Occupy Pittsburgh March and Rallies Draw Thousands to Hill, Downtown
Protesters say this is just the beginning.
Mary Persuit marched today through the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh, saying she was excited to take part in a demonstration and movement she believes is just beginning.
“I think this is awesome,” said Persuit, of Sewickley, as marchers gathered in Market Square for a larger rally. “This is the beginning of something great.”
Young and old, college students and retirees, union and non-union workers met this morning at Freedom Corner in the Hill District for a short rally. The crowd then took to the streets, stretching for about four blocks in a march Downtown.
To the accompaniment of bongo drums and bull horns, marchers carried signs and chanted such messages as, “The banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” and “This is what democracy looks like!”
Organizers of Occupy Pittsburgh said the march was organized in solidarity with the global movement that is drawing attention to corporate, economic and social issues.
Nathaniel Glosser, a spokesman and organizer for the Pittsburgh event, told Patch about 4,000 people participated in the local Occupy march, based on estimates from police.
Glosser said he was pleased with that turnout.
"It's fantastic. It exceeded my expectations," he said. "I thought we'd max at 3,000."
Marchers arrived about a half-hour earlier than expected in Market Square and spontaneously began speaking with bullhorns up until 3 p.m.
Evelyn Bento of Braddock, who is in her 80s, was one of many who gathered in the square. Bento said she isn’t a sit-at-home kind of person and wanted to join other members of Braddock’s Save Our Community Hospital in the march. The former UPMC Braddock hospital, owned by the UPMC health system, closed in 2010 and was razed despite efforts to save it by supporters in and around the Mon Valley community.
“I can’t come out for anything more important than this,” Bento said, clutching a sign aimed at banks. “Groups supported us, so I’m supporting Occupy Pittsburgh. That’s why I’m here,” she said.
Grace Cameron, 21, a sociology student at the University of Pittsburgh, said she’s been following demonstrations with the Occupy Wall Street movement and wanted to see the demonstration for herself rather than merely follow news reports of the events.
Cameron said her perception is that the movement does not have one cohesive message so much as several messages being voiced within one movement. The Pittsburgh demonstration in particular attracted everyone from unions and environmental workers to stay at home moms pushing strollers.
Glosser said all of the groups represented in the marches are opposed to corporate greed. He noted that today's march drew people representing many organizations and political affinities, including Republicans and Libertarians.
Everyone, he said, "except those whose only political affinity is large sums of money."
Cameron said she believed that was the message.
"People are just out together. It's a peace movement,” she said.
One of those messages came from supporters of MarcellusProtest.org, who carried a banner during the march.
Briget Shields, a member of the group, said she came out because she feels like the government isn’t working for the people.
“I feel like the government is letting us down, especially in Pennsylvania right now,” said Shields, wife of Pittsburgh City Council member Doug Shields.
She said it doesn’t make matters better that many of the candidates running for office want to deregulate the gas drilling industry. She criticized Pennsylvania for being a state that, unlike others, doesn’t charge natural gas drilling companies a severance tax.
“Probably because the government was bought and paid for by the natural gas industry,” Shields said.
Pittsburgh radio talk show host Lynn Cullen, 63, of the East End, held a sign that read “Just the beginning.” She said it’s time citizens take back their country.
“Our government doesn’t represent the people. Corporations are not people,” she said.
Cullen said she’s been waiting for years to see citizens, especially young people, “rise up, stand up and speak out” the same as those from her generation did.
“And I think it’s starting to happen,” she said.
Susan Richter
8:37 pm on Saturday, October 15, 2011
It was a fantastic, almost dreamy kind of experience...for the first time ever, we all felt united in a kind of uber-force that has become far greater than anything the 1% can control!
Mary Cole
10:01 pm on Saturday, October 15, 2011
Unbelievable...sent a comment 5 minutes ago..guess its only certain comments allowed
briget
11:48 pm on Saturday, October 15, 2011
Please understand that I am not in favor of taxing this industry. I am only making a statement that we are the only state that isn't getting a severance tax. I don't believe there is any amount of money we can charge them that would cover the destruction they are imposing on the people living near drilling and for contaminating the air, water and land in our state. They must be stopped, shut down and banned from coming into any more communities. We don't want their dirty gas.
Zandy Dudiak
12:15 am on Sunday, October 16, 2011
Mary. I checked the comments queue and the only one that shows up for you is the one above. No one deleted it. There must have been a technical glitch involved. Please repost if you'd like.
