Calendar
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
+16694449171,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US
+16699006833,,81133350622#,,,,*5892135124# US (San Jose)
Dial by your location
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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)
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)
Election 2022: What Does it Mean
for the Socialist Left?
Please register in advance at
https://bit.ly/SS_S_Election_2022
to receive your personal link for this event.
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:
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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
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89559844652
Meeting ID: 895 5984 4652
One tap mobile
+16699009128,,89559844652# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,89559844652# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
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.
If raining, the press conference will be held inside the building, at the Dean’s office.
CodePink event page: https://www.codepink.org
Berkeley, CA. Human rights groups will gather in person at UC Berkeley Law School on January 11, 2023 @ 1pm to call for the closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp on its 21st Anniversary, and for the prosecution of UC Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo for complicity in torture. The press conference is hosted by CodePink for Peace, Berkeley No More Guantanamos, Progressive Democrats of Oakland, Triple Justice, Extinction Rebellion Peace and others.
Press conference organizer and SF Bay CodePink Coordinator Cynthia Papermaster says “The U.S. carried out torture at Guantanamo. That is well established. Professor Yoo is complicit because he provided the legal opinions that Cheney and Bush relied on to order the torture at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantanamo and elsewhere. Prosecution for complicity in torture is not discretionary; in other words, our Department of Justice is required to prosecute Yoo. Instead this disgraced lawyer walks free in Berkeley and teaches at our public university, at a salary of nearly $500,000/year. As a graduate of UC Berkeley I am horrified that he’s allowed to corrupt the minds of UC Berkeley Law students with his criminal theories. Yoo embodies the “banality of evil.” He must be prosecuted.”
Papermaster continued, saying “Yoo’s legal opinions were called “rubbish, shoddy research” by the Department of Justice. There were calls for his disbarment and firing from students and faculty at UC Berkeley, the American Bar Association and the National Lawyers Guild. The City of Berkeley passed resolutions condemning Yoo. UC Berkeley Faculty objected to Yoo receiving an endowed chair, but then-law school Dean Christopher Edley insisted on giving him the honor. In 2014, Erwin Chemerinsky, the current Dean of UC Berkeley Law School, and then Dean of UC Irvine Law School, said in a Nation magazine interview that Yoo should be criminally prosecuted.”
“I think he [John Yoo] should be,” Chemerinsky said. “All who planned, all who implemented, all who carried out the torture should be criminally prosecuted. How else do we as a society express our outrage? How else do we deter it in the future, except by criminal prosecutions?” https://www.thenation.com/article/prosecute-john-yoo-says-law-school-dean-erwin-chemerinsky/
Dean Chemerinsky, the Co-directors of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the law school, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission members and law school students have been invited to speak at the press conference. Professor Yoo will be asked to contribute to the newly-established Guantanamo Survivors Fund. https://www.nogitmos.org/guantanamo-survivors-fund
Last year, the City of Los Angeles spearheaded an innovative community engagement process around the question, “What are you most worried about regarding climate change impacts?” Led by the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office (CEMO) and involving hundreds of stakeholders, the resulting answer was extreme heat. What can be done to address the serious threat that hotter, longer summers pose to our communities?
Join The Climate Center and CEMO for a webinar focused on how climate resilience community hubs can keep people safe during extreme heat waves. Presenters include community leaders and experts from leading agencies who will discuss energy resilience as a possible solution to extreme heat threats. We’ll hear success stories from Southern and Northern California, as well as how to unlock state funding for developing resilience hubs.
Register
Speakers
Marta Segura, M.P.H.
Marta serves as the City of Los Angeles’ founding Chief Heat Officer and Director of Climate Emergency Mobilization and is one of seven Chief Heat Officers worldwide and the only Latina in the Nation to serve in those respective roles. She is a thought leader and policy expert in environmental health, public health, and stakeholder engagement. She has worked directly with public, philanthropic, private, institutional, and non-profit sectors to design, implement, and drive equitable climate policy.
