Calendar

The demand for justice is happening and needs you!

Please come to the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club on Thursday, June 23rd, 7pm, at Humanist Hall for a discussion on forming independent police commissions in Oakland and Berkeley.

Excerpts:  Full article here

It’s not a surprise that Oakland finds itself in the middle of a new police scandal-we’re becoming a bit jaded to the police-chief-musical-chairs situation. But, even those of us who’ve been working on police accountability for years, are shocked and chagrined by what is being revealed about our costly department. We had thought they were on the road to reform, albeit, a rocky, circuitous road filled with breakdowns but it turns out-the changes were only superficial…

In the wake of almost daily revelations, the Anti-Police Terror Project has proposed that Oakland establish a version of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)] and this is a brilliant and quite necessary part of a change in how our community is policed. While APTP has yet to detail its proposal, nothing less than a full process of bearing witness by the entire Oakland community will begin to turn around the horrendous situation we find ourselves in…

Oaklanders have spent years, indeed generations, dealing with police brutality, corruption and neglect and it has left a deep residue which damages every aspect of self-government. Indeed distrust, fear and hatred of our most expensive department lies at the heart of distrust and disengagement with local democracy. Our residents need a safe space to tell their stories and finally be heard by those who injured them and by officials who have chosen not to believe them or to consider their concerns in their day-to-day governing of our city…

While police operate in Oakland as they do in the rest of California, with impunity and often disregard for the real safety of our citizens, we will continue to hide ugly corruption and ignore vicious behavior. In a democracy, we should should demand better. We know the next steps, do we have the will to see them through?

MEDIA ADVISORY
California Teachers Association June 23, 2016
Protest Violence Against Oaxaca Teachers
‪#‎Oaxaca‬

Contact: Lysa Sassman at 916-813-2319 or Toby Spencer at 530-867-0594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Local Educators Protest Slaughter of Teachers in Mexico
Outraged At June 21 Killings in Oaxaca, Protest

Educators, labor council members, Hispanic advocacy supporters will protest the June 21 killing of unarmed teachers in Oaxaca, Mexico

NATOMAS – Outraged by the killing of nine teachers, educators say they will protest at the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. Reports indicate nine teachers were executed, 23 disappeared, 21 were arrested, and more than 100 civilians, police and bystanders were injured June 21 in Nochixtlán, located in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

“I’m an education advocate and have demonstrated, protested and spoken out,” said Lysa Sassman, Auburn Union Teacher’s Association and one of the event organizers. “Never once did I think I’d lose my life over it. These teachers are my colleagues; they just live in a different country.”

Sassman and Toby Spencer, San Juan Teachers Association, have taken to social media to publicize the event and to share what’s happening to teaching colleagues in Mexico. “This is not just about privatization,” Spencer said. “The ‘education reform’ movement is an effort to remove teachers from rural and indigenous areas. We must stand with teachers and against violence in the Americas.”

The Stop Urban Shield coalition and Berkeley Copwatch will be facilitating an interactive forum to understand what Urban Shield is, its tactics to repress our communities through increased militarization of emergency medical services, and its place within the global context of policing and imperialism. Join us and get plugged in to the fight!

Come through on Friday, June 24 to learn how to support the state-wide mobilization against Urban Shield on Sept. 9 in Pleasanton, CA! This is the second of three Town Halls that Stop Urban Shield is holding, and we encourage all social justice organizations and individuals in Berkeley and surrounding neighborhoods to attend.

Hosted by the Stop Urban Shield coalition and Berkeley Copwatch, we’ll be facilitating an interactive forum to understand what exactly Urban Shield is, its tactics to repress our communities through increased militarization of police and emergency medical services, and its place within the global context of policing and imperialism. As we always must, we’ll be highlighting the voices and deep insights of those who have lost loved ones to police violence and lifting up the ways our communities are building resilience against militarization.

In 2014, communities united to kick Urban Shield out of Oakland.

