Norman Finkelstein first made his name while still in graduate school when he exposed an acclaimed national bestseller as a hoax. He went on in subsequent decades to subject Israel’s apologists as well as Holocaust hucksters to withering scrutiny.

In his new book – I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom – Finkelstein focuses his keen forensic eye on the canonical texts of identity politics. After methodically parsing them, he concludes that they are lacking in intellectual substance, and that the real purpose of identity politics is to derail a class-based movement bent on radical change.

Finkelstein recalls his own life in radical politics and his close encounters with the cancel culture, which left him unemployed and unemployable. He situates his personal story within broader debates on academic freedom and poignantly concludes that, although occasionally bitter, he harbors no regrets about the choices he made.

This promises to be a very interesting session for all who want to fight the changes that are leaving millions of US citizens extremely vulnerable today.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Norman Finkelstein first made his name while still in graduate school when he exposed an acclaimed national bestseller as a hoax. He went on in subsequent decades to subject Israel’s apologists as well as Holocaust hucksters to withering scrutiny.

In his new book – I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom – Finkelstein focuses his keen forensic eye on the canonical texts of identity politics. After methodically parsing them, he concludes that they are lacking in intellectual substance, and that the real purpose of identity politics is to derail a class-based movement bent on radical change.

Finkelstein recalls his own life in radical politics and his close encounters with the cancel culture, which left him unemployed and unemployable. He situates his personal story within broader debates on academic freedom and poignantly concludes that, although occasionally bitter, he harbors no regrets about the choices he made.

This promises to be a very interesting session for all who want to fight the changes that are leaving millions of US citizens extremely vulnerable today.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
One tap mobile
+16694449171,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US
+16699006833,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdVC04xvn9

Come one come all! At the East Bay DSA Summer General Membership meeting, we will come together to vote on key issues, discuss high-needs efforts, and continue organizing for socialism together! Social to follow the meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82052332825?pwd=OVlwUUpPeWVacm1BUWdvdDhPVnlTdz09

Meeting ID: 820 5233 2825

Passcode: 942544

Oakland Greens July Free Dinner & a Movie Discussion Series

“History of The World Part 1”  (1981)

— Human history is traced through a series of vignettes, beginning with cavemen. Then Moses (Mel Brooks) receives the tablets containing the “15” commandments, and Emperor Nero (Dom DeLuise) presides over a madcap Rome with his wife, Nympho (Madeline Kahn). Jumping ahead, the Spanish Inquisition softens repression with song and dance, and a few centuries later Madame Defarge (Cloris Leachman) is fomenting revolution in France — Organized by the Oakland Greens:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oakland-greens-july-free-dinner-a-movie-discussion-series-tickets-525283205207?aff=erelpanelorg

Hardware hack night – each Tuesday, we welcome sudoers new and old to bring their hardware projects to the space, or simply come by to learn and tinker! All welcome, 7pm til… whomever’s left standing!

You can also jump in virtually via https://meet.waag.org/turtlesturtlesturtles !

Some stuff people have been working on:

• Pimping out cool bicycles with lights for the East Bay Bike Party
• the dancing robot arm
• stable diffusion watercolor painting IRL

Just last month unarmed 20-year-old Juan Diego Yuriar was shot & killed after being pulled over by CHP as he was on his way home after watching fireworks for the 4th.

As the world marks the 78th  anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Eugene E Ruyle, member of the ICSS Program Committee, reviews the history of nuclear weapons and their continuing threat to human existence.

Our speaker is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, CSU, Long Beach and President, Veterans for Peace, East Bay Chapter 162.

LOGIN INFORMATION

Our Zoom room will be opened up as usual at 10:15 am for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc.. The program (and recording) will begin at 10:30 am and will end at 12:30pm.

ZOOM LINK
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
One tap mobile
+16694449171,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US
+16699006833,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdVC04xvn9

This BENEFIT screening opens this SWFCenter film to the public and raises money for our post-production expenses. It’s a powerful documentary by filmmaker Cheryl Fabio, that updates the narrative about the potential avalanche of houselessness, as it demonstrates that the homeless crisis is solvable. Each of us can act toward the end of homelessness in Alameda County and across the nation.

Harmonizing Our Measure for Equality (HOME Act) AB 1306 would ensure that immigrant Californians who earn release from state prison under existing criminal justice laws can come home instead of being double punished and cruelly transferred to ICE where they experience indefinite detention and, often times, permanent separation from their families and communities. The bill is now in the Senate, and will be heard next in the Appropriations Committee. During this event we will be joined by incredible community members, impacted leaders, and advocates to learn more about how we can protect California immigrants from being turned over to ICE after being found eligible for release. Join us and learn how you can take action!
RSVP here. You will get the Zoom link via email.

RSVP to  policy@ellabakercenter.org for the zoom link

Join us for a virtual community gathering where we will be responding to letters we receive from people inside prisons and jails in California and across the country. We will be sending in our newsletter, legal resources, parole preparation packets, reentry help, and answers to people’s questions. There will be an “Intro” room for new folks, a problem-solving room, and a “Special Issue” room too! You can also plug into our  Calls to Action before/after Mail Night this month. Virtual Prison Mail Night happens on the second Thursday of each month.

The climate movement is coming together to demonstrate that it is well past time for Biden to declare a Climate Emergency. At the XRUS Open House you can learn about the September 17 March to End Fossil Fuels. Please register for the Open House here.

