"Pittsburgh Welcomes the World" was the slogan of the G-20's host city the past week and it could be seen on shirts and billboards and in the papers, but for the largest demonstration in the city since the 1970's the voices of the poor and oppressed were severely limited.



A number of delegations of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) descended on Pittsburgh from across the nation along with many other organizations to protest the G-20 and attempt to get issues that really matter to people on the docket. PPEHRC National Organizer Cheri Honkala brought an open letter from the Balducci Center in Italy, written to President Obama asking why in a nation as rich as the United States of America millions did not have health care and will continue to seek ways to get it into his hands. The poor can not afford not to have their voices heard at events like this, where, without making themselves seen, they are invisible and undiscussed.

A speak out on the issues of housing, jobs and health care preceded the showing of the movie Explicit Ills which deals with health care in poor people's lives. PPEHRC delegates stayed in a tent city set up on the grounds of Monumental Baptist Church, where on Friday morning leaders of the campaign gave a press conference before preparing for the peaceful people's march through downtown Pittsburgh. The march stopped on the 7th street bridge looking out at the G-20 conference uplifting their voices toward the G-20 summit before finishing their march. Shortly thereafter police arrived to disperse the marchers from the park.

Press Coverage:
Mostly the coverage is of thursday nights' demonstrations and police brutality on campuses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/world/26pittsburgh.html?_r=1&ref=politics

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_645112.html

http://www.wpxi.com/news/21104013/detail.html Look at Album 3 pictures 31, 42, 59

http://kdka.com/local/g20/tent.city.protest.2.1196577.html

http://kdka.com/local/g20/hill.district.protest.2.1191673.html

Labels: Balducci Center, Cheri Honkala, Explicit Ills, G20, Pittsburgh