PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Voices for Animals (formally Voices for Animal Liberation) Foie Gras-Free Pittsburgh campaign, achieved their eighth victory on July 31st, when the Restaurant Bikki, located in Shadyside, agreed to pull the item from their menu.

Less than a half hour into the first protest against the Shadyside restaurant for their continued support of foie gras, the owner, Bikki Kochhar, wrote and signed the following statement: “Effective 7/31/04 Foie Gras will no longer be served at Bikki Restaurant. It will be taken off the menu immediately”. This quick victory came as a pleasant surprise as it sometimes takes months to convince restaurants to remove the gourmet cruelty from their menus.

[ Read Full Story ] [ Past Feature ]

About 100 Bush protestors gathered at the David Lawrence Convention Center on Saturday, July 30th to protest George Bush, who was attending a fundraiser in the building. Chanting John Kerry's name and "Liar, Liar, Bush Retire," they drew cheers and honks from passing motorists. Among the groups attending the protest was the Billionaires for Bush limo tour. Billionaires for Bush is a do-it-yourself street theater and media campaign that uses humor to speak out the truth about the Bush administrations disastrous economic policies. This was the first stop on their "Get on the Limo" tour, the Billionaires newest and most hands-on campaign, that is sweeping through battleground swing states putting a local spotlight on the concerns of the very rich.

Pittsburgh Indymedia spoke with several protestors, including Bill Neel, who was arrested in 2002 for protesting Bush outside of a designated "free speech" zone. Audio

[ Read More...] [ Interviews with protestors] [ Interview with Billionaires for Bush ]
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On Friday, July 16, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman paid Pittsburgh a visit as part of her 100-city book tour promoting The Exception to the Rulers. After a brief reception fundraiser for Pittsburgh Community TV and Pittsburgh Campaign for Democracy Now, 500 enthusiastic supporters packed an auditorium in Carnegie Mellon to hear Amy tell some of the stories from her book, such as when she and a colleague were nearly murdered by Indonesian military in East Timor in the late 1970s. After her lecture, Amy signed books and spoke to members of the community, including Pittsburgh Indymedia.

[ Photo | Lecture Audio Video | Interview ]
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Free Speech in Pittsburgh isn't as free as many of us might take it to be. At the Three Rivers Regatta, Industrial Workers of the World and No Sweatshops Bucco!/Sweat Free Baseball activist Kenneth Miller was arrested for distributing anti-sweatshop materials. Miller had been previously arrested for handing out similar literature outside of PNC Park.

Voting is Power activist Celeste Taylor was told by the police that her group could not register people to vote at the Regatta. The Regatta took place at Point State Park, yet police referred to it as "private property." While corporations were permitted to use the space to sell beer and soda, concerned citiziens were not allowed, by their own police, to register people to vote.

[  Interviews with Ken Miller and Celeste Taylor |  Initial arrest report |  Call for a "Free Speech Fight" |  Press conference at Ken's first hearing ]

On Tuesday, June 29, 2004 the Pittsburgh City Council in a 5 to 4 vote made the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act (Act 47) Recovery Plan for the City of Pittsburgh the law. Effective immediately the plan will be implemented wherever it can be. As union contracts run out, new contracts will include wage freezes for city workers along with increased contributions from these same workers for their health care. Also the Act 47 Plan implements a punishment to bargaining units that do not bend over a kiss the boss’s ass. Called a Labor Agreement Implementation Delay Adjustment, it mandates a 1% decrease in wages for each month that a city union does not have a collective bargaining agreement that follows the Act 47 boiler plate. In other words, collective bargaining in Pittsburgh is now dead. Privatization, outsourcing and managed competition will also be the law for Pittsburgh for now on.

[ read more | The Final Recovery Plan | Stories about Oversight Board 6/7/04 5/5/04 3/6/04 2/23/04 ]
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