[Peace-discuss] Fw: Pittsburgh G20 Diaries: Day Two

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Subject: Pittsburgh G20 Diaries: Day Two


> Pittsburgh G20 Diaries: Day Two
> 
>    Union Teach-Ins, a Nobel Laureate Ninja Turtles
>    and Steel City Rockers
> 
> By Carl Davidson 
> Beaver County Blue
> submitted to Portside by the author
> 
> One of the first things you see entering Pittsburgh
> from the Fort Pitt Bridge is that the United Steel
> Workers, headquartered in this working-class town, are
> determined to deliver a strong message to the G20
> bigwigs.
> 
> "Jobs, Good Jobs, Greens Jobs Now!' declared the huge
> five-story-tall banner draped from the top of the  even
> taller USW headquarters building that faces the Golden
> Triangle and its hotels. Despite squads of militarized
> police, some in their Ninja turtle outfits, no one
> anywhere near the downtown area can miss it.
> 
> Today I'm headed for the day-long `Teach-In on Human
> Rights, Global Justice and the G20' organized by the
> USW at their 4th floor conference center. Later in the
> afternoon on this gray, drizzly and humid Sept 23 day,
> I plan to hear Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz speak in
> the low-income Hill District, and attend a labor-
> environmentalist rally and concert featuring local
> politicians and rockers.
> 
> The street heat protests are planned for the last two
> days, Thursday and Friday, Sept 24-25. So far, the
> police have been going out of their way with petty
> harassment of out-of-town protestors-getting permits
> mixed up, trying to stop a Free Food bus, challenging
> small encampments. Some Green Peace people get busted
> today for hanging a huge banner on one of the bridges,
> but arrests and scuffles so far are minor.
> 
> I arrived early, just in time for the freshly brewed
> coffee and wide array of muffins and pastries that will
> load my blood sugar and won't help my waistline-but who
> can resist? The TV cameras are there, and the room is
> filling up with union people and activists from near
> and far. The press is focused on Richard Trumka, the
> new president of the AFL-CIO who's very popular here in
> Western Pennsylvania. He came from the coal mining area
> about 40 miles south of the city, where he started as a
> leader of the United Mine Workers of America.
> 
> "I've been given the job of `framing' the discussion
> here today," Trumka began, but warns us he won't be
> around for criticism if he doesn't do a good job. He's
> got to take off early and meet with the top labor
> leaders from the other 20 or so countries here for the
> G20 event.
> 
> Trumka gave us a big picture. "From 1946 to 1976, the
> productivity of the American worker and our wages rose
> together and nearly doubled. But from the late 1970s,
> and especially after Ronald Reagan, things changed. Our
> productivity continued to rise, but our wages
> stagnated, and now are declining." He followed with a
> good definition of neoliberalism, urging us to use and
> understand the term, and how it produced the cycle of
> consumer debt and the financial bubbles leading to the
> recent crash.
> 
> The neoliberals of both parties, he continued, have
> tried to put labor and its allies "in a policy box with
> six sides"-labor `flexibility,' shareholder value
> primacy, globalization/ off shoring, `personal'
> responsibility over all, small government to a fault,
> and economic `stability,' meaning austerity for us. He
> explained the hidden trap and fallacy in each one of
> these.
> 
> "We make it, and they take it, that's what it boils
> down to on wealth creation," Trumka concluded, noting
> that it was unacceptable. Labor wasn't about to be
> imprisoned in the box defined by neoliberalism, but was
> going to break out of it. It was clear that the new
> AFL-CIO chieftain was sharp as a tack, well-versed in
> political economy, and not about to be easily
> bamboozled by anyone.
> 
> Lisa Jordan of the USW took the podium as Trumka headed
> for his G20 meetings. "I can't help but report what I
> saw driving in here yesterday and today," she said. "A
> long caravan of paddy wagons, and for what? Just
> waiting to arrest us and scare other people away. She
> added that the USW would stand up to it at the rally
> tonight, and especially at the large `People's March'
> on Friday. She urged a large steelworker turnout from
> the locals. "We want to see a sea of our banners, so
> bring out our people and every local banner you can
> get."
> 
> Jordon outlined the upcoming speakers and breakout
> sessions at six different roundtable spots on the
> floor-topics included labor in Latin America, the
> corporate agenda, the WTO, anti-sweatshop legislation,
> race, gender and globalization, and several others.
> 
> I picked one on economic development battles in the
> Pittsburgh region. The town I'm from, Aliquippa in
> Beaver County, is one of the hardest hit in the area
> and matches the `boarded up communities' phrase in the
> session's description.
> 
> Barney Oursler of Pittsburgh United leads us off with
> an account of Pittsburgh's contrasting areas of
> downtown glitter, which extends along the high-tech
> 
> corridor out to the airport, with the grime of
> neglected neighbors and depressed river valley mill
> towns. "What's the first word that comes to mind when
> you hear the word `development?' he asks. "Profits, big
> ones," someone answers." "That's exactly right," he
> says, "and more often than not, it's the elites that
> benefit, not the rest of us."
