On April 28th, hundreds of women and men gathered at the capitol building in Sacramento, held a two hour rally, then marched through the downtown district. Speakers said that California needs to be at the forefront to keep the tide from turning against abortion and other women's rights. Protesters insisted that the war on women is very real, and vowed to be heard in the legislature and on the streets.

Related demonstrations were planned in almost every state in the US on the same day. The only states where protests were not scheduled were North Dakota and Mississippi. The California state capital event was supported by Deaf Survivor Advocacy for Empowerment (DeafSAFE), Women's Health Specialists of Sacramento, and Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights (BACORR) , amongst others.

Photos: 1 | 2

deafSAFE | Women's Health Specialists | BACORR

Occupy Wall Street in New York called for a nationwide May Day General Strike. Cities and towns across the United States are heeding the call. Workers will be striking, students will be leaving classes, and banks and other large corporations will be forced to close for the day across the nation. May 1st, 2012, promises to be the largest American May Day since the Immigrant Rights May Day in 2006 and probably the most widespread and furthest reaching in decades.

Local plans include a People's Festival on Market Street in San Francisco; support for workers at the Golden Gate Bridge, the SF Ferry Building, and other locations; the rebirth of the San Francisco Commune; a work stoppage by ILWU Local 10 which will effectively shut down the Port of Oakland for the day; a large March for Dignity and Resistance from Fruitvale to downtown Oakland; a one-day strike by thousands of California Nurses Association nurses in the Bay Area; autonomous actions; and much, much more.

Oakland — Occupied Oakland's May Daze | Occupy Oakland May Day Rally | May Day Oakland Police Riots: OPD Violate Their Own Crowd Control Policy Yet Again: video | Oakland May Day !!!!! (clips and cop watch) | Pic's of Oakland on May Day 2012 | Homies Empowerment en la marcha in Oakland | Oakland Police use Concussion Grenades and Extraction Teams on May Day 2012 | May Day in Occupy Oakland: Let a million seeds sprout | Denounce the attack on the Revolution Books table at Oscar Grant Plaza | Oakland Police January 28th Hit List. Who Is on the OPD List for May Day? | The Colonization of Occupy Oakland | Event Announcements: 8:30am M1 Oakland Gender Strike/General Strike: Anti-Capitalist March to shut down the banks | 12pm Everyone Converge on Downtown | 3pm March for Dignity and Resistance | May 1st Anti-Racist March: The Decolonial Carnaval | March with the Internationalist Contingent on May Day | Million Hoodie & Hijab contingent to march on May Day in Oakland | Bay Area Sutter Nurses Plan May 1 Walkout | Occupy Oakland May Day General Strike Press Conference, 4/26/12: video & photos | OCCUPY OAKLAND May 1 Strike posters + call to action | Poster series: Let us off from work on May Day, or else | Occupy Oakland Action Framework for May 1 - Blockades, Marches!

San Francisco — May Day Strike Shuts Down S. F. Ferry Service | May Day SF 2012 | Rise Up Mural on MayDay | May Day Creation: Rise Up Mural at Montgomery and Market | 888 Turk Raided In Early Morning Raid | SF Commune Solidarity Breakfast | Update on #SFCommune @ 888 Turk | may day sf: san francisco commune resurrected | Occupy Strikes Back: Revenge of the SF Commune | 888 Turk Raided? | May Day in the Mission | 888 Turk Street: Re-Occupied | The Strike Starts Early: Mission Police Precinct Attacked | Event Announcements: Golden Gate Bridge Labor Coalition updates. No more bridge rally, pickets instead | 10:30am Occupy Your Civil Liberties on May Day | 12pm The People's Street Festival - El Festival de Calle del Pueblo | 1:30pm May Day March to New SF Commune | 2pm San Francisco Commune - Housing & Social Center Occupation

Mountain View — May Day in Mountain View: Stop S-Comm

San Jose — Event Announcement: 3pm May Day March - A day without the 99%

Santa Cruz — Event Announcement and Coverage

Sacramento — Event Announcements: 11am Sacramento May Day Action and March | Anti-Capitalist Contingent At Sacramento May Day

Fresno — May Day in Fresno | Event Announcement: 5pm Primero de Mayo - May Day March

San Diego — Event Announcement: 11am May 1st Day of Action

Publish your own reports, photos, audio, and/or video to Indybay at http://www.indybay.org/publish.php!

