Discussion with Paul Paz y Miño, who leads Amazon Watch’s campaign against Chevron in Ecuador and can tell us about opposition to Chevron’s toxic effects in communities around the globe. Plus updates on our campaigns. We need your participation and your voice.
In response to another preventable and tragic death, advocates at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) are reaching out to allies in the Bay to call further attention to the ongoing crisis occurring at California Institution for Women (CIW). CIW is at 130 percent capacity and has a suicide rate that is 8 times the national average for people in women’s prisons, and 5 times the rate for all California prisons. We will be holding a Town Hall on Sunday, July 31st at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland.
The injustice and conditions of abuse and violence at CIW are happening inside and outside of prison walls across the country. Too often, lives are being lost to state violence and the majority of lives stolen are Black and Brown, queer and transgender. At CIW, people are dying as a result of direct neglect by cops, and from medical and mental health neglect. Outside, women are being killed by police. In 2013, Kayla Moore, a Black trans woman was killed by the Berkeley police in her home. On May 19, 2016, a Black woman named Jessica Nelson Williams was killed by San Francisco police in the Bayview neighborhood. There are no shortage of examples of punishing people and communities who have survived generations of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia with policing, incarceration and neglect.
Just two weeks ago Shaylene Graves, a 27 year old Black woman, died from this state violence. She was six weeks away from her release. Before Shaylene, Erika Rocha committed suicide. Erika was 35 years old and had been incarcerated for 21 years. She was one day away from her Youth Parole Hearing. Last November, five people at the CCWF women’s prison were physically abused, sexually harassed and placed in solitary confinement by prison guards. They are planning to bring a suit against the CDCR.
Legal advocates with CCWP are working with and supporting survivors inside and family members outside to get much needed attention and support to those suffering behind these walls. We are reaching out to you because more needs to be done.
We hope that the Town Hall Meeting on Sunday, July 31st, 2016 from 3-5pm at the East Side Arts Alliance can help us connect these struggles and bring more attention to the ongoing crisis at CIW.
Join us in demanding justice for Shaylene, Erika, Kayla Moore, Jessica Nelson Williams and all lives stolen by the CDCR and the police. BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME ALIVE!
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
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
Tell the Alameda County Board of Supervisors we want a Community Choice Energy plan that builds in community benefits right from the start. The supervisors will vote August 2 on a plan for Community Choice Energy (CCE). Help make sure that plan prioritizes development of local clean energy and good jobs and includes community voices in decision-making.
You can do three things to make a difference:
Send a letter to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors telling them to shape a program that will create local jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions by prioritizing the development of local renewable resources. And to make sure the Community Choice Energy agency includes meaningful community participation in decision-making.
Share the letter on Facebook , Twitter, and other social media platforms. Please use#cleanpowertothepeople on your posts!
Facebook Post: Link to re-share a Facebook post
Sample Tweet: Want to create local clean energy jobs in #AlamedaCounty? Click here to send a letter to the board of supervisors: h/tinyurl.com/ComChoice
Come to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, Aug 2.
At this meeting, the Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to establish a Community Choice Energy program for Alameda County. That would create a local public agency that would take control of supplying electricity away from PG&E. The supervisors will also vote on a Joint Powers Authority agreement, the document that sets policies for the Community Choice program.
Please join us at this critical meeting to make sure the agreement includes a written commitment to our community benefit goals and a mechanism for direct community involvement in the governance of the program. We need a commitment to start planning nowfor investment in local renewable energy development that will provide important economic and environmental benefits to our communities.
If you have any questions please contact
Jessica Tovar (Jessica@localcleanenergy.org) or
Megan O’Neil (megan@localcleanenergy.org).
On Tuesday, August 2nd, the Ella Baker Center is hosting Night Out for Safety and Liberation (NOSL) in Oakland where we will build community and share what makes us feel safe in our neighborhoods. NOSL is a national event where people across the country will redefine and reimagine what public safety really means for our communities.
Join us on 8/2 and share what you need to feel safe.
Bring your picnic blanekts to our free event at Lowell Park in West Oakland; we will have music, an art build, healing practitioners, family activities, and dance and spoken word performances. Childcare and food will also be provided.
RSVP on Facebook.
NIGHT OUT FOR SAFETY AND LIBERATION
Turn up with us in West Oakland, home of the Black Panthers, to celebrate their 50th anniversary as we host our 4rd annual Night Out for Safety and Liberation on Tuesday, August 2nd—a national event where we redefine what safety means to us to start a different conversation about public safety beyond policing; focusing on how we can build equity, power, and opportunity in our communities!
There will be an art build, free food, healers, music, games, an open mic, and family activities. All are welcome and all are invited.
Let’s continue to build a narrative that defines safety not in terms of fear, crime, and punishment, but rather as a community that has access to affordable healthcare, housing, food, education, safe and working infrastructure, and more.
