Feature Archives

Update: Txtmob's website says that its service will be down this weekend. Please tune in to Enemy Combatant Radio for updates and check this website for protest updates.
On September 24th 2005, there will be a mass anti-war protest in San Francisco. The protest gathered at 11am in Dolores Park (19th and Dolores), and is marching to Jefferson Square Park (at Laguna and Turk Streets in SF), for a rally that will begin around 1:30pm. Logistics Info from ANSWER | Gathering information for several contingents in the main march was posted to Indybay's Calendar | Bright Path Video hosted a live webcam from Dolores Park, and Enemy Combatant Radio is accepting and broadcasting phoned-in reports. (Photos: 1 | 2) | KPFA is broadcasting protest and hurricane updates until 6:00pm.

Anarchist Action called for a Revolutionary Anti-Capitalist convergence at September 24th's anti-war march. It met at 11 am, at 16th and Mission, "to oppose the state of perpetual war and the system behind it!" and marched to join the larger march. Read more

Hundreds of thousands marched on Saturday, September 24th in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Information about SeptemberAction.org, the septemberACTION.org, the anti-war, global justice mobilization in Washington, DC from September 23rd-26th. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has urged the antiwar movement to come together for a united demonstration. Organizers say: "The people of Iraq are insisting that the United States leave their country immediately. As in Vietnam, the people of the United States must demand the immediate end to this war of conquest. As we fight to end the war in Iraq, we recognize that it is not enough to focus on a single front in this War for Empire. We must unite on a principled basis that recognizes the reality of our epoch. How can this war drive come to an end? People in Iraq, in Palestine, in Haiti, in Venezuela, in Cuba are resisting but the people of the United States must become their allies. Their resistance is part of the universal aspiration to live free from foreign domination or threats of a military or economic character." More Details On September 22nd, activists will marry the World Bank and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

A free outdoor video screening was held in Dolores Park on Friday night, September 23rd. Details

Updates from Palo Alto:
10:20pm: Things are quieting down in Palo Alto according to reports. No arrests have been reported at this time.
9:05pm: Police pepper sprayed a woman on the sidewalk. There are 10 womyn sitting in the street (University Ave). Police are getting closer to protesters and "about to surround them," according to reports. Police declared "unlawful" assembly in a public plaza.
8:48pm: Police declared protest to be "unlawful". Caller reports police to possibly be pointing out an arrest.
8:43pm: Police on horseback, blocking protest in front of shopping district in downtown. Protesters dancing in street with a nice sound system.
8:00pm: Reports of heavy police presence, including many riot cops.

On Saturday June 25, there was an Anarchist-organized anti-war march in Palo Alto. At 7pm, several hundred people gathered at Lytton Plaza in downtown Palo Alto (University Ave. at Emerson 2 Blocks from Palo Alto Caltrain) for the start of the march.
Organizers of the event issued a statement before the march saying, "We will march against imperialist war, invasion, and occupation; against Bush and his corporate interests; against empire and against the systemic war machine. This is the new face of the anti-war movement. After a strong peak at the beginning of the invasion of Iraq and a two year ebb, the movement is again building momentum. But the movement is also growing louder, angrier, and more radical. As the occupation drags on with more and more casualties each day, popular outrage is growing, and with it popular support for the movement through which it is expressed."
Read More | Photos: 1 | Video
Anarchist Action | Event Announcements: 1 | 2 | Anarchists talk about demonstration | More Anti-war Protest Coverage

On Thursday June 16th, 2005, from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm EST, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., who is the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, along with other Congress Members, held a hearing on the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence of efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence. The hearing was broadcast live on KPFA Radio and other media. Conyers planned to deliver to the White House a letter addressed to President Bush and signed by over 500,000 Americans and at least 94 Congress Members. The letter asks the President to respond to questions raised by the Downing Street Minutes. Later on June 16th, in Washington, DC and other cities around the country, rallies were held in support of Congressman Conyers. A protest was held in Benicia, California, at City Park, from 5 to 6 pm Thursday, June 16, 2005. In Sacramento, about 30 demonstrators unfurled three 12' x3' banners at the Sacramento Bee offices at 21st and Q Streets. A Bee reporter who declined to identify himself said the paper was doing a story now that Conyers was holding a hearing. Photos Additional rallies nationwide

The Downing Street Memo is actually notes from a meeting that included UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and a number of other high-level officials and intelligence officers in the UK government. Read the Memo The memo reveals that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the summer of 2002 and, determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policies, "fixed" the intelligence and facts relevant to WMD. Anti-war activists have been conducting outreach and protests in their campaign to get the mainstream media to cover the issue of the Downing Street Memo.

