It must be understood that though we are one country, our experience is anything but…
It must be understood that though we are one country, our experience is anything but unified. We sit in cities and complain about the injustice while we hide behind our…
Does more income make you more free? Does no income make you not free? Across America, the last six months have been filled with fatigue and frustration in the wake…
Does more income make you more free? Does no income make you not free? Across America, the last six months have been filled with fatigue and frustration in the wake…
The Insurgent mails out the newspaper to hundreds of prisoners across the country, and many of those prisoners respond with simple or complex asks, often for their essays to be transcribed, for their art to be uploaded and shared, or for additional newspapers. The Insurgent will need help processing and responding to these requests in the coming weeks. This project is in its growing phase, so patience with the process is appreciated, as is any expertise or advice. If you are interested in assisting in responding to and processing these letters and essays, whether you have experience corresponding to prisoners or not, please contact the Insurgent staff, and they will connect you with the other people working on this project. As we struggle to build…
“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…
As the 9:00 curfew set in on Saturday, May 30, a crowd gathered around the fire station at 13th and Willamette – just outside the curfew area. These protesters were angry at the long history of police brutality and white supremacist violence, standing in solidarity with the George Floyd protest movement spreading like wildfire across…
On 5/29, fury swept the streets of Eugene as a large crowd demonstrated against police violence in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The demonstration, beginning around 8:00pm, began peaceful and quaint, as a local expression of the insurrectionary uprising spreading like wildfire from the streets of Minneapolis. As the crowd swelled, the…
Beginning at 8pm on Friday May 29, approximately 50 people gathered for a quiet demonstration against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the Lane County Circuit Courthouse in downtown Eugene. Around 8:40pm protestors began marching through downtown Eugene and headed towards the police headquarters. Along the way, people joined and the…
COVID-19 has accelerated capital’s self-destructive tendencies. Its delicate arrangements have come crashing down as it turns to auto-cannibalization. Yet now is not the time for idle distractions or premature celebration: rather, now is the time for thinking. We have to thank the virus for combining the myriad of disparate crises into a single, raging torrent,…
Portland – With the city’s budget forums cancelled and the only hearing scheduled tomorrow during a time of community mourning for Keaton Otis, who was murdered by the Portland Police Bureau ten years ago tomorrow, community advocates took perspectives straight to the decision makers tonight to oppose increased funding for policing and demand the elimination…
Portland, OR [05/01/2020]– A grassroots coalition of organizations representing people who are directly affected by the criminal legal system rallied in front of the Multnomah County Detention Center today to call on Governor Kate Brown, Sheriff Mike Reese, and Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury to release people from Oregon’s prisons, jails, and immigration jails. This…
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…