Activists converge in Pittsburgh to protest G-20 gathering
Thursday, September 24, 2009
By: Chris Garaffa
Police repression already under way
Activists from around the country are converging in Pittsburgh. They’re meeting with local activists to protest against the G-20, or “Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors,” when it convenes here on Thursday, Sept. 24, and Friday, Sept. 25.
Activists protest the lack of real action against
the AIDS epidemic, Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 22. |
The G-20 is a grouping of economic ministers from some of the world’s leading economies. Dominated by the powerful imperialist countries, this small body meets a few times a year to debate global financial policies that affect the lives of billions of people. While the media are painting the G-20 meeting as beneficial both for the local community and for the world, in fact the gathering pushes forward an agenda of economic oppression across the globe.
Demonstrations and community activities have already begun. On the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 20, hundreds of people participated in two marches in Pittsburgh, demanding a real jobs program, a moratorium on foreclosures, and recognition for the needs of the majority of people.
In response to the increasing presence of social justice activists in the city, Pittsburgh police have stepped up their presence in the downtown area around the location where the G-20 summit will be held. At a cost of approximately $10 million, 4,000 federal police are coming to Pittsburgh. This is one of the largest armed forces the Pittsburgh area has ever seen, second only to the 8,000 militiamen called in to overrun striking union members in the Homestead Strike in July 1892.
Police have already begun harassing activists. A van heading to the Three Rivers Climate Convergence was pulled over by police on the night of Friday, Sept. 18. After nearly two hours of searching the van, the police were only able to come up with a few minor citations—including “parking on the sidewalk,” which the driver had to do when the police pulled him over!
In another incident, police with semi-automatic weapons raided the Seeds of Peace bus, which was legally parked while providing food and medical supplies to demonstrators. Four members of Seeds of Peace were detained for hours but not charged or sited. Activists rallied outside the Pittsburgh Federal Building on the morning of Sept. 22 during the hearing for a lawsuit filed the day prior.
Despite police harassment, demonstrators remain undeterred to opposing the G-20. Environmental activists staged political theater downtown to raise awareness of the need for action on climate change on the afternoon of Sept. 21.
On Sept. 22, a rally and march to the convention center demanded that countries in the G-20 live up to their promises to continue donations to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The 2010 U.S. budget does not increase coverage, despite a $5 billion shortfall.
Speakers at the rally explained that it is not in the interest of the imperialist countries that dominate the G-20 and the pharmaceutical companies that they represent to provide treatment to the 30 million suffering from AIDS across the world because it is not profitable to do so. Marchers chanted, “Pills cost pennies, greed costs lives!”
Rev. Jeff Jordan of the Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia addressed the crowd, saying: “As a minister, I am tired of doing AIDS funerals. I am tired of burying my brothers and sisters. If we can put trillions of dollars into the failing bank system, why can’t we put that money towards fighting AIDS?”
At a community forum on the evening of Sept. 21, a number of local community organizers spoke at the People’s Summit, including Privilege Haangandu, Jubilee Zambia; Tim Stevens, Black Political Empowerment Project; Carl Redwood, One Hill; John Canning, North Side United; Molly Rush, Thomas Merton Center; and Maria Somma, United Steel Workers
Redwood encouraged those present to keep organizing, and said of the struggle against the G-20: “We’re looking at two big camps—imperialism vs. social justice. It’s at the international, national and local levels and we need to organize at all of these levels.”
Speaking about gentrification in the North Side and Hill neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Canning told the crowd: “It’s not just a question of money being put into development, but what happens once that development takes place. The developers are only concerned with the effect on their quarterly and year-end statements. All that we end up with are bricks and mortar. We need to end up with better jobs and neighborhoods.”
USW organizer Somma spoke about labor: “We’ve put ourselves in these borders. When the multinationals hurt people, the USW will follow them. We have to protect the rights of workers. We have the power.”
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