Feature Archives

On July 25, the Northern California office of U.S. Senator Alex Padilla in San Francisco was the scene of a large and exceptionally noisy protest as hundreds of activists armed with pots and pans called attention to the ongoing genocide and the starving of the people in Gaza. After a rally and chalking of the sidewalk outside the building, protesters marched to join an ongoing action at the offices of BlackRock.

On July 19, hundreds of people showed up in Dublin to oppose the establishment of new detention centers in Northern California and across the U.S. ICE has signaled serious interest in reopening the notorious FCI Dublin prison as an immigration detention center. FCI Dublin was closed in 2024 due to powerful survivor-led organizing following years of horrific staff sexual abuse, retaliation, and medical neglect.

Despite being sued by Trader Joe's, activists with the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) continue to protest at their stores. On July 19, the group held a 40-minute funeral for the chickens being sold inside an Oakland store. They mourned the countless chickens who suffer and die at Trader Joe's "free-range," "organic" chicken supplier. DxE investigators have documented systemic animal abuse at Petaluma Poultry.

Kayakers brought the fight for liberation to the rivers, disrupting what they call "the shroud of ignorance" that is held there. The South Fork of the American River is the busiest section of whitewater in the Western U.S., and July 4th weekend is the busiest weekend for it. Understanding this, protesters ensured that commercial rafters weren’t able to ignore the message that the planet and its people are under attack by Donald Trump.

Activists in Northern California are not waiting for court challenges to stop Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Protests are ongoing and have cropped up outside Tesla showrooms in Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Corte Madera and Seaside, amongst other locations. The earliest of these happened on a national day of action on February 15. The action at the Van Ness Tesla location in SF grew to about a thousand people.

In spite of a year of popular mobilization against arming Israel's genocide of Palestine and in contravention of US law, President Biden and Congress are continuing massive arms shipments to Israel. The People's Arms Embargo has responded with ongoing blockades at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California. “If the U.S. government won’t stop shipping arms to Israel, then we will establish a People’s Arms Embargo to stop it ourselves," organizers say.

The UCSC Campus Mobile Crisis Team (CMCT) is the first of its kind on a University of California campus. The CMCT provides an empathetic, non-police response to emergency calls regarding mental health crises on campus. Following a series of police killings in the U.S., including the choking death of George Floyd in May, 2020, worldwide protests called for the expansion of non-police crisis teams for community safety.