PITTSBURGH - About 100 activists and community leaders of various stripes have gathered in Pittsburgh as part of a People's Summit being held in response to next week's Group of 20 meeting.
The gathering Saturday kicks off three days of speeches and workshops on topics including universal health care and an end to war.
Democratic state Sen. Jim Ferlo of Pittsburgh railed against globalization, what activists are calling the myth of free market economics and health care as a "basic human civil right."
Ferlo urged those planning to take part in the city's mass protests to be peaceful. He also urged those in attendance Saturday to "take to the streets" later in the week.
The gathering in Pittsburgh's Oakland section will run throughout the day and resume Monday and Tuesday.
