G20 Third Day of Protests

march for jobs
Sunday: March for Jobs

tent city, g20, pittsburgh
Monday: "Organizing the global struggle for jobs & workers rights"
workshop at the Tent City

Occupants of the Bail Out the People Movement Tent City will be marching from Freedom Corner (the intersection of Centre Avenue and Crawford Street) to the Mellon Corporation Headquarters (500 Grant Street) at 4:30 to demand a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Participants in the march will include homeless and unemployed people from across the U.S., trade union activists, community organizers and local residents.

The Tent City kicked off Sunday with a spirited March for Jobs, with more than 1,000 protesters marching through the streets of Pittsburgh in the first G-20-related demonstration. Carrying hundreds of placards bearing the image of Dr. Martin Luther King, and slogans such as “Fight for the right to a job,” the long march was enthusiastically greeted on the streets of Pittsburgh by Sunday worshipers getting out of church, many of whom joined the march.

Rev. Thomas E. Smith, pastor of Monumental Baptist Church and one of the organizers of the march, told the rally, “We must tell the G-20 leaders that we reject the notion of a jobless recovery. An economic recovery that leaves unemployment in the double digits adds insult to injury to all who have lost their jobs and their homes during this terrible economic crisis, both in this country and around the world.”

Buses of protesters came from New York, Rhode Island, Detroit, Cleveland, and other places. Vans and cars and caravans came from literally every part of the country, as far away as Boston, Florida and Los Angeles. Joining the many who came from out of town were a large turnout of Pittsburgh residents, especially those who live in the historic African-American section of Pittsburgh called the Hill district, where the march was mounted from.

The end of the march was Freedom Corner, near downtown Pittsburgh, where there is a monument to Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders and activists. Amongst the many speakers at Sunday's rally were: Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Rakhee Devastali, Feminist Students United, UNC-Chapel Hill; Oscar Hernandez, participant in the 11-month Stella D’Oro bakery strike in New York City;Sandra Hines, Mich. Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions; Larry Holmes, Bail Out the People Movement; John Parker, Bail Out the People Movement activist, who brought a van of people from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh; Fred Redmond, vice-president, United Steelworkers; Lynne Stewart, civil rights attorney, target of government repression; Brenda Stokely and Jennifer Jones, NYC Coalition in Solidarity with Katrina/Rita Survivors; Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10, San Francisco and Million Worker March Movement; Victor Toro, an immigrant facing deportation with the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Workers Rights; Rosemary Williams, homeowner fighting foreclosure in Minnesota; and Rev. Bruce Wright, Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign.

After the march and rally, hundreds of protesters returned to the rally’s beginning point, Monumental Baptist Church in the Hill district, and began to prepare their tents to prepare to live in a tent city dedicated to the unemployed of the world that will stand next to the church for the entire week of the G-20 summit.

The tent city is full of tents and hundreds of residents. Organizers expect the population of the tent city to grow as the opening of the G-20summit grows closer. Throughout all three days of the Tent City, local Pittsburgh residents have been coming by to donate food and water and to express their support for the demand for a real jobs program.

A full schedule of the various forums and teach-ins that will take place at the tent city each day is available online at bailoutpeople.org.

Support the March for Jobs & Tent City in Pittsburgh - Donate at http://bailoutpeople.org/donate.shtml


Videos of the Tent City and March for Jobs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-fCmmxZd6Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx-n2DrLrJw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkUxvX5JNJg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCnBqnB7j-o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIVoFbILRIE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoNtah2Fkcs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjg-FtB5xEY

http://kdka.com/local/g20/tent.city.protest.2.1196577.html

Slideshow
http://www.examiner.com/x-23318-Pittsburgh-Photojournalist-Examiner~y2009m9d21-G20-protests-begin-in-earnest-with-march-in-Hill-District

Media Coverage
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125348613742626219.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE58J1MR20090920

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09264/999586-482.stm

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_644179.html

Before G20 March for Jobs in Pittsburgh on Sept 20

A Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed September 20 - 25 (During the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh) Yes to Jobs & Human Needs; No to War & Wall Street Greed

  • Sunday, September 20 - Rally & March for a Real Jobs Program
  • Building a Tent City in Pittsburgh for the Unemployed & Supporters
    the weekend before the G-20 Summit
  • Organizing Caravans of Unemployed People and Supporters to Converge on Pittsburgh during the week of September 19-26
  • Marches, Protests and Events Before and During the G20 Summit addressing demands such as: Bring the Troops Home from Iraq & Afghanistan Now! & Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, World-Renown Political Prisoner, Journalist, Activist and 'Voice of the Voiceless!"

