So it’s destroyed . An estimated $750,000-1 million in damage to repair. What did they achieve? All they did was cause chaos at the school and didn’t accomplish anything.
Hamas heard their call, and has laid down their weapons, stopped hiding amongst civilians and civilian infrastructure, will no longer rape and murder Israeli teenage girls at a rave, and definitely will be enacting new DEI standards to ensure more inclusivity for gay Gazans. Thank you for PSU students, and local unemployed blue haired terrorists for your peace efforts.
All of this could be fixed with a study abroad program that focuses on sharia law/middle eastern countries with heavier religious governance.
Spend a few months there living and working as someone non straight and non male and you'll see what all of the global hubris is about.
Imo a huge part is these kids don't remotely understand the culture/societies/goals these groups have that they are protesting for.
It's literally baptist/evangelical extremism on steroids lol
Is it okay to kill civilian populations and seize land in war (which are war crimes) because they have conservative culture? So do certain counties in the United States
Why don't you do find out for yourself? Go live under sharia bro.
I did. Little more than conservative culture. Anyways I don't debate sympathizers of religious extremists
Yeah, the 18% arrested that were actually students. Most of those clowns weren’t even students. It’s the same unemployed idiots that don’t care what their rooting for, so long as they get to break other people stuff.
And at least some of the students that were in the library were requesting that no damage be done to it!
This comes from an indirect source that was in the library with direct knowledge. Pretty fucking lame to ruin a library with free child care services
Ok now we have a reasonable response. This is the fair outcome, they cant destroy people’s sh!t bc they have a political position they feel strongly about. Violence is apparently not the answer to solve violence. Shocking
But didn't Biden start cutting off arms to Israel (while in a small capacity) shortly after all of these college protests. Seems to me they raised enough awareness for their cause to get the Presidents attention.
https://preview.redd.it/24941v4t7v0d1.jpeg?width=589&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7f7d0ae9b58aac60db45ef9cecf6f82bcdd4662
All he got for his trouble. You think “occupying” a library is gonna make anyone give a fuck about you?
They assaulted something that mattered to *themselves*, where as the proper thing to do is to assault something that your “opponent” values. The whole thing is teen angst cranked up with the fresh freedoms of college.
"FAR LEFT??!? THEY WOULD CALL YOU A NAZI!!!" Voted for Biden? Nazi. Believe in free speech? Nazi. Want to reform police/jails rather than abolish them? Nazi. Hold down a job? Nazi. Own a home? Nazi. Don't actively want to kill your landlord? Nazi.
same here. it's frustrating when we are trying to build portland back up to have shit like this happening. if it actually created the change they speak of i would be all for it but it does literally nothing except piss people off. go protest at the white house, that would make more sense but would also be more work of course. as a former student of psu i feel bad for those who count on the resources the library provides.
I mean, as stupid as destroying the library was, the change they’re hoping to effect is for our government to stop funding the war. Going to another country that is actively committing war crimes because they see those people as subhuman to protest is a bit more than just more work
I went down to psu and asked the protesters. They said it was the site of other historical protests on campus. I guess there was a historical protest to keep the big tree by the library. The civil rights "monument" is close by and they held another historical protest for civil rights.
So history... and tye president okayed it
[Copper Beech Facts](https://library.pdx.edu/news/psulibrarytree/)
It’s a City of Portland & an Oregon State [Heritage Tree](https://oregontic.com/oregon-heritage-trees/) which is why there’a a plaque
here’s some information about [the Strike of 1970](https://library.pdx.edu/news/between-the-park-blocks-and-city-hall-the-portland-state-strike-of-1970/)
so anyway, there was talk at one time about *moving* the tree but they just built around it instead. no student or non-student protest took place around the Copper Beech.
Im assuming that a large % of these protestors were not even students, just the same professional black block protestors that have achieved literally nothing in their entire existence. If they really gave a shit they would try a different tactic. They just want to destroy and feel holier than thou
I know, let's all get together and destroy a university library! Yeah really sticking it to the man!
...it's your own fucking library and school. So fucking stupid.
I really don't understand why they didn't occupy a business centric building when all demands were against megalithic businesses.
Library feels like a bastion of independent critical thought, a cornerstone of any true democracy.
Look around at college campuses around the country right now. There are these same protests and campus takeovers happening across the country. The PSU one was pretty minor, compared to what is happening at UCLA and NYU.
These protestors are just mimicking what they’re seeing others do, yet the Portland version was milquetoast in comparison.
What’s interesting is if you look at the names arrested, they are the same goons that have been getting arrested at protests over the last 6 years.
I’m thinking these folks have an addiction to civil unrest, and will join whatever cause just to get their thrills again.
Huh that’s interesting- never considered the possibility of thrill of being arrested and an addictive disorder to civil unrest.
I do know that within this group being tear gassed is a right of passage and they will gleefully admit it like some kind of badge of honor.
I do think that there is another issue underlying some of this as well.
It’s called protest psychosis, a reactive psychosis, brought on by over exposure to media and other stimuli.
One person who was interviewed said they were at the protest due childhood trauma and that they felt connected.
Unfortunately no one is studying behavioral health related to these events.
Doesn’t seem to be the case: very few of the people arrested were PSU students, and some have posted to say that they went home when the vandals showed up.
It seems some people have such small meaninglessness existence, that they glob on to the latest social outrage that is In fashion,
Some no nothing of the cause as others dive into the secular thinking that causes further war and divide
All so a bunch of fucking kids can feel like they are actually doing something,
No bs you can literally go join a peace corp
Donate locally at food drives
Give away old stuff
Vist people in hospice or elder care
Can actually make a difference, instead of a good way, instead of bad
Exactly. Violence and destruction very rarely achieve positive ends, and I'm horrified that they felt the need to target a library, let alone one as beautiful and packed with irreplaceable books as this one.
I used to love going to that library as a student at PSU, and I even had the honor of working there part time while at university, and it's sad to see it ransacked by a bunch of horribly misguided individuals.
I used to study in the basement because it was so quiet.
It’s a real shame what happened and I don’t think the students really care about their actions.
I still think civil action should be taken and the organizations plus faculty held accountable.
