In the first hour, we learned about our local rights based control ordinance that would halt aerial spraying and other forms of pesticide applications. What this rights-based, local control ordinance does is drive our rights into the governing structure of law. Without that, our rights are ignored and, in effect, denied. Our.right to âpursue and obtain safetyâ is spelled out in the CA Constitution.
Weâre transforming the discussion. Weâre taught that the problem is the harm confronting our communityâsuch as pesticide poisoning. In actuality, that is the symptom, not the disease. The real problem is that in the places where we live, we have been stripped of the power to make the decisions about those issues that affect us directly. Our existing rights are being ignored. The people affected by a decision should be the ones to make that decision. www.PeopleAgainstChemicalTrespass.org.
Local decision-making is fundamental to a real democracy. Where is democracy when unelected state agencies make decisions that harm the health, environment, and livelihood of people in our county? If those directly affected by policy decisions are not the ones who make them âdo we really have a democracy? And if we donât have self-government where we live, just where on earth do we have it? Working through the regulatory path, though necessary, does not protect our safety. The EPA and USDA are designed to decide HOW MUCH harm can be done to people, to decide the trade-off between big agribusiness profits â¦..against our health and safety. Our health and safety should not have a price tag. We jump through countless hoops, learn to become experts on technical data, and our scientists and their scientists duke it out over dataâbut the real issue here is who has the right to decide about what goes into our bodies? Please check out the website, www.PeopleAgainstChemicalTrespass.org
In the second hour, Julia Lonergan, author of "The Haunting of MIssion Santa Cruz 1708-1876", we learned the untold story of Mission Santa Cruz, presently the city of Santa Cruz. During this time California was Mexico and many royal Mexican and Spanish families of the peninsulares that governed California in the post war period, 1848-1876 were murdered.
In the third hour, Sampson Wolfe, Mark Anquoe and John Powers talked about the importance of freeing the Native American political prisoner who has been falsly incarcerated for over 30 years. They gave a historical overview, the facts of the case, the continued injustices and what can be done to support Leonard.
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