Feature Archives

Bay of Rage writes Last Friday [June 17th], we marched on downtown banks behind a bloc of book shields in an anti-capitalist defense of the Oakland libraries. Tensions were high throughout the afternoon and the action quickly escalated into a showdown with police that took many off guard. We started assembling at Broadway and Telegraph in downtown Oakland at 3pm last Friday. There were about 60 of us. It was immediately clear that OPD had been monitoring the Bay of Rage website and was out in full force to crush the march.

Prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California announced that they are beginning an indefinite hunger strike on July 1st to protest the conditions of their imprisonment, which they say are cruel and inhumane. An online petition has been started by supporters of the strikers. Key demands include the elimination of group punishments, modification of active/inactive gang status criteria, and the provision of adequate food.

Joshua Hart, Director of Stop Smart Meters! was arrested on June 21st after blocking the entrance to the Capitola PG&E payment center in protest of PG&E’s illegal “smart” meter installations in the County. The County of Santa Cruz, as well as the Cities of Capitola and Watsonville, have adopted urgency ordinances prohibiting the installation of wireless “smart” meters within their jurisdictions. Forty-three local governments throughout the state have formally demanded a halt to the program because of concerns about health, privacy, accuracy, and fire safety.

On June 10th, homeless activist Gary Johnson — repeatedly ticketed and arrested in the 3-month long Peace Camp 2010 protest against the Sleeping Ban at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse — was sentenced to six months in jail and taken there in chains for violating California's 'anti-lodging' law (647e). Activist-attorney Ed Frey, who initiated, supported, and was arrested during the protest, was jailed at the same hearing. Judge John Gallagher refused to suspend sentencing pending appeal and denied a motion for a new trial after several jurors complained of juror misconduct.

CODEPINK Activists confronted GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty on his anti-gay and anti-reproductive rights stance at the annual America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) conference in San Francisco on June 16th. Showering the GOP presidential candidate with pink glitter and confetti, they shouted, "Where's your courage to stand up for gay and reproductive rights? Welcome to San Francisco, home of gay hero Harvey Milk!" Outside the Moscone center demonstrators rallied for a single payer healthcare system and satirical Billionaires for Wealthcare aped the wealthy who benefit from the insurance industry's huge profits.

Bay of Rage writes: Thanks to everyone for coming out to Anticut 1 on Friday [June 3rd]. The consensus seems to be that this was a very successful evening, a promising opening act to what we hope will be a long, hot summer. There were probably about 100 of us in the streets — good turnout for something organized with only a couple of weeks of notice, especially after a period of relative quiet. Let's see if we can double this next time [on June 17th].

On May 22nd the "Coalition Standing Up for the Right to Sit" held their first "chair-a-pillar" at Berkeley BART. More than 30 people participated in the action, sitting in colorful chairs on the curb and sidewalk along Shattuck Avenue. The City of Berkeley, led by local merchants/property owners, is considering following in the footsteps of San Francisco by introducing an anti-sitting ordinance this summer. A coalition made up of homeless service providers and homeless people is organizing to fight the ordinance.