Calendar

9896
Oct
15
Tue
Shotspotter Renewal at Oakland City Council @ Oakland City Hall
Oct 15 @ 3:30 pm – 8:00 pm

The resolution to fund and expand ShotSpotter will come before the full Oakland City Council Tuesday, October 15th at 3:30pm. That means there is still time to urge your city council member to vote against the resolution.

The Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission recommended to the Council that the Shotspotter contract not be renewed, because of lack of evidence that it is effective, noting that the monies could be used for things that are known to be effective in reducing crime.  The Council, however, is leaning towards ignoring that recommendation, a recommendation made by the Commission the Council, well, commissioned, to make such technical evaluations.

ShotSpotter, produced by SoundThinking, is an acoustic gunshot detection system (AGDS). Its many sensors and microphones constitute a mass surveillance network that does more harm than good to residents of cities across the U.S., including Oakland.

Write to Council members before Tuesday and urge them to say NO to ShotSpotter.

Why ShotSpotter Does Not Belong in Oakland’s Communities

Other U.S. cities, including Chicago and New York, are questioning or outright discontinuing their contracts with SoundThinking because the technology does not live up to its claims of improved public safety or police effectiveness. Houston’s mayor plans to end the city’s contract with SoundThinking, calling their technology a “gimmick” that did not improve the city’s public safety. After a one-year pilot program, Durham, North Carolina’s city council voted against continuing their contract after an audit showed abysmal results. Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Committee (PAC) voted against funding ShotSpotter on April 4th, 2024.

The technology attempts to triangulate the location of gunshots and decrease officer response time to shooting incidents. The Oakland Police Department (OPD) touts ShotSpotter as a crime deterrent that reduces gun violence and keeps communities safer. A growing body of evidence indicates that ShotSpotter fails to achieve any of its supposed benefits.

OPD reports there were 8,318 unique gunshot incidents detected by ShotSpotter in 2023. Of these incidents, only four lead to an arrest. According to OPD’s incident reports, 73% of gun violations were for negligent discharge of a firearm, not a violent crime. OPD Captain Lewis has confirmed “many of the ShotSpotter firearm recoveries are from gun owners doing ‘target practice in their backyard.'” ShotSpotter artificially bloats OPD’s workload, diverting them away from actual community needs.

OPD’s average time to respond to the most serious 911 calls for help has increased. The same increase has occurred in Chicago, Cleveland, and St. Louis. This trend can be partly explained by the artificial workload ShotSpotter creates for officers. For example, in St. Louis, AGDS added 3,400 new calls per average year in addition to 2,800 citizen-initiated calls – a 67% increase in service calls. OPD categorizes ShotSpotter alerts as a Priority I call (immediate dispatch). Therefore, officers are being diverted from urgent and potentially life threatening emergencies to address ShotSpotter alerts that have a decent chance of being nothing more than a loud noise.

ShotSpotter often sends police officers to chase false positive alerts. The technology is notorious for reporting fireworks, automobile backfires, and construction noises as gunshots. False reportage is not only a waste of time. It leads directly to civil liberties abuses and false arrests, as was the case for 65-year old Michael Williams. In his case and others, court documents reveal that law enforcement frequently requests that ShotSpotter’s analysts modify alerts to support their narrative of events.

U.S. Senators have urged the Department of Homeland Security to investigate funding of ShotSpotter for civil rights violations and discriminatory policing. In Chicago, the 12 districts with ShotSpotter installations are those with the highest populations of Black and Latinx residents. In NYC, 70% of acoustic sensors were placed in precincts with majority Black or Latinx residents. The same racist pattern holds for Kansas City, MO; Cleveland, OH; Atlanta, GA; and Boston, MA.

In Oakland, ShotSpotter has been deployed in four geographic phases. The first two phases of deployment were in predominantly Black, Latinx, and Asian communities, which is easily observed by comparing OPD’s map of ShotSpotter deployment (see page 6) with a race, ethnicity, and diversity map of Oakland. A Stanford University study found that OPD officers display a stark racial disparity in who they search, detain, and arrest. Placement of ShotSpotter sensors consistently follows patterns of historical over-policing, and Oakland is no exception.

The money wasted on ShotSpotter would best serve Oakland residents if redirected toward other community needs. Please write to your city council members to tell them that ShotSpotter is a wasteful and dangerous surveillance technology.

