What promised to be a radical, relaxed teach-in transformed in a moment of revolutionary furor….
What promised to be a radical, relaxed teach-in transformed in a moment of revolutionary furor. The event planned for the day, “Community Teach In: Oregon’s Racist History,” began at a…
The affinity group arrived just in time with a sack full of tools. It was filled with sledge hammers, pickaxes, and climbing rope. We were speed walking, trying not to…
The affinity group arrived just in time with a sack full of tools. It was filled with sledge hammers, pickaxes, and climbing rope. We were speed walking, trying not to…
“We’re billing the City of Eugene for doing their job for them.” Thousands of people have protested in our community this past week in support of black lives and against police brutality. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful. And the City’s response? Eugene Police Department (EPD) has brought out all of its military equipment and put its full military force on display. They have repeatedly used tear gas, a known lung irritant, against our community—not just protesters. An elderly bystander was pepper-sprayed while filming on the sidewalk, and multiple journalists were tear gassed without warning. There are also reports that EPD has been using expired tear gas, which breaks down into lethal cyanide. This is all happening during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects the lungs…
When Keaton Otis was killed by police, he was a kind, loving 25-year-old Black man. He was a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, and a good friend. On May 12, 2010, he was driving his mother’s car and happened to be wearing a hoodie. The Portland Gang Enforcement Team spotted him. They radioed…
EUGENE, OR – This morning, many Eugene residents awoke to find a package on their doorstep. Hours earlier, just before dawn, several gloved-and-masked locals had made the deliveries around their neighborhoods, with a clear message attached: “In the midst of this crisis, we must take care of each other.” The brown paper bags contained two…
When the University of Oregon student body became informed that facilities are closed by Safety and Risk Services as of March 17 in an email, a pre-scheduled Board of Trustees meeting still occurred at the Ford Alumni Center. Before this meeting began, a small number of students with the Reclaim UO campaign had assembled outside…
I am a 53-year-old Iranian American and have lived in LA since 1990. As a marijuana user, I needed to buy enough marijuana to quarantine. On March 26, I went to my local dispensary in Los Angeles. After they checked my ID they let me inside. It was me and two other customers, including a…
Tree sitters are locking down in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown. Neighbors are taking action to protect 3.5 acres of the Willamette Greenway and potential affordable housing site slated to be destroyed by out-of-state developers Evergreen Housing Development Group (EHDG). For the past 2 years community members have organized to stop sale of the…
Graduate employees at University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) voted by a landslide margin for a wildcat grade strike on Dec. 8, 2019. The strikers refuse to submit final grades unless the administration gives them a cost of living adjustment (COLA). UCSC GEs demand a COLA of $1,412 per month so they can afford to…
Community members and climate activists celebrated a win when the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) voted 2-to-1 to delay their decision on the approval of the Jordan Cove Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) on February 20. Commissioner McNamee stated that FERC needed more time to review permit denials from the State of Oregon, including the State’s…
University of Oregon-owned homes in the east campus neighborhood area are still molding years beyond their sell-by date. No, houses don’t have sell-by dates. Instead, they are condemned and fenced up, thus yielding less than rent. Meanwhile, multiple construction projects on campus have built new facilities, amenities and luxuries all over campus during the past…
Sunrise Eugene, the local chapter of the nationwide environmental movement, hosted a benefit show on Feb. 14 to raise membership and funds for their cause. Local bands Broth, Novacane, Los Gandos and Gentlebeing played the show which was attended by more than 100 people. Los Gondos, the second act, tore the roof off the small…
A group of activists, students and community members interrupted dinner at Elkhorn Brewery near campus on Feb. 8 to call out owner Steve Sheehan’s attempts to criminalize poverty through his involvement in the anti-homeless group Eugene Wake Up. The activists displayed a banner which read “House Keys not Handcuffs” and delivered a speech by megaphone…
Tyee taught me to walk on the ice like a penguin, with my weight pushed to the front of my feet. This helped, but not much. I still slipped and fell at least a half dozen times, my bruises more colorful than the monotonous light gray of the ice, snow, and sky outside. Des Moines…
The Climate Justice League has focused its forest defense campaign this year on getting Windy Peak, an ecologically diverse plot of forest that includes old growth and keystone species, from being included in the N126 timber sale. CJL strongly believes that establishing a land ethic with the areas we are working to save, should be…
Means TV, a worker-owned entertainment company, launched its streaming service Feb. 26. The cooperative aims to offer an alternative to the capitalist dominated entertainment structures and foster a culture in which fundamental change is possible. On first glance, the Means TV website doesn’t look any different than other streaming services. Video thumbnails are organized beneath…
This is a historic moment for the left-wing movement in the United States. Bernie Sanders is on the edge of winning the Democratic Party’s nomination. The genuinely leftist power behind the realistic possibility of a socialist elected president is undeniable. However, we must not lose sight of what our true end goal is. But electing…
In the winter of 2020 Ari was approached by a Chinese recruitment agency, specializing in assisting native English-speaking teachers obtain work contracts throughout China. With the current political relations between China and the US, as well as the looming 2020 US presidential elections, the agency was actively seeking teachers who had previously worked in “difficult”…
The Oregon Logging Conference has been a major pain in the neck for Eugene’s environmentalist community for many years. Nothing stinks worse for us green-minded folk than to see a bunch of timber industry buffs haul felled trees into the parking lot of the Fairgrounds to showcase how effective their bulldozing equipment is. But, you…
Vancouver, WA – Work was halted on Thursday October 17 for 6 hours at the Port of Vancouver, Washington, by community members blockading a rail line that is transporting pipe for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion project. In early September, activists broke the news that pipe for the project’s construction is being imported by ship…