In 2015, we converged on the Sheriff’s office in downtown Oakland to let them know that Urban Shield is not welcome in Alameda County.

And In 2016, we’re taking it state-wide and putting Urban Shield on notice that we don’t want them in California or anywhere else for that matter.

ABOUT URBAN SHIELD:

Urban Shield is a weapons expo and war-like police training that brings together law enforcement agencies from across the country and world to learn how to better repress, criminalize, and militarize our communities.

Urban Shield is a key player in creating militarized emergency response systems that make police the first responders to everything from climate disasters to uprisings. But as we saw during Hurricane Katrina, when “public safety” relies on armed emergency management, communities of color — and particularly Black communities — become an “emergency” that need to be controlled and managed with a military response.

COME JOIN US at this Town Hall to learn how WE can shrink Urban Shield — and policing as a whole — out of existence.

Access: Entrance and bathrooms are wheel chair accessible.

http://stopurbanshield.org/

May 14, May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11, June 18, June 25, 1-5pm

Using news photographs, memorabilia, reconstructed objects, documentary fragments, and original documents, contemporary artist Kate Haug re-tells the story of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last monumental social protest prior to his assassination. The exhibition features images and objects culled from Haug’s extensive research in the archives of the Associated Press, the popular press, and eBay, which have not been seen together before, bringing to life the complex ambition of King’s vision.

King began organizing the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) in 1967 to unify America’s poor across class rather than racial lines, believing that economic parity was key to African American equality within the United States. The PPC culminated with a 3,000 person shanty town named Resurrection City, constructed on the National Mall in Washington DC. Resurrection City drew people from all over the country, was the nineteen sixties version of the 1932 Bonus March and a predecessor to “Occupy”. The exhibition time frame for this show mirrors many of the actual dates of the campaign, tracing the Resurrection City’s opening day to its final destruction.

The PPC echoes aspects of current social movements such as Black Lives Matter, Fight for Fifteen, and Our Walmart. In San Francisco, a city with one the highest rates of income inequality in the United States, King’s work asks pointed questions about the contemporary social contract and the democratic promise of America.

News Today: A History of the Poor People’s Campaign in Real Time runs from April 9, 2016 to June 25, 2016.

Gallery Talks:
Sat May 14, 2pm:
Justin Gomer Ph.D., Lecturer, American Studies, UC Berkeley
A discussion of the images in News Today as they relate to the shifting political landscape in the years after 1968.

Sat May 21, 2pm:
E.C. Feiss, Ph.D. Student, Art History, UC Berkeley
The Politics of Display

We need a massive demonstration so the Council clearly hears the voice of the people. Let them know we want NOTHING SHORT OF A BAN.

Meet UCR candidates for KPFA’s Local Station Board.

Kris Stewart, LaTasha Warmsley, Jeremy Miller, TM Scruggs, Marilla Arguelles, Tom Voorhees.

KPFA needs new people with new ideas and energy to bring more community news, public affairs,  cultural programming and new technology to the KPFA and the Pacifica network. United for Community Radio is seeking candidates to run on our free speech radio slate which represents individuals and organizations throughout KPFA’s signal range and beyond.  We particularly seek those with geographic, racial and cultural diversity to join in our campaign as candidates and campaigners.

2016 Platform

KPFA and Pacifica are irreplaceable, strategic and transformative resources for amplifying the voices of millions who are overlooked, marginalized or silenced by corporate media in the face of police militarization, racism and housing, health, water, economic educational and environmental depredation. We force a vital radio station and network by balancing often difficult news reports with programming that heals and facilitates human connections.

• Insure Relevant Programming
• Decreased pro-corporate perspective
• Join the global media revolution
• Support all staff
• Responsible financials
• Strengthen the Pacifica Network

Don Pageler will give his first hand account of how the USS Liberty, a virtually unarmed American navy ship, was attacked by Israeli planes and torpedo boats on June 8, 1967. 34 American sailors were killed and 174 injured that day, a casualty rate of 70%. This is among the highest casualty rates ever inflicted upon a U.S. naval vessel. President Lyndon Johnson recalled the planes that responded to the distress call, saying he didn’t care if they all died, he did not want to embarrass an ally.

