Dahr Jamail will be speaking in Santa Cruz at the Veteran's Memorial Building on Saturday, April 9 at 7pm. Tickets available at the door on a $5-$10 sliding scale. Noone turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds will benefit Dahr Jamail's ongoing effort to continue providing independent reports from Iraq.

Weary of the overall failure of the US media to accurately report on the realities of the war in Iraq, Dahr Jamail went there to report on the war himself. One of the few unembedded reporters on the ground in Iraq, his dispatches were quickly recognized as an important media resource for a ground-level view of the war. Dahr spent a total of eight months in occupied Iraq.

Part of Dahr's April 9th presentation at the Vet's Hall, is a slideshow, including many graphic images, of what some commentators consider to be US war crimes. Dahr will also be screening a new film he's put together.

Audio: Dahr Jamial Event Audio PSA | Dahr Jamail on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM

See Also: Dahr Jamail: Untold Horrors of Fallujah

The March 2005 edition of The Project, a student organized newspaper from UCSC, is now available at various cafes and other locations around Santa Cruz and here on Santa Cruz Indymedia. This current issue helps shed light on the fact that UC administrators are rolling in money. A Coalition of University Employees (CUE) fact-finding report discloses the hard numbers of the so-called “budget crisis.�

Also in this issue, you will find a guide to DIY pot, an investigation of U$ imperial interest in Iran, some thoughts on cross-species solidarity, reportbacks from the Students Against the War (SAW) teach-in, the 2005 World Social Forum, and much more...

The Comercio Justo Rally and Protest at the Mission St. Taco Bell in Santa Cruz has been transformed into a celebration. Taco Bell has agreed to some of the Coalition Of Immokalee Workers demands and the CIW has called off the boycott. Taco Bell has agreed to a raise of one cent per pound of tomatoes which will mean roughly $20 more per day for farmworkers. Taco Bell has also agreed to work towards improvements industrywide in fast food. Taco Bell is owned by Yum Brand Foods, which is the largest corporation in fast food, bigger than McDonalds.

The Santa Cruz Rally will still meet at 3:30 pm at the Mission St. Taco Bell, but will then cross the street and gather at the small park by the Community Garden. The scheduled speakers, including the mayor, will still speak and there will be a discussion and celebration. Photo

Coverage from Austin Indymedia: Farmworkers Take Down Taco Bell | Trabajadores Agricolas Derrotan a Taco Bell

Audio: Santa Cruz Rally on March 11th Transformed Into Celebration | Peace Talks: Support the CIW | Interview about Boycott on FRSC

CIW Press Release: Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Taco Bell Reach Groundbreaking Agreement

[ Coalition of Immokalee Workers | Student/Farmworker Alliance | 2005 Truth Tour | US Indymedia Topic Page ]

On February 16, at 7pm, Naomi Klein dissected the failure of the "X-treme Makeover" known as U.S. foreign policy in Iraq.

Klein is an award-winning journalist and author of the international best-seller "No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies," and "Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate".

Klein spoke about "War and Fleece: How economic 'Shock Therapy' backfired in Iraq" to a crowd of over 600 people gathered at UC Santa Cruz.

Audio: Peace Talks: Naomi Klein at UCSC

[ No Logo I More photos of Naomi Klein at UCSC ]

Call to Action: Converge in Philadelphia, June 18th to 21st, 2005

CALLING ON ALL PEOPLE who resent the demise of democracy and hold to the promise of authentic popular empowerment! All who dare to paint poems of resistance on walls of oppression, dance in city streets in defiance of police states, and plant seeds of sedition in the shadows of Empire: come to Philadelphia! As the world's leading agents of eco-devastation and medical malpractice meet here in June, we cannot stand quiet. Join us to challenge the corporate crime, poisons for profit, and flagrant lies of the biotechnology industry, at the time of their annual international convention, with a creative uprising for truth, life and justice!

RECLAIM THE COMMONS! We recall a custom much older than two-party Republics, in which croplands, grazing land and forests were a public domain that benefited the whole community and belonged exclusively to no one. In today's global society, our commons encompass the biological strata that sustain life on earth --- air, water, food, medicine, energy, biodiversity -- plus the means of communication, education and transit that connect us culturally. Today, to a degree unprecedented in human history, corporations have seized this public wealth and privatized it to reap growing profits for a small and ever-shrinking elite. As public access to and control over the commons has eroded, so has true democracy. For democracy to thrive, for racial, economic, social and environmental justice to take deep root, and for sustainability to flourish ... we must reclaim our commons!

Check these websites in the coming months: [ www.reclaimthecommons.net I www.biodev.org I www.phillyimc.org I biotech.indymedia.org ]

The USA/capitalist elite are much stronger and more ruthless than imaginable – they could kill off half of the planet in a week and hardly blink. And they will unless we 1*^44% them and the infrastructure of their system ....

In Response to the growing and unfortunate trend among environmental and social justice groups use of the industry and government created term "clean coal," West Virginia Citizen's Action Group, Coal River Mountain Watch launched an internationally circulated sign-on letter calling for a unification of these groups against this sort of industry doublespeak which makes it so much harder for those working towards positive change to achieve it. Over 80 Organizations and prominent individuals have signed on at the time of the release. Please view the letter and add your name too at www.crmw.net

Both Kelly and Manpower now offer "health plans" that are a sick joke.

Here's an anti consumerist, anti war, anti-corporate Xmas carol my friend wrote. It would be great for the Santa Brawl on the Mall.
Sung to "God rest ye merry gentlemen"

On December 8, anti-corporate christmas carolers performed some of their greatest hits, including Consumer Wonderland, God Bless You Very Wealthy Men and Some of my Favorite Things in front of the GAP on Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz.