News and Views from the People's Struggle
San José, CA – On Wednesday, April 9, one week after President Trump declared a universal 10% tariff and for all the countries that the United States ran trade deficits with, he announced even higher tariffs of up to 50%. Even while members of his administrators were saying the tariffs were going to stick, Trump blinked and declared a 90-day pause for all countries except China.
San Jose, CA – On March 28, community members gathered at the Arab American Cultural Center in San Jose for an evening of education and discussion on Land Day, the Palestinian day commemorating the 1976 deaths of six Palestinian protesters who were marching against Zionist seizure of Palestinian land.
San Jose, CA – On Saturday, April 5, several thousand San Jose residents gathered in Saint James Park as part of a wider wave of “Hands Off” protests happening around the United States. The protest was chiefly against the Trump administration's attacks on broad sections of people, including immigrants, federal workers, trans people and many more.
San José, CA – Over the last few days, since President Trump’s latest tariffs were announced on April 2, comments have often called them “bizarre,” “weird” or similar terms. But there is a method to what might seem to be Trump’s madness.
The tariff rates announced were calculated on the basis of the U.S. trade deficit with each country, or how much more the United States imports from said country than the amount of U.S. goods it buys. This was often dismissed as “nonsense,” but it reflects President Trump’s longstanding obsession with U.S. trade deficits.
San José, CA – Why are so many Republicans in Congress going along with Trump’s tariffs? For decades the Republican Party has been a party of free trade and “lower” taxes, so why the support, or at most silence, from Republicans in Congress?
San José, CA – The day after President Trump levied tariffs on virtually every country in the world, the People’s Republic of China, or PRC, hit back. The PRC matched Trump’s tariff of 34% announced on Thursday with the same 34% tariff on imports from the United States. These are mainly soybeans and other foods, electrical machinery, petroleum and civilian aircraft. In addition, China put restrictions on exports of seven rare earth metals to the United States that are used in making lasers, wind turbines, radar other technology goods.
San José, CA – On Thursday, April 3, one day after Trump’s newest tariffs announcement, prices did start to fall as candidate Trump promised. The only problem is that it was the prices of stocks, not groceries.
San Jose, CA – On Wednesday, March 26, at noon, around 60 students gathered by the San Jose State University Student Union for a speakout for Mahmoud Khalil and other victims of ICE detainments. The program of the action put forward demands on San Jose State administration and SJSU President Cynthia Teniente Matison for increased protection against ICE, especially for mixed status and undocumented students as well as activists.
San Jose, CA – On March 19, a crowd of 100 people gathered in front of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in the heart of downtown to protest the bombing of Gaza and the strikes on Yemen that have killed at least 400 Palestinians and 50 Yemenis.
San Jose, CA – On March 14, a crowd of 100 people braved the March winds to speak out in defense of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the Palestine solidarity movement at New York’s Columbia University who faces deportation on the grounds of his political work. Khalil has not been charged with any crime.
San Jose, CA – During this week’s city council meeting, March 11, dozens of community members made public comments to demand that the city divest over $50 million from corporations with direct ties to Israel's genocide against Palestine.
Drusie Kazanova, a member of San Jose Against War, stated, “It is clear that the diverse and multicultural community of San Jose refuses to be complicit in genocide,” citing a divestment petition with over 1500 signatures, and endorsements from over 50 local businesses and community organizations. “I call on you to exercise your leadership and stand with your constituents by divesting all city funds from Israel's genocide against Palestine,” said Kazanova.
Philip Nguyen, a SEIU 521 steward, stated, “Divestment was effective in helping stop apartheid in South Africa, and it will be effective now.” San Jose adopted its “South Africa-free investment policy” in 1985 after a protracted struggle for divestment from apartheid, setting a clear precedent for today's divestment demand.
Uriel Magdaleno, a community organizer with Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, asked, “What is preventing the city council from divesting from genocide? We should focus more on prioritizing what benefits our entire community. I want to commend the city council for recently passing a resolution to reaffirm the city’s status as a sanctuary city. We also further funded the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network,” referring to a local network that mobilizes when ICE activity is reported in the region.
