COME JOIN IN AN ALL-OUT DEMONSTRATION OF OUR COMMUNITY AGAINST HATE, PREJUDICES, AND BIGOTRY!

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Portland Stands United Against Hate Rally.

Portland, Oregon - May 31, 2017

Announcement:
A coalition of prominent community organizations, labor groups, faith groups, and activists are announcing plans for a mass rally at 12:30pm on Sunday, June 4th in front of City Hall. In response to recent hate crimes and an emboldening of far-right forces, we the undersigned are calling for a city-wide mobilization to refuse bigotry and hatred in Portland.

Statement of Unity:
On Friday, May 26, right-wing extremist Jeremy Christian attacked and killed two men and wounded another for daring to challenge his racist, Islamophobic attack on two young women. This was not an isolated event. Rather, it represents an emboldening of the Far Right across this country, whose growth has been facilitated by an openly racist, misogynist, bigoted administration in the White House.

In honor of these heroic victims, in solidarity with immigrant and Muslim communities, and in recognition of the long history of racism faced by people of color in this city, the undersigned groups are calling on Portland residents to assemble for a peaceful, mass rally in front of City Hall on Sunday, June 4th from 12:30 pm – 4pm.

The killer is a known white nationalist who has attended recent events hosted by local Far Right organizations. These same groups have organized a “free speech rally” on June 4th at Terry Schrunk Plaza. Their plan is to instill fear and spread messages of hatred to Portland’s oppressed and marginalized communities, and it will not be tolerated.

Members of this Coalition are committed the principle of solidarity: A threat to one of our communities is a threat to ALL of our communities. We believe now is the time to show these bigots, this country, and the world that Portland stands united against this hate. We must reclaim our city and repudiate the violence and hatred of the far-right and the larger political views it represents.

Logistics and Security:
We seek to mobilize the greatest number of people in front of City Hall; which is separate from, but adjacent to, the so-called ‘Free Speech’ rally at Terry Schrunk Plaza starting at 2pm. Ours will be a peaceful event to demonstrate with our numbers and our voices, that the vast majority of Portland stands united against their message of racism and bigotry.

We soberly recognize that extremist forces represent a real threat; particularly to the oppressed and vulnerable communities represented by many coalition members. However, history has taught us that an emboldened and growing far-right presents a danger to all of us that we cannot risk ignoring.

We are taking all possible steps to ensure this rally is safe for those who attend. The event has been permitted. The Mayor’s office has confirmed that the police will not wade into our rally, but will form a buffer between our group and that of the far-right to prevent physical confrontation. The Coalition has also formed its own Peacekeeping taskforce. Our collective strength lies in numbers. We hope you will join us.

Quotes:
“Jews know that when right wing hate targets one community, all communities are threatened. Jewish Voice for Peace lifts up the heroic actions of the three young men who stood up to protect two young women from racist incitement on the MAX and expresses its unequivocal solidarity with the Muslim community and all other communities that have been subjected to escalated attacks since the November 2016 election.”
-Joel Beinin, Jewish Voice for Peace, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of Middle East History, Stanford University

“We are witnessing the growth of an emboldened and violent far-right across this country. The entire political establishment, above all the Trump administration, bear responsibility. ICE Raids, Muslim Bans, hyped up nationalist rhetoric, and years of increasing social and economic inequality. These are the recipes for what we are witnessing today. But we are also seeing solidarity and courage in the face of this racism, the heroes in Portland who stood up to a bigoted vigilante, the thousands who are rallying around the country to stand against hate. This is where our hope lies.”
-Wael Elasady, International Socialist Organization, Co-founder of Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights

We’ve been facing this culture of hate and bigotry for too long, and is getting worst since the last presidential election which allowed hate groups to use it as free speech and act violently on it, we cannot accept it! It cannot become the norm. We most organize, mobilize and unite to build a culture of inclusiveness and justice.
- Marco Mejia, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC)

