Calendar

TODAY, 6:30pm, #Oakland: Liberated Lens Local Filmmaker Series presents: FIRST FRIDAY https://t.co/AkPloe2DSR pic.twitter.com/bQv8zUOmAb

— Indybay (@Indybay) April 5, 2016

Laurel Book Store welcomes Sarah Schulman, author The Cosmopolitans, and Lucy Jane Bledsoe, author of the forthcoming A Thin Bright Line, who will discuss queer life in midcentury Greenwich Village through the eyes and stories of their new novels’ characters.

The Cosmopolitans is a novel set in Greenwich Village in 1958.  Earl, a black, gay actor, and Bette, a white secretary, have lived next door to each other for thirty years, building a relationship of trust and caring. Then Hortense, a wealthy young actress from Bette’s past appears to “make it” in New York, and all their shared assumptions are shattered.

Sarah Schulman is a novelist, nonfiction writer, playwright, screenwriter journalist and AIDS historian. The Cosmopolitans is her 17th book.

At the height of the Cold war, a heartbroken woman agrees to suppress her homosexual desires in order to take a top secret government job. When she subsequently falls in love, she’s forced to make impossible choices. Based on a true story, A Thin Bright Line is a novel of Cold War intrigue, the birth of climate change research, and the foment of 20^th century queer culture.

Lucy Jane Bledsoe’s new novel A Thin Bright Line, based on the life of her aunt and namesake, will be published in January of 2017. She’s the author of five other novels and several kids’ books.

Benicia’s City Council is about to make a decision that could put our communities at risk. Valero Energy Corporation wants to build an oil-by-rail terminal at their Benicia refinery — meaning more dangerous oil trains coming through the Bay Area.

If approved, this terminal would allow trains carrying over 2.5 million gallons of toxic, explosive crude oil to travel through the area every day. We don’t need more fossil fuel infrastructure that puts communities and our climate at risk. Greenlighting fossil fuel infrastructure is the last thing our cities should be doing.

On February 11th, the Benicia Planning Commission voted unanimously to deny Valero’s dangerous plan, but Valero has appealed that decision to the City Council and is trying to rush through a reversal. The Benicia City Council will hear public comment on Valero’s appeal on April 4th. We know Valero is putting lots of pressure on the City Council to approve their project — that’s why we need to make sure City decision makers know that residents from across the region are watching.

• Carpools: We’re setting up carpools from the East Bay & Davis. Sign up to be a driver or passenger here.

We need to protect our communities and our climate. We need to stop this project once and for all.

City Council Agenda (sole) item:

Open the public hearing and solicit public comment. After public testimony at this meeting:

1. Add an additional hearing date of April 18, 2016

At the following meeting(s), Staff recommends the City Council continue to take public

comment, consider all appropriate documents and testimony, and then consider the

following actions:

1. Consider and reject the applicant’s request for continuance.

2. Deny the appeal and uphold the Planning Commission’s unanimous decision to deny

certification for the EIR and to deny the Use Permit; or

3. Decline to certify the EIR and provide specific comments on the deficiencies of the EIR

and direction on what needs to be improved in the EIR and remand back to Staff with

direction to return to Council with the EIR and Use Permit; or

2

4. Uphold the appeal and

i. Adopt the draft Resolution certifying the Final Environmental Impact Report, adopting

CEQA findings for the Project and adopt the Statement of Overriding Considerations and

the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program and

ii. Uphold the appeal and adopt the draft Resolution approving the Use Permit for the

Valero Crude by Rail Project, with the findings and conditions listed in the resolution.

FIRE CHIEF SUHR!

CHARGE THE OFFICERS WITH MURDER!

INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION!

Justice 4 Mario Woods. Justice 4 Amilcar Perez Lopen.  Justice for Alex Nieto.

Join us at a townhall meeting to make our voices heard.

Refreshments will be available.

The new book, China on Strike, is based on dozens of interviews with workers in Pearl River Delta factories, an industrial region of region of 60 million people that has become the “workshop of the world,” as China has become the fastest growing major economy in the world over the last three decades. Pearl River Delta factories supply the world’s most profitable corporations, like Apple, Nike, Hewlett Packard, and many others. These interviews document the processes of internal migration in China, changing employment relations, worker culture, and other issues related to China’s explosive growth. China on Strike is the first English-language book to provide an intimate and revealing window into the lives of workers as they organize against low pay and brutal working conditions, launching the world’ largest strike wave in the 21st century. Two of these contributors will be in attendance and will speak and answer questions via interpreter Alex T. Tom.

