Susan Jordan, a civil litigator and criminal justice lawyer from Mendocino County, died on Friday, May 29th in a plane crash in Utah. She was 67 years old and left a legacy of civil litigation and criminal justice work behind. Jordan represented several prominent political activists throughout her career as a criminal defense lawyer, including Earth First!'s Judi Bari after she was car bombed with Daryl Cherney in 1990 and members of the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) in the kidnapping of Patty Hearst.

Susan Jordan was one of the first attorneys to offer legal defense for Earth First! activists planning non violent civil disobedience during the Redwood Summer campaign in 1990. Then, Earth First! organizers Judi Bari and Daryl Cherney were car bombed and subsequently arrested as the main suspects. Cherney says Jordan came to their defense.

In the legal field, Jordan most notably made the first successful argument of self defense for a battered woman who killed her rapist, in the late 1970s. Jordan said it was the first ruling of its kind. Jordan was dubbed a feminist lawyer for her work defending women in criminal court. Read more

Dr. George Tiller began providing abortion care in 1973, as soon as it was legal in Kansas, and continued to do so until his death. He endured constant picketing of his clinic and home, vandalism, baseless lawsuits. In 1993, he survived being shot by an anti-abortion would-be assassin. He gave compassionate care to thousands of women, and mentored colleagues and medical students, and was a source of last resort for women with fetal/maternal complications in his Wichita, Kansas clinic.

The anti-abortion movement, from its origins in the 1970's, through the clinic-bombing 1980's, and the murderous attacks of the 1990's, has successfully shrunk the ranks of doctors and hospitals who are willing to provide abortions. Tiller will not be easily replaceable as a physician and highly skilled teacher. Read more

On Tuesday June 2nd, a speak-out against the assassination of long-time Kansas abortion provider, Doctor George Tiller, was held at City Hall in San Francisco's Civic Center at 5pm. Photos: 1 | 2

On Wednesday June 3rd, a memorial for slain abortionist Dr. Tiller took place at CSU East Bay campus, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA. University Bookstore lawn.

Dr. George Tiller (1941 - 2009): Murdered Abortion Provider Remembered for Lifelong Dedication to Women's Reproductive Health | Dr. Tiller was not the first to be murdered | Dr. George Tiller, Abortion Provider, Assassinated 5/31/09 | Murder Preparation: Fox Campaign Against George Tiller |

On Saturday, April 25, hundreds marched through the streets of San Francisco to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault. The march, called “Walk Against Rape”, started at Embarcadero and ended at Dolores Park. Organized by San Francisco Women Against Rape, the marchers chanted “Stop date rape” and “Who’s body? my body!” The March concluded Sexual Assault Awareness Month where events were held to call an end to sexual assault.

According to statistics, someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in the U.S. Women in college are four times more likely to be assaulted, and two third of all rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. Only 40% of all assaults are reported, as the chances of convicting someone for rape are slim and often don’t merit the trauma that the victims need to go through in the courts and by the police. Only 6% of those prosecuted for rape end up at prisons; 94% walk free.

San Francisco Women Against Rape is the city’s only rape crisis center, providing resources and counseling to survivors of sexual assault. It also provides support, advocacy and education to strengthen the work of all individuals and communities in San Francisco that are responding to, healing from, and struggling to end sexual violence.

Read More | Video

National Anarchists at Walk Against Rape

The Women’s Choice Clinic (WCC) of Oakland, a venerated feminist health clinic that has provided non-judgmental, culturally sensitive abortion and reproductive health care services to Bay Area women for 36 years, is closing its doors (press conference, Wed. April 8, Oakland City Hall, 1pm). The WCC is the oldest feminist health center providing abortions in the nation. However, it is not anti-abortion protests that are forcing the clinic to close, nor is it a decline in demand for services. California’s chronic low and slow reimbursements for MediCal services, and the current freeze on reimbursements is the culprit.

