Feature Archives

On January 9, the general assembly at Occupy Oakland passed a resolution calling on occupies across the country to support a national occupy day in support of prisoners. In the following month, over a dozen communities across the nation followed in planning local demonstrations, including those in Los Angeles, Fresno, and Portland. On February 20, hundreds of demonstrators marched to San Quentin Prison where a rally was held in solidarity with the National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners.

At noon on Monday, October 10th — Indigenous People’s Day — members of the Elem Pomo tribe will march to the offices of millionaire businessman John Nady in Emeryville to demand that he immediately halt his planned desecration of Rattlesnake Island. The Elem Pomo have invited supporters to join the protest and tell Nady that from the Bay Area to Lake County, people will stand up to oppose the desecration of sacred native sites.

On September 17th, over one thousand demonstrators poured into New York City's financial district to confront corporate greed by establishing an ongoing presence, day and night, in lower Manhattan. The idea was to create an American Tahir Square on Wall Street. Police blocked marchers from reaching Wall Street, but hundreds persisted and set up camp in Zuccotti Park, now dubbed Liberty Plaza. In San Francisco, demonstrators likewise called for an occupation of the financial district starting the same day, outside of 555 California Street. The SF occupation is currently located in front of the Federal Reserve building on Market Street, although after midnight on October 6th, SFPD and city workers raided the site and took away the kitchen, tents, and truckloads of other occupier supplies. Several were beaten by SFPD and one was arrested during the raid. Occupations began in San Jose on Oct. 2nd, in Santa Cruz and Sacramento on Oct. 6th, Berkeley on Oct. 8th, Fresno on Oct. 9th, in Oakland on Oct. 10th and one is planned to start in Santa Rosa on Saturday, Oct. 15th.

UPDATE 6/7/11: Bay Trail and Association of Bay Area Governments Suspends $200,000 Grant to GVRD!
On May 31st, supporters of the Glen Cove native encampment converged outside the offices of the Bay Trail project in downtown Oakland to demand that Bay Trail divest from desecration of the Sogorea Te sacred burial ground in Vallejo. Over 65 people gathered in front of the Bay Trail offices and vowed to pursue further action if the $200,000 is not immediately pulled from plans to bulldoze the burial grounds and build on top of it.

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."

In the fall of 2009, a group of war resisters and veterans from San Francisco traveled to Israel and Palestine to meet with their Israeli counterparts in an effort to strengthen connections and share experiences. The group, calling itself Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM), partnered with David Zlutnick, a Bay Area filmmaker, to ensure that the voices and stories of those they spoke with would be captured and return with them to the United States. The new documentary, Occupation Has No Future, premieres in San Francisco on February 3rd and San Rafael on February 10th.

On December 14th, hundreds of PG&E customers, outraged about the health damage caused by wireless 'smart' meters, ramped up protests by testifying at county government meetings and shutting down payment centers in both Santa Cruz and Marin Counties to demand an immediate halt to the program. Protesters are also angry about PG&E's attempts to cover up the growing health scandal and recently revealed espionage carried out against their customers concerned with increasing reports of nausea, headaches, and bouts of dizziness from the meters. The protesters, backed by 22 local governments and an increasing number of scientists and medical professionals, are demanding that PG&E halt any further installation of smart meters.