community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
SHUT DOWN DOWNTOWN CALL TO ACTION!
by POG
Monday, Mar. 17, 2003 at 12:52 PM
pog@mutualaid.org
RESIST!
�This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.�
-- Frederick Douglass, Orator and Abolitionist
The United States Government clearly states that public opinion � international and domestic � is irrelevant. The warmongering elites of this country will continue to push for a war that will benefit a few and murder countless thousands of Iraqis as a rain of fire falls from their skies. This will all be done by a few in the name of millions.
People all over the country have been actively organizing against a war in Iraq, a war our illegitimate leaders talk about as if it were inevitable. Students walked out of school by the thousands, manifestations of oppressive government have been smashed by protestors; and on the streets of Pittsburgh, hundreds hailing from all walks of life have taken to the streets in an effort to cry out against state-run mass-murder.
Still, an un-elected leader marches to war.
We, as freedom loving and peace loving people have only one choice: The day the bombing starts, America Stops. This will happen in the streets of countless cities across the nation as people take direct action to stop war and save lives. It is our responsibility to strike non-violently at all government institutions and the moneyed interests behind them. We must begin to strike at the war machine here so that people everywhere may live another day! When the out-of-control administration realized it can�t conduct this war without its people, thousands of lives will be saved.
To this end, the Pittsburgh Organizing Group is calling for a snake march through Downtown Pittsburgh to halt �business as usual� in response to any escalation of the aggression against Iraq.
5PM the day Bush defies the people�s order. The United States Federal Building. Downtown, Pittsburgh. Corner of Liberty and Grant Streets.
Join thousands of people demonstrating from D.C. to San Francisco, and every other town in our country!
Clarification
by Sam
Monday, Mar. 17, 2003 at 2:38 PM
Just to clarify: this event is taking place the day *after* the war starts.
People should try to show up early so we can plan CD or whatever.
Let the Fun Begin!
by George K.
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2003 at 11:06 AM
dodgerambler@yahoo.com
Oh this is going to be sweet. It will be one of the funniest things to see in a while. Better than the cop bashing the Grateful Dead fan in the head.
Are you ignoring the fact that a majority of the "people" want this war? Your pittance of a protest won't "stop America". We will just clean you up and move on.
Total Disruption
by Michael
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2003 at 2:37 PM
If the object is total disruption of the city, there is one form of civil disobedience that could bring the city to it's knees. I was a part of a very effective protest several years ago at Cornell University involving cross-walks at four way stops. In NY state it is not illegal to walk in a cross walk (heh), so if you are able to get enough people to always have people walking in a circle on all four sides of the intersection, you've legally shut down that intersection to auto traffic. Just a thought for the future - if a large enough group of people were to continuously walk in a loop at the crosswalks/ped. overpasses on both the east or west busway during rush hour you could easily disrupt the commute of ten's of thousands of people! Less disruptive, but probably more humorous would be to tie up the four-way stop intersection in shadyside. The nice thing about the cross walk protest is that you can participate legally. At Cornell, eventually people got tired - those that wanted to break the law just sat down in the middle of the intersection; those who didn't went home. The organizers of that protest made provisions to allow emergency vehicles through key intersections.
brilliant
by --
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2003 at 2:49 PM
genius. that's a damn fine idea.
It's OK with the authorites?
by unwelcome guest
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2003 at 8:31 PM
http://www.nbc10.com/news/2047159/detail.html
Apparently, in the wake of the repression at the 2000 RNC (they were sued, and lost), the Philly police have changed their policy regarding occupied intersections. They will not attempt to arrest demonstrators unless they are visibly breaking laws. I know it's the other end of the turnpike, but maybe that explains the cooperation we've been getting lately? Is this a general trend in police tactics? Those weren't DC Metro's rules on 3/15 as they did their 45 mph motorcycle act through the feeder march, but they do that full time. Locally, I think they understand the error of their ways in lining up shoulder to shoulder on the double yellow lines, ala 3/2.
Are the state and local corporate media embracing an 'ignore them and they'll go away policy'? Any of the TV broadcasts I could catch made absolutely no mention of the march, although I could have missed it, as there may have been breaking news about a fire in an abondoned house.
The silent cash registers on Walnut on a Sunday afternoon got me thinking. If we really wanted to affect commerce and the status quo, the Waterfront would be a helluva place for a party.; all the capitalist pushers are there. A monument to the bland genericization of the US and the world, surrounded by supportive locals.
..
by Ken
Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2003 at 11:54 PM
What does disrupting unsuspecting peoples' lives accomplish? I can't see any positive outcome from this.
These things piss people off, they don't change people's minds.
I have a strange feeling most of you know this already.
Purpose of protest - my view
by Michael
Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2003 at 9:34 AM
I recognize that disruption of people's daily lives isn't going to change a lot of minds. The reason I support that type of protest is that it forces people out of their shell and maybe causes them to realize the world is bigger place than taking your daughter to soccer practice, wearing silly St. Patrick's day themed Mardi Gras beads and watching the Fox News Channel. We live in country where people are so wrapped up in themselves, they're too lazy to vote. Also, when you feel your elected officials aren't listening to half their constituency, sometimes you have to take action to get their attention.
disrupting
by rowdy student
Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2003 at 11:56 AM
I don't really think of disruption as being something that will change the minds of people who think differently. It helps galvanize our movement, though, and honestly, I feel a responsibility as a US taxpayer to make as much noise and cause as big a ruckus as possible when something as completely wrong is being done with *my* money. Silence is complicity, and I won't comply with killing humans and destroying civilian infrastructure.
