December 5

Here are some more photos from Saturday.  If you have some good ones you’d like to share, please email them to media@december5.org.  Thanks!

Thank you to everyone who braved the cold weather today, to all our fantastic speakers and musicians, the D5 organizational endorsers, and especially all the fantastic volunteer organizers.  What an amazing day so far.  See you at the After-Party from 7:30 to 10:30 pm at Opposable Thumb Cafe (3312 SE Belmont, Portland).

Photos by Pete Shaw.

Patrick Dodd will be playing at the after-party

Keep the party going after the “D5″ march and rally!  At the After Party, we’ll continue to celebrate our victories in Seattle, our movements’ many victories since and the five-year anniversary of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign.  

There will be live music by Jim Page, Patrick Dodd, Lindsey Walker and others; a chance to mingle with Lori Wallach of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch; great food, drink and fun.  You’ll also be able to help keep ORFTC fighting the good fight in the name of global solidarity and local justice for many years to come.

It’s this Saturday from 7:30 – 10:30 pm at the Opposable Thumb Cafe at 3312 SE Belmont in Portland.  Questions?  Email Kari Koch at karikochs@gmail.com.

The caravans from Ashland, Grants Pass, Medford, Eugene, Springfield, Corvallis, Olympia and Seattle are all on their way! Portlanders, please give them a warm welcome when they arrive — and speaking of warm, DRESS WARMLY.  Hats and gloves would be appropriate.  We’ll have hot coffee and tea at the gathering point under the bridge, the march will get going shortly after 1:00 pm — and the rally as PSU is INDOORS.  See you soon!

As part of the global days of action against the new World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial, people from across the Pacific Northwest will be converging in downtown Portland this Saturday to speak out against the proposed expansion of failed “free trade” policies and to demand the prioritization of human needs over corporate greed. 

D5: Mobilization Against the World Trade Organization
Saturday, December 5th * Downtown Portland

12:00 Noon — Community Carnival
Gather at Tom McCall Waterfront Park under the Hawthorne Bridge at SW Natio & Madison

Gather to live music from Oregon-based performers, and browse information tables from some of the more than 75 labor, environmental, faith, immigrant rights and community organizations that put this event together.  Greet demonstrators caravanning together from as far south as Ashland and as far north as Seattle.  Start getting fired up!

1:00 pm — March
Leaves from the Hawthorne Bridge and goes through downtown

Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain will kick off the permitted, family-friendly march, led by a contingent of “Teamsters and Turtles.”  The No War Drum Corps and several large puppets will be on hand to keep things lively. Street theater is planned for the World Trade Center, Federal Building and Wells Fargo Center. The march also includes the Amalgamated Transit Union bus, carrying anyone who needs a lift.  Bring your signs and banners!

2:00 pm — Indoor Rally & Concert
Portland State University’s Hoffman Hall (1833 SW 11th)

Hear short rally speeches by Lori Wallach (Global Trade Watch),  Francisco Lopez (CAUSA Oregon), Barbara Byrd (Oregon Apollo Alliance), Brent Foster (Oregon Department of Justice), Ken Allen (Oregon AFSCME)  and Vandana Shiva (via video), as well as musical acts by Jim Page and Dr. Atomic’s Medicine Show.  Take action before you leave, and learn how to stay involved!

7:30 to 10:30 pm — D5 After-Party
Opposable Thumb Cafe (3312 SE Belmont)

Celebrate the day’s successes and the 10-year anniversary of the Seattle protests at the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign’s 5-year anniversary party.  Enjoy good food and spirits, live music by Patrick Dodd and Lindsey Walker, and rub shoulders with guest-of-honor Lori Wallach, from Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.  Party the night away, and help support the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign continue its on-the-ground organizing for many years into the future.

ASHLAND/MEDFORD/ROSEBURG:  Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice is bringing up two 12-passenger vans, leaving Ashland’s Bi-Mart parking lot at 6:30 am sharp, and returning at approximately 10:30 pm.  Pick-ups possible from Medford (6:50 am), Grants Pass (7:20 am) and Roseburg (8:30 am) if requested.  People asked to pay $30, but no one turned away for lack of funds.  Light breakfast and dinner provided.  Call Wes Brain at 541-482-6988.

