On Thursday July 22nd at 6pm at the Louden Nelson Center in Santa Cruz, the Resource Center for Nonviolence & the Palestine Israel Action Committee, will host a Gaza teach-in to discuss solidarity with Palestine, including what happened during the Peace Flotilla.

Paul Larudee, a co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, will be one of the featured speakers. Paul was kidnapped and beaten by Israeli forces in May 2010 during the assault on the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Spokespersons from Jewish Voice for Peace will discuss the growing movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions to end the Israeli occupation. Dr. Amer Araim, a former Iraqi diplomat and former UN Secretariat Official, and professor at Diablo Valley College, will highlight diplomatic options to lift the siege.

A donation is suggested, but not required. All proceeds beyond costs of event will support nonviolent actions to break the siege of Gaza.

Read more | Indybay's Palestine News | Democracy Now's Gaza and Israel Palestine coverage

Iraq Veterans Against the War, SF, write: The flag is a symbol of our unity and the blood sweat tears of those that came before us. The flag also has a purpose, some times it is a beacon or a message a warning that something is wrong. We burnt the flag to be a strong visual representation of our protest to the unjust war on terror that cannot be won. This flag represents us as a people. The flag is on the arms of every uniform on every soldier fighting in your name. If you accept that nothing is wrong you condone the atrocities that are occurring. So get angry, we are trying to wake you up.

Jacob Crawford and Josh Wolf write: While millions across the United States of America celebrate freedom (for some), Gerald Sanders and friends outside of a West Oakland party burned a flag to send the statement that many are still waiting to reclaim true freedom.

Video: San Francisco | West Oakland

On Sunday, June 27, Yonatan Shapira, an Israeli military refusenik, and Eaw Jasiewicz, a Polish activist sprayed "Liberate All Ghettos" in Hebrew, followed by ‘Free Gaza and Palestine’ in English on a wall of an original block in the Warsaw Ghetto.

In an interview to an Indybay reporter, Shapira states, "The Holocaust has been appropriated for years now by the Israeli government and the Israeli education system. The Israeli establishment would rather have Jews and Israelis in a state of frightened victim that worship militarism.....In our act we tried to separate between the actions of the Israeli Government and Jews.

"The lesson that should be learned from the holocaust are resistance to any form of racism. Resistance to ethnic cleansing and forced expulsion of people. Resistance to the starvation of humans and their confinement into ghettos. These are issues that the Israeli policy makers would like us to ignore and forget."

Read More | Gaza Freedom Graffiti in the Warsaw Ghetto

Unions, labor federations and other organizations around the world have condemned Israel’s deadly attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31. Nine people were killed and dozens seriously injured in the Israeli commando attack in international waters on ships attempting to bring humanitarian cargo to the suffering and blockaded people of Gaza. Six people aboard the ships are still missing and presumed dead.

In response on June 20th, a labor and community picket of an Israeli Zim Lines ship was called for the Port of Oakland. In San Francisco in 1984, a picket line and refusal to unload cargo of a ship carrying South African cargo was a key event in mobilizing the anti-apartheid movement worldwide. The Oakland picket has already succeeded in shutting down the port for the morning shift, after the ILWU refused to cross the picket line. Activists have promised to return at 4:30pm the same day to stop the next shift from unloading the Zim lines ship when it arrives from Monterey this afternoon.

The picket is sponsored by the Labor / Community Committee in Solidarity with the People of Palestine: Arab American Union Members Council, ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), Palestine Youth Network, US Palestine Community Network, Al Awda- Right to Return Coalition, Arab Youth Organization, MECA-Middle East Children’s Alliance, Students for Justice in Palestine, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, International Solidarity Movement, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, International Socialist Organization, Peace and Freedom Party - SF, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee and many labor activists in the Bay Area.

Videos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Reports: 1 | 2 | Event Announcements: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Early on May 31st, Israeli commandos attacked the unarmed Gaza Freedom Flotilla, massacring at least nine international human rights activists and injuring dozens of others, in international waters forty miles off the coast of Gaza. Israeli military sources have confirmed nine dead but have been preventing survivors from talking to the outside world so exact numbers are still not known.

On board the ships were hundreds of civilians - including members of the Israeli Knesset - attempting to bring 10,000 tons of supplies and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip which has been under an illegal Israeli-imposed siege for the past three years.

Demonstrations against the Israeli attack have been taking place around the world with the largest being in Turkey where four of those killed were from. In Istanbul, thousands of activists clashed with police in front of the Israeli embassy and tens of thousands rallied in Taksim Square. Clashes between thousands of protesters and police also took place in Paris and Athens. Large protests also took place in Madrid, Baghdad, and London among other cities.

