"We don't need another parking lot" read one of over 30 stenciled cardboard signs erected on the evening of August 1st across the fences of various failed businesses in Santa Cruz by a group of bicyclists as part of a "Going Out of Business & Green Futures" community ride.

Part protest against car culture, part living art project, and part prank, the bicyclists visited the sites of former gas stations, drive thrus, auto-dealerships, and more, planting wild flower seeds, and other decorations depicting a deteriorating economy and hopes for a greener, wilder future. "Property is Theft", "My heroes carry guns in the their minds", and "Community Garden Coming Soon!" read some of the signs posted outside fenced off buildings and pavement cracking open with weeds. Read More and View Photos | More Photos

Two weeks ago, a monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was spray painted with the words “Viva Durruti Y Orwell”. In a statement posted on Indybay, the Worker Memorial Project wrote that the “revolutionary movement in Spain was defeated by a counter-revolution spearheaded by the Stalinist Soviet Union and its global puppets and public relations hacks,” and that “the Abraham Lincoln Battalion [were] the US dupes of and cannon fodder for the Stalinist counter-revolution in Spain from 1936 to 1939.” Some supporters and opponents of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade have condemned the attack on a public artwork and called for different tactics to express political differences.

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was composed of American volunteers who went to Spain to fight the Fascist army under Franco. Many of the members of the ALB were affiliated with the U.S. Communist Party and were influenced by and supportive of the communist regime in Russia under Stalin.

The words “Viva Durruti Y Orwell” were in reference to Buenaventura Durruti and George Orwell

Buenaventura Durruti was a central figure of Spanish anarchism during the period leading up to and during the Spanish Civil War. Working closely with his comrades in the FAI and CNT, Durruti helped to co-ordinate armed resistance to the military uprising of Francisco Franco. In November 1936, Durruti led 4000 militiamen to Madrid to aid the besieged Republican defenders of that city. On November 19th, he was killed while leading a counter attack in the Casa de Campo area.

Eric Arthur Blair, who went by the pen name George Orwell, was a Socialist writer from Britain who joined the Independent Labour Party contingent to fight against Franco with the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification or POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). The POUM, and the radical wing of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT (Catalonia's dominant left-wing force), believed General Franco could be defeated only if the Republic's working class overthrew capitalism - a position at fundamental odds with the Spanish Communist Party, and its allies, which, backed by Soviet arms and aid, argued for a coalition with the bourgeois parties to defeat the fascist Nationalists. The POUM's support of Trotsky and opposition to Stalin caused huge ruptures between them and the Communist Party. These divisions manifested themselves in actual fighting between their supporters, most notably in the events of Barcelona May Days of 1937, when the POUM was attacked by a mostly-Communist coalition of government forces. The events of 1937 were one of the main reasons Orwell later became a strong opponent of the USSR.

The 1937 clashes began when units of the Guardia Civil - under the influence of the Communist Party of Spain - attempted to take over an anarchist-run telephone building in Barcelona. The telephone workers fought back, sparking a city-wide conflict. Five days of street fighting ensued, with anarchist workers and their allies, Friends of Durruti Group and supporters of the POUM, building barricades and exchanging fire with the Communist backed forces. CNT leaders were eventually persuaded into a compromise. This left the POUM isolated and it was driven underground and into exile.

In 1939, with the war nearly over, CNT leaders participated in overthrowing the government of the Communist Juan Negrín. They then attempted to negotiate a peace with Franco, though he granted virtually none of their demands.

Photos of vandalism at the artwork for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade | Stalinist Spanish Civil War Artwork Vandalized on San Francisco's Embarcadero l Infoshop-Stalinist Spanish Civil War Artwork Vandalized on San Francisco's Embarcadero

Stalinism and the POUM in the Spanish Revolution l Andreu Nin and the Poum in the Spanish Revolution | Right wing in Spain attempts to rehabilitate Franco | Abraham Lincoln Brigade archives l The Spanish Civil War- anarchists in Action l The Spanish Civil War The Socialist Worker

On the July 25th indynewswire on Freak Radio, danielsan spoke with Carmina Eliason, curator of the multimedia exhibit Remembering the Struggle, opening August 1st in Watsonville, which showcases art and history about the Watsonville Cannery Strike of 1985-87.

Carmina speaks about the strike itself, which put more than a thousand workers on the picket line for 18 months back in the mid-80's. She describes the end result as something like a tie, but talks about the lasting impact of the strike, where twenty years later there are still strong feelings on both sides. Carmina also discusses the roots, evolution and process of the upcoming exhibit and the ongoing gathering of materials to display and present at the Pajaro Valley Gallery to educate people about the strike and its impact. Read More and Listen to Audio

Viernes Cultural of Watsonville will be hosting a community celebration event to honor the former strikers, also on August 1st at 5pm at the Watsonville Downtown Plaza, with a procession from the Plaza to the Gallery at 6:30pm. Remembering the Struggle will run July 30th through September 21st and admission is free.

The Sprockettes, Portland's all female mini-bike dance team, rolled their veggie oil powered bus into Santa Cruz to give two free performances at the Bike Church on July 22nd. Operation Bike Nation 2008, stopping in bike-friendly towns from Santa Cruz to Seattle, features sex-positive club music while The Sprockettes dance in hot pink and black clothing and do tricks on mini-bikes.

The Sprockettes say their mission is to support and interact with the communities around them, advocate bicycle riding, promote positive self-image for all body types, encourage a healthly and physical lifestyle, and to organize and operate their dance troupe in a collective fashion. Read More and View Photos

see also: Introduction to Bicycles with Free Skool Santa Cruz, Summer 2008

Musicians and artists from the bay area are coming together at the Santa Cruz Vets Hall on Friday, June 27th in order to raise money for Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and to help the brand new Santa Cruz Chapter get off the ground. The event is being sponsored by the Santa Cruz local Veterans for Peace and Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters.

There will be music performances by Ashkon (bay area hip-hop), Cripple Catch and the Midi Mob (SC hip-hop), The Reliques (psychedelic rock and roll), and Anne and The Vets (political folk from San Jose). Artists such as William Muir, Sam Sweeley, and Phil Pflager are coming to share their art with the audience, and guests from the GI Rights Hot-line, Truth in Recruiting, Veterans for Peace, and Students Against War will be coming to share their wisdom and literature.

IVAW has 3 objectives -- 1) Immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, 2) Reparation for the Iraqi peoples, 3) Proper care, treatment and support for Iraqi and Afghani vets. Read More

see also: Veterans for Peace Santa Cruz Half Staff Flags in Honor of Dead/Injured; Iraq/Afghanistan

San Francisco renters took to the streets on May 31st to reclaim public space and call attention to the urgent need to protect tenants' rights in this ever-gentrifying city. The action was timed to raise awareness about the urgent need to stop Proposition 98 and save rent control in the June 3rd election.

Reclaim the Streets: Renters Rise Up! was organized by a collective of artists, teachers, tenants' rights activists, students, union organizers, and renters. The group gathered at Dolores Park in the Mission District and then festively proceeded through the streets of San Francisco, complete with music, performers, moving sound systems, spontaneous art, and dancing. Reclaim the Streets organizers did not obtain a permit for the action, because they believe that people should not need permission to use public space in San Francisco. Organizers say "Control of our neighborhoods should be in the hands of people who live in them, not high-paid developers, elite politicians, or hostile police. When we stand together, we can reclaim public space and fill it with art and celebration."

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | Announcement | ReclaimSF

Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday, May 23rd, 2008, of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.

Phillips died at home, in bed, in his sleep, next to his wife. Read More | Memorial on 6/01/08

see also: U. Utah Phillips Has Passed Away | A Note From Utah | A short jog through a long memory (UtahPhillips.org) | Utah Phillips Blog || Utah Phillips Live 2004 Performance FRSC Raid Benifit || Amy Goodman interviews Utah Phillips || Utah Phillips Interview with John Malkin || Utah Phillips at the Fiddle Down the FBI Rally, May 2002 || Utah testifies at Judi Bari's trial || Family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House

The Santa Cruz Film Festival welcomes independent filmmakers, musicians, and artists to Santa Cruz for a 9-day celebration of film and culture May 9-17. The Santa Cruz Film Festival is a growing international festival that fosters cross cultural exchange by screening independent films and producing multi-disciplined art events throughout the year.

This year's films stir the soul and contemplate the BIG picture, from war and oil to the meaning of life. The Festival kicks-off May 9th at the Del Mar Theatre with "One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Jack Kerouac's Big Sur." The film explores Kerouac's final and critically praised book Big Sur with the family of fellow beat-ster Neal Cassady. Other films in this year's festival include Les Paul--Chasing Sound, Programming the Nation?, Ripple Effect, Fields of Fuel and 140 other films that consider The BIG Picture. Read More

On May Day, there was a Reclaim the Streets action in San Francisco. A little over 100 people participated. The mobile party started in Civic Center and went all the way to golden gate park.

It left Civic Center around six PM. There was some confrontation early on while leaving Civic Center. The participants were pushed back onto the sidewalk for about five blocks and then claimed the streets once again. The police abandoned dealing with the party and soon left afterwards. At this point in time the party continued zig-zagging Haight street with some minor confrontations with motorists. Gaining more support along the way the part ended up at Golden Gate park in which a parked bus provided some tunes for a dance party and chalk/art session. Cops came later on and the people still danced. Eventually the action faded.

Photos: 1 | 2

On March 10th, Roxy Scarmichael, Robin YoLife, and Charlie Red Stick, three members of the Santa Cruz Roller Girls (SCRG), spoke with Phil Free in the Freak Radio studio about the art of roller derby, creating SCRG and their upcoming first season starting March 15th at the Civic in Santa Cruz.

SCRG is the first all-female, full-contact, flat-track roller derby league in Santa Cruz. Established in 2007 by women who had a dream to bring the sport and art of roller derby back to Santa Cruz, SCRG is operated by and for the skaters. Behind the scenes, skaters practice three to four times a week and do off-skates cross-training as well. Read More and Listen to Audio

EarthVision 2008, which marks ten years of inspiring environmental films, will be held March 3rd – 8th. Award winning films, and two world premiers, will be screened at the Mello Center in Watsonville and at the Rio Theatre and the Veterans Memorial Hall in Santa Cruz.

The festival will be screening films from 13 countries, including 7 produced in the Monterey Bay area. The films are powerful educational tools for Santa Cruz, as entries are shown throughout the year on Community TV.

The EarthVision International Environmental Film Festival grew out of the documentary work of partners Katherine Knight and Ed Schehl. The couple wanted to create a venue in which environmental filmmakers converge and consider each others' work.

Read More | Schedule: March 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th