Calendar

We’ll be discussing the Russian economy this time:

Here is the reading for the next meeting:

Hudson on the Russian Pivot:
http://michael-hudson.com/2014/12/russian-pivot/

Putin’s gold for oil scheme:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/grandmaster-putins-trap-russia-is-selling-oil-and-gas-in-exchange-for-physical-gold/5421567

The Russia-China Currency Swap deal:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-and-china-the-dawning-of-a-new-monetary-system/5423637

The Politics of Debt Reading Group is associated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.

Facebook event

Yesterday, 60 heritage trees from farmer Gill’s arboretum met a violent death at the Gill Tract. This was the UC’s initial move to begin clearing the way for their proposed housing and shopping complex. They caught us off guard, and for good reason: there is an active lawsuit on appeal in the county courts, contesting the development’s detrimental environmental impact.

Knowing the community would mobilize to defend the trees, the UC hired a huge demolition team, cutting down the trees with lightening speed. The last trees were in the process of being destroyed at 9am, as farm supporters arrived.

This is a blatant escalation on the part of the UC and in return, we shall hold a TREE MURDER PROTEST and rally. Meet at the corner of Monroe and San Pablo Ave in Albany tomorrow, Feb 27, at 5pm. It is very important to be on time.

“This is structural violence. They have come and destroyed the trees, and they brought their security forces with them. They were in and out before anyone could do anything about it. They took everything.” – Hank Herrera

“The 60 trees that were cut down present a massive environmental injustice to the local community. This area has long been known for its dangerous air pollution from the freeway and the Pacific Steel Casting factories. It is already in the 78th percentile for asthma, and this destruction is happening right next to children in Oceanview Elementary and the University Village. The EIR highlights that the proposed development would be bringing in 6,500 new cars per day on Monroe street. This has got to be stopped, and we must replant.” Vanessa Raditz

“UC Berkeley’s determination to develop the Gill Tract at all costs reveals the privatization of a university that is not meeting the needs of or representing its students or community. This has been a 20 year struggle, one that does not end with the destruction of trees. The Gill Tract has been suddenly and violently altered, but our courage to envision more fuels our fight to defend this soil.” – Camille Fassett

Via IndyBay:

Pigs have killed again – second time this year and the police who murdered Alex Nieto in cold blood walk free. Meanwhile, thousands are evicted and rents continue to skyrocket. The politicians can do nothing but attempt to manage the disaster or cash in on the crisis. We have to stand together and begin to fight. Cops and Condos go hand in hand!

On Thursday, February 26th two undercover SFPD officers shot and killed a Latino man in the Mission District. He was allegedly trying to steal a bicycle. As San Francisco landlords steal homes everyday without being killed for their actions, it is absurd that someone had to die over a bike.

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Facebook event.

Join us as we stand up against the police repression of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Sacramento police have outrageously charged a young black woman for lynching. The police and county DA falsely claim that ANSWER Coalition activist Maile Hampton is guilty of obstructing justice and removing a person from police custody. In fact its the police who are guilty of obstructing justice, in this case and historically. These charges against Maile are in reality “revenge” charges against leading activists of the Black Lives Matter movement. We in the ANSWER Coalition, along with a wide network of endorsing organizations, are mobilizing to fight back against this police repression.

1. We DEMAND that the “revenge charges” against Maile are immediately dropped!

2. We DEMAND an end to the repression of the Black Lives Matter movement!

3. We DEMAND an end to police brutality and the war against black and brown youth!

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We will be combing this with another action where we will be demanding justice for all of the youth that have been victims of police terror. This police terror everywhere, has got to stop.

From Tamir Rice, 12 years old shot and killed immediately by Cleveland Pd for having a toy gun.

To Jessie Hernandez 16 years old, shot and killed by Denver PD while simply sitting in the backseat of a “stolen” car.

To Andy Lopez 13 years old shot by Santa Rosa PD for having a toy gun.

To Aiyana Stanley-Jones 7 years old shot in her home by Detroit PD during a nighttime raid.
And many, many more victims,

We DEMAND accountability, we DEMAND justice. We refuse to sit by and watch police officers around the world continue to kill our children in the name of capitalism. We know that justice won’t simply be handed to us, we have to demand it.

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Please join us Sunday March 1st with your signs, banners, pictures of the victims if you can, and loud voices!
*Please note that depending on circumstances, we may march so bring your walking shoes*

“When our youth are under attack, what do we do? STAND UP FIGHT BACK.”

Join us! Endorse the movement by contacting ANSWER Sacramento.

The first of eight meetings is January 28th.

This seminar will study the corporate structure, its historical development, and its modes of political control.

We are having an orientation for our hands-on study group. The focus of the project is both analytical and activist. As a group, we will develop an understanding of the relationship between gentrification and police violence thru readings, workshops and discussions. At the same time, we will be developing and implementing strategies in our neighborhoods that seek to discourage other people that are new to Oakland from calling the cops. It will last about 3 months and we would love to host it all at the Omni if that works for y’all!

Omni Calendar entry

The BAPS General Meeting is where our core group of organizers come together. For those looking to get involved with the school, this is the best place to start. What happens at the General Meeting?

• Anyone can bring a proposal
  • for new classes
  • events
  • organizational procedures
  • lectures, talks, speakers
  • workshops
  • skill-shares
• Organizers vote
  • on class proposals
  • important financial expenditures
  • use of space
  • core values
• We meet each other
  • make relevant announcements
  • collaborate and coalesce new visions of the school
  • distribute tasks and plan to take action
  • learn how to build collectivity, a commons, a life

Come learn about continuing developments in the battle save the Berkeley Post Office and the Postal Service from privatization, support our Occupiers and help us plan our next steps in opposition to the theft of our public commons.