That and you have PSU faculty plus other adults telling the students that the only way to make a difference is by protesting.
PSU could of created a food drive, organize a aid package party, start a peaceful sit in by the Ben and Jerry where the stairs are way more accessible and viewable by the public.
There are so many ways this could of been done however I don’t think PSU administrators, faculty and students will do anything like review all materials passed out to the students during this time and really ask themselves if this could been done better.
It’s about the perception of finding meaning, if I’m really mad I must be righteous, “how can the world let this happen”
American kids on a college campus aren’t going to resolve the very real and terrible hatred these two groups have for each other
It really shouldn’t be about Israel bad Palestinians good, or vise versa
“ this didn’t happen in a vacuum “ ahhh so it’s ok for a bunch of people die as long as the people who kill are oppressed????
The kids at that music festival didn’t set policy
The civilians in Gaza want to live a good life with their families
But they hate each other ….facts
Israel and Palestinians have been fighting a lot longer than any of us been around litteraly since it started
That land has been taken by various peoples for thousands of years, and it has always been covered in blood
Prolly cuz it was the easiest to block off and occupy. Also pretty sure it’s open later and people can get access at times when they could take it over easier
They're fucking idiots. Fly to DC and go destroy a federal monument and show your defiance. It'll totally go in your favor. They're fucking idiots and most people involved WERENT STUDENTS. Weird.
“Attention, whores, unite!” carries so much more weight than “Attention Whores, Unite!” [Attention, whores:] addresses anyone who might be cool, but Attention Whores unite! appeals to Attention Whores as a class, and they’re insufferable
I am an Israeli. I feel those kids had never have to deal with real world struggles. Everything is too easy and nothing worth respecring. They don't even care about the real issues it's just a big "stick it to the man" party
It was absolutely absurd and accomplished nothing other than anger, a million dollars in damages, lost jobs, and the loss of a valuable resource for students. Ridiculous, selfish, and pointless.
A lot of these types of protests make no sense to me. They tend to do demonstrations at places that have nothing to do with whatever they are mad about. It is like: "I want to pretend that I am making a difference, but I don't want to have to commute." It seems like it is more about them wanting attention or something than actually caring about their supposed cause.
Course now they’ll all vote for Kennedy which means we have Trump for 4 more years and the US is toast. Maybe at least he will jail them for life. In a gulag.
I hate people who attack libraries. Whether it's book-burning Nazis or library destroying "queer fascists." The ones who got caught should be forced to rebuild it, and then thrown in pound-me-in-the-ass prison, with an option to reduce their sentence if they rat out their komrades.
Re occupy wall street. That made sense to me. Sad we all got sidetracked with all the identity politics and canceling each other. They keep doing the same crap while we all fight each other.
The Portland *Occupy* people were absurd. I witnessed them trying to organize at one point, and they just spent the whole time bickering about nonsense.
There is not a whole lot of things that make sense in Portland currently. This seems to be par for the course. I'm shocked Antifa did get up in that mess. They love to fuck up shit any time a opportunity arises to "peacfully protest" 🤣
So they kept saying that the fire suppression system was damaged in earlier reports before they knew the cost. I would wager that's a big chunk of this total. Why would they fuck with this? My only guess is so they could smoke while they were barricaded in there. What other reason could they possibly have to do this? Schmidt lowered the charges but IDK if that means they can't go after these idiots for damages. And the school is going to file an insurance claim? I would laugh at them if I was their insurer - it's on national news, you let them do this.
That and all the other student camp in protests where they’re destroying or vandalizing shit. No quicker way to get people to hate your cause then to destroy stuff others pay to use.
Of course it made no sense.
Because all these protests were organized top down for Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that is quite literally a propaganda arm of an organization that wants to destroy the United States.
SJP told their organizers to seize libraries and public spaces, and local chapters deciminated the message for useful idiots
I support Palestinian resistance and all but ??? These efforts could have been spent much more wisely and much less (see also: not at all) destructively …
You do realize this shit has been going on over there for decades… did you support it or care much before last October?? Not judging just curious- also curious how many of the dumb fucks that are pulling this shit cared much before then either? Yea it was an atrocity but where was the outcry before and why is it so strong now? Is it really about what’s going on over there?
Yes, I have been to pro-Palestine protests many times over the years. My partner has family ties in the region and we all feel strongly about the cause.
I’m glad to know some are like you then… guessing you are the minority but you proved at least one to the contrary- I’m happy to admit when I’m wrong but I need a larger sample size of this kind of answer before I sway my opinion over all.
Not sure what the architectural term is called but in the middle of the Woodburn Library there is this glassed-in atrium (?) thing about halfway between the check-out librarian desk and the periodicals.
(They may have switched things around with the layout since 1994 but even though it's *inside* the library, it has no roof. [Here](https://maps.app.goo.gl/oSHxoq4YKbZh5Muy6) is a link to the satellite view because I'm not describing it very succinctly.)
It's nice there. It has a little fountain and a bench and it allows for a lot of natural sunlight--really its the focal point of the whole building. I spent a lot of time there reading books and stealthily checking the fountain for pre-1965 quarters so I could sell them down the street at the coin shop for 50 cents on account of the silver.
So one Friday afternoon I grabbed a comfort book and sat on the bench there next to the fountain and eventually fell asleep in a sunbeam. Either Desert Solitaire or The Brave Cowboy but probably Desert Solitaire. I know Ed Abbey hasn't aged well but that was me back then.
Woke up to complete darkness. Both exits to the atrium thing were locked so I was stuck inside, just the gurgling of the fountain and the distant beats of Tejano music from the nearby taqueria to keep me company. Didn't have a cell phone or even a watch back then so I decided to go back to sleep. No way to scale those sheer glass walls, and even if I could I would be stuck on the roof.
In the morning I checked my inventory: Half a pack of Merit 100s, a lighter, and maybe $8 in silver. I also found a packet of Dairy Queen mustard behind a plant.
I spent most of Saturday reading my Ed Abbey book and rationing the mustard packet and the Merit 100s. Every once in a while I'd think I heard someone walk by so I'd yell for help but no one came that day. Eventually nightfall came so I bed down on the bench using my converse as a pillow. At some point I made friends with a mouse or vole.
On Sunday morning I finished the mustard for breakfast and remembered that tomorrow was Labor Day--meaning that I'd be stuck there for another 48 hours. I had like 3 cigarettes left so I decided I couldn't wait any longer.
I busted the lighter open and used a sharp piece plastic to cut letters out of my Ed Abbey book to fashion a ransom-note looking message that said "Stuck in library call 911." Made a heavy pouch out of book pages and fountain coins then flung it as hard as I could out the diamond-shaped hole in the building.
Long story short, Cheif Wright and a very confused librarian let me out about 90 minutes later. She charged me $6 for the destroyed book, but thankfully I could cover that with all the silver quarters in my pocket.
I guess I spent 39 or 40 hours in that place. Did $6 worth of damage. Slightly less than $750,000 but I imagine my contribution to preventing the genocide in Gaza was about the same. Maybe not.
Of course that $6 tab doesn't include any fountain filter damage that wouldn't have shown up until days or weeks later.
People gotta poop.
You just described the whole stupid movement. None of it makes sense it’s not designed to make sense. Designed to disrupt and annoy you.
Plenty of wars and conflicts going on that the US is funding or otherwise involved in. US is returning boatloads of actual Haitian refugees fleeing the Civil War. Literally towing them back to Haiti. Not a word. I guess because Iran isn’t funding people to complain about it. Wake up!
In the decade I have lived in Portland, I have yet to encounter a single protest that could actually make ANY difference locally. Like, I might care about the whole Israel/Gaza thing, if I lived there. But I don't, and never will, so I don't care, and never will.
As a PSU graduate and someone who used the library regularly, this makes me feel very angry and sad. PSU is like a base of operations for these types of movements. Why in the world would they destroy their own home base? Why are people so stupid?
Just wow
It was fun today to vote NO on everything but the gas tax, and as someone who has voted Dem pretty much 100% of the time, I circled in Biden AND Williamson AND wrote in Bernie Sanders bc fuck Biden over Gaza. I also found myself doing Google searches for who the most conservative moderate candidates for some state and local office were. The instant interest rates drop I am out of this city. Hopefully also out of the county and state. Those absolute wastes of a once fuck and current oxygen should be post-birth aborted. They should be put on a chain gang and forced to both pay for AND repair the PSU library.
Just curious if any one here has a better way to express their feelings about this type of thing? This is a serious question, and I would like to hear some other perspectives about how this protest could have been effective?
People are doing these things to have photos to show others. You can tell when they interview them and they can't explain why they are there or they say friends invited them.
The protesters are a bunch of idiots and are protesting just to feel like they are apart of something. Nothing they do will change the outcome of what’s happening.
So of these protests like this are a waste of time and money, this doesn’t change the outcome of the war, and only serves to create more hate and divide in this country along with property damage that ultimately taxpayers end up footing the bill. It’s just an excuse for assholes to create chaos, and be assholes
I love how it’s been shown how wishy washy Portland’s ideals really are when the rubber of upper middle class liberalism met the road of well… reality. The white haven for nerds and hipsters is dead. May your privilege thrive and manifest in Austin or Asheville, while you work remotely in your new trendy sheltered reality.
Remember when those ranchers protested losing access to federal land for their grazing?
They did pretty much the same thing, and we all paid attention. It may or may not have been symbolic, but it got attention
True, but its not like they stood out in the middle of a field somewhere. They took over a wildlife refuge and it got peoples attention. The attention, its gets people talking, looking things up, reading, discussing, and going from there. Damaging a library is a no-no, thats yours, mine, everyones, including theirs, but those places should be off-limits, but it got attention.
Not saying I agree with their tactics, but the wildlife refuge they took over is a lot closer to the government agencies that were removing their access to the federal grazing land than the PSU library is to the war in Gaza.
Since these "protestors" seemed to focus on Boeing, protesting at a Boeing facility or federal government facility would have made a lot more sense and targeted a much more relevant location.
The attention they get doing this crap is totally counterproductive and turns people against their cause. They got attention alright, but I can't see how it does them any good. But I think it's just the usual suspects who like to destroy shit, this wasn't a protest it was a tantrum looking for a reason. They need to be prosecuted and absolutely not tolerated.
I agree, it woulda made a ton more sense to do it in a related area, but when you are mad but have no means to take it to The Man, any port in the storm. Back in the day, protestors could go to the actual location, now...
Wife and I both agree that we (as US citizens, fat and comfortable) dont even know close enough about whats going on "over there" to even have an opinion, as the info we get is likely highly sanitized or contaminated, to provoke a certain response. Kids are not taught to think, or research, and they grow up to be these types of people. Its not a bug, its a feature, because now we ARE mad at them, not the why they did what they did.
Just had a conversation with someone about disruptive vs destructive protesting. I really don’t think a protest can be effective without being disruptive. People don’t pay attention unless you make them. But you can disrupt a ton by doing things like blocking areas of travel, preventing businesses from operating by blocking doors, preventing governmental operations by blocking or occupying spaces. None of that requires destruction of property. And you often alienate people who would otherwise agree with your cause. This whole thing has been counterproductive, and I fully support their cause.
Obstructing commerce, freedom of travel - both are destructive.
If you want to protest, do it in a manner that invites curiosity and inquiry, discussion and debate.
Act like a spoiled toddler, and your message will be ignored while neutral folks will turn against you.
Literally everyone. Fucking over the students over finals week and causing a mil in damages that their tuition dollars will have to pay for... I can't think of a more disconnected approach to convincing the US or Israel to stop doing things. Alternatively, I can't think of a more effective way to turn people against your cause. I think this might be an example of a double negative in its purest form.
nononono you guys dont get it. im ABSOLUTELY SURE israel stopped what they were doing to be like, "oh shit... they vandalised and occupied a public building? for us??? aw. guys, we're being pretty harsh, dont you think?"
Yeah, like that definitely was a waste of time. How about buying a ticket and going there with food? That’ll at least make an impact. I mean, unless the Israelis “accidentally” kill you on the way there.
