February 7th marks the anniversary of Hampshire College's "divestment" from the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, the first institution of higher education to wash its hands of the systematic exploitation of the Palestinian people by the Israeli state. Following a two-year campaign by Students for Justice in Palestine, the Board of Trustees agreed in 2009 to withdraw its investments from six companies targeted by SJP because they profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

On February 4th, demonstrators for women's reproductive rights protested in front of the CBS affiliate in San Francisco. They rallied to protest the network's plan to air a commercial from a right-wing anti-abortion group during the Super Bowl on February 7. The demonstrators chanted and sang a song written by the Raging Grannies of South Florida, giving the acronym CBS a new, unflattering meaning.

On January 27th, Howard Zinn died at the age of 87. Zinn was a historian, and professor in the Political Science Department at Boston University. He was the author of more than 20 books, including A People's History of the United States which he published in 1980.

Despite threatening thunderstorms, hundreds of people gathered in San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza on January 20 to demand that the Obama administration provide significantly increased HUD funding in the federal budget to eradicate homelessness. Following a music filled rally in the plaza, they marched to Nancy Pelosi's office and on to Civic Center, making their way through puddles left by the recent downpours.

On December 14th, Teachers for Class War interviewed Linda Nathan. She's the author of "The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School," about her experience as founding headmaster of Boston's only public high school for the visual and performing arts, the Boston Arts Academy.

PORTLAND — Dec 16th, 2009 — Jeff Free Luers, political prisoner and environmental activist, was released from the Columbia River Correctional Institution this morning after serving nine and a half years. Luers was originally sentenced in 2001 to twenty two years and eight months for the politically motivated arson of three SUVs at a car dealership in Eugene, OR. This sentence was deemed grossly disproportionate to the damage sustained by the car dealership and was condemned by legal professionals, human rights groups and activists worldwide. At an appeal hearing in 2007 it was ruled that Luers' original sentence was illegal, and was consequently reduced to ten years.

On December 4th, 1969, the FBI, working with the Chicago police department, assassinated the Chicago Black Panther Party Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton in his bed as he slept. Along with the murder of Mark Clark in the same apartment that night, the "raid" was one in a long line of illegal actions taken by the FBI as part of its COINTELPRO war against the social justice and anti-war movements. Fred Hampton Jr. embarked on a speaking tour to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the assassination of his father.

On December 1st, Jesse James Forrey, who served two and a half months in a Ramsey County, Minnesota jail for "damage to property" during the 2008 RNC in St. Paul, was released. Jesse and his co-defendant have a court date on Thursday, December 10th concerning restitution, and they still need financial support.

G. Melesaine writes: "When I saw the trailer for the new film 'Precious' I cried. This film made me think a lot about an old life I was too familiar with. It made me think about a lot of women that I am close to. It made me think about my sister in her Tenderloin days, about that loud funny girl in class that smacked her gum too loud, about that girl in West Point who had AIDS and everyone stayed away from her, about that girl walking up and down Folsom pretending she has somewhere to go, about that teacher I use to have a crush on in middle school, about women. 'Precious' women. This was their story."

Lynne Stewart, the much admired civil rights attorney who is struggling with cancer, has had her bail revoked, and she is now being held in jail after a Federal Court ruled on her appeal November 17th. On November 23rd, demonstrators in San Francisco protested against the ruling.

On November 23rd, immigrant rights groups held actions in San Francisco and Washington D.C. to expose the unjust treatment of immigrants in both Congressional and Senate health care bills. In San Francisco, hundreds of people joined a vigil at House Speaker Pelosi’s office to urge her to fight against anti-immigrant amendments to the bills. The same day, a group of Asian Americans and Latinos confronted staff in the office of US Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina.

On October 13th, two Minneapolis, MN activists were subpoenaed to appear before an Iowa Grand Jury, ostensibly investigating a November 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid of a University of Iowa psychology department animal laboratory. Twice they refused to testify and were then ordered jailed for contempt by a federal district judge on November 17th. On November 19th, Scott DeMuth was additionally charged with conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism in Davenport, Iowa federal court.

