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Santa Cruz Indymedia - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area
Rainbow Theatre, the only multicultural theatre arts troupe in the UC system, will be kicking off their 16th season on November 5th and continuing through November 15th. In the tradition of Teatro Campesino, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, and Theatre of the Opressed, Rainbow strives to bring the untold stories of people of color to light. This year Rainbow's plays are feminist oriented, focusing on issues of queer identity, domestic violence, rape, abortion, interracial relationships, and homophobic violence.
Read more | Descriptions
On October 26th, Free Radio Santa Cruz hosts The Maestr@s spoke with James Loewen, a researcher, author, teacher, and history-doer. His latest book is a how-to guide for teachers, with the aim of reclaiming history from boring dates and names, and replacing a vibrant sense of connection to the past. Teachers for Class War airs every Monday at 6pm on FRSC 101.1 FM.
Jim Loewen is best known as the author of Lies my Teacher Told Me, a hugely influential look at 12 leading high school history texts comparing what they prioritize, what they leave out, and what they just plain make up. He's also the author of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. Lowen's latest book is called Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History.  Read more and listen to the interview
On October 30th, Doug Zuidema, Director of Judiciary Affairs at UCSC, notified a collection of students that they were potentially subject to disciplinary proceedings. Occupy California writes that, "The University increasingly functions like a police apparatus: taking surveillance photos at protests, compiling dossiers on individuals, modifying response protocols and manufacturing phony charges against students and workers for kangaroo courts." Read more
See also: A Three Day Student, Worker and Faculty Strike Starting on 11/18
On November 1st, the 16th annual Peace & Unity March took place in Watsonville with over 100 people in attendance, including many families of victims who have died from violence. The march was started in 1994 after the tragic deaths of two local youth; Jessica (age 9) and Jorge (age 16) Cortez. The march was started by youth who wanted to send a message of barrio unity throughout Watsonville.  Photos
On Free Radio Santa Cruz, The Maestr@s spoke with a fellow media activist, Oaxaca City resident, and parent of a school aged daughter about the state of education in Oaxaca, Mexico, where teachers mounted and led a massive uprising in 2006. They discuss the effects on schools and school children, three years later.
Read more and listen to the interview
UC Financial Crisis: Big Picture and Practical Actions is a public forum occuring at UCSC's Classroom Unit 2 on Thursday, October 29th from 7-10pm.
Two of the featured speakers have been particularly devoted to investigating the University of California's finances. Stanton Glantz of UCSF, is the author of The Cigarette Papers, which has played a key role in the ongoing litigation surrounding the tobacco industry. He is now working with the Keep California's Promise, an organization to restore the Master Plan for higher education, and has turned his investigative skills to the administration and financing of the UC.
Robert Meister is the President of the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) and director of the Bruce Center for Rethinking Capitalism at UCSC. For a decade he has been an active critic of the privatization trend at UC and an advocate of the shared governance tradition. His open letter to UC students "They Pledged Your Tuition" and subsequent writings have been widely circulated. Read more
See also: Monday, Nov. 2: Worker & Student March Against Budget Cuts
On October 24th, as part of the worldwide action on climate issues, activists rallied throughout Northern California. In Santa Cruz, marchers carried placards through town and held a mock trial of the automobile. In Humboldt County, demonstrators chose the ancient redwood forest in Richardson Grove as their protest site because it is threatened by Caltrans’ proposal to widen highway 101. In San Francisco, Justin Herman Plaza was filled with an enthusiastic crowd, while in nearby suburbs residents gathered to share planet-saving tips with neighbors.
On October 19th, in a federal court house in Los Angeles, Alex Sanchez was once again denied bail. Sanchez, a nationally recognized activist and peacemaker, is accused of maintaining ties to his former gang and participating in a conspiracy to murder. Bail was denied after Judge Real suppressed testimony from father Greg Boyle, an expert in Los Angeles gangs.
During the massive 10-campus walkout on September 24th, several dozen students and workers occupied the Graduate Student Commons at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), issuing statements acknowledging their intention to escalate the conflict: "Occupation is a tactic for escalating struggles," they note at their website, "We must face the fact that the time for pointless negotiations is over."
On Thursday, September 24th, students at UC Santa Cruz began the occupation of the Graduate Student Commons as part of a day of action at all UCs across the state. The building is located in a central location on campus, across from the Bay Tree Bookstore. The occupiers held a dance party on Friday the night and another dance party on Wednesday night. By Thursday morning, the occupation had come to an end.
A communique read from the occupied building states, "We are occupying this building at the University of California, Santa Cruz, because the current situation has become untenable. Across the state, people are losing their jobs and getting evicted, while social services are slashed. California’s leaders from state officials to university presidents have demonstrated how they will deal with this crisis: everything and everyone is subordinated to the budget. They insulate themselves from the consequences of their own fiscal mismanagement, while those who can least afford it are left shouldering the burden. Every solution on offer only accelerates the decay of the State of California. It remains for the people to seize what is theirs."
 Read more with video | Photos: 1 | 2 | Solidarity |  Flyers | Interview | Why occupy the GSC?
See also: Walkout and Rallies at UC Santa Cruz to Defend the Future of Public Education
On September 24th, students, faculty, staff and alumni at University of California (UC) schools participated in a day of coordinated walkouts and rallies in defense of the future of public education. Hundreds rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the privatization of the UC system, which includes student fee hikes, faculty and staff furloughs and layoffs, executive pay increases, and cuts to courses, programs and services. The University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) held a daylong strike at all UC schools, with pickets at the main and west entrances of UCSC from 6am–6pm.
Photos: 1 | 2 | Speech from the General Assembly
See also: Coalition Including Students, Staff and Alumni Occupy Graduate Student Commons at UCSC
To kick off the new school year on Teachers 4 Class War on Free Radio Santa Cruz, l@s Maestr@s (the hosts) spoke with Jeff Duncan-Andrade once again, about the conditions facing teachers this year and every year in the California school system. Jeff has been a frequent guest on the show, and he's the closing speaker at this year's Teachers 4 Social Justice conference in San Francisco on Saturday, October 10th.
Jeff gets into the practical pedagogy of starting off the school year and building relationships with new students and setting priorities for the year ahead. L@s Maestr@s and Jeff also talk about radical teacher networking, identifying allies, and building support within schools and communities. Listen to the interview
See also: T4CW: School Starts with a Strike '09
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