Community | September 25, 2009 | Comment on this video (65)

Protestors in Pittsburgh at the G-20 Summit

VSiskos
Several protests have been staged for the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh. Protestors say they're seeking human rights reform and action on climate change among a wide range of other causes.

World leaders meanwhile declared that the G-20 would replace the G-7 (or G-8) as the primary body for global economic decision-making.

Are you in Pittsburgh? On either side of the protest lines? Let us know what it's like on the ground.
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65 comments // Protestors in Pittsburgh at the G-20 Summit // Video

  • WhiteNoise
  • csmonut
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • And another thing, while I am on a rant, there are cities out there that have grown very fast and have increased their police force.
      Many of those cities have had to lower their qualifications in order to get enough police on the street.
      And so now...we have a lower common denominator out there with a gun, badge and an attitude and we've allowed them to have even fancier weapons.
      The Bill of Rights has been losing it's bite for many years and the Patriot Act has pretty much burned it.
      This is not an attack on police in general. Many/most are there to do the job honorably and with integrity.
      And each knows who they are.

    • 2 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • I wonder if a revolution will take place? Of some sort, anyway.
      This militarized police force is getting way to out of hand, and if the people don't rein them in, who will?
      Isn't the thought of your fellow countrymen willing to arrest, detain, injure and possibly kill you for excersizing the right to peaceful assembly extremely frightening?
      If it's not, you're not in this world.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
  • samthesixth
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • samthesixth:

      Here we will have to disagree. Sorelian violence is one thing, vandalism is another--particularly when the target has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

      >>>What damages the message is when activists talk shit on each other.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • Dear nursediesel,

      While on the other hand, maybe they DID do their political /economic homework and realized, as Michael Moore just did, that our system is INHUMAN, as in not made for humanity but for the 1% masters of our lifes.

      Also, if one does not revolt in his youth, one is most probably brain dead, severely medicated or on some shit... oh come to think of it, most are ;)

      "Nobody looks good with brown lipstick on." - Frank Zappa

    • 2 years ago
  • nursediesel
  • tlarkin244
  • blazedNconfused
  • primalscreamer
  • Jay_Bee
    • 0
      Jay_Bee  

    • I am all for voicing opinion and freedom of assembly, but whatever message they had was lost in the ridiculous costumes and masks that sometimes had nothing to do with their cause. I live in Pittsburgh and was nervous for the city in the days leading up. People from around the world came to our city with messages for the people in power and decide to throw bricks at our cars. Why attack the people of the city? Even beyond what the "news" reports, the protesters failed to say or do anything meaningful except break family-run store windows and car windows of working people.

      The brutality on the Pitt students is a whole other topic. The police demanded every square inch of a city that houses hundreds of thousands students. I feel uneasy at the fact that the LRAD was first used on US soil in the city of Pittsburgh. I believe the g20 had deepened a line between the police and residents.

    • 2 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • There are people out there who specialize in getting protesters riled up to the point they begin vandalizing businesses, etc.
      They are people who are paid by others, to start just what was/is going on at the G20.
      They are professionals, and they are good at what they do.
      Who these "others" are depends on the agenda. It may be some faction of the government that wants to divert people's attention from the reason people are there in the first place.
      Or it might be some corporation or group that has their own agenda and wants people's attention diverted.
      Whatever and whoever, chances are pretty good a few people were paid good money to begin the vandalism.

    • 2 years ago
  • nickeecoco
    • 0
      nickeecoco  

    • for all those stating that the police were right, and those saying to " shoot those hippies"....you have no idea what you are talking about!!! I am a student of the university of pittsburgh, and went outside my dorm last night just to watch the events surrounding the oakland area. I was silently standing on the dormatory patio when all of a sudden i heard screams, and other students went off running for their lives. we were sitting, smoking cigarettes, and discussing the previous night's riots when 4 cans of teargas were thrown at us, one can hitting a fellow female student on the top of her head, making her bleed from her left ear for hours after. This was not an attack against protesters...there were no protesters left in oakland. This was the police acting up, and attacking innocent students. With all the traffic of students trying to push their way through the doors, into the building, police were snatching kids and throwing them to the ground. I was scared for my life.

      THIS IS WHAT A POLICEMAN LOOKS LIKE....now

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • Talking about hypocrisy...