“As these vivid case-studies illustrate, the real sleeping dragon—China’s enormous factory proletariat—is wide awake and fighting back on all fronts. Indeed, here is first-hand evidence that Chairman Xi Jinping may soon confront the largest labor rebellion in history.”
—Mike Davis, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Riverside, and author of Planet of Slums

Fang Gang has worked in factories since he graduated from university, conducting interviews with other workers about their collective struggles in the Pearl River Delta and compiling them into articles that are published and distributed. An example is his 2013 piece “Strikes over the relocation of factories.” Currently, Fan Gang assists with workers taking collective action in the Pearl River Delta.

Mi Tu has been engaged in doing translations of literature on workers’ struggles in other countries, as well as researching the conditions of workers in China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), since her university days. Since graduating, Mi has worked in factories, interviewed workers engaged in struggles in the Pearl River Delta, and compiled and circulated these oral histories. Mi currently assists workers taking collective action against occupational diseases.

Alex T. Tom (interpreter) is the Executive Director of San Francisco’s Chinese Progressive Association.

Admission is free.

Sometimes you’ve just got to take it to the streets, and this is one of those times. Sunflower Alliance is sponsoring a canvassing day to put rent control and just cause for eviction on the Richmond ballot in November. Bring a friend, or partner up with another canvasser when you get here. And if walking isn’t your thing, you can man (or woman) a table outside FoodsCo, Walgreens or Target. We’ll provide juice, coffee, and snacks at the Bobby Bowens Center to get you jump-started or tide you over. Come for one hour or the full four—or more. Bring a hat, sunscreen, and water bottle. Added bonus: An overwhelming majority of Richmond voters support this ordinance, so it’s an easy sell. If you care about stabilizing low-income communities and slowing rampant gentrification, this is your opportunity to make a difference.

When heavily militarized police in Ferguson, Missouri, confronted African American protesters angry at the police murder of Mike Brown in 2014, Palestinians watching events unfold from Gaza began sending tweets about how to cope with the teargas filling the streets.

Such an act of solidarity was more than a mere expression of support from people who, though half a world away, know firsthand about state repression.  Police in cities across the U.S. – including police in Ferguson and Baltimore – have turned to Israel for training in how to deploy tactics honed in suppressing the Palestinian struggle for justice.  The U.S. directly supports Israel’s dispossession of the Palestinians – to the tune of some $3 billion per year.

Many of the issues facing the Black community in the U.S. – police violence, job discrimination, poverty, and environmental racism – are the same problems that Palestinians face.

A new generation of activists is forging ties of solidarity between the struggles of Palestinians and African Americans – struggles for equal rights, for dignity, for freedom.  This tour hopes to make a modest contribution to this project – by unearthing the inspiring history of Black/Palestinian solidarity and by making these lessons relevant for present-day efforts seeking to transform the future.

Featuring

Aaron Dixon is one of the co-founders of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, chronicled in his 2012 book http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/My-People-Are-Rising. Dixon has since founded Central House, a nonprofit that provides transitional housing for youth, and was one of the co founders of the Cannon House, a senior assisted-living facility. Aaron ran for US Senate on the Green Party ticket in 2006.

Boots Riley is the lead vocalist for The Coup, a hip hop group from Oakland.  He is a lifelong revolutionary, and he played an important role in Occupy Oakland and other Bay Area political struggles.  Boots recently released a book about the lyrics and backstories of his music: Tell Homeland Security – We Are The Bomb.

Khury Petersen-Smith co-authored, with Stanford alum Kristian Davis Bailey, the influential 2015 Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine, covered by Ebony and other outlets.  Khury is a member of the International Socialist Organization and is active in Palestine solidarity and anti-racist organizing.  He has written about the politics of Black liberation for Jacobin Magazine and the International Socialist Review.

Wael Elasady* is a Palestinian-Syrian activist living in Portland.  He is a co-founder of Students United For Palestinian Equal Rights at Portland State University and a member of the International Socialist Organization.  He was co-host of One Land, Many Voices a community radio show bringing the question of Palestine to the Portland area.

