Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Environs
Between the forest and the ocean, among the students and the yuppies, Anarchists in Santa Cruz have fostered a close-knit community dedicated to destruction of this world and the creation of another. With a rich natural diversity and a long history of radical practice, Santa Cruz is proud to host this year’s Santa Cruz Anarchist Convergence.
The natural abundance that fed this area’s first human settlers, Awaswas[1] tribe of the coastal Ohlone people[2], has now been replaced with the violent hyper-abundance of modern life. In early resistance to modern culture in Santa Cruz, the Ohlone burned down the Santa Cruz Mission. The tradition of resistance continues. From free-speech and anti-war activism during Vietnam, to eco-defense in the 80′s and 90′s[3], to current resistance against UCSC expansion[4], and pitched battles to preserve the commons on downtown Pacific Avenue[5]. In the last few months, Santa Cruz has become ground zero in the government attacks against earth and animal defenders[6].
Santa Cruz is a hub of anarchist culture and resistance. Long-running community projects include: a thriving Free Skool, a long-running pirate radio station, decades of Food Not Bombs, Guerilla Drive-In, a large bike culture, and, recently, the SubRosa infoshop.
The popular image of Santa Cruz is one of a Liberal Utopia. To preserve this illusion, war is perpetrated by those in power against the poor, the non-white, non-citizens, the mentally-ill, and those who dare speak up. Though Santa Cruz has a reputation as a leftist community dedicated to Green Capitalism and Lifestyle Liberalism, a low-intensity class war simmers beneath the surface. It is our project to disarm this illusion and to arm ourselves against it.
Local Anti-Authoritarian DIY Projects
An incomplete list of anti-authoritarian projects in Santa Cruz.
Meaningful projects begin with people who are motivated to put into action their desires for the kind of world in which they want to live. The more we create our own projects that are apart from and in some cases pose a direct challenge to the dominant institutions, the more vital and meaningful our world(s) will be for us. Here is a short list of some of these kinds of projects in Santa Cruz.
http://bikechurch.santacruzhub.org
Community Bike Shop and Tool Cooperative. Bike church volunteers are there to help you learn how to work on your bicycle. We encourage people to learn by getting their hands dirty and to familiarize themselves with the machine that they rely on to get them from place to place.
703 Pacific. 831-425-BIKE
Cabrillo Bike Co-op
http://www.cabrillo.edu/associations/bike
Cabrillo Bike Co-op provides students and the community with tools, space, and education to use bicycles as a means of sustainable, low-cost transportation.
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs offers community meals open to all, to build community, reclaim public space, protest hunger, poverty, militarization, and all forms of oppression. Serving throughout the event and other times Saturdays at 4pm @ SubRosa.
Free Radio Santa Cruz – 101.1 FM
http://www.freakradio.org
Free Radio Santa Cruz has been on the air since 1995 without a license, broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, in defiance of federal regulations. Broadcasting programs unavailable on corporate controlled stations. 101.1 FM. 831-427-3772.
Free Skool Santa Cruz
http://santacruz.freeskool.org
Free Skool Santa Cruz is a completely grassroots, collective effort to create an autonomous, mutual-support network. It is a direct challenge to institutional control and the commodification of learning. Free Skool calendars are distributed widely in public places around Santa Cruz..
Guerilla Drive-In
http://www.guerilladrivein.org
Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In is an outdoor movie theater under the stars that springs up in the fields and industrial wastelands. Beyond showing great movies and bringing a broad community together, GDI reclaims public space and transforms our urban environment. Schedule online.
Santa Cruz Indymedia
http://indybay.org/santacruz
Web-based local news and info source, focused on local issues and the direct impact of larger issues on our community. On Santa Cruz Indymedia you can easily publish articles, audio, photography, and video. Your stories and analysis go right up on the newswire. Online.
Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra
http://trashorchestra.org/
Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra is a performance and marching percussion band, whose instruments are composed exclusively of recycled and reclaimed materials, focused on anarchist and anti-authoritarian struggles and mutual support for groups making radical social change.
SubRosa: a community space
http://subrosaproject.org
SubRosa is a space for art and radical projects run by a collective of volunteers from the local anarchist community. It offers anarchist books and literature, local, gourmet coffee, performance and a weekly open mic, gallery art by emerging local artists, and a garden courtyard social space. It also hosts the Anarchist Lending Library, free computers, and many free skool classes. 703 Pacific Ave.
Stop UCSC Expansion
http://stopucsc.org
The UCSC tree-sit has ended, but resistance continues. The tree-sit was one expression of an ongoing resistance to UCSC expansion, which threatens both the forested habitat around UCSC and local communities. Updates on the continuing resistance to the university’s efforts to develop the forest and commodify education.
Watsonville Brown Berets
http://brownberets.info/
The Brown Berets are part of the historical struggle of resistance of the Chicano community. Founded in 1967 by youth in the barrios of East Los Angeles, they organized to fight against police harassment, social injustice and poor education. Influenced by the legacy of this orgnization, a group of Watsonville students decided to reactivate the Brown Berets in 1994. The Watsonville Brown Berets are one of the most active local youth organizations fighting for progressive change and barrio peace.
Of course there is much more going on around town than this short list encompasses. Keep your eyes and ears open; talk to others — word of mouth is the best way to find out what’s going on — and look for flyers around town — a great DIY way to spread the word. Also, if you discover that there is that vital something not happening here, then do-it-yourself and spread-the-word — collaborate with allies with similar passions. Let’s joyfully tear down the world around us and create something wonderful in its place.
