Here’s a recap of some tools for protest and organizing that I’ve produced over the last couple of months. Most of the organizing I do these days happens under the rubric of Portland’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. I’ve found it very useful to channel my political energy and action into work within DSA; we’re the largest socialist organization in the country, and in Portland we muster more then 1800 members in good standing. This provides resources, structure, and momentum for political work that I have struggled to find and retain in other contexts. While the big-tent nature of the DSA means that socialists and communists have to organize alongside anarchists and radical liberals, the friction means that ideas have to get sharpened and positions have to be understood and explained.
Continuing with our projects in support of the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against the murderous Israeli state, we recently organized a march and rally with local unions titled Labor Against Genocide. The framing for the rally was a funeral and the signage we developed and built at a couple of DSA art builds reflected that theme: coffin-shaped cardboard placards painted black and screenprinted with two different slogans. We also made three “funeral wreaths” from quad-ply cardboard painted black with slogans chosen by the build participants. We rallied in a park for speakers from local unions like Portland Association of Teachers, ASCME 88, PSUFA and more, and then we marched through leafy Portland streets with a brass band playing dirges to the house of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden.
Portland DSA works in a wide range of political efforts; from labor and BDS to housing, Immigrant rights, and ecosocialism. We’ve also helped to install 4 members to Portland’s City Council: that’s a firm one-third block of the 12 person council who govern as self-identified socialists. In recent weeks, as Portland has become a target for Trump’s efforts to keep the Epstein files out of the news, we’ve been organizing to block deployment of forces from the National Guard to Portland streets. I designed and screenprinted these signs for a rally outside the hearing to detemine the legality of the guard deployment. Seen holding them are three of our DSA councilmembers; Angelita Morillo, Sameer Kanal, and Mitch Green.
I designed these “No War in Portland” signs to hand out at a rally of radical veterans against the guard deployment, and they’ve been going up in storefronts and apartment windows across the city.
I designed these flyers for Portland DSA’s Immigrant Justice Working Group, 300 of which have already gone out around Portland to make it easy for people to know how to report ICE raids in their communities. These and the “No War in Portland” signs were risograph printed at Nůn Studios in Portland.
