Feature Archives

Rico writes, "This year, the third year of the Last Night DIY celebration, did you notice the trend of the city starting to claim the party as it's own? It's awesome to feel accepted of course, but it's a double-edged sword. After the first couple years of getting nothing but grief from the cautious city administrators, conservative local media, and uniformed fascists, this year the Senile and the Good Times claimed that the celebration was "quickly becoming a Santa Cruz tradition," and "was a uniquely Santa Cruz event." Hahaha. That cracks me up."

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra writes, "Invite us to wade through teargas with you, or break through police lines, to create a distraction while you rob a bank to redistribute the wealth in the name of the Cause. Invite us to help tear down the walls of oppression -- understand that it is totally okay if you mean this literally."

The Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban is a local law that defines sleeping at night as “camping” and prescribes a $97 fine for falling asleep outside a house or hotel within City limits. Using one’s vehicle as housing is illegal, even though the city provides no alternatives. Since there’s shelter space in winter for only 160 of the city’s 1500-2000 homeless residents, the law in effect makes it a crime to be homeless at night, unless you stay awake.

In early December, members of the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) in Montana met with Yellowstone National Park administrators and also attended the Interagency Bison Management Plan open house. At both meetings the news from the agencies wasn't good. BFC was told that it will likely be a very bad winter for the buffalo.

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.

RT writes, "Myspace, blogs, and online networks are like a dream for police investigators. Where they used to have to go out and interview people, check records, walk the street, now they merely have to go online. Investigation from the convenience of their offices."

On December 12th, Sharon Delgado read selections from her new book "Shaking the Gates of Hell: Faith led resistance to Corporate Globalization." She is a Reverend of Earth Justice Ministries, a former organizer with the Resource Center for Nonviolence, and a global justice activist. Delgado outlined portions of her book, and some of the ideas and philosophies behind her resistance to corporate globalization.