For anyone interested in how @DarwinBondGraha conducted our research & pulled together 2 decades of reporting for our history of the Oakland Police, we’ll be speaking at the 81st Avenue branch of the Public Library this Saturday, May 20, at 11 AM https://t.co/GG7sV8Etz7

— Ali Winston (@awinston) May 18, 2023

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

For our March, April and May meetings we are reading Debt: The First 5000 Years  by David Graeber (Warwick, Amazon).

For  our March meeting we’ll be reading the first five chapters.
For  the  April  meeting  we  are  reading  chapters  6 through  9.
For our May meeting will are reading the remainder of the book.

Before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors—which lives on in full force to this day.

So says anthropologist David Graeber in a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Renaissance Italy to Imperial China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong.

We are still fighting these battles today.

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, Beyond Money, Less is More, and Cannibal Capitalism.

Hey there, folks. Are you ready for a night of fun, education, and controversy? We’ve got just the event for you: the No Ethics in Big Tech and NSA Comedy Night!

Featuring some of the most insightful comedians around, Will Durst, Mean Dave, Chloe McGovern, and Alicia Dattner will be sure to get you laughing and thinking about the intersection of surveillance, technology, and society. Accompanied by talented musician Mike Rufo, this evening promises to be a great mix of entertainment and education.

The stars of the evening are the speakers from No Ethics in Big Tech, Austin Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as the Media Alliance, Veterans for Peace, Common Dreams, Google, and Electronic Frontier Foundation. These experts will discuss the ethical implications of technology, the latest developments in the tech world, and the importance of a free and independent press in the age of algorithmic news feeds.

But don’t worry, this event won’t be all serious talk. We’re bringing humor and irreverence to this important topic. So come join us for a night of laughs and deep thoughts.

Mark your calendars, folks. This event is going to be a night to remember. We’ll see you there!

When my activism was in the streets, breathing tear gas, getting arrested, legal observing, and beaten/shot at by police we all knew there were people (cis men) that were there for the fanny. Which they used their direct action was a pick up line, rather than conviction which hurts the movement. It was rarely talked about in the open but does this mean that all alternative relationship paradigms are not at the core anti-capitalist?

Within my mad hatters tea party the guests practicing alternative relationship paradigms do not cross the ideas of people’s rights & freedoms over to how they interact with a corrupt capitalist system. Does non-monogamy blend with capitalism or is by definition & design is non-monogamy anti-capitalist?

Join the Oakland Greens thru the looking glass on our May topic. Saturday May 20 2023, virtual doors open at 6 PM with the best pre-show music diversity, with discussion starting 6:30 PM PST on ZOOM. Go to oaklandgreens.org/events, Eventbrite Oakland Greens, or Facebook Oakland Greens. For any questions email contact@oaklandgreens.org or oaklandgreenparty@gmail.com

Once a year we come together to discuss and debate priorities, and set the trajectory for our chapter! Join us as we plan how to build powerful working class organization in the year to come. More details coming soon.

We encourage everyone to attend in person!

RSVP

If you need to join by Zoom, here is the info:

Join Zoom Meeting
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Online.  Register here.

Join the Sunflower Alliance May webinar featuring a presentation by longtime energy expert Greg Karras on the six proposed hydrogen projects in Contra Costa County, their current status, and the reality behind the clean energy hype.

These new H2 projects are joining the four already operating in the county.  None of them uses sun or wind for producing the hydrogen, and each of them poses its own dangers to the community and the climate.

The communities of Richmond, Rodeo, Martinez and Pittsburg are all directly impacted.

• Two of these “renewable” energy projects, proposed by the Phillips 66 and Marathon refineries, call for using fossil gas to produce the vast amounts of hydrogen needed for refining biofuels (via a process called steam reforming), which produces significant quantities of greenhouse gases and local pollution, and creates safety hazards.

• The Chevron refinery is also proposing a project that uses steam reforming to produce hydrogen for fuel cells for vehicles.

• In addition, it’s partnering with Raven SR in another project to produce hydrogen from municipal waste—a process that creates a different set of hazards.