The Purpose of Disruption
by Sam
Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2003 at 3:07 PM
By tying up traffic and such, we send a message to the government. The message is that they wage a war of aggression, then public order will not be maintained.
What are you really proving?
by Devon Cole
Thursday, Mar. 20, 2003 at 3:16 PM
I fail to see what clogging up the downtown area with a protest is going to do to 'help' the anti-war efforts. As if the downtown area traffic patterns aren't a disaster enough... This type of arranged protest is only really going to impede the very people who are going to work (whether willingly or not) to try to help our pitiful economy. I find it insulting because the implication is that everyone who went to work today is ignoring the fact that the war is going on. We're not. We are just doing something a little bit more constructive with our time.
public order
by Ken
Thursday, Mar. 20, 2003 at 6:45 PM
The thing about this however, is that order will be maintained by those who are not trying to disrupt it. If the majority of people were against this, then order would be impossible to maintain. Life will still go on, although you may inconvience a few people here and there.
You must understand however, that people are people. If you disrupt what they're doing, they'll most likely just get annoyed and find a way around it. They'll go around with the thought "man I'm pissed some protestors made me late for my appointment" instead of "wow now i understand that i'm not the only one in the world."
The idea may sound good on paper, but when implemented, the fact that one is dealing with human beings is too much of a wildcard to make any idea completely feasible. I respect your point of view, but I can't say I agree with it.
Rebuttal
by Concerned citizen
Sunday, Mar. 23, 2003 at 8:54 PM
I think it is funny that you people say that you believe in free speech but I have had a colleague banned from your site for expressing his right to free speech. But since it did not subscribe to your point of view you want to silence it. I find your movement hypocritical in that I don't remember any peace protests during President Clinton's invasion of Bosnia. That is why I believe that your movement is not about peace but your hatred for the current administration. I also don't remember any peace protests when President Clinton sent dozens of cruise missiles into Iraq in the mid 90's as well as into Sudan. If President Bush was the warmonger that you would have us believe, why did he go to the UN in the first place? He gave peace a chance, but you will not see that because you don't want to. President Clinton did not seek UN approval for Bosnia, Iraq or Sudan but since he has similar political leanings, you are willing to forgive the civilians killed under his watch. Sometimes peace has a cost. Why don't you ask the Iraqi's how they feel about it in six months. I am sure they will be happy we intervened on their behalf.
Rebuttal
by J
Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2003 at 7:00 PM
Wait a minute, who said anyone here supported President Clinton's invasian into Bosnia, etc.? I sure as hell don't!! I don't support Clinton's administration, nor Bush's. If I had the knowledge I had then, I would definately have been involved in protests against Clinton's plans. Excuse me for being young, were we supposed to be active at 12 years old? It does not matter who is in the White House, itdepends on what they do, and this (like every other war is WRONG!!)
Freeper swine
by and by
Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2003 at 7:43 PM
Please go back to free republic, or kobe and rejoin your "colleague". I personally have no desire to read the same fourth branch of government, corporate media drivel. I could turn on the tv if I wanted to hear rote recitation of the party line. Please don't do me any more favors by courageously transcribing what you see on FAUX "news". The morons there whom you adore are bad enough, without you trolls mispelling their nonsense. It's just uncalled for.
I was in the military during the reign of the moderate republican Clinton. Fortunately, I was not directly involved in his brand of "humanoterrorism", nor would I. I had my CO paperwork on deck in case I needed it. Not everybody's daddy can get them out of the punishments for wartime desertion like Bush. I didn't protest, because when soliders protest, it's called revolution. Clinton was no more a legitimate ruler, than the Connecticut(That's right you're not from Texas)Cocaine Cowboy, Saddam Hussein, or the UN. Yes, these global protests are an expression of contempt for the frat-boy emperor. Can you blame anyone? His so called mandate is the pile of corpses of 9/11/2001, and he exploits them to justify his attacks on the US and the world. He is a clean shaven bin Laden, a pampered arrogant, fundamentalist maniac, who kills poor people.
I'm sure the Iraqis will be very grateful for their new democratically appointed Saddam.
Delusions of Grandeur - Somehow life in Pittsburgh went on despite the 'shutdown' : )
by Freedom Lover
Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2003 at 2:56 AM
Sure, go to the Waterfront next... NOW... would this be before or after Mommy and Daddy buy your school clothes for you and you spend your allowance at the Loews movie theater?
BTW it is private property...think the Pgh. police were brutal for giving you little bowls of cereal and milk and calling you hippies? Try the Homestead Police. LOL They will eat YOU for breakfast.
But good with that! Communist losers. Try a world without freedom, that's what you're demonstrating in favor of. Also demonstrating ignorance of history. Pathetic.
Delusions of Grandeur - Somehow life in Pittsburgh went on despite the 'shutdown' : )
by Freedom Lover
Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2003 at 2:56 AM
Sure, go to the Waterfront next... NOW... would this be before or after Mommy and Daddy buy your school clothes for you and you spend your allowance at the Loews movie theater?
BTW it is private property...think the Pgh. police were brutal for giving you little bowls of cereal and milk and calling you hippies? Try the Homestead Police. LOL They will eat YOU for breakfast.
But good luck with that...communist losers. Try a world without freedom - a totalitarian state - that's what you're demonstrating in favor of. Also demonstrating ignorance of history. Pathetic.
freedom lover
by jwg
Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2003 at 9:15 AM
what are you even talking about there?
keep misguidedly attacking people 'freedom lover'
I suppose you only 'love' the type of freedom where the government tells you what to do. It's an easy way out, I mean, blindly following rhetoric and politicians means a lot less thinking _you_ have to do.
everyone's happy.
Complacency is *not* patriotism
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