Direct Action Training

As you know, recently Casino-Free Philly supporters traveled to Pittsburgh, protesting the opening of a predatory casino owned by Neil Bluhm, who is also behind SugarHouse. The effort to build casinos in major cities such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is the tip of the spear of the predatory gambling trade in its effort to put casinos as close as possible to residential communities. If Bluhm and Foxwoods financier Ron Rubin are successful, Philadelphia will be the largest American city with a casino.

In our last direct action campaign, Beat the House, we put the predatory gambling industry on notice that we'd not sit idly by while our communites are eviscerated for their profit. We promised we'd be back.

In the coming weeks, we'll be staging a series of creative direct actions confronting Neil Bluhm, Ron Rubin and other backers of the two proposed casinos in Philadelphia. We're no longer able to wait for our elected officials in the city and in Harrisburg to find their backbones and defend their constituents instead of the casino lobby.

This action will be a first step in halting any plans for construction of casinos in Philadelphia.

In addition, if you haven't already, we invite you to sign the Casino-Free Pledge:

I pledge to take nonviolent action to halt the construction of any casino built in Philadelphia. I will not allow the predatory gambling industry to destroy our community and our cities. Should such casinos be built, I pledge to take nonviolent action to prevent their effective operation.

A key component of direct action is direct education, which we'll be continuing through our flyering nights in different parts of the city. Come to our action training and learn how you can be involved.

We need to show the casinos that Philadelphians won't back down or allow their neighborhoods to be taken over, simply because bought-and-paid-for politicians tell us it's "inevitable."