Even as a case awaits a California Supreme Court decision regarding student housing UC Berkeley intends to build on the land, the university went in for the kill on People's Park shortly before midnight on January 3, sending in hundreds of police to clear the park and to make way for a wall of shipping containers. Protesters were ready for the raid, but police closed nearby streets to prevent more from coming to defend the park. Several demonstrators were arrested.

Protesters in Northern California have engaged in direct actions aimed at disrupting business as usual and raising the profile of the call to free Palestine. Activists shut down the Bay Bridge. A US military vessel destined to deliver weaponry to Israel was blocked from leaving the Port of Oakland. A defense contractor's office was locked down. Communiqués posted on Indybay claim sabotage of train lines, as well as a water main at a pro-IDF fundraiser.

Millions of people worldwide are standing in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel wages war on Gaza. Marches and rallies have demanded a ceasefire, the end of US military support for Israel, and that Palestine be freed once and for all. Every week there are more protests in cities large and small, including in many that have never seen a pro-Palestinian demonstration. In San Francisco, tens of thousands have marched against Israel's war on Gaza.

As billionaires and politicians met behind ten-foot-high metal walls, tens of thousands of demonstrators protested outside. Member nations of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit claim to have "Inclusive, Collaborative Solutions for Just Transitions," but opponents call this greenwashing and maintain that years of corporate neoliberalism are responsible for economic inequality, oppression, the climate crisis, and war.

Over 1.7 million Palestinians have been displaced and face serious malnutrition and dehydration. Nearly 15,000 have been killed, a third of whom are children. Around 50% of all residential housing in the strip has been destroyed. Israel has killed over 200 medical and aid workers, and 65 journalists. It has bombed and raided hospitals, schools, UN facilities, and more, allowing in barely enough supplies to keep the population from starving to death.

At sunrise on October 19, youth climate activists associated with the group Occupy Beale gave a speech decrying the imperialist military-industrial complex, responsible for countless ecological atrocities, energy consumption, and carbon emissions. Four activists, banners in hand, then marched across the demarcation line at the Schneider gate of Beale Air Force Base. Military police detained three of them for over an hour.

The city of San Pablo plans on building a new police headquarters and training facility. The Stop Cop Campus Coalition intends to prevent the new facility from being constructed, arguing such huge amounts of money would be better spent meeting the needs of city residents rather than policing them. On September 30, their second protest was held with a march down the middle of San Pablo Avenue to the site of the proposed "Cop Campus."

The newly-formed Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism (ICSZ) will hold its inaugural bicoastal conference, Battling the “IHRA Definition”: Theory & Activism, on October 13-14. Through the lens of research on structural racism, state violence, and social justice movements, the conference will analyze political campaigns that seek to codify the “IHRA definition” of antisemitism, and efforts to oppose IHRA policies.

On September 16, thousands rallied and marched in Sacramento in solidarity with New York City's massive March to End Fossil Fuels. Starting with colorful rallies in Sacramento's Old Town, protesters marched to the Tower Bridge and displayed a huge banner demanding an end of fossil fuel use. Sign bearing kayakers in the river joined in. Smaller demonstrations happened in Palo Alto and other cities.

Women’s Declaration International held a conference in San Francisco the weekend of September 16. Their mission is to attack what they call "gender ideology" and they align with ultra-conservative groups including Christian nationalists and Republican politicians to enshrine bigotry into law and otherwise further marginalize transgender folks. LGBTQ+ rights activists rose up in opposition with several rounds of protests and counter-protests.

As the Port of Oakland views ever increasing use of autos and aviation as integral to humanity's evolution in the Bay Area, others beg to differ. Environmentalists from the Stop OAK Expansion Coalition view fossil fuels as the main cause of, now undeniable, global warming and current climate crises. They demand we move away from autos and air travel to fuel efficient systems such as electric rail. They are protesting and speaking out at public meetings.

More than 8,500 workers have formed unions at over 340 Starbucks stores in the U.S. With thousands more to go, customers and labor advocates are hitting the streets this summer to keep pressure on the union-busting company. On July 31, the national bus tour of Starbucks workers made a stop to rally at San Francisco City Hall. On August 7, Starbucks customers across the U.S. held a day of action targeting locations not yet unionized.

More than a decade ago, artists and musicians created a vibrant hub for the arts in an abandoned shopping mall in Porto, Portugal. City officials long sought to close the DIY space and finally moved on the Stop Shopping Center in late July. For over 10 days, more than 500 musicians were forcibly evicted from their workspace by police and city authorities, with over 100 rehearsal rooms and workplaces closed down. Thousands came out to protest the eviction.