Calendar
For far too long, our political leaders have failed to represent Oakland’s true values. It is time for the Oakland Left to unite, recruit our own candidates and build political power to achieve meaningful change.
At our last meeting we discussed:
1) Ballot initiatives as an organizing strategy – tenant protections, living wage and police accountabiity
2) The process for selecting candidates,
3) Developing a progressive campaign platform
4) Which races to focus on
At our last meeting we also announced the formation of a new coalition with members including the Anti Police-Terror Project, the Oakland Education Association, the Coalition for Police Accountability, the Green Party, Socialist Alternative Bay Area, Community READY Corps, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Community Democracy Project, Oakland Tenants Union, Oakland Livable Wage Assembly and more. We also discussed support for three ballot initiatives – a package on real rent control with other tenant protections, the creation of a police commission with hiring and firing authority over the police chief, and a workers rights bill that includes a $20 minimum wage.
Oakland Alliance seeks to unite the progressive movement in Oakland behind a slate of candidates who will challenge the institutional power structure that has failed to represent the interests of the people over the powerful. Come and connect with dozens of organizations interested in building long-term political power and holding our elected officials accountable to the needs of their constituents.
During the Winter the Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 2 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 2:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 1 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over four 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.
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
Issue #121 is due out on April 22, 2016
(Article Deadline for Issue #121 is April 9, 2016)
*Brainstorm articles for next issue
* Orientation on how you can submit articles, art, photographs
* Help us discuss our audience and themes for the next issue
* Discuss fundraising and distribution
* Your chance to comment on Slingshot
Meetings held Mondays at 7:00 PM
Excepting Monday March 7, when we will meet at 8:15 PM. Come one, come all!
VOLUNTEER NOW!!!
If you would like to go out on Copwatch shifts, work in our office, create art, become a Know Your Rights Trainer or help us out in other ways, WE NEED YOU! Send us an e-mail, subscribe to our email list, call our office or just come to our weekly meetings on Mondays, 2022 Blake Street, Berkeley or our weekly office hours on Wednesdays from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
Meet at 14th and Broadway and take the streets in solidarity with the three anti-racists who were stabbed in Anaheim when confronting a KKK rally on February 27th.
The klansman that stabbed the three comrades is reportedly from San Francisco. He was later let go while counter protesters are still held in jail. This is unacceptable! Let’s take a stand against the KKK and white supremacy in the Bay and everywhere!
This is happening at the same time as riots and demonstrations in the streets of Salt Lake City, Utah and Raleigh, North Carolina in the wake of yet more police shootings of black youth.
This is not a coincidence. The cops and the klan go hand in hand. The whole damn system is guilty.
#blacklivesmatter
Solidarity with those who fight back!
The future is up to us.
Join with activists, community, labor, students and faith-based groups to begin to formulate a vision, priorities and a plan of action for A BERKELEY FOR WORKING FAMILIES.
Berkeley can lead the way on expanding affordable housing, strengthening rent control, and creating livable wages, a healthy environment and expanded city services.
Sponsored by the Berkeley Minimum Wage Coalition.
We encourage all Oakland residents to attend the weekly No Coal in Oakland meeting.
Up until its February 16th meeting, the position of a majority of Oakland City Council members on permitting coal shipment from the city’s port may have been in doubt. Even now the proposal remains on the table. But at that meeting, council members took concrete steps toward banning coal exports once and for all. Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Libby Schaff, local clergy, State Senator Loni Hancock, and community activists, the Council has signaled its intention to enact an outright ban on coal exports. In fact, it passed a moratorium on the issuance of any permits for the terminal until the question has been resolved. Read details on the latest developmemts here.
(And for more background, see A Coaltastrophe Threatens Oakland on this website.)
THEY RELEASED THE CORONER’S REPORT. PRESS CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY.
Previous event notice:
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Richard Perkins’ family needs our support!
Richard Perkins’ family has asked for APTP’s help in obtaining the coroner’s report of his death. Perkins was killed by the Oakland Police Department on November 15, 2015, and the report still hasn’t been released – 3 and a half months later.
The Alameda County Sherriff’s office refused our demand letter on March 1st, 2016 asking the Sheriff’s office/Coroner to release the report to Perkins’ family or attorney.
Law enforcement are notorious for delaying the release of coroner’s reports as well as video surveillance in order to have as much time as possible to get their stories straight. We have no confidence in the Oakland Police Department nor the Alameda County Sheriff’s office and DEMAND the RELEASE of the CORONER’S REPORT now.
We will meet at the Coroner’s office out near the zoo @ 2901 Peralta Oaks Court. It is difficult to get there by public trans. Car pooling is encouraged.
In December, we celebrated an enormous victory when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected plans for a new jail.
But last week, on the deadline for officially returning state financing for the jail, we were shocked to learn that San Francisco city officials had covertly requested a 180-day extension for their decision, arguing that they may still build the new jail “as proposed”.
The jail pushers — the City’s conservative governmental block and their wealthy base — are doing everything they can to cirvumvent the will of San Francisco, and to build a jail that we have demonstrated that we do not want or need.
Members of the No New SF Jail Coalition are participating in the City’s Workgroup to Re-envision the Jail Replacement Project — and we will not be deceived by sneaky backroom attempts to push forward on cage construction! We will not contribute to plans to build any sort of jailing facility, but will develop plans for the City to permanently close 850 Bryant and to meet the needs of communities most impacted by incarceration.
