This was in response to Canada’s retaliation to Trump’s original tariffs on Monday, September 7, of 15% to 50% on $20 billion of U.S. products, designed to match Trump’s initial tariffs on $20 billion of Canadian goods. In addition, Trump announced that U.S. tariffs on Canadian-made cars and car parts would go to 50% come January 1, 2027.

While the tariffs only cover a small share of Canada-United States trade, about 5%, this pattern of escalation could threaten trade with the United States’ second-largest trading partner after Mexico. But Trump’s verbal attacks and insults, such as that Canada should be the 51st state of the United States, and renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America”, has meant that almost three quarters of Canadians back their government’s resistance to U.S. demands. In contrast, only about 25% of Americans think that Trump should stick to being tough on Canada.

These new tariffs, and the price increases that they cause, are part of the growing unhappiness of Americans with their economic situation. The University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index for early September, released on September 11, fell to 47.8 from 51.7 in August. This was lower than any economists had predicted.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Economy #CapitalismAndEconomy #Canada #TradeWar #Trump

San Jose, CA – On September 10, over 50 students, faculty and other campus workers rallied for labor rights on San Jose State University campus. Organized by the recently formed San José State Labor Coalition, the action sought to build solidarity with regards to core issues facing laborers such as low wages and hazardous working conditions.

United Auto Workers 4123-SJSU Head Steward Alex Martin told the crowd, “Somehow, there always seems to be enough money for wages and compensation at the top, but not enough for workers’ basic needs.”

California Faculty Association representative Michael Tal remarked on cases of union-busting from SJSU admin, “This semester, we had an issue with FAFSA [federal student aid applications] where multiple students had to drop out because they could not pay, while the chancellor racks in checks,” Tal said. “Our bargaining team is using port-a-potties to speak to management, which indicates a leadership that views us as less than equal.”

Teamsters Local 2010 Steward Vince Carrillo stated, “The CSU failed to follow their side of the contract and now we’re currently without one. It’s been three years.”

“When the president needs something done, they call us and we have to stop what we’re doing,” Carrillo continued. “We’ve got to keep up the fight because they expect more and more from us, and we’ve got to stick it out until we make it out on the other side better.”

Guadalupe Pallais of the CSU Employees Union (CSUEU) stated, “In 2022, I found myself in a difficult situation involving an assistant director. At CSUEU-SJSU, I was assured my rights and the value of being unionized.”

Pallais continued, “I share my story because I want others to know that unions work for their members, and they genuinely care about what we experience in the workplace.”

Lorena Segovia of Academic Professionals of California gave a fiery speech calling out CSU. “We are still in negotiations for the last fiscal year, and they are offering lowball offers while the SJSU president makes $546,000 a year. How the fuck can you make that much money, knowing that the staff who make that profit are struggling to survive? That shows that they are not here to support students, but to create a corporate structure where those at the top are making the most money, while everyone at the bottom is struggling,” Segovia said.

“We keep getting asked to do more with less, and we are expected to support our students. We deserve fair wages and fair working conditions!” Segovia continued. “We demand that the CSU recognizes the work and value we do and invest in the people that make the system work! We stand together, and we stand stronger as one.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor #SJSLC

San Jose, CA – On September 7, around 150 workers and their allies gathered at San Jose City Hall for a Labor Day rally and march. Organized by the San Jose May Day Coalition, the theme of the action was “Labor Fights Back,” and the program highlighted local unions that are waging ongoing campaigns and contract negotiations.

Unions represented at the protest included the Santa Clara County Association of County Educators (ACE), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Locals 2015, 1021, and 521, and the South Bay Labor Council which represents over 110 different unions.

The program was emceed by Megan Sweet, rank-and-file member of ATU 265, and Riju Krishna, president of ACE.

Jean Cohen, Executive director of the South Bay Labor Council, stated, “Right now in the South Bay, in the Bay Area, in California, billionaires are taking over. And we’re not going to let them, because the blood of the labor movement is organizing.” Cohen continued, “There’s more than enough to pay people a decent wage, to ensure that we have a seat at the table to talk about AI and the future of work.”

“Whether it’s ATU or the Teamsters or the teachers or the nurses,” Cohen continued, “our fight is righteous and our fight is going to be what makes San Jose and Silicon Valley where anybody can live.”

IFPTE Local 21 is in a union coalition with AFSCME Local 101, representing over 4500 San Jose City workers. This coalition has been bargaining with the city since February and working without a contract for over two months. Krista de la Torre of IFPTE Local 21 stated, “When the city doesn’t adequately invest in its workforce, it impacts more than just the workers, it impacts the residents, it impacts the services our entire community depends on.”

De la Torrie continued, “At the bargaining table right now we are fighting for strong AI guardrails that project jobs and ensure human oversight of public services. We’re fighting for sound retirement benefits and protections against privatization and contracting out, because public services should remain public, accountable, and affordable to all of you.”

“A few weeks ago, our coalition of 4500 city workers held a strike authorization vote, and an overwhelming 97% voted yes,” continued de la Torre. “As we continue fighting for a fair contract, we are asking for our community to stand behind us. Because our working conditions are your service conditions, and our fight to protect public jobs is a fight to protect public services.”

Riju Krishna, president of ACE, stated, “We are fighting for more than a paycheck – we are fighting for dignity, for respect, for safe workplaces, and most importantly, the right to raise our families with hope.”

