On April 4th, a dozen people demonstrated on the sidewalk in front of the Wells Fargo Bank located at 74 River St. in downtown Santa Cruz, and across the street from the vacant bank building at 75 River St. The event was held to "encourage those victimized by the bank to learn they have allies" and "support the hundreds of people who visited or protested the vacant building at 75 River St. in late November and early December last year."
Demonstration at Wells Fargo in Santa Cruz: "Drop the Charges! Bust the Banksters!"
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OSC Hosts Occupy Art Show at Resource Center for Nonviolence
On April 6th, community members gathered at the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz for the opening reception of "Occupy Art", an exhibition of art from Occupy Santa Cruz. In addition to fine art, photography, and protest relics from the movement, spoken word performances were held, and Brent Adams previewed his OSC documentary. The densely packed exhibition is an attempt at documenting the Occupy movement in Santa Cruz while encapsulating the feeling of the protest experience.
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11 UC Davis Students, Professor, Charged for U.S. Bank Blockade
Just months after UC Davis police pepper sprayed seated students in the face during a protest against university privatization and police brutality, Chancellor Linda Katehi's administration is trying to send some of the same students to prison for their alleged role in protests that led to the closure of a US Bank branch on campus. On March 29th, weeks after an anti-privatization action against the US Bank branch, 11 UC Davis students and one professor received orders to appear at Yolo County Superior Court. District Attorney Jeff Reisig is charging campus protesters with 20 counts each of obstructing movement in a public place and one count of conspiracy. Support has been requested for their arraignment, which has been rescheduled to May 10th.
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ACLU Statement of Support and Petition for "Journalists, Local Press and Activists"
ACLU-Santa Cruz Chapter writes, "Eleven local activists have been charged with a variety of offenses arising from the occupation of a vacant bank building last fall. We have two primary concerns regarding this prosecution. First, at least some of the defendants are journalists who were present to report on the protest. We condemn any attempt to criminalize their exercise of the crucial First Amendment right to gather and disseminate information about this newsworthy event. All charges based on this constitutionally protected activity should be dropped immediately. Second, it appears that some of the defendants may have been charged due to their past adversarial relationship with law enforcement officials."
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Hundreds of Farmers Occupy UC Berkeley's Gill Tract in Albany
(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 - Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers. For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education.
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WILPF Condemns Local Law Enforcement and Supports Eleven Local Activists
WILPF-Santa Cruz Branch writes, The Santa Cruz Branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) condemns the action of local law enforcement in attempting to prosecute eleven local activists who are alleged to have occupied the long-deserted bank building at Water and River Streets last fall. Four of the defendants are journalists, who were present to report to the community on the protests. The First Amendment is clear on the rights of journalists to observe and print their findings; the charges against them should be dropped immediately.
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Judge Burdick Dismisses Charges Against Four of the Santa Cruz Eleven
Santa Cruz, CA — District Attorney Bob Lee's prosecution (some say "witchhunt") of eleven activists and alternative media journalists came to a crashing halt on April 25th, as Judge Paul Burdick stopped the preliminary hearing after hearing only two prosecution witnesses. After listening to Officer William Winston of the SCPD and Det. David Gunter's testimony, Burdick challenged Assistant DA Rebekah Young by saying "Ms. Young, you agree that none of these four defendants committed any act of vandalism."
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May 1st, 2012 in Santa Cruz - International Workers' Day
An assembly of UC Santa Cruz students, workers and community members have planned a day of action in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street's call for a worldwide general strike and the historical significance of May 1st, International Workers Day. This day of events will include rallies, poetry, performance, art, and education around the struggle of the 99% and the collective potential for social transformation. The action will begin with a kick-off rally at the Quarry Plaza on UCSC campus at 11:30 AM which will culminate in a late afternoon march to the downtown post office.
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Snatch Squads at May 1st General Strike in Oakland?
Copwatcher reports: Oakland Police claim that they have retrained all their officers in crowd control tactics for the upcoming May 1st general strike. While much is unclear about what will be different, there are things that are sure to be the same. Officers that make up most of Oakland's Police Shootings will continue to be deployed as Tango and QRF (Quick Response Force). OPD Chief Howard Jordan has suggested that he may send specialized units into the crowd for the purpose of making surgical arrests, rather than use lethal force through the deployment of chemical and less than lethal rounds indiscriminately.
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SEIU 1021 Asks: Downtown Greed or the City We Need?
On April 18th, in one of the largest rallies in SEIU 1021's history, 23 members were arrested in front of Bank of America Wednesday for taking a stand against mega banks and corporations who have been cheating San Francisco residents for over a decade. More than 1,300 people were chanting "Let the People Go, Arrest the CEOs," as 23 protesters were handcuffed and put into the back of SFPD vans. On the front and back of each protester were large stickers that read "It's time to draw the line: downtown greed or the city we need."
