Calendar

Children and families in California frontline communities are sick and dying because the agencies that should be protecting them are in bed with corporate polluters and developers.

Join Sunflower Alliance and 22 other sponsoring groups to demand that CalEPA and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) take immediate action to protect environmental justice communities across California.

For Bay Area carpool info, email action@sunflower-alliance.org.

EJ communities from Laytonville to LA will converge on the CalEPA Building in downtown Sacramento to speak out and act up against these agencies’ refusal to follow science and protect the health of vulnerable communities.

A full bedroom set will be brought to the protest, with volunteers representing CalEPA, DTSC, lobbyists, corporate developers and polluters in bed, drinking champagne and smoking cigars.

Following the hour-long protest, we will gather at Cesar Chavez Plaza across the street for an optional EJ training by California Environmental Justice Coalition. We’ll be on our way home by 3 p.m.

You can learn more on the CA-EJ protest website, which includes information about the groups involved and the demands they’ll present to CalEPA and DTSC.

Masks and social distancing are required!  Let’s be smart and safe.

Register
This fire season we’ve seen the largest known wildfire ever in California, bringing the climate crisis literally to our front doors. This is not an isolated event. Climate scientists have been warning that extreme weather would be coming if we continued to burn fossil fuels, and yet, because of capitalism, we’ve only seen the use of those fuels skyrocket. In the past month reports about this crisis have come out with dire warnings, letting us know that tipping points that mean an unavoidable cascade of the irreversible climate crisis, are approaching rapidly if they haven’t had already been reached. All of this means that our task is enormous and urgent. Climate change is a direct result of the capitalist system, and we will not be able to address the climate crisis without getting rid of it altogether.

Join the East Bay DSA Political Education Committee and Green New Deal Committee as we look at why capitalism is incapable of addressing the climate crisis, and why the fight for socialism is our only way out.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82877051499?pwd=U1ZZMzdWQ2dvMXJhbGhqcWxsc1R3QT09

Meeting ID: 828 7705 1499

Passcode: school

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,82877051499#,,,,*266754# US (San Jose)

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Reading List

Part 1: THE CURRENT CLIMATE CRISIS
(very brief articles about the current state of the climate crisis)

‘Nobody’s Safe’: 10 Takeaways from New International Climate Change Report

Climate crisis: Scientists spot warning signs of Gulf Stream collapse: Article from The Guardian

Part 2: CAPITALISM AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(Don’t mourn organize! These are the main readings, start with the first one, or chose whichever you would prefer!)

What it Will Take: Ch.27 Beyond Capitalism by Carol Dansereau 

A good place to start: a general introduction to why socialism is the only answer to the climate crisis

Introduction and First Chapter of Red Green Revolution by Victor Wallis

A deeper dive into the concepts of ecosocialism

Part 3: ON THE GREEN NEW DEAL

Climate Change Is Class Struggle by Matt Huber

A review of On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein that highlights the need for class struggle in the fight for the Green New Deal

2021 DSA Convention: Decade of the Green New Deal: Planetary Crisis and Socialist Power

Register Here

What role does the immigration system have in upholding the prison industrial complex? What is a “direct transfer” & how have direct transfers impacted our communities? What is the Vision Act and how can you get involved? Learn this and more as we speak with directly impacted community members around these topics. General member meetings take place every 1st Wednesday of the month and are open to everyone!

*Due to concerns over the spread of COVD-19 variants, our monthly member meetings will remain virtual for the remainder of the calendar year.

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85817209915

Interesting Agenda Items

4. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Body Worn Camera impact report and proposed use policy – review and take possible action

Join CCWP (CA Coalition for Women Prisoners) for a special event this coming Thursday featuring four amazing storytellers, two of which are formerly incarcerated CCWP members who will be sharing about Life Without Parole. You can read more about the Stories in Living Color series here.

*This event is free and will stream on YouTube, but you must register here to receive the link.

Register or audit

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYwKCKZvC270piELHNDhnJ5zaxQ1-SoVcIlGihiAZF1f53gQ/viewform

The Struggle for People’s Park is a 2-unit student-led class offered to UC Berkeley Students during the Fall 2021 semester under the Democratic Education at Cal (DeCal) program.

