[Sfbay-news] SF Bay Area IMC: News for July 30, 2004

Fri Jul 30 18:38:02 PDT 2004

WEEKLY INDYMEDIA UPDATE, JULY 30, 2004
http://www.indybay.org/

Current featured news for the week of Friday, July 30:

CONTENTS:
 1. New Indymedia Page Covering Bay Area's Immigrants Rights Movement
 2. Fault Lines: 2nd Issue of Indymedia Newspaper Hits the Streets
 3. Upcoming Events
 4. Ladyfest Bay Area in San Francisco This Weekend
 5. Books Not Bombs Rally and March to Nuclear Weapons Lab
 6. Treesits Defend Wilderness; Klamath Tribes Appeal to CEO and
    Shareholders as Salmon Disappear
 7. Taxpayers and Ratepayers to Pay Price of City's Islais Creek Fiasco
 8. McCarthyism at the San Francisco Chronicle?
 9. Democratic Convention in Boston Ends, Kerry Nominated
10. West Oakland Rallies for Affordable Housing, Museum at "Central
    Station" Development
11. San Francisco Protests Israel's Apartheid Wall
12. Farouk Abdel-Muhti, Recently Freed Palestinian Activist, Dies
13. FCC and Media Monopolists Face Hot Criticism at Monterey Hearing
14. Blank Votes Spell Continued Fight for Bolivia's Natural Gas
15. Jewish San Francisco Activist Denied Entry Into Israel
16. San Jose Demands Justice for Rudy Cardenas and Cau Bich Tran
17. Macy's Workers in SF Go Out on 24 Hour Strike
18. Bay Area Residents Plan Travel to New York to Protest the RNC
19. Sherman Austin Released To LA Halfway House
20. E-Voting Activists File $42 Million Lawsuit Against Diebold
21. Bay Area Activists Have to Sue to Rent Clear Channel Billboards
22. Bay Area Organizes Around Case of Activist Attorney Lynne Stewart
23. Liberated Space in San Francisco

NEW INDYMEDIA PAGE COVERING BAY AREA'S IMMIGRANT RIGHTS MOVEMENT
A new page at SF Bay Area Indymedia covers ongoing struggles for 
immigrant rights in the Bay Area and beyond:  
http://www.indybay.org/immigrant/
7/27 March Against INS Raids:  
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/07/1690331.php
Videos:  http://www.indybay.org/news/?category=56&medium=video

FAULT LINES: 2ND ISSUE OF INDYMEDIA NEWSPAPER HITS THE STREETS
The second issue of SF Bay Area Indymedia's new newspaper, Fault Lines, 
has hit the streets.  Pick up a copy today or subscribe!  Each issue 
brings you local and international stories and in-depth coverage found 
only in Fault Lines.  Volunteers are needed; e-mail 
sfbay-print at indymedia.org for more info.
http://www.indybay.org/faultlines/
http://www.indybay.org/subscribe/

UPCOMING EVENTS
* 7/29-31: Ward Churchill and David Gilbert Events in SF and East Bay
  http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/07/1690237.php
* 7/30 at 7pm in SF: LaborFest - Singing Out at the Redstone
  http://www.indybay.org/calendar/event_display_detail.php?event_id=4288
* 7/31 at 10am in Oakland: East Bay Peace & Justice Community Summit
  http://www.indybay.org/calendar/event_display_detail.php?event_id=4156
* 7/31 at 2pm in SF: LaborFest - Land of Orange Groves and Jails:
  Upton Sinclair's California
  http://www.indybay.org/calendar/event_display_detail.php?event_id=4286

LADYFEST BAY AREA IN SAN FRANCISCO THIS WEEKEND
7/29-8/1:  Ladyfest Bay Area 2004 is a non profit, feminist,
community-based collaborative festival of empowering workshops,
forums, art showings, and events held by and for self-identified women
and transfolk organized by pro-women volunteers. This year's panels
and DIY workshop themes range from female sexuality to independent
publishing.

