Every New Year’s since 2005, the DIY celebration has been peaceful, creative, and fun. However, because of its lack of official sanction, civic leaders have opposed the celebration from the beginning. In 2010, police tried to shut down the parade by selectively targeting individuals who participated.

“While the police and civic leaders try to frighten us with the specter of downtown violence, we just want to participate in a communal celebration with our neighbors,” said Elizabeth Burchfield. “We are tired of being afraid. It’s time to organize together.”

In 2005, Santa Cruz police were discovered infiltrating the parade planning group. An outcry by community members with the help of the ACLU put in place rules to severely restrict local surveillance operations of community groups.

According to the Last Night DIY website, the parade, from its beginnings in 2005, was not about merely celebrating, “but celebrating what we as a community can do ourselves, without corporate or city-sponsorship. It is a celebration of both our autonomy and the support we offer each other.”

Each year, organization is spontaneous and open. There is no single group of organizers. “Everyone who participates makes it happen,” said Burchfield.

The DIY Parade meets every year on New Year’s Eve at 5pm near the Saturn Cafe parking lot on Pacific Avenue and Spruce Street. More information is available at the event’s website, LastNightDIY.org

Santa Cruz Indymedia feature coverage of the Last Night DIY New Year’s Parade: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

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This article, along with the following photos, were also published at Indybay.org.

Below is the transcribed text, along with photographs of the original handwritten letter.

Hello SCPD,

This letter is to contest the notion that vacant, unused private property should be ethically or legally seen as the equivalent of an occupied home. The basis for [City Manager] Martin Bernal’s criticism of our efforts to reclaim 75 River Street for the community was that this goes against existing property laws, and that the needs of this community’s poor – notably the homeless – can be met through more traditional methods, such as voting procedures, or by continuing to protest extreme social inequality without breaking the law. This argument suffers from numerous deficiencies, and as it’s been used to justify aggressive behavior towards us it’s worth scrutinizing.

With regard to voting, it should be amply clear from the two major political parties’ decision-making these past three decades that the interests of the masses, the 99%, are not the driving force in political change. Money, corporate interest groups, and international capital have been. As there is currently no political group with poor and homeless peoples’ needs in mind, and the “mainstream” political system is funded to work against these interests, it is entirely understandable that many in our community and others like it are skeptical of voting. This space has been occupied to meet urgent, concrete needs that can’t wait for election time to be met: food, shelter, bathrooms, safety from abuse, and many more.

A related argument that’s been used against us is that positive social change can occur through forms of protest that obey the law. This of course ignores the question: How is it possible to effectively protest our system of laws, while at the same time fully obeying them? Perhaps an answer would be: through mobilizing public opinion. We certainly do believe in ethically mobilizing public opinion, but the issue remains of what to mobilize it for. As stated above, we have no interest in participating in a structurally corrupt voting system dominated by two massively corporate-funded political parties – so a traditional “get out the vote” effort is not the primary goal of what we are doing. We want the public to take direct action and actually join us in solidarity – and if they cannot join us here, to do it by occupying neglected spaces in their own city. As you know, this building occupation has become an object of national, and increasingly international, interest. For people who value human life over private property, it will doubtless serve as an inspiration.

To conclude, we would like to share one very important thought: whether or not this building occupation is shut down, others will spring up. You, the police, have taken a stand against the 99% in the service of an obsolete 1%. In these times of rapid change, it is guaranteed you will lose what support you have by continuing to protect the commodities of the super-elite at the expense of people’s health, well-being, and sense of community. Please begin thinking and acting conscientiously, by joining the 99%!

Sincerely,

The 75 River Street
Community Center

Letter transcribed by Heather R. Putnam; photos by Bradley Stuart. Originally published on Indybay.org

“The building is being re-purposed under Federal and State laws surrounding ‘adverse possession.’ This law states that space is most beneficial to the people who use it. Spaces like this one, reclaimed from the wealthiest 1%, are places where we can seek redress to our grievances.”

Photos: Vacant Bank Occupied Part 1 | Part 2

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The communique continues by laying out a vision for the building, “In the years to come, this space will be used to organize humanitarian efforts, house a library, and provide a forum for discussions. The General Assembly of Occupy Santa Cruz is also invited to use this space.

“This building will be a space for the expansion of our movement, please respect it as our new home.”

Signed, “OCCUPY THE BANKS”

At 6:30 PM, about two dozen cops attempted to enter the building, first breaking through a line a supporters on the outside, but then forcefully pushed backed by those occupying the building. The police then left the occupation, as dance music played for the people gathered both inside and outside the building.

By 12:30 AM on December 1st, approximately 75 people were holding strong inside the newly re-purposed former bank at 75 River Street in Santa Cruz.

