June 9, 2007
Pittsburgh Organizing Group
12:19 ampog@mutualaid.org
c/o Thomas Merton Center
5125 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15224
"Hey POG, Why The Heck Did You Do THAT!?"
A Statement on What POG Does and Does Not Organize
Pittsburgh is fortunate to possess large and diverse
movements for progressive social change. On any given day
thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations are pursuing a variety of
strategies to oppose institutions of injustice and improve our
communities. Within our movements there are many debates and disagreements about what
our goals should be and how we can best accomplish them. There are genuine
differences of opinion on what methods are appropriate and strategic.
Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) is one of the
largest, most visible and prolific radical groups on the Pittsburgh left.
Since 2002 we have organized more than 120 actions and events around a variety of
peace and social justice issues, garnering hundreds of news stories
and attracting thousands of participants. We have truly been humbled by the
support and solidarity by local communities and the relationships we have
built with people of varying political identities and tactical preferences. We
have also, as one might expect, made our share of mistakes, attracted the
attention of the state, and made some enemies and detractors. Occasionally
we encounter misconceptions of who we are and what we do that
results in serious confusion about what we are and aren't responsible
for. Sometimes we are blamed for things we had nothing to do with. Whether
those accusations may be the result of someone with an axe to grind, the
result of ignorance, or an honest case of confusion among potential allies and
supporters, these situations can do harm to our reputation and impact
our long-term work. We wrote this statement as a point of reference for
others in order to clarify these situations.
Pittsburgh Organizing Group is an above ground group
in the public eye. We are not a clandestine organization working in the
underground. What we do is what we find effective given the political and
tactical space we occupy in our local context and is not a condemnation of
those who organize in alternative ways. Basically, we organize the
framework for small and large-scale actions and campaigns. We utilize a
diversity of tactics, which have typically included pickets, protests, sit-ins,
street theatre, conferences, civil disobedience and non-violent
direct actions such as blockades and unpermitted marches. We work to build
a sustainable community of resistance to put into practice our values of
solidarity, mutual aid, and self-determination while protecting ourselves and
our community from those who wish us harm. As a group we absolutely never
organize anything involving destruction of property or physical harm to human or non-human animals.
Most of our actions and events are advertised before
they occur on our Web site and through our
e-mail announcement list. Events that depend on the element of surprise, or
that are planned shortly before they occur, are sometimes only reported on
after the fact. If you don't see an announcement for, or a report from, an
action on our Web site, then it's unlikely we are associated with it.
Sometimes an action will happen in the city and people will wonder why POG doesn't
issue a statement distancing itself from it or condemning it. Through our years
of work we have found a set of principles that guide our organizing. These are
embodied in our statement of solidarity
to the movement.
Most importantly, in the context of this discussion, are
the following principles:
- We talk about *our* strategy and beliefs, not the strategies and beliefs of others.
- We seek to avoid perpetuating a "good" protester/"bad" protester dichotomy.
- We do not denounce other demonstrators.
- We acknowledge other groups' existence and role they play in creating change.
- We acknowledge that we sometimes disagree with one another about strategy and tactics.
Simply put, our major focus is our work. We don't have time to disavow or comment on the work of everyone
else nor do we think doing so would be practical or productive. Our silence does not
indicate support or disagreement. We realize that POG is a known entity
and when actions occur, people who disagree would like an outlet to express
their feelings. It's important to remember that we are only one of many
groups and we do not claim or possess ownership of any movement. We are
not the official representatives of the radical/anarchist/youth/political
left/anti-war/counter recruitment movements. There
are hundreds of people, and dozens of other groups, that are similar to the
work of POG in some respect. Just as we do not wish to be associated
with actions we did not organize it's likely the actual organizers do not
wish to see the blame/credit placed on POG.
So, if after reading this you still feel unsure about whether a recent action was organized by POG feel free to e-mail us: pog AT mutualaid.org
In solidarity and resistance,
Pittsburgh Organizing Group
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