PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Peace March, Sunday the 11th
by John Thursday, May. 08, 2003 at 9:39 PM
jail_israel@hotmail.com 412 429 3384

Peace March on Sunday May 11th

Join us this sunday to protest the ongoing war on terror and the war on freedom here at home. We will meet at Market Square downtown at 2:00pm and proceed to march and have a die-in at the Software Engineering Institute in Oakland, which provides military technology to the government.

Time: 2:00pm
Place: Market Square

Be there or be an evil fascist.

.
by John Thursday, May. 08, 2003 at 10:06 PM

It's supposed to rain sunday, but we're going to be there rain or shine. The military doesnt care if its raining when they kill, so why should we care?

Long march...
by Dan P. Saturday, May. 10, 2003 at 2:04 PM

Rougly how long do you expect it to take to go from Market Square to the SEI in Oakland? What route will you be taking?

I'm in finals week now, so I'm going to try to time it to join the march somewhere in Oakland.

route
by John Sunday, May. 11, 2003 at 12:41 AM
jail_israel@hotmail.com

Yeah, this march is pretty long. Doesn't bother me, but I don't know about other activists.. The way I see it as, its only about two South Side feeder marches :)

The route will be..

1: Start out going East on MARKET PL toward MARKET ST. 0.08 miles
2: Stay straight to go onto MCMASTERS WAY. 0.03 miles
3: Turn RIGHT onto 5TH AVE. 0.29 miles
4: Turn RIGHT onto GRANT ST. 0.06 miles
5: Turn LEFT onto FORBES AVE. 3.07 miles

It's about 3.5 miles. FNB is supposed to be at Market Sq. at 2, so come and get food before the march, you'll need the energy. :-)

good luck to everyone!
by gwen Sunday, May. 11, 2003 at 11:23 AM

Wishing everyone good luck as I can't make it to this one. Gotta go visit the g-ma for Mother's Day, alas.

yet
by yetter Sunday, May. 11, 2003 at 12:18 PM

I have yet to meet a nice cop. I hope I am proven wrong.

Surely this is a joke
by John Lacny Sunday, May. 11, 2003 at 7:41 PM

Surely this is a provocation from a right-wing troll. I hope no one falls for this.

I hope its real
by wheatpaster Sunday, May. 11, 2003 at 10:19 PM

I think it rocks that a bunch of friends just decided to organize a march, just because they felt like marching. Call me a dreamer, but I hope everyone throughout the world follows suit with these crazy cats and just picks up and marches against this shitty occupation without waiting for someone else to plan it. ROCK ON YALL!!!

.
by John Sunday, May. 11, 2003 at 11:27 PM

Please tell me you weren't serious about the us being right wingers, were two 16 year olds...we went to the AWC meeting and the meeting at 1877 on friday.

Thanks pittsburgh, for...not showing up...damn...

hang in there john!
by david Monday, May. 12, 2003 at 11:14 AM

how did it go? any photos? did you talk to bystanders along the route? i'm really sorry i couldn't make it. (guilt, guilt)

anyway, you and brian are great -- i'm sure everyone in the activist community applauds your effort. many folks are recharging their batteries this month and that probably explains the low turn out. but don't stop doing what you're doing.

Also, the universities...
by Dan P. Monday, May. 12, 2003 at 12:11 PM

It's also much harder to mobilize people without the colleges on board. Pitt has let out, and Carnegie Mellon is in finals.

Not to say that we're needed to be around and you can't have any successful events without us, but if we were in session I'm sure you would have had that many more people. Don't give up, and try again! :) (what was the turnout, anyway?)

.
by John Monday, May. 12, 2003 at 3:11 PM

No turnout. 0. wow..i was surprised. oh well. we marched to the federal building, and back...ate apples with FNB. when we were sitting at market sq holding our banner people said it was a good cause. it said "ONE PEOPLE ONE STRUGGLE", we explained it was about all the people of the world's struggle to overcome opression..a lot of arab and black men and women told us they thought it was great. that made it all worth it. it didn't get our hopes down, were already organizing again. im organizing a protest at a gas station with my friends..it was brought up at one of the meetings about how there isn't activism in the suburbs. a couple of us will be holding banners and passing out things in front of..probably the BP on noblestown road. ill post more details if anyone wants to go.

Turnout...
by wheatpaster Monday, May. 12, 2003 at 3:32 PM

...I'm there for your next march as well. Mother's Day (or any other holiday) is tough for getting people mobilized... I myself was chilling with Ol' Lady Paster all day... Just don't give up fellas!!

sweet sweet dream.
by Brian Tuesday, May. 13, 2003 at 12:12 AM

Well I updated the site today and will be working on it alot more, John is learning PHP so the calendar and other stuff will accually look good. he he. Today I felt alittle enraged/depressed when I checked the Iraqi death count (currently MIN:3736 MAX: 4771). That also made me think of what I could do to change that. I don't want this war to happen again and again. So here are some things I thought of.

