PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

pog- Nov. 15th anti-war protest contingent call
by POG Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 at 4:20 AM
pog@mutualaid.org

POG call for a anti-war contingent at the nov. 15th anti-war FTAA demonstrations. This is an action against the war in Iraq and in solidarity with those traveling to Miami.

forward far and wide...

November 15th Anti-war/Anti-FTAA protests
POG calls for a noise contingent!
STOP the Bush administration�s perpetual wars! STOP the FTAA!!

�They may blast and lay waste to this world before they go, but we carry a new world here in our hearts, and that world is growing as we speak��
(Durruti, died Nov. 20th 1936, fighting fascism in the Spanish Revolution)

Assemble: November 15th, 1:00pm in Mellon Square (6th and Smithfield) Downtown Pittsburgh. This contingent is in opposition to the war in Iraq and in solidarity with the anti-FTAA protests taking place November 20th in Miami. We will march as part of the larger anti-FTAA group.

On November 20 and 21, trade ministers from 34 countries will meet to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a sweeping agreement that would extend the failed NAFTA model of corporate-driven globalization to the entire Western Hemisphere, minus Cuba. Tens of thousands of protesters will greet these ministers in Miami through a massive display of opposition to the FTAA, in what is shaping up to be the most important showdown over corporate globalization since Seattle.

Half way around the world there is another war taking place. Almost 400 US soldiers have now lost their lives in the quicksand that is Iraq. 35 have been killed this week alone as resistance to the US occupation
intensifies. Around the world we are paying a high price to exploit and oppress, both in lives and resources. The $87 billion dollar Iraq/Afghanistan bill just passed by Congress mostly pays for the military
cost of the two occupations. Interestingly, this bill also includes $7.5 million dollars for the cost of police actions at the FTAA summit in Miami. The war and �free trade� are inextricably linked. They are two pieces of a system that seeks to exploit the many for the benefit of a few. Death, destruction, and exploitation grow, and yet we are silent.

On Nov. 20th, in the heat of Miami that silence will be shattered. At 7 a.m., thousands of people will set out against seemingly impossible odds to attempt a shutdown of one of the most important meetings in the history of global justice. Tens of thousands of others will gather that day with a determination that the world not ignore resistance to an agreement many see as a death sentence for our hemisphere.

Corporate globalization is central to the Bush Administration's broad empire-building agenda and a key cause of militarism and war, and the FTAA is a critical component to this policy. Whether the administration�s coercion is initially economic or military, it springs from the same well of exploitation and oppression.

The anti-war and anti-corporate globalization movements are inseparable. Neo-liberal columnist Thomas Friedman put it best when he said "the hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald�s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.�

The FTAA is the leading edge of the Bush Administration's corporate global policy and reckless drive for empire. To all who support peace, democracy, environmental sustainability, and human dignity, we invite you to join the November 15th anti-war brigade. To all who wish to stand in solidarity with the thousands heading from the far corners of the US to shutdown the Miami FTAA meetings, we welcome you.

We're calling for a cacophony of noise! We need hand bells, cowbells, drums, pennywhistles, flutes, harmonicas and many voices to make our message heard. Creative chants, crazy outfits, colorful flags are also especially welcome.

Five-gallon bucket drums are our preferred instruments, what will you use to send your message? We invite you to bring what you�ve got- anything to break the numbing monotony of silence surrounding the commodification of our lives and the war in Iraq!

In solidarity,

POG

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