The Gainesville Iguana

by Jenny Carr

A free-flowing Ocklawaha River is an essential component of improving the ecological health of Silver Springs, one of the largest and most famous springs in the world that is currently suffering from excessive algae, reduced flows, and a tragic loss of biodiversity. 

Dr. David Padgett, an associate professor of Geography at Tennessee State University, earned his PhD at the University of Florida where he was a major player in the civil rights movement. In this interview excerpt, Padgett [P] was interviewed by Justin Dunnavant [D]on April 10, 2012; transcript edited by Beth Grobman. Read the entire interview at tinyurl.com/Iguana2301.

D: What was the environment like in 1989 [when you came to UF]? 

P: It was a pretty volatile time for the Black students. There was a lot of the remnant Reagan-era attitude from the 1980s. You know, Clinton was just starting to get cranked up, so there was a bit of a change in attitude nationally, but still you had a lot of white students who still had that old Reagan, anti-affirmative action type mentality. 

by UF Young Democratic Socialists of America

The University of Florida (UF) students demand that ICE get out of our Swamp!

UF is directly collaborating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The UF Police Department (UFPD) participates in federal immigration enforcement through the 287(g) agreement, which empowers local law enforcement to act in a similar capacity to ICE agents.

 by Amy Trask

Almost eleven years ago, I was barefoot, covered in spit-up, and trying to make breakfast when the man I once trusted turned violent. Deadly. That morning, I became a statistic — one of the more than 100,000 domestic violence cases reported in Florida that year. But I also became something else: a survivor. 

by Jyoti Parmar, Executive Director, North Central Florida Indivisible

North Central Florida Indivisible (NCFI) has launched the Gainesville edition of Signs of Solidarity, a nationwide Indivisible project that helps local businesses stand in solidarity with immigrants and resist efforts to erode civil rights.

by Austin Britton and Cassie Urbenz, Graduate Assistants United

What is Impasse? Why are we here?

Graduate Assistants United has been negotiating the next full contract for over two years. 

by Tessa Barber and Cassie Urbenz,Graduate Assistants United

This statement [about pulling the plug on H1-B visas] is just another inflammatory, racist positioning designed to distract from the fact that those in Tallahassee refuse to address any real issues facing the working people in our state, while working tirelessly to hurt unions and international residents who are only here to get an education and give back.   
– Austin Britton, UF-GAU Co-President 

Governor Ron DeSantis stood on the University of South Florida campus on Wednesday, Oct. 22, behind a banner of “reclaiming higher education,” to order Florida’s colleges and universities to “pull the plug” on H1-B visas. 

by Joe Courter

Throughout my life, the Viet Nam war, Central American wars, and on to the Middle Eastern conflicts, Dick Cheney was a stubborn right wing ideologue. The peak of his prominence was after the 2001 9/11 attacks when he used his role as vice president under a wishy-washy George W. Bush to build the Executive Branch into a powerbase that, in the paranoid hysteria of the time, went unchecked. Surveillance of citizens, declaring wars based on flimsy intelligence or outright lies, and the creation of ICE all trace back to the early 2000s and Dick Cheney was a key driver of all that.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is moving forward with plans for the first trophy bear hunt in ten years — even as new data show a dramatic two-thirds decline in bear density in Osceola National Forest.

by Bobby Mermer, President, Gainesville Residents United, Inc., Chairperson, Let the Voters Decide, Coordinator, Alachua County Labor Coalition

The Yes Local Public Utilities campaign is announcing victory after Gainesville voters once again chose local control of their community-owned utility. 

The campaign is also calling for an end to litigation and an orderly transition of GRU governance back to our elected City Commission.

by Jason Bellamy-Fults

As an IBEW apprentice, I was taught that the most important objective on any jobsite is that every worker comes home safe at the end of the workday. 

Because those who prioritize profit and “efficiency” sometimes lose sight of that objective, we need a strong union, one that makes sure safety standards are being enforced and our collective bargaining agreement is being followed. 

by Joe Courter

For most all of you, the horrible things the MAGA gang have been doing is overwhelming to comprehend, outrage on outrage. We have ideals and principles for the directions our society should be going, and we see things being undone before our eyes. We commiserate and discuss with our friends, but for many, especially with the holidays coming up, we may be cast into situations with our others where we are around folks who are just fine with the way things are going. It may be that they don’t think about politics or follow the news, or worse, MAGA might be thrown right in our face, because it is their norm to bring it up. It could possibly be to bait you, or you may fall into the trap of baiting them.

Well, we went and did it: published a book collecting 13 years of the Iguana’s Publisher Notes.   

“Gainesville Iguana PubNotes 2012-2025” was made available Oct. 1 at a book launch at First Magnitude, and 75 of the hundred printed were sold! Wow. So we have printed another hundred, and will have them available by the time you are reading this.   

by Joe Courter

There has been an absurd sequential point-counterpoint going on with a small, humble stretch of sidewalk at SE 5th Ave and S. Main. It had already been having a hard time with neglect and abuse, but then parties unknown chose to make it pretty, by ascribing each of the seven panels with color. Yes, you guessed it, a representation to that famous mnemonic Roy G. Biv.