Feature Archives

In Fault Lines #21, Chris Avilla writes....

On April 19, City College of San Francisco celebrated Earth Day by showcasing alternative fuel and electrically powered vehicles on the school’s Ram Plaza. Among the line-up of vehicles was a biodesiel 1974 El Camino Super Sport that some fellow CCSF students and I built in the school's Automotive Department. The EPA saw what we did with the El Camino and decided to give the garage a $200,000 biodiesel grant. In the end the grant money was put in the pockets of the administrators, with a small portion to go toward a biodiesel workshop that CCSF students are not allowed to attend.

In Fault Lines #21, Rubble writes:

On February 15, 2007, three years after its demise, San Francisco Liberation Radio’s (SFLR) case against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finally reached the Ninth Circuit Court. This was the station’s third appearance in court, and it unfortunately reached the same conclusion as the previous two: a decision overwhelmingly in favor of the FCC. A victory would have done nothing in regard to the station’s ability to broadcast, but would have made it more difficult for the FCC to raid and shut down unlicensed microradio stations.

San Francisco LGBT Pride Weekend was June 22nd through June 24th. Some 10,000 people poured into the streets to take place in the City's fourth annual Trans March. Tens of thousands of women and their friends spent Saturday afternoon in Dolores Park, enjoying music and speakers, before the San Francisco Dyke March, which led to Pink Saturday in the Castro. SF Pride continued on Sunday with a March down Market Street, and a Celebration in the Civic Center area.

Two Iraqi trade union leaders on a speaking tour of the United States called for rejection of the new oil law being considered in the Iraqi parliament. The law was secretly written in Houston in favor of the U.S. oil companies long before it was ever seen by any member of the Iraqi parliament. If passed, the new oil law would effectively turn over all new oil fields to the control of foreign oil companies. Speaking before an enthusiastic audience of approximately 125 people in the Laborers Hall in San Jose on Sunday, June 10, the two Iraqi trade union leaders from Basra agreed that the U.S. occupation must end. Both leaders clearly indicated that the U.S. occupation itself creates sectarian violence and reduces security.

LaborFest 2007 will take place in cities around the Bay Area from July 5th through July 31st. LaborFest celebrates the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film, and arts festival. It begins every year on July 5th, which is the anniversary of the 1934 “Bloody Thursday” event, when two San Francisco maritime workers were killed by a police attack on strikers and their supporters, leading to a general strike that shut San Francisco down.

On Saturday June 9th, a delegation from the Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange arrived in San Francisco. They were met upon their arrival by many U.S. supporters including members of Veterans for Peace and members of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign. The delegation spoke at the Veteran's Building in San Francisco on June 10th.

On Friday June 8, 2007, there was a critical mass-style bicycle ride with an anti-G8 theme which initially gathered at Justin Herman plaza, and then proceeded along the Embarcadero, Columbus Avenue, Market Street, Valencia St., and ended at Dolores Park. Everything proceeded peacefully, but there was a large police presence the entire time.