The Women’s Choice Clinic began in 1972 as an independent feminist women’s health clinic with a mission to provide quality affordable reproductive health care. In its 36 years the WCC served over 64,000 clients and until its close was seeing approximately 2,000 clients a year. The closing of the WCC is being mourned by community members, health and women’s groups alike.

“This is a wake up call for feminists old and young and anyone who cares about women’s empowerment, abortion services and health care,” said Rachel Jackson, community activist. "It doesn’t really matter if we have a pro-choice president when real women in need can’t access abortion services. We can’t sit idly by. The years of anti-abortion propaganda and the insufficient reimbursements from the state are strangling our community health centers and it has to stop.” Read more

Anti-Choice Conference Accuses Oakland Clinic of Participating in Black Genocide

International Women's Day was celebrated on Sunday, March 8th with a number of events around the Bay Area. The Stop Violence Against Women: 1 in 3 Art Exhibit included performances on Saturday and Sunday in the Women's Building. On Sunday, March 8th, Code Pink observed IWD with a march across the Golden Gate Bridge at 12pm, followed by a potluck and program in Berkeley. The film "A Single Woman: The Story of Jeannette Rankin" was screened on Sunday in Palo Alto. It is the story of the first woman elected to the United States Congress. Outside of the Bay Area, the RCP and Revolution Books planned to Celebrate Resistance and Internationalism! with a rally and march in Los Angeles in support of women in struggle all over the world, starting at 1pm on Saturday. The march was followed by an RCP-USA Women Hold Up Half the Sky presentation in LA on Sunday.

Women's Month continued on Monday, March 9th with a Consent & Intimate Violence Workshop at 5pm at UC Santa Cruz. UC Santa Cruz will host an International Women's Day Celebration on Saturday, March 14th at 12pm. On Saturday, March 21st, Vocolot will be amongst the performers at a Women's Earth Alliance Benefit Concert at 8pm in Alameda. On Sunday, March 22nd, the Women's Building will host a 3pm reading and discussion of Diana Block's memoir Arm the Spirit - A Woman's Journey Underground and Back.

Video

Indybay's Past Coverage of International Women's Day

Pam Walton, Producer/Director of the film *Raging Grannies: The Action League*, is an award-winning independent video producer who is dedicated to telling the truth about American life. She is most interested in changing our culture's prejudicial views of racial minorities and gay and lesbian people, and in promoting citizen involvement in democracy. When she first met the activist group of older women called Raging Grannies on the street where they were demonstrating against the stolen presidential election of 2004, she was immediately intrigued. She followed the daily lives and "gigs" of the Grannies for over two years to produce this, her newest, documentary.

From San Francisco where they sing for women's rights by the Bay at the annual counter-protest to "pro-life" occupiers of the city, to San Jose where they rage against racism, and in Mountain View dressed as "Brides against Proposition 8" and many venues in between, the Raging Grannies have got the Bay area covered and Pam Walton's film doesn't miss a beat.

Heather Robinson of Curve Magazine sums up what is great about this special feature saying it "captures these kick a#$ women in action, with insight into who they are, where they came from and why they set aside their knitting to make the world a better place." She reminds everyone it would be a shame to "miss out on the mini revolutions happening on our own streets."

The documentary premiers on March 7 at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose and screens again on March 8. The Raging Grannies welcome the audience in person at both screenings in song, with an opportunity for Q and A with the film's director and some of the most venerable activists in the Bay Area, from their late fifties to ninety plus years!

Read more

What's *LEFT* for Cinequest | film description and trailer | Event Details March 7 Premiere | Event Details March 8 Screening

On January 24th, the "March For Life" took place in San Francisco. Tens of thousands of religious and social conservatives converged on San Francisco for an anti-abortion, anti-gay march down Embarcadero. Several hundred counter-protesters showed up to denounce the right-wing agenda of the marchers. The Bay Area Coalition for Reproduction Rights (BACORR) called on human rights supporters to protest this so-called “Walk for Life." Some theorize that the counter-protest was probably smaller than in previous years because some pro-choice groups and local corporate newspapers had encouraged people to ignore the march.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

As part of this year's protest, BACORR called attention to the ICE raids against immigrant communities. BACORR spokesperson Anita O’Shea writes “The ‘Walk for Life’ is part of a multi-pronged rightwing movement that includes bigots in suits as well as armed, vigilante Minutemen, clinic bombers, and gay bashers…..We must stop the blame game against women, immigrants and queers before the ultra-right gains momentum.”

