No Sleep 'Til Justice

Over the next few weeks after the meeting of the nascent volunteer coordination committee, I went down to the occupation nearly every night. I would  sit & talk with the gutter punks, attend the General Assemblies and guard our new Volunteer Tent. Occasionally, I would get swept into an impromptu march, only to be met with the corresponding riot police.

When I was unable to bike the 5+ miles downtown, I would review the volunteer applications that were coming in through the web-site. Each person writing us had so much energy, excitement and hope in the work & activism that was finally happening. Students, doctors, lawyers, plumbers, teachers, so many different kinds of people looking to donate their time to the cause.

I didn't want people to have my phone number or to know my full name, so I just sent e-mails to people that applied.The problem was, I didn't have all the information that I needed to properly inform prospective volunteers. I would send them on a wild goose chase to find some guy named "Bucket" or something silly like that, and when they wouldn't find them they would turn around and be mad at me.

I had to try to track down committee heads and convince them that they needed a simple way to for new volunteers to be incorporated into their working groups. Trying to implement (suggest, really) a structure on a movement that sought to overcome oppressive structures was not exactly easy. Some committees were extremely responsive, some were no where to be found, all of them, however, were incredibly busy.

I have no idea where this idea that Occupiers were lazy came from, really.

It felt like I had two full-time jobs, and I was getting very tired. Very tired, indeed.

Meeting of the Minds

The volunteer coordination committee was born underneath pop-up tent on a tiny green space in downtown Portland, and Jimmy? Jimmy was it's father. He left his number at the information booth, and welcomed anyone with an interest in volunteer coordination to give him a call. To my surprise, many people did just that. Same idea. Same time and place.

You had to take off your shoes before you entered the blanket tent space. That made me smile.

We sat in a circle and introduced ourselves. There were a variety of personalities, backgrounds, methods & intentions gathered together in that cozy lil' tent. Some people were experienced with this whole anarchy meeting thing, and some of us were still a little wet behind the ears. Note takers? Attendance? POCs? annagrams? Already!? Who knew?

After we sorted through the bureaucracy, we started to get to the meat of it: How to Organize Volunteers for the Revolution. I felt, and still feel, that a healthy volunteer program is a key element to a successful populous movement. We want everyone to be involved, right? People need to know how they can best use their energies and resources to benefit the occupation. It only makes it grow, each new volunteer is a new advocate for the cause.

Essentially, Occupy Portland needed a volunteer program, and fast.

My ears perked up, 'Hm, I think I can help with that.'

I listened. I tried to listen. They had a lot to say. There was a lot going on. These people move fast. Everything was moving so fast. The camps were nice n' full. The committees were all formed. There was even a volunteer application up and running on the web-site! How was that even possible?

I felt like I had a lot to contribute. I'm in meetings like this all the time.Well...sorta.

It's a huge task. Occupy Portland was a round the clock, multi-program, high skilled volunteer event or festival, rather.  It required hundreds of volunteers at all hours of the day and night with all kinds of skills to do all kinds of tasks in all kinds of weather. Definitely not your average walk in the park.

My mind was spinning. Still is.  What everyone was able to accomplish in those two parks in in such a short amount of time was absolutely astounding. How does one even begin to try to coordinate such beautiful chaos?

#respect #solidarity #opdx

How can I be most helpful?

Since my time-intensive long-term volunteer activity of camping in downtown Portland was over, it was time to find a new volunteer task to help the cause. I decided to sign up for a four hour shift at the information booth. I figured that I could help answer questions & e-mails or something.

"Where can I drop off donations?"

"What happened at the GA last night?"

"What are you asking for anyway?"

"Is this legal?"

It was really fun, fast-paced, hectic and challenging. I enjoyed it. I organized donations, directed people, responded to e-mails, handed out supplies and talked to people.

After working for most of the day, I realized that there was a small piece missing from the puzzle--a volunteer program. Not to hate on anarchical systems of organization, but it is very challenging to reach out to lots of people without a framework to plug them all into. I started asking questions about their systems of communication, systems of outreach. Out of the chaos I was looking for order...

