PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

A dozen Voices for Animals activists protested outside Victoria's Secret in Shadyside on Saturday, December 11 to educate the public about the environmental toll of the 395 million catalogs the company mails out annually. The catalogs are printed on virgin fiber paper from endangered forests with little or no recycled content. Similar demonstrations have been taking place across the country.

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The ongoing violence in Iraq and a rash of killings in the Philippines have made 2004 the deadliest year for journalists in a decade. According to research compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 54 journalists have been killed in the line of duty so far this year, mainly in Iraq and the Phillipines.

13 Filipino journalists were killed during the past year. Together with the National Union of Journalists of the Phillipines, the Phillipines Independent Media Center issued the following statement on December 8th:

"As Filipino journalists unite today in outrage, we also stand defiant against those who wish to silence Philippine media...Filipino journalists shall give no quarter to those to want to see a cowed and quiescent press. A united media sends notice to the enemies of Press Freedom: We shall overcome."

[ Read More ] [ Committee To Protect Journalists ] [ Indymedia Phillipines ]

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "In another surprising turnabout on Pittsburgh's budget, City Council today not only voted to approve spending cuts in the Act 47 recovery plan, but did so in a unanimous 9-0 vote." Earlier this week a key council member had said he would change his vote from in support of the plan to opposition, which was previously assumed to be supported by a 1-member majority of the council. Two days of lobbying by the state's development secretary caused him to reverse his decision yet again, and apparently convinced the four other city-council members who had voiced opposition to the plan, which would privatize many key city services and has been compared to a structural adjustment program.

Meanwhile, at the Budget and Finance committee meeting of the County Council on December 2nd, 2004, the committee decided against providing money for Port Authority Transit in the budget they were recommending to the County Council. Some committee members promised that after the budget was passed and went into action on Janurary 1st, 2005 they would try to amend the enacted budget to include money for PAT. That money is necessary for PAT to receive state matching funds, without which PAT cannot survive. [ read more ]

The very first Independent Media Center was established by independent and alternative media organizations and activists in November 1999 to provide grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. It served as clearinghouse of information and provided up-to-the-minute reports, photos, audio and video footage of that historic mobilization through its website.

Since that time, Indymedia has grown from a mere idea in the heads of a few enthusiastic innovators to become the nervous system of global resistance to corporate power, social injustice and environmental destruction.

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Last week the Pennsylvania General Assembly adjourned without passing any legislation necessary to save the public transit crisis statewide. As a consequence, the Port Authority transit agency in Pittsburgh might cut weekend and nighttime service, shut down 70 routes, layoff 500 employees, and also raise the base fare to $2.50. The Port Authority board will next meet on Thursday, December 16 to decide on whether to implement those proposed cuts.

Following the state legislators action, 50 public transit riders gathered at the City-County Building downtown for a rally on Wednesday, November 24th. Many members of Save Our Transit said that since their attempts at a "civics text-book campaign" for public transit fell on deaf ears, they would have to open the "direct action" book. Unions representing workers dependent upon the busses, as well as unions representing bus drivers rallied with Save Our Transit.

If the state and the Port Authority are not able to restore public transit services in time for next year, furious transit riders have committed to waging a new campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience. Save Our Transit has urged the Port Authority to refuse any cuts in services, and instead run at its current level until it is out of money as a protest of the State's lack of action. Cuts may occur as early as January.

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