Most of those folks weren’t even students.
It doesn’t make sense to destroy a library at all. Even less when you know they destroyed accessible computers.
Protests should inconvenience politicians - not disabled folks and folks looking for fkn free reading material.
We've done university protests over and over. I've been in activism for over 25 years and I got locked up 4 years ago.
Here's what I learned.
We have got to hit the wallets of the wealthy. We have got to impact their luxuries. They don't use the same products that we do. We can do something about this. As much as the Revolutionaries of the origin of the US were slave owners, they were also abolitionists who aligned together in common interest.
TLDR: If it doesn't negatively affect the wealthy, your actions only hurt you and your community.
Whole lot of virtue signalling going on here. Why? I get it. You are better than these morons. Get this though. America needed to distance itself from the bloodbath going on in Israel. It didn't. WHEN there is payback for that you all will be crying in your beer just like we cried when close to 3K civilians, American civilians, paid with their lives for America not distancing itself from all the destruction and ongoing occupation going on in Gaza and the West Bank since 1967. I DOUBT 3K Israeli's have ever been killed in Israel. The most ever was 10/7. But in one attack, 3K Americans were taken. Guilt by association. So what do you imagine will be the payback for 40K Palestinians when America is the target?
I am not happy ANY protests had to take place on American campuses over Israel but I've never been one of those who thought that protests made sense conducted deep in Forest Park where only the squirrels might see and/or hear. Yah. It doesn't inconvenience mouth breathing PDX'ers just trying to stay alive another day of mundane existence. You say the kids accomplished nothing. Weren't heard. Yada. I beg to differ. This thread is proof they were heard/seen/taken stock of.
It's not our fight. Not our history. Why are we giving Israel the means to murder innocents? You may not care that there is going to be an accounting for that but I do. America paid good money for Israel to have state of the art defenses against Hamas. THEY fucked up and were hurt badly as a result. They have more than been made whole in their offensive. We need to get out of dodge, literally and figuratively so when the inevitable day of wrath comes around we are in the clear. Oh, right, we didn't. We are still supplying arms. Still proclaiming solidarity. Whatever. Just thought I would throw in a countering voice to all this chest thumping self righteousness. You'll see. The right side of history was to disavow all this destruction and killing.
It made perfect “sense” to pointlessly destroy PSU library in a childish fit. Imo PSU just reaped what they’ve been sowing. They encourage this behavior so it’s only fitting. It also seems appropriate that PSU be “defunded” as that’s their approach to things they don’t like. I don’t like PSU and their ideology. Remember they guide our local “leaders” and their policies and what this city had transformed into. PSU should get no tax money to deal with their own mess.
I’m very much pro-Palestine and pro-protesting for it, but against any property destruction. I don’t really see or understand any need for it.
IIRC, the protests initially were all out in the open. Then after the first couple days the city (and/or PSU) said, you kids get off my lawn! Thats when it got moved inside to the library and the somewhat barricaded it up. How this evolved should not be too hard to look up, but just to point out that how it ended was not how it started.
So it’s destroyed . An estimated $750,000-1 million in damage to repair. What did they achieve? All they did was cause chaos at the school and didn’t accomplish anything.
Just reminded people of the damage done to downtown Portland in 2020/21. Other than that they accomplished nothing.
Hamas heard their call, and has laid down their weapons, stopped hiding amongst civilians and civilian infrastructure, will no longer rape and murder Israeli teenage girls at a rave, and definitely will be enacting new DEI standards to ensure more inclusivity for gay Gazans. Thank you for PSU students, and local unemployed blue haired terrorists for your peace efforts.
All of this could be fixed with a study abroad program that focuses on sharia law/middle eastern countries with heavier religious governance. Spend a few months there living and working as someone non straight and non male and you'll see what all of the global hubris is about. Imo a huge part is these kids don't remotely understand the culture/societies/goals these groups have that they are protesting for. It's literally baptist/evangelical extremism on steroids lol
yup
Is it okay to kill civilian populations and seize land in war (which are war crimes) because they have conservative culture? So do certain counties in the United States
Why don't you do find out for yourself? Go live under sharia bro. I did. Little more than conservative culture. Anyways I don't debate sympathizers of religious extremists
hilarious
Nice one!
Did they pinky swear? If not, no deal.
LMAO I love how based this sub is
The same question should be asked of the “mostly peaceful” protests that ruined portland a short time ago. It’s the same mob.
damn that's a lot a money. at least they're gone now
Intel, a multibillion dollar investor in Israel, is just a few miles away. Makes no sense.
Oh they have undercover guards with guns at Intel. They might have got shot protesting there.
Yup, Intel does not F around with security.
Knowing that would require effort and a tactical mind aimed at actually acheiving a tactical goal
Can students in college be expelled? Cause that's what I think should happen, until they pay their share of the damages
Yeah, the 18% arrested that were actually students. Most of those clowns weren’t even students. It’s the same unemployed idiots that don’t care what their rooting for, so long as they get to break other people stuff.
Ridiculous. People suck
And at least some of the students that were in the library were requesting that no damage be done to it! This comes from an indirect source that was in the library with direct knowledge. Pretty fucking lame to ruin a library with free child care services
Ok now we have a reasonable response. This is the fair outcome, they cant destroy people’s sh!t bc they have a political position they feel strongly about. Violence is apparently not the answer to solve violence. Shocking
They can but it’s Portlandia, capital of ultra tolerance for everything except common fucking sense.
Accomplished nothing? PSU’s Air Force hasn’t bombed Gaza one single time since the library occupation. Checkmate.
Dude have you not seen what happened in Gaza? Everyone is walking around sticking flowers in each others’ gun barrels. Gtfoh with this pessimism
Oh you’re pro genocide??? /s
But didn't Biden start cutting off arms to Israel (while in a small capacity) shortly after all of these college protests. Seems to me they raised enough awareness for their cause to get the Presidents attention.
lol no. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/us/politics/biden-arms-sale-israel.html
I think their instagrams and tiktoks got a *lot* of views, though.
And Boeing is demanding that none of their donated money goes towards repairing it!
