On Sunday, July 16th, Karen Armstead will speak at the Humanist Hall in Oakland about SB 840, the Health Care for All Californians Act (also known as California Health Insurance Reliability Act). This bill, which is pending before the California Assembly (after passing the State Senate), would abolish for-profit private insurance in the state and create government-sponsored universal healthcare for all California residents for life. In August, SB 840 will be referred to the Appropriations Committee, where 10 more votes are needed for passage. The event will take place on Sunday, July 16th, from 1:00pm to 2:00pm, at 390 27th St., between Telegraph and Broadway, in Oakland.

Read More On Indybay's Poverty & Housing Page

On Tuesday, June 20th more than 150 people people joined MECA, ADC-SF and QUIT! in downtown Berkeley for an emergency action to say "NO!" to killing children by violence and deprivation. In dozens of cities in North America, June 20th was a Day of Action in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Israeli military has fired over 7,000 shells on the people of Gaza so far this year. Photos: 1 | 2

Read More On Indybay's Palestine Page

On June 16th, workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley voted 22 to 2 in favor of unionization. Now that the vote has gone through, workers are looking ahead to the contract negotiation process. Contract negotiations at Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, MA, the only other Landmark theatre to hold a union, have been moving extremely slowly with Landmark officials meeting only the bare minimum requirements to keep the negotiations process "in good faith" over the last year. Read More

On Monday, May 8th, workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas turned in authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board, filing a certification petition for representation with the Industrial Workers of the World.

Rising tensions at the Shattuck Cinemas over the year have pushed workers to demand an end to unfair working conditions and greater accountability from management. “We're only asking for work conditions that are reasonable and humane. Management needs to start listening to our concerns and valuing its workers. 23 out of 28 workers have signed authorization cards, the last straw in a long debate with management. Primary worker concerns include the recent revoking of worker privileges, lack of management accountability, inconsistent raise policies, inadequate breaks, all contributing to the increasingly hostile work environment at the Shattuck cinemas. Further source of tension lies in a worker wage cap at over three dollars less than the city standard. Shattuck cinema workers' discontent with Landmark corporate policy has grown over time, especially since its purchase by Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Landmark is a well-known art-house chain with a long established reputation for supporting progressive film. Whether management continues to uphold its progressive values is yet to be seen.

On Friday May 12th, workers and labor activists rallied in front of the Shattuck Cinema. Photos: 1| 2

Having been the target of numerous recent anti-war demonstrations, the Oakland Military Recruitment Center on Broadway at 21st Street met a different type of adversary on June 7th. The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) invaded and occupied the military recruitment center in downtown Oakland for about 45 minutes until they were forced out by city police and the center shut down for the day.

Major Mischief reports: We went to see if us clowns could fly big planes and drive big cars too, but the army people were too serious and tried to kick us out. Once we played some games and explained consensus to them, they were a little happier with us. We decided their army was boring and set up our own recruiting table for the "Army of Fun" outside while the rest of us tried to get them to laugh.

Read More with Photos

They were kicked out of the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market on Wednesday, but on Thursday the ruckus music of Shakey Bones was welcomed on Freak Radio, Santa Cruz's renowned community pirate radio station. Shakey Bones formed in January of 2006 in Walnut Creek, a "boring suburban town in the east bay." ( Audio | Photos)

Shakey Bones plays, "RUCKUS MUSIC. New tunes, old tunes, rewritten tunes and all kinds of other madness. We make all our own cds, and send them out ourselves. Up the punx. Fuck the naysayers. Bash the fash. Eat the cake. Save the world." Read more

audio (mp3): Shakey Bones Live on FRSC (1 hour 10 minutes / 32 MB)

The City of Emeryville will host a community meeting on Saturday June 3rd, 2006 at 10:00am at the Recreation Center at 43rd and San Pablo across the street from the Arizmendi Bakery. The last item on the agenda is discussion of Starbucks coming to the plaza at 43rd and San Pablo. Emeryville residents are encouraged to go sign up and voice their opinions.

