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3/16/2005: On the second anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, killed by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer while defending the home of a Palestinian civilian, around sixty people gathered at the gates of the Peterson Tractor Company in San Leandro, California. The activists, organized by A Jewish Voice for Peace, held a spirited protest against Caterpillar's continuing sales of bulldozers to the U.S. Department of Defense (which are then delivered to the Israeli military under a Foreign Military Sales Agreement).
As a line of protestors displayed banners to passing traffic condemning Israeli Defense Forces use of CAT equipment to destroy Palestinian homes, others gathered at a partly open gate and began saying Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, for Corrie. Penny Rosenwasser, one of six activists who managed to get inside the gate before police and company security kept others outside, spoke over a bullhorn about the grim reality of what CAT equipment does in the occupied territories. Rosenwasser recalled how on a 2001 International Solidarity Movement trip to Rafah refugee camp she witnessed the wreckage of 200 houses which had been demolished the night before by CAT bulldozers; the local children were, not surprisingly, completely terrorized. The bulldozers were also used to destroy olive trees and wells, which Rachel Corrie committed herself to helping protect from such attacks.
The crowd repeatedly chanted for Duane Doyle, CEO of Peterson Tractor, to meet with them, but there was no sign of Doyle or any other higher-up at the dealership. JVP activists distributed a flyer demanding that Doyle, as an owner of Caterpillar stock, support a shareholder resolution which calls on the corporation to investigate Israel's use of its equipment. The flyer also called on Doyle to tell the Caterpillar Board of Directors to meet with Rachel Corrie's parents.
Activist Kate Raphael, who has spent significant periods in the occupied territories, then spoke about how Rachel Corrie is known throughout the Arab world and seen as an important symbol of international solidarity. Though the six inside were prepared to face arrest for carrying out civil disobedience, the authorities were apparently not in a mood to press charges; no one was arrested
Read More With Video And Photos| Stop Caterpillar | A Jewish Voice for Peace | International Solidarity Movement
As a line of protestors displayed banners to passing traffic condemning Israeli Defense Forces use of CAT equipment to destroy Palestinian homes, others gathered at a partly open gate and began saying Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, for Corrie. Penny Rosenwasser, one of six activists who managed to get inside the gate before police and company security kept others outside, spoke over a bullhorn about the grim reality of what CAT equipment does in the occupied territories. Rosenwasser recalled how on a 2001 International Solidarity Movement trip to Rafah refugee camp she witnessed the wreckage of 200 houses which had been demolished the night before by CAT bulldozers; the local children were, not surprisingly, completely terrorized. The bulldozers were also used to destroy olive trees and wells, which Rachel Corrie committed herself to helping protect from such attacks.
The crowd repeatedly chanted for Duane Doyle, CEO of Peterson Tractor, to meet with them, but there was no sign of Doyle or any other higher-up at the dealership. JVP activists distributed a flyer demanding that Doyle, as an owner of Caterpillar stock, support a shareholder resolution which calls on the corporation to investigate Israel's use of its equipment. The flyer also called on Doyle to tell the Caterpillar Board of Directors to meet with Rachel Corrie's parents.
Activist Kate Raphael, who has spent significant periods in the occupied territories, then spoke about how Rachel Corrie is known throughout the Arab world and seen as an important symbol of international solidarity. Though the six inside were prepared to face arrest for carrying out civil disobedience, the authorities were apparently not in a mood to press charges; no one was arrested
Read More With Video And Photos| Stop Caterpillar | A Jewish Voice for Peace | International Solidarity Movement
Enemy Combatant Radio will be live in studio and at the demonstration. Phone in reports, interviews, etc. to (415) 864-1006
BREAKING NEWS:
3/19 4:45pm
NLG Legal Support reports that a total of nine protesters were arrested at 14th and Valencia. Witnesses of this incident with photo or video have been asked to contact the NLG at (415) 285-1011.
3/19 4:05pm
Nine of those who were sitting in the intersection have now been arrested by a combination of SFPD, and CHP. Since the protesters were taken away in a Sherif's Dept van its assumed they were taken to 850 Bryant.
3/19 4:00pm
The police are using pain compliance to break apart the people sitting in the intersection. The first person arrested was not allowed to get his glasses out of his bag before being thrown into the police van.
3/19 3:50pm
After marching around South of Market, around 100 protesters with the breakaway march are trapped on the sidewalk near 14th and Valencia. 14 people have sat down in the middle of the inetrsection.
3/19 3:15pm
Breakaway march has left Civic Center.
3/19 1:20pm
SF: Most of the march has arrived at the Civic Center. Speakers including Tom Ammiano and Danny Glover demand a US withdrawal from Iraq and a less militaristic US approach to the world.
3/19 12:25pm
SF: Thousands of spirited protesters trickle out of park for march to Civic Center. No incidents with police at this time. Live reports being called in via cellphone on Enemy Combatant Radio (from demos in SF, the Central Valley, and as far away as Alabama and Pennsylvania). Bright Path Video is attempting a roving broadcast of the march on the move from their live webcam.
