Feature Archives

Chinga la Migra reports on an action against Francisco Cantú which took place on February 19 in San Francisco, and the cancellation of his event in Oakland the following day: After being shut down by comrades in Austin and forced to publicly admit he is against abolishing Border Patrol by comrades in New York, Cantú decided not to read from his book or discuss it as had been planned, and at the last minute, announced that he would only be signing books. A few minutes into the book signing a group of us disrupted it by reading prepared statements and handing out flyers, as well as free copies of No Wall They Can Build.

Protests and actions in San Rafael, Oakland, Los Angeles, across the US, and around the world marked the 17th birthday of Palestinian teen activist Ahed Tamimi, imprisoned since December 19 and facing charges before an Israeli military court. Ahed was seized by occupation forces in a pre-dawn raid on her family’s home in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. She is one of over 350 Palestinian children imprisoned by the Israeli occupation and one of nearly 6,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. On February 13, an Israeli military court ordered journalists to leave the courtroom then extended Ahed's detention until her next hearing on March 11.

In honor of Black Solidarity Week, and in light of the recently released FBI report on so-called “Black Identity Extremists,” Community Ready Corps will host a political education panel on the repression of Black dissidents. Leaders from the Anti Police-Terror Project and special guests Mama Akua Njeri and Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. will come together on Saturday, February 17 for an evening of radical truth telling, solidarity building, and self-defense. That morning, a march through East Oakland kicks off Black Solidarity Week, February 17-24.

At 5 a.m. on April 2, 1969, hundreds of FBI, CIA and NYC police agents armed with shotguns, bullet-proof vests and a shoot-to-kill attitude broke down the doors of dozens of houses, apartments and offices to serve arrest warrants on 21 key members of the New York City Black Panthers. According to the absurd accusations, based on information provided by three infiltrators, these men and women had conspired to blow up schools, department stores, police precincts and the New York Botanical Gardens. Two years later, on May 13, 1971, the Panther 21 were acquitted of all charges after only 45 minutes of jury deliberation.

On January 12, 2018, the California Board of Parole Hearings granted parole to an elderly inmate named John Clutchette. However, supporters of parole for Clutchette are concerned that California Governor Jerry Brown will reverse the Board's decision, and Clutchette will not be released. Supporters have a reason to be concerned. After all, this is exactly what happened in 2016 when Clutchette was similarly granted parole by the Board but Governor Brown chose to reverse the Board's ruling. In an Angola 3 News interview, legal scholar Angela A. Allen-Bell contextualizes Brown's reference to the Soledad Brothers, and identifies other troubling aspects of the case.

On the same day Homeland Security announced plans for major immigration raids in the Bay Area in response to sanctuary city laws, and the Department of Justice confirmed that it was looking for ways to arrest Sanctuary City mayors and other officials, the City of Oakland defied federal authorities. On January 16, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted to eliminate any and all cooperation with ICE in both criminal and civil matters, except in a case of public emergency. The move arose in reaction to an ICE raid that took place on August 16, ostensibly as a criminal investigation into human trafficking, yet no charges were ever filed and an undocumented man is now undergoing deportation proceedings.

On January 7, Israel made public a list of 20 organizations, including five U.S.-based organizations, whose leadership is barred from entering Israel due to their support for boycotts for Palestinian rights. US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) Executive Director Yousef Munayyer said, “We wear this designation as a badge of honor." Banning entry is by no means a new tactic in the maintenance of Israeli apartheid, but a policy that Israel has been enacting for decades, first and foremost by denying Palestinian refugees their right to return, and then by denying supporters of Palestinian rights.