Our program will address current events in Iran and the international reaction to them. US-led forces are exploiting events in Iran to push for violent regime change. Unilateral and illegal economic sanctions imposed by the US are killing Iranians. These sanctions are responsible for much of the Iranian people’s suffering and anger. They have served as a background for the outburst of different protests and are intentionally aimed at destabilizing the Iranian society through instigating a “velvet revolution.” Iran is targeted by the imperialists because of its key role in an emerging multipolar world through strategic alliances with countries and movements such as Syria, Russia, China, and Venezuela, and Hezbollah.

Our speaker, Bahman Azad, an Iranian-American peace activist, is the president of theUS Peace Council, a representative of the World Peace Council at the UN, and on the Administrative Committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC). He has also served as co-chair of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee, coordinator of the Coalition Against US Foreign Military Bases and the Global Campaign Against US/NATO Military Bases, and co-coordinator of the Hands Off Syria Coalition. He has a master’s degree in economics and a Ph.D. in sociology and is the author of the book: Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR.

ZOOM LINK

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
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“What These Walls Won’t Hold” Screening and Panel discussion
LIMITED SEATS!
Buy you tickets here today

Join us for our annual birthday party for our namesake, Ella Baker! This year, we’ll be celebrating займ 10000 рублей на карту the art and organizing of Adamu Chan and the organizers of the #StopSanQuentinOutbreak campaign. Join in community to learn more about this campaign, its successes, and how it’s pushed the movement forward.

The final vote on the state’s new draft Climate Scoping Plan is coming up fast on December 15.  It’s not too late to send written comments to the California Air Resources Board, and public comments will be needed at the Sacramento hearing as well.  Luckily, there’s a wealth of local expertise on the proposed Scoping Plan, and a number of those folks will be with us at this monthly webinar to help prepare us to testify.  This will be lively, interactive coaching session.  Bring your questions!  Please register to receive the Zoom link.

Co-sponsored with 350 Bay Area.

David sings songs of social significance. Check out his web page here:

Welcome to my website…

Or watch a few vids here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidRovics1

David’s music is almost all Creative Commons and he puts it out there for free download.  Check out Rovics’ web site here: http://davidrovics.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@drovics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvlWSnLxrrc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwlnxLijS8g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_97V59LbE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdodojUTMG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBdYlvSQ2mA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsJFdVJu-m4

COVID-19 testing is available at Allen Temple! Our drive-thru testing site is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm! Testing is quick, easy & free! Results available in 3 days. Appointments recommended; make yours at https://t.co/G3MPStVccj pic.twitter.com/OwdThvrBIT

— Allen Temple Baptist Church (@allentemplebc) November 21, 2022

We're caroling on Tuesday, 12/13 in protest of @LibbySchaaf's decision to end the mask requirement in @oakland public buildings! Join us! #DontGiveUsCovidForXmas #BringBackMasks pic.twitter.com/IfaNThh54d

— Senior and Disability Action (SDA) (@sdaction1) December 9, 2022

COVID-19 testing is available at Allen Temple! Our drive-thru testing site is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm! Testing is quick, easy & free! Results available in 3 days. Appointments recommended; make yours at https://t.co/G3MPStVccj pic.twitter.com/OwdThvrBIT

— Allen Temple Baptist Church (@allentemplebc) November 21, 2022

COVID-19 testing is available at Allen Temple! Our drive-thru testing site is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm! Testing is quick, easy & free! Results available in 3 days. Appointments recommended; make yours at https://t.co/G3MPStVccj pic.twitter.com/OwdThvrBIT

— Allen Temple Baptist Church (@allentemplebc) November 21, 2022

EBC’s Annual Holiday Card Mailing to People Inside Prison

It’s that time of year again – we are doing our annual Holiday Mailing to almost 9,000 people inside prisons and jail! The Holiday Mailing Sign-up form is live – click here.

