Calendar

The Communist Party USA (Oakland/Berkeley)
invites you to a discussion: Police Militarization
Suggested Readings:

Ana Conner &Tara Tabassi, ‘Ending Police Militarization, One City at a Time’
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33001-ending-police-militarization-one-city-at-a-tim

Stephen Graham, Cities Under Seige, The New Military Urbanism
http://libcom.org/files/Graham,%20Stephen%20-%20Cities%20Under%20Siege.%20The%20New%20Military%20Urbanism_0.pdf This is a book length piece – worth reading introduction and skimming the rest

*****ATTENTION******
Hunger for Justice SF
Community meeting
Today at UCSF 2pm
400 Parnassus St
UN cafeteria on 2nd Flr#Frisco5 #Frisco500

— LolaLolaLola (@Lola_Casanova) May 7, 2016

From the Peace and Freedom Party Platform: “The drive for greater profits by multi-national corporations which direct U.S. foreign policy is a major cause of war. We stand for peace between nations and the right of all peoples to self-determination. We support an ongoing socialist transformation everywhere.” We have confirmed speakers to address issues of war, imperialism, revolution, and socialism in Haiti (Pierre Labossiere), Puerto Rico (Ricardo Ortiz), and Venezuela (Laura Wells).

FREE! Please buy food & drink at the Pub. All ages welcome! FREE!

This is part of our on-going Socialist Forum Series on the first Saturday of every month. Doors open at 2 pm and the program will start promptly at 2:30 pm. The forum will end by 4:30 pm, but folks can stay and talk as long as you like.

The Peace and Freedom Party, born from the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality, and internationalism.

 Focus on Education & Environmental Justice

To join the RPA now, follow this link to the membership form. Print and complete the form and mail it in with a check for your dues, which start at $12/yr. Or, to avoid printing and snail-mailing, you can:

• send an email to info@richmondprogressivealliance.net with the information requested on the form &</span>
• go to the RPA web page & press the “Donate” button in the left column and make a payment for dues. Any additional contribution helps us keep dues more affordable for those with low income and is welcomed.

Now meeting once a month, on the fourth Sunday, instead of twice a month.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over four years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

With all your love, share and share far and wide:

General Strike, San Francisco, Monday, May 9, 2016

We, the people, invite you to join us for an unprecedented historical moment: a general strike of San Francisco this Monday, May 9, 2016. In honor of the Frisco Five Hunger Strikers and against SFPD killings of our brothers, we urge you to strike from work and school and to boycott any corporate restaurant eating and purchasing.

The time is ripe, and your action is needed now. Because of the Mayor’s unwillingness to fire corrupt police chief Suhr, the Frisco Five have been forced to prolong their hunger strike and have now all been hospitalized. It is time for all of us to action with honor, courage, and sacrifice for those who no longer have a voice, like Alex Nieto, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Mario Woods, and Luis Gongora Pat, all unlawfully killed by SFPD.

Instead of going to work or school, join us to peacefully picket in front of San Francisco City Hall starting at 8:00 a.m. Striking for a righteous cause is nothing new. Gandhi led the Swadeshi movement for Indian self-sufficiency. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregation. For farmworkers’ rights, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the United Farm Workers held strikes against grapes and Safeway stores. Striking is a successful strategy that all of us can contribute to for the sake of justice.

Wear red and black in honor of our fallen brother Alex Nieto. With all your love, share and share far and wide.

APTP supports the General Strike

Turn up for the general strike at San Francisco City Hall. Called by and in honor of the #Frisco5 Hunger Strikers and against #SFPD killings of our black brown folk/gente, we support the following requests for the strike:

• Strike from work and school
• Boycott any corporate restaurant eating and purchasing
• Wear red and black in honor of our fallen brother Alex Nieto

The time is ripe, and your action is needed now. Because of the Mayor’s unwillingness to fire corrupt police #ChiefSuhr, the #Frisco5 had prolonged their hunger strike even while hospitalized. Now it is time for all of us to take action with courage and sacrifice for those who no longer have a voice, like Alex Nieto, Amilcar Perez Lopez, Mario Woods, and Luis Gongora Pat, all unlawfully killed by SFPD.

