Feature Archives

"8 Days of Anarchy" began on Tuesday, March 14th, and included several San Francisco events organized by people from various Bay Area anarchist communities.

The 8th Annual Anarchist Cafe took place on Friday, March 17th, from 6:00 to midnight in San Francisco. The drug and alcohol-free evening had a kids' space, live performers, and a vegan dinner from 6pm to 9pm. The event was a benefit Critical Resistance New Orleans. CRNO's office was destroyed in last fall's hurricanes. The Builders Solidarity Network also benefitted from this event.

The 11th Annual San Francisco Anarchist Bookfair took place on Saturday, March 18th. Speakers included Katya Komisaruk, Bo Brown, Ward Churchill, Chaz Bufe, Michelle Tea, and others. This year, for the first time ever, there was a families/kids space at the anarchist bookfair. There was also drop-in childcare from 11am to 1pm. Indybay had an outreach table at the Bookfair, with t-shirts, and more.

Coverage of the 10th annual Bookfair | Coverage of Anarchy Week 2005

Masters, Mates, and Pilots and the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific (IBU) will hold a 4pm rally on Wednesday, March 1st in front of the San Francisco Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street on the Embarcadero. They will be joined by the ILWU Drill team, members of Locals 10, 34, 6, Teamsters, the Sailors Union of the Pacific, the SF Labor Council, and other supporters.

Workers will be protesting the National Parks Service’s (NPS) illegal and union-busting bidding process for their controversial new contract for the Alcatraz Ferry service with the anti-union company Hornblower Yachts, Inc. The Service Contract Act (SCA) of 1965 is a federal law that requires contractors that provide services to the government to pay prevailing wages and benefits, or what the previous contractor paid. Ignoring the law, the NPS awarded the contract to Hornblower, a non-union company. The NPS has argued that the law doesn’t apply to them. On January 6th, the Department of Labor issued a preliminary determination that the law does apply to them and the Alcatraz Ferry Contract, and asked for a response within 21 days if they disagreed. To date no response has been received. Read more

IBU | ILWU

On March 7th, there will be a hearing before the Redevelopment Authority, which will seal the fate of Bayview Hunter's Point. A Rally and Press Conference will take place outside of City Hall before the meeting, at 3:00pm. 1 | 2. The meeting will take place in City Hall, Room 416, at 4:00pm. At issue will be a proposed amendment to the Redevelopment plan, in which some 1,360 acres of new land would be designated ‘Project Area B’ and added to the existing 137-acre Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area. A map of the proposal shows early the entire neighborhood as the proposed Project Area B, dwarfing the existing project area, which covers much of Hunters Point Hill. The proposed “amendment” stretches from Cesar Chavez Street south to the county line and from Highway 101 east to San Francisco Bay. Willie Ratcliff explains that March 7th could be an eviction date for the residents of Bayview Hunters Point. Many people have been saying for years that the Bayview would be the new Fillmore (where housing projects were torn down and poor people of color were evicted in favor of a "new" arts district). The Bayview/Hunters Point has beautiful views and is considered to have the most sunshine in the City.

Although San Francisco appears to be a progressive city, classism and racism are alive and well, as the poor, working-class, and people of color are pushed out of the city by Ellis Act evictions for TICs for the upper middle class and Redevelopment Authority's "negro removal," as it was called by black activists in the 60s. Ratcliff writes that the "Redevelopment" of this neighborhood must be the largest land grab outside of post-Katrina New Orleans. 2006 is the 40 year anniversary of the Hunters Point uprising, when tanks rolled up and down Third Street, and the SFPD lined up like a firing squad and shot their rifles into the Bayview Opera House where children had taken refuge. Less than a month later, in October 1966, the Black Panther Party was born.

Eviction notice served on Bayview Hunters Point, by Willie Ratcliff | Tommi Avicolli Mecca | Photos from 2005 Toxics Tour of Southeast SF

Fernando Suarez del Solar, Pablo Paredes, Camilo Mejia, and Aidan Delgado are leading a "coalition of the willing" on a 241-mile quest for peace. They started in Tijuana, Mexico on March 12th, went through Marine Corps Depot Camp Pendleton to the Cesar Chavez burial site in La Paz, CA (on March 22nd), and will end at Dolores Park in the Mission district of San Francisco with a 5pm culmination ceremony on March 27th. Read about more local events on Indybay's Anti-War News Page

Organizers say, "Latinos represent nearly 15% of the US population and 11% of the US military, with many serving in combat or hazardous duty occupations. In addition, an estimated 20% of the fallen service members in the early months of the invasion were Latino. With the continued growth of the Latino population and its vital importance to the future of this country, it is time the Latino community become an active and vocal part of the 60%+ of US citizens that oppose this War. It is also time to show the Latino community that they have a voice and a right to fight for peace and stability. We make this call not only to the Latino population but to all those who agree with our message 'No more bloodshed in Iraq'."

Past coverage of Pablo, Camilo, and Aidan | Guerrero Azteca Project | Read more anti-war news

On February 25th, there will be a Counter Recruitment Presenters Mobilization in San Francisco. This training/organizing event will be aimed at youth-to-youth presentation teams, veterans and non-veteran classroom presenters, and anyone else who wants to learn, share, and support counter recruitment efforts. The military recruits in most Bay Area high schools. The event will take place from 2-5pm in the War Veterans Memorial Building, Room 219, at 401 Van Ness, in San Francisco.

This event is being co-sponsored by Veterans for Peace and Alternatives to War Through Education/ Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors

Over 2000 people are reported to have converged on San Francisco's Parc 55 hotel on February 15th to kick off a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the status of hotel workers. Photos | Video 8000 San Francisco hotel workers have been without a contract since 2004, and faced a holiday lockout that year. Speakers at the San Francisco kickoff event included Senator John Edwards, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and the United Farmworkers President Arturo Rodriguez. Hotel Workers Rising is a new campaign to raise awareness and build support as hotel workers seek to improve their jobs and secure better lives for themselves and their families. Events were held the same week in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston.

Indybay's Previous Coverage of the Hotel Workers | Unite Here website | Local 2 website | Hotel Workers Rising Website

Mesha Monge-Irizarry of the Idriss Stelley Foundation (ISF) initiated organizing of "BANG4CHANGE 2006." Bang4Change, a Human and Civil Rights Revival Fest that was held on Saturday, February 25th, from 12pm to 5:00pm at San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza. Report | Photos The event was dedicated to poor youth of color, their families, teachers and elders. Organizers planned to educate the community about human and civil rights violations affecting their present and future. They also wanted to lay out clear demands and concrete solutions at local and national governments, as well as the street level. They believed that "endorsements from Concerned Community Members and Progressive City and State Government Officials yearning and Banging 4 Change will bring thousands."

The event included music, spoken word, a "revolution fashion show," speakers, an ethnic market, and a Bang4Change art exhibit. Pam Pam "The Imposing Figure," who is the director of the SF Peacemakers, was the MC, and the event was broadcast on KPOO and KPFA radio. The ISF also plans to "Take the Show on the Road" to other counties, and states. Read more

Idriss Stelley Foundation website | Bang4Change yahoogroup | ISF yahoogroup