Posts published in “Uncategorized”

Olympia YWCA This year’s Racial Justice Summit presents the theme of Anti-Racist Accountability as  continuation of last year’s subject of Intent vs Impact. YWCA Olympia works to recognize and raise up the voices and experiences of People of Color in our community who are continually harmed by systematic and organizational…

Gary Murrell Radicalism isn’t a concept that many readers of Works in Progress call to mind when thinking (if they ever do think) about Grays Harbor. Ocean, yes; oysters and crab, yes; salmon, undoubtedly. Radicalism? Not so much. Radicals in Grays Harbor often looked on in envy at Olympia’s activism,…

Dylan Brooks [Ed note.  This was one of several talks given at a gathering to celebrate International Workers’ Day at Sylvester Park.  On hand with information and activities were folks from the Just Housing, Green Party, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, several interactions of socialists, along with organizers from the…

The Months of Labor—June Eugene V. Debs, Labor leader Presidential Candidate and Prisoner #9653 My parents emigrated to the US and started a grocery in Terre Haute, Indiana where I was raised.  I organized the American Railway Workers Union in 1894. Eventually I embraced socialism, and ran in five presidential…

The social history of wiretaps David Price In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the American public hastily abandoned a century of fairly consistent opposition to government wiretaps.  Months before the 9/11 attacks, distrust of the FBI was at one of its highest historical levels, as the June 20, 2001 USA…

Hello.  Pizza Milano? —No, sir.  This is Pizza Google. Oh, sorry, I must have the wrong number. —No, this is the number; we acquired Pizza Milano. Ok! Can you take my order? —Yes, of course. The usual? “The usual?” Do you know me? —Yes, we identified you by your telephone…

Living in a society of mass surveillance Enrique Quintero Synchronized vigilante-voyeurism Strange as it may sound, for all practical purposes it could be argued that in contemporary capitalism we exist only as data. It seems all of us have been trans-mutated, turned into commodified digital beings. Yes, our corporeality maintains…

Viviendo en una Sociedad de Vigilancia Masiva Enrique Quintero Voyerismo Vigilante y Sincronizado Por extraño que parezca, pero por fines prácticos podría argumentarse que en el capitalismo contemporáneo solo existimos como datos.  Actualmente parece que todos nosotros hemos sido transmutados y convertidos en seres digitales mercantilizados. Por supuesto, nuestra corporeidad mantiene su materialidad de carne y hueso y continuamos comprando y trabajado; amando…

Andrea Germanos The National Security Agency (NSA) collected over 530 million phone records of Americans in 2017—that’s three times the amount the spy agency sucked up in 2016.  The figures were released Friday in an annual report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). It shows that…

Fr:   The ACLU RE:  Tell Amazon not to sell a mass surveillance system to governments Amazon is offering powerful facial recognition technology to governments. This technology, Rekognition, will enable an unprecedented level of mass surveillance to threaten civil rights and civil liberties, particularly for vulnerable communities. This powerful technology can…

Q. What is a surveillance state? A. A surveillance state is a country where the government and private institutions engage in pervasive surveillance of large numbers of its citizens and visitors. Q. Name the five Most Spied Upon Cities in the world. A. New York and Chicago are among the…

Mary Jo Dolis One Thursday a week or so ago, I was making a pie from the rhubarb that’s having a good year in our back yard, with the radio playing in the background, I realized that the calm and melodious voice I was hearing was Malcolm X.  It was…

Jessica Corbett While the world responds with alarm over President Donald Trump’s spontaneous decision to cancel diplomatic talks with North Korea scheduled for next month—which aimed to ease rising nuclear tensions—131 Democrats in the US House joined with the overwhelming majority of Republicans to pass a $717 billion Pentagon spending…

Ground Zero Forty-two activists celebrated the true meaning of Mother’s Day at the Bangor Trident submarine base by protesting nuclear weapons. Ten activists symbolically closed Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor for about 20 minutes by blocking the road to the Main Gate in a nonviolent direct action on the Saturday before Mothers…

US jets with US bombs dropped by Saudi Arabia and its friends have killed thousands of innocent people in Yemen. In one week in April of this year Saudi jets bombed three civilian groups. On April 23 the Saudi-led coalition bombed a wedding party in an isolated village where families…

 Just Housing The City of Olympia has, over the years, adopted numerous laws that criminalize and ban camping. Combined with the fact that there are over 1000 people without homes, plus a shortage of shelter beds, these laws ensure that hundreds of our neighbors have no legal place to find…

SAT JUNE 30 – A Fundraiser for OFS THE AQUA-NETS 80’s Dance party • Radical Raffles • Photobooth 7:00pm doors / 8:00pm show $20 General Admission + online service fees Tickets available online or at the box office Mezzanine lounge open for 21+ The Olympia Film Society is proud to…

The June 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” examines a proposal for a rapid conversion to a green economy—and rapid progress to full employment and meeting other urgent needs—based on some fresh thinking about economics. This interview can open a lot of people’s eyes to recognize a bold and practical…

Eight hours of work… Everyone was so worn out from commuting, overtime, cell phone calls, flextime schedules that very few had time to write up their experiences! Check out the stories about Amazon, Mother Jones, Wobbly victory at Burgerville…

International Workers Day Celebration May 1, 3-7PM at Sylvester Park Remember past victories and current struggles! Free. Picnic food; speakers from workers’ organizations; music from the Citizens Band. Also a Critical Mass bike ride.  Neighbors for Immigrant Rights March Friday, May 4, 4-7pm, Shelton, WA 4:00 – Gather at Loop…

Want to get your name in the paper? There’s an easy way: contribute to Works in Progress! There’re lots of ways, big or small, we need them all. (Even poetry is welcome, you see.) Since Works in Progress (WIP) is a free, all-volunteer community newspaper with a mission to publish…

Some time around the first of every month, an extraordinary modern-day Pony Express rider named Magsathon drives to a printer in Centralia and picks up 30 bundles of the hot-off-the-presses new Works. It’s kind of an exciting moment. Maggie drops some papers off in Centralia and brings the rest to…

On April 18, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Washington v. United States, which pits the state of Washington against the United States and 21 Indian tribes. The main question in the case is narrow – whether the state must quickly replace hundreds of culverts that allow…

After nearly two years of organizing efforts by the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU), workers at the 92nd Ave Burgerville in Portland, Oregon have voted for representation by the BVWU.  The affirmative vote makes the workers at this Burgerville franchise the first formally recognized fast-food union in the US.  As the…

State appeals court rules valve turners can proceed with necessity defense for pipeline protest In a victory for activists who shut down a tar sands pipeline as part of a multi-state protest in 2016, a Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the “valve turners” can present a defense that their…

“Are you an idealist?  Looking for ‘fulfillment?’”  [Ed note:  The following is not a parody; it’s an actual “help wanted” ad posted by Amazon’s adorably hip HR writers on Idealist.com] You:  Seasonal Sortation Associate  —Delivery Station, Renton WA Things you should know about working in an Amazon Delivery Station:  Safety,…