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Author Archives: laborsolidaritycommittee
Long Haul community center in Berkeley faces displacement due to landlord’s proposed development
Berkeley’s volunteer-operated, non-profit radical community center Long Haul is threatened with displacement by a proposal to demolish its building to build an 8-story, $40-50 million housing development. Long Haul has been located at 3124 Shattuck Avenue since 1979. Long Haul operates a radical library, historical archive and community center that hosts meetings, events and grassroots organizations such as Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution (NEED), Slingshot collective, East Bay Co-housing, Sunrise Movement, Reprographixxx Print Room and the Anarchist Study Group. Long Haul’s public reading room is open 6 days a week and … Continued
Farewell, Einstein.
Farewell Einstein. You were a very good dog. And you would have made an excellentMayor of Oakland; a Mayor who cared about the down and out. Einstein was an active participant in the Occupy Oakland General Assembly for 10 years, helping his person Ed Biow with feeding the needy, homeless and hungry. It is safe to say that neither Jean Quan nor squirrels bothered the GA attendees at Oscar Grant Plaza when Einstein was present. Einstein lived to the age of 16, which in dog years is, well, a woofing … Continued
10th Anniversary of Occupy Oakland Takeover of OGP
Ten years past today.History was created.Whose streets? Our plaza! The occupation…Of OGP began at…4 PM. Fitting. Fucked up and bullshit.Jean Quan looked down from on high.A world upside-down. Einstein a young dog.Prepping his run for mayor.We were younger too. Inequality.Banks bailed out. People sold out.Police violence. Same old, same old same?Or on precipice of change?Relate what you think! 69398
Oakland Privacy Announces Paid Privacy Advocacy Fellowship
Oakland Privacy is thrilled to announce that thanks to the generosity of the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment and the fiscal sponsorship of the Omni Commons, OP will be hosting paid part-time fellowships in 2021-2022 and again in 2022-2023. Fellows will be working on a variety of special projects, including functional global privacy controls, public records and rapid response structures. Application Link These fellowships will be significant opportunities for grad students (or people with a similar-level background) interested in operationalizing privacy rights work on the ground and getting … Continued
Berkeley, Tear Gas and the Police Chief
Please contact and/or attend the Berkeley City Council tonight to oppose the chief of police’s reactionary response to the proposed use of force policy. Thursday, July 23, 2020, 6:00 P.M.Please use this URLhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/81015840931. See: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2020/07_Jul/City_Council__07-23-2020__(6pm)_-_Special_Meeting_Agenda.aspx Scroll down to Item 3. Background: the Police Review Commission, after a years-long process, has proposed a stronger policy to curtail BPD use of force. Also, last month the city council banned use of pepper spray in crowd control during the pandemic, and banned use of tear gas in ALL circumstances and PERMANENTLY (strengthened by … Continued
Observations and Reflections on The History and Practice of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly In Its First Years
by Margaret Rossof As I write this in April, 2013, the General Assembly of Occupy Oakland is still meeting every Sunday afternoon. A couple of dozen people, sometimes more, show up. They may be in their twenties or seventies, or anywhere in between, with occasional children and teens. There is an evident diversity of cultural heritages. As far as I know they include people identifying as anarchists of different stripes, members of Trotskyist organizations, Green Party activists and recovering Maoists. Many, including some of the baby boomers, were never politically … Continued
Oakland Police Chief Fired by Police Commission
Thursday Oakland’s civilian Police Commission unanimously recommended that Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick be terminated and Mayor Libby Schaaf approved. (https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-Police-Commission-considers-firing-Police-15072601.php) This may be the first time in the United States that a Police Commission with the power to do so has fired a Police Chief. Voter-passed 2016 Measure LL allows 5 members of the volunteer police oversight commission to dismiss the police chief. (Because the Chief was fired ‘without cause’, according the the City Charter, the Mayor’s consent was necessary; with cause, five Commissioners, with or without the Mayor’s consent, … Continued
Consider the Homeless – It is Cold Outside
This message was sent to the Mayor of Berkeley, all City Councilmembers and the City Manager. Please feel free to forward to others that might help. *Consider The Homeless! does what little it can to help those livin**g on the streets to STAY ALIVE! **It is a bottomless pit of need! I challenge all officials of the city of Berkeley* (both elected and assigned)*to read this all the way through.. all the way! *I also ask that you acknowledge receipt of this email and show me the respect of replying. … Continued
Strike Debt Bay Area Announces Campaign to Eliminate Millions in Medical Debt for East Bay Residents!
It sounds crazy, but it really works. With the right knowledge, licensing and doggedness, a group can buy up medical debt for pennies of the dollar and then, literally, RIP. IT. UP. Strike Debt, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, pioneered this idea back in 2012-2013, when they bought up and retired some $36,000,000 in debt, calling attention to the medical debt problem in these United States and getting massive press coverage. They called it the Rolling Jubilee. Now Strike Debt Bay Area is doing the same thing – on … Continued