Feature Archives

The Internationalist Platform for Resistance and Self-Initiative Weaving Autonomies (PIRATA) organized a brigade for the observation and documentation of the violation of the rights of native peoples in the municipality of Santiago Xanica, Oaxaca, México. The brigade traveled through the municipality from March 14 to March 21, 2011. The task that the International Brigade set for itself has been to listen, understand, relate, and make public what is happening in the community of Santiago Xanica.

On February 22nd, Indybay reporter Mark Burdett filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in a federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from his 2004 arrest for "jaywalking" while covering an antiwar protest in San Francisco. In October of 2010 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Burdett was lawfully arrested. The story was featured in a lighthearted manner on the February 23rd episode of The Colbert Report.

A lawsuit, filed in Fresno Superior Court on February 24, says that Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer's ringtone for Cynthia Sterling, an African-American former counsel member, is a slave song: "Mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread." The lawsuit also alleges that Dyer mimics stereotypical slave dialect, making comments including "yessa massa, I is yo pet" and "Um hum, I'm the mayor's boy, I'm the mayor's boy, yes'um, I'm the mayor's boy."

UPDATE: Tree-Sitter Released on April 4th After 67 Days in Jail; Still Faces Four Misdemeanor Charges

A nearly three-month treesit in People's Park in Berkeley ended in the early morning hours of January 28th when Midnight Matt, the primary sitter, was arrested on attempted murder charges. Midnight Matt's charges were reduced to assault with a deadly weapon at his arraignment, but he remains in Santa Rita jail with his bail set at $100,000. Supporters are asking for donations to help make his $10,000 bond and for a show of support in court. Midnight Matt's next court date is April 4th.

On February 12th, a benefit is being held for the Red Vic Movie House on Haight Street in San Francisco. Organizers state that "San Francisco is dangerously close to losing this 30-year old worker-owned community establishment. All the filmmakers and speakers in this series are donating 100% the box office revenue to the keep the Red Vic's doors open so they can continue to give voice to films like these that [the] mainstream does NOT want you you to see!" Lovers + Liberators is a fund-raising event for the Red Vic that brings together three films with the themes of liberation and domestic "terrorism".

On February 3rd and 4th, students at the University of California Berkeley and Stanford University held campus demonstrations calling for solidarity with those uprising in Egypt. In Berkeley students gathered in front of Sather Gate and staged a die-in under the watchful eye of campus police.

Narus, a company with Israeli connections now owned by Boeing, calls itself the global leader in real-time traffic intelligence for the protection and management of large IP networks. On February 2nd, internet freedom activists sponsored a demonstration in front of Narus' headquarters in Sunnyvale. The protesters said that the Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology made by Narus is helping Egypt's leaders monitor the activities of Egyptian dissidents.