144 activists from around the country are already registered, and one of the march organizers will give a presentation and answer questions, so we are expecting a lively and useful discussion.

Here is a preview of what will be covered at the Open House.

We all want clean water to drink. Fresh air for our children to breathe. Good jobs for our families. A planet where our lands and oceans thrive.

But while we breathe toxic air and swelter in the hottest days ever recorded on the planet, President Biden protects fossil fuel profits instead of people. From the Willow Project to the Gulf, Biden has propped up dangerous oil and gas projects and the corporations that value their bottom line over our future. It has to stop.

Fossil fuels harm our health, our families, and our lives. It’s never been more clear than this summer, with wildfire smoke and heatwaves choking us – fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis.

We deserve a world free from fossil fuels. And together, as a movement, we are taking back our future.

Please Join the Green Party of Alameda County for an Open Forum discussion of the Presidential Run by Dr. Cornel West.

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88083342274

As Chris Hedges writes “The Republican and Democratic parties have no intention of allowing independents and third parties into their exclusive club. A series of arcane laws and rules governing elections make it extremely difficult for outsiders to get on the ballot, receive exposure, raise money, comply with regulations that are designed to advance the interests of Republicans and Democrats or participate in public debates. Third parties and independents are effectively disenfranchised, although 44 percent of the voting public identify as independent. This discrimination is euphemistically labeled ‘bipartisanship,’ but the correct term, as Theresa Amato writes, is ‘political apartheid.’”

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/cornel-west-and-the-campaign-to-end

This Green Sunday will be an open forum to discuss Cornel West’s efforts to win the Green Party endorsement and bring some sanity and morality to the presidential debates. Dr. Cornel West is an outspoken activist, social critic, former professor at Harvard and Princeton, and author of more than 20 books. From Dr. West’s website: “I am running for truth and justice and as a candidate for president of the United States in the Green Party. I want to reintroduce America to the best of itself � the dignity, courage, and creativity of precious everyday ppeople. Join our movement for priceless poor and working people of all colors here and abroad.”

This Green Sunday will differ from most in that we will begin with a brief introduction to Cornel West’s beliefs through his writings, followed by a round-robin discussion of the benefits and concerns surrounding his candidacy, including its potential impacts on the Green Party. Please come join the debate and share your thoughts about Dr. West, especially any impact he has had on your political thinking and activism. Let us know whether you think his candidacy has the potential to energize and unite the Left as we battle the corporate controlled duopoly on policies of climate change, racism, militarism, imperialism, corporatism, surveillance, wealth inequality, healthcare, student debt, corporate bailouts, tax cuts for the rich, immigration, prisons, gun violence, police violence, sanctions, censorship and political corruption.

“The country is in deep trouble. We’ve forgotten that a rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with people, the courage to fight for social justice. In many instances we will be stepping out on nothing, and just hoping to land on something. But that’s the struggle. To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.” — Dr. Cornel West

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows at 7:00 pm, after a 30-minute break. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88083342274

Meeting ID: 880 8334 2274

One tap mobile
+12532158782,,88083342274# US (Tacoma)
+13017158592,,88083342274# US (Washington DC)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k39IUnw59

Join the Alameda County DA Accountability Table on Thursday, August 17th, from 5pm-7pm at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center to hear what issue experts with lived experience have to say about mental health services as a crucial component of violence prevention and intervention.

Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the online invite.

For our August and September meetings we are reading End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin.

For  our August meeting we’ll be reading the first two sections, which is about half of the book.
For  the  September  meeting  we will finish the book.

Back in 2010, when Nature magazine asked leading scientists to provide a ten-year forecast, Turchin used his models to predict that America was in a spiral of social disintegration that would lead to a breakdown in the political order circa 2020. The years since have proved his prediction more and more accurate, and End Times reveals why.

The lessons of world history are clear, Turchin argues: When the equilibrium between ruling elites and the majority tips too far in favor of elites, political instability is all but inevitable. As income inequality surges and prosperity flows disproportionately into the hands of the elites, the common people suffer, and society-wide efforts to become an elite grow ever more frenzied. He calls this process the wealth pump; it’s a world of the damned and the saved. And since the number of such positions remains relatively fixed, the overproduction of elites inevitably leads to frustrated elite aspirants, who harness popular resentment to turn against the established order. Turchin’s models show that when this state has been reached, societies become locked in a death spiral it’s very hard to exit.

In America, the wealth pump has been operating full blast for two generations. As cliodynamics shows us, our current cycle of elite overproduction and popular immiseration is far along the path to violent political rupture.  That is only one possible end time, and the choice is up to us, but the hour grows late.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century, The Deficit Myth,  Revenge Capitalism, the Edge of Chaos blog symposium , Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, The Optimist’s Telescope, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Exploring Degrowth, The Origin of Wealth, Mine!, The Dawn of Everything  A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Beyond Money, Less is More,  Cannibal Capitalism,  Debt, the First 5000 Years and Poverty, By America.

Non-violence: Should it be a Green Party value for the National, State, County, & City platforms? The Oakland Greens are on record saying that a large reason why we lose members is over the non-violence party platform idea. Is the idea of non-violence a turn-off to people that have been subject to institutional violence? You are invited to have this discussion with us; virtual doors open at 6 PM with the best pre-show music diversity, with the discussion beginning at 6:30 PM PDT on ZOOM

Please register by Friday, August 18, at:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/non-violence-should-it-be-a-green-party-platform-position-tickets-540412216487?aff=ebdsoporgprofile