Majd Quran* is a member of Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine. She grew up in Ramallah, a city in the West Bank of Palestine. Majd worked with Area C students in the Jordan Valley as part of her school’s Right to Education club. She also worked with internally displaced refugees and victims of home demolitions

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Oakland
Saturday April 9th – 5:30 PM, Oakland Peace Center, Shelton Hall, 111 Fairmont Ave.  Sliding scale: $5 – $20 / no one turned away for lack of funds *Wael and Aaron will be speaking on Sat. April 9th *Boots will not be speaking on Sat. April 9th

Stanford University
Tuesday April 12th at 7 PM, Black Community Services Center. *Majd will be speaking on Tue. April 12th. Cosponsors for Stanford event: NAACP, Black Student Union, Students for Justice in Palestine, Muslim Student Union, MEChA, Asian American Student Association, Students for Alternatives to Militarism, Stanford Asian American Activism Committee, Student and Labor Alliance, National Lawyers Guild

UC Berkeley
Wednesday April 13th at 7:30 PM, Valley Life Sciences Building room 2040

Presented by
Haymarket Books
Cosponsors
International Socialist Organization
Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Middle East Children’s Alliance

When heavily militarized police in Ferguson, Missouri, confronted African American protesters angry at the police murder of Mike Brown in 2014, Palestinians watching events unfold from Gaza began sending tweets about how to cope with the teargas filling the streets.

Such an act of solidarity was more than a mere expression of support from people who, though half a world away, know firsthand about state repression. Police in cities across the U.S. – including police in Ferguson and Baltimore – have turned to Israel for training in how to deploy tactics honed in suppressing the Palestinian struggle for justice. The U.S. directly supports Israel’s dispossession of the Palestinians – to the tune of some $3 billion per year.

Many of the issues facing the Black community in the U.S. – police violence, job discrimination, poverty, and environmental racism – are the same problems that Palestinians face.

A new generation of activists is forging ties of solidarity between the struggles of Palestinians and African Americans – struggles for equal rights, for dignity, for freedom. This tour hopes to make a modest contribution to this project – by unearthing the inspiring history of Black/Palestinian solidarity and by making these lessons relevant for present-day efforts seeking to transform the future.

Featuring

Boots Riley is the lead vocalist for The Coup, a hip hop group from Oakland. He is a lifelong revolutionary, and he played an important role in Occupy Oakland and other Bay Area political struggles. Boots recently released a book about the lyrics and backstories of his music: Tell Homeland Security – We Are The Bomb.

Khury Petersen-Smith co-authored, with Stanford alum Kristian Davis Bailey, the influential 2015 Black Solidarity Statement with Palestine, covered by Ebony and other outlets. Khury is a member of the International Socialist Organization and is active in Palestine solidarity and anti-racist organizing. He has written about the politics of Black liberation for Jacobin Magazine and the International Socialist Review.

Wael Elasady is a Palestinian-Syrian activist living in Portland. He is a co-founder of Students United For Palestinian Equal Rights at Portland State University and a member of the International Socialist Organization. He was co-host of One Land, Many Voices a community radio show bringing the question of Palestine to the Portland area.

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Oakland
Saturday April 9th – 5:30 PM, Oakland Peace Center, Shelton Hall, 111 Fairmont Ave. Sliding scale: $5 – $20 / no one turned away for lack of funds * Wael will be speaking o Sat. April 9th

Stanford University
Tuesday April 12th at 7 PM, Black Community Services Center

UC Berkeley
Wednesday April 13th at 7:30 PM, Valley Life Sciences Building room 2040

Presented by Haymarket Books http://www.haymarketbooks.org/ /

Cosponsors International Socialist Organization http://www.internationalsocialist.org/

Monthly interfaith prayer meeting, held on second Sundays, dedicated to survivors and victims of violence and police terror in Oakland.

The Baha’i community of Oakland is organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.

Come share prayers, quotes, poems, and favorite passages from your scriptures with us.

Thank you to everyone who came out to our hugely successful canvassing kickoff last Saturday! We had nearly fifty people and gathered hundreds of signatures. Come out this Sunday for our next canvass to collect signatures for our three ballot initiatives.

We will be gathering signatures for our three endorsed ballot measures for 2016: the Protect Oakland Tenants Initiative, sponsored by Oakland Tenants Union and the Citywide Development Network, the charter amendment to create a police commission sponsored by the Coalition for Police Accountability, and the measure to establish a $20 minimum wage by 2020 and enforce fair scheduling regulations from the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly.

