Repost far and wide! Hello friends! Please join us for a movie night at The Take Space on Wednesday, Dec. 16th!

6pm: Paris is Burning (1990): Filmed in 1980s NYC, this doc is the story of drag balls, gay street gangs called houses, a dance form called voguing, and "how each person's life brought them to this circuit."

7:30pm: Style Wars (1983): A documentary on subway train graffiti at its height and the origins of hip hop on the streets of NYC. Also tells of the city authorities' attempts to invalidate and stop graffiti also during the 1980s.

The Take Space
5001 Penn Ave.
Pgh, Pa 15224

$5-10 donation benefits the Greater Pittsburgh Anarchist Collective's to fund space costs, prisoner support, and future efforts
No one turned away

Snacks and heat will be provided! Movies will be projected!

Stand in solidarity with prisoners
Stand against all prisons

Please join us Downtown on Saturday, December 5th at 2:30PM SHARP at 1st Avenue and Ross Street to march to the Allegheny County Jail.

We will march to Allegheny County Jail to show our contempt for the prisons and our solidarity with those locked inside. We plan to have a vibrant and uproarious demonstration to ensure those behind the thick walls can hear our message.

We do not resist prisons from a position of moral obligation or public servitude. We resist prisons from our collective position as members of a criminalized class. We do not have enough money in our pockets. We have the wrong pigment in our skin. We were born on the wrong side of an imaginary line on a map. We have desires too wild that burn in our hearts. And for our transgressions the State has criminalized and condemned us. We resist prisons out of necessity, from our position staring down the business end of a police issue firearm.

When a cop walks on our block, pulls up in our rear-view, or shoves a knee in our back; we feel the terror. Let us meet on Sunday to feel powerful in the face of our collective enemy. Let us ensure that our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, lovers, and comrades trapped behind bars can feel our power and support.

Bring banners, extra loud noise makers and drums, bring some friends, and bring the ruckus.

Saturday, December 5th, 2:30PM sharp DOWNTOWN 1st Avenue and Ross St.

-Greater Pittsburgh Anarchist Collective
info@gpacattack.org
412-254-GPAC

Dinner and Letter-writing to Support Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth

Sunday Dec. 6th
6pm
The Take
5001 Penn Ave.
Vegan mac and cheese, salad, muffins and letter-writing supplies will be provided!
Bring cash donations for Carrie and Scott, pens, stamps, and envelopes

Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth are activists from Minneapolis, MN, who were subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in Iowa investigating animal rights vandalism from 2004. They have both refused to cooperate with the grand jury, and have been in jail since 11/17. Carrie is being held on civil contempt of court. As of 11/19, Scott's civil contempt has been dropped and, instead, he has been indicted for conspiracy under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. For more information: davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com

Brought to you by Pittsburgh Anarchist Black Cross
For more info: abcpittsburgh@riseup.net

Discussion on the free services that PP offers, Birth Control, STD Prevention, and a Q and A session.

Any questions, please contact us: 412-254-GPAC

Recently, GPAC has received a notice from the building owners to vacate our social space at 5001 Penn Avenue in the neighborhood of Garfield by January 1, 2010. Since buying the building in 2006, the owners expressed interest in opening a community center, but the storefront sat empty until we approached them in 2008. To fulfill our desires for a space to allow the opportunities for struggle to multiply, we made a verbal agreement with the owners to pay a portion of utilities and property taxes, and to put our time and labor into fixing up the 1st floor. We put up walls, fixed the floor, painted, fixed plumbing, cleaned, and obtained appliances and furniture from October 2008 to April 17, 2009. We did this work while our lives were filled with the usual stress and tumult that the current society offers, along with additional discouragement from the owners. Our hope and resilience lies in the warm support of our old friends, allies and friends to be, which we hope to have in this struggle for space.

Despite our willingness to work with the owners, they violate our agreement and our autonomy. They modify the agreement at their discretion, informally. We entered into a relationship with the owners with the understanding that we had similar goals, as we and the owners shared time at Project 1877, our old Garfield-based social center that closed in 2003. They use their class power against us by reminding us constantly that they are able to evict us at any time, sell the building to make money, make use of the privileges of mobility, and that they know what's best for Garfield. The present paternalistic situation is much more restrictive than a typical landlord-tenant relationship in that they will not sign a lease with us and are willing to take steps to ensure that we are out of the building even after they sell it. They are property owners who choose to use their access to developers, lawyers, and police. Their power over us has been evident in their connections, attitudes, and selfish value system. They communicate with us at times that are convenient for them, sometimes confrontationally, cornering individuals with no advanced notice, rather than initiating communication with the entire group as requested. This is contrary to the way our non-hierarchical group process works.

