Calendar
Sprouts is known for their low pay, labor violations and union-busting. Across the country, fast food and minimum wage workers are standing up and speaking out for their rights. On 4/15, we are shutting down Sprouts to protest their paving of historic farmland at the Gill Tract, and to stand with workers across the country demanding $15 and a Union.
Join us on April 15th, as we protest the paving of historic farmland at the opening of a new Sprouts in San Rafael – sandwiched in the middle of a DAY OF ACTIONS in solidarity with the Nationwide Fight for Fifteen.
Join us throughout the day as we travel from Oakland to San Rafael and back to Berkeley!
Tentative Schedule
8am: McDonald’s action in Oakland with Fight for Fifteen! Location TBA
12pm: Sprouts shut down in San Rafael
3pm: Return for Rally & March in Berkeley!
More information about why Occupy the Farm is calling for a national boycott of Sprouts “Farmers Market”: www.BoycottSprouts.com
We need not only land, but a complete transformation of the food system. That means challenging corporations, and lifting up workers. Join us!
On April 15, join the Fight for $15 and be part of the largest low-wage worker protests in modern American history.
There is a crisis in America. Working families have endured decades of stagnant incomes. We are increasingly forced to choose between keeping a roof over our heads, paying our bills or feeding our kids.
Meanwhile, the corporations we work for have record profits and their executives earn ever-increasing salaries.
On April 15, here in the Bay Area, families, workers, people of faith, students, artists, leaders, and community supporters will be taking to the streets to say that “We won’t stand for this.”
This movement unites adjunctprofessors airportworkers,walmartworkers, fastfoodworkers & homecareworkers. #fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/DKLLyJJC7P
— Food Chain Workers (@foodchainworker) March 31, 2015
The Anti-Police Terrorism Project is a project of the ONYX Organizing Committee that in coalition with other organizations like the Alan Blueford Center for Justice, Workers World and Healthy Hoodz is working to develop a replicable and sustainable model to end police terrorism in this country.
We are led by the most impacted communities but are a multi-racial, mutil-generational coalition.
We meet the 3rd Wednesday of every month.
At the Assembly we will discuss and organize pickets and shutdowns for May Day, May 1, in affinity and working groups.
This week we are meeting with the Oakland Open Circle at the OMNI basement, 4799 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland, and will continue a bit after they have finished their meeting. The Open Circle will have a potluck lunch at the Omni beginning at 3 PM and start their regular meeting at about 3:45 PM. Occupy Oakland’s own GA will begin at about 5 PM or so after the Open Circle finishes up.
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly generally meets Sundays, at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway, often on the steps of City Hall. “If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Commons, 4799 Shattuck Ave, Oakland Directions
We have met on a continuous basis for more than three years! 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.
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives voluntarily come to the GA and report on past and future actions. 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
- Discussion Topic (Optional)
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)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (kitchen@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
Please join us for the Potluck at 3:00 pm followed by the Open Circle at 3:45 pm. Please bring a dish or snacks to share!
Open circle will begin with updates and announcements of upcoming actions followed by reflection and dialogue around the current state and thoughts or approaches on how to effect change.
We will end with working groups to organize and plan our next steps in the struggle.
Solidarity is afoot so bring your ideas!
Notes from last meeting:
omnicommons.org/connect
Invitation To Attend Planning Meeting For *BIG* Earth Month Rally To Support Launch Of CleanPowerSF
350 SF is going to hold a very important organizing meeting to help plan a big rally that is being held by Sierra Club, 350, and others, to support CleanPowerSF (see CleanPowerSF details below).
The rally will be on April 28, 12:30pm at San Francisco City Hall – see https://www.facebook.com/events/418190375008487
(Save the date.)
For his entire tenure, San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee has attempted to block CleanPowerSF due to campaign donations and other influence from fossil fuel energy corporation PG&E. But in January 2015 that all changed, and a decade of grassroots community campaigning has finally gotten the mayor to reverse his position.