Krishna continued, “When they try to divide us by our jobs, our language, our race, our immigration status, or where we come from, what do we do? We stand closer together, because an injury to one is an injury to all!”

After the program, the crowd marched through the streets of downtown San Jose, holding signs saying, “We support city workers,” “Union strong,” and “Fight for workers’ and immigrants’ rights.” As passing cars honked in solidarity, protesters chanted, “When workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “Worker power!”

As the action closed, the emcees encouraged attendees to join the San Jose May Day Coalition to get involved in organizing future labor movement protests.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor #LaborDay #SEIU #ATU #IFPTE #AFSCME #Teamsters

San Jose, CA – On September 2, San Jose State University intended to host Northrop Grumman at the Fall ‘26 Business, Financial Services, and Logistics Job and Internship fair. Northrop Grumman, a weapons manufacturer which maintains $3 billion in contracts with the Defense Department, is a target for Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) ongoing campaign demanding SJSU cut ties with war profiteers.

In response to Northrop Grumman’s invitation to the campus career fair, SDS at SJSU organized a mail-in and rally calling for the career center and university administration to deplatform war profiteers like Northrop Grumman. The mail-in was a tactic employed by students to flood the inboxes of university administrators leading up to the day of the career fair, and it proved to be an effective one.

On the day of the career fair, as student protesters gathered outside the SJSU Student Union, SDS received notice that Northrop Grumman had completely withdrawn from the career fair. This withdrawal follows a similar incident last semester at SJSU, in which student protesters forced Lockheed Martin to withdraw from a campus informational session.

Despite Northrop Grumman's withdrawal, the students continued with their rally outside the career fair to call out the school administration’s ongoing collaboration with war profiteers, echoing chants such as “When Northrop does the killing, admin makes a killing!”

Panda Shim from SDS stated, “Whether it’s Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman, we will not allow these defense organizations who actively supply weapons to commit genocide overseas and terrorize our immigrant communities onto our campus!”

“SJSU has invited Northrop Grumman to this career fair despite the students making it clear, time and time again, that we will not ever accept war profiteers to do business on our campus. Northrop Grumman is the sixth-largest weapons manufacturer on the planet and has been supplying the U.S. and Israeli air forces with missile delivery systems and laser weaponry for their fighter jets and attack helicopters. Shame!” said Mateo Rodriguez-Deal from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Sharat Lin from San Jose Against War provided words of support, “As you build the anti-war student movement here on campus, know that the people of San Jose support your struggle and are building the anti-war, pro-Palestine movement!”

“Our voices matter, our concerns matter, and what happens to people outside our campus matters. San Jose State should be a place where students can build their futures without having to compromise their conscience. Keep war profiteers off campus!” said Haddy Barghouti from Students for Justice in Palestine to close the rally.

While the students were able to successfully kick Northrop Grumman off campus, their fight is not over. This smaller victory was part of a larger ongoing struggle to push their campaign forward and cut ties with all war profiteers.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #WeaponsIndustry #StudentMovement #SDS #SJAW #Feature

San José, CA – On Saturday, August 29, around 200 attendees and vendors came out to commemorate the 56th Chicano Moratorium in San José.

The 56th Chicano Moratorium was held in Backesto Park, where a new mural that featured local San José activists had been put up by Alfonso Salazar, after a long fight for Chicano representation in the park. Activists say it was important to hold it at Backesto Park to continue the Chicano struggle in San José.

The Chicano Moratorium was a historic anti-war march organized by Chicanos in East Los Angeles, where 30,000 people demanded an end to Chicano enlistment in the Vietnam War due to disproportionate deaths and a stop on police brutality in the United States.

Samantha Rojas of Defensoras Patient Organizing Committee and Ana Cortez of CSO SJ kicked off the event, chanting, “Raza si, Migra no!” Cortez and Rojas highlighted the importance of the 1970 August 29th Chicano Moratorium and its influence on the Chicano movement, saying, “Chicanos were also facing oppression in many forms here at home, from police brutality to exclusion from higher education.” Cortez and Rojas spoke about the discrimination that Chicanos faced and the brutality that protesters faced from the Los Angeles Sheriffs and Police Department, resulting in the deaths of prominent Mexican-American journalist Rubén Salazar, and Brown Berets Lynn Ward and Angel Díaz.

Patricio González Roa of CSO SJ chanted, “ICE out the Bay! ICE out of Gilroy!” highlighting the federal government's plans to build a detention center in Gilroy, California. Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, sued the federal government for legal violations and improper procedures, which resulted in construction of the site being paused. Roa emphasized the connection of the Chicano movement and struggle for equal rights to the attacks of ICE against South Bay Chicano residents.

Keynote speaker Dr. Ramon J Martinez, Secretary of the La Raza Historical Society and a participant in the original 1970 Chicano Moratorium, gave an oral history of the landmark event. “On that day, thousands of Chicano said ‘I’m not supporting the military,’” Dr. Martinez stated, emphasizing the role Chicanos faced in the United States military, where enlistment was viewed as a means of escaping poverty. “As an oppressed people, the military is one of the few ways that, one, you can have a little bit of Spanish and be accepted in this culture,” Dr. Martinez explained.

“The fact is that Chicanos have always been oppressed, we have always been oppressed since 1848 when the border crossed us,” Megan Sweet of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated. Sweet continued, “We must come together, as Chicanos, as people with morals to fight against a common enemy: U.S. imperialism.”

The event was organized by the Tonatiuh Brown Berets, Mujeres de Aztlan and Community Service organization San José (CSO San José) in coalition with endorsers and with food provided by Lighthouse Food and Rescue and Distribution.

The event featured cultural performances by Folclórico Colibri, an LGBTQ Mexican folklorico dance ensemble whose mission is to preserve Mexican customs and culture. Student poets from Mission College highlighted the importance of improving resources available to Chicano and undocumented students through poetry. The event closed off with performances by Chicano artists who uplifted strong community values amongst Chicanos.

#SanJoseCA #CA #OppressedNationalities #ChicanoLatino #ChicanoMoratorium #ImmigrantRights #BrownBerets #CSOSanJose #CSO

San José, CA – On August 20, the second day of the fall semester, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a protest on the San José State University Campus. SDS has been leading a “No Tech for Genocide” campaign for several years, demanding that university administration cut all ties with weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. San José State University has maintained ties with Lockheed for decades, including hosting specific engineering master’s programs tailored to send students straight to working as weapons designers.

At 1:30 p.m., students gathered at the Arch of Dignity and started chants such as “Lockheed Martin off our campus!” and “Lockheed does the killing, admin makes a killing!”

Nikki Flowers from SDS stated, “We are here to make sure our university knows we will not sit idly by. We will not allow our tuition, our resources, to be funneled into companies like Lockheed Martin.”

Flowers demanded that SJSU admin “cut all university partnerships with these war profiteers, with these defense and technology corporations, and government entities complicit with the occupation and genocide of Palestine.”

Ethan Maruyama from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “While tuition goes up every year, making living increasingly unaffordable for students, SJSU admin continues to maintain contracts with war profiteers.”

Maruyama continued, “We will not passively watch as the U.S. empire tries to consolidate the little power they can hold onto. Students on this campus and across the nation have led a long militant history of struggle, from the anti-war movement to the immigrant rights movement, and we will continue down that militant path. Through our day to day struggles, like this protest today, we can build the movement to strike blows against the enemy by continuing to put pressure on SJSU admin.”

Finally, the students stopped at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library for a speech from Jack McCann of San José Against War. “Israel continues to murder Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” McCann stated. “It is clear that institutions like San José State have made it possible for this to happen.”

The students continued to march throughout the campus, with many students joining them along the way. This action and noise demonstration called attention to SJSU's ties to war profiteers and complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. SDS will continue to pressure university administration to cut ties with Lockheed Martin, and all other war profiteers.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #StudentMovement #BDS #Palestine #LockheedMartin

San Jose, CA – On August 9, around a dozen people gathered in front of MLK Library in San Jose for a vigil to demand justice for Corey Ruiz, a 34-year-old African-American man who was murdered by the police on July 22 in Madison, Wisconsin. Community members brought flowers, candles and signs with slogans like, “Justice for Corey, jail killer cops” and “Justice for victims of police violence.”

John Duroyan with the San Jose Coalition Against Trump, the coalition which organized the vigil, read a statement on the murder of Ruiz from the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, stating, “We won’t wait for empty answers. We won’t sit back quietly while they try to force us to passively support a system that lets cops kill adults, teenagers, children, and even infants through their negligence and aggression.”

Duroyan continued, “We know exactly what this is: A modern lynching justified with the language of law and order. It's time to hit the streets and demand an end to police terror! Justice for Corey Ruiz!”

At the vigil, community members discussed the parallels between the murder of Corey Ruiz and other racist and police murders which occurred on San Jose State University campus, directly adjacent to where the vigil took place. These include the murder of Antonio Guzman Lopez, an undocumented man murdered by San Jose State University police in 2014. Lopez’ murderer faced no repercussions.

Additionally, in 2008, African American SJSU student Gregory Johnson Jr was found hanging in the SJSU Sigma Chi fraternity house where he lived. Despite numerous suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, SJSUPD and SJPD engaged in cover-up tactics and refused to seriously investigate Sigma Chi’s majority-white, wealthy fraternity members for any wrongdoing.

As the vigil concluded, community members chanted, “Justice for Corey! End police brutality!”

#SanJoseCA #CA #InjusticeSystem #CoreyRuiz

While a different survey of households showed that the unemployment rate fell from 4.2% in June to 4.1% in July, this was mainly due to unemployed workers giving up their job search, which meant that they are no longer counted as unemployed. The measure of people working and unemployed, called the Labor Force Participation rate, fell to 61.4, the lowest level in 50 years, not counting April and May of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was gripping the country. All in all, more than a million workers have dropped out of the labor force over the last year.

The fall in the Labor Force Participation Rate was concentrated among oppressed nationalities. The biggest drop in the LFPR was among Asian Americans, where it fell by a whole point. The LFPR among African Americans fell by 0.6, while there was no drop at all in the LFPR among white Americans.

One reason for people giving up on the job search was that for the last six months, more than one in four unemployed had been out of work for six months or more. This is a record high percentage for a time not following a severe recession such as 1981-83, 2007-2009, and 2020 when the unemployment rate topped out near or above 10%.

Job losses were led by job cuts in public schools, where almost 50,000 jobs were lost in July. While some said this was because of summer vacation, the report was adjusted to account for this. Compared to a year earlier in July of 2025, public schools still had 80,000 fewer employees. The next biggest job loss was in leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants, hotels and entertainment. These industries lost 40,000 jobs in July.

