Recently, after about nine hours of traveling by auto, then by plane and finally again by auto from Cancun, Marlene and I arrived home in Long Beach.
Both of us were tired but in good spirits. However, Marlene was also hungry. She knew exactly what she wanted—a Caesar salad.
I suggested Anna’s Joint, which is a few blocks from our house. Marlene checked Anna’s website and it appeared to be open. We walked to Anna’s Joint. It was a few minutes past 10 p.m. and Anna’s had just closed.
But the quest for the salad did not end. Marlene decided to take a Lyft to Von’s and we did. When we arrived, Marlene hurried to the front door. It was locked and closed. Our quest for the elusive salad continued and Marlene was determined to get her salad.
Marlene asked the driver to take us back to Pine Avenue. The driver obliged. We drove down Pine but we couldn’t find anything open that would have the salad she desired on a Sunday night. We were in a quandary. The driver turned on Broadway toward Long Beach Blvd. Then the driver suggested Denny’s, which is open 24 hours. We thanked the Lyft driver and walked into the restaurant.
At Denny’s we were seated with a menu. The menu showed no Caesar Salad. Marlene turned her head toward the metal condiment tray and sees a glossy ad for Caesar Salad and yells, “Caesar Salad.” Eureka!
About 200 hundred Asians with their allies, on Saturday, Feb. 8, gathered at the Alpine Recreation Center, 817 Alpine St., in Chinatown, Los Angeles, where they chanted and heard speeches and music, in solidarity with Palestine and the local housing struggles against landlords, before marching to Los Angeles City Hall.
The speeches were in English and Chinese with back-and-forth translation.
A representative of the Palestinian Youth Movement, which is “a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile,” according to the PYM website, spoke. She said, “Through the system of Deadly Exchange… the Zionist state of Israel trains the police who oppress our people here in the United States and together develop surveillance technology and increasing militarized police weapons….The US plays a vital role in facilitating the genocide and displacement in Palestine.”
One speaker was an organizer from the Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, which according to its website, characterizes itself as “an all-volunteer, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization based in Los Angeles Chinatown that builds grassroots power through organizing, education, and mutual help.” The organizer said, “As we know displacement anywhere is a crime and that is especially relevant in Palestine and in Chinatown here.” She pointed out that Chinatown is a diverse community with many seniors and youth, that the city is using immanent domain to displace the residents. She also mentioned local housing struggles against evictions, one at 729 Yale and another at Yale Terrace. The translator added that these landlords are raising rents illegally and are harassing tenants who have minimal English-language skills.
A local tenant, who was also a Vietnamese refugee, spoke. He said he was there to stand with Palestine and that he opposed American support for Israel. He said the money instead should be used to benefit the people of Chinatown. He also called for a citywide moratorium on evictions. He recounted when he was a teenager in Vietnam the devastation of forests because the use of napalm and Agent Orange by the United States.
The Asian Youth Collective organized the rally and march. The AYC announced the event on Instagram with a statement, which read in part, “This week … we witnessed the naked and barbaric aggression of U.S. imperialism. Trump proclaimed his full-throated intention of escalating the 15-month and counting us-zionist (sic) genocide through the annexation of Gaza, all while the shameful presence of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in our communities.”
The Eboard of UAW Local 4811 decided on Friday, May 17, the first campus of the University of California to strike will be Santa Cruz, on Monday, May 20.
In response to the announced Unfair Labor Practice strike by UAW Local 4811 at UCSC, the UC announced in a press release, the UC filed a ULP with the state Public Employment Relations Board “asking the state to order UAW Local 4811 and its bargaining unit members to cease and desist strike activity.”
UAW Local 4811, by way of X, formerly Twitter, said that 79 percent of the participating members voted yes to authorize the Eboard to prepare for striking if justified and on Friday, May 17, the Eboard will evaluate which campus or campuses will “Stand Up (strike).”
United Auto Workers Local 4811 members are voting, from Monday, May 13 through Wednesday, May 15, to authorize the union’s Executive Board to call a strike if necessary.
The union represents 48,000 academic student employees, postdocs and researchers at the UC.
The union on Friday, May 3, filed an Unfair Labor Practice against the University of California in response to the arrests on UC San Diego and UCLA campuses of protesters, including union members at the Gaza Solidarity encampments at the campuses.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 at its May Day stop work meeting voted unanimously for a resolution to support a complete labor boycott of Israel.
The resolution will be submitted to the ILWU Coast Caucus and the International convention in June.
ILWU Local 10 represents longshore workers in San Francisco, Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, Benicia, Crockett and Port Chicago.
The story was published May 4 by the Labor Video Project. According to the Labor Video Project, it has been publishing since 1983.
Two speakers who spoke Saturday, Feb. 24, at the pro-Palestine rally were from Students for Justice in Palestine-CSULB and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Feb. 24, Bixby Park; Photo by Barry Saks.
The CSULB student representing SJP, said, “I’m here today standing in solidarity with Palestinians that are being displaced and murdered as we speak. Days keep passing by and the biggest powers in the world continue to choose to stay silent. Suppression of student activism on colleges around the country is a huge problem. CSULB is one of those institutions who is responsible for the suppression….Cal State Long Beach chooses not to recognize the ongoing genocide and criminalizes its students for being pro-Palestine…Just because it is not happening in your backyard does not give you the right not to care.”
Feb. 24, Bixby Park; Photo by Barry Saks.
The PYM speaker, who is a 16-year-old Palestinian-American, said, “When my father was a child, his family was forcibly removed from the West Bank and then fled to Kuwait….What is happening in Gaza is not a new problem. It has been 75 years of occupation, …75 years of ethnic cleansing, 75 years of international inaction, 75 years of dehumanization,…and 75 years of longing for freedom, justice and liberty.”
About three hundred people marched from Bixby Park to the Long Beach City Hall and back to the park, on Saturday, February 24, to protest the Israeli invasion of Gaza and to call for a ceasefire.
Before marching at Bixby Park, February 24; Photo by Barry Saks.
One protester, a veteran of the U.S. Army was Juan. Juan, 51, took public transportation, wearing his black-and-white keffiyeh, from Los Angeles to the park. On the bus to Bixby Park, he said, “I support Palestine. It’s not right what Israel is doing. No one has the right to steal someone else’s land.” He added he thought Zionism is a racist ideology.
February 24, boy with his sign, before the march; Photo by Barry Saks.
Another protester was Mallory, 27. She said she thought the demonstrations were raising awareness. She added she was also there to make friends and help build community.
At the park, the protesters heard speakers from the local Palestine solidarity movement.
About 40 people protested outside Long Beach World Trade Center on Friday, Jan.12; Photo by Barry Saks.
About 40 people, outside the Long Beach World Trade Center (1 World Trade Center), on Ocean Blvd., east of North Golden Ave.,on Friday, Jan. 12, protested the U.S. and British airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
While on the sidewalk, they chanted using call-and-response. They chanted: Hands off Yemen; Resistance is justified when people are occupied; Israel, Israel, we charge you with genocide; Israel bombs, USA pays, How many kids have you killed today?; Free, Free Palestine.
Photo by Barry Saks.
Many of the protesters wore a keffiyeh, a head scarf signifying Palestinian resistance, while some carried Palestinian flags or their signs.
Barry Saks 