A candlelight vigil to honor and protest the lost lives in Iraq will be held on Tuesday, October 26 from 6:00 - 7:00 PM in the Watsonville Main Plaza.

The event will be attended by family members of Victor Gonzalez, a local Marine just killed in Iraq last week. Also present will be Fernando Suarez Del Solar, father of Jesus Suarez Del Solar, the first GI killed in Iraq.

After the vigil, at 7:30 Mr. Suarez will be giving a talk about his experiences and the realities of the military enlistment and recruitment for Latino youth. The presentation will be in the Brown Beret Office located at 406 Main Street.

[ Military Families Speak Out ]

Watsonville, CA October 18, 2004 --- Copwatch, a nonviolent group to observe and monitor police activities is being formed by Watsonville citizens concerned about police misconduct and abuse of power in the Watsonville community. Following examples set by other Copwatch groups across the nation, members of Watsonville Copwatch, concerned with the lack of police accountability, will launch observation patrols and "Know-Your-Rights" trainings in order to increase the community's oversight of police activities.

see also: Santa Cruz Copwatch

related audio: Andrea Prichett on Community Justice and Police Alternatives

On the morning of Thursday, October 7, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over information hosted on Indymedia web servers to the FBI. Rackspace, which provides hosting services for more that 20 Indymedia sites at its London facility, complied by turning over two Indymedia servers to federal authorities, effectively removing those sites from the internet.

Indymedia, a global network of independent non-corporate media organzations, had been asked last month by the FBI to remove a story about Swiss undercover police from one of the websites hosted at Rackspace. It is not known whether Thursday's order is related to that incident, however, since the order was issued to Rackspace and not to Indymedia. According to Rackspace, they "cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from informing concerned parties about what is happening.

It is unclear to Indymedia how and why a server that is outside US jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.

Audio: Story On Indymedia Server Snatch

FBI Coverage on IMC: FBI and Other Legal Breaking News

This year alone there has been over a half dozen people killed by police shootings in San Jose.

On February 17, 2004 my father, Rudy Cardenas, became one of them. He was taken from my life forever. My father was shot in the back by state narcotics agent Michael Walker.

My father was running away from Walker who was dressed in regular clothing in an alley in Downtown San Jose. Witnesses said that my father had his hands up saying "Don't shoot." My father's death was unjust and our family demanded an open grand jury for the shooter Michael Walker. The open grand jury was held in July. During the grand jury my family, friends, and the community were disgusted by the series of mistakes that led to my father's death. The State Narcotics Agents did not even follow any of their own procedures. Each agent told a different story on what occurred that day and they were caught in lie after lie. My family had no hope that justice would be served. No state agent had ever been indicted in the history of California. In the end of the grand jury my family was very surprised when the jury came out with their verdict. Walker was indicted on voluntary manslaughter. We did our own research on Walker and found out that he was on the Board of Directors of a group called the Central Coast Gang Investigators Association. The CCGIA is an organization that trains law enforcement on how to deal with gangs. Also on the board was Brian Link, another agent who chased my father. CCGIA was scheduled to give a training in San Jose at the Double Tree Hotel in early September. How could Walker and Link be training other officers procedures when they could not even follow their own?

[ Justice for Rudy Cardenas I Indybay's Coverage ]

An International Week of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space will take place from September 25 to October 2. Helen Calidicott is the keynote speaker on September 25 at the Front Gate Protest Rally at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. At 11:30 there will be a 3 mile march to the front gate starting at the Hwy 1 on-ramp at Vandenberg Village.

The Bush Administration (after abandoning the ABM Treaty that outlawed missle defenses) plans to deploy missle defense interceptors before the next election as the next step to controlling and dominating space. Fifteen interceptors (that have yet to be proven effective) will be put into the ground at Ft. Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg AFB, California. We oppose the development of the proposed "sheild" from behind which pre-emptive strikes can be launched. Help build support for a U.N. sponsored ban on weapons in space.

Audio and Photo: Raging Grannies: The Best Things In Space Ain't Free
Audio and Photos: Bruce Gagnon's Update on the Privatization and Militarization of Space
Audio: Question and Answer Session

[ Vandenberg Peace Legal Defense Fund I Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space I Womens International League for Peace and Freedom I DISARM committee I Sept 25 – Oct 2 Local Actions ]

As part of an international day of action, a teach-in to save the life of Stanley Tookie Williams took place at UC Santa Cruz on November 30, 2005.

Speakers included Elisa Sanchez, Hector, Lance Lindsay, professor Paul Ortiz and professor Angela Davis.

There was also a very special performance from Rainbow Theatre.

On December 6, 2005, the US Supreme Court began to decide the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment which denies federal funding for schools that don't allow military recruitment on campus in the case of FAIR v Rumsfeld. Rallies and marches were held nationwide in solidarity with the counter-recruitment activists in the Supreme Court case.

The Santa Cruz Chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has created a scroll with 28,000 names in Arabic of Iraqi civilians who have died in the war. This is one of the most conservative of the reported numbers of Iraqi civilian deaths.

As part of the nationwide day of action, the scroll was displayed at the military recruitment center on 41st Avenue in Capitola along with other signs and banners opposing the continued war in Iraq and the daily loss of Iraqi and American lives.

The army, marines and navy recruitment offices in Capitola were voluntarily closed, though the air force office remained open for business.

This is the complete statement concerning "CIA torture flights" read by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, this morning, December 5, 2005 as transcribed by the US State Department.

On November 30, 2005, Santa Cruz was declared as a "World City Against the Death Penalty" by Santa Cruz Mayor, Mike Rotkin. Santa Cruz is one of more than 300 cities worldwide calling for an end to the death penalty.

About thirty people came to Santa Cruz City Hall to protest the planned execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams and speak out against the death penalty. David Sweet introduced local activists including Ray Glock-Gruenich, Darrell Darling, Betsy Fairbanks, Emily Malony, Wanda Conaway-Knight, Sandino Gomez and Kenny Swain.

Sandino Gomez of the Watsonville Brown Berets, the Resource Center for Nonviolence's Youth Empowerment Coordinator and 'The Global Local' host on Freak Radio Santa Cruz did not have any prepared statements and speaks his heart when it comes to matters like this. Sandino was born and raised in Santa Cruz. He discusses some of his experiences of racism growing up and going to school in Santa Cruz as well as the racial and class prejudice within the entire judicial system, dysfunctional democracy in the US and failed imperialist attempts to "bring democracy" to Iraq and other parts of the world.