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Winter Break at the UCSC Tree-sit
Dear friends and supporters of the UCSC tree-sit,
December 7 marked the first month of the tree-sit on Science Hill. In that month, we have been able to do a lot: discussions about the LRDP, Biomedicine, the use of police force and the future of our campus have been sprouting up all over the place. Connections have been made with off-campus community members, many forums have been held and more are planned, and a campus coalition of students, graduate students, and faculty has formed to plan other forms of resistance outside of the tree-sit.
December 7 marked the first month of the tree-sit on Science Hill. In that month, we have been able to do a lot: discussions about the LRDP, Biomedicine, the use of police force and the future of our campus have been sprouting up all over the place. Connections have been made with off-campus community members, many forums have been held and more are planned, and a campus coalition of students, graduate students, and faculty has formed to plan other forms of resistance outside of the tree-sit.
A long struggle is ahead of us to actually see solid changes being made, but the dialogue that has begun is an excellent start. Before the tree-sit went up, few students understood what the LRDP was, and there was almost no ongoing discussion about it. The tree-sit has reopened that conversation and given space for people to imagine different possibilities for UCSC's future, and will continue to do that for as long as it is needed..
Winter break has just begun, and we will be celebrating this time by taking a break from the space under the trees. There will continue to be people in the trees and they will still need ongoing support, but we will not keep the 24/7 occupation going. The point of occupying that space was to be able to reach out and educate people about UCSC's plans to add 4,500 students and to destroy 120 acres of forest. We have definitely been able to do that over the past month, but with no one on campus over break, we realize that there are a lot of other things for us to do.
Please feel free to continue to come visit the tree-sitters, and to share some holiday cheer with them. Be on the look out for fliers announcing upcoming events both below the trees and around town related to these issues. I know many people are planning to spend the Solstice on the night of Dec.21 under the trees.
Many exciting plans are in the works for next quarter! There is already a World Cafe planned for Jan. 10 at Kresge Town Hall. The World Cafe is a conversational process where everyone who attends gets to brainstorm ideas for creative action to accomplish common goals related to the future of UCSC.
Again, thank you for the support you have already shown. Please continue to support the tree-sitters in whatever ways possible as we head into winter.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Charles
(831) 430-6791
LRDPaction.media [at] gmail.com
Winter break has just begun, and we will be celebrating this time by taking a break from the space under the trees. There will continue to be people in the trees and they will still need ongoing support, but we will not keep the 24/7 occupation going. The point of occupying that space was to be able to reach out and educate people about UCSC's plans to add 4,500 students and to destroy 120 acres of forest. We have definitely been able to do that over the past month, but with no one on campus over break, we realize that there are a lot of other things for us to do.
Please feel free to continue to come visit the tree-sitters, and to share some holiday cheer with them. Be on the look out for fliers announcing upcoming events both below the trees and around town related to these issues. I know many people are planning to spend the Solstice on the night of Dec.21 under the trees.
Many exciting plans are in the works for next quarter! There is already a World Cafe planned for Jan. 10 at Kresge Town Hall. The World Cafe is a conversational process where everyone who attends gets to brainstorm ideas for creative action to accomplish common goals related to the future of UCSC.
Again, thank you for the support you have already shown. Please continue to support the tree-sitters in whatever ways possible as we head into winter.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Charles
(831) 430-6791
LRDPaction.media [at] gmail.com
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All of the people at the Treesit share responsibility, whether it is accepted or not.
It is irresponsible to post pictures of innocent people just as you do not want pictures taken of innocent protestors. There are those who will act regardles of your stated intent and you share in the responsibility for those actions.
Immature vandalism such as slashing Vapool tires or those of the tree service pictured here on another link destroys the credibility of the LRDP Resistance. Again, was this just an innocent photo? This has become a continuing pattern of thoughtless disrespect of working people and disregard for actual consequences. These are not blows against the empire; they appear to be deteriorating and narcissistic attempts to get press attention or acts of destructive revenge.
Revenge against who - the oppressors - the custodians, gardeners and others who who actually care for the place that has been occupied? Are you willing to take responsibility for working together for change or just reaking havoc? The Treesit is held accountable.