78001
Oct
16
Wed
EFF AI Discrimination Workshop
Oct 16 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kit Walsh will join us this month to discuss the potential risks of AI being used to automate discrimination. AI might seem like a helpful tool for processing applications, or informing people about opportunities, but the black box nature of these algorithms can result in systems with difficult to detect bias among protected classes. Kit will review EFF’s analysis of this problem and discuss our approach to policy remedies, before opening up to a discussion for EFA members.
RSVP: https://eff.org/EFA-AI-Discrimination
Notes: https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/edit/NsYN+fj3nIYarA23B-isSdwZ/

78003
Public Bank of the East Bay @ Online
Oct 16 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

The Friends of Public Bank East Bay host general organizing meetings every Wednesday at 6pm via zoom

If you’d like to join us, send us an email and one of our members will be in touch.

We can match your interests and skill set to our needs!

77985
Oakland Privacy: Fighting Against the Surveillance State @ Online
Oct 16 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Please email contact@oaklandprivacy.org a few days before the meeting to get up-to-date location information or obtain Zoom meeting access info.


Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for privacy, surveillance regulation of both corporations and the state, and government transparency, around the Bay and nationwide.

op-logo.2.1We fight against spy drones, facial recognition, tracking equipment and online tracking, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws, and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones; we oppose “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” —  to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.

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 pursue lawsuits as necessary to protect our rights. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Check out some of what we worked on in 2024, with links back through 2019.

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.  We helped fight and in 2018 we helped win the fight against Urban Shield.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition and other analytics, mass aerial surveillance, ubiquitous license plate readers,  online tracking and ID requirements,  street surveillance, and fighting to ensure local governments adhere to State privacy and transparency regulations.

On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work, and on March 16th, 2021 the James Madison Freedom of Information Award by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

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, and/or on Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/@oaklandprivacy, and/or at Bluesky at @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social

77911
Oct
17
Thu
How to Protest with Privacy in Mind @ Online
Oct 17 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Take a deep dive into protecting your privacy while advocating for a better world. Meet our panel featuring EFF Security and Privacy Activist Thorin Klosowski, The Civil Liberties Defense Center Executive Director Lauren Regan, Greenpeace International Information Security Capacity Manager Gillo Cutrupi, and EFF Senior Staff Technologist Cooper Quintin. Learn what’s happening around the world, how you can fortify your devices, and be prepared for the next assembly.

Following the discussion, our panelists will be answering your questions. Participate in the live Q&A or reply to this message now with a question for the panelists.

We hope you and your friends can join us live! If you can’t make it, we’ll post the recording afterward on YouTube and the Internet Archive!

77971
Oct
19
Sat
Unconference: Exploring Regeneration in the Bay Area with Insights from Jem Bendell @ Nile Hall, Preservation Park
Oct 19 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Exploring Regeneration in the Bay Area: A Day with Jem Bendell

Join us for an thought-provoking unconference on Saturday, October 19th, as we delve into the crucial topics surrounding relocalization and regeneration in the face of global challenges. We welcome the author of the Deep Adaptation paper and collaborator on the Breaking Together book, Jem Bendell, to kick off this transformative event.

Jem is in the Bay Area to co-lead a 4 day course Leading Through Collapse (a few places are still available).

Event Highlights:

  • Welcome and Presenting (9:40 AM) 
  • Keynote Address by Jem Bendell (10:00 AM)From Acting Up to Digging Down: one path for change in an era of degeneration.
  • Collaborative Agenda Creation (10:45 AM): Facilitated by Kaliya Young, a long-time friend of Jem’s, and internationally respected facilitator. We’ll use Open Space Technology to support those gathered to co-create the rest of the day’s agenda.
  • Interactive Sessions (11:30-4:30): Engage in dynamic discussions on a range of topics you bring to discuss including:
    • Local food systems and food security
    • Ecovillages and sustainable community models
    • Small-scale economies and alternative currencies
    • Personal and community resilience strategies
    • Ecological restoration and regenerative practices
  • Closing (4:30-5:30): Reflection all together as a group about all the sessions.
  • Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded individuals, activists, and professionals passionate about creating positive change in the Bay Area and beyond.

Why Attend?

