Yesterday I went to Seattle to support a couple of friends who are in the midst of a dispute with a land-lord. A group of about 35 people from the Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle Solidarity Networks were on hand to witness the delivery of a reparations demands letter. Here's the Seattle Solidarity Network website (I think the Olympia group has a website on the way.)

Here's an arch at the Seattle Chinatown/International District

After returning in heavy traffic on I-5 we stopped at the Eastside Co-op, and I saw the protest. You can find more information about the Co-op Board of Directors decision to boycott products from Israel at www.olympiafood.coop, and www.olympiabds.org. (I'm not aware of any local anti-bds websites.)

Protest at the Oly Food Co-op, July 23, 2010

Then I jumped on the bus.

The bus driver asked me, "how are you," and I replied, "I'm well, thank you." (Although that was really not true, because I was really not well, pretty uncomfortable actually, although I was feeling happy about the BDS. I was saddened and distressed after seeing the protest against the co-op. And I was also late to the peace vigil. The reason that I said I was "well" was because I don't like to be judged by people for being sad, and I got the feeling that this bus driver was going to be disappointed if I told the truth. But this world makes me feel sad, and discouraged, and invalidated, etc., all the time. So There!)

Then I asked the driver, "and how are you?"

The driver said, "great!" (I wonder if the driver was lying too. Because maybe the driver was really bored. Too bad! We could have laughed about that.)

TESC CHAPTER OF HIP HOP CONGRESS PRESENTS: 3 VS 3 CREW BATTLE this SATURDAY May 15 in the CRC (College Recreation Center).  Doors open at 5. $5 entrance fee at door. ALL AGES and open to the public (non-Evergreen students).

Seattle's own Circle of Fire judging the event, ABDC's Massive Monkees competing. $1200 GRAND PRIZE to the winner. 21 confirmed crews from all over Washington, Oregon, and California.

Backpacks and bags will be checked at the door, so no markers, etc. Facebook page for this event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=121895187825870&ref=ts

Meet at 11 AM at Olive Way and Melrose Avenue, Seattle, for bannering over I-5. Then, at Noon, march to Westlake Park for a Vigil until 2 PM. Demonstrate solidarity with Gazans and allies detained by Egyptian authorities. Sponsored by Voices of Palestine.

More information about the Gaza Freedom March: www.gazafreedommarch.org/

He was not a hero by any measure, and this fact no one would dispute. He was a rapist and a killer tormented by hallucinated demons. He believed himself to be the messiah sent from on high, and expected to be recognized soon as the savior. Whatever in the final days led him to target the police vanished with him on a cool night in Seattle. His is the rare case in which it is nearly impossible to imagine even a mother’s love, or a sister’s.

For better than a day this wounded man desperately clutched the body that had committed brutal crimes against his fellow human beings. How had his own life been revalued when the savagery was committed? The physical test he endured in the aftermath of the attack demonstrated without question his irrational will to live. What life could be granted to a man who had committed this treachery? Clearly the disease had spread into every corner of his being.

Hearing this story on Democracy Now today reminded me of what has taken place here in Olympia when nonthreatening protesters have been pepper sprayed.

“I Made Major Mistakes”–Ex-Seattle Police Chief Admits Response to 1999 WTO Protests Was Too Heavy-Handed

We speak with Norm Stamper, the police chief of Seattle during the 1999 WTO protests, when police responded to protests by firing teargas and rubber bullets into the mostly peaceful crowd. The protests resulted in 600 arrests and in the eventual failure of the WTO talks. Stamper resigned soon afterward. “I made major mistakes,” Stamper says of his handling of the situation. [includes rush transcript]

Protestors considered recent Israeli miliatary attacks against the Palestinian territory of Gaza to be acts of Aggression. These protestors, advocates of a Free Gaza, gathered at Westlake Plaza in downtown Seattle for an afternoon of rallying and marching. An estimated 800 to 1,000 people participated.

Here's a link to photos from yesterday's Free Gaza demonstration in Seattle, Washington:

End the Siege of Gaza, Seattle, Washington, January 2009

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