"CAIR's mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. We are proud to endorse and stand with a coalition of organizations and groups in an expression of peace, and refuse the emboldening of bigotry and hatred in our city of Portland."
-Seemab Hussaini, Ad-Hoc Committee of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Oregon)

Current Endorsements:

Community Groups:

- Portland International Socialist Organization (ISO)
- Voz Workers' Rights Education Project
- Portland Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
- Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights
- American Iranian Friendship Council
-Veterans for Peace (VFP) Chapter 72
- Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair- Oregon)
- Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition
- Solidarity a Socialist-Feminist organization
- PCUN (Oregon's Farmworkers Union)
- Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
- Portland's UnShul
- Latino Network
- Causa
- Portland Democratic Socialists of America
- Urban League of Portland
- Portland Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
- Portland Peaceful Response Coalition
- Portland East Timor Action Network
- Nasty Women Get Shit Done PDX
- War Resisters League--Portland
-Tree of Life Educational Fund
- Friends of Sabeel North America
- Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land
- Village Coalition
- Buddhist Peace Fellowship
- Mental Health Workers Unite
- American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
- St. Francis of Assisi Parish
- Augustana Lutheran Church
- Unite Oregon
- Commission on Hispanic Affairs
- Oregon Latino Health Coalition
- Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance
- Oregon Working Families Party
- Q-Center
- Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO)
- PSU-AAUP
- Basic Rights Oregon
- Western States Center
- Portland Association of Teachers Social Justice and Community Outreach Committee
- Congregation Shir Tikvah
- Right to Survive
- Quest Center for Integrative Health
- SEIU Local 503
- 350 PDX

Community Leaders:

- Arun Gupta, independent journalist, contributor
The Nation, The Guardian, YES Magazine
- Nick Caleb, Environmental attorney and former City
Council candidate
- Rabbi Ariel Stone, Portland Interfaith Clergy
Resistance
- Marta Guembes, Honorary Consul of Guatemala
- Donna Hayes, Grandmother of slain police brutality
victim Quanice Hayes

Media Contact: pdxstandsagainsthate@gmail.com 971-533-9136 or 917-771-6031

February 2013 Show;

VOME presents an interview with Professor Ahmad Sadri, Lake Forest College.

To listen to this interview on-demand click here! 

Dr. Sadri is the author of a new translation of the Shahnameh (Ferdowsi) in a collaborative effort with designer Hamid Rahmanian

“The aim of this project is to infuse the popular imagination of the English-speaking world with the legends of Shahnameh, its epic battles, three sweeping love stories and four, increasingly human centered tragedies,” said Professor Sadri, who holds the James P. Gorter chair of Islamic World Studies at the Lake Forest College.

Shahnameh is the longest poem written by a single person in the history of humanity.

“This 83,000-word abridged translation will be printed against 550 new panels of gorgeous and innovative illustrations by New York-based graphic designer Hamid Rahmanian,” explained Sadri. “And it will be published by W.W.Norton exactly one thousand and three years after its completion in March, 1010,” he added.

We concluded the interview with a discussion about current situations in Iran and the infightings amongst Conservative factions of the ruling elites.  Iran is preparing for yet another presidential elections in June 2013 and with waves of Arab Spring Iran might see another rounds of challenges as President Obama also starts his second term in the White House.

January 2013 Show;

Goudarz Eghtedari hosts a program about drone warfare around the world in light of President Obama's nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA.  He'll speak with Trudy Cooper and Linda Wenning, two Portland residents who just returned from Pakistan on a Codepink visit to the area.  

Trudy Cooper is a board member of the American Iranian Friendship Council and Linda Wenning is a Peace and Justice activist with Portland Mennonite church.

Click here to listen to this program on-demand!

November 2012 Show;

Host Goudarz Eghtedari speaks with Mike Ghouse, a Muslim advocate living in Texas, about the elections and Obama's plan in the next cycle.

Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, interfaith, politics, foreign policy, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. He is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity's show on Fox TV and a commentator on national radio. He writes weekly at Dallas Morning News and bi-monthly at Huffington Post and several periodicals. His daily blog is www.TheGhousediary.com

Click here to listen to this broadcast!

