After receiving his bachelors degree from UC Santa Cruz in 1974, Huey Newton went on to receive a PhD in the school’s History of Consciousness program, finishing his dissertation titled “War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America” in 1980

archive.org/details/WarAga…

'The continued existence of People's Park proves something dangerous: you, too, can seize something from the most powerful people in town, make it into whatever you want, and hold it for half a century.' - 'Who Owns the Park?' in the Verso Books blog:

versobooks.com/blogs/5398-who…

NOT PEOPLE’S PARK
PEOPLE’S PLANET, CAN THEY
FENCE THAT ONE IN, BULLDOZE IT
4 A.M.?

Diane Di Prima, “Revolutionary Letter #38”

45 years ago, Aug 4 1977, after a nine year battle, San Francisco police forcibly evicted the remaining tenants of the International Hotel, an SRO that mainly housed elderly, working-class Asian-Americans. Thousands of people attempted to physically block the evictions

“I do my best thinking on my feet.”

George Jackson to his father, August 1965

#BlackAugust

43 years ago, Aug 1 1979, militant prisoners in San Quentin State Prison inaugurated the first Black August, a monthlong commemoration of George Jackson and other Black political prisoners, by donning black armbands, fasting, refusing to watch TV, and studying Jackson's writings

31 years ago, Aug 2 1991, rioting erupted on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley over a city plan to redevelop People's Park, replacing the free stage with volleyball courts. While volleyball facilities were eventually installed, anonymous activists soon destroyed them a chainsaw

Midway through the rally, a smaller group of people split off and set out on an 8-day hike to the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to protest the production of nuclear weapons at the lab

46 years ago, June 11 1976, 27-year-old Jose Barlow Benavidez was murdered by OPD cop Michael Colgey on International Blvd. In the wake of his death the Barlow Benavidez Justice Committee formed and organized a wave a protests during the height of Oakland's Chicano Power movement

40 years ago, June 12 1982, 50,000 people marched in San Francisco to call for an end to the nuclear arms race. Coinciding with the opening of disarmament talks at the U.N., demos were held across the country, including a protest of a million people in New York's Central Park

104 years ago, Jun 7 1918, a judge denied a divorce to Percival Jackson, a wireless operator in Marshall, Marin County. He had filed for divorce on the grounds that his wife Mary 'attended anarchist meetings, read anarchist publications, and adopted anarchist philosophy.'

45 years ago, Jun 7 1977, 5000 gay people took to the streets of San Francisco in a spontaneous protest of Miami's decision to repeal a gay rights ordinance. The leaderless group marched to Union Square, where they ran a 'red 'Gay Revolution' flag' up the flagpole

48 years ago, June 7 1974, 4,400 nurses went on strike across 41 clinics and hospitals in the Bay Area. The California Nurses' Association (CNA) held their national convention in San Francisco during the 21 day strike, which won workers an 11% raise but few other concessions

40 years ago, Jun 9 1982, 1000 activists, mostly Palestinian, Lebanese, and Jewish, demonstrated in front of San Francisco's Federal Building against Israel's invasion of Lebanon, demanding an immediate Israeli withdrawal

Ahead of a Saturday UC Regents meeting, a rally of thousands held at Berkeley's Sproul Plaza by supporters of People's Park led into a torchlight procession to the park. When police attacked the parade, several groups scattered and many fled to People's Park Annex north of campus

During the attack, a cop car tried several times to run over a single lit candle sitting in the street. After missing, backing up, and trying again and again, wind from the car knocked the candle over but didn't blow out the flame! Someone immediately ran up and set it back up

53 years ago, June 6 1969, 400 people were assaulted by Berkeley police and evicted from People's Park Annex after the breakup of a torchlight procession from Sproul Plaza to People's Park. BPD clubbed sleeping people, beat pets, uprooted flowers and broke trees during the attack

48 years ago, Jun 2 1974, 350 Berkeley radicals rallied in Ho Chi Minh Park (Willard Park) to honor the slain members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, who had died in May during a police siege of their Los Angeles hideout. Connections made at the rally helped the SLA to regroup

53 years ago, Mar 21 1969, after over a year of protest and stalled negotiations, the Mills College Black Student Union held a rally in front of Mills Hall, marched inside and occupied the college president's office to demand the creation of an ethnic studies department at Mills

19 years ago, Mar 20 2003, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of San Francisco to protest America's invasion of Iraq, which had begun that day. Police made around 1500 arrests as demonstrators disrupted traffic across the city in dozens of coordinated actions