Feature Archives

Lakota Elder Madonna Thunder Hawk spoke in San Francisco on Tuesday, May 30th at 6:30pm, at New College of California. Flyer She is a veteran of every modern Native American struggle, from the occupation of Alcatraz to the siege of Wounded Knee. She is a long-time community organizer with a range of experience in Indian rights protection, cultural preservation, economic development and environmental justice. Audio interview with Madonna Thunder Hawk and Elizabeth Creeley of BACORR

Madonna Thunder Hawk addressed ongoing efforts in South Dakota to secure women's reproductive rights. BACORR says that her work serves as an inspiring model for committed reproductive rights,justice activists in the aftermath of South Dakota's disastrous decision to ban abortion and in the face of ongoing attacks on ourselves, our rights, and our bodies.

Event sponsors: New College of California's Activism and Social Change MA Program | Bay Area Coalition on Reproductive Rights

"Not Enough Space" is a traveling art exhibition commemorating 25 years of political imprisonment of Puerto Rican Political Prisoners Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar López Rivera.

The Opening Reception for "Not Enough Space" will be held on Friday, May 19th from 6pm to 10pm at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Gallery (2868 Mission Street in San Francisco). The event will include special guest José E. López, the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (Chicago), who is also the brother of Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera. The John Santos Quintet will perform. Authentic Puerto Rican Hors D'oeuvres will be served.

The exhibit will be in San Francisco until June 16th. A Closing Cultural Event will take place on Sunday, June 11th from 4pm-8pm, with music and dance by Rico Pabón, Son Borikua, and Cacique y Kongo. In following months, the exhibit will travel to places such as Michoacan, Mexico, New York City, and Vieques.

Mission cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) | National Boricua Human Rights Network | Not Enough Space Catalog | Puerto Rican Cultural Center of Chicago | John Santos | List of Political Prisoners Held in the US

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

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

May 1st Coalition for Immigrant Rights held an emergency march and rally on Wednesday, May 17th. The rally was part of a national day of action to demand Full Rights for All Immigrants. The San Francisco protest was held at 5:00pm at UN Plaza. Photos

The ANSWER Coalition called for protests to be held on May 16th and 17th in response to Bush's May 15th speech. The national demonstrations, were held in cities such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, DC, and demanded: immediate legalization for all undocumented workers, no criminalizing of people, the demilitarization of the borders, and civil rights and civil liberties for all.

A clean power rally was held on Monday, May 15th at 12:00pm outside of San Francisco City Hall. The city and county is on the verge of building the largest municipal clean energy network in the world. Every home in the city would be powered by safe, renewable energy. Greenpeace and the Community Energy Alliance gathered to show Mayor Newsom that they support clean power.

In 2001 San Franciscans voted to support a ballot initiative that allows the city to build the largest municipal solar system in the world. Five years later, the city has yet to install a single solar panel as part of the program. This plan, if it is approved, will pool the buying power of San Francisco’s electricity customers to build the largest municipal clean energy network in the world. Proponents believe that clean energy would help to clear the air, create jobs, stabilize energy prices, curb global warming, and break PG&E’s grip on ratepayers. Read more

Community Choice Energy

The people of Bayview Hunters Point are opposed to the Redevelopment Plan that would raze their homes and kick them off of the land on which they reside. Many of the 30,000 residents are deeply rooted, refuse to be moved, and want to develop their neighborhood themselves and determine their own destiny. 91% of the people who live in the neighborhood are people of color, wihch makes BVHP San Francisco's Black heartland. Corporate interests involved in redevelopment of the area would exile moderate- to low- income citizens and progressives who don’t cast conservative votes, replacing them with whiter, wealthier taxpayers who vote for money-generating initiatives.

The San Francisco Bay View is encouraging people to flood the Supervisors' phone lines with calls telling them to vote NO on the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan - or, at the least, to table it or refer it back to Redevelopment. Supervisors Daly and Mirkarimi voted NO on the Plan in the Supervisors' Finance Committee. Organizers packed the steps of SF City Hall on Tuesday, May 9th, for a rally, and to went upstairs at 2:00 for the Board of Supes meeting. While many hoped that the Supervisors would reject Redevelopment’s Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Plan, it was instead postponed and will come back up for a vote on May 16th.

The heavily polluted Parcel A in Hunters Point has still not been cleaned up, although plans were made months ago to put 1600 homes on that site. Read more Local residents and environmental justice activists are also concerned that there are no plans for cleanup at the site of the Bayview PG&E plant that will be closed soon.

Faultines Article: Black Out: The City-Sponsored Gentrification of Bayview Hunters Point | SF Bay View | SF Board of Supervisors

The long fight by Bayview Hunters Point residents, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, and allies to close the "dirty, outdated, and unnecessary" PG&E Hunters Point power plant is over, as state and PG&E officials have confirmed that the plant has stopped generating electricity. Residents have also confirmed that the stacks that emitted unacceptable levels of pollution for decades are now quiet and are not in operation.

Julie Gill of the California Independent Systems Operator, the state agency in charge of the power grid, and Robert Harris, PG&E Vice President for Environmental Affairs, have both confirmed to Greenaction that the plant is no longer generating electricity. The plant will officially close when the “Reliability Must Run” contract is terminated by the Cal ISO on May 15th. As one of California’s dirtiest and oldest power plants, it had polluted the community for over 77 years. The closure is seen as a victory by people who have conducted years of protests, including direct actions at the plant. Marie Harrison, a community organizer with Greenaction, says that new struggles must be waged to encourage industry and government organizations to support cleaner, renewable energy.

On Friday, May 12, the Huntersview Mothers Committee and Greenaction celebrated the shutdown of the PG&E plant. Photos

see also: Black Out: The City Sponsored Gentrification of Bayview Hunters Point

Indybay's Past Coverage of the struggle to close the power plant | Greenaction