Here’s this week’s rundown of ways to connect with the liberation movement in Pittsburgh!
Please let us know if there there’s an event that is not listed that you would like us to promote through our Facebook, our blog, our Twitter, and through flyers or email.
Monday – 3.13
Protest ICE Deportations at PGH Office! – ANSWER Coalition
You already know that ICE tears apart communities through unjust detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, but did you know their local office is right here in the South Side?
Come let ICE know Pittsburgh is watching them and we want them OUT of our communities.
When ICE deports our neighbors, families and friends, it increases the ongoing crisis of overpolicing of ALL oppressed communities, especially undocumented immigrants.
Our current administration uses ICE to attack undocumented immigrant communities, but President Obama also deported more people than any previous administration.
Locally, many Democrats in our PA state legislature join Republicans in voting for anti-immigrant legislation. We’re calling on these reps to change their ways and vote NO on SB10, HB14, and HB459.
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/1464410736944074/ ]
Tuesday – 3.14
Jewish Resistance at Aipac: Pittsburgh Community Action Meeting
Meet us at the Venus Flytrap, Pittsburgh’s premier flowershop venue, for IfNotNow Pittsburgh’s first ever public event!
Donald Trump’s first year as president of the United States is also the 50th year of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Israeli government stands poised to make the occupation a permanent reality, and Trump has given every indication that his administration will support them.
The American Jewish Establishment has for the most part remained silent in the face of Trump’s proposed policies that would not only imperil democracy but encourage violence. It has failed to register concern as anti-Semites, bigots, and misogynists became emboldened by Trump’s rise. And as we have long known, its defense of a status quo of endless occupation is a true moral disaster.
We declare our refusal to be complicit with the violence that this administration represents. Make no mistake — the American Jewish establishment’s silence is complicity. And we won’t play any part.
Join IfNotNow for our Pittsburgh Community Action Meeting to learn more about our upcoming action at AIPAC’s policy conference in March. We will talk about IfNotNow’s strategy for the next three months, our plans for the action and how we’re mobilizing our community for our largest action of the #JewishResistance.
*Snacks will be provided. A $5-$10 donation is requested but no one will be turned away for lack of funds*
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/397328510641354/ ]
TMC Monthly Open Meeting
Want to know how to get involved with activism at the Thomas Merton Center? Want to know what we’ve been up to lately? Join us for the first of our monthly open meetings! Contact Gabriel McMorland with any accessibility needs, childcare requests, or questions about the meeting format. Gabriel@thomasmertoncenter.org 412.719.3424
Wednesday – 3.15
Pennsylvania Pipeline Resistance Week of Action
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of miles of pipelines are being laid across Pennsylvania despite the objections of residents and landowners. From the Mariner East to the Atlantic Sunrise, resistance is growing in many communities!
Fracking and pipeline companies tell us that we need these fossil fuels even though we know that the vast majority of them are being exported, meaning that there is no benefit for PA residents.
Pipeline companies tell us that they are safe despite the millions of gallons of fossil fuels that have been spilled from pipeline ruptures each year.
Meanwhile, PA’s Department of Environmental Protection has been hiding complaints of water contamination and willfully failing to hold the fracking companies responsible. And our new Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who ran his campaign on a promise to hold fracking companies accountable, is failing to investigate the DEP and put permits on hold until the investigation is complete.
How can you join the resistance to these fracking profiteers?
1) Call AG Josh Shapiro’s office today and demand that he investigate the DEP: 717-787-3391
2) Plan an action in your area! It doesn’t take much. Just you and a group of friends, some poster board and markers, and a great location where you’ll either get to talk to a lot of people about the dangers of pipelines or make an impression on legislators.
[ https://actionnetwork.org/events/pennsylvania-pipeline-resistance-week-of-action ]
In It to Win It! “Five Golden Rays” Reading Group
What does it take to transform oneself and ones outlook to correspond with the tasks of being a proletarian revolutionary? We will be reading “The Five Golden Rays” to find out! These are five classics from Mao, along with very useful historical and theoretical commentary, which will be studied over the period of the next few weeks! Copies of the text can be provided and shared, though there are pdfs available online for printing off!
