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For more photos check out the slideshow here.
Here’s the latest press release from Occupy Pittsburgh due to be evicted at noon today:
Celebrate the People’s Park and Occupy Pittsburgh!
Sign up for emergency texts to be notified when the eviction begins!
Monday, February 6 at 11:56 am is the official deadline for eviction of the Occupy Pittsburgh camp at the People’s Park. Occupy Pittsburgh supporters are meeting at the camp at noon to show that an injunction or an eviction will not stop this movement; to stand up for the freedom of speech and freedom of assembly; to celebrate Occupy Pittsburgh’s achievements over the last three months; and to say loud and clear: The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
As we learned from the injunction issued against us, the freedom of speech is guaranteed only to those who can afford to purchase it. But we have scored a moral victory. History has shown that when people’s movements respond creatively to repression by the 1%, we can mobilize sympathy for the cause of the 99%. The court even used this as an excuse to rule against us, as if they were doing us a favor: “BNY Mellon’s eviction of the encampment will certainly draw publicity and may even assist in communicating the Occupiers’ message.” On this point, at least, let’s prove the judge right!
I helped deliver some Firedoglake packages (gloves, jackets and other winter clothes…) to the Occupy Pittsburgh’s camp some weeks ago. Thought I should post these pics before they’re shut down this morning. It’s not over. Decentralize decentralize decentralize. I also took some photos in the daylight last Saturday.
Onward with Occupy Pittsburgh mic checks and Occupy Pittsburgh anti-foreclosure actions. I forgot everybody’s name but if people add them in the comments I will add them to the story.
2 Comments
Thanks Phil. This is just so wrong. But Occupy Pittsburgh is a strong group and I hope they will use the community outrage over this incident to become stronger.
Hmm, Pittsburgh City Council declared solidarity with OP, that not cutting any ice? I realize its MellonBNY ‘property’, so maybe it doesnt.
Here is the resolution — http://pittsburgh.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1007832&GUID=F6988BDC-66BA-47E7-93F6-55530338D9E6&Options=&Search= It is an interesting read (and short — don’t be skeered).
Pittsburgh has also resolved to limit corporate rights, here http://pittsburgh.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1024499&GUID=52DA376D-B372-4D37-8588-3090A8397F87&Options=ID|Text|&Search=corporate+rights. They further call on other municipalities to join them in in their “campaign to call for an Amendment to the Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood and return our democracy, our elections, our communities back to America’s human persons and to thus reclaim our sovereign right to self-governance.”
Now, if City of Pbgh and Occupy Pbgh can pull this off, Mellon may have to sit down and shut up, perhaps permanently. But that is not likely to happen easily, as it will go to courts which are not bound by City resolution. It is a gesture, like the old resolutions for abolition. Which eventually worked.
This is a collision course betw local democracy and Corporate Govt — we need to be solid not just with Occupy Pgbh, but also with the City of Pittsburgh. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund http://celdf.org is working on the corporate rights issue PA and elsewhere; City of Pbgh has also paired with City of Ste-Hilaire (Quebec) to fight fracking.
What do they say? Organize, organize, organize.
If They (two by two, uniforms of blue) break up Occupy, they won’t need tents anymore. How else can we help?