Read more

San Francisco Labor Council Resolution in Support of March for Jobs in Pittsburgh, Sept 20, 2009


Stand in Solidarity with Prof. Gates! Say NO to Racism!

Stop Racial Profiling and Police Brutality!

Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Was Right!
The Cambridge Cops Must Apologize!
Youth Need Jobs & Schools - Not Jails!
Demand a Justice Department Investigation of Racial Profiling Across the US




Help Build the Resistance to the G20 Meeting in Pittsburgh
Organizers/Informational Meeting
Thursday, August 6 - 6:30 pm

USW L. 8751 - Boston School Bus Drivers
25 Colgate Rd., Roslindale

A NATIONAL MARCH FOR JOBS
PITTSBURGH, PA - SUNDAY, SEPT. 20 - Before the G-20 Summit

A Global week of Solidarity with the Unemployed - They must no longer be invisible and silent

A Tent City for the Unemployed in Pittsburgh during the G20 Summit

Join the discussion with trade unionists, students, youth, & community activists and get involved in the struggle to demand:

  • No Rate Hikes for National Grid or the MBTA!
  • Restore ALL Utilities to Everyone Who Has Been Shutoff!
  • Stop Foreclosures and Evictions!
  • No Layoffs and Wage Cuts! – Fight for JOBS & a Livable Wage for Everyone!
  • Equal Quality Education for All Students – Stop the Racist Re-Segregation of Boston Schools!
  • Stop the Privatization of Boston Schools - No Charters!

There will also be discussion and planning for a local action to coincide with the G20 for those who are unable to make the trip.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT!
Come Out Against Racism!

Stop Racial Profiling and Police Brutality!

Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Was Right!

The Cambridge Cops Must Apologize!

Youth Need Jobs & Schools - Not Jails!

Demand a Justice Department Investigation
of Racial Profiling Across the US


The arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. by a Cambridge police officer after showing two forms of identification after he, along with a Black limo driver, had unjammed the lock to the front door of Gates' own house in a predominantly white, upscale neighborhood known as "Harvard Square" has brought the struggle against racism to the front pages of newspapers throughout the US and around the world.

The Cambridge Police Department and their racist allies have worked overtime to slander and vilify Prof. Gates. But his only crime was in fact to resist the racist arrogance of the Cambridge Police and not acquiesce to their racist and unjust treatment of him. The torrent of racist vitriol targeting Prof. Gates as well as the absolute racist arrogance displayed by the Cambridge Police Department in demanding that Pres. Obama and Gov. Patrick apologize for expressing support for Prof. Gates, cannot go unanswered! It is time for all poor and working people, and particularly whites, to come out against these racist attacks and stand foursquare in 100% solidarity with Professor Gates and against racial profiling and police brutality.

Cambridge, Harvard University and Boston are seen around the world as bastions of liberalism, hotbeds of progressive ideas and prestigious places from which cutting-edge research emanates. But the racial profiling and arrest of Prof. Gates have re-raised the question of how much has changed since the 1970s when, in the wake of court-ordered busing for desegregation, white racist mobs were stoning buses carrying Black school children and attacking Black people on the streets and in their homes.

Gates was Right! The Cambridge Police Department was Wrong!

Racial profiling is another expression of institutionalized racism. In the U.S., racial profiling and police brutality have become an unfortunate reality of life for people of color, especially youth. It doesn't matter whether it occurs in the inner city, a small town, or an upper-middle class suburb.

In a 2004 report entitled "Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security and Human Rights in the United States," Amnesty International documented that in a year-long investigation, an estimated 32 million people had been racially profiled--the vast majority of them from nationally oppressed groups. One can only imagine how much these numbers have increased over the last five years, not only for those born in the U.S. but also for immigrants. Since 9/11 there has been a corresponding increase in racial profiling targeting the Arab and Muslim communities.

