PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE is coming to Pittsburgh
by stephen donahue Friday, Aug. 06, 2004 at 11:16 AM

Does universal healthcare for everybody sound too good to be true? It sin't if we have HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE!

The Thomas Merton Center and Pennsylvanians United for Single-Payer Healthcare - PUSH have announced that there will be a massive “HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE” Rally and March on Sunday, August 15th 2004 beginning at 12 noon at Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh.

There will be music, rousing rhetorical displays, a Pink Bloc, satire and laughs from the Billionaires for Bush, Radical Cheerleaders, Raging Grannies, a magnificent march through downtown and more

The march through downtown will include stops at the Highmark Blue Shield Headquarters and the Federal Building. A symbolic action will be performed at these sites to call attention to the thousands of deaths caused each year by the lack of health care for so many people in the U.S. and to remember the many thousands killed by war in Iraq.

The theme for the day is to highlight the folly of ignoring human needs like healthcare even as billions are spent on the war and occupation of Iraq.

Organizers of the Healthcare Not Warfare activities also want to highlight House Resolution 676 by U.S. Congress member John Conyers which mandates that every resident in the USA or its colonies (territories) is guaranteed by law to the highest quality healthcare regardless of employment, income or health status.

HR676 provides for long term care, short term care, inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency room, medical equipment, mental health services, dentistry, eye care, chiropractic, substance abuse treatment, prescription drugs... and everybody will have choice of doctors, practices, clinics and hospitals.

The Healthcare Not Warfare organizers are quick to point out that universal health care will always be nothing but a pipe dream so long as the U.S. government continues with plans to spend $420.7 billion on war making and war preparing during FY 05 and $2.2 trillion on the same in the four years that follow.

The march through downtown will terminate back at Market Square.

Master of Ceremonies for the event will be Natalie Slaughter, student at Heinz School for Public Policy and a member of PUSH. Speakers include Neil Bisno, Service Employees International Union Local 1199P • John May, NAACP Veterans Affairs Committee • Gabe Morgan, Justice for Janitors Campaign/SEIU Local 3 • Bridget Colvin, Pittsburgh Organizing Group • Molly Rush, Thomas Merton Center and PUSH • Scott Tyson, Physicians for a National Health Program • Aisha White, Black Voices for Peace.

This event is being endorsed by many organizations around the community including: Black Voices for Peace ¨ Church of the Redeemer Outreach Committee ¨ Codepink ¨Community of Reconciliation ¨ Green Party of Allegheny County ¨ Haiti Solidarity Committee ¨ Industrial Workers of the World - Pittsburgh General Membership Branch ¨ Mercy Hospital ¨ Palestine Solidarity Committee ¨ Pennsylvania’s Health Care Union- SEIU District 1199P ¨ Pennsylvanians United for Single-Payer Health Care/PUSH ¨ Physicians for a National Health Program – Pittsburgh Chapter ¨ Physicians for Social Responsibility ¨ Pittsburgh Kucinich Campaign ¨ Pittsburgh Organizing Group ¨ Raging Grannies ¨ School of the Americas Watch of Southwestern PA ¨ Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 3 ¨ Socialist Party of Pennsylvania ¨ Thomas Merton Center ¨ United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) ¨ Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN) ¨ Veterans for Peace - Pittsburgh Chapter ¨ Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, ¨ Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) and the list is growing...

For updates on the event visit http://www.healthcarenotwarfare.org, or to speak with an organizer contact the Thomas Merton Center at 412-361-3022 or tim@thomasmertoncenter.org

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