Auctioned off in a foreclosure sale one year ago, San Francisco's Hotel Frank in Union Square is now being run by anti-union hotel management company Provenance Hotels. Provenance has not honored the existing union contract; amongst other things it does not to contribute to workers' medical care and pensions. The hotel is under boycott and workers are picketing the hotel regularly on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 5:30pm and Fridays from 1:00 to 5:30pm.

Around the world, workers united on May 1st for International Workers' Day — with marches and rallies. Across Northern California — from Berkeley to San Francisco, from Fresno to Sacramento — thousands of workers and supporters stood up for immigrant and labor rights on May Day 2011. Code Pink and others began an eight-day march from San Francisco to Sacramento to demand a just budget in California.

Activists in the Bay Area are marking the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster with rallies, speakers, street theater, and educational events. Calling the catastrophe in Ukraine "the most significant nuclear reactor failure in the history of nuclear power", anti-nuke enthusiasts say they want the world to remember that April 26, 1986 was the day when one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, killing plant employees instantly and leading to a projected increase in cancer deaths in the hundreds of thousands.

During the past month, Palestinian youth protested to call for internal unity. On April 27th, Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation draft agreement with hope to end a four-year internal unrest in the Palestinian Territories. Both parties agreed, under Egyptian supervision, to form a transitional government soon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the draft agreement and the U.S. has threatened to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority.

To protest the continued development of nuclear weapons in the Bay Area and the United States, a demonstration was held at Livermore Nuclear Lab in Livermore on April 22nd. At dawn, an interfaith prayer service was followed by Stations of the Cross. The demonstration ended at the front gate with the mass arrest of approximately two dozen protesters who refused to stop blocking the entrance when ordered to by police.

4/24 updates: Committee to Protect Sogorea Te Responds to Vallejo Times Herald Op-Ed | Day 10: Hundreds attend community gathering at Glen Cove

Despite efforts by Sacred Sites Protection and Rights of Indigenous Tribes (SSP&RIT) to negotiate a preservation agreement, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District has so far refused to abandon efforts to develop Glen Cove, a sacred Native American burial site also known as Sogorea Te in the Ohlone language. With bulldozing slated to get under way as soon as Friday, April 15th, SSP&RIT has called for an assembly to gather on April 14th at Glen Cove, in preparation for a ceremony to honor the ancestors buried at the site the following morning.

Modesto Anarcho writes: The Modesto Earth Day celebration held every year is an exercise in how the world is not changed.... Looking at these sponsors, the event itself becomes even more laughable. The sponsors of this year's Earth Day Festival include... major polluters such as a petroleum company and a waste incinerator. The Modesto Earth Day Festival is a marriage of corporate, state, and media interests, united together in brandishing themselves as protectors of the environment and friends of the earth.

On April 16th, over 300 people gathered for a protest at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County. They called for the closure of nearby Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and insisted that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must halt PG&E's relicensing application process for the structure.

Activists in the Bay Area are shining a light on the connection between recently announced budget cuts and a corporate culture of tax evasion. Late last month, members of San Francisco's US Uncut movement held a sit-in at a Bank of America branch in the Mission District to call attention to the fact that the mega bank paid no federal taxes for years 2009 or 2010. As the April 18th tax filing deadline approaches, banks in Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Oakland are protest targets.

Stop Smart Meters! and allies held a protest in Mountain View on April 14th as Julius Genachowski, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission, spoke about the need to increase wireless capacity, ignoring those who suffer ill health from "electrosmog" throughout the U.S. Several passers-by stopped and joined the demonstration. Activists smuggled a Stop Smart Meters! banner inside the talk and just when they thought everyone in the audience was about to go to sleep, they stirred things up with a classic banner drop disruption.

Squatter's group Homes Not Jails took over a large long vacant apartment building at the corner of Divisadero and O'Farrell, off Geary, in San Francisco on April 11th. The building is owned by Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente had let it sit empty for years after evicting the families who lived there. Homes Not Jails took over the building and opened it up for people to live in. On the front of the building a large banner proclaimed, "Kaiser Thrives, People Die."

The San Francisco Labor Council has called for the full support of ILWU Local 10 after it was sued by the Pacific Maritime Association for a "We Are One" solidarity action with Wisconsin workers which shut down the ports in Oakland and San Francisco on April 4, 2011. On April 12th, ILWU members and supporter held a sit-in at the offices of the PMA in Oakland. The first emergency defense meeting to organize for action will take place on Thursday, April 14th.

Elizabeth Gonzalez is the subject of the tenth profile in this series by Indybay contributor Peter M. Gonzalez is a veteran of the innovative magazine and community service organization called Silicon Valley Debug. She now works with New America Media as a marketer to Spanish-speaking communities, promoting health and social welfare. She talks about changes she has been through over the years.

"Some Angry Queers" write: Look around you! Some new benches have appeared on the streets of San Francisco! These benches are more than places to sit. They are a visible resistance to the privatization of public space.... We believe that public space should be for everyone, and right now it is being taken away from those of us who need it most.... Sometimes we need a place to sit down. Build your own benches! Find ways to take back public space! This city is for all of us!

An anti-war rally and march was held in San Francisco on April 10th in Dolores Park. Speakers from the stage spoke out against war and related political problems. Speakers included Afghan MP Malalai Joya, who was suspended from the Parliament of Afghanistan for denouncing the warlords and the US/NATO war and occupation. After the rally, protesters went on a mile-long march through the Mission, followed by a shorter group of speakers back in Dolores Park. Their message was clear: stop all the wars, bring all the troops home now.