After the massacre became news the UN Security Council went into emergency session and a statement was issued Tuesday demanding an impartial inquiry. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu cancelled a meeting with Obama that had been scheduled for Tuesday. Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador from Israel and suspended military cooperation. Greece withdrew from a joint air force exercise with Israel in response to Israeli's attack on aid workers. Egypt has said it will open the Rafah crossing to Gaza but will still not allow in construction material.

At a protest in the West Bank, an American solidarity activist was shot in the face with a tear gas canister by Israeli forces; Emily Henochowicz is currently in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem undergoing surgery to remove her left eye

Protests have taken place all week at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. The next protest will be Thursday June 3rd at 4pm at Powell and Market with a march to the Consulate at 5pm.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Video | Sacramento Protest

The Attack: An Outrageous Massacre to Enforce Horrific Crimes | 15 internationals killed as Israel attacks and hijacks Gaza Flotilla | Israel Guns Down Peace Activists FIFTY Miles At Sea | Unarmed human rights activists killed on Gaza boats

Bay Area Protests: Meet Today at Noon at Israeli Consulate In San Francisco | Gaza Flotilla Emergency Response

International Response: Hostage Flotilla Activist's family on Hunger Strike | UN Security Council to hold emergency session over Gaza flotilla deaths | Turkey vents fury at Israeli armed action | Israel's attack tests NATO Doctrine

External Links: UK Guardian: Israel attacks Gaza flotilla - live coverage - fallout live | International Solidarity Movement | Electronic Intifada | Ma'an News Agency

Earlier Coverage Of Aid Convoy And Gaza Seige: With Sea Confrontation Looming, New Yorkers Say 'Break the Blockade' | Memorial Service for US Sailors Slain by Israel in 1967 | Break Israeli Siege of Gaza or Attack at Sea, Detention Camps, & Deportation | Israel's Exclusion and Restriction of Goods to Gaza

On Thursday, June 10th, investigative journalist and author Pratap Chatterjee returns to the Bay Area from the Middle East and Washington, DC, to speak about the expansion of Obama's AfPak War and its connection to securing oil in the region. In a benefit event at UC Berkeley, Chatterjee will share his first hand investigations in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the massive waste, fraud and abuse among the multi-billion dollar US military contractors, as well as their treatment of third world workers.

Chatterjee will be joined by Professor Kiren Aziz Chaudhry, who will discuss her recent essay "Dis(re)membering \pä-ki-ˈstän\," which examines the historical context of the war in the region, and its evolution into Pakistan under the guise of the War on Terror, along with KPFA's Dennis Bernstein as moderator. The event benefits the First Voice Media Collective, which is sending local grassroots media producers from Oakland to Detroit next month to attend and report on the Allied Media Conference and US Social Forum.

Event info

Army Spc. Marc Hall, who had been jailed in Georgia county jails since December 12, 2009 for producing an angry hip-hop song about "stoploss" was placed on a military flight bound for Iraq on the night of February 26, 2010. Marc flew out of Hunter Army Airfield, with a stop in Spain, before arriving in Balad, Iraq. He is expected to be transported to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait for continued pre-trial confinement. The Army has made it clear that Marc will face a General Courts Martial that could result in years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

On his website, Marc co-authored and published the following in a statement regarding his situation, "The Army can call the Stop Loss Policy a different name, but it all means the same thing--"Stop-Loss". Specialist Hall's wish is to get out the ARMY on time like his Active Duty contract states- Three years and 28 weeks of Active Duty. His ETS Date is as stated "February 27th 2010". By the will of God he said to our editors he shall be released back to his life as a civilian and a father. The way a Father should be there after serving the people of the United States of America."

Local musicians, artists, and GI rights supporters are coming together in benefit of Marc Hall on Friday, March 26th at 8pm at The Studio Space in Scotts Valley.

Read more and listen to "Stop Loss" | Stop Loss Music | Courage to Resist | Iraq Veterans Against the War | IVAW Santa Cruz | GI Rights Hotline

On Saturday, March 20th, thousands of people marched in cities across the country calling for an end to wars and occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere. The protest marked the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Every day people, mostly civilians, are dying in these wars, which cost more than $1 billion every two days. Meanwhile, more than 20 million people in the U.S. have lost their jobs, homes and health benefits in the last three years.

In San Francisco, protesters gathered at Civic Center Plaza at 11am. There was a rally and then a march through the downtown area, returning to Civic Center for a closing rally. The Executive Board of UNITE-HERE Local 2 and many other unions endorsed the March 20 march and rally. The march went to two boycotted hotels, the Hilton and the Westin-St. Francis in solidarity with hotel workers.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
Indybay March 20th Photo Gallery
Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Audio
Archived Breaking News

Announcement | Bus From San José and Palo Alto | Sacramento Carpool | Over 2000 Groups Endorse March 20 March To End The Wars

Contingents: Solidarity with the Zapatistas | Queers OUT of Uniform | Uhuru

Regionally, protests were also being held in San Jose and Monterey.
Anti-War Busycle Ride

There were also protests in Los Angeles (Photos) and Portland, Oregon.

