On Wednesday, April 9, students from Santa Cruz High, Cabrillo College, and UC Santa Cruz participated in the National Day of Silence, a day of protest through the means of transforming silence as a tool of oppression into a tool of resistance. Participating students remained silent all day to demonstrate the effects of marginalized people's lack of representation and recognition in mainstream society. A silent march began at 4:30pm from the Diversity Center and ended at the Veterans' Memorial breaking the day-long silence with a rally.

In related news, students at UCSC have been holding a 24-hour peace camp and vigil on the Porter College lawn since Monday, April 7. Students have created an anti-war space for student activists to gather and discuss the strategic future of student activism at UCSC. The purpose of the peace camp is to protest the devastation of Iraqi civilian livelihood through the wars on Iraq and twelve years of economic sanctions.

[ Students Rally Downtown for Day of Silence I UCSC Students Camping for Peace ]

On Wednesday, April 9, two leaders of SEIU Local 250 were arrested by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department without cause. The arrests occurred as a peaceful and legal union rally was winding down. Participants in the rally were workers at Dominican Hospital who are members of SEIU Local 250 and their supporters. The union is struggling for a decent contract.

Arrested were Chief Negotiator Greg Nomacher and Administrative Vice President John Borsos. The arrests occurred without legal cause. The two were obviously targeted for their leadership roles in the union. Deputies waded into the crowd and selected them for arrest, saying nothing to anyone, simply taking the two away in handcuffs.

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On Friday, April 11, at 12:00 noon, a civilian inspection team will conduct a press conference at the Santa Cruz County Court Building, and then proceed to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Investigators will request access to Lockheed's facilities to investigate its prominent role in the research and development of weapons of mass destruction.

The civilian inspection team will request full disclosure of the weapons development and testing taking place at that site. Lockheed Martin is the primary producer of weapons for the U.S. military.

Join the Santa Cruz County Weapons Inspection Team and help make this event a media success. Come dressed as an inspector or come dressed as yourself.

[ Article for Friday's Inspection I Interview With Dr. Helen Caldicott I Rooting Out Evil ]

The Military is coming to UCSC this Tuesday, April 8, to recruit at the "Last Chance Job Fair" at Stevenson Dining Hall from 10:30am to 2:30pm. Organizers invite everyone from the community to attend the protest for as long as they can. The Resource Center for Non-Violence will also be there to pass out literature to potential recruits.

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The first in a series of events around Feminisms and Global War will begin with the return of Tahmeena Faryal to Santa Cruz. She will provide current information on the plight of Afghan women since 9/11. With her will be Anne Brodsky, RAWA activist and author of a new publication about the plight of Afghan women and the role of RAWA in improving their situation.

This free event will take place on Friday, April 4, at 7PM at the Rio Theatre.

[ Article for Friday's Event I RAWA ]

13 anti-war activists visited Congressman Sam Farr's office on Monday. There is still no word whether Farr will vote for or against the upcoming $75 billion appropriation to fund the war in Iraq. Activists decided to plan an action at Farr's office at 9AM on April 9th (the day after the vote) to either protest or commend Farr depending on which way he votes.

In October, Farr voted for the biggest military appropriation in history on the same day that he voted against the use of force in Iraq. He "explained" this - through his aides - by saying that there was nothing specifically in the military bill for the Iraqi war.

Call Sam Farr's Santa Cruz office at 831-429-1976 and demand:

1) Sam Farr support the troops by bringing them home immediately
2) Sam Farr vote against the upcoming $75 billion military appropriation
3) The result of the phone calls be tabulated.

Add your name to a list of constituents that call upon Sam Farr to take substantial action to end the war on Iraq

Updates:

On April 1, Farr voted to send $63.4 billion for military funding to the House floor.

On April 3, the Senate debated the Iraqi war appropriation.

[ Call to Action for March 31 I March 31 at Farr's Office I Visit Farr's Office on April 9 ]

More than a thousand farm workers and supporters marched down the streets of east Salinas Sunday with United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez to celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez and to highlight the need to improve working conditions for farm workers
The march brought together more than a thousand people calling for better wages for farm workers and drivers licenses for immigrants, while highlighting the value of nonviolence in light of the war on Iraq.

Chavez's first major foray into the Salinas Valley began in 1970, when he led a strike by 10,000 Central Coast lettuce and vegetable workers protesting "sweetheart" pacts between growers and the Teamsters Union.

[ Article and Photos I Cesar Chavez Stamp Dedication on May 2 ]

On Saturday, March 29, a Family Outing with a Cause was organized to demonstrate our continued opposition to war in Iraq. To the surprise of shoppers on Pacific Ave., hundreds of parents, grandparents, adults, children, and teens filled the sidewalk and spilled into the street. People assembled at the town clock at 1:00pm and then marched down Pacific Ave.

Marchers went up Beach Hill before having a rally organized by the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition and Barrios Unidos at Raymond Street Park in the Beach Flats. After the family picnic and speakers in the park, people again took to the streets for peace. Demonstrators walked along the beach and past the boardwalk eventually ending up at the lighthouse.

Saturday's march and rally was strongly supported by the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Barrios Unidos, and people like you.

[ Article I Photos and Article ]

A new generation of social justice activists, known locally as the Youth Action Coalition, organized a Peace Rally and March on Friday starting at the town clock. The march and rally included youth from local high schools, youth that have been squating at the town clock, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, and others. Many people joined the march as it swept from the town clock down Pacific to Laurel and then back to the town clock. Today's actions organized by the Youth Action Coalition are part of a rapidly growing social justice movement with strong roots in middle schools, high schools, community colleges, and universities throughout the world.

[ Photos I National Youth and Student Peace Coalition ]

* * * * Reports from Vandenberg! * * * *

LOMPOC, CA - As the increasingly bloody "shock and awe" assault on Iraq continues, with U.S. bombs raining down on civilian casualties from Central Baghdad to remote rural villages, acts of non-violent civil disobedience have been carried out by small groups of concerned people from throughout California. In coastal Santa Barbara county, action has been taken to non-violently breach the security and disrupt business as usual at a sprawling California Air Force Base. A critical electronic command post of the Iraq war, Vandenberg Air Force Base occupies sacred coastal land of the Indigenous Chumash people.

The highly classified strategic mission of the base means that the breaching of security perimeters by unauthorized people, specifically the unarmed nonviolent members of the Vandenberg Action Coalition, triggers disruptive alerts, partial lockdowns, and security responses that interfere with the smooth and full functioning of the strategic targeting/command facility.

Renewing their pledge to nonviolence the Vandenberg Action Coalition promises more to come. Organizers explain that they are willing to take legal and physical risk to "get in the way of the war machine that backed Saddam Hussein for years, imposes human rights atrocities through client regimes throughout the world, devastating the Iraqi people with infrastructure bombing and brutal sanctions in the 90’s, and is now raining fire and jagged steel on cities and villages."

As Iraqi, Palestinians, Columbians, and indigenous people around the world struggle against the space-age military technology of the U.S. war machine, activists here at home have placed their security at risk in a brave display of opposition to our government and solidarity with the victims of U.S. bombing.

[ Full Press Release I Reports from Vandenberg ]