This is not a study group! We will be reading it collectively and drawing lessons to develop a revolutionary communist movement here in Pittsburgh!
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/1565429706818074/ ]
Anarchy Anime Club @ Pitt
Conspire with friends, play boardgames, do homework, eat dinner, announce projects, ask for support – come hang for a bit! Or don’t, it’s whatever really.
9pm(ish) to 11 or so in the Room of Requirement, short documentary screening starts at 10:30. This week we’re watching Street Politics 101 (33 min), unless someone has something better in mind. Ask around // contact PSSC for an invite.
Thursday – 3.16
Mapping Pittsburgh’s Power Elite
Let’s map out the connections of politicians, CEOs, real estate
developers, lobbyists, and the rest of Pittsburgh’s power elite.
This research will support activist work on every issue from gentrification to fracking. We’re going to use this site to share info with the public:http://littlesis.org/
Bring a laptop if you can or contact gabriel@thomasmertoncenter.org if you need to borrow one.
We’ll start out with a brief presentation about power research and then jump into some work/snacks!
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/1868253023453322/ ]
Prototype: A Feminist Makerspace – Two Day Workshop
In the first part of this workshop on Thursday 3/16 from 7-9pm you will learn how to solder while assembling your own miniature synthesizer that fits in an Altoids can! This is an ideal class for beginners looking to get started with electronics, Arduino programming, and making some seriously fun sounds. In the second part of this workshop on Saturday 3/18 from 12-2pm you will program your synthesizer and experiment with making noise!
All materials included with $25 fee per participant. This is a two part workshop and the fee covers both workshops.
Friday – 3.17
Despair and Revolution: A Critical Reading of Monsieur Dupont
Come together for a group reading of Monsieur Dupont’s “Do You Want To Be Or Don’t You Want To Be Soft Like Me”!
Monsieur Dupont is the pen name of two UK anarchists who wrote during the early 2000s. Their writings, most famously their book “Nihilist Communism”, tend to center around critiques of traditional methods of struggle in the anarchist and communist milieu.
This particular text is a polemic against the very idea that those who want revolution have any power to bring it about. I believe that there is much to agree with and disagree with here, and that the resulting discussion may be useful in directing and situating our activities in the current political climate.
We will be reading the text together, so reading it before hand is encouraged but not required. Also, if you have suggestions for future readings that could act as either a building upon or a counter-argument against the Dupont article, please bring them! Personally, I have John Holoway’s book “Crack Capitalism” in mind.
Link to the reading: https://libcom.org/library/do-you-want-to-be-or-don-t-you-want-to-be-soft-like-me
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/1784994928495816/ ]
A Very Radical St. Patrick’s Day Party – Redneck Revolt PGH
Join Pittsburgh Redneck Revolt for a night of discussion, beer and merriment, in whatever order you prefer.
St. Patrick’s Day, originally a celebration of a victimized culture with a long history of fighting colonial aggression, has since become a shallow, comodified excuse for binge drinking, affirming white supremacy and wearing shamrock sunglasses. How did this happen? Whiteness, in short: a category with no basis in historical or biological reality, invented in the 1600’s to quash servant uprisings.
So, instead of throwing up in a green hat on the 17th, come and enjoy an evening of comradeship, reasonable alcohol intake and political discussion.
Suggested $5 donation
BYOB, and beer will be available with a suggested donation.
Proceeds will be split between covering printing costs for our new zine on this subject:
Destroying Whiteness for st. Patrick’s Day and the Pittsburgh Antifascist Defense Fund.
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/249012698901984/ ]
Environmental Film Series Presents “Growing Cities”
Fri., March 17, from 7 – 9 p.m., strap in for a road trip across America and meet dozens of men and women who are challenging the way we grow and distribute food. Growing Cities explores the revolutionary ways in which urban farmers are cultivating their food — and building communities, too. From vacant city lots, to rooftop gardens, to backyard chicken coops, Growing Cities asks how much power urban farming has to revitalize our cities and change the way we eat. Discussion will be led by two Phipps staff: Community Outreach Coordinator Lauren Delorenze, who oversees of the Homegrown edible gardening program; and Adult Education Coordinator Gabe Tilove, who oversees the Master Gardener program.
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/238389799955477/ ]
First Annual Leon Ford Birthday Fundraiser
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/1934948246734975/ ]
Saturday – 3.18
Against Human Rights Violations: Support Rally for Inmates
Join the ACJ Health Justice Project as we stand in support of inmates in front of the Allegheny County Jail.
ACJ is in a constant crisis, inmates are experiencing severe human rights violations, from unsanitary living conditions to persistent medical neglect.
This rally is to publically acknowledge the demands of those on the inside, to let them know that they have support on the outside, we will make noise, we will speak truth, we will let Allegheny County know that jail is not justice.
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/265708600543347/ ]
[Event removed]
We’ve been informed by some friends and comrades that the benefit show is supporting an organization that sold out Pittsburgh Pride to the environmentally destructive corporation EQT. We agree with our friends’ criticisms – pride is political. We struggle for queer liberation, not rainbow capitalism. We struggle in solidarity with the frontlines communities that are being exploited by EQT, not to use liberal identity politics to obscure the realities of climate change and violence. Fuck DELTA.
If you still want to support a local LGBTQ* organization, we’d recommend checking out Roots Pride, hitting up the next Illegal Queers benefit party (TBA in the coming months), supporting the GLCC of Pittsburgh, making Hot Mass queer again, going to DIY queer punk shows, or raising the voices of cool intersectional feminist projects like In Our Hands, NightShade, and the Fourth Wave. Probably others, blanking on them rn.
Sunday – 3.19
Surveillance Self-Defense
Information Security for the Working-Class
No admission cost. Free on-street parking.
“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” – Edward Snowden
This workshop will consist of a short presentation, and breakout groups.
The topics to be covered in the presentation are:
* Threat Modeling & Risk Analysis
* Operational Security
* Metadata
* Safe(r) Web Browsing
* Strong Passwords & Passphrases
* Mobile Phone Encryption
* Secure Phone Calls & Messaging
and more…
The breakout groups will be be comprised of small groups, based on the interest of attendees.
Photography or audio/video recording of any kind is not permitted during this workshop.
Members of the media and/or law enforcement community are not invited to attend this workshop. Media inquiries Canberra sent to gdclocal5@pghiww.org.
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/1854683164787311/ ]
Pitt Tonight: Women’s Empowerment Episode
Pitt Tonight is back with a remarkably special episode. Not only are we having our largest show to date, but we’re also kicking off Pitt’s inaugural Women’s Empowerment Week. Yeah, we’re hype.
[ https://www.facebook.com/events/364174137311786/ ]
Local News and Ongoing Calls for Support
Protesters Block Intersection In Support Of Displaced Penn Plaza Residents
Filler [zine / news-site affiliated with Pittsburgh’s autonomous student scene] released two new print-ready zine PDFs.
“Destroy Gender” + “Beyond Another Gender Binary”
and
“Every Cook Can Abolish Governance” Parts 1 & 2
…are now both available in zine formate as print-ready PDFs!
https://fillerpgh.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/inventory/
Emergency Medical Costs for Dog Shot by Pittsburgh Cops
“Please help! A Pittsburgh police officer shot my dog, King, today and he needs emergency care. The police were harassing my nephew and my son came outside to see what was going on. King came out with him. One of the cops immediately pulled a taser and pointed it at my son. My nephew had already had a taser pointed at him even though he was only walking to my front door. Then, another cop became aggressive and began screaming about the dog. King had followed my son and was next to him, being friendly and curious as he always is. The cop continued screaming, flew into a panic, and shot at the dog, missing him. As the dog ran the cop shot again striking him from behind. The cop also managed to shoot one of the other cops in the foot.
King is a four year-old pit bull who is beloved by my family and the entire community. He has never harmed anybody, never attacked anybody, and we need him to make a full recovery. He is a part of our family!
The veterinarian requires payment up front and we are told that necessary x-rays, possible surgery, and other emergency procedures will cost more than $2,000. Right now King is peaceful but hurting, he is laying down but he is bleeding and in need of emergency medical care.
The cops never should have started this situation with my family, and there was no reason whatsoever to shoot our beloved dog. Please help by giving whatever you can to help save him.