Abby Edwards
Abby Edwards leads the development, implementation, and administration of climate adaptation planning grants for the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program’s Adaptation Planning Grant Program in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. The program aims to prioritize equitable outcomes by proactively targeting investments towards climate-vulnerable communities.
Coral Abbott
Coral serves as Program Manager for Strategic Growth Council’s Community Resilience Centers program, which funds neighborhood-scale resilience centers that will provide shelter and resources during climate and other emergencies, while also acting as a year-round hub for community services and programming that build community resilience over the long term.
Shina Robinson
Shina Robinson has a deep commitment to environmental justice as the intersection of human rights, equity, health, and ecological sanity. As Resilience Hubs Manager, Shina connects Asia Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) leaders and host site partners to build a network of community-based climate resilience hubs that advance tangible models of a Just Transition in frontline communities.
Join ACCE for the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy’s event on Right to Housing.
At a time of mass houselessness, deepening tenant precarity, and the criminalization of poverty, housing justice movements are pushing for a right to housing in California. In this convening, current and former UN Special Rapporteurs on Adequate Housing provide insight and guidance on key elements of such a right, how such a right can be informed by an international human rights framework, and how such a right can become an actionable government obligation. In conversation with prominent housing justice leaders, they will take up questions such as: What does the right to housing mean for those without a right to recognized housing, notably unhoused communities? How can the right to housing address the effects of global financialization on housing markets and housing systems? Is there a vision of social housing that can be a core part of such a right? How might the right to housing remake highly unequal relations of property and land?
Featuring UN Special Rapporteurs on the Right to Adequate Housing:
- Leilani Farha, 2014 – 2020
- Balakrishnan Rajagopal, 2020 – 2026
- Raquel Rolnik, 2008 – 2014
With commentary by:
- Gary Blasi, Tenant Power Toolkit
- Clarissa Woo Hermosillo, ACLU Southern California
- Christina Livingston, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
- Pete White, Los Angeles Community Action Network
Chaired by:
Ananya Roy, UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy
RSVP HERE
Because housing IS a human right!
ACCE Action
http://www.acceaction.org/
Why is the internet so broken, and what could ever possibly fix it? Join Internet Archive's senior policy counsel @lilabailey for a discussion with author @bentarnoff about his latest book, INTERNET FOR THE PEOPLE.
⏰ Jan 12 @ 6pm PT, IN-PERSON
🔗 https://t.co/Gn0OCZAJ4L pic.twitter.com/6jdkk1QAa6— Internet Archive (@internetarchive) December 28, 2022
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!
January Oakland Greens Virtual Townhall.
Our first event will be the January virtual townhall “What Does a Green Police System Look Like”? Imagine a future of community policing, police commissions with real authority, and registered Green Party police chiefs. What would a Green Party police force look like? Demilitarized officers, biodiesel-fueled vehicles, and hemp weapons? How would you create a police force with Green Party values? Well, the irregular cast with special guests will discuss the possibilities with you and theorize on how to make an entirely new police system a reality.
Join us on Saturday, January 14, 2023 � virtual doors open at 6 PM (with the best pre-show music diversity). The discussion begins at 6:30 PM PST on ZOOM. (Click on the link to register).
8 Years Before is an independently-funded documentary film directed by international journalist Donald Courter and produced collaboratively with international heavyweight fighting champion Jeff Monson.
The film portrays in stark detail the long saga of suffering that the Donbass people endured at the hands of the Ukrainian military, following the 2014 Euromaidan Coup d’etat. Through primary source accounts and interviews with ordinary citizens of Donbass, human stories with a perspective never before seen in the mainstream media are brought to light.
Speaker: Jeff Monson Moscow-based filmmaker, international heavyweight fighting champion, and activist. He is the co-producer of” 8 Years Before,” which can be viewed at:
Join Zoom Meeting
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)
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.