• Chevron also wants to build a fueling station that would use compressed fossil gas and hydrogen to produce fuel cells for vehicles, directly competing with progress in converting to battery electric vehicles, which use energy much more efficiently.

• Pittsburg is currently considering a landfill gas-to-hydrogen project.  Sounds beautifully circular, but what are the downsides?

Learn more about these projects—the devil is in the details, after all—and participate in a discussion about community response.  Please join us in this important and timely conversation!

The Debt Collective:

Our weekly online Tenants Rights Workshops for California renters. During these training sessions, we talk about the eviction process, reasons so many tenants are facing eviction, and what tenants can and are doing to defend themselves. These meetings are held on Zoom every 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Monday of the month. The next meeting will be held on April 24th at 3 PM Pacific time – you can register here for the meeting.

On Zoom.   Register here.

In spite of our climate-friendly reputation, California is still a major oil and gas producer. This Climate Center webinar will explore opportunities for developing an equitable, statewide plan to phase out oil and gas extraction, imports, refining, end-use, and exports in a managed decline.  Managed decline means that facilities closest to sensitive receptors (like schools and homes) are the first to shut down, and ensures a truly just transition that benefits workers, families, and communities who depend on the oil and gas industry for their livelihoods.  Presenters will include labor representatives, fossil fuel workers, frontline communities, state regulators, and state lawmakers.

Speakers

Virginia Parks, PhD

Professor at the University of California, Irvine

Virginia Parks, PhD, is a geographer and urban planner specializing in the study of urban inequality. Her research and teaching interests include labor and employment, urban politics and policy, and local economic development. Professor Parks has published research on the racial wage gap, immigrant employment patterns, public sector employment, workplace diversity, job training, and the politics of urban development. Throughout this work Professor Parks is motivated by how urban space, politics, and regulatory environments influence inequality outcomes. Her current research analyzes the economic effects of the clean energy transition on workers and regional economies.

Robert Zardeneta

Green Workforce Senior Manager for the Office of Sustainability, Los Angeles

Robert Zardeneta serves as the Green Workforce Senior Manager in the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Robert has more than a decade of experience developing Green Career pathways for underrepresented communities on both a local and national level. He currently is a member of the planning team managing the L.A. City-County Just Transition Task Force for workers and frontline communities impacted by the phase-out of oil drilling.

Electrification of buildings and transportation is necessary to addressing the climate crisis, but lithium used in the batteries needed to store that energy comes at a huge cost for communities living near sites of lithium mining.

Local Clean Energy Alliance presents “Lithium Mining Behind the Curtain: What is Equity in an Extractive Energy Transition?”

Speakers will describe the devastating effects of lithium extraction; struggles of people in the US (including California), Chile, and Argentina against the harm done by lithium extraction in their communities; and strategies for reducing the harm—public transportation, efficiency, and recycling.

Speakers:

Johanna Bozuwa, Climate and Community Project
Leslie Quintanilla, Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice
Mariela Loera, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Online. Register here

If you're keen on degrowing the economic empire of the United States, consider attending the degrowUS virtual general assembly on May 24, 8pm Eastern, where we will be getting organized to do just that.

Register: https://t.co/ENcVQGnary pic.twitter.com/vdPOegBsEn

— Sam Bliss (@ii_sambliss) May 8, 2023

Want to learn techniques for documenting cops? Want a refresher on your rights when interacting with police? Have other questions for Berkeley Copwatchers? Join us in person at the Grassroots House4!

Accessibility: In person, ramp access via the front of the house. The training is in the back room.
Request a training for your group

Rick will speak about his recent trip to Russia and especially Crimea.
In 2014, following the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Crimea had a referendum and decisively decided to secede from Ukraine and “re-unify” with Russia.  In many ways, the situation in Crimea is emblematic of the Ukraine conflict.  Rick will describe what he saw and learned on this trip.
Rick Sterling is a Bay Area journalist, active with Mt Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Task Force on the Americas, and Veterans For Peace, East Bay Chapter.

Join Zoom Meeting
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The Debt Collective:

Our weekly online Tenants Rights Workshops for California renters. During these training sessions, we talk about the eviction process, reasons so many tenants are facing eviction, and what tenants can and are doing to defend themselves. These meetings are held on Zoom every 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Monday of the month. The next meeting will be held on April 24th at 3 PM Pacific time – you can register here for the meeting.

Postponed Until June 8th

Relevant Agenda Items:

4. Sanctuary Contracting Ordinance – CPO – Presentation of Annual Report
a. Review and take possible action
5. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – OPD – Annual Reports
a. Review and take possible action on the annual reports for ShotSpotter, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Drones, StarChase/GPS Tracker, Biometric Crime Lab
6. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – DPW – Illegal Dumping Cameras 1) Annual Report, and 2) Proposed Amended Use Policy
a. Review and take possible action on the annual report and use policy

Help us plan the bucket brigade to bring water back to the park and keep the plants alive since UC had the water switched off again.

We hope to see people from many organizations as we work toward long term stewardship and maintenance of the park in perpetuity. This is to build an inclusive community wide planning and working group to revitalize our National Landmark park and to create a Commons for all.

Join us on Saturday, June 3rd starting 1:00pm at the West Oakland Public Library for a public forum on the Mayor's Fiscal Year 2023-25 Proposed Budget for OPD and the Police Commission. pic.twitter.com/RycO3AkbOp

— Oakland Police Commission (@OakPoliceComm) May 23, 2023

Fascism is authoritarianism and class war combined with destruction of social relations within the working class. In order to gain power, fascist movements amplify already-existing prejudices among working-class people, positioning themselves as the defenders of “normal” people against the “others.”

Trans people are currently under attack with both street-level violence and legislation. These attacks, and the propaganda aimed at getting working-class people to support them, are part of the war against the entire working class. The purpose, as ever, is to prevent the growth of workers’ solidarity by driving a wedge between us based on our differences.

We need to be united to fight for our everyday needs and for a better future for all.

This forum will help us put what is happening to trans people into the context of the general conditions in this country and explore ways to fight the growth of fascism in the USA.

Cassandra Devereaux – transwoman, writes for Fighting Words, the journal of the Communist Workers League

Rosa Astra  –  organizer in Oakland with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, writes for the socialist feminist magazine Breaking the Chains and Liberation News

*Organizations listed for identification purposes only.

For more information, email:  info@sudssnackssocialism.org

   The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank – three of the most highly regarded international economic organizations – all prediict lowered growth expectations for the decade ahead. If three major capitalist institutions are foretelling economic uncertainty and instability, it is because we are exiting a distinctive era of capitalist restructuring. That era gave capitalism a new lease on life, with growing profits, hyper-accumulation, and vastly expanded speculative investments. Little of that enrichment was shared with the masses, resulting in unprecedented inequalities of income and wealth.

According to our speaker, Greg Godels, liberal and social democratic economists decry the Federal Reserve’s strategy, but they have no alternatives to offer. They are content to leave the management of the capitalist economy to the capitalists, while denouncing their remedies. Clearly, the capitalist ship is taking on water, buffeted by a global pandemic, raging inflation, a European war, and bank failures. While there is no reason to expect the ship to sink, serious alarm bells are going off. He concludes, we are entering a period of growing uncertainty and conflict.

Our speaker, Greg Godels, grew up in a working-class family in a rural coal mining community. He joined the Communist Party in 1975 and served on the party’s Economics Commission until Vic Perlo’s death. He wrote frequently for the Daily World and other party papers as well as Political Affairs and Nature, Society and Thought. Articles by him have also appeared in numerous publications, including Communist Review (London), People’s Voice (Vancouver), and Socialist Voice(Dublin).

He is a joint founder of the website Marxism-Leninism Today and writes a highly regarded blog under the pen name Zoltan Zigedy. We recommend Greg’s article, The End of an Era (https://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-end-of-era.html.)

Join Zoom Meeting
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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)