The Middle East Children’s Alliance & The American Friends Service Committee present Palestinian journalist and refugee, Ahmed Abu Artema –one of the original organizers of the Gaza Great March of Return. He will speak about his experience, the future of nonviolent actions in Palestine, and his vision for a just and lasting peace. He advocates for restoration of Palestinian rights, and his writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, and more.

Ahmed will be joined by Jehad Abusalim, a Chicago-based activist/scholar from Gaza and AFSC Program Associate. This event is part of AFSC’s national speaking tour, “Hashtag to Headlines: How the Gaza Great March of Return Challenged the World”!!

Cosponsored by St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Mission & Justice Committee

Benefit for projects in Gaza

International Women’s Strike Speak Out – which protests gender violence, racism & imperialism – takes place  at Oscar Grant Plaza in downtown Oakland.  For details, visit facebook ‘international women’s strike Bay Area’ or email gabrielawomen@gmail.com

Members of GABRIELA Oakland and our allies invite you to join us for a Rally, March & Festival to commemorate the 111th International Working Women’s Day anniversary in honor of the first women strikers in 1908. Join us as we RISE, RESIST, and UNITE to build our collective Resistance here and abroad!

Let us take the streets as we RISE up and say NO to violence against women and Trans people and RESIST militarization and state violence!

Let us RISE to protect women, Trans and Gender non-conforming people, and our children!
Let us RESIST economic exploitation of our women!
Let us UNITE for the self-determination of all oppressed people to fight for their basic rights and livelihood!

*Note* This will be a family friendly march and celebration that will be accessible for children, elders, and people with disabilities. We will also be organizing our own community safety/security team.

Please email gabrielaoakland2018@gmail.com or send us a FB message if you or your organization would like to sponsor or endorse the march.

Join us to talk about this important topic. We will have a couple of short presentations, and then open the floor for discussion.

Among the readings we will refer to are:
– Leon Trotsky’s “FASCISM: What It Is and How To Fight It”
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm

– Sweezy on the Rise of Fascism – A synopsis by Fabian Van Onzen, including Paul Sweezy, Georgi Dimitrov, and Samir Amin
https://portside.org/2019-02-23/sweezy-rise-fascism
– George Jackson

Readings not required to attend.
Refreshments will be served.
The space is wheelchair accessible.
No cost, but donations are always welcome.
To get in the building, dial 411, or scroll for Solidarity Center on the intercom at the outside entrance.

This training is in preparation for a nonviolent direct action March 18 in San Francisco but everyone is welcome, even if you can’t participate that day. With wildfires and weather disasters all around us, and just 12 years left to address the climate crisis (per IPCC report), we’ll have many opportunities to stand up for future generations and a sustainable world. We especially encourage anyone willing to serve in support roles (not risking arrest) to join us.

The action will occur during our March for Fossil Fuel Freedom culminating rally, noontime Monday Mar 18 at “Oily Wells” Fargo headquarters, to spotlight the bank’s role as a leading funder of climate chaos. Participants need to attend one of two mandatory training sessions. Click link to RSVP and learn more:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexjCjWP46xrrXUuDqKj5Dn3OaQRhHDprcp8UbvMmF3WJxAuQ/viewform

March for Fossil Fuel Freedom details and registration: https://oilywells.com/

Shelter Now! Alternatives to the Housing Crisis

The Green Party of Alameda County welcomes Clark Sullivan and Mary Behm-Steinberg to discuss alternative solutions to the housing crisis in the Bay Area. As rental costs increase across the city and climate change devastates Northern California regions, and as the Berkeley City Council recently passed overnight bans against RV dwellers, particularly at the Berkeley Marina — our panelists offer their unique experiences fighting for the rights of unhoused residents and low-income homeowners facing eviction and displacement, and offer next-step solutions on building solidarity against developers and their political interests.

Clark Sullivan is a revolutionary anarchist who has been organizing many successful social movements for nearly a half-century ranging from homelessness, the environment and AIDS to worker’s rights, anti-apartheid and peace. A Renaissance man, who is skilled in many disciplines such as: pharmacology, journalism, information technology and political science, Clark currently mentors young people seeking to radically change the status quo.

Mary Behm-Steinberg is an activist and former candidate for Berkeley City Council (District 1). Her experience ranges from running a small business and tenant as well as worker-oriented housing solutions. As indicated in a Berkeleyside article, Mary argues, “the biggest challenges that Berkeley faces now and in the foreseeable future” is “preserving diversity” while ending “homelessness in the city.”

No additional information yet.

“They cut my breasts in torture, I didn’t even say “ah”,
The prevalent mindset is that if a woman knows justice, to cut her breasts
I am embarrassed to even say “ah” as a militant of a justified cause. ”

Sakine Cansız (Sara)

Sara was born in Dersim in 1958 as the daughter of an Alevi family. She was one of the founding members of the PKK, a political activist and feminist known by the codename “Sara” in the organization. She was among the founders of the PKK and was one of the five people who lived and worked in the organization until 2013, and she was the only woman among the founders of the PKK who continued her activities in the organization. She was imprisoned for twenty years in Diyarbakır No 5 Prison. She was one of the PKK’s representatives for Europe. On January 9, 2013, while with Fidan Dogan (code name Rojbin) and Leyla Şaylemez (codenamed Ronahi), the representatives of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), she was shot in the head by a silenced weapon at the Kurdistan Information Bureau near the Gare du Nord train station in Paris, France.