EUGENE/SPRINGFIELD:  Folks in the Eugene/Springfield area will be meeting at the Gateway Mall (3000 Gateway St, Springfield) on Saturday, December 5 at 9:30 am to caravan up to Portland together.  Look for us in the east side parking lot near the Transit Center.  We will begin dividing up into carpools at 9:30, leaving sharply at 10:00 am.  People taking the bus from downtown Eugene who arrive by 9:45 should be okay.  FYI, the march and rally in Portland will end around 4:00 pm.  People should get back to the mall around 6:30 pm, unless they choose to stay in Portland for dinner, the after-party or other reasons.  For caravan details, call Wes Shirley at (503) 261-8911.

OLYMPIA:  Catch a ride on the “Blue Green Machine Solidarity Bus,” world famous for its role in the “March to Miami” FTAA demonstrations.  Leaving from Media Island, 1816 Adams St SE, at 10am sharp.  Questions?  Call Bruce Wilkinson at (360) 808-2363.

SEATTLE:  The Seattle caravan is meeting at 8:00 am at 606 Maynard Ave S #252 to divide into carpools.  For details, write the Community Alliance for Global Justice at seattle@december5.org. 

CORVALLIS:  Individual rides have been arranged.  If interested in still trying to catch a ride, please email corvallis@december5.org.

The Amalgamated Transit Union has a 15-passenger bus in the “D5″ March, and has offered rides on it to anyone who wants to participate in the march but has difficulty walking long distances.  They are trying to secure a wheelchair lift, but at the moment, please assume you will have to be able to walk onto the bus to get a ride.  

The bus will arrive at the gathering point (Tom McCall Waterfront Park, under the Hawthorne Bridge) at approximately 1:00 pm. The march will start shortly after.  

People who ride the ATU bus during the march will be able to get rides back to the march starting point after the indoor rally at PSU, if requested. FYI, there is a Smart Park parking structure at SW 1st & Jefferson about a block-and-a-half away from the bridge gathering point. Information about TriMet routes and schedules is also available online.

Lori Wallach, one of the speakers at Saturday’s indoor rally, just penned a great opinion piece in The Nation called “Obama’s Choice.”  In it, she argues…

The spectacular 1999 protests that shut down the WTO ministerial in Seattle were transformational…

A decade later–and despite endless efforts by the world’s most powerful corporations and governments–there is no WTO expansion. But there is also no WTO turnaround.

Americans now have a critical role to play in determining whether the Battle of Seattle, and the decade of worldwide campaigning for global justice that followed it, will deliver real change. At stake is whether the Obama administration will lead an effort to modernize the rules of the global economy or continue the Bush/Clinton/Bush agenda, which has fostered devastating economic, food and climate crises.

Hear more about what Lori has to day, and help pull President Obama and our Members of Congress in the right direction this Saturday!

Help make some final posters and banners this Friday afternoon starting at 1pm at the AFSCME Council 75 building (6025 E. Burnside, Portland).  

Folks will be working until at least 5:00, and possibly much later.  If you’re coming after work, please call Andrea Townsend at 503-756-9103 for an update.

This Saturday’s march and rally is generating more excitement than we ever expected.  As such, we’re going to need more volunteers than we expected.  Can you please sign up for a volunteer role, and help recruit a friend or two to join you?

March Marshals:  Portland Jobs with Justice is organizing marshals to help ensure the march moves forward smoothly and safely.  Marshals will report at 11:30 am at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland under the Hawthorne Bridge.  There you’ll receive some quick training and a spiffy vest.  Please email Chris Ferlazzo at chris@jwjpdx.org to RSVP as a marshal.

Sign-in:  We need folks to circulate the crowd with clipboards and sign-people in prior to the march and then again at the indoor rally.  You’ll be given a stack of cool new “NO WTO” stickers to give folks who have signed in, making it easier to identify who hasn’t yet been hit.  Sign-in folks will report at 12:30 pm at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland under the Hawthorne Bridge to receive a clipboard and other instructions.  Please email Steve Snyder at stevens@hevanet.com to RSVP as a sign-in person.

Volunteering for one of these roles before Saturday will help us out tremendously by enabling us to move on from volunteer-recruitment to other important work.  If you’re one of those types who always waits to the last minute to volunteer, please consider going against your nature in this one instance and volunteering early.  (If you’re so last-minute that you’re just reading this Saturday morning, you can still show up at the times and locations listed above to lend a hand.)

If you have any questions, please call Portland Jobs with Justice at (503) 236-5573.  Thank you in advance for making this the best event possible.  We couldn’t do it without you!