Feature Archives

On Friday, January 25th at 12pm, Bay Area military veterans, peace and justice activists, Raging Grannies, and military families convened outside the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco (580 California Street) for a vigil and press conference leading up to a 1pm delegation. The delegation presented consulate officials with thousands of letters signed by people in United States in support of sanctuary for U.S. war resisters in Canada as part of Courage to Resist's "Dear Canada: Let Them Stay" campaign. Similar delegations took place Friday at consulates in Washington DC, LA, NYC, Dallas, Seattle, and Minneapolis.

Emergency protests across the US against the strangulation of Gaza were called for Friday January 25th. A San Francisco protest took place on at the Israeli Consulate from 4-5 PM.

On January 23rd, masked militants destroyed around two-thirds of the wall separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Tens of thousands of Palestinians flooded across the border to buy food and supplies. On January 25, Egyptian border guards formed human chains along the border, but were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence.

On Saturday, January 19th, the San Francisco Tenants Union will be holding a "Save Rent Control Convention" from 1:00-4:00pm to raise awareness and organize against an anti-rent control ballot measure that recently qualified for the June 2008 elections. The measure, which purports to be about reforming eminent domain, will abolish rent control in California, erode environmental protections, negatively affect local land-use planning, and stop future water projects.

On Saturday, January 19, the San Francisco Tenants Union will be holding a "Save Rent Control Convention" to raise awareness and organize against an anti-rent control ballot measure that recently qualified for the June 2008 election. The measure, which purports to be about reforming eminent domain, will abolish rent control in California, erode environmental protections, negatively affect local land-use planning, and stop future water projects.

Anti-war organizers in the Bay Area have resurrected Direct Action to Stop the War. The next meeting of DASW will be on Sunday, January 20th at 4pm at the La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck (near Ashby BART) in Berkeley. DASW is organizing actions related to convincing presidential candidates to take a stand against the war during the 2008 presidential campaign, and to exposing companies such as Chevron that profit from the US-led war and occupation in Iraq. Several affinity groups have joined in the organizing, and many more are likely to join in the months between now and the anniversary of the beginning of the war.

Friday January 11th 2008, was the six year anniversary of when the first hooded, shackled men were brought to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, Cuba. On Friday night, Bay Area activists staged a solemn candlelight march through downtown San Francisco to demand that the U.S. government shut down the detention camp, end indefinite detention, stop waterboarding and all other forms of torture, and repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

On January 9th, three San Francisco Medical Cannabis Dispensaries received provisional permits from the City‘s Health Department. Divinity Tree, Compassion and Care Center, and Market Street Cooperative (aka Act-Up) have just a few more steps to go through until they will receive their operating permits. Many dispensaries are attempting to complete the permitting process, as San Francisco law requires permits by March 1st, 2008. On Thursday Jan. 10th a land use hearing for CannaMed Care Center (CMC) will be held at 1:30pm in City Hall.