Chapo Trap House - Bonus: Chris talks to Occupy ICE Portland

Episode Date: July 12, 2018

Producer Chris steps out from behind the 1s and 2s and talks to Jordan, an activist with Portland's Occupy ICE movement, about their goals, strategies, and how the occupation is functioning on a day-to-day basis. Occupy ICE Portland on twitter: https://twitter.com/occupyicepdx?lang=en small followup: DHS attempted to raid the camp again on Monday: https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2018/07/09/21187719/federal-police-attempt-to-enter-occupy-ice-camp

Hi everyone, producer Chris here. You're about to listen to an interview I did over the weekend with an activist working with Portland's Occupy Ice movement. I originally intended this as a segment on this weekend's show, but ended up feeling like it didn't really fit in there So we're putting it out now, and that's also why it's a little on the short side. If you all enjoy this I'd like to do more conversations with people participating in direct actions out there So if there are any actions you think we should be aware of or people I should get in touch with you can always reach out to me on Twitter, I'm at say what again, and if you don't enjoy this then feel free to email Virgil and complain All right on to the interview

Hi, this is Chris Wade here with Jordan He is an activist with Portland's Occupy Ice movement Jordan has been at the camp often on since the day after the occupation began on the 17th of June The camp was able to shut down Portland's ice facility for about a week at the end of June until DHS agents Forcibly remove the camp from ice's driveway and entrance on June 28th But the camp has persisted on public land directly adjacent to the ice facility Until now, and this is July 8th. So you said this is the 21st day or so of the occupation 21st Yes, and Jordan is now on location at the camp in Portland. So Jordan, how's it going?

It's going pretty well. Moodler. Hi We're getting stuffed on We're always building more infrastructure keeping Combs updated. Could you start off by describing just what the camp is like, you know What the facilities are like there kind of what the space is like and how you're running it? Yeah, absolutely So we are a non-hierarchical more kind of anarchisty leading leading group we're

Ideologically diverse, but we Agree that that would be the best way going forward. So everything's consensus base. We have a general assembly every morning at about 9 a.m Yeah, and first facilities we have Multiple porta potties. We have Wi-Fi although it's kind of iffy at times because we're outside Electricity charging stations the finance 10 It's pretty Well stocked I would say as well as a fully stocked kitchen where we have three meals a day And about how many people are there at any given time? I would say about 40 or 50

It tends to grow right before the nightly vigils we have when people get off work We have those at about 8 p.m. And yeah, what kind of actions are you doing on a day-to-day basis there doing strategy or strategizing for other events Besides the occupation the occupation is a tactic. It's not a strategy So it's just one of many things we're working on at the moment as well as just yoga mental health events We have massage therapists that come and volunteer their time making sure everyone feels good We had a DJ here a couple of days ago

Nice occupy the dance floor Yeah, so what are your your general goals right now? What is kind of the both short-term and long-term idea of what's going on there? So short-term we want the city of Portland to cancel the lease on this building This building is privately owned by a man named Stewart Lindquist We've been applying pressure to get him to just kind of throw up his hands and Cancelled the lease we've been playing pressure to city council to make sure see if they can do anything about that We also want

Portland to establish an office of immigrant rights and follow general sanctuary city guidelines like it should be But has failed to since it voted on becoming a sanctuary city about a year ago And more long-term we're here for the complete abolition of ICE And the reunification of those children with their family Great and are the people there is their commitment to maintain the occupation until ICE is abolished? I wouldn't necessarily say that I think once this building is done. We would probably pack up and apply pressure to other places. Nice We're mostly here until the building gets its lease cancelled and a few of our demands are met Um, have you had any um communication with the parties that might be able to you know

Complete that action to get the lease cancelled. Yes, absolutely. Uh, we've been packing city council meetings our mayor was um Mysteriously on vacation the week after the occupation started. Yes, and has not been back since your mayor the star of IFC's hit series portlandia So I believe that was our last mayor. Oh, that was the last mayor the kind man Yeah, I'm speaking around corners. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, our current male. Our current mayor is um, scrawny finance, bro Okay, um, so the so you we've you've not had uh communication with the mayor

But you have had people in touch with local government. Um, does it seem like there is any motion or movement on meeting any of your demands? Uh, at least two of the four not including the mayor uh, city councilors has voiced their support Uh, the other two are doing the prerequisite fence sitting and giving non-answers, but We're keeping keeping the pressure up and keeping the the momentum going. So I want to talk a little bit about, um, the Interactions with the authorities there both, uh, I don't think the local police have been involved But could you were you there at all when the dhs raid happened? I was there's a picture of me on twitter

