May Day San Francisco 2008

Thursday May 1st 2008 was a tremendous day of action against the war.

The ILWU closed all the ports on the west side of the country, from California up thru Washington and Oregon.

In San Francisco, various peace groups and immigrant rights groups stood by in solidarity with the ILWU and marched from the Union Hall near Embarcadero down to Justin Herman Plaza, where a second rally took place.

Union leaders and various peace groups took to the stage blending their voices together to form a beautiful collage of the peace movement and the country 's mood in general.

Cindy Sheehan was there to lend her voice of support.
Veterans for Peace and CodePink were also among the groups represented.

Earlier in the day, a group of activists, including Toby from CodePink, went to the Oakland Docks to pursuade truckers to honor the general strike. Some truckers agreed to not deliver their loads, while others helped to create a work slowdown by delivering their loads up to half an hour late.

The docks themselves were virtually a ghost town, as can be seen on some of the shots taken by this writer's camera while crossing the bay on the ferry.
Even on the Ferry ride over, the sounds of "Solidarity Forever" could be heard echoing across the bay from the Ferry passengers.
As the rally wound down, a splinter group marched to the Recruiting office nearby and put a banner across the front of the door while speaking and chanting anti war slogans.