3/19 11am
SF: Various contingents of protesters gather at Dolores Park. Speakers on large stage relay information on struggles for liberation all over the world, such as movements in the Philippines. Nurses, teachers, and various other labor groups assemble at tennis courts and rail against anti-labor policies of Schwarzenegger in California and Bush nationally.
3/19 8am
Breaking protest news is starting to be reported on the Chicago Indymedia site. Their radio stream is now live.
3/19/2005 7am
Protesters have already taken to the streets of Tokyo, Istanbul, Copenhagen, London, Bombay, Lahore, Rome, Ankara, Athens, Brasilia, Glasgow and many other cities around the world demanding an end to the US occupation of Iraq. Photos.
3/18/2005 10:30pm Photos of Arrests from anti-war protest in Aukland, New Zealand.
3/18/2005 evening An anti-war vigil was held in Reedley, a rural community about 35 miles Southeast of Fresno. Photos
3/18/2005 6:30pm-8:30 pm Anti-War activists met the evening commute on I-80 with 50 ft. anti-war banners. Photos
3/18/2005 Pictures from anti-war protest in Melbourne, Australia.
3/18/2005 Video from anti-war vigil at C.S.U. Fresno.
3/18/2005 6:30am-8:30am A dozen Not In Our Name activists displayed banners over Interstate 80, Freeway 580 and in front of the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Photos
Photos From SF And Regional Protests: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 Video: 1
BREAKING NEWS:
3/19 4:45pm
NLG Legal Support reports that a total of nine protesters were arrested at 14th and Valencia. Witnesses of this incident with photo or video have been asked to contact the NLG at (415) 285-1011.
3/19 4:05pm
Nine of those who were sitting in the intersection have now been arrested by a combination of SFPD, and CHP. Since the protesters were taken away in a Sherif's Dept van its assumed they were taken to 850 Bryant.
3/19 4:00pm
The police are using pain compliance to break apart the people sitting in the intersection. The first person arrested was not allowed to get his glasses out of his bag before being thrown into the police van.
3/19 3:50pm
After marching around South of Market, around 100 protesters with the breakaway march are trapped on the sidewalk near 14th and Valencia. 14 people have sat down in the middle of the inetrsection.
3/19 3:15pm
Breakaway march has left Civic Center.
3/19 1:20pm
SF: Most of the march has arrived at the Civic Center. Speakers including Tom Ammiano and Danny Glover demand a US withdrawal from Iraq and a less militaristic US approach to the world.
3/19 12:25pm
SF: Thousands of spirited protesters trickle out of park for march to Civic Center. No incidents with police at this time. Live reports being called in via cellphone on Enemy Combatant Radio (from demos in SF, the Central Valley, and as far away as Alabama and Pennsylvania). Bright Path Video is attempting a roving broadcast of the march on the move from their live webcam.
3/19 11am
SF: Various contingents of protesters gather at Dolores Park. Speakers on large stage relay information on struggles for liberation all over the world, such as movements in the Philippines. Nurses, teachers, and various other labor groups assemble at tennis courts and rail against anti-labor policies of Schwarzenegger in California and Bush nationally.
3/19 8am
Breaking protest news is starting to be reported on the Chicago Indymedia site. Their radio stream is now live.
3/19/2005 7am
Protesters have already taken to the streets of Tokyo, Istanbul, Copenhagen, London, Bombay, Lahore, Rome, Ankara, Athens, Brasilia, Glasgow and many other cities around the world demanding an end to the US occupation of Iraq. Photos.
3/18/2005 10:30pm Photos of Arrests from anti-war protest in Aukland, New Zealand.
3/18/2005 evening An anti-war vigil was held in Reedley, a rural community about 35 miles Southeast of Fresno. Photos
3/18/2005 6:30pm-8:30 pm Anti-War activists met the evening commute on I-80 with 50 ft. anti-war banners. Photos
3/18/2005 Pictures from anti-war protest in Melbourne, Australia.
3/18/2005 Video from anti-war vigil at C.S.U. Fresno.
3/18/2005 6:30am-8:30am A dozen Not In Our Name activists displayed banners over Interstate 80, Freeway 580 and in front of the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Photos
Photos From SF And Regional Protests: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 Video: 1
Tue Mar 15 2005
Protest at SF Military Recruiting Center
3/15/2005: Opponents of military recruiting picketed the main San Francisco recruiting center on Davis Street near the Embarcadero early this evening. Chants echoed the demand that the military get out of our schools. The picket featured a brief speak out and well attended press conference. SFSU students told of their success last week in kicking military recruiters off their campus, only to face discipline from the administration.
