Calendar
What can we do about the growing Surveillance Industrial Complex? ”
“Surveillance is the business model of the Internet.” — Bruce Schneier
Technology and war have always been interrelated. Some historians see the intersection of science, technology and the US military during WW2 as the beginning of the modern Military-Industrial Complex. Yet mass communications technology has also been historically significant in transforming society, from the Gutenberg printing press, to Television’s connection to the 1960s political and social upheaval, to the rise of the Internet.
As the Bay Area tech industry becomes the de facto center of global technological innovation, its ties to the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies are becoming more and more apparent. Companies like Hewlitt-Packard, Google, Palantir, and Amazon all have close ties to the same military and intelligence establishment that Bay Area activists have been organizing against since the 1960’s. With our basic liberties, such as right to assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of Privacy and the right to a jury trial all under a concerted attack by the government, it should be of increasing concern that the companies we depend on for communicating and accessing information are also dependent on Defense establishment contracts and ties to appease their shareholders and continue their monopolies.
With the Internet becoming such a force for change and democratizing power, why is it under attack right now? The Internet as we know it, free and open, is being threatened by Federal government appointees. Many called Occupy “The Internet generation.” From the Arab spring to Occupy, the Internet and social media tools were key tools for communication. The Internet is a deterritorializing force that is upending the established modes of power and decision-making. This talk will delve into all these questions and more and what we can do to fight back and build the world we want to see.
Q&A and Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum
to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. We are trying to get the Alameda Labor Council to pass a similar resolution.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors just endorsed Postal Banking. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the workd and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Tell The FCC and Public Servants The Internet Should Be OPEN
On July 10th, when public commenting ends for “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet” we’re going to send a clear message
What we are looking to create and maintain is an internet that acts as a free speech zone, a horizontal space for communication and sharing of information, and a public commons. We want to maintain the internet as a network that allows all users equal access to speak and be heard. It is through this that the internet has supported marginalized groups, provided a communications platform for the world, and fostered innovations in technology and services.
We’ll have read the Bank of England admitting that it’s own in inner workings are completely opposed to that of economics textbooks and a paper on Capital Controls. We encourage anyone to bring their own reading and video material that they think the group could benefit from. The more voices the merrier!
- For next class:
- http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q102.pdf
- http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/99/11/9911cn.pdf
- and the class after:
- http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2012/111412.pdf
Meeting of the City of Oakland’s “Privacy and Data Retention Ad Hoc Advisory Committee” – open to the public.
When:
2nd & 4th Thursdays
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where:
Council Chambers
Oakland City Hall
14th & Broadway
Read the announcement from the City of Oakland City Administrator’s Weekly Report (April 25, 2014):
This committee was created by City Council action during the discussions earlier in the year about the Port Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The goal of the DAC is to improve readiness to prevent, respond to and recover from major emergencies in the Oakland region and ensure better multi-agency coordination across the larger San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of the Privacy and Data Retention Policy is to ensure there are safeguards to protect against potential misuse of the data or violations of individuals’ privacy rights and civil liberties. The meeting is open to the public. For questions about the Ad Hoc Committee, please contact Joe DeVries, Assistant to the City
We need to show up to these meetings and pressure the City to adopt a privacy policy that makes privacy a priority, not only “security” or administrative convenience.
Sponsored by Berkeley Copwatch.
Come and help organize the resistance against more police getting more weapons.
Tasers kill!
A teenage artist known in the graffiti world as “Reefa” died of heart failure after a Miami Beach Police officer shot the 18-year-old in the chest with his Taser, the medical examiner has concluded.
No other details.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
*****>> NOTE OUR CHANGE OF
MEETING LOCATION FOR THIS WEEK <<*****
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. Just recently AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too. We are trying to get the Alameda Labor Council to pass a similar resolution.
for the last two weeks the sidewalk in front of Staples has been ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members, and they plan to continue there, distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples, indefinitely. Go by and say ‘Hi!’ and help them out.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