This Week with David Rovics

Fifth Estate Live with Fran Shor, author of Passages of Rebellion

We spend the hour with professor Fran Shor, whose debut novel, Passages of Rebellion, which mostly takes place in Minneapolis between 1967-70, is out now.

The Sweeps Stop Here?

As the housing crisis continues to worsen, an especially intersectional solidarity initiative appears to be taking shape at Laurelhurst Park in Portland, Oregon.  You can find this in podcast form by looking for This Week with David Rovics, or in print form in Counterpunch on Tuesday.

"It's Been A Year" (punk rock Virtual Bird rendition)

A song written on the Covid-19 one-year anniversary, this rendition is all Virtual Bird, vocals and music.  There are other versions out there, including a solo guitar one, and one where Virtual Bird plays the music and I sing.  But this version is my favorite.

Discussion with Ahjamu Umi, author/organizer

We spend the hour with long-time organizer, Ahjamu Umi, talking about his insight-filled new book on how to be an effective organizer, out now in paperback and ebook forms -- A Guide for Organizing Defense against White Supremacist, Patriarchal, and Fascist Violence.

Fifth Estate Live with Keith McHenry and Defense Fund PDX

We spend the hour with Food Not Bombs cofounder, Keith McHenry, remotely joining me and folks from Defense Fund PDX here in Laurelhurst Park, which has become a focal point in the movement in Portland to stop the sweeps of tent encampments, and treat the housing crisis like the crisis that it is.

New song: "In the Hills of Forest Grove"

How would you feel if an angry man, clearly motivated by antipathy towards your Black Lives Matter signs, came in the middle of the night, hitting your car, smashing things on your porch, yelling provocatively, banging on your locked front door, for seven minutes? How would you feel if you then found out this man was an off-duty cop, whose department wanted to pretend nothing happened? This is a true story from last October in the sleepy Portland suburb of Forest Grove, which has resurfaced in the news locally because it's not the only incident of police misconduct there, and the people want accountability.

This is another collaboration between me (lyrics) and the brilliant Olympia-based punk folk outfit, Virtual Bird (music).

New song: "Dying on the Sidewalk"

Over 100 people died on the sidewalks of Portland in 2019. Who knows how many died last year. They just renewed their declaration of a housing crisis here -- what they mean by that, who knows, as their deadly "sweeps" continue unabated.

This track is another collaboration between me and Virtual Bird.

Stop The Sweeps PRESS CONFERENCE

Pretty much bumper-to-bumper coverage of today's press conference in Laurelhurst Park against the ongoing sweeps of houseless communities that are happening across this city constantly, successful resistance against which is currently ongoing at Laurelhurst Park, if not at the many other locations currently under this form of assault.

Flashpoints

Food Not Bombs cofounder Keith McHenry and I were on the radio show, Flashpoints, on KPFA last Friday, talking about stopping the sweeps of tent encampments across the country, police torture, and other subjects.  Here's the show, archived for posterity.

New song: "There Is A Cage"

My friend Keith McHenry is one of many people around the world who has been held in a cage like the one he drew, of the secret black site where the San Francisco police tortures their prisoners, in such a way that leaves no mark.  They kept him in there for days on end, on multiple occasions.

I wrote the lyrics, and the brilliant Olympia folk punk phenomenon known as Virtual Bird set it to music, and that's Jane Reynolds delivering the vocals.

The song goes out to all the victims of torture, everywhere, who have been held in such cages.