Feature Archives

The City of Emeryville will host a community meeting on Saturday June 3rd, 2006 at 10:00am at the Recreation Center at 43rd and San Pablo across the street from the Arizmendi Bakery. The last item on the agenda is discussion of Starbucks coming to the plaza at 43rd and San Pablo. Emeryville residents are encouraged to go sign up and voice their opinions.

The City of Emeryville is reportedly planning to place a Starbucks at 43rd and San Pablo, across the plaza from the worker-owned Arizmendi Bakery. (This in spite of the fact that there is a Starbucks some three blocks away, at 3839 Emery St.) Several years ago when the plaza was built, the city agreed under overwhelming citizen pressure to reserve the spaces in the plaza for non-corporate locally owned businesses. This is how Arizmendi, a worker-owned cooperative, came to be there. The city is apparently planning to go back on that promise and bring a Starbucks in. A post to Indybay says that the City Council will be meeting in a closed session on June 6th to approve the plan.

Emeryville and East Bay residents and supporters of worker-owned businesses are encouraged to contact Emeryville City Council members and register their opposition to the Starbucks and to the way it is being approved. If the Council feels enough pressure, it could delay the decision, or even cancel the new store. Read more
Arizmendi Bakery in Emeryville | Emeryville City Council webpage | Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC)

The 2nd Annual Bay Area Anarchist Music Festival took place on Friday, May 19th at the Edinburgh Castle (950 Geary St. at Larkin) in San Francisco, from 10pm onward. The event was a benefit for the Kate Sharpley Library (KSL). Performers included Emcee Lynx, Drowning Dog & Malatesta, and Nate Mezmer. Barry Pateman from the KSL spoke.

The Kate Sharpley Library was named in honor of Kate Sharpley, a World War I anarchist and anti-war activist, one of the countless "unknown" members of the movement who have been ignored by "official historians" of anarchism. The Library was founded in South London in 1979. The KSL has over 10,000 English language books, pamphlets and periodicals on anarchism, as well as posters, leaflets, manuscripts, letters, and internal records, and material in 20 additional languages. It regularly publishes new research on lost areas of anarchist history as well as historically important documents from the past. Read more about the event

Edinburgh Castle Pub | Entartete Kunst

On April 11th, a crowd of 200 gathered at UCB to support a" sweat-free UC". Condeming the University's use of sweat shop labor in the production of collegiate apparel, and promoting United Students Against Sweatshops' designated supplier program, students staged a "Naked Truth" rally and sit in that resulted in 18 arrests and more verbal volley from University administration

Students were disturbed that their legal observer, a member of the National Lawyer's Guild, was removed by police at the beginning of the sit in while the University's legal advisor was allowed to stay on for the duration of the event. The sit in ended in 18 arrests for "trespassing and refusing to leave" after aproximately 2 and a half hours of proposals and demands.
Read More | Photos | USAS action alert | United Students Against Sweatshops

Previous Anti-Sweatshop Coverage: UC Sweat-Free Coalition Crashes UC Office of the President | Students Strip for Sweat-Free UC |UCSC students fight for sweatshop free apparel | Creative Activism Raises Issues at Denton's Investiture Friday | Students and Workers Demand a Sweat-Free UC

Yet another Federal Grand Jury targeting local activists has been convened. The apparent reason is to investigate the anti-G8 protest held in the Mission District on July 8, 2005, during which a local police officer was injured. Independent journalist Josh Wolf, a frequent poster to Indybay, has been subpoenaed to provide his unedited videotape of the demonstration. June 15th update: Josh refused to testify or provide video evidence to the federal grand jury. Instead of being held in contempt, he was told by the prosecutor that he was free to go. Photos & Video

Students from UCSD, UCR, UCSB, UCSC, UCB and UCD crashed UCOP to meet President Dynes in person and demand an end to the use of sweatshops to produce UC apparel and uniforms. Students occupied the president's hallways for one hour. They were promised a meeting with Dynes and then later chose to leave the building once they were satisfied. Read more and view photos

see also: Students Strip for Sweat-Free UC || UCSC students fight for sweatshop free apparel || Creative Activism Raises Issues at Denton's Investiture Friday || Students and Workers Demand a Sweat-Free UC

"8 Days of Anarchy" began on Tuesday, March 14th with a discussion, "What will Anarchy look like?" at the Long Haul in Berkeley. That week included a (day two) San Francisco screening of the classic comedy 'Can Dialectics Break Bricks?', an evening of strategic food and Kriegspiel (day four), and the BASTARD conference (Berkeley Anarchist Students of Theory And Research and Development Conference) on day six. The conference will be held on Sunday March 19th, from 10am to 5pm at UC Berkeley's Dwinelle Hall. Read more about 8 Days of Anarchy

The 8th Annual Anarchist Cafe took place on Friday, March 17th.

The 11th Annual San Francisco Anarchist Bookfair took place on Saturday, March 18th ( Photos ). Speakers included Katya Komisaruk, Bo Brown, Ward Churchill, Chaz Bufe, Michelle Tea, and others.

Coverage of the 10th annual Bookfair | Coverage of Anarchy Week 2005

Stripping down to their skivvies, students at UC schools protested sweatshop-made UC collegiate apparel. Bearing the slogan: “We tried to find sweat-free clothes in our bookstore and this is what we came out with” (i.e. nothing), students highlighted the widespread practice of producing collegiate apparel in factories with poor labor standards.

A few dozen spirited students turned out at UC Santa Cruz ( Photos: 1 | 2, Audio), more than 50 at Berkeley and another 50 at San Diego ( SDIMC Story, Photos, Videos). Protests were reportedly held at Santa Barbara, Irvine and Riverside as well. Regardless of the school, few clothes were to be seen.

Read more of this story on Santa Cruz Indymedia