Feature Archives

The Project is an open collective of UCSC students working together to produce a monthly(ish) newspaper with a focus on radical politics and activism. The Project Media Collective believe independent media is crucial for organizing and documenting direct action for social transformation.

On February 20th, the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers (PVFT) Negotiating Team met with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD). Later that day, teachers and students rallied at the plaza in Watsonville in support of a fair and honest contract and to educate parents and the community about potential cuts to classroom services.

Federal authorities have arrested four animal rights activists accused of protesting animal abuse at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, a FBI press release reported on Friday, February 20th. The activists are accused of "chalk[ing] defamatory comments on the public sidewalks", protesting while "wearing bandanas to hide their faces", and distributing leaflets with the contact information for vivisectors on them. All four will be charged at least in part under the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.

In lieu of recent high profile cases of police brutality and murder, some in the community remember that these atrocities are an ongoing epidemic in the Chicano and Black communities. On February 17, 2004, Rudy Cardenas, a father of five children, was shot and killed by state narcotics agent Michael Walker in San Jose. Jesse Villarreal, a nephew of Rudy Cardenas, was interviewed on February 14th about his uncle’s murder, the organizing efforts to bring attention to the issue, the results of the case, and how this incident is similar to the case involving the murder of Oscar Grant.

sticks and stones writes: Sticks and Stones seeks to provide a mouthpiece as well as a forum for the Santa Cruz radical community—a means of communicating among ourselves, and with the general public as well, on topics of personal and social concern. We are interested in publishing essays, articles, rants, and visions of all kinds which come from this community and this region.

After a year and a half of bargaining, custodians, gardeners, food service workers and drivers organized through the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 voted to accept a historic agreement with the University of California (UC). This new agreement includes wages increases over five years of 4%, 3%, 3%, 3%, and 3%. UC service workers will have a state wide minimum wage that reaches $14.00/hour by the end of the contract.

Environmental leaders from throughout the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas have asked Federal District Judge Saundra Armstrong to deny the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s motion to block disclosure of the chemicals used in the CheckMate pesticides sprayed on Monterey and Santa Cruz residents as part of the government’s Apple Moth Eradication Program. EPA has requested Judge Armstrong to prevent disclosure of the chemicals in the spray, claiming the manufacturer’s proprietary interest outweighs the public’s right to know.