Full Schedule and Program Posted

Posted: April 11, 2011 | Author: lawandisorder | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Program for 3rd Annual Law & Disorder Conference

April 6th-8th 2012

All Events at Portland State University in Smith Memorial Building

1825 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97201

*Evening events for 7th & 8th are in Hoffman Hall

Friday April 6th 2012 5:30pm-9:30pm

5:30pm-7:30pm  (Vanport Room 338) 

Dylcia Pagan- Former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner 

7:30pm-9:30pm (Vanport Room 338)

Gender and the Prison Industrial Complex: Towards a Queer, Trans and Feminist Abolition Politic

Eric Stanley, Dean Spade, Ralowe Ampu, Vikki Law

Saturday April 7th 2012 9:00am-8:30pm

9:00am-10:30am  (Vanport Room 338) 

Doors open, Coffee, tabling, baked goods!

10:30am-11:45am Panels 1,2 & 3 (327, 328 & 329)

Panel 1 (327)

Decolonization Means Prison Abolition

Decolonize PDX- Collective of radical people of color in Portland, Oregon

Summary

This panel will feature members of Decolonize PDX exploring the radical implications of prison revolt, prison abolition, anti-blackness, and colonization. We will engage in a dialogue with those present about the necessity of and opportunities for radical

movements supporting organizing behind the walls. The existence of the prison industrial complex is a continuation of the colonial project. Resistance behind prison walls coupled with outside support has radical liberatory implications for those of us

caught in the cage of a socially and ecologically collapsing world.

Panel 2 (328)

OWS, Repression and New Models for Society

Peter Bohmer- Activist scholar (The Evergreen State College)

Summary

What promises does the OWS movement bring?  What is left to be desired?  Peter Bohmer will review the political possibilities, limitations and opportunities resulting from OWS.  These questions will be addressed within the historical context of earlier national, and transnational movements, given his experience as a community organizer, economic scholar, and anti-capitalist advocate for global communities. This discussion will reflect on what about the national and global state of affairs has sparked the community mobilization efforts.  This discussion also hopes to find ways to show avenues for cross-movement solidarity.

Panel 3 (329)

Know Your Rights Training

Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center

Summary

The Know Your Rights training will give you the confidence to make decisions about how to engage your actions.  Where is the line drawn between legal and potentially illegal protesting?  Armed with knowledge, activists can make informed choices regarding their interactions with government agents and can best protect their rights should they end up in handcuffs and in the legal system. The training will be facilitated by Lauren Regan, executive director from the Civil Liberties Defense Center that provides both legal observation at protests and gives people tools they need to invoke their rights.

12:00pm-1:15pm Panels 4,5, 6 & 7 (327, 328, 329 & 333)

Panel 4 (327)

Political Prisoners and Cultural Memory: Resisting Repression on the Inside and Out

Erika Gisela Abad- Doctoral Candidate in American Studies, Center for Social and Environmental Justice

Paulette D’Auteuil-  Co-chair for the Jericho Amnesty Movement

Summary

Political Prisoners (PP’s) have experienced repression inside and outside of prison. The struggle to maintain cultural memory and a sense of identity in empire is a great challenge.  This panel will discuss the history and significance of u.s.-held PP’s, the movements that influenced OWS/Decolonize movement and how new forms of repression and state sanctioned terrorism propose new challenges for activists today.  Given the wide array of political protests and mobilizations that have taken place within the past few years, the lessons we can learn from current and former PP’s are crucial. Aspects of those lessons are Puerto Rican PP’s amnesty and democratic struggles in the context of Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States. This presentation will touch upon PP’s efforts to support their communities’ disenfranchisement while speaking out against institutional abuses and the need for continued mobilization in colonized communities.  Within the frame of this panel’s theme, we will also discuss U.S. North American indigenous prisoners spiritual and religious repression as such is connected to the greater question of their communities’ continued colonial reality.  Indigenous PP’s such as Leonard Peltier and Oso Blanco are examples of Native prisoners who struggle daily to practice their culture within the western confines of the U.S. empires prison industrial complex.  On the outside the government can now legally detain and disappear citizens and undocumented people further indicating a military state trampling constitutional, human, non-human and environmental rights.

Panel 5 (328)

Abolishing the Police

Rose City Copwatch- Portland-based organization that seeks to disrupt police violence and abolish police institutions through education, action and movement building.

Summary

Members of Rose City Copwatch will lead a discussion around the role of police institutions in society and the need to build a world without police. We will look at different alternative models of safety and accountability rooted in peoples movements and think about the lessons of these struggles and experiments in abolishing racist state violence and building and defending safe communities.

Panel 6 (329)

Green is the New Red!: Updates on Earth and Animal Liberation Political Prisoners

Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center

Summary

Over time activists defending the environment and non-human species have been targeted and infiltrated by the government.  Learn about their cases and how you can help.  This presentation will focus on U.S.-held Political Prisoners from the earth and animal liberation movements.

Panel 7 (333)

Striking Based Self Defense

Anthony Patch- Local anarchist self defense instructor

1:15pm-2:00pm      Lunch  (Wherever you can get it!)

2:00pm-3:15pm Panels 8, 9, 10 & 11 (327,328, 329 & 333)

Panel 8 (327)

What, Me Worry? The Rise Of The Surveillance State & What We Can Do About It

scott crow- Anarchist community organizer, writer, speaker

Summary

This presentation will examine the rise of the current surveillance industrial complex and its impact for radical social movements today. Crow will also place the current strategies and tactics of government and corporate surveillance in the historical context of political repression in the US; reflect on his personal experiences with surveillance, infiltration, being labeled a domestic terrorist and repression; and offer ideas for how activists can defend themselves and their communities to continue creating more just and sustainable worlds.

Panel 9 (328)

“Reach Out and Write!” 

Oregon Jericho Movement – Local Chapter for the Jericho Amnesty Movement
Suna Nash- International Political Prisoner activist and volunteer with Portland Books to Prisoners

Summary

This panel will focus on the different areas of state repression and discrimination that go into making a Political Prisoner (PP,) and why communication with them is so important.  We will also cover some basic guidelines for writing and sending books in to prisoners. Writing to PP’s helps people behind bars counter feelings of isolation.  It makes state institutions mindful of the fact that people on the outside are watching how they treat the prisoners in their care. Portland Books to Prisoners is an all-volunteer collective working to distribute books free of charge to prisoners.  We are dedicated to offering people behind bars the opportunities for self-empowerment, education and enjoyment that reading can provide. Oregon Jericho Movement is the Portland based chapter of the National Jericho Amnesty Movement.  Jericho’s goal is to gain recognition of the fact that political prisoners exist inside of the United States and to win amnesty for them.

Panel 10 (329)

The Forgotten Palestinian Political Prisoners

Wael Elasady- Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights

Summary

The situation of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails gets very little coverage in the  mainstream media. For 64 years Palestinian political prisoners have endured deplorable torture, abuse, and persecution, yet remain steadfast in their commitment to the struggle for liberation and return. Palestinian prisoners represent a microcosm of Israel’s brutal occupation, crippling siege, and systematic discrimination.

Panel 11 (333) 

Drop the Drug War Workshop

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee

Summary

The Hands Off Latin America committee of the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) is offering a popular education workshop exploring the causes and impacts of the “War on Drugs.” Through participatory discussion and group exercises, we will ask who benefits from the Drug War and who pays the costs. We will also look at grassroots resistance to the War on Drugs. This workshop is facilitated by PCASC’s Hands Off Latin America (HOLA) committee, a group that works to fight militarism and US intervention abroad, and to support movements for social justice in Latin America.

3:30pm-4:45pm Panels 12, 13, 14 & 15 (327,328, 329 & 333)

Panel 12 (327) 

Beyond Veganism: Food Justice

Lauren Ornelas- Food Empowerment Project

Summary

Everyone should have the right to choose foods they want to eat, especially

foods that are healthier for them and that meet some of their ethical

beliefs. Communities of color and low-income communities often have

difficulty accessing healthier foods when compared to higher income areas.

