PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Netanyahu not welcome in Pittsburgh
by Becky Franz Thursday, Oct. 03, 2002 at 2:14 PM
thingrnline@riseup.net 412-264-2294 1894 Beechford Ave

Benyamin Netanyahu's, former Prime Minister of Israel, visit to Pittsburgh was welcomed by an envoy of Palestinians, peace and justice activists, and many others demanding self-determination for Palestinians and the end of the Israeli occupation.

Former Prime Minister of Israel Benyamin Netanyahu's visit to Pittsburgh was welcomed by an envoy of Palestinians, peace and justice activists, and many others demanding self-determination for Palestinians and the end of the Israeli occupation.

After being invited by Robert Morris University, Netanyahu spoke on October 2 at Heinz Hall.

Protesters met at Penn and Seventh and then marched two blocks to Heinz Hall. Different signs were being carried with messages like "End Israeli Apartheid", "Divest Now", and "End US Military Aid."

There were many speakers including Edith Bell, a holocaust survivor, Tim Vining, director of the Thomas Merton Center, and Rachel Weber. Weber recently made a trip to Israeli visiting many of the Palestinian refugee settlements. She described the horrible conditions in which the Palestinians were forced to endure like the 24 hour curfews and mothers not being able to feed their children milk.

Throughout the protest many chants were echoed like "2468 stop the killing stop the hate", "Netanhayu wait and see Palestine will be free", and most simply "Free Palestine."

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ineffective
by tiny tim Friday, Oct. 04, 2002 at 5:19 PM

I'm curious to hear others thoughts on this event. I found it ineffective and so authoritarean that I probably wouldn't attend another similar event. That is the most common thing I've heard from younger people who attended this event. We were given a list of approved chants, we were yelled at for chanting (the approved chants) even when nothing else was going on, we were silenced and yelled at if we got to "loud" in our yelling at those attending the speech, we were told to turn our backs to the attendees, we were told what and when to chant by the organizers, and

I saw people yelled at for wearing masks, being too loud, not listening to the speakers, standing too far away from the speakers, talking among themselves, using inappropriate language (to describe a war criminal!!!), and many other ridiculous things.

There was no creativity and no freedom of expression. Every part of the event was totally scripted and uninspired. I felt like I was just a pawn to add to the organizers head count and that my voice and opinion were irrelevant.

that was just my gut reaction and I want to hear others thoughts.

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Netanyahu Protest
by Rob Ackerman Saturday, Oct. 05, 2002 at 12:52 AM
Just Outside Pittsburgh

I am thankful that I joined the Netanyahu protesters outside Heinz Hall on Tuesday evening. Joining a demonstration like this is new to me, but I have to say that I found it uplifting, and morally reassuring to be unified with Pittsburgh-Arabs and non-Arabs alike in the crowd. As the speakers (who were excellent) mentioned, numbers are not everything--the protest was and continues to be the right thing to do. Let me give a couple of positives as I saw them: the Greensburg Trib-Review, one of the most Conservative papers no less had an article the next day covering the protest, not just in Pittsburgh but Netanyahu's aborted Montreal speech, and the opposition he met in Houston. Can we hope that he U.S. general public is on the brink of waking up? Also, as I walked to the protest, I walked through Market Square where the Jewish Organization was having an Israel peace and unity gathering. The first sign I saw stated, "Get rid of Arabs, Get rid of Terror." Let me state for the record that I saw absolutely no such racially hateful signs at the Netanyahu Protest from any of the several groups and hundreds of people in attendance. Furthermore, Mayor Murphy spoke at Market Square, Jim Roddey, and Senator Santorum in support for Israel. Have they nothing to say or do for the plight of the Palestinians? It doesn't seem to me that our elected officials are fairly assessing and addressing what's arguably the world's most serious issue.

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