“We need to prioritize expanding capacity of free legal services here for our immigrant community,” continued Magdaleno.
Public comment sparked further discussion from the city council. Councilmember Peter Ortiz, representing San Jose’s District 5, called on Maria Öberg, the city’s finance director, to speak on the city's current policy on social responsibility as it relates to investment and contracting. Öberg noted that the current investment policy has a social responsibility clause, meaning “if [the city] evaluates two investments that have the same generic terms and interest rates, we would favor buying a green bond for example.” Ortiz then asked Öberg to investigate any concerns in regards to entities that the city is invested in.
Councilmember Ortiz finished by thanking the community members for speaking, saying, “Thank you people for coming, I think it’s timely to have this conversation – not just on this issue, there's a lot of things corporations are doing right now that are impacting our community. For example, a lot of these companies are investing in measures to come after our immigrant population, in the east side – a conversation is warranted. Thank you so much.”
San Jose, CA – On Monday, March 10, around 1500 bus and light rail operators and mechanics for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), walked off the job. The workers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265. This is the first strike at the VTA since its founding in 1973.
Around 9 a.m. upwards of 70 ATU rank-and-file members could be seen picketing in front of the VTA headquarters as the strike began. Pickets were held at four other light rail and bus yards beginning at 4 a.m.
San José, CA – On Monday, March 10, U.S. stock markets fell. The S&P 500, which includes 500 of the largest U.S. corporations, dropped 2.7% for the worst trading day of the new Trump administration. The NASDAQ, which is over-weighted in technology stocks, fell even more, dropping 4% as high-flying technology stocks continued their descent to earth. Both the broader market and the technology sector were led down by a 15% drop in Tesla share prices, bringing that stock down about 50% from its high just months ago.
San José, CA – On Friday, March 7, the Department of Labor released its report on the job market in February. This is the first report based on the labor market in the first weeks of the new Trump administration. Overall, the job market looked a little softer; job creation was a bit less, at 151,000 rather than economists’ expectations of 170,000 net new jobs. The unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.1% from 4.0% in January.
San José, CA – At the stroke of midnight on Tuesday morning, President Trump’s trade war was launched against the three largest trading partners of the United States. Canada and Mexico were hit with across the board 25% tariffs, with the exception of Canadian energy products: oil and electricity, which were given 10% tariffs. China was hit with an additional 10% tariff, bringing the total rate to 20% with the initial 10% tariffs back in February.
San José, CA – In February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on major strikes in the previous year. In 2024, there were 31 major strikes, involving 271,500 workers. A major strike is one involving at least 1000 workers and lasting at least one shift. A total of more than 3 million days’ work didn’t happen because of major strikes.
San José, CA – Consumers cut back on purchases in January 2025, the largest decline since February 2021. The Bureau of Economic Analysis report on Personal Income and Outlays released February 28 said that household spending fell by 0.5%, adjusted for inflation. This is much greater than the 0.2% drop expected.
San José, CA – On Thursday, February 27, the Department of Labor reported that new claims for unemployment insurance jumped by 22,000, or 10% in the week ending February 22. New claims for UI have risen substantially in the first weeks of the new Trump administration. The total increase in new claims has been 34,000 or 15%.
Por Sebastian Salinas
San José, CA – El domingo 9 de febrero, el Comité de Inmigración de Silicon Valley, junto con más de 200 miembros de la comunidad, realizó una protesta y una marcha en contra de la agenda del presidente Trump y el reciente aumento de actividad de ICE en Eastside San José.
San José, CA – On Monday, February 24, Denny’s, one of the three largest breakfast chains in the United States, announced that it would be rolling out an extra surcharge on eggs. Denny’s followed Waffle House, another large breakfast chain. Both are trying to pass along the rising costs of eggs, which are up almost 20% just since December. This is mainly because of the spreading bird flu, where quarantine measures have meant the killing more than 100 million poultry, including 20 million of chickens, just in the last three months of 2024.