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.

SAVE THE DATE: we need court support on Tuesday, 11/13, when a federal judge will hear our case against the eviction regime of Mayor Libby Schaaf and her Homelessness Czar Joe DeVries.

This will be at 2 PM, at the Oakland Federal Courthouse, 1301 Clay St, Oakland CA 94612.

— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) November 11, 2018

Thanks to community members holding it down we were able to resist our eviction this weekend, but we’re still fighting for a court order to keep #HousingandDignityVillagethriving. Pack the court TUESDAY @ 2pm (Courtroom 2 on the 4th floor at Clay Street) to show your support for autonomous community driven solutions to this crisis! #homesforall #solidarity

Please join us at Berkeley’s International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), where Serge Egelman will share his research on how game apps have been collecting kids data. Serge’s work has been covered by the New York Times and Washington Post.

Serge’s team examined more than 5000 of the most popular kids apps and more than 50% appear to be failing to protect kids privacy.

Serge Egelman is the Research Director of Usable Security and Privacy at ICSI and is a returning Privacy Lab speaker.

ICSI will host us at 1947 Center Street in Berkeley (6th floor). Doors will open by 6pm for networking and Serge’s presentation will start at 6:30pm.

If you arrive after 6pm, someone will be there to help with after hours admissions (the front doors and elevators require key cards after 6pm).

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.

We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), opposing Urban Shield (now gone!) and pushing back against ICE with local legislation.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

contact@oaklandprivacy.org

Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/   Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy

Check out our sister site DeportICE.

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.  Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County.  To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

Based on frequent, first-hand reporting in Iran and the United States, The Iran Agenda Today explores the turbulent recent history between the two countries and reveals how it has led to a misguided showdown over nuclear technology. Foreign correspondent Reese Erlich notes that all the major U.S. intelligence agencies agree Iran has not had a nuclear weapons program since at least 2003. He explores why Washington nonetheless continues saber rattling, and he provides a detailed critique of mainstream media coverage of Iran. The book further details the popular protests that have rocked Tehran despite repression by the country’s own Deep State. Erlich offers insights on Iran’s domestic politics, popular culture, and diverse populations over this recent era. His analysis draws on past interviews with high-ranking Iranian officials, the former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, and Iranian exiles in Los Angeles, as well as his trip to Tehran with actor Sean Penn.Erlich’s book Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You, co-authored  with Norman Solomon was a best seller in 2003. His fifth book, Inside Syria: the Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect (foreword by Noam Chomsky) was published in 2014. In a starred review of Inside Syria, Publisher’s Weekly wrote that Erlich’s “insights and conclusions are objective and valuable… essential reading for understanding the current turmoil in the Middle East.

Norman Solomon is the author of a dozen books including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, where he coordinates the ExposeFacts.org program for whistleblowers and press freedom, and co-founder of RootsAction.org.

Sabrina Jacobs is host and producer of the popular A Rude Awakening, aired on KPFA, Mondays 3:30 -4pm. She covers local breaking news as well as global events, informing listeners about the latest social injustices. Ms. Jacobs is also currently serving as staff representative/vice chair of Pacifica Radio’s National Board.

Bay Area Landless Peoples Alliance:

Regional meeting of landless activists of the San Francisco Bay Area

65 million people worldwide are fleeing war, ethnic cleansing, environmental catastrophe. Filmed in 23 countries over two years, the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei brings to life the immense human scale of the worldwide refugee crisis.

The film’s aerial photography shows the destruction of Mosul by the U.S. in Iraq, sub-Saharan Africa where 26 percent of the world’s refugees are located, the vast network of permanent camps in the Middle East, and the open-air prison of Gaza and the U.S.-Mexican border.

Ai Weiwei gives voice to the people living through this and to their hopes and their dignified determination to be treated as human beings.

A team of journalists from Liberation News traveled to Mexico in early Nov. to document the refugee caravan. Thousands of mainly Honduran families walking thousands of miles to the U.S. border are fleeing incredible violence and poverty in their home country as a direct result of decades of U.S. exploitation and intervention in the region. These increased hardships stem directly from the 2009 U.S.-backed coup in Honduras that ousted the democratically-elected progressive leader Manuel Zelaya installing a rightwing puppet government and unleashing widespread violence throughout the country.

Join us for an eyewitness report and video from PSL organizer Gloria La Riva documenting the stories of those on the caravan and the mass support they have received from the people of Mexico as they traveled to the border.

Refreshments provided. Wheelchair accessible.

Do you think internet should be a public commons rather than a corporate monopoly?

Following Aspiration Tech’s annual Nonprofit Software Development Summit, come on over to Omni Commons to learn about the history of the internet, how it works, and how to build your own. Meet and mingle with civic hackers and organizers behind PeoplesOpen.Net: an open, community-based, wireless network in the East Bay.

Join us for food, family-friendly activities, and conversation about the state of the internet today, the physical work that goes into stewarding an internet commons, and the possibilities you see in owning and operating a piece of a community wireless network.

* No experience building internets necessary! Experience living and speaking with neighbors in your communities desired! Curiosity recommended 🙂 *

– Print a t-shirt and make buttons!
– Crimp an internet cable!
– Learn about the sweet nothings computers whisper to each other when you aren’t looking!
– Map your neighborhood resources!
– Eat tasty foods!

Agenda:
2:00pm – Why/what/how of the internet
2:30pm – Snack, mingle, share and experiment
3:00pm – Hands-on workshop with a variety of learning stations
5:00pm – end.

Donations accepted to offset the cost of tasty food!

PARADISE is coming to Oakland!  One particle at a time. Because we don’t trust air we can’t see or feel, & on the orders of Chicken Little we will be meeting at the Omni Commons today, same bat time (3PM) until the sky stops falling. Personally, I prefer the Little Red Hen, she never let the exploiters to extract her surplus labor.

The Little Red Hen persuades Chicken Little to call for expropriating the means of production.

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

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

In 2017, Phillips 66 applied for an Air District permit to nearly triple the amount of oil it brings in by tanker to its Rodeo wharf.  This current proposal follows an unsuccessful attempt made by the refiner three years ago to bring in tar sands crude via oil trains to its Central Coast refinery in Santa Maria.  That refinery is joined by pipeline to the refinery in Rodeo; together they comprise what Phillips 66 calls the San Francisco Refinery.  The Santa Maria project was stopped by the tireless efforts of Northern California activists all along the rail lines, who ultimately persuaded the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to deny approval.  Now Phillips 66 is resuming its attempts to convert to tar sands refining.  The current status of its Rodeo “wharf expansion” proposal is unknown, however.  The Draft Environmental Project has not yet been released, and it’s unclear what action the Air District will ultimately take.

The November 19th meeting should expose the very real connections between Canadian tar sands mining, Indigenous rights, and the potentially serious impacts on Bay Area frontline communities and on the global climate.  Will the BAAQMD, a major local enforcer of California climate policy, take its role of climate protector seriously enough to erect a protective barrier around the Bay and ensure that extra-toxic tar sands are kept out of local refinery crude slates?  Bay Area climate justice activists are watching closely.

See you on the 19th!

RSVP on Facebook

Meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Ad Hoc Committee on Urban Area Security Initiative, charged with reconstituting and rethinking Urban Shield.

The committee was established by the Board of Supervisors in March 2018 in response to sustained community concerns about Urban Shield, which is funded in part by UASI grants from the Department of Homeland Security, and coordinated by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

The Board of Supervisors decided in March, 2018 that 2018 would be the last year the county would approve Urban Shield, as currently constituted, and asked the Ad Hoc Committee to make recommendations to the Board on the UASI-funded emergency preparedness training and exercise in 2019 and beyond.

The agenda will include a presentation and Q/A with county emergency preparedness officials (from ACSO, Public Health, and Social Services); a discussion of criteria for weighing recommendations; and a presentation about community-based emergency preparedness initiatives.

More information.

Agendas and materials for each meeting are posted at http://www.acgov.org/board/calendarcom.htm

Facebook Event:

After forays to Fremont and Castro Valley, the task force charged with implementing the transition from the “last Urban Shield as we know it” to a different kind of emergency preparedness training, will be meeting in Berkeley in the City Council chambers on the 19th.

A report back from the 2018 event from MA director Tracy Rosenberg, who attended the last urban Shield as we knew it.
https://medium.com/p/67bfeaaeeaba

Please pack the court for oral arguments in East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump, a federal lawsuit challenging the new Trump proclamation, which bars people seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border if they attempt to enter outside a port of entry.

Monday lawyers with Center for Constituional Rights and our legal co-counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center, will argue that the ban is unlawful and ask the court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the asylum ban from going into effect. The argument will take place before Judge Jon S. Tigar.

Note: Please plan to arrive at least 30 minutes early to go through security. ID may be required.

More Information:

This case was filed the day the Trump order went into effect by grassroots organizations fighting for the rights of immigrants and refugees, including the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Al Otro Lado, Innovation Law Lab and the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles. Our clients filed this legal challenge because the Trump administration’s actions are contrary to basic asylum, reflect the administration’s contempt for Central and Latin Americans, and will have dangerous consequences to highly vulnerable populations fleeing unspeakable violence.

Find out more information about our legal challenge here.

Mark your calendars! We're hosting TWO Public Banking 101 sessions in November–one at Alley Cat Books, and one @DSA_SF. We hope to see you there 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/8Sg3u7g293

— SF Public Bank (@sfpublicbank) October 25, 2018

REPORT FROM THE FRONTLINES:
A report-back on Palestine by the US Palestine Community Network

Join us for a report back on the recent delegation to Palestine organized by the U.S. Palestine Community Network (USPCN). USPCN members will share about conditions on the ground as they relate to political prisoners, refugees, health, land theft, and the right of return.

This event is free and welcome to all ages. Donations to support the speakers as they travel the country is greatly appreciated.

Hosted by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
For more questions contact info@araborganizing.org

Info/RSVP

Tell Barbara Lee to support immediate action for a Green New Deal! Join the Sunrise Movement to visit Barbara Lee in a national day of action calling on progressive legislators to support rapid national mobilization for an equitable clean-energy economy.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is sponsoring a resolution to create a Green New Deal , a 10-year economic mobilization to carbon-neutrality and drawdown. Her resolution includes the requirement that the plan promote “high income work, entrepreneurship and cooperative and public ownership” as well as “social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice and equality.”

It is essential that members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including Barbara Lee, get behind this resolution to make it happen.

Last week Ocasio-Cortez joined the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats in a sit-in in Nancy Pelosi’s office. They said now that Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives it’s time to take bold action on the climate.

The Sunrise Movement and Climate Mobilization are calling on everyone to call five leaders of the Progressive Caucus on Monday and join in the national day of visits to legislators Tuesday.