      WELCOME TO MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR HYPOCRISY
      http://www.mtwsfh.blogspot.com/

      This is what is called, in the history biz, a revisionist history. American history, at least as far as the general public knows it, is in desperate need of revision, bringing what is taught and what is said about America's past more in line with the truth.

      Making the World Safe For Hypocrisy is a chronology of the largely suppressed history of the United States. It is the history that good upstanding Americans are not supposed to know.

      Almost everything you read here is based on publicly available information and most historians know all about it. And yet they remain strangely silent, allowing the fantasyland, propagandized version of American history and the fatuous pseudo-patriotic nonsense spewed by politicians and the mass media to stand unchallenged.

      ANTI-AMERICAN?

      Whenever anyone dares to point out the painfully obvious fact that the U.S. and its leaders have for two hundred years consistently acted in a fashion diametrically opposed to the values which America claims to represent, that person is instantly accused of being anti-American.

      Am I anti-American? I don't think so. But, if believing in free speech and real democracy is anti-American, then I guess I am. If believing that a government should not lie endlessly is anti-American, then I guess I am. If believing that a government should not spy on its own citizens is anti-American, then I guess I am. If believing that a government should not kidnap, torture and murder is anti-American, then I guess I am. If believing that a government shouldn't slaughter millions of innocent people simply to further enrich the same old handful of psychopathic bastards and their offspring is anti-American, then I guess I am.

      America has been something of a divided personality, tragically divided against herself. On the one hand we have proudly professed the great principles of democracy, but on the other hand we have sadly practiced the very opposite of these principles. - Martin Luther King

      "It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance". Robert F. Kennedy US Attorney General 1961-64, assassinated in Los Angeles while campaigning

      ".....if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties.. if that is what they mean by a "liberal" then I am proud to be a liberal. ": John F. Kennedy

      "A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." -- Ian Williams Goddard

    • 2 years ago
  • nobamayomama
    • 0
      nobamayomama  

    • FOX NEWS interviewed (Hannity) a couple of these "protestors" including a woman with a PHD who actually teaches our youth (what was wrong with her face?)...anyway, they are ANGRY, really ANGRY at those who make more than $500,000 a year and cannot understand why ANYONE in this country thinks they have a right to any more than that.

      Pretty sick. Pretty un-intelligent especially when they follow George Soros (a BILLIONAIRE) who is bankrolling most of the liberal media and major websites including MoveOn.org.

      But, again, it's OBAMA speak. He said that very thing about people making over $500,000. Hmmm, wonder if he'll be giving back some of his millions from his books? Wonder if he'll put caps on the earnings of the Hollywood types and Hedge Fund administrators as well as his Ivy League college professors and board members and sports figures. Hmmm, wonder if he'll stop those greedy Americans who own the teams and confiscate their money so they make no more than $500,000.

      Wonder if he'll take some of Letterman's windfall profits? Gag me with the hypocrisy of this president.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • This procession of young defenders of the village idiot crowd is the most damaging exposition of obscurantism/fundamentalism this side of Talibans... a mixture of total disgust & utter revulsion for everything humanism stands for comes to mind, I wonder where this mind gangrene comes from...hum, could it be...ignorance or down the barrel stupidness ?

      JUST FOR FUN...

      To what party or political wing would you say these people belong too ;)

      18% of Americans Think Sun Revovles Around Earth !!!!
      http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Poll-Gauges-Americans-General-Knowledge-Leve....

      1 in 5 US citizens think the Sun revolves around the Earth
      http://www.rustylime.com/show_article.php?id=562

      For the record, the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun was discarded in the 17th century.

      "Kid's heads are filled with so many nonfacts that when they get out of school they're totally unprepared to do anything. They can't read, they can't write, they can't think. Talk about child abuse. The school system as a whole qualifies. Go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts... " - Frank Zappa

    • 2 years ago
  • nobamayomama
    • 0
      nobamayomama  

    • I'm sure, seriously, that car bombings and other acts will become the norm in the USA since the radicals are in charge and so hateful towards Christians, conservatives, capitalism (hmmm, 3 C's)....thanks administration for your radical agenda. I'm sure the dems should be proud.

      Gosh, the irony of this when the tea party attendees were villified.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • It' about content Sherlock...

      One group's recriminations is based on facts, the other on utter ignorance & racism...
      YOU GET A CLUE !

      Defending the village idiot makes cmdinc a very dull boy indeed ;)

      Further more, these G20 protesters have NO political representation whatsoever as the Maher video clearly exposes !

      Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic. But Henry Adams figured all that out back in the 1890s. 'We have a single system,' he wrote, and 'in that system the only question is the price at which the proletariat is to be bought and sold, the bread and circuses.'" : Gore Vidal - The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

    • 2 years ago
  • cmdinc
    • 0
      cmdinc  

    • Amazing how some can defend these buttfaces. The peaceful teaparties were ridiculed and these aholes are heros. get a clue

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • BTW

      Class into unavailable stats, but it would be interesting to know what percentage of violent rioters are but agent provocateurs who's only mission is to rationalize repression against demonstrators.

      check this ugly little ditty as a proof of concept...
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M

      "A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." - Ian Williams Goddard

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      US-Initiated WTO Rules Undermine Regulatory Overhaul of Global Finance (1\2)

      LORI WALLACH: There’s an incredible contradiction, where the summit communiqué is going to, on one hand, talk about regulating finance, and at the same time, they’re going to talk about adopting the Doha WTO expansion, and a huge part of that agreement is deregulating finance.
      And the problem is that the G-20 commitments aren’t binding. It’s a commitment of faith on the countries about what they’re going to do domestically. But the WTO rules are very binding and enforceable by sanctions. And so, it’s hard to know if it’s ignorance or it’s cynicism, but if the Doha round goes into place, all of the world’s countries will have a commitment not only to keep in place the existing WTO deregulation dictates on finance, but to deregulate further, right in the midst of what seems to be a global commitment to re-regulate.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      US-Initiated WTO Rules Undermine Regulatory Overhaul of Global Finance (2\2)

      LORI WALLACH: Most people don’t even realize that the World Trade Organization has an agreement called the Financial Services Agreement that explicitly applies to over a hundred countries and mandates major deregulation. Just for instance, it has a rule that you cannot have a domestic law, even if it applies equally to foreign and domestic companies, that limits the size of a financial service firm—insurance, banking, securities. So when everyone talks about putting into place rules about “too big to fail,” there’s a WTO dictate that says you can’t do that. A lot of other really extreme deregulation rules. That agreement was never brought to a vote in Congress, so a lot of members of Congress have no idea it’s there.
      Well, one interesting fact we found was, although Daddy Bush started negotiation, Clinton is the one who locked it up. And it was actually Geithner, when he was in the Treasury Department working for Robert Rubin during the Clinton administration, who was the lead Clinton administration Treasury Department negotiator. So he is, in a way, the guy who closed the deal. And so, he knows about it. He has to know about the existing agreements. And so, theoretically, he should be the guy who’s most aware of the perils, in the sense that he was part of the whole Clinton-era deregulation, including domestically.
      I mean, the busting of Glass-Steagall, which, by the way, we listed in the WTO as one of our commitments, to reform Glass-Steagall, because it created firewalls between insurance, securities, banking. It, you know, kept banks from gambling with our savings—good idea. The WTO commitment lists reforming Glass-Steagall, getting rid of it. That all happened during Clinton. So not just at the WTO, but domestically, a lot of the folks who came from the Clinton administration who are now in the Obama administration—Larry Summers, Geithner—were in on this.
      So, now Geithner is talking about re-regulating domestically, needs to get on that WTO piece, but cannot have a Doha round that has more deregulation. I mean, the basic principle here should be do no further harm. But then they have to go back and fix the WTO rules.
      And we’re actually going to be launching a campaign with some of the unions and others, and it’s being launched around the world to work on that. You can see more on our website, which is tradewatch.org. This is something that actually can be fixed, but it’s going to take a lot of public attention to make the leaders do it.

    • 2 years ago
  • bill1think2012
    • 0
      bill1think2012  

    • I heard one protester say. (There were, so many different groups protesting, that  there cause was getting lost in the resulting kayos).  They are not being heard. And it’s true I have heard everything in the news, but anyone’s reasons to be protesting or there purpose in these gathering. In any detail any way. If I were the people, polling string at the G20 Summit. (Knowing that there will be protesters). I would fund a bogus movement to disrupt any legitimate protest or to keep any body from being heard or taken serious.Also ; The tactics of sending twice as many police as protesters was to show the people they are bigger than you. And they will stop you.  But in reality if the gutless and fearful majority in the united states would get some balls and stand up for there rights. We would out number them. Live Free or Die.

      On the media. It’s owned by the people sitting at the big boys table. Watch the documentary.
      "Freedom to Fascism

    • 2 years ago
  • arcticspirit
  • lucidstone
    • 0
      lucidstone  

    • I'm disappointed that Current is focusing predominately on the Anarchists (you know, those people with the black flags, dressed in black, and with the face masks).

      Are you trying to tell me that at the G-20 summit the Anarchists represent the majority of the protesters? . . . Well, Current? Because that's really all this clip shows.

      [If I wanted bad stereotypes I would have turned on cable news]

    • 2 years ago
  • nobamayomama
    • 0
      nobamayomama  
    • lucidstone:

      LOL, yeah, the media coverage is kinda like zeroing in on a couple of signs in the tea party gatherings and making a general accusation about their character. So, how does it feel? I'm loving the hypocrisy.

    • 2 years ago
  • lucidstone
    • 0
      lucidstone  
    • lucidstone:

      Wow, talk about a leap in assuming that I would be accepting of misleading stereotypes of right wing protests any more than I would be accepting of misleading stereotypes of the left wing protests.

      My complaint isn't for the defense of the left wingers, my complaint is for the ever falling standards in objective journalism (as very few people are even trying for intellectually honest/objective journalism).

      So yeah, try again.

    • 2 years ago
  • lucidstone
    • 0
      lucidstone  
    • lucidstone:

      Some day??? I already understand that Anarchists are proud of what they promote and that they actually do represent a sizable number of idiots . . . but that's not the point at all . . . that's so far beyond the point, it's absolutely meaningless . . . hell, it's effing laughable.

    • 2 years ago
  • lucidstone
    • 0
      lucidstone  
    • lucidstone:

      That doesn't change the fact that your statement had absolutely nothing, zero, zilch to do with the point concerning the falling standards of journalism in lieu of shock-TV (which btw, IS a very serious issue in our society).

      Had your statement been half relevant with even a touch of intelligence, then I would have responded to it rather politely after considering the statement . . . but I have very little patience for statements of sheer stupidity.

      Oh btw, your statement was laughable because of the topic . . . since it's the "stupidity" in humanity that allows shock TV to be more financially viable than intellectually honest and objective journalism . . . so, thank you for adding that bit of dry, dark humor to the subject . . . because it really did make me laugh. =)

    • 2 years ago
  • lucidstone
    • 0
      lucidstone  
    • lucidstone:

      Why don't you try just once among all of your excellent, excellent pro-ALF/anarchist propaganda (I mean that is your job here at Current.com). . . just once, try to "add" something of actual value to a conversation.

      So far you have said nothing, disputed nothing, and have sunk solely to shallow insults . . . but I guess propagandists rarely say anything of value.

    • 2 years ago
  • FishTalesTM
    • 0
      FishTalesTM  

    • Acting like rebellious children is not going to make any statement. Instead you could use that energy to actually help. I don't know how any of that would help climate change or human rights. I think it would actually take away from the cause. You may be upset with what is going on, but just playing childish games is not going to change anything. You need act positively. Organize a group that will actually help these causes, not a group that gives you the false feeling of empowerment to run rampid through town and makes you feel like a badass cause you are pushing carts at cops (that have nothing to do with your cause).

    • 2 years ago
  • arcticspirit
    • 0
      arcticspirit  

    • I hear from President Obama that this is the smallest group of protesters at a G-20 meeting! He bragged about this to the press in fact. (It was one of the questions at the press meeting, do you guys ever watch speeches and press meetings?) If you actually watch all of the news, you might see a very different climate than this, or maybe that's just Obama's view? The official view of the democratic party. Yeah that's it.

      I don't know what that other stuff was. ?

    • 2 years ago
  • coughsyup
  • nursediesel
    • 0
      nursediesel  

    • I live here and no one around here went into town all week.
      Such assinine behavior.

      If you truely want to protest have the courage to uncover your faces. Why are all of you dressed in black?

      What do all of these people do for a living?

      Is this their vacation time?

      The protestors requested to be called anarchists, that's what they are calling themselves.

      And the rubber bullets have already been used.

      I disagree with the whole summit for control of the worlds finances but piling into downtown Pittsburgh and acting like a bunch of rowdy school kids is not the way to get the benefitial attention!

    • 2 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Vandalism is a lousy way to get your point accross. Not good, folks.
      Peaceful protests, marching in the streets with signs proclaiming your view is fine.
      When you vandalize businesses, private property, etc. you lose all credibility with anyone who may have the power to actually do something positive, or get sympathy from others.
      Further, covering your face so people won't know who you are is reminicent of other peoples who wear masks while they destroy lives and property.

