Calendar

OccupyForum presents…

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!

Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue

on all sides of these critically important issues!

Indigenous and Tribal Issues

in the United States and around the world:

Regarding Sovereignty and Self-Government

with Deni Leonard

The issues of Indigenous Sovereignty relate directly to the colonization of all Indigenous peoples around the world. The pathology of the predatory hegemonic imperialism of Western consciousness has been the experience of all contacts with Indigenous people, based on the assimilation to Bankrupt Morality within Western Public Policies in which they are now committing Filicide– destroying their own children to obtain objects which promise evidence of power.

As Chief Seattle stated, “What you do to Mother Earth, you do to yourself.” We are all connected, and in the context of interconnectedness, that consciousness is necessary for all of us to create the social revolution to protect the living species and the physical bioconnectedness of our existence.

We must all be the power of change!

Deni Leonard is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon and has lived in San Francisco since the middle 1970s. He arrived to teach at U.C. Berkeley and stayed to develop new initiatives for economic and political strategies for the Indigenous people. He has taught many seminars on finance, sovereignty, and business development.

Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.

On Friday, March 11, the City Staff published two reports for the Community and Economic Development Committee. One dealt with the proposed Impact Fee ordinance and another dealt with the reprogramming of funds originally budgeted for new affordable housing. The changes proposed in these reports threaten to gut much-needed funding for affordable housing for low-income Oakland workers and residents and disproportionately impact communities of color.

Will you contact Mayor Schaaf, Councilmember-at-Large Rebecca Kaplan, and your council member? (sample email). Will you attend the Prayer Vigil and Committee meeting next Tuesday?

Tuesday Vigil and Committee Hearing
1pm – Prayer Vigil on City Hall Steps
1:30pm – Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee, City Hall, Sgt. Mark Dunakin Room – 1st Floor

Sign up to speak HERE

Be sure to mark item 3 (Impact Fee) and item 4 (NOFA). Contact Matt@ebho.org for suggested talking points.

Please join SELC, the East Bay Community Law Center, and NoBAWC on Tuesday, March 22 in Berkeley for a participatory training and Q&A with legal experts on employee handbook basics for democratically run, worker-centered businesses.
In this teach-in on employee handbook basics for worker cooperatives, nonprofits, and other social enterprises, we will discuss a short list of essential policies for employee handbooks and why your organization should have them, especially from a legal and risk management perspective. After a short training, we will have an open discussion about novel employee policies and lessons learned from employee policies enacted at worker-centered organizations.

This event is intended for current worker-owners, social enterprises, and non-profits who want to start drafting or improve their organization’s Employee Handbook. If you need to develop policies and want to discuss how employee policies have (or have not) been successfully implemented in a worker-centered organization, this teach-in is for you!

Co-hosted with the Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives!

Participatory Budgeting Workshop at Oakland City Hall, March 23rd, 6-8pm.

— CDP-Oakland (@OAKCDP) March 16, 2016

March 23: HIP HOP FOR CHANGE and PHSS Event

Please join Hip Hop for Change and Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS) for an evening of powerful Spoken Word and discussion from 6pm to 9pm at the Niebyl-Proctor Library in Oakland, CA.

This event is in solidarity with the CA prisoners who challenged the torture of solitary confinement and created the historic Agreement to End Hostilities.  We hope to help cultivate strong community connections inside and outside prisons and grow community support in the prisoner class struggle.  The work to end solitary confinement and create true social justice continues.  Social justice does not include destroying lives, families and communities with incarceration, isolation, and torture.

Right now we must stop the cruel Sleep Deprivation that began many months ago against people in solitary at Pelican Bay and CA Central Women’s Facility.

Wednesday, March 23rd is a day of Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement and, nationwide, groups are conducting actions as part of Together to End Solitary. This event in Oakland is connected to a nationwide momentum to end solitary confinement.

Please share the Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/973551582700324/

hiphopforchange.org

prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com

PHSS is excited to collaborate with Hip Hop for Change!  For three years, Hip Hop for Change has been educating youth about social justice issues, Hip Hop culture, history, and the power of self-expression!!! They volunteer with organizations that are uplifting historically marginalized community, they start gardens and donate thousands of hours. Hip Hop for Change throws Hip Hop shows that provide platforms for artists with empowering social justice-oriented narratives!!

Film evenings begin with optional potluck refreshments & social half hour at 7:00 pm, followed by the films at 7:30 pm, followed by optional discussion after the films.

DOUBLE FEATURE

First Film
LOOK UP! A SOCIAL ACTION DOCUMENTARY
By George Barnes
Second Film
GEOENGINEERING DANGERS DICUSSED BY OFFICIALS,
AGENCY SCIENTISTS, AND OTHER EXPERTS.
by Dane Wigington

For a description of this film, see the website at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daGuPLXVunQ

Humanist Hall is wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

Unions and Grassroots Groups to Unite for 2016 Oakland Elections

Oakland Justice Coalition to Support Three Key Ballot Measures on Housing, Police and Workers’ Rights

Oakland — This Thursday the Oakland Justice Coalition will launch their effort to support progressive ballot initiatives and candidates in 2016, uniting a diverse coalition of groups around shared priorities. The Coalition will outline their plan to achieve huge wins for three key 2016 ballot measures through collaboration and solidarity across struggles.

