Calendar
It’s the last Sunday of the month — that means picnic time!
We have been busy socialists, so it’s time to relax and hang out. Bring your lunch, picnic blanket, friends, and family for a casual picnic with your comrades. No work done here — just socializing! We will try to stake a spot out in the Broadway and MacArthur Blvd. quadrant of the block.
Weather permitting
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (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
Bring a dish or drink to share! This will be an afternoon to kick it in the park with good people and to connect with projects rooted in…
ABOLITION and COMMUNITY DEFENSE
TWO FIGHTS built on AUTONOMY AND SELF DETERMINATION
THIS IS AN OPEN INVITATION FOR YOU AND YOUR PROJECT!
Instead of just hold to our own notion of a presentation, we’d rather hear from all of you, provide the platform for other people in projects rooted in Abolition or Community Defense to present on what they are up to.
Anchoring our informal program will be a presentation from Oakland IWOC’s guest, Niecee X from the Black Women’s Defense League out of Dallas, TX
“Black Women’s Defense League is a revolutionary womanist coalition that provides political education, self defense training, and resources and rescue to abused, underserved black women and marginalized genders. BWDL raises awareness, refines solutions, and prepares our members to divest from, combat and replace all forms of oppression with equitable, intersectional systems that are dedicated in serving the African Diaspora and the collective interests of a liberated society.”
And we’ll also be hearing from Oakland IWOC about their ongoing work plus get the news from the inside on the coming national wave of prisoner action slated for the week of August 19th.
Hit us up! or just come through!
We document current events, make films together, steward an editing suite and share a film equipment library. We also host film screenings, often with local directors, and put on an annual short film festival for independent Bay Area filmmakers. Our goal is to make the digital filmmaking accessible – no overpriced college degree or certificate program required!
We are also a good group to reach out to if you’d like to screen a film at the Omni. We can be reached at [ liberatedlens@lists.riseup.net ].
We usually meet in the basement, unless otherwise noted.
Harry Brill said at our last gathering that Tax the Rich is now the longest running rally in the history of Berkeley. September 12, 2017 will be the 6th anniversary
Think of a time when you felt safe in your community. Ask yourself: Who is there? Who isn’t? What do you see?
Night Out for Safety and Liberation (NOSL) is our opportunity to share our answers to these questions with our neighbors, talk about what we need to feel safe in our communities, and redefine what safety means to us.
NOSL is a national event where people across the country redefine and reimagine what public safety really means for our communities: having a living wage job, healthy food, healthcare, housing, education, and more. Too often when we talk about safety we only focus on policing and punishment – but real safety comes from investing in our communities so we can build power.
Join us at DeFremery Park on Tuesday, August 1st as we build community together. There will be free food, games, family-friendly activities, a DJ, dance and spoken word performances, healing practitioners, arts activities, and screen printing.
Turn up with us for a BLOCK PARTY at DeFremery Park, the historic Black Panther Party organizing park in West Oakland.
We’ll be celebrating Oakland’s 5th annual Night Out for Safety and Liberation to 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.
Featured artist include:
– Hip Hop for Change
– DJ Slowpoke
and more!
There will be an art build, free posters, food, healers, lawn games, face painting 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.
Hosted by Night Out for Safety and Liberation and Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Pendarvis Harshaw is a Senior Communications Associate at PolicyLink, working to amplify stories of policies and practices that are moving us toward a more equitable world.
Prior to becoming a member of the PolicyLink family, Pen earned a degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and an undergraduate degree from Howard University’s School of Communications. Pen is a published journalist with bylines from Youth Radio, Fusion, The Huffington Post, National Public Radio and more. He runs a website dedicated to documenting the wisdom of elder African American men in his community,OGToldMe.Tumblr.Com. And although he is no longer a high school teacher, he is forever an educator.
Pen & OG Told Me were also recently featured in the following:
East Bay Yesterday Podcast https://soundcloud.com/user-736747354/i-believe-in-the-elders-pendarvis-harshaw-on-gathering-og-wisdom
Just a few blocks from Powell St BART Station.
Linda Lye, of the ACLU: When is free speech hate speech? When does it cross the line?
Suds, Snacks, & Socialism at the Starry Plough
The Peace and Freedom Party presents
From HIROSHIMA to WWIII
If workers won’t end these wars, who will?
