Several hundred people gathered in Oakland on July 25 to protest ICE killings. The demonstration included an “ofrenda” to honor the 35 people who died in 2026 while in detention, shortly after release, or at the hands of ICE.
Bay Area
No Kings rallies cover the U.S. for the third time
April 1, 2026In-person reports of the March 28 No Kings demonstrations in Chicago, Evanston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit and Washington, D.C. The events were held in 3,300 locations in the U.S., plus several more in other countries. Eight million people took part.
Oakland in solidarity with Minneapolis: ICE OUT!
February 7, 2026Participant’s report of a demonstration at Fruitvale Bart station, one of many actions in solidarity with the general strike in Minneapolis that took place around the San Francisco Bay Area on January 30.
Oakland residents fight gerrymandering, defend democracy
August 22, 2025Participant’s report of the Aug. 16 demonstration in Oakland to support California’s Congressional redistricting. The demands ranged from “save democracy” to solidarity with those raided by ICE, “protect trans kids” and “resist fascism” to “defy, rebel, resist, disobey.”
Nationwide marches for abortion rights
July 5, 2022March participants report on the thousands of women, men and gender diverse people who demonstrated across the U.S., including Chicago and the Bay Area. They were protesting the Supreme Court decision that decimated women’s right to an abortion and thus to control over their own bodies.
Medicare for all!
September 12, 2021A high-school student from San Jose read her poem castigating lousy U.S. health insurance at a Medicare For All (M4A) Rally in San Francisco on July 24.
Youth demonstrate for Medicare For All
July 26, 2021A high-school youth from San Jose read her poem castigating lousy U.S. health insurance at a Medicare For All (M4A) Rally in San Francisco on July 24.
The Bay Area celebrates May Day
May 4, 2021A participant describes the May Day demonstrations in San Francisco Bay Area, especially in San Jose.
Unemployed workers organize and march, demanding relief
March 11, 2021Newly organized as Northern California Unemployed Committee, people marched to draw attention to the disparities within capitalism exacerbated by COVID-19. They demanded the federal government stop taxing unemployment benefits and that it restore the $600 per week unemployment supplement.
Soledad’s Black prisoners brutalized in 3 a.m. raid report guards warned, ‘You N—ers will have COVID-19!’
August 3, 2020Prisoner rights activist Tasha Williams relays reports from prisoners at Soledad State Prison of a brutal attack by guards on Black prisoners. Guards beat them, used chokeholds on them and several other attacks as well as being maskless and yelling at the Black men: “By the time this is over, you N—ers will have COVID-19!”
Thoughts from the outside: Capitalism and looting
July 1, 2020Ex-prisoner Faruq writes about the meaning of looting in racist, capitalist Amerika where police brutality runs rampant.
Homeless in jeopardy
September 1, 2019Malcolm reflects on the increasing crisis of homlessness in San Francisco after the sudden death of a homeless man at the University of California-Berkeley.
Creating homes for ex-prisoners
Excerpts from a talk by Terah Lawyer, ex-prisoner and coordinator of the Homecoming Project for Impact Justice that finds private homes for prisoners on probation.
Demonstrations for refugees cover the entire U.S.
July 25, 2018“Families Belong Together!” was the rallying cry for in over 700 cities and towns across the U.S. and some in other countries. Rallies of tens of thousands were held June 30 in Chicago, Los Angeles, and several other cities.
Women’s Marches sweep the world
February 3, 2018Women’s Marches took place around the U.S. and the world in 2017 AND 2018, once again showing that the opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump is alive, thriving, militant and exuberant.
California fires from global warming and incompetence
November 14, 2017The massive wildfires in the North Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area that began on the night of Oct. 8 have sent a shock wave through the entire region. Most in the region feel the fires were preventable.
‘Care not cages’
April 27, 2017Immigrant rights and prisoner rights activists held a demonstration outside the largest immigrant detention facility in the San Francisco Bay Area.
San Francisco clears more land for rich
March 17, 2017Report on the resistance against eviction and “development” in the Bay View/Hunters Point (BVHP) area in San Francisco, California.
Youth in Action: July-August 2016
July 9, 2016In West Auckland, New Zealand, Massey High School students and their parents petition for weather-appropriate summer uniforms; 82 Huntsville, Alabama, Grissom High School students defy the dress code for girls because the code endorses rape culture and violates Title IX rights; across the USA Muslim youth are harassed in a variety of ways making them feel unsafe, so much so that the majority of Muslim youth believe that reporting the harassment won’t make a difference.
‘If you ship it we will block it’ stopping the bomb trains
September 6, 2015Report of a lively demonstration in the San Francisco Bay Area against trains carrying tons of coal that can cause huge explosions and yet travel through highly populated areas.
Readers’ Views, Sept.-Oct. 2015, Part 2
August 31, 2015Readers’ thoughts on “Dialectics of Philosophy and of Forces of Revolution”; “Free Mumia!”; “Federico Arcos, 1920-2015”; and a section of “Voices from Behind the Bars.”
Seeking justice for 43 in Ayotzinapa
May 1, 2015“Caravana 43” includes some of the parents of 43 students who were “disappeared” in September from the Normal Rural School Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Mexico, and are touring the U.S. Here are in-person reports from their trips to Berkeley, Calif., and Detroit, Mich.
Solidarity had the might to move the mountain of prison torture that kept us isolated and voiceless. We still need you now, even more
October 13, 2014An appeal from prison hunger strike activists Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa and Jabari Scott about the unlawful and inhuman conditions at Tehachapi State Prison and the non-implementation of the agreements worked out between prisoners and California Gov. Jerry Brown. News and Letters Committees has been covering the prisoners’ hunger strike even before it began (see Pelican [=>]
Handicap This! September-October 2013
October 8, 2013Solitary confinement in Contra Costa County juvenile hall; New Bedford theater expulsion; Providence school makes disabled students work manual labor for little or no pay
BART workers face strike-breaking tactics
September 28, 2013Several hundred rallied in support of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers trying to negotiate a contract with a modest raise and no more takeaways.
Labor support for Oscar Grant
November 21, 2010From the Nov.-Dec. 2010 issue of News & Letters:
Labor for Oscar Grant
Labor and community support for Oscar Grant; photo for News & Letters by Urszula Wislanka
Oakland, Cal.–On Oct. 23 the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) closed all the ports in the Bay Area, leading labor and community in support of Oscar Grant, shot to [=>]
California nurses strike for healthcare
November 14, 2010From the Nov.-Dec. 2010 issue of News & Letters:
California nurses strike for healthcare
California nurses strike for healthcare
Oakland, Cal.–On Oct. 12-14, nurses at Oakland’s Children’s Hospital staged a three-day strike over the proposed takebacks in their healthcare benefits. Practically all the nurses (95%) walked out. Here is what some said:
Martha: I’ve worked at Children’s Hospital, [=>]