Feature Archives

The indynewswire show airs weekly on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM, Friday mornings 10-12 noon, broadcasting news and opinion from independent media worldwide, focused on indymedia sites but also drawing from other websites. The October 3rd episode features discussion of sexual violence, patriarchy, and militarism across Mexico. This show is dedicated to Sali (Marcella Grace Eiler), found dead September 24th in San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca, Mexico.

On October 1st, green mesh fencing was put up again in Santa Cruz's Parking Lot #4 next to the downtown Farmer's Market. The market began at 2:30pm and by 3:00pm, many people were disappointed by the fencing around the trees and the absence of the sounds of drumming in the air. However, people eventually removed the fencing around the trees and a drum circle formed, playing music into the night.

Marcella "Sali" Grace Eiler, a solidarity activist with the struggle in Oaxaca and Chiapas, was found dead on September 24th in a deserted cabin twenty minutes from the village of San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca, Mexico. She was brutally raped and murdered. On different occasions and to different people, Sali mentioned that recently she had suffered political persecution and surveillance in Oaxaca. Many people believe that her murder is part of the widespread repression against the social movement and directed particularly at international observers.

In Santa Cruz last week, at least three individuals were visited by FBI agents and compelled to give DNA samples. The agents possessed court orders for their DNA in investigation of a "violation of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act." Another individual was served with a subpoena for a federal grand jury hearing.

From September 26th - 28th, a 10th-anniversary national conference organized by Critical Resistance took place at Laney College in Oakland. Critical Resistance is a group that has been fighting to raise awareness and abolish the prison industrial complex.

From SC-IMC's open-publishing calendar: "The police and the city council claim that the escalating issues at Wednesday's Farmer's Market are the result of complaints about the drummers. Instead of dealing directly with the complaints, they have turned the market into a police state. Please attend the City Council meeting this Tuesday at 3pm to support the request to rescind the poorly-written, ambiguous 15-minute parking lot law."

On September 17th, Jack and Wes were arrested at a gathering in Parking Lot #4 alongside the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market. According to reports published on Santa Cruz Indymedia, police initially went after and arrested Jack, a Food Not Bombs volunteer. Some people followed the police while drumming and demanding that Jack be released. Police reacted by arresting Wes, a drummer with Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra.