According to Illegal Immigrant Protest dot com, May 5th and 6th will be "National Illegal Immigrant Protest Rally Days." The website says that the protests are for "FED UP American Citizens." In defense of immigrants, Destroy the Border Coalition says, "the people who do the work in a community are entitled to live with dignity and without fear" and is calling for people to counterdemonstrate against the racist message of the rallies.

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Demanding recognition for their many contributions to American society, and taking a stand against discrimination, millions of immigrants and their supporters marched in over 75 U.S. cities on Monday, May 1st. Nearly one million marched in California alone. Reports from L.A. cite hundreds of thousands turning out. San Jose and San Francisco each were estimated to have had 100,000 people march. Throughout Northern California tens of thousands took the day off from work or school, refused to buy anything, and marched united for immigrant rights. May Day Photo Gallery

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While more than 6.1 million people across Sudan require food aid, the UN announced on April 28th that it is cutting in half its daily food rations in Darfur due to a severe funding shortfall. On April 30th, the San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition sponsored a silent vigil for Sudan on the Golden Gate Bridge, followed by a rally in Presidio Park.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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Paul Rusesabagina, general manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, spoke in San Francisco on Friday, April 21, 2006. He helped shelter over 1,200 people from slaughter. Almost a million others were killed in about 100 days. His heroic and resourceful actions inspired the 2004 film "Hotel Rwanda." Audio, Photos, and Report

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Sunday, April 23rd was a day of action in solidarity with immigrants and against the anti-immigrant bills in Congress. Thousands gathered for a noon rally in Dolores Park, and then marched to the San Francisco Federal Building. Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Report

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On Friday, April 21st, President Bush was in San Jose. A protest was held at 1:00pm outside of Cisco Systems ( Audio | Photos: 1 | 2 ). Bush was then scheduled to meet with fellows at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, but thousands of protestors blocked the main entrance forcing him to change his plans. ( Photos | Video ) He spent Friday night in the Napa County town of St. Helena, where Friday evening's protest were renewed on Saturday 4/22. Later on Saturday, Bush made a stop in West Sacramento for Earth Day, and was met with hundreds of protesters. ( Photos )

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In what is being called the largest-ever raid on undocumented workers, 1,187 people were taken from their workplaces and arrested on April 20th by the Department of Homeland Security and local police. While the story is still unfolding, it appears that 275 workers have been deported to Mexico. The raids occurred in 26 states, including California, where workers in both Riverside and Fresno were rounded up. All the workers are said to be employed by IFCO Systems North America - an international corporation that builds shipping pallets.

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On April 24th, Nepal's King Gyanendra made a televised statement conceding one of the main demands of the seven-party opposition alliance—the immediate recall of parliament. The announcement came just hours before a huge protest rally planned for Tuesday with demonstrators preparing to encircle the city center. Instead, Nepal's opposition called off protests and celebrations broke out on the streets of Katmandu. Gyanendra made no direct reference to a major opposition demand for the convening of a constituent assembly to rewrite the country’s constitution and Nepal's Maoist rebels have called for protests to continue.
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The National Socialist Movement (a nazi white supremacist group) planned on holding an anti-immigration rally on the west steps of the state capitol in Sacramento on Saturday, April 22nd. An anti-Nazi rally was initially broken up by State Capitol CHP after they declared the gathering to be illegal, and then detained 3 protesters, claiming they needed a permit to be on capitol grounds. A group of 6 Nazis were congregating at the south end of the capitol, and the anti-racist march made its way over. After a short standoff, the CHP were heard telling the Nazis to leave after which they left without holding their rally.
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The 6th annual Youth And Power took place in Watsonville on April 17th, 2006 under the theme of "Brown And Black Power". The Watsonville Brown Berets organized the event and said it was a great success. Youth from the Central Coast, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles were educated about community issues and the social justice movement as well as entertained with great performers and special guest speakers.
Read more, view photos and videos on Santa Cruz IMC

If the BALCO case is strictly about drug use in sports, then why is Barry Bonds represented by Michael Rains -- a lawyer whose entire legal career has been spent protecting police from prosecution? While the US is being distracted by the Bonds saga, are people missing a connection between steroids and police? Independent journalist Junya looks behind the headlines and finds a scandal that may explain this conjuncture of legal phenomena. Have cops gone psychotic from steroid use become even more of a danger behind their guns and badges?

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The leader in the April 9 election for president of Peru was Ollanta Humala, a former army colonel who was backed by leaders Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia. As of April 15, second place was still too close to call between former president Alan Garcia and conservative Lourdes Flores. Because no one got over 50%, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters in May. A commentator on Indymedia Peru said: "The old practice of corruption which is the fruit of the centralization of power will not be changed by any president, despite how the illustrious orators paint themselves as messiahs to the beat of reggaeton."
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Bay Area Grandmothers Against the War held a protest against the continuing and rising costs of the Iraq war paid for by Americans' income taxes on Monday, April 17, at noon at the Federal Building in Oakland. At 1 pm the group marched to the Civic Center Post Office. At noon there was a war tax day protest in San Francisco that focused on the plight of Palestinians. Photos At 6:30pm a "Tax Day Action & People’s Life Fund Granting Ceremony" took place in West Oakland.
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On April 11th, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that the country had succeeded for the first time in enriching uranium on a small scale. Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible air attack to destroy Iran's nuclear program.The Badr militia tied to Iraq's ruling SCIRI party has strong ties to Iran, and Muqtada al-Sadr has pledged the support of his militia if Iran is attacked. Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner says a military operation has already begun inside Iran.
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On April 11th, 2006, in spite of the pouring rain and administrative attempts to stifle students’ free speech, Students Against War (SAW) organized over 150 students to march from the center of campus to the job fair, where they nonviolently prevented access to military recruiters through sit-ins and other measures. After about an hour and a half of negotiations and students’ refusal to back down, military recruiters left the job fair.

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On April 11th, a crowd of 200 gathered at UCB to support a "sweat-free UC". Condeming the University's use of sweat shop labor in the production of collegiate apparel, and promoting United Students Against Sweatshops' designated supplier program, students staged a "Naked Truth" rally and sit in that resulted in 18 arrests and more verbal volley from University administration. Photos

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A Day of Action to Shut Down PG&E;'s Hunters Point Power Plant was held on April 11th. People gathered at 12:00pm on Evans Street at Middlepoint Road. After eight years of broken promises, Bayview Hunters Point residents and community organizations continue to demand that the power plant be closed, and that the neighborhood be given clean energy and restoration, rather than redevelopment and gentrification. Video
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On Monday, April 10th, 2006, immigrants and their allies continued their recent historic mobilizations in cities all over the US to oppose HR 4437. They have been demanding real immigration reform that is comprehensive, respects civil rights, reunites families, protects workers, and offers a path to citizenship for the current undocumented and future immigrants to the US. In California, organizations in cities across the state showed what California would look like if immigrants did not work in positions such as dishwashers, cooks, housecleaners, nannies, gardeners, office workers, and in dozens of other jobs.
Photos: San Rafael · Oakland: 1 | 2 · Fresno 1 | 2 | 3 · San Francisco 1 | 2 · San Jose 1 | 2 | 3
Video: San Francisco · Fresno · Reports: Stanford · Berkeley · San Francisco · San Jose

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