Anti-War Protesters Plan To Imprison Recruiters
March 19 War Anniversary Protest
Evict the military recruitment station, cage the recruiters!
When: Wednesday, March 19
Rally: 6:00pm
March: Departs at 6:30pm for the Military Recruiting Station
Where: Meet at the dinosaur sculpture in front of Carnegie Library (4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213)
This March 19 hundreds of cities across the U.S. will hold events to mark the anniversary of the war in Iraq and remember the tragic toll the world has and continues to pay; nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed, 30,000 wounded, at least 100,000 Iraqis killed, four million displaced, and nearly a trillion dollars squandered.
While there will be events in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere, members of Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) feel it is important that there be a local event connected to our community’s long-standing, successful efforts to use education and action to oppose the war and undermine the militarism that leads to perpetual war(s).
On Wednesday, March 19, POG will be holding a torch-lit march to a modern day castle of abominations—our local military recruiting station. If the station remains open, we intend to evict it and everything inside of it, occupy the location, and transform it into something useful for the community. We’ll also be bringing a movable cage in which to confine military recruiters until they no longer pose a danger to our friends and neighbors. Of course, the station may be closed and recruiters may flee or hide behind the police apparatus that enables the war to continue. That is often the case, and we’ve seen in the past the overwhelming resources the state directs against these anniversary events because of their importance as a symbol of dissent. We believe in acting effectively, in confronting the war, at times and places of our choosing. When the state brings the resources necessary to suppress direct action against the war, it makes sense to hold a symbolic protest, and we still consider that a success, as it exposes the reality that it is ultimately on the local level that our countries war policy will be decided.
The truth is, the anniversary of the war—much like symbolic casualty milestones—is not significant in and of itself. Just as each death is equally lamentable, so too is each day that we continue to engage in a brutal occupation, that we marginalize and repress progressive non-sectarian organizations, that we crack down on independent Iraqi trade unions, that we arm multiple “sides” of a conflict, that we work to maintain the economic advantage of U.S. corporations, that innocent Iraqis die, that the powerful operate with impunity. In short, each day we sacrifice more lives and resources in an endless, self-serving war, a cycle of violence and retribution.
But the anniversary has meaning for those who have suffered, for those who remember. And while the President will use the day to claim a new victory with new benchmarks on the horizon, we have an opportunity to present the people’s story, a counter-narrative. When the body count of American deaths decreases, regardless of how many Iraqis die in our place, the media attention lessens and the politicians move on. But our responsibility to work for peace and justice remains.
It is our sincere hope that you will join us on March 19 if only to stand with others of similar good faith to show that there is dissent at home, and there is a common humanity that binds the people of the United States and Iraq—the desire to create and sustain a new world based on mutual understanding and solidarity.
For peace with justice,
In solidarity,
Pittsburgh Organizing Group
www.organizepittsburgh.org
pog@mutualaid.org
POG c/o TMC
5125 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh PA 15224
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