From the Editor...

As we’re inundated with tales from Iowa and New Hampshire, the corporate media drones on. Showering accolades and the promise of a new firebrand, straight-talking or vote-your-conscience leader. Or ranting that no angry, shortsighted, idealistic, shoot-from-the-hip candidate could throw our Great Liberator from his throne.

And I feel far from hopeful.

Our "democratic process" that makes a lottery of severely watered-down options causes my head to spin. The compulsory promotion of competition is sickening. All around me is the buzz of, "It’s an opportunity to get Bush out." Well, yes it is. But who gets in? I find myself pondering whether any of the "chosen ones" can "represent" us all? How does a panel of rich, white, straight, men understand my interests? Who exactly are they advocating for?

As I’m usually perceived as a young person by anyone with a clipboard and a candidate to promote, I never fail to hear, "the problem with young people today is that they don’t vote." I’ve been privy to some creative, serious, and sometimes tongue-in-cheek responses, my favorite one being: "If voting really changed things, it’d probably be illegal." But when it comes down to it, I understand why people would choose to cast a ballot or to abstain altogether – neither option really being of monumental significance in and of itself. Sometimes the fixation on "the choice" causes everyone to miss the point entirely…that is, building a mass movement that will make change regardless.

This past weekend, at the National Conference on Organized Resistance in Washington, DC, one speaker suggested during a discussion on electoral politics that the slogan for this year’s elections should be: "Don’t just vote, take action" to emphasize what we can do directly ourselves, acting without representation to get things done - an approach that can make people feel more empowered. If we can only apply pressure to change things every couple years, what happens in the meantime? What do you do the other 364 days and 23.5 hours of the year?

In this issue, People Against Police Violence takes on the brutality rampant in our community that continues to manifest with the murders of (usually black) men every so many months, long before the memory of Jonny Gammage would even begin to wane. The Anti-War Committee, Code Pink and Pittsburgh Organizing Group plan to remind the general public on the one-year anniversary of the war on Iraq that thousands of innocent people (and over 500 US troops) continue to be massacred as billions of our dollars are drained from vital social services and dumped back into a country we destroyed, not to rebuild it, but rather to continue that human destruction. The Quakers reach out to hear the fears, hopes and dreams of ordinary citizens – as we’re shown that our voices are irrelevant to the US Administration. Members of PA United for a Single-Payer Health Care System work to make universal health care the human right that it is. The PA Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty expose racial and gender bias in the Justice System and push for an end to state-sanctioned murder. The Black and White reunion continues to build bridges across race and culture in our city…

And this is what does give me hope.

This is what Pittsburgh is doing those other 364 days and 23.5 hours of the year…