auctioneer does not honor this statement of new information and immediately cancel the auction, under Oregon law a crime will have been committed.
The Schicklings have been fighting the banks to save their home for several years. They are victims of a common practice called dual-tracking, which is when lenders negotiate loan modification terms with the borrower while simultaneously moving forward with foreclosure, without the borrower’s knowledge. On February 16th the Oregon senate voted 20-10 to approve S.B. 1564 which will ban dual-tracking in Oregon, though efforts are now underway by Representatives Gene Whisnant and Bruce Hanna to give the banks immunity from legal liability for all previous and current dual-tracking actions taken against Oregon homeowners.
Occupy Eugene invites media and supporters to join us at 9:50 a.m. at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza. At 10 a.m., just inside the Lane County Courthouse, the auction will begin and will end in a matter of minutes. Afterward, Mrs. Schickling and members of Occupy Eugene will speak to the media to recap what happened.
This press release is from the Communications Committee of Occupy Eugene which is empowered to speak on behalf of the larger Occupy Eugene body.