Feature Archives

On May 12th, Oakland Education Association (OEA) teachers and their supporters protested at the Wells Fargo bank on Broadway and 12th Street to demand that the bank use its wealth to stop the cuts in Oakland schools. Several staged a sit-in inside the bank branch and were arrested. In announcing their action, Oakland Teachers declared: Oakland teachers are sick and tired that our schools suffer while the banks get a bailout, and we're fighting back.

Around the world, workers united on May 1st for International Workers' Day — with marches and rallies. Across Northern California — from Berkeley to San Francisco, from Fresno to Sacramento — thousands of workers and supporters stood up for immigrant and labor rights on May Day 2011. Code Pink and others began an eight-day march from San Francisco to Sacramento to demand a just budget in California.

To protest the continued development of nuclear weapons in the Bay Area and the United States, a demonstration was held at Livermore Nuclear Lab in Livermore on April 22nd. At dawn, an interfaith prayer service was followed by Stations of the Cross. The demonstration ended at the front gate with the mass arrest of approximately two dozen protesters who refused to stop blocking the entrance when ordered to by police.

The San Francisco Labor Council has called for the full support of ILWU Local 10 after it was sued by the Pacific Maritime Association for a "We Are One" solidarity action with Wisconsin workers which shut down the ports in Oakland and San Francisco on April 4, 2011. On April 12th, ILWU members and supporter held a sit-in at the offices of the PMA in Oakland. The first emergency defense meeting to organize for action will take place on Thursday, April 14th.

4/24 updates: Committee to Protect Sogorea Te Responds to Vallejo Times Herald Op-Ed | Day 10: Hundreds attend community gathering at Glen Cove

Despite efforts by Sacred Sites Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes (SSP&RIT) to negotiate a preservation agreement, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District has so far refused to abandon efforts to develop Glen Cove, a sacred Native American burial site also known as Sogorea Te in the Ohlone language. With bulldozing slated to get under way as soon as Friday, April 15th, SSP&RIT has called for an assembly to gather on April 14th at Glen Cove, in preparation for a ceremony to honor the ancestors buried at the site the following morning.

On Monday, April 4th, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, local coalitions participated in nationwide actions to support Wisconsin workers, public services and the middle class. Organizers of the rally at the Santa Cruz County Government Center stated, "Dr. King was killed in Memphis, TN, where he had stood with sanitation workers who were struggling for the right to bargain collectively. The actions by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to eliminate collective bargaining – and the gradual eroding of the American middle class - only undermine that struggle."

Responding to an international call to action, on March 9th activists in Berkeley unfurled a large banner over the highway reading, “Justice for Mehdi Aby Ayyash,” a Palestinian youth killed two years ago by the Israeli military. On March 10th, Palestinian solidarity activists in Chicago replaced street signs that read “Honorary Ben Gurion Way” with “Honorary Mehdi Abu Ayyash Way.” More actions are expected to take place in the coming weeks in different locations around the world.