Spanish Civil War

There was a piece of living history in San Fran on Sunday when a war memorial was dedicated to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

It is the first memorial of its kind in America even though the war was between 1936 - 1939 and was before the Second World War.

A member of the Brigade association said there are now only 39 veterans alive, five or six of whom live in the Bay Area. It was fitting that the memorial was in San Fran given the leftist politics of the city, he added with a wry smile, referring to the republican versus nationalist cause of the war.

The monument is composed of panels that show scenes from the war and faces of soldiers. It is at the Justin Herman plaza opposite the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero.

Pictured are two of the guest veterans, both in their nineties, beneath the memorial. They beamed with pride as they sat in the sun during the afternoon after the ceremony with the public milling around taking photographs.

Greek Independence Day Parade

The Greek Independence Day Parade wound a colourful way through the streets of San Francisco on Saturday. It marked the 187th anniversary of the freedom of the Greeks from Turkish Ottoman rule and celebrated the rich Grecian culture.

The parade showcased dancers in traditional costume, the Olympic Games, the Greek Orthodox Church, Hellenic schools and youth groups from the Bay Area and Hellenic and Cretan associations.

In honour of the forthcoming Olympic Games in China, there was special inclusion of an enchanting children’s troupe of ribbon and fan dancers from the city and an Olympic float that had made its debut in the Chinese New Year parade.

Firefighters were there in one of their engines, Naval officers, a vintage fire engine was playfully driven around, and the Consul General of Greece and other civic dignitaries rode in vintage and open-top cars

‘It is very important to demonstrate our culture for the San Franciscan community who are very much polyethnic and to remind our children of the customs and culture,’ said one of the organizers.

The parade ended at the Civic Centre where Greek, Cretan and fan dances were performed in front of a stage that had been set up. However, crowd numbers were low with just a few hundred people and Metropolitan Gerasimos, leader of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, challenged the Greek community.

‘I know that we can do much better,’ he said, adding, ‘We as Orthodox Greeks and Hellenes will need to become much more aware of our faith and our culture.’

A benefactor of the parade whose family tree links him with the original 1821 uprising against the Turks, was presented with a copy of a letter written by his ancestor.

In the letter were the words ‘What good is life without freedom…God gave us minds, hands and wisdom…God is with us…we either liberate ourselves or we all die.’

Receiving the letter was George Marcus, one of the Regents of the University of California, who thanked people for his gift and said that those words could ring true for other courageous uprisings including the American Revolution.

A Greek American lady in the crowd said that what she liked of the day was ‘seeing different Greek customs, seeing them dance, seeing different organizations. It is good to support our culture,’ she said. She explained that Greeks arriving in the Bay Area had set up associations that reflected their original counties in Greece.

The parade was inaugurated in San Francisco in the 1950s and but for a pause in the 1970s is an annual event.


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Olympic Torch City Protest Request

City officials are expected to announce tomorrow if they will agree to a request that the Olympic Torch is publicly received at the April ceremony with 'alarm and protest.'

A city Supervisor put forward the resolution at a City Hall committee meeting last week. He has been supported by the dean of the city's main church, Grace Cathedral, who was reported in the San Fran Chronicle as giving it his 'unreserved and enthusiastic support.'

'This is a tremendous opportunity and we should not underestimate symbolic acts,' Dean Alan Jones said, adding that, 'with the recent events in Tibet and China, surely the time has come for the wider global community to stand in more visible solidarity with the people of Tibet and China ... who seek freedom by nonviolent means.'

Bay Area Tibetans gave evidence at the committee meeting of abuses by the Chinese government.

'This struggle is not against the Chinese people, it is against a Beijing regime that is very brutal,' Ngodup Tsering, president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California is quoted as saying.

Some people at the meeting spoke in defense of China.

Olympic Torch Protests

The hot news in San Fran this week is about the Olympic Torch and protests against the Chinese government for human rights abuses especially against the Tibetans.

With San Fran being an Olympic showcase for North America on April 9, protesters are amassing. Outside the Civic Hall today are Tibetans and others supporting the Free Tibet campaign. On NBC 11's evening news broadcast tonight one of the protest leaders said that their computers have been infected with viruses. They suspect the Chinese government but NBC 11 were not able to draw any comment from the FBI.

Protests are also going to be against China's support for the government of Sudan against the people of Dafur and, according to the San Fran Chronicle, perhaps even on behalf of the Burmese monks.

