Calendar
Suds, Snacks, & Socialism at the Starry Plough
The Peace and Freedom Party presents
From HIROSHIMA to WWIII
If workers won’t end these wars, who will?
Hiroshima was not so much the end of WWII as the opening salvo in a series of new wars which must be ended if humanity is to survive. Will the working class fulfill its historic mission and end this madness? Or must we look elsewhere? We are inviting speakers to address this question.
This is part of our on-going Socialist Forum Series on the first Saturday of every month. Doors open at 2 pm and the program will start promptly at 2:30 pm. The forum will end by 4:30 pm, but folks can stay and talk as long as you like. Speaker’s affiliations are listed for identification only. The opinions expressed do not reflect the official views of the Peace and Freedom Party.
The Peace and Freedom Party, born from the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality, and internationalism.
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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
Feasibility study authorization delayed
The City Council vote to authorize a feasibility study on a public bank didn’t happen at the July 18th meeting as expected. Instead, this item has been moved to the agenda for September 19th. According to Council staff, the vote was put off due to the overly long agenda for the last meeting before summer break.
This delay is a big disappointment, of course, but there’s plenty to do in the next two months. The new budget provides only $75,000 of the study’s total cost of $100,000. When the Council does finally authorize it, their authorization will be contingent on finding outside sources for the last $25,000. So, fundraising is now a top priority for us.
How you can help grow our grassroots movement
In addition to fundraising, we need to continue building a broad base of public support for the Public Bank of Oakland. You can help by connecting us with local groups that you know about. We need:
– Tabling opportunities. We have been tabling at First Fridays and farmers’ markets around town, and we are looking for other locations. Know of an upcoming neighborhood festival or other event? Spots in East Oakland and West Oakland are especially needed.
– Speaking opportunities. We are looking for locaal organizations that would like to host a talk about the benefits of public banking. Can you suggest a political group, union local, religious community, neighborhood association, business or coop?
– Signers for our letter to City Council. More thhan forty local groups, including Causa Justa::Just Cause, Ella Baker Center, and Idle No More Bay Area, have already signed our open letter in support of PBO. We’d like to keep growing the list. Please let us know of groups to reach out to.
Talking up our public bank
We’ll need more people to do all the tabling and speaking events we’re lining up. Talking about public banking is fun! Most of the people we talk to are really glad to find out about it. If you’d like to join our outreach efforts by tabling or just passing our petition around your neighborhood – please contact us or attend our next outreach meeting on Tuesday, August 1st at 6:00pm. We’ll be in the outside seating area at Max’s Diner, 500 12th Street, Oakland.
A small reminder about donating
We don’t want to turn our newsletter into a constant plea for money, but donations and pledges are definitely needed. All thhe work of FPBO is done by volunteers. Please donate directly on our website or pledge by emailing contact@friendsofpublicbankofoakland.org. Thank you!
Are you aware that Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans are twice as likely to be stuck in jail because they can’t afford bail? The U.S. money bail system is largely to blame for over-crowded jails across the nation. 70 percent of people are incarcerated for one simple reason: being too poor to afford bail.
The bail trap
Unscrupulous bail bonds contracts allow private corporations to make exorbitant profits off of people living in poverty. While people with access to wealth can buy their freedom, poor people have weeks, months, and even years of their lives taken from them.
This isn’t justice. Race and socio-economic status should not determine whether someone is free or in jail while they await their trial.
Come and see “The Bail Trap” and let’s talk about what we can do to replace the broken money bail system right here in California.
RSVP & follow on facebook here
We’ll talk about how the state has historically tried to disrupt left movements, especially those led by people of color, and how to collectively resist it. This is a launch event for Catalyst’s new pamphlet: “A Troublemaker’s Guide: Principles for Racial Justice Activists in the Face of State Repression.”
Panel discussion with:
- Cat Brooks, Anti-Police Terror Project
- Isaac Ontiveros, Center for Political Education
- Lara Kiswani, Arab Resource and Organizing Center
- Maisha Quint, Eastside Arts Alliance
- Donna Willmott, Catalyst Project
Wheelchair accessible, please come fragrance free. Please make childcare & other access requests to Isaac@collectiveliberation.org by July 31st.
