PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

The Pink Bloc to Converge at August 15 Healthcare Not Warfare Rally and March
by Tim Vining Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 at 9:32 AM
tim@thomasmertoncenter.org 412-361-3022 5125 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224

On Sunday, August 15, queer activists from the region will converge upon Pittsburgh to peacefully demand “Healthcare Not Warfare.”

For Immediate Release Contact:
August 11, 2004 Amy Benson 412-867-6063
tbamy@yahoo.com

The Pink Bloc to Rally and March for “Healthcare Not Warfare”



On Sunday, August 15, queer activists from the region will converge upon Pittsburgh to peacefully demand “Healthcare Not Warfare.” The Pink Bloc, organized by RESYST (a radical queer project of the Thomas Merton Center) will host a game of Spin the Bottle/Missile to demonstrate the misplaced priorities of the Bush administration through a crowd interactive street theatre performance. The game will be played during the 12 noon rally in Market Square. The Pink Bloc will then join the mass march through downtown Pittsburgh in a festive display to include pink helium balloons with “special, hidden messages.”

The Pink Bloc supports a single-payer, universal healthcare system that recognizes healthcare as a human right that ought never be denied an individual based on that person’s defined status, whether that be marital status, income or age. By requiring any particular status, other than one’s humanity, in order to access healthcare, the system is open to discrimination and scapegoating against those declared “less worthy” by societal prejudice. “We feel that no group should be the scapegoat for racism, bigotry, or capitalistic greed, and by organizing a queer resistance we can speak to so many people by sharing our historic liberation.” – RESYST mission statement.



“I'm marching with the Pink Bloc at the Healthcare not Warfare rally on August 15th because I am one of the 42 million people nationwide who do not have health insurance. While the military occupation of Iraq continues to soak up more and more money on high-tech military techniques, I am forced to wait for basic health-care services. I am marching for myself, my mother, my sister, and my many friends who have to put off essential health services indefinitely, while money continues to flow thousands of miles away from our health care needs and into US military uses in the Middle East. Healthcare should not depend on your job, or your family, or your marital status. No one should have to make life-decisions about their job or their relationships while wondering "what if I get sick?" or "how will I afford my medications?" I'm marching on August 15th to say: health care is a right. I demand my rights.”
--Amy Benson, Pink Bloc organizer

For more information about the event or to schedule interviews with the participants or organizers, call Amy Benson at 412-867-6063 or email tbamy@yahoo.com. You can also visit the RESYST website at http://www.ThomasMertonCenter.org/RESYST.

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www.thomasmertoncenter.org/resyst

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