Calendar
Larry Everest, author of Oil, Power, and Empire will speak on building an Anti-Capitalist movement.
Discussion of Marxism and scientific socialism with members of the International Socialist Organization.
Come learn about the Oakland gang injunctions from the folks at Stop the Injunction Coalition (STIC).
Labor Struggles, including conflict in the Appalachias.
Ken Knabb from Bureau of Public Secrets, will hold a discussion around his recent piece, The Awakening in America, which views the Occupation Movements from a situationist perspective.
Andrej Grubačić is a US-based Yugoslavian anarchist theorist, sociologist, activist, lecturer, and co-author with Staughton Lynd, of the book Wobblies and Zapatistas.
How do we retain an uncompromising analysis of the violence of the status quo, including corporate capitalism, racism, and the police system that upholds both, while transcending the tired dynamics of us (the self-righteous good guys) and them (in this case corporate execs and cops)? How do we channel our anger into resistance of systems rather than struggles with individual figureheads for those systems?
Three mini…-workshops on Saturday, October 22:
9am-noon Making It Personal: Understanding the Violence of the Status Quo: In this workshop, we’ll connect our personal suffering (often understood as “merely”’ psychological) with social trauma connected to systemic violence. We’ll also fan out and listen to as many people at the protest as we can, and then come together to share what we heard.
1-3:30pm Nonviolence Training: This workshop is for those who, understanding the violence of the status quo, are interested in interrupting that violence with nonviolence. We’ll discuss what we can learn from past movements and how it might be applied to these circumstances.
4-5:30pm Loving Our Enemies: We will gather to do a loving-kindness meditation for everyone in the 99%, and then, if we can, extend it to the 1% and to the police in the area. Then we’ll debrief what that was like and what it means for our ongoing occupation.
Meet in the northernmost part of the ampitheater area of the plaza. In the event that Occupy Oakland ends before 10/22, we will meet at St. Mary’s Center, 925 Brockhurst (at San Pablo and 32nd).
Come to one or all three workshops.
Contact us at 510-225-8561 or info@seminaryofthestreet.org.
Get trained before Saturday’s mass march!
“Oakland’s Work Holiday” is a multimedia presentation that includes 80 original photos of the 1946 strike, in addition to video clips of newsreel footage and short interviews of participants in the strike (from a video of the 60th anniversary commemoration). It aims to not only to bring to life this nearly forgotten piece of working class history, but also to serve as a call to reinvigorate the traditions of solidarity and militant tactics that made the post-World War II strike wave the fiercest episode of class struggle in United States history.
Elders from native communities will discuss what this Occupation means in relation to the understanding that we have been on occupied and stolen land.
THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Hear about the ILWU workers militant train blockade outside the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview that resulted in scuffles with riot police and 19 arrests. How can we at Occupy Oakland support Longshoremen and the next steps they are taking and build solidarity.
This workshop is being presented by Jack Gerson and Bob Mandel, who are former teachers, well-known OEA leaders, and radical activists.
Come hear a union member explain the various city unions’ debates about Occupy Oakland.
This workshop is especially geared towards folks on the Security and Safer Spaces committees, and is open to all who want to practice deescalation and have more options for resolving conflict.