This event offers a unique opportunity to:

  1. Learn from Jem Bendell’s extensive experience and insights on adapting to our changing world.
  2. Contribute your own knowledge and ideas in a collaborative, participant-driven format.
  3. Explore practical solutions for building resilient, regenerative communities in the Bay Area.
  4. Network with a diverse group of change-makers, from grassroots activists to sustainability professionals.
  5. Be part of a growing movement towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

Event Details:

  • Date: Saturday, October 19th
  • Time: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
  • Location: Nile Hall, Preservation Park 13th St and MLK in Downtown Oakland, CA
  • Lunch: Included in ticket price
  • Doors Open at 9am
  • Keynote by Jem at 10-10:45 am
  • Agenda Co-Creation at 10:45-11:30 am
  • Session 1 11:30 – 12:30
  • Lunch  12:30 – 1:30
  • Session 2  1:30 – 2:30
  • Session 3 2:30 – 3:30
  • Session 4 3:30 – 4:30
  • Closing    4:30 – 5:30

Attendees have shared these potential topics for the unconference so far:

  • More humans gardening equates to more humans connecting to their biology which includes honoring the entire life cycle, including death.
  • Bioregional Belonging Programming
  • Regenerative financial system & economics
  • Solar punk
  • systems change
  • bright mirror
  • Integral Bioregions
  • “Bioregional governance and coordination in the Bay Delta, watershed by watershed” (baydelta.org) a conversation about
  • operationalizing bioregionalism in our home.
  • collective vision building and sensing, how can we sense and see our community and participants (dreams, their projects, etc),
  • ‘energy democracy
  • Once you become collapse aware, what are the channels available to adapt, to change your way of life to respond?
  • advancing storytelling
  • Technology- what can we do with it, systems of power/ how do we stop weapons industry, fungi and fermentation
  • What are the challenges in the ways in which we collaborate with others in the field of permaculture?
  • cooperatives networks identity
  • Bioregionalism
  • Coordination Tools
  • Participatory Governance

Don’t miss this chance to be part of a transformative day of learning, sharing, and action. Together, we can explore new pathways for regeneration and resilience in our local communities and beyond. Secure your spot now and join us in shaping a more sustainable future for the Bay Area!

Jem Bendell is a prescient leader who 5 years ago posted the Deep Adaptation paper and catalyzed a community to offer mutual support and community for people in a range of professions.  To deeply adapt he chose to move to Indonesia and be part of founding, Bekandze Farm School.  He also worked with a group of collaborators to research Breaking Together published in 2023.

Presented in partnership by Bay Area Permaculture GuildGlobal Regeneration CoLab, and Identity Works, LLC.

 

FYI: This event is NOTAFLOF (no one turned away for lack of funds), please reach out if you want to attend but are limited monetarily.  OTOH if you are well off please register at a higher price to help others attend.  All money raised is going to be going to pay for the venue, food, donations to the farm and if there’s anything leftover, it’ll be a stipend for the organizers.

78011
Oct
20
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Oct 20 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

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

64398
Oct
22
Tue
Celebrate with the Internet Archive @ Internet Archive
Oct 22 @ 5:00 pm – Oct 23 @ 8:00 pm

October 22: Tour the Physical Archive

Please join us on Tuesday, October 22 from 6-8pm as we take a peek behind the doors of the Physical Archive in Richmond, California.

We are excited to offer a behind-the-scenes tour of the physical collections of books, music, film, and video in Richmond, California.

With this special insider event we are opening the doors to an often unseen place. See the lifecycle of physical books—donation, preservation, digitization, and access. Also, samples from generous donations and acquisitions of books, records, microfiche, and more will be on display.

REGISTER NOW for the physical archive tour.


October 23: Join our annual celebration—in-person & online!

In a world where major entertainment websites vanish overnight and streaming media disappears from platforms without warning, our digital culture is at risk of being erased. What safeguards are in place to preserve our collective memory?

Join us October 23rd for the Internet Archive’s annual celebration. This year’s gathering, “Escaping the Memory Hole,” explores the vital role that libraries play in protecting our digital heritage. As corporate decision-makers increasingly control what stays online, libraries like the Internet Archive stand as guardians of our shared digital culture, ensuring that it remains preserved and accessible for future generations.

Event details

5pm: Entertainment and food trucks
7pm: Program in our Great Room
8pm: Dancing in the streets

Location: 300 Funston Ave. at Clement St., San Francisco

Register now for in-person or virtual attendance.