Participants will receive a copy of the pamphlet.
Berkeley Police Review Commission – Homeless Subcommittee:
Agenda action and discussion, review current policies related to homeless encampments, responses to policies and recommendations, https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Police_Review_Commission/Commissions/2017/2017-08-08%20Homeless%20Encampments%20agenda.pdf
Coal promoter and developer Phil Tagami is currently a candidate for a position on Oakland’s Police Commission. No Coal in Oakland is horrified at the prospect that this man – who proposes to bring toxic coall into Oakland and has sued the City to overthrow its popular ban on coal – could be chosen to represent residents on a city commission thattwill provide civilian oversight of the Police Department by reviewing and proposing changes to Department policies and procedures, requiring the Mayor to appoint any new Chief of Police from a list of candidates provided by the Commission, and having the authority to terminate the Chief of Police for cause.
Phil Tagami’s interview for a seat on the civilian Oakland Police Commission will be on Tuesday, August 8 at 7:00 pm at Oakland City Hall. We need you to attend. The selection panel needs to know that he is not fit to serve on the Police Commission.
Although cardboard signs will probably not be allowed in the room, you can bring a piece of paper with a message on it that you hold up at relevant moments. “Don’t pick Tagami.” “Tagami can’t be trusted.” “Tagami wants to pollute West Oakland.” “Tagami is suing Oakland.” “Tagami not fit to serve.” Be creative!
There is an opportunity to speak at the interview, but not to engage in dialogue with the panel. Speaker’s cards will be available at the meeting. We should be strategic about this so the panel doesn’t get annoyed at redundant speakers. It would be best to have people speak who can represent neighborhoods, congregations, unions, and other organizations. Speakers can invite the audience to stand to express solidarity with them, rather than having repetitive presentations.
More information is available at http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/cityadministrator/documents/agenda/oak065761.pdf. Tagami’s application is on pages 129-134. Background information is also at http://nocoalinoakland.info/lets-keep-coal-promoter-tagami-off-the-oakland-police-commission/
Rally, march & direct action to commemorate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the place where new US nuclear weapons are still being developed today.
8 am rally with speakers: Daniel Ellsberg (legendary activist and leaker of the Pentagon Papers), Marylia Kelley (executive director of Tri-Valley Cares), and a Hibakusha (Japanese atomic bomb survivor). With wonderful music by Emma’s Revolution. Together, solemnly we will commemorate the nightmarish effects of nuclear weapons–from uranium mining to testing use–on the people of Japan, the Marshall Island, and the First Nations–and all the people living near nuclear facilities across the country and around the world. We will recommit ourselves to efforts to abolish these indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction Please bring a large photograph of a loved one. As always, we act in the spirit of nonviolence.
At 9:00 am we will march to the gates of Livermore Lab, where we will join in an Obon dance, (Japanese folk dance). Following the dance those who choose will peaceably risk arrest.
For those who wish, camping the night before is available at Lake Del Valle. Contact scott [at] trivalleycares.org to RSVP.
All ages welcome!
In a totally ironic twist, Berkeley Police Assaulted people and beat one man over the head after the June 20th Berkeley City Council meeting re: Urban Shield.
Police Review Commission June 20, 2017 Subcommittee:
Agenda action and discussion, plan for investigation whether June 20 BPD was appropriate, review BPD and other documents and ask questions of Police Chief or designee.
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, against Urban Shield, and to advocate for privacy and surveillance regulation ordinances to be passed by our State Legislature and around the Bay Area, including the Alameda and San Francisco County Boards of Supervisors, the BART Board of Directors, and by the Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and Davis City Councils.
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, ALPRs, requirements for “backdoors” to your cellphone and against other invasions of privacy by our benighted City, County, State and Federal Governments.
Oakland Privacy (nee Oakland Privacy Working Group) originally came together in 2013 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; its members helped draft the Privacy Policy that puts further restrictions on the now Port-restricted DAC, and made Oakland’s new Privacy Advisory Commission to the City Council happen. 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). Oakland and Fremont have followed suit. In conjunction with other groups we fight against Urban Shield and other killer-cop trainings.
We have presented our work at RightsCon in San Francisco and at Left Forum and HOPE in New York City.
If you would like to attend our meeting and would like a quick introduction to what we’re doing before we dive right into the thick of our agenda, send email to contact@oaklandprivacy.org and one of us will arange to meet you before the meeting.
Stop by and learn how you can help guard our right not to be spied on by the government. Look on the whiteboard inside near the entrance to the OMNI for our exact location within the OMNI.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to:
oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe AT lists.riseup.net
or send a request to contact@oaklandprivacy.org
For more information on the DAC check out
Eric, who is facing charges stemming from the counter demonstration against an alt-right/fascist rally in Berkeley on April 15, needs our support!
His court date is Friday August 10 at 9am. Rene C. Davidson Courthouse (12th and Oak St in downtown Oakland) Dept 11.
Thus far, public call outs have not been made for court support because alt-right trolls have also shown up to harass Eric and his supporters. For supporters at court this has even meant risking getting their photo taken and their identity researched online, which increases the risk of being doxxed.
At this point, we believe that these risks are now a part of the nature of doing support for anti racist, anti fascist, feminist, and queer comrades dealing with state and right-wing vigilante repression. The Anti Repression Committee has always promoted the idea that repression is not something that we can avoid, but it is something we can be prepared for. With that in mind, we strongly encourage everyone in our movements to prepare for repression in the form of right-wing doxxing, but to not let this risk prevent us from showing up to support those who are baring the brunt of repression. While there are always many individuals who cannot and should not put themselves in vulnerable positions (just like some people cannot be on the front lines in street protests), we maintain that if enough of us show up with our bodies in the court room to support comrades like Eric, it will strengthen the very movement the right wing and the state is attempting to neutralize. This also continues to set a precedent that if any of us are under attack we will be supported by each other.
August 10 is Eric’s preliminary hearing and his case will be the only one heard in that court room. Therefore, if you can, please come and pack the room so there’s no space for the trolls and their cameras. But before you come to court, please check out this article to educate yourself on how doxxing works and what kind of personal information you can wipe clean from the internet about yourself -especially your home address, place of work, and contact information of you and your family.
https://itsgoingdown.org/time-beef-defense-against-far-right-doxxing/
Together we’re stronger! Let’s do this ya’ll!
Public Banking Gets a Hearing at the California Treasurer’s Cannabis Banking Working Group’s Final Public Meeting
Click Here to Listen and Watch Live on Thursday at 9:30am PacificThe final public meeting on Thursday, August 10th, of the Cannabis Banking Working Group will be held in West Los Angeles. The entire four hour session is dedicated to reviewing public banking as a solution to the lack of banking services being provided to the cannabis industry. Tune in via the webcast — it’ll be an informative discussion and public debate. Matt Stannard, representing Commonomics USA, will be asking some important questions, noting that there are other markets where private banks are not providing banking services, proposing a four-phase approach to public banking, and suggesting that the state may wish to consider issuing a new banking license — a Public Bank Charter.
The Divest Build Coalition is a group of activists who believe that there can a symbiotic relationship between 1) divestment from fossil fuels and big banks, 2) addressing a host of social issues and 3) creating public finance that stops feeding Wall Street and sucking the life out of local communities.
We are currently organizing the state of California and intend to ultimately transform the progressive activist landscape of the state by closing the loop on our tangible resources that can be used for good. Commonomics USA is a founding organizer and will be providing more information at www.divestbuild.org.
Join Us! Click here to become a Commonomics USA member.
Commonomics USA envisions a world where a Commons-based economy creates economic and ecological security for all. We educate and advocate for the reclamation of the Commons from predatory capitalism and privatization, and build model law and policies that establish sustainable, economically just systems based in the Commons.
ICAC’s next Working Group meeting will be on Thursday, August 10. We will have a guest speaker, Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern who speak to us about his department’s efforts on addressing homelessness, immigration and refugee, and other matters of importance to the faith communities. Please join us.
Sheriff Ahern Speaks
At one of the last Beloved Conversations classes, people of color from the community came to speak about ways we as a congregation can be an ally against racism.
