The people who operate the RCNV have provided an extremely valuable resource for the City of Santa Cruz for years. Because their ideas don't mesh with those of the primitivist, cliquey, and often elitist group of individuals that have begun to call themselves the Infoshop Collective, does not mean they are bad people. To send out press releases denouncing the organization and questioning its tolerances is unacceptable.

What I and many others have seen from the folks of the Infoshop collective is extreme scrutiny of society without wanting to actually work to help the lives of others who are being oppressed. many are products of upper middle class liberal upbringings, have never experienced the direct results of societal problems about which they often rant, and are contributing little to the betterment of society.

The RCNV on the other hand, which has operated in Santa Cruz for years and years is working to effect change by standing by its principals of nonviolence, tolerance, and peace. The RCNV is continually educating the public about the poverty draft, helping people who have fallen to the US military's manipulative practices, providing a valuable community meeting place, bringing activists and organiztions together.

The RCNV should NEVER have been badmouthed to the media for this decision. It's spiteful and unproductive.
As it stands, groups like the RCNV already get a bad rap from newspapers and TV. Why fuel the fire? Aren't we all in this together?

Some people just have a problem with authority, with structure, with "reformism" if you want to call it that.

The owners and operators of the RCNV should not be obliged to uphold "some sort of open meeting policy, whereby members of the public can watch these decisions being made". The decisions are their's, and are most certaninly valid.