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February 22nd, 2021News, Updates & Events |
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Uncle Foods Diner
Meal Schedule |
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News & UpdatesCOVID The Environment The Nation International Legislation - Special Enrollment Period for Health Care: Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley
Housing and Community EventsClimateSocial Justice- Civil Liberties Defense Center
- SLAPPs, RICO, & More: How Corporations Use U.S. Courts to Intimidate Opponents and Evade Justice – March 5
- Security Culture, Grand Jury Resistance, & Ensuring Activist Network Safety – March 18
- Monthly Review
- “Dead Epidemiologists” – March 5
- Rural Organizing Project
- Behind the Scenes with Rural Race Talks – Podcast
War & PeaceCommunity TV & Films |
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Jackson County COVID StatisticsCurrent as of 03/01/2021: View updated stats HERE Jackson County COVID-19 TESTING SITES |
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Dear friends, social activists and fearless comrades,
I have been working for ONA as a labor representative for nurses in Southern Oregon. We all know how difficult the last year has been in Southern Oregon and through it all, Oregon nurses have been there, serving our community through COVID and wildfire and everything else that has come up. I represent the nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center, where nurses earn less than anywhere in the valley. Meanwhile they are working long hours without breaks or enough days off without the support of Providence management for fair pay and patient safety. The hospital has a high turnover rate and is short-staffed and during COVID Providence Medford nurses are taking care of sicker patients with inadequate personal protective equipment. Unfortunately, it seems that Providence works nurses until they break down, get sick or leave. We can’t keep our most skilled nurses in Medford because Providence overworks, underpays, and undervalues nurses. Now, when nurses are asking Providence Medford Medical Center (PMMC) for fair wages and safe staffing levels, Providence is dragging its feet. They are one of richest health systems in the country and received nearly $700 million in taxpayer money while sitting on $12 billion in reserves and investments but they so far are refusing cost of living raises for hard-working nurses and they will not commit to providing adequate PPE so nurses don’t have to reuse masks and gowns while working with COVID patients. It’s outrageous. As we go through these contract negotiations over the next several weeks, we are asking for your help to show support for Providence nurses. During contract negotiations, Providence executives pay attention to the opinion of the community. Would you send a letter of support for Providence nurses to Chief Executive Officer Chris Pizzi, Regional Human Resource Director Beth Lagler, and Chief Nursing Officer Kate Kitchell? We are also asking you to share our posts on Facebook to help us raise awareness of our fight for a fair contract. Here is our page – please check it out and hear the stories from nurses first hand. Thank you for supporting Providence nurses! In solidarity, Misha Hernandez, Oregon Nurses Association Labor Relations Representative 541-210-4905 Hernandez@OregonRN.org |
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To stop climate disaster, make ecocide an international crime. It’s the only way.
The following is an op ed by Jojo Mehta and Julia Jackson published in The Guardian February 24, 2021. The Paris agreement is failing. Yet there is new hope for preserving a livable planet: the growing global campaign to criminalize ecocide can address the root causes of the climate crisis and safeguard our planet – the common home of all humanity and, indeed, all life on Earth. Nearly five years after the negotiation of the landmark Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and associated global warming to “well below 2.0C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C”, we are experiencing drastically accelerating warming. 2020 was the second warmest year on record, following the record-setting 2019. Carbon in the atmosphere reached 417 parts per million (ppm) – the highest in the last 3m years. Even if we magically flipped a switch to a fully green economy tomorrow, there is still enough carbon in the atmosphere to continue warming the planet for decades. The science is clear: without drastic action to limit temperature rise below 1.5C, the Earth, and all life on it, including all human beings, will suffer devastating consequences. Continue Reading … Return to top |
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Win a FULL Scholarship for the Food and Sustainability Certificate Courtesy of the Center for Nutrition Studies
 The Center for Nutrition Studies is well known for its longstanding and widely popular Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate powered by eCornell. The initiative to launch a new program focused on food and sustainability came directly from Dr. T. Colin Campbell himself. Dr. Campbells’s passion for recognizing the holistic nature of complex systems and the relationship between human and environmental health is revolutionary.