Now that the historically anti CleanPowerSF Mayor Lee is finally saying he supports launching CleanPowerSF by the end of the year, we need to show a BIG public presence during Earth month to make clear to Lee that he needs to keep that promise.
Here are the basic details about CleanPowerSF..
CleanPowerSF
HOW IT WORKS
California Community Choice law allows any city or county to group its electricity customers into a powerful builders and buyers cooperative for installing and purchasing clean energy and efficiency for those customers. Community Choice joins together the buying power of all those customers, as a not-for-profit community service, and so gives consumers the leverage they need to get cleaner electricity at lower prices than those offered by for-profit monopoly utilities like PG&E.
Under a Community Choice program like CleanPowerSF, PG&E still maintains the wires and distribution of electricity and still sends the bill, while the Community Choice program is free to choose the energy sources, and so can ensure a cleaner and better deal on the energy itself.
The two counties that already have Community Choice (Marin and Sonoma) are delivering greener energy at lower prices than PG&E.
CleanPowerSF is planned to run the city on 50% local clean electricity by 2025!
Get involved with the fight against solitary confinement.
Become a human rights pen pal: Contact cws@igc.org
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.
There was another hearing in March 26th.
Federal Judge William Alsup will decide whether the lawsuit will continue or be dismissed – he should decide sometime in the next several weeks. See our response to the Postal Service’s response to Judge Alsup’s request for them to rescind their decision to sell.
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.
STOP POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN OF COLOR!
Tell Oakland City Council to put pressure on OPD, the District Attorney, and Alameda Coroner!
We demand them to release the police and autopsy reports in the police killing of 27-year-old mother of four, Guadalupe (“Lupe”) Manzo Ochoa. Lupe was killed by San Leandro Police in East Oakland December 7th and now OPD is investigating the shooting and refuses to be transparent with the family!
WEAR HOT PINK (Lupe’s favorite color), bring noisemakers and signs that say @[null:#Justicia4Lupe]!
*We want to get a long line of people to sign up to speak and simply state “on behalf of Lupe Ochoa’s family, release the reports!”
*Please note that the formal meeting begins at 630pm though sign up may begin as early as 530. Some of us will be in attendance early to sign up for those who wish to speak.
We will have some chants. We want to disrupt City Council and remind them that police devastated Lupe’s family and community and we want answers!
Update: sign up to speak on item number 13. It’s for an independent review board for OPD. Utilize the time to talk about how OPD cannot be trusted to investigate themselves let alone San Leandro police and that the police and coroners reports in the killing of Lupe Ochoa needs to be released now! Sign up for a speakers card online through this link:
http://
Join Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub, and other invasions of privacy by our benighted City Government
Stop by and learn how you can help guard Oakland’s right not to be spied on by the government & if you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to:
oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe AT lists.riseup.net
For more information on the DAC check out
Come help plan continued actions in the fight for justice for Yvette Henderson, gunned down by Emeryville police.
- student debt resistance
- organizing for public banking.
- advocating for Postal banking.
- ongoing study group
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- our famous Strike Debt radio program
- our next Debtors’ Assembly
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- and much more!
Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.
Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.
Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.
Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.
Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.
At the Assembly we will discuss and organize pickets and shutdowns for May Day, May 1, in affinity and working groups.
Get involved with the fight against solitary confinement.
Become a human rights pen pal: Contact cws@igc.org
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.
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.
At this meeting we will review our actions on 4/15 – shutting down the McDonald’s in West Oakland, the march from OGP to Sproul, and our participation in the mass rally on Sproul. We will plan for future actions including various potential May Day (May 1st) events.
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.
There’s (or soon will be) a new world-wide lending institution in town. What affect will it have on the global economy? On the IMF and World Bank? On US control of the world’s monetary system? We’re discussing the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank being pushed by China and how it effects American hegemony over the worldwide banking system.
A few articles we’ll be reading. More may be coming.