Hear about one of the biggest cover ups in American military history.

Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice Cmte

For occasional email notices of peace/eco/social justice alerts and related events at BFUU, send any email to:
bfuusjev-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net

Rally for Housing! pic.twitter.com/WEzBx6hj8F

— East Bay Forward (@EastBayForward) June 9, 2016

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

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (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

The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.

Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.

Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.

The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.

Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!

Support the Oakland Justice Coalition, have a great soul food buffer dinner, and listen to Jazz.

• Putting people committed to economic, social, racial, and environmental justice into power in Oakland.
• Advocating for policy and legislation to implement an Oakland People’s Agenda.
• Putting people committed to economic, social, racial, and environmental justice into power in Oakland.

The Oakland Justice Coalition is a coalition of organizations and individuals that came together around common goals for the 2016 Oakland elections. Our aim is to build people power and advance radical change through the arena of electoral politics. It is time for us to unite around the causes we all believe in ­ stronger protections for workers and renters, an end to displacement and police violence, a public education system that serves all its students well ­ and act in solidarity together to advance a political agenda that serves the people of Oakland.

We’re building a people’s movement driven by the power of organizations with different goals coming together as one to support each other and build collective strength. We have anchored our 2016 work in three demands, all captured in ballot initiatives proposed by community-led grassroots organizations.

• Strengthen rent control and other tenant protections to stabilize rent prices and stop displacement of Black, Brown and poor people from the community they helped to build; as proposed by the Oakland Tenants Union and Citywide Network
• Create a police commission with the authority to fire the police chief and conduct independent investigations of incidents of police violence; as proposed by the Coalition for Police Accountability
• Establish a $20 minimum wage by 2020 and fair scheduling regulations, and mandate enforcement for both; as proposed by the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly

First vote on a Coal Ordinance.

Rally at 4:00 PM, Fill the Council Chambers at 4:30 PM.

Come to the special City Council meeting and speak out for a complete ban!

Will the Council vote to ban coal storage and export from Oakland? Or will they compromise and allow coal with some phony “mitigtions” that won’t protect Oakland from coal dust and won’t stop the global climate impact of the coal burned overseas?

The Jack London Square Business Improvement District (JLID) is organizing through the Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council to clear Oakland homeless encampments. They are having a meeting specifically about the encampments with Oakland police on Tuesday, June 28th at 5pm at 333 Broadway. JLID is aggressively gentrifying Oakland and relies on the lack of public accountability to continue operating as the shady entity it is.

We will be meeting at Lobot Gallery on Monday, June 27th at 6pm to plan a community response and tell them that the ONLY acceptable way to move homeless encampments is to provide housing to homeless people!

If you can’t make the planning meeting, please do still turn up on Tuesday to show that there is public support for ending povert

By ANDREA PRICHETT

So it has been more than three years since Kayla was killed by Berkeley police. And yes, I believe that she was killed by the police. Perhaps unintentionally, but with an arrogance that should be considered criminal nonetheless: they killed her. Six cops participated in the killing of Kayla Moore. This transgender, African American woman who weighed almost 350 pounds, found herself underneath about 1,200 pounds of agitated police. By the time they got off of her enough to realize that she wasn’t breathing, it had also become clear that none of them would put their mouths to hers to offer CPR and assisted breathing.

So now these cops are going to go on trial in October as part of a civil lawsuit. There is no telling how much of the treatment she received from BPD had to do with her race, her gender identity, her size or her disability. But we know that her life was devalued by those officers to the point where they stopped listening to her. One officer characterized the sound of her last words as “verbiage” that he had learned not to hear.

JOIN THE NEXT ORGANIZING MEETING

Next meeting is June 13, and the following on June 27