Calendar

9896
Jan
6
Sun
Sunflower Alliance Retreat @ Sports Basement
Jan 6 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Whether you come to meetings regularly or just value the Sunflower Alliance as a part of your life, please join us for a short, one-day retreat to plan our direction in 2019.

  • Please come prepared to share your thoughts about the Sunflower Alliance’s strengths and how we can leverage them to evolve and grow.
  • We’ll have a veteran community organizer lead us in a training on developing strategy.
  • Coffee, tea, snacks, and lunch will be part of the experience, of course. Please bring your own refillable water bottle.

The more participation we have from members of our community, the better our ideas will be. We want you there!

PLEASE RSVP as soon as possible to action@sunflower-alliance.org

Don’t wait until the last minute! The retreat committee has to figure out food and logistics, so we need a headcount ASAP.

Note on the space: This is an easy walk from Ashby BART. Sports Basement Community Room is a comfy meeting space, but it’s unheated, so dress warmly. We’ll bring a couple of portable space heaters.

65449
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Jan 6 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

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.

ooGAOO 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

62637
Film Screening: “Codename Jenny.” Subversive. Feminist. Anarchistic. Cross-generational. @ Omni Commons
Jan 6 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

A screening by Liberated Lens of a film from Germany, “Deckname Jenny” (“Codename Jenny” in German)

Subversive. Feminist. Anarchistic. Cross-generational.

Discussion with the filmmakers after the film.

2017, 108min, German with English subtitles

A shift to the right in Europe. The borders are closed. Sea rescue ships like the Sea-Watch are prevented from leaving. Drowned refugees in the Mediterranean. Jenny’s group decides to act. But when her father finds out about their militant ambitions, he has to face his own past as a member of a guerilla group. The pseudonym “Jenny” and its clear classification blurs all the more, the more dangerous it becomes for everyone involved.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/251190328

65435
Jan
7
Mon
Public Bank East Bay Meeting
Jan 7 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Lots is happening! Join us!

65461
OEA Solidarity Committee Open Meeting @ Sports Basement
Jan 7 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

The teachers strike wave is sweeping California—and likely coming to Oakland next. Join East Bay DSA’s OEA Solidarity Committee for an open meeting to learn how we can help support the teachers of the Oakland Education Association as they struggle for smaller class sizes, better resources, and a livable wage. All East Bay DSA members are welcome—come join the movement against austerity and school privatization and defend public education with the OEA!

65436
Oscar Grant Committee Meeting @ Zoom Meeting
Jan 7 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Because of the COVID pandemic we will be meeting virtually via Zoom on the first Monday of the month.

Meeting ID: 828 0976 4186

If you wish to get the password please subscribe to the Oscar Grant Committee mailing list by sending an email to:

The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.

In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity. Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression. Sisters and brothers! The Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.

We meet on the 1st Monday of each month
You can join our discussion list by sending a blank (doesn’t even need a subject) email to

oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

63650
Jan
8
Tue
Public Forum on CA’s New Privacy Law @ Miller Marks Auditorium
Jan 8 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

The CA Attorney General’s office is holding public meetings around the state in January to talk about how to implement CA’s new privacy law. On the agenda will be things like how much you will pay for your privacy, whether the law applies to loyalty programs like HHhonors or grocery and drug store discount programs, opt-out procedures, what needs to be disclosed about how your data is sold, and how to verify whether an information request is really from a customer or not. This is the only Bay Area forum with others to be held in San Diego (1/14) , Riverside (1/24) , LA (1/25), Sacramento (2/5) and Fresno (2/13).

We know industry and business will be out in force – and consumers and customers won’t be – so we’re trying to spread the word and even things out a bit.

Can’t stress enough that even though the legalese will be flying, the issues at stake are down to earth and practical and will affect all of us everyday. You don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be a person who worries about where all their personal data ends up and doesn’t feel like they can do enough about it. The voices of real people is always what is missing at these forums, but it doesn’t have to be.

We’ll post some background material in the discussion session on the Faceook Event Page.

65447
Stop Chase, Bank of Doom @ The Westin, Union Square
Jan 8 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Join the Rainforest Action Network and allies to tell JPMorgan Chase to stop funding climate destruction!

Chase Bank is the biggest Wall Street funder of fossil fuels.   They finance the Keystone XL pipeline, toxic tar sands oil expansion, and abuses of indigenous rights, profiting from worsening climate chaos.

Demand that they stop funding fossil fuel expansion, starting with tar sands

Info/RSVP

65451
Jan
9
Wed
Oakland Privacy: Fighting Against the Surveillance State @ Omni Commons
Jan 9 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

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

op-logo.2.1We 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.

64710
Ars Technica Live: Ashkan Soltani @ Eli's Mile High Club
Jan 9 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

For our next #ArsLive we are very excited to host Ashkan Soltani (@ashk4n) as our guest. He recently testified about Facebook before the UK parliament, among many other achievements. He is a Technologist, Reporter, Founder, Policy Wonk — former FTC CTO and Obama Whitehouse Senior Advisor .

65402
It’s 2019. Do you know where your personal data is right now? @ Eli's Mile High Club
Jan 9 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

The Cambridge Analytica scandal. Data breaches at hotels, banks, rideshare companies, and hospitals. Facial recognition. DNA databases. We’re living through the data privacy apocalypse and now it’s time to figure out what happens next. Here to discuss that with us at the next Ars Technica Live is Ashkan Soltani, an independent researcher and technologist who specializes in data privacy.

Recently, Soltani testified before the US and UK governments about Facebook’s privacy practices and how they make user data available to third parties. Soltani also authored the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which regulates large companies that make more than 50 percent of their revenues from selling California residents’ personal information. The CCPA was signed into law earlier this year.

Soltani will be in conversation with Ars Technica editors Cyrus Farivar and Annalee Newitz.

Soltani previously served a brief stint as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as the Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, advising the commission on its technology related policy as well as helping to create its new Office of Technology Research and Investigation. He also served at the FTC in 2010 as one of the first staff technologists in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, helping to lead investigations into major technology companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, HTC, and PulsePoint. Soltani was also recognized as part of the 2014 Pulitzer winning team for his contributions to the Washington Post’s coverage of National Security issues.

Ars Technica Live takes place on the second Wednesday of every month at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland (3629 MLK Way—they have the best tater tots you’ve ever eaten).

Doors open at 7pm, and the live filming is from 7:30pm to 8:20-ish (be sure to get there early if you want a seat). Stick around afterward for informal discussion, beer, and snacks. Can’t make it out to Oakland? Never fear! Episodes will be posted to Ars Technica the week after the live events.

The event is free but space is limited, so RSVP using Eventbrite. You can also keep up with the latest Ars Live doings on Facebook.

65474
No Coal in Richmond meeting @ Bobby Bowens Progressive Center
Jan 9 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

The Richmond City Council took its first step on December 18, 2018 toward ending the shipment of coal and petroleum coke (pet coke) through the city.  These toxic commodities are shipped overseas from the privately-owned Richmond Levin terminal.

The Richmond City Council is considering legislation to phase out and ultimately end the use of the terminal for coal and pet coke.  At the council meeting yesterday, about a dozen people spoke in support and no one spoke in opposition to an initial draft of the legislation. Council members voted unanimously to submit the proposed ordinance to the city attorney for review.

The proposed ordinance would prevent new facilities from handling large amounts of coal and pet coke.  Existing facilities that are non-compliant would not be able to increase their handling of these commodities.  The ordinance defines an amortization period, during which non-compliant facilities will be required to reduce and finally eliminate the handling of coal and pet coke.  Five years was the recommended amortization period, but the city attorney may consider alternatives.

While activists in Oakland and Vallejo have organized to prevent the construction of terminals to ship coal, Richmond is already burdened by coal pollution.  The coal arrives at the Richmond Levin terminal in two ways: on partially-loaded ships from Stockton, and on open rail cars to top off those ships; the Stockton Deepwater Channel through which coal is transported is too shallow to accommodate fully-loaded freight vessels.  Dangerous particulate matter escapes both from the trains and from the uncovered coal and pet coke piles at the terminal.  The dust is visible on homes and cars and invisible in the lungs of Richmond residents, some of whom live within 100 feet of the rail line.

The proposed ordinance is an important step toward eliminating these toxins, which constitute much more than a local health hazard: Coal is the fossil fuel most responsible for climate change.

New activists are welcome.

65452
Jan
10
Thu
ALAMEDA COUNTY CLEAN SLATE CLINIC @ Public Defender's Office
Jan 10 @ 9:00 am – 11:00 am

JOINT WALK‐IN CLINICS with Public Defender and EBCLC

*Please bring your statewide CA DOJ RAP sheet
if you have it or we can give information at clinic*

We may be able to help with:
 Dismissal of Conviction – PC 1203.4
 Felony Reduction / Prop 47 and 64 Relief
 Early Termination of Probation
 Certificate of Rehabilitation
 Sealing Arrest Record – Factual Innocence
 Juvenile Record Sealing
 Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants and
Survivors of Human Trafficking
 Employment denials due to criminal background
reports
 Occupational Licensing Denials(DSS, Security
Guard)
 Voting Rights, Jury Service Rights

65379
Ending Urban Shield “As It Is Currently Constituted” – Final Task Force Meeting @ County Building, across the street from the Courthouse
Jan 10 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

The Alameda County UASI Ad Hoc Committee (aka Urban Shield Task Force) is meeting on Thursday, January 10 at 1:00 pm until 5:00 pm or until we have finished voting on recommendations, which could be well after 5 pm.