A police fishing expedition has been fought successfully over the course of the past year by one of the Indymedia.us system administrators and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), largely in secret due to dodgy gag orders. Earlier this year, U.S. attorneys issued a federal grand jury subpoena to Indymedia.us sysadmin Kristina Clair demanding “all IP traffic to and from www.indymedia.us" for a particular date, potentially identifying every person who visited any news story on the Indymedia site. EFF argued that the overly broad demand for Internet records not only violated federal privacy law but also violated Clair’s First Amendment rights, by ordering her not to disclose the existence of the subpoena without a U.S. attorney’s permission.

q@ writes: "On September 24th some of the most militant politicized street protests the States have seen in nearly a decade countered the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Anarchist Queers and Trannies were on the frontlines of this struggle; bringing the numbers, the flare, and the wrecking crews. A days worth of tear gas, rubber bullet attacks, and fending off straight-idiot-liberals, set the tone for what would be a night of ravenous Queer revenge."

Fifteen people occupied the San Francisco office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi on November 3rd, stating they would remain there, risking arrest, until Pelosi explained why she has turned her back on key promises related to health care reform. After three hours twelve people inside Pelosi's office were arrested for creating a disturbance on federal property. The charge against them was based on a technicality; singing and chanting for single payer was deemed not in accord with the rules and regulations of the federal building.

Canadian authorities, acting at the behest of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials, arrested seed distributor, activist and magazine publisher Marc Emery, often referred to as the "Prince of Pot", on July 29th, 2005 on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana seeds, conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. His arrest was politically motivated, based on drug legalization efforts. Emery and supporters spent years fighting extradition, however he surrendered into the custody of the British Columbia Supreme Court on September 28th, 2009 and is awaiting extradition to a US federal prison.

On September 24th, San Francisco-based Twitter.com shut down an account that was monitoring the movement of police and military through the city of Pittsburgh during protests against the G-20 summit on September 24th and 25th. The Pennsylvania State Police also arrested Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger and accused them of "criminal use of communication facility" and other charges. On October 1st, the FBI raided Elliot's home in Queens.

Palestine Freedom Walks are taking place in almost 30 cities across the United States on Saturday, October 10th. The Palestine Freedom Walks will be silent marches, on behalf of an equitable U.S. policy toward Palestine that advances freedom for the Palestinian people. In San Francisco the march will start at 11am at UN Plaza sidewalk near the Civic Center.

Ryan Harvey has published an analysis of militant-street protest, movement strategy, and the state of anarchism. The analysis is based around the G20 Pittsburgh demonstrations.

UPDATE via G20 radio, 9/24/09: 1100 protesters march despite dispersal orders. Police use tear gas and LRAD accoustic weapon on demonstrators. Post-G20 update: Video Appears to Show Pittsburgh Police Using Arrested Student as Prop for Group Photo

The second G-20 summit of 2009 is due to take place this week, bringing the leaders of 20 wealthy nations to Pittsburgh, PA, to make economic decisions affecting billions of people. Held annually since 1999, the G-20 has recently been meeting twice a year in response to the global economic crisis. Throughout the week, economic justice and climate activists from across the country will seek to upstage the official story through marches, educational forums, tent cities, a climate camp and other tactics.

Jesse James Forrey, 27, was arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul, MN. After little and conflicting evidence from the prosecutor, a Minnesota jury convicted him on August 7th, 2009 of a felony charge of damage to property in the first degree. Jesse maintains his innocence. On September 17th, Judge Flynn sentenced Jesse to 120 days in jail.

The Shock Doctrine is the latest documentary from acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom, co-directed by Mat Whitecross. Based on Naomi Klein's bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine argues that America's 'free market' policies have come to dominate the world through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.

On August 17, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a hearing on the innocence claim of death row prisoner Troy Anthony Davis. For years, courts have shown little interest in establishing Troy Davis' innocence, asserting that it was legally irrelevant as he had exhausted his appeals. But now Supreme Court justices have declared that “The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing.”

On August 3rd, Kevin Kumashiro spoke with Teachers for Class War on Free Radio Santa Cruz about reframing education debates, politics of education and realities of classrooms from grade 2 through teacher training programs, looking at intersections of race and sexuality for youth, as well as Asian American experiences.

On Sunday, August 2, the documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe will screen in Berkeley as part of the Jewish Film Festival. The late civil rights attorney William Kunstler was one of the most famous and controversial lawyers of the 20th century. He represented civil rights and anti-war activists, as well as accused terrorists and murderers.