California
Occupy the Crisis: The Emerging Student-Worker Direct Action Movement in California
A summary of the recent student occupation movement commissioned by the antioch rebel newspaper from a participant in the UCSC actions.
There's a riot goin' on - The Red Menace
Article drawing parallels between the struggles of the late 1960s and late 1980s in Berkeley, California.
The recent wave of media nostalgia for the late 1960s in the USA and elsewhere (exemplified by the re-release of the film of the Woodstock festival) gives the impression that the most important preoccupations of the period were smoking dope and listening to Jimi Hendrix - which of course were not unimportant.
California homeless hold demonstration to demand accomodations
On July 2, 2009, hundreds of homeless Californians marched on the Sacramento Town Hall to demand "safe ground".
It has been about three months since city officials shut down a large "tent city" occupied by Sacramento's homeless people.
Now, some of the tent city's residents say they feel like refugees, with no place to go. They staged a loud demonstration Wednesday, in hopes of pressuring Sacramento officials to find them a new place to camp.
'Where Am I Supposed To Live?'
The Third Wave, 1967, an account - Ron Jones
Schoolteacher Ron Jones's personal account of his experiment which created a proto-fascist movement amongst his high school pupils in Palo Alto, California, which in 2008 was subject of the award-winning film The Wave.
THE THIRD WAVE
Ron Jones (1972)
For years I kept a strange secret. I shared this silence with two hundred students. Yesterday I ran into one of those students. For a brief moment it all rushed back.
Arnie terminates California state workers
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an executive order to sack 22,000 state workers and reduce 200,000 to the minimum wage.
California has one of the world's largest economies, but facing a budget deficit of more than $15bn (£7.6bn) Mr Schwarzenegger is seeking to shift the costs onto public sector workers.
Stockton truckers call out the industry with 400 on strike
Motor carriers are underpaying truckers all over california for diesel fuel. Now they're fighting back...
Independent truckers in California's San Joaquin Valley shut down their rigs on Friday, May 2nd declaring an open-ended strike. At $4.80 a gallon, sky-rocketing diesel prices top the list of grievances. As their main demand, drivers insist on doubling the rates paid for hauling a container. The second biggest demand is a fuel surcharge of upwards of 55%.
Vallejo, California: Unions help city with lay-offs
The city of Vallejo in the San Francisco Bay Area may be the first city in California history to declare bankruptcy. However several unions are helping the city to cut jobs in an effort to ward off bankruptcy.
This cash-strapped city reached a tentative deal with its police and firefighters unions Thursday, just before city leaders convened to decide if the city would seek bankruptcy protection from a swell of economic uncertainty.
That question remains unresolved, however, as details of the deal will be made public today before the council revisits the issue Monday.
Oakland dockers honour anti-war picket lines
Oakland Port anti-war and labor protesters close SSA terminal for the day. ILWU 10 & ILWU 34 members refuse to cross lines.
Dozens of anti-war protesters including the leadership and many members of the Oakland Education Association (OEA) joined the picket lines this morning and in the evening of the SSA (Stevedoring Services of America) shipping terminal in Oakland, California to protest the war and the lack of funding for schools in Oakland.
Fare strike - San Francisco 2005
Pamphlet with first-hand accounts and analysis of the self-organised 2005 fare strike, in PDF and text format.
Fare strike in PDF format (2.14Mb)
Fare strike!
San Francisco 2005
First-Hand Accounts
INTRODUCTION
Post mortem on the San Francisco fare strike, 2005 - Tom Wetzel
Tom Wetzel analyses the fare strike of San Francisco public transport riders in 2005. He examines what ways of organising can be used to win struggles and form the basis of a new society.
In September, 2005 several thousand riders of Muni - San Francisco's city-owned transit system - participated in a mass fare strike, to fight service cuts, layoffs, and the second fare hike in two years. More than five dozen people were actively involved in the organizing. The last action connected with the fare strike was a November 10th protest march, initiated by the organized day laborers.
