Peter Bohmer's Web-Page

Talk at the Washington State Capitol on the Occupy Movement

Transcontinental Occupation-Transcontinental Movement: Conversation between Peter Bohmer and Ron Jacobs.

From Education to Action

A Day of Teach-Ins with Occupy Olympia

Wednesday,  1 P.M. to 9 P.M.  November 9^th

at the Washington State Labor Council

906 Columbia St SW, 1st floor,   Olympia

All welcome, come to all or part of it.

The Occupy Movement has called for  a national day of teach-ins this Wednesday, November 9th

                                                                                                             Schedule

1 pm  Political Economy of the Economic Crisis

Savvina Chowdhury & David Langstaff

3 pm  Strategy and Skills for Movement Building

Peter Bohmer  & Lee Durfey

5 pm  Popular Education and Strategizing

Ellen Shortt-Sanchez

7 pm  Intersectionality and the 99%

Monica Peabody  & POWER

FREE!

There will be childcare on site!

For more info contact,  davidlangstaff@gmail.com

Alternative Radio’s David Barsamian discusses

Uprisings:

From Kashmir to Egypt to Wall Street

Thursday, Nov. 10, 7:30 pm

Washington State Labor Council

 (First Floor)  906 SW Columbia, Olympia, WA

David Barsamian will also be speaking at 4 P.M. at Occupy Olympia at Heritage Park, this Thursday, November 10th

 One of America’s most tireless and wide-ranging investigative journalists, David Barsamian has altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio show Alternative Radio—now in its 25th year—and with his books, written with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Tariq Ali, Arundhati Roy and Edward Said. His latest book of interviews with Noam Chomsky is How the World Works (Aug. 2011).  Barsamian, who was recently deported from India due to his work on Kashmir and other revolts, discusses world affairs, the state of journalism, censorship, the economic crisis and global rebellions.  Free. Donations at the door, opens at 7 pm.

Sponsored by: Rachel Corrie Foundation, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace,

KUOW and Alternative Radio

For information, Contact Becca at 360-754-3998 or info@rachelcorriefoundation.org

In my recent trip to Mexico, the most hopeful movement that I observed is the Movement for Peace With Justice  and Dignity founded by the poet, Javier Sicilia. Check out the article in the New York Times, Sunday, October 2, 2011

A New Generation, A New Politics: Contemporary Anti-Authoritarian Activism in the United States and Canada.
Talk by Chris Dixon

Wednesday, October 5th, 11:45 A.M. to 1 P.M.

Place: Library Lobby, Evergreen

Talk by Chris Dixon to be based on his paper, “Building ‘Another Politics” Dixon – Another Politics

Description of talk: The last decade has seen the exciting convergence of anti-authoritarian radicalism and broader-based movements in the U.S. and Canada. Coming out of this convergence, a growing cohort of activists are developing shared politics, practices, and sensibilities based in overlapping areas of work. This cohort is a political tendency, the anti-authoritarian current, which cuts across a range of left social movements. What distinguishes this current is its commitment to combining anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist politics with grassroots organizing among ordinary, non-activist people. Drawing on in-depth interviews with organizers across North America, this presentation will trace the strands that have led into the anti-authoritarian current, explore the defining principles of its politics, and the discuss questions it poses for all of us committed to social transformation.

Biography:  Chris Dixon, an Evergreen alumnus, is a longtime anarchist organizer and writer who recently received his PhD from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1999, he helped launch the Direct Action Network and was deeply involved in organizing for the protests against the Seattle WTO ministerial. Dixon’s writing has appeared in numerous publications and collections, and he is currently completing a book based on interviews with anti-authoritarian organizers across the United States and Canada involved in broader-based movements. He serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the advisory board for Upping the Anti, and lives in Sudbury, Ontario, where he is involved with anti-war and indigenous solidarity organizing.

