Feature Archives

Fault Lines and Indybay present an evening of anti-gentrification entertainment and education. The evening will include a free screening of the documentary film "Boom: The Sound of Eviction" and a discussion with "Boom" director A. Mark Liiv, Lupe Arreola from St. Peter's Housing Committee, and members of the Defend Bayview Hunter's Point coalition. This event will begin at 8pm on Wednesday, August 16th at Station 40, 3030 B 16th St

On Saturday, August 12th, there were anti-war marches in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington, DC. The protests demanded an end to the destruction of Lebanon, an end to US aid for Israel, and "money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation." In San Francisco, several thousand protesters gathered in Civic Center at 11am before marching up Market St. around 12:30pm and returning to Civic Center for another rally at 2pm.
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The SF Board of Supervisors will vote on amending medical cannabis dispensary legislation on Tuesday, August 8th at 2pm. San Francisco recently passed medical cannabis collective (or "dispensary") regulations. Since then, the first collective to undergo the permitting process has been denied at several hearings. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) fears this may be the start of a trend that would ultimately lead to the loss of dispensaries and, by extension, less safe access for the 12,000 patients who are the clients of the 30-40 dispensaries that operate in the city. The meeting will be held in the Legislative Chamber on the Second Floor of SF City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place.

Independent journalist Josh Wolf was taken into custody on Tuesday, August 1st at a hearing in San Francisco. He was charged with civil contempt and has been jailed until further notice without being convicted of a crime, because he refused to testify or turn over unpublished video to a Federal Grand Jury that is investigating a July, 2005 anti-G8 demonstration. Josh is being held at FCI Dublin, and can receive mail and books there. A resolution is currently before the SF Board of Supervisors, aimed at resisting the federal government's intervention in the local investigation of the G-8 protest and expressing support for the California Shield Law. People are being asked to call the supervisors to encourage them to vote in favor of the resolution and to express their support for Josh.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's popularity in the UK was already low due to the war in Iraq, but his latest stand with Bush against a ceasefire in Lebanon has caused him to come under more fire than ever before from within his own Labour Party. After meeting with Bush in DC on July 28th, Blair is vacationing in California. He arrived in San Francisco on Friday July 29th, and attended a party with George Shultz Saturday night. He toured the Delancey Street Foundation Sunday morning with Mayor Newsom before heading down to Monterey to attend a party hosted by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch at the Pebble Beach resort. Blair was again in South San Francisco Monday meeting with biotech CEOs at Genentech before he headed to LA for a meeting with Schwarzenegger.

On July 27th, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee held a protest against the war in Lebanon in front of Senator Feinstein’s Office in San Francisco. After a spirited rally, hundreds marched to the SF Chronicle building, where 8 activists were arrested
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | Fact sheet and flier

An international conference in Rome held Wednesday July 26th ended without a call for a ceasefire. Condoleezza Rice stood virtually alone in opposing any language suggesting that the Israeli onslaught, which has already caused close to 500 civilian deaths and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure, should be ended any time soon. Also on Wednesday, the US blocked theU.N. Security Council from issuing a statement that would have condemned the Israeli bombing of a UN compound in Southern Lebanon.

Members of The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 2 staged a siege, a temporary picket line, on Friday, July 21st, in front of the Hilton Hotel on O'Farrell Street to highlight the fact that the Union's contract with the hotel expired on August 14, 2004. Photos The hotel workers held a march on Thursday, July 27th, at 4:15pm, starting at Union Square. Photos Negotiations with the Multi-Employer Group have started up again. Each UniteHERE local is bargaining for its own contract -- but they strategize together and in that way are trying to offset some of the oligopolistic power of the hotels' Multi-Employer Group.