About Us
Staff
Board
Advisory Board
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Coalitions & Partner Organizations

John Bellamy Foster

John Bellamy FosterJohn Bellamy Foster is a successful professor of sociology at the University of Oregon since 2000. He graduated from Evergreen State College in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics. Afterwards, he went on to get his PhD from York University in Toronto, Canada. Foster has a wide range of research interests including, but not limited to, ecological and economic crisis, imperialism, and social theory. Additionally, Foster has written several books and articles. Some of his most recent books are The Age of Monopoly Capital: Selected Correspondence of Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy (2017), Marx and the Earth (2016), and The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism (New Edition) (2014). Currently, Professor Foster is also the Editor of Monthly Review.

Acasia Berry

Acasia BerryAcasia Berry has worked to defend the earth and in the non-profit sector for over 30 years in a variety of capacities from frontline civil disobedience to organizational support with fundraising and administration. As an unsuccessful defendant in one of the few successful Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation she is personally very aware of the need for strong defense of civil liberties for those speaking for the earth and putting their bodies on the line. She joined the Advisory Board of CLDC to help ensure we have the funds to defend those brave enough to stand up and be heard.

Graham Clumpner

Graham is an organizer, veteran, writer, and historian who makes his home in the Cascadian mountain region. His masters degree was in climate change and militarism. He loves cats and spending time in the woods when not during wildfire season. He works with the climate group the Mosquito Fleet.

scott crow

scott crowscott crow is an international speaker, author and storyteller. For three decades he has engaged his varied life as a political organizer and educator, coop business founder and co-owner, filmmaker, and musician who is a proponent of the ideas and practices of anarchy. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy and the Common Ground Collective, and Emergency Hearts, Molotov Dreams: A scott crow Reader. He contributed to the seminal books Grabbing Back: Essays Against the Global Land Grab, Witness To Betrayal, Black Bloc Papers and What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, and the State of the Nation. He has appeared frequently in international media as subject and commentator including the New York Times, Democracy Now, CNN, NPR, RT News, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Der Spiegel and Vice as well as in the political documentaries and Informant, Better this World, One Nation Under the Gun, and Welcome to New Orleans. He was the co-producer of the documentary film Angola 3: Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation. For over a decade scott was targeted for surveillance by the FBI as an alleged domestic terrorist threat for political activities without charges being brought. The New York Times characterized him as “anarchist, veteran organizer and an aficionado of civil disobedience”, the FBI noted in a memo “…crow is a puppet master involved in direct action. “ and NPR’s This American Life called him “a living legend among anarchists”none of which he believes. He can be found at www.scottcrow.org

Michele Gretes

Michele GretesMichele wants reasonably good digital security culture and resilient communications for those working to preserve ecosystems and liberate human and non-human animals. Through the Digital Security program at CLDC, Michele works to discover and nurture trustworthy technologies and teach activists and attorneys to use them to stay safe and effective. This work dovetails with research and teaching Communications Security for Social Movements at Oregon State University. For some reason, Michele did a PhD and post-doctoral work in molecular biology and tropical medicine. PGP key fingerprint: 6EDE 411C 6A5F DA53 6151 F65A 1EA7 88B2 F721 30CF. If you don’t have it yet, get Michele’s public key here.

Trip Jennings

Trip Jennings is a National Geographic Explorer and filmmaker with a deep passion for protecting and playing in clean water. He can be found producing stories about environmental and social justice issues around the world, often at home in Oregon. “The CLDC is a crucially important organization in the struggle to reshape our culture and society and preserve a livable planet for future generations of all species. Making this change must challenge power and doing that safely and repeatedly is not possible without the support of a group like this one.”

Dan Kruse

KruseDan is an attorney in Eugene, Oregon and a partner in the law firm of O’Brien, Kruse, and Saint Marie, LLC. He specializes in complex criminal defense cases and civil environmental litigation. Dan was on the CLDC board of directors from 2005 to 2013, and has continued to volunteer for CLDC as both an attorney and a general supporter. He is married, has two exhausting children, and enjoys outdoor adventures, music, and trying to play soccer.

Gordon Lafer

LaferGordon is an Associate Professor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center, and a Research Associate with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He has spent the past twenty-five years doing a combination of labor organizing, public policy and economic research work. He has worked with a wide range of unions including farm workers, hotel workers, bus drivers, teachers, nurses, longshore, supermarket and construction workers. Lafer holds a PhD in Political Science and is co-founder of the American Political Science Association’s Labor Project. In 2009-10 he was on leave from the University to serve as Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor.

Kim Marks

Kim MarksKim has her BS in Forest Ecology from The Evergreen State College. She has spent twenty years working in the environmental non-profit sector, alongside groups such as Earth First!, Rising Tide, Cascadia Forest Alliance, and more. Ms. Marks specializes in providing trainings in leadership development, burn-out avoidance, strategic avoidance, strategic planning, consensus, facilitation, project management, and capacity-building skills. She is a former board member of IMPACT Personal Safety, ASJE, NFPA, & Bark. Kim works with indigenous and frontline communities in the United States, Canada, and South America on climate justice issues, fighting the root causes of climate change, and is currently working for GreenPeace as an organizer on the coal export campaign. Kim lives in Portland, Oregon.