While they profess to be anarchists themselves, they have often criticized our tactics and our theory, trying to control what we do in the space although we were assured that we would have autonomy. The owners tell us that they are doing us an enormous favor by allowing us use of their building, yet their wish for control is reminiscent of power relationships we face daily. We are always under scrutiny from neighbors and people in power alike. The owners of 5001 want to determine what we do in the space, what flyers we can put up, the length of time the space can stay in existence at this address, etc. They have implied that they would rather have the space sit empty in a pile of rubble or attempt their own vague projects than continue our existance there. They have mentioned using the 1st floor for their own activities occasionally, but they have not requested a time to schedule something nor would we have immediately denied their use of the space had a request been made. Their actions show that they value the dollar of property over community use of the space. All this hand wringing happens at the cost of our time, scant personal monetary resources, and mental and physical energy. This is not autonomy. This is not mutual aid. We are not an experiment for the owners' social hypotheses.We're asking for more time and space to do the work we haven't had time to do and for a more positive situation for us and for the Garfield community.

OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Despite all the strife, since we opened in April 2009 The Take has hosted a number of events including, but not limited to:

• The 2009 Anti-Racist Action Network conference; a national gathering of anti-fascists
• POG's Tactical Training Initiatives, a series of trainings for activists and organizers
• Street Medic Training, 3 days of instruction on medical basics
• Pittsburgh G20 Resistance Project General Assemblies and working group meetings

We have maintained an open space with set hours for Food Not Bombs, movie nights with open discussions, a free store, a lending library and a computer lab, and workshops on internet security. We have also provided space for music, an alternative medicine clinic, and the Anarchist Reading Group. We improve the usability of the space and expand our resources more and more as time passes, such that more time at the space would only make sense.Our efforts to support prisoners and people facing the court system from this space are copious and unwavering. We have hosted legal benefits for graffiti writer HERT, fundraisers for G-20 Legal Support, Know Your Rights and Legal Worker Trainings. GPAC hosts and is involved in the Anarchist Black Cross, The Free David Japenga Support Committee, and The Kyle Gilgen Support Committee. GPAC initiated a campaign to support and free graffiti writer and East End native MFONE. We send books and letters to prisoners who write to us at the space address.

The use of 5001 Penn Avenue's first floor is absolutely essential to the continuation of these projects. Through the use of the building, these projects have helped keep working class people out of jail, helped provide a glimmer of hope to those oppressed by the racist injustice system, and helped clothe and feed our class comrades and neighbors who are in the most precarious of economic conditions.We consider the above activities, which happen as a result of our relationships with diverse groups and individuals, to be vital in uniting to push social struggle. We see the space as expanding struggle, as opposed to duplicating efforts of liberal, student, and non-profit groups. From this space, we work with folks that anarchists traditionally don't reach out to, in order to expand the boundaries of our social circles.

OUR INVITATION

We wish to affirm and validate our presence here. We are here now, so work with us! We would like to host projects and events that are autonomous from GPAC, yet focus on liberating people from capitalism, the state, and various other forms of oppression. We would especially like to offer our space to groups and individuals from Garfield and other neighborhoods who are fighting gentrification and racism, along with determining what's most important in their lives without the intervention of authorities and experts. If people step up to organize events, discussions, benefits and chillings, and to reach out to those outside of our usual crews, the importance of this space will be re-emphasized. GPAC has come this far and wants to take it farther. Please contact us by emailing, stopping by our open hours, or calling if you are interested in using the space!

Amenities that we have to offer (ALL FREE OF CHARGE!):

• Sober, all ages space where occupants have the right to uncompromised self-defense and resistance against oppression
• Large open area with plenty of seating
• Time for open to the public events until Midnight
• Convenient location
• Surround sound system
• Event/space staff persons
• Open computer lab with free internet access
• Space for flyers and literature
• Walls that are read and write-able
• Kitchen
• Free Store
• Radical Library

The Greater Pittsburgh Anarchist Collective
info@gpacattack.org
5001 Penn Ave. FL. 1
Pittsburgh PA 15224
(412) 254-GPAC

Open hours:
Monday Through Friday: 1-6pm
Saturday: 3-7pm