Darfur Coalition spokeswoman, Martina Knee, is quoted as saying they expect to have at least 1,000 protesters on the streets from all over the country. They have also bought signs on 80 Muni buses: 'Tell China to stop sponsoring genocide in Darfur.'

The Chronicle reports, too, that China has requested the eight-mile route be shortened to six miles. Controversy has raged over the route. Mayor Gavin Newsom has confirmed that the protests will be allowed but has only today released some details of the route.

The starting point is at McCovey Cove, an area of the Bay waterfront south of the city that is near the baseball park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The finishing point will be further north along the Bay at the Justin Herman Plaza opposite the Ferry Building at the Embarcadero.

Exactly which streets the route will take is still unknown. Mayor Newsom is reported in another Chronicle article as saying that details are being held back because of worries about possible attempts to stop or disrupt the procession.

'But no one will be denied the ability to protest all along the parade route if, indeed, they find that it is a great idea because they want to disrupt what should be a unifying event and try to make it more divisive,' he said.

Chinatown Will Not See Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch is on it's way to San Fran giving the city the honour of being the only North American city to host the legendary flame. But it is unlikely to go through Chinatown Mayor Gavin Newsom was reported to have said in the San Fran Chronicle.

This, he said, is due to the narrow streets and congestion and nothing to do with the prevailing political unease against China. Or the arson attack on the Chinese Consulate last week or the request that during the ceremony a city official publicly records a protest at China's human rights record.

Certainly Chinatown's streets are smaller and the pavements are a crush of people and stalls. And when the flame came to San Fran in 2004 it did not go through Chinatown.

But how do the Chinese community feel about this as the Games are in their homeland?

I wandered through and spoke to traders and shoppers. Their responses surprised me especially as this is the oldest Chinatown outside of Asia. Call me naive but I am new to San Fran and have not browsed in Chinatowns around the world.

I had great difficulty in getting my question understood. My first encounter set the scene for what was to follow. Two older, smartly dressed ladies who had been chatting on the pavement struggled to interpret my words. Finally, between them they smiled encouragingly at me:

'I've no idea at all.... you go ask the police!'

After that other people gave me blank looks and stares, the occasional shake of the head mixed in with such phrases as 'No speak English,' 'I speak Chin-eesey,' 'I'm sorry, no English.'

In one shop a customer joined in with staff to try to help. As we stood there, fat white dumplings steaming behind the counter, the three women made an effort but gave up with apologetic glances. Even a girl handing out leaflets for a new Chinese health centre wasn't able to converse in English.

Some said blankly, 'I don't know about it.' One said, 'I don't care,' while another lady's offering was that the previous procession had been in another street. Did she mind? She didn't seem to know. All of which conversations were conducted with linguistic difficulties and gesticulations.

Finally, I met a friendly couple in a healthfood store who easily understood my question. What do the people of Chinatown think about not having the Olympic Torch in their streets?

'Some people would like it but some don't know about it,' said the woman. The man smiled broadly. 'I would like to stand outside the door and see it!' he said.

Did I ask anyone in Chinatown what they thought of Tibet? There was no point. They wouldn't have spoken in Chinese either!

The Olympic Torch processes through the streets on Wednesday, 9 April.

Fifth Anniversary of Iraq War - Rally and March

The finale to the day's protests marking the fifth anniversary in Iraq was a rally and march starting at the Civic Center plaza.

A few thousand people gathered from 5 pm. But this had a very different tone to the theatrical demonstrations earlier in the day.

Organised by ANSWER - Act Now to Stop War and End Racism - this was hardline politics: an annexation of political groups from around the Bay Area.

With over an hour of speeches, the rally was not only about the war: it was about Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, the Philippines, Tibet, Haiti, North Korea, Colombia, the rights of immigrant workers, jobs, housing and healthcare.

Though it was primarily about the 'US imperialist war and the occupation in Iraq'. Tone and rhetoric conveyed anger about America.

'We do not want to colonize the world,' said one speaker.

'This war has nothing to do with the reasons given. It has everything to do with oil and power and domination,' thundered another.

A young Arab American woman speaking passionately first about Palestine, said of Iraq: 'The only way we can stop this war is to remember that they are faces...human faces.'

There were boos, predictably, for Bush but also disdain for Democratic candidates Obama and Hillary. A female Senator, running in the presidential race though not expecting to win, said she had no hope that the next president would end the war because whoever it was would need to assuage 'the rich, bankers, militarists...'

She went on to speak about the economic cost of the war and the needs for housing and healthcare. She was applauded as she called for free healthcare and the abolition of medical insurance companies.

