Feature Archives

On October 30, a Day of the Dead rally was held in front of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house in San Francisco. It was at the end of a funeral procession from Alta Plaza Park. A mock coffin with "68000" painted on it was carried to remember the number of people who died this year because of a lack of medical care. The Speaker's house has been a frequent target of demonstration. She has been viewed as a captive of corporate lobbying, unwilling to enact real healthcare reform.

On October 17, a caravan of 20 autos parked in front of Mark Zuckerberg's Palo Alto home so protesters could honk loudly and deliver a pink slip to the Facebook CEO while chanting, "Mark, You’re Fired!" The protest came on the heals of whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. Haugen, a former Facebook employee, told senators the social media giant's products "harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy."

On September 1, Texas’ anti-abortion law banning the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy went into effect, despite the 1973 Supreme Court ruling which established a constitutional right to this form of healthcare. Reproductive justice advocates in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the country held major protests on October 2 and October 3, with the fate of Roe v. Wade and legal abortion on the line. Indybay has coverage from a dozen cities.

On September 17, protesters hung a giant banner from Wells Fargo's headquarters building on San Franciso's Montgomery Street that accused the bank of funding climate destruction. Evoking the draft card burnings of the Viet Nam war era, a protester cut up her Well Fargo ATM card. With wildfires raging throughout California and weather "events" increasing in ferocity worldwide, environmentalist groups like Xtinction Bay Area are demanding that big banks stop funding of fossil fuel development.

On July 20, homeless activist Dez Martinez set up a tent on the lawn in front of Fresno City Hall and invited other activists to come through. She then put out a general call for more people to come by and set up tents on July 23. On the second day only a couple of tents went up, but around fifty supporters came. They demanded better alternatives to being on the streets. One of the activists at City Hall was Gordie Ochinero-Bermudez, who recently did a 450-mile bike ride to raise money for porta-potties for Fresno’s homeless population.

Responding to legal pressure from the Center for Biological Diversity, the federal government finalized a new rule on July 30 expanding critical habitat protection along the West Coast for critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales. The population of Southern Residents stands at just 74 orcas. The National Marine Fisheries Service designated 15,910 square miles of new critical habitat, expanding current protections in Washington’s Salish Sea south along the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California to Point Sur.

Members of the Yemeni-American community and world peace activists grieved on the third anniversary of the loss of 40 children whose lives were taken by a 500 pound US-made, Saudi and United Arab Emirates-led bomb. On August 8 in San Francisco, demonstrators laid down 40 pairs of shoes and 40 backpacks to memorialize each child's life. Speakers at the rally co-hosted by Yemini Alliance Committee said that the US government is complicit in the devastation to life and land as it continues to arm Saudi Arabia and the UAE.