He himself is a lecturer in the course, along with his daughter (and CNS President) Dr. LeAnne Campbell and many other well-versed and respected experts in the fields of agriculture, policy, food systems, and the way they all interact. This course is the perfect next step for anyone seeking to connect these dots en route to becoming an expert in food, sustainability and healthy, connected living. We are excited to partner with the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies to give away one FULL scholarship for the brand new Food and Sustainability Certificate. Enter here for a chance to expand your perspective, boost your credibility and advance your career! Simply fill out this form and share the article on social media and we will inform the winner by March 11th. Return to top |
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‘We Are So Happy’: Migrants Stranded by Trump Are Finally Entering the US
The following is an article by Emily Green published in Vice.com February 26, 2021.
MEXICO CITY – After waiting for a year and 10 months in Mexico to cross into the U.S., Alida Jeannethe Barritos and her husband walked across the bridge Thursday into Brownsville, Texas in less than an hour. “It’s so pretty here,” she said in an interview from a Greyhound bus winding its way to Kentucky. “We are so happy. And with God’s help, we can continue to move forward and help our families.” Barritos, 45, and her husband were among the first group of 27 migrants from the Matamoros border camp to enter the U.S. under a new immigration policy introduced by President Joe Biden that will gradually allow thousands of asylum seekers to wait for their immigration hearings in the U.S., instead of in Mexico. Continue Reading … |
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U.S. pledges to investigate as attacks on Asian Americans increase
The following is an article by Sarah N. Lynch published in Reuters February 26, 2021.
The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it would investigate the rising tide of hate crimes in America. Asian Americans have experienced a growing number of racially motivated attacks since former President Donald Trump began referring to COVID-19 as a “China virus.” “The United States is currently facing unprecedented challenges, some of which are fueling increased bigotry and hatred,” said Pamela Karlan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. She added that her office is working with the FBI, federal prosecutors and local police to “evaluate possible hate crimes,” without providing further details. A Justice Department official told Reuters the statement was a direct response to the increasing reports of violence against Asian Americans. Continue Reading … |
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 The ‘Morality’ of AI WeaponryA congressionally appointed panel, called the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, is recommending that the United States military launch a major program to develop autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software. The panel, led by Google’s former chief executive Eric Schmidt, has prepared a report that calls for the expenditure of $20-30 billion to advance the program. There is a set of things that have to happen in America to maintain leadership
globally… #AI is the #technology that drives our economic output… and we need
to do whatever it takes… It’s not so much the money as it is getting the forces
aligned. – #NSCAI Chairman @EricSchmidt
— National Security Commission on AI (@AiCommission) February 23, 2021 Its vice-chairman, Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, said autonomous weapons are expected to make fewer mistakes than humans do in battle, leading to reduced casualties. “It is a moral imperative to at least pursue this hypothesis,” he said. The draft report recommends that Washington “adopt AI to change the way we defend America, deter adversaries, use intelligence to make sense of the world, and fight and win wars.” (Work is on the board of directors for Raytheon, and board of advisers for Govini, a big data and analytics firm committed to transforming the business of government through data science.) Continue Reading … |
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Talking Back is a six-part web series that reveals the growing movement for justice in the theatre field. Through candid conversations with founding artistic directors, newly appointed leaders, and activists who have operated at all levels of leadership in arts organizations across the US, Talking Back explores what it takes to transform not just an institution, but an entire industry. |
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UN Security Council Must Act on Military Junta’s Violence against Myanmar People  The following message was published by Progressive Voice, a participatory, rights-
