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On Saturday, June 23rd, the Springfield Grange in Pájaro hosted the Festival of Tamales, a benefit for the Grange and Center for Farmworker Families. The menu featured delicious sweet and savory tamales, made with GMO-free masa from El Aguila Foods, including turkey and chile verde, sweet corn, and ollalieberry pecan praline. The tamales were made by local community members using recipes from El Salvador, Mexico, Texas, and the Monterey Bay Area.
Around 500 people from 15 cities in Mexico and 11 countries in the world came together in the National Encounter of Autonomous Anti-Capitialist Resistance at the end of May 2012 to share experiences of autonomy and support the uprising and current process of self-government in Cherán, Michoacán. The Cherán K’eri uprising on April 15, 2011 and the process of self-government now underway in that community is, for many, a source of inspiration, a strong show of resistance to be defended, and an experience to learn from.
On May 29th, community members involved with the Right to Vote on Desal petition drive rallied at City Hall and turned in 2,003 petitions with the signatures of 8,717 Santa Cruz water citizens to the City Clerk, who now has 30 days to complete the signature verification process. 5,500 verified signatures is the requirement to move forward, which is 15% of registered city voters, and if that number is reached, citizens will have a chance to decide if construction of the proposed desalination plant will proceed.
On Wednesday, June 6th, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is set to vote on one of two motions that would approve the expansion of UC Santa Cruz while imposing conditions on the availability of water service to the Upper Campus. Community members have planned for a 5-mile walk after the meeting to the UCSC administration, and then to the forest, if a decision is reached permitting development in the Upper Campus.
On Tuesday, May 29th, the Right To Vote on Desal (RTVOD) Coalition will rally at Santa Cruz City Hall and turn in over 8,000 petition signatures to City officials to tabulate and certify. The event will highlight the unprecedented level of citizen and water ratepayer support to place the historic measure on the November ballot, which would require voter approval for the construction of a desalination plant. Despite high-visibility attempts by both desalination backers and political insiders to defeat the community-driven petition campaign, the RTVOD Coalition surpassed the required number of signatures in less than four months.
The Winnemem Wintu Tribe will hold a four-day War Dance (H’up Chonas in Winnemem) May 24-27 at the McCloud River site where they hold their Coming of Age ceremonies. The War Dance signifies the tribe’s spiritual commitment to defend at all costs the ceremony from heckling, flashing, and violating disruptions by recreational boaters that have occurred in previous years. More than 400 volunteers from throughout the country, native and non-native, are expected to converge upon the sacred sites to help the tribe close the river and protect the War Dance from interference by boaters.
On April 22nd, Patricia Jackson wrote: "If you rambled down to Civic Center Sunday, you might have thought the crowd and the booths could just be another average day event. Then you saw a Whiskey Dome Cycle, a seal made out of all that garbage that gets thrown in the ocean, and the Luvevolution Bus. There was Green Peace and Earth Island Institute — and that was your clue. Earth Day San Francisco, 2012."