Previous anniversary of the war protests In SF: 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

The 6th International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is taking place across the globe from from March 1st to the 14th. Since it was first launched in 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. Last year, more than 40 cities around the world participated in the week's activities, which took place in the wake of Israel's brutal assault against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. IAW continues to grow with new cities joining this year.

IAW 2010 takes place following a year of successes for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement on the global level. Lectures, films, and actions will highlight some of theses successes along with the many injustices that continue to make BDS crucial in the battle to end Israeli Apartheid. Read more

Electronic Intifada | Flashpoints

The day after the 1000th US soldier was killed in Afghanistan a vigil was held in front of the War Memorial in San Francisco to draw attention to the growing loss of life for the US war drive. All 1000 names were read as well as a representative of the unknown number of Afghanis who have been killed during the occupation of their country. The event was organized by the American Friends Service Committee and Veterans for Peace.

About the same time as the 1000 US soldier was killed, 27 Afghan civilians were killed and 14 wounded in yet another round of NATO airstrikes. Their convoy of three vehicles, which included women and children, was hit on its way to Kandahar province. The massacre comes just a week after 12 Afghans were killed by a missile, and another five in an airstrike.

The Pentagon has been bragging about new rules of engagement designed to "protect civilian lives," yet more than 50 Afghan civilians have been killed by U.S./NATO forces during the past two weeks. The wars and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan have produced the greatest percentage of civilian deaths than any previous war.

On March 20th, people across the United States will converge on Washington, D.C. There will be joint demonstrations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Demonstrators will demand, "No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Haiti!"

Photos | Oakland Mother Being Tried for Refusing to Leave Son and Go to Afghanistan | Day of Actions to Prevent Funding the Afganistan Escalation

The Gertrude Welch Peace and Justice Award was presented to San Francisco Bay Area activists and founders of the Free Gaza Movement, Greta Berlin, Paul Larudee, and Kathy Sheetz in a public ceremony on January 30. Greta Berlin started her work on Palestine immediately after the June 1967 war, co-founded the Free Gaza Movement in 2006, and sailed on the SS Free Gaza on the first daring voyage that broke the siege of Gaza in August 2008.

Dr. Paul Larudee, also a co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement, played a critical role in procuring the two small fishing boats for that first voyage and was among the 44 international human rights activists on board. Kathy Sheetz started her human rights work in the 1980s in Haiti. On the first voyage of the FreeGaza boats, she played a crucial role as a nurse in caring for passengers suffering from severe seasickness.

The San José Peace and Justice Center established the Gertrude Welch Peace and Justice Award to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to social justice and peace locally and globally. Milpitas Vice Mayor Pete McHugh presented Commendation plaques to each of the three Award recipients at the ceremony, saying, “It’s up to us to make a difference!” Congressman Mike Honda sent them Certificates of Special Congressional Recognition.

Read more

San Jose Peace and Justice Center | Free Gaza Movement | Free Palestine Movement

Update 2/11: Hutchinson wins discharge.
Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother from Oakland, CA, is facing up to a year in military prison for refusing to leave her son in Georgia foster care while being deployed to Afghanistan.

Fort Stewart, GA, Army officials announced four separate court martial charges against Specialist Alexis Hutchinson, the single mother of a one-year-old son who missed deployment in early November 2009 when her childcare plan fell through.

Despite assurances by military public affairs officers that the Army would work with Spc. Hutchinson and her attorneys to resolve the matter administratively, rather than through the criminal process, charges of missing movement, AWOL, dereliction of duty, and insubordinate conduct were filed on January 13th.

Spc. Hutchinson is a 21-year-old native of Oakland, CA, now facing over three years in prison, a dishonorable discharge, and the loss of custody of her infant. She has been assigned to Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, GA, since February 2008.

Military objector support group Courage to Resist is raising funds for Hutchinson's defense and circulating a petition on its website to demand that charges be dropped. Read more

Previously: Seeking time to plan for son, Army mother is arrested

Courage to Resist

As another January 11 rolls around, giant posters appeared in advertising kiosks in San Francisco over the weekend. On January 11, 2002, the first groups of hooded and jumpsuited detainees were brought to Guantanamo. On January 21, 2009, President Obama pledged to shut down the camp, only one of many U.S. prisons where people are being held indefinitely without charge and in inhuman conditions, violating international and domestic laws. Read more

Study In Israel Billboards Modified by Guerrilla Advertisers | "Israel Truth Campaign" Commemorates Land Day with New Billboard

On the first anniversary of the Israeli military assault on Gaza, the Gaza Freedom March, trapped in Cairo, marched not only against the Israeli siege on Gaza, but also against an Egyptian blockade. On New Year’s Day 2010, Gaza Freedom March delegates ratified the historic Cairo Declaration, launching a global boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign against Israeli apartheid.

The international delegation of the Gaza Freedom March had originally planned to arrive in Gaza on December 29, 2009, to join a march against the Israeli blockade together with residents of Gaza on December 31. Instead, most of its delegates remained in Cairo, having been blocked from going to the Rafah border by the Egyptian government, and found itself marching against the Egyptian blockade on Gaza instead.

The Gaza Freedom March sought to highlight the plight of the 1.5 million residents of Gaza on the first anniversary of the Israeli invasion of the densely-populated Palestinian territory by entering Gaza with humanitarian aid for water purification, school materials, medicines, and other much needed supplies. After Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after the election of a Hamas majority in the elections of January 2006, Egypt has refused to give open permission for foreign citizens to enter Gaza through Rafah until the last minute.
Jan. 4 report by Sharat G. Lin, who traveled to Cairo from San Jose

On January 9th, Egypt announced it will ban all aid convoys travelling to Gaza, tightening its blockade against the people of Gaza. On January 8th, Egypt deported British MP George Galloway, who had been participating in the Gaza Freedom March. Galloway has now been banned from ever returning to Egypt.

Egyptian Riot Cops Attack Humanitarian Workers in Viva Palestina Aid Convoy to Gaza | Video of the attack on Viva Palestina‏ | Blocking Freedom Marcher/Viva Palestina Aid to Gaza | Viva Palestina Convoy Enters Gaza

Gaza Freedom March: detained at the US embassy | Will Egypt's underground wall end the Gaza tunnel trade? | Galloway Deported, Banned From Egypt | Egypt bans Gaza aid convoys

Clare Bayard, from Dialogues Against Militarism, writes: "In Silwan, a neighborhood of East Jerusalem adjacent to the Old City, Palestinian families sometimes demolish their own homes when the notice comes because they can't afford to pay the fines levied upon people after the army bulldozes their houses. Sometimes the eviction notice gives them days, and other times a few hours to pull out several generations' of possessions before the house is demolished. Sometimes people are given 15 minutes to get out of their house before tear gas is fired through the windows.

"Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967, 'transferring' thousands of Palestinians from West Jerusalem, which legally obliges the Israeli government to follow the Geneva Conventions that prohibit destruction of housing and property of occupied people. Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem is internationally unrecognized, as is Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem as its unified capital. But Jerusalem, the Palestinian capital known in Arabic as al-Quds, is a key battleground in the demographic war that Israel is waging to 'reduce density' of Palestinians, with housing struggle as a primary weapon. The goal is to create a solid Jewish majority throughout Occupied East Jerusalem, with contiguous connections to the massive illegal settlement blocs spreading out into the West Bank. Half a million Israeli settlers currently colonize the West Bank, with more than a third of those in East Jerusalem." Read more

First They Came For the Palestinians.... Sheikh Jarrah as the Embryo of a Future Society | Israeli Police Charge Protesters in Sheikh Jarra‏h, Beat and Arrest 23 people | More than 50 Palestinians Evicted from Jerusalem Homes

On December 1st 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he would send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan in the coming months, bringing the total number of American troops occupying Afghanistan to nearly 100,000. Describing the war as "not just America's war," Obama vowed to start bringing the troops back home by the middle of 2011.

The ANSWER Coalition has joined with six other national anti-war organizations and issued an appeal asking people to take immediate action in their communities against the war in Afghanistan the day that the Obama administration announces its plans to expand the war. On December 2nd, several hundred protesters gathered at 5pm at Powell and Market in San Francisco to voice their opposition for Obama's war plans.
Photos | Event Details

Democracy Now Report | Oppose Obama’s escalation of the Afghan-Pakistan war! | Vietnam Vet, Scholar Andrew Bacevichon Obama War Plan | Kucinich on Afghanistan War | American Party of Labor Response | Juan Cole: Top Ten things that Could Derail Obama's Afghanistan Plan | Obama issues order for escalation in Afghanistan | More troops to Afghanistan, but the public is wary | In Afghan Debate, Few Antiwar Op-Eds in Nation's Two Leading Newspapers | Obama Partnering with Afghan Gov't But is there any there there?

Previous Indybay Coverage: Afghan Women Speak Out Against Occupation and Fundamentalism | Protest in SF on 8th Anniversary of the War in Afghanistan | SF Action in Response to Escalation of the War in Afghanistan