based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. It has been over three weeks since the illegitimate and unlawful coup d’état was surmounted by the Myanmar[1] military. As reported in the previous Weekly Highlights, the peaceful condemnation and resistance from the people of Myanmar against the military junta is gaining momentum and strength with diversified tactics and actions of non-violence. In the past week, the military and police have reacted through violent crackdowns on protesters and journalists, conducted a series of mob-type night raids and unlawful arrests against prominent activists, ordering overnight internet blackouts and instituted a series of draconian laws to silence dissenting voices. hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life peacefully protesting in the streets, including civil servants, politicians, medical professionals, engineers, and even police officers. The response by security forces to peaceful protesters has been severe and is escalating in its brutality. Continue Reading … |
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She Didn’t Die. She Multiplied:
Remembering Berta Cáceres, March 2, 2016 Note: This short remembrance was originally written for Talking Circle, the monthly newsletter of the Native American Studies Programs and the Native American Student Union at Southern Oregon University. Peace House supports the work of human rights in Honduras and sponsors accompaniment of human rights defenders. In visits to Honduras in recent years, I met Berta Cáceres and some of the Lenca people mentioned below, and briefly accompanied them. This week marks the fifth anniversary of Berta Cáceres’ murder. We offer this in remembrance that the work of promoting human rights, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the protection of Mother Earth continues everywhere. — Jim Phillips, Peace House Board Chairperson  Like our sisters and brothers in the United States and Canada, Native people across Mexico, Central America and South America are leading efforts to protect Mother Earth. Dam-building projects, mining, logging, and other extractive industries are promoted by governments and private industries at the expense of Indigenous people and their land and water. In many Latin American countries, Native communities are recognized as the first line of defense for the environment and the Earth. This work often requires great sacrifice. Many die in the struggle, while others are jailed for protecting the rivers, the forests, and the land.
The Lenca people are the largest Indigenous community in Honduras, about 300,000. In 2013, the Lenca found themselves confronting their own Honduran government and a foreign company that planned to build a dam across the Gualcarque, a river that the Lenca call sacred, where the spirits of the ancestors and the descendants yet to be born dwell. The dam-building company’s guards told the people they could no longer use the river. Continue Reading on the Peace House Website … |
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This pandemic has made it even clearer that every American — regardless of the color of their skin, their zip code, or their income — needs and deserves quality, affordable health care. That’s why I’m pleased that President Biden took swift action to open a special enrollment period for Americans to sign up for health care coverage through HealthCare.gov. That means you have from now until May 15, 2021 to sign up and get covered. To get started, you can visit HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov to view 2021 plans and prices and enroll in the best one for you. You can also call the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596, which provides assistance in over 150 languages. TTY users should call 1-855-889-4325. And don’t forget that you can get help with any step of the process here: https://localhelp.healthcare.gov. The past 12 months have been especially difficult on a lot of Oregonians’ finances, so even if you think you may not be able to afford coverage right now, I encourage you to take a look at the options available through the exchange during this special open enrollment period. You may even quality for free coverage through the Oregon Health Plan if your income has dropped significantly this past year, and there are also other forms of financial assistance that could help you access coverage. Health care is a basic human right, and it shouldn’t be reserved just for the powerful and privileged. I hope you’ll join me in spreading the word so we can get all of our communities signed up for care during this difficult time. All my best, Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator
State Senator Jeff Golden is now a co-sponsor of the Anti-Racism Curriculum Act (SB 683) Return to top |
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When property comes before people, a crisis boils over in Southern Oregon
The following posting is from Street Roots, a weekly street paper in Portland.
