Portland Walks: utility Pole politics

I’ve been doing a lot of silent screaming lately. Maybe you have, too. Things in the United States are bad, overwhelmingly so, and are bound to get worse before we either pull ourselves out of this authoritarian pit or fail to. I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know about the coup, right? About the fact that fascism is very, very much here? That we are living under an authoritarian regime already? That the constitutional crisis has happened and we’re now barreling toward constitutional collapse?

Right. I know… We all know…

That doesn’t mean that we give up. It’s nowhere near over. But the organizing and community building we need to do isn’t going to happen, for the most part, online. We need people in our local communities to join together for the fight, and we sure as hell will need people in our local communities for support and mutual aid as things get worse. I’m not going to give you a lecture on how to build community; you don’t need that from me. I just want to say… Yeah, it’s scary. It’s bad. I see you. I’m here in it, too. It sucks. Gather your people. Let’s fight.

As I walk around Portland each day, I keep an eye out for signs and stickers and posters on utility poles. They’re a way for people to speak to the community in a kind of shorthand, and because of that you can get a decent sense of the current mood. I thought I’d share some of what I’ve seen recently.

I’m a big fan, in particular, of whoever is leaving the embroidered quotes around town.