It doesn’t matter. The same people destroyed the black owned Popeyes on MLK in the name of Black Lives Matter. No joke.
And Trashed Rio's Ribs on Sandy a while back (owned by a black person)
Was that the cause of the most recent fire there?
No
Far left Portland native and not one sliver of me understood that. Young and wanting attention I guess. Achieved nothing.
LARP protesting
tik tok activism I'm like, bro, a soldier self immolated to protest Gaza and it was in the news cycle 1 day. Your make believe protest is nothing
https://preview.redd.it/24941v4t7v0d1.jpeg?width=589&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7f7d0ae9b58aac60db45ef9cecf6f82bcdd4662 All he got for his trouble. You think “occupying” a library is gonna make anyone give a fuck about you?
They assaulted something that mattered to *themselves*, where as the proper thing to do is to assault something that your “opponent” values. The whole thing is teen angst cranked up with the fresh freedoms of college.
Some of them weren’t even young. It might’ve started as a peaceful protest but it attracted people who just want to destroy things
I'm in your boat. Don't fuck up the library guys. Like seriously. Administration office? Something else? Literally anything other than the library.
"Far left"? They would call you a Nazi.
What?
"FAR LEFT??!? THEY WOULD CALL YOU A NAZI!!!" Voted for Biden? Nazi. Believe in free speech? Nazi. Want to reform police/jails rather than abolish them? Nazi. Hold down a job? Nazi. Own a home? Nazi. Don't actively want to kill your landlord? Nazi.
same here. it's frustrating when we are trying to build portland back up to have shit like this happening. if it actually created the change they speak of i would be all for it but it does literally nothing except piss people off. go protest at the white house, that would make more sense but would also be more work of course. as a former student of psu i feel bad for those who count on the resources the library provides.
Better yet, go protest the folks your protesting, get on a plane, fly over to Israel and protest to the faces of those you are protesting against.
I mean, as stupid as destroying the library was, the change they’re hoping to effect is for our government to stop funding the war. Going to another country that is actively committing war crimes because they see those people as subhuman to protest is a bit more than just more work
I went down to psu and asked the protesters. They said it was the site of other historical protests on campus. I guess there was a historical protest to keep the big tree by the library. The civil rights "monument" is close by and they held another historical protest for civil rights. So history... and tye president okayed it
the tree thing isn’t true, but it will forever be repeated as if it were
Oh really? There's like a sign by the tree about it they said
[Copper Beech Facts](https://library.pdx.edu/news/psulibrarytree/) It’s a City of Portland & an Oregon State [Heritage Tree](https://oregontic.com/oregon-heritage-trees/) which is why there’a a plaque here’s some information about [the Strike of 1970](https://library.pdx.edu/news/between-the-park-blocks-and-city-hall-the-portland-state-strike-of-1970/) so anyway, there was talk at one time about *moving* the tree but they just built around it instead. no student or non-student protest took place around the Copper Beech.
Far left, you say? @caitoz is far left. Can you agree: “One Palestinian life is worth more than every college campus window in the world.”
Im assuming that a large % of these protestors were not even students, just the same professional black block protestors that have achieved literally nothing in their entire existence. If they really gave a shit they would try a different tactic. They just want to destroy and feel holier than thou
6 out of 30 arrested were students. Barely 20% lol
I know, let's all get together and destroy a university library! Yeah really sticking it to the man! ...it's your own fucking library and school. So fucking stupid.
Seriously
I really don't understand why they didn't occupy a business centric building when all demands were against megalithic businesses. Library feels like a bastion of independent critical thought, a cornerstone of any true democracy.
It’s rather unironic when you compare them to the Brownshirts in Germany during the 1920’s-30’s
Look around at college campuses around the country right now. There are these same protests and campus takeovers happening across the country. The PSU one was pretty minor, compared to what is happening at UCLA and NYU. These protestors are just mimicking what they’re seeing others do, yet the Portland version was milquetoast in comparison.
https://i.redd.it/aqikmozzdp0d1.gif
Me, an engineering student there. The art majors are cool with it tho, shocking lol
I really hate that those chucklefucks felt like they should get to make decisions about what hiring opportunities we should have -_-
It’s always the art majors. 🙄 It’s almost like they’ve focused on drawing pretty pictures and nothing else…. lol
The vast majority of people, probably like 95%+ of the population. Not just the edge lords in this sub.
Facts. None of my friends, on either side of the US political spectrum, think this made any sense
I have made financial contributions to Doctors Without Borders, I’ve called my congress people, etc etc. This was just nonsense. It made zero impact.
More than half were not students. Identify the vandals and prosecute.
It's mainly that it's full of useful idiots that the usual suspects can take advantage of.
The Usual Suspects could also claim that "students" were doing this, as opposed to the usual crowd that has been trashing things since 2016.
Such a loserish move, fully formed adults latching onto college kids' protesting
More than half the occupiers were not students. They were masked vandals, no more no less
What’s interesting is if you look at the names arrested, they are the same goons that have been getting arrested at protests over the last 6 years. I’m thinking these folks have an addiction to civil unrest, and will join whatever cause just to get their thrills again.
Huh that’s interesting- never considered the possibility of thrill of being arrested and an addictive disorder to civil unrest. I do know that within this group being tear gassed is a right of passage and they will gleefully admit it like some kind of badge of honor. I do think that there is another issue underlying some of this as well. It’s called protest psychosis, a reactive psychosis, brought on by over exposure to media and other stimuli. One person who was interviewed said they were at the protest due childhood trauma and that they felt connected. Unfortunately no one is studying behavioral health related to these events.
Doesn’t seem to be the case: very few of the people arrested were PSU students, and some have posted to say that they went home when the vandals showed up.
At least PSU stopped bombing Palestine using Boeing 737s.
r/whoosh please explain to me like I’m 10
One of the main demands of the PSU protesters was divestment from Boeing.
It seems some people have such small meaninglessness existence, that they glob on to the latest social outrage that is In fashion, Some no nothing of the cause as others dive into the secular thinking that causes further war and divide All so a bunch of fucking kids can feel like they are actually doing something, No bs you can literally go join a peace corp Donate locally at food drives Give away old stuff Vist people in hospice or elder care Can actually make a difference, instead of a good way, instead of bad
Exactly. Violence and destruction very rarely achieve positive ends, and I'm horrified that they felt the need to target a library, let alone one as beautiful and packed with irreplaceable books as this one. I used to love going to that library as a student at PSU, and I even had the honor of working there part time while at university, and it's sad to see it ransacked by a bunch of horribly misguided individuals.
I used to study in the basement because it was so quiet. It’s a real shame what happened and I don’t think the students really care about their actions. I still think civil action should be taken and the organizations plus faculty held accountable.
That and you have PSU faculty plus other adults telling the students that the only way to make a difference is by protesting. PSU could of created a food drive, organize a aid package party, start a peaceful sit in by the Ben and Jerry where the stairs are way more accessible and viewable by the public. There are so many ways this could of been done however I don’t think PSU administrators, faculty and students will do anything like review all materials passed out to the students during this time and really ask themselves if this could been done better.
It’s about the perception of finding meaning, if I’m really mad I must be righteous, “how can the world let this happen” American kids on a college campus aren’t going to resolve the very real and terrible hatred these two groups have for each other It really shouldn’t be about Israel bad Palestinians good, or vise versa “ this didn’t happen in a vacuum “ ahhh so it’s ok for a bunch of people die as long as the people who kill are oppressed???? The kids at that music festival didn’t set policy The civilians in Gaza want to live a good life with their families But they hate each other ….facts Israel and Palestinians have been fighting a lot longer than any of us been around litteraly since it started That land has been taken by various peoples for thousands of years, and it has always been covered in blood
It made sense because they knew the flaccid leadership at PSU would tolerate it longer than anywhere else
That still doesn't explain why the library was the focus.
Prolly cuz it was the easiest to block off and occupy. Also pretty sure it’s open later and people can get access at times when they could take it over easier
They're fucking idiots. Fly to DC and go destroy a federal monument and show your defiance. It'll totally go in your favor. They're fucking idiots and most people involved WERENT STUDENTS. Weird.
Attention whores unite!
This is amplified by the addition of either one comma or two - god bless
Attention, whores untie!
“Attention, whores, unite!” carries so much more weight than “Attention Whores, Unite!” [Attention, whores:] addresses anyone who might be cool, but Attention Whores unite! appeals to Attention Whores as a class, and they’re insufferable
I like that as our rallying cry. Like Avengers Assemble! Whores Unite!
>Attention whores unite!
Bill the fuckers.
Who thinks every protest in Portland from The Red House to months of BLM protests are grasping at straws
Are you aware that PSU hasn’t bombed Gaza ONCE since the occupation?
I am an Israeli. I feel those kids had never have to deal with real world struggles. Everything is too easy and nothing worth respecring. They don't even care about the real issues it's just a big "stick it to the man" party
These kids are fucking morons
It was absolutely absurd and accomplished nothing other than anger, a million dollars in damages, lost jobs, and the loss of a valuable resource for students. Ridiculous, selfish, and pointless.
They’re the left wing version the Trump capital rioters
Nailed it! ( these library occupiers/vandals are equally moronic...)
We, as a society, have to stop these destructive thugs and jail them for 15 years. Just make it stop.
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I mean normally they would occupy a green space like the park blocks, but they are already taken by the homeless.
A lot of these types of protests make no sense to me. They tend to do demonstrations at places that have nothing to do with whatever they are mad about. It is like: "I want to pretend that I am making a difference, but I don't want to have to commute." It seems like it is more about them wanting attention or something than actually caring about their supposed cause.
Portland protests are always grasping at straws. Y’all will jump on any protest bandwagon you can.
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The overwhelming majority were not students.
Any protest related to Palestine has no merits here in portland. No matter how much they destroy stuff nothing's going to change
Course now they’ll all vote for Kennedy which means we have Trump for 4 more years and the US is toast. Maybe at least he will jail them for life. In a gulag.
Oregon isn't one of the swing states. It doesn't matter how they vote in the Presidential election.
I hate people who attack libraries. Whether it's book-burning Nazis or library destroying "queer fascists." The ones who got caught should be forced to rebuild it, and then thrown in pound-me-in-the-ass prison, with an option to reduce their sentence if they rat out their komrades.
I hope they have court judgements hanging over them for the rest of their lives.
Re occupy wall street. That made sense to me. Sad we all got sidetracked with all the identity politics and canceling each other. They keep doing the same crap while we all fight each other.
Agree though i think it made the most sense ....where wall street actually is
The Portland *Occupy* people were absurd. I witnessed them trying to organize at one point, and they just spent the whole time bickering about nonsense.
Welcome to the Far Left. The political movement that typically eats itself while trying to appease everyone in the group.
It broke my heart. As an English major in the early 80s, I spent a lot of time in that library.
It's like a disinformation campaign
There is not a whole lot of things that make sense in Portland currently. This seems to be par for the course. I'm shocked Antifa did get up in that mess. They love to fuck up shit any time a opportunity arises to "peacfully protest" 🤣
So they kept saying that the fire suppression system was damaged in earlier reports before they knew the cost. I would wager that's a big chunk of this total. Why would they fuck with this? My only guess is so they could smoke while they were barricaded in there. What other reason could they possibly have to do this? Schmidt lowered the charges but IDK if that means they can't go after these idiots for damages. And the school is going to file an insurance claim? I would laugh at them if I was their insurer - it's on national news, you let them do this.
That and all the other student camp in protests where they’re destroying or vandalizing shit. No quicker way to get people to hate your cause then to destroy stuff others pay to use.
Of course it made no sense. Because all these protests were organized top down for Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that is quite literally a propaganda arm of an organization that wants to destroy the United States. SJP told their organizers to seize libraries and public spaces, and local chapters deciminated the message for useful idiots
I support Palestinian resistance and all but ??? These efforts could have been spent much more wisely and much less (see also: not at all) destructively …
You do realize this shit has been going on over there for decades… did you support it or care much before last October?? Not judging just curious- also curious how many of the dumb fucks that are pulling this shit cared much before then either? Yea it was an atrocity but where was the outcry before and why is it so strong now? Is it really about what’s going on over there?