BOOKS NOT BOMBS RALLY AND MARCH TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB
Sunday, August 8th, 2004 will be the 59th anniversary of the US atomic 
bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  In 
Livermore, California, a demonstration is held every year during the 
week of August 8th to commemorate those bombings and to draw attention 
to the Livermore nuclear weapons lab.  Protest organizers say that the 
lab is one of the main sites in the world where nuclear weapons are 
developed.  The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has leaked over 
1 million curies of airborne radiation in the Bay Area, which is 
approximately the amount that was released by the Hiroshima bomb.  This 
year, protesters in Livermore will demand that cuts to public education 
be stopped, that money be invested in public education rather than in 
weapons of mass destruction, that jobs in civilian sciences be created, 
and that the University of California stop building and defending 
nuclear weapons.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2317&category_id=18

TREESITS DEFEND WILDERNESS; KLAMATH TRIBES APPEAL TO CEO AND 
SHAREHOLDERS AS SALMON DISAPPEAR
7/29/04: Earth First! is running a direct action training camp through 
August 4th, and two roadblocks on logging roads and a treesit village 
have been constructed in defense of old-growth forest in the Mattole 
River watershed being razed by Maxxam.  Meanwhile, tribal emissaries 
from the Klamath River visited Scotland and Brussels, lobbying energy 
giant Scottish Power for removal of several of its dams from along the 
river.  Constructed without crucial "fish ladders," these dams 
effectively prevent salmon from reaching their spawning grounds.  
Removal of the dams would help restore local salmon populations, which 
have been in decline for decades.  Recently, the salmon population has 
been further decimated in massive fish kills after the Bush 
administration ordered water from the river be diverted to corporate 
agribusiness.
http://www.indybay.org/environment/

TAXPAYERS AND RATEPAYERS TO PAY PRICE OF CITY'S ISLAIS CREEK FIASCO
7/27/04: MUNI's Third Street Rail project has had a devastating impact 
on communities in southeast San Francisco, and now it appears that 
ratepayers and taxpayers will pay the price of the environmental 
cleanup.  Up and down Third Street, black-owned businesses have closed 
because of the endless construction mess -- three years and counting -- 
and MUNI has not met its minority and women hiring and contracting 
goals.  In 2001, faulty construction of a city electrical conduit 
across Islais Creek resulted in a horrific spill as sinkholes opened up 
and millions of gallons of sewage poured into Islais Creek and Muwkema 
Ohlone Park.  Three years later, it turns out the repairs, which 
further demolished the park, were as shoddy as the original 
construction, and the 10-foot sewage main is leaking again.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2318&category_id=14

MCCARTHYISM AT THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE?
7/28/04: Ever since the War on Iraq broke out last year, the Chronicle, 
San Francisco's monopoly daily, has forbidden its employees from taking 
part in any political act or statement, aside from voting.  Last year, 
technology writer Henry Norr was let go for participating in civil 
disobedience against the war.  As more writers and editors are 
suspended or reassigned, journalists are questioning whether it's 
appropriate for a newspaper to suppress its reporters or cover up their 
biases.  And the Chron's stated commitment to "neutrality" conflicts 
with the behavior of its top executives; Chairman of the Board George 
Hearst donated $30,000 to Republican candidates and committees in the 
2000-2004 elections.  Chron policy is also in violation of the 
California State Labor Code, which provides for up to a year of jail 
time for employers caught "forbidding or preventing employees from 
engaging or participating in politics."  Hearst executives can rest 
easy for the moment; employees who have been affected by the ethics 
code have so far chosen to settle privately instead of pursuing legal 
action.
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/07/1690463.php

