Code Blue Report

Greetings Dear Friends,
This is a brief report-back from CodeBlue San Francisco. We've been busy
unwinding from the day, restoring our sleep and our energy for the massive
struggle that we all need to prepare for--and we will be in the streets again and
again with renewed fire of peaceful resistance that will blow Bush off his
rocker.
On the morning of Nov. 3 CodeBlue organized an action that was held under the
banner of Healthcare not Warfare. We began with a rally at Justin Herman plaza
that lasted for an hour. We had speakers from labor unions, green activists, Gray
Panthers, Religious Witness with the Homeless, homeless advocacy groups, Act-UP,
the Coalition on the Homeless, Po Poets, and anti-imperialist/anti-war
organizations including Siafu, Heads-Up Collective and Global Intifada. This was
a beautiful, full spectrum shout-out with ardent speeches and spoken word. Then
we took to the streets. We marched up Market street, choking traffic, with
banners and puppets and lots of loud chants infused by Siafu/anti-imperialist
energy. The police did not block our march on the street: our energy was strong
and peaceful and loud.
Our march was designed to highlight the local geography of power and struggle in
the city of San Francisco. We marched by pickets held by hotel workers who have
been locked out of their jobs because of their demands for affordable health
care. The picket captains led us in chants and the workers shouted for health
care and social justice. Our march also incorporated a bloc from the Chinese
Progressive Association who are locked in a bitter struggle with the city of San
Francisco and business owners over unfair labor practices and the lack of health
benefits for poor workers. We were taught chants in Mandarin. We eventually
entered the Tenderloin district and marched up Turk street to a center for
homeless self-help: the Hospitality House. There we protested the city's plans to
shut down the homeless self-help center and we heard from homeless activists who
are outraged by the city's plans to close their amazing center. We held a vigil
led by !Presente! to highlight homeless deaths
in a city that traditionally prides itself on compassion but which is increasingly
dominated by a corporate-political elite that wants to deny the homeless their
rights to freedom, self-help and dignified health care. Membesr of our march hand
delivered petitions to save the Self Help center to the mayor at City Hall.
Finally we marched to the U.S. Federal Building and took over the street in front
of the building. There we had another vigil to highlight the world-wide misery
caused by the Bush regime and its corporate sponsored policies of warfare,
imperialism and racism. Our street theater featured coffins with slogans like
"Collateral Damage"and "Died From Lack of Healthcare". We had a people's
election, where everyone could vote on issues that they did not have a chance to
see on the national ballot on Nov. 2. We asked everyone who voted in the
"Peoples' Election" to speak about how they would go beyond voting to create the
progressive social change they envision. Ballots from this action are now loaded
on our CodeBlue website, which can be accessed via http://www.barhc.org. Our action
ended with civil disobedience, in which 15 of us sat in front of the Federal
Building until we were cuffed and taken away for detention by the SFPD.
The Nov 2 election leaves us shell-shocked, but with activism we can fight-back
our depression and grief, and with solidarity, solid planning, and an ongoing
commitment to regain public space for free expression, we can change this whole
thing around. We need to support each other and create the community
relationships that will spread around the nation like wild-fire to reclaim
justice and free expression. We will end the Bush sponsored corporate-war
machine. Native peoples will regain land. Palestine shall be free. Forests will
spring back. The homeless will be free to find homes and shelter without state
sponsored intimidation and police control. And there will be health care for all.


peace out
CodeBlue--San Francisco