One of the speakers talked about the policies and practices of the county sheriff as having a big impact on people of color.
We can make a difference and find out more by attending this event. I went to a town hall with the sheriff last month and felt that I learned a lot about how much power the sheriff has, and how he is using that power. (and am now determined to do something about it)
There are 53 recommendations for improvement of the Bart Police Oversight Citizen Review Board system. Oscar Grant family would love to hear your concerns and will be happy to talk about the details once you’ve had a chance to review the recommendations. https://drive.google.com/
These will be on the agenda for the Bart Board of Directors meeting on August 10th (this is an evening meeting starting at 5 pm) and on the Bart Police Oversight Citizen Review Board committee meeting agenda for August 14th (starting at 4 pm). It would be helpful to hear your thoughts about the recommendations and answer any questions you may have about how/whether we might implement the recommendations. There is no immediate plan for the Directors to vote on implementing anything until we can take a closer look at what’s actually possible and what resources would be needed to put any these changes into place. The August 10 meeting is an opportunity for the Directors to begin discussions about the report and to ask any questions they may have of Mr. Gennaco and Mr. Zisser, who helped in the recommendation for improvement, and hear the community concerns. There will also be an opportunity for public comment on the agenda item. https://drive.google.com/
1992 Jerrold Hall – Murdered
1997 Robert Greer – Murdered
2001 Bruce Seward – Murdered
2008 Kenneth Carrethers – Excessive Force
2009 Oscar Grant – Murdered
2010 13 yrs – attempted to Tase
2010 Fred Collins – Murdered
2010 Jason Johnson – Tased
2011 Charles Blair Hill – Murdered
2014 James Nate Greer – Murdered
2014 Tommy Smith – Murdered
2014 Robert James Asberry – Tased
2014 Nubia Bowe – Excessive Force
2016 Andrea Appleton – Excessive Force
2016 Michael Smith – Excessive Force
Film Showing & Discussion
At 8:15 am, on August 6, 1945, a blazing, million-degree fireball suddenly appeared just above the Japanese city of Hiroshima, instantly killing, burning alive, or vaporizing tens of thousands.
The U.S. had just exploded the first nuclear bomb over the center of a city of 350,000. killing between 140-150,000. Three days later, on August 9, the U.S. dropped an even more powerful nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, destroying the city and murdering another 70,000 people.
WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN reveals the unimaginable destructive power of the bombs, the inconceivable suffering and extraordinary human resilience. Director Steven Okazaki tells the amazing, shocking and inspiring stories of fourteen survivors.
WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN stands as a powerful warning that, with enough nuclear weapons to equal 400,000 Hiroshimas, we can’t afford to forget what happened on those two days in 1945. We also can’t forget that the US is the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons in war, that the US government has never said it was wrong to use them against Japan, and that to this day, it has a policy justifying first use of nuclear weapons in future wars.
This is especially true now under the Trump/Pence fascist regime with Trump’s finger on the nuclear button. In just the past weeks, Trump/Pence have threatened millions around the globe by deploying attack aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines to the Korean Peninsula, setting up the THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea and threatening Iran and other countries.
Next opportunity to turn out against Urban Shield!
9:10 am Task Force Discussion Groups Small groups will generate a list of proposed actions for each question under consideration by the Task Force. (Facilitation Team) – In small groups, formulate responses to the five learning questions under consideration by the Task Force – Develop summary of small group proposals (i.e., topics with unanimous/majority support; topics requiring further study; and unresolved topics with no consensus) Attachment Discussion IV.
10:40 am Task Force Discussion Group Reports Task Force will make a preliminary assessment of the proposed actions generated in the small group discussions. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 (Facilitation Team) – In plenary session, present summaries of small group proposals for addressing the five learning questions (with Q & A) – Preview Meeting #6 Discussion V.
11:50 am Public Comment (Chairman, Muntu Davis, MD, Department of Public Health)
Socialist Action presents Rebel Films. This week’s film is the John Pilger documentary entitled “The Coming War on China.” Pilger, an incisive critic of Western economic and military power, documents the American military bases now encircling the world’s newest superpower. This is both a warning and an inspiring story of people’s resistance to war.