Daniel McGowan

McGowanDaniel is a prison abolitionist and works on issues around mass incarceration and political prisoners. He was indicted under the “Operation Backfire” ELF case in 2005 and spent six years in federal prison. For much of that time, Daniel was housed in experimental “Communication Management Units”. In response, he and others sued the Department of Justice in Aref v. Holder. Daniel was also the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary film If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. Currently, he works at a nonprofit organization that focuses on New York State prisons and is enjoying life back in his hometown with friends and family. He is a member of the National Lawyers Guild Political Prisoner Committee and Advisory Board of the NLG Parole Preparation Project.

Richard Monje

As the Vice President of Workers United/SEIU, Richard Monje works to fight the attacks on workers in the Midwest. In this position, he organizes low-wage workers. After being shot by sheriffs following the Chicano Moratorium, Monje’s passion for politics was ignited. Monje is also involved in organizing several groups including Texas Farm Workers, I.B.E.W, Steelworkers, and Workers United. Creating the union’s leadership school, Monje has opened the gateway for members to create political roadmaps for the union. Recently, his interest in immigrant rights has led him to join the “Move to Amend” leadership team.

Jeff Ordower

Bio and photo coming soon

Jonathan Paul

Bio and photo coming soon

Will Potter

PotterWill is an award-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C.He specializes in the animal rights and environmental movements, and civil liberties post-9/11. His work has been featured in the world’s top media outlets, including the Washington Post, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He has testified before the U.S. Congress as the only witness opposing the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and his book, Green Is The New Red, was awarded a Kirkus Star for “remarkable merit.” This year he was selected as a TED Senior Fellow, and also awarded a prestigious Knight-Wallace Fellowship in investigative reporting.

Nadia K. Raza

RazaNadia is an educator, community organizer, and dreamer. She is a doctoral candidate in the Critical Sociocultural Studies Program in the College of Education at the University of Oregon where her research examines the democracy, social welfare, and social justice education. Additionally, Nadia is a Wayne Morse Graduate Research Fellow for 2017. For the past 13 years, Nadia has taught sociology and ethic studies courses at Lane Community College, The University or Oregon, and Humboldt State University. Her teaching areas encompasses, critical race studies, immigration, alternatives to incarceration, and social movements. She serves on the Board of the Aprovecho and is a co-founder of the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival. In addition to her aforementioned service Nadia is the founder of a letter writing project to people incarcerated called “Solidarity Can’t Bear Silence.” Whether in the classroom, in a meeting, or writing letters, Nadia is committed to creating imaginative spaces to build a better world.

Hazel Robin

Hazel is an organizer and educator, currently living in Tucson, AZ. She teaches GED/High School Equivalency classes and organizes around issue of environmental, social, racial and climate justice. She spent many years living in and fighting for the protection of Oregon ecosystems and stays connected to the land, people and social justice organizations of the northwest. Hazel worked with the CLDC’s Next Generation Youth Climate justice Action Camp.

Cathy Sampson Kruse

Bio coming soon

Tony Silvaggio

Tony is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Environment and Community Masters Program at Humboldt State University, where he teaches courses on social movements, community organizing, civil liberties and environmental sociology. He was on the Board of Directors of the Civil Liberties Defense Center from 2007 until 2013, serving as Board President and Treasurer. Tony is a former board member of the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment (2001-2005), Cascadia Wildlands Project (2002-2006), and is currently the Board President of the Environmental Protection Information Center.

Chief Caleen Sisk

Caleen Sisk is the Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, who practice their traditional culture and ceremonies in their territory along the McCloud River watershed in Northern California. Since assuming leadership responsibilities in 2000, Caleen has focused on maintaining the cultural and religious traditions of the Tribe, and has led the revitalization of the Winnemem’s H’up Chonas (or War Dance) and BaLas Chonas (Puberty Ceremony), which had not been practiced for decades. She advocates for California salmon restoration; healthy, undammed watersheds, and the human right to water. She has received international honors as a tireless sacred site protector, and currently leads the tribe’s resistance against the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s proposal to raise Shasta Dam 18-feet and inundate or damage more than 40 sacred sites. Caleen is also a leading voice in raising awareness of the poor human rights conditions suffered by federally unrecognized tribes and unrepresented Indigenous peoples around the world. She is a regular speaker at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York where she has campaigned for the U.N. to study the plight of federally unrecognized tribes in the United States. She is also the Spiritual and Environmental Commissioner for ENLACE Continental, an international network of Indigenous women. Caleen received her B.A. from Chico State University, CA, and received her teaching credential from CSU, Chico.

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