Alan Blueford’s family at the Oakland City Council Meeting on Tuesday May 15, 2012 – Photos “Justice for Alan!” and for all those murdered by the killers cops at the Oakland Police Department. As one of the Alan’s relatives said, people in the community are afraid to speak up because they fear what the Police would do. Deeply sad to know that the ones that are there to serve us and protect us, and paid by our taxes, are the ones inflicting pain and loss of human life in the … Continued
Re-posted from Albany Patch Read more on Albany Patch about the Gill Tract occupation. About 75 people reportedly came together at the Albany Library and Community Center on Tuesday evening for a “re-convergence” meeting called by Occupy the Farm following a police raid Monday morning along with 10 arrests later in the day. The group, perhaps up to 200 people, according to one attendee, marched along the westbound lanes of Marin Avenue to the Gill Tract after a short meeting. The group was set to leave Albany for Oakland to … Continued
Jeff Conant Note: this is an update of an article first written for Climate Connections. When the original was written and published, on May 8, the Gill Tract Farmers Collective was actively engaging local community members in reclaiming the last and best piece of arable farmland in the urban Bay Area. Today, a week later, the core of that collective is in jail awaiting charges to be filed. May 14, 2012 – When hundreds of people took up the banner of “Occupy the Farm” on April 22nd and laid … Continued
CBS NEWS Alan Wang BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — Those Occupy protesters who took over a piece of farmland owned by UC Berkeley are trying to figure out their next move. They were kicked off the land early Monday, but they not giving up. Early Thursday evening a small band of Occupy the Farm members and supporters gathered in front of the library. Occupy the Farm members say they’ll leave from the library and march to the UC Berkeley chancellor’s mansion, on campus. Many of them are still upset after being … Continued
ESCALATING IDENTITY Who Is Oakland: Anti-Oppression Activism, the Politics of Safety, and State Co-optation by CROATOAN Read the full pamphlet here (10k words). Synopsis below: This pamphlet – written by a group of people of color, women, and queers – is offered in deep solidarity with anyone committed to ending oppression and exploitation materially. It is a critique of dominant forms of identity-based activism in the Bay Area and beyond, from privilege theory to contemporary interpretations of the legacy of decolonization and national liberation struggles. The pamphlet addresses the institutional … Continued
the new media committee has just published a statement The Occupy Oakland Media Committee (OOMC) is a committee of Occupy Oakland* (OO) that makes use of the press, social media, multimedia, and other forms of media to connect with supporters by promoting actions events, workshops, and nurturing political dialogue. The OOMC will develop and adhere to policies regarding the following responsibilities: Connecting outside press inquiries to current and relevant sources of information – rotating “spokespersons,” contacts within committees, or document archives – primarily within OO but also within the greater … Continued
“OccupyStrategy”? 5 Questions for Eli Zigas, food systems and urban agriculture program manager at SPUR. In support of: Panel Discussion - Expanding Urban Agriculture on Public Land. May 16, SF. Interview by Willi Paul, Permaculture Exchange. – excerpt – “I think there’s no question that in the urbanized parts of the Bay Area, there is a strong demand for space where people can grow food or learn about growing food. And since those efforts often require more land than what’s available in an individual yard, people are looking to public land for space. And, … Continued
Justice Begins with Seeds Conference – Interview #2 with GMO Educator & Presenter Pamm Larry, labelgmos.org. Presented by the biosafetyalliance.org. May 18 – 19. By Willi Paul, Planetshifter.com Magazine. http://planetshifter.com/node/2015 WP: Tell us about the forces that are fighting to not label GMO foods? PL: “They are the chemical companies that produce the genetically engineered seeds and all the chemicals that the farmer has to buy to use them. They are the large monoculture agribusiness companies who are shoving out small farmers and poisoning us, the soil and our planet. … Continued
The flier for this weekend’s events has been posted on this site. Please check out all the cool workshops the Gill Tract Project has for both Saturday and Sunday this three week anniversary weekend to preserve urban farming in Albany! Come for the workshops but stay for the community visioning meeting! Phat Beets and the Ecology Center are coming. We hope to welcome everyone who wants to know more about the undeveloped acres of the Gill Tract. Our community will be the beginning and result of planning for this land.
Justice Begins with Seeds Conference – Interview with Presenter Katherine Zavala , IDEX. Presented by the biosafetyalliance.org. May 18 – 19, 2012, SF. By Willi Paul, Planetshifter.com Magazine. The purpose of the upcoming Justice Begins with Seeds conference is to grow the food sovereignty movement by advancing learning and building coalitions between the GMO counter-movement in the US, and other movements thriving to develop sustainable food systems, alleviate climate change through soil practices, defend the rights of indigenous communities, reduce social inequalities and encourage citizen democracy against corporatocracy. http://planetshifter.com/node/2014