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN BOSTON ENDS, KERRY NOMINATED
The Democratic National Convention met in Boston from July 26th-29th, 
2004 to decide that John Kerry is the party's official nominee for the 
presidency.  During the months leading up to the convention, as protest 
planning meetings were closed down by the police and announcements of 
road closures and bag searches on public transit came out, local 
residents became soured on the idea of the convention coming to their 
town.  After the Boston Social Forum was held over the weekend, several 
events per day highlighted issues that were important to protesters -- 
from street theatre exposing the nature of the war and attacks on civil 
liberties, to anarchist marches, to a queer contingent kiss-in.  
Repression of protesters ranged from a limited free-speech zone that 
was out of the delegates' view (ACLU and NLG sue over "free speech 
zone"), to racial profiling, armor-clad state police, and FBI 
harassment of anarchists.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2221&category_id=45
http://boston.indymedia.org/

WEST OAKLAND UNITES AGAINST "CENTRAL STATION" DEVELOPMENT
7/24/04: Around one hundred West Oaklanders rallied on Saturday, July 
24th to demand that the old train station at 16th & Wood Streets be 
restored as a community-run museum for the Pullman Porters, and that 
the surrounding planned development -- masterminded by infamous condo 
and loft developer Rick Holliday -- include a sizable proportion of 
low-income housing.  Residents of the historically largely-African 
American neighborhood see the preservation of African American 
historical landmarks and the construction of affordable housing as 
going hand in hand.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2309&category_id=16

SAN FRANCISCO PROTESTS ISRAEL'S APARTHEID WALL
On Saturday, 7/24/04, around 100 people showed up near the 24th and 
Mission BART station to hand out information about the occupation and 
oppression of the Palestinian people.  The main focus of the protest 
was the wall Israel is building through the middle of Palestinian 
communities.  On July 9th 2004, the International Court of Justice 
(ICJ) at the Hague ruled that the wall was illegal and on July 21st, 
the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Israel 
comply with the World Court ruling.  The General Assembly vote was 
passed with 150 in favour, 6 opposed and 10 abstentions.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2310&category_id=18
http://www.indybay.org/international/palestine/

FAROUK ABDEL-MUHTI, RECENTLY FREED PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST, DIES OF HEART 
ATTACK
7/22/04: Palestinian activist and former radio producer Farouk 
Abdel-Muhti died Wednesday, apparently of a heart attack.  He was 56 
years old, just two weeks shy of his next birthday.  Abdel-Muhti was 
giving a talk in Philadelphia and immediately afterwards rested his 
head on the table in front of him.  "I think we all thought he was just 
resting," said one person who was in the audience.  Farouk Abdel-Muhti 
had been released from jail on April 12, 2004 after being held for two 
years without charge by U.S.  immigration officials.  As a Palestinian 
who came to the U.S.  four decades ago, Abdel-Muhti argued he was 
"stateless" and had no country to which he could have been deported.  
His supporters considered him to be a political prisoner.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2306&category_id=56

FCC AND MEDIA MONOPOLISTS FACE HOT CRITICISM AT MONTEREY HEARING
The FCC's only west coast hearing on local vs.  corporate media was 
held in Monterey, CA on July 21st.  Although Chairman Michael Powell, 
son of Secretary of State Colin Powell, was conspicuously absent, three 
of the five Commissioners were on hand as 600 community members and 
media activists bumped shoulders with Clear Channel executives for a 
chance to speak their piece.  The FCC was recently ordered by a federal 
appeals court to review its media consolidation plan, which would allow 
a single corporation to buy out smaller firms and own all mass media in 
a "market," including radio, television, cable, newspapers, newsracks, 
and billboards.  Davey D, fired from Clear Channel's KMEL, spoke about 
the importance of public airwaves, the manipulative ways of corporate 
media conglomerates, and how voices are being omitted "with the media's 
most powerful tool: Silence."
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2300&category_id=32

