Feature Archives

UC Santa Cruz students and workers held a protest against various UC policies and practices when the Regents visited the campus on October 18th, 2006. Their two central demands were the democratization of the UC system and that UCSC fix a series of core problems before considering expansion. After a standoff lasting hours, police targeted three activists, using their batons and pepper-spray against the crowd as they dragged the three into the building. Eventually, a deal was struck and the 3 students were charged and released, only after the Regents exited the building. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

danielsan has published an audio interview, in spanish, with two Oaxacan teachers recorded on October 14th, 2006, at La Ley Barricade which protects an occupied radio station in Oaxaca City. An english language transcript of the interview has been provided thanks to Emilyn, Ariel, & Daniel(san).

Audio (en español): Baje el mp3 (36:34 minutos / 16.7 MB)

During the interview, one of the teachers explains that, "The most valiant victory of this movement is what we're learning from it, those who are participating, and those who are watching too. Oaxaca will never be the same again, after all of this. Because the people know what it is, a popular struggle. They know what it costs--the blood spilled. They know the need of organizing themselves. People see the need to organize just to feed the barricades! To sustain them!" Read the full transcript

see also: Declaration of Solidarity with the People of Oaxaca

On October 12th, 2006, Al Rojas of Sacramento and Fernando Mendoza from the Peoples Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) spoke to a packed house at the Watsonville Brown Beret office about the situation in Oaxaca. Al introduces Fernando and speaks a little of his role as a stateside organizer. Fernando tells us the history and present situation in Oaxaca, Mexico. Audio (en español) and Photos

see also: "a revolution with an absolute minimum of violence" || Sprouts: Protests in Oaxaca and California

Oaxaca solidarity: El Enemigo Común (film and news) || email 'announcement' list || events and actions

Tim Rumford writes, "On September 26th, Shane Maxfield sat close to LuLu Carpenters, legally, ten feet away from the property with a sign. This day he needed propane for warmth. Shane was there for about an hour when Manthri Srinath, owner of LuLu Carpenters, came out and ordered him off the mall. He then got right in Shane’s face and began a rant of threats and abusive language."

danielsan reports from Oaxaca City, Mexico—where two protesters were shot on Oct. 13th, one fatally: "These days there is a lot of speculation and rumor, waiting for the outcome of the negotiations happening far away in Mexico City. There are propositions, leaked deals, and infinite possibilities, with some impatience, too. But nothing is concrete yet. Each side has a central demand, but at this point it isn´t clear whether a deal can be made: APPO and the people of Oaxaca have made perfectly clear that Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz cannot remain in power, since he has not been in power for several months now. Any step forward depends on his resignation, voluntary or otherwise."
Interview with an APPO supporter shot on Oct. 13th

Last month's outbreak of E. Coli in fresh spinach which killed three people and sickened 199 others in the US, has many consumers on edge about food born pathogens. It was the ninth deadly E. Coli outbreak from leafy greens that originated in California's Salinas Valley over the last decade. Another E.Coli scare occurred this week when Salinas-based Nunes Co. recalled some 8,500 cartons of its Foxy-brand 'Green Leaf Lettuce' from seven states.

Congress has repeatedly failed to bump up the minimum wage and, since 1997, it has remained at $5.15 an hour. Since then, 19 states and three cities have raised base pay rates higher than the federal minimum, while scores more of other cities have enacted living wage laws for government contractors. This November, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio will decide whether or not to raise their own hourly base pay. In Santa Cruz, CA, the year's hottest election issue is Measure G, a city-wide proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9.25 an hour.