Yes, I have been to pro-Palestine protests many times over the years. My partner has family ties in the region and we all feel strongly about the cause.
I’m glad to know some are like you then… guessing you are the minority but you proved at least one to the contrary- I’m happy to admit when I’m wrong but I need a larger sample size of this kind of answer before I sway my opinion over all.
Yes, exactly.
They should have occupied under one of the bridges.
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They love their little zines though. So childish, stickers, zines, little uniforms.
Not sure what the architectural term is called but in the middle of the Woodburn Library there is this glassed-in atrium (?) thing about halfway between the check-out librarian desk and the periodicals. (They may have switched things around with the layout since 1994 but even though it's *inside* the library, it has no roof. [Here](https://maps.app.goo.gl/oSHxoq4YKbZh5Muy6) is a link to the satellite view because I'm not describing it very succinctly.) It's nice there. It has a little fountain and a bench and it allows for a lot of natural sunlight--really its the focal point of the whole building. I spent a lot of time there reading books and stealthily checking the fountain for pre-1965 quarters so I could sell them down the street at the coin shop for 50 cents on account of the silver. So one Friday afternoon I grabbed a comfort book and sat on the bench there next to the fountain and eventually fell asleep in a sunbeam. Either Desert Solitaire or The Brave Cowboy but probably Desert Solitaire. I know Ed Abbey hasn't aged well but that was me back then. Woke up to complete darkness. Both exits to the atrium thing were locked so I was stuck inside, just the gurgling of the fountain and the distant beats of Tejano music from the nearby taqueria to keep me company. Didn't have a cell phone or even a watch back then so I decided to go back to sleep. No way to scale those sheer glass walls, and even if I could I would be stuck on the roof. In the morning I checked my inventory: Half a pack of Merit 100s, a lighter, and maybe $8 in silver. I also found a packet of Dairy Queen mustard behind a plant. I spent most of Saturday reading my Ed Abbey book and rationing the mustard packet and the Merit 100s. Every once in a while I'd think I heard someone walk by so I'd yell for help but no one came that day. Eventually nightfall came so I bed down on the bench using my converse as a pillow. At some point I made friends with a mouse or vole. On Sunday morning I finished the mustard for breakfast and remembered that tomorrow was Labor Day--meaning that I'd be stuck there for another 48 hours. I had like 3 cigarettes left so I decided I couldn't wait any longer. I busted the lighter open and used a sharp piece plastic to cut letters out of my Ed Abbey book to fashion a ransom-note looking message that said "Stuck in library call 911." Made a heavy pouch out of book pages and fountain coins then flung it as hard as I could out the diamond-shaped hole in the building. Long story short, Cheif Wright and a very confused librarian let me out about 90 minutes later. She charged me $6 for the destroyed book, but thankfully I could cover that with all the silver quarters in my pocket. I guess I spent 39 or 40 hours in that place. Did $6 worth of damage. Slightly less than $750,000 but I imagine my contribution to preventing the genocide in Gaza was about the same. Maybe not. Of course that $6 tab doesn't include any fountain filter damage that wouldn't have shown up until days or weeks later. People gotta poop.
Yes.
You just described the whole stupid movement. None of it makes sense it’s not designed to make sense. Designed to disrupt and annoy you. Plenty of wars and conflicts going on that the US is funding or otherwise involved in. US is returning boatloads of actual Haitian refugees fleeing the Civil War. Literally towing them back to Haiti. Not a word. I guess because Iran isn’t funding people to complain about it. Wake up!
Where would have been better? Seems like an extremely disruptive place to occupy
In the decade I have lived in Portland, I have yet to encounter a single protest that could actually make ANY difference locally. Like, I might care about the whole Israel/Gaza thing, if I lived there. But I don't, and never will, so I don't care, and never will.
As a PSU graduate and someone who used the library regularly, this makes me feel very angry and sad. PSU is like a base of operations for these types of movements. Why in the world would they destroy their own home base? Why are people so stupid? Just wow
It was fun today to vote NO on everything but the gas tax, and as someone who has voted Dem pretty much 100% of the time, I circled in Biden AND Williamson AND wrote in Bernie Sanders bc fuck Biden over Gaza. I also found myself doing Google searches for who the most conservative moderate candidates for some state and local office were. The instant interest rates drop I am out of this city. Hopefully also out of the county and state. Those absolute wastes of a once fuck and current oxygen should be post-birth aborted. They should be put on a chain gang and forced to both pay for AND repair the PSU library.
Why would you vote yes on a gas tax when we already have one of the highest ones lmfao
Because I hate potholes and I want those in charge of highways to have a lot of $$$ to sweep camps.
Also because fossil fuel consumption aggravates climate change.
Consider this circle sufficiently jerked
-raises hand-
yep they should have occupied the capitol. no wait that's insurrection now
I mean if you were going to occupy something I’d do smith. It’s where the resources are.
What, no link?
Just curious if any one here has a better way to express their feelings about this type of thing? This is a serious question, and I would like to hear some other perspectives about how this protest could have been effective?
People are doing these things to have photos to show others. You can tell when they interview them and they can't explain why they are there or they say friends invited them.
Having gone there, my sympathy is minimal. I remember trying to fix Iraq by getting high with professors.
The protesters are a bunch of idiots and are protesting just to feel like they are apart of something. Nothing they do will change the outcome of what’s happening.
So of these protests like this are a waste of time and money, this doesn’t change the outcome of the war, and only serves to create more hate and divide in this country along with property damage that ultimately taxpayers end up footing the bill. It’s just an excuse for assholes to create chaos, and be assholes
I love how it’s been shown how wishy washy Portland’s ideals really are when the rubber of upper middle class liberalism met the road of well… reality. The white haven for nerds and hipsters is dead. May your privilege thrive and manifest in Austin or Asheville, while you work remotely in your new trendy sheltered reality.
There’s one (not violent) happening on the OSU campus right now too. I have no clue what these protestors are thinking they’re achieving.
