Feature Archives

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.

On September 27th, four windows, a glass door and an ATM were smashed out at the Wells Fargo on the corner of Soquel Drive and Thurber Lane in the unincorporated area of Santa Cruz. Wells Fargo is one of the largest single stockholders in the GEO Group, a private prison outfit with prisons and detention centers spread across the world. Among many others, the GEO Group runs the ICE (Immigrations & Customs Enforcement) Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. The Geo Group also operates a Migrant Operations Center in Guantanamo Bay, on the grounds of the Naval Base, adjacent to the more infamous "Gitmo".

Community based human rights film-maker Simón Sedillo, whose work has centered on placing skills, cameras and editing equipment in the hands of communities in resistance, is on a speaking tour with three events in the Monterey Bay area. Sedillo has spent the last six years practicing and teaching community based video documentation in indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, in immigrant communities in the US, and with youth of color across the US. In Watsonville on September 25th, Santa Cruz on the 26th, and Monterey on the 27th, Sedillo will share some experiences and perspectives on the local and global implications of the peoples' struggle in Oaxaca.

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."

After 10 months of occupying in 100-foot high redwood trees, tree sitters at UCSC's Science Hill are ready for students to return for school. The tree sitters say that their presence is more important than ever since the Santa Cruz City Council settled their lawsuit with the University. The settlement gives the City Council's blessing for UCSC to begin the first phase of their construction plan that will eventually destroy 120 acres of forest and add at least 4,500 new students to the area.

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.

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.