PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Voices for Animals led a local protest against KFC on Saturday as part of an international day of action against the large-scale chicken abuser. The activists, held signs reading "KFC Tortures Chickens" and "Boycott KFC" and were joined by a gigantic "crippled chicken."

The "crippled chicken" represented the plight of so many of the 750 million birds KFC uses each years: genetically engineered to be so top-heavy that they collapse under their own weight. Mother chickens routinely have their beaks seared off, and all are drugged with massive doses of antibiotics to keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them.

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Two community radio stations, one in Knoxville, TN and the second in Santa Cruz, CA have been raided in the last 2 weeks by armed US Marshalls (and/or FBI) and the FCC. Last October, San Francisco Police and the FCC raided a popular Bay Area radio station. Despite the federal government's war on community media, radio activists across the US are operating community stations in open defiance of FCC regulations. The FCC strives to squelch community radio so that the airwaves remain free for media conglomerates like right-wing ClearChannel Communications, which owns 1,250 radio stations (six in Pittsburgh), and Viacom-owned Infinty Broadcasting, which owns 180 stations (four in Pittsburgh).

Also, in Pittsburgh, two broadcasters were shut down in the past week due to FCC intimidation. South Side Radio broadcasting at very low power on 102.9FM, and "WCSA Radio" in Plum, PA (Allegheny County, east of Pittsburgh near Oakmont). Indymedia Rustbelt Radio, our biweekly news program on (licensed) WRCT 88.3FM, will feature reports on these actions in Pittsburgh and around the US this week on Tuesday, October 5th at 6pm.

Next week the National Association of Broadcasters, a powerful lobby group, will meet in San Diego. In opposition to their corporate agenda, independent media activists will be holding a four day convergence of workshops, speakers, and actions to tell the NAB "We Want Our Airwaves Back!".

[ KFAR 90.9 TN IMC story | FRSC 101.1 Santa Cruz IMC story | SFLR 93.7 IndyBay IMC story | South Side Radio 102.9 Pittsburgh | Secret Service vs. Indymedia | Media EmergenC ]

Civil liberties activists won a victory on Wednesday, September 29 when a key part of the USA PATRIOT Act that allows the FBI to secretly demand information from Internet providers was ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Judge. Section 505 of the Act requires Internet service providers and any other type of communication provider--including telephone companies--to comply with secret "national security letters" from the FBI. Those letters can ask for information about subscribers--including home addresses, what telephone calls were made, e-mail subject lines and logs of what Web sites were visited. The law was struck down the grounds that it violates free speech rights under the First Amendment as well as the right to be free from unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment.�

The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit six months ago on behalf of an unnamed Internet company, says that the Court's decision was an "important victory and significant step in the efforts to dismantle the harmful aspects of the Patriot Act."

The ruling could have a broad impact on government surveillance.

[ ACLU press release | Court Ruling | Related section of the PATRIOT Act | City Council Resolution ]
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On the Jewish Holy Day Yom Kippur, Over 100 white supremacists turned out for the latest rally put on by the National Socialist Movement (NSM) at Valley Forge Historical Park, while a mile away in the same park double that number turned out for a rally countering the message of hate with a call for unity.

At the same time, a third event was occuring that got little mainstream press; direct opposition to the facists by local and regional anti-facist organizations. For the hours leading up to the neo-Nazi rally as White Supremacists arrived, anti-facists and neo-Nazis scuffled, with anti-facists confronting members of the Minnesota-based National Socialist Movement and other White Power groups directly.

[ Anti-facist account ] [ Philly Indymedia ]

Progressive independent candidate for President, Ralph Nader, visited Pittsburgh to support workers rights during the recent strike of Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic (WPIC) nurses on September 11th, 2004. Nader spoke at the Unitarian church in Shadyside before visiting the striking nurses. Independent candidates like Nader provide alternatives to the two party system which many feel represent two faces of the same entity: A government which represents the interests of large corporations and a few wealthy supporters while ignoring the interests of the electorate at large.

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