Feature Archives

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.

On Saturday, December 6th, supporters of death-row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal gathered at Philadelphia City Hall for a protest march through downtown that concluded at the Federal Court Building. International solidarity actions were alsoheld in France, Switzerland, Germany, England, and Mexico, while in the US, events were held in Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Portland, and San Diego.

IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War) performed "Operation First Casualty" throughout downtown San Francisco on Black Friday, interrupting shoppers' routines with a graphic display of the action that they were missing by not being in Iraq. Volunteer "civilians" were detained, cuffed and hooded by the Iraq vets in a graphic reenactment of the US military's occupation of Iraq. Several volunteers were water-boarded. Volunteers pretended to be Iraq citizens suffering under the occupation of U.S. forces.