Feature Archives

As San Quentin faces California's deadliest coronavirus prison outbreak, protesters are marching to demand that Governor Newsom grant mass releases. COVID-19 infections spread quickly amongst the incarcerated because of inhumane prison infrastructure, say demonstrators who have shown up hundreds at a time outside the prison gates. By continuing to detain men at the Marin County facility, activists insist, the Governor is giving them death sentences.

APTP writes: The people of Oakland moved one step closer to realizing the goal of refunding resources to the community. After weeks of sustained protest and direct action, City Council unanimously approved a resolution to create an official task force to determine how to cut the Oakland Police Department’s budget by 50% next year. In recent weeks, thousands of Oakland residents have joined what has become an international call to invest in services that truly keep people safe by divesting from police.

A transparency collective known as Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS) made a huge trove of law enforcement files publicly available on Juneteenth, in solidarity with the widespread George Floyd uprisings against racist police violence. The massive release spans nearly 24 years and includes data from over 200 police departments, fusion centers and other law enforcement training and support resources. The Northern California Regional Intelligence Center is one of the agencies with the most data in BlueLeaks.

July 4 is a U.S. holiday marking the country's independence from England, but anti-racism activists used the occasion to declare, "No one is free until we are all free.” Being that the holiday traditionally is a painful reminder of this country's history of colonization, genocide, and enslavement, alternate Independence Day events in Northern Californian cities from Oakland to San Francisco to Santa Cruz issued demands to end racism, war, and climate devastation.

On June 10, a large contingent of Oakland's young people marched on Mayor Libby Schaaf's house to demand that police be removed from the city's schools. Shouting marchers, followed by a car caravan, worked their way up Fruitvale Avenue towards the home demonstration. Speakers at the vigil in front of the mayor's house denounced the millions of dollars spent on police, the school to prison pipeline, and demanded that the money go instead to real human needs.

A coalition of activists marked May Day with demands to cancel rent, mortgage and utility payments for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic with a car caravan at San Francisco city hall, and also counter-protested against a simultaneous Republican-sponsored demonstration to "open" up the economy. Republicans want to resume economic activity as soon as possible in an attempt to salvage the reelection of Trump, wrapping their intentions in American flags and slogans of "freedom" and "liberty."

On April 19, San Francisco's Refuse Fascism joined nationwide demonstrations that dumped body bags at Federal locations and Trump properties. People arrived in cars at the Federal building at one o'clock and then laid out "body bags" on the sidewalk. Activists read out their demands. "We recognize the Trump/Pence regime, with its opposition to science and its fascist program now poses an even greater danger to humanity due to the COVID-19 pandemic."