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Speech from the Anti-Imperialist Contingent
This is one of three speeches from groups that pulled together the 300+ Anti-Imperialist Contingent at the Not In Our Name March Nov 3rd. Global Intifada and Siafu also had speakers.
We Continue the Struggle Against Imperialism
Speech given by Mel Pilbin of the Heads Up Collective at the day-after-the-election protest at Powell and Market
It's great to see you all out tonight. It's so important that we are in the streets today to express our outrage and demonstrate the power of our movements. My name is Mel Pilbin and I am a member of the Heads Up Collective and part of tonight's Anti-Imperialist Contingent. Heads Up is honored to be speaking. The connections that are being made in this march between U.S. imperialist war and the war on the working poor and people of color in this country are exactly the types of connections we need to be making to help build power and unity as a left radical movement. And power and movement building are going to be more necessary than ever over the next four years.
The Heads Up Collective formed shortly after September 11th to do anti-war organizing in the Bay Area that made explicit the connections to the wars being waged domestically. We are a white, anti-racist, anti-imperialist collective that prioritizes doing movement building work with economic and racial justice struggles led by poor people and people of color. We organize in the anti-war and global justice movements with a focus on Palestinian liberation and supporting anti-racist analysis and practice among
predominately white sectors. Our overarching goal is to help build revolutionary, multi-racial, working-class led movements in the Bay Area.
Heads Up joins today with Siafu, Global Intifada, and our close allies to form the Anti-Imperialist Contingent. Siafu is a delegation of Bay Area anti-imperialist activists of color and white anti-racist allies that came together to protest the RNC. Global Intifada is a multi-racial affinity group within Direct Action to Stop the War that has a strong focus on supporting Palestinian Liberation and resisting racist attacks on civil liberties.
Our theme for tonight¹s march is the "Ghosts of the dead and the
disappeared". In the tradition of Dia de los Muertos, we mourn the victims and honor the lives of those killed at the hands of U.S. Imperialism. Imperialism is the global system that causes the war abroad and the war at home in the U.S. We come together tonight to help make visible the struggles of Third World peoples around the globe as well as the policies that make those struggles necessary.
Today we are faced with the same system that we were faced with yesterday and therefore we have the same task we have always had; to build a broad and powerful revolutionary grassroots movement led by exploited and oppressed people and ready to challenge U.S. imperialism in solidarity with grassroots movements on a global scale.
As white folks in the movement we need to continue to build on the connections between local struggles and movements on an international level and work to support the leadership coming from oppressed communities. This is not just about liberation of other people, but also about our own liberation from these systems of oppression and from Capitalism.
We know we cannot vote for freedom within this two party system. We know real democracy comes from grassroots organizing, leadership and
self-determination in oppressed communities.
Despite the disappointing outcome of the elections, I am inspired by what we are a part of building here and now. As we march today challenging the war in Iraq, the occupation of Palestine and U.S. intervention globally, we must also continue to challenge the daily war waged against exploited and oppressed communities within this country. Understanding how the issues are interconnected brings our movements together. We must continue to join in struggle to unify our movement and build power for what lies ahead.
The Heads Up Collective is proud to be in the streets with all of you tonight expressing our outrage and demonstrating our hope and revolutionary vision for a world beyond the Bush regime and Beyond U.S. Imperialism.
*Messaging developed by the Anti-Imperialist Contingent was used in this speech.
Speech given by Mel Pilbin of the Heads Up Collective at the day-after-the-election protest at Powell and Market
It's great to see you all out tonight. It's so important that we are in the streets today to express our outrage and demonstrate the power of our movements. My name is Mel Pilbin and I am a member of the Heads Up Collective and part of tonight's Anti-Imperialist Contingent. Heads Up is honored to be speaking. The connections that are being made in this march between U.S. imperialist war and the war on the working poor and people of color in this country are exactly the types of connections we need to be making to help build power and unity as a left radical movement. And power and movement building are going to be more necessary than ever over the next four years.
The Heads Up Collective formed shortly after September 11th to do anti-war organizing in the Bay Area that made explicit the connections to the wars being waged domestically. We are a white, anti-racist, anti-imperialist collective that prioritizes doing movement building work with economic and racial justice struggles led by poor people and people of color. We organize in the anti-war and global justice movements with a focus on Palestinian liberation and supporting anti-racist analysis and practice among
predominately white sectors. Our overarching goal is to help build revolutionary, multi-racial, working-class led movements in the Bay Area.
Heads Up joins today with Siafu, Global Intifada, and our close allies to form the Anti-Imperialist Contingent. Siafu is a delegation of Bay Area anti-imperialist activists of color and white anti-racist allies that came together to protest the RNC. Global Intifada is a multi-racial affinity group within Direct Action to Stop the War that has a strong focus on supporting Palestinian Liberation and resisting racist attacks on civil liberties.
Our theme for tonight¹s march is the "Ghosts of the dead and the
disappeared". In the tradition of Dia de los Muertos, we mourn the victims and honor the lives of those killed at the hands of U.S. Imperialism. Imperialism is the global system that causes the war abroad and the war at home in the U.S. We come together tonight to help make visible the struggles of Third World peoples around the globe as well as the policies that make those struggles necessary.
Today we are faced with the same system that we were faced with yesterday and therefore we have the same task we have always had; to build a broad and powerful revolutionary grassroots movement led by exploited and oppressed people and ready to challenge U.S. imperialism in solidarity with grassroots movements on a global scale.
As white folks in the movement we need to continue to build on the connections between local struggles and movements on an international level and work to support the leadership coming from oppressed communities. This is not just about liberation of other people, but also about our own liberation from these systems of oppression and from Capitalism.
We know we cannot vote for freedom within this two party system. We know real democracy comes from grassroots organizing, leadership and
self-determination in oppressed communities.
