11/29/2004: Angel McClary Raich is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the federal government from cutting off her access to marijuana, which she uses under a doctor's recommendation to treat the physical manifestations of an inoperable brain tumor and wasting disease. In addition to Raich, who is from Oakland, the co-plaintiffs in this case include Diane Monson of Oroville in Butte County, who has severe back pain and muscle spasms, and two caregivers. Both women rely on medicinal use of cannabis in order to make it through each day. The US Supreme Court began to hear arguments in the case on Monday, November 29th, and a decision will likely come in the spring of 2005. The case could affect the legal status of medical marijuana patients all over the United States. California is one of 10 states that now allow people to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, but the federal government has never shown signs of agreeing that the plant has valid medicinal properties.

An informational picket was held in San Francisco from 12pm to 1pm at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on the 29th. Read more

Street Level TV, a television show covering local and international issues, community news and events with an emphasis on social justice, begins its monthly screenings at Artists' Television Access this Thursday, Dec. 2nd. SLTV airs on San Francisco Cable channel 29 (first Saturday at 9 p.m. every month) and on Berkeley Community Media channel 28 (second and third week of the month, Thursday at 9 a.m., Friday at 11 p.m., and Saturday 4 p.m.). Hang out with the producers and catch the show if you don't have cable at the new monthly screenings. 8 p.m. at ATA, 992 Valencia St, SF; $5 donation.

The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States, as it marks the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season-- for most. But a growing movement observes Buy Nothing Day on that day, which in 2004 fell on 11/26. In an annual Buy Nothing protest in San Francisco, sheep took to the streets in Union Square. Interview with Sheep

Buy Nothing-Related Posts to Indybay Over the Years:
2004: 1 | 2 | "Free" Starbucks Drink | "Free" Gap Gift | Sheep Street Theater
2003: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
2002: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
2001: Summary | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
2000: Summary | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Gift-shopping alternatives do exist. One could support a worker-owned business, or give the gift of a subscription to Fault Lines, for example.

More about alternatives to holiday consumerism

This year, more than 45 million turkeys became part of someone's Thanksgiving dinner. Most people ate the traditional bird without giving it a second thought.

Vegetarians and vegans, on the other hand — rebelling against meat culture conformity — ate absolutely no turkey this Thanksgiving day, but that doesn't mean they went hungry. Many cooked traditional, although turkey-free, meals for themselves and invited others over to share in their bounty. Some vegetarians went out to eat at one of the numerous high-quality, vegetarian-only restaurants in the Bay Area. And others simply passed on putting turkey on their plate, but ate all the other offerings, as they spent the day at the houses of family and friends. There are a wealth of options for those who want to enjoy the holidays without contributing to animal suffering or environmental degredation. Read More

In Bakersfied and other cities, Animal Rights advocates rallied in support of a turkey-free Thankgiving.

Some events: Bay Area Vegetarians and the Upaya Center present a vegan/raw food Turkey Liberation Day potluck as an alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving Day at 2pm. Details East Bay Food Not Bombs will hold a Vegetarian Potluck/Give Thanks Feast at 6pm at Ashkenaz.

Read more on our new Animal Liberation page.

Since 1621 Thanksgiving Day has been a political holiday. Usually wrapped in warm family and patriotic values, our rulers have shaped it to meet their needs. But is this tradition something to celebrate? In 1620, Pilgrims from England came ashore in Massachusetts. They were able to avoid disaster and starvation when the Wampanoag Nation brought them gifts of food and offered advice on planting, hunting, and fishing. But Pilgrim thanks were not extended to the Wampanoag hosts but to their white God and deep Christian faith. If the Wampanoags were invited by the newcomers to the first Thanksgiving, it was likely as inferiors and servants.

Thanksgiving could honor those Native Americans and African Americans who became our first freedom-fighters and the unity these two peoples often forged during five hundred years of resistance. Their rich history of heroism and unity deserves a Thanksgiving holiday. Read More in Fault Lines | Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering at Alcatraz | Listen to audio from Alcatraz

Meanwhile, thousands of US troops are conducting Operation Plymouth Rock south of Baghdad. Iraq news

The new issue of the monthly newspaper of the SF Bay Independent Media Center, Fault Lines is out. Coinciding with the Thanksgiving holiday, the theme of the sixth issue is Indigenous People; read about the Occupation of Alcatraz that took place 35 years ago, the indigenous struggle in Brazil and the origins of Thanksgiving.

Eddie Yuen analyzes the implications of the U.S. election and Kevin Keating provides readers with a historical overview of mutiny during the Vietnam War. In the Arts and Action section you can read how cinema has penetrated the abyss of electoral politics.

