Portlanders came together on Sunday to ride in solidarity with a cycling team based 7,000 miles away. The Great Ride of Return was organized by Palestinian liberation activists and the new Revolutionary Bicycle Club as part of a global gathering in support of the Gaza Sunbirds Cycling Team.
The Gaza Sunbirds are a para-cycling team that began in 2020 to raise awareness for Palestinians with special needs and to foster a competitive spirit among athletes with disabilities. When Israel attacked Palestine in response to an invasion by Hamas in October 2023, the Sunbirds were thrust into the global spotlight.
A few riders donned Gaza Sunbirds jerseys and jackets on Sunday as about 70 people gathered at Peninsula Park in north Portland before the ride. They shared commemorative spoke cards and heard a few speakers before rolling out. I spoke to one man named Perry as he readied the speaker pulled behind his bike in a cargo trailer.
“I’m here to support the Palestinian people. I think we need to do what we can as humanity to come together and fight for these inhumane practices that are going on,” Perry said. Asked about what cycling had to do with the event, he added, “Pedal power is it’s just the most efficient way of mobilizing, and we don’t have to rely on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are funding this genocide. They’re directly connected with fueling these tanks and aircraft carriers.”
Joel F. was going around and lubing bicycle chains for free. “This is one of the more critical concerns that the world has right now,” he shared with me. “It really is a genocide happening in Palestine and in other parts of the world as well as Sudan and Congo — and we can’t let that happen on our watch, not without being out here and saying, ‘This is not right.'”
I asked a woman who had a “Ceasefire Now” sign on her bike what the Gaza Sunbirds mean to her. “They represent resilience and resistance and riding, enjoyment, and life.”
Another man, who was one of many folks wearing a keffiyeh traditional Arabic headdress, said the Gaza Sunbirds’ resilience, “Is what’s best of humanity.” “And I just love anyone that is willing to get out in the rain and ride and have a common purpose for a better world,” he added.
Right before the group got on their bikes and pedaled out of the park for a short loop around the Piedmont and Arbor Lodge neighborhoods, a speaker encouraged the crowd to fight back against fascism, “before it comes for all of us.” After mentioning the disappearance of Mahmoud Kahlil by the Trump administration, she added, “We all have to fight back and speak up against that every day.”
During the ride, the large group took over the road amid intermittent chants of “Free, free Palestine!” and honks and waves of approval from passersby.
The Revolutionary Bicycle Club plans to support another event this week: On Thursday they’ll bring cyclists and bike-based support to Make Some Noise, a protest against Society Hotel owner Jessie Burke that will be held in Old Town.
Listen to an audio report from the ride and view a full gallery of images below.
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The Shift Calendar announcement for the Thursday masked protest at the Society Hotel, warns that there may be violence and arrests. Apparently the hotel owner improved the property and doesn’t want people sleeping on the sidewalk. That is hardly an infraction in league with Netanyahu, but our cancel culture clique takes any excuse to “protest “
Sigh
Some people always find a cause to be violent or destructive about.
“…warns that there may be violence and arrests” is a pretty dramatic stretch of what the shift listing actually says. But I’m sure you already know that.
For everyone more inclined to meaningful action than to willfully misinterpreting ride descriptions, I hope to see you out there on Thursday with your bells, washboards, maracas, tap dancing shoes, fiddles, electric drills, leaf blowers, and accordions. Or, y’know, just your voice (raise it loud against oppression everywhere).
Both the Shift post and the Revolution Cycling Club post issue that warning. You may claim, or actually be, non violent “good guys “ but by issuing that warning you acknowledge the fact that violent disruptors commonly piggyback onto Portland events to exercise their anarchic destruction. Being in league with violent agitators sort of takes the shine off the “good guy” status
Neither the shift listing nor IG post contain warnings of violent anarchic agitators. For anyone reading this thread, I’d advise you to go read the shift listing yourself.
Honestly curious what Burke has done to warrant such attention. On the Letters for Palestine Insta it said….