Despite the disappointing outcome of the elections, I am inspired by what we are a part of building here and now. As we march today challenging the war in Iraq, the occupation of Palestine and U.S. intervention globally, we must also continue to challenge the daily war waged against exploited and oppressed communities within this country. Understanding how the issues are interconnected brings our movements together. We must continue to join in struggle to unify our movement and build power for what lies ahead.
The Heads Up Collective is proud to be in the streets with all of you tonight expressing our outrage and demonstrating our hope and revolutionary vision for a world beyond the Bush regime and Beyond U.S. Imperialism.
*Messaging developed by the Anti-Imperialist Contingent was used in this speech.
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Mel after reading your revolutrionary rhetoric-- well you seem a little uptight and serious-- I think you need a blowjob.
yeah well this is pretty serious this situation. it's been serious for a long time and it just got worse. mel is right on. you think if she gets a blowjob she'll suddenly think the republicrats are working in our best interests?what is your point if you have one?
the AIc ws inspirng, and so is mel's speech.
and, we could all use blow jobs, right? sex is good!
and it's a fucked up, seriou situation we're facing here, no mistake. mel's speech isn't even actually uptight, it's just right on.
and, we could all use blow jobs, right? sex is good!
and it's a fucked up, seriou situation we're facing here, no mistake. mel's speech isn't even actually uptight, it's just right on.
Hi,
I folllowed the breakaway march, or whatever it was, from 24th and Mission down to Market, up to the Federal Building, thru the Tenderloin, and to the Warfield where the arrests were made.
Comments and Questions
This was a fairly small group of people, mostly white as far as I could tell. There were people behind this main group as well. People who were near where I was, that is, behind the main group of cops that followed the march from Mission and 24th.
These people yelled at the cops the whole way. "I pay your bills." "This is what a police state looks like." Etc. etc. I'll refrain from commenting any further on the absurdity of this.
The cops basically did nothing in response. I watched them all night. It literally bordered on Keystone Cops. It was laughable.
My main concern? I'll pose it in the form of a question for white people.
Are there possible repercussions for the people who live in the Tenderloin after white people march through? I don't know the answer, thats why I'm asking. I can't help but think that this - marching thru the Tenderloin - is not exactly the greatest idea.
Generally, I feel like marching thru someone else's neighborhood is not the greatest idea, especially when you don't have to deal with the fallout.
I could be wrong. The SFPD was about as ferocious as Bambi on Wednesday.
Take care.
I folllowed the breakaway march, or whatever it was, from 24th and Mission down to Market, up to the Federal Building, thru the Tenderloin, and to the Warfield where the arrests were made.
Comments and Questions
This was a fairly small group of people, mostly white as far as I could tell. There were people behind this main group as well. People who were near where I was, that is, behind the main group of cops that followed the march from Mission and 24th.
These people yelled at the cops the whole way. "I pay your bills." "This is what a police state looks like." Etc. etc. I'll refrain from commenting any further on the absurdity of this.
The cops basically did nothing in response. I watched them all night. It literally bordered on Keystone Cops. It was laughable.
My main concern? I'll pose it in the form of a question for white people.
Are there possible repercussions for the people who live in the Tenderloin after white people march through? I don't know the answer, thats why I'm asking. I can't help but think that this - marching thru the Tenderloin - is not exactly the greatest idea.
Generally, I feel like marching thru someone else's neighborhood is not the greatest idea, especially when you don't have to deal with the fallout.
I could be wrong. The SFPD was about as ferocious as Bambi on Wednesday.
Take care.
The Tenderloin is a central city district. Of course marches will pass through it.
Stop asking brain-dead questions, 'white guy.'
Stop asking brain-dead questions, 'white guy.'
What kind of repurcussions for people who live in the Tenderloin? I can't think of any. Nobody's going to blame them, and I'm sure they pretty much don't care that a couple things got broken. It's loud out there anyway, and it's a pretty central area. People go through thhere all the time, and those anarchists are usually pretty careful not to smash anything that belongs to an individual or might hurt somebody, so we don't damage the working class. In fact, although you might think differently, white man, not all white people are rich. I know plenty of white people who live in areas such as the Tenderloin, and white people who squat. Or white people who can't afford food. Now, I'm not one of those people, in fact my family is pretty rich by anyone's standards. I didn't join in the "no war but the class war" or "this is what a police state looks like" chants. I think those kind of things are silly. After all, I'm rich, right? And I'm out there with them trying to do the right thing and draw attention to the rally. And, if you followed this kind of thing, you'd see that there are cops who use their power inappropriately. In fact, at the last protest I went to, a cop started using his club on the people standing on the sidewalk. And this time around, there were legal observers who were arrested. So before you start making assumptions, white guy, you may want to do a little bit more research.
I was there. I'm not a chanter either. I think it was good that people were out there. There were a number of black people among the arrestees, but the large groups of chinese and korean (mostly) and latino people, including many over age 50, were not on the stroll towards the city center at the end. You can sort of read what the police are hearing on their radios. They seemed really sleepy towards the beginning, because whoever was in command in the first 2/3s was not very aggressive,, particularly when compared to the response in some antiwar marches in year 2003 when there seemed to be 200-300 police on motorbikes, horses, and in big platoons. I was walking beside a woman who seemed to be in charge of one set of two dozen officers, and she was toned down, and kept looking ahead towards bits of real estate such as the Federal Building that they would want to protect, but they didn't find it worthy to keep people away from the Tenderloin. We should still remember that the group hadn't done anything illegal on the sidewalk between fifth and sixth, but just had crept too close to Nordstrom's.
By the way, what's the status of the arrested people now?
By the way, what's the status of the arrested people now?
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