Martin Nicolaus

A major public relations campaign by the Port of Oakland and its allies in the Chamber of Commerce and in Oakland’s political establishment either had no effect or backfired, as the size of the crowd that marched on the port on Monday December 12 easily topped the initial effort November 2.  Although there was some …

The shadow of the earth eclipsed the moon on Saturday morning Dec. 10, exactly as astronomers predicted.  Here are some snapshots of the event as seen from Berkeley’s Cesar Chavez Park.  Short slideshow below.

As part of a nationwide series of demonstrations aimed at stopping and rolling back home foreclosures, more than 100 people gathered in Oakland’s historic DeFremery Park on Dec. 6, and then walked half a block to the home of Gayla Newsom and her family, who have re-occupied their home that was taken away by Chase …

They say in the Occupy Movement that if you’re looking for its leaders, you should look in the mirror.  Taking that as a cue, I’ve rough-drafted the beginnings of a manifesto for the Tent Party, a political movement that doesn’t exist yet, but probably should.  The Tent Party embraces both action and advocacy. Rough draft …

A video collage from four different cameras showing the UC campus police pepper spraying nonviolent student protesters.

Students from several area colleges held a rally outside the California State Building on Wednesday Nov. 16 at 4 pm.  After a brief opening presentation, the mike was opened to anyone who wanted to speak.  I edited short clips from a number of the speakers into a 5-min video that’s up on YouTube, or here:

 [View photos and videos large size] By ten a.m., when I arrived by bicycle at Oscar Grant Square (formerly Frank Ogawa Square) the crowd had already taken over the intersection of 14th and Broadway, probably the busiest crossing in the City.  For a brief moment I spotted an Oakland Police Department patrol car blocking off …

(Continued from Simon Fraser) At a distance, San Francisco in late ‘68 still glowed from the “Summer of Love” festival the previous year.  But that glow was like the light that continues to travel in space after its source  burns out.  My friend in San Francisco — the noted Marxist economist James O’Connor — then …

Continued from Hell No I Won’t Go) My first impression of Vancouver was of a beautiful vacation land.  I had found temporary lodging in a tiny furnished apartment in the city with a window facing north onto the harbor , and on the first clear morning, the panorama of snowy peaks across the water, almost within …

(Continued from Viet-Report) At Brandeis that fall (1966) a student dive-bombed and crashed a light airplane into the center of campus, killing himself and his female passenger.  Rumors swirled that it was a love pact, a Romeo-and-Juliet affair, but in the background there was the Vietnam draft.  With the massive escalation of the ground war, …