Local Action Shorts

PLA Bucket Brigade
For the second straight year in a row, Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) inserted an anti-war message into the St. Patrick's Day parade. With 5-gallon plastic drums, water jugs, other improvised instruments and anti-war chants, the contingent brought the sweet sounds of resistance to the streets.

Pictures can be seen at:
Pittsburgh Indymedia I
Pittsburgh Indymedia II


PLA Bucket Brigade (Photo by Nia Edmondson)

SOA Watch - Rep. Hart Avoids Tough Questions
On February 19th, 2004, two members of WPA-SOAW attended a short presentation at the World Affairs Council.  The presentation was given by US Representative Melissa Hart (R-PA 4th).  The talk was roughly based on the proposed trade agreements, such as the FTAA, CAFTA, etc and centered on Rep. Hart's recent experiences while abroad.

As a member of a congressional delegation that went on a whirlwind tour of South America. This trip included meetings with US Ambassadors, Heads of State, and reps from the private sector.  In her presentation Rep Hart stressed her desire to "take steps to help those countries move forward." 

On 9.11.03, Rep Hart cosigned House Resolution 911, which seeks to "authorize the establishment of a memorial to victims who died as a result of terrorist acts against the US or its people at home or abroad." 

Although Rep Hart has taken noted and vigorous stances on anti-terrorism, she is also a staunch supporter of the School of the Americas (now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or SOA/WHISC), a taxpayer-funded Latin American combat school located at Ft. Benning, Georgia.  In addition to other serious human rights atrocities, SOA/WHISC trainees were responsible for the murder of four American churchwomen in El Salvador, 2 December, 1980.  SOA/WHISC has been called the "biggest base of destabilization in Latin America" by former Panamanian President Jorges Illueca. 

However on the 19th of February, Rep Hart refused to answer the questions of the WPA-SOAW organizers as to why she continues to support the SOA/WHISC, yet calls for "steps to help those countries move forward."

Why is Rep Hart not answering questions about the contradiction in her legislative history? Why does Rep Hart refuse to talk about SOA/WHISC?

You can write Representative Hart (see sidebar) and ask her why she would not answer questions about SOA/WHISC.  Ask her if she plans to suggest that a memorial be built in honor of the churchwomen, as HR 911 states.  Ask her if she will build the biggest memorial of all, and cosign HR 1258, legislation to close the SOA/WHISC and stop the training of these proficient killers.  Please remember that if you maintain a polite tone, you will be taken more seriously.  Please CC all correspondence to info_wpasoaw@yahoo.com so that we can track our progress. 

Visit: http://www.hart.house.gov/contact.asp to email Rep. Hart. And check out the Western PA School of the Americas Watch site at www.thomasmertoncenter.org/soa for more info. We serve the Western PA region, and are a coalition of students, religious and labor activists dedicated to shutting down the SOA/WHISC.

Allegheny/Butler/Westmoreland Counties
4655 Route 8, Suite 124G
Coventry Square Shopping Center
Allison Park, PA 15101
Ph.412-492-0161
Fx.412-492-0178

Ellwood City Office
501 Lawrence Avenue
Ellwood City, PA 16117
Ph. 724-752-0490
Fax. 724-752-0494

Washington, DC Office
1508 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Ph. 202-225-2565
Fax. 202-226-2274

- Chad Skaggs

SEIU Janitors Go Hungry
On Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. five hundred janitors and their labor and community allies rallied at the corner of Smithfield Street and Seventh Avenue and announced a hunger strike for the wages and benefits of Pittsburgh janitors including the nine janitors who were locked out of their jobs and benefits from the Centre City Tower in December.

To emphasize that they will not tolerate being tossed out of their jobs like the trash that janitors remove every night from downtown and suburban buildings, janitors and their allies created a huge pile of trash bags on the sidewalk near Centre City Tower.

Nine janitors who cleaned at the Centre City Tower were locked out of their jobs and healthcare benefits at the end of December of last year. The lockout has been the focus of an increasing show of support for the janitors from the Pittsburgh community including the arrest of four clergy and the president of the Allegheny County Labor Council as well as a community hearing by a panel of prominent Pittsburgh leaders.

Pittsburgh janitors are part of SEIU’s Justice for Janitors Campaign, a national campaign that fights for wages, benefits and fair treatment for downtown and suburban janitors.


