Feature Archives

The International Solidarity Movement Support Group in Northern California held its third annual Rachel Corrie Memorial on March 16th. The event took place at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts (formerly the Alice Arts Center) at 1428 Alice Street (cross street 14th) in Oakland, at 7:00pm. Rachel Corrie was a 23-year-old volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement. She was killed by an Israeli soldier while she was nonviolently resisting the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

The Oakland event honored victims of violence everywhere and the unjustly imprisoned. It made connections between various global and domestic issues of social justice, particularly the issue of Palestine. Speakers at the event included Huwaida Arraf, Dolores Huerta, Maria Labossiere, Todd Chretien, Kiilu Nyasha, and Mary Jean Robertson. Performers such as Stephen Kent, Ras K’ Dee, Andrea Prichett, and Dave Welsh graced the stage. More info about the performers

There was a Free Speech Rally and BLR Press Conference on Saturday, March 11th at 2pm at the corner of Telegraph and Haste Streets in Berkeley. Read more

On February 21, 2006, two Federal Communications Commission agents demanded to search a residence in Oakland, California-- they were looking for the Berkeley Liberation Radio station. The occupants refused to allow the F.C.C. to enter the house without a warrant. The F.C.C. retreated, stating they would be back with one.

Berkeley Liberation Radio volunteers say that they feel compelled to continue to stand up and give a platform for the voices in the community and beyond. They say that Bush cannot own the air, and that he is under Citizen's Arrest for his many crimes against humanity. They refuse to be silenced by the Bush regime.

FRSC's recent Interview with Gerald Smith of BLR about the FCC's visit, and some of the history of BLR

A protest rally will be held at Oakland City Hall on Tuesday, March 7th at 4PM. The rally, which was initiated by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee and endorsed by ILWU Local 10, the longshore union, will take place while the City Council is meeting to take a final vote on the settlements in the case of the bloody police attack on April 7, 2003 against anti-war demonstrators and longshore workers at terminal gates in the port.

The attack, in which the police used so-called "non-lethal" weapons, was condemned by the UN Human Rights Commission as one of the most violent acts of government repression. The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee says that it is necessary for all organizations that are concerned about civil liberties, civil rights, trade union rights, and police brutality to mobilize their members to protest this police attack and the government cover-up. Speakers at the rally will include some of the survivors of the police attack and their messages of solidarity. The group says that paying financial settlements to victims of police brutality does not solve the problem of the violation of democratic rights.

A press conference was held on February 21st | TWSC Website | Read Jack Heyman's article "When 'Port Security' Targets Workers"

On Monday morning, February 20th, Hyim Jacob Ross unfolded his camping chair in Splash Pad Park across from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California,. He started a five-day, around the clock one-person vigil and juice fast to oppose the war on Iraq, and for peace and education. The 30-something Bay Area native was on spring break from his elementary school teaching job in Richmond. He said that he felt that while the occasional protest march was important – as a musician, he’s actually performed at few of them – something more had to be done. He said that his actions were a “response to the effect the depletion of economic and social resources the Iraq war is having on our domestic programs and services (especially education and children’s health).” Several of Hyim's students visited him during the week to bring anti-war and peace drawings to post along Grand Ave.

On Wednesday, February 22nd, join Not in Our Name joined him for one of that day's “Witness to Lawbreaking” vigils that had been initiated by MoveOn.org. They said, “Lies, torture, spying? Not in our name!” On Thursday night, fifty people gathered at Grand and Lake Park Avenues to join Hyim Jacob Ross on the final evening of his five-day protest.

Hyim's website | Bay Area NION

A press conference and rally were held at 4:30 PM on Tuesday, February 21st at Oakland City Hall to protest the role of the police, the global shipping companies, and the US government on the attack made on April 7, 2003 against peaceful pickets and longshormen. On April 7th, 2003, Oakland police and the Port of Oakland, in collusion with global shipping companies, attacked peaceful pickets and longshoremen who were standing by as a result of a picket line against the war in Iraq. This police attack with rubber bullets and other weapons injured many demonstrators and longshoremen. The lawsuit for financial damages from the City of Oakland was settled, but rally organizers feel that this does not end the need to expose the reasons for the attack, the egregious violation of protesters' civil liberties and labor rights, and the local government officials and others who supported the attack.

Transport Workers Solidarity Committee |Past Coverage of the Oakland 25 | 3/05 story about Willow Rosenthal

Women in Oakland and Fresno, California, New York City, Rochester and Albany New York, Tucson, Arizona, Lake Worth and Sarasota, Florida, and Montpelier, Vermont headed to their local recruiting offices to try to enlist as a Valentine gift.

A crowd of over 200 people went to an Oakland army recruitment station on Tuesday, February 14th to offer to trade places with young soldiers in Iraq. The crowd, which was made up of mostly elder women, called out that they were there to enlist, so that the young people could come home from the war. This noon-time demonstration was organized by the Bay Area Chapter of Grandmothers for Peace. Passersby were handed small leaflets explaining the womens’ mission. The Oakland recruiting office was dark and the doors locked during the action. A soldier who was guarding the building from down the block said, "The pink ladies come every Wednesday." "They hold up signs of dead people and stay for about a half an hour." Report and photos

Read about the Fresno action on Indybay's Anti-war News Page

Read more about the Raging Grannies and Grandmothers for Peace

Every Saturday in Oakland is "supermarket Saturday," where Oakland Education Association union members and allies go out to major supermarkets in Oakland and spend the day handing out information about their contract. Oakland's teachers have been working for more than a year and a half without a contract. 30% of Oakland's teachers leave the school system every year. This is seen as one of the most significant factors that lead to a destabilized learning environment that drives 73 of 100 African American students out of the Oakland schools before graduation.

The OEA and the district left the negotiating table on January 31st. The OEA could hold a strike vote at its February 21st members meeting if the school district has not offered what the union considers a fair contract with salary increases (in addition to restoration of the 4% of their pay that was cut in 2004) for the teachers. No new talks are currently scheduled, but the teachers have indicated that they do not want to strike. The school district is advertising on Craig's List to try to find replacement teachers (scabs) in the event that the teachers do strike. An OEA official reportedly said, "It would be an unsafe position for parents to send their kids to school in the event of strike." The district replied that it would be safer for kids to be in school where they would be "supervised," although it is unclear how many strikebreakers the district can find to work. 2/1 Report from OUSD's Scab Hiring Hall

Indybay's 1/27 Story About the OEA | OEA website | Oakland Unified School District | Read more news about workers' struggles