From PSA.
At 4:30 a.m. on November 14th, a group of anarchists broke out the windows of the Umpqua Bank at NE 18th and Alberta. Umpqua Bank tries to sell itself as “green” and a “community” bank, and we wanted to shatter that illusion. Umpqua Bank has been known for financing timber giants all over Oregon that are responsible for the destruction of our precious temperate rainforests, and with them the possibility of a livable future.
Alberta Street has been incredibly gentrified in recent years, and Umpqua Bank is a big part of that. Forcing People of Color out of one of the few neighborhoods they were historically allowed to live in is racism, plain and simple.
We don’t care that Umpqua Bank is small or local – we don’t want a smaller, more local capitalism, we want a total destruction of the system that keeps us miserable.
We smashed out the windows in solidarity with everyone on the receiving end of the daily violence of the Portland Police, and with comrades who have been fucked over by the liberals/wannabe cops at Occupy Portland. You too can act on your desires!
Love and solidarity,
Some angry proles
From KGB News:
Click here for video report (reporter wants to show you just “how big” the rock was.)
PORTLAND — Anarchists took credit for breaking three windows early Monday morning at the Umpqua Bank branch at 18th and Alberta in Northeast Portland.
The vandals e-mailed KGW blaming the bank for financing what they viewed as destructive logging practices despite casting itself as supporting green causes, and for being a part of the white gentrification of Alberta in recent years.
African-Americans have been pushed out of their historic neighborhoods and replaced with coffee shops, boutiques and condominiums, the anarchists said.
“We don’t care that Umpqua Bank is small or local – we don’t want a smaller, more local capitalism, we want a total destruction of the system that keeps us miserable,” their statement read.
“We smashed out the windows in solidarity with everyone on the receiving end of the daily violence of the Portland Police, and with comrades who have been (dismissed) by the liberals/wannabe cops at Occupy Portland.”
Portland State University professor Randy Blazak told KGW that the issues raised by the vandals are legitimate and worthy of debate.
That debate needs to include a broad base of citizens, who may actually be driven away by such acts, he said, unless the faction of anarchists who took credit for the Umpqua vandalism can clearly articulate their message
Other problems: Police responded early Monday to reports of three broken windows at the Umpqua Bank at Northeast 18th Avenue and Alberta Street; a white plastic bag tied to the front doors of the Chase Bank at Southwest Fifth Avenue and Washington Street; and glued doors at two banks on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard and another on Southeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard.
from corporate news – http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/11/occupy_portland_demonstrators_2.html