B
8:29 am on Sunday, October 16, 2011
The last thing these people did was occupy their mother's basement!!!
Ed M
7:55 am on Monday, October 17, 2011
Bunch of college kids cutting classes to protest!
Wendy Smith
12:39 pm on Monday, October 17, 2011
isn't that a form of what you call "fear-mongering"?
Ed M
1:14 pm on Monday, October 17, 2011
Yup that it is Wendy!
Stevie Evans
9:10 am on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Turn off FoxNews and go down and talk to the protesters. You will see how utterly wrong you are. Wake up America!
Stevie Evans
9:18 am on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Ed, did you even read the article or look at the accompanying photos? Not one of those people look anything like college kids skipping classes - an 80 year old, Lynn Cullen who is in her 60's... the men holding signs... if these look like college kids slacking off to you then you are blinded by an ideology that has you voting against you own interests like a sheep. Turn off your TV and look around you!
Ed M
10:35 am on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Stevie,
I work Downtown and I can see who is sleeping in these tents
Stevie Evans
1:28 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Photo gallery from the Pittsburgh Business Times:
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2011/10/15/slideshow-occupy-pittsburgh-march.html?s=image_gallery
None of these people look like bored college kids playing 'hippie' or even real hippies to me.
Really Ed - you need to realize that what you are told on TV and talk radio is NOT always the truth... Its the richest, paying more rich people to tell the middle class to blame the poor. Please, please, please look for yourself. Find out what is really happening. This is the beginning... of the beginning. :)
Stevie Evans
1:23 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
So only the people sleeping in the tents count to you? All those people who join them whenever they can - they dont count? So those of us who have children and can't camp out dont matter even though we share the same concerns and want the same things as those who are able to camp out and keep the occupation going for the rest of us? Why dont you stop and talk to them? You may see that you have more in common than not. In fact, you may discover that they are just like you.
Ed M
9:23 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Stevie,
I work downtown and see who is at the tent site every day. Sure there was a mix of people in the march, but most of the ones in the tents are college age kids! I'm not watching TV about this! I see it every day! What is the point of what the campers are doing? So far all they have done is camped!
Stevie Evans
10:16 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Yep - the ones in tents are college kids because... well they dont have families to care for or kids to get to off to school. I thank them for camping/occupying for me. :) Besides, this effects them just as much as the rest of us. They are the ones graduating with thousands of dollars in debt and no prospects for jobs paying a decent living wage. What do they want? At the very basic core - they want the government and our representatives to start representing the people and not just the corporations and wealthy elite (top 1%).
Stevie Evans
10:21 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Working people in this nation have always given themselves to a hard day’s work for honest pay at a living wage and decent benefits and modest time off for a brief annual vacation or to stay home sick when needed. But as the decades of assault on the working class have continued from the 1980s forward, workers have had to do more with less both at work and at home and have been expected to be cheerful, even grateful, while doing so.
Working class young people and college students who used to have choices about their futures based on their own desires about what they wanted to do as adults and as a their vocations and avocations have now been forced to take on massive debt to attend college or to begin their adult work lives searching for jobs that tens of thousands of unemployed older adults need too.
Meanwhile, CEO salaries escalated. Corporate profits skyrocketed.
In Washington, D.C., and in the individual states too, politicians of every stripe sought big money donors and promised they’d deliver for those donors – even played the working class voters for fools as they promised them they cared about issues like education and healthcare and housing and clean air and water, public safety and poverty. They didn’t really care about anything except what the big money donors paid them to care about.
Stevie Evans
10:22 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Meanwhile, the bankers and Wall Street traders speculated and bought and sold everything that could be bought or sold. Richer and richer, more brazen and more broad, the power and control Wall Street interests held over everything and everyone grew exponentially. Real estate loans were made and inflated then dumped. Corporations became people, said the highest court in the land. People became fodder for profit, Wall Street positioned. Most of the politicians nodded in ready appreciation of the power you held over the land – the world.
“What are the occupiers’ demands?” ask many in the media and those otherwise paid to be confused by the clarity? The demand is for an end to the near domination of every human endeavor in this nation by the forces on Wall Street and their loyalists in government and elsewhere. They(we) want an equal shot at decent lives -- not a handout or free rides. The working class has never asked for that – but Wall Street lovers sure have.
Working class people in increasing numbers have absolutely no reserves left upon which to draw.