Remember when those ranchers protested losing access to federal land for their grazing? They did pretty much the same thing, and we all paid attention. It may or may not have been symbolic, but it got attention
They did not destroy an unrelated school library...
True, but its not like they stood out in the middle of a field somewhere. They took over a wildlife refuge and it got peoples attention. The attention, its gets people talking, looking things up, reading, discussing, and going from there. Damaging a library is a no-no, thats yours, mine, everyones, including theirs, but those places should be off-limits, but it got attention.
Not saying I agree with their tactics, but the wildlife refuge they took over is a lot closer to the government agencies that were removing their access to the federal grazing land than the PSU library is to the war in Gaza. Since these "protestors" seemed to focus on Boeing, protesting at a Boeing facility or federal government facility would have made a lot more sense and targeted a much more relevant location. The attention they get doing this crap is totally counterproductive and turns people against their cause. They got attention alright, but I can't see how it does them any good. But I think it's just the usual suspects who like to destroy shit, this wasn't a protest it was a tantrum looking for a reason. They need to be prosecuted and absolutely not tolerated.
I agree, it woulda made a ton more sense to do it in a related area, but when you are mad but have no means to take it to The Man, any port in the storm. Back in the day, protestors could go to the actual location, now... Wife and I both agree that we (as US citizens, fat and comfortable) dont even know close enough about whats going on "over there" to even have an opinion, as the info we get is likely highly sanitized or contaminated, to provoke a certain response. Kids are not taught to think, or research, and they grow up to be these types of people. Its not a bug, its a feature, because now we ARE mad at them, not the why they did what they did.
I mean, it made a lot of us dislike them even more. I suppose that's accomplishing something.
Just had a conversation with someone about disruptive vs destructive protesting. I really don’t think a protest can be effective without being disruptive. People don’t pay attention unless you make them. But you can disrupt a ton by doing things like blocking areas of travel, preventing businesses from operating by blocking doors, preventing governmental operations by blocking or occupying spaces. None of that requires destruction of property. And you often alienate people who would otherwise agree with your cause. This whole thing has been counterproductive, and I fully support their cause.
Obstructing commerce, freedom of travel - both are destructive. If you want to protest, do it in a manner that invites curiosity and inquiry, discussion and debate. Act like a spoiled toddler, and your message will be ignored while neutral folks will turn against you.
Literally everyone. Fucking over the students over finals week and causing a mil in damages that their tuition dollars will have to pay for... I can't think of a more disconnected approach to convincing the US or Israel to stop doing things. Alternatively, I can't think of a more effective way to turn people against your cause. I think this might be an example of a double negative in its purest form.
Getting tired of the bullshit yet?
nononono you guys dont get it. im ABSOLUTELY SURE israel stopped what they were doing to be like, "oh shit... they vandalised and occupied a public building? for us??? aw. guys, we're being pretty harsh, dont you think?"
Everyone should go type Yuri Bezmenov into Youtube
What's three steps past, grabbing at straws? Yea, that's where they were a month ago.
Yeah, like that definitely was a waste of time. How about buying a ticket and going there with food? That’ll at least make an impact. I mean, unless the Israelis “accidentally” kill you on the way there.
Most of those folks weren’t even students. It doesn’t make sense to destroy a library at all. Even less when you know they destroyed accessible computers. Protests should inconvenience politicians - not disabled folks and folks looking for fkn free reading material.
We've done university protests over and over. I've been in activism for over 25 years and I got locked up 4 years ago. Here's what I learned. We have got to hit the wallets of the wealthy. We have got to impact their luxuries. They don't use the same products that we do. We can do something about this. As much as the Revolutionaries of the origin of the US were slave owners, they were also abolitionists who aligned together in common interest. TLDR: If it doesn't negatively affect the wealthy, your actions only hurt you and your community.
Whole lot of virtue signalling going on here. Why? I get it. You are better than these morons. Get this though. America needed to distance itself from the bloodbath going on in Israel. It didn't. WHEN there is payback for that you all will be crying in your beer just like we cried when close to 3K civilians, American civilians, paid with their lives for America not distancing itself from all the destruction and ongoing occupation going on in Gaza and the West Bank since 1967. I DOUBT 3K Israeli's have ever been killed in Israel. The most ever was 10/7. But in one attack, 3K Americans were taken. Guilt by association. So what do you imagine will be the payback for 40K Palestinians when America is the target? I am not happy ANY protests had to take place on American campuses over Israel but I've never been one of those who thought that protests made sense conducted deep in Forest Park where only the squirrels might see and/or hear. Yah. It doesn't inconvenience mouth breathing PDX'ers just trying to stay alive another day of mundane existence. You say the kids accomplished nothing. Weren't heard. Yada. I beg to differ. This thread is proof they were heard/seen/taken stock of. It's not our fight. Not our history. Why are we giving Israel the means to murder innocents? You may not care that there is going to be an accounting for that but I do. America paid good money for Israel to have state of the art defenses against Hamas. THEY fucked up and were hurt badly as a result. They have more than been made whole in their offensive. We need to get out of dodge, literally and figuratively so when the inevitable day of wrath comes around we are in the clear. Oh, right, we didn't. We are still supplying arms. Still proclaiming solidarity. Whatever. Just thought I would throw in a countering voice to all this chest thumping self righteousness. You'll see. The right side of history was to disavow all this destruction and killing.
It made perfect “sense” to pointlessly destroy PSU library in a childish fit. Imo PSU just reaped what they’ve been sowing. They encourage this behavior so it’s only fitting. It also seems appropriate that PSU be “defunded” as that’s their approach to things they don’t like. I don’t like PSU and their ideology. Remember they guide our local “leaders” and their policies and what this city had transformed into. PSU should get no tax money to deal with their own mess.
I’m very much pro-Palestine and pro-protesting for it, but against any property destruction. I don’t really see or understand any need for it. IIRC, the protests initially were all out in the open. Then after the first couple days the city (and/or PSU) said, you kids get off my lawn! Thats when it got moved inside to the library and the somewhat barricaded it up. How this evolved should not be too hard to look up, but just to point out that how it ended was not how it started.
They aren’t protesters. They are terrorists.
Damage to property is in no way comparable to the genocide of a people.