In the Spirit of Chief Dan George: People of the Water Are Still Here

Reuben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Coast First Nation recalls the resilience and inspirational intention of his much-honored grandfather Chief Dan George at a time when his people struggle to protect the good health of their traditional homeland in what is now southwestern British Columbia. From Brenda Norrell's Blogspot at CENSORED NEWS.

Go to link: bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/rueben-george-we-are-people-of-water.html 

Extensive coverage of the 2024 Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle can also be found at the above link.

Growing Green Resilience: Urban Community Food Security, Portland OR

Urban farming movements connect neighbors and friends with the local landbase by cultivating labors of love and experience that aim to enhance food security, community outreach and environmental justice. 

Zenger Farm....................................................Go to link:http://zengerfarm.org/ 

Black Futures Farm.........................................Go to link:http://blackfutures.farm/ 

Kailish Ecovillage............................................www.kailashecovillage.org/ 

Preserving Mountain Huckleberry Health and Culture

The Mountain Huckleberry is an esteemed "sacred" food for the Indigenous people living east and west of the Cascade Mountains. Today, in accordance with tribal tradition and the treaties signed with the US government, First Nations strive to preserve the ecological health and availability of the beloved Mountain Huckleberry for all the region's inhabitants.

On Preserving Huckleberry Resources: From Northwest Treaty Tribes Visit: nwtreatytribes.org/tulalip-preserves-huckleberry-resource/  

On Conflicts with Commercial Harvests: From Oregon Public Broadcasting Visit: www.opb.org/article/2025/03/14/huckleberry-picking-tribal-food/ 

Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights Projects

Much like today, democratic passions, rapid development, and the promise of prosperity have often tested the balance between health and wealth around the Pacific Northwest, resulting in a complex fabric of movements and causes seeking economic and social justice. This online service from the University of Washington provides an extensive library of videos, articles, and oral histories that recall and examine that rich, diverse history.

Go to link: http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/

Serious Long-Term Tree-Hugging

Old growth forests are important bio-diverse habitats that naturally process large amounts of greenhouse gases. How they are managed has become a flashpoint of contention for environmentalists, government and the logging industry. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Elliott State Forest, the largest remaining old growth forest in Oregon's Coastal Range.

Elliott State Forest: with local activist Francis Eatherington 2011                  Go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkfA01FE56s

Growing Concern: the Elliott State Forest 2016 ___________________________Go to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqjQyKgOKoI

Elliott State Forest: Don't Pit Students Against the Environment 2018______Go to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZwqrCeg5E

Elliott State Research Forest and Coastal Forest Reserve 2020____________Go to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4z_brQuoU4

Chief Leschi

The name of the Nisqually chief graces many places around Washington State. Less familiar to most is the story of a First Nations warrior who, with wise foresight, resisted the unfair acquisition of Native American land and natural resources by the American government, and by doing so took a militant stand that would lead to his being hanged for a highly disputable charge of murder. Forever in the hearts of his people, Chief Leschi was exonerated of wrong-doing in 2004, some 150 years after his death.

Leschi and Quiemuth Honor Walk 2009

Go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZENfjOsETE

Historic Retrial of Chief Leschi: December 10, 2004

Go to link: http://forejustice.org/wc/chief_leschi/chief_leschi.htm

Resisting Poverty

For some, addressing homelessness and poverty is not only about serving meals and providing shelter; it is about fostering social relations and even democratic participation among unfortunate families and individuals, thus helping sustain their connection to and inclusion in the greater local community.

Homeless Camps Offer a Lesson in Democracy, Portland OR

__________Go to link: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/11/4/the-us-homeless-camps-offering-a-lesson-in-democracy

Camp Quixote, Olympia WA

                 Go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1TGVPO5-7Y

The Chief Seattle Club, Seattle WA

                 Go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNWXKTFkADs&feature=related

Dignity Village, Portland OR

                 Go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLnTmtnxxYU&feature=autoplay&list=PL340FD8F22D2C7205&lf=results_video&playnext=3

Shallow Waters: "No Tankers" Rally

Eleven year-old Ta'Kaiya Blaney performs her song "Shallow Waters" in Vancouver BC on March 26, 2012 at a gathering of some 2000 protesters who had come to demonstrate against the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline that is being planned to transport Alberta tar sands petroleum to the West Coast port of Kitimat at great risk to the environmental health of forest and sea as well as to the cultural integrity of First Nations people who live along or near the proposed pipeline route.

The Acequia: Model for Resilient Agriculture

University of Washington professor Devon Pena is the founder of the Acequia Institute. Acequia is the Arab-Hispanic word for the simple irrigation ditches found throughout Meso-America and for the subsistence agrarian economies they support. In this article from the Cascadia Weekly, Professor Pena demonstrates how the acequia model of resilient agriculture can be successfully employed in other regions to stem ecological degradation and corporate control of food and land while also fostering life-sustaining community and culture. From Tim Johnson at Cascadia Weekly.

Now posted at Good Food World @ http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2011/10/last-ditch-effort/

The Battle in Seattle November 30, 1999

Over a decade before the Occupy Wall Street movement would spread around the world, a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle was confronted with massive demonstrations by diverse groups of protesters who had gathered to voice anger over the negative effects of globalization and then recent free trade agreements. The original protest actions, peaceful and framed around issue-based workshops and civil disobedience, initially shut down the conference, while subsequent use of excessive force by police rendered downtown streets a riot zone.

The Issues: from Public Access TV documentary aired in Portland OR ( 2000 )

Go to link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyCuDGVRFcg

The Streets: from the film documentary This Is What Democracy Looks Like ( 2000 )

Go to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPiGQcwwh6o