Hiroshima was not so much the end of WWII as the opening salvo in a series of new wars which must be ended if humanity is to survive. Will the working class fulfill its historic mission and end this madness? Or must we look elsewhere? We are inviting speakers to address this question.
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. Speaker’s affiliations are listed for identification only. The opinions expressed do not reflect the official views of the Peace and Freedom Party.
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.
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (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
Feasibility study authorization delayed
The City Council vote to authorize a feasibility study on a public bank didn’t happen at the July 18th meeting as expected. Instead, this item has been moved to the agenda for September 19th. According to Council staff, the vote was put off due to the overly long agenda for the last meeting before summer break.
This delay is a big disappointment, of course, but there’s plenty to do in the next two months. The new budget provides only $75,000 of the study’s total cost of $100,000. When the Council does finally authorize it, their authorization will be contingent on finding outside sources for the last $25,000. So, fundraising is now a top priority for us.
How you can help grow our grassroots movement
In addition to fundraising, we need to continue building a broad base of public support for the Public Bank of Oakland. You can help by connecting us with local groups that you know about. We need:
– Tabling opportunities. We have been tabling at First Fridays and farmers’ markets around town, and we are looking for other locations. Know of an upcoming neighborhood festival or other event? Spots in East Oakland and West Oakland are especially needed.
– Speaking opportunities. We are looking for locaal organizations that would like to host a talk about the benefits of public banking. Can you suggest a political group, union local, religious community, neighborhood association, business or coop?
– Signers for our letter to City Council. More thhan forty local groups, including Causa Justa::Just Cause, Ella Baker Center, and Idle No More Bay Area, have already signed our open letter in support of PBO. We’d like to keep growing the list. Please let us know of groups to reach out to.
Talking up our public bank
We’ll need more people to do all the tabling and speaking events we’re lining up. Talking about public banking is fun! Most of the people we talk to are really glad to find out about it. If you’d like to join our outreach efforts by tabling or just passing our petition around your neighborhood – please contact us or attend our next outreach meeting on Tuesday, August 1st at 6:00pm. We’ll be in the outside seating area at Max’s Diner, 500 12th Street, Oakland.
A small reminder about donating
We don’t want to turn our newsletter into a constant plea for money, but donations and pledges are definitely needed. All thhe work of FPBO is done by volunteers. Please donate directly on our website or pledge by emailing contact@friendsofpublicbankofoakland.org. Thank you!
Are you aware that Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans are twice as likely to be stuck in jail because they can’t afford bail? The U.S. money bail system is largely to blame for over-crowded jails across the nation. 70 percent of people are incarcerated for one simple reason: being too poor to afford bail.
The bail trap
Unscrupulous bail bonds contracts allow private corporations to make exorbitant profits off of people living in poverty. While people with access to wealth can buy their freedom, poor people have weeks, months, and even years of their lives taken from them.
This isn’t justice. Race and socio-economic status should not determine whether someone is free or in jail while they await their trial.
Come and see “The Bail Trap” and let’s talk about what we can do to replace the broken money bail system right here in California.
RSVP & follow on facebook here
We’ll talk about how the state has historically tried to disrupt left movements, especially those led by people of color, and how to collectively resist it. This is a launch event for Catalyst’s new pamphlet: “A Troublemaker’s Guide: Principles for Racial Justice Activists in the Face of State Repression.”
Panel discussion with:
- Cat Brooks, Anti-Police Terror Project
- Isaac Ontiveros, Center for Political Education
- Lara Kiswani, Arab Resource and Organizing Center
- Maisha Quint, Eastside Arts Alliance
- Donna Willmott, Catalyst Project
Wheelchair accessible, please come fragrance free. Please make childcare & other access requests to Isaac@collectiveliberation.org by July 31st.
Participants will receive a copy of the pamphlet.
Berkeley Police Review Commission – Homeless Subcommittee:
Agenda action and discussion, review current policies related to homeless encampments, responses to policies and recommendations, https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Police_Review_Commission/Commissions/2017/2017-08-08%20Homeless%20Encampments%20agenda.pdf
Coal promoter and developer Phil Tagami is currently a candidate for a position on Oakland’s Police Commission. No Coal in Oakland is horrified at the prospect that this man – who proposes to bring toxic coall into Oakland and has sued the City to overthrow its popular ban on coal – could be chosen to represent residents on a city commission thattwill provide civilian oversight of the Police Department by reviewing and proposing changes to Department policies and procedures, requiring the Mayor to appoint any new Chief of Police from a list of candidates provided by the Commission, and having the authority to terminate the Chief of Police for cause.
