SANTA CRUZ, CA - I was delighted to see thousands of people marching from the Santa Cruz County Building to the Mission Plaza. There has not been a demonstration this large here in many years (Bruce Bratton, are you in?). I believe this is only a small taste of organized mass resistance to war in Santa Cruz.
Most of my time was spent conversing with people and distributing flyers about Santa Cruz Indymedia. Most people I spoke with were very excited to learn about Santa Cruz Indymedia. I specifically made a point to try and explain Indymedia to the hundreds of photographers and videographers that participated in the march and rally.
Eventually I found the Santa Cruz Indymedia table where Lisa and Ariel were distributing literature, mainly about Indynewsreal (Wednesday 7:00pm on Channel 27).
At some point I ended up near the stage and heard a lady giving an energetic speech and explaining that the media does a poor job of covering the peace movement. This comment was the main reason I spoke on the microphone without prior consent.
Deep in my heart, I felt that the people at today's rally needed to know, "Santa Cruz Indymedia is a non-corporate, non-commercial source of local news and information. Santa Cruz Indymedia belongs to a network of over 100 Independent Media Centers spanning the globe. The Independent Media Center (IMC) is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting social and economic justice. The IMC is a truly cooperative effort of hundreds of independent media organizations.
On Santa Cruz Indymedia you can easily publish news in text, and include photographs, audio, and video. Your stories and analysis go right up on our newswire. You can even add comments and additions to other stories posted on the site. Santa Cruz Indymedia has dedicated itself to improving coverage of local issues and events."
Unfortunately, I only got to mention that the Independent Media Center was not controlled by any corporation or individual before having my head restrained (by a staff member from the Resource Center for Nonviolence and former personal photographer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and the microphone turned off. I apologize to him for speaking without consent and I meant no disrespect to him or the other fine organizers of today's excellent peace rally.
He was then even kind enough to mention Independent Media several times after I left the stage. I am sure many people thought many different things about my action, and that is fine with me. Looking back on it, I realized that my action, though lacking some tact, was what I consider to be in the spirit of Indymedia.
When we have something to report, we report it. We do not seek approval to post our text, photos, audio, and video. We do not wait in a line to have our voices heard.
We know that the mainstream media will not do a quality job of covering the peace movement or any other movement involving social and economic justice.
Santa Cruz Indymedia is dedicated to providing a space for publishing under-reported, misreported, and otherwise non-reported news and events.
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Crossposted at Santa Cruz Indymedia.
Comments
Go Bradley!
15 Feb 2003
by Van
Hell yeah dude! Rock that mic and get yo' Indytude on! B-)
Seriously, your diplomatic faux pas sounds like it could not have been better executed. I wish I could have seen it, but I didn't stick around.
Good show, man, good show.
-Van
Come Again?
15 Feb 2003
by V-Man
Bradley wrote:
"having my head restrained (by a staff member from the Resource Center for Nonviolence and former personal photographer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and the microphone turned off..."
I wasn't there to witness this, but that seems pretty authoritarian and not very much in the spirit of non-violence to me. I'd like to hear more about this incident...
"Yeah, Woo Hoo!"
16 Feb 2003
by Sharon Schmidt
when you jumped on stage it definately disrupted the flow of things but it was actually pretty funny. You could of held up a sign for a couple of hours and passed out flyers that might have been more effective. Anyway I'm sure you did all that too... What really matters is that you made a grand exit and that kicked ass 🙂 "Yeah, Woo Hoo, Yeah, Independent Media, Yeah..."