Feature Archives

The Movement for Immigrant Rights Alliance (M.I.R.A.) called for a rally at UCSC and march to Santa Cruz on May 1st, May Day, to demand the DREAM Act be passed in the U.S., a stop to ICE raids, the construction of a day laborer center in Santa Cruz, a fair contract for AFSCME workers and an end to the militarization of borders. Hundreds of families, students and workers participated in May Day activities in Watsonville which included free legal consultations, a rally in the plaza with speakers, musicians, face painting and a brinkolin (jump house) for kids.

Jason Paschal, an African-American tarot card reader, has successfully ended a 9-month battle to beat charges against him--after he called the Santa Cruz police last summer to complain that a patron of O'Neill's Sports Shop on Pacific Avenue called him a "nigger" and spat on him.

The All-Alumni Reunion Luncheon held in the College 9/10 multipurpose room at UC Santa Cruz on April 26th was interrupted when students marched in demanding fair contracts for UCSC's underpaid service workers. The luncheon was part of the annual UCSC Reunion Weekend where alumni were invited back to campus to "learn how innovation is going global, sip wine, tour new facilities on campus, explore the "unnatural" history of UCSC, and more..." The brief interruption was widely supported by alumni who clapped, smiled, listened, and took souvenir photos as students passed out flyers, chanted and spoke on stage to inform alumni about the contract campaign for UC service workers.

Organizers in cities and towns around the U.S. are hoping to bring back the historical significance of May 1st in international labor and workers' struggles, and to reignite the labor movement by integrating recent undocumented workers' struggle for amnesty. Marches, rallies, and other gatherings on that date will focus on issues such as federal agencies and ending harassment by local police, raids, and the separation of families in immigrant communities; stopping the use of "no-match" letters to intimidate worker organizing efforts; holding elected officials accountable to supporting immigrant rights; funding human needs and services instead of militarism and war; and amnesty for those who do not have current documents.

On April 22nd, Students Against War organized a counter-recruitment action against the presence of military recruiters at UCSC's "Last Chance Job & Internship Fair." Outside the career fair, students demonstrated with banners, flyers, zines, photos from Iraq, theatre of tortured detainees, juggling and more. Meanwhile on the inside, student protestors were dancing, questioning military and FBI recruiters, chanting and otherwise disrupting the recruiting efforts of the FBI, Army, Marines and Police.

The 7th Annual Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival features events running from April 25 through May 11 in Santa Cruz, Monterey, Watsonville, and Santa Clara County. This year’s Reel Work is celebrating International Workers’ Day (May 1) with music, films, dramatic performances, slam poetry, and conversations with documentary film makers, immigrant activists and union organizers about the past, present, and future of the labor movement. Reel Work is using the 7th annual festival to encourage Central Coast residents to learn about the origins of May Day and to participate in the immigrant rights movement.

Thousands of students from around the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas participated in a "Four Twenty" celebration in Porter Meadow at UC Santa Cruz on April 20th, 2008. Four Twenty (420) is a time of day when people, often a group of friends, smoke cannabis together or eat foods cooked with it. For that reason, April 20th has evolved into a counterculture holiday where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis.