Feature Archives

Students, faculty, and workers gathered at UC Santa Cruz on March 4th to protest the privatization of public education in California. They used their bodies to block the streets at the intersections of High & Western, Hagar & Coolidge, and the west entrance of campus. UCSC was shutdown throughout the day, with traffic prevented from going up to campus. As of 7am, hundreds of students, faculty and workers had gathered at all entrances to campus.

As part of the March 4th day of action for public education, hundreds of students and supporters rallied at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. On February 11th, around 40 students, faculty and staff met to discuss how Cabrillo would get involved in the movement to defend public education. There was overwhelming support for the March 4th protest against the budget cuts in the California public education sector.

On March 4th, the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, along with Viernes Cultural, parents, students, and community partners, held a rally in the Watsonville plaza and a symposium to support public education and bring the community together to call for "No more cuts to education!"

March 4th at CSU Monterey Bay started out with a banner drop at the library. Around noon, students, staff and faculty participated in a walkout and marched from either end of campus to a rally in front of the Student Center. Students, staff, and faculty members spoke about cuts to public education and related issues, from spending money on wars and prisons, to the systemic injustice that prevents so many people from attaining higher education.

A protest was held on February 24th at UC Santa Cruz in response to racially themed parties held at UCs San Diego and Santa Barbara, and in response to the state of diversity at UCSC.

The Diversity Center in Old Branciforte proudly hosted the art of Julia Elizabeth Lonergan, a local artist-activist-writer, called "Mexico-California in Pictures". The show has 12 Sufi, Saints, Native American Indians, and a Welch princess all protecting Capitola's Magnolia Rose Hotel. The show, which ran through March, features Lonergan & A. Guerioli's new book, The Haunting of Mission Santa Cruz, Mexico, 1708 to 1876, which deals with the California "land grabs" by a group of Radical Puritans and the real history of Santa Cruz and Branciforte when it was Mexico.

The Resource Center for Nonviolence, la Liga de la Comunidad, the ACLU of Santa Cruz, and other local organizations will host a special screening of the new documentary film, "The 800 Mile Wall," on Friday, February 26, at 7pm at the First Congregational Church in Santa Cruz; at 7pm on Saturday at the Lutheran Community Church in Watsonville; and, at 2pm on Sunday at the Peace Resource Center in Seaside. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the film’s director, John Carlos Frey and the film’s producer, Jack Lorenz.

"The 800 Mile Wall" highlights the construction of the new border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and the lethal effects on migrants trying to cross into the United States. Migrant deaths have soared since enforcement and security measures were implemented by the U.S. beginning with Operation Gatekeeper in 1994.