The postal service wanted to sell the post office to Hudson-mcdonald, a local developer. The City of Berkeley sued the post office to stop the sale. Hudson-mcdonald backed out of the deal in early december.

Get an overview of the sale announcement here. Here’s a good more general overview piece.

 There was a hearing in Federal Court on December 11th.

The next hearing is March 19th. The federal judge will decide whether the lawsuit will continue or be dismissed – he’ll decide sometime after march 19th.

The Postal Police had been raiding the Occupation intermittently in the wee hours of the morning, but the Occupiers refused to leave.   Read about one of the eviction attempts here.  There haven’t been any raids since a few days before Christmas, but they might start up again at any time.

Check out the Community Garden at the Post Office.

Also check out our website and the Save the Berkeley Post Office website, and First they Came for the Homeless Facebook for updates.

BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, which itself is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.

The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at the SEIU Local 1000 union hall, 1433 Webster Street, 2nd Floor in downtown Oakland. These assembly meetings occur from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm.

Our work together encompasses:

• (1) the concerns of precarious, contingent and care workers;
• (2) current campaigns to improve wages for low-wage workers; and
• (3) efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life.

We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.

We look forward to learning with you and making change for the better. Please love and support one another. We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win.

Folks up at #AfrikaTown feeding the community this morning. This is beautiful. #WestOakland pic.twitter.com/csq99wMSL1

— Minister Flashes (@Federal_flashes) March 11, 2015

The first of eight meetings is January 28th.

This seminar will study the corporate structure, its historical development, and its modes of political control.

www.facebook.com/saveccsf

www.saveccsf.org

Help plan and build the March 24 day of action to remove the dictatorship and demand an end to downsizing, pushout policies, austerity, and attacks on diversity, and the cancellation of the construction of the Performing Arts Education Center.

We’ll be discussing the Debt and Economic systems of the ancient world for this meeting, using an article written by Michael Hudson.

Here’s the reading.  Reconstructing The Origins of Interest-Bearing Debt… We’ll be talking about pages 1-30 this time.

The Politics of Debt Reading Group is associated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.

We started hearing back from the implementers at the last meeting; OPD, PEC, Auditor, and the ER director talked. Now the committee has to decide what to do about what they said. See you at 6:00pm, Thursday, 12 March 2015, at Oakland City Hall.

RETALIATE AGAINST WORKER INTIMIDATION BY FAST FOOD CORPORATIONS AND POLICE

Remember two Fridays ago in San Lorenzo, CA when Jack in the box fired a worker unjustly, then called the county sheriffs when she came back with her union comrades demanding her job back???

We are fighting back with a weekly “EFF YOU FRIDAY” picket at various local Jack stores. We gotta send the message to corporations and police that we will not back down from fighting to improve workers’ lives.

WE WILL BE CONTINUING THESE ACTIONS EVERY FRIDAY AT DIFFERENT JACK-IN-THE-BOX LOCATIONS WITH THE SAME OWNER.

FRIDAY THE 13TH: Good Luck Comes to Good Bosses!

Join us for our picket line to support our union brothers and sisters at HS Lordships!

Workers at HS Lordships have been bargaining for a contract for more than four years. These longtime workers are asking for a fair contract, but management continues to propose drastic cuts in medical benefits. Workers have offered to give up sick days and vacation time and participate in a new healthcare plan with an increased deductible and reduced benefits. The restaurant, however, continues to propose making it harder for workers to qualify for healthcare.

At the restaurant, servers make $9 an hour and pay more than $500 per month for family insurance. Workers are fighting for affordable medical insurance and saying “NO MORE” to skyrocketing healthcare costs!

“I have worked at HS Lordships restaurant for ten years. I am a mother of six boys, and my family needs medical insurance in order to provide for and protect our children so they can grow and develop in the healthiest way possible. We need medical insurance that is accessible and affordable so that our basic needs can be met.”
-Adelaida Cisneros, Pantry Cook

Questions or need a ride? Contact Nicole Zapata at nzapata@unitehere.org

www.facebook.com/unitehere2850

UNITE HERE Local 2850, 1440 Broadway, Suite 208, Oakland, CA 94612, Tel. 510-893-3181

You are invited to take part in this cutting edge conference that brings railroad workers, environmentalists, community activists and concerned citizens together in order to build the movement for a safer and greener railroad, one that is more responsive to the needs of workers, trackside communities, citizens in general, and society as a whole.

In recent months, public attention has been focused on the railroad in a way that it has not been for decades. In the wake of Lac Megantic and other derailments and resulting fires and explosions, the public is alarmed about oil trains and the movement of trains in general through their communities. Environmental activists are up-in-arms about the amounts of fossil fuels moving by rail. Farmers and other shippers are concerned about the congestion that has occurred in recent months, due in part to the oil boom. All of this attention gives railroad workers a golden opportunity to educate the general public about the railroad, its inherent efficiencies, its value to society, and its potential. It also gives us an invaluable opportunity to inform non-railroad workers about the situation that we face on the job every day.

The public generally has no idea what goes on daily on America’s railroads. At this conference, we plan to talk about crew fatigue, single employee train crews, excessively long and heavy trains, draconian availability policies, short staffing, limited time off work and other concerns. These issues are of concern not just to railroaders, but are of concern to environmentalists, the community at large and society in general. Non-railroaders in attendance at the conference will come away with a deeper understanding of our workplace and a greater appreciation of the issues facing us.