Join us for this visually rich documentary, “Over Troubled Waters,” the story of the battle being fought by the people of the Delta to protect the region they love and to encourage saner water policies for the Golden State and all the people of California.
The evening will feature the controversial Delta Tunnels project. Our panel will include representatives from Restore the Delta and Sierra Club and Dr. Patty Oikawa, a UC Berkeley researcher investigating the climate benefits of Delta wetlands restoration. They are working furiously to save the Delta from the Tunnel project, which will seriously undermine this essential treasure.
This event sponsored by: Transition Berkeley, Social Justice Committee (Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists), and the Water Working Group (Berkeley Climate Action Coalition)
The Soil Not Oil Coalition is pleased to announce the 2nd edition of the historic gathering where the Ecology Center will be a co-sponsor. As you may know, inspired in the book “Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis” by Dr. Vandana Shiva, in 2015 we organized the first Soil Not Oil International Conference that was a very successful event with over 100 speakers and more than 1,000 attendees.
The Problem & Soil-ution
Deforestation, erosion and industrial agriculture cause the decay of soils and in consequence the release of carbon and other GHGs into the atmosphere. While the fight to stop fossil fuel extraction and consumption is essential, it is only half of the equation required if we are serious about mitigating climate change. Non‐sustainable management of soils through industrial agriculture causes over 30% of planetary carbon emissions, with 1/3 of the total global warming effects of industrialized nations attributed to an unsustainable food production system.
Scientists such Vandana Shiva, Rattan Lal, Richard Heinberg, Miguel Altieri, among others, teach us that we can mitigate climate change by returning carbon back into the soils. The impact of the 2015 Soil Not Oil Conference was tremendous, as we now see that dozens of participating organizations are including in their speech the issue of soil as a main problem and potential solution. Soils have entered in the international conversation about climate change from Richmond, California to the COP 21 in Paris, France – but the implementation of soil-utions must come from the bottom up!
What can you expect?
During the 2016 Soil Not Oil Conference we will host presentations by grassroots organizers, farmers and renowned scientists. There will be plenaries and workshops during the two day conference as well as a gala and a multicultural celebration – Join us! Get the facts and the tools to fix the broken ecosystems – We are expecting a larger gathering because this year we are partnering with national and international organizations.
The Soil Not Oil Coalition is pleased to announce that, this year’s keynote speaker will be attorney, author and renowned activist: Andrew Kimbrell, Founder/Executive Director of Center for Food Safety.
Join scientists, farmers, environmental activists, elected officials, grassroots organizers, food justice advocates and community members from all backgrounds. Join plenaries/workshops/networking sessions on: Agro-Ecology, Biodiversity, Climate Justice, Carbon Farming, Food Sovereignty, Legislation, Life Cycles, Ocean Health, Public Health, Regenerative Agriculture, Rights of Mother Earth, Seed Freedom, Clean Energy, Community Organizing and more. Watch Promo Video
Before you purchase a ticket please take into consideration that we are doing our best to make this conference as affordable and inclusive as possible. The Soil Not Oil coaltion is a grassroots project supported by dozens of organizations and dedicated volunteers.
By purchasing a full price ticket you will help us to provide scholarships for low income people.
“Being aware is not enough, you must be part of the movement and become the change”
The Communist Party USA (Oakland/Berkeley) invites you to a discussion:
The Empire Strikes Back: Attack on BRICS
(Brazil, Russia, India, China, S. Africa)
Suggested Readings:
Conn Hallinan, ‘A Very Brazilian Coup’
Norman Markowitz, ‘The Asian “Pivot” in Historical Context’
http://www.academia.edu/25555123/The_Asian_Pivot_in_Historical_Context
‘Current Developments in India’
http://mltoday.com/article/2483-current-developments-in-india/90-frontpage-stories
The Peace and Freedom Party presents:
The recent vote for Great Britian to leave the European Union has many folks confused. Even leftists find themselves on different sides. We are inviting speakers to debate different positions.
Please buy food and drink at the pub.
You are also invited to join us for worship at 10:00am (Andrew Hanauer preaching)
And Free Brunch at 11:30
RSVP to Nancy Montier 510-531-8212. office@skylineucc.org, http://www.skylineucc.org/
Building an inclusive economy requires changing the structures and policies that trap more than one billion people in extreme poverty around the world – and fuel poverty and inequality right here in the United States. Learn about how these structures intertwine from the East Bay to Ethiopia and how we can build an economy that works for all.
Speaker:
Andrew Hanauer is the Campaigns Director at Jubilee USA. Andrew represents Jubilee in policy meetings with the White House, Congress, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations. He serves on steering committees at the United Nations and with the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition. Andrew’s views on poverty and economic policy appear in news outlets including Al Jazeera, Pacifica Radio, Common Dreams and The Washington Free Beacon.