This presentation will address how these communities are often unable to

purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as other vegan foods that are

healthier for them and for the planet. Spotlighted will be Food Empowerment

Project’s work in Santa Clara County, CA to not only help assess the issue

of access in these communities, but to also find solutions to a problem that

can be seen in communities around the world. This talk will also explore the

lives of farm workers in the fields and slavery in the chocolate industry as

every food-related industry is laced with its own corporate greed. Ways in

which every individual can make a difference will be covered.

Panel 13 (328) 

The Role of Writing and Research in Developing Revolutionary Movements

Hosted by the Institute for Anarchist Studies and co-sponsored by Team Colors

Summary

The Role of Writing and Research in Developing Revolutionary Movements will explore the importance of the written word and engaged research to movement building.  When revolutionary movements incorporate research practices, knowledge development, and self-education they strengthen their participant members as well as intensify the effects their organizing and strategies can have. Topics such as the importance of theory, the role of study groups, co-research strategies, using the public library for research, investigating organized racists, and the importance of radical media will be discussed.  Six ten-minute presentations will be followed by a two tier discussion period: the first will explore specific questions for current campaigns, to be followed by open discussion.  Come prepared to participate with questions from your own organizing.  Panel participants include representatives from the Institute of Anarchist Studies, Portland Occupier, Rose City Antifa, Team Colors Collective, Parasol Climate Collective, Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, and a local radical librarian.

Panel 14 (329)

30 years of Covert Disruption of the Movement

Keith McHenry- Artist and author

Summary

The history and methods used in covert disruption of the left in the U.S. since the end of COINTELPRO to today and ways we can make sure it does not harm our work.  A review of the  strategies used in coordination by local, state, federal and corporate efforts to stop nonviolent protest including dirty tricks which have been used against the presenter. From  police doubles, stress position cages, wiretapped and other strategies that didn’t end with COINTELPRO or start after 9/11. Plus strategies on how to protect the movement from these programs.  Materials and internal government memos provided.

Panel 15 (333) 

Prison Divestment, Corporate Campaigning and Direct Action

Portland Central America Solidarity Committee

Summary 

Members of the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) will speak about their campaign targeting Wells Fargo for their financial investments in the private, for-profit prison industry. Wells Fargo is a major shareholder in Geo Group, and is also invested in the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the industry leaders in for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers. PCASC is employing a campaign strategy that combines divestment, corporate campaigning, and strategic direct action to target the financiers of the private prison industry. Come to this panel to find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved!

4:45pm-6:00pm  (Multicultural Center)   

FREE DINNER: CATERED BY ENJONI CAFE!

5:30pm-6:30pm 

Bo Brown- Former George Jackson Brigade Political Prisoners, Prison Activist Resource Center

7:00pm-8:30pm (Hoffman Hall) *This is in a separate building from Smith Memorial

Hip Hop as a Tool for Organizing

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.- Prisoners Of Conscience Committee/Black Panther Party Cubs

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. is an unleashed Political Prisoner who was incarcerated a little under nine years in various state prisons.  In the eyes of the state, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. is a three-strike offender: Strike One:  For simply being African.  Strike Two:  For being the offspring of freedom fighters:  assassinated Deputy Chairman of the Illinois Chapter Black Panther Party Fred Hampton, and his mother/comrade Akua Njeri.  And…Strike Three:  For continuing the fight for the liberation of African people. His powerful organizing throughout the Black community placed a target on him just as the one that took his father’s life.  He was kidnapped from the streets by the infamous Chicago Police Department, as well as a myriad of other law enforcement agencies in May 1992.  The state claimed Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. firebombed two Korean owned stores on the south side of Chicago, IL supposedly in response to the Simi Valley verdict rendered in the case of the LAPD beating of Rodney King.  While imprisoned, the attacks continued:  threats on his life, denying him visitation rights, sabotage of mail, destruction of personal property, and long stints in “segregation”…the prison within the prison. Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. continues to expose the brutal prison conditions and continues to fight for the release still held political prisoners, prisoners of war, and prisoners of conscience.  Chairman Fred Jr. also continues to push for pardon based on his innocence in order to clear his name of the dubious charges.  Under his leadership POCC/BPPC has authored and organized campaigns around the African Anti Terrorism Bill; Harriet Tubman Code; Code of Culture; and much more.  A revolutionary, powerful speaker and spoken word artist, Chairman Fred’s poignant presentations have captivated audiences worldwide.

Sunday April 8th 2012 9:00am-8:30pm

9:00am-10:30am  (Vanport Room 338) 

Doors open, Coffee, tabling, baked goods!

10:30am-11:45am Panels 1,2,3 (327, 328, 329)

Panel 1 (327)

Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism: Part I

Portland Industrial Workers of the World

Summary

“Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism” is based on the experiences of female-identified fellow workers who have found commonality in their experience of gender oppression and have developed strategies for organizing in solidarity with people of all genders.

Panel 2 (328) 

Women’s Prison Resistance: Part I

Victoria Law- Writer, photographer, zinester, mother and co-founder of Books Through Bars (NYC)

Summary

In this presentation, I will use the stories and observations in Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women to 1) examine the specific issues facing women behind bars discussing ways in which incarcerated women are resisting and organizing  2) examine the obstacles they face when trying to organize inside  3) challenge the audience to examine *why* these actions have not been (and are not being) recognized and talked about in discussions about the prison-industrial complex and prisoner activism and resistance 4) generate discussion of concrete ways (both big and small) that outside people, especially those dedicated to resisting and abolishing the prison-industrial complex, can provide support to women who are struggling inside.

Panel 3 (329)

The Dark Side of the Internet: A Bit About Darknets

Kyle Terry

Summary

Darknets are the hidden and obscure places of the internet. They are

used by organizations, law enforcement, activists, and people who

don’t want to conform to the (very) public nature of the high level

internet. What are they? This talk will touch on the history of

darknets, what types of darknets exist and how activists and

hacktivists use them.

12:00pm-1:15pm Panels 4,5, 6 & 7 (327, 328, 329 & 333)

Panel 4 (327)

Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism: Part II

Portland Industrial Workers of the World

Summary

“Dismantling Patriarchy, Dismantling Capitalism” is based on the experiences of female-identified fellow workers who have found commonality in their experience of gender oppression and have developed strategies for organizing in solidarity with people of all genders.

Panel 5 (328)

Women’s Prison Resistance: Part II

Victoria Law- Writer, photographer, zinester, mother, co-founder of Books Through Bars (NYC)

Summary

Although the dramatic increase of women in prison has led to a growing interest in female incarceration, the voices and actions of the women inside often remain unheard. Much of the recent literature and discussion on the subject articulates how the needs of incarcerated women differ from those of their male counterparts. However, it fails to examine how these differences have affected and changed the ways in which women challenge and organize against prison conditions and how these differences prevent outside recognition of these acts of resistance.

Panel 6 (329)

Occupation Nation: A Video Reportback From the Movement

Bmedia Collective- Local Video Art Collective

Summary

An interactive analysis framed by video clips from across the national Occupy Movement. B Media Collective will facilitate a reflective discussion prompted by video recorded during the occupation in New York, DC, Philadelphia, New Haven, Baltimore, Providence, Portland with an eye towards deepening our analysis of the experience. Discussion will revolve around the history of occupation, the experience in the camps, the process of internal organizing, the personal transformation evident in the camps, the role of the media, and the national similarities and localized differences between the camps. Video clips from the national occupations and pieces produced within Portland will frame the discussion and prompt reflection. The goal of the workshop is to share first-hand footage and interviews from around the country, begin to synthesize the larger reality of the occupation, and enable space to process the experience within a collective setting.

