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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2016)
LET TERS NOT OVER Issues from differences between the 99 percent and the one percent could be reduced within a generation by limiting inheritance to the total amounts of wealth of a particular U.S. economic class, perhaps the middle-middle economic class, and granting inheritable amounts to be used for the most essential needs of the 99 percent. An alternative could be taxing it all to bring it down to some level. Impossible? What if Bill Moyers was in the running? It’s not over. Helen Woodford Eugene STING OF THE CELL TOWER Eugene residents are organizing to oppose the siting of a Verizon cell tower in the Jefferson Westside neighborhood, within shouting distance of César E. Chávez Elementary School. The proposed site, the abandoned and decrepit New Apostolic Church, at 1345 W. 16th Avenue, fronts the bike path just west of Polk. Property owners — church headquarters in Chicago — have failed to VIEWPOINT respond to inquiries from local residents. There are no known local contacts for the church. Although the Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits communities from blocking construction of cell towers on the basis of health concerns, there is strong scientific evidence of increased rates of heart and brain cancer in people living in close proximity to cell towers. Although the proposal calls for “stealth concealment” of the tower — a fake tree — a cell tower in no way enhances or preserves the integrity or character of this or any residential neighborhood. Please join us in protecting our families, our neighborhood and our community from the inappropriate placement of a cell phone tower in our backyard. Sign our petition and contact city councilors to call for strict enforcement of city code and support further restriction on cell towers in residential neighborhoods. Molly Guidette Eugene NEW ZONE’S LAST HURRAH As you know, the New Zone Art Gallery will be closing its doors in late August. In light of this closure, the nonprofit art gallery will be the first stop on the First Friday ArtWalk at 5:30 pm Aug. 5, at 164 W. Broadway, where it has been located for the past 10 years. More than 70 artists, along with featured artist Tom Capri, will be displaying a multitude of their best work in the gallery and at the Jazz Station, just down the block, to celebrate the gallery’s contribution to the local art scene. Not only is it the last ArtWalk at this space, it is an event dedicated to Oregon Contemporary Theatre for all its years of supporting arts in the Eugene area with its subsidizing the rental space of New Zone. The aura and appeal of the 164 W. Broadway site lies in the fact that originally it was the site of the initial farmers market in Eugene. And New Zone has kept a grounded, people-centered, active art and community center alive. Everyone is welcome at New Zone. In a day and age where lines are drawn and some factions of our culture would like to keep us separate, art belongs to each one of us, and New Zone provides that venue. During this last hurrah, there will be great food and drink donated by New Zone’s continuously supportive restaurants and Ninkasi, excellent music by Fiddlin’ Sue Band and crowds of well-wishers, benefactors and supporters of the arts. I personally invite you to the downtown First Friday ArtWalk to keep company with some of the nicest and best artists to be found anywhere. Hito New Zone Gallery member Eugene A FURRY TALE Once upon a time there was common decency and common sense amongst all. We live in dark times now, almost as though any good deed doesn’t go unpunished. We find ourselves in the kingdom of Springfield, wherein lies the province of Willamalane Park and Recreation District. I am injured, and I find myself a spot to lick my wounds. I am found out a time or two with friendly reminders to be out of sight, out of mind during the twilight hours. Willamalane Adult Activity Center is a seeming safe haven for mid-lifers, as long as you don’t look or smell like a BY JENNEFER HARPER The Real DNC PROTESTS AND WALKOUTS MARK THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION T he Democratic National Convention (DNC) can most accurately be summed up as a conglomerate of protests. This wasn’t simply a coming-together of Dem- ocratic delegates casting their pledged vote. This was a rallying point for many groups to come together and express their displeasure, and often rage, at a system they have grown frustrated with. Two points in Philadelphia became hot spots for protest: inside the Wells Fargo Convention Center itself and just outside the gated area of the convention. The inside protests manifested in small and large ways. Delegates could be seen holding signs in a gesture of dissent: “No TPP [Trans Pacific Partnership],” “Free Palestine” and “Liar” were common. Other, larger efforts occurred, such as the mass walk out by Bernie Sanders delegates, the illumination of state sections (Oregon and California) with cell phones when the convention sought to silence their sections by turning off the lights on them and strong chants such as “No More War,” which were combated with white noise machines to cancel out these voices of dissent, which might carry over through mainstream media airing. Who were these people protesting inside the DNC? These were delegates. These were Bernie delegates. Yet, Hillary delegates conjured up retaliatory strategies, and each day, they became more strategic. If a protester or infiltrator (a non-delegate protester who happened to come into possession and use a delegate’s credentials to enter the DNC) happened to banner drop, hold a sign or chant, the Hillary delegates and security officials were quick to surround the individual and cover up their message in mass. As perhaps a reflection of the corrupt practices 4 A ugust 4, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com already in place by the Clinton team, day three was rumored to be greeted by paid “seat fillers” (individuals who were paid $50 to seat in a vacant Bernie delegate’s seat. These individuals, posing as Hillary delegates, reserved rows of seats nearest to the front in an effort to minimalize disruption by Bernie delegates when speakers, especially Clinton, spoke live. While watching mainstream media the previous days, a viewer could easily hear and see the disruption that was occurring among the delegates. As the days proceeded, however, the convention organizers became savvy to the tactics and increased censorship. These tactics and strategies were a slight reflection on what was going on outside of the convention. Outside the convention gates, numerous groups organized to highlight their issue of concern. Black Lives Matter, Palestinian human rights, Democracy Spring, Antifa [anti-fascists], Food Not Bombs, CodePink and thousands of concerned people spent days marching, sitting in, documenting, speaking, sharing ideas and loudly voicing their dissent at the status quo. These protests manifested as rallies, marches, meetings, panels, speakers, sit-ins and blockades. While there were obvious similarities in reasons why these protesters came together — and similarities in their goals — what was perhaps most obvious was the diversity of tactics used. In this manner, we can reflect on the outside protests as a divided and fragmented effort, in a similar way we can view the protesting inside. Once again, the protesters outside could be divided into two camps: one that stressed a “nonviolent” approach based on a general understanding of Gandhi and MLK and another that embraced a diversity of aggressive tactics including flag-burning and cop- blocking. While both camps of protesters seemed committed to their tactics, criticism of each other’s tactics was a piercing blow. Just as one might cringe, or perhaps delight, in watching a group of Clinton delegates swarm a single Bernie delegate with a protest sign, one could feel the drop in solidarity when a large group of hugging and singing protestors adamantly chanted “We’re not with them!” when protesters burned a flag or threw water balloons at police. In fact, this splitting was so severe that groups of protesters, largely from Democracy Spring, physically removed themselves repeatedly from the vicinity of any other group of protesters whose tactics they considered to not fall under their definition of nonviolence. While the Democratic National Convention sought to systematically direct our nation into a goal-focused new year, the result could easily be described as a lump of chaotic dissent. From corrupt processes to criminal politicians, the DNC was met with bold resistance. With the help of alternative media and citizen journalists and the increasing participation of delegates as protesters, our two-party conventions are slowly seeing their dismantling as third parties are quickly becoming included in the political discourse and as the light more brightly shines through the holes in democracy. Jennefer Harper is a CodePink activist from Lane County who traveled to the DNC in July. She is a social justice educator, revolutionary organizer, parent, poet and all around anarco-dissident.