Trying to galvanize action as the rally moved towards an end, yet another speaker said, 'The US will not leave Iraq, will not bring the troops home until the people force them to.'

It was announced that police had arrested 125 protesters during the day, though the San Fran Chronicle and TV news programmes later put the number at 150. Stalls advertising different political groups lined the plaza and plenty of leaflets were handed out.

As 6.30 pm approached and with speeches still continuing, protesters began to line up for the march. Those at the front had plenty of time to practice chants...'we want money for jobs and education...Not for war and occupation.' And, 'one, two, three, four...we must end this racist war.'

Eventually, with police in front, a long line of several thousand people, chanting and banging drums and cymbals, and waving banners and placards in a culmination of the day's activities, wound out of the plaza and towards the Mission District.

The rally had attracted people of all ages but many were young. Throughout the day the protests were mostly by political activists. Missing was a broader cross-section of San Franciscans: 'ordinary' people who are concerned about the war, families, relatives of troops, church groups.

Perhaps the fact that it was a working day had some bearing, but the impression was that most San Franciscans who have qualms about the war do not wish to be involved in street protests or link themselves to political groups.

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Fifth Anniversary of Iraq War - mid-morning

By mid-morning on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war protesters were bringing theatrical displays to the streets plus traffic chaos. Police were out in force and film crews, journalists and cameramen were in the thick of it.

Dressed in costumes and sloganned tee-shirts, protesters were both audience and actors in a 'death scene' in the main street, Market Street, representing the bodies of war victims. Trams, buses, cars were halted. Police rushed up and stationed themselves in a cordon, allowing the protests to continue.

Two women in front of me watched. 'This is what democracy is about,' said one, approving the fact that people can express their views. Her friend agreed but suggested they beat a hasty retreat just in case and they departed at speed.

Talking to a man beside me, he was unimpressed by the protests. The causes of the war were complex, he thought, probably due in part to intelligence lies told by Iran to get America do the dirty work for them.

Was he more worried by the war or the economy? I asked.

'The economy, ' he said without hesitation. 'Mind you,' he added, 'I'm not necessarily for the war.'

An activist called Paul from Direct Action to Stop the War stood nearby. His view was that America was out for world dominion, which is what he objected to, whether by force or political manipulation.

As we stood there the police 'called time' and then gradually arrested one by one those 'dying' protesters who didn't wish to retire to the sidewalk.

Back at the plaza further down Market Street a programme of events was starting. There were speeches, poetry readings and songs...'till the soldiers all come home...we shall not be moved...' and another on behalf of 'all mothers with broken hearts from 9/11 onwards'.

The names of people who had died on both sides of the conflict were read out and Bishop Marc Handley Andrus, Episcopal Bishop of California, spoke for peace. 'Now is the time for peace in Iraq, peace in our cities, peace in the world,' he said.

He was due to lead a peace vigil that evening with other church leaders at Grace Cathedral where boots and shoes signifying all Californians who had died in Iraq had been placed on the Great Steps and inside on the labyrinth. He ended with a prayer that the troops would not have died in vain (KTVU-TV news have on-line video of vigil)

Suddenly at midday there was a hustle behind us and a group of cyclists in costume and with slogans circled in the street. As the traffic ground to a halt for a second time, it was announced it was time for people 'to die.'

A coffin covered in flowers and the American flag was carried into the middle of the street, a spot also opposite a State Senator's office, and protesters duly arranged themselves around it. They were joined by other protesters dressed in the bright orange Guantanamo Bay garb who had earlier demonstrated in Union Square.

Once again the police were there almost instantly. As trams were trapped, passengers disembarked and were redirected. With a helicopter hovering overhead, the police waited patiently. They allowed plenty of time for the protest and for the many cameramen and bystanders to film and take photos.

Then they gave warnings through a loudspeaker that it was time to clear the street and that those who didn't would be arrested. There was another long gap before they slowly, and with just a few scuffles, methodically arrested those who wanted to be arrested.

Protesters banged drums, clanged cymbals, jangled bicycle bells and booed the police as each person was led away to the Sheriff's van. As the protesters were removed, others sat down to take their places.

Finally at 2.25 pm the rattle of an orange street car was heard and Market Street began to rumble back into life. The remaining protesters took a break and a police officer pulled bottles of water from a van and handed them out to her colleagues.

Walking away from the protest site, life was continuing as normal. As I waited at traffic lights near Union Square a Chinese lad turned to me and asked: 'Where is the Disney store?'

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