Four years ago, Tristan Anderson, an Oakland-based human rights activist, was shot in the head with a tear gas canister by Israeli military police. On March 13th, on the anniversary of Tristan's injury, dozens gathered in Oscar Grant Plaza to celebrate Global Resistance Day. Global Resistance Day honors Tristan and all who have transcended borders and risked their lives to resist tyranny.

As part of the festivities, a cardboard effigy symbolizing the walls and fences of Israeli Apartheid was ripped apart by the crowd. Later, Tristan and some friends sang "The Flag is Just a Rag," an anthem of Global Resistance Day. Sarah Shourd, one of the three hikers held hostage in Iran from 2009-2011, spoke about her experience living with Palestinian refugees in Syria. Food Not Bombs brought a feast of freegan treats and footage was shown from resistance movements around the world.

Friends and family of Tristan Anderson announced that they will soon go to Israel to press charges against the Israeli police on Tristan's behalf.

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Related Indybay Features: Tristan Anderson Challenges Israeli Military in Jerusalem Court for 2009 Attack in Ni'ilin | Oakland CA Resident Tristan Anderson Critically Injured by IDF Tear Gas Canister in Ni'lin

Motions to dismiss trespass and felony vandalism charges against four individuals charged in association with the 75 River Street bank occupation in Santa Cruz were denied by Judge Timothy Volkmann on March 11. Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Franklin Alcantara, Brent Adams, and Cameron Laurendau have a trial date set for May, but that date will most likely be changed due to a case conflict with one of the defense attorneys.

Judge Volkmann agreed with the previous ruling by Judge Burdick in January that there was enough evidence to hold the four for trial on trespass charges, stressing there was a, "relatively low threshold for holding an individual over for trial."

"I don't see direct evidence of vandalism," Volkmann stated, but he agreed with Burdick that the four were still to be held accountable for felony vandalism charges under an aiding and abetting legal theory that maintains the damage to the building was a reasonably foreseeable result of the trespass.

Read More and View Photos | Santa Cruz Eleven: The Final Four Demand Dismissal of Charges | Support the Santa Cruz Eleven

Previous Coverage: Santa Cruz Eleven Down to Four | Vacant Bank Occupied in Santa Cruz

Two squats located in Oakland are facing eviction in the coming weeks. The Stayaway, located in the Highland neighborhood of East Oakland, received a "Notice to Vacate" for this Wednesday, February 13th. The RCA/Hot Mess compound, located in North Oakland, has been fighting eviction through court proceedings, but organizers believe eviction orders will be coming in the next week. Many of those organizing defense for the squats believe that "both spaces could face raids on or before Valentine's Day."

Some Oakland Anarchists write: "And once again, the need for action and for offense rises in our hearts. The calls for passivity and obedience ring hollower each day, as building by building our autonomous experiments collapse at the intervention of the Police or the County Pigs. We are forced to look at the escalating repression of squatters and autonomous spaces from within the situation, as new partisans in a social war of evolving terrain....

"The forces of Capital and Order have been chopping the Bay up like a pie, each slice more lucrative than the next. Hot Mess/RCA stands as a bulwark of autonomy amidst a West Oakland landscape that is rapidly transforming into posh condos and shops for the petit-bourgoise of San Francisco's commuter class."

Read More: Communiqué on The Squatting Struggle in Oakland

On Friday, February 8th, one hundred anti-repression activists gathered at the pre-trial motions hearing of the Anti-colonial, Anti-capitalist 19 (ACAC 19). Members of the ACAC 19 support committee write:

"A long line of supporters and defendants slowly filed through the metal detectors. The officers turned off the second metal detector, making the line move so slowly that the hearing was over before many people, and even some defendants, were through the line."

The newly-appointed judge of the trial moved to extend the deadline of pre-trial motions to Tuesday, March 29th at 9 AM. The ACAC 19 Support Committee asks that activists once again pack the courtroom for the next pre-trial hearing.

Feb 7th update: On Friday, February 8th members of the anti-colonial, anti-capitalist 19 (ACAC 19) head to court for the final motions in the pre-trial hearing stemming from arrests made on October 6th in San Francisco as activists marched against Columbus Day, colonialism, empire, and Fleet Week. Those facing charges by the SF D.A.'s office were beaten, arrested and subsequently smeared by local newspapers and TV outlets. Two of the defendants have been harassed repeatedly within their communities.

The ACAC 19 Support Committee writes: After being released from jail, two defendants found threatening leaflets in their neighborhood with their home addresses and photos printed on them. At least one member of the ACAC 19 has also experienced continued police harassment at his workplace. In early December, two defendants received word that their Twitter accounts had been subpoenaed, evidence that the SFPD is using the case to map and surveil radical political networks in the Bay area. In the wake of a year of rebellious and militant political activity across the country, we see this as one of many attempts to harass, intimidate, and control radical movements."

The Support Committee is asking the community to pack the courts and call-in to the SF District Attorney's office to support those facing charges. Final motions will take place at 12:30pm on Friday, February 8th at the San Francisco courthouse located at 850 Bryant.

Read More: ACAC 19 Hearing: No Justice Here Support the ACAC 19! Pack the Courtroom | National Call-in Day in support of the ACAC19 | SFPD subpoenas organizers’ Twitter accounts | Support the ACAC 19 website

Previous coverage of the October 6th march: Photos | Video | Anti-Columbus Day Arrestees Face Charges | Telling the Truth May be More Radical than Smashing Windows

Solidarity Statements: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

On January 10th, demonstrators protested in Menlo Park in front of a $4.1 million Dream House that is being raffled off to benefit the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. They explained their objection to the Dream House model of fundraising saying that arts organizations should receive public funds from taxes paid by corporations instead of a raffle that is essentially "a tax on the people".

Speakers who stood in front of the house said there is a need to restore funding to public institutions like libraries, universities, and the arts so that the reliance on risky dream house style raffles are no longer needed.

Representatives of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Occupy Bay Area United and other social justice groups held the speak-out in front of the mansion to publicize their outrage that nonprofits are used by banks and other corporations for public relations subterfuges. They argued that corporations create the illusion of helping good causes while at the same time using tax loopholes and creating profits on the back of the 99%.

Photos

Occupy Bay Area United | Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment

Four people were arrested and one was tased by sheriff's deputies after protesters became boisterous in an Alameda County Wiley Manuel courtroom on January 8th. Of the courthouse disruption, Bay of Rage writes: nearly 100 people gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza to say goodbye to Jack. Jack was arrested on January 7, 2012 during the very first FTP march in downtown Oakland. This march was called as a response to OPD and the local Oakland state apparatus' repression of all rebellious elements in Oakland with brute force in the wake of Occupy Oakland. After clearing the encampment at Oscar Grant Plaza twice, a struggle over territory in Oakland's downtown became a near daily event. Some would try to hold on to Oscar Grant Plaza as a zone where struggles could be coordinated and actions organized. A twenty four hour vigil continued even as the camp was gone. After many brutal arrests and regular brawls with pigs over control of downtown turf, a Fuck the Police march, that ended up becoming a weekly tradition for months, was called for the first Saturday of January. It was at this demonstration on January 7 that Jack was arrested and given bullshit charges – multiple felonies for assaulting a police officer and a made up “possession of an explosive device” charge that would eventually be dropped due to lack of any evidence. A year long court battle eventually resulted in Jack taking a plea deal: 1 year at Santa Rita Jail (though with “half-time” and “good behavior” he'll be out in six months) and multiple years of probation.

Together with our comrade and his family leading the way we walked quietly in the street some eight blocks to the court house. About 50 of us somberly filed into the courtroom. Jack was called before judge Carrie Panetta (daughter in law of former CIA director Leon Panetta) who rambled about the length of his sentence. She banned our friend from ever making contacts with “his victims” (as though pigs can be victims!) otherwise known as officers of the Oakland Police Department. After agreeing to the year long sentence, with only half to be served, the judge ordered the bailiffs take Jack into custody. Almost immediately dozens of people were clapping and hissing. Screams filled the air. “Burn the prisons!” “Fuck the police!” “Death to pigs!” “Hang the Judges!” “Pig Fuckers!”“Brick by brick, tear this court to the ground!” People stomped on the ground, cursed the judged, and brought smiles to the dozen or so inmates being sentenced that day. It was a modest yet appropriate response to a system that tears loved ones away from each other and reproduces the laws that defend the horrors in this world Jack was resisting in the first place.

Read More with Video

Saying that Wells Fargo has "case after case of folks who are in foreclosure, forced out of homes they have lived in for decades," protesters portrayed the mega bank as "the Grinch that stole Christmas" on December 18th. Two senior citizen organizations took their money out of Wells Fargo and joined a protest rally outside at Grant and Market in San Francisco.