Hudson on the Real News Net:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13470
William Engdahl (a reference in Ellen Brown’s works):
http://journal-neo.org/2015/04/10/aiib-brics-development-bank-and-an-emerging-world/
Another similar one:
http://www.goldcore.com/us/gold-blog/u-s-hegemony-and-dollar-threatened-by-new-chinese-bank/
New York Times editorial: Japan Must Join China’s Bank
Five Things about the Asian Infrastructure Bank
Demystifying the Asian Infrastructure Bank
The Guardian: In defence of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Joseph Stiglitz
Wikipedia: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
The Diplomat: China’s AIIB and the US Reputation Risk
The Politics of Debt Reading Group is affiliated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.
May Day is the traditional holiday of the working class, the oppressed, and the rebellious. It is a day to celebrate our collective power against exploitation, capitalism, and control. This Friday, May 1st, 2015, we want to start the day off the right way.
Oakland is seeing an unprecedented wave of gentrification creeping in from every direction. The rich have begun colonizing North Oakland, West Oakland, and Downtown. Their tech buses, their pricey cafes, and their luxury apartments have begun to appear with alarming frequency. This May Day, we will deliver a simple message to these colonizers during their morning commute.
Starting at 7:30 AM and lasting until 9:30 AM, we call on everyone to converge at the MacArthur BART station to interrupt the morning commute. The tech shuttle buses for Facebook, Google, and Apple all stop outside the BART station on 40th Street, below the freeway. We will converge in front of these buses, on the platforms of the station, and in front of the BART gates to spread our message.
We call on everyone affected by gentrification to make banners, bring megaphones, and prepare words or speeches to deliver to these colonizers. Tell them what you have been thinking, what you have been seeing, what you have been feeling. Let them know that they are not welcome, that their high-priced world is not welcome, and their terrible world of surveillance and alienation must end. Bring all of your creativity, joy, and anger to the streets. Together, we can deliver a clear and undeniable message.
Oakland is a people’s town!
Local 10, outraged by the recent escalation in police brutality throughout the US that has resulted in the needless killing of innocent and unarmed minorities, has called for unions and workers to join our march from the port to Oakland City Hall.
WHERE: Port of Oakland, take Adeline St. to portside of overpass.
Rides should be available from the West Oakland BART (see bottom).
The labor force has played an integral part in social justice movements throughout United States history and beyond. ILWU, Local 10 in particular, has been at the forefront of many monumental events including, but not limited to the Big Strike of 1934, the 1984 Anti-Apartheid action against South Africa, and the 2010 Oscar Grant rally and port shut down.
Police terrorism in the United States is out of control. We have witnessed an endless onslaught of police brutality and police killings of innocent and unarmed people. These assaults have been mainly directed towards Black men and Black communities. We as union and non-union workers alike cannot standby and become desensitized to these great injustices.
ILWU, Local 10 is leading a Day of Action on May 1st, 2015 to call national attention in order to STOP POLICE TERROR. There will be no longshoremen working on that day in the Port of Oakland. The port will be SHUT DOWN. Disrupting commerce in this country is one means to find viable solutions to STOP POLICE TERROR. Please join us in this action and stand up against police terror.
We will gather at the ALREADY SHUTDOWN port at 9am for an hour long rally which will be at the APL gate near berth 62 close to the overpass (parking is available along Adeline close to 6th & 7th).
After the rally, WE MARCH! We will march from the port to Oscar Grant Plaza as we demonstrate that AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
There will be another rally at noon when we reach OGP.
Working people across the country are outraged. Now key unions have decided they’ve had enough,the time has come to act. In an April 16 statement, the South Carolina AFL-CIO announced it would “reach out to workers around the country to join with us on May 1st in actions to protest the continuing unjustified killings.” The labor federation added, “We want to commend ILWU Local 10 for your courageous actions of solidarity.” The reason? On May 1 the West Coast longshore local will hold a stop-work meeting, shutting down the Port of Oakland and marching on City Hall to demand “Stop Police Killings of Black and Brown People.”
We urge workers across to country to mobilize on May 1 against racist police terror! With rallies, marches and strike action, unions and labor supporters should bring our collective strength to bear,demanding these killings must stop!