Thank you,
Saundra”
[ https://www.generosity.com/animal-pet-fundraising/emergency-medical-costs-for-my-dog-shot-by-cops ]
¡No Pasaran! – All Out Against the Pro-Trump March in Pittsburgh
On Saturday, March 25th, the far-right will attempt to bring their “movement” out of the comments section of the internet and into the streets of Pittsburgh. Let’s show them who really owns the streets.
This is an open call to action. The Pittsburgh Student Solidarity Coalition has only just begun reaching out to our friends and other community organizations, and so we would like to encourage folks to either join us at our upcoming coordination meeting (TBA) or to plan their own actions. If you want to make your own call to action / facebook event page, go for it!
If you want to get involved, voice any concerns or criticisms, or coordinate in some other way, message our page or shoot us an email at studentsolidaritypgh [at] gmail.com. PSSC is an informal network of feminist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist, environmentalist, socialist, and anarchist youth and student organizations.
***
WHY CONFRONTATION?
In the past few months, Pittsburgh community members have been torn from their loved ones and deported, brutally attacked by racists, and subjected to increased harassment because of their gender, race, religion, sexuality, and immigration status. On top of this, recent sightings of white-nationalist flyers from alt-right groups like Identity Evropa and American Renaissance show that fascists are stepping up their recruitment efforts. The organizer of the Pittsburgh MAGA march claims that “Pittsburgh will never be the same.”[sources linked below or in the event page discussion section]
“They intend to force their agenda on you. That’s what all the guns are for, what the police and drones and surveillance cameras are for, what the FBI and CIA and NSA are for, what all those laws and courts and executive orders are for. It’s what their church is for, what those racist memes are for, what online harassment and bullying are for. It’s what gay bashings and church burnings are for.
This is not a dialogue. A dialogue—from which some of the participants can be deported at any time? A dialogue—in which one side keeps shooting and incarcerating the other side? A dialogue—in which a few people own all the networks and radio stations and printing presses, while the rest have to make do with markers and cardboard signs? A dialogue, really?
You’re not in a dialogue. You’re in a power struggle. All that matters is how much force you can bring to bear on your adversaries to defend yourself from them. You can bet that if you succeed, they will accuse you of breaking off the dialogue, of violating their free speech. They will try to lure you back into conversation, playing for time until they need no more stratagems to keep you passive while they put the pieces in place for tyranny.
This isn’t a dialogue—it’s a war. They’re gambling that you won’t realize this until it’s too late. If freedom is important to you, if you care about all the people marked for death and deportation, start taking action.”
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/29/health/school-survey-post-election-negative-incidents/
text adapted from the CrimethInc. piece “This is not a Dialogue”https://crimethinc.com/2017/01/26/this-is-not-a-dialogue-not-just-free-speech-but-freedom-itself
ALERTA ANTIFASCISTA
“Pittsburgh antifascists need to be on the lookout. white nationalist flyers have been spotted on pitt’s campus in the days following the announcement of the pgh MAGA march. this is also coming on the tail end of a wave of identity evropa flyers. pass this info along to yr crew and stay safe!”
info on american renaissance: https://antifascistnews.net/tag/american-renaissance/
Call for the University of Pittsburgh to Become a Sanctuary University
The national movement for the establishment of Sanctuary Universities responds to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s intention to deport up to three million (goo.gl/zCCXcU) undocumented persons from the United States, abolish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and establish a national registry for the surveillance of Muslim persons. Following the November 8 election, university and K-12 campuses around the country report threats directed against people of color, trans* people, disabled people, indigenous people, queer people, and all people without the privilege of U.S. citizenship; the appearance of swastikas and other hateful imagery on school property; and bullying of Muslim, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ youth. And peaceful demonstrators on Pitt’s Oakland campus have experienced violence at the hands of University police.
Given the xenophobia that characterizes our local and national climate, we cannot have confidence in our shared institutional commitments to inclusion, integrity, freedom of expression, and diversity without at minimum concrete policy statements from the University of Pittsburgh in support of “immigrants who study, live, and work in and around our University” (as stated in a November 16 sanctuary campus letter from Pitt student leaders, viewable atgoo.gl/LupvgG).
Demands:
Unless required by a warrant or other valid legal process, University of Pittsburgh officials will not cooperate with any deportation or other immigration enforcement actions directed against Pitt students. Specifically:
1. Pitt will prohibit University police and campus security from “inquiring about or recording as to an individual’s immigration status” (goo.gl/LupvgG).
2. University of Pittsburgh police officers will not cooperate with deportation or other immigration enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CPB), or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
3. The University of Pittsburgh will not allow ICE, CPB, or USCIS officials on Pitt campuses or other property.
4. The University of Pittsburgh will not share information related to immigration status about any Pitt student or employee with ICE, CPB, USCIS, or other law enforcement agencies.
5. The University of Pittsburgh will cease any use of E-Verify in student application or employee hiring procedures.
6. The Deans of Students Offices will coordinate a specific and transparent program to assist DACA students and all other students who are not U.S. citizens with any issue related to immigration or visa status, financial aid, housing, or related concerns.
7. Pitt will revise its Notice of Non Discrimination (goo.gl/IUmjjQ) and related policy statements (e.g. goo.gl/qsNOsa) to include “immigration status” as a protected category alongside “disability, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, familial status, sex, age, sexual orientation, veteran status or gender identity and expression.”
We, the undersigned, also affirm the statement in the November 16 letter to Chancellor Gallagher that “immigrants are not the only group who [have] found themselves targeted” by recent expressions of racism, xenophobia, heterosexism, cissexism, and misogyny on our campuses (goo.gl/LupvgG). We therefore support the Pitt United Students Against Sweatshops, Pitt Student Solidarity Coalition, Pitt Students Against Debt, and the Pitt Students for a Democratic Society’s call for additional actions Pitt can build toward, in the words of poet Muriel Rukeyser, “a world that will hold all the people.” Further, we stand in solidarity with Pitt students who demand an end to University of Pittsburgh police harassment of student activists in campus spaces.
Our University motto is Veritas et Virtus. Fidelity to these values requires that we not simply declare our campuses safe and welcoming spaces for all people. We must realize the truth of these statements through concrete action. By establishing ourselves as a Sanctuary University, we can take a significant step toward the realization of these commitments as facts in the life of the University of Pittsburgh.
Awaiting your action.
SIGN THE CALL FOR A SANCTUARY CAMPUS HERE
Donate to the Pittsburgh Anti-Fascist Legal Defense Fund!
If you can, please DONATE to the legal defense of the 10 Pittsburghers arrested in DC.
We stand in unconditional solidarity with the arrested comrades.
Drop the charges! Only the State is guilty!
On January 20th 2017 Border-guards, modern day slave catchers, paramilitary, military, and armed vigilante groups converged to protect the swearing in of a new leader to the White Supremacist State known as The United States of America.
Tens of Thousands of bravehearts also converged upon our nations capital in collective defense, in resistance to oppressive everyday reality. Arm in arm, in solidarity, hundreds from our beloved Rustbelt city manifested beautiful acts of resistance and aligned themselves with fellow renegades and insurgents to strengthen vocal messages and make bold gestures of revolution.
Pittsburghers gathered in mass to protest our country that was never great and to unmake fascist America.
Efforts were made to end segregation and bring about emancipation in much the same way those who have came before us have – in the streets.
During the demonstrations many were arrested. We, the organizers of this fundraising campaign, pledge to supporter our local comrades. Regardless their perceived guilt or innocence, we have solidarity with them and their trajectory.
The confines of laws are set up against those who dare to dream and act upon another reality.
We ask you to take a moment and pause, to consider we are in this together, and that our sisters and brothers, our neighbors who grew up and live on the same streets as us, who pass over the same bridges as us, are under attack.
Contributing to this bail fund is an act of love and an attack on the proponents of a segregated society that would have us all rotting in jail cells or slaving away as subservient women and barbarish men.
We are not divided and we will not leave anybody behind. For some the thin vale of American Racism has been taken off, for others we have always known it to be true and we are glad you have joined us.
[Pictured below: Over 100 dedicated anti-fascists, including our Pittsburgh friends, kettled by armed agents of the state. “We love you, stay strong, the revolution lives on!”]
It’s Going Down!
PITTSBURGH STUDENT SOLIDARITY COALITION 