Calendar
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Training 8
- Meeting People Where They’re At
- This training will teach participants how to be conscious of the experiences and conditions incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people face, in order to improve participants’ advocacy. Trainers will focus on methods to increase mindfulness and improve relationship building and advocacy skills during phone calls, correspondence, visits, and other support activities. Examples will be drawn from experiences at CDCR Women’s facilities.
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- RSVP & Survey: Please complete to shape venue, content, and number of copies for the series.
Email List Sign up for announcements here http://eepurl.com/7WwfL - Materials, resources, and flyers for this training series are available here http://caitlinkellyhenry.com/support/
Cost If you can afford to, please donate to cover expenses http://www.nlgsf.org/contribute.
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Invite Here https://www.facebook.com/events/421294274710875
- Windy Click, California Coalition for Women Prisoners Coordinating Committee Leader, Parole Support Coordinator, Spitfire Speaker’s Bureau Coordinator http://www.womenprisoners.org/about/. Windy is a survivor of prison and prisoner rights organizer. She was released in 2012 from Valley State Prison for Women where she did 17 years on a 15 to life sentence. Windy was a leader inside prison educating on Domestic Violence and Health Education. She has been a member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners for the past 13 years.
- Samantha Rogers, Program Coordinator, California Coalition for Women Prisoners http://www.womenprisoners.org/about/ (bio forthcoming)
- Nora E. Wilson, Director of Legal Advocacy, Justice Now http://jnow.org/who.html is a prison abolitionist, attorney, and human rights activist. As Director of Legal Advocacy at Justice Now, she coordinates direct service provision to people in prison, trains future lawyers and activists in advocating for people in California prisons, and provides support to family and friends advocating for loved ones inside. Such support ensures people in prison and communities targeted for imprisonment the physical and emotional respite required to take part in Justice Now’s systemic change activities. Nora grew up in a conservative town in the deep South and learned from watching her mother advocate on behalf of a family member in prison. During law school, she discovered the most meaningful work she had ever undertaken through an internship with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, where she worked to secure the human and civil rights, health, and welfare of pregnant and parenting women who were suffering harm at the hands of the criminal justice system. After law school, Nora moved from the East Coast to become a proud resident of the East Bay. She began volunteering with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children in San Francisco and soon discovered Justice Now. Nora continued her legal training at Justice Now for over a year before she became a Staff Attorney, specializing in provision of direct services and medical advocacy on behalf of people in women’s prisons, as well as compassionate release advocacy and support on behalf of terminally ill and permanently incapacitated people in California prisons. In January 2015, when Justice Now adopted a collective staff structure, Nora transitioned to the role of Director of Legal Advocacy. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and her JD from Fordham University School of Law in New York City.
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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.
Come make May Day banners and Picket Signs with us at the Omni to the May Day #SHUTITDOWN activities in Oakland!
Can’t paint? You can support us by bringing paint, brushes, fabric, flag poles, ect.
You will also be able to pick up May Day flyers for last minute distribution!
Oakland Spring Rising
All Food is Medicine ~ All Water is Sacred
40 Farms in 40 Days
beginning May 1st, 2015
Mission:
The Mission of Oakland Spring Rising is to support existing community groups and new urban farmers to grow as much nutritious food in an urban setting as possible.
Goals:
To grow 100 pounds of healthy, organic produce for 400,000 people per year using available vacant land in Oakland. In order to achieve this, Oakland Spring Rising was formed to be a hub for material & knowledge transfer between those who have grown plants & mushrooms, who have kept bees & chickens & goats, and those who want to. Oakland Spring Rising first initiative will be to initiate 40 Farms in 40 days, beginning May 1st, 2015.
Vision:
In order to achieve the Mission, we will offer resources to all community members who wish to receive assistance. Oakland Spring Rising acknowledges that urban agriculture and nutrition exist within ongoing struggles against private property and gentrification in Oakland. With this in mind, we support food insecure communities that want to grow healthy food and medicine. Amidst catastrophic weather instability, Oakland Spring Rising acknowledges that the healthier a community’s food, the healthier their decisions.
Oakland Spring Rising has the following as its primary methods of enabling community resiliency
Soil Testing – nearly all urban soils have some degree of toxicity. Oakland Spring Rising seeks to develop community based strategies for testing and treating toxic & damaged soils using plants, beneficial soil bacteria & mushrooms. Methods for dealing with many toxins are new, and Oakland Spring Rising seeks to make Oakland the largest and most successful urban soil remediation on the planet.