Panel 7 (333) 

Connect the Dots 101: White Supremacy and the Prison Industrial Complex

Lydia Bartholow- The Committee to Connect the Dots

Summary

This workshop offers a framework for tackling white supremacy within radical currents.  It briefly covers the history of white supremacy, the ways in which the prison industrial complex is central to the maintenance of a white supremacist culture, and finish by working together to connect the dots between multiple struggles.

1:15pm-2:00pm         FREE LUNCH: CATERED BY ENJONI CAFE!

2:00pm-3:15pm Panels 8, 9 & 10 (327, 328 & 329)

Panel 8 (327)

Safe and Healthy in the Streets

Rosehip Medic Collective- Group of volunteer street medics and health care activists active in Portland, Oregon

Summary

Come join the Rosehip Medic Collective as we discuss ways to prepare

yourself for the next demonstration, occupation, or whatever else may

be on the horizon. We’ll be covering everything from warm layers (no

cotton!) to jail support and the proper treatment for pepperspray.

Panel 9 (328)

Abolition 101

Critical Resistance- National grassroots prison abolition organization

Summary

This will be an interactive workshop that will provide participants with the opportunity to engage in thinking through the Prison Industrial Complex with a focus on policing. Participants will work through working definitions of the PIC and Abolition before tackling the topic of policing, how it’s used and what we can do about it. Through video and scenarios, participants will walk through what community responses to the policing and the impact of the PIC. This is all with the goal of really seeing a clear picture of where policing fits in the PIC puzzle.

Panel 10 (329)

Decolonizing Street Art

Decolonize PDX- Collective of radical people of color in Portland, Oregon

Summary

This interactive workshop will feature Decolonize PDX’s street

actions, which have involved props and art to engage folks on issues

surrounding police brutality and prison abolition.  Participants will

give a short explanation of our methods, and have time to engage with

the actual props on both of those issues. We will also have a new set

up designed to forefront issues of white privilege, and will be making

a new video during the workshop, with all those who attend as

participants.

3:30pm-4:30pm  (Hoffman Hall) 

In the Belly

Insurgent Theater

Summary

In the belly is where things digest, where they are broken down so their value can be extracted. This is where things are made to rot. If our society is a beast, its belly is the prison system. This work from Insurgent Theatre seeks to manifest imprisonment on stage, overlays it with critical analysis of the system, and follows up with in-depth discussion about abolishing prison in America.

4:30pm-5:30pm (Hoffman Hall) 

The Lucasville Uprising

Presented by RedBird Prison Abolition

Summary

In 1992 more than 400 prisoners protested the oppressive and racist policies at the Southern Ohio Correction Facility (SOCF). During one of the longest prison uprisings in U.S. history, inmates came together across gang and racial divides to not only confront the state, but also negotiate a peaceful resolution.  Although the negotiations included an agreement of no repercussions for anyone involved in the uprising, the state has since then targeted individuals perceived as ‘leaders’ of the uprising.  The trials for those involved have been fraught with snitch testimony, coercion, obstructed access to council and evidence, and biased judges and court rooms.  Today, dozens of people are serving time or are condemned to death for their alleged involvement.  The Lucasville Uprising and its aftermath brings up important questions for those working on prison issues everywhere.  The workshop focuses on the voices of prisoners, and in the past we have had an inmate call-in to speak about the case.  We also include written and radio pieces made by prisoners involved in the rebellion.  Although the workshop is partitioned into four general sections, all the parts encourage participants to actively examine and respond to some of the hard questions we ask.

More specifically, the Lucasville Uprising Workshop will…

1. summarize the uprising and the aftermath
2. compare and contrast Lucasville with present day prisoner resistance (Pelican Bay, Georgia Prison Strike, etc)
3. explore convict unity across racial factions and
4. discover better ways to support prisoners in resistance.

*Direct Action Workshops at the 3rd Annual Law & Disorder Conference

Sunday April 8th 2012 10:30am-3:15pm

Portland State University in the Smith Memorial Building

1825 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97201

(Multicultural Center-2nd Floor)

10:30am-11:45pm

Mass-mobilizations with Spokes Councils and Affinity Groups: The Portland Action Lab Model

Portland Rising Tide and Portland Action Lab

Summary

During the beginning of the Occupy Movement, a group of organizers in Portland recognized the potential for days of mass direct action and began organizing the direct action spokes council that would become the Portland Action Lab. The Portland Action Lab organized the N17: Occupy the Banks and the F29: Shut Down the Corporations days of action. The latter were part of some 80 actions across the country that were called for and coordinated by the Portland Action Lab. This panel will explore the model used by the Portland action Lab and provide lessons learned from the experience, which can both empower and provide tools for people interested or engaged in planning large scale direct action.

12:00pm-1:15pm

Urban Direct Action: Orchestration, Planning, & Implementation

Portland Animal Defense League

Summary

Direct action amounts to a diversity of tactics that can be utilized in a

myriad of unique circumstances. Variations in an activist’s surroundings

and conditions can vastly alter the options and plans for direct action.

The urban environment provides for one set of these particular

characteristics. This workshop will explore the options for direct

action in an urban setting, the circumstances that act as limitations,

the process of action planning, and the nuts and bolts of action

engagement.

2:00pm-3:15pm

Renegade Blockades

Kim Marks- Grassroots organizer, Rising Tide and Cascadia Forest Alliance

Summary

This is focused on back country actions: scouting, action planning

learning how to be effective with out getting arrested, how to survive in

the woods and a power point of different types blockades.

 

 

 

 

 

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Safer Space Policy

Posted: March 30, 2011 | Author: lawandisorder | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Law and Disorder recognizes that issues of privilege and oppression exist in society both socially and institutionally. Through education, skill-sharing and advocacy, we work to create a safe and accessible space that values and builds common understanding and solidarity. We strive to make the conference welcoming, engaging and supportive to everyone by asking conference organizers and participants to be conscious of their words and actions. All forms of aggression based on one’s age, gender, sexual identity, religion, race/ ethnicity, or ability will not be tolerated.

In accordance with this safer space policy, if anyone in attendance feels that the group space is unsafe or oppressive, we encourage them to address the situation mindfully. If the situation needs further assistance, the conference’s security volunteers will assist in an attempt at mediation, which includes accountability and deliberation. If the oppressive behavior persists, the person/s will be asked to leave the space.

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Drumroll please….. for our BEAUTIFUL poster!

Posted: March 24, 2011 | Author: lawandisorder | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

We are forever indebted to Matt Gauck for designing this poster. This is the 11×17 version, and we will also be distributing double-sided quartersheets. Both sizes are being printed by Lantz from Radix Media. Thanx to Lantz and Matt for being so generous despite our endlessly needy requests!

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Second Annual Law and Disorder Conference-Portland, OR 2011

Posted: November 27, 2010 | Author: lawandisorder | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

This blog will communicate updates for the second annual Law and Disorder Conference, scheduled for April 15th-17th 2011 on the campus of Portland State University.   Registration will be open soon to folks interested in speaking, volunteering, organizing panels and/or workshops related to Political Prisoners, Prison Industrial Complex, Prison and Police abolition, Political repression, resisting repression, know your rights, community alternatives to the police……….

For more information contact: lawandisorder@gmail.com

The Law and Disorder events, from April 14-16^th 2010, were three two-day events that overlapped over three days on three college campuses in the Portland, OR/Vancouver area.  There were several main goals that were achieved.  The first and foremost goal was to raise the issues of Political Prisoners (PP’s) in the u.s.; their existence contrary to denial on the part of the u.s. government and also practical discussions regarding their support and amnesty. In line with this first goal, the second objective was to open up a dialogue about the political repression that contributed to understanding the historical targeting and incarceration of PP’s in regards to the FBI’s counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) in the second half of the 20th century to the most recent manifestations such as the PATRIOT ACT and Homeland Security.  The third large and overarching theme was prison and police abolition.  The organizers comprised of members of the NW Student Coalition; a consortium of progressive student groups in the Pacific Northwest specifically at Portland State University, Mt. Hood Community College, Reed College and Washington State University Vancouver.

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