Riverfront Research Park Protest 08/21/2000
Hi All,
A week ago, Jay and Jim started seeing flyers around campus for a
protest of the Riverfront Research Park, the high-tech incubator for the
University of Oregon to foster new businesses. It's also where their small
company (Livingnetworks) has it's office. There are historical reasons why the
RRP might be protested, but this time it looked like the issues were:
- corporate involvement in the University
- shared governance
Now, clearly, it was specifically Jay's company that was being
protested. All the other tenants are either spillover from University
departments, other "pure research" groups, or going out of business.
This theory was weakened a bit by the discovery that the protest was to
be run as part of the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) conference,
held on the U of O campus this year. The USAS is mainly concerned with overseas
working conditions for textile workers, and small tech company incubators don't
really show up on their radar. Besides, out-of-towners wouldn't realize how
hostile they're supposed to feel/act, or how to turn that hostility toward the
police and property into violence.
Jay ended up working very late Sunday night, so in the interest of
"increasing shareholder value", he reluctantly chose to sleep in (so he could
increase shareholder value later in the day) rather than go to the 9 AM protest
and then be groggy the rest of the day. So it was up to Demaris to catch the
event on, er, data card.
Demaris' report:
I arrived at the scene Monday morning, 8:45 AM, to find...nobody there.
At 8:50, a fleet of seven police officers on bicycles swarmed under the
railroad trestle, looked around, and fanned out through the park and over the
nearby bike bridge. Since this was a student group activity, I figured the main
participants should be about half an hour late; that's about average for the
groups that picket President Frohnmeyer's office...
9 AM. The people are reporter and cameraman from the BBC. They're
disappointed that the protesters aren't punctual. "We talked with them last
night, and they said they would be here!" I shared my theory that they would
meet on campus first, practice some chants, and march down as a group.
Normal bike and foot traffic, and way down there, three local
homeless/professional protesters (two behind a pillar - one visible waaaay back
there). They circled the area on bikes for perhaps ten minutes looking for
folks.
Police presence is spread out and, I think, nonthreatening. Then
again, men in shorts just don't look as threatening as, say, men in long
sleeves on a hot day. (Anarchists seem to always wear long pants and long
sleeves.)
More media, and one U of O representative.
9:30. Three local activists below the underpass, and then this little
cluster. Where is everybody?
The local media shows up and checks in with the police.
Meanwhile, I strike up a conversation with some of the happier-looking
individual protesters. The first guy I talk to has no idea what it's about; he
had arrived from New York and hour ago. The fellow from Wisconsin is there for
the USAS conference and thinks the protest had something to do with the evils
of corporate involvement in education. A local anarchist is happy to talk about
the RRP as a symbol of how decisions regarding public funds are made
without consulting the public, and assures me that he had nothing against the
actual people working there. One of the bike cops sidles up to us to listen in.
"I have to go to these things all the time, I thought I'd try to learn what
it's about." The anarchist was less polite to him.
Jim stops by around 9:45. He fits right in on the protester's side.