Take Back the Night is an international rally and march that is organized in local communities with the purpose of unifying women, men, and children in an awareness of violence against women, children and families. The event is a collaboration of community and campus and other interested persons who are ready to take a stand against violence and make the night safe for everyone.

Women are often told to be extra careful and take precautions when going out at night. In some parts of the world, even today, women are not allowed out at night. So when women struggle for freedom, we must start at the beginning by fighting for freedom of movement, which we have not had and do not now have. We must recognize that freedom of movement is a precondition for anything else. It comes before freedom of speech in importance because without it freedom of speech cannot in fact exist.

Audio interview with three of the organizers: Download the mp3 (9:20 minutes / 8.5 MB)

Photos and Report Backs from Take Back the Night 2005 at UCSC

From the open publishing newswire: More than 125 people marched through UCSC Campus Thursday night, participating in 2005's Take Back the Night and demanding that UCSC address safety issues on campus.

The evening began with a rally at UCSC's Baytree Plaza, where students gathered to hear poetry and presentations, and to get information from campus and community organizations dedicated to helping survivors of sexual violence and ending rape and sexual assault. More words and photos...

From the open publishing newswire: On the night of Thursday, May 19, the UCSC community 'Took Back the Night' from various forms of violence, especially violence against women.

This year's march had a different feel than in previous years due to the wheelchair friendly route, the inclusion of men, and the continued expansion of the definition of 'violence'. More words and photos...

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

Roger Mentch, a local medical marijuana provider and caregiver, currently faces up to seven years imprisonment for possessing 1 1/2 oz. of marijuana. Come out to the Santa Cruz County Courthouse steps on Monday, May 2 at 8:00am and stand in solidarity with Roger as he faces sentencing. Please demonstrate through your presence that you support honest medical marijuana providers and reject the current politically-movtived oppression of medical marijuana providers in California and the rest of the United States.

Besides Roger Mentch being prosecuted, Santa Cruz's Pacific Cannabis Collective was shutdown in the last month. Since the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana was raided in September 2002, the two most recent actions have effectively cut off the medical marijuana supply in Santa Cruz County. The only option for many medical marijuana patients is to travel an hour and a half or more to the San Francisco Bay Area to a medical marijuana dispensary. For many, this is not an option because of immobility and lack of financial resources. It is also problematic because many Bay Area medical marijuana dispensaries are coming under law enforcement scrutiny and several have recently been shut down. [see Indybay's Drug War page]

See also: Letter to Judge Samuel Stevens Concerning Roger Mentch

Audio: Interview of Roger Mentch on Bathrobespierre's Broadsides (interview is halfway through file) Download the mp3

For two and a half years, residents in Felton, CA have been battling with German energy giant, RWE, the world's third largest private water utility, over that companies buyout, of the local system. On Wedneday, April 27, Santa Cruz County Supervisors unanimously agreed to hold a special election, and let Felton voters decide on an 11 million dollar bond to purchase the system from Cal Am/RWE. A special mail-in ballot deadline has been set for July 26.

The California Public Utilities Commission has scheduled a public hearing for May 13 at the Felton Community Hall to take testimony on Cal-Am/RWE's proposal to consolidate the Felton and Monterey water districts.

Audio: Felton Residents Fight Water Privatization

[ Felton Flow || Felton Water News ]

Recent revelations that plainclothes police officers infiltrated planning meetings for a New Year's parade, has citizens in Santa Cruz, CA irate. Nearly one hundred turned out last night to express their outrage at the public comment portion of the Santa Cruz City Council meeting. FSRN's Vinny Lombardo reports.

01/10/06 - Around 100 Santa Cruzans showed up at the City Council today to demand a denouncement and investigation into the Santa Cruz Police Department's infiltration of a local group's organizing meetings.

Far from being limited to the individuals that were spied on, protesters included former mayors, the ACLU, artists, peaceniks, high school students, UCSC Students Against War members that were recently spied on by the Pentagon, and a local man who fled fascist Czechoslovakia.

From the "Just Us" Campaign and Rally announcement:

santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/19286/index.php

"The Santa Cruz Police Department was discovered infiltrating and conducting undercover surveillance of two of the meetings of the organizers of the Last Night DIY Parade, which was a totally peaceful, positive, and creative event in downtown Santa Cruz on New Years Eve!!...

"This event was organized by 'just us' - 'just us' the people who live here, work here, and try to create positive and peaceful change - if this group can be spied on, so can any of the rest of our groups."

"Although it was perfectly appropriate for representatives of the police department to attend that meeting, there have been legitimite questions raised about certain aspects of what took place, and I want to let the public know that the chief of police has opened an internal affairs investigation into these issues. At the conclusion of that process a report will be made to the city council's public safety commitee, which will report to the city council as a whole, and because the investigation is underway, we are not going to comment further."

California is speeding up executions. Clarence Ray Allen is next.