Skip to main content
Donate

Slideshow: May Day Rally 2011

By Brian Frank
May 2, 2011
Support Provided By

"Obama, escucha! Estamos en la lucha!" went the rallying cry Sunday as thousands jammed Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.

In Spanish, that slogan literally translates, "Obama, listen! We're in the fight!" Coupled with signs proclaiming "No re-election without legalization" and "With Obama, yes we can!" it seemed to capture the conflicted feelings of the crowd.

While many immigrant rights activists may still see the president as a sign of hope, anger over this administration's as yet unfulfilled promise to pursue immigration reform simmered just below the surface.

The annual rally on May Day, also known as International Workers' Day, has come to be a key demonstration for proponents of immigration reform and amnesty for undocumented immigrants. The turnout this year was not nearly as large as it has been in the past, but it did go off peacefully.

Labor activists were trying to rally support to head off any action resembling what happened in Wisconsin, while immigrant rights activists were calling for full amnesty, and at the same time protesting what they viewed as strict anti-immigrant laws such as the one enacted in Arizona. It was a lively scene, and you can click through the slides above to get a taste.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News