Watsonville Brown Berets and UCSC Students Against War (SAW) Rally to Kick Recruiters Out of WHS

On Tuesday and Wednesday, April 19th and 20th, recruiters from the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy were at the Watsonville High Senior Day, organized by Watsonville Cabrillo College and Watsonville High.

More than a dozen tax-funded police with motorcycles and squad cars watched over counter-recruiters at a demonstration organized by the Watsonville Brown Berets.

Watsonville High administrators told protestors to quiet down, threatening two students with arrest - one for telling her peers not to join the military, and the other because he was playing a small drum.

Police, carring bags full of riot-gear, consistently told protestors they were not allowed in the building or even on the steps. A student, driving by, honked her horn in support of the protests. A throng of police immediately pulled her over and cited her.

Audio: 4/19 FRSC: Watsonville Anti Military Recruitment Report

Photos: 4/20 Watsonville Counter-Recruitment Action

See also: UCSC Students Kick Military Recruiters Off Campus (4/5/05)

On April 12, the Santa Cruz City Council approved a resolution in support of House Concurrent Resolution 35 - Withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces From Iraq, introduced by Councilmembers Emily Reilly, Tim Fitzmaurice and Mayor Mike Rotkin. Santa Cruz joins other Cities For Peace, including the majority of townships in New Hampshire, demanding that President Bush "Bring The Troops Home Now."

On April 5, about 300 UC Santa Cruz students led by Students Against War (SAW) kicked Army, Navy and Marine Corps recruiters out of the annual Career Center Job Fair, marking yet another success for the nation-wide counter-military recruitment campaign. (Call to Action!)

Joined by Watsonville’s Brown Berets, SAW protesters gathered for a rally at the campus bookstore and occupied the streets in a traffic-stopping procession up to the Stevenson Event Center where the Job Fair was being held. Students were motivated by fiery speeches about the racist, sexist, classist and heterosexist biases of the military, all of which are in violation of the UC Santa Cruz’s non-discrimination policies.

As the march began, a small group of students infiltrated the Job Fair and surrounded recruiter’s tables, chanting and linking arms. This small group was soon joined by more students from the march who pushed their way through front and side doors, chanting, “Whose Campus? Our Campus!� as Job Fair administrations attempted to literally shove them out the door.

Ultimately, 100 students were able to surround recruiters’ tables while the remaining 200 marchers stayed outside the Event Center, blocking the entrances and chanting in support of those on the inside.

Audio: FRSC: Santa Cruz Kicks out the Marines!! | FSRN: Military Recruiters Forced From UCSC | RTB: UCSC Counter-recruitment Protest | Anti Military Recruitment PSA | Mumia Abu Jamal: Harder and Harder to Recruit

Photos: Military Recruiters Off Campus 1 | 2 | 3 | UCSC Kicks OUT Military

Reportback and Photos from the Inside: UCSC Students Kick Military Recruiters Off Campus

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

On March 3rd, Students Against War (SAW), a newly formed UCSC organization, held a teach-in about the war in Iraq. SAW is comprised of three different campaigns that work closely together to fight against manifestations of the war-machine on a very local level. At the teach-in each group presented its current projects and through break-out groups, encouraged new students to get involved. Here is an overview of what was brought up at the event.

[ Harbor High’s Students for Peace and Justice Turn Up the Heat on Military Recruiters ]

Peace is not something you wish for, it's something we create, something we do, something we are, and something we give away.

On December 12, about 50 people attended a candle light vigil against the death penalty held at the Town Clock in Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Chapter of Death Penalty Focus displayed banners that read, "The State will kill Stanley Tookie Williams in your name tonight!" and "Truth Not Vengeance".

Stanley Tookie Williams III was executed in the early morning on December 13 by lethal injection administered by the state of California.

PoP dEFECT RADIO SONIC INSURGENTS 12-2005
Another audio Revolt of new music by Western Addiction,Bury the Living, Report Suspicious Activity, Propagandi, Public Enemy....WSQT and alot more!!

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Before the Iraq war gets any worse--or spreads to other countries--let's take a stand for peace, in the spirit of Cindy Sheehan, in front of our Congresspersons' and Senators' homes throughout the holiday season.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Dec. 6, on the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment, which restricts federal funds from universities which deny access to military recruiters. The Solomon Amendment was overturned in Nov. 2004 by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, who found the legislation to violate the First Amendment rights of schools that protest the military's anti-gay, "don't ask, don't tell" policy. To coincide with the court action, about two dozen peace activists turned out to the Capitola military recruitment center, to protest the Iraq War. Members of the Santa Cruz Buddhist Peace Fellowship created an Arabic scroll listing 28,000 names of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. The scroll is three feet high and over one hundred feet long. Members of Women in Black, and Santa Cruz Peace Coalition were also present. I had a chance to talk with a number of the protesters on hand.