Feature Archives

On January 12th and 13th the first APPO (Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca) Youth Encuentro was held in Zaachila, Oaxaca, Mexico. Among the many plans of action agreed upon by the diverse group of young folks, was a march on January 15th for the liberation of political prisoners in Oaxaca, in particular David Venegas Reyes, an APPO council member and member of VOCAL (Oaxacan Voices Constructing Autonomy and Freedom).

Free Skool Santa Cruz is a completely grassroots effort, a bunch of individuals deciding to act collectively and autonomously to create a skill-sharing network. Spring Quarter runs March 1st to May 31st. The Free Skool Spring Quarter teacher registration deadline is coming up February 10th.

On January 12th, two University of California police officers used pepper spray to disperse about 15 people gathered below an occupied redwood tree on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz. One of the officers proclaimed that the group was trespassing and then both officers began pepper spraying people in their faces.

a writes, "Last night [January 9th] 2 friends and I were walking from Kresge towards the science buildings when we heard screams...LOUD screams coming from the area of the tree sit. We ran as fast as we could towards them. We saw 2 cop cars, about six officers including 1 bike cop and two security guards. A woman was being dragged toward a squad car. We approached slowly, but were asking the cops to take it easy on her, it sounded like she was being hurt."

December 7th marked the first month of the tree-sit on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz to protest campus expansion. In that month, discussions about UCSC's Long Range Development Plan, biomedicine, the use of police force and the future of the UCSC campus have been sprouting up all over the place. Connections have been made with off-campus community members, many forums have been held and more are planned, and a campus coalition of students, graduate students, and faculty is forming to plan other modes of resistance outside of the tree-sit.

On December 2, dozens of supporters marked the one-year anniversary of the tree sits at the Memorial Grove in Berkeley. Bands played, Circus Pandemonium performed, free food was served and protesters marched.

On November 20th, UC Berkeley completed the construction of a second barbed-wire fence around the Memorial Oak Grove. The fencing was built to enclose approximately ten tree-sitters inside and has cost an estimated $115,000. The University has announced it can fine or arrest anyone acting "in concert" with the tree-sitters.

Darwin BondGraham writes, "Perhaps the clearest statement of UCSC’s horrible transformation is captured by a simple robotic voice, the voice of the Metro bus system’s androgynous speaker who automatically announces each stop as it approaches. When the system was first installed it announced only the major stops around town, “Mission and Bay,” “Metro Center,” “Soquel and Branciforte.” I recall riding it one day a few years back up to campus. The voice announced each stop on the way up Laurel Street. When the bus entered campus it went silent. But then the one announcement came, the one stop worth mentioning, (according to UCSC and the city’s bus operator that is), “Science Hill, U-C-S-C.” I wondered why at the time Science Hill got to be the main stop on campus given its distance from the Quarry Plaza and administrative buildings.

UC Santa Cruz has always called itself the “City On A Hill.” Truly it is, at least for 9 months out of the year. But the phrase is worth unpacking, especially given the campus’s past, present and future. UCSC adopted the moniker early on, back when it was something of an experimental campus in the UC system, one that would focus on undergraduate education and the liberal arts." Read More