Feature Archives

On Tuesday, September 16, a reportback with video from the mobilizations against the political conventions will be held in San Francisco at 7:30pm. "As the dust settles around the storm of protests surrounding the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Bay Area activists who were on the streets of Denver and the Twin Cities are coming together to talk about their experiences."

During protests at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, performance artists from the San Francisco Bay Area rolled around in "Oily Dollars" symbolizing the dirty connection between Big Oil and elected officials. Not all convention attendees were amused. Ed Matthews, Republican candidate for Minnesota's 4th Congressional district, took after Jeff Grubler of the performance group Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane and grabbed Grubler's McCain mask. When Grubler tugged on Matthews' credentials, he was thrown to the ground by a uniformed officer who cuffed him while keeping his knee on the back of his neck. Grubler was then arrested and released after being detained for close to an hour.

The 2008 Republican National Convention was held in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 1st through September 4th. In the Twin Cities, the RNC Welcoming Committee and a number of ad hoc regional activist groups made plans to demonstrate on the first day of the convention, September 1st. Twin Cities and Federal authorities moved hard against the activists by pre-emptively raiding a convergence space and numerous houses, confiscating equipment, and making arrests. After the convention began, police used tear gas, pepper spray, beanbag projectiles, and other weapons against demonstrators throughout St. Paul.

Protests around the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, August 25th through August 28th, brought thousands of people to the Mile High City. Although numbers were far lower than expected, Recreate 68 had originally anticipated 25,000 to 50,000 would descend on Denver for the demonstrations. The largest demo took place on Wednesday, where more than 10,000 people marched through the streets of Denver behind 70 Iraq Veterans Against the War following a free Rage Against the Machine concert.

The Lawyers’ Committee filed a lawsuit today on behalf of Latino voters against the Madera Unified School District (MUSD), charging that the school district’s at-large method of election is racially polarized and violates the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA). The suit challenges the school district’s discriminatory voting system and seeks to protect the Latino community against vote dilution.

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a second report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. Professor Chase's first report revealed the falsehoods the CDFA delivered after June 19 when courts and public pressure stopped the CDFA from aerial spraying synthetic pheromone based pesticides directly on cities. This second report reveals the fraud and misinformation delivered by the CDFA from the fall of 2007 until June 19, 2008.

On Thursday, August 12, anti-torture and anti-war activists came to disrupt Pelosi’s book promotion at the San Francisco’s Cowell Theatre. Pelosi was promoting her new book “Know Your Power- a Message to America’s Daughter.” While speaking, activists yelled and disrupted Pelosi’s talk, calling her “traitor” and yelling “torture,” “impeach.” Two people were escorted out by security personnel, and arguments erupted between Pelosi supporters and the activists.