Women’s Independent Press

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
–Dr. Martin Luther King, J

Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance
Human Rights Days of Action 2015
In April of 2011, Pittsburgh became the 5th Human Rights City in the United States. The Human Rights City Alliance is working to change our policies and community to make the Human Rights City vision a reality. Join our work to promote dignity and justice for all! Please support the activities of Pittsburgh’s Human Rights Defenders during our Days of Action in honor of International Human Rights Day
*Tuesday, December 1
2:00 PM Pittsburgh Tour of Climate Scrooges, Join Three Rivers Rising Tide and the Three Rivers Action Council as we accompany the Ghost of Climate Future to pay visits to some of Allegheny County’s most outrageous climate Scrooges
Let’s claim our right to a clean and healthy environment! Meet at Gateway Center (Liberty @ Commonwealth Place & Stanwix). Dress warm (wear dark colors from the gloomy future) and be prepared for a 1.5 mile march! info@ThreeRiversRisingTide.org
*Wednesday, December 2
7:00 PM Fight Back for Pitt Faculty Panel featuring undergraduate students, graduate students, United Steelworkers organizers and faculty on why the exploitation of professors affects all of us and what University of Pittsburgh faculty are doing to fight back against the disappearance of tenure-track positions and adjunct professor pay of less than $14 an hour. William Pitt Union (Room 548) 3959 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh15213
*Friday, December 4
7:30 PM Sixth Annual Benefit Concert Youth Undoing Institutional Racism & Center for Coalfield Justice. Quakers / Friends Meeting House
4836 Ellsworth Ave. 15213. An evening of music featuring Smokestack Lightnin’, Burlap Road, Raging Grannies, PFM Harmonizers, Wesley and Wynston Peters, and Louis Suarez + bake sale and refreshments (Donation $15/$6 low income/student).
*Monday December 7
7:00 PM: Pittsburgh: No Limits for Women! A Look at the Cities for CEDAW Campaign (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women), Frick Fine Arts Auditorium (Schenley Drive @ Schenley Plaza in Oakland). Cities for CEDAW kick-off lecture and discussion featuring June Zeitlin, a leading women’s rights organizer and advocate for legal protections for women.

6:00 PM Community Empowerment Association Speak Out - discussion on urban development and community needs in Homewood(7120 Kelly Street, Pittsburgh 15208) Millions of dollars in construction projects in East Liberty, Larimer and Homewood are currently in full operation, with very few minority contractors and community residents working on these jobs. Where is the diversity plan to ensure that black residents are included in Pittsburgh’s economic revitalization? A Human Rights City should prioritize work to ensure racial equity in development contracting.

*Wednesday December 9
12:00 - 3:00 PM Pittsburgh 2° Paris : Climate Symposium 3 talks featuring keynote speaker Grant Ervin: Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Pittsburgh, real-time Skype-Ins from conference attendees, and a closing panel discussion with Pittsburgh guests at the Athletic and Fitness Center Gym (Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh 15232) Chatham University Shadyside campus to learn more about COP21 and reaching a global climate agreement.
6:00 PM Join Amnesty International Pittsburgh (group 39) and other human rights defenders for annual Write-a-thon and Human Rights FestivalCalvary Episcopal Church (315 Shady Ave, Pittsburgh 15206). Help Pittsburgh contribute 500-1000 letters on important human rights cases of our time, including a local human rights case. Stop in and stay as long as you can, write letters and meet other activists and groups.
Free refreshments.Candlelight Ceremony and City Council Proclamation at 7:30 pm.
Rivers Casino Picket Action in support of Rivers Workers fighting for a fair process to organize. It will be located at the Rivers Casino. Time TBD.
*Thursday December 10
International Human Rights Day
Time TBA: What’s Up–Working and Healing to Abolish Total Supremacy Undermining Privilege will host an action downtown.
5:00-6:30– Human Rights as Political Tools: An Interdisciplinary Conversation: Prof. Michael Goodhart, Associate Professor of Political Science and Interim Director of the Global Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh, will lead a discussion of controversies surrounding human rights and propose an alternative to conventional moral and legal frameworks. Reception to follow talk. Location TBA/University of Pittsburgh

*Sunday December 13
12:00pm -5:00 pm UE Local 667 Solidarity Social Wilkins School Community Center (760 Charleston Ave., Swissvale 15218). Come join with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE Local 667) members from the East End Food Co-op at their Solidarity Social as they kick off their campaign to win a first UE contract. Food and refreshments will be provided.

*Tuesday December 15
The Pittsburgh University Human Rights Network invites all faculty, staff, and graduate students at any area university to come for a Human Rights week social hour to learn about the vision for this newly forming network and to find out how you can help bring area campuses into the work of building a human rights city. 4:00-6:00 PM at the University Club College Lounge 123 University Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15260