United States
(november 2003 - january 2004)

Cascadia Wildlands Project
In 1997 a group of experienced forest conservation activists mobilized to put an end to old growth logging in order to protect the remaining patches of primary forest. Based in Eugene, Oregon, this small organization “packs a punch” with its three full time and two part time employees. A large part of their work is done through public education. They do presentations in schools, on University campuses, in old folks homes, to unions, and in community centers. Almost every week, they organize hikes out to the old growth forest to show people which woods are slated for logging as well as those that have already fallen under the saw blade. “People are really expressing interest and concern about seeing these last stands of old growth forest upright rather than horizontal,” said Josh Laughlin of CWP. In fact, the organization has had considerable success in bringing the public and policy makers to deforestation sites to show how old growth logging is still going on.

written by Johanne Pelletier and Francis Murchison,
january 27th, 2004, Eugene, Oregon, USA

 

Eugene Springfield Solidarity Network
During the 1980s, Springfield, Oregon was the home of a lumber mill that employed a good number of well-paid workers thereby contributing to a thriving community. All was not well however, and, as the year 1987 swung around the mill began demanding that its employees do mandatory overtime and reduce their health benefits if they wished to keep their jobs. At the time the event was not a unique occurrence in the U.S., as between 1988 and 1994 the percentage of employees covered by a retirement plan plummeted from 75% to 42% and those covered by a health plan went from 60% to 45%. The workers were outraged and their union organized a general strike to protest this breaking of contract. In response, the mill locked out the strikers and hired replacement workers.

At this point, the union members realized that they were at a standstill and that they needed help in order to win their jobs back so they began to do a lot of outreach into the community. Other unions who feared similar treatment as well as religious leaders, political leaders, and local businesses all joined together to support the mill workers in a strike that lasted a whole year before their jobs were given back. About two months later, the mill moved operations first to Tennessee where labor laws were more relaxed and then to Argentina.

written by Johanne Pelletier and Francis Murchison,
november 29th, 2003 , Springfield, Washington, USA

 

Dungeness Organic Produce
Agriculture was at the heart of the conflict that led to a failure of the WTO (World Trade Organization) conferences in Cancun this fall (10-14 of September 2003). In the United States as well, some farmers disagree with the subsidies that are accorded to large agro-businesses in their country. In fact, Nash and his team from Dungeness Farms promote a completely different type of agriculture: local, organic, sustainable, and more human. In a little farm near Sequim on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, we met with people who do much more than grow the best carrots in the world. Here cultivation is local, and exists in continuous resistance to residential development and artificially lowered prices.

written by Johanne Pelletier and Francis Murchison,
november 28th, 2003 , Sequim, Washington, USA

 

People’s Coalition for Justice
After the events of September 11, 2001, the government of President Bush attempted to develop a hemispheric integrated security network and to tighten internal security. The creation of the Patriot Act is a law that gives tools to the government and the forces of order with which to detect, prevent, and control any terrorist attack in U.S. territory. This law gives unequaled power and latitude to the state and the police and has an impact on the rights of the general population that is undetermined as of yet. In a country that is already filled with problems of racism and exclusion of people of colour, this reinforcement of the power held by the police is a major concern for communities of color.

written by Johanne Pelletier and Francis Murchison,
november 12nd, 2003 , Seattle, Washington, USA

 

Community Alliance for Global Justice
CAGJ was brought to life two years ago by a founding board of approximately ten organizers who decided to form a membership organization in reaction to the lack of long-term initiatives in Washington State. In 1999, an influx of activists from outside Seattle coordinated the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests that played a large part in the failure of the WTO meetings. The networks that were started during the protest were short-term and the movement fell apart after the event in spite of several efforts to sustain the initiative. The founding board of CAGJ acted on the realization that if organizing to change the world were going to happen then they needed to build an organization that would last and remain stable.

written by Johanne Pelletier and Francis Murchison,
november 11st, 2003 , Seattle, Washington, USA