G-20 Photos: Pittsburghers welcome protesters

The local corporate media, as part of their role as hand-puppets and mouthpieces for law enforcement, have been making a point of finding and interviewing the local residents who somehow identify with the armed thugs and the Wall Street interests they protect. Whether it is out of fear, or some naive, misguided hope that kissing up to their oppressors will result in better treatment from them or make them eligible for some kind of discount from the corporate stores they somehow mistake for friends. Ambitious and cowardly people will always side with bullies. It is the submissive, cheer-leading behavior of these people who allow the Hitlers and Saddam Husseins of the world to seize and hold power.

While covering the protests against the G-20 summit, most of the Pittsburghers who I encountered were not shy about expressing their support and admiration for those participating in the demonstrations and were disappointed, but not surprised by the violent behavior of the law enforcement thugs whose day to-day mission is to terrorize and control low-income communities. The partnership between the local, centralized, corporate media and the local and global elites, intended to silence the opposition to the policies and presence of the G-20, was successful in discouraging out-of-town participation, but at the expense of their "outside agitator" theme. The protests against the G-20 were predominantly a local affair, while the heavily armed, violent, goon squads which were protecting the elites and advancing their agenda with violence were mostly from outside of the region, if not from outside of Pennsylvania.

Despite the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh's reputation for racism and vigilantism, the curious, picture taking residents whom I spoke with were overwhelmingly sympathetic to the People's Uprising and were distressed by the indiscriminate use of chemical weapons in their neighborhood. The local media also neglected to interview the young woman employed by one of the businesses whose dumpster was briefly rolled away, who at first could not understand why. She was under the mistaken impression that police were escorting the march, rather than attacking it. When the situation was clarified and it was suggested that the marchers were using dumpsters for self-defense, she sympathized with them

I was also unprepared for the number of University of Pittsburgh students who decided to participate in the September 25th march, after they had been gassed and beaten the night before. The University's insistence on remaining open for the duration of the summit and their decision to lock students out of their dormitories while police and military personnel attacked them will likely prove to be costly mistakes.