A newly-formed coalition in Santa Cruz is turning its attention to Lockheed Martin, which has a 4000 acre facility in Bonny Doon. Lockheed Martin (L-M) is the world's largest weapons contractor. It invents and develops high-tech war-fighting weapons, markets them to the Pentagon and to Congress, and sells them around the world on the open market. It pollutes the earth, both in the production of weapons and in their use in war. It has been convicted and fined for criminal violations of US law. And yet it has much more say about our government's policies than do ordinary citizens. Lockheed Martin buys access to our government representatives, largely with money it has made from selling weapons to our government, weapons that are both subsidized and paid for with our tax dollars. Profiteering from War.

Local Weapons Inspectors to visit Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon on Friday, August 6

Santa Cruz Weapons Inspection Team

For More Information on Lockheed Martin:
[ Direct Action To Stop The War I Arms Trade Resource Center I Counter Punch I Open Secrets I Corporate Swine I Corp Watch I War Profiteer Cards ]

What's Wrong With the Media? Want More Media Diversity? More Local Programming? Less Commercialism?

1st EVER PUBLIC HEARING ON LOCAL MEDIA, JULY 21st in MONTEREY:
Only opportunity on the West Coast

The FCC is the government body charged with regulating Radio and TV for the good of the public.

Join Media Alliance and friends from across the state to help make the case for greater media diversity, local content, and local ownership. We need your participation and support to ensure that FCC Chairman Powell and the FCC Commissioners get a full sense of Californians’ concerns about the quality of our local media and that they cannot ignore our proposals for fostering a more just and accountable media system.

Download the english/spanish .pdf flyer

¿Cuál es el problema de la prensa, de la radio, de la televisión? ¿Usted desea más diversidad en los medios? ¿Más programas locales? ¿Menos comercialismo?

1era AUDIENCIA PUBLICA SOBRE LOS MEDIOS LOCALES,
21 de JULIO en MONTEREY:
Unica oportunidad en la Costa Oeste

El FCC es la agencia del gobierno encargada de regular la radio y la televisión a favor del bienestar público.

Ride Shares to FCC Hearing

Previous Coverage: FCC Coming to Monterey on July 21

[ Court Rejects FCC Media Ownership Rules I "Revise or Justify" I A Media Activist Guide to the Federal Communications Commission ]

With the first auction of the Biscuit Sales (the largest logging project in the modern history of the Forest Service) set for Friday July 16th, it is Now or Never for Oregon's Wild Siskiyous! The sales are not subject to legal action due to "emergency status determination." The "emergency" is that the trees might rot and be worth less money if the process is slowed by public participation and legal action. Protests at the first five Biscuit Auctions on Friday are followed by a camp out at one of the auctioned sales. Events from slideshows to action camps are staking up to culminate August 27th - 30th with the Cascadia EF! Summer Rendevous, also in the Biscuit. On July 30th, A "Summer Celebration of Life" brings together musicians, artists, and activists in a benefit for the Tre Arrow Legal Defense Fund; Tre is wanted by US authorities for an alleged arson, and is seeking refugee status in Canada. From July 31st - August 2nd, the Cascadia Forest Defenders and Cascadia Rising EcoDefense will be hosting an Action Camp at the Straw Devil timber sale near Eugene, Oregon. Throughout the next month there will be a hike and camp-out at Medicine Lake, a site sacred to local indigenous groups and threatened by Calpine and Halliburton's development through Bush's energy policy. Mark your calendars now to sing and dance with us as we prepare to defend the Siskiyous and all of Cascadia.

[ Pdx Indymedia Forest Page | O2 Collective (Siskiyou area) | Cascadia RiSiNG! EcoDefense ]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands, gave its advisory opinion on the Apartheid Wall in Palestine on July 9th. In light of the recent opinion from the ICJ, the Israeli government is trying to manipulate the truth and disguise the colonial foundation of its racist apartheid policy. It has depicted a decision by its own High Court to move 30km of the Apartheid Wall as a Palestinian “victory�, but Palestinians see how, on the contrary, this decision validates Israel’s claim that the Wall is solely a security measure and how it states that the Wall can be built on Palestinian land.

The Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign calls on all people to remain critical of the ICJ opinion. Help bring the Palestinian grassroots struggle against the Apartheid Wall to the forefront of global action and amplify the claims of those resisting on the ground:

Tear Down the Apartheid Wall!
Stop the Occupation!
Sanctions and Boycott on Apartheid Israel!

Audio: Jamil Dakwar of Human Rights Watch speaks about the recent decision in the ICJ

[ International Court of Justice (ICJ) I Apartheid Wall I Stop The Wall ]

In 1992 (pre-google days), I spent 3 months in college doing individual study/research on the historical documentation of women street performers. Not only was there nothing on women street performers in library archives, sans a tale or two of women troubadours from long ago, but there was a serious lack of documentation of street performer (or “busker�) history altogether. The lifestyles of street performers are romanticized or shamed, but the fact remains: there is a mystique around street performance since so few know who we are, why we became street performers, and why we keep doing it. Solo women street performers are especially mysterious to the mainstream, as we break gender stereotypes. I have started getting firsthand interviews with all the street performers I have known in my 25+ year career as a busker, so that more documentation will exist for students in the future. This article evolved from interviews with two infamous women street performers that I have shared venues with over the decades.