Grants Pass, the hub of Southern Oregon’s Josephine County, just saw its plan for a short-term homeless shelter collapse under the pressure of community opposition. Had it materialized, it would have been the only low-barrier shelter in the county. Street Roots has been covering the homeless and housing situation in Josephine County as part of our rural housing initiative, and as we previously reported, this 40-room shelter would have provided respite for dozens of families, couples and individuals. In 2018, there were 650 unhoused people in the county, and a statewide shelter study found that 91% of them were unsheltered. The county’s severe lack of affordable housing is in part why the homeless population has more than doubled to 1,422, according to last year’s Point in Time Count. Continue Reading … |
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 While the pandemic may be keeping us all physically separate for a while longer, rest assured that CLDC has been staying busy defending your constitutional rights. Just yesterday, in fact, we issued a press release regarding our client, Teresa Safay, who was wrongly targeted for chalking in front of her congressional representative’s office in Medford. Ms. Safay’s case was prosecuted under a civil infraction meant to punish graffiti, after the building owner, the law firm Hornecker Cowling, claimed it took over seven hours to clean the chalk. Further, both of the prosecutors on the case formerly worked for Hornecker Cowling. It’s hard not to see that this is a clear cut incident of the legal system attempting to chill dissent. To learn more about the case, please read our media release HERE. Earlier this week we filed an amended complaint against the City of Eugene and its police department on behalf of local residents who were brutally attacked by police officers during the mobilizations for Black lives in 2020. New information came to light that warranted updating the suit, notably: - The names of the individual officers who violated people’s civil liberties; and
- That one of those officers not only used excessive force AND oversaw the SWAT assaults was none other than longtime Eugene cop Sgt. Bill Solesbee, who CLDC successfully sued back in 2012 for using excessive force on a protester. Solesbee has had multiple additional complaints filed against him for violating protesters’ and local residents’ rights, yet the Eugene Police Department recently put him in charge of training junior officers.
You can read more about our case, and why the Eugene Police Department needs to be finally held accountable, HERE. |
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Pop-Up Diner Provides Safe Warming Space In MedfordThe following is an article by Sydney Dauphinais published by Jefferson Public Radio
 In Medford, like many other cities, there’s virtually no place for homeless people to legally go when the weather turns cold. In response, a Jackson County-based activist group has established a pop-up warming center for homeless people in the area. A Southern Oregon activist group has started a pop-up warming center called Judi’s Midnight Diner. It’s a small trailer and a heated three-walled tent with food, coffee and chairs. Derek DeForest is a volunteer with the center. He says that because the city hasn’t opened a warming center, the group felt the need to take direct action to help people who are suffering. Continue Reading…
Judi’s is all-volunteer run! We need people to help with night shifts as well as daytime support roles (like prepping food and drinks) so email us at sorisingtide@gmail.com if you’d like to help. Donations to Judi’s Diner help us purchases food and supplies for free distribution — you can donate through Venmo to Siskiyou Street News, @siskiyou_sn. Just note it as “for Judi’s.” Or check out our Amazon Wishlist: https://tinyurl.com/JudisMidnight |
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 Government: Federal & State Project
Monday, March 8 from 2:00 to 3:30 via Zoom
Link to SOCAN Calendar Event SOCAN’s Board of Directors requested that the Government: Federal and State Project make recommendations regarding which proposals that are currently before the 2021 Oregon Legislature SOCAN should consider supporting, opposing, or watching. This determines which bills we submit testimony for. The team has determined its priorities and will discuss ongoing tactics. For more information contact Alan Journet. Zoom meeting link |
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 SOCAN Leadership Circle
Wednesday, March 10 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Link to SOCAN Calendar Event
SOCAN Leaders will discuss upcoming Monthly Meetings as well as SOCAN projects. Individuals who are interested in the work of SOCAN are invited to join the project leaders at this meeting. Contact Kathy Conway for more information. Zoom meeting link |
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 Promising Changes For Diesel Pollution! All – March 2 @ 4-5:30 PM | |
The legislative session is in full swing, with many bills that have potential to make our air cleaner, from tear gas to wildfires to climate change mitigation. Over the coming weeks, we will connect you to actions and updates as these bills progress. Given our region’s diesel crisis, we’re particularly focusing on diesel legislation and research that can propel action. Please join us for a webinar where we’ll discuss both! We’ll be joined by Dr. Linda George, PSU Professor, Amelia Schlusser, Attorney with Lewis and Clark’s Green Energy Institute, and environmental consultant Kevin Downing. |
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| MARCH 5TH, 3:00-4:30 EST DEAD EPIDEMIOLOGISTS
BOOK TALK
with Science for the People & Pilsen Community Books CLICK TO REGISTER Take a deep dive into the socio-political and economic origins of the Covid-19 disaster, and the disproportionate effects of infectious diseases on BIPOC, as Rob Wallace talks about his book Dead Epidemiologists with Joseph Graves of Science for the People
The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the world. It shouldn’t have. Dead Epidemiologists reveals the hidden-in-plain-sight truth behind the pandemic: Global capital drove the deforestation and development that exposed us to new pathogens. From deepest Yunnan to the boardrooms of New York City, this book offers a compelling diagnosis of the roots of COVID-19, and a stark prognosis of what—without further intervention—may come.