77974
Oct
23
Wed
Grey Panthers Meeting: FOCUS ON ELECTIONS – State and Local Ballot Measures @ Online
Oct 23 @ 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Plus Annual Member Meeting for Board Elections
ALL ARE WELCOME – JOIN US on ZOOM (phone info below)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85884943363?pwd=aW9yZkRpNE44SjNpZVBDbm9CQXdKQT09

PROGRAM
1:30 Welcome and Introductions to New Members and First-Timers
1:40 CARA Video on 5 top Ballot Measure priorities for Seniors and Housing Justice
Discussion and Q&A with guest speakers
Jodi Reid, former ED, California Alliance of Retired Americans
Kei Yamamoto – Senior Policy Engagement Manager, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
and Sani Seti, SF Rising
2:30 Review Local and County Ballot Measures, Berkeley & Oakland
Julia Cato, Berkeley Tenants Union on BB and CC
Other Member Priorities
3:10 PM – ANNUAL BOARD ELECTIONS (2 – year terms)
Nominations from the Board and the Floor
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NO 4th Wednesdays in November or December check� our website� for other EBGP Gray Panther events
Save the date: Dec. 9 at Richmond Civic Auditorium – Alameda and Contra Costa County joint Potluck of CARA chapters
Open discussion zoom until 4pm
For more information, Zoom Link and Phone Numbers
RSVP at www.eastbaygraypanthers
510-842-6224
Join the East Bay Gray Panthers Zoom Room
Wednesday October 23, 2024 at 1:30 for Discussion of State and Local Ballot Measures�
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85884943363?pwd=aW9yZkRpNE44SjNpZVBDbm9CQXdKQT09
or Dial by Phone +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 858 8494 3363  Passcode: 446231

78014
ACLU: Tools to fight for solutions instead of surveillance. @ Online
Oct 23 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

RSVP Today

With the presidential election looming, the explosion of AI, and the current Supreme Court, the decisions we make about surveillance at the local level have never been more important. To prepare, we spent the last year developing a report designed to give you the tools you need to critically analyze and challenge surveillance in your community.

We’re now hosting a special briefing led by Matt Cagle, senior staff attorney with the Tech & Civil Liberties Program.

New Report Briefing: Seeing Through the Surveillance Hype

Join us and learn tools to fight for solutions instead of surveillance.

RSVP Today

During the webinar, we will explain how you can use this report to make a case for why your community should limit and dismantle local surveillance systems and instead, focus on solutions that actually make us safer.

Our report contains mountains of evidence showing that despite promises from tech companies and police, surveillance has made us less, not more, safe. This is especially true for abortion seekers, immigrants, activists, and over-policed Black and Brown communities.

Register today to learn what’s in this report, and how to use it in your activism.

The fight against surveillance is a fight for a new vision of public safety – one that uplifts people instead of policing and imprisoning them.

77998
Public Bank of the East Bay @ Online
Oct 23 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

The Friends of Public Bank East Bay host general organizing meetings every Wednesday at 6pm via zoom

If you’d like to join us, send us an email and one of our members will be in touch.

We can match your interests and skill set to our needs!

77985
Film Screening: The Strike (Pelican Bay Prisoner Hunger Strike) @ Grand Lake Theater
Oct 23 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The story of a generation of California men who endured decades of solitary confinement and launched the largest hunger strike in U.S. history. (documentary)

Join us for a screening of an award-winning feature documentary, The Strike, about the Pelican Bay hunger strikes against solitary confinement.

Followed by a Q&A with the directors JoeBill Munoz and Lucas Guilkey, and the hunger strikers and solitary survivors featured in the film. Moderated by Lisa Armstrong.

The Strike is a feature documentary that tells the story of a generation of California men who endured decades of solitary confinement and, against all odds, launched the largest hunger strike in U.S. history.

Amidst the redwood trees on the California-Oregon border sits one of the most infamous prisons in US history. Pelican Bay is a labyrinthine construction of solid cement blocks – a supermax prison – opened in 1989 and designed specifically for mass-scale solitary confinement. For decades, it held men alone in tiny cells indefinitely. Then one day in 2013, 30,000 prisoners went on hunger strike.

THE STRIKE weaves together, thread-by-thread, a half century of personal and criminal justice history into a single, compelling narrative around the drama of the 2013 hunger strike to end indefinite isolation. Grounded in testimonies from the hunger strikers themselves, the film details how the protest was conceived from a whisper inside the halls of Pelican Bay to a colossal feat across California prisons. With unprecedented access to state prison officials and never-before-seen footage from inside Pelican Bay, THE STRIKE reveals the panic that gripped the highest echelons of state government.

Told through the stories of the men who bore the brunt of this practice, THE STRIKE goes beyond making a case against solitary confinement; it illuminates the power of organizing and prisoner-led resistance, and in doing so, flips the true-crime genre on its head.

Special event with Q&A

 

78007
2024 CA Ballot Props & Oakland Local Measures w/ LWV Oakland @ Oakland Public Library: Dimond Branch
Oct 23 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

2024 CA Ballot Props & Oakland Local Measures w/ LWV Oakland

Date:
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Time:
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Event Type:
Teach-In
Organizer/Author:
League of Women Voters Oakland
Location Details:
Oakland Public Library: Dimond Branch
3565 Fruitvale Avenue
Oakland, CA 94602

Join a nonpartisan – Pros and Cons – presentation on CA state and Oakland ballot measures.
We will welcome questions from the audience as time allows.

Come learn before you cast your vote!

Wednesday, October 23 at 7 – 9pm PT

Oakland Public Library: Dimond Branch, 3565 Fruitvale Avenue, Oakland, CA 94602

More info here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ballot-measures-forum-tickets-1022635449157

For info on attending the OCT 5 ballot information event, go here: https://www.lwvoakland.org/events-1/ballot-measures-pros-cons-presentation

77988
Oct
24
Thu
FINDING THE MONEY Documentary Screening with Q&A Panel @ Wheeler Hall 130, UC Berkeley
Oct 24 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

An intrepid group of economists is on a mission to instigate a paradigm shift by flipping our understanding of the national debt — and the nature of money — upside down. FINDING THE MONEY follows Stephanie Kelton, former chief economist on the Senate Budget Committee, on a journey through Modern Money Theory or “MMT,” to inject new hope and empower countries around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequality.

Free or by donation
For more information: www.FindingMoneyFilm.com

78013
Oct
26
Sat
From Frisco to Falastin: Stop Scott Wiener’s War Machine
Oct 26 @ 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Queers for a Free Palestine meet up and march! All are welcome! Call out state senator Scott Wiener, who has been attacking Palestinian activists at UC and CSU campuses, opposes inclusion of Palestine in ethnic studies, introduced oppressive legislation to silence the voice of the Palestinian people and their comrades, and attacking houseless people. He opposed the cease fire back in January. Mask up, bring friends. Let’s San Francisco now that you oppose SF politicians who have not called out an end to the genocide in Gaza! And an end to the apartheid government of Israel!

78015
Strike Debt Bay Area Book Group: Mutual Aid, by Dean Spade @ Online
Oct 26 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

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

For our October 26th meeting we will be reading “Mutual Aid” by Dean Spade. (Amazon, free PDF)

Mutual aid is the radical act of caring for each other while working to change the world.
 
Around the globe, people are faced with a spiralling succession of crises, from the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change-induced fires, floods, and storms to the ongoing horrors of mass incarceration, racist policing, brutal immigration enforcement, endemic gender violence, and severe wealth inequality. As governments fail to respond to—or actively engineer—each crisis, ordinary people are finding bold and innovative ways to share resources and support the vulnerable.
 
Survival work, when done alongside social movement demands for transformative change, is called mutual aid.

This book is about mutual aid: why it is so important, what it looks like, and how to do it. It provides a grassroots theory of mutual aid, describes how mutual aid is a crucial part of powerful movements for social justice, and offers concrete tools for organizing, such as how to work in groups, how to foster a collective decision-making process, how to prevent and address conflict, and how to deal with burnout.  
 
Writing for those new to activism as well as those who have been in social movements for a long time, Dean Spade draws on years of organizing to offer a radical vision of community mobilization, social transformation, compassionate activism, and solidarity.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included (in chronological order) Doughnut EconomicsLimitsBanking on the PeopleCapital 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 TelescopeMission 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 , Poverty, By America, End Times, Jackson Rising Redux , The Feminist Subversion of the Economy, How Infrastructure Works, Inside the Systems that Shape our World, Wealth Supremacy, The Persuaders,  The Path to a Livable Future. and Solidarity.

77991
Oct
27
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Oct 27 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

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

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Oct
29
Tue
Panel discussion on the War on the Unhoused @ Berkeley City College Auditorium
Oct 29 @ 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

 

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Medicalizing Inequity: The Risks of Financial Wellness for workers. @ Online
Oct 29 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

 

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Oct
30
Wed
EFF Workshop: Advocacy with Newly Electeds
Oct 30 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

It’s almost election day! But our work doesn’t end with voting. EFF organizers José and Chris will facilitate a workshop on how local advocates can put together a plan for getting the attention of newly elected officials, and engaging them on Digital Rights issues. Participants are encouraged to bring questions and personal experiences for discussion.
RSVP: https://www.eff.org/EFA-Last-Wed
Notes: https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/edit/lDxeNgOoQjjvILJd+0UjfKyF/

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