As people across country erupted in largely spontaneous mass demonstrations after the Presidential election, Portland garnered national and international media attention for the intensity of some of them. Though the well-publicized incidents of window-smashing as usual were often the center of that attention, the protests were also noteworthy for the number of participants, the consistency of the demonstrations over several days, and--by many accounts--the large number of new faces among the protestors.
Youth are clearly the driving force behind the anti-Trump activism, and in Portland that appears to be at least partly due to a new organization, Portland's Resistance. The group, which called the rallies, adheres to a position of non-violence and did not condone the property destruction that occured several hours into Thursday night's protest march. http://www.kgw.com/news/local/anti-trump-protest-organizer-condems-portland-riot-damage/351002831
But of course there are a diversity of opinions about the question of "diversity of tactics" that any grassroots movement that fights the power structure has to take into consideration. But more important, Portland's Resistance is trying to bring together the diverse strands of activism in the Portland area into a unified force for broad social change. Time will tell if it can overcome traditional divisions and divergent ideologies, approaches and tactics.
Two of the group's organizers, Gregory McKelvey and Kat Stevens, will join host Paul Roland to discuss all this and more. https://www.facebook.com/portlandsresistance/?fref=ts
At the start of the show, Leonard Higgins will also be in the studio to talk about last month's unprecedented "valve-turner" action, which temporarily shut down four tar sands pipelines in four different states. Higgins was one of the valve-turners and will be at a public event Wednesday night in Portland, along with the other four. https://www.facebook.com/events/965015893627554/
- KBOO