Feature Archives

On March 21st, Congress approved legislation designed to extend health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and crack down on some insurance company abuses. Members of Direct Action for Single Payer, who continue to push for a system where everyone in America would receive comprehensive medical benefits under a government run organization, pointed out that the bill falls far short of addressing some of the worst abuses of the insurance company industry. They protested inside the building at Anthem Blue Cross offices in San Francisco just days before the legislation passed.

Chapter four of this series is Peter M’s profile of Oakland's Favianna Rodriguez. By any measure she is a successful poster artist, businesswoman and organizer. She organizes other progressive artists into projects, such as the mural that went up last year on the side of the Oakland Museum. She is a role model for up-and-coming Latina artists, proving in her life that sí se puede — yes it can be done.

The Diversity Center in Old Branciforte proudly hosted the art of Julia Elizabeth Lonergan, a local artist-activist-writer, called "Mexico-California in Pictures". The show has 12 Sufi, Saints, Native American Indians, and a Welch princess all protecting Capitola's Magnolia Rose Hotel. The show, which ran through March, features Lonergan & A. Guerioli's new book, The Haunting of Mission Santa Cruz, Mexico, 1708 to 1876, which deals with the California "land grabs" by a group of Radical Puritans and the real history of Santa Cruz and Branciforte when it was Mexico.

The Resource Center for Nonviolence, la Liga de la Comunidad, the ACLU of Santa Cruz, and other local organizations will host a special screening of the new documentary film, "The 800 Mile Wall," on Friday, February 26, at 7pm at the First Congregational Church in Santa Cruz; at 7pm on Saturday at the Lutheran Community Church in Watsonville; and, at 2pm on Sunday at the Peace Resource Center in Seaside. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s director, John Carlos Frey and the film’s producer, Jack Lorenz.

"The 800 Mile Wall" highlights the construction of the new border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and the lethal effects on migrants trying to cross into the United States. Migrant deaths have soared since enforcement and security measures were implemented by the U.S. beginning with Operation Gatekeeper in 1994.

Four of the nation's biggest banks — Bank of America, Citibank, Chase and Wells Fargo — are ruining the American economy, say activists who are taking to the streets this month to urge bank customers to "break up that affair with your big bank." In the San Francisco Bay Area members of the Raging Grannies launched a culture jamming action at banks in three cities to give the message some "real teeth".

On February 20, 2010 – The Israel Ballet’s recent performance of Don Quixote was protested by a coalition of activists who sought to highlight the troupe’s role in the Israeli government’s attempt to whitewash its record of war crimes, violations of international law, and other atrocities through promotion of its country’s artistic and cultural workers. Only two days prior, activists in Burlington, VT succeeded in disrupting the Israel Ballet’s actual performance with a banner saying "No tutu is big enough to cover Israel's War Crimes".

On January 12, 2010, two banners were strategically placed on the UC Davis main library, reclaiming public space as well as "announcing Happy New Year to the administrators who hoped we would disappear," according to an article posted to Indybay. The banners read “We are the crisis” and “Our education, our workplace, our university.”