Gold Star and Military Families Call for Truth | Impeach Central | DowningStreetMemo.com | After Downing Street | John Conyers' website

On May 29th, residents from throughout the Bay Area decided to forego Memorial Day barbecues and parades to find out from Iraqi war veterans, a mother of a slain son, and a military surgeon about the true cost to human life taking place daily in Iraq. More than 300 people gathered in the auditorium at the Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley on Sunday for a program entitled “Military Voices Against Endless War”. Among those who spoke were Stephen Funk, the first military resister to the current war; Camilo Mejia, the first Iraqi War veteran to resist; Tim Goodrich, a co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Aidan Delgado, who was stationed at Abu Ghraib; Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq; and Dr. Gene Bolles, a neurosurgeon who treated wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Read More (With Photos) | Past Coverage Of GI Resisters

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in San Francisco on Friday, May 27th, 2005 to speak at a Commonwealth Club event at Davies Symphony Hall. A spirited crowd of hundreds was there to protest her visit with a loud demonstration to "SAY NO! to war and occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan and everywhere." International ANSWER demanded a stop to the U.S. threats and intervention against Cuba, Venezuela, Korea, Philippines, Syria, Iran and other countries. They also came out to protest the war at home and say, "Hands off Social Security!"

Speeches were given by ANSWER activists, Code Pink: Women for Peace, Global Exchange, and the Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane, as well as representatives of many communities including organized labor, Bayview-Hunters Point residents, and LGBTI/Queers. Several people from the ANSWER Coalition and from Code Pink went into Davies Hall to voice their opposition to Rice's appearance and were arrested by police.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Report

5/25/2005 update: UC Regents ignore opposition, vote to build nukes. Full story: Part 1 | Part 2

On May 11th, the University of California (UC) announced an unprecedented partnership with Bechtel Corporation, BWXT Technlogies, and Washing International Inc. to jointly bid for the management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico. Not only does this arrangement poise the UC to continue to manage potential Armageddon during a dangerous new phase of US nuclear development, but it establishes an alarming new frontier in UC-corporate connections.

Students from across the UC system will converge at the UC Regents meeting at UC San Francisco Laurel Heights on Wednesday, May 25th to speak out in opposition of the bid. After a planned meeting at 9 a.m. outside of the Laurel Heights building, the students will command the floor during the Regents' public comment period at 10 a.m. At roughly 11:20, they will conduct a rally outside the conference building. They are inviting people to join them in opposing the nuclearization and corporatization of the UC, or if they are not able to attend, to make announcements explaining the UC-Bechtel proposed partnership and the UC bid for the labs in classes. Organizers say, "It’s time to get UC out of the nuclear weapons business."

The UC has managed LANL since its inception over 60 years ago. However, after repeated security and financial mismanagement scandals, the US Department of Energy opened the management contract of LANL for competitive bid in 2003. UC’s contract to manage LANL expires on September 30. The Department of Energy (DoE) is expected to select the winner of the bidding competition over the summer. Read more | More about Los Alamos

UC Nuclear Free | Waging Peace | TriValley Cares Website | Students Against UC Exploitation

Update: Both Martinez and Solnit have been released.
The Halliburton annual shareholders meeting in Houston, Texas was the scene of protests both outside and inside of the meetings. Activists who had been preparing for the event were met by a heavy and violent police presence who arrested 16 individuals and trampled over a dozen people with horses.
Amongst the arrested outside were Bay Area activist David Solnit and documentary filmmaker David Martinez. Watch video shot by Martinez as he gets arrested.
On the inside Andrea Buffa and Medea Benjamin from Global Exchange and Pratap Chatterjee from CorpWatch were able to intervene in the shareholders meeting. Martinez and Chatterjee traveled to Iraq last year to film a documentary about war profiteering.
From Houston Indymedia:
"At the Four Seasons this morning, before 8 am, barricades were erected, over 30 Houston horse police, undercover cops and heavy foot police presence (photos) was amassed. By 8:30, the march had reached the hotel, with about 140 - 300 protesters with lots of puppets, and signs such as "stop cronyism." Dick Cheney flashed people video, photo, activists held signs, played a samba and did a funky dance. A break-away march was met by Houston Police, who attempted to corral them, with one arrest occurring. By 9 am, there were 12 activists inside the hotel. Four were escorted out by hotel security and Houston police, while the rest were detained. Outside, things began heating up with pushing, cops on horses and arrests (photos: 1, 2, 3, 4). Some concerns have been raised about cruelty to the horses. The horses trampled several people (videos: 1, 2)."
Up to Date Coverage on Houston Indymedia