Feature Archives

On October 24th, as part of the worldwide action on climate issues, activists rallied throughout Northern California. In Santa Cruz, marchers carried placards through town and held a mock trial of the automobile. In Humboldt County, demonstrators chose the ancient redwood forest in Richardson Grove as their protest site because it is threatened by Caltrans’ proposal to widen highway 101. In San Francisco, Justin Herman Plaza was filled with an enthusiastic crowd, while in nearby suburbs residents gathered to share planet-saving tips with neighbors.

On October 19th, in a federal court house in Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez was once again denied bail. Sanchez, a nationally recognized activist and peacemaker, is accused of maintaining ties to his former gang and participating in a conspiracy to murder. Bail was denied after Judge Real suppressed testimony from father Greg Boyle, an expert in Los Angeles gangs.

A coalition of organizations rallied in San Francisco on September 21st to deliver a message to U.S. lawmakers and polluting corporations. The protest started at the S.F. office of Senator Barbara Boxer and then moved to Chevron Oil Corporation’s downtown S.F. "Energy Solutions" office. The action capped the weekend-long West Coast Climate Justice Convergence, building grassroots pressure in the lead up to the December's Copenhagen climate talks.

On Thursday, September 24th, actions against the budget cuts, fee hikes, layoffs and furloughs at University of California campuses took place throughout the UC system. Workers, graduate student employees, students and faculty held a strike, walked out, and demonstrated in defense of public education and fair labor practices. Pickets, rallies and general assemblies took place from 6am onwards on the UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz campuses.

Alex Sanchez’s family migrated from El Salvador in the 1970s. He was a former gang member who turned his life around becoming an internationally recognized peacemaker and co-founding Homies Unidos in Los Angeles in 1998. On June 24th, 2009, Alex was arrested and named in a federal indictment based on weak evidence, charging him among a group of twenty-three others as an active gang member. On Friday, September 25th, there will be a fundraiser for Alex at Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos with live hip-hop music and the film Hijos de la Guerra.

On September 7, hundreds of Bay Area residents came together for potlucks and to send a message to Congress: "now is the time to provide children with real food in public school lunch programs". Gathering in parks, on a farm, and at a cooperative housing venue, healthy food proponents took advantage of the Labor Day holiday to bring neighbors together and build support for replacing artificially supplemented meals with natural food in schools.

Author J. Patrick O'Connor was recently interviewed in San Francisco about his research into the case of San Quentin death row prisoner Kevin Cooper, whose appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court was recently denied, with Judge William Fletcher writing a stinging dissent, declaring that the "State of California may be about to execute an innocent man.” This fall, Cooper will be appealing to the US Supreme Court, which is last chance to avoid execution.