Feature Archives

On Saturday, January 10th there were nationwide protests against the atrocities and occupation perpetrated by the Israeli government in Gaza. The San Francisco protest started in Civic Center at 11am and then thousands of protesters marched through the downtown. More then 850 people have died and thousands have been wounded in Israel's attacks on Gaza. 1.6 million Gazans are living without access to basic services and face constant Israeli attacks in one of the most densely populated areas of the world. On January 8th, the UN accused Israel of purposefully killing its aid workers. The UN has also reported that Israeli troops ordered Palestinian civilians into a house in Gaza City, and then shelled the building 24 hours later. The ICRC has also accused Israel of restricting access to thousands of wounded civilians, including several young children who the Red Cross found living for several days among the corpses of over a dozen dead relatives.

United Brotherhood of Carpenters UBC San Francisco Local 22 rank and file members are protesting discrimination and the lack of enforcement of residency hiring agreements. Rank and file carpenters are charging that Bobby Alvarado the head of the Northern California District Council of Carpenters is hiring business agents who have never worked as carpenters and also that these business agents are not enforcing existing contracts and allowing discrimination. Problems facing carpenters have increased as a result of the growing mass unemployment in the construction industry.

Protests against the attacks on Gaza have been taking place around the Bay Area and across California. On December 28th, a San Francisco protest took place at Powell and Market at noon. On December 29th, there was a protest at Feinstein's office and hundreds of protesters took over the intersection of Montgomery and Market to protest the Gaza massacre. There was also a protest Monday in San Mateo. On December 30th, as part of a National Day of Action, there were demonstrations at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco and in downtown Sacramento. On Friday, January 2nd, protesters gathered at Powell and Market at 2:30pm and marched to the Israeli consulate.

The insurrection in Greece has entered its second week with increasing numbers of occupations of high schools, universities, government buildings, and TV and radio stations. Municipalities have declared autonomy and workers have taken over trade union offices, critiquing union bureaucrats across the country.

There was a solidarity march and general assembly in San Francisco on Saturday, December 20th. Protesters marched to New College, the Mission Police station and then up Market to Powell Street. The protest ended in Union Square. There were 5 arrests as police in riot gear moved in after protesters entered the Westfield Shopping Center.

On December 4th, over a hundred San Francisco school bus drivers who are members of United Transportation Union (UTU) 1741 picketed and protested the illegal firings and union-busting tactics by Scottish-owned First Student. The company, which recently purchased Laidlaw, is in a war to bust the union by firing bus drivers in violation of their contract and for incidents that have nothing to do with their driving record.

Valerie Paget and Tracie Jones, a Pasedena couple affected by the passage of Proposition 8, are on a march through California to demonstrate their conviction that the California Supreme Court should revoke Prop 8. They are marching from West Hollywood Park to the California Supreme Court in San Francisco. In coordination with Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign, they will deliver a petition to revoke Prop 8 that has been signed by over 250,000 people.

On Tuesday, December 9th, anti-apartheid and human-right activists gathered to protest an AIPAC benefit at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco.