Anarchist March and Contingent on March 19th A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition Demonstration on 2nd Anniversary of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.

On Tuesday, March 8th, legal proceedings started in the trial of Roger Mentsch, local medical marijuana provider and in-home caregiver. After waiting nearly two years to stand trial, Mentsch is facing several charges that could possibly result in over ten years in prison. Local medical marijuana patients and humanitarian activists are rallying around Mentsch, claiming the charges are the result of a witchunt by the District Attorney looking to make an example out of Mentch despite his status as a certified medical marijuana provider.

On June 6th 2003 the home of Roger Mentch was raided by the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs drug task force. A warrant was issued because the money smelled funny, Monterey Bank stated. At 7:30am guns were drawn on Mr. Mentch as well as his girlfriend and 8 year old daughter.

Audio: Listen to a streaming FRSC interview with Roger or Download the mp3

A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home. 2 files- broadcast and slow-modem streaming. Free to rebroadcast. Netherlands, China, Cuba, and Russia.

DON'T DELAY! REGISTER TODAY! - AL-AWDA's THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION





For Immediate Release
10 March 2005

Don't Delay! Register Today!

AL-AWDA's THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

The program for Al-Awda's Third Annual International Convention to be held
at The University of California in Los Angeles, April 15-17, 2005 is shaping
up to be an amazing three-day event from speakers and workshops, youth
activities, spoken word performances, to music and dabke.

Fliers advertising tonight's lecture by Itamar Marcus, have been pulled down or vandalized, according to UCSC lecturer, Tammi Benjamin. Some campus groups, such as the Committee for Justice in Palestine have, in the past, urged their members to boycott past speakers which urged peaceful solutions to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Their fliers were, in some cases, stapled on top of notices about a moderate Islamic speaker. Tonight's (Thursday March 10th) speaker is the director of Palestinian Media Watch. PMW was established in 1996 to gain an understanding of Palestinian society through the monitoring of the Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks. PMW analyzes Palestinian Authority [PA] culture and society from numerous perspectives, including studies on summer camps, poetry, schoolbooks, religious ideology, crossword puzzles, and many more. PMW has been playing the critical role of documenting the contradictions between the image the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages to their own people in Arabic. The world’s view of the Palestinian Authority, to a significant degree, is the result of PMW research.

Tuesday, March 15
7:00pm
Quaker Meeting House
225 Rooney St, Santa Cruz

GENERAL PROGRAM MEETING. Dalit Baum, Ph.D., Israeli feminist, activist, and educator will speak. Dalit has taught in a community school for disempowered women, worked as an organizer in the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace and in Women in Black, and is a co-founder of "Black Laundry," a gay anti-occupation group which strives to make visible the connections between different oppressions within Israel and the occupation.

Conservative lawmakers are trying to pass more laws to mandate pregnancy —even in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal deformities and health threats to women caused by pregnancy.

George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 fm interviews Maia Ramnath about her recent travels to the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Maia is a UCSC grad student and activist in the global justice and antiwar movements. She has travelled to the West Bank twice, first in the spring of 2002 during the major Israeli army invasions of Palestinians towns and most recently in Dec 04 and Jan 05. (1:02:39 / 57.3 MB)

Audio: Listen to the Stream or Download the mp3

The ISM was founded in late 2000 by Palestinian and Israeli peace activists, who came together with the intent to end Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, which they say is the main obstacle to peace. Civilians from all over the world travel to the Occupied Territories to provide protective accompaniment for Palestinian civilians, as well as to engage in acts of nonviolent direct action.

Resources: Electronic Intifada | ISM | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights | Palestine Monitor | Palestine Diaries | B'Tselem | The Alternative Information Center

Friday, March 11
8:00 pm
Rio Theatre