On Tuesday, Dec. 6th, the United States Supreme Court began to decide if schools that ban recruiters from their campuses can lose federal funds. There were protests and actions at military recruitment stations all across the nation. 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 scroll is three feet high and over one hundred feet long.

The Army, Marines and Navy recruitment offices in Capitola were voluntarily closed, though the Air Force office remained open for business.

Photos: Counter-Recruiters Return to Capitola Recruitment Center as Supreme Court Rules on Solomon Amendment

Audio: Rockin' the Boat: Peace Action at Capitola Military Recruitment Center

Indybay coverage: December 6th Nationwide Protests to Say College, Not Combat

Previous SC-IMC coverage: National Stand Down Day in Santa Cruz || Rally, Queer Kiss-in Greet Military Recruiters at UCSC || All Around the U$, Recuiters are Feeling the Heat || Police and Watsonville High Administrators Fail to Silence Community Voices || UCSC Students Kick Military Recruiters Off Campus || Santa Cruz Recruiters Closed for Peace Until Further Notice

On Wednesday, November 30 – the UC wide Nuclear Day of Action (announcement and PR), approximately one hundred UCSC students took part in a spirited rally at the quarry plaza on the UC campus. The day’s events, called “DeNuke UC,� sent a loud and clear message to UCSC administration, the UC Regents as well as President Robert Dynes that Santa Cruz students do not stand for nuclear proliferation in the name of education.

The 2-hour long event, organized by the UCSC Students Against War, featured performances by the Raging Grannies, speeches by students and community members as well as a guerrilla-theatre “UC-Bechtel wedding ceremony. The day was culminated by an informative talk by former Lawrence Livermore Lab employee and whistleblower, Leuren Moret.

By decorating the colorful papier-mache bomb in the center of the crowd with writing and art, students, faculty, and community members were able to share their thoughts on the Bechtel-UC partnership as well as the continued research of new nuclear weapons at UC-run labs. “Don’t take my money for nuclear development: don’t steal my education,� read one quote, another called for the dismissal of the UC Regents and President Dynes.

Photos: Photos from UCSC DeNuke Rally || De-Nuke UC Speech & Pictures

Audio: Rockin' the Boat: De-Nuke the UC

Previous SAW / Demilitarize UC coverage: (May 2005) 3rd Weekly UCSC Weapons Inspection Tour || (May 2005) UC Regents Ignore Massive Resistance, Vote to Build Nukes

Other SAW coverage: (March 2005) UCSC Students Against War Teach-In Draws Hundreds || (April 2005) UCSC Students Kick Military Recruiters Off Campus || (October 2005) Rally, Queer Kiss-in Greet Military Recruiters at UCSC

In front of the Military Recruiting Center on 41st Avenue in Capitola, over 50 activists gathered on Friday Nov 18th to call for an end to the Iraq war, and to bring our troops home now.

Spreading out along a whole block of 41st Avenue, participants carried signs, banners, and flags, and flashed the peace symbol to the passers-by!

The day was called National Stand Down Day because "stand down" is a term used by the military for days when they have training, reviews etc., and so "stand down" from their normal duties. Thus, citizens all over the country "stood down" for an hour or two from their normal duties to help bring this war and occupation to an end!

Photos: "National Stand Down Day" at Capitola Military Recruiters

see also: National Stand Down Day at Recruiting Stations Across the Country

The Foothill Anti-Capitalist Action Committee spread the word of a protest on November 1, 2005 against the military recruiters who table in the quad every Tuesday at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. However on this Tuesday, the military recruiters failed to show up. It looks like the military learned about the protest and thought it would be a better idea to stay away from it, rather than be the focus of the demonstration.

About 15 people marched from the Smithwick Theater plaza to the quad where people eat lunch and take breaks between classes. A lot of people were very supportive of the demonstration, which included a mobile sound system.

Audio (mp3s): [ Who's In Charge? Nobody's In Charge || Interview with a student at Foothill College || Shut Em Down! Why Military Recruiters are Opposed || Interview with a worker at Foothill College || Interview with James, Greg and Megan ]

"Not one more death, not one more dollar for war!"

Join concerned citizens in cities across the US in a public candlelight vigil to mark the loss of the 2,000th US soldier in Iraq. Two thousand is too many, and we call upon the Bush Administration and all our elected officials to pull our men and women immediately out of this needless war. We call for an end to all death and injury, American and Iraqi alike. We call for an end to the occupation now! And we call for a return of the resources of Iraq to the Iraqi people.

On the evening after the 2,000th death, come together at 7:00 PM at the Town Clock Park in the city of Santa Cruz (at the corner of Mission/Water Streets and Pacific Ave). Bring candles to hold shielded from the wind - and bring flowers, ribbons, shells, feathers, photos, poems, votive candles, and.... to create an altar in honor and in memory of those slain and injured. If you can, wear Black or White.

After the vigil we will march in a "trail of tears" down Pacific Avenue and up to Mission Park (by Holy Cross Church), the site of the original occupation and genocide on the land that we, here in Santa Cruz County, now inhabit, a thread that pervades our nation and lives on exponentially into Afghanistan and Iraq.

Information about community vigils and more can be found on the AFSC's list of over 604 local vigils all over the US.

Read more on Indybay's Anti-War News Page

Photos: VIGIL - Two Thousand Too Many

The most dangerous double standard in the Middle East: ambiguous nuclear weapons
At present, there is only one country in the Middle East with "secret" and ambiguous stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

In bizzarre irony, a Vietnam war resister was arrested and has been imprisoned since August. Jerry Texiero, age sixty-five, is in ailing health and has lost thirty pound since his imprisonment. Meanwhile, AWOL Air National Guard member George W. Bush continues to terrorize the world as a free man.

News has surfaced that Texiero will be released with a discharge, rather than putting him on trial. We need to speak out in defense of this man and any others who bravely dare to speak out against bogus wars.

Thursday, January 19th 2006
7:00 p.m.
Media Theatre
UC Santa Cruz

Last night twelve Papuan suspects in a 2002 murder of Americans were arrested in West Papua--the Indonesian-occupied half of New Guinea. There is evidence of Indonesian military involvement in the 2002 killings, but the Bush administration and Indonesian authorities are attempting to pin the blame on Papuan “terrorists�.