On November 25th, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, standing beside LAPD Chief Charles Beck, announced that he is ordering the closure of Solidarity Park on Monday, November 28th at 12:01am. Occupiers are preparing to resist eviction. Read More and View Photos

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For more information and coverage, please see:

Occupy Oakland Calls for Mass Rally, March and New Occupation on Nov 19
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/17/18699906.php

On Saturday, October 29, the 18th Annual Peace & Unity March was held in Watsonville, California. The march was organized by the Autonomous Chapter of the Watsonville Brown Berets in collaboration with White Hawk Danza Azteca to honor victims of gang-related violence in Watsonville and to push for an end to the violence in the community. The opening ceremony at Watsonville Plaza began with a blessing song performed by local drummers. Following that, Sandino Gómez, historian for the Watsonville Brown Berets, recounted how the march began in 1994 to honor Jessica and Jorge Cortéz, 16 and 9 years old, who were gunned down execution-style because they had witnessed a gang–related crime. Gómez emphasized that “violence is not the solution” and that everyone present “must be part of the solution”. A representative of the mothers of victims, Rose de Ramirez, who lost her son to gang-related violence sixteen years ago, emphasized, “We need support from the community to stop violence”. Read More and View Photos

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Local teacher Jennifer Laskin also reported to the crowd that there have been more murders in Watsonville in the past year than in any year since the march began. Altars to the fallen were displayed in the Plaza with flowers and photos, and the urgency of the impact of gang violence on the community was made even more poignant by the shooting death on Sunday, October 23rd of Lorenzo Lopez, a 18-year-old Renaissance High School student who Karen Osmundson, trustee of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, described to the crowd as “a good student, not violent”, an innocent victim of violence.

Participating in the march were more than 150 community members, including mothers and families of victims, youth activists, the ex-mayor of Watsonville Antonio Rivas, and a representative of California Assemblymember Luis Alejo, who presented a resolution on behalf of the California State Assembly recognizing the efforts of the Brown Berets to promote peace in Watsonville. Also participating in the march were members of the Indigenous Peoples´ Sacred Sites Peacewalk for a Nuclear Free Future, a two-week walk traveling from Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo to Sogorae-te (Glen Cove), a sacred site in Vallejo, California.

María Rodriguez, a housewife and mother in Watsonville, has an 18-year old son who she says, “is a good boy, but you never know what can happen in the street at any moment”, especially since Watsonville “is more violent than before” and she lives in constant fear for the safety of her son and two younger children. Angel Aledo, 15, whose father danced with the Danza Azteca group in the march, said he had lost a couple of friends in Salinas to gang violence, and that it is important “to talk to his friends so they would not get involved in gangs, and to get those who are already involved, out of it, to spread the word that we need peace”. Alondra Mejia, 14, whose art teacher told her about the march, came because her cousin was murdered three years ago in San Diego. Mejia stressed the importance of reaching out to her friends who are in gangs to get them to understand that “it is not just themselves they are hurting, but everyone around them, the entire community”.

After the opening ceremony the march proceeded along a two-hour route through both Norteño and Sureño neighborhoods, the two traditionally opposed gangs in Watsonville. Carrying signs ranging from “Basta la Violencia” (“Enough Violence”), “Necesitamos Paz” (“We Need Peace”), “Stop the Violence”, “Love is Everything”, and “United We Stand, No More Killing Please”, the marchers chanted protest slogans like “Los Barrios Unidos Jamas Serán Vencidos” (“The Neighborhoods United will Never Be Defeated”), and shouted their desire for peace to neighbors and bystanders, inviting them to join the march. Families of victims carried signs, photos, and altarpieces, or wore tee-shirts commemorating their fallen loved ones while men, women, and children watched and waved from porches and windows.

The march is part of multiple efforts on the part of the Watsonville Brown Berets and other community groups to stop gang-related violence in the Watsonville area. According to Brown Beret Diego Espinoza, one challenge is that public after-school programs have been cut and there are limited spaces for youth to express themselves besides getting involved in gangs. The Brown Berets seek to fill this gap by providing an open space at the Bike Shack in Watsonville for youth to participate in workshops on Youth & Power, art and music, indigenous and Latino culture, and to organize around important community issues, such as the struggle to ban the use of methyl iodide on crops in California.

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Previous coverage of the Watsonville Peace & Unity March: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

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On September 17th, over one thousand demonstrators poured into New York City’s financial district to confront corporate greed by establishing an ongoing presence, day and night, in lower Manhattan. The idea was to create an American Tahir Square on Wall Street. Police blocked marchers from reaching Wall Street, but hundreds persisted and set up camp in Zuccotti Park, now dubbed Liberty Plaza. Read More and View Photos

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Occupy Santa Cruz suggests that people bring tents and tarps for the occupation at San Lorenzo Park starting October 6th at 10am, and be ready for a march at 3:30pm. It was also proposed that there be a nightly General Assembly at San Lorenzo Park at 6pm with a main GA on either Saturday or Sunday.

The following working groups were established to support Occupy Santa Cruz:

• Housing
• Setup/Cleanup
• Accessibility/Safer Space
• Music/Art
• Donations: Food/Finance
• Outreach
• Legal
• Media
• Philosophy/Strategy

People are encouraged to attend General Assembly meetings and participate in a working group.

Indybay coverage — Occupy Everywhere: Inspired by Egypt, Motivated by Financial Inequality, Occupy Wall Street Expands Across US

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Santa Cruz SlutWalk began in San Lorenzo Park at noon on a rainy Sunday. The weather was not ideal for a SlutWalk, but the sun eventually turned out, and layers of clothing were shed. The demonstration traveled from San Lorenzo Park down Pacific Ave, up Laurel St., along Mission to Walnut, and ended with a rally at the clock tower.

For background information on SlutWalk, please visit:

SlutWalk Santa Cruz
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/05/10/18679373.php

From SlutWalk Toronto:

What Now?

After some reflection after the first SlutWalkTO, SlutWalk is determined to keep going.

With your help, SlutWalk has become a mechanism for increased dialogue on victim-blaming, slut-shaming, misogynist and oppressive ideas that need to be challenged. These damaging ideas affect all of us and play into racist, ableist, homophobic discussions, discussions about status, class, sex work, indigenous rights and more that need to be challenged.

SW has become an empowering event, and with this in mind, we are proud to announce that…

SLUTWALK WILL BE RETURNING AGAIN NEXT APRIL!

The five folks behind SlutWalkTO organizing, plus some other incredible voices, will be building on what SW did well this year, how to improve, and how to keep going.

“We took it to the city because it’s a city problem,” said Red. “So we’re camped outside the mayor’s office.” Bob, one of the demonstrators, was reportedly cited for falling asleep in violation of the city’s municipal code against sleeping.

In a frank voice, Red proclaimed, “They chase us around, but there really is no place for us to go. They don’t have shelter space for us. They are prosecuting us for something we can’t help. That’s what the Jones decision was about.” Read More and View Photos

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Red was referring to the 2006 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, Jones v. City of Los Angeles, in which the court struck down a Los Angeles ordinance criminalizing people who sleep on the streets when no shelter is available.

“The Eighth Amendment prohibits the City from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the City of Los Angeles,” wrote Judge Kim Wardlaw.

Although Sleeping Bans have been ruled unconstitutional and overturned in several California cities, including San Diego, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles and Richmond, it is still enforced vigorously in Santa Cruz.

“I got three tickets,” revealed Red. Then she clarified that Wiley, her Long-haired Chihuahua who is becoming the Peace Camp mascot, actually received one of the three citations. Red reports that Wiley was singled out amongst other dogs with their humans on August 9th while resting in San Lorenzo Park where four-legged barkers are officially banned. Wiley was next to Red and her bag of clothing, while the ticketing Ranger was ignoring other pooches in the park, who apparently were of a higher pedigree.

According to Red, Peace Camp 2010 is now an ongoing, around the clock protest at Santa Cruz City Hall. She said that people can sleep there during the day, which is something spokesperson Chris Doyan was trying to do for a little bit. However, that fundamental human function may be interpreted as being in violation of California’s anti-lodging law, PC 647(e), which was used repeatedly by County Sheriffs against demonstrators in the first week of August as they protested at the Courthouse.

During Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban hours, 11pm to 8:30am, Red stated that people had to sit up and be awake while protesting at City Hall, or risk being ticketed for falling asleep. She also said that demonstrators agreed to maintain peace and cleanliness.

The Peace Camp 2010 demands, reports Red, are “lift the Sleeping Ban and amnesty on all tickets.” She added, “Give us a place, a tent city. Until we can get back on our feet again.”

Actually, it’s hard for Red to stand on her feet at all. Sometimes she is pushed around in a cart and other times walks with a cane. Red has a painful degenerative bone disease, also called osteoarthritis, and says that she has been checked out at the county hospital.

Although Red has plans to be back in a vehicle very soon, she says she will, “still demonstrate against the Sleeping Ban because it is wrong.”

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I also spoke with Red on August 10th, which was the previous day, and published an article with photos titled after a couple signs she displayed: One Big Earthquake and You’re All Homeless: End the Sleeping Ban