You can sign up to pick up packets in increments of 25 cards/each. Each packet will be ready to go with: blank holiday cards, envelopes, stamps, newsletters, and instructions for you. You will be able to sign the holiday cards, donate stamps if you wish, stuff envelopes, and drop them off at the post office to bless our community inside. Sign up ASAP so that we can save a packet for you and so that you can tell us your preferences for when and how you want to pick up the cards. We are so grateful for all of the people who make such an impact on the lives of our community members inside by sending warmth and cheer during such a lonely time of year. You are appreciated!

RSVP to elliot@ellabakercenter.org for Zoom link

Live in Berkeley – Thurs. Dec.15 at 7 PM              

Intensifying US sanctions, imposed on a third of humanity, are sending shock waves through the world economy. Now this brutal form of economic warfare on civilian populations is being contested. Join a discussion of the latest developments in key regions of the world with several authors of the new anthology.

Lee Siu Hin – China, U.S. Solidarity Network
Ann Garrison – Pacifica Journalist, Black Agenda Report
David Paul – Venezuela Embassy Protectors

Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the the online invite.

For December, we are reading the first part, and the beginning of the second part, of Less is More, by Jason Hickel (Amazon, Barnes & Noble).

For January, 2023, we are finishing the book.

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause. Capitalism demands perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change: DEGROWTH. If we want to have a shot at halting the crisis, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see nature and our place in it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that’s rooted in reciprocity and regeneration.

We need to evolve beyond the dogmas of capitalism to a new system that is fit for the twenty-first century. But what does such a society look like? What about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and traces a clear pathway to a post-capitalist economy. An economy that’s more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. An economy that will not only lift us out of our current crisis, but restore our sense of connection to a world that’s brimming with life. By taking less, we can become more.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century, The Deficit Myth,  Revenge Capitalism, the Edge of Chaos blog symposium , Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, The Optimist’s Telescope, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Exploring Degrowth, The Origin of Wealth, Mine!, The Dawn of Everything  A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, and Beyond Money.

All are welcome!

Latin America and the Caribbean have taken on a becoming pink complexion, all the more so with historic left victories this year in Colombia and Brazil. These electoral rejections of the rightwing followed left victories last year in Peru, Honduras, and Chile. And those, in turn, came after similar routs in Bolivia in 2020, Argentina in 2019, and Mexico in 2018.

This surging “Pink Tide” protests the neoliberal model imposed by the US and its collaborators. Neoliberalism has failed to meet the needs of the peoples of the region and is losing its legitimacy as a prototype for development. However, the countries of the region must of necessity engage in a world financial order dominated by the US, which circumscribes the possibilities for developing their economies successfully.

The limitations of the social democratic politics, the emerging role of China in the hemisphere, and the future of explicitly socialist Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will be addressed.

Our speaker, Roger Harris, taught political science at a Historically Black College in Mississippi in the late 1960s and did community organizing in East Harlem. Roger is currently on the state central committee of the Peace and Freedom Party and on the board of the human rights organization, Task Force on the Americas. He is on the program committee of the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library and the executive committee of the US Peace Council. He is active in the #FreeAlexSaab and the SanctionsKill campaigns. His political writings may be found at Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Mint Press News, Popular Resistance, and the Orinoco Tribune.

For further reading, see: https://popularresistance.org/the-volatility-of-us-hegemony-in-latin-america-part-iii/.

ZOOM LINK

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
One tap mobile
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+16699006833,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US (San Jose)

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+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Join us on 22nd December at 11AM for our in-person press conference on the steps of the U.S. Court House in Oakland for the preliminary injunction hearing in our lawsuit against @sfgov

Our exciting line-up of speakers include folks impacted by the City's illegal sweeps. pic.twitter.com/VMuU3XfWc2

— Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Bay Area (@lccrsf) December 16, 2022

Relevant Agenda Items:

5. Federal Task Force Transparency Ordinance – OPD – Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
a. Review and take possible action on the draft memoranda of understanding with federal partners (MOU)

Join the meeting

International human rights advocate and lawyer Dan Kovalik will discuss the current conflict in Ukraine in light of historical developments, in particular the collapse of the USSR, the 2014 coup and the conflict which began thereafter between the government of Kiev and the Donbas region of Ukraine. He will also report on his recent trip to the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Daniel Kovalik currently teaches international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.  He graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1993. He then served as in-house counsel for the United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO (USW) until 2019. The Christian Science Monitor, referring to his work defending Colombian unionists under threat of assassination, described Dan as “one of the most prominent defenders of Colombian workers in the United States.”

Dan Kovalik has written extensively on international human rights and US foreign policy for the Huffington Post and Counterpunch. He has lectured throughout the world on these subjects and frequently appears on RT. He is the author of books exposing the machinations of US imperialism in Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and an upcoming one on Nicaragua along with a book on US regime-change operations around the world. Other books include a progressive case against cancel culture and how the US violates international law.

In this video, Dan Kovalik addresses the UN Security Council on threats to international peace and security on December 9: https://media.un.org/en/asset/k12/k128iiykjr.

Our Zoom room will be opened up as usual at 10:15 am for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc.. The program (and recording) will begin as close to 10:30 am as possible and will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room may remain open later for informal discussion.

ZOOM LINK

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
One tap mobile
+16694449171,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US
+16699006833,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

The Democrats are rejoicing that they lost fewer congressional seats than had been predicted. The Republicans are ready to scuttle any meager reforms that are proposed. Donald Trump’s political career seems to be imploding, but his base is still there. Join us to discuss what it will take to change this dreary picture and build towards a socialist future.

Howie Hawkins – Environmental activist, trade unionist, Green Party candidate for president in 2020, plans to run again in 2024

Gwen McLaughlin

We are continuing our reading group on Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon this Sunday at 4pm @omnicommons and online!

DM us to join in-person or online! We will provide free PDFs as well! *Masks are required to be worn at all times during the event* pic.twitter.com/c7iRQ1aUk9

— Community Liberation Programs (@comlibprograms) January 7, 2023

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89559844652

The two-year civil war in Ethiopia has seen far more casualties than the Ukraine War but received a tiny fraction of the press. Estimates are that half a million people, maybe even more, have died, while the highest estimate is 100,000 in Ukraine. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, Ethiopia also saw a record number of people internally displaced by conflict in 2021, over five million.

The press it has gotten has been largely that of the genocide industrial complex, which portrays the Tegaru minority as victims in the conflict, and the Ethiopian government and its ally Eritrea as the aggressors and war criminals. This narrative is in line with the US foreign policy objective of controlling the Horn of Africa. Ann Garrison will talk about what she saw on her trip to Ethiopia and Eritrea in March, April, May and June. She will be joined by Eritrean American scholar, journalist, and activist Elias Amare.

Ann Garrison is a Contributing Editor at Black Agenda Report, a contributor to The Grayzone, Counterpunch, and Pacifica Radio, and a longtime Green.

Elias Amare is an Eritrean American scholar, activist, and host of Horn of Africa TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40KVITOaaM

February 12: About Ukraine (more info coming soon!)

March 12: Report from Nicaragua:

***************************************

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows at 7:00 pm, after a 30-minute break. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 895 5984 4652

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Location Details:
Virtual through Google Meet: The Pursuit of Happiness framed in political-economic terms
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/mqd-jtmf-gkk

Join high school US History teacher David Giesen as he vets an overview–seeking your critique–of next year’s approach to US History.

The curriculum’s theme is “Liberating the Pursuit of Happiness.”

The “elevator pitch” is: The United States was created in the stated belief that governments should exist in order to facilitate a people’s ability to pursue happiness. The pursuit of happiness requires liberty to be playfully expressive. The USA is on the continuum of aligning politico-economic conditions with the sort of liberty required for people to pursue happiness.

On three successive Sunday evenings (January 8, 15, and 22) you are invited to join a virtual conference where you will remotely watch a few videos and afterwards join in discussion of those videos as they relate to the curriculum. You need not attend every session.

I welcome those desiring a short course in US history, those desirous of critiquing an unconventional approach to US history, friends of Howard Zinn-like alternate US histories, enemies of Howard Zinn-like alternate US histories, self-described woke, self-described woke-adverse, would-be US history teachers, US history teachers, and others.