September 2012 Show!

Host Goudarz Eghtedari speaks with journalist and blogger Richard Silverstein about the current Israeli administration's push for another American war in the Middle East. Silverstein's recent story on an Israeli plot caught international attention via BBC's News Hour.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19271083

Click here to listen to this broadcast!

July 2012 Show;

July 13, 2012
90.7 FM
KBOO.fm

To listen to this program please click here! 

As president Morsi calls the peoples assembly to start its role in legislation until the new constitution draft is put to vote, the constitutional court and Council of the Army insist that the assembly is null and can not resume.  An interview with Professor Mohammed Aman, University of Wisconsin, and Professor Nader Hashemi, University of Denver, with regards to recent presidential elections and current struggle between the popular revolution and the military establishment that claims the control of the country.

Mohammed Aman is Professor of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin –Milwaukee (UWM) and Editor–in-Chief of the refereed journal Digest of Middle East Studies (DOMES) since its inception in 1990. His research and subject expertise center around education in the Arab world; information and national development; intellectual freedom and censorship in the Arab world, e-governance and democracy. Prof. Aman received his BA from Cairo University, MS from Columbia University and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, and did post doctoral work at NYU.

Nader Hashemi is Assistant Professor at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver (2008-present); He is the author of Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies (Oxford University Press, 2009) and co-editor of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran's Future (Melville House, 2011). 

For previous shows please go to www.voicesofthemiddleeast.com

June 2012 Show;

Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote ControlHow to Lobby our way out of war with Iran

June 8, 2012 at 9 AM

Click here to listen to this program!

on KBOO 90.7 FM

Medea Benjamin is a cofounder of both CODEPINK and the international human rights organization Global Exchange.  She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 30 years. Described as "one of America’s most committed -- and most effective -- fighters for human rights" by New York Newsday, and called "one of the high profile leaders of the peace movement" by the Los Angeles Times, Medea has distinguished herself as an eloquent and energetic figure in the progressive movement. In 2005 she was one of 1,000 exemplary women from 140 countries nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the millions of women who do the essential work of peace worldwide. In 2010 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Prize from the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Since the September 11, 2001 tragedy,  Medea has been working to promote a U.S. foreign policy that would respect human rights and gain us allies instead of contributing to violence and undermining our international reputation.  In 2000, she was a Green Party candidate for the California Senate.  During the 1990s, Medea focused her efforts on tackling the problem of unfair trade as promoted by the World Trade Organization. Widely credited as the woman who brought Nike to its knees and helped place the issue of sweatshops on the national agenda, Medea was a key player in the campaign that won a $20 million settlement from 27 US clothing retailers for the use of sweatshop labor in Saipan. She also pushed Starbucks and other companies to start carrying fair trade coffee.

Her work for justice in Israel/Palestine includes taking numerous delegations to Gaza after the 2008 Israeli invasion, organizing the Gaza Freedom March in 2010, participating in the Freedom Flotillas and opposing the policies of the Israel lobby group AIPAC. In 2011 she was in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising and In 2012 she was part of a human rights delegation to Bahrain in support of democracy activists; she was tear-gassed, arrested and deported by the Bahraini government. 

A former economist and nutritionist with the United Nations and World Health Organization, Benjamin is the author/editor of eight books. Her latest book is called Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, and she has been campaigning to get lethal drones out of the hands of the CIA. Her articles appear regularly in outlets such as The Huffington Post, CommonDreams, Alternet and OpEd News. Medea can be reached at:medea[@]codepink.org.

Kate Gould is the Legislative Associate for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a Quaker lobby in the public interest fielding the largest registered team of peace lobbyists in Washington, D.C.  Kate is one of only a handful of registered lobbyists working to prevent war with Iran, and she also lobbies on Israel/Palestine peace.  She is originally from Oregon and has lived and worked in the Middle East.  Kate is a board member of Churches for Middle East Peace, and is a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus and other media outlets.