Feature Archives

Michael Steinberg writes, "On Saturday the third annual Bicycle Music Festival in San Francisco was kicked out of two sites in Golden Gate Park, and then threatened with expulsion in Dolores Park, before finally partying on pedal power late into the night on the SF waterfront."

Nurses, doctors, and other health care advocates protested in front of the Fairmont Hotel on June 22 to voice objection to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius' visit to San Francisco. In a June 16 interview, Secretary Sebelius vowed that the health care reform legislation now being drafted in Congress would be written specifically to bar single payer, both now and in the future. She instead urged support for a so-called "public option," a government subsidized health care fund that would coexist with private insurance. Sebelius was at the Fairmont as guest speaker for a Democratic fundraiser held by Nancy Pelosi.

On June 19th, Checkpoint 303 performed at the Pork Store in SF. With members from Palestine, Tunisia, and France, Checkpoint 303, is a non-profit activist sound art project launched in 2004 by SC Yosh and SC MoCha. It creates experimental electronic music aimed at raising international awareness about the ongoing injustice and suffering of civilian populations throughout the Middle East. Checkpoint 303's was scheduled to play in SF on Tuesday, June 23rd at the Balazo Gallery and on Wednesday, June 24th at Baobab Village.

On June 5th, Peruvian national police attacked a roadblock near the city of Bagua in northwestern Peru, killing at least sixty people. Several thousand indigenous protesters had been blocking the main road to protest measures the government has taken to sell their ancestral land to energy companies. On June 16th, over 30 people converged outside the Peruvian Consulate in San Francisco to amplify their concerns with the Peruvian and US Government's complacency in protecting indigenous rights.

Carrying on a long-standing tradition of civic contribution and combating corporate greed, the Raging Grannies made an unscheduled appearance at a national aging conference on June 15th in San Francisco. The Grannies took up the conference themes of "creative aging" and "civic engagement" in a performance that included parodies the Grannies wrote themselves. Their skit, "Fight the For-Profits" was an urgent appeal to participants to join the movement against powerful special interests in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and to help pass a single-payer national health care program.

On Wednesday, June 10th, hundreds of people who will be affected by Newsom's budget cuts took to the streets to demand that the Board of Supervisors save front-line services, and take a more balanced approach to the San Francisco budget. The demonstration followed a proposed budget, released by Mayor Newsom, that will terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration.

On June 6th, the 42nd anniversary of Israel's seizure of Gaza, a protest was held at the UN Plaza (7th and Market) at noon, in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Organized by the ANSWER Coalition, organization and individuals came to show support and to demand an to end the siege of Gaza.