Phil Tagami’s interview for a seat on the civilian Oakland Police Commission will be on Tuesday, August 8 at 7:00 pm at Oakland City Hall. We need you to attend. The selection panel needs to know that he is not fit to serve on the Police Commission.
Although cardboard signs will probably not be allowed in the room, you can bring a piece of paper with a message on it that you hold up at relevant moments. “Don’t pick Tagami.” “Tagami can’t be trusted.” “Tagami wants to pollute West Oakland.” “Tagami is suing Oakland.” “Tagami not fit to serve.” Be creative!
There is an opportunity to speak at the interview, but not to engage in dialogue with the panel. Speaker’s cards will be available at the meeting. We should be strategic about this so the panel doesn’t get annoyed at redundant speakers. It would be best to have people speak who can represent neighborhoods, congregations, unions, and other organizations. Speakers can invite the audience to stand to express solidarity with them, rather than having repetitive presentations.
More information is available at http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/cityadministrator/documents/agenda/oak065761.pdf. Tagami’s application is on pages 129-134. Background information is also at http://nocoalinoakland.info/lets-keep-coal-promoter-tagami-off-the-oakland-police-commission/
Rally, march & direct action to commemorate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the place where new US nuclear weapons are still being developed today.
8 am rally with speakers: Daniel Ellsberg (legendary activist and leaker of the Pentagon Papers), Marylia Kelley (executive director of Tri-Valley Cares), and a Hibakusha (Japanese atomic bomb survivor). With wonderful music by Emma’s Revolution. Together, solemnly we will commemorate the nightmarish effects of nuclear weapons–from uranium mining to testing use–on the people of Japan, the Marshall Island, and the First Nations–and all the people living near nuclear facilities across the country and around the world. We will recommit ourselves to efforts to abolish these indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction Please bring a large photograph of a loved one. As always, we act in the spirit of nonviolence.
At 9:00 am we will march to the gates of Livermore Lab, where we will join in an Obon dance, (Japanese folk dance). Following the dance those who choose will peaceably risk arrest.
For those who wish, camping the night before is available at Lake Del Valle. Contact scott [at] trivalleycares.org to RSVP.
All ages welcome!
In a totally ironic twist, Berkeley Police Assaulted people and beat one man over the head after the June 20th Berkeley City Council meeting re: Urban Shield.
Police Review Commission June 20, 2017 Subcommittee:
Agenda action and discussion, plan for investigation whether June 20 BPD was appropriate, review BPD and other documents and ask questions of Police Chief or designee.
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, against Urban Shield, and to advocate for privacy and surveillance regulation ordinances to be passed by our State Legislature and around the Bay Area, including the Alameda and San Francisco County Boards of Supervisors, the BART Board of Directors, and by the Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and Davis City Councils.
We are also engaged in the fight against Predictive Policing and other “pre-crime” and “thought-crime” abominations, drones, improper use of police body cameras, ALPRs, requirements for “backdoors” to your cellphone and against other invasions of privacy by our benighted City, County, State and Federal Governments.
Oakland Privacy (nee Oakland Privacy Working Group) originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OPWG was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network; its members helped draft the Privacy Policy that puts further restrictions on the now Port-restricted DAC, and made Oakland’s new Privacy Advisory Commission to the City Council happen. We were also the lead in having Alameda County pass the most comprehensive privacy and usage policy in the country for deployment of “Stingray” technology (cell phone interceptors). Oakland and Fremont have followed suit. In conjunction with other groups we fight against Urban Shield and other killer-cop trainings.
We have presented our work at RightsCon in San Francisco and at Left Forum and HOPE in New York City.
If you would like to attend our meeting and would like a quick introduction to what we’re doing before we dive right into the thick of our agenda, send email to contact@oaklandprivacy.org and one of us will arange to meet you before the meeting.
Stop by and learn how you can help guard our right not to be spied on by the government. Look on the whiteboard inside near the entrance to the OMNI for our exact location within the OMNI.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to:
oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe AT lists.riseup.net
or send a request to contact@oaklandprivacy.org
For more information on the DAC check out