1. We MUST MUST educate the youth. If the youth are non-violent and the youth think before they act then they will grow up with these things in mind. They will then teach their kids, who will teach their kids and so on...... : )
"The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service." - Albert Einstein

2. These protest are nice and I am a strong believer that they should continue, but there needs to be a revolution for there to be more peace.

The revolution I am talking about is slamming the people with reality. Showing them that people in other countries are just like America. Bombing and killing them is just like bombing and killing Americans. Many TV and Radio commercials. ALOT.

Example:

"Little Johnny likes baseball, he has dreams of growing up and playing in the major leagues. He has high hopes and dreams, wants to succeed. His father loves to play catch with him"

Next Scene:

"LIttle Muhammad loves to play baseball too, he is really good at it and wants to play for a team. He practices day and night.....but then a bomb hits his home, his family dies and he watches his little sister burn to death.".......All because of his countries differences.

I am not saying that is exactly what the TV commercial should be, but I think it should be extremely powerful, it should make people think, make people realize that we are all human. Hopefully it will make them realize that fighting is not the answer. If it makes them cry, then you know that it has truely hit them. (I don't want to make people feel bad, so dont think I do, I just want to express that this has to go up against extreme nationalsim and years and years of violence. These commercials have to take on alot of America.) I know it will take alot of money, but that is where another great thing comes in. UNITY. There are so many peace organizations and people that care artists, musicians, actors, also other people with the all mighty dollar. This would take alot of organization, and I don't think that just one group could do it. Maybe a new one could form, and each person would be responible to contact "such and such". This could be global as well as national. I really really believe in this. So does John. Maybe one day this dream of mine will come true. Maybe America will change, and maybe someday the world will follow.

I feel as if this march was a success because it at least inpacted 5 peoples lives. 5 is better than 0.

Well as I go off to bed, and as I finish up my history homework, I leave my fellow Pittsburghers with this:

"i'm wondering what it will take
for my country to rise
first we admit our mistakes
and then we open our eyes
or nature succumbs to one last dumb decision
and america the beautiful
is just one big subdivision" - Ani Difranco

oh yeah, the site... btw
by Brian Tuesday, May. 13, 2003 at 12:16 AM

http://radicalizepgh.no-ip.org/

radicalizepgh.no-ip.org/

Brian and John
by ian Tuesday, May. 13, 2003 at 10:08 AM

Hey Brian and JOhn, I have been following your posts on indymedia, and i think what your doing is great. If your interested, thier is a local organization called PAPPY (pgh assocation of peacemakers and procative youth) that is dedicated to enabaling the youth of the city with actavist skills. We meet pretty much every saturday from around 11-2 at the TMC, but you can email us at pappyforpeace@yahoo.com to get details if your interested in coming down. keep up the good work

Re: Also, the universities...
by Sam Tuesday, May. 13, 2003 at 4:56 PM

The comment about the colleges and universities letting out makes me cringe -- mostly because it's true. As a movement, we need to be doing a lot more outreach to communities outside of the universities and the middle class. We've been doing a better job at this kind of outreach recently, but still not nearly good enough.

.
by John Wednesday, May. 14, 2003 at 4:22 AM

I'm really surprised there aren't more lower-class people in the movement..I would think they would be the ones angry about the $350 billion military budget when they can't even get healthcare.

Re: .
by b. Wednesday, May. 14, 2003 at 3:35 PM

At the risk of generalizing, I think that a lot of so-called working class people don't come to marches for a few reasons.

1. They see marches as something for students/ young people to do.
2. They can't go because they have to work to support a family or themselves.
3. They can't risk getting arrested.
4. They see the marches as ineffective or just a plain pain in the ass.
5. They're not 100% aware of what's going on. [I'm not saying that they're ignorant or anything like that, but when you have to work 50 hours a week in front of the fryer at McD's, it's hard to care about anything else when you finally get home.]

Of course, there are the exceptions to this. And those exceptions are always more than welcome.

We have to expand our activities to beyond marches and protests. What I think is most effective to combat the government and injustice is a well-organized community of educated [not in mathematics necassarily, but in world and local issues] people that really give a damn about each other and the world. So, stop and talk to your neighbor. Be friendly and encourage them to read a book. And if they are reading a book, discuss it with them.

They don't call it 'the struggle' for nothing.

YAY
by Brian Friday, May. 16, 2003 at 5:37 PM

Nicely said b. I watched Bowling For Columbine with my neighbor who is 60. She really really loved the movie. Even though it saddend her.

radicalizepgh.no-ip.org/