[pjw] REPORT BACK: Friday rally #5 under stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again PJW supporters

The limited-attendance Friday rally once again drew four people last night 
at Pioneer Courthouse Square, and once again it was one PJW member and 
three PPRC folks. We all wore face coverings.

As the new norm dictates, we did not use a bullhorn, did not chant along 
the march route, and did not hand out any leaflets. One person did get 
interviewed at length by what appeared to be somewhat conservative 
home-made documentarians who claimed their main project right now is 
looking at the homeless issue in Portland. Yet when their first question 
was whether we agreed that Donald Trump is the least interventionist 
President in a long time, it became less clear what their angle was in 
conducting the interview.

It felt like there were fewer people on the streets now than ever, though 
we did get a few thumbs up from people driving their cars past us.

We talked with each other about news such as President Trump's promises to 
"shoot down" Iranian boats that approach US warships... adding that the US 
will "blow them out of the water."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/shoot-them-out-of-the-water-trump-tells-us-navy-to-destroy-iranian-boats-harassing-american-ships/ar-BB1349Uk

I noted that while Trump is stirring up his political base with 
anti-immigrant rhetoric and calling for people to protest against 
(Democratic) governors who institute health and safety orders in their 
states, people should also be very wary of him using military action to 
swing his poll numbers up. We have seen this happen before both with 
Republicans and Democrats, and killing people to win votes is about as 
reprehensible as politics can get.

We talked again about how there would be so much more money not just for 
health care to carry us through the pandemic, but also for education, 
housing and other human needs, if the US did not spend so much money on 
its military. I called out again for people to contact the Portland 
Copwatch incident report line (503-321-5120) if they get warned, cited or 
arrested for violating the stay at home orders. However, I also noted that 
the first two known arrests in Oregon were two white dudes who jumped a 
fence to go surfing in Lincoln City.

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/04/2-surfers-cited-after-defying-coronavirus-closure-orders-deputies-say.html

The plan is still for Peace and Justice Works to take responsibility for 
holding down the space on Fridays with no more than a few people from our 
group so long as we're not in technical violation of the Governor's 
orders.

You may have seen the "fund pitch" we sent out the other day, if you 
support what we're doing think about sending any amount from $5 to $250 to 
help us keep doing our work.

Peace


--dan handelman
Peace and Justice Works
   Iraq Affinity Group
   PO Box 42456
   Portland, OR   97242
   (503) 236-3065  (Office)
   iraq at pjw.info
   http://www.pjw.info/Iraq.html