BLANK VOTES SPELL CONTINUED FIGHT FOR BOLIVIA'S NATURAL GAS
7/18/04: Last October, tens of thousands of poor indigenous Bolivians 
blocked highways and faced off with heavily armed soldiers in protest 
of a controversial plan to export natural gas to the United States 
through Chile.  Under this enormous amount of vocal people pressure, 
which resulted in 59 deaths by Bolivian military forces, then-Vice 
President and current Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, made sweet 
promises of returning the gas, the latest of the country's natural 
resources to be plundered by foreign investors, to the people.  Today 
was set aside as a day for the people to vote on just such a promise, 
but instead the Mesa government has offered the people little more than 
a token way to decide between different versions of exploitation.  
Record numbers of Bolivian citizens protested this insult by purposely 
spoiling and voiding their votes, the only way to legally abstain from 
the mandatory vote.  Outrage over transnational privatization of gas 
continues to escalate, and the tension in Bolivia is tangible.
http://www.indybay.org/international/americas/

JEWISH SAN FRANCISCO ACTIVIST DENIED ENTRY INTO ISRAEL
Jamie Spector, an activist and social worker from San Francisco, was 
detained and denied entry into Israel.  Spector was planning to take 
part in non-violent demonstrations with Palestinians, Israelis, and 
other internationals against the "Apartheid Wall", the barrier Israel 
is building in the occupied West Bank.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2266&category_id=18

SAN JOSE DEMANDS JUSTICE FOR RUDY CARDENAS AND CAU BICH TRAN
On July 28th, a Grand Jury announced its decision to indict California
Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agent Michael Walker, who will be
arraigned on Monday.  Rudy Cardenas was mistaken for a wanted parolee
and shot and killed by Agent Walker on Februrary 17th, 2004.  Cardenas
was shot in the back while pleading for his life.  After police held
paramedics back for half an hour, Cardenas was taken to the hospital,
where doctors were unable to save him.  On July 17th, a memorial
service was held for Cau Bich Tran and Rudy Cardenas at St Joseph's
Church in downtown San Jose, followed by a rally.  Cau Bich Tran was a
25 year-old Vietnamese mother who was killed in her kitchen when she
was having a mental health crisis.  She was holding a vegetable peeler.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2238&category_id=13

MACY'S WORKERS IN SF GO OUT ON 24 HOUR STRIKE
7/16/04: Macy's workers at the Union Square and Stonestown department 
stores voted on July 11th to go on strike since the company continues 
to not meet their demands relating to sick pay and health care 
coverage.  Workers voted 90% in favor of authorizing a 24 hour strike 
-- starting at 11 pm on Friday evening, the 16th of July, and ending 11 
pm on Saturday.  Workers are calling for community supporters to come 
out to the picket lines and help them make some noise, wih a special 
call for people to be at the Union Square store from 11am-1pm on 
Saturday July 17th for a press conference.
Plus Coverage of Ben Davis Workers:  http://www.indybay.org/labor/

BAY AREA RESIDENTS PLAN TRAVEL TO NEW YORK TO PROTEST THE RNC
Several different groups in the Bay Area are organizing contingents for 
the protests against the Republican National Convention in New York 
City later this summer.  One local groups is organizing affinity groups 
to participate in direct actions related to the Shout Heard Round the 
World call to action.  Another contingent from the Bay Area is made up 
of people of color and white allies.  A third group is organizing a 
Radical Queer Affinity Group.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2262&category_id=45
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2220&category_id=45

SHERMAN AUSTIN RELEASED TO LA HALFWAY HOUSE
7/14/04: Political prisoner Sherman Austin, who made headlines last 
year after being targetted as one of the first casualties of the 
infamous USA PATRIOT Act, was released from prison and left Arizona 
Monday morning to return to Los Angeles, California.  The nightmare 
doesn't end there for Sherman, though.  He will be remanded to the 
custody of a halfway house where he will serve the remainder of his 
sentence until August 2004.  Starting now and continuing through the 
next three years, Sherman will be serving an additional sentence of 
federal probation, under which he will not be allowed to use a cell 
phone, computer or other digital device unless designated by the 
government.  In addition, Sherman has been forbidden any contact with 
"anarchist groups," who the federal government maintains "advocate 
violence as a means of disrupting order and achieving social, economic 
and political change."
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2293&category_id=13