Photos
CounterRecruiter.net | CampusResistance.org | Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) | Lefthook.org | GlobalResistanceNetwork.com | Article by CAN organizers Hadas Their (CCNY) and Katrina Yeaw (SFSU)
CounterRecruiter.net | CampusResistance.org | Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) | Lefthook.org | GlobalResistanceNetwork.com | Article by CAN organizers Hadas Their (CCNY) and Katrina Yeaw (SFSU)
2/15/05:
A display of a soldier's uniform on the gable of a house in a quiet neighborhood in the Land Park District of Sacramento has ignited a battle between anti-war activists and Bush administration supporters over the First Amendment. Stephen and Virginia Pearcy, both lawyers who work in Berkeley, decided to put up a uniform of a U.S. soldier hanging on a noose, with the sign "Your Tax Dollars at Work," at their house in Sacramento. A pro-war rally gathered in front of the Pearcy's house while they were away and two individuals, captured on TV cameras, took the display down. On Saturday February 12th, the Pearcys, with the support of members of Veterans for
Peace, put a new uniform display on the house. However, this time the
uniform was placed with a new sign saying "Bush Lied I Died". On Monday the 14th, a man identifying himself as"Mike" was captured by TV cameras
taking down the display for a second time. A candlelight vigil was held on February 15th in front of the Pearcys' home supporting their right to to oppose the war in Iraq.
Read More
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Photos
Wed Feb 23 2005
Protesting Military Recruiters On Campuses
On March 9th, students at San Francisco State assembled a unified front in an effort to kick military recruiters off-campus. This 3 minute video captures the first portion of the protest. Photos | Video: 1 |
2
On Wednesday Feb. 23, about 30 anti war activists protested the inclusion of the United States Marine Corps at the UC Berkeley career fair. After a 15 minute picket and flyering outside the career fair, about 20 students went inside the career fair to take the message to the recruiters and everyone inside the career fair. For about 20 minutes students asked the recruiters about their policy barring gays from the military, and also about the morality of the war in Iraq.
Last fall, the the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that if a college opposes the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy barring homosexuals from serving in the armed forces, that school has a First Amendment right to protest by blocking access to military recruiters. UC Berkeley's own anti-discrimination policy forbids employers who discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Read More | Similar Protest Last Month At UC Hastings | More Recent Anti-Military Recruiting Coverage
On Wednesday Feb. 23, about 30 anti war activists protested the inclusion of the United States Marine Corps at the UC Berkeley career fair. After a 15 minute picket and flyering outside the career fair, about 20 students went inside the career fair to take the message to the recruiters and everyone inside the career fair. For about 20 minutes students asked the recruiters about their policy barring gays from the military, and also about the morality of the war in Iraq.
Last fall, the the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that if a college opposes the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy barring homosexuals from serving in the armed forces, that school has a First Amendment right to protest by blocking access to military recruiters. UC Berkeley's own anti-discrimination policy forbids employers who discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Read More | Similar Protest Last Month At UC Hastings | More Recent Anti-Military Recruiting Coverage
Wed Feb 9 2005
Too Long and Too Painful
Emile Meylan's daughter, Spc. Mariela Mason, was attacked in Kuwait on Dec. 18th while changing a tire on her truck with three other soldiers. A truck driver for Fort Hood's 96th Transportation Company, Mason remains in a coma after being transported to hospitals in Kuwait, Germany, and finally Washington, DC. Two of the other soldiers died and the last has broken legs and lost all the skin on his back, and is in a special hospital in Texas. Meylan, from Livermore, CA, submitted his account to Indybay: "As a parent, I would like other parents to know this, before they even consider to send their kids to this place. But, how do [you] let other people know this, when your own government denounces pacifists as anti-patriotic?" Read more
A Counter-Recruitment Training Seminar was held on Saturday, February 5th, at Chabot College in Hayward. The seminar was sponsored by the Military Out of Our Schools project, Code Pink Hayward, and Students for Social Justice at Chabot College.
Part of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation makes it necessary for school administrators to turn over the names of high school students to the US Military. Students are being recruited through Army interactive vans which visit campuses and introduce students to simulated war games. Many recruiting techniques disproportionately target low-income and minority communities. The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and its student group Military Out of Our Schools will present alternative possibilities to joining the military in a seminar that is geared towards parents, grandparents, and interested students.
Flyer | Directions to the Campus | Rethinking Schools Article: No Child Left Unrecruited | Antiwar.com Story: Protesters chase recruiters off campus in Seattle | Past Indybay Coverage of Anti-War Movements
Part of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation makes it necessary for school administrators to turn over the names of high school students to the US Military. Students are being recruited through Army interactive vans which visit campuses and introduce students to simulated war games. Many recruiting techniques disproportionately target low-income and minority communities. The Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors and its student group Military Out of Our Schools will present alternative possibilities to joining the military in a seminar that is geared towards parents, grandparents, and interested students.
Flyer | Directions to the Campus | Rethinking Schools Article: No Child Left Unrecruited | Antiwar.com Story: Protesters chase recruiters off campus in Seattle | Past Indybay Coverage of Anti-War Movements
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