Feature Archives

Local diva/artist/poet Aya de León is having her annual Alternative Valentine's show, on Tuesday, February 14th at 8pm at the La Peña Cultural Center. Flyer This spoken word and musical event will celebrate "love of self, of spirit, of family and community, of peace, of democracy!" The evening will be hosted by Aya de León, with guests such as members of Kreatibo, Alicia Raquel, Mike Molino, and the band Panama. La Peña will add a 10pm show if the first show sells out far enough in advance. Aya de León married herself in 1996 and has been throwing celebrations of love of self ever since.

La Peña Cultural Center | Aya de León

Ninety-five percent of all eggs in this country are produced by hens in cramped and unhealthy battery cages which are packed into dark and rank warehouses holding up to 125,000 birds each. A significant share of the nation's eggs come from California's Central Valley. Animal advocates are addressing this intensive industry-standard practice in a number of ways and achieving some success. Activists campaigned recently to urge the Trader Joe's grocery chain to stop selling eggs from battery caged hens. As of February 1st, the grocery store no longer carries such eggs. East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) has released a video documenting the squalid condition of egg-laying hens in California. EBAA are encouraging people to see for themselves where their eggs come from and to contact their elected representatives to demand enforcement of a law which makes the conditions created for hens by battery cage confinement illegal. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has filed a lawsuit targeting the tax-breaks that egg producers receive despite the legal violations inherent in their methods.

EBAA Undercover Video · HSUS Lawsuit: 1 | 2 · Trader Joes Campaign: 1 | 2

Three defendents in the 2002 murder of Bay Area transgender teen, Gwen Araujo, were sentenced to prison on Friday, January 27. Michael Magidson and Jose Merel were in the Hayward County Superior Court to be sentenced on their second-degree murder convictions. Jason Cazares was being sentenced to six years in accordance with plea to voluntary manslaughter charges. The sentencing came one day after landmark legislation, the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victim's Act, passed through the California Assembly.

Read the Press Release

Transgender Law Center
AB 1160: The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victim's Act

On Tuesday, Februrary 7th, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and Bay to Gulf Solidarity gathered at the FEMA office in downtown Oakland at 1111 Broadway (at 11th St.). They planned to “evict FEMA” for its failure to provide long term housing for Katrina survivors, and for obstructing residents' right to return to their homes in the Gulf. Photos February 7th was the date on which FEMA was scheduled to cut off the funding that many of the 3300 Katrina evacuees in the Bay Area rely on to pay for temporary housing.

Tuesday’s action was part of a nationwide campaign to support Katrina evacuees’ right to return to their homes in the Gulf, and their right to long-term housing. People in New York, Houston, and Washington, DC also demonstrated on February 7th. Read more

On Monday January 23rd 2006, more than 100 people turned out on short notice to demand a fair contract and to protest Randolph Ward's intimidation tactics. That night AFSME President Morris Tatum announced that his members have pledged that they will support OEA picket lines in the event of a forced strike.

For the past 18 months, there has been a contract dispute between the Oakland Unified School District and the 3,000+ teachers, nurses, psychologists, speech therapists, librarians, counselors and substitutes represented by the Oakland Education Association (OEA). The OEA's main goal in these negotiations has been to stabilize the school district in order to stop the loss of students (down to 41,000) and the chronic turnover of teachers (over 300 last year).

A new offer was made by the OEA to the Oakland Unified School District on December 7th, but was rejected without comment by Randolph Ward (who was appointed by the state). Ward is now placing advertisements in Bay Area newspapers and on sites like Craig's List offering uncredentialed replacement workers $300 per day to be scabs in the case of a strike. This is nearly 3 times as much as substitute teachers normally get paid.

More | Oakland Teachers Will Lose | Oakland Teacher Replies to Tribune Editorial

In an apparent attempt to disrupt the activities of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, seven animal activists now known as the SHAC 7 are set to be tried January 23rd in New Jersey for violating the Federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. The Act punishes anyone who "physically disrupts" an animal enterprise. The charges stem from these activists' alleged participation in an international campaign to close the product testing vivisection labs of Huntingdon Life Sciences. They are alleged to have operated a website that reported on and expressed ideological support for protest activity against Huntingdon and its business affiliates. For this they are charged with "terrorism" and face an aggregate of 23 years in Federal Prison.

Oakland Benefit Wednesday, January 11th: Report & Photos | 1 | 2 · SHAC 7 Events Calendar

Previous Indybay features on Federal persecution of animal activists, including current Grand Jury in SF: 1 | 2 | 3

Older Reports on SHAC Arrests and More: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

The Bay Area Radical Mental Health Collective Support Group holds weekly, peer-led group therapy for radicals each Monday evening in Berkeley. It is a place where people with mental health concerns and their loved ones can talk about their questions with the system. The group begins by 6:30pm on Mondays at the Berkeley Free Clinic.

A Series of Free Skool Classes about mental health will take place on Wednesdays in January from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the Long Haul. On January 11th the topic will be anxiety, panic, and stress; January 18th will cover Being an Ally to People with Mental Distress; on January 25th, the class will discuss relationships- from partnerships to sex, family, and communication.

The Bay Area Radical Mental Health Collective has organized two cafe nights as part of raising funds for a spring Radical Mental Health Conference. On Sundays January 8th and February 12th, there will be Radical Mental Health cafe nights at the Long Haul, with food, discussion, and info about how to get involved. Speakers and films will address self-care (January) and radical love (February).

The Long Haul | Berkeley Free Clinic | More Health and Housing Stories