Feature Archives
Tue Sep 9 2008 (Updated 09/12/08)
Raging Grannies and Trash Orchestra Defend Drummers from SCPD
On September 3rd, police preempted the weekly gathering in Parking Lot #4 alongside the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market by occupying the space under the trees usually used by the drum circle and Food Not Bombs. Invitations were posted to Santa Cruz Indymedia calling for people to participate on September 10th at around 3:00pm in solidarity with drummers, other musicians and friends playing music together.
Tue Sep 9 2008 (Updated 11/05/08)
Demonstrators Do It with Humor at Republican National Convention
During protests at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, performance artists from the San Francisco Bay Area rolled around in "Oily Dollars" symbolizing the dirty connection between Big Oil and elected officials. Not all convention attendees were amused. Ed Matthews, Republican candidate for Minnesota's 4th Congressional district, took after Jeff Grubler of the performance group Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane and grabbed Grubler's McCain mask. When Grubler tugged on Matthews' credentials, he was thrown to the ground by a uniformed officer who cuffed him while keeping his knee on the back of his neck. Grubler was then arrested and released after being detained for close to an hour.
Fri Sep 5 2008 (Updated 09/11/08)
Power to the Peaceful Festival in San Francisco
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadows for the 10th Annual Power to the Peaceful Festival on Saturday, September 6th. The Festival, which was founded in 1998 by musician and activist Michael Franti in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, is dedicated to educating attendees on issues of social justice, non violence, coexistence and environmental sustainability. The day's events included yoga at 9am, speakers and performers beginning at 11am, social and environmental justice info tables, a food drive, and more.
Fri Sep 5 2008
Raising Ourselves-Erasing Hate: An Invitation to Change
In conjunction with its October production of "The Laramie Project", Pisces Moon Productions is collaborating with the Matthew Shepard Foundation to present “Raising Ourselves/Erasing Hate: An Invitation to Change,” providing for a dialog about the power that one individual has to change their world and adopt the values of respect and dignity for others. This free performance will feature spoken word artists, musicians, actors, speakers and victims of hate crimes. It will take place from 7 - 9 PM at Louden Nelson Center, 301 Center Street in Santa Cruz, on September 6th.
Fri Aug 8 2008
Bicyclists Decorate Failed Businesses With Seeds, Art
"We don't need another parking lot" read one of over 30 stenciled cardboard signs erected on the evening of August 1st across the fences of various failed businesses in Santa Cruz by a group of bicyclists as part of a "Going Out of Business & Green Futures" community ride. Part protest against car culture, part living art project, and part prank, the bicyclists visited the sites of former gas stations, drive thrus, auto-dealerships, and more, planting wild flower seeds, and other decorations depicting a deteriorating economy and hopes for a greener, wilder future.
Bike radicals will gather on Friday, August 1st at 5:30pm at Pacific and Cooper and then start riding at 6:00pm through the streets of Santa Cruz, touring the damage done to local businesses as the American economy starts to skid and crash. Particular attention will be paid to the auto-dependent businesses that have failed in the wake of a 5 year old war in Iraq and record oil-company profits. The ride will conclude in downtown Santa Cruz at the Guerilla Drive-In's annual Subversive Shorts Festival.
Tue Jul 29 2008 (Updated 07/31/08)
A Monument for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Vandalized
On July 19th, a monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was spray painted with the words “Viva Durruti Y Orwell.” The graffiti was in reference to Buenaventura Durruti and George Orwell, who opposed the Republican army that the Lincoln brigade was part of. In a statement posted on Indybay, the Worker Memorial Project wrote that the artwork was vandalized because “[t]he revolutionary movement in Spain was defeated by the Stalinist Soviet Union and its global puppets and public relations hacks.” Some supporters and opponents of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade have condemned the attack on a public artwork and called for different tactics to express political differences.
Arts + Action:
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