About

Who We Are

Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) is an anarchist group based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Our goal is the creation of a directly democratic, free society capable of maximizing human potential and freedom within a framework of collective responsibility, mutual-aid, and solidarity. In short… Anarchism. We are consensus-based, non-hierarchical, believe in affinity groups, and support a diversity of tactics. We are committed to building a movement that recognizes and opposes the interconnected forms of oppression. Our membership includes a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. We believe in autonomy and celebrating the strength all individuals bring to our movement due to their own unique life experiences. For more information on what we believe see our statement
structure and statement of solidarity pages.

What We Do

POG’s current efforts include ongoing anti-militarism work, addressing the perpetual manifestations of state violence. With a focus on combining education and direct action we work to strategically fight back against the war machine by confronting its local manifestations: military recruitment, corporate and educational war profiteers, and militaristic politicians. Our Anarchist education and speakers series aims to educate the public on the true nature of anarchism as a non-hierarchical movement for direct democracy. Far from espousing random violence and selfishness as state and corporate interests claim, anarchism is a dynamic and realistic alternative to meet the needs and aspirations of our local community. We also organize the annual Anarchist Picnic and Anarchist Prom, legal defense, and a Tactical Training Initiative (TTI). The TTI has included workshops on preparing to go to actions, using media effectively in a campaign, the history and use of blockades and lockdown devices, and the recent history of the global justice movement. Past projects have included international solidarity efforts (most recently with the struggles in Oaxaca), a regular letter writing campaign to support political prisoners, and coordinating one of seven sectors during efforts to shutdown the 2008 Republican National Convention during which we successfully blockaded 7&Wall Street with a lockdown.

We believe strongly in the necessity of radical, progressive, systemic change in society, and we try to ensure that our work on specific issues advances that broad, overarching goal. Sometimes we work on massive campaigns involving dozens of events and months of organizing (such as our current anti-war work, other times we organize a single event to draw attention to an issue or incident of injustice. We also work to create and nurture a web of mutual-aid and solidarity between groups; we support other struggles with people power and other resources. Our work drives us to organize protests, vigils, direct actions, street theatre, concerts, teach-ins, petition drives, and more. In doing so we make flyers, talk to our neighbors and people on the street, go to city council meetings, build puppets and banners, hold press conferences, and sometimes we risk arrest in the fight for justice. (See our Statement on What POG Does and Does Not Organize for more info.) We also believe in sharing our skills and knowledge with one another, and learning together. We try to hold monthly potlucks to build a sense of community amongst ourselves, our allies, and those who want to become involved. We want to create a supportive community that puts into practice the values and ideas for which we struggle.

Get Involved with POG

POG usually meets every two weeks. When POG’s working groups are created for a particular campaign they may meet more frequently and outside the larger group. To support or join pog (whether as a member, a supporter, a financial contributor, or just by joining out announcement list to keep up to date on regular events) go to our Join POG page.