I came to Santa Cruz for the trees, the ocean, and the Language program.

A friend of mine told me that when he got here four years ago everything looked different. He told me that there used to be trees where the “Porter Apartments� now are. The Language program, once strong, has been cut significantly in the last two years, with a rumor that a quarter more is to be cut over the next year. The forty students waiting at the door of each of the Spanish classrooms at the beginning of every quarter will be met with fewer teachers and fewer doors of which to wait outside.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Mr. McCampbell,

We are concerned that products sold in the bookstore may be made in sweatshops. As you know, the UC has signed a Code of Conduct committing it to only buy products bearing the logos of any of the UC campuses from companies that

- do not use child labor or forced labor,

- guarantee that workers not have to work more than 60 hours per week, with at least 1 day off.

- guarantee the freedom of their workers to form and join a union without reprisal, and

- guarantee that workers not face any kind of harassment, abuse, or discrimination.

It’s ridiculous that we are even having this debate in the first place. UC Regents, pay your workers fair wages that meet competitive and living standards, period. It sounds simple, but the fact of the matter is that the perverted spending habits of the UC Regents are screwing over their employees. It has reached the extent that workers are threatening to withhold their labor if conditions do not improve and the workers are not treated with respect.

Abortion is universally classified as a women’s issue, but it is also a class issue. No matter what restrictions are placed on abortions, not all women suffer equally. Class has always been the deciding factor in the right to choose an abortion.

The Bethlehem Bloggers website is dedicated to bringing first hand insight into life and politics inside Israeli-occupied Bethlehem. The site is managed by a diverse group of activists and professionals living and working in the area. An introductory statement posted to the website explains:

"We are Palestinians and internationals who are living in the Bethlehem region, and who want to tell the world what it is like to be living in occupied territory, under an economic siege, encircled by a wall and military checkpoints: what it is like to live in a Palestinian Ghetto."

[ Bethlehem Bloggers: Voices from the Bethlehem Ghetto | Bethlehem bloggers online ]

Max Dashu is presenting a slide show documenting how men and male culture has popularized the mutilation of women's bodies for fashion and other forms of domination.
www.suppressedhistories.net
Womens reproduction is also being tamed. Many democrats are anti-choice.

Summary: The Peace Movement needs to transcend Scott Ritter's Manichaen dualism and his view of the terrorist threat through rose colored glasses.

I am asking you to actively reject the proposed 2006 Energy Budget that cuts funding from the research and development of renewable energy. This administration’s policy of emphasis on a non-renewable resource system indicates either a sense of optimism about future innovations or a complete lack of responsibility for future generations. Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we are running out of resources, and we need a sustainable path.

The World Social Forum (WSF) is a space to freedom dream: to talk with others about your particular struggles and to struggle in solidarity with people from across the world. The U.S. has not been well represented in the WSF. We as U.S. residents must be a part of this process to promote dialogue and question that which is taken for granted in our cultural political context. We cannot simply denounce global power structures and institutions. We must believe that another world is possible and actively struggle to make it so.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the death/assassination of journalist/activist Ruben Salazar. Well-known for his work at the Los Angeles Times and the Spanish-language KMEX-TV, Salazar was a passionate advocate of minority issues and an important voice in the Chicano Rights Movement. His powerful columns on police abuse of Latinos made him a controversial figure and a target of investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI. In August 1970, Salazar was killed while reporting on the Chicano Anti-War Moratorium march in Los Angeles. The police raided the peaceful gathering, and Salazar was fatally wounded when a ten-inch tear gas canister hit him directly in the head. The coroner’s report ruled that his death was a homicide, but no further investigation was initiated and no charges were ever brought against the LAPD officer who fired the projectile.