In recent years the Catholic Church has helped push through two discriminatory acts, the “Conscience Rule” and Proposition 8. The "Conscience Rule" allows health care providers to refuse to fill a birth control prescription for "moral" reasons. BACORR co-chair Gemma Mirkinson responded to the institution of the Conscience Rule asking, “What’s next: refusing service to people with AIDS, or immigrants or transgender folks? This is nothing but bigotry sanctioned by the highest office of the land and applauded by the people who will trek through our city January 24.”

Bay Area Coalition For Our Reproductive Right | Jan 24, 10:30 a.m.: SF Defend Right to Abortion Rally | Interviews with BACORR Activists after the Roe V Wade pro-choice rally

Previous coverage on Indybay: Anti-Choice Conference Accuses Oakland Clinic of Participating in Black Genocide | Oakland Rally Before City Council to Demand Safe Access to Reproductive Health Services | Pro-Reproductive Rights Actions to Oppose “Walk for Life” on January 20th, 2007 | Bay Area Protests the Right Wing Chain of Life | Pro-Choice Messages Heard Loud and Clear in San Francisco | 5/12: Screening of "Speak Out: I Had an Abortion" | San Francisco Shows That it is Still a Pro-Choice City | Pope's Death Leaves Questions About Women's Future Role in Church | Anti-Choice Demonstration in San Francisco Protested by Militant Pro-Choice Crowd

A controversy began in 2007 when a young mother's profile photo of her nursing her infant suddenly disappeared from the social networking website Facebook. There was no explanation as to why the photo was removed, and Facebook has not responded to her inquiries. Despite queries from other women who have found similar family photos removed over the last year, Facebook still hasn’t changed its policy.

On December 27th, about twenty demonstrators gathered in front of Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto to protest discrimination against nursing mothers. They told members of the press that in some cases their family pictures have been reported as "obscene" and they have been warned by Facebook that if they repost the photos they risk being banned from the online site.

At the same time that the group raised their concerns in interviews, chants, and song in front of Facebook's office, a virtual “nurse-in” was taking place on Facebook itself. Online demonstrators changed their profile photo for the day, to a picture of a nursing child. By Saturday evening, with hundreds joining per hour, over 70,000 members had joined the "Hey Facebook, Breast-feeding is not Obscene" site.

"Breast feeding is beautiful and to hide it in shame is absurd. Facebook’s removal of our pictures sends the wrong message to new moms," said a mother who nursed her baby as she stood in front of the company's headquarters on University Ave. Several older, experienced mothers also came out in support of the demonstration. One grandmother who came with her daughter-in-law and grandbaby in arms said that breast milk is the healthiest source of nutrition for infants and should be encouraged, not discouraged by labeling it has Facebook has. A member of the Raging Grannies summed up the feeling of many saying, "female breasts are not obscene, Facebook's attitude is!"

Photos | Announcement | Facebook Discriminates Against Nursing Moms | Mothers Breastfeed and Protest at Facebook HQ in Palo Alto | Mothers International Lactation Campaign

Sarah Palin flew into San Francisco to attend a GOP fundraiser on October 5 but did not speak publicly and won't be staying a minute longer than necessary to collect money in the bay area. Several hundred angry protesters gathered in front of the Hyatt-Regency Hotel in Burlingame, adjacent to the San Francisco airport, to demonstrate their displeasure with the GOP platform. Following the vice-presidential candidates recent debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden, many protesters' signs referred to Palin as an outright liar. Others took issue with her extremist views on abortion. The California Democratic Party sent invitations to area party members to "Greet Sarah Palin" in protest, but representatives of groups World Can't Wait and the Raging Grannies outperformed the more staid Democrats with colorful costumes, props and chants.

Environmental activists dressed as wolves howled in pain while union members led chants from a flatbed truck. Veterans for Peace members from chapters 101 (San Jose and SF Peninsula) and 69 (San Francisco) mocked the Republican McCain ticket campaign poster by adding the tag line "War Without End" and "Give Us Several Trillion Dollars" to their signs.

Palin's motorcade drove past the demonstrators and arrived at the Hyatt-Regency in Burlingame at about 11:00am though she was scheduled to speak to a fund-raising brunch at 10:30am. Several demonstrators commented that it is typical of Republican officials to swoop into the San Francisco airport and appear at one of Burlingame's airport hotels in order to make a quick getaway from an overwhelmingly anti-war San Francisco.

Following the vice-presidential candidate's recent debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden and her attacks on Obama's character made at a speech in Carson, CA on October 4, many protesters' signs referred to Palin as an outright liar.

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

On August 18th 2006, while seven African American lesbians were walking down the street in the West Village, a male bystander assaulted them with sexist and homophobic comments. The women tried to defend themselves, and a fight broke out. Thus began the women’s nightmare for almost a year. Three of the women accepted plea offers.

On June 14th, 2007 Venice Brown (19), Terrain Dandridge (20), Patreese Johnson (20), and Renata Hill (24) received sentences ranging from 3.5 to 11 years in prison.

On Monday, June 23rd, 2008, Terrain Dandridge’s case was overturned, all her charges were dropped and her record has been cleared. Renata Hill is awaiting a new trial. Terrain Dandridge and her mother, Kimma Walker arrived in the Bay Area on Tuesday June 24th, 2008 to meet with Angela Davis and the queer community at the San Francisco Women’s Building. The public event took place Tuesday, June 24th, from 7-9 pm and was intended to unravel the experiences of violence that queer people of color face and how to prepare ourselves and our communities in the face of police harrassment, criminalization and mass incarceration.

Sponsors of the event included: Critical Resistance, LAGAI-queer insurrection, QUIT!-Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, SF Women Against Rape, OLOC, Radical Women, and Gay Shame SF.

Read More | NY Indymedia: Lesbians sentenced for self-defense | All-white jury convicts Black women | Justice For The NJ4 | Black lesbian in NYC get 11 years for self-defense | BrownFemiPower.com

On June 6, a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Leslie Nichols voided Jaim Nulman and Avelyn Welczer's demolition permit for the historic Juana Briones home. The judge wrote that the city needs to conduct an environmental impact review that considers "feasible alternatives" to demolition.

Juana Briones de Miranda was a Latina businesswoman, humanitarian, and landowner who built a rare earthen-walled house in the 1840s in what later became Palo Alto.

The group Friends of Juana Briones filed suit against Palo Alto in April of 2007 after working for years urging the city to make the home's owners preserve the house, as was required by the terms of their purchase contract. "This was the last possible way to save this home," the Friends' lawyer told the Palo Alto Daily News. "More often than not, a solution is found at this stage," she added.

Photos 1 | 2 | Save The House That Juana Built | Wikipedia: Juana Briones de Miranda

Saturday, March 8th is International Women's Day. The first IWD in the United States was observed in 1909, after a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. The day is observed in countries all over the world, with celebrations taking political, social, and cultural forms. In many cities around the world, people observe a Global Women's Strike. Some organizers focus on the situation of women in countries such as Iran.

The Women of Color Resource Center will present Speaking Fierce, an evening of art, spoken word, humor, and music, on Thursday night, March 6th, at 7:00pm at the First Congregational Church, at 2501 Harrison Street at 27th in Oakland. Speakers and performers will include presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, the Service Women's Action Network, hip-hop duo Climbing PoeTree, and electro soul singer Jennifer Johns. On Friday evening, the BFUU will screen "Tillie Olsen- A Heart in Action", about the life of the writer and activist, on Friday evening at 7:00pm in Berkeley.

