Feature Archives

Update: 8:58 am Tuesday: a friend of the women writes: "all three of them are on a plane to the US right now - hurray!"

On Monday, August 13th, GABRIELA Network USA (GABNet) held a US-wide vigil in front of Philippine Consular Offices to demand the immediate removal of 3 of its leaders from the Philippine Department of Justice's "hold" list and that they be allowed to return home to the US at once. The San Francisco protest took place at 4pm at the Philippine Consulate located at 447 Sutter St.

A report from a friend of one of the women being held, reported Tuesday morning that they have now been released and "all three of them are on a plane to the US".

Chicken John and Josh Wolf are stepping in to the ring and trying to raise enough money before Friday, August 10th, to run for mayor. Many progressives had been pushing for Matt Gonzalez, Ross Mirkarimi, or Chris Daly to run against Gavin Newsom, who has so far raised $1.6 million for his mayoral campaign.

On August 2nd, there was a memorial die-in in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco to honor Hal Carlstad. Hal died on June 12th. He was a consummate anti-death penalty, anti-war, environmental, and civil rights activist. He was a frequent protester on behalf of People's Park, nuclear disarmament, Cuba, Haiti, Palestine, and El Salvador.

Following Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's refusal to consider the impeachment of George Bush, Cindy Sheehan has announced she plans to challenge Pelosi for her seat in Congress. Sheehan writes, "At the end of this day, Speaker Pelosi has not supported impeachment and has not upheld her oath of office to 'protect and defend' the Constitution... The Middle East is rapidly falling apart under this regime and our country is sliding rapidly into a state of one-branch tyranny while our 'heroes,' the Democrats, fiddle."

On July 24th, ForestEthics was joined by local environmental activists and 'Candace the Caribou' in San Francisco at a lively protest to highlight the devastating effects that catalogs sent by companies such as Crate & Barrel have on Endangered Forests and global warming. This was the fourth in a series of visits Candace is making this summer to U.S. cities, where she has exposed other companies such as J. Crew, Eddie Bauer, JC Penney, and Sears/Lands' End.

On Wednesday July 18th, the US Senate abandoned an effort to impose restrictions on the Bush administration’s conduct of the war in Iraq after losing a procedural vote Wednesday to halt a Republican filibuster. The night before the vote, Bay Area activists with MoveOn.org protested the Republican filibuster.

The SF Day Labor Program is working with the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition and other community allies in organizing a "week of action" to acquire the Kelly-Moore site (Cesar Chavez and Mission) and turn it into low-income housing and a new day laborer center. There will be community rallies from July 9th through the 16th. On July 17th, the Board of Supervisors will hear an appeal for the site.