Stevie Evans
10:22 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The demand? Our human dignity back. Our chances to work decent jobs for a living wage with decent benefits in safe workplaces. Our chances to look forward to growing old in a dignified retirement with those we love. Decent homes in safe communities with clean air and water and good schools for our kids. Access to a single standard of high quality healthcare should we get sick or hurt without being forced into bankruptcy. In short, we demand those decencies and common goods a civilized society affords itself through shared effort and funding. Taxing the rich isn’t unfair class warfare, but taxing the working class at a much higher rate to keep the rich happy sure is.
Ed M
10:42 pm on Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Did ya ever think these college kids should be in the classes their parents are probably paying for? Did ya ever think that if they don't go to classes and flunk out they could be part of the problem instead of the solution?
I want the people I vote for to represent me, too! If they don't don't vote for them! Corporations are not the ones who vote them into office. You and I do.
Stevie Evans
12:07 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
whose to say they are skipping classes? Just because they are there overnight doesnt mean that they dont leave for class or have their books with them...I've seen that most of them have their laptops with them. [shrug] You're downtown you should ask them. I have no doubt that they would welcome a conversation with you about why they are there.
Okay... but if the corporations own both the dem and the repub on the ticket who do you vote for? Its not, I am sorry to say, simply one party.
Ed M
7:06 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I don't know for sure they are skipping classes but I would bet most are. And those laptop batteries need charged!
Did the corporations vote these people into office? Nope we did providing you vote. If our representatives don't do what we want them to do, we shouldn't vote for them! But then again, most people don't vote but love to complain.
Stevie Evans
9:37 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
No but the corporations pour HUGE money into ad campaigns for the candidate of their choice. Citizens United v. FEC allows CEOs to dip into corporate treasuries and spend as much as they want to buy pro-corporate lawmakers and punish those who stand up for the public interest. To make matters worse, most of this new spending will be hidden from the public. Corporate front groups will sponsor cynical advertisements supporting industry-friendly candidates and attacking public servants who stand up to corporations; the public will not know who is funding the ads.
Its this kind of stuff that needs to be stopped. And voting them in n' out isnt going to solve it - at least not anytime soon. A fundamental change needs to occur. That is what the occupation is about. :)
Ed M
10:41 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Correct corporations all across the country donate to certain candidates. That's not illegal and has been going on for decades!
These Occupy Pittsburgh campers have done nothing but camp! There is suppose to be a protest today but they have been here for five days! It's like Woodstock! I wonder how many of these "protesters" will high-tail it back to their dorms when the rain and cold hit later today.
Stevie Evans
11:14 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Ed, you're missing the point and you are wrong. No, corporations haven't been able to donate to campaigns. And any contributions made to PACs or 'issue advocate organizations' had to be disclosed. Now they can donate to them without revealing themselves.
Much of the "shadowy" spending comes from groups that file under section 5014(c)4 of the U.S. tax code. Commonly known as 501(c)4's in the political world, they're tax-exempt nonprofits that engage in issue advocacy and don't typically disclose their donors. Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded conservative organization, has a 501(c)4 arm, for instance. The Karl-Rove-co-founded American Crossroads also includes a 501(c)4 operation.
Citizens United didn't actually change anything about what these groups can do. They could spend unlimited amounts during election season without disclosing their donors before this past January.
What Citizens United did change was where their money can come from.
The Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that corporations can spend directly on elections. Previously, they were prohibited, and these "shadowy" nonprofits weren't allowed to take corporate money, otherwise they'd have to disclose their donors to the Federal Election Commission. Now, after Citizens United, 501(c)4 groups can take as much corporate and union money as they want, still without disclosing.
Stevie Evans
11:15 am on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Oh, and its been pretty darn cold and rainy 2 of the 5 days they've been there. If I were you I would get used to them. They're not going anywhere - and even if they did others would replace them.
Ed M
1:07 pm on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I am correct Stevie and you are the one who is missing the point.
The weather has been very nice since the campers got here! It rained this afternoon and the protester high-tailed it back to their campsite!
All they are doing is ruining a very nice piece of property.
Stevie Evans
2:30 pm on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
No Ed - you are wrong. federal Campaign Finance Law prohibits Corporations contributing to political campaigns. This law applies to all incorporated organizations, profit or non-profit. Business owners are not allowed to make contributions from their business accounts.