On Saturday, a day of celebration, networking, and sharing will take place in Richmond. There will be a performance of "My Name is Rachel Corrie" in Santa Cruz on March 8th and 9th. On Saturday afternoon, Revolution Books will host a discussion of the movie "Juno" On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the United Nations Association of Santa Cruz County will celebrate International Women’s Day. The International Musuem of Women's 4th Annual Gala: Women, Power and Politics will take place on Saturday evening in San Francisco.

On Sunday morning, the Institute for the Critical Study of Society will host an event about the situation of women in Iran. On Friday, March 14th, Dance Brigade will present A Storm of Roses: Women Against War, a commemoration and protest against the 5th Anniversary of the War in Iraq, at 7:30pm at the Herbst Theater. On March 14th and 15th, UC Santa Cruz's Kresge Town Hall will host the 14th Annual Women of Color Film and Video Festival. The Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco will host Luna Negra: A Night of Women's Live Art on Wednesday, March 26th.

Revolution Newspaper: Let Us Celebrate Our Fighting Unity on International Women’s Day | Revolution Newspaper: The Horrors for Women in the “Modern” World of Global Capitalism | Indybay's past coverage of IWD | International Women's Day .com | Global Women's Strike

On January 22nd, the United States will observe the 35th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade court decision in favor of a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. For the first time in years, pro-choice organizers were granted a permit for a rally in San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza (at Market and Embarcadero) at 11am on Saturday, January 19th. Bikes for Choice gathered at 10:30am. Following the rally, pro-choicers protested the "Walk for Life" on the Embarcardero.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Video

The Walk for Life - West Coast brings some 10,000 anti-choice marchers, mostly from outside of San Francisco, to town for its annual march through Fisherman's Wharf to the Marina (2008 WFLWC flyer). The January 19th Coalition, which organized the pro-choice rally, said that it intended to show "that the SF Bay Area/West Coast stands for reproductive rights and that Roe v Wade must be defended and expanded." BACORR (Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights) called for people to bring signs and be creative while defending a woman's right to choose.

1/10: Radical Women Meeting About January 19th | Analysis | ActivistNation interviews Nancy Reiko Cato on the fight for women's reproduction rights | 1/13: Abortion Without Apology - Or Women Have No Rights

Indybay's Past coverage of Roe v. Wade anniversary marches | Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights

On Friday January 18th, anti-choicers gathered for the first-ever "Standing Up For Life" conference/march in Oakland. This march placed its influence on the African American community of the East Bay. Dr. Alveda C. King and Dr. Clenard Childress, founder of Blackgenocide.org, an anti-choice website comparing abortion to the next holocaust, were the event's scheduled headliners. Comparisons with genocide are being used with misleading statistics to accuse abortion providers of racist practices. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3

Standing Up for Life had planned to march past the Women's Choice Clinic, which is an avid supporter of all people of color, religions, genders, sizes and abilities. WCC focuses on community health empowerment, and it plans fight these accusations and stand up "against the patriarchal, RACIST, police state that 'would rather see us die than live healthy, free lives.'"

Those who support Oakland as a pro-choice community confronted the anti-choice tables that had been set up in Frank Ogawa Plaza at 14th and Broadway (near 12th St./City Center Bart). Participants brought their own pro-choice signs and confronted the content of the anti-choice messaging.

December 17th marks the 5th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. The day calls attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers. The Sex Workers Outreach Project conceived of the event as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River murders in Seattle, Washington. This day empowers sex workers and their supporters to come together to organize against discrimination and to remember victims of violence. On Monday, December 17th, 2007 the Erotic Service Providers Union will be joining other sex worker rights organizations across the world for actions and vigils to call attention to hate crimes against sex workers, namely prostitutes.

