Quick Guide to the Anti-Maskers in Santa Cruz

Photo: Bernadette Alvarado and David Rodriguez, both mask-less, protest at Trader Joe's in Santa Cruz on February 13.

Since 2019, the core organizers of the Santa Cruz Voluntaryists have been David Rodriguez, Nick Clifford, and Tim Welch. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, two "outside agitators" joined Rodriguez to organize numerous anti-mask protests in Santa Cruz: Mike Mattingly, a radical anti-vaccination protester from Campbell, CA, and Howard Lichtman, a right-wing conspiracy blogger from the East Coast whose pen name is "Etienne de la Boetie 2." Using that pen name, Lichtman has in the past written in support of the militia movement.