Category Archives: Adventures in Hacktivism

Press Conference On The Patriot Act II Today From Noon-2pm At The Federal Building – 450 Golden Gate

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Sorry for not letting you guys know about this sooner.
It’s basically another lunch time activity from 12-2pm at the intersection of Polk and Golden Gate in San Francisco. One block from the Civic Center Bart Station.
There will be a press conference and rally where you can learn more about what’s going on and show your support. These events are also excellent opportunities to speak to one of several legal experts personally if you have specific questions.
We’ve got to fight back swiftly against the travesty of justice that is the Domestic Enhancement Security Act (Patriot II). The very future of our nation, and I believe, the rest of the world, depends on it.
There will be a ton of great speakers there from the ACLU, Refuse and Resist, Amnesty International and many other groups.
Hope to see you there!
Here’s the whole message I received:

MEDIA ADVISORY
Sunday, July 6, 2003
CONTACT: Stella Richardson
ACLU
415-621-2493 or Colleen at 510-288-7432
Civil Rights and Community Groups Launch Week of Action to Stop **Patriot Act II**
What: Rally to Reclaim Patriotism and Stop **Patriot Act II**
When: Monday July 7th from noon to 2 pm
Where: San Francisco Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue
Who: Bob Kearney, Associate Director of the American Civil Liberties Union; Matthew Von Saun, Amnesty International; Dave Meserve, Arcada City Council person; Allan Solomonow, American Friends Service Committee; Shahram Agahamir, fired Oakland City worker; Henry Norr, fired SF Chronicle reporter; Ladan Sobhani, Global Exchange; Samena Faheem, American Muslim Voice; Cecilia Chang, Justice for New Americans; Riva Enteen, National Lawyers Guild; Maryjane, Oakland High School student; Rev Michael Yoshi (Buena Vista Methodist Church of Alameda); Colleen Akai, Refuse & Resist!
SAN FRANCISCO ** Following Independence Day celebrations over the July 4th weekend, community organizations will launch a week of action designed to reclaim patriotism and to stop the passage of draft legislation dubbed **Patriot Act II.**
At a July 7th rally, community leaders will call on northern Californians to urge their Members of Congress to prevent the introduction and passage of the proposed **Domestic Security Enhancement Act** (Patriot Act II). They will also urge Congress to fix provisions within the original USA Patriot Act of November 2001 that needlessly erode civil liberties and rights.
Less than two years after Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, giving new, sweeping powers to the federal government to compile information on ordinary Americans, Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to introduce legislation that would further erode constitutional checks and balances.
The Domestic Security Enhancement Act would further enhance government powers, eliminating or weakening remaining limits on government surveillance, wiretapping, detention and prosecution.
Endorsements:ACLU, Amnesty International; American Muslims Voice; Blue Triangle Network; Global Exchange; SF Gray Panthers; Justice for New Americans; National Lawyers Guild; Tri City CAREs, Tri City Action, Refuse & Resist!; Not In Our Name; Pakistani American…

Info On Friday’s Anti-Shrub Protest In Burlingame, CA (SF Bay Area)

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Glad these guys made it, but I’m kinda glad I didn’t go too. I was unprepared and would’ve gotten heatstroke in a traffic jam, sounds like.
(Unrelated side note: Boy am I glad it’s cooled down here in S.F. — That was a miserable couple of days [and nights] last week…)
Protesters battle heat to boo Bush —
Tough day to make voice heard as cars jam airport-area streets
By Ryan Kim for the SF Chronicle.

The day was trying for many of the protesters and Bush supporters trying to converge on Friday’s luncheon. While the relentless heat did its share of damage, the closure of Millbrae Avenue and Old Bayshore Highway for security reasons caused major traffic headaches on streets and Highway 101.
Opponents of Bush harped on a number of topics but consistently hammered home their belief that the president lied about Iraq’s weapons capabilities as a false pretext for invasion.
“Bush lied, people died,” shouted the throng of protesters as he arrived.
Inside the hotel, five members of Code Pink, a nationwide anti-war organization, gained access to the lobby after they booked a hotel room together. Dressed in pink evening wear, the women engaged many of the luncheon guests, knocking Bush and his $2,000-a-plate fund-raiser.
“I find it obscene to charge $2,000-a-plate when he’s making sweeping budget cuts across the country in veterans’ benefits and health care,” said Carol Norris, an organizer with Code Pink.
The Code Pink women drew their own protester — Terri Connell of Fairfield, who paused from checking into the Marriott to say, “I respect your First Amendment rights, but you’re wrong.”

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Emergency Protest This Friday 13th At San Francisco INS Building

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There’s an “emergency” protest going on tomorrow afternoon to protest the Shrub Administration’s deportation of over 13,000 muslim men who cooperated voluntarily with the INS Special Registration Program.
The news conference and rally afterwards is going on from 12pm (noon) – 1:30pm at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Building on 444 Washington Street (at Sansome) in San Francisco. Here’s a map of the location and a gif of that map, in case the mapquest link doesn’t work.
I’ll be there recording it so you’ll still be able to check it out if you can’t make it, but it’s very important to get as many people there as possible for this so please try to make it if you can.
See you there!
Here’s the official scoop (courtesy of an email I received from Refuse and Resist:

Civil rights and community organizations will hold a
news conference and demonstration outside the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) offices in San Francisco on Friday, June
13. Following reports that 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men who
voluntarily registered with the INS as part of the government’s
controversial Special Registration Program (NSEERS) will face
deportation, the groups are calling on the INS to halt the expulsions
of men from a list of mainly Arab and Muslim nations. The groups say
that the proposed deportations constitute racial profiling and will
not aid the fight against terrorism.

