community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
May 16th Remember the dead- POG anti-war call to action
by POG
Thursday, May. 06, 2004 at 8:29 AM
pog@mutualaid.org
Details on May 16th Emergency anti-war protest and remembrance for those who've died. POG call to action
May 16th Remember the dead- POG anti-war call to action
What: Emergency Anti-War protest and remembrance of the dead
When: Sunday, May 16th, 12:00pm
Where: Warner Hall, Carnegie Mellon University- 5000 Forbes Ave, across from Moorewood, in Oakland
Why: To remember those who’ve died, acknowledge the escalation of the conflict, continue to call for an end to the occupation of Iraq
"The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to "civilize" savage and senile and paranoidal peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells"
April in Iraq was a month filled with a new level of suffering and death unlike any we’ve previously seen. It was coupled with the terrifyingly unavoidable fact that it is just the beginning of a new phase of an occupation the Army says may last 10 years. On April 7th, the United States army dropped a 500-pound bomb on a Mosque compound in Iraq. At least 45 people were killed in a tragic example of the violence and destruction that since April 1st has taken the lives of 150 US soldiers, and at least 1,200 Iraqi civilians and resistance fighters.
In remembrance and acknowledgement of those who have recently died we are asking everyone to gather Sunday, May 16th at Noon in front of Warner Hall (CMU) 5000 Forbes Ave, across from Moorewood in Oakland. We are calling on anyone who opposes the continuing occupation of Iraq, the death of soldiers and civilians, the continuing suffering being inflicted on those held in the US run prisons of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the role that local institutions such as Carnegie Mellow University play in the war machine, to come together in remembrance and revulsion towards the true cost of the war.
Once assembled, we will begin a walking tour of local institutions with specific ties to the war. We will be asking everyone to carry a placard to remember the life of someone who has been lost in Iraq as well as a flower (they are traditionally a symbol of life). We will have some placards already made and the materials to make more, we will try to bring some flowers. We are asking that this be a silent event - except for the reading of the names at each stop and a short explanation of why we’re at that specific location. This event will take place on the sidewalk.
War is hell, and while the fact that people are losing their lives is nothing new, there has been a dramatic escalation in the conflict that we feel must be acknowledged. The brutal occupation continues with more and more Iraqis being drawn into the cycle of violence.
There isn’t time for us to do a lot of outreach so we must depend on word-of-mouth to spread this event. Please do what you can to let others know. Sunday, May 16th at Noon at the corner of Forbes and Moorewood in Oakland (next to CMU). Remember the dead.
In Solidarity,
Pittsburgh Organizing Group
A note on tactics: When this event takes place it will have been a little less than a month since we called for a black bloc to protest and disrupt President Bushes visit here. These two events are obviously very similar in topic, but far apart in their tone and tactics, and while we realize that there are people who prefer one or the other we wish to state how critical we feel it is that people realize they are part of the same movement. A constant diversity of tactics is necessary to produce real and lasting systemic change. A black bloc may build the ability of this movement to create space in the streets, allow for direct action, and oppose police repression while a silent event may more clearly articulate to the public the cost of the occupation and the reasons we are opposing it.
The actions and specific tactics we choose must always spring forth from a careful consideration of our, and consequently the larger movements we consider ourselves a part of, long-term goals and the strategies we feel will most likely advance us towards the type of world we seek. Whether you feel this particular action is the most effective thing we could do or not, we hope you will extend whatever solidarity you can.
Be there with my running shoes on
by Janus
Thursday, May. 06, 2004 at 5:14 PM
Oh goodie. Can't wait to play in the middle of the street like a retard.
EDITORIAL POLICY VIOLATION
by Bachus
Friday, May. 07, 2004 at 4:03 AM
JANUS:
You will be sanctioned by the Imperial Grand Collective for your use of offensive insensitive language on the IMC boards. The use of mental illness in a demeaning or derogatory reference is not permitted. The accuracy of your statement, or the validity of your opinions is meaningless. You have shown yourself to be an insensitive hater and your statements will be forever prohibited here. IMC is an open media for all who subscribe to the IMC proscribed speech conduct and thought policies. IMC Knows Best and The Exulted Rulers Of The Imperial Grand Collective are smarter than anyone else, as their mandate holds forth from the Life Force that Controls all Mother Earth (i.e. not GOd, but something entirely different that they use in place of a deity). It is from people like you, Janus, that the Imperial Editorial Collective must protect us all.
so janus.
by ...
Friday, May. 07, 2004 at 10:46 AM
Janus, is your comment merely to vent about something that has nothing to do with the post itself? What's especially interesting is that the call you're refering to is the exact oppositite type of event that you're comment is critiquing. The event is going to take place on the sidewalks.
"mental illness?"
by Tom Blancato
Saturday, May. 08, 2004 at 9:17 AM
tblan@telerama.com 412-606-4734
I am surprised, or at least irked, to see mental retardation listed as an "illness". As someone who worked for some time with someone with cognitive deficits, but who was, nonetheless, a dear and unique being, the notion of deficits or challenges as "mental illness" is indicative of a considerable lack of thought regarding how to deal with differences and, yes, deficits in various abilities. Ultimately (in this context), this points to the degree to which thought is backgrounded as people rush forward with their various agendas and continue, as usual, to "get things done", even in some usual righteous political correctness (that often enough boils down to polems or war) in what they write. Meanwhile, so many wait, like my dear friend, for real understanding and real programs which are, strikingly, rarely forthcoming. Much to understand and much to say...it is, however, a real pleasure to indicate such, albeit a pleasure founded on something to be strictly disavowed...It's funny, I was just thinking of her today, how I would make her read things on the internet in the little program I made furtive gestures towards setting up (would have been a very good and beneficial program, hope to get to it some day), and how she would say "TOM!!! Why are you makin' me read this" (I'd make her read stuff out loud as exercizes), and how she died recently of a heart attack, and I hadn't been to see her in our usual meetings at the library due to my broken leg. And here I this interesting thing: the term "retard", its bigotry refreshingly obvious, and "mental illness", its bigotry probably more destructive and dressed in a (probably inauthentic) mode of "care"...in this instance of the anonymous banter that seems to take here so often. I don't mean to call for censoring anonymous banter, but I do mean to make these inidcations, and point to the countless programs that are not developed and register my own disdain (to put it mildly) for the concept of "mental illness" that so easily occupies its space on the neglected backburners of prevailing consciousness.
www.angelfire.com/zine2/thoughtaction1!!
GO POG
by a fan
Sunday, May. 09, 2004 at 10:23 AM
keep up the good work
Remebering the dead
by MAX
Monday, May. 10, 2004 at 3:44 AM
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
I think a die in is an approprite way to protest
Remebering the dead
by MAX
Monday, May. 10, 2004 at 3:45 AM
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
I think a die in is an approprite way to protest
flyer for the event!
by ...
Monday, May. 10, 2004 at 7:58 AM
There is a flyer for the event at:
http://www.organizepittsburgh.org/flyers/m16.pdf
please help spread the word.
for more info
by ...
Tuesday, May. 11, 2004 at 11:28 AM
To get more regular information on this and other pog events join pogs email list. You get around 1-2 messages a week (sometimes none for awhile). To do so email pog@mutualaid.org a blank message with "join" in the subject line.
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