> 
> The case in point offered several times over the day is
> the Pittsburgh Penguins demanding $750 million from the
> city for a new stadium, and getting it. The main
> opposition came from `One Hill," a coalition of mainly
> African American groups in the Hill District, which
> both the new stadium site and is targeted for
> gentrification. One Hill fought the Penguins corporate
> core for restrictions on expansion and a community
> benefits accord. They got a deal worth $10 million, but
> the battle goes on.
> 
> "We have a different problem," I interjected. "We have
> no development even to demand a piece of in Aliquippa,
> and we used to be the home of one of the world's
> largest steel mills." I went on to briefly describe
> some local discussions about opening a closed hospital
> as part of our larger battle for `Medicare for All,
> Healthcare not Warfare, ` as well as some discussion we
> started around rebuilding locks and dams on the local
> rivers for green barge transport and green energy
> infrastructure. Steffi Domike of the USW Associates
> staff picks up on the latter point. "The Pittsburgh
> plateau is a good region for wind farms, but we'd have
> to modernize the energy grid to get the most from it."
> We agreed to follow up with more discussion on the
> implied projects in the weeks ahead.
> 
> One thing is quite clear about the Steelworkers. They
> are very serious, from President Leo Girard's speeches
> down to the brochures in the lobby, about getting
> beyond traditional business unionism and fighting for a
> major green industrial policy and new structural
> reforms to get out of the economic crisis. Moreover,
> they want to do it in a way that benefits the entire
> working class. This is why they are putting resources
> behind the Blue-Green alliance with environmentalists
> and the `Green for All' projects associated with Van
> Jones and his inner city youth programs. The
> steelworkers know they can't do it alone, and need all
> the allies they can muster. What the union is doing
> during the G20 week is only incidental to this broader
> effort.
> 
> Two videos were also highlights of the teach-in. A
> short version of "The Battle of Seattle" was previewed,
> showing labor's role in the anti-WTO global justice
> demonstrations going back ten years. Leo Girard, now
> USW president, who appeared in the film, told those who
> just watched it that the union had bought up a good
> number of the two-DVD versions and combined it with a
> number of educational tools. "We'll make in available
> to you for showing in your local groups or at house
> meetings. All we ask is that you have people sign in,
> and send us the lists."
> 
> The other video was on the super-exploitation of
> workers in Bangla Desh, and show horrific scenes of the
> harsh conditions at sites deconstructing old merchant
> freighters for salvaged metals. "This goes beyond abuse
> of workers," said Charlie Kernaghan of the National
> Labor Committee. "This is murder at the hands of these
> bosses."
> 
> As the afternoon sessions drew to a close, a group of
> us got a ride up to the Monumental Baptist Church in
> The Hill district. Literally near the top of the hill
> near the center of downtown Pittsburgh, the 100-year-
> old African American church, with a long legacy of
> involvement in social justice causes, had offered its
> grounds for a `Tent City' of out-of-town protestors.
> 
> This afternoon, the church had also opened its
> sanctuary for a speech by Joseph Stiglitz, economist
> and Nobel laureate. A former top insider with the World
> Bank, Stiglitz was fired from that body for exposing
> and speaking out against the disastrous impact of its
> policies in many parts of the world. When combined with
> his critique of the Obama administration's more dubious
> concessions and Wall Street bailouts, he has gained
> rock star status among global justice activists.
> stigliz
> 
> After an introduction by John Nichols of The Nation,
> Stiglitz made a small concession to the G20 by noting
> that adding a few countries was better than the G8, but
> still, some 170 countries around the world were on the
> outside of these deliberations.
> 
> "But make no mistake about what going on here," he
> warned. "Even if we had waged war on many of these
> countries, we could not have done as much damage in
> many parts of the world as that done by indirectly by
> the policies of these global powers. The question is
> not whether we have to change our ways, but how, and by
> how much."
> 
> The claim that the global recession was over was simply
> not true, Stiglitz went on, especially given growing
> unemployment. "Nor is it likely to end anytime soon.
> They're simply deploying money in the wrong direction,
> bailing out the giant banks rather than a greater job-
> creating stimulus. What has happened to the banks that
> were supposedly `too big to fail?' They've only gotten
> bigger, and their lobbyists are still thwarting needed
> regulation."
> 
> Leo Girard of the USW was next up and picked up where
> Stiglitz left off. "Pay attention to this number, 30
> million!" he told the crowd. That's the true number of
> unemployed in this country. That's what you get when
> you add up those looking for jobs, those working part
> time when they want more, and those who have given up,
> what they call the `labor reserve.' You can tell be my
> accent that I'm a Canadian, and to give you some idea
> of the scale, 30 million is a greater number than every
> human being in my native country."
> 
> "We need jobs," Girard continued, "we need good jobs,
> and we need green jobs. What make a good job? It's a
> UNION job that can support a family, and we need a
> second stimulus to create them and a financial
> transaction tax on Wall Street speculation to pay for
> it all."
