[Submission from the Pittsburgh National Lawyers Guild received on 05.28.21]

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Over 60 people have been charged with felonies in Pittsburgh for last summer’s protests.

Most of them aren’t famous. Most of them don’t have hundreds of Instagram followers, or on-line fundraising campaigns, or the backing of large activist organizations. Many of them are facing years in prison for the first and only protest they ever attended. Six of them are confined in Allegheny County Jail. An unknown number are also facing federal charges.

Some of them have private lawyers, but most are dependent on public defenders or the office of conflict counsel. A few have reached plea deals, some more favorable than others. Every one of them took the streets to express their anger and outrage at the police murder of George Floyd, and the vast majority are facing life-shattering consequences as a result.

Elsewhere the things are little different. A year after the George Floyd uprising, prosecutors across the country are still throwing the book at every protester they could get their hands on, aided by a virtual media blackout and the silence of liberal nonprofits.

To raise awareness of this situation, the National Lawyers Guild is circulating a petition (https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/drop-the-charges-blm) to drop all federal charges against Black Lives Matter demonstrators. We ask for organizations and individuals to sign it, and encourage their networks to do the same. In addition the Pittsburgh NLG chapter is raising money for legal support of all local protesters facing felony charges. Please donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/pittsburgh-nlg-felony-defense-fund

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

Filler_PGH@protonmail.com

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*update: gofundme got taken down & all donations are being refunded, new fundrazr is linked below*

DONATE HERE

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

The National Lawyers Guild of Pittsburgh is hosting this fundraiser to provide  badly needed financial support to protesters in our city who are being charged and in some cases held in the Allegheny County Jail on unsubstantiated felony charges. In some cases, protestors are being held with exorbitant bail demands designed to keep them in holding, and at times, denied bail all together. We believe that these severe and unprovoked charges are being used to intimidate with the intention of repressing protests against police brutality in our city. 100% of funds raised will be used directly for the legal defense and expenses of these individuals. It will also provide much needed commissary funds while they are in jail.

While there is some legal support being provided to protestors in Pittsburgh, those facing the most serious charges and have the greatest needs are unfortunately the least likely to receive pro-bono legal defense. There are upwards of 30 (and counting) protestors and organizers who have been targeted,  sought out, and charged by local and in some cases federal authorities — sometimes days or weeks after the protest in question has occurred, and usually without any tangible evidence. We hope to raise as much as we possibly can to offset the insurmountable financial burden they are facing, and appreciate your support through donating and/or sharing this link far and wide. Unfortunately, it will require a great deal of money to ensure the protestors being charged with felonies receive the legal defense they truly need to fight back.

The NLG is dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. The NLG anti-imperialist and anti-racist and we strive to bring in anti-oppressive practices to all aspects of our organization. The Guild is best known for our work defending the rights of protesters through our Mass Defense and Legal Observer Programs , which have been providing legal support for movements for social justice for 50 years. Guild lawyers, law students, and legal workers observe police actions during protests, provide Know Your Rights training, track arrestees through the legal system, and provide free attorneys for protest-related cases.

photo credit: Phil Henry

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You can send your report-backs, zine submissions, critiques, graffiti/action photos, demo tapes, hate mail, & memes to…

Filler_PGH@protonmail.com

We’ll try to promote your content // reply in a reasonable amount of punk time.

Send reports in email form, as an attachment, or better yet, on an easy to use (and free) Riseup Pad or CryptPad.

Statement from the Pittsburgh Anarchist Black Cross
Received 5.18.2017

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Today we are happy to report our friends Maxx and Shea were released early from the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh. Far from being an example of goodwill and magnanimity from Judge Mariani, their initial 3-12 month sentence from him (when the D.A. only asked for a weekend) was the real show of his great benevolence. We are excited to have our friends out to enjoy the beginning of the summer.

While two of our accomplices now transition into probation, we have handfuls of Pittsburgh comrades still going back and forth to court appearances with stacks of felonies held above their heads, in what is the new normal for anarchists and anti-authoritarians in this country. While we predict these large and exaggerated cases will get increasingly common for us in Pittsburgh and around the U.S., we want to be ready to support our friends and ourselves in what should be looked at as the inevitability of, in the least, wasted cash in courts; in the most, long prison sentences. Tabling information, talking to lawyers, conference calls, getting legit, putting on shows and letter writings, crowd funding, meetings and late night talks, hanging outside of that stupid jail, and Signal upon Signal loops—we got this, in a sense. But what can we do beyond responding to the crisis of individual repressions? How can we create a culture of defiance and rejection to police, jails, prisons and snitching on a local level beyond reaction and into action? As we move forward with supporting our friends locally, and reach out to folks across the country, we aspire to move towards actively promoting an anarchist total rejection of the court and policing systems, and to respond to their tactics of fear head first, horns down.

Pittsburgh Anarchist Black Cross
PGHABC [at] riseup [dot] net
PO Box 9021
Pittsburgh, PA
15224

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DONATE HERE to support and welcome back our friends Maxx and Shea.
Click HERE or HERE to read the report-backs from the action and subsequent arrests.

DONATE HERE to support the ACJ 10.

DONATE HERE to support Pittsburghers arrested on J20 at the intersection of L&12th streets. 

DONATE HERE to support Victoria and Phil, two comrades arrested during an action at the University of Pittsburgh.