Audio interview with George Cadman, FRSC producer working with the International Solidarity Movement, reporting about Bil'in from the village of Qawawis in occupied Palestine.

Audio: Download the mp3 (26 minutes / 12 MB)

The army came into the village around 3 am. About six Israeli activists, ten Palestinians from the village and three of us ISMers went out into the street with our cameras. We followed the army through the village, filming, as they went to one house and then another, banging on doors. They tromped through gardens, yards and olive groves. Basically, behaving as though they owned the place. There was only one house where someone was home. A woman and her husband came to the door. The man repeatedly told them that the only children in the house were babies, the oldest being 8 years old. The army tried to convince him to let them enter while he tried to tell them to let his children sleep and not come in and frighten them. Finally they decided to leave and not to enter the house. Then they went down a dirt road behind his house. He told them that it was just someones garden, but they went down there and were banging on sheds. They gave up after awhile when it was obvious that there was noone in them. After about an hour they left with noone. The fact that there was so many of us watching, definitely seemed to deter them from using more force and from staying longer than they did. We hopefully made a difference.

Keep tuned to Free Radio Santa Cruz 101fm this month for more reports.

see also: Qawawis and the mustawtaneen || Bil'in - Spirit of Resistance Continues! || Bil'in Village

Skidmark Bob Interviews Diane & Kelle on 10-25-2005 about their tour, music, sustainable transportation, Big Mountian, producing their environmentaly consience new Album "Hip the Hip" released on Green Eye Records Foundation.

Audio: Download the mp3 (52:04 minutes / 47.7 MB)

Photos: Courtesy of Matt Fitt || Special Scooter Collage

Diane's sound is deep and authentic, expressing at the same time hard truth and uplifting hope. An accomplished guitarist and "wordsmith," channeling lyrics and composing impassioned original music, she insightfully stirs together Grassroots Folk, Funk and Blues in a hopefull batch of original healing musical elixir. Pattersons music is woven throughout today's Global peaceful peoples, grassroots movement for Social Justice, Human Rights & Environmental Sustainability.

[ Free Radio Santa Cruz ]

Make Yourself Seen and Heard to the UC Regents!

The UC Regents will be meeting at UC Berkeley Wednesday Nov 16th and Thursday Nov 17th. Wednesday the Regents will be voting to raise students fee another 8% ($492). Thursday they will be voting to cut financial aid. The regents meeting agenda is here.

There will be carpools from Santa Cruz up to Berkeley on Wednesday and Thursday and a reportback rally at 3pm on Thursday in the Baytree Plaza. On Sunday Nov 20th there will be a “UCSC Student Inter-Org Coalition� meeting at 4pm in the Redwood Building near Baytree Plaza. There will be a reportback and feedback session on the Regents Meeting.

see also: University of California Students Association || FuckTheRegents.com || 2005 Disorientation Guide (.pdf)

Read more on Indybay's Education page

Get educated about these new plans to replace the historic La Bahia. Attend city council meeting and MAKE COMMENTS, or tune in to Community TV channel 25, 11.15.05, 7pm, and email council with comments.

This project went under the community's "radar" the first time, prior to when the Coast Hotel project became known, when plans were approved for a boutique hotel preserving much of the historic La Bahia. Now, following the collapse of the fast-tracked Coast Conference Hotel project, Barry Swenson Builders and Mr. Canfield want to build a bigger hotel (an investiminium) with conference center at the site, and recently compared it to being "the" conference hotel intended for the beachfront area so it can be no less than 120 rooms (and therefore 5 to 7 stories)! These proposed new plans are going before the city council tomorrow. Its very important that the greater community get to weigh in on the fact that these builders now want to exceed zoning height regulations by 2 to 4 stories on our environmentally sensitive beachfront, along with other environmental impacts, and the public deserves better notice and coverage about the project in order to do so.

a commenter writes: "Santa Cruz needs to stop the knee-jerk RE-activism against all new construction and start embracing responsible Smart Building designs like this one. These projects which RESPONSIBLE architects are offering to us, are designed using the very best of cutting-edge green building design and could help lead the way to a sustainable future and Santa Cruz would be the perfect flagship community for this with its established tradition of environmental stewardship."

A post on Santa Cruz Indymedia earlier today (11/11/05) stated, "A group of workers from the [Union Pacific] railroad came on 11/10/05 to the newly built trail next to the railroad tracks near Almar. They used a grader to tear up the volunteer-built trail as to render it difficult to ride a bike on. They also took down the "welcome" signs. Too bad!"
From: Rail Trail - Almar Ave

I rode my bike to the Coastal Rail Trail off Almar on the Westside of Santa Cruz and came across a sad scene of willful and vengeful destruction of an important community resource.

