Feature Archives

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadows for the 10th Annual Power to the Peaceful Festival on Saturday, September 6th. The Festival, which was founded in 1998 by musician and activist Michael Franti in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is dedicated to educating attendees on issues of social justice, non violence, coexistence and environmental sustainability. The day's events included yoga at 9am, speakers and performers beginning at 11am, social and environmental justice info tables, a food drive, and more.

Shutdown: The Rise and Fall of Direct Action to Stop the War, a new documentary created by organizers from within DASW, chronicles the story of the March 20, 2003 shutdown of San Francisco's financial district, going behind the scenes for a look at the successes and pitfalls of mass organizing. The film screens in San Francisco on Friday, August 22 along with five shorts about oil, war and organizing.

On Saturday, August 9th, anti-nuclear protesters gathered at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the 63rd anniversary of the U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. They were joined by Reverend Nobuaki Hanaoka, who survived that devastating attack and called for the “complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.”

On August 4, a partial hearing on Stephanie Tang took place in Alameda County Court. Tang, a long time organizer with World Can’t Wait (WCW), is facing up to one year in jail and $1000 in fines, stemming from an ongoing effort by WCW to shut down the Marine Recruiting Station in Berkeley. This specific charge is connected to a demonstration on Feb. 22, in which Tang, although assaulted by Berkeley Police, was charged with obstruction of an officer.

On August 6th, around 50 anti-war activists in San Francisco targeted the video game maker Ubisoft to “help stop the Army’s child recruitment program” in the form of the free “America’s Army” game. Organizers noted that the game “targets children as young as 13.” San Francisco game companies Ubisoft, Gameloft, and Secret Level are profiting from the illegal recruitment program.

On July 19th, three activists were arrested for breaking through police barricades around Pelosi's Pacific Heights mansion and "dying in" on her walkway to protest against war with Iran. Many banners and signs focused on House Concurrent Resolution 362 and the $400 million the US is spending on covert operations in Iran.

On July 31st, there will be an eyewitness report-back at the SF Women’s Building from two Iranian American activists just back from Iran.

On July 11th, about 30 people, brought together by Youth Coalition Santa Cruz (YCSC), the Resource Center for Nonviolence, and the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz, displayed a series of radical and contemplative statements to motorists on Highway 1 during rush hour. Dubbed, the "Freeway Banner Manifesto" by organizers, it was an attempt to present a different message on every overpass from Santa Cruz to Watsonville. 13 different banners were displayed for aproxiamately 45 minutes right in the middle of rush hour.