From your responses I can see you aren't the least bit interested in actually learning anything about the protesters or what the movement is about. You seem to be much happier sticking your fingers in your ears and complaining about the camp site. [shrug] I tried but you can lead a man to knowledge but you cant make him learn.
Ed M
4:34 pm on Wednesday, October 19, 2011
They are prohibited from directly contributing to political campaign funds but they are not prohibited from contributing to PAC's that support candidates.
I see the campers every day! Today was the only day they did anything since they set up camp! And that only lasted about 15 minutes and had virtually no impact!
It will be interesting to see how many of the campers remain after tonight when it's suppose to get cold and rainy. I'll bet a lot of these campers head back to their dorms where it is dry and warm.
If they really want to make a difference, register and vote the people out of office!
Do you vote, Stevie?
Stevie Evans
11:43 am on Thursday, October 20, 2011
That is what I said - Now, thanks to the Citizen United the PACs no longer have to disclose their donors - whereas before they DID if the donor was a corporation.
So I was NOT WRONG Ed.
Yes, I vote - have for the past 23 years. Now that I have kids I take them with me so they know the importance of voting as well.
How do you know these 'kids' dont vote? I voted every cycle when I was in college. I know many of my friends did as well.
So what you want to say to these kids is this, "you're not making any impact, go home, be quiet and simply vote for the candidate that seems the least bought by corporations. Corporate money is here to stay we're destined to be a corporatocracy or oligarchy - so suck it up and get used to it but shut up and quit TRYING to raise awareness of it?" Nice.
You keep saying the same thing over and over and are unwilling to open your mind to the possibility that these protesters have good intentions and what they are doing could be the start of a real change. Instead, you are making unfounded assumptions. Like I said before - you would do yourself some good if you would simply talk to the protesters instead of assigning motives to them based on your own beliefs. Like you've said in pretty much every post - you work downtown and see them everyday... stop and talk.
Ed M
1:58 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011
I don't know they don't vote. I'm just guessing!
We have been a corporatocracy forever!
Did ya hear! The organizer of Occupy Pittsburgh is pulling out! Apparently the man doesn't pay his taxes until liens and judgments are filed against him! And he's complaining about corporations not paying taxes! Those who live in glasses houses .....................................................................
And some have bugged out of the campsite! Guess a warm dry dorm room is more comfortable.
Stevie Evans
6:16 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011
So I guess thats okay with you, that we are a corporatocracy? I for one prefer the idea of government of the people, by the people, for the people." And I am willing to exercise my rights to try to make that happen - not just for me but for my boys.
Havent heard a word about the organizer... even if he/she was that is one of many people.
BTW - the protesters didnt bug out - they were in Market Square. Quit bitching and learn something. Or just sit there and cow tow to our corporate overlords but dont bitch when you are working for pennies a day and expected to be thankful they give you even that.
Ed M
7:18 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011
Exercise your rights by voting!
There were three less tents this morning. Some bugged out. No one is camping in Market Square and today was Farmer's Market day in Market Square. I was down there and if the campers were there, they blended right in!
Tomorrow the campers are going to have a Knit-In! Sounds more like Woodstock than a protest
Article in the Trib today about the organizer. Seems he has a history of not paying his taxes! And he is the leader of a group advocating corporations and the rich need to pay their fair share yet he doesn't unless forced to! Nice leader! Time to get your head out of the sand!
Stevie Evans
12:34 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011
Ed, this is about so much more than one person and his dirty laundry.
Sigh... I give up on trying to have an intelligent conversation with you Ed... you seem so much more interested in complaining about camping, voting and college classes than any actual issues...
continue to believe what you want to believe - live your life with your blinders on and keep voting for those bought and paid for politicians thining that that will bring about any change. continue to let the system underpay for work and deny opportunities for advancement. Keep saving for the future that'll never come, and find a way to blame other people who are in the same boat you are rather than wondering why it's not working as promised. Everyone should just be happy to live on the scraps the 1% throw to us. Right Ed? Good night and good luck with that.
Ed M
1:50 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011
I don't live with blinder on and it if the person with the dirty laundry is the leader of a movement, it questions the credibility of the entire movement!
You are the one who needs to remove the blinders.
BTW, more bugged out over night.
Ed M
4:49 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011
And I'm not working for pennies and apparently neither are the campers! One guy is charging his laptop with solar panels!
Wonder how the Knit-In went? Also wonder how the Knit-In ties in with the protest?
Looks like they are setting up some sort of stage. Maybe Canned Heat will be playing after all!