WHO: The Oakland Justice Coalition includes the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Oakland Education Association, the Anti Police-Terror Project, Block by Block Organizing Network, the Coalition for Police Accountability, the Community Democracy Project, the Oakland Green Party, the Oakland Alliance, the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly, the Oakland Tenants Union and Socialist Alternative.

WHAT: A rally and press conference to launch the Oakland Justice Coalition, with visuals of diverse and unexpected groups waving signs and coming together

Farm workers and allies from Familias Unidas por la Justicia union in the state of Washington have launched a west coast tour to share their stories about Injustice in the Sakuma Berry’s strawberry fields, and the important role we can all play in advancing the struggle by boycotting Driscolls. Join them at PLACE for Sustainable Living this Thursday at 12 to learn how to support the boycott of Driscolls berries.

* Join the Boycott *
Here are some resources from Familias Unidas por la Justicia: http://boycottsakumaberries.com/take-action/boycott-tool-kit/

* Other tour stops in the East Bay *
https://www.facebook.com/events/465789166953648/

5-7pm Monday March 28, 2016 at the Center for Latino Policy and Research, 2420 Bowditch Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720

tentatively, 2-330 pm Tuesday, March 29, 2016 at the Multicultural Community Center, on the UC Berkeley campus.

TBD, April 13th at UC Gill Tract Community Farm

On December 2nd, 26-year-old Mario Woods was murdered execution style by 5 police officers who discharged 40 rounds, hitting Mario 20+ times. Chief Suhr stnds by this racist murder and refuses to hold his officers accountable.

Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition will be holding a Townhall meeting at Joseph Lee Gym in the Bayview.
Our purpose is to show the community the original footage of the murder of Our Brother Our Son Mario Woods.
We will share with the community our demands:

*Fire Chief Suhr or he resigns
*The cops who murdered Mario Woods be charged with murder
*Independent investigation that is defined by us.

We will also be giving updates on the Coalition and you will have an opportunity to meet coalition members and better yet also have the opportunity to join the movement for Justice.

We can’t Stop We won’t Stop
Until Justice reigns down on our community.
If you believe in Justice or if you are willing to fight for Justice then we will see you there.
Can’t wait to meet you.
Power to the People

Refreshments served.
Justice4MarioWoods Coalition

Local Premier: One Night Only! Reserve tickets before March 13th to make this screening happen.

Calling for people to put down their guns and pick up shovels, these “gangster gardeners” are creating an oasis in one of the most notorious places in America.

Online only, no tickets available at the theater.

Facebook.com/CanYouDigThisFilm

@CanYouDigThisFilm #plantsomeshit

We recognize that crucifixion is not a thing of the past–that God’s children all over the world are still being brutalized and killed because they draw attention to an unjust status quo, sometimes by their actions and often simply because of who they are. From Oakland to Ferguson to Honduras, the crucifixion continues. (And Christianity has been complicit in much of it.)

The cross is not first and foremost a religious symbol; it is a symbol of state-sponsored and state-sanctioned terror.

In the New Jim Crow America, the Body of Christ is Black. In the past year alone, seven Black people have been killed by police in Oakland, and scores of Black families have been forced to leave the city through skyrocketing rents and rapid influx of wealth and whiteness. Join us for a powerful Good Friday public liturgy and action to call on our local officials to end the crucifixion of Black life in our city.

We will gather Friday, March 25, at noon in front of Oakland City Hall.

Our demands are as follows:
1) Lay down your weapons! Take immediate steps to demilitarize the Oakland Police Department.
2) Adopt the proposal from the Coalition on Police Accountability for an elected community police review board to hold the OPD accountable to the people.
3) Work with Alameda County to find ways to decouple the District Attorney from OPD so that officers will be held legally accountabie for their actions.
4) Immediately cut OPD funding and reallocate those funds to affordable housing and health care for low income people.

We humbly welcome all people, regardless of faith tradition, to stand in solidarity at this event.

Hashtags for the event:
#TheCrucifixionContinues
#RememberingIsRevolutionary
#TheBodyofChristIsBlack

London-based Selma James is an internationally known speaker, author & organizer. Founder of the Wages for Housework Campaign, author Sex, Race and Class – The Perspective of Winning.

For the fourth year Kenneth Harding Jr Foundation will represent San Francisco for FTP weekend, this year Kiss My Black Arts collective will be co-hosting. More details to come please check the event website. KHJF will donate coats and is asking for community help to provide lunches, other food and hygiene products.

BE THERE THIS SATURDAY — TEAM ASSIGNMENTS, TRAINING!

WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS! Thousands of qualified voter signatures are required to put our Charter Amendment on the NOVEMBER BALLOT!

BRING A FRIEND.

JOIN US FOR A SHIFT: MASS COPWATCHING

· Friday March 11, 8 PM – 11 PM
· Thursday March 17, 5 PM – 7 PM
· Saturday March 26, 8 PM – 11 PM

Since October 2015, Berkeley Copwatch has been holding “mass copwatch” events that invite folks to join us for a shift. It’s been fun and very empowering to have a group of copwatchers patrolling our city and on the scene when police stop people.

This month we have three shifts scheduled. The Thursday shift will likely be a walking shift. Please join us; we will train you in the essentials of copwatching, how to document and how to stay safe!

Contact us at (510) 548-0425 or berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com to learn where we will be meeting.