You may apply by clicking the “take my class” button above.

Note: Grading will be based on a pass/fail framework depending on the participation and development designs regarding People’s Park.

For more information and updates, please contact our student facilitator, Aidan Hill at hillae@berkeley.edu

Raj Sahai is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2591082607?pwd=eFpBNHgwaU9Eem1vNitTclAzeWdKZz09

Marx and Engels left a legacy of social and economic theories which have influenced the world in numerous ways. However, there are some significant theoretical gaps for which they left little guidance. These gaps include the ‘withering away of the state’ and how exactly it occurs, the true nature of the ‘communist Party’ and its relationship to the state, the ‘dictatorship of the Proletariat’, the consciousness of the working class and therefore the very essence of communism itself. All are very lightly sketched. Blue Revolution seeks to understand where the 21st Century working class needs to go, to fulfil Classical Marxism’s aim of creating a socially and economically ‘just’ society.  Many people have ‘filled in’ these gaps in ways that have led ‘socialism’ to become characterised by the control of the people by the state. Blue Revolution seeks to escape this avoidable human tragedy by interpreting Marx and Engels within the context of 21st century political and economic reality. There is a way to liberate people, end the class system and create a fairer and ‘just’ society by way of ‘revolution’, whilst avoiding the top-down or totalitarian power of bourgeois and authoritarian single-party states. If this is achieved this revolution will, we believe, be true to the liberating aims of Karl Marx and Frederick  Engels.

Our speaker, Michael Gilbert, studied modern philosophy and political economy at the Polytechnic of North London, and social work law and social policy at The University of East Anglia in Norwich.

Before embarking on his studies and in his late teens Mike was affiliating himself with a branch of the International Communist Party. He was also involved with an Unemployed Workers Group and a group of libertarians. He saw no contradiction between Marxism and libertarianism.

Following his studies, Mike left political activism and married and had children. Following his second divorce in 2010 he had time to reflect on politics since his graduation and realised that western society needed a revolution. He was drawn back to radical politics, but with a characteristic ‘libertarian twist’.

Having been disillusioned with the British left for its sectarianism, elitism, and complete disregard for the working class (seeing the role of the state as controlling the working class as opposed to the working class controlling the state) he decided to put his past learning to some use and began to study classical Marxism again. His hope is to unite all working people. His efforts have resulted in the publication of four booklets aimed at introducing working people to Marxism as well as creating a political Group Called Blue Revolution.

For background, folks are urged to read the four booklets on the website. Www.ABlueRevolution.org (booklets)

Maybe you’ve been getting our emails for months or years but never come to a DSA event. Maybe you’re a veteran leftist with decades of battles under your belt. Maybe you’re a new member ready to take the next step and get organized.

Wherever you’re coming from, we want to hang out with you!

🌹  Hear what we’re currently working on

💪  Get more involved in critical fights right here in the East Bay

🍪 Eat some snacks

Right now, we’re grappling with raging fires, looming climate catastrophe, and a Democratic establishment eager to yank the housing and unemployment checks away from regular people in the middle of a pandemic. Meanwhile, billionaires are hoarding workers’ money to fly to space.

➡️➡️➡️There’s never been a more pressing time to make the jump from socialist to *organized* socialist. ⬅️⬅️⬅️ And that starts with meeting your comrades and taking action. Plus, it’ll be fun, we promise. Join us!

Invite all your union friends and the socialism-curious!

Look for us at Snow Park (the corner of Harrison St and 19th Street next to Lake Merritt).

NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:

occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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 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 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)

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 six years, since October 2011! 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

oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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 1^st 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

We meet over Zoom. If you’d like to join us, and aren’t on our organizers’ list, drop us an email and we’ll send you an invitation.

If you would like to join the meeting early and get an introduction to the concepts of public banking, or more locally to who we are and what we do, please email us and we’ll see you online at 6:30.