  ROB WALLACE is an evolutionary epidemiologist with the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps. He is author of Big Farms Make Big Flu and coauthor of Clear-Cutting Disease Control: Capital-Led Deforestation, Public Health Austerity, and Vector-Borne Infection. He has consulted with the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 JOSEPH GRAVES JR. studies the genomics of adaptation, focusing on life history evolution and antimicrobial resistance. He has authored numerous works on biological and social conceptions of race and is a leader in redressing the underrepresentation of racially subordinated people in science careers. He has been a member of Science for the People since 1980.
Spanish interpretation will be available at this event |
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 If you missed the first episode when we introduced Rural Race Talks and heard highlights from the show, be sure and catch it here as we get ready to go Behind the Scenes with Rural Race Talks. In this month’s episode, we talk with LaNicia about the power of learning in public and what motivated her to start a call-in radio show focused on talking about racial justice in our rural communities. |
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 ENDING NUCLEAR WEAPONS BEFORE THEY END US Virtual Policy Briefing and Interactive Workshops Opportunities under the Biden administration to take action In January 2017, then-Vice-President Biden said: “As a nation, I believe we must keep pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons—because that is the only surety we have against the nightmare scenario becoming reality.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Over the last month, there has been a marked shift in the direction of nuclear weapons policy, with the inauguration of President Biden, the Entry into Force of the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and New START extension all having major implications for the survival of our species. While these changes will reduce the likelihood of nuclear war in the short term, it’s unlikely the new Biden administration will pursue global nuclear abolition as a top priority, despite knowing the existential threat these weapons pose to humanity. This is a critical moment for activists around the country to engage at the local level to build pressure on the new administration to make the elimination of nuclear weapons and reduction of nuclear risk an urgent priority. To that end, we’re excited to invite you to an upcoming event; Ending Nuclear Weapons Before They End Us: Opportunities Under the Biden Administration to Take Action, which will be March 4th at 11am EST / 8am PST. The conference is jointly sponsored by our partner organizations, Back from the Brink and our Nobel Peace Prize-winning colleagues at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. It will feature an expert panel and Q&A followed by interactive workshop sessions to provide activists with the tools and information required to make change under this administration. The workshops will cover a variety of topics, from Nuclear Weapons & Racism to Divesting from Nuclear Weapons. Click here to view the full program and register. Return to top |
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You can significantly develop your skills – and gain new resources – so you can make big progress on issues you care about (climate, peace, environment, human rights, economic justice, etc., etc., etc.) Please sign up now for my series of FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS every week for 6 consecutive weeks starting in mid-March. Choose Sundays afternoons (1:30-3:30 pm Pacific Time) or Monday evenings (6:30-8:30 Pacific Time).These workshops are FREE and user-friendly. They are good for people of ALL ages and ALL levels of experience. People who have taken these workshops have found them informative, inspiring, and practical. |
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How do people afford housing after a disaster? Financial stability means being able to AFFORD HOUSING |
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| Tuesday, March 2nd at 11:00AM FREE personal financial coach that supports each client throughout the years of recovery |
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| Kate Bulger, Visionary of the Financial Recovery Program |
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 Kate Bulger began her career delivering crisis counseling directly to consumers durig the Great Recession. Since 2012 she has devoted herself to helping organizations and their members resolve housing-related challenges and recover from the financial impact of disasters. More recently, she has helped people after the Camp Fire in Paradise. |
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Attend the ongoing Zoom Series Every Tuesday at 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
For quick access: zoom link here |
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