James Chionsini of Senior and Disability Action and Michael Lyon of the Gray Panthers addressed the rally after they had closed their organizations’ accounts and called on other organizations to also take their money out of predatory banks. All morning Wells Fargo customers had to show ID and Wells ATM cards before guards would allow them into the bank.

Archbishop Franzo King of St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church and the NAACP addressed the rally saying that Wells Fargo made money off trading slaves and now it is foreclosing on the African American decedents of slaves. Protesters raised voices in agreement with the Archbishop when he said that the banks have no morality if they continue to put seniors and poor people out of their homes and on to the streets.

Read More with Photos

Senior and Disability Action | Gray Panthers

On November 22nd & 23rd, Walmart workers and supporters demonstrated at the Richmond and San Leandro Walmarts as part of the national Black Friday protests against the nation's largest retailer. In San Leandro on November 22nd, Walmart threatened the use of the police to remove the protesters, including their own workers. On November 23rd, demonstrations were held in San Leandro and Richmond. Walmart workers spoke about the intimidation and terrorism on the job to silence them from speaking out and organizing. Some workers walked off the job in solidarity with the national day of action and were promptly fired.

Making Change at Walmart is the organizing group which called this day of action, and is supported by the United Food And Commercial Workers Union (UFCW).

Photos & Video | Walmart Battle Heats Up in San Leandro and Around the Country

Occupy the Farm writes: "On Friday November 16, 2012, the University of California (UC) razed all of the publicly planted crops on the Gill Tract.

"Occupy the Farm is disappointed that the UC has unnecessarily destroyed the hard work of the community and food that could have fed it. Over the course of the last month, members of the public sowed edible winter greens together with fava beans, a popular and effective cover crop. Had the UC left these in place, the Gill Tract would have benefited from the necessary nutrient building over the course of the winter, and would have produced food for the community. The weekly distribution and harvest events could have continued that, over the course of the summer and early fall, have yielded over one ton of food from the crops planted during the occupation last Spring. This free food was distributed locally in Albany, Berkeley, Richmond and Oakland at pop-up farm stands organized by Occupy the Farm.

"However, the successes of the last seven months inspire us to continue to organize. Despite the UC police raid and the destruction of over half of the crops in May, we still managed to grow and distribute thousands of pounds of free food to the community this summer. The unprecedented public access to the Gill Tract this spring allowed thousands of Bay Area residents to finally set foot on the land and farm. In August, a successful petition for referendum was submitted against the Albany City Council approval of UC development. In September, Whole Foods cancelled its development plan with the UC entirely. The UC also announced a modest ten-year guarantee to preserve the northern piece of the land and promised a nebulous College of Natural Resources program for urban agriculture.

"Now is the time to compare our position to that of the UC, and to make it clear what we are fighting for.

"We want to see the Gill Tract preserved as farmland, in perpetuity."

Read More | UC destroys winter greens and cover crops planted by Occupy The Farm on the Gill Tract

For a few hours on November 17th in San Francisco, a Wells Fargo Home loan bank branch was turned into a homeless shelter and soup kitchen to highlight the harm caused by the bank to numerous communities across the U.S. Food and bread were donated by Arizmendi and Ryan and the Space Transformers. The action was "Brought to you by Occupy Bernal, ACCE-SF, Occupy Direct Action Workgroup, Occupy Action Council of SF, Occupy SF Environmental Justice Workgroup, Community Not Commodity, Occupy Noe, San Francisco Tenants Union, Senior and Disability Action, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, Communities United in Defense of Olmsted." SFPD initially set up at the Chase bank around the corner, but they were in the wrong location, so it took them a while to figure out what was going on. Eventually the police simply monitored the scene and found no reason to remove the humanitarian event.

Photos

Occupy Oakland Anti-Repression Committee writes: "Over the past year, we have experienced many forms of overt police repression, from the camp eviction and night of tear gas on October 25th, to raids on the vigil, to snatch and grab squads on May Day. We have come to expect the riot-clad police, with their batons and chemical weapons, although repression comes in other forms as well. As a community, we have not been sufficiently attuned to these other faces of repression.

"As the Anti-Repression Committee (ARC), we too have focused primarily on the overt police violence on the street and its counterpart in the jails and courts. We have spent countless hours in communication with people in jail, working with NLG folks to secure lawyers when possible, doing and mobilizing court support, and providing commissary and other forms of support for our comrades who remain locked up. We have also held workshops to talk about some of the other forms that repression can take — and ways that we as a community can keep one another safe — but we have not done enough as a committee to address these other faces of repression.

"We feel that as a community we need to shift our thinking about repression, to recognize the subtler more insidious forms that it takes and the ways that it targets our sources of strength and plays on existing conflicts and divisions in an attempt to weaken, distract, and consume us. This does not mean that we should become mired in trying to identify state infiltrators and agents. We may never know who the infiltrators are, and ultimately, whether individuals are directly working for the state when they engage in disruptive and divisive behaviors is not the point. We need to instead focus on behaviors. If behaviors support and consolidate state campaigns of repression — then they do the state’s work of repression."

Read More | See Also: Who is the Occupy Oakland Media Collective? | "Beat the shit out of anarchists" flyer found in Oakland | Take Back the Plaza! Overnight Vigil + FTP March #O25 | Anti-Columbus Day Arrestees Face Charges

Previous Coverage: Occupy Oakland Celebrates 1-Year Anniversary with Birthday Party || Stay Calm: Some Tips for Keeping Safe in Times of State Repression

On October 10th, Homes Not Jails and their allies occupied a building in the Castro neighborhood in San Francisco in solidarity with the 3rd annual World Homeless Action Day. The action began with a rally in Dolores Park, followed by a march to the occupation site. Homes Not Jails reclaimed the vacant space in an attempt to provide housing through direct action and protest the criminalization of homelessness. The building at 531 Castro Street has sat vacant for 5 years after landlord and business owner Les Natali allegedly used the Ellis Act to evict the tenants who had been living there. San Francisco police arrived and arrested twenty people, most charged with burglary, conspiracy, and vandalism and bails set at $325,000.

In San Francisco, it is believed that at least 10,000 people are homeless, yet there are an estimated 35,000 vacant “housing units,” city wide. In response to it being illegal to sit-and-lie on a sidewalk, sleep in a car, or inhabit vacant buildings, the group Homes Not Jails organized themselves and will continue “to take to the streets to and take direct action” by occupying vacant buildings until their needs are met. World Homeless Day was started three years ago.

Read More with Video & Photos | Event Announcement | HomesNotJailsSF.org

2011 World Homeless Day Feature: Homes Not Jails Occupies 600-Unit Vacant Building In SF

Decolonize the New World 2012 writes: "Columbus Day 2012 marks the 520 year anniversary of the genocidal and ecocidal project of Empire building and colonial expansion that began with the conquistador invasion of this continent and continues to this day through the daily violence and exploitation of global capitalism.

"It also marks the 20 year anniversary of the first American Black Bloc which disrupted the 1992 Columbus Day Parade in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.

"This year during Columbus Day weekend, a West Coast Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist convergence is being organized in San Francisco."

Scheduled over the weekend are a Day Of Action Against Mexican, US & Canadian Consulates; a West Coast Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist March; and a protest on the 11th Anniversary of the US/NATO War in Afghanistan.

Oct 5th, 2pm, SF: Day Of Action Against Mexican, US & Canadian Consulates
Oct 6th, 2pm, SF: West Coast Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist March
Oct 7th, 6pm, Oakland: 11th Anniversary of the US/NATO War in Afghanistan

Read More: Get ready for Anti-Colonial Anti-Capitalist actions: this weekend | Decolonizing the New World Means Listening to Native Voices | DecolonizeTheNewWorld.noblogs.org

See Also: Black Mesa Indigenous Support || Autonomous Paths Converge in Cherán || Anti-Austerity Student Protests Continue in Québec Despite Repression by Authorities

Around 500 peaceful but rowdy protesters came out on September 17th in San Francisco to mark the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. It was the first major Occupy action in the Bay Area in some time, and drew mainstream media attention framed by the "question of whether Occupy still had life." The protest began with several separate actions around the Financial District, which coalesced in a rally in front of the Bank of America building. The protesters then marched to Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, filling more than two blocks with signs and banners, accompanied by the Brass Liberation Orchestra. At Wells Fargo, symbolic debt papers were thrown in the trash. Then food was served free to the protesters, and films were projected to close the evening.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Redwood City

Separately, similar anniversary events at Wall Street in New York City were met with a heavy police police presence followed by over 200 arrests.

Previous Coverage: Occupy Everywhere