Rally For Rights followed by Candlelight Vigil

Throughout the world, regular, ordinary people are rebelling against the entrenched power of the economic elites and their political henchmen who control our lives. Most recently, people in Turkey and Brazil have stood up and shouted, "We're mad as hell and won't take it anymore!"

Meanwhile, here in the United States, our rights are being eroded and trampled upon. Our own government spies on us, reading our e-mails and monitoring our phone calls. Government officials seem more interested in punishing whistleblowers than in returning our rights to us. Access to public spaces, even for purposes protected by the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is limited more and more by local lawmakers.

It doesn't matter whether the government is led by reactionary Islamists in Turkey, secular social democrats in Brazil, or conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats in the U.S. The systems they rule over are the same, and serve only the interests of the 1%.

The crumbs that we the people receive can be snatched away whenever the going gets tough. When we protest against the banksters and their cronies and the attacks on our living standards that follow, we are met with the force of the Police State. Now we have learned, by the heroic disclosures of NSA consultant Edward Snowden, that our every word and tweet can and will be used against us if we dare to struggle for a fair and just society.

Join us at 7:30 pm Saturday, July 6th at the Santa Cruz clock tower for a rally in solidarity with the brave men and women around the world who are standing up to these abuses. Protesters in Turkey and Brazil have faced down tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets simply for trying to assemble. U.S. patriots such as Edward Snowden face jail time and possibly torture if captured, while political activists are spied on and monitored merely for criticizing the U.S. government, banksters and multinational corporations.

At dusk, we will hold a candlelight vigil for our own rights, as well as the rights of the Turkish and Brazilian protesters that have been violated.

Speak up now while it's still legal!