community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
Project 1877
by Branden Dudek
Monday, Nov. 04, 2002 at 9:34 PM
branden@cease.info 724-620-0621
CEASE! announces a community initiative codenamed Project 1877, a plan to create a haven for all people in Pittsburgh working toward progressive social change.
PROJECT 1877
CEASE! announces a community initiative codenamed Project 1877*, a plan to create a haven for all people in Pittsburgh working toward progressive social change. It will be a playground of ideas, actions, and connections for activist interaction and opportunity.
Project 1877 will be a community center that will connect progressive Pittsburghers of all classes, races, sexualities, genders, and beliefs. We plan to provide a free school, an infoshop, an art space, a meeting hall, a musical venue, a media and presentation hall, and a safe space to relax and hang out. This common ground will foster communication between the many different progressive movements in Pittsburgh: anarchists will be able to help Christian churches when their drop-in shelters are threatened by politicians, and radical cheerleaders will be able to rally support for Save Our Transit. Our community efforts will become synergistic and our activists will have a support system.
The community will coordinate this project. Community meetings that will determine the strategic planning process will focus on community networking, funding options, location scouting, program structure, and volunteer organizing.
Our first community meeting is Sunday, November 10th at 2pm. We will be meeting in the lobby of David Lawrence Hall-University of Pittsburgh. Our meetings are posted both on our website and on IMC's calendar. We hope to see you there. To learn more visit: http://www.cease.info .
Branden Dudek
Executive Director
724-650-0621
info@cease.info
*In 1877 Pittsburgh Rail workers went on strike when their impossibly low wages were cut yet again. The entire city of Pittsburgh rose up in solidarity. Steelworkers and miners came from the outskirts of the city while women and children joined the fight. Even the local politicians, police, and militiamen sympathized with the workers, and were deemed �unreliable� by the governor of Pennsylvania. National Guard who were called in from Philadelphia to break up the strike shot into a crowd of protesters and killed more than 60 people, mostly women and children. Bravely, 20,000 Pittsburghers forced the National Guard into a roundhouse and held them hostage. A riot broke out and buildings on Penn and Liberty Avenues from Union Depot to Twenty-Eighth Street were decimated. The Pennsylvania Railroad Co. faced $4 million in property damage. Later, The New York Times reported that Pittsburgh was "in the hands of men dominated by the devilish spirit of Communism."
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