See Also: Massive May Day Turnout Highlights Media's Disconnect From Reality | Corporate Media Bored With Occupy — and Inequality | Statement on Chris Hedges and the Black Bloc | May Day Protests for Justice | 100,000 march in Moscow and thousands march around the world for labor | May Day: A Radical Strike into the Belly of the Beast | ACLU and NLG Ask Oakland Police Department If It Seeks to Abandon Key Protections for Demonstrators | Occupy Oakland, Permitted Protest, and Police Repression | Occupy Oakland Will Provide Support If Workers Lead A Shutdown Of The Golden Gate Bridge | Fuck the Police 17 | Hella Occupy Oakland! 6 Month Anniversary | Occupy Earth Day Occupy Richmond March and Protest | Occupy Oakland Hoodie & Hijab March | Occupy Oakland Confronts Discriminatory Prosecutions by OPD and DA, 4/3/12: video & photos | Berkeley Police Price Quote For BearCat Armored Vehicle | Occupying a House Auction | /newsitems/2012/03/28/18710301.php | Occupy Oakland MARCH to Take Back the Town | Fuck the Police 14b | Fuck the Police 14a | Millionaires Tax Supporters Grapple with Withdrawal of Major Backers | Fuck the Police 13 | BENEATH poem | IC3: Defense Lawyer Threatened With Arrest, Police Report Doctored In Preliminary Hearing | New DIY Occupation Guide 2012 redux | Berkeley: Attack on the snitches at the Tang Center | Communiqué from Decolonize Oakland 3.18.12 | Oakland's FTP March | Berkeley: Rally and Speak Up Against Police Abuse | High Noon & Occupy at the Docks | Welcome Back to OGP | Oakland protests the latest atrocities in Afghanistan | Oakland LGBT Rally in Front of Courthouse to Respond to Hate Crimes Charges | Stay Away Orders Against Occupy Oakland Protesters Are Unconstitutional | Nell's friends stop auction of her home! | Occupy Oakland Protest for Tristan and Palestine | Fuck the Police March | Photos from Occupy Our Food Supply day at an East Oakland Community Garden | Did Somebody Say "Car Bloc"? | District Attorney O’Malley’s Strange Relationship to the Truth | FTP march in solidarity with Occupy CAL Berkeley and Athens part 2 | FTP March in solidarity with Athens and Occupy CAL Berkeley | Berkeley Police fumbles in a murder | Officer in Scott Olsen Incident Identified? (Article and Video)

Previous Related Indybay Features: Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area | Occupy Santa Cruz Supports the Santa Cruz Eleven | Wells Fargo Shareholder Meeting Invaded and Surrounded by Protesters in San Francisco | Snatch Squads at May 1st General Strike in Oakland? | 11 UC Davis Students, Professor, Charged for U.S. Bank Blockade | Occupy SF Liberates Vacant Building to Establish Social Center | Sacramento Protest Against Cuts To Education and Social Services | San Quentin Occupied on National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners | Occupy Oakland January 28th Move-In Day Ends with Hundreds of Arrests

Members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe from northern California on Monday, April 16 challenged Randy Moore, U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester, at his Vallejo office to protect indigenous women from racial slurs and physical harm during coming of age ceremonies planned for this June. Although claiming to be unfamiliar with the issue, Moore promised to review the Winnemem's request to close 400 yards of the McCloud River arm of Shasta Reservoir for 4 days so that the Tribe can conduct the ceremony. Moore committed to respond to the Tribe's request by May 1, 2012. While closing the river will mean a lot to the Tribe, it will have no impact on the Forest Service, said Caleen Sisk, Winnemem Chief and Spiritual Leader.

During a Coming of Age Ceremony in 2006, a woman “flashed” the ceremonial participants with naked breasts and yelled racist insults. “If someone did this during Mass, they would be arrested,” Chief Sisk said. “Like many traditional people, we hold our women in high regard," said Sisk. "This beautiful ceremony is vital to our girls' transitioning to womanhood with confidence, grace and knowledge. We must hold this ceremony for our tribe to survive."

Read more and view photos | Winnemem Tribe press release and more photos

The Long Haul and East Bay Prisoner Support have settled their lawsuits over an armed, over-broad police raid after the law enforcement agencies agreed to delete improperly seized computer data and pay $100,000 in damages and attorney's fees. Moreover, the University of California-Berkeley Police Department (UCBPD) acknowledged that at the time of the raid one of the groups qualified for federal protections designed to protect journalists, publishers, and other distributors of information from police searches, despite the police's persistent denial of that status throughout the lawsuit. UCBPD and the FBI raided the building housing the Long Haul, an alternative library, Infoshop and community center in Berkeley, in August of 2008 as part of an investigation into e-mail threats sent to UC animal researchers that allegedly came from public-access computers in the building.