E-VOTING ACTIVISTS FILE $42 MILLION LAWSUIT AGAINST DIEBOLD
7/12/04: Jim March of Sacramento and investigative writer Bev Harris 
have filed a massive lawsuit against Diebold, Inc., on behalf of 
Alameda County and the State of California.  March and Harris allege 
that Diebold officials knowingly supplied Alameda and other California 
counties with uncertified voting software, contrary to its contracts 
and state law, and that the officials falsely claimed their 
touchscreens were secure against tampering.  The activists are seeking 
a full refund from Diebold; state whisteblower laws allow for triple 
damages -- $42 million for Alameda alone.  State officials at first 
brushed off complaints and criticisms, but Attorney General Bill 
Lockyer eventually opened an investigation into Diebold at the request 
of Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, who accused the firm of breaking 
California election laws and lying to state election officials.  Last 
year, Diebold attempted to force Indybay to remove links to leaked 
internal memos.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2268&category_id=45

BAY AREA ACTIVISTS WIN CLEAR CHANNEL BILLBOARDS
A group of prominent Bay Area women and their non-profit Project 
Billboard had purchased prime billboard space in New York's Times 
Square, just in time for the Republican National Convention and 
November's elections.  With a $360,000 price tag for the two-month run, 
everyone seemed to be happy.  Until the women unveiled their 
"pro-democracy" ad - a bomb draped in the stars and bars, with the 
simple message "Democracy is best taught by example, not by war."  The 
contract was with infamous media juggernaut Clear Channel - yes, the 
same Clear Channel that organized pro-war rallies across the country 
last year after contributing thousands to Bush's presidential campaign. 
  Under the guise of rejecting anything "political", Clear Channel 
pulled the ad, even nixing an alternate version - a red, white and blue 
dove.  After a standoff, Project Billboard settled out of court with a 
Clear Channel subsidiary; two altered billboards will appear in two 
different New York locations for the price of one.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2271&category_id=18

BAY AREA ORGANIZES AROUND CASE OF ACTIVIST ATTORNEY LYNNE STEWART
Lynne Stewart, a progressive attorney in New York and New Jersey, was 
arrested on April 9th, 2002, and accused of "materially aiding a 
terrorist organization"; after issuing a press release for her client 
Sheik Omar, who was imprisoned in Minnesota and was only allowed to 
communicate with his lawyers and his wife in Egypt, once monthly.  She 
is being tried in the same courtroom where Ethel and Julius and 
Rosenberg were tried and convicted.  Past clients of Lynne Stewart's 
have ranged from a man who was acquitted of murder of several police 
officers (based on self-defense) to a member of the Weather 
Underground.  A Bay Area Justice for Lynne Stewart organizing meeting 
was held on July 10th.
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2259&category_id=13

LIBERATED SPACE IN SAN FRANCISCO
Liberated Space has been extended until August 9th!  It showcases the 
2000-2003 works of Indybay photographer Peter Maiden.  Whether candid 
close-ups of small, affinity-group lockdowns or stunning aerial views 
of massive anti-war marches, from San Francisco to Tijuana, we're 
offered an arresting glimpse of an alternative history -- one which a 
study of mainstream media would suggest never happened.  Maiden's 
full-size prints -- with exponentially greater richness and definition 
than anything on the web -- thrust us headlong (back?) into those 
fleeting, energy-filled moments.  From the artist's statement:
"When the left goes into the streets, people temporarily liberate the 
public space, turning it into a venue for the expression of their 
beliefs.  Indymedia amplifies and disseminates the messages that are 
expressed in that way.  A crucial part of that task is undertaken with 
photographs."
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2215&category_id=34

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