The City of Emeryville is reportedly planning to place a Starbucks at 43rd and San Pablo, across the plaza from the worker-owned Arizmendi Bakery. (This in spite of the fact that there is a Starbucks some three blocks away, at 3839 Emery St.) Several years ago when the plaza was built, the city agreed under overwhelming citizen pressure to reserve the spaces in the plaza for non-corporate locally owned businesses. This is how Arizmendi, a worker-owned cooperative, came to be there. The city is apparently planning to go back on that promise and bring a Starbucks in. A post to Indybay says that the City Council will be meeting in a closed session on June 6th to approve the plan.

Emeryville and East Bay residents and supporters of worker-owned businesses are encouraged to contact Emeryville City Council members and register their opposition to the Starbucks and to the way it is being approved. If the Council feels enough pressure, it could delay the decision, or even cancel the new store. Read more
Arizmendi Bakery in Emeryville | Emeryville City Council webpage | Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC)

On Wednesday, May 31st, Bay Area Women in Black will host an event entitled "Palestinian Lesbians Speak Out from the Occupation." The event will take place at 7:00pm at the Berkeley Friends Church at 1600 Saramento Street at Cedar, in Berkeley. The event will be a fundraiser for ASWAT.

Two Palestinian human rights activists from Israel will be speaking that evening. Rauda Morcos is the co-founder of ASWAT, an organization that broke the silence for Palestinian lesbians and the first Palestinian woman to publicly come out of the closet. She will address the work of ASWAT and the everyday conflicts she experiences between her national and gendered identity. Rauda is in the US to accept a distinguished award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Nisreen Mazzawi is an environmentalist and feminist and is the Political Coordinator of Bat Shalom of the Jerusalem Link and Coordinator of the Women Empowerment Project in the Palestinian unrecognized villages in the north of Israel. She will speak about organizing Palestinian women under occupation.

ASWAT | Bay Area Women in Black | Kersplebedeb article about Rauda Morcos | International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission | Advocate Interview | Indybay's Palestine News Page

For the past fifteen years, the Teen Bike Shop’s Community Garden, located in Union City's Decoto District, was in hibernation and filled with weeds. However, Maricela Reynoso, a Decoto native, and other community members took the initiative to start a collaborative effort to revitalize the community garden. In the past few months, community involvement has soared with youth and people of all ages stopping by to pick weeds, plow the land, remove debris, plant plants, and bring donations.

The garden has provided a space that unites the community, and where youth can create something from the ground up. Working with elders who often rely on natural herbs and plants as everyday remedies has taught many of the local youth the medicinal properties of plants and the importance of their existence and care. The garden has also served as a way to show youth that working with nature- and not against it- helps to enhance their community and its resources. Photos and report

Union City's Teen Bike Workshop

For over 20 years, May 15th has been celebrated as International Conscientious Objectors Day. Each year activities are focused in a country where war objectors are being harassed or persecuted. This year the international focus is on the United States' denial of the right of soldiers to object.

Courage to Resist and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors initiated an Oakland action for Monday, the 15th of May. The protest in Oakland started at 4:00pm at Oakland Civic Center (12th and Broadway), with a rally. People marched down Broadway to 21st St., where they blockaded the Oakland Military Recruiting Center. They pasted signs with statements such as "Resist, Don't Enlist" and "Army of None" to the windows of the center.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Video

This mobilization was held in support of ongoing campaigns to support GI objectors, resistance of military recruitment and a possible draft, and end the war and occupation in Iraq and global policies of empire. Read more

Read more on Indybay's Anti-War News Page

The Bay Area Radical Mental Health Collective will hold an April 19th follow up to a community dialogue that was held several weeks ago. People will come together to talk about strategies for radical peer advocacy. Organizers hope that participants will leave with ideas, information, and skills that they can use when someone in the community is in crisis. On following Wednesday evenings, there will be Free Skool Classes at the Long Haul from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Topics will include suicide prevention and nutrition. There will also be a Radical Mental Health Cafe Night with dinner and a movie at the Long Haul on Sunday, April 23rd at 7pm. The Monday Night Support Group will at the Berkeley Free Clinic will continue each week at 6:30pm.

