PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Meeting to Form Anti-Authoritarian Working Group to Organize Resistance to the G20 in PGH
by Some PGH Anarchists Sunday, May. 31, 2009 at 10:35 PM
412g20temporary@gmail.com

Pittsburgh anarchists and antiauthoritarians are invited to participate in a planning meeting to form an anti-authoritarian working group to resist the G20 in September. The working group will take responsibility for --Providing a mobilization infrastructure on the ground in Pittsburgh --Circulating information and propaganda building hype for the protests --Reaching out to activists across the country that are interested in resisting the G20 --Creating a space for the formation of an action framework

Saturday, June 13
--10:00 am
Sunday, June 14
--10:00 am

Pittsburgh anarchists and antiauthoritarians are invited to participate in a planning meeting to form an anti-authoritarian working group to resist the G20 in September. The working group will take responsibility for
--Providing a mobilization infrastructure on the ground in Pittsburgh
--Circulating information and propaganda building hype for the protests
--Reaching out to activists across the country that are interested in resisting the G20
--Creating a space for the formation of an action framework

At the meeting we’ll explore our individual and collective goals, come up with points of unity, begin to develop working groups, establish an organizational process, and chart out the start of our work-plan for the next four months.

If you plan on participating, please RSVP to 412g20temporary@gmail.com and we will send you details on the meeting location.

In the mean time, please think about taking some steps to make our time together as useful as possible. You might want to:
--CAREFULLY review the proposed agenda and suggest any changes or modifications;
--Meet with your respective groups to develop an internal consensus on what you want to see come out of anti G20 organizing and how you want to participate;
--Look back at some helpful resources on processes and approaches to summit organizing;
--Think about how you personally want to participate in a broad mobilization infrastructure;
--Talk with your comrades about your personal goals, hopes and dreams with your comrades, share ideas and spread energy;
--Look at your calendar and examine your other commitments so you can come to the meeting with a clear idea of how much time and energy you’re going to be able to commit to this mobilization process over the next several months.

**Note to folks from other parts of the country--At this point we are inviting only Pittsburgh-based organizers and groups to participate in this discussion. We’re sure that there will be ample opportunity for folks across the country to participate in this process. But at this meeting we’re hoping to establish our local, on-the-ground working group. We are circulating this announcement on lists beyond Pittsburgh because we’re already starting to get lots of questions from our friends in other cities and we want you all to know that we’re taking this seriously and we’re getting ready.

Proposed Agenda—
(This agenda is only a proposal, please review it carefully and send any suggested changes or amendments to 412g20temporary@gmail.com)

Saturday, June 13
10:00 am—Introductions and Discussion on Goals
This will be an opportunity for all of us to get to know each other and understand our collective goals in organizing against the G20. This discussion is to put all of the competing and complementary goals out on the floor but not necessarily to force everyone to agree on the same goals

12:00 Noon—Lunch

1:00 pm—Points of Unity
We will spend most of the afternoon hammering out a set of points of unity for the working group, and possibly a name. We should work towards a consensus on our points of unity and check our future actions words and statements against our points of unity.

4:00 pm—Working Groups
Formation of working groups that will be responsible for getting most of the work done. This will be done in an ‘open space’ format to allow people to shop for working groups and explore participation in two or more groups.

Sunday, June 14
10:00 am—Reportback from Yesterday
Check in from each of the working groups, review of points of unity, vibes check-in on how the summit is going.

11:00 am—Group Process
Set group process for decision making, meeting, how folks outside of town are able to participate in the process, and who has agency in our decision making process.

1:00 pm—Lunch

2:00 pm Get ‘er Done
Set a calendar of some of the major work that needs to be done between now and September 24-25 and beyond. Obviously this won’t be all inclusive but it will be helpful in keeping us on track through this process.

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Apology for the use of 'Get 'er done'
by Patrick Sunday, Jun. 07, 2009 at 9:10 PM

In the draft agenda for this organizing meeting, the final agenda point at Sunday’s meeting—putting together a four month timetable for the build-up to the G20--was titled ‘Get ‘er done.’ I drafted this section of the agenda and the title included a tangential pop culture reference to Larry the Cable Guy’s catch phrase. In the past day or so, some folks approached me to let me know that they took offense to the phrase because they understood the phrase as an abbreviation of the misogynistic phrase ‘get *her* done.’

When I drafted that section of the agenda I certainly didn’t realize the potential misogynistic interpretations of the phrase. If I had realized the etymological roots of the phrase I definitely wouldn’t have incorporated the phrase in this agenda (or anything else, for that matter).

I apologize to anyone I offended by using that phrase. And I want to thank the folks who brought this to my attention in such a constructive way.

Future postings and printings of the agenda will replace ‘Get ‘er done’ with ‘Getting it done’ and we’ll include a short note to folks apologizing for the inclusion of that phrase in the response e-mail we send to folks who RSVP for the meetings.

Love and solidarity,
Patrick

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there are no words
by git 'er done Tuesday, Jun. 09, 2009 at 1:35 AM

Sometimes in a great while a man will come across something so absolutely astonishing that there are no words for it, and the preceding "apology" fits the bill.

There is no doubt that leftists are mentally ill. Like schizophrenics, they over-analyze everything to the individual atoms, and like children of alcoholics, they walk on eggshells.

If you hurt some overly sensitive asshole's feelings, then fuck 'em. They'll get over it, and if they don't then fuck 'em twice. Life's too short for kissing the asses of every loser that crawls Mother Gaia, and there are plenty!

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Ferrets and anarchists
by bugeyed Tuesday, Jun. 09, 2009 at 10:50 PM

Ferrets, when left alone, will mutilate themselves out of loneliness and depression.

Anarchists, without sufficient outlet for revolutionary and proactive activity, group-cannabalize themselves with word-games and embarrasing shit like that above.

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