Food – In areas where the soil is appropriate for growing food, Oakland Spring Rising will offer free plants & compost to communities wishing to farm. In areas where the soil needs repair, Oakland Spring Rising will offer suggestions for soil remediation, along with materials for raised beds, free plants & compost, in order to ensure that community members wishing to grow food will still be able to. Where possible, Oakland Spring Rising will use hugelkuulture beds, to encourage water retention.
Animals – Most animal products consumed by people in the United States are laden with toxins. Oakland Spring Rising seeks to provide 100% local & organic eggs to any site wishing to raise chickens. Where appropriate, Oakland Spring Rising will offer workshops and education on tending goats in an urban setting, with an intention towards getting more goats into the community.
Medicine – The modern medical system is a system of disempowerment. Oakland Spring Rising will provide herbal plant medicines to assist community members with all aspects of health.
BioChar – Where appropriate, Oakland Spring Rising will provide Biochar to community farms. Biochar assists in soil fertility and soil microbial life and is available at little to no cost, aside from transportation, as an industrial byproduct.
Mushrooms – Oakland Spring Rising seeks to transport spent mushroom logs to community members who are interested in growing culinary and medicinal mushrooms in Oakland, as well as using mycelium for mycoremediation & soil restoration. Oakland Spring Rising will also serve as a knowledge conduit for any knowledge transfer that community members request.
To Get Involved
Email: oaklandspringrising@gmail.com
Phone: David @ (530) 840-1840
nternational Workers Day Regional Festival and March
1:30-3:30 Festival @ Civic Center Plaza
3:30 Regional March to 24th and Mission
5:00-5:30 Closing program @ 24th and Mission
Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Class Conscious Photographers and Studio Grand present the opening night of:
Eyes on the Movement:
Images from Bay Area Activist Photographers
Powered by working class people and captured by photographers embedded in these struggles.
Photography, music, cultural performances, and refreshments. Special digital slideshow photo exhibit from that day’s May 1st marches.
Photographers include Brooke Anderson, David Bacon, Jenny Cain, Charisse Domingo, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Isabel Gonzalez, Najib Joe Hakim, Jean Leasiolagi, Abraham Menor, Antonio Nava, Karen Ng, Ronald Orlando, Leopoldo Pena, Daniel Zapien.
The war in Viet Nam was one of the most important historical events of the 20th century. It brings to light the heroic struggle of Vietnamese people against foreign aggression, particularly the United States of America.
The Viet Nam Victory Coalition (VNVC), formed in 2014, is hosting a Community Event: “The Spirit of Viet Nam is Stronger than U.S. Bombs” – a day-full of cultural, educational & powerful sharing to mark the 40th anniversary of the US military’s forced departure from Viet Nam and international struggle for self-determination.
PLEASE REGISTER HERE:
https://
Our purpose:
• Highlight the historical meaning and ongoing significance of people’s struggles for independence and against imperial domination.
• Inform and continue to educate ourselves and all who seek to understand this history, to explore its relevance to the present and future, and to keep abreast of the current strategy of the US empire in Asia and abroad.
• Connect and celebrate our humanity with music, poetry, spoken word, and with dialogues and discussion, panels and workshops, and share our story.
Join us in solidarity with the May Day Rally on May 1st in SF (more details to come). March with us!
The space (rooms, bathrooms, etc.) is fully ADA accessible.
Rally in solidarity with Baltimore and the fight for justice for Freddie Gray. All across the country on Saturday May 2nd folks will be in the streets to demand that the war on black folks must end! Come get in the streets! #blackspring #freddiegray
Come to a meeting about what we learn from the real history of May Day, the Marxist traditions of working class organizing in America and discuss what we need to do today to continue the fight.
Followed by a social/fundraiser for the Socialism 2015 conference. www.socialismconference.org
Help make art to support the Refinery Corridor Healing Walks! Come help paint a 24-foot parachute banner with this years Healing Walk image and hand-paint t-shirts (if you got this years Healing Walk t-shirt or patch bring it and paint it–or the feathers on it). Wear clothes you can get paint on.
Here is the Facebook event to RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/982279841804638/
Addressing police violenceand systematic racism through community building and direct action.
Open Circle, first and foremost, is an opportunity to build community with one another. Secondly, it is a space to reflect and collaborate on strategies and actions to bring an end to these egregious crimes.
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 speakers who have lost their loved ones to police violence. Then updates / 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 next steps in the struggle.
Solidarity is afoot so bring your ideas!
Notes from last meeting:
omnicommons.org/connect
Come support 3 comrades still in custody who were arrested during May Day actions and are facing felony charges.
Share, invite, show up and support! Thousands of people went out to protest this weekend, and there were many arrests, but unsurprisingly, the folks who were held and face serious charges are black and brown. Part of fighting white supremacy is standing in solidarity with those who racist systems try to oppress.