Sponsored by the TESC Academic Programs: Venezuela, Zinn and the Art of Protest, Power in American Society, and Reinterpreting Liberation; the Academic Deans; the Sustainability and Justice Planning Unit, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

For more info, contact bohmerp@evergreen.edu, or 867-6431

On July 11th, 2011, KIRO reporter, Brandi Kruse, requested an interview with regards to the claims by Tony Overman and the police, which they later admitted to being false. In mid June, 2011, they told Kruse   they had not collaborated in identifying protesters at various actions by using photos Overman had taken and not published.  I sent her the following. In her radio show, she only used the first three sentences.

“I am not surprised that Overman gave photos to the police. It is sad and revealing that many people claimed with no knowledge whatsoever that Overman would never, while working as a newspaper photographer, show his unpublished photos to law enforcement. He did.  That the police also lied when they said they never saw unpublished photos from Overman, is also, unfortunately, nothing new.  The larger issue is criminalizing and marginalizing by Overman and much of the mainstream media and law enforcement,  those who protest and engage in direct action against the many illegal and immoral wars the U.S. is waging. The media and police and judges should be focusing instead on the real injustices and those who cause them–corporate leaders whose wealth grows daily while millions cannot afford health care or find a job; and on government leaders, Democrats and Republicans, who put corporate needs above human needs. Meaningful social change comes from social movements challenging in the streets–racism, economic inequality, climate change, war, poverty, etc. We should be praising and joining the protestors, those who struggle for justice and peace, rather than worrying about whether their actions upset the powerful.”   Peter Bohmer, July 11, 2011

Text of Radio show and Northwest News Report by Brandi Kruse, KIRO, July 12, 2011

In the July 10^th Olympian article, The Elusive Face of Anarchism,  Sean Robinson called me a “proud liberal”. This is an inaccurate description of my philosophy and behavior. I believe we live in an unjust economic system,  which requires unemployment so that corporate profits can be kept obscenely high; where people’s work is organized by employers and corporations, not to be fulfilling and meaningful but rather to serve the profit system.  We live in a system where nature is considered a resource to be exploited rather than something we are part of.  The capitalist system requires economic growth no matter what the social and environmental costs; where war and unjust interventions in other countries affairs is common.  Liberals believe the market works well and poverty, climate change, racism and militarism can be solved by the government and good leaders, probably Democrats.

My perspective is not liberal. While reforms such as universal health care, reducing unemployment are essential and improve people’s lives, unless we create a different economic system, war and economic inequality will continue, and the government will be on the side of the wealthy. The Republican and Democratic Party are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The problem is capitalism. Let us create a society based on cooperation, on production for need not profit, where human rights, gender and racial equality, and sustainability are real and not rhetoric; where corporations no longer exist and where participatory democracy exists in all parts of society including the economy.

(I was limited to 250 words). Here is the link to the Olympian article,

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/07/10/1719188/the-elusive-face-of-anarchism.html

My talk at Leonard Peltier Rally, May 21st, 2011, Tacoma Washington

Photos from the May 21st, 2011 Rally and March demanding Clemency for Leonard Peltier

Slideshow by Elliot Stoller at the May 21st, 2011 Rally and March for Leonerd Peltier

Where do the strategies, tactics, and lifestyles of contemporary activists come from?

Panel discussion led by author, Andrew Cornell

When: Thursday,  May 12th, 2011:  Noon-1:30
Where: Lobby of Library Building, Evergreen State College,

Oppose and Propose, by Andrew Cornell, just out from AK Press, documents and examines the history of Movement for a New Society. MNS was a radical formation in the 70s and 80s that brought together many of the ideas and practices that are now commonplace among radical activists, such as consensus decision-making, spokescouncils, collective living, unlearning oppressive behavior, and nonviolent direct action. This book opens critical questions for activists today. Join us in welcoming author Andrew Cornell to Olympia.

There will be a panel  led  by Andrew Cornell and also joined by Harjit Singh Gill, a thoughtful  activist from the San Francisco Bay  area, and Chris Dixon, who graduated from Evergreen in 2000 who  was instrumental in having Mumia as a graduation speaker that year,  was an active campus organizer and a major organizer  of the 1999 Seattle protests against the WTO which he has written about.   They will lead a discussion on the lessons from the theory and practice of Movement for a New Society for people interested in activism today.

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