(Photos by Marie Skoczylas)

PAUADP Press Rendell for Moratorium on Executions
On Thursday, March 4, 2004 Pittsburgh area death penalty opponents gathered for a press conference at the Smithfield United Church, downtown. Later they rallied in front of the Pennsylvania State Office Building on Liberty Avenue.

Calling the state killing system, "discriminatory and capricious" Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty demanded that Governor Ed Rendell immediately enact a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania. Death penalty opponents gathered on this day because it marked the first anniversary of a report issued by a Pennsylvania Supreme Court committee that demonstrated a clear pattern of discrimination in capital cases against people of color and the poor. Governor Rendell had promised during his election campaign that he would support a moratorium on executions if given ample evidence of a need to reform the death penalty. Given this Supreme Court report death penalty opponents now demand that he keep his promise.

Maintaining that they are opposed to the death penalty regardless of how it is reformed, these advocates insist that a moratorium is a vital first step in that direction.

One attendee eloquently summarized the situation saying, "Its [the death penalty’s] immorality derives not just from killing certain people but from killing people in general."

- Stephen Donahue










 

 


Protesters march at Smithfield United Church. (Photos by Bill Rounsley)

 

 

 

 

 

 


 Lavera Brown, Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the NAACP addressed the crowd.

Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority - This is NOT What Democracy Looks Like
In February, 2004 the Pennsylvania General Assembly voted to establish an oversight board to run Pittsburgh's finances for the next seven years. This board was given a prestigious name to match its powerful mandate. Indeed the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority will, in the words of State Rep. Joseph Preston, D-East Liberty, "govern the city of Pittsburgh - not the mayor, not the council - for the next seven years."

This powerful and unelected oversight board is the brain child of neo-con suburban legislators like State Representative Mike Turzai and State Senator Jane Orie. They pushed and pushed for a powerful board to teach Pittsburgh fiscal discipline. Allies in this demand for a powerful oversight board were neo-liberal law makers who want Pittsburgh to surrender all its publicly owned assets and services over to the free market.

The Governor and the PA Senate and House leadership picked five members of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority and of course they picked five rich white men for the job. Needless to say the people of Pittsburgh were given zero input into these appointments. Pittsburgh residents were told that they must give up some self-rule for the next seven years. They were also told to expect some "tough love" from this board in the form of human services cuts, privatization and outsourcing of public services, undermining of union contracts, selling off of public assets and the imposition of fees for public services.

The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority must function according to the provisions of the PA Sunshine Act. Until recently there were serious questions as to whether they were doing this. Before March 10 the board had met three times. Twice they met entirely in private and at their one open meeting they kicked the public out for most of the meeting. Before March 10 this board had taken no public comment.

On March 10 a group from the Pittsburgh Organizing Group, the Thomas Merton Center and the hunger advocacy group Just Harvest decided to do something about this. They attended the meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority and sat up front wearing gags over their mouths. Written on the gags were statements such as, "Money talks, others walk" and "Let the Sunshine in." The board members and their legal staff did their best to ignore this group of around 12 city residents but could not after one of the group members began to pepper them with unsolicited questions. The Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority finally responded to this disturbance by coming up with a plan to take public comment at that very meeting. They also promised to begin meeting at a regular time and place and to do more than simply put postage stamp sized meeting announcements in the legal section of the newspaper classified ads three days prior to a meeting. Just how they will advertise their meetings better is yet to be seen.

Direct action at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority brought about some desired results. However, on March 17, 2004, the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority met again. No announcement of this meeting appeared in the local newspapers until the morning of March 17. Under the Sunshine Law, notices are to be printed three days in advance of a meeting. One Pittsburgh resident who called the office of Governor Rendell on March 16 asking to file a formal complaint against the ICA for failing to follow the Sunshine Law was instead hounded by the Governor’s staff person who kept interrupting with the question, "Who are you with?"

And still the ICA is, by itself, a problem. Many think that reforming its practices does not go to the heart of the problem. These people suggest that basic democracy in Pittsburgh is in as much danger right now as are the city's finances.

- Stephen Donahue


Stephen Donahue speaks to the review board after protesters challenged the "no public comment" policy...and won. (Photos by Marie Skoczylas)
Mark Yokim wears a gag to protest the undemocratic methods of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority.