Newsitem List

On February 15, activists gathered at the office of Merced County District Attorney Nicole Silveira to ask her to prosecute documented criminal animal cruelty and worker abuse at Foster Farms’ slaughterhouse in Livingston, instead of prosecuting the individuals who rescued two animals from just outside the facility. Two women are being charged with theft, with the trial set to begin March 7 at Merced County Superior Court....

The University of California Berkeley has the largest number of human remains of Native Americans, in violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. UC Berkeley has the remains of at least 9,075 Native Americans that it has not made available for return. Only one percent have been offered for return, in violation of the NAGPRA law. UCB continues to hoard the remains and artifacts in its possession....

On October 27, Elon Musk purchased the social media company Twitter for $44 billion. He proceeded to gut infrastructure and slash workers, including unionized janitorial staff. Musk welcomed back avowed neo-Nazis while banning leftist accounts and critical journalists. A series of protests have been held at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. A huge mural was painted on the street: "No Free Speech or Democracy with Oligarchy."...

CodePink hosted a demonstration and press conference at U.C. Berkeley Law School on January 11, the 21st anniversary of Guantanamo Prison. The demand was for the Biden administration to close Guantanamo, free the 20 men cleared for release yet still detained, and prosecute U.C. law professor John Yoo for complicity in torture. It was John Yoo who provided the legalistic rationale for torture at US prisons throughout the world....

Mink "liberation season" generally runs June through October in the US. This year, the season ran a little late, but turned out to be the largest in nearly a decade. Four mink "farms" across Ohio and Michigan were targeted by the Animal Liberation Front in November and December. Perhaps 16,000 mink were freed in the actions. Lion Farms, the largest mink farm in the US, is closing on December 23 as a result of the ALF action....

On December 5, several anti-trans TERF groups staged a rally on the steps of the René C. Davidson courthouse in Oakland. Not a single person showed up to support their cause. After they took turns reading short scripts on the courthouse steps, they walked over to Lake Merritt. At that point, trans-rights activists ran up and shouted "Get out of Oakland!" Both of the TERF banners were snatched away from them, while they were served cream pies and eggs....

It has been 60 years since the the Cuban Missile Crisis, and now may be the closest the world has been to a nuclear war since then. In October, anti-war activists in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley joined others across the nation to demand that elected leaders work to reduce the risk of nuclear war. On November 10, Youth vs Apocalypse, CodePink, Veterans for Peace and others rallied at Lockheed Martin's San Francisco office....

Born and raised in San Francisco, Tony Coleman led campaigns to get a killer SFPD cop fired and to resist Prop 21. Tony later made his mark in West Oakland supporting arts and community. Tony was a key organizer in the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement and founded One Fam and Bikes 4 Life. Tony passed away on September 23 after battling cancer. Hear him in his own words in video and audio in a collection of posts on Indybay....

On September 10, more than 400 people gathered in front of the Santa Clara County Government Building in San Jose to stand with members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. They called on the County to deny permits for a proposed mining project that threatens the tribe’s most sacred site. The proposed sand and gravel mine in the county would significantly damage the sacred Native American site and historic artifacts....

In February, the OUSD board voted to close ten schools. On May 25, families decided to do something about it. After graduation ceremonies, they occupied Parker Elementary. They created the Parker Community School on the premises, offering a variety of classes for local students throughout the summer. On August 4, OUSD sent a team of private security guards into the school. Several community members were assaulted. Despite the attack, the occupation has continued....