The first open meeting of this workgroup is on March 11 from 2:00-5:00pm at 25 Van Ness, Room 610.
We need a strong community presence at these monthly meetings (through October), to hold SF accountable and ensure the focus is jail closure, not rebuild.
We know it is possible to say no to funding for jail construction, expansion, and renovation. More importantly, San Francisco has shown that it is possible to say yes to community investments, such as supportive housing, community-based mental health care, and treatment on-demand. These services and programs will ultimately keep more San Francisco residents out of jails and prisons and in our communities where we can heal and transform our lives.
JOIN US FOR A SHIFT: MASS COPWATCHING
· Friday March 11, 8 PM – 11 PM
· Thursday March 17, 5 PM – 7 PM
· Saturday March 26, 8 PM – 11 PM
Since October 2015, Berkeley Copwatch has been holding “mass copwatch” events that invite folks to join us for a shift. It’s been fun and very empowering to have a group of copwatchers patrolling our city and on the scene when police stop people.
This month we have three shifts scheduled. The Thursday shift will likely be a walking shift. Please join us; we will train you in the essentials of copwatching, how to document and how to stay safe!
Contact us at (510) 548-0425 or berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com to learn where we will be meeting.
Organize for a moratorium on no fault evictions and rent increases in Oakland! We have a housing state of emergency here.
Residents from a number of community groups attended the City Council’s Rules and Legislation Committee, calling on the committee to support a temporary “moratorium on evictions and on rent increases until the City has developed and implemented strategies that protect and expand access for Oakland residents to affordable housing.”
After listening to community speakers, the committee agreed to put the “state of emergency” on the agenda for the April 5 City Council meeting.
Backers of the resolution include a coalition of organizations and residents that came together as a result of a resolution first passed by the John George Democratic Club last Saturday and unanimously endorsed by participants at last Sunday’s Post Salon at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle.
Qilombo Community Center of the McClymonds neighborhood is supporting the resolution, along with the Oakland Alliance, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and the Block By Block Organizing Network.
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 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. 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 four 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.
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
Oakland has long been a center for highly polluting transportation activities. This has resulted in disproportionately high health impacts for the residents of West Oakland. Our goal is to systematically reduce the level of pollution caused by all these polluting activities, and we have definitely had some success. But we can’t afford to allow brand new pollution, in the form of coal dust, to further threaten our health.
Meetings held Mondays at 7:00 PM
Excepting Monday March 7, when we will meet at 8:15 PM. Come one, come all!
VOLUNTEER NOW!!!
If you would like to go out on Copwatch shifts, work in our office, create art, become a Know Your Rights Trainer or help us out in other ways, WE NEED YOU! Send us an e-mail, subscribe to our email list, call our office or just come to our weekly meetings on Mondays, 2022 Blake Street, Berkeley or our weekly office hours on Wednesdays from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
OTU’s Mission
The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.
Monthly Meetings
The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.
If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.
Join the Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against Stingrays (cell phone interceptors) being acquired by law enforcement agencies, against Urban Shield, and to advocate for privacy and surveillance regulation ordinances to be passed around the Bay Area, especially by Alameda County and the Oakland City Council. - We are also engaged in the fight against Predictive Policing and other “pre-crime” and “thought-crime” abominations, drones, improper use of police body cameras, and against other invasions of privacy by our benighted City, County, State and Federal Governments. OPWG originally came together to fight against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OPWG was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network, and its members helped draft the Privacy Policy that puts further restrictions on the now Port-restricted DAC.
We were also the lead in having Alameda County pass the most comprehensive privacy and usage policy in the country for deployment of “Stingray” technology (cell phone interceptors).
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
Reach out to aptpinfo@gmail.com if you have any questions, thoughts, ideas, etc.
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Monthly APTP meeting, held on every 3rd Wednesday of the month.
The Anti Police-Terror Project is a project of the ONYX ORGANIZING COMMITTEE that in coalition with other organizations like The Alan Blueford Center For Justice, Idriss Stelley Foundation, Community Ready Corps and Workers World 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.
JOIN US FOR A SHIFT: MASS COPWATCHING
· Friday March 11, 8 PM – 11 PM
· Thursday March 17, 5 PM – 7 PM
· Saturday March 26, 8 PM – 11 PM
Since October 2015, Berkeley Copwatch has been holding “mass copwatch” events that invite folks to join us for a shift. It’s been fun and very empowering to have a group of copwatchers patrolling our city and on the scene when police stop people.
This month we have three shifts scheduled. The Thursday shift will likely be a walking shift. Please join us; we will train you in the essentials of copwatching, how to document and how to stay safe!
Contact us at (510) 548-0425 or berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com to learn where we will be meeting.
We encourage all Oakland residents to attend the weekly No Coal in Oakland meeting.
Up until its February 16th meeting, the position of a majority of Oakland City Council members on permitting coal shipment from the city’s port may have been in doubt. Even now the proposal remains on the table. But at that meeting, council members took concrete steps toward banning coal exports once and for all. Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Libby Schaff, local clergy, State Senator Loni Hancock, and community activists, the Council has signaled its intention to enact an outright ban on coal exports. In fact, it passed a moratorium on the issuance of any permits for the terminal until the question has been resolved. Read details on the latest developmemts here.
(And for more background, see A Coaltastrophe Threatens Oakland on this website.)