Uh, lying in front of dhs in a sleeping bag because I was very irritated that they woke me up at 5 30 first and nonsense Yeah Well, could you describe that that whole interaction? Yeah, so I it was 5 30 in the morning and I get this, uh, call of red alert So I wake up and dhs has in full military gear Stormed at the front of the building Uh, is tearing down barricades. There's a lie. There's weapons. We don't know if they're live ammunition or if they're less than lethal air quotes, uh, weapons But they're big they're real firearms

Um, and there was about a hundred of them at least, uh, just Storming this tiny little peaceful protest. Uh, and they just kind of You know pushed you off the The property basically. Yeah, there were about eight arrests. Uh, we had some people we we knew they were going to do something that night So we had people chained up together Um, so they all got arrested and a few other protesters as well and There was some threats of arrest that never materialized

So just, uh, kind of general harassment And I think there was a lot of people who were going to be arrested So just, uh, kind of general harassment afterwards. Yeah Um, have there been any other direct, uh, conflicts or confrontations? I know that I there was another I believe a separate action where the proud boys kind of went on a rampage in portland But I don't think that was directly related to the occupy thing No, it was not cnn didn't miss report that is happening at the occupy But that was a separate event. That was a patriot prayer rallying in downtown

Uh, the only thing we really had to deal with is proud boys throwing stink bombs at us, which is It's the most middle school thing, but I I they're too cowardly to actually come and face us, right? Have there been any other issues or challenges that you'd like to share? Um Not particularly. I think sometimes the biggest issue is port bodies Uh, and just making sure that those are done on time. But other than that, we've been well stocked on food Uh, everyone's generally in pretty decent spirits. It's the occasional camp drama. But that's what happens when you stick You know 50 people in a small space for 20 days

Do are there any particular groups that have been, um, you know, really helpful that you've been working with out there, uh That you'd like to even just shout out. Yes, absolutely. Uh, so our main charity that we're working with, uh, with the money We raised on GoFundMe is Pueblo Unido Uh, they help they do pro pro bono Uh, legal representation for people who are having troubles, uh getting legal legal representation Uh for their immigration uh court dates Um, as well as just general we've had local charities donate supplies to a

um seiu Was the one who donated the port bodies to us. Nice. Um, the community support has been absolutely amazing and we're making sure to keep Uh working and consulting with groups who are directly helping these communities Uh, yeah amazing. I saw a number of pictures with like Little old ladies sitting directly at the uh the protest line Uh, which yeah the radical grandmas are so great. Yeah, we love them. Yeah, they seem very cool Um, just another story. I saw that maybe you could tell. Uh, could you tell me about the uh, the street cleaners who came to the ice building? The power washers. Oh, oh

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um On the day that they raided the front And um, they had some power washers who came by and were trying to power wash the stuff off the windows So we looked up the company and we told them what their crew was out here doing and as soon as the The uh management found out who they were cleaning for it. They recalled their crew And ice had to hire another one. Uh, that's great So it's it really does seem like almost everybody that you interact with in the community out there basically supports

What you're doing other than uh, certain elements of your city government and ice itself. Yeah, absolutely That's that's good to hear. I mean, it seems. Yeah, it seems like if you can get this kind of Uh, uh activism in front of people, uh, they're generally able to sign on So, uh, yeah, yeah, is there anything else you'd like to talk to me about? Um, there's We've had communications with some other occupies about tactics going forward and I want to ask about this Tell me tell me what you've been doing with the other occupies. I know that uh, Philly just got raided a few days ago Um, we've kind of had things going off and on here in new york, but who else are you in communication with? Uh, I know we are in communication with Tacoma

We've been going back and forth between Tacoma and portland Or we've had a few people going back and forth just to make sure those folks up there are doing okay Uh, the detention center in Tacoma is the largest one on the west coast Um, so we want to make sure that that occupation Keeps going strong. They faced a ton of state repression up there. Yeah State repression that we are lucky enough to have not had to have faced yet because you're a local government is a little more sympathetic to you. Yeah Um, great. Well other than the Pueblo Unido, uh, if people out there want to help or support you guys

Is there any place that they could um that you would direct them to for either you or the Tacoma occupation? Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, I don't know about Tacoma, but we have a GoFundMe The Occupy Ice PDX GoFundMe, right? Um Most of those funds are going to Pueblo Unido, but some of them may also be used for In an emergency just camp stuff or whatever we need to Um, and then if anyone's in portland, we have a donation box Uh, where people can just throw some cash our way to help clean our portapotties. We always appreciate that um

and other than that if you y'all if people can show up or Express support over social media. Whatever you can do is perfectly fine and we always appreciate it. That's great. Well, thank you so much for talking with me Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.