Feature Archives

Monday October 27th was the first day of a landmark jury trial against Chevron in San Francisco. A protest took place Monday afternoon at the Chevron gas station at the corner of 9th and Howard in San Francisco in solidarity with Nigerian plaintiffs who were in Federal court nearby. Chevron has been charged with gross human rights abuses associated with its oil production activities in Nigeria. The lawsuits are based on a 1998 incident in which Nigerian soldiers shot nonviolent protesters at Chevron’s Parabe offshore platform.

On October 18th, both exterior surveillance cameras at the McDonald's on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz were stolen. A post to Santa Cruz Indymedia says the action was a follow-up to a similar event in August and also states that, "McDonalds is a major sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics which are flooding the city of Vancouver with increased surveillance and police presence."

On October 17th, Naomi Klein spoke at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz about her new book: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world -- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.

On Oct. 19-22, the Mortgage Bankers Association, a group which represents the real estate finance industry, will be holding their annual convention at San Francisco's Moscone West. Featured speakers include the chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two companies that have been at the center of the financial crisis. There will be protests on Sun., Oct. 19 during the convention's opening ceremony and on Mon., Oct. 20 during its opening general session.

Neoliberalism is the economic view that emphasizes the importance of economic growth and asserts that social justice is best maintained by free market forces with minimal government interference. Author Naomi Klein called it a myth in a speech to over 600 people in a standing room-only auditorium at Stanford University on October 16th. She was rewarded with a standing ovation.

For almost two months, the teachers union in the Mexican state of Morelos rose up against the "Alliance for Quality Education", a neo-liberal plan akin to "No Child Left Behind" that would pave the way to the privatization of education, among other things. They were supported by the people of Morelos in their marches, encampments in public plazas, and blockades of interstate highways. On October 7, 8, and 9, the army and state and federal police were sent in to brutally smash the movement.

Several hundred protesters, mostly students, took to the streets of Tijuana, Mexico October 4 in remembrance of the 1968 massacre of leftist students in Tlatelolco Plaza. At that time hundreds, perhaps thousands of students were killed when troops opened fire on a demonstration protesting the Mexico City Olympics. In Tijuana, the demonstrators chanted “ni perdon, ni olvido” (no forgiveness, no forgetting).