Camilo Mejia shares his experiences in Iraq at the Vet's Hall.

“By putting my weapons down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being,� said Camilo Mejia, the first US soldier to actively resist the Iraq War. The former US Army staff sergeant went AWOL in October 2003 while home on a two-week leave. It wasn't until March 15, 2004, that Mejia turned himself in to military commanders and filed for discharge as a conscientious objector, becoming the first Iraq War veteran to publicly challenge the morality of the war. In May 2004, he was convicted of desertion, and sentenced to nine months in the brig. Having recently been freed, Mejia is now on a speaking tour of the West Coast, and will visit Santa Cruz on Wednesday, May 4th, 7:00 p.m. at the Veteran's Memorial Building, 846 Front St., next to the post office. Immediate wireless translation from English to Spanish translation will be available. Audio PSA: Download Mp3

Photos: War Resister Camilo Mejia Speaks at SC Vets Hall

Audio: Camilo Mejia, Iraq War Resister, Speaks Out

Meanwhile, in San Diego, CA, Navy sailor Pablo Paredes' request for conscientious objector status has been denied. His court martial is scheduled for May 11, inside the San Diego 32nd St. Naval Station. Various support activities and protests are being planned for May 10-13 in San Diego.

SF Bay Area Events || San Diego Events

Ward Churchill spoke for more than two hours at an event organized by Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MeCHA) de California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB). Outside there were competing displays of support and disgust for Churchill. Some supporters poked fun at the recent controversy, while some took it quite seriously. Churchill discussed recent attacks on his scholarship, patriotism, heritage, and writing and the essay that has caused so much controversy.

Continuing the talk, he outlines U.$. Policy, foreign and domestic, victims of said policies; American Exceptionalism, Educational system.

Audio: parts 1 - 2 || parts 3 - 4 || parts 5 - 8
Pages for downloading the mp3s: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

More audio courtesy of FRSC: Legal Update on Leonard Peltier's Case

May 1 is Mayday, the anarchist day of remembrance and rage in spirit of the activists who were framed and murdered by the government of Chicago on May 1, 1886. It is the tragedy of the Haymarket Martyrs that reminds us all of the very real threat of police and government violence towards outspoken individuals. Working people who demand their rights have always felt the fear of retribution: many activists for human rights ironically live with the knowledge that they could be imprisoned or killed for standing up and speaking out. Refusal to bow down to these pressures is the driving force behind Mayday actions, strikes, and rallies all over the world. [see Supersphere.com]

In Santa Cruz, May Day 2005 will include an International Workers Day Parade organized with the support of the Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival, Art & Revolution and the newly formed Santa Cruz General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World. The IWW will gather at the Tom Scribner statue at 11:30am and then march to the Town Clock. At 12:00pm, labor organizer Fred Hirsh will speak at the Town Clock rally about struggles faced by local workers. People will then march to the Poet & Patriot (320 Cedar St) for a 1:00pm screening of "The Wobblies." Following the film, there will be a discussion about the future of the labor movement.

At 6:00pm at the Portuguese Hall (216 Evergreen St), the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council is sponsoring a film screening, International Workers Day Dinner and a discussion with California State Treasurer Phil Angelides and Deborah Burger, President of the California Nurses Association. "Wal-Mart's War On The Workers" is a short film made by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and details the anti-union tactics of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, which has proposed to open a store in Pajaro.

See also: IWW 100th Anniversary May Day Celebration and Santa Cruz Branch Formation || Industrial Workers of the World || May Day and the Haymarket Martyrs || Lumberjack - By Tom Scribner || About Tom Scribner

Santa Cruz, CA. - On April 28, e-squared and the Ethnic Student Organization Council (ESOC) presented the 4th Annual Speaker Blowout: An evening with Bobby Seale, cofounder of the Black Panthers. Seale sported a yellow ribbon and an M8-tank hat, as he spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at UCSC.

(1 hour and 55 minutes / 39.4 MB -- this includes 10 minutes of introduction and 25 minutes of Q&A)

Audio: Listen to the Stream or Download the mp3

On Friday April 22, Students Against War kicked off a weekly "Weapons Inspections" tour to raise awareness about the presence of the military-industrial complex at UCSC. Every Friday, a "Weapons Inspections" tour will leave the Bay Tree Bookstore at 12:30 - everyone is welcome to join.

The Weapons Inspections tour seeks to educate students about the 35 military-funded research projects being conducted by UCSC staff on campus and the UC's ongoing management of the nuclear labs at Los Alamos, NM and Livermore, CA. About 30 students marched up to science hill and held a loud and horrible die-in in the plaza at Baskin Engineering, where most of this research is being done. The Weapons Inspections team then searched the science library for weapons of mass destruction in a silent, single-file procession and passed out information to students there.

[ Fiat Pax || The UC is a prominent site of military research (DOWNLOAD the .pdf) || UCSC, Weapons Research, Universities in the Service of the Warfare State ]

10 min Quicktime video

But of course, the kinds of folks who push an ideology that required the expulsion of three-quarters-of-a-million Palestinians from their lands, and then lied about it, claiming there had been no such persons to begin with (as with Golda Meir’s infamous quip), can’t be expected to place a very high premium on truth. -- Tim Wise, anti-racist, anti-Zionist, Jewish-American activist, essayist & public speaker

Recently (Dec 2005) approximately 6 people were arrested in connection with alleged arsons and environmental activism (resulting in property damage) in the Pacific NW (portland.indymedia.org). I have said we needed to “support� them, and people have written me asking why I am asking people support “terrorists.� The media and the government have used the word “eco-terrorist� to brand these people, throwing out that touted but rarely used maxim of “innocent until proven guilty.� These people who are charged with these crimes, themselves, do not call themselves, or identify as, “eco-terrorists.� I do not know why or who started this concept that using inflammatory words in the mainstream media was “impartiality in reporting� or even blind justice, but I find the use of “eco-terrorists� in the coverage of this case to be very egregious, and frankly, irresponsible.

* A member of the group promoting the Alternative Social Forum explains why the World Social Forum (WSF), taking place in Caracas during January 2006, is another attempt by the Chavez government to impede the autonomous development of social struggles in the country.

On the Judicial Branch, continued