"I have no faith that this agreement will change the attitudes or behaviors of the UC police or the FBI," said EBPS representative Patrick Lyons. "From kicking in our door and stealing our stuff, to the now-infamous UC Davis pepper spray incident, it is clear that the UC cops are at war with radicals, anarchists, and activists, and that will not change. I do, however, think that it is important that when they attack us, we fight back. I sincerely appreciate the hard work of EFF and the ACLU because in this situation our best weapon was our ability to make the UC police and FBI spend huge amounts of money defending their actions and concealing their agenda."

Read More

Previous Related Indybay Features: Affidavit Discloses UCPD "Cause" for Raid on Long Haul Infoshop | UCPD And Feds Ransack Berkeley Activist Community Center

On April 2nd, law enforcement agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the U.S. Marshals Service raided the home and businesses of licensed medical cannabis provider and activist Richard Lee in Oakland. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) put out a call for patients and advocates to go to Oaksterdam University in downtown Oakland to protest the raids and support the victims. At least two people were arrested in the street while the raid continued, including Jose Gutierrez, a correspondent for KPFA.

Of the raid, Richard Lee wrote, "President Obama promised at the beginning of his administration to respect state medical marijuana laws. He has broken this promise time and time again -- and the consequences have been devastating. This was a senseless act of intimidation. But I've been an activist far too long to become intimidated -- and with the majority of Americans and common sense on our side, I know this is a fight we can win. With our government trillions in debt, why is our government using taxpayer dollars to come after me, Oaksterdam, and the thousands of patients who need medical marijuana just to get through the day? Tell President Obama and the DEA: Enough is enough. Keep your campaign promise, and stop the raids on the medical cannabis industry!" Richard Lee has since announced that he will be stepping away from Oaksterdam University as he expects the U.S. government to continue with their attacks against him by pursuing federal criminal charges.

Read More: 1 | 2 | 3

See Also: Oaksterdam Raided. Can you hear me now? || An Open Letter to the cowards that raided Oaksterdam (and Tainted too) || Day of Anger: SF Advocates Protest Federal Marijuana Raids || Letter To Obama: End The Assault On Medical Marijuana || Local, State Officials Decry Federal Attacks on Medical Marijuana || Raid’s toll too high: Feds crack down on legal business as gunman kills 7

Previous Coverage: Medical Cannabis-Related Ballot Initiatives in Berkeley and Oakland || 4/12/05: Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee Reflects on Medical Cannabis || Community Gathers to Defend Hope Net from DEA Agents || DEA Raids Eight Bay Area Locations || Patients and Supporters Rally for Sanctuary City in Berkeley || DEA Targets East Bay Supplier of Edible Medical Cannabis Products

California's Proposition 8 ban on same sex marriage was ruled unconstitutional by a three member panel of judges from the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Judge Smith dissented. The panel majority stated that California voters violated the 14th Amendment of the Federal Constitution when voting for Prop 8.

D. Boyer wrote, "I was live on scene in front of the Federal Court when the decision was out. San Francisco is ground zero for same sex marriage, so folks are happy. Additionally the panel majority stated that California's Proposition 8 'served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California", and it officially would have reclassified their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite sex couples.'"

The panel of judges also denied the motion by Prop 8 proponents to vacate the judgement by then Chief Judge Walker because he was also gay. San Francisco's City Attorney held a press conference inside San Francisco's City Hall to talk about the decision and what it means for Gay and Lesbian Californians. They stated that they are getting ready and changing marriage forms, but that until the stay is lifted same sex couples in California still cannot marry. They said it may take months before same sex marriage is allowed to resume in California.

Photos

UPDATE 7/12: Hunger Striker’s Health Rapidly Deteriorates | 7/14: Vigil to support the Prisoner Hunger Strikers

Thousands of California prisoners have come together in solidarity with the prisoners at Pelican Bay SHU, while being locked up in brutal conditions themselves. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s own figures acknowledge 6,600 prisoners participated in the hunger strike across 13 prisons (out of a total 33) in California this past weekend. While the CDCR claims the number of prisoners participating has dropped to 2,100 people yesterday, supporters believe the hunger strike is strong and many prisoners are in it for the long haul.

The first solidarity actions were held on July 1st on both sides of the Bay. Further solidarity actions were held in Oakland on July 8th and San Francisco on July 9th.

Oakland July 8th: Photos: 1 | 2 | Event Announcement

San Francisco July 9th: Report | Event Announcement

Pelican Bay Prison Hunger Strikers: We Are Human Beings! | Hunger Strike Reaches 6,600 prisoners & continues going strong! | "Make Some Noise for Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers" poster | Change.org Solidarity Petition

Previous Related Indybay Features: Prisoner Hunger Strike Begins at Pelican Bay in Crescent City | Bay of Rage's Anticut 2 Takes on Banks, Defends Libraries; Oakland Police Arrest Four