[ Kirsten Anderberg's Articles ]

Santa Cruz Indymedia is having an open house at our new home at Barrios Unidos! On Saturday, July 10, from 3-6pm come and see what resources are available to you for producing indymedia, find out about upcoming production workshops, watch audio, video, photo and text uploading demos and pick and watch any indynewsreal segment you may have missed on Community TV.

Hands on media making.
Free food.
Free from corporate control.

That’s Saturday, July 10, from 3 to 6pm at Barrios Unidos, 1817 Soquel Avenue

For more information, call 425-8848 xt. 318

See you there!

Audio: PSA for Santa Cruz Indymedia Open House
Flyer: Half Sheet .pdf Flyer

From the Open House:
SJG's first post on Indymedia >> Americas Social Forum
Audio workshop >> Saturday afternoon at Indymedia
Photos >> Santa Cruz Indymedia's Open House at Barrios Unidos

On March 6, 2004 residents of Mendocino county passed a measure banning the cultivation of Genetically Engineered (GE) crops -- also known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) -- within their county. Mendocino county’s Measure H is being used as a model for at least seven other counties in California where local residents are well on their way to passing similar measures. Californians feel that local measures seeking to ban the cultivation of GE crops are critical steps to take in the promotion of economically and ecologically sustainable agriculture.

California farms produce more than 350 varieties of crops and export more than any state in the US. Although California is recognized as a world leader in organic food production and sustainable agriculture, the world’s largest biotechnology companies are attempting to coerce GE crops onto California’s farms. Genetic engineering poses a significant risk to the environment, our food supply and the economic health of farmers.

Alameda, Butte, Humboldt, Marin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Sonoma counties of California are currently campaigning to ban cultivation of GE crops. The people behind these campaigns include farmers, gardeners, health professionals, chefs, business owners, teachers, local government officials, and environmentalists.

For more information, please see the following GE Free Campaign websites:

[ California I Alameda I Butte I Humboldt I Marin I Mendocino I San Luis Obispo I Santa Barbara I Sonoma ]

Update 7/28/04: The Mendocinco Model

Today the recently opened Santa Cruz Anarchist Infoshop at 509 Broadway was served a one month notice of terminating our rental contract with the Resource Center for Nonviolence. This came as much of a surprise to us, because until today we have not received any warning or notice of complaints.

In a scheduled meeting with an infoshop volunteer, Bob Fitch (RCNV property manager), handed over the letter and informed us that he was terminating our rental agreement and that it was not negotiable. He went on to list a series of complaints about our use of the space, claiming there were two pages of them (though he won't provide us with the list). Bob says that our presence in the space, and 'our smell' is interfering with his ability to rent the adjacent offices. He also explained that if his decision was challenged by a sit-down or occupation of the space, money for all the RCNV's legal fees would be charged to the individual who signed our lease.

We are asking people to call/write Bob and the Resource Center for Nonviolence in support of us keeping the space here, though the situation doesn't look at all hopeful.

If we are forced to vacate our space at 509 Broadway, we will do everything we can to start up again in a new location. Anyone who knows of a potential rental situation, or who could share space with us, please get in touch.

see also: Announcing the Santa Cruz Anarchist Infoshop!
Clairifications re: Infoshop & RCNV

Liberty Bound - A US Citizen's journey of discovery into the lies, oppression, and corruption that has invaded her country since 9/11.

With all the recent press about Michael Moore’s new documentary Fahrenheit 911, very few people have yet to hear about a powerful independent film called Liberty Bound. Very few, that is, except for the large crowd that attended the premiere of the film in Paris on June 23rd.

Christine Rose, the documentary filmmaker, was present to answer questions about the film for over an hour after the screening to an inspired audience of young and old. This is Ms. Rose’s first film; and yet she couldn’t have picked a more powerful subject, or for that matter, a more controversial one. Even though there are similarities among the two films, Rose gets very personal with her investigation. She takes us to her home town and allows us to accompany her on her trip across the US to discover the great loss of liberty the American people have suffered since 9/11. She at once shocks us with her observations, and leaves little doubt that we are living in a different world: a world where the freedoms we once took for granted are becoming more tenuous and harder to hold onto day by day.

With the tremendous success of Moore’s film, which grossed over $21M it’s first weekend out, it's becoming obvious that people all over the world are wanting and needing to see and hear the truth, which is every bit as entertaining and shocking as anything Hollywood releases.

I'm getting tired of hearing American Water being advertised on KUSP. This morning within a period of 1 minute I heard the names microsoft and american water. While the Felton residents are engaged in a dispute with the water company, I think it is unconscionable that KUSP advertises their name. Advertising for microsoft speaks for itself.

More on CalAm and KUSP