Feature Archives

In the past week, Israel has mounted a massive offensive against the Gaza Strip. The attacks have claiming the lives of over 112 Palestinians, including many civilians. The clashes reached a peak on March 1st, when Israel sent in a regiment of ground troops killing 77 Palestinians in two days. According to Gaza health ministry statistics, 22 children were killed and more than 350 people were wounded. On March 3rd, Students for Justice in Palestine staged a die-in in Berkeley to protest Israel's actions.

Friday, February 29th was the 3rd International Day in Solidarity with the Haitian People. On that day, there were "coordinated protests on 4 continents on the 4th anniversary of the ongoing US/UN invasion, coup, and occupation against democracy in Haiti." Haiti Action Committee was at the Marine Recruiting Station in Berkeley (64 Shattuck Square, 1/2 block south of University Ave. in Berkeley), starting at 7:30am, for a day of civil resistance and protest four years after the latest invasion of Haiti, which was led by US Marines.

Direct Action to Stop the War is planning "mass direct actions" to protest the 5th anniversary of the US-led war and occupation of Iraq. For March 19th, DASW is organizing a day of decentralized, multiple-target direct action against government offices and war profiteers in downtown San Francisco. Direct Action Radio will be on 102.5 and streamed over Indybay. People will be able to call in reports from the street. DASW, along with community organizations, held a direct action outside of the Chevron refinery in Richmond on March 15th.

Peace Fresno sponsored a Presidents' Day peace march on Monday, Feb. 18th. Organizers called it "Mourning in America" and about 150 marchers went from the Tower Theatre to the new Federal Building in downtown Fresno. There was an extremely heavy police presence at the march, but there were no incidents.

On January 30th, Elik Elhanan and Bassam Aramin spoke to a crowd of about 80 people in the basement of the Vets Hall in Santa Cruz. They are both members of Combatants for Peace, an Israeli/Palestinian organization made up of former fighters that attempts to now use their experiences to bridge gaps in peoples' understanding of the conflict and work for nonviolent, just, and viable solutions to the conflict.

Anti-war protesters celebrated on February 13th after having forced the US Army's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) to cancel the second day of its annual conference at UC Santa Barbara. The day prior, over 500 UCSB students and Santa Barbara community members disrupted the conference to demand an end to UC complicity in weapons research designed to kill Iraqis in an illegal war. The ICB is a $50 million Army-funded research institute hosted by UCSB, with sub-contracts at MIT and Caltech.

Friday, February 15th was Iraq Moratorium Day #6. The Iraq Moratorium is a community- based nationwide campaign to organize public displays of opposition to the war in Iraq on the third Friday of each month. Iraq Moratorium events include actions such as wearing black ribbons, calling Congress to say "Bring Home Our Troops," and coming together for protests and outreach events in cities all over the US. There were actions at military recruiting stations in Berkeley and Mountain View, and leafletting at Caltrain.