Despite the bad economic news, the stock market rose, with all the major indices (the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500, and the NASDAQ) all up for the day. Just another example of when bad news for workers becomes good news for the capitalists and rich of Wall Street.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Economy #Labor #Jobs

Edwin Salazar of the Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services (CARAS) stated, “If it’s him this week, is it going to be us next? Who's going to be next?”

Salazar continued “We’re angry, we’re upset. But we can continue to show up consistently every single month, every single week, every single day. We’re supporting our immigrant communities here in San Jose, in California, in America!”

Uriel Magdaleno, a member of CSO San Jose, read a statement by the Legalization for All Network in which he gives details on the unjust pursuit Salgado-Araujo faced by ICE agents. Magdaleno stated “ICE agents had no jurisdiction to perform local traffic stops. They lie and this is what they use to justify an ICE agent opening fire and shooting Salgado-Araujo in the stomach.”

Magdaleno later brought up a case in which ICE, in Texas, took a life in a similar manner, stating, “On February 24, 2026, 23-year-old Ruben-Ray Martinez, a Chicano U.S. citizen, was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Shame!” Magdaleno finished off his speech chanting, “Justice for Lorenzo” and “Hands off Nadia!”

Kim Cortéz-Solorio with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization told the crowd, “The monopoly capitalist class is set on attacking the Chicano nation and continues to use ICE as its primary means of carrying out their brutality against Chicanos and immigrants.”

Cortéz-Solorio continued, “Centro CSO members Nadia Topete and Alejandro Orellana are trying to be silenced by [Assistant U.S. Attorney] Bill Essayli. We stand in solidarity and say protesting is not a crime!”

The rally ended with chanting that showed solidarity with those who were martyred by ICE. Kim Cortez-Solorio and Jessica Aviles led chants including, “Justice for Lorenzo,” “Justice For Renee” and “ICE out!” The chanting was followed by a group called Singing Solidarity who brought community members together by singing at the end of the action.

#SanJoseCA #CA #ImmigrantRights #KillerICE #InJusticeSystem #ICE #CSOSanJose

San Jose, CA – On Wednesday, July 8, around two dozen people rallied at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library against Trump’s relaunching of the U.S. war against Iran.

Signs depicting children murdered in the Minab school bombing by the U.S. were laid out on the steps in from of the library. Protesters held signs saying, “No war on Iran” and “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation.”

Donna Wallach of San Jose Against War spoke to the crowd about how popular opinion is against the ongoing war in Iran, saying, “The great majority of Americans do not support this horrible, horrendous attack on Iran.”

Sharat Lin, board member of Human Agenda and the San Jose Peace and Justice Center, emphasized that the U.S. has always been the aggressor nation in the conflict, saying that the U.S. “must stop sabotaging the MOU. Stop trying to dominate the rest of the world. Stop trying to dominate Iran!”

Jack McCann, member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, highlighted that Trump has no geopolitical leverage against Iran, yet continually lashes out. He said, “As Iran remains steadfast, Trump has two options: lose quietly or lose loudly and he’s choosing the latter.”

The chanting crowd drew supportive honks throughout the action.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Iran

The biggest surprise of the jobs numbers was the loss of 55,000 jobs in hotels and restaurants. This was the biggest loss since the COVID pandemic in 2020. Many economists questioned this figure, given the tourism for the FIFA World Cup soccer games. But tourism, and thus employment in hotels and restaurants, has been declining under the Trump administration, while increasing in the rest of the world. Trump’s repeated claim to want to make Canada a U.S. state, his restrictions on travel visas, and harassment of tourists at U.S. borders and airports have made the United States a less desirable destination. U.S. hotels reported room booking during FIFA World Cup was below expectations, and some even said bookings were below usual summer rates.

An early sign of the impact of artificial intelligence or AI on jobs was the continued drop in information technology jobs. 9000 jobs were lost in this sector, marking the 17th time in the last 18 months jobs have been lost. Job losses in information technology and finance, which are almost all white-collar jobs most susceptible to AI replacement, have accelerated this year. In 2026, an average of more than 20,000 jobs were lost each month in these two industries.

While the unemployment rate ticked down in June to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, this was mainly because more than 700,000 workers dropped out of the labor force. This happens when jobless workers stop looking for work and are not counted as unemployed. Without this, the unemployment rate would have gone up in June to 4.5%.

Latino workers were hit especially hard, as their unemployment rate rose to 5.2% in June from 5.0% in May. At the same time, their labor force participation rate fell from 67.2% to 66%. If Latinos who dropped out of the labor force were counted as unemployed, their unemployment rate would have risen to 6.4%.

Wage growth for production and non-supervisory workers grew 3.4% from June last year, significantly behind the 4.4% increase in prices for the same workers as reported in June. The June inflation report will come out on July 14.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Jobs #Unemployment

San Jose, CA – On Friday, July 3, around two dozen people gathered for a rally and march starting at Dr. MLK Jr. Library to stand against the U.S.’s endless investment and participation in war across the globe, currently including but not limited to, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and Palestine.

The crowd chanted, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation” and “Israel bombs, U.S. pays, how many did they kill today?”

Jack McCann, member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke about the U.S.’s priority of profits over people over the last 250 years saying, “It has never been about freedom and liberty and all the other lullabies the ruling class sings to us, the working people of this country.”

McCann continued, “We have watched as they use our money to fight their wars, killing people around the world while we go hungry at home, while we struggle to pay our bills, while we fight for the scraps that fall off of their table.”

Donna Wallach, of San Jose Against War told the crowd, “Using our tax money, U.S.-made fighter jets, and high tech weaponry, Israeli soldiers bomb Lebanese villages in southern Lebanon, murdering civilians, and specifically target medical professionals and journalists. Many areas throughout southern Lebanon are flattened, everything destroyed, much like in Gaza.”

Drusie Kazanova of San Jose Against War spoke of the U.S. aggression towards Venezuela. Kazanova brought attention to President Maduro and First Lady Flores’s kidnapping in January, saying, “The U.S. is currently holding hostage the kidnapped, democratically-elected president and first lady of a sovereign country.”

Kazanova also highlighted the resilience of the Cuban people under the 64 year embargo against Cuba, saying, “Cuba has the most advanced doctors and medical training in the world, they invent and manufacture their very own vaccines but are unable to administer them because the U.S. blocks imports of medical syringes.”

Akubundu Amazu of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party, brought attention to recent repression of organizers with the Communist Party, Marxist of Kenya. Amazu noted, “We cannot let them stop us from building international solidarity. The only way we’re going to defeat this international repressive machine is with international global resistance!”

Representatives from the League of Filipino Students (LFS) at San Jose State University and the San Jose Peace and Justice Center also spoke highlighting the U.S.’s increasing efforts to develop manufacturing and AI specifically for war and genocide.

After the speaker program, the crowd began the march through downtown chanting loudly, waving signs, and passing out zines.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #July4th #Palestine #Cuba #Venezuela #Iran

San Jose , CA – On June 30, San Jose State University Professor Dr. Sang Hea Kil of the Justice Studies Department held a victory rally after her arbitration allowing her to return go with full backpay. This came after a protracted campaign where she bravely resisted her firing due to her vocal disapproval of the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine. She was the first tenured professor to be fired from a public university for speaking against the genocide in the wake of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

At the rally outside of the Martin Luther King Library, Dr. Kil triumphantly exclaimed, “This is an incredible victory for free speech, academic freedom, student protest, freedom of assembly and pro-Palestine speech on campus and beyond.” Rallying alongside a demonstration of allies and supporters, she encouraged others to continue the fight, “Let’s use this as a watershed moment to turn the tide against targeted repression on our campus and in this nation!”

For the courageous act of joining a march and rally with Students for Justice in Palestine to protest a Zionist speaker on campus in February 2024, Dr. Kil was arbitrarily suspended with pay the following May and subsequently fired in summer 2025. Despite winning her case under the public hearing option of Article 19 of the collective bargaining agreement between her union and the California State University system, which ruled that she would receive no charges, SJSU President Cynthia Teniente Matson unilaterally overturned the ruling and forcibly removed her in November. This is in stark contrast to the now-retired Professor Johnathan Roth, who received no charges for hitting a Palestinian student and sexually assaulting Dr. Kil during that same demonstration.

Regarding President Matson, Dr. Kil noted, “I think she is doing MAGA’s work in the attack on higher education by going against people who speak against genocide.”

Dr. Kil also listed others who impeded her reinstatement, including SJSU Provost Vincent Del Castino, Skelly Officer Jennifer Sclafani, former Director of Student Involvement (now Student Union Director) John Tucker, DEI Head Kristin Dukes, English Department Head Noelle Williams, State Senator Scott Wiener, and Governor Gavin Newsom.

SJSU admin’s claims included many falsehoods, such as the notion that the embattled professor ordered students to protest, which Dr. Kil vehemently debunked. They also claimed she chanted “Kill the Jews” in a public hearing, despite herself never saying such. The misinformation campaign represented a flimsy yet relentless effort to justify an attack on free speech when it comes to human rights for Palestinians, especially for longtime activists like Dr. Kil, who had traveled to the Occupied Territories in 2016.

“We are in the belly of the beast in Silicon Valley which is collaborating to genocidal oppression and the ICE raids that are terrifying our communities by using Israeli surveillance technology that is being used to control everybody,” Dr. Kil said. “We have rights and we have a duty as citizens and residents of this nation to unite and fight back!”

Among those who had supported her, she thanked San José Against War, San José Peace and Justice Center, Silicon Valley Debug, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), Palestine Action Network, Palestine-Arab-Muslim Caucus of the California Faculty Association, Bay Area Labor for Palestine, Switchboard, AP National and Anita Levy, California Scholars for Academic Freedom, Palestine Anti-Repression Network, Council on American-Islamic Relations – California, Palestine Legal, and the NAACP-SJ.

Wendy Greenfield of JVP recalled the original demonstration which took place. “I never heard anything like ‘Death to the Jews’, or to anyone, and I made it clear to SJSU admin that she was not involved with the students,” Greenfield reported. “One of the biggest points for JVP is that antisemitism is not related to anti-Zionism, and that JVP is in solidarity with all peoples who are seeking liberation, and we are so happy to see the unity; this is a huge victory for unions, faculty, students, and freedom of expression.”

Legal manager for the SF-Bay Area Branch of CAIR California Amith Gupta stated, “This is only part of the struggle; all throughout the Bay Area, students and faculty want to speak out in defense of the most basic and fundamental rights that all human beings have the right to protection from racist violence, the right to protection from genocide, the right of return to your homeland irrespective of your religion.”