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Demonstrators Confront Wells Fargo Shareholders
Thousands of angry homeowners, immigrants, union members, Occupiers and community groups converged on the annual shareholders meeting of Wells Fargo Bank on April 24th. In a carefully choreographed protest, simultaneous marches left Justin Herman Plaza on the city's waterfront, site of the Occupy San Francisco encampment last fall. Demonstrators walked up parallel streets into the financial district, where they encircled the block in which the meeting was set to take place, in the Julia Morgan ballroom of the Merchant's Exchange Building.
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Occupy Santa Cruz Supports the Santa Cruz Eleven
A resolution in support of all eleven defendants who were charged in relation to the occupation of 75 River Street in Fall of 2011 was adopted by Occupy Santa Cruz at their general assembly held on April 29. Steve Pleich facilitated the general assembly, held on the steps of the Santa Cruz Post Office, and read the resolution before Occupy Santa Cruz adopted it. The resolution by Occupy Santa Cruz "calls for the immediate dismissal of all charges presently lodged against the River Street defendants.
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International Workers' Day — May Day 2012
Occupy Wall Street in New York called for a nationwide May Day General Strike. Cities and towns across the United States are heeding the call. Workers will be striking, students will be leaving classes, and banks and other large corporations will be forced to close for the day across the nation. May 1st, 2012, promises to be the largest American May Day since the Immigrant Rights May Day in 2006 and probably the most widespread and furthest reaching in decades.
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Rally and March to Support the Santa Cruz Eleven
On Friday, May 4th, at 2:00 PM, at the Santa Cruz Courthouse, there will be a press conference, rally and march to demand dropping all charges against the Santa Cruz Eleven. The Santa Cruz Eleven are local community members who have been charged with an unprecedented variety of offenses arising from their alleged involvement with the occupation of a long-time vacant bank building late last fall, 2011. Supporters of the Santa Cruz Eleven are seeking local, regional, national and international support for the defense of these community members.
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Demonstrators say, "Bob Lee, Stop Wasting Money! Drop the Charges!"
On May 4th, community members gathered at the Santa Cruz Courthouse for a press conference and rally to demand District Attorney Bob Lee drop the charges against the Santa Cruz Eleven, who have all been charged with felonies arising from the occupation of a vacant bank building last fall. Organizers of the rally believe the DA should, "re-examine the basis for the charges, and the Court must ensure that these activists are not being selectively prosecuted." Approximately 100 people were in attendance at the courthouse rally, and after a brief press conference that had seven of the Santa Cruz Eleven introducing themselves, the group marched through downtown Santa Cruz.
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The California Constitution "Is Broader and More Protective Than the First Amendment"
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed a brief as amicus curiae, on May 3rd, in support of Bradley Stuart Allen and Alex Darocy's motion to dismiss, pursuant to Penal Code section 995, pending before the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Cruz. In the brief, ACLU of Northern California concludes, "The prosecution's theories of liability for conspiracy to trespass and aiding and abetting trespass seek to punish Allen and Darocy for activity they engaged in that is protected by the First Amendment and the liberty of speech clause of the California Constitution."
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All Charges Dismissed Against Indybay Photojournalists Bradley and Alex
On May 14th, all charges against Indybay photojournalists Bradley Stuart Allen and Alex Darocy were dismissed by Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick. The Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office had argued, without any evidence, that Allen and Darocy were "the media arm of the organization, the group's propagandists" for the occupation of the vacant Wells Fargo bank building at 75 River Street in late November, thereby validating Shmuel Thaler, a Santa Cruz Sentinel photographer, as having been at the occupation as a bona fide journalist. Judge Burdick questioned the inconsistencies in the DA's argument and dismissed all charges.
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Banners on Highway One: "Support The Santa Cruz Eleven" and "Drop All Charges Now!"
On May 18th, supporters of the Santa Cruz Eleven held banners on the Soquel Avenue overpass, to be seen by passing drivers on Highway 1, in support of the eleven people charged in association with the 2011 occupation of a vacant bank building in Santa Cruz. So far six of the eleven defendants have had charges against them dismissed by Santa Cruz County judge Paul Burdick, and the remaining five, Brent Adams, Desiree Foster, Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Becky Johnson, and Robert Norse (Kahn), are still in the middle of pre-trial hearings.
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Preliminary Hearing Postponed for Santa Cruz Eleven
Robert Norse reports: Seven defendants (two were recharged) now face an upcoming Preliminary Hearing sometime in June thanks to Santa Cruz County District Attorneys Bob Lee and Rebekah Young. The seven are activists and reporters selected out of hundreds who passed through the vacant Wells Fargo bank building (now surrounded with a fence and barbed wire) in downtown Santa Cruz. The next pretrial court hearing is on Friday, June 1st at 8:15 AM in Dept. 6.
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May Day in Santa Cruz: Creating an Ongoing Network of Solidarity
May Day in downtown Santa Cruz this year saw a wide variety of community members coming together and rallying to honor the global struggles of the worker. On the morning of May 1st, students at UC Santa Cruz supported AFSCME local 3299 union members at the university, and then later in the day marched downtown where a group of community members, populated largely with people active with Occupy Santa Cruz, met them on Mission Street after themselves marching up Pacific Avenue.
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