Other articles include, letter from Angola 3 political prisoner Herman Wallace, insight into the next 5 years in the Middle East by Immanuel Wallerstein, Bay Guardian lawsuit against SF Weekly publisher New Times, US approved carnage in Haiti and life after the oil peak.

PDF of the Sixth Issue | Distribution points | Subscribe and help our all-volunteer collective put out FL

11/21/2004: Flying Picket to demand a fair contract now. 7 p.m. at Powell and Geary St.
11/20/2004: From the Newswire - Saturday morning, in negotiations at Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, the San Francisco Multi-Employer Group agreed to end the lockout.

UNITE HERE! Local 2 members will return to their jobs next week. Local 2 and the hotels have agreed to a 60-day cooling-off period during which the Union agrees not to strike and the hotels agree not to lock out. Negotiations will continue in an attempt to settle the outstanding issues in the contract: medical benefits, pension contributions, retiree benefits, right to organize, wages, and contract term. [Read more]

The Million Worker March Committee, SF Labor Council, UNITE-HERE Local 2, and ILWU Local 10 held a rally and picket Saturday at 11 a.m. starting in Union Square and marching to several hotels and finally to Justin Herman Plaza. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
A separate community solidarity march gathered at 1:30 p.m. at the corner Powell and Market Streets. Photos: 1 | 2 | More on the hotel lockout and labor solidarity protests

November 20th: The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world. On Wednesday, November 17th, City College of San Francisco held its Transgender Awareness Day and Resource Fair. On November 20th in San Francisco, people gathered at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro at 6:30 p.m. for a solemn march down Market Street to the LGBT Community Center. At 7:30 p.m. in the Rainbow Room of the LGBT Center, the official Day of Remembrance memorial featured members of Gwen Araujo's and Toni “Delicious” Green’s families, and a performance by the Transcendence Gospel Choir. In San Jose, the evening event at the Billy De Frank LGBT Center featured Gwen Araujo’s mother, Sylvia Guerrero. UC Davis Trans Action Week. More TDoR locations locally and nationwide. Other events in the Bay Area during this week.
Read More on Indybay's LGBTI Page

11/15: Updates on the Iraq news page. Aid convoys are still barred from Falluja as Amnesty International and the Council on American-Islamic Relations warn that US actions constitute war crimes. An NBC reporter embedded with the US troops in Falluja caught on tape an unfortunately common example of US disregard for human life in the city. In the footage, a marines notices that a severely wounded unarmed man lying on the floor of a mosque is still breathing. The Marine can be heard insisting: “He’s f---ing faking he’s dead — he’s faking he’s f---ing dead.” The NBC reporter then watches as the Marine raises his rifle and fires into the man’s head from point-blank range. "Well, he’s dead now,” another Marine says.
11/13: The US has declared "mission accomplished" in Falluja, with the US military claiming to have killed over 1000 people in the week long assault. While an Iraqi Red Crescent aid convoy was allowed to enter Falluja they were only allowed to visit the main hospital and were not allowed to distribute aid to those in the city or the refugee camps that have sprung up around the city's outskirts. "They are dying of starvation and a lack of water, especially the children," a Red Crescent spokeswoman said. Full coverage of attack on Falluja

On 11/09, several thousand people gathered at Powell and Market Streets in San Francisco and marched in opposition to the US attack on Falluja. The march route took protesters past many of the hotels where workers are locked out and protesters joined in with the picketers at the hotels demanding an end to the lockout. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 Video: 1 Two tanks were called out into the streets in response to a simultaneous antiwar protest in LA (Video & photos). Read more on Indybay's Anti-War page

On Nov. 5, 2004, the Oakland Police Department agreed to enact a crowd control policy which prohibits the use of less lethal weapons, such as the pepper-spray round that recently killed a woman in Boston when it penetrated her eyeball and skull. Michael Haddad, a civil rights lawyer who helped implement the guidelines, says the new protections for the right to assemble are important because prior to this, the OPD "had no policy. Their policy was anything goes."

Efforts to implement this policy were inspired by the incident on April 7, 2003, when police fired wooden bullets, sting ball grenades and shot-filled bean bags at hundreds of peaceful anti-war demonstrators at the Port of Oakland. The new policy does not resolve claims for monetary damages by those who were injured as a result of the police action. Federal District Court Judge Thelton Henderson has scheduled those claims for trial in January, 2006. Full story | ACLU/NLG news release | Policy [PDF] | Police State news