Gupta continued, “SJSU decided that that right should be erased when it comes to professors, faculty and students that speak out, and we made it clear to them that that is not true, that we will fight back, that we will defend our right to speak out. It is our obligation to speak out, and when people speak out the way Sang Hea Kil does, they are censored, repressed, and fired from their jobs. It is our obligation to defend them, and we were successful.”

Jack McCann of San José Against War drew from his experiences as a student activist during the 2024 Student Intifada in Humboldt University stated, “The real criminals sit in their ivory throne in SJSU admin inviting genocide deniers and companies that are complicit into this campus, such as the AI Data Center for Civic and Social Good, which Students for a Democratic Society in SJSU says is more like, the AI Center for War and Genocide.”

Humboldt University is currently mired in its own scandal from its decision to file a case against activist Rick Toledo for his direct involvement in the student encampments and his victorious legal efforts to release his fellow protesters.

“I saw firsthand through my own university in Humboldt what professors go through in losing their jobs or coming under fear of deportation, and I want to thank Dr. Sang Hea Kil for what she is doing,” McCann stated.

NAACP-SJ President Sean Allen called out SJSU for spraying dirty water on student encampments which is, under the legal definition in California, assault and battery. “This case was never just about one professor,” Allen remarked. “It was about whether a public university can punish people, especially people of color, queer people and Muslim faculty and students for speaking out on matters of conscience.”

Allen continued, “This is not an isolated case. The NAACP had received at least two other complaints involving SJSU describing a consistent pattern: When people who support Palestinian rights, or who are Muslim or the Islamic faith speak out, they face extreme punishment. Why was one group subjugated and not treated equal as opposed to the other group?”

This is the question of the day, as the genocide continues under a nominal ceasefire, which has seen over 1000 Palestinians killed by Zionist forces, and the violence now encompasses the broader Middle East with the U.S.-Israeli wars of aggression against Iran and Lebanon.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #StudendMovement #SJSU #Palestine

San Jose, CA – On a June 25, in front of the Dr. MLK Jr. Library, hundreds of union city workers gathered for a rally to continue their fight for a decent contract with the city of San Jose. The workers are organized with IFPTE Local 21 and AFSCME Local 101, also known as the Municipal Employee’s Federation (MEF).

Workers held blue picket signs reading, “San Jose first,” “Invest in people,” and “Invest in affordability.”

Alyssa Grondahl of MEF spoke about how the city has been deprioritizing its workers, saying, “While city leadership talks about deficits and the challenges of the city budget, us workers are facing astronomical gas prices, skyrocketing housing costs, rising utility bills, and increasing workloads due to vacancies, removal of vacant positions, and general understaffing. The city keeps moving ahead with large projects and asking us to do more with less.”

Grondahl continued, “We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for fair wages, safe working conditions, and a contract that recognizes the value of the people who open and close this library every day.”

Mary Morse of IFPTE Local 21 brought attention to the city’s unfair “best and final” offer for their contract and how the union still wants to negotiate. Morse stated, “We are still at the bargaining table eager to keep negotiating in good faith, but that best and final offer is take it or leave it. Do we accept that? Hell no!”

The executive director of the South Bay Labor Council, Jean Cohen, also gave words of encouragement to the rallying workers.

The union members began a picket walk as the speaker program finished, chanting, “We are the union, the mighty, mighty union” and “When workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The union members present pledged to vote yes on a strike authorization vote.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Labor

San Jose, CA – On June 20, 200 members of the LGBTQ community and allies gathered at Saint James Park for the third annual San Jose’s People’s Pride. People’s Pride is a grassroots-organized event meant to celebrate community and fight back against the current attacks transgender people are facing from the Trump administration. Unlike some other Pride events in the Bay Area, Peoples Pride does not have any corporate sponsors, recognizing the rampant pinkwashing by corporations that are complicit in human rights abuses.

Throughout the festival portion of the event, small business vendors sold queer art and goods. Bands and DJs brought people together to dance and celebrate queer culture. This People’s Pride was the first year hosting a drag show, featuring Diane and Nikky Nicole.

People’s Pride also featured a silent auction with donated items from vendors. Items included art prints, jewelry and more. All of the proceeds went to compensate the performers, completely supplanting the need for corporate sponsors.

Along with the festivities, local organizations tabled. One such organization, South Bay Queer Solidarity, currently has a letter writing campaign to local hospitals that have not reinstated gender affirming care to youth after Trump threatened to punish hospitals that provided life-saving treatments to trans youth.

After the festival, attendees took to the streets of downtown San Jose. They marched from Saint James Park to Post Street, gathering support from onlookers along the way. Together, the protesters shared one common goal: to defend the queer community from Trump's anti-trans agenda.

Lyla Salinas of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “Attacks on trans healthcare have taken center stage in Trump’s anti-LGBTQ agenda. While 27 states have already enacted laws to limit gender affirming care for trans youth, Trump intends to ban this healthcare nationwide.”

Salinas continued, “This was never about protecting children. Attacks on trans youth chip away at the bodily autonomy of all trans people.”

Protesters chanted, “Trans rights are human rights, that's why we must fight!” as they marched through the streets. Em Tran, a member of Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University, stated that permission is not needed to stand against the transphobic attacks levied by the Trump administration, saying, “That’s why Pride is important. Pride started as a riot. Do you think Marsha P. Johnson asked for permission to start Pride?”

Tran continued, “It's not called the Stonewall ‘Wait-for-Permission-To-Do-It,’ it's called the Stonewall Riot.”

Tran further emphasized the importance of young people in this fight, saying, “I think it’s important especially for young people, for students, for us to stand united together against what the Trump administration has been doing against our queer siblings. Against our queer classmates.”

The event ended with cheers and a call for those interested in getting organized to get involved for next year.

#SanJoseCA #CA #Pride #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles

Gilroy, CA – On June 14. around 300 protestors hit the streets in Gilroy to protest against ICE’s plans to open a detention and processing center in the southern part of Santa Clara County near Gilroy, California. At around a million residents, San Jose is the largest city in Santa Clara County, one of the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. Local activists say the detention center will impact all Bay Area residents.

ICE’s plans to build a detention center in Gilroy began circulating amongst the San Francisco Bay Area residents earlier this year. Now that blueprints of the facility have come out, confirming that the 20,000 square foot facility will have the capability to hold detainees, local organizations are mobilizing to hit the streets and protest the construction site.

Huy Tran of the Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network warned, “The expanded facilities here in Gilroy are going to make ICE a worse threat by providing more holding cells and training more ICE agents to attack us.”

The construction of the Gilroy detention center comes at a time when detainees are launching hunger strikes in Delaney and Adelanto detention centers, in New Jersey and California.

Uriel Magdaleno of Community Service Organization San Jose condemned the conditions of the centers. “The Legalization for All network stands in unwavering solidarity with the hunger strikes,” stated Magdaleno. In the past year, there have been over 50 detainees’ deaths confirmed.

Magdaleno continued, “Conditions inside these facilities worsen daily, people are denied basic human rights.”

The day before the protest, Community Service Organization Oakland participated in a car caravan to California City in coordination with the Legalization for All network’s weekend of action against detention centers. At the Gilroy protest, Danny Celaya with CSO Oakland spoke to attendees about the previous day’s caravan.

“The conditions there [in California City detention center] are grotesque, inhumane and reports of guards dehumanizing detainees as dogs,” stated Celaya. “We need to continue to fight for immigrant rights and say down with detention centers.”

The protesters marched to the detention center construction site in Gilroy with banners that read “Stop ICE’s detention centers,” “Legalization for all,” and “Free Guillermo now,” referring to local community member Guillermo Medina Reyes who has been in detention since February of this year. The march concluded with a rally where Rebeca Armendariz of Community Agency for Resources Advocacy and Services stated, “We will be back.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #ImmigrantRights

San José, CA – On May 30, over 250 people gathered outside the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose to protest plans of an ICE processing and detention center in Gilroy and the reopening of FCI Dublin as an immigrant detention center.

“We haven’t seen as much ICE activity as we have seen in places like Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles,” said Jonathan Soria from Community Service Organization San Jose. “This is because there isn’t a detention center to hold our families here in the Bay Area.”

Since September of last year, the Trump administration has used Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents to carry out immigration enforcement operations across the country. As of November, the number of operations increased and their tactics became increasingly violent, with the deaths of community members seeing a sharp spike. Among these dead are Ismael Ayala Uribe, Oscar Duarte Rascón, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, and twelve more.

ICE and CBP activity reached its height during Operation Metro Surge, when agents were sent to Minnesota, culminating in the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

ICE and CBP operations in the Bay Area have included the detentions of Guillermo Medina Reyes and Ulíses Peña López, who were both taken into custody violently. Since then, reports of their holdings detail inhumane treatment, such as denial of medical attention, food, water and access to legal assistance.

“We’ve brought out hundreds outside of the San Francisco Immigration Court to demand that Guillermo be free, to demand that Guillermo be returned to his community in San Jose, because he deserves to be with his family, with his loved ones,” stated Dani Celaya, of Community Service Organization Oakland, to the people protesting at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

Community-oriented organizations, including CSO San Jose, CSO Oakland, and WCO for the People, a student-led activist group at San Jose’s WC Overfelt High School, rallied together to denounce the ongoing campaign against immigrants and the Chicano community in the Bay Area and across the country. The organizations have also mobilized people to turn out to San Jose City Hall and the San Francisco Immigration Court with these same demands.

The crowd marched from the Mexican Heritage Plaza all the way to the corner of Story and King, delivering chants, cheers,and speeches, highlighting the resistance towards an administration that is hostile towards and actively targets immigrants and the Chicano community.

#SanJoseCA #CA #ImmigrantRights

San Jose, CA – On Thursday June 11, San Jose Against War called an emergency action in response to Trump’s escalated bombing of Iran. The group of over 20 gathered outside of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose with signs reading “No to war on Iran, Lebanon, & Palestine” and “Money for people’s needs, not for war and genocide!” Participants waved Palestinian and Iranian flags in solidarity with the people and counties targeted by U.S.-Israeli forces.

Drusie Kazanova, a member of SJAW stated, “It has been 100 days since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing thousands, including over 100 schoolgirls in an attempt to topple the only state in the region capable of resisting their ceaseless violence and imperial aims.”

Kazanova continued, “Part of why negotiations have taken so long is due to Iran’s refusal to back down to Israeli terror that the United States continues to fund with our tax dollars.”

“We pushed the city council to vote on divestment in March of this year, and four city council members voted to keep using our city funds to fund these atrocities. [Council members] George Casey, Michael Mulcahey, David Cohen, and Anthony Tordillos. Just like Trump and Netanyahu, just like war profiteering corporations, these council members have blood on their hands!” said Kazanova.

John Duroyan of Students for a Democratic Society at San Jose State University (SDS SJSU) spoke on the students’ struggle for divestment from war profiteers saying, “Here at SJSU’s campus, they opened a ‘Campus Center for Civic and Social Good,’ but we call it ‘Campus Center for War and Genocide.’”

Duroyan continued, “Companies like Open AI are just one of the many companies that aid and abet Zionism, aid and abet U.S. invasion, U.S. war mongering, aid and abet Trump and his billionaire cronies. But we, the working people of America, the students of this campus, the students of campuses all across the world, just as we fought for Palestine in 2024, we’re continuing to fight now, and that fight doesn't stop until we’ve shut down those companies, kicked them off our campuses, kicked them out of our cities, until we’ve shut this brutal war machine down!”

Jack McCann of Freedom Road Socialist Organization reflected on the strength of the resistance to U.S. and Israeli aggression, and the weakness of Trump and his allies, saying, “Today, as we condemn U.S. aggression, let us honor the strength of the resistance, the bravery of people who stand strong in the face of overwhelming force, to assert their right to human dignity by any means necessary.”

McCann continues, “Trump is gambling our future for his own personal gain, and he is failing. The working people of the U.S. and the people of oppressed nations around the world share a common enemy: the monopoly capitalist class. In their desperation to secure resources, they sacrifice us all upon the altar of war to sacrifice for their selfish goals. The time is now to unite all who can be united to resist Trump and the ruling class’s attacks on the people of the world!”

Donna Wallach of SJAW described the nature of the abuses of the U.S. and Israel in the region. “Iran did not attack Israel. However, Israel has attacked Iran on numerous occasions. Bombing their nuclear facilities, assassinating scientists and government officials. And the USA has had horrendous sanctions on Iran for over a decade! [The] U.S.A and Israel target hospitals, medical people, journalists, homes, infrastructure. Iran targets military bases and installations.”

Wallach continued, “Israel is trying to steal more land, now from Lebanon to make Israel bigger of stolen land. Israel is attacking Iran because they want to devastate the Iranian economy. Also, the Israelis have this stupid notion that if the infrastructure and homes of the Iranian people are bombed, the Iranian people will blame their government, and they will try to overthrow their government. Iran has the right to defend itself, and it has the right to help Lebanon defend itself.”

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Iran #SJAW

Average prices for the working class have risen even faster, up 4.4% from a year earlier. This means that real wages, or the purchasing power of wages for U.S. workers, have fallen for the second month in a row, and are now 0.8% less than a year ago. This was enough to bring the average worker back to their purchasing power in January 2025, right before Trump took office for his second term.

Trump keeps repeating how great the economy is, which is true for him and his billionaire buddies, who own most of U.S. stocks, with the S&P 500, a broad measure of the stock market, up 22% since Trump took office.

Unfortunately for working people, more price increases are on the horizon. Prices of key commodities used in production, such as diesel fuel, fertilizer and helium, have also spiked, as much of their production was shipped through the strait of Hormuz. This will lead to higher prices for goods that are moved, food, and semiconductors. A measure of these so-called “intermediate goods,” goods that are manufactured but used to make other goods, or not sold to consumers, was up 6% year over year in April, again foretelling higher inflation to come.

In another sign of economic distress, America’s Car-Mart, Inc., a seller of used cars and lender to car buyers with limited incomes and/or poorer credit, said that it was looking for an emergency loan. The company is also preparing for a bankruptcy filing. This is just another sign that workers have been forced to buy used cars as new car prices march ever higher.

Stocks fell across the board, with the broad S&P 500 falling more than 1.5%, while the technology-heavy NASDAQ sank almost 2%. The drop in stock prices was also fed by news of renewed military clashes in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which boosted oil prices.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation

Job growth was concentrated in the hotel and restaurant industry, which added 70,000 net new jobs in May, making up 40% of the total job growth. Next came local government (excluding school jobs), with 55,000 more jobs, as healthcare added 35,000 new jobs. Together these three industries added almost 90% of net new jobs.

One problem is that this trend is not expected to last. Traveling and going out to eat are not necessities, and with more and more households being caught in a vise as prices rise faster than wages, spending, and thus jobs, are likely to slow. Local governments are facing budget pressures as cuts in federal spending trickle down to state and local governments. Finally, the Medicaid cuts in the Republican “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts for the rich and service cuts for the poor will speed up after the November elections, limiting the scope of future gains in healthcare jobs.

While the job numbers were strong, the number of long-term unemployed, who have been out of work for more than six months, rose by more than a third from a year ago. These workers now make up 27.5% of all the unemployed, as compared to only 20.4% a year ago.

Wage growth also slowed. In April, the year-over-year increase in wages was 3.6%, but in May, wages only increased by 3.4% over the previous year. The inflation rate measured by the Consumer Price Index is expected to rise to a 4.2% annual rate when the newest inflation numbers come out on Wednesday. This will widen the gap between prices rising faster, while wage growth is slowing down.

The strong job creation number combined with rising inflation caused bond prices to fall and their interest rates to rise on Friday. Since bonds pay a fixed interest payment, their price and the interest rate change in opposite directions. Bond interest rates have been rising since the being of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which in turn drives up other interest rates, including mortgages to buy homes.

The drop in bond prices and higher interest rates also spooked the stock market, with the technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 index down 5% on Friday, led by chipmaker stocks, which fell 10%. The broader S&P fell half as much, or 2.5%.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Jobs