You share accountability with two people from the Treesit who tried to empty a five gallon bucket of feces, urine, redwood duff, sticks, dirt and paper into a toilet in a nearby building. It created a huge disgusting mess that was left for the custodians - once again cleaning up after people who supposedly care about their labor struggle.
Thursday a gardener had to deal with several bottles of urine in a bag in a trash can that was half full of rain water, risking potential exposure to disease. Bottles of urine have also been found in campus recycling bins, and the list goes on. How can there be any respect or trust in a community with this type of behavior? There is no autonomy when people act like children, relying on the those around them to clean up their waste.
Please get it together or get out of the trees and quit pretending to care about anything beyond your selves. Model the respect you want. Listen if you want to be heard. Demonstrate the seriousness of your cause. Regardless of what you say, you are known by your actions.
Your collective actions do not speak well of this effort and discredit the causes you say you champion. For the sake of the LRDP Resistance, Gaia, the ecological future of the University or whatever it is that you represent; find a path that does less harm and build bridges with the people whose lives you have occupied.
We all need to show some accountability, take responsibility for individual actions and stop demeaning the collective effort. Destructive acts give reasons for warrants and alienate potential supporters.
Now is the only chance to make a real change.
What will you do now?
It is irresponsible to post pictures of innocent people just as you do not want pictures taken of innocent protestors. There are those who will act regardles of your stated intent and you share in the responsibility for those actions.
Immature vandalism such as slashing Vapool tires or those of the tree service pictured here on another link destroys the credibility of the LRDP Resistance. Again, was this just an innocent photo? This has become a continuing pattern of thoughtless disrespect of working people and disregard for actual consequences. These are not blows against the empire; they appear to be deteriorating and narcissistic attempts to get press attention or acts of destructive revenge.
Revenge against who - the oppressors - the custodians, gardeners and others who who actually care for the place that has been occupied? Are you willing to take responsibility for working together for change or just reaking havoc? The Treesit is held accountable.
You share accountability with two people from the Treesit who tried to empty a five gallon bucket of feces, urine, redwood duff, sticks, dirt and paper into a toilet in a nearby building. It created a huge disgusting mess that was left for the custodians - once again cleaning up after people who supposedly care about their labor struggle.
Thursday a gardener had to deal with several bottles of urine in a bag in a trash can that was half full of rain water, risking potential exposure to disease. Bottles of urine have also been found in campus recycling bins, and the list goes on. How can there be any respect or trust in a community with this type of behavior? There is no autonomy when people act like children, relying on the those around them to clean up their waste.
Please get it together or get out of the trees and quit pretending to care about anything beyond your selves. Model the respect you want. Listen if you want to be heard. Demonstrate the seriousness of your cause. Regardless of what you say, you are known by your actions.
Your collective actions do not speak well of this effort and discredit the causes you say you champion. For the sake of the LRDP Resistance, Gaia, the ecological future of the University or whatever it is that you represent; find a path that does less harm and build bridges with the people whose lives you have occupied.
We all need to show some accountability, take responsibility for individual actions and stop demeaning the collective effort. Destructive acts give reasons for warrants and alienate potential supporters.
Now is the only chance to make a real change.
What will you do now?
For some possible historical perspective on the earlier Elfland struggle of 1991-2, check out the following archive (about an hour into the archive) which features a December 1991 interview with some Elfland activists at UCSC. The archive may take a day or two to show up.
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb071230.mp3
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb071230.mp3
The audio interviews recorded on December 21, 1991 about UCSC and Elfland are very interesting. You can hear the interviews by downloading the mp3 and then going to 2:31 (two hours, thirty-one minutes) into the mp3. The Elfland interviews end at 3:08 (three hours, eight minutes) into the mp3. In the audio, we hear Robert Norse interview people who loved Elfland, including what sound like a student and a staff member at UCSC. Gary and Duane are two of the people interviewed. *These are my notes from listening to the audio. Robert, thank you posting this. We would like to hear more of your archival tapes about Elfland.
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