—–

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.

More information.

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

65457
Our struggles are connected: Update from the US-Mexico Border @ Asian Resource Gallery
Jan 10 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

* Live from the Border: Pedro Ríos from the American Friends Service Committee Border Program, San Diego, will speak via Skype on the current struggle for rights of the Migrant Caravan at the Tijuana-San Ysidro border wall.

* Catherine Tactaquin, from the National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR) on the current struggles for the rights of migrants and refugees.

* Art and poetry to help us further connect the struggles of our communities across borders.

Come see the art on display at the Asian Resource Center Gallery:
“GRAFFIKA URBANA” | Prints by Noel Rodriguez from Mexico City
“PRESENTE! Defend Puerto Rico” | Puerto Rican Photographers

At the Asian Resource Center’s lobby gallery two timely exhibits portray the humanity of two nations – Mexico and Puerto Rico, currently disparaged in the mass media and besieged by governments’ mismanaged response to societal and natural disasters.

In “GRAFFIKA URBANA” printmaker Noel Rodriguez focuses on the hustle and bustle of Mexico City, one of the most crowded cities in the world, now undergoing a major challenge to the political corruption and drug trafficking that the State is commonly known for. Issues of revamping trade agreements and xenophobic immigration policies with Mexico have obsessed the Trump Administration’s agenda and directly impact communities here.

“PRESENTE!”, a small exhibit of photographs from Puerto Rico speaks to the resilience of local residents, both rural and urban, in the face of economic crises and the feeble

* * *

Sponsored by East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation East Side Arts Alliance
Chiapas Support Committee
Class Conscious Photographers
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

For more information on the exhibitions & reception/report-back
Call Greg Morozumi (510) 533-6629

65465
SF Public Bank Coalition set to launch @ The Women's Bldg
Jan 10 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

The San Francisco Public Bank Coalition is gearing up for action! Their goal is to pressure the SF Board of Supervisors to author a charter amendment on the November 2019 ballot establishing the framework for a public bank. This framework will include mission, principles, and a governance structure.

The Coalition is planning a launch party for January 10. There’ll be music, food, presentations, and strategizing about how to move SF’s money from Wall Street to OUR streets. You’re invited!

The People Vs. Wall Street

65409
Beer and Roses DSA Labor Social @ Blind Tiger
Jan 10 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Join East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses Social!

Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in the East Bay DSA Labor Committee, and learn how you can get involved!

65470
Beer and Roses DSA Labor Social @ Blind Tiger
Jan 10 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Join East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses Social!

Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in the East Bay DSA Labor Committee, and learn how you can get involved!

 

65416
Intro to SURJ Meeting @ Sierra Club
Jan 10 @ 6:45 pm – 9:00 pm

Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? Come learn about our current work and activities. SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority.

65417
Jan
11
Fri
Call for closing Gitmo and prosecution of John Yoo for torture @ UC Berkeley Law School
Jan 11 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Prisoners started arriving at Guantanamo on Friday, Jan. 11 2002. This Friday, on the 17th Anniversary of Guantanamo Prison, DRAD will join Codepink and allies at a rally and press conference at UC Law School to call for closing Gitmo and prosecution of John Yoo for torture.

Join us to speak out against the injustice! 

Meet up in front of the law school, rain or shine.

Gitmo now holds 40 men, including 5 who have long been cleared for release, and it continues to be a moral stain on our nation as well as enormously expensive. “Maintaining the prison at Guantnamo has cost the American taxpayer $4.8 billion since it opened in 2002, and an average of $454 million every year for the last five years.” ACLU, 2017

Did you know that UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky called for prosecuting John Yoo? That’s right.  A 2014 Nation article said “Chemerinsky’s argument is that Yoo has committed a criminal act – conspiracy to torture – and that at he should be put on trial for it.”

At that time Chemerinsky was Dean of UC Irvine Law School.

This Friday at 12:30 we’re going to deliver a letter of concern to Dean Chemerinsky making him aware of the community’s opposition to John Yoo’s complicity in torture and asking him to take action to protect UC Berkeley law students from Yoo’s toxic theories and criminal actions.

Please Join Us!

It’s past time to shut Gitmo and for Yoo to be held accountable for his illegal actions.

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