    • 2 years ago
  • coughsyup
    • 0
      coughsyup  
    • csmonut:

      *these* peoples.. The one's retaliating or the one's using tear gas for riot control. These people might be too scary ..and I would avoid those who feel differently so no one get their feelings hurt.

    • 2 years ago
  • TranceSendDance
  • coughsyup
    • 0
      coughsyup  
    • csmonut:

      Resistors is description I'm fine and dandy with. Just kinda `ticked me because these words become banter after a while.
      I thought it was terrorists that was being implied. It seems averting If that was what was meant.

    • 2 years ago
  • revolutioninamerica
  • TranceSendDance
    • 0
      TranceSendDance  

    • To the Protestors: Thank you for your courage and patriotism. If everyone wasn't so numb from corporate media and pills

      than the cops would be defending You all...

      and harassing the bureaucratic cabal that is currently camped on the shores of our mighty Monongahela river.

      To the G20: If you continue to empower international monetary systems based on war as business,

      you are an enemy to all life on Earth.

      Empower our future with hope and support or fade away and be forgotten.

    • 2 years ago
  • Thargor19
  • slarabee
  • clayjj05
  • tomofnorthcal
  • tomofnorthcal
  • coughsyup
    • 0
      coughsyup  

    • HaHa. Lovin It. Anarchy is a WORD that can SOMETIMES mean SIMPLY that you SHOULD mind your business and NOT let anyone clean up after YOUR ASS.
      The same as when AYN RAND uses the word "SELFISH" she doesn't use it in the -literal- sense, meanind as to greed for, or lust after; but MAINLY that you need to stand up on your own TWO FEET, firm, before then haplessly TRYING to save the whole REST OF THE WORLD.
      NOT UNLIKE someone might try and demonize the word NEO-CONSERVATIVE as ANOTHER individual might take it as gratifying compliment. World government BLOWS CHUNKS. Posers!

    • 2 years ago
  • bill1think2012
  • coughsyup
  • samthesixth
  • nobamayomama
    • 0
      nobamayomama  
    • samthesixth:

      or Nazi's or the Mob all for a few loud passionate voices when their politicians were lying to them to their faces.

      Could you imagine if the "cons" were acting like this?

      This is a protest against capitalism too. Thanks Barack for flaming the embers of radicalism. You suck barack.

    • 2 years ago
  • unimatrix0
  • samthesixth
  • carmalite
    • 0
      carmalite  

    • The F...............g media is calling all of them anarchists, and that is not true.
      So they are calling out the Reservists military now on protestors. What is happening to the USA?

    • 2 years ago
  • nursediesel
  • thefear
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • carmalite:

      Class into unavailable stats, but it would be interesting to know what percentage of violent rioters are but agent provocateurs who's only mission is to rationalize repression against demonstrators.

      check this ugly little ditty as a proof of concept...
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M

      "A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." - Ian Williams Goddard

    • 2 years ago
  • spacemikey
    • 0
      spacemikey [removed]  
    • carmalite:

      I wanted to ask the same question, but I realized it was a way of propagandizing the situation.

      The purpose is to make ALL the protesters sound like violent aggressors with no respect for the law; so later when the law get's out of line you've already been preconditioned to believe the authorities were right.
      You know if a protester get's killed, and to help cover overall questionable practices....

      Domestic brainwashing at it's finest....

    • 2 years ago
  • afitzgerald
    • 0
      afitzgerald  

    • FROM THE NEWS BLOG: "What do G-20 protests accomplish?"

      Josh from called me on the telephone to ask me what it meant that the G-20 was taking over economic decision-making from the G-8. It’s good news for the leaders of the 12 countries that now get to sit at the big kids table (is more or less what I told him). So does that answer what the protestors are asking for? he asked. Well, I don’t think so.

      G-20s (or G-any number) and protests go hand in hand these days. As part of their preparations for hosting world leaders, cities also prepare to host thousands or protesters with nearly as many different causes. Why protest these events (which are otherwise pretty bland)? Is it having all those world leaders in one place? It’s come to seem almost like a script, world leaders discuss, protesters clash with police, and no one anywhere really talks about what the protesters are opposed to.

      So, let me ask this (and I ask as a real question): What use is it protesting the G-20? Is it good enough to just show opposition? What do demonstrators hope to accomplish?

    • 2 years ago
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