“frequently calls the cops on people trying to take care of their community.” and then some people who Burke associates with. Is there anything juicer that you can tell us about what Burke is doing to oppress the people to justify the hearing damaging protest?
Since you’re “honestly curious”, I’m sure you read the Shift posting, which reads:
“Rather than being a good neighbor to mutual aid groups in old town, Jessie Burke has used her connections with cops and conservative politicians (she is the former campaign manager of DA Nathan Vasquez) to try and criminalize their work. She has been calling the cops on people just trying to give out free meals and supplies (which isn’t illegal) while also using her position to influence politics in the interest of her business.” I’m sure you’ll be able to learn more specific info on the ride, which is not likely to damage your hearing (i hope you’re kidding).
Anyway, that shift post is completely unrelated to the article we’re commenting under. Weird, it’s almost as if some people simply can’t help but find a way to whine and complain on here
Hi nubaloo,
I didn’t read the “Shift post” or whatever that is. I just followed the link in the article which took me to Instagram.
So the reason for the protest is she calls the cops on people and tries to influence politics to enrich herself? Well, I certainly hope she’s the only one who does that.
Not really the outrageous crimes that are oppressing people that I was expecting.
What is the article that you are commenting under if not the one that links to Instagram so I don’t have to whine and complain?
As far as the hearing damage, if you don’t think that’s real you might suggest to people who are advertising the event to stop suggesting they bring earplugs and other hearing protection and maybe work yourself on making it more appealing to those on the fence rather than jump to sarcasm.
Maybe the person I asked the question of has better answers than what you’ve provided?
The person you asked the question of would also advise you to read the shift post. If you don’t know what shift is then I’m not entirely sure what you’re doing in the comments section on an article about biking in Portland, and you’re gonna have to do some soul searching to figure that one out for yourself
I ride about 10,000 miles a year for over 20 years in Portland and I have never looked at Shift. Ever.
Why does anyone need to ‘soul search” over not knowing what I presume is Bike fun. I don’t ride for fun or any kind of movement.
I ride for transportation. Go figure that out.
Not many of us left, BB.
I’ve met Jessie a couple of times and have always been impressed by her. She cares deeply about the community.
The hotel is a nice place, and just down the street is the best Moroccan food I’ve had in Portland. The street is sketchy and I hope that it gets the foot traffic the restaurant needs to flourish.
Hi Lisa,
I certainly hope she and her customers handle the coming attack okay. I had quit going to that part of town even before I left although I used to enjoy it a lot in the mid 2000’s. I certainly wish the businesses there the best and that they can bring in more people to rehabilitate the area.
I agree that the hotel is a nice place; I used to live in old town and would go there often for coffee.
Then I heard Burke talking negatively about Sisters of the Road in an interview and I realized that her values don’t align with mine. Sisters of the Road is an important institution that’s been serving people for decades. I grew up in Portland and my parents took me to fundraisers at Sisters of the Road when I was a kid and I the organizers were so kind and clearly cared deeply for humanity.
Organizations like SOTR have been operating in Old Town far longer than Burke has been operating the Society Hotel, and their work is much more valuable on a human level.
Burke’s efforts to criminalize mutual aid in Old Town aren’t going to make Portland a nicer city; they’re just going to push unhoused people into other parts of the city, and take away the resources that they need to survive and get back on their feet.
We need to come together as Portlanders and unite around making more affordable housing and social programs to help the elderly, disabled folks, and lgbtq youth (these groups are most likely to become unhoused), rather than treating them like a problem that can be criminalized and swept away, as Burke seems to want.
Is that the reason for the event that I can’t even call a protest? You don’t like her kind? She isn’t the type of person that you want in Portland? This is your reason to subject the whole area (possibly) to an aural assault that’s hoped to be so loud you’ve planned to give hearing protection to the houseless? On the RBC IG there are concerns about triggering those with PTSD and running off the animals of the houseless due to the noise. all this because of the reason you just gave. Because your well off parents brought you to fundraisers from a group that Burke doesn’t like as much as you.