Join us to peacefully picket in front of San Francisco City Hall. Strike as those before us have done for justice for all of our families and communities. Strike as those before us have done, strategically at key moments to bring the momentum of the movement to a heightened unity, solidarity, and push forward – as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott against segregation; as Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the United Farm Workers held strikes against grapes and Safeway stores. We will win! ¡Venceremos!

You are the #Frisco500! We are the #Frisco500!

Sing for an hour on Solano Avenue at the old Oaks Theater, Berkeley.

@MLNow @48hills @sfexaminer @sfchronicle @sjmercnews @EastBayTimes #SFPD pic.twitter.com/TY0lC1STEd

— Mary Kelly Persyn (@mkpersyn) May 7, 2016

Ahmed Salah was imprisoned, tortured and nearly killed by the Egyptian authorities. After making it out of the country he was born in, by sheer luck, Salah’s memoir of co-designing and implementing the Egyptian revolution during the “Arab Spring” was published on April 4th, 2016. Salah will discuss his newly released book, and field questions and dialogue.

For more event information: https://www.facebook.com/events/115739705491611/

OTU’s Mission

The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.

Monthly Meetings

The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.

If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.

The Assassination Complex reveals stunning details of the government’s secretive and horrific drone warfare program, based on documents supplied by a confidential source in the intelligence community.

Drones are a tool, not a policy. The policy is assassination. Proponents of drone warfare, however, prefer the term “targeted killings.” But drone strikes Frequently kill people who are not the intended target. Unless it can be proven otherwise, the government refers to these unintended victims as “enemies killed in action.” These deaths – all too often of women and children – dwarf the number of actual combatants who have been murdered by drones. They have generated among foreign populations intense anger toward the U.S., and they have become a recruiting tool for jihadists.

Jeremy Scahill and his colleagues on The Intercept obtained a cache of classified slides from a source within the intelligence community that provides a startling window onto the Inner workings of the U.S. military’s drone operations. These documents make it possible to begin the necessary, long-overdue debate about this 14-year campaign of targeted killing that has been deliberately hidden from the public, and exactly why it is conducted so ruinously in so many places.

Jeremy Scahill, one of the three founding editors of The Intercept, is an investigative reporter, war correspondent, author of the internationally bestselling books Dirty Wars and Blackwater, and twice a recipient of the George Pol Award.  He will also discuss The Intercept, the investigative web magazine founded by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill, a publication of First Look Media.

Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of this one-time event, is the daily host of UpFront, KPFA’s popular hour-long news magazine with a strong focus on state and local issues.

Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition With John Burris Law Office, Jeff Adachi, Alex Nieto Coalition Frisco 5, Amilcar Perez Lopez Coalition, SEIU 1021…

Facebook event.

Wed at 5:30 police commission meeting. Everyone come out. #FireChiefSuhr #BlueRibbon pic.twitter.com/GJEUSDWunP

— mary mad (@marymad) May 10, 2016

SF POLICE COMMISSION MEETING

Tonight, 5:30pm, SF City Hall#frisco5 #frisco500 #firechiefsuhr

— Equipto (@EQUIPTO) May 11, 2016

Personally let Chief Greg Suhr and the Police Commission know you proudly and courageously stand in solidarity with and support the FRISCO 5’s demand. Calling all FRISCO 500. This is a public meeting to hear and speak to Police Chief Greg Suhr and the SF Police Commission. Come get informed and involved. Support your community and let your voices be heard loud and clear. Spread the word.

This might turn out to be our last meeting EVER due to recent developments.
Please make attending a priority.

Agenda:
1.    Council process for placing our measure on the ballot and OPOA/City
Attorney push back
2.    Signature gathering
3.    Coalition effectiveness: how are we doing? What needs to change moving
forward? Can we unite with the Black Lives Matters folks to mobilize large
numbers?

Join a discussion on the Sanders campaign, capitalist elections, socialism and the mass movement.
We will start by reviewing an article published in the Workers World Newspaper entitled “Two sides of the Sanders Campaign” by Fred Goldstein: http://www.workers.org/2016/03/21/two-sides-of-the-sanders-campaign/