Opening Day of Fall Protest Season

Portland, OR – Ankeny and Waterfront – Thursday, October 7, 2011

Our turn.

Cheers to the New Yorkers who got the domestic occupation movement rolling. Hats off to D.C., N.C., and Chicago for carrying the ball further.
Now, we on the West Coast shall see it through. Granted, our heads are often in the clouds. We breathe the cleaner air, drink the clearer water, brew the better beer. Perhaps as a result, we’re a little slow on the expression of outrage compared to East Coasters in closer proximity to the now-contested political power centers in this country. But followers of recent U.S. protest history know that when we do decide to protest, we tend to go all in. Examples include WTO protest in Seattle 1999, Anti-war marches in Portland 2002, Longview 2011, Eugene all the time, Earth First, E.L.F. When the hard-core agitators, persistent peace protruders, and freaky-weird dresser-uppers converge, as they have today, such a critical mass invites analytical task. Here’s what I observed in the 90 minutes I attended before I had work:

12:15pm – Hundreds of people are quickly turning to thousands, filling and spilling over the concrete bowl of steps where a couple of megaphones lead call-and-repeat messages. The scene resembles a huge 2nd grade classroom. Everyone is trying to get each other to be quiet and listen to directions.

A small group of committed-looking protesters, donning earth tone ponchos and hair suited for a hunkering down in an occupied hibernation, seizes the megaphones every few minutes to reiterate that everyone should act responsibly, keep their hands to themselves, save their loudest outdoor voices for later on, and to stay hydrated.

Those that use the megaphones slowly instruct those who can hear them to repeat what they are saying, then repeat it once more, until people out of megaphone earshot can get the messages. This method of communication quickly makes people aware of peacekeeper volunteers, police liaisons, and a lawyer hotline to call in case of arrests. It also voices, to an uplifting effect, peoples’ personal testimonials. Lines form behind the megaphones as folks wait their turn to share stories and insights; words that are repeated by everyone else. An ongoing pledge of allegiance to the spirit of cooperation, enabling a successful occupation.

I paraphrase some of the highlights:

A young man dressed in moss-colored, military-style jacket takes the mic. Oh great, I think, another Che Guevara-wannabe thinking he’s gonna spark a guerrilla movement during a lunch break in SW Portland after he gets done yelling at his unemployed stoner friends and middle-aged white people in attendance. Turns out he is an Iraq War Vet, 4 tours, has a buddy who lost an arm, another who took his own life. He thought he has no voice until today. My lingering cynicism evaporates.

A short, serious-faced, women with glasses has volunteered in health clinics for 11 years and has never seen conditions as bad as they are now.

A grey-haired man says he can’t believe he’s still fucking protesting this shit. Been at it since the 60’s. They didn’t listen to him. Now Wall St. has screwed his grandkids.

A not-quite-totally-grey haired man says he’s been a part of many protest movements. In his experience, they are most successful when those protesting are having fun. He would like to make a fairly controversial suggestion that in the event arrests do begin to occur, that everyone imitate a notorious group of Portland cyclists: get naked.

1:00 pm – Some additional circles form around the bigger circle of people. They have drums, chanting, and megaphones spouting alternative causes at their centers.

1;15 pm – Before leaving, I take stalk of some of the movement’s signs. I divide them into loose categories, allowing us to further glean what this movement’s essential messages, if any, are, or will become:

Category 1: Blunt Dissatisfaction with Banking and Taxes

Pay Taxes, Bank Of America Doesn’t

Wells Fargo Stole My Grandma’s Farm

Jail The Banksters

Pay Your Taxes! Duh

Who Caused the Recession? The Federal Reserve

End the Fed

Category 2: Unabashed Anger at Powers That Be

Neuter Fat Cats

Too Big To Jail?: Perp Wall St.

Mad as Hell

[Around a girl’s neck] This is what Broken Trust looks like

Eat the Rich

Sacrifice the Rich

If I stole 50% of your 401k, I’d be in Jail


Category 3: Presidential Campaign Sound Bite Satire

Corporations Are Not People Until Rick Perry Executes One

It’s the Greed, Stupid

Wall St. is a Ponzi Scheme

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For

Category 4: Making Historical Parallels

Feudal Prince Pay You’re Share

Serfs Awake!

This is What a Feudal Society Looks Like

Predatory Lending=Modern Colonialism

Legislatures, Won’t You Be My Robin Hood?

I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those that do – West Point Honor Code

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. – MLK

Category 5: Keeping Portland Weird

Go Beyond Capitalism: Investigate Resource-Based Economy

[Over a rebel insignia from Star Wars] I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing

Stop Funding Israeli Apartheid

Al-Qaeda is C.I.A.

Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters

Gross National Happiness

Category 6: Proving Portlanders can be Creative and Clever

Make Signs

It’s More Fun To Share

Make Jobs, Not War

The Revolution will Not be Privatized

If This Is The American Dream, It’s Time to Wake Up

Industrial Capitalism: Drop it Like It’s Hot

Too Big to Fail is Too Dumb to Work

Category 7: Requests for Moderate Reforms

Enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Pass the American Jobs Act

Good Jobs come with Unions and Laws, not Generosity of Employers

Labor Creates Wealth

Don’t be fools / Give Money to Schools

Give Me a Job

Close the Loopholes

Bring Back the Middle Class

Tax the Rich