Feature Archives

On May 2nd, immigration agents conducted a large-scale raid at taquerias across San Francisco and the East Bay. Agents arrested about 60 employees at several locations of the El Balazo chain. Some of the workers have been released, but forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets while they await deportation hearings. On Monday May 5th, immigrant rights activists marched on the I.C.E office in San Francisco to protest the raids.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is helping put together the largest Iraq war spending bill yet. The aim appears to be to fund the war for nearly six months into the next president's term to prevent a new Democratic President from having to vote for the war without risking the war actually ending. On April 28th, Code Pink started a peace vigil on the front porch of Pelosi's house in San Francisco to urge her to not give the President another blank check for the occupation of Iraq

Over 600 SFSU students walked out of their classes and blocked traffic May 1st to protest further cuts to California's education system. The students protested a proposed increase to next semester's fee increase, which is an increase of 113 percent since 2002. The proposed increase of student fees are a part of a $14.65 million cut to next year's SFSU budget and part of a larger $4.8 billion budget cut to California's education system. As a result essential services will have to be cut, people will lose their jobs, students will have fewer classes and be forced to pay more for less.

On May Day, there was a Reclaim the Streets action in San Francisco. A little over 100 people participated. The mobile party started in Civic Center and went all the way to Golden Gate Park. There was some confrontation early on while leaving Civic Center. The participants were pushed back onto the sidewalk for about five blocks and then claimed the streets once again.

Direct Action to Stop the War brought its anti-war focus to May Day actions in San Francisco and Oakland on May 1st. Starting at 5:45 a.m. at West Oakland BART, DASW lead a community picket to shut down the Union Pacific rail lines at the Port of Oakland. From 12:30-2:30pm, DASW marched from Justin Herman Plaza to protests at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center (670 Davis St. at Broadway) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (630 Sansome St. at Washington St.). DASW also had a contingent at labor and immigrant rights demonstrations on May Day.

Organizers in cities and towns around the U.S. are hoping to bring back the historical significance of May 1st in international labor and workers' struggles, and to reignite the labor movement by integrating recent undocumented workers' struggle for amnesty. Marches, rallies, and other gatherings on that date will focus on issues such as federal agencies and ending harassment by local police, raids, and the separation of families in immigrant communities; stopping the use of "no-match" letters to intimidate worker organizing efforts; holding elected officials accountable to supporting immigrant rights; funding human needs and services instead of militarism and war; and amnesty for those who do not have current documents.

On Wednesday, April 9th, the Olympic Torch came to San Francisco. The Olympics will be taking place between August 8th and 24th in Beijing, China. Many human rights groups are concerned that China is cracking down on dissidents ahead of the games. Some pro-Tibetan organizations have called for a boycott of the Olympics, and organizations such as Amnesty International are upset with China's involvement in the crises in Darfur and Burma. Thousands of people gathered in an Francisco to either cheer or protest, but few saw the torch as the relay did not go along the announced route and the closing ceremony was cancelled. One torchbearer tried to display a Tibetan flag but the SFPD quickly took the torch from her and pushed her onto the sidewalk.