California

Tackling California’s Budget Crisis: Taxes, Cuts, Or Form A Public Bank?

May 7, 2024 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Strategize! California, Finance and the Economy, Public Banks, Taxes

In 2022, the state of California celebrated a record budget surplus of $97.5 billion. Two years later, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, this surplus has plummeted to a record budget deficit of $73 billion. Balancing the budget will be challenging. Unlike the federal government, the state cannot just drive up debt and roll it over year after year. The California Balanced Budget Act, passed in 2004, requires the state legislature to pass a balanced budget every year. The usual solutions are to cut programs or raise taxes, but both approaches are facing an uphill battle. Raising taxes would require a two-thirds vote of the legislature, which would be very challenging, and worthy public programs are in danger of getting axed, including homelessness prevention and funding for low-income housing.

Masked Israel Supporters Attack UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment

May 3, 2024 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. Resist! California, Israel, Palestine, Repression, Student Activism, UCLA, Violence, Zionists

Los Angeles, CA — Over more than five hours on Tuesday night, pro-Israel Zionist agitators violently beat, pepper sprayed and threw fireworks at hundreds of college students and protesters in a “unilateral, surprise attack“ as they held UCLA’s Palestine solidarity encampment while security and police stood by idly. Though police didn’t intervene until the fifth hour of the attack, the encampment stayed intact with the students repelling the continuous onslaught as they defiantly chanted “we’re not leaving” and “Free Palestine.”

A Tale Of Two Labor Candidates

April 26, 2024 Steve Early, Popular Resistance. Educate! California, Elections, Labor Movement, Socialism

In late October, 2018, East Bay DSA members and other progressives organized a pre-election rally at a Berkeley High School auditorium. A wildly-cheering crowd of several thousand came to hear Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Welcoming everyone to the event was 34-year old Jesse Arreguin, who was backed by Sanders when he ran for mayor of Berkeley two years before. On the platform with them was Jovanka Beckles, a former Richmond City Council member then running—with backing from DSA, Sanders, and Lee—for a State Assembly seat against a corporate Democrat named Buffy Wicks.

Canceling The Valedictorian

April 17, 2024 Max Jones, Scheer Post. Educate! California, Censorship, Higher Education, University of Southern California (USC)

The University of Southern California’s (USC) cancellation of its 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum’s, commencement speech on Monday garnered attention from national and international media. Andrew T. Guzman, the provost, announced the university’s decision to cancel the speech on April 15, citing security reasons. Guzman stated: “Unfortunately, over the past several days, discussion relating to the selection of our valedictorian has taken on an alarming tenor. The intensity of feelings, fueled by both social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has grown to include many voices outside of USC and has escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement. We cannot ignore the fact that similar risks have led to harassment and even violence at other campuses.”

Occidental College Undergrad Workers Join Campus Labor Movement

April 13, 2024 Mel Buer, The Real News Network. Organize! California, Education, Los Angeles, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Los Angeles - Occidental College, one of the first liberal arts colleges established in California, presents a portrait of the idyllic all-American collegiate experience that many folks dream about. The small, well-planned campus features a distinctive Beaux-Arts design to its buildings and a tree-lined quad that have been featured in dozens of TV shows and movies over the decades, including Beverly Hills 90210, Clueless, and Jurassic Park III. Just under 2,000 full-time students were officially enrolled at the college in Fall 2022, and it remains one of the few colleges nationwide that focus exclusively on undergraduate education.

Pro-Palestine Protesters Chain Themselves To Warship Headed To Gaza

March 31, 2024 PressTV. Resist! California, Direct Action, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, US Imperialism, US military

A group of pro-Palestine American protesters chained themselves to a US warship on Friday to block the vessel from transporting weapons and military equipment to Israel amid the occupying regime’s genocidal war on Gaza. Some 800 demonstrators gathered in a San Francisco port, where the USNS Harvey Milk was docked before heading to the Israeli-occupied territories. Photos and videos posted on social media showed eight protesters standing on the ship’s gangway, chanting, “Palestine will live forever,” as some chained themselves to the gangway to block the vessel from transporting supplies, according to CBS News.

Yurok Tribe Becomes First To Steward Land With National Park Service

March 25, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Create! California, Environment, Indigenous Knowledge, National Park Service

California’s Yurok Tribe had 90 percent of its territory stolen during the mid-1800s gold rush. Now, it will be getting a piece of its land back that serves as a gateway to Redwood state and national parks. For decades, the ancient redwoods on former Yurok lands were decimated for lumber and a sawmill built to process it. Now, in a first-of-its-kind agreement between the Yurok, the National Park Service, California State Parks and nonprofit Save the Redwoods League, the Tribe will become the first to manage Tribal land alongside the National Park Service, a press release from Save the Redwoods League said.

Long Beach Hotel Workers To Earn Highest Minimum Wage

March 20, 2024 Mark Kreidler, Portside. Organize! California, Hotel workers, Labor Movement, Strikes, Wages, Worker Rights and Jobs

Part of the Los Angeles region’s “hot labor summer” of 2023 was a growing recognition that the runaway cost of living was squeezing workers and families. It was perhaps the primary driver of the rolling strikes by unionized workers at 60 area hotels during contract negotiations, with many of those negotiations ongoing. But bargaining-table pressure and picket lines are not the only mechanisms for addressing this issue. And voters in Long Beach have likely just approved another path. Measure RW, on which Long Beach residents voted during last week’s primary, significantly raises the minimum wage for workers at Long Beach hotels with more than 100 rooms.

California Must Triple Its Rate Of Carbon Emissions Reductions

March 17, 2024 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. Educate! California, Carbon emissions, climate crisis, Energy, Environment, Report

California is not on track to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal for 2030, new data released by nonprofit think tank Next 10 and prepared by consulting firm Beacon Economics reveals. To do so, the state must triple its annual emissions reductions, the 2023 California Green Innovation Index said. “The increase in emissions following the pandemic makes it all the more difficult for California to meet its climate goals on time,” said Next 10 Founder F. Noel Perry, as reported by ESG News. “In fact, we may be further behind than many people realize.

California Towns Are Banning New Gas Stations; Big Oil Is Watching

March 11, 2024 Kate Yoder, Next City. Organize! Big Oil, California, Energy, gas station ban

When oil and gas companies attack a climate campaign, activists usually focus on the obvious negative: One of the world’s biggest industries, with its wealth of resources, is trying to quash their efforts to, for instance, ban natural gas in buildings. But in Northern California, where grassroots activists have succeeded in getting towns across Napa and Sonoma counties to prohibit new gas stations, some consider the emerging backlash a sign of validation. The news of Big Oil’s opposition came to Jim Wilson in late January. The longtime climate activist in Napa County found a flyer in his mailbox one day with a picture of a gas nozzle next to an empty wallet, along with the message “Banning gas stations = higher gas prices.”

Inside The Historic Student Protests For Palestine

March 1, 2024 Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network. Resist! California, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Stanford, UC Davis

Every day, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza continues to erase whole families, communities, and neighborhoods off the face of the earth. We are recording this on Thursday, February 22nd, and just three days ago, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that Israel has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since October 7th, around two thirds of them, women and children. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been wounded in that time. As a full scale ethnic cleansing unfolds before our eyes, as the slaughter continues, as Israel’s government vows to continue the slaughter until quote, “total victory is achieved,” and as the US continues to be the number one supporter of this humanitarian calamity, people of conscience around the world continue to take direct action, with increased urgency.

Palestine Solidarity Wins At UC Davis

February 24, 2024 Martha Grevatt, Workers World. Resist! California, Divestment, Higher Education, Israel, Palestine, Student Activism

University campuses have become a major battlefield for the Palestine solidarity movement in the U.S. Students and faculty who support Palestinian liberation have been subjected to doxxing, university discipline, arrest, firings and more. School administrators, even if they are not anti-Zionist, have been removed simply for not being strong enough in backing Israel. But solidarity groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine have persevered and have scored some victories. “From McDonald’s to Sabra to Chevron, none of our student fees that fund ASUCD (Associated Students, University of California, Davis) operations will be used to financially support 30+ companies that are complicit in Zionist violence,” the University of California Davis SJP chapter said on Instagram.

Climate Cases Against Big Oil Are Merging Into One Super Suit

February 21, 2024 Dana Drugmand, DeSmog. Resist! Big Oil, California, climate crisis, Climate Justice

Several California municipalities are merging their climate deception litigation with the state’s climate case, to jointly pursue a super-sized lawsuit against the fossil fuel industry, according to recent court filings. This development comes as Chicago joins the growing list of U.S. municipalities suing the fossil fuel industry. On February 5, Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Charles S. Treat approved California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s petition to link the state’s climate accountability case with lawsuits brought by the counties of Marin, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz, and the cities of Imperial Beach, Richmond, and Santa Cruz.

Guerilla Bus Benches Are Spurring Berkeley To Step Up For Bus Riders

February 4, 2024 Maylin Tu, Next City. Create! Buses, California, Infrastructure, Mutual Aid, Transportation

By day, Mingwei Samuel works as a software developer. Also by day — together with urbanist and writer Darrell Owens — he builds and installs benches at bus stops around Berkeley and Oakland that have no seating. It’s a tale as old as social media: In November, Owens tweeted a photo of his 64-year-old neighbor sitting on the curb at a bus stop to draw attention to the lack of seating for bus riders. “Which stop?” replied Samuel. “I can put a bench there.” A month later, he had placed a wooden bench, built based on a template from the Public Bench Project, at the bus stop in downtown Berkeley.

How Solar Ironworkers Zapped Tiers

January 26, 2024 Keith Brower Brown, Labor Notes. Strategize! California, Energy, Solar, Tiers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

California’s solar power plants now rival the scale of any in the world. What stands out most is how they were built: under union contracts. Across the U.S., nearly 90 percent of solar workers had no union last year. In California, the situation was different—at least on paper. The vast majority of its solar power plants have been wrenched in place by unionized construction workers. But at first these were union jobs practically in name only, as thousands of unionized solar construction workers toiled on the underside of a two-tier system. Their wages, training, and job security lagged far behind their union siblings. Many questioned if they were members at all.

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