No G20 People's Caravan Report Back!!
Jeff Rousset
The People's Caravan:
more info on the caravan: http://g20caravan.info/node/7
The G-20 summit is a gathering of financial ministers and heads of states of the 20 richest countries in the world. They are held an exclusive meeting in Pittsburgh, September 24-25 to advance their agenda: cutting essential social services, privatizing schools, healthcare, and social security, and promoting “free-trade,” which cuts labor and environmental standards across the globe and places corporate profit above human needs.
Pennsylvania,
along with the rest of the world, is in crisis. Many people do not have
access to decent housing, education, healthcare, jobs, healthy food,
transportation and communication. While we are told that there are not
resources to provide for our basic needs, bankers and the ultra-rich
get trillions of dollars in bail-out funding, and our services are cut
and costly wars are waged. From pools, libraries and health centers in
urban areas closing, to factory lay-offs and families losing their
farms, Pennsylvanians are feeling the impact of an economic and
political system that has placed profit over people. We will not pay
for their crisis!
We did not want to simply protest the G-20, we wanted to use this
opportunity to focus on Pennsylvania, and strengthen our statewide
networks in the hopes of strengthening our movements. We met up with
people who are organizing locally for their dignity, a better
Pennsylvania and a better world. Here is the report-back from our
journey.
Livin in a Police State:
While thousands marched in
Pittsburgh- to demand an end to the G-20 agenda of neoliberal tyranny-
our voices were also drowned out by a military weapon that the Police
deployed on the protesters called the LRAD, or Long-Range
Acoustic Device. Thousands of Riot Police, coming from numerous
states, as well as the National Guard repressed protesters using
tear-gas, pepper spray, snatch squads, rubber bullets, batons, and the
LRAD- which can cause permanent damage to hearing. For those who
thought that policing under Obama may be less repressive, the state
mobilized its full force to repress peaceful dissent. Among the many
chants that called for a new economic system the change, "Tell me what
a police state looks like...this is what a police state looks like"
could be heard throughout the streets.
Here
is a link to very disturbing footage of a protester being forced into a
car by military personnel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWH8gvSflTc
To
see more coverage of the G-20, check out Pittsburgh indymedia's
coverage:
http://indypgh.org/g20/#
York
From Philly to Pittsburgh, poor people across PA are being forced out of their homes and communities. We stopped at a trailer park and listened to moving stories of residents whose homes are being bought at a fraction of their worth to clear the land for developers to come in and build more profitable town houses. The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign has spent the last months working with organizers there to fight their eviction and support those who are trying to stay. A PPEHRC organizer on the caravan made the connection and we delivered some food from Philly as a token of solidarity.
http://economichumanrights.org
Harrisburg
The People's Caravan rallied on
the Capitol steps to share stories of Pennsylvanians organizing in the
face of the economic crisis. We demanded a state budget that supports
social services and meets people's basic needs. Kensington Welfare
Rights Union, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign,
Students for a Democratic Society and Casino Free Philly all
represented, speaking out about their own struggles and the budget.
See a writeup in the Harrisburgh Patriot News here
Melcroft
Next up on our tour were some
gutsy rural organizers fighting against the devastation of the area's
water by coal companies. Pollution caused by abandoned coal mines had
killed a number of rivers and poisoned water sources in the area with
heavy levels of iron and aluminum, affecting an area whose population
is already struggling with poverty.The Mountain Watershed Association
who we visited, fought a number of succesful battles against new coal
mining projects, and together with the EPA led the creation of a
constructed wetland to clean the polluted runoff, effectively giving
new birth to streams which had for years seen no signs of life.
Beverly, a local MWA organizer took us on a tour of a constructed
wetland, used to clean mine-poisoned water, one of the group's
organizing victories.
Pittsburgh
ACT
UP shows up early
On Tuesday, September 22nd at 6 am over 20 Philadelphians ventured ahead of the caravan to Pittsburgh on a six hour bus ride to join others from DC, New York, and Pittsburgh to protest the G-20. Organized by ACT UP Philadelphia in conjunction with other organizations, a funeral procession was held in which over 100 AIDS activists dressed in black demanded attention to global HIV/AIDS issues. The protest was high energy, protesters had solid messaging, and the speakers were strong. Police kept their distance and we got lots of press coverage.
Click here to see video
and news
coverage and more in the Pittsburgh
Post Gazette
http://www.critpath.org/actup/
Bail Out the People Tent City
From Sunday, September 20 to Friday, September 25 poor people's o``rganizations from throughout the country joined the "Bail Out the People "tent city, held at the Baptist Monumental Church in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. In the face of foreclosures, evictions, unemployment and lack of housing and healthcare, Bail out the People held a march for jobs and participated in a wide variety of forums, marches and protests at the G-20 Summit. The People's Caravan joined the tent city in the demands for economic human rights for all- and spent one evening camping out and joining the many grassroots and poor peoples' organizations.
Hear a caravaner break down systemic inequality on Free Speech Radio News!
Thursday Mass March on the G-20 Summit: The People’s Uprising!
Thursday, a number of our crew
took part in an unpermitted march to the G20 meetings. The crowd of
roughly 1000 started off in Arsenal park in high spirits despite an
intimidating police presence. The short time our rowdy procession
actually resembled a march we were a creative and colorful defiance to
the quickly emerging police state forming in Pittsburgh. When our march
reached police lines apparently unwilling to let us pass, it took sonic
weapons and teargas to move us. The rest of the day police chased
protesters through Pittsburgh neighborhoods, with liberal use of
teargas, but relatively few arrests. Most of the caravaners wrapped it
up early, tired of getting lost in Pittsburgh's labyrinth of hills and
police. Undeterred and often combative, protesters regrouped several
times well into the night standing up to the police violence and taking
out bank and corporate windows as frustration with the police
occupation grew. Already exhausted, we followed the action from the
comfort of our base glued to the radio and following twitter updates
from the streets.
Friday's People's March
On Friday, September 25, about
5,000 protestors assembled in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh to
join the People's March and heard speakers from a diverse group of
organizations ranging from student, labor, environmental and peace to
human and economic rights before marching to downtown and across the
Allegheny River. We participated in full as the People's Caravan
contingent, marching with multi-color banners, matching teeshirts and NEW
chants!
Read news here and here, see a video here
Caravaner Down
Two members of our caravan were
wrongfully arrested while filming some of the police repression in the
streets on Friday. During the arrest, they were violently assaulted by
the police. While one of them has been released and is doing okay, the
other needs medical attention for a possible broken nose and has bail
set at $15000. Also he was just refused a bail reduction and denied
bond, meaning we need to raise the entire amount to get him out. A crew
from Philly is in Pittsburgh as I write this trying to get him out.
We're asking that folks pay what they can so that we can pool money for his release! We're also looking for longer term loans until his court dates are wrapped up.
***Please Donate for the protest legal fund***
Invitation to Report-back:
Wanna learn more about the People's Caravan, the G-20, and how local groups are fighting for economic and social justice in Philadelphia? Please SAVE the DATE: Sunday, October 18, 7pm at the Calvary Center, 48th & Baltimore, West Philly.