Feature Archives

The National Democratic Independent Farm Workers Union (SINDJA) is calling upon all sister organizations to participate in the International Global Action against the transnational corporation Driscoll's — one of the most exploitive agricultural companies in the San Quintín Valley, Baja California. Workers are demanding: freedom to unionize, a collective contract with SINDJA, no more sexual harassment, daycare centers, and fair wages.

The Trump administration will close the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in D.C. This follows a State Department promise to cut more than $300 million in funding for humanitarian assistance. These moves appear intended to force Palestinians into a "peace deal" that would deny them a state, as well as denying the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers storm the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on a daily basis to push forward their plans to build the so-called “Third Temple.”

On July 30, around 50 security guards of NutriAsia and 20 members of the Philippine National Police in Marilao and Meycauayan violently dispersed the striking NutriAsia workers while an ecumenical mass was being held at the picketline near the factory gates. Nineteen were arrested. Arrestees were released two days later, but still face charges and the strike continues.

In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices wrote that even considering all of President Trump’s anti-Muslim statements about the travel ban, the order should be upheld. Reaction was swift in the San Francisco Bay area; emergency protests were held San Francisco, San José, and other cities across the U.S. within hours of the announcement.

A five-month grassroots campaign led by human rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri celebrated a win on May 18, when the Missouri legislative session ended, failing to pass legislation that would have denied state contracts worth over $10,000 to businesses and organizations boycotting Israel over its subjugation and dispossession of the Palestinian people.

May 14 marked the 70th anniversary of the Nakba in Palestine. Senior members of the Trump administration gathered for the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, sparking massive protests across Palestine. Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition into a crowd who gathered in Gaza, killing 58 and injuring 2,771. The following day, over 1,000 Palestine supporters showed up in San Francisco, San José, and Santa Cruz.

May 1, 2018, was a global day of action against Samsung as well as being International Workers Day. In the South Bay, Samsung protesters joined May Day demonstrators starting at Roosevelt Park in San José and marched to City Hall for a rally attended by members of local, national, and international unions, immigrant rights advocates, affordable housing activists, and Filipino justice campaigners, amongst others.