Teachers and students are starting a community garden on an unused parcel of land on the otherwise barren Radcliff Elementary School campus in downtown Watsonville, CA. Beds have been dug, and the garden is almost ready to be planted, once a sufficient amount of resources have been gathered. While school administrators have been consulted about the garden, it has yet to receive any official financial assistance.

Organizers who have been following the recent tragic eviction of the South Central Farm in Los Angeles see the establishment of this new garden as a continuation of a common effort towards community self-reliance and getting back in touch with the land beneath our feet. In light of this weekend's call for action in solidarity with the South Central Farmers facing eviction (July 7-10), Teachers For Class War! are requesting donations of tools, soil, seeds, and other supplies to assist in the creation of a valuable community resource. There may also be a work-party organized on Monday, July 12th. Read the list of needed supplies

see also: Bulldozers Enter South Central Farm

On July 5th, the new Santa Cruz Police Department policy on spying went into effect. Under the new rules, even if you are engaged in constitutionally protected first amendment activities, Santa Cruz police will still be able to videotape you inside or outside of your home, audio record you, listen to your phone calls, look at the mail you are receiving, read your email, make notes about your organization, tail you, monitor your website, subscribe to your email lists, and examine your membership lists.

The city has fallen down on its promise to pass a policy providing protections for our first amendment rights. They resisted. They were dragged kicking and screaming to the issue. They stonewalled. They sidelined the ACLU. They lied. Then they told us they'd done their job and that everything was okay.

Working within the system is not working.

Nothing less than our First Amendment rights to free expression and right to privacy are at risk here. We will never accept police spying on our political and community groups and activities. Read more

A parade and protest of the new policy took place on July 5th starting with a press conference at the Santa Cruz police station. Read more and view photos

see also: Reportback of Santa Cruz Police Spying Policy Process || Original Draft Proposal (pdf) || Spying Scandal Speak Out || June 27th Letter by Mark Schlosberg of the Northern California ACLU to City Manager Dick Wilson and the City Council (pdf)

previous coverage of Santa Cruz police spying: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

On July 3rd, fiesta mysteriosa hosted Santa Cruz's 2nd Annual Old Time American Flag Burn at Seabright Beach. The celebration was a B.Y.O.F. event. Before the burning and melting of more than a dozen American flags, people gathered around the fire pit to share their personal feelings and beliefs about burning American flags. It is legal to burn American flags, however the burning of US currency is illegal. Dollar bills, powerful symbols of global capitalism, were also burned, despite the illegality of the act. Read more and view photos

more expressions of freedom for July 4th: PoP dEFECT RADIO: Fourth of July Special Tribute to Amerikkka || 4th of July Freeway Signs

Josh Sonnenfeld writes: As I read through the articles, stories and remembrances of former UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice D. Denton, I feel like I’m meeting her for the first time. I’m meeting the former University of Wisconsin professor who left an enduring mark on her students. I’m meeting the role model and mentor of women in science and engineering. I’m meeting the first female dean of the University of Washington’s College of Engineering. I’m meeting the first openly queer woman to lead a major research university. I’m meeting the person who publicly challenged Harvard’s sexist President. I’m meeting the woman whose death leaves a “gaping hole in the small and tightly knit community of America's elite female scientists and engineers.” I’m meeting the woman I, and most in the Santa Cruz community, never got the chance to know. Read more

see also: Denton's Death: People's Thoughts About the Suicide of Denice Denton || Mercury News Continues Misrepresentation of June UCSC Protest

Over the weekend of June 24th and 25th, about a dozen Santa Cruz activists busied themselves at the Live Oak Grange sorting medical supplies, soaps, books, pens, and automotive parts among other items, as part of the Pastors for Peace 2006 Cuba Friend-Shipment Caravan. This is the 17th year in which our fellow community members have challenged the travel ban to Cuba and the inhumane embargo on Cuba by the US government. Volunteers did a quality inspection of donated supplies before loading them onto the donated ambulance, former Police SWAT wagon, and Peace Mobile. Other people put their handprints onto the vehicles to demonstrate peace, friendship and solidarity from across the sea. Read more and view photos

see also: Links for Cuba Caravan || Media Alert with 4th of July Parade Update

Audio: Santa Cruz Activists Gear Up for Caravan to Cuba

Video in Fresno: U.S. gov. does not want us to see reality of Cuba

Critical Mass is a monthly, community bike ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road. Critical Mass has no leaders, and no central organization, it's an unorganized coincidence. A movement of bicycles in the streets. Show up to the clocktower in downtown Santa Cruz the last Friday of each month at 5pm with your favorite human powered transportation for a celebration of life and bicycles! Bring all of your friends and family for a wonderful ride around Santa Cruz. Critical Mass leaves at 5:30pm. Read more

Audio: Santa Cruz Critical Mass PSA

Photos from 2006 Santa Cruz Critical Mass Bike Rides: February, April and May

For over fifteen years, David Bacon has been a documentary photographer, covering labor movements, immigration, and international politics. His background as a labor organizer with UFW, UEW, ILGW, and other unions, gives Bacon a unique perspective on migration, and the struggle for worker's rights. David Bacon spoke on June 23rd in Watsonville, about his recent book, The Children of NAFTA. Read more, photos and audio

audio (mp3): David Bacon in Watsonville (30 minutes / 28 MB)

see also: Interview with Dr. Ann Lopez NAFTA and Immigration

George Cadman, host of "Peace Talks" on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 fm, interviews Arty Mangan from the Santa Cruz County Genetic Engineering Subcommittee about the recent unanimous vote of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors to accept the Subcommittee recommendation of a Precautionary Moratorium on the planting and production of GE crops in Santa Cruz County (.pdf). Read more

audio (mp3): Interview with Arty Mangan (45 minutes / 21 MB)

At 8:30am Friday morning, demonstrators staged a blockade at a central Santa Cruz intersection (at Laurel St. & Mission St/Hwy 1) as a gesture of solidarity with the hundreds of families who lost their land in Tuesday's forced eviction of the South Central Farm in Los Angeles. Holding signs both large and small, the 30 or so demonstrators blocked traffic at the intersection with A-frames, a stray sofa, and at least four dumpsters rolled in from nearby businesses. Flyers explaining the legacy of the Farm were distributed to the delayed drivers with responses ranging from enthusiastic interest to violent threats. No one was injured, nor were any citations or arrests made during the action.