...and that's when I met Jimmy.

Moving out

We are no longer camped down at Occupy Portland. Last night, someone that I would call, an "agent provocateur" targeted our camp. When he first got there, he had a job and a girlfriend and a house, by the end of the night he was friends with all the gutter punks encouraging them to drink out in the open, yelling about having a gun, and making threats our way.

I was scared. I was angry. I was sleep deprived and my life was starting to suffer. I wanted to cry.

We couldn't stay any longer. Packed up and shipped out.

Rough night. 

Occupy Portland + Portland Marathon (Part II)

The morning of the marathon essentially started at 2am. The peacekeeping team made an announcement that anyone left in the occupation after 4am would be locked within the fence for the next 12 hours. Hundreds of people were there. Not everyone was ready to listen. Most of them didn't know about the marathon, or the agreements of the general assembly and weren't exactly thrilled that anyone was telling them what to do.

The fences were already up.We were camped out at the only exit point on the corner of SW 4th & Salmon. There was a team of young dudes standing guard at the entrance. Several near fights broke out. Every time I could here the volume rise and the safety team getting ready to lose their cool, I'd come out of my tent and play the "damsel in distress" card.

"Guys, guys. Thank you so much for being here, but I'm really trying to sleep... right over there." I'd gesture over to my tent not too far away. They we're always bigger than me. Always scarier than me. "I understand that you may not think this is fair or whatever, but its what needs to happen so that this whole thing doesn't get shut down." Blah. Blah. Blah. It worked every time.

I was supposed to meet the volunteer coordinator for the Portland Marathon at 4am at the gates. I didn't get to sleep until about 15 minutes before that.

OK. OK. I slept. I did it. I fell asleep and my phone died. I'm sorry. Occupying is tiring.Forgive me.

I woke up with the rest of the camp and climbed up a tree next to my tent. From my vantage point I could see runners finish the marathon, get wrapped in an emergency blanket and get snacks from volunteers as they walk to get their victory photo taken.

Little kids gave us candy. People were nice, some were supportive. I saw people I knew. Familiar faces. Eventually, the volunteer coordinators spotted me, and I shimmied down from the tree to meet him. He gave me a volunteer shirt, and he told me how I could help coordinate volunteers.

Basically, moment after the end of the marathon, there would be a march coming down the exact same street that the Marathon was finishing in. They would need help taking down all the fences, cleaning the road, and getting the trucks out of there fast enough to accommodate a thousand people to walking through the middle of it.

I told him I could help with that.

Until then, I played gatekeeper. Mediator. I worked with the security team, the marathon organizers and  the police to keep the peace. I escorted people outside of the fence. Basically, I helped make sure that the Occupation didn't interfere with the Marathon. Everyone was really nice. Super Supportive. "Whose Streets? Our Streets!"

Phase two. I needed help to break down the Marathon by recruiting huge groups of volunteers to cut down fences & clean up the streets. We got Occupants in Portland Marathon volunteer shirts, gave them trash bags & gloves, scissors and knives. Everything went down seamlessly.  The march came through. The fences came down without a hitch. Earlier than expected even.

It was really a  win-win for everyone. All the Marathon's volunteers got to go home early with their runners, and the Occupation cleaned up. The Portland Marathon organizers raved about us! Everyone benefited. Two parts of the community shaking hands. Not a bad story to tell the local news really.

All in all, about 40 Occupiers that I helped coordinate volunteered at the Portland Marathon. It was quite a task. Everyone's a piece of the puzzle. Solidarity.

Occupy Portland + Portland Marathon

My group of friends has been holding down a camp at the occupation . We've been carefully watching the movement to see where we would be of most use.

My opportunity to be useful came sooner rather than later. On the third day of the protest, the Portland Marathon had a permit for the very parks that we were occupying. In fact, the start and finish of the race was all around us. Runners were getting their finale picutres taken right up the street.

The whole city was in a tizzy. Will the Occupation ruin the Marathon? Will everyone end up ruining the occupation? The slanderous words were flying back and forth.

Fortunately, however, the general assembly decided that we would choose to work with the Marathon so that other members of the 99% could take to the streets as well. The plan? They were going to put up a fence around the park that we were in, and not let people out between the hours of 4am and 4pm. All other occupants would leave the premises, and march around, of course.

Really? You've got to be kidding me. Lock in a bunch of revolutionaries behind a fence!? Oh good god. This is not going to work. I could see the backlash already.

"You mutha fuckin' facist pigs, you're going to try to LOCK me down? You think you're the mutha fuckin' PO-Leeese? huh? Fuck da PO-leeese. Fuck 'em"

And granted, I did hear that until about 4 in the morning. I got out of my tent several times and calmed down some drunk gutter punks. Apparently, I have skills in this area. Conflict resolution. Who knew?

View of Occupy Portland from the Justice Center --
you can see the fences going up.

Anyway, the volunteer cooridnator from the marathon came to talk to the group that was planning on staying within the fences. I was part of that group. He was answering questions about bathrooms, the lock down, the fences, and at the end he announced, "and if you want to volunteer with the marathon, come talk to me."

As I expected, after the speech he was bombarded with people interested in helping. I waited carefully for him to hear them out, try to place them, and work on getting contact information and answering all their questions. Once he was able to catch his breath, I introduced myself as as a fellow volunteer coordinator, and I could see the relief on his face.

Ultimately, I volunteered to be the liaison between the volunteers of the occupation and the volunteer coordinator of the Portland Marathon. Perfect fit, if you ask me.

(to be continued)

Occupy Portland - Part I: The Great Camp Out

Occupy Portland March @ Pioneer Square

Occupy Portland kicked off with a 10,000 strong unpermitted march through downtown, and ended in an occupation of the two parks in front the Justice Center and Police Bureau in the shadow of the Wells Fargo Building. I had a brought a large piece of cardboard and blanket to reserve a space. A tent, tarp and mexican food followed.

We wanted to camp at the occupation to lend some legitmacy to the effort. If educated and employed young adults camped alongside people that didn't have any other choice maybe people would recognize this as a legitmate movement and actually take the time to listen.

The effort definitely hasn't been easy.

Most people can't do this. They have families or jobs or whatnots, but they visit, drop off food, and ultimately help in the efforts. It takes a village.

So, to say the least, there has been a change of plans. In the upcoming weeks, I'll use my volunteer time to help the Occupy Movement. Finding out how I can be most helpful will definitely prove to be a challenge, but this is a lesson for anyone trying to get involved with a small overworked non-profit. Sometimes an organization doesn't have the structure or capacity to handle the good intentions of everyone that walks through its proverbial doors.

The Occupy Movement, however, is aiming to do just that. It seeks to use the energy, power & skills of every sympathizer to send a message to those with the power & know how that the average American is pissed. We've been ripped off and screwed over in far too many ways for far too long. How to help send that message is a whole 'nother story. Extreme volunteering. I'll let you know how it goes.

My most recent non-volunteer volunteer activity

This past weekend I signed up to "volunteer" at NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon's annual fundraising gala. I wanted to lend a hand, because I strongly believe in their cause, and I knew that they were very effective at what they do. Their staff of four managed to elect pro-choice candidates at every level of government. Their volunteer phone banks made more calls in the last election than any other organization in Oregon. Ensuring that Oregon remain one of the last three states in the nation that does not have any restrictions on a women's right to an abortion.

Pause for applause. It's well deserved.

I chose to bring my favorite volunteer with me to the gala. She was most recently hired at my work to admin for the IT & Fiscal Teams. Another pause for applause. It's definitely warranted.

A friend of mine is the volunteer cooridnator for them. She needed volunteers to fill tables, and help clean up at the end. She had plenty of volunteers there. They didn't necessarily need my help...and my ride came early.

I didn't actually end up helping them with anything, so gave them 50 bucks, and called it a day.

Moral of the story. Volunteering is great, but donating is important. People that work at non-profits spend much of their energy trying to get your money. Make it easy on them.