With one email, poet Sam Hamill has revitalized the anti-war movement in American poetry circles. But thanks belong to First Lady, Laura Bush. She invited Hamill to a February 12 White House symposium called - Poetry: The American Voice. Hamill's reply was an email to his friends. He urged them to send him poems of protest against the Bush Administrations's Iraq war policy. On February 10, Hamill appeared at Cabrillo College, in Aptos, CA.

[ Audio | Day of Poetry Against War | Poetry Santa Cruz ]

There will be exciting discussions centered around movement building and strategy, as well as time set aside for skills sharing. The focus of this year's conference will be "Safety and Effectiveness." Instructors will be on site to review training techniques and nonviolence tactics. The intention is that we will be more effective if we are fluent in how to carry out safe actions.

[ Invitation | Santa Cruz Earth First! | Earth First!ers Unite! ]

A new Santa Cruz Programming Collective is an organized group of people that are committed to booking events and laying the groundwork for a whole new era in the Santa Cruz independent music & activism scene. We can promote education, awareness and political action through our events, and shake up widespread apathy and passivity. The collective will make booking successful shows more fun and easier when we work together, and make this activity accessible to anyone - encouraging people to do it themselves! We feel a resource like this is just what Santa Cruz needs. For now, meetings will be Thursdays, 7:00pm at the Wired Wash Cafe.

Programming Collective Overview

Santa Cruz Peace Coalition has organized a Central Coast March and Rally for Peace on Saturday, February 15, from 11:00am until 5:00pm. Converge at the County Building at 11:00am. At noon there will be a march followed by a rally at Mission Plaza Park. February 15 is an International Day of Action involving millions of people from all around the globe, and folks from all over the Monterey Bay region will have the opportunity to stand up and speak out for peace, and show collective resistance to the Bush Administration's drive toward mass destruction in Iraq.

[ SCPC Press Release | Peace Friday and More!! | Letter to SCPC ]

The CPRB was always a weak fig leaf, but in the last year it had begun investigations, which might have generated public support for a stronger model. With no CPRB, it’s even more important to watch and report incidents of police misconduct publicly, if they happen to you directly, if you see them (such as illegal checkpoints), or if you hear about them. Please document Santa Cruz Police Department behavior and publish words, photography, audio, and video on SC-IMC.

[ CPRB Dismantled I Stand Up Tuesday I 2nd Reading on CPRB I CPRB Records To Be Destroyed I Q & A From Local Activist ]

[ Letter to the Sentinel | Letter to Vice-Mayor | CPRB in Exile ]

A refreshingly unfettered look at the Israeli-Palestinian situation in the occupied territory, James Longley's documentary is a unique experience, a film which gives a voice to a population largely ignored by the mainstream media.

[ Full Story | Gaza Strip Documentary ]

In the first of seven recent cases downtown, activists go on trial for chalking anti-war slogans on the sidewalk in erasable chalk. Shelsea Hodge faces $162 fine if found guilty in a court trial in Dept. 1 or 2 Wednesday April 23 at 10 AM.

On January 29 approximately 300 people attended a peace vigil and anti-war demonstration at the Santa Cruz clock tower in response to George Bush's MisState of the Union. The demonstration was in solidarity with United For Peace who have put out a call to action.

[ Photos from Clock Tower I Audio I United For Peace ]

January 28, 7:00 pm at 515 Broadway. "September 11 - Coverup or Complicity" calls attention to the blind acceptance by the mainstream media of the official version of events. It suggests that we are on the lip of the gravest crisis of democracy since World War II.

Full Story

Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., a longtime crusader for civil rights and nonviolent solutions throughout the world, was the keynote speaker at UCSC's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation on January 21 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.

[ James Lawson Jr. Photo and Quotes I MLK Jr. Convocation I Workshops on the Draft ]