Seeds of Peace Memorial Picnic

For more information about volunteering,
working off community service hours, or donations

Religious protest marches from Cathedral to White House, hundreds of arrests

Late evening on Friday, March 16, over 3,000 people gathered in Washington Cathedral for a service, and then marched down Mass Ave towards the White House, looking like a sea of fireflies with electric "candles' held high. On arrival at the White House, hundreds were arrested an a planned civil disobedience

The number of CD participants was so high that CD participants had to be organized by a system of numbers! The cops had stated they could only handle 100 at a time, and the religious peace focused organizers agreed to that request.

Arrests finally totaled 222 according to the AP wire service reports.

This kind of protest coming from the Cathedral has not been seen in DC since 1991, on the Sunday prior to the start of the First Persian Gulf War! On that night, the cathedral was packed too, just like on March 16 this year. That night, another candlelight procession left the Cathedral and went to the White House-at that time, closing a normally-open to traffic Penn Ave, which protestors closed almost every night for the first two weeks of that war.

Maybe we will finally start to see people banging drums in Lafayette Park every night as well, like we did in Gulf War I to Daddy Bush's everlasting complaint?

SDS/Shield Bloc faces stun grenade, pre-emptive arrests

The anti-authoritarian Bloc met ferocious police resistance at the Pentagon, followed by 2 pre-emptive arrests on our return to DC during a bike cop blitz.

The bloc had more shields this time, but fewer activists as the ANSWER march was smaller than the UFPJ march in January. A couple hundred people simply cannot repeat the results of a 700 person bloc in January, even with more and better equipment.

Everyone got around several police lines meant to funnel protestors into the Pentagon parking lot, only to meet far more determined opposition at the third line of cops.

On the street leading to the Pentagon, by the sign announcing the exit for the River Entrance, riot cops with shields faced off against shield-bearing protestors.

As everyone set a tight formation and advanced on the riot cops with shields in front, a shot rang out. It was a stun grenade of some type, and one person was struck in the face by burning non-metallic shrapnel from it (interview in pending audio).

People retreated only a few feet-and quickly tightened back up and re-advanced. Nobody panicked, and the weapon failed to drive off the shield bloc!

A few short pulse charges gained no headway, and then things simply stabilized into a waiting game while ANSWER speeches rang out from below and (hopefully) resonated through the halls of the Pentagon.

As the ANSWER rally drew to a close, everyone decided to return to DC and continue action in DC, on better-known terrain with better cover.

As soon as everyone finished crossing back over Memorial Bridge, several squads of bike cops charged into the bloc, jumping off their bikes to tackle two people.

These two arrests appeared to be a pre-planned strategy to kill the bloc by suspected "leaders" of SDS on any available charge. Nobody was able to find out at the

scene what the charges were, but the only one I can think of is JAYWALKING!

As everyone swarmed around those cops to demand the release of the arrestees, the cops called in
massive reinforcements of motorcycle and other cops to box everyone in.

Although there was a regrouping point to meet back up and continue to further protest targets, nobody had the energy left to use it and things wound down at that point.

No doubt this was the police department's intention, so as to protect targets like every military recruiter in town, every pro-war corporate lobbyist, and so on. As SDS asked in VA, Who do they serve? Who do they protect? Certainly not people fed up with war and government aggression at home and abroad!

BTW, all those "eagles" that were posting threats turned out to be a bunch of hot air. They yelled and yelled and may have gotten physical with some pacifists (unconfirmed report they did), but refused to engage heavy, shield-bearing anarchist units even when invited to put their money where their mouths were!

All the arrestees have been released and all charges dropped.

Starbucks says it has programmes in place to help farmers

US coffee chain Starbucks is denying Ethiopia earnings of £47m ($88m) a year, according to Oxfam.

This particular scheme is going to hurt the Ethiopian coffee farmers economically Robert Nelson NCA

Blueprint for a Sustainable Campus

The Blueprint is a living document which describes our
commitments and plans for improving the sustainability of
our campus community. Divided into specific topic areas, the
collaborative nature of the Blueprint allows for a systems
approach to thoughtful, responsible, and strategic planning
to ensure that we leave a fertile, vibrant world for
generations to come, beginning with the University of
California Santa Cruz.

Topics:

Protection of Pure and Clean Water Systems

Sustainable Food Acquisition and Distribution

Waste Prevention Program Implementation

Climate and Ecosystem Preservation

Minimizing Toxic Chemicals and Pesticides

Education and Use of Responsible Transportation

Green Building Design Implementation & Construction

Renewable Energy Implementation

Integration of Sustainability into the Academic Curriculum

Ecologically Informed and Socially Sound Purchasing Decisions

For more information or to get involved visit
http://ucscsec.org/blueprint/index.html