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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....

Efforts to stabilize communities in California with with much needed rent control measures and just cause eviction protections are presently occurring in ten cities throughout California, including Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Santa Ana, Sacramento, Pomona, Pasadena, National City, Long Beach, Inglewood, and Glendale. Big money is gearing up in opposition to the statewide effort to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act....

UPDATE: SB1421 passed and went into effect on January 1, 2019. AB931 did not survive the legislative session, but was reintroduced in February 2019 as AB392. California lawmakers have introduced a measure that would alter the standard for when law enforcement officers can use deadly force. The Police Accountability and Community Protection Act (AB 931) would change the standard of firearm use from "reasonable use" to "necessary force." SB 1421 will give the public access to police recor...

Park Advocate reports: The foliage in People's Park is thinner this year. Another tree is gone, and various bushes and shrubs have disappeared. UC Berkeley has further whittled away at the park, and a new press release states that development plans are to be revealed after this academic year ends. The University of California is well aware that as the 49th anniversary of People's Park has passed, eligibility for historical protection is right around the corner....

At the March 27 Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, five-plus hours of discussion ended with a decision that Urban Shield as currently constituted would end after the 2018 war games and exposition. The vote left open-ended what Alameda County’s regional disaster preparedness activities would be in future years, but the Supervisors were decisive that it would not be the Urban Shield event, which began in 2007....

Update: Oakland passes strongest community control of surveillance in the nation on May Day. Davis and Berkeley have adopted the new law that mandates public transparency, vetted use policies, and annual reporting to protect human rights and reins in secret, unfettered surveillance by local law enforcement. Oakland is in the final stages of the adoption process. A California surveillance transparency law (SB 1186) passed through its first policy committee on April 5 at the State Senate P...

On April 13, the United States, together with its British and French allies, launched one hundred and five cruise missiles from sea and air striking three alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria.  Anti-war protesters CodePink Women for Peace responded immediately with actions the following day in front of the Pacific Heights homes of Senator Dianne Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Later in the afternoon of April 14, an emergency demonstration at Market and Powell in San ...

When Facebook security tried to shut them down, protesters at the social media giant used their best delaying tactics and continued shouting and singing in front of the "Like" sign at the entrance of the corporate campus on April 5. Under pressure from lawmakers, the media, and the public, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress about Cambridge Analytica’s breach of Facebook data. Meawnwhile, buried in a company announcement, Facebook admitted that most of its 2 ...

On March 30, massive protests were held in cities across Gaza on Land Day to start a six-week mobilization leading up to al-Nakba Day on May 15, which commemorates the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 to make way for the state of Israel. Near Gaza border fences, Israeli forces used live ammunition to kill 17 demonstrators. 1,416 Palestinians were wounded, 758 of whom were shot by live ammunition. The U.S. has used its veto power in the United Nations Sec...

Hundreds of Hondurans have fled their homes and joined the Refugee Caravan in order to seek refuge in Mexico or the U.S. They, along with their fellow caravan members, have developed a network of mutual support within the caravan to protect themselves from dangers such as extortion, robbery, murder, sexual assault, torture, and deportation without a right to seek asylum, which virtually all those who journey alone confront. On March 25, the caravan departed from Tapachula, Mexico....