Free Skool’s biggest quarter yet: 38 different classes taught by more than three dozen teachers offering a decentralized educational network outside the system (and still $20 thousand less than UCSC)

Santa Cruz, CA, November 1st, 2005: Winter quarter is just starting. But you won’t need any student id, add/drop forms, or registration fees. There are no classrooms, professors, or administration, just people sharing what they know. This is Free Skool Santa Cruz. And the first thing you will learn is that we are all students and we are all teachers.

Free Skool summer quarter runs November 1st to January 31st and offers a variety of classes in homes, community centers, and open spaces all over Santa Cruz. In Free Skool Santa Cruz’ third quarter, classes include knitting, jazz history, Spanish, drawing, beer-making, singing, Indonesian monkey chant, oriental medicine, local history, bike and automobile repair, political history, and much more.

[ Free Skool Santa Cruz ]

California voters will soon decide the fate of a slew of ballot measures in the most expensive election in state history. Called for by Governor Schwarzenegger in mid-June, the measures had early support, but according to several recent opinion polls, opposition is growing, and many of them appear to be headed for defeat on November 8. WIN reporter Vinny Lombardo examines what's at stake in this election for unions in California.

Audio: Download the mp3

see also: FRSC: No On Prop 73 Interview with Cynthia Mathews || Proposition 73 would create a "hit list" of California judges || (Freedom Socialist Party) California Voter Recommendations || Schwarzenegger's Dreams of Dictators (Read Before You Vote!) || Cabrillo College Voter Rally (11/8)

Read more on Indybay's Government page || En Español

a commenter writes: "For the time being, the people have defeated a few of the worst plans that the capitalists have come up with. This is a victory and it was largely due to the campaigns carried out by workers through the unions. For those who want more, work for more, but don’t deny a victory when we get it."

Activists taking part in the Victoria's Dirty Little Secret campaign were denied entrance to the Capitola Mall on Saturday. (call to action). The U.S. Supreme Court's Pruneyard Decision in 1980 guarantees the right to free speech in privately-owned public areas such as shopping malls.

The mall security and two capitola cops denied the activists entry to the mall. The manager of security said the protesters needed a permit to even stand at the entrance to the mall. The protesters retreated to the streetside sidewalk in front of the mall.

This is directly opposed to a 1980 Supreme Court decision based on a very similar conflict that happened not far from here. The Pruneyard Shopping Center in Campbell.

In short, Capitola police and security guards violated your constitutional rights.

Photos: Activists in Capitola Expose Victoria's Dirty Secret of Boreal Forest Destruction

More info about Pruneyard: Wikipedia || Community Rights Counsel || Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins 447 U.S. 74 (1980)

More info about the Victoria's Secret demo: Victoria’s Dirty Secret || Forest Ethics

Reports from a few of the more than 300 demonstrations that took place across North America: New York City || Portland || San Francisco (.mov)

see also: Routine Corruption by Capitola Police Violates Equal Protection || Capitola Mall Sued for Restricting Free Expression || Capitola Mall Backstory - A History of Repression || Why Your Protest at the Capitola Mall is A-OK

Activists at Chancellor Denton's Investiture passed out fake programs informing audience about UC's failure to enforce its code of conduct prohibiting the use of sweatshops to make univeristy apparel, and urging Denton to support to proposed changes that will make the document more comprehensive and effective.

On Friday, two "ushers" greeted the suits and ties arriving for Chancellor Denton's investiture outside the UCSC music center. They guided the auidience to the proper lines and passed out programs with smiles. However, when the programs were opened, instead of containing the schedual for the investiture, they outlined the problems with the UC Code of Conduct and the proposed changes to them that Comercio Justo and the Student Worker Justice Coalition are spearheading, in an effort to make the campus and UC system Sweatfree.

previous coverage: Students and Workers Demand a Sweat-Free UC

Finally, 2 years after the murder of Rudy Cardenas, state agent Michael Walker is going to court for the charges of voluntary manslaughter. The defense claims that Walker shot in self-defense, thinking that Rudy had a gun. No weapons were found at the scene, but a mysterious knife turned up from Rudy’s pants pockets while in the custody of the state. Defense attorney, Craig Brown, works for the law firm Harry Stern, the same law firm that represented the Oakland Riders, a gang of police notorious for planting evidence and murdering innocent people in Oakland, California. Walker plans to take the stand, probably towards the end of the trial. It has come out that Walker did not follow standard procedures and basically took the law into his own hands, execution style.

Questions Still Remain: What exchanged happened between Rudy and Walker to make Walker gun down an innocent man? Why was Walker training other police and state agents at the Central Coast Gang Investigator Association conference after being indicted on voluntary manslaughter? And since Walker’s indictment, why have all the other half-dozen police-murders in San Jose had closed-grand jury hearings?

see also: Michael Walker, Killer of Rudy Cardenas, Goes to Trial (Indybay)