The police have been, by far, the most feared perpetrators of racial profiling, and understandably so. Police harassment and brutality is an epidemic. According to a 2008 report by the Washington, D.C. based Campaign for Youth Justice entitled ”Critical Condition: African American Youth in the Justice System” African American youth make up 30 percent of youth arrested while they represent only 17 percent of the overall youth population. Additionally, African American youth are 62 percent of the total number of youth prosecuted in the adult criminal system and are nine times more likely than white youth to receive an adult prison sentence.

One only needs to remember how the Somerville 5 (5 Black youth from Somerville who were arrested on racist frame up charges by the Medford Police) or the Jena 6 were treated. Not to mention the racism that followed the devastation of the 9th Ward in New Orleans as a result of hurricane Katrina.

As the economic crisis deepens the ruling class will use all means at its disposal to foster artificial divisions between white workers and Black, Latina/o, and immigrant workers. It is our responsibility to build a movement based on anti-racist, class-wide solidarity--as workers of all nationalities are losing their jobs, homes, health care and pensions in rapid numbers; and as the economic crisis becomes even more acute.

Bail Out The People Movement
617-522-6626
bopmboston@gmail.com

Help Build the Resistance to the G20 Meeting in Pittsburgh
Organizers/Informational Meeting
Thursday, August 6 - 6:30 pm

USW L. 8751 - Boston School Bus Drivers
25 Colgate Rd., Roslindale

Join the discussion with trade unionists, students, youth, & community activists and get involved in the struggle to demand:

  • No Rate Hikes for National Grid or the MBTA!
  • Restore ALL Utilities to Everyone Who Has Been Shutoff!
  • Stop Foreclosures and Evictions!
  • No Layoffs and Wage Cuts! – Fight for JOBS & a Livable Wage for Everyone!
  • Equal Quality Education for All Students – Stop the Racist Re-Segregation of Boston Schools!
  • Stop the Privatization of Boston Schools - No Charters!

There will also be discussion and planning for a local action to coincide with the G20 for those who are unable to make the trip.

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT!

Bail Out the People Movement - 617.522.6626 or bopmboston@gmail.com

A Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed

September 19 - 26 (During the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA)

Yes to Jobs & Human Needs; No to War & Wall Street Greed
  • Sunday, September 20 - Rally & March for a Real Jobs Program
  • Building a Tent City in Pittsburgh for the Unemployed & Supporters the weekend before the G-20 Summit
  • Organizing Caravans of Unemployed People and Supporters to Converge on Pittsburgh during the week of September 19-26
  • Marches, Protests and Events Before and During the G20 Summit addressing demands such as: Bring the Troops Home from Iraq & Afghanistan Now! & Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, World-Renown Political Prisoner, Journalist, Activists and 'Voice of the Voiceless!"
In September the eyes of the world will be on Pittsburgh, where the G20 countries will meet to consider what to do about the biggest global economic crisis since the 1930s. The heads of governments, finance ministers and central bankers that will be in Pittsburgh for the summit hear the concerns of bankers and corporate executives all the time. They need to listen to the voices of the millions of people who have lost their jobs and their homes because of the crisis. The Bail out the People Movement, a coalition of community, labor, religious, and grassroots activists, wants to help dramatize the crisis of joblessness, and the need for action both in the U.S. and worldwide to the G20 summit. It is now clear that the stimulus legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in March has done little to stop the loss of jobs. There is no recovery for the unemployed, the underemployed and the poor; and things are only getting worse. This is why we’re asking you to help make the idea of a Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed from September 19 through September 26, the week of the G20 Summit, a reality.

A TENT CITY AND MARCH FOR JOBS On Sunday, Sept. 20, the tent city will open with a rally and march for jobs. The main site for the tent city will be next to the Monumental Baptist Church in an historic section of the African-American community of Pittsburgh called “The Hill.” This location is just a short walk or march from the convention center where the G20 summit will be held, and from the rest of downtown Pittsburgh. Unemployed people and their supporters will inhabit the tent city from Sept 20 through Sept. 25. Additional locations for other encampments in Pittsburgh are being considered as well. This is why we’re asking you to help make the idea of a Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed from September 19 through September 26, the week of the G20 Summit, a reality.

IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE – THIS IS A WEEK OF SOLIDARITY WITH YOU The Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed is also a week of solidarity with those who have lost their homes to foreclosures and evictions; those who have been forced to take part-time or temporary jobs because there are no full-time jobs; workers who have seen their wages and hours cut; autoworkers whose plants have been closed; immigrant workers who are fighting for their rights; communities that are fighting gentrification and budget cuts to social programs; students who are being forced out of school because of the debt burden and rising tuition cost; the survivors and displaced victims of the Katrina/Rita hurricanes and the government's criminally negligent response; poor and working people everywhere, especially in poor countries who are bearing the cruel brunt of the economic crisis; workers everywhere fighting for the right to organize and in the U.S. for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the U.S.; All who need single payer health care; retirees who need their healthcare & pensions safeguarded; and young people, especially Black and Latina/o youths whom the system has condemned to a jobless future.

IT’S TIME TO BAILOUT THE UNEMPLOYED WITH A REAL JOBS PROGRAM In the days before and during the G20 summit, events and marches will take place to emphasize this central point: More than just another stimulus package is needed. It’s time for a serious, direct and massive jobs program on par with the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. We must fight for a real jobs program for the unemployed and underemployed that pays a living wage performing socially meaningful work; and an income for those unable to work. Any claim that the resources for a serious jobs program are not available must be rejected. If governments, particularly the U.S. government, can make available trillions of dollars for bailing out banks and corporations as well as funding the Pentagon’s endless wars, & Occupations, they can find the resources to bail out the unemployed and underemployed.

THIS IS A GLOBAL CALL BECAUSE JOBLESSNESS IS A GLOBAL CRISIS Mass unemployment is a global phenomenon. The right to a job at a living wage must be a global demand. Instead of being pitted against each other, unemployed and working people across the world can only improve their conditions by working and fighting together for their common interests. Activists and organizations everywhere are encouraged to support the Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed and organize events in conjunction with it.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING'S FINAL CAUSE: THE RIGHT OF ALL TO A JOB OR AN INCOME The need and the right of everyone to either a job or a guaranteed income is the cause that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated the last year of his life to. The present global economic depression has made King’s last cause even more urgent today than it was when he was alive. Dr. King also knew that: no matter the magnitude of suffering, governments do not respond if those who are suffering remain invisible and silent. Even a history-making president like Obama is still not a substitute for the mass movement for social justice. During the depression of the 1930’s, President Franklyn Delano Roosevelt once told labor leaders who were asking him to do more to help workers and the poor “I agree with you, know make me do it”. FDR’s advice applies to Pres. Obama to. The purpose of the Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed is to make sure that people who are usually ignored are seen and heard.

ORGANIZING CARAVANS OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE AND SUPPORTERS TO PITTSBURGH Over the next 10 weeks, organizing will be going on in every region of the country to bring caravans of unemployed people and supporters to Pittsburgh in Sept.

THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:


A CALL FOR A GLOBAL MOBILIZATION
AGAINST THE G20 SUMMIT IN PITTSBURGH, PA., U.S.
SEPTEMBER 24 AND 25, 2009

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT!
BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE
JOBS & SOCIAL NEEDS--NOT WAR AND GREED
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
SHUTDOWN THE RACIST PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX


The third G20 summit is going to be in Pittsburgh, Pa., on September 24 and 25, 2009. The challenge before the movements for economic and social justice, as well as the antiwar movement, is that the next meeting of the powers that govern the world economy be met with a powerful mass mobilization demanding that jobs and social needs, and not war and greed, prevail--here in the U.S., and across the world. --more--





Meeting of the Coalition for Equal Quality Schools
Monday, June 22 - 6:00 pm
English High



For more information contact:
Coalition for Equal Quality Education

Students - Parents - Teachers - Staff - Community
Tell the School Committee






  • Vote NO on the 5 Zone Plan
  • Demand Equal Quality Education
  • Equity & Access to a Quality Education is a Civil Right
Demonstrate:
June 3 - 5:30pm
Boston School Committee
26 Court St., Boston





Coalition for Equal Quality Education
Black Educators’ Alliance of Massachusetts (BEAM); Work-4-Quality Schools; Boston Parents Organizing Network (BPON); USW L. 8751 Boston School Bus Drivers; Councilors Chuck Turner, Charles Yancey, and Sam Yoon; Minister Don Muhammad; Bail Out the People Movement; Women’s Fightback Network; New England Human Rights Organization for Haiti; Bishop Felipe Teixeira, OFSJC; Community Change; Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST); Union of Minority Neighborhoods

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