Jubilee USA is a coalition of 550 US faith communities and 75 national organizations working with 50 global Jubilee partners. Jubilee USA promotes debt, tax and trade policies to end poverty and solve financial crisis. Our efforts build an economy that serves, protects and promotes participation of the vulnerable.
Jubilee East Bay, a coalition of individuals and 20 congregations based in the Bay Area, works with Jubilee USA through education and local organizing.
For more information, contact Linda Young at zmom@comcast.net
http://www.jubileeusa.org/
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
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
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.
We are at very unique moment in our struggle. The public discourse is filled with talk about ending mass incarceration by elected officials, academics, correctional officials, and funders. We are organizing this conference to specifically strengthen the voices of formerly incarcerated people and our families and to ensure that our ideas are included in the discourse. As the Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People & Families Movement, we have made real progress since our first meeting in Selma in 2011. As a movement, we need the opportunity to collectively discuss the progress that we have made. We also need the opportunity and space to determine where we should be going during the next Presidential Administration. In the past year, we have conducted several regional meetings where we presented expert panels of formerly incarcerated people and our family members. This National Conference will be an opportunity to explore our best practices and see what is being done across the country. We strongly encourage you join us for networking, sharing of resources, tabling and organizing opportunities, and we guarantee that you will meet some of the most interesting activists and people from our community.
We are also encouraging service providers, allies, foundations, and government officials to attend: this is a space in which formerly incarcerated people will be speaking in our own voices, sharing the wisdom and practical knowledge we’ve gained as activists and organizers over many years following incarceration, and discussing how best we can restore our rights and fully rejoin our communities.
Formerly Incarcerated People have elected to collectively and heavily invest in the conference. We have reserved the Oakland Airport Hilton Hotel and we have set aside resources to provided scholarship support to formerly incarcerated people and their families. We must once again pose the critical question we first raised at Selma when organizing the next conference: “Will You Be There?”
FICPFM is a group of national organiziations comprised of & led by formerly incarcerated people dedicated to ending mass incarceration, restoring our rights, & removing the barriers to employment, housing, & education.
On the 71st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we invite all who seek peace and justice to gather at the location where scientists are developing new nuclear weapons for the U.S. arsenal. Each new weapon involves “upgraded” features able to cause unimaginable devastation anywhere on Earth. Livermore Lab’s budget reveals that 86% of its funding is for nuclear weapons.
Stand with Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors), Pacific Islanders and others harmed by nuclear technology. Speakers include the Honorable Tony deBrum (Marshall Islands) and Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka (Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor). This event is part of the global “Chain Reaction: Breaking Free from Nuclear Weapons.”
Come to the Livermore nuclear weapons laboratory’s northwest corner, at Vasco & Patterson Pass Roads, in Livermore. There will be parking set up at the rally site and vanpools from the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station (you must call 925-443-7148 in advance to reserve a seat).
The Take Back Oakland Coalition (which APTP has initiated) is challenging the tri-county DA’s to prosecute the cops involved in the Bay Area-wide predatory policing scandal of statutory rape, commercial sexual exploitation, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Letters were delivered yesterday to DA’s Nancy O’Malley (Alameda), Mark Peterson (Contra Costa), and George Gascon (San Francisco). The letters demanded a signed agreement by Tuesday am to a specific list of demands around investigating and prosecuting these cops.
We are planning simultaneous actions at 10:30 am to pick up these signed agreements from the DA’s offices. We could use a lot of people, as we need coverage of the three locations.
Here’s the list:
Nancy O’Malley 1225 Fallon St, Oakland
George Gascon 850 Bryant St, SF
Mark Peterson 100 37th St, Richmond
Come out and support the work of Critical Resistance Oakland!
We are excited to talk with you about the work we are doing around the SF and Alameda Jail Fights, Stop Urban Shield, and the Oakland Power Projects, as well as:
-Building alternatives to the cops in Oakland.
-Abolishing solitary confinement in California.
-Helping people on the inside organize for self-determination.
-And slowly chipping away at the prison-industrial complex.
Have a drink with us and learn more about what we do and how you can help us build our vision of abolition.
The space is on the ground floor with no stairs and no steps to the restrooms. We recommend that folks come scent-free to allow accessibility to people with chemical sensitivities, though this is a public bar so we can’t guarantee a scent-free zone. Please call us at 510-444-0484 if you have other accessibility concerns!
Please note that all tabs must be closed by 8pm in order to qualify for the benefit. And be sure to check out upcoming events:
End Police Militarization: Stop Urban Shield Webinar
Thursday, August 4th, 12-1pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/1077578638990092/
Oakland Power Projects Workshop: Know Your Options in Chronic Health
Thursday, August 25th, 6:30-9pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/121405968291882/
Story of the homeless recyclers in Dogtown, an Oakland neighborhood decimated by unemployment and gentrification. A Journey through a landscape of love and loss, devotion and addition, prejudice and poverty within the threat of a recycling center slated for closure.
Free snacks and popcorn.
The Jail Fight continues
Here is a tentative agenda: