The RNC Welcoming Committee has come up with a "Swarm, Seize, Stay" strategy of dividing St. Paul, Minnesota into sectors to facilitate coordination of blockades and other creative resistance on September 1st, 2008, the first day of the Republican National Convention. On July 27th the next local U.A. in the Bay organizing meeting will be held.

On July 22nd, Judge Barbara Miller upheld U.C. Berkeley's plans for an athletic training center in the Memorial Oak Grove. The order will end an injunction that had blocked destruction of the grove. On Thursday, July 24th, the Berkeley City Council will likely make its final decision about whether or not to pursue an appeal. Supporters of an appeal plan will meet at the grove at 3:30pm and march to City Hall at 4pm before the 5pm public hearing.

On July 22nd, over 3,000 people rallied at the Port of Oakland to protest against pollution and poverty. Many truck drivers at the port make as little as $8 an hour and receive no benefits. The port trucking system requires drivers to sit idle in their trucks for hours everyday while their trucks spew out toxic diesel emissions. Port diesel pollution is associated with high rates of cancer and asthma. As a result, cancer and asthma rates are higher in West Oakland than other parts of the Bay Area.

anonymous writes, "On July 21st all four ATMs were smashed at the River St Wells Fargo in Santa Cruz California. This minor act of sabotage was committed in solidarity with all those kidnapped, detained, and deported in the United States. Wells Fargo is one of the top five shareholders in the GEO Group, a private prison corporation that runs the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma Washington, where nearly 1000 people are imprisoned every day for the crime of being undocumented."

On the July 18th indynewswire, danielsan of 101.1 FM Freak Radio Santa Cruz spoke with Julia Harumi Mass, staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC), to discuss a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in an attempt to learn more about the Homeland Security agency ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE and its supporters consistently say that round-ups and raids are conducted for reasons of national security because they prioritize immigrants with criminal backgrounds. However as Mass explains, the reality is far different.

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 the heels of the largest and most aggressive immigration raids in northern California to date, Santa Clara County supervisors voted to oppose a federal immigration measure that they say would affect all workers adversely.Provisions in the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act of 2007 would expand an electronic verification system that Santa Clara County supervisors say would adversely affect all workers.

On July 7th through 9th, the G8 countries held their annual meeting high above Lake Toyoaka in Hokkaido Japan at an exclusive spa resort. The one agreement that was reached at the summit was that the G-8 countries would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the year 2050, 42 years from now. Fidel Castro commented in his reflections of July 15, that this "is about the time that hell freezes over".

On June 1st, auto technicians and service advisors in Mountain View went on strike after their contract with Allison BMW expired. Allison BMW was recently purchased by the Florida based corporation, Autonation. The new owner demanded that workers accept a contract that would, "bring them into line with the rest of the nation." This meant cuts in hourly wages, no paid sick days, fewer paid holidays and higher health premiums and deductables. The issue of greatest concern was that of the flat rate. The company wants a system where the technician is given a time limit for each task. If the worker completes the job within that time frame they are paid the full amount. However, if they don't, for whatever reason, they must complete the work on their own time.

On July 10th, Bush signed into law the FISA Amendment Act. The law allows the government to spy on emails, phone calls, web surfing, and other communications without warrants. The law also guarantees immunity to telecommunication companies who participated in the secret and illegal spying conducted by the Bush Administration. Many have stated that the bill excuses President Bush's lawless behavior, is an assault on the first and fourth Amendment, and is a further justification to spy on activists.

At a public meeting held July 15th in San Francisco, Bayview residents and supporters accused the San Francisco Department of Public Health of turning a blind eye to Lennar Corp's toxic construction in the Hunter's Point Shipyard. Bayview community members said Lennar Corp, a housing redevelopment corporation based out of Miami, has been digging into asbestos-rich serpentine rock sending plumes of cancer-causing dust into nearby homes, recreation centers and elementary schools. Last November, The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) voted to fine Lennar for not accurately monitoring toxicity levels during construction.

On July 16th, a prisoner exchange took place between the governments of Israel and the Hezbollah. Israel has returned 199 bodies of Hezbollah fighters and five live soldiers to Lebanon in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who were killed on an occupied territory on the border between Israel and Lebanon. The government of Lebanon stated that “the agreement marks a big failure to Israel’s tactics and policies.”

8,500 University of California workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) initiated a five-day strike at UC’s ten campuses and five medical centers. The strike, which began on July 14th, concluded on July 18th. At issue are poverty wages as low as $10 per hour. Many employees work 2-3 jobs and qualify for public assistance to meet their families’ basic needs.

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. "CDFA claims the moth is an emergency and pretends that they can eradicate it in order to steal $100's of millions from taxpayer emergency funds, set aside for real emergencies."

In response to international pressure, US officials returned to members of Pastors for Peace 32 computers bound for Cuba. Federal agents seized the computers from the humanitarian group as they attempted to cross the Pharr International Bridge early on July 3 at the US-Mexico border. The confiscated computers were officially released by US authorities early this week and are now en route to Cuba.

Residents at the California Hotel in Oakland are threatened with eviction. They received a letter on July 1, notifying them that the hotel will close on July 15. Some of the residents have lived in the affordable housing units for 20 years. On July 14th, tenants at the hotel and their supporters gathered at 3501 San Pablo Ave. to protest the attempt to illegally lock them out of their housing by their landlord Cahon Associates, and Oakland Community Housing Inc.

In a July 14th, New York Times Op Ed, Barack Obama says, "As I’ve said many times, we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces."

In the past year the price of food has risen sharply, creating food crises and starving the global poor. Contrary to claims made by policy makers, the crisis has been caused by three decades of neo liberalism, American industrial agriculture, the World Bank with its structural adjustment policies, economic speculations on food and oil prices, and the diversion of arable land to bio-fuel production.

A federal court earlier this month ordered Google's YouTube to hand over usernames, IP addresses, and viewing histories to Viacom sparking a controversy over Internet privacy. This week Viacom and the other litigants backed off their demand for YouTube user viewing histories and an agreement was reached with Google to anonymize the data. While some YouTube users say Viacom is now "off the hook" for intruding on people's online privacy, others question why Google was allowed to amass and use all this private data in the first place.

Seventy years ago this month, Mussolini's government published a "Manifesto of Race", which lead to racial laws persecuting Jews, Roma and members of other ethnic minorities groups. Now, the country's rightwing government has again stepped up special measures against an entire ethnic group. In late June, the Italian Interior Minister announced that a file is to be drawn up containing a DNA data base with digital fingerprints and photos of every Roma in Italy, irregardless of their citizenship. One popular Italian magazine, Famiglia Cristiana, denounced the move as "an indecent and racist proposal" reminiscent of "when Jewish children were identified with a yellow star on their sleeves".

On July 12th, global demonstrations against the Church of Scientology were held. In San Francisco, the demonstration took place at 701 Montgomery Street. Anonymous, the group organizing the demonstrations, is charging the Scientology Church for corruption, racism, homophobia, practices that cause death, abuse of their followers, and harassment of their critics.

On July 4th, peace and humanitarian organizations celebrated a Canadian federal court decision favoring Iraq war resister Joshua Key that could have substantial implications for other American war objectors. Canada's ruling conservative government may still try to ignore the will of its citizenry.In a nationwide action July 9th, US protesters drew attention to the imminent deportation from Canada of AWOL GIs. Across the country 14 events were held in support of US war resisters attempting to remain in Canada. Activists were pleased with a surprise decision announced just hours after San Francisco's noon hour protest; a Canadian Federal Court granted Corey a last minute reprieve of at least several months while his lawyers are given an opportunity to appeal earlier negative rulings.

On July 1st, Starbucks announced that it will be closing 600 stores. Starbucks has been expanding for the past two decades and in many cases bought out other chains resulting in stores located within blocks or even on the same block as each other. Consumers in San Francico and New York have been vocal about the urban blight created by a Starbucks on every corner. The IWW Starbucks Workers Union responded to the closures saying they are deeply troubled that management's numerous missteps are resulting in more serious hardships for baristas, bussers, and shift supervisors. Starbucks has a history of anti-union activity and the IWW held a global day of action against Starbucks on July 5th.

Federal agents seized 32 computers from Pastors for Peace as they attempted to cross the Pharr International Bridge early this morning at the US-Mexico border. The confiscated computers were donated by a Japanese-American group from the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result of this US seizure, 32 Cuban classrooms will not have a computer from this caravan.

Demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall are a daily occurrence in Palestine. On July 1st, in Ni'lin, two caterpillar bulldozers were destroyed during a demonstration. In Bil’in, on July 4th, three activists were injured and dozens of protesters were treated for tear gas inhalation. On June 5th, Palestinians and other activist defied a curfew on the village of Ni’lin, and demonstrated and blocked the Settler-road that runs by the village. In Ma’sra, live bullets and tear gas were used to dispersed a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land, and to mark the 4th anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision, which declared the wall illegal, and called for it to be dismantled and for those affected to be compensated for the damages.

LaborFest will take place this year from July 5th through July 31st. LaborFest was established in 1994 to institutionalize the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film and arts festival. July 5th is the anniversary of the 1934 “Bloody Thursday” event. On that day, two maritime workers were killed by the police attack on strikers and their supporters. This touched off a general strike and led to the complete shutdown of the city.

On July 2, hundreds of Hyatt workers and community supporters rallied in front of the Santa Clara Hyatt Hotel. More than 300 demonstrators circled the entire front entry access of the hotel where they passed out leaflets to hotel guests and visitors.

In the recent week, attempts to bring food and medication to the tree sitters at the Memorial Oak Grove have failed. Three tree-sitters negotiated coming down of the trees. One tree-sitter was in a desperate need of medical attention.

On June 17th, 2008, a U.S. military judge dismissed charges against another Marine connected to the massacre of twenty-four unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. Of the eight Marines originally charged in the case, only one still faces prosecution. Criminal charges have been dismissed against six of the Marines and a seventh Marine was acquitted.

The 5th annual Trans Pride March took place June 27th in Dolores Park. The theme of this year's march was "Marching for a Gender Inclusive ENDA", with an objective to bring a focus on transgender civil rights and to celebrate the support of the LGBT family.

The Trans March kicked off a weekend of Pride events. The 16th annual San Francisco Dyke March took place Saturday June 28th in Dolores Park. The rally and stage began at 3pm with the march at 7pm. The 38th SF LGBT Pride Festival took place Saturday from noon till 6 in Civic Center Plaza and the Pride March took place on Market St from 10:30am through 7pm Sunday.