This is close to literally insane. Please someone tell me there is another reason for all this.
I grew up on food stamps. You’re really grasping at straws in your efforts to discredit this protest.
With the new information being put out by NWExaminer explaining why you have been so vague on the root causes of the upcoming event, can it even be called a protest anymore? It simply seems like an organized assault.
But attitudes like yours lead to the vandalism and violence that did occur at Society Hotel. And we wonder why good people and businesses are fleeing Portland….
https://www.wweek.com/news/2025/03/28/two-people-arrested-after-allegedly-vandalizing-and-trying-to-break-into-the-society-hotel-in-old-town/
It went down even worse than I was expecting. Maybe JM will do a follow up article as well since the event was advertised on BP?
Since that group celebrates and encourages the continuing violence in the ME it is was expected they would delight in causing violence here. Well, expected by those who see them as what they are and not what they pretend to be.
There has to be more to this story.
Here’s a response from Jessie Burke I saw in the NW Examiner Substack post:
Mayor Wilson, Chief Day, Council President Pirtle-Guiney and Councilors Clark, Green and Zimmerman,
I’m writing to get everyone on the same page about what is happening in Old Town.
I chair the Old Town Community Association, and I own The Society Hotel. The OTCA is a joint neighborhood and business association, representing residents, businesses, nonprofits, cultural and educational institutions. In short, we represent every constituency in Old Town. Over the last few months, I have been getting calls from Lan Su Gardens about NW Flanders being taken over with tent, and making it impassable to vehicle traffic. Over time, residents started to notice and get upset, feeling once again Old Town was getting treated as the neighborhood where no rules apply.
We checked with the Portland Bureau of Transporation and no permits were obtained to close the streets (we also know we would get a notice if there were to be a street closure).
A resident went over and asked the group in November of 2024 if they had a permit to close the street, and he was told to “go home you f*$king NIMBY as*$%le.” That same person told them they were coming every Thursday and Sunday. Attached is a picture of NW Flanders on just one of the nights of these street takeovers. The other photos are when they moved into a Prosper Portland owned parking lot without permission, and none of the Blanchet House staff or volunteers could get their cars out.
Law enforcement first went to talk to them in the fall of 2024, and determined the group was going to be aggressive with any sort of enforcement. Residents and the cultural institutions continued to complain about this group, and the lawlessness that continued to perpetuate in Old Town, even with organized groups, and so last week law enforcement attempted to address the issue of no permits. At one point, the masked mob latched onto one of the female officers, found her information online and doxxed her, even posting the names of her children and their school, writing “I hope they will be safe tomorrow.”
This week, we as a community wanted to show up and show our support for law and order, and asked the group ourselves to get permits if they are going to close off access to our streets and sidewalks. We were met with screaming slurs, calling us “racists,” and asking if we had even “paid reparations.” Our message was consistent and clear — we just want the rule of law to be consistently abided by and enforced. They asked why we called the cops, and I told them, “We didn’t – the police are the only enforcement arm for unpermitted street and sidewalk closures.” Their message was that we are racist NIMBYs
At one point one of the people from the group went to Dan Lenzen’s business, Dixie Tavern, and threatened to shoot up the entire place:
I am now dealing with a barrage of 1-star reviews on my business page of people calling me a racist who doesn’t care about our homeless community. The resident community that showed up were elderly, all in their 60s and 70s, several were disabled, and the same vitriol and disrespect was spit in their faces as well. But I will say not a single person from the Old Town community was rude, cruel or inappropriate. I was there the entire time. You can watch videos attached from the evening. Tell me how you would feel if this happened to you in your neighborhood?
