Why Are People Resisting?

The economic disaster of the recent days needs no introduction: mass unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, and non-existent credit markets plague the developed world, while in the global south, the rising cost of food and fuel have led to hunger riots and increased poverty and destitution. According to the United Nations, the number of people currently living on the brink of starvation is nearly 1 billion, the large majority of the hungry being women and children.

The intent herein is not just a call to gather in Pittsburgh in opposition to the G20 summit. It is more so one persons desire to help create the conditions that will propel a new wave of participation, excitement and hope. While this is a personal statement, in writing this I hope to engage others that may feel the same way. At best, this note will be passed on to anyone that has interest in strengthening and building a movement that can sustain itself and begin shaping a new world, while taking into account the challenges ahead.

Ten years ago, an energy and enthusiasm swept many of us, including me. For different reasons, a whole lot of people began organizing and defying the alienation and desperation that defined the height of corporate globalization. Instead of utilizing the traditional and accepted channels of change, inspired by movements and heros from the past, we focused on direct forms of organization. Most important, our actions inspired countless people to believe that, what is, does not have to be. That anything given time, strength and action can and has to be created.

Join Thousands at a Three Day Convergence of Action, Resistance and Hope

Pittsburghers didn’t ask the G20 to come here, but it is our intention that the worldview the summit represents will die here.

This September 24-25 Pittsburgh will host the next summit of the G20, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s largest economies who meet twice yearly to discuss and coordinate the international financial system. Around 1,500 delegates, including heads of state, will be here along with more than 2,000 members of the media, and thousands of police and security agents tasked with squelching dissent.

This summit, and the predecessor meetings this past April in London, occurs on the heels of the worldwide financial meltdown that has been severely impacting hundreds of millions around the world. Since its inception, the G20 has been a tool used to promote a world vision based on the ability of capital to move as it pleases, at the expense of labor, human rights and the environment.