> 
> Emira Woods of the Institute for Policy Studies and a
> native of Liberia brought the voice of the third world
> to the discussion. "What the G20 powers do," she
> explained, "is prevent the poor countries to act in
> their own interests and determine their own future."
> She stressed the need for `people power' to bring
> change.
> 
> Carl Redwood Jr. brought it all back to the realities
> of Pittsburgh. Speaking for the Hill District Consensus
> Group, he told the story of the battle over the Penguin
> stadium to this crowd, where the problems just outside
> the church's doors were staring everyone in the face.
> 
> We gathered up our crew a little early to head back
> downtown in time for the rally in Point Park. Out on
> the sidewalk, Redmond came up and said, "Hey, Aliquippa
> guy! I heard you at the union hall earlier." He tells
> me he was a reader of the Guardian back in the 1970s,
> when I was a writer there. We agree to stay in touch
> around the Green Jobs and Health Care campaigns. Making
> new connections is what these activities are all about.
> 
> We wind our way down the wet streets. It's drizzling
> again, and still hot and humid. At a light, a UPS truck
> pulls up beside us, with side doors open. `Where is
> everyone?" he laughs, noting that it's rush hour and
> the only crowds you see are batches of cops on every
> other corner. "It's like Sunday afternoon with a
> Steelers game on!"
> 
> Point State Park is a large and pleasant open space at
> the tip of the `Golden Triangle,' the site of the
> historic fort at the forks of the Ohio. Here the
> Monongahela and the Allegheny rivers come together to
> form what the French explorers called "La Belle
> Riviere, or beautiful river, their translation of the
> Iroquois and Seneca word `Ohio,' meaning roughly the
> same thing.
> 
> This night, however, it had a split personality. Part
> of it was fenced off and occupied by militarized police
> and the Secret Service, wanting it as a command center
> for the same reason the French and British armies did
> more than 200 years ago: it's a strategic location. The
> other part was a huge double stage with a terrific
> sound system and giant video screen. The Steelworkers,
> the Sierra Club and Al Gore's climate change group had
> gone all out to claim at least part of the space to
> deliver their message to the G20.
> 
> The question of the moment was whether the weather and
> oppressive police presence would prevent a crowd from
> forming. As I enter the area divided off for the rally,
> a youth street theater group was putting on a
> performance in front of a long line of cops in their
> new camouflage gear. The kids were having fun, while
> those in uniform tried to look stern. Inside, people
> were surveying the literature tables, food stands and
> cheering on the local opening bands. There were only
> 500 or so there, but once the speakers got going and
> more musicians warmed up, the crowd quickly grew to
> about 5000-enough to make it a success, given the
> circumstances.
> 
> A young speaker started off the rally. "Thomas
> Jefferson said that every generation needs a new
> revolution," said Alex Loorz of Kid vs. Global Warming.
> He noted that some adults weren't worried about the
> worst effects of climate change because it was 50 years
> away. But in 50 years, he said, "my generation won't be
> dead, and neither will our grandchildren, but if we
> don't act now, it is my generation that is going to pay
> for it."
> 
> State Senator Jim Ferlo also welcomed everyone,
> stressing the need for a large and unified movement.
> "We need a powerful force to counter these pinheaded
> pundits in the media who want to cater to all this
> nonsense coming from the right wing!"
> 
> Next Joe Grushecky and the House Rockers, a local band,
> really got the crowd fired up. They gave us a very
> polished mix of Springsteen tunes with their own
> original numbers full of steel city grit and energy.
> They would be followed later by Big Head Todd and the
> Monsters.
> 
> Leo Girard took center stage for the USW the third time
> this day, but was still in good form. "A wind turbine
> is made of 200 tons of steel and 8,000 parts," he
> shouted out, and this crowd knew exactly what he meant.
> "Imagine what we could do if we could turn not just
> this country's jobs, but the world's jobs green.
> Imagine if we had the will!" PA Governor Ed Rendell
> followed him on the stage, and likewise committed to
> green and clean energy innovation on the state level. A
> number of local Democrats have got the Steelworkers
> message, and it was evident at this event. Only a new
> industrial policy with major structural reform is going
> to create jobs on a scale needed to rescue Pennsylvania
> and the rest of the Rust Belt. Only political will
> combined with street heat could challenge the G20. But
> a good number also are still dragging their feet,
> captured by the Blue Dogs and bowing to the neoliberal
> anti-government tirades of the far right. This is going
> to be a critical battleground in the months ahead.
> 
> I caught a few tunes from Big Head Todd, and then
> headed back to Beaver County for the night. The next
> two days will put the spotlight on battlegrounds of a
> different sort, in the streets with the police and in
> the realm of public opinion over what is really going
> on behind the closed door deliberations of the G20.
> Stay tuned!
> 
> [Carl Davidson is a writer for Beaver County Blue. He
> is also a national co-chair of the Committees of
> Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism and a
> national board member of the US Solidarity Economy
> Network. He is author, along with Jerry Harris, of
> 'Cyberradicalism: A New Left for a Global Age.' If you
> like this article, make use of the PayPal button at
> http://carldavidson.blogspot.com]
> 
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