Speakers will include:
-Jayashri Srikantiah, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern
California
-Samina Faheem, American Muslim Alliance / Pakistan American
Democratic Forum
-Matthew Van Saun, Amnesty International
-Ben Allen, Blue Triangle Network
-Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange
-Riva Enteen, National Lawyers Guild
-Rev. John Oda, Pine United Methodist Church
-Greg Marutani, SF Japanese American Citizens League
-Statement from Attorney Lynne Stewart
Speakers at the protest following the news conference include
representatives of ANSWER, Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Global Exchange, Refuse & Resist, South Alameda Peace &
Justice Committee, Not in Our Name, and others.

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Clear Channel Protests Going On Around The Country Today

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I’ll be at 340 Townsend at 5pm sharp tonight for a rally against Clear Channel.
Look for one in your town. (Here’s one going on in Washington D.C.
Remember to bring your video cameras! I can always store your footage in my library at the Internet Archive if you don’t have the space or bandwidth to do so.
See you there!
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
WHAT: No More Clear Channels!
Stop the FCC Media Giveaway
WHEN: Thursday, May 29th 2003 5 PM –
(the Thursday before the FCC votes to
dramatically deregulate the media)
WHERE: 340 Townsend Street, San Francisco
The FCC is poised to approve the most dramatic
changes to media ownership regulations in
decades. Leading the charge is FCC Chairman
Michael Powell, Colin Powell’s son, who
essentially declared war on diversity in
media at the same time that his father was
spearheading the war against Iraq.
The Thursday before the June 2 FCC vote,
media activists and concerned citizens will
protest at Clear Channel radio stations
throughout the United States with the
message: No More Clear Channels!
Stop the FCC Media Giveaway!
Clear Channel Communications is the
poster child of everything that’s wrong with
media deregulation. After the media
deregulation of 1996, Clear Channel gobbled
up hundreds of radio stations throughout
the country and now owns more than 1200
stations nationwide, dominating the audience
share in 100 of 112 major markets. Not only
is the company the world’s largest radio
broadcaster, it’s also the world largest
concert promoter and billboard advertising
firm. Clear Channel promotes a cookie-cutter
style radio that has urban stations
throughout the country seemingly playing the
same seven songs. It shuts out independent
artists and eliminates local programming.
The company also uses its stations to promote
its right-wing political agenda, such as the
pro-war rallies that Clear Channel
has sponsored in numerous cities since
the start of the war against Iraq.
In San Francisco, Clear Channel station
KMEL fired popular public affairs director
Davey D after he invited anti-war
Congresswoman Barbara Lee to speak on
a KMEL public affairs show.
Let’s send a message to the FCC and Congress before
the FCC vote on media deregulation:
PROTEST CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO AND THE MEDIA MONOPOLY!
Location:
Clear Channel/KMEL Office, 340 Townsend Street
San Francisco California
Sponsored By:
Sponsored by Media Alliance, Youth Media Council,
Global Exchange, and others. For more information,
415-255-7296 x263, andrea@globalexchange.org.

Call Your Senators Now — Demand A Public Hearing About The FCC’s New Media Ownership Rules

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Estimated time: 3-7 minutes.
It took me about ten minutes, but I didn’t already have the two things to say below written for me — like you do — and I also had to wait on hold for a couple minutes listening to classical music because the line was busy.
Please look up your Senators and then use my really simple talking points (below) or pehaps some of the more detailed talking points (with resources) that some folks were nice enough to put together.
I called up Barbara Boxer (I can’t bring myself to contact Feinstein) and left a message that:
1) I am very concerned about the proposed changes in the FCCs media ownersip rules.
and
2) To please do everything in her power to demand another official public hearing regarding the details of the changes before any kind of final ruling can be made.

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A Brief Summary Of The May 12, 2003 Peaceful Protest On The Oakland Docks

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Okay so something has come up (family thing–nothing terrible 🙂 and now I’m not sure if I’m going to get video up before I have to leave at noon. So I thought I would at least share some images from yesterday while they are still fresh in my mind.
Last night’s march was a huge success. The whole thing was peaceful and the cops didn’t even have their riot gear out. (They sure had a lot of cameras going though!)
The Chief of Oakland Police even came out to say “hi.” Okay, he didn’t actually come out and say “hi”. Several people recognized him, but he just looked at us from inside his men-in-black looking car while we all said “hello” and smiled and waved.
It sure was a long walk to the docks from the West Oakland Bart station, and I gotta start remembering to always wear my walking shoes to these events. Of course, it could have seemed longer because I had a coat on that I didn’t need (with the sun shining so bright and all). I was also carrying my camera and tripod the whole time, and they got progressively heavier as time passed along.
Once we had secured all of the docks (and “secured” just means that there was a little picket circle of people out in front that would politely ask drivers of cars and trucks coming up to the gate to please turn around — and yes, they were all turning around, from what I could see), we walked clear from one end of the docks to the other — apparently with the blessings of a police escort the entire time. At that point, things felt stable enough for me to go home.
Luckily, a VW bus of cheerful older ladies gave me a ride back to the Bart station. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of them — I must have been too exhausted from being in the sun too long. Hopefully I’ll see them at another protest soon and can get a snapshot then. They were a cheerful bunch. The youngest one must of been at least 65, and they said they had been there for most of the afternoon and they had been doing stuff like this for over 60 years. How cool!
I promise I’ll have video up in a day or two! Hope this gives you a feel for what happened ’till you can see for yourself!