FIELD TRIP: OccupyForum is co-sponsoring Kathy Kelly this coming Monday
Sponsored by: SF Friends Peace and Social Concerns Committee; Voices for Creative Nonviolence, ECUMENICAL PEACE INSTITUTE/CALC, EMERGENCY, AFSC, Vets for Peace, Occupy Forum, Campaign Nonviolence and Code Pink
Kathy Kelly
The Raft and the Shore:
Crossing Borders to Abolish War
During the war in Vietnam, two venerable peacemakers, Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan, SJ, exchanged ideas about nonviolent resistance to war in a book entitled: The Raft is Not the Shore. Drawing on experiences living alongside people trapped in war zones and in U.S. prisons, (most recently in Afghanistan, and in federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky), Kathy Kelly will discuss what she as learned from people bearing the brunt of what Martin Luther King termed “the triple evils” of racism, militarism, and poverty.
Kathy Kelly will be introduced by Sherri Maurin who has just returned from Afghanistan. Both travel as representatives of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and are hosted in Kabul by the Afghan Peace Volunteers.
Wheelchair accessible
Potluck
dessert
:Bring a dish
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.
There was a hearing in Federal Court on December 11th. There was another hearing in March 26th. Federal Judge William Alsup decided to dismiss the lawsuit because the Postal Service says it is not currently selling the building. But we’re not fooled. The Postal Service could “find” a buyer at any moment. Fortunately, the Judge ordered the Postal Service to provide 42 days notice before any sale, so that the lawsuit could be refiled.
Check out our response to the Judge’s order.
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.
Deep Web, a film about “Silk Road” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace), online communications and commerce, is to be screened at SF International Film Festival. Cindy Cohn, legal director of EFF is scheduled to appear at the 9:00 PM, May 4 screening. More information below and at: http://www.sffs.org/sfiff58/program/deep-web#.VUQAtqbVmJ0.
-Art
- About the film:
- Director Alex Winter, a well-known actor and a leading advocate for an open internet, lucidly investigates the implications of online technologies and the gray legal areas of anonymous communications and commerce by focusing primarily on the history and demise of online black market website Silk Road. In addition to documenting the federal trial of Silk Road’s purported founder and owner, San Francisco-based Ross Ulbricht, allegedly known to Silk Road’s users as the Dread Pirate Roberts, Winter weaves in the perspectives of futurists, journalists and legal experts. A bastion for privacy advocates and cybercriminals alike, the “deep web” refers to a place on the internet where cutting-edge technologies mask participants’ identities and facilitate secret activities. As such the deep web exposes the contradictory goals and potential conflicts between free speech advocates and government regulators. Winter’s previous documentary, Downloaded deftly detailed the history and impacts that online file sharing has had on culture, the law and music/media industries. With Deep Web, Winter presents a perfect companion piece while telling a true story of espionage, surveillance and activism taking place at the digital frontier. �Sean Uyehara
- Director Alex Winter (May 3, May 4) and presenters John Perry Barlow (May 4), Susie Cagle (May 4) and Cindy Cohn (May 3, May 4) expected to attend.
This Tuesday the Oakland City Council decides whether or not to sell off the East 12th parcel to private developers. Join us for a rally at City Hall to demand that public land be used for public good, not for private profit!
Background
In the midst of a housing affordability crisis in Oakland, the City is proposing to sell publicly owned land to private developers UDR and Urban Core to create a 24 story, 300 unit luxury high-rise apartment tower right by Lake Merritt, where the median rent will be 3k per month. The development will have no affordable units and no real community benefits. The property is on E12th and 1st Ave street, right by the new pedestrian bridge at the end of Lake Merritt.
Long-time residents are being pushed out of Oakland every day because of skyrocketing housing costs. The city’s number one priority right now should be figuring out how to make it possible for working families to stay in Oakland – not developing luxury high rises for the rich that are just going to raise rents and exacerbate displacement.
May 5th come rally for development without displacement in Oakland now! Stay for the City Council meeting to speak out against gentrification in Oakland and for affordable housing!
These local organizations, representing the people Oakland endorse this fight!
Asians4BlackLives
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Black.Seed
Causa Justa Just Cause
Classroom Struggle
Communities for a Better Environment
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice
East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
East Bay Housing Organizations
East Bay Solidarity Network
Eastlake United for Justice
Oakland Education Association
Oakland Rising
Oakland Tenants Union
Public Advocates
SEIU 1021
Transform
Thank you all for your support and your work! #SaveE12th
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality. In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity.
Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression.
Sisters and brothers the Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.
The Oscar Grant Committee meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month.