Read more about the Radical Mental Health Collective and the upcoming events

Bay Area Grandmothers Against the War will protest the continuing and rising costs of the Iraq war paid for by our income taxes on Monday, April 17, at noon at the Federal Building in Oakland. At 1 pm the group will march to the Civic Center Post Office - 201 13th St. Oakland. Details At noon there will be a war tax day protest in San Francisco that will focus on the plight of Palestinians and at 6:30pm a "Tax Day Action & People’s Life Fund Granting Ceremony" will take place in West Oakland.

With similar protests in New York, Philadelphia, Bellingham WA, and Petaluma, this action is part of a nationwide effort by grandmothers to highlight the demand that taxes be used to improve life -- not to destroy life by. The grandmothers are especially concerned about the adverse effects of this vastly increased public debt. Funding for education, health, transportation and the entire social infrastructure is diminishing. The ballooning national debt means future generations will be burdened with paying it off for the indefinite future. To emphasize the fact that our country is “in the red” the protesters will be dressed in red.

Northern California War Tax Resistance | National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee | Tax Day Protests Across the U.S.

The Grand Jury Resistance Project and the Prison Literature Project will hold an event to send letters to those imprisoned in the current “Green Scare.” The Prison Letter Writing Café will be Tuesday April 25th 2006 at 7:00pm in Berkeley. Paper, envelopes and stamps will be provided, as well as prisoner bios. Help on how to write letters to prisoners, including specific prison regulations, tips and suggestions will also be available.

“Mail time is often the brightest part of a prisoner's day," organizers of the event said. "Letters help show that there is a whole movement of support outside the prison walls - and that they are not alone.”

READ MORE.

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

Students were disturbed that their legal observer, a member of the National Lawyer's Guild, was removed by police at the beginning of the sit in while the University's legal advisor was allowed to stay on for the duration of the event. The sit in ended in 18 arrests for "trespassing and refusing to leave" after aproximately 2 and a half hours of proposals and demands.
Read More | Photos | USAS action alert | United Students Against Sweatshops

Previous Anti-Sweatshop Coverage: UC Sweat-Free Coalition Crashes UC Office of the President | Students Strip for Sweat-Free UC |UCSC students fight for sweatshop free apparel | Creative Activism Raises Issues at Denton's Investiture Friday | Students and Workers Demand a Sweat-Free UC

On Monday, April 10th, 2006, immigrants and their allies continued their recent historic mobilizations in cities all over the US to oppose HR 4437.

Nearly five thousand people marched and rallied in Oakland. What began as a relatively small group at 100th avenue this morning, swelled to thousands as clusters of immigrant workers, families, youth, and supporters awaited the march all along International Boulevard. The eight mile march ended with a rally outside the Oakland Federal Building.
Photos: 1 | 2

At noon hundreds of UC Berkeley and high school students walked out of class to protest anti-immigration bill HR 4437 and the Senate's proposed compromise. They demanded civil rights and amnesty for immigrants in the United States. Earlier in the morning, protesters set up a mock border at Sather Gate, a busy walking avenue on campus, complete with chain link fence and barbed wire. Protesters marched down Telegraph Avenue and Shattuck Ave carrying signs, drumming, and chanting. During the march, there was a moment of silence for Ontario, California 8th grader and organizer Anthony Soltero, who shot himself in response to threats from his assistant principal.
More | Daily Cal Report | Berkeley Daily Planet Report

Read More On Indybay's Immigrant Rights News Page

On Wednesday, March 22nd there will be a rally for affordable health care for Oakland School Employees. Oakland Schools Administrator Randall Ward wants school classified employees, who are the lowest employees in the district, to pay for future increases in their health care. These workers have not been given any pay raises in the last few years. The rally will demand a fair contract and respect from the Oakland Unified School District. People will gather from 4:00 to 5:30pm on Wednesday, at 1025 2nd Avenue in Oakland. Flyer

SEIU Local 790