Pittsburgh Student Solidarity Coalition report-back from 10.8.15
An autonomously-organized, impromptu counter-rally pretty much chased the anti-choice/anti-woman demonstrators off campus today! That kind of ignorance is clearly not welcome at Pitt. [Some people expressed they did not want their faces to be shown, so all were blocked out just to protect everyone’s anonymity]
A participant tells us:
“A social media call for support brought out around 30 students to protest an anti-choice demonstration at the William Pitt Union. What started with a few independent women standing up for their rights evolved into a spontaneous demonstration of student power and solidarity.
Students chanted “Their body, their choice!” , “When women’s rights are under attack, what do we do? STAND UP FIGHT BACK” , “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, anti-choicers go away!” , and “I say student, you say power, Student! Power!” among other things.
The anti-choicers called the cops as soon as they realized they had overstayed their welcome. About 6 police arrive and attempted to disperse the crowd. Initially, some pro-choice demonstrators tried to usher everyone away from confrontation, but most refused and chose to stand their crowd. The people who were unwilling to take the risk removed themselves but stood in solidarity further down the sidewalk.
Anti-choicers talked to the police, accusing pro-choicers of vandalism and profanity. The police then turned to the students and claimed that profanity was not protected by the First Amendment. Students continued to stand their ground and immediately pointed out what the real profanity was. This is our fucking campus, and we have the right to tell anti-choicers who accuse us of murdering babies to fuck right off.
The anti-choicers packed up and left with tails between their legs, and individual women then showed another spontaneous demonstration of courage by standing on tables and speaking out in favor of Planned Parenthood, bodily autonomy, women’s rights and more.
A lone, bad-ass unknown woman stood in front of the anti-choice bus to prevent it from continuing to circle around the campus and spread its hateful message, not to prevent it from leaving as previously believed! She told us she was more than happy when they left. Still some awesome TankMan style courage. **More edits: one of the men standing with her was an ally and also a total badass!!
I could not be more proud to be part of such a powerful community. Hail to Pitt // Fight Back”
FILLER // ZINE & DISTRO 