The Battle Cry of the People
Enough is Enough
Enough of Racist Police
Enough of the Killing of our People
Enough Discrimination
Enough of the Injustices against Black and Brown Communities
Enough of the Powers at Be Ignoring the People’s Cry
Enough of Rogue Cops within SFPD
We the People say Enough is Enough
This is our Battle Cry!
Fire Chief Suhr
Come and Join Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition
Alex Nieto Coalition
Amilcar Perez Coalition
Jeff Adachi…SF Public Defender
Lead Counsel of ACLU
SF BOS (some)
and You the Community
Press Conference
SF City Hall Front Steps
11AM
We Can’t Stop
We Won’t Stop
Until Justice Reigns Down on Our Community
Please share with friends and family

#SFPD: Town hall meeting on latest police shooting to be held Wednesday at noon at 3271 Mission St.

— Jonah Owen Lamb (@jonahowenlamb) April 12, 2016

From the SF Fist: According to a a press release sent by SFPD at 1:08 p.m. Tuesday, the noon town hall meeting will be held “to provide the Mission community with an update,” at Union Local Hall located at 3271 18th Street.

Tenants in Bay View Apartments are fighting displacement despite passage of the Alameda Rent Ordinance that went into effect on March 1st, 2016. The Rent Review and Limitations on Evictions Ordinance is not protecting tenants from unfair evictions and allows landlords to create a climate of fear and intimidation. Tenants Together, the Alameda Renters Coalition, and Filipino Advocates for Justice will be holding a press conference at 10am Thursday April 14th at Bay View Apartments 470 Central Ave.

The landlord Matt Sridhar, CEO of San Jose-based Sridhar Equities, LLC, is determined to raise rents and evict all tenants in the building. Last year, he used a loophole in the original Alameda moratorium to give tenants at Bay View Apartments no-fault eviction notices. The tenants fought back and won.

Now, he is using a weakness in the current tenant legislation to use the threat of eviction against tenants. The Ordinance allows 25% of tenants in a year to be evicted through no fault of their own. Some units are empty and under heavy construction, while the rest of the tenants are being harassed. Sridhar has used the construction as a tactic to harass tenants and make the community feel unsafe in their own homes.
“I feel unsafe because our landlord’s construction crews are creating huge amounts of dust and not cleaning it up, using vacant units like hotel rooms, and fighting late at night. The other day I watched as construction workers threw a heavy bag from the 2nd floor which came within 5 feet of hitting a small child,” said Mel LaGuardia, a tenant who lives at the Bay View Apartments with his family.

Tenants Together, the Alameda Renters Coalition, and Filipino Advocates for Justice will be holding a press conference at 10am on Thursday April 14th at Bay View Apartments 470 Central Ave. to stand up against Sridhar’s harassment, and call for residents of the City of Alameda to pass stronger protections at the ballot this November.

“This landlord is harassing tenants with the intent to make them leave their homes. The Alameda City Rent Review & Limitations Ordinance allows for unfair evictions. We will continue to see displacement in Alameda without stronger tenant protections.” said Leah Simon-Weisberg, Legal Director with Tenants Together.

“Right now we are gathering signatures to put real Rent Control and Just Cause for Eviction Protections on the ballot in November. These policies are essential to keeping tenants in their homes,” said Catherine Pauling of Alameda Renters Coalition.

The press conference will be held in front of the Bay View Apartments .Tenants and advocates will be available for media interviews.

#OAKLAND! Join workers in their #Fightfor15 at our #DayofAction! APRIL 14TH AT 2PM! https://t.co/teoxkpOuPE pic.twitter.com/i5fpMJFVQL

— Fight For 15 Nor Cal (@NorCalFF15) March 30, 2016

Dear Friends,
Thank you to everyone who came out to support us a couple weeks ago. Our hearing to present a motion to dismiss the charges brought against four Land Action organizers was rescheduled for this coming Friday, and we would appreciate your support once again.

Specifically, the Land Action 4 are being prosecuted for their involvement in a recent adverse possession project.  There are seven criminal charges, including three felony counts and four misdemeanors.  Contrary to established precedent from similar cases in Oakland in recent years, the District Attorney (DA) has deliberately, and in violation of the law, pushed this civil dispute into criminal court.

Please read our latest press release to learn more.
Join us this Friday when we will present our motion to dismiss:

There is metered parking available in the surrounding blocks, as well as a couple parking garages close by.