The baseline behavior of this group is just shy of domestic terrorism. I’m disappointed that this group is being treated with any sort of credibility, when every community they show up in (they are also terrorizing Lair Hill), the community is raising the alarm bells at their behavior and treatment of the community, and the mess that is left behind when they leave. When law abiding, civil citizens are being treated as equally credible as an organization and people who will gladly threaten the lives of children, call the elderly slurs, and threaten to shoot up small businesses, all so they can continue to flout the law, and be disrespectful to the community of which they are visitors, we have lost the thread, and that is why Portlanders are leaving in droves. And I have to say, as someone that has fought incredibly hard to save this city, I’m about to my breaking point.
I will remind our elected officials on this thread that our form of government has changed — the administrative and operational work of our City is now directed by the Mayor and City Administrator. The work of City Councilors in a representative government is to represent the interests of the people in your district. Not one of these individuals is from District 4 — but all of us that showed up yesterday live and/or work in District 4. We expect our representatives to stand up for what we are asking and legislate accordingly. We are past the time of competing ideologies. Please listen to what your constituents are saying.
We did not just invent cities, but we act like no rule of law exists, or that every law we enforce is somehow political, and so we consider if we will do it. This inconsistency has created two classes of citizens, where all rules are enforced for the civil, and rules do not apply if you are uncivilized — simply call anyone a racist… that’s all it takes to put leadership on its heels. For too long we have let childish behavior run the city. It is time for this to stop.
Jessie Burke
Chair, Old Town Community Association
https://nwexaminer.com/
Funny, I’ve talked to the aid workers who’ve been targeted by Jessie and their version of the story is quite different.
Who should we believe? The folks out there doing a service to humanity, or the woman who does sketchy things like using her position to funnel 40k of City money to her husband’s business? She also campaigned for Rene Gonzalez, who you may recall was caught up in a scandal re: using taxpayer money to remove things from his Wikipedia page. Birds of a feather flock together, I guess.
I know who I’M more inclined to trust.
from the listing: “All protests carry some risk of arrest/police violence”. You’re being a bit dramatic, no? Maybe try some deep breathing exercises.
Your post is a great example of how “cancel culture” nowadays usually means, simply, “people getting mad about something i don’t care about”.
I am not naive regarding violence in Portland. Agitators commit crimes, including property damage and their theatrical disruptions add to Portland’s reputation as an unsafe city. I very much care about this issue.
that’s not what i meant and i think you know that. you don’t care about the issue being protested, so you will find whatever justification to complain about said protest. this reactionary concern trolling is a very old song and dance. have a nice day, it’s beautiful out!
“Concern trolling “, is that the opposite but equivalent posturing as virtue signaling? Asking for a friend.
From the vitriol directed at Burke and the doxing and threats of gun violence to which lawful citizens are experiencing, as Angus Peters, NWExaminer post reveal, my concern about this “protest” being a vehicle for violence and cancel culture appears to be grossly understated.
Yep and according to Max Steele, Portland’s Palestine protestors are going to Jessie Burke’s business today to cause a disturbance….the Society Hotel. Why pick on a Jewish owned business? I think we should all support this local business in a troubled neighborhood by going and having a drink there.
https://substack.com/@coachmaxsteele/note/c-103917995?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=12nari
“Fossil fuels are funding this genocide. They’re directly connected with fueling these tanks and aircraft carriers.”
Israel doesn’t have aircraft carriers.
Good ol’ Portland.
There was a big city out here (Charlotte NC) that at one point required unisex toilets at all businesses. It was so controversial in this really conservative state that our state legislature then required his and her restrooms statewide, and so the city started to lose people. Then the pandemic hit and nearly every business nationwide started converting to unisex toilets for social distance purposes, and now the city is booming again.
I think it was the former Yankees manager Yogi Berra who said that any bad publicity is good publicity. This is as true about cities as it is about people. As long as Portland keeps being controversial it will attract visitors and new residents.
That’s not what the data shows….and are the few coming the type you want to make a city prosper? It seems those paying the bills are leaving.
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2024/08/affluent-people-lead-the-way-among-those-leaving-multnomah-county.html