Events on and around December 17th will call attention to trial proceedings against a Vancouver B.C. farmer who is charged with the murders of twenty-six street-based prostitutes who were killed on their jobs. They will also call attention to a recent ruling in by a female Philadelphia judge who dismissed charges of rape of a prostitute at gun point because she didn't believe that a sex worker could be raped.
The Sex Workers Outreach Project will hold a press conference on Monday on the steps of San Francisco City Hall (Polk side) at 11:30am. They will announce that the 5th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers will take place in Civic Center Plaza at 6pm. Names of those who have been victims of violence will be read, as they and their stories will be remembered with a candlelight vigil. A vigil in San Francisco was held on Thursday, December 13th to call attention to the unethical practice by a USF Ethics professor who videotaped massage parlor workers without their permission to promote his idea of forced labor, with no regard that he violated their privacy rights under the guise of rescuing workers.

List of events | ESPU announcement about 12/13 event | International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers | 5th International Day on myspace | Chez Stella

Anti-choice "protesters" have reportedly been harassing, intimidating, threatening, and blocking patients, friends, family, and staff of reproductive health clinics in Oakland for years. The City of Oakland and East Bay clinics are uniting to support an ordinance protecting safe and unrestricted access to clinics. The city council will consider an Oakland Buffer Ordinance, which would define penalties for those who try to interfere with access to clinics, on Tuesday, December 4th at 6pm. Those who support safe access to reproductive health services will gather outside of Oakland City Hall for a 5pm rally.

More about the rally and city council hearing | Online Speaker Card for those who cannot attend

The National Women's History Project says, "At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 the U.S. Congress designated August 26th as 'Women’s Equality Day.' The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York."

The 2nd Annual California Women's Equality Day Parade & Rally took place on Saturday, August 25th, beginning at Sacramento's Southside Park at 9:30 in the morning. Participants then rallied on the West Steps of the Capitol at 11am.

On Thursday, August 30th, Radical Women hosted an event to celebrate the anniversary of U.S. women's right to vote, at 7pm at the new New Valencia Hall, which is located at 625 Larkin Street, Suite 202 , San Francisco.

NWHP's Women's Equality Day Site | Women's Equality Parade | Radical Women

In late May, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr announced that her office would not be filing any charges in the De Anza gang-rape case, in which an underage, unconscious young woman was assaulted by a group of De Anza College baseball players. At a press conference on Thursday, May 31st, community members gathered outside the DA's office in San Jose to demand justice for the survivor of this attack, who still wants to press charges against the offenders. Within a week's time, Carr said that community response and protest prompted her decision to submit the case to the state Attorney General's office for review. No timeline has been given for the review process, and several possibilities are left open: including that Jerry Brown's office will agree with Carr and leave the case closed with no charges.

Organizations such as California National Organization for Women (CA NOW), Stop Family Violence, and the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes organized the protest and press conference in response to the apparent closure of the case, in which a 17-year-old girl was gang raped at a party thrown by members of the De Anza College baseball team.

Katherine Redmond, founder and president of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, spoke about the local and the national outrage at the failure to investigate and prosecute this case. Redmond demands transparency in the investigation: since the DA's reasoning in refusing to bring charges is the lack of evidence, she wonders why the eyewitnesses to the crime (who were sober at the party) were not called to the grand jury to give their testimony. Redmond also discussed the public response to this kind of case and the rape culture that refuses to deal with the truth about rape. She said, "Rape is about the violent and degrading theft of a person's bodily integrity and personal autonomy."

Photos and Audio | Stop Family Violence | California National Organization for Women | National Coalition Against Violent Athletes | Santa Clara County District Attorney's website

Santa Cruz City Hall Courtyard hosted a jean art exhibit on April 25th as part of Denim Day in Santa Cruz. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and wearing denim, "Wear Your Jeans", is part of an international protest of an Italian High Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the victim was wearing jeans.

Denim Day is about challenging myth-based injustice. The Italian High Court decision (1999) to rule against the woman because she was wearing jeans (and therefore would have to have helped) was a hugely unpopular verdict that sparked a worldwide outcry and has now become an international symbol of myth-based injustice for sexual assault victims. Read More and View Photos