The San Diego City Council spent nearly six hours on March 28th listening to public input and debating a proposed permit process for medical marijuana dispensaries. The Council passed a measure that dispensary members and their supporters say amounts to a virtual ban. Though public speakers in support of medical marijuana far outnumbered opponents at each stage of the process, the Council enacted an ordinance that would make it virtually impossible for dispensaries to locate anywhere in the city of San Diego.

A spike in the level of radioactive iodine from Japan's Fukushima Daichii plant was discovered in milk samples in California's San Luis Obispo County in late March. On April 2nd, the EPA issued a press release stating that radioactive material in California's rainwater is the result of the nuclear disaster in Japan. While health officials assure the public that the increases present no danger, Californians are expressing deep concern about nuclear reactors that are poised near earthquake faults on the coast. Scheduled protests include in San Francisco on April 14th, Avila Beach, California, near Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, on April 16th, and Menlo Park on April 26th.

On Monday, April 4th, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, local coalitions participated in nationwide actions to support Wisconsin workers, public services and the middle class. Organizers of the rally at the Santa Cruz County Government Center stated, "Dr. King was killed in Memphis, TN, where he had stood with sanitation workers who were struggling for the right to bargain collectively. The actions by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to eliminate collective bargaining – and the gradual eroding of the American middle class - only undermine that struggle."

The Internationalist Platform for Resistance and Self-Initiative Weaving Autonomies (PIRATA) organized a brigade for the observation and documentation of the violation of the rights of native peoples in the municipality of Santiago Xanica, Oaxaca, México. The brigade traveled through the municipality from March 14 to March 21, 2011. The task that the International Brigade set for itself has been to listen, understand, relate, and make public what is happening in the community of Santiago Xanica.

In commemoration of international Holocaust Remembrance Day, from January 24th to February 19th Auschwitz survivor Dr. Hajo Meyer went on a speaking tour throughout the U.S. and Canada called "Never Again for Anyone". During his appearance in Oakland, Dr. Meyer was joined by UC Berkeley professor Dr. Hatem Bazian and Sarah Kershnar. Two days later, Dr. Meyer sat down with Bay Area filmmaker David Zlutnick for a video interview in Los Angeles.

London, UK: Following months of demonstrations, occupations of town halls and other buildings, road blockades and widespread campaigning, a national protest against the cuts to social spending and for the alternatives is taking place on Saturday, March 26th. Hundreds of thousands are expected to march in London's biggest street mobilization since the anti-war march of 2003. Locally, the US Uncut San Francisco team has called for a demonstration on the same day starting at 10:30am at an unnamed bank near the 24th St. BART station.

On March 19th, thousands of people took to the streets to demand an end to U.S. war and military intervention abroad and funding for peoples' needs at home. Demonstrations took place in San Francisco, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and many other cities across the United States and the world. At the opening rally in San Francisco, speakers condemned the launching of a new war against Libya, which had begun just hours before.

Weeks after a giant tsunami engulfed Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. is still struggling to bring the radiation crisis under control. Radiation has seeped into the soil and seawater and made its way into produce, raw milk and tap water. The Japanese government has admitted that its safeguards were insufficient to protect the nuclear plant. Radiation levels have increased in 15 US states from the nuclear disaster in Japan.

Because of agricultural discharges from Salinas Valley farms, the lower Salinas River has been found to have one of the highest levels of nitrates of any river in the world. During the summer, the river is bright green with a thick mat of toxic algae. The fertilizer doesn’t just impair the Salinas River. When the first rain comes in the fall, a huge pulse of sediment and fertilizer flushes out into Monterey Bay. This pulse has been associated with toxic algae blooms that sicken or kill sea otters, sea lions, and sea birds.

Responding to an international call to action, on March 9th activists in Berkeley unfurled a large banner over the highway reading, “Justice for Mehdi Aby Ayyash,” a Palestinian youth killed two years ago by the Israeli military. On March 10th, Palestinian solidarity activists in Chicago replaced street signs that read “Honorary Ben Gurion Way” with “Honorary Mehdi Abu Ayyash Way.” More actions are expected to take place in the coming weeks in different locations around the world.

On March 8th, several hundred Modesto Junior College students responded to a call for a walkout against budget cuts that would result in the gutting of various departments and the laying off of faculty. Students rallied in the quad in front of the administration building for over half an hour. Also speaking at the rally were several faculty members who expressed solidarity with the students for standing with them. After rallying, students marched around campus then moved downtown, disrupting an event held by the Mayor of Modesto.

For the past two years, California has been in an ongoing struggle against cuts to education and public services. On March 4th, 2010, students, teachers, faculty, workers, and supporters statewide held coordinated Strike and Day of Action in defense of public education and public services. This year, California's new governor, democrat Jerry Brown, is planning to cut $1.4 Billion from public higher education, and students across the state demonstrated in coordinated actions on March 2nd and over the following days.

At a news conference on February 18th, 2011, Japanese Fisheries minister Michihiko Kano stated they will suspend their "research" whaling because the Sea Shepherd activists had succeeded in their attempts to harass those who hunt and kill whales in the Antarctic region. "The whale war in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is over. The whales have won!" announced Captain Paul Watson from the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin.

On March 3rd, the Seaside City Council voted unanimously to outlaw PG&E's wireless smart meter installation within city limits. On March 8th, Lake and San Luis Obispo Counties joined the list, calling upon the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to stop installing wireless meters until more is known about short and long term health impacts and potential privacy violations. Residents from all over California will attend the CPUC meeting on March 10th starting at 9am at 505 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.