Author Archives: laborsolidaritycommittee

This open letter by Edwin Lindo, SF Hunger Striker for Justice and Candidate, District 9 Board of Supervisors, is in response to Mr. Halloran’s most recent newsletter to his rank and file officers. Dear Martin Halloran, You and your mob-like leadership of the San Francisco Police Officer Association have proven to be a rotten influence in our beautiful city, preventing us from being the progressive champion we should be. The POA is a para-military organization that fails its creed of being a true union — proving its failure by threatening its members, the public, and elected … Continued

Watching Them Watching Us. A Victory in the Political Battle Against Surveillance in Silicon Valley. After Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013, the Oakland Privacy Working Group (OPWG) catalyzed the effort that led to Oakland’s proposed Domain Awareness Center being reduced to the size of a bathtub. And in that two year process the concept that the use of surveillance technology should be subject to the people’s input BEFORE being installed and the people’s oversight AFTERWARD was established in principle. Now, Santa Clara County has become the first jurisdiction in the … Continued

Jill Stein, candidate for the Green Party nomination for President of the United States, participated in a guerrilla gardening exercise through the fence of the Community Garden after she spoke at the invite of Berkeley Post Office Defenders (BPOD) and the local Green Party on June 3rd, 2016 on the steps of the downtown Berkeley Post Office. In late April Postal officials had installed a metal fence, blocking access to the BPOD and First They Came for the Homeless initiated Community Garden at the Post Office. Two weeks earlier they … Continued

By Oakland Privacy Working Group With its origins in 1981, the New York City-based Left Forum recently completed its three day run from May 20-22, 2016, cementing its claim to be  the nation’s premier progressive conference with some 5000 attendees. Assembled were a cross-section of activists, intellectuals, public interest organizations, and academics. A panel from the Oakland Privacy Working Group (“OPWG”) was invited to share their nationally recognized success at curtailing the advancing surveillance state.  Their sustained advocacy led to the dramatic scale-back of a planned surveillance hub with the … Continued

It seems unduly harsh to let the vegetables die uneaten in the course of suppressing free speech and preventing access to federal land. The Honorable Loretta Lynch Attorney General of the United States Dear Madam Attorney General: As I hope you know, protesters whose goal was to protect and defend Federal property from private encroachment set up a 24-hour information center on a corner of the land surrounding the Berkeley Main Post Office in Berkeley, California. That direct action presence was in place for over seventeen months. A free box … Continued

Please help local activists and former Occupiers with the expenses involved in attending this year’s Left Forum in NYC (5/20/16 – 5/22/16) where they will share their story with others in an effort to empower others to fight big surveillance in their own cities and towns across America. The Domain Awareness Center (DAC) was a planned surveillance hub which aimed to integrate public and private cameras and sensors all over the City of Oakland into one $11,000,000 mass surveillance system. After mounting opposition to the DAC in 2013 and 2014, … Continued

Supporters of the #Frisco5 Hunger Strikers called a vigil for 3:00 PM on Friday, 5/6 at the UN Plaza, a block away from City Hall. But it was a diversion – a larger group entered San Francisco City Hall and took up a presence outside the Mayor’s office about 4:00 PM. As the evening wore on more supporters, now being referred to as the #Frisco500, came and occupied the lobby of the building. As of 8:00 PM when City Hall officially closed the protesters – along with a large presence … Continued

Monday, May 2 Dear Ed Lee, We are the Frisco Five and we have offered our lives for the city we love. We know you are hoping that we are just a passing fancy who will grow tired and wither away. That is what you have experienced in the past. We aren’t going anywhere. This time is different. We are rejecting the little crumbs that you have offered in the form of COPS reviews and empty reforms propped up by your token community. We would rather go without than taste … Continued

On Thursday, April 28th, 2016, The BART Board of Directors stopped, at least temporarily, the BART Police plan to install Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) at MacArthur BART – a pilot program to surveil all those entering and exiting the parking group. Alert members of the Oakland Privacy Working Group (OPWG) noticed the buried item on the BART Board’s agenda, and three OPWG members attended the 9:00 AM meeting to testify against this proposal going forward. 5B. Automated License Plate Reader Technology.     i. Test Deployment Report.     … Continued

Berkeley Post Office Occupation Raided This Morning, Dismantled, Hauled Away     At 5:00AM this morning, US Postal Police and Inspectors, with support from the Berkeley Police Dept., arrived at the Main Berkeley Post Office, 2000 Alston Way, and literally dragged protesters out of their tents, seized all their belongings, and tore down the information tent, the shelter for our 17-month occupation. While trespassing was given by Postal Police as reason for the raid, no protesters were cited for any infraction. Two groups of activists – First They Came for … Continued