PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Erie Reclaim the Streets Against the War!
by R@G Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2003 at 7:29 PM
rag@mutualaid.org (email address validated)

For Pittsburgh Indymedia. Tell the Warmongers that you won't die for the rich. Bring your resistance to Erie PA. Shake your asses defend yourselves and our collective freedom in an opportunity to show what we are fighting for not just what we are fighting against. Reclaim your lives Reclaim your space RECLAIM THE STREETS!

It's about reclaiming the streets as public inclusive space from the private exclusive use of the car.
But we believe in this as a broader principle, taking back those things which have been enclosed within capitalist
circulation and returning them to collective use as a commons.

For too long have our voices been marginalized out of society's earshot, as if we have nothing to say. But for
at least this one day, our voice will be heard clear: THIS IS OUR CITY, THESE ARE OUR STREETS! WE
DEMAND A SPACE FOR OURSELVES-- THE PEOPLE OF ERIE, THE YOUTH OF ERIE. YOU CAN
TELL US WHAT TO DO ONLY INSOFAR AS WE ALLOW. FUCK THE PLUTOCRACY, WE ARE
THE POWER!

We have the voice to pronounce our opposition to corporate america's agenda. We have a voice to oppose
fighting wars for corporate interests. We have a voice to oppose the degrading advertising that promotes
worthless products. We have a voice to oppose the continued destruction of our communities and our integrity.
We have a voice to oppose working at worthless, pointless, near slave-wage jobs! We have the
voice to proclaim our independence!

For the city, the streets are the commons, but in the hands of industry and power brokers the streets have
become mere conduits for commerce and consumption - the economic hero of which is, of course, the car. A
symbol and a symptom of the social and ecological nightmare that state and capitalism create, the car which
promises individual freedom ends up guaranteeing noise, destruction and pollution for all. With a metal river on one side and endless windows of consumerism on the other, the street's true purpose: social interaction,
becomes an uneconomic diversion. In its place the corporate - controlled one-way media of newspapers, radio and television become "the community". Their interpretation our reality. In this sense the streets are the
alternative and subversive form of the mass media. Where authentic communication, immediate and reciprocal,
takes place.

To "reclaim the streets" is to act in defence of and for common ground. To tear down the fence of enclosure
that profit-making demands. And the Street Party - far from being just anti-car - is an explosion of our
suppressed potential, a celebration of our diversity and a chorus of voices in solidarity.

A festival of resistance!

Come join the festivities! Bring your instruments (DRUMS!!), banners, puppets, and wear your costumes!
If you are in a band and would like to perform an (at this point) acoustic set, contact us at rag@mutualaid.org.

www.rootsaction.org

add your comments