Cansız, who described her life in her book “My Life Was Always A Struggle”, did not stop at the prisons where she stayed. All her life she has resisted and struggled.

The stories of these women did not end with the massacre of the revolutionary women’s resistance leaders in Paris. Today in Rojava, in Kurdistan and in many parts of the world there are thousands of Saras, Rojbins and Ronahis.

We are not over the fight and will not end; until women and life are free …

Jin Jiyan Azadi

📢 Join us for some exciting public banking news Monday morning in LA and SF! We’re building a movement all across the state!

➡LA: 9AM @ LA City Hall
➡SF: 10AM @ Old Mint (88 Fifth St)#publicbanksnow 🙌 pic.twitter.com/j7xJrQKNbj

— California Public Banking Alliance (@calpba) March 8, 2019

The fight for socially and environmentally responsible public banking in California is about to level up!

On Monday morning, March 11, state legislators will unveil a new bill to advance public banking in California. The California Public Banking Alliance, of which we are a member, will be holding press conferences in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The call is going out to all Bay Area allies of public banking to show up in force at the San Francisco Mint at 10am Monday. Wear your public banking t-shirt if you’ve got one. We are going up against the powerful forces of Wall Street, the California Bankers Association, and their massive financial arsenal. We can win, but we need your help! Invite your friends and join us at the launch of a new campaign for public banking in California!

A Special Meeting of the PAC has been called  in Hearing Room 2 at City Hall to continue conversation and take action on the Department of Transportation’s Automated License Plate Reader Policy and the Oakland Police Department’s Automated License Plate Reader Policies.

We’re still playing every Monday that it doesn’t rain!

Occupella organizes informal public singing at Bay Area occupation sites, marches and at BART stations. We sing to promote peace, justice, and an end to corporate domination, especially in support of the Occupy movement.

Music has the power to build spirit, foster a sense of unity, convey messages and emotions, spread information, and bring joy to participants and audience alike. See spirited clip of an action at BART. Check out the actions calendar and come add your voice. There are lots of ways to participate and everyone is welcome.

All of Us or None is thrilled to welcome in conversation Danielle Sered, George Galvis, and Malachi Scott to talk about transformative responses to violence and building a movement to end mass incarceration that includes everyone—including people who commit violence. We know too well that all too often our movement draws lines between people convicted of non-violent and violent offenses that often leave people convicted of violence with little of the relief being sought administratively, legislatively or through the ballot box.

We hope that this discussion will:
1) Assist audience members to formulate better arguments when pursuing reforms that include the interests of people convicted of violence
2) Challenge the narrative that people convicted of violence pose the greatest risk to public safety
3) Challenge the notion that it is possible to end mass incarceration without addressing the issue of people incarcerated for violent offenses
4) Explore what role restorative justice can play in the work to end mass incarceration

The panelists will use themes from Danielle Sered’s new book, Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair, as a launchpad for a visionary conversation about what else is possible. The panelists and the work they do will model what it looks like to steer directly and unapologetically into the question of violence, offering approaches that will help end mass incarceration, increase safety, and break down false barriers about who is deserving and capable of transformation.

This conversation will happen in All of Us or None’s new space The Freedom & Movement Center, where every day people make what is possible real.

Join us at 6:30 P.M. on March 11 at 4400 Market St. in Oakland.

RSVP:
Online: http://bit.ly/ReckoningWithViolenceRSVP
Phone: Ivana Gonzalez 415.255.7036

On February 26th, as a result of years of community organizing, the Board of Supervisors accepted 60 out of 63 community-supported recommendations for changes to emergency preparedness trainings under the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) funding.

On Tuesday March 12th, Supervisors have the opportunity to take the next steps in making a community-led vision for safety and disaster response a reality. The Alameda County Sheriff is fighting tooth and nail to sabotage the path forward for community-supported emergency preparedness. Let’s continue to work with—and push!—our Supervisors to make sure we secure a future for common-sense public safety policy in our county. Let’s keep winning. Join us!

More about the upcoming Board Meeting:
On March 12th, Supervisors will be discussing the UASI Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) – an agreement between other Bay Area cities and counties that informs funding and training exercises. The request put forth by the Sheriff is to renew the MOU while reversing all the decisions made by the Supervisors in the last year and to continue Urban Shield. We will be there to support and reinforce the County’s decisions to pave a new path forward for disaster preparedness without Urban Shield.

It’s time for Supervisors to make county-led community emergency preparedness a reality! This is an exciting moment where we can make community-based emergency preparedness priorities a reality! We will continue to work with Supervisors to implement their decisions and make sure they walk the talk of ending Urban Shield as we demand they amend or reject the MOU if it still includes Urban Shield.