Donate to keep us moving forward

This Wednesday!! #BuildAbolition101 session 4 is on #CareNotCops with @CART_SF @TheCoalitionSF speaking, alongside Fabian Fernandez from @dphmustdivest @DoNoHarmUCSF. The Zoom is FREE, BIPOC-centered, and open to all: https://t.co/DfoCUIlhNM pic.twitter.com/azGlRgTjaj

— CCSF Collective (@CCSFCollective) September 6, 2021

We meet as a coalition on the 2nd Wednesday of the month from 6-7:30p. We also have a google group where we share updates. If you’d like to be added to those meetings or google group, please contact decarceratealameda@gmail.com.

​Link to General Meetings: https://zoom.us/j/96555663590

General Questions about DAC or to get involved please contact Cynthia Nunes at Cynthia@Restoreoakland.org
​
If you have a media request, please contact Ashley Chambers at ashley@ellabakercenter.org.

If you still have questions, we have four workgroups to our coalition:

• If you’re interested in connecting with the Budget and Legislative Workgroup (meetings Thursdays 4:30p), please contact John Lindsay-Poland at JLindsay-Poland@afsc.org and Tash Nguyen at tash@restoreoakland.org.
• If you’re interested in connecting with the Communications Workgroup (meetings every other Wednesday 5:00p), please contact Amber Akemi Piatt at amber@humanimpact.org.
• If you’re interested in connecting with the Inreach Workgroup (last Tuesday of the month at 4:00p) (outreach to folks inside Santa Rita Jail and/or families of folks inside), please contact Jose Bernal at jose@ellabakercenter.org.
  • If you’re interested in connecting with Santa Rita Jail Solidarity, reach out to them on the contact tab of their website.
• If you’re interested in connecting with the Outreach Workgroup (meetings every other Monday at 6p) please contact Cynthia Nunes at Cynthia@RestoreOakland.org

Any other questions? Please contact ​decarceratealameda@gmail.com!

BAY AREAAAAA! Support me and a mighty team fighting to end all ICE collaborations in Alameda County! You can support by
1) sending an email to public protection committee
2) joining via zoom Thursday at 10am
Check out more info in https://t.co/t8nHhTOQZl #StopICETransfers pic.twitter.com/3yIBbpLL0F

— SV (@arreenitta) September 8, 2021

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/97811379848

Police in #BerkeleyCA have taken up 40% of meeting time for "Re-Imagining Public Safety". Tonight we want to hear from the PEOPLE. #GiveEmHell #BlackLivesMatter #PublicCommenthttps://t.co/XWkN6f6q89 pic.twitter.com/8mB3aq6Pll

— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) September 9, 2021

Please attend the RIPSTF meeting and make a public comment!

1) Copwatch member, Andrea, will be the first presenter who will be critical of the BPD…finally! Andrea will explain why many in Berkeley don’t trust the police, how the BPD continues to erode the community’s trust and then will provide suggestions for how to actually create safety in our city. According to the agenda, Andrea’s presentation should be around 7:15 or so.

2) Zoom in with us on Thursday at 6pm and MAKE A PUBLIC COMMENT — specifically, let’s empower the task force to take control of the process from here on out. Comments are right after roll call on the agenda, so be there at 6pm!

3) For some info on the Reimagining process thus far, read “Is the Reimagining a Farce?”, from the Berkeley Times

In solidarity and with love,
Berkeley Copwatch

*Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81983354907

*Meeting agenda: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_Commissions/Reimagining-Public-Safety-Task-Force%209-9%20Meeting%20Packet.pdf

*Comment inspiration: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10daG-nz4lVUbCII3ZI9BISEMf1bgI78X6xCyGnt4_MI/edit?usp=sharing

*”Is the Reimagining a Farce?”: https://reimaginingberkeley.medium.com/is-the-reimagining-a-farce-a31f1d86d7f0

Register or audit

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYwKCKZvC270piELHNDhnJ5zaxQ1-SoVcIlGihiAZF1f53gQ/viewform

The Struggle for People’s Park is a 2-unit student-led class offered to UC Berkeley Students during the Fall 2021 semester under the Democratic Education at Cal (DeCal) program.

You may apply by clicking the “take my class” button above.

Note: Grading will be based on a pass/fail framework depending on the participation and development designs regarding People’s Park.

For more information and updates, please contact our student facilitator, Aidan Hill at hillae@berkeley.edu