In the days since the eviction, there have been expressions of support for the farmers of South Central throughout Santa Cruz. People have spoken about the eviction at concerts and informal gatherings, and an interview with activists who were present during the eviction has been in continuous rotation on Free Radio Santa Cruz. Even the marquee at the Food Bin health food store on the corner reads "SOLIDARITY SO. CENTRAL FARM." Read more and view photos

At about the same time that the blockade began, a 20+ foot banner was unfurled over a Hwy 1 overpass reading "REMEMBER SOUTH CENTRAL FARM--FUCK RALPH HOROWITZ--FUCK LAPD--SOUTHCENTRALFARMERS.COM."

On June 7th, UC Santa Cruz students concerned about their missing journalism program asked questions of Bill Ladusaw, UCSC’s Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education. Ladusaw seemed to place blame on UCSC’s faculty for the loss of the journalism program, while dodging questions about the misappropriation of funds at the administrative level, including Chancellor Denice Denton’s extravagant dog-run. Ladusaw encouraged students to seek support from faculty members and the academic senate for the reestablishment of the journalism program, though it was unclear why students should shift their focus off of UCSC’s administration. Read more and view photos

The long lived and long acclaimed Journalism Program at UCSC was cut in 2003 by the decision of one Dean of Humanities. He did not discuss this decision with professors, other faculty, or students.

Four inch figures representing "every person who has died in Iraq since we invaded" are on display in Watsonville as part of the Pajaro Valley Arts Council exhibit, Sculpture IS, which is showing June 2nd through July 30th. Thirty-nine regional artists are showing over seventy pieces of work ranging from installation and performance art to a variety of sculptures that are kinetic, functional, traditional and collaborative. "Counting Lives Lost, Making Tangible an Abstract Measure of Grief" was installed by a volunteer group of artists over Memorial Day weekend. Read more and view photos

Thomas Leavitt writes: "If you agree that we need to end the war NOW and that the Bush administration is a clear and present danger to the health and well being of the average American citizen and to liberty and freedom, then you need to join SDS and help bring the noise. Help start Students for a Democratic Society in Santa Cruz and take the anti-war movement to the next level!

Students for a Democratic Society, one of the most influential anti-war groups of the 1960s, has been re-formed, and is preparing for its first national meeting later this year.

My goal in forming the "Ohlone Chapter" is to have SDS in Santa Cruz act as a catalyst for radical, in your face protest, civil disobedience and direct actions aimed at ending the war NOW and disrupting the ability of the powers that be to further their fascist agenda of eliminating civil liberties, imposing a police surveillance state, and shredding the last strands of the safety net." Read more

ucsc student asks: "What about the current, robust, student antiwar movement that is already here in Santa Cruz county?...Is the new SDS going to repeat the problems of the old SDS...?"

[ Students For A Democratic Society | SDS Blog ]

On June 6th, communities of color at UC Santa Cruz held multiple rallies and confronted Chancellor Denice Denton to demand concrete infrastructural support for diversity at UCSC. While the University has made a rhetorical commitment to diversity, custodians (who are predominately workers of color) continue to receive up to 30% less in wages than their counterparts at Cabrillo and CSUMB; the University has actively denied institutional support and failed to recognize the centrality of student initiated outreach and retention programs to making diversity viable at UCSC; large numbers of valuable senior faculty of color have been (or may be) forced to resign due to hostile working environments. Administrators and university policies have actively upheld all these problems. Read more

photos: UCSC Charged With Disadvantaging Students, Faculty and Workers of Color || Students & Workers charge institutional racism & sexism; Demand affirmative diversity
video clips: Surprising Denton || Denton giving in to watching the students' skit
audio: UCSC Diversity Coalition Rails Administrators

see also: Affirmative Diversity Talking Points

Invitations were distributed to Reclaim The Streets of Santa Cruz on June 3rd with a free street party for everyone. Slowly but surely, musicians, artists, chalkers, dancers, bikers, disc tossers, walkers and other party goers began arriving at Pearl Alley in anticipation of Saturday night's "experiment in spontaneous urban uprising."

Free loaves of challah and a jug-band got the party started in Pearl Alley. At about 8pm, people drifted into slow-moving traffic on Pacific Avenue to "take over the streets and reclaim community space for community use!"

People left Pearl Alley then marched down Pacific Avenue to Laurel where they danced and played in the intersection before continuing up Laurel and then Cedar. Reclaim The Streets continued up Cedar and got word that the Dyke March was on Pacific and heading towards the Town Clock. The street party acted swiftly to join the Dyke March, bringing an interesting twist to both events. Read more and view photos

Audio: Indynewswire Show: SC Reclaim the Streets Coverage

older stories > >

You can find more archives of Santa Cruz Indymedia (SC-IMC) by visiting the following links to SC-IMC's Features, Newswire, and Other Press.

You can also use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to view screenshots of the santacruz.indymedia.org homepage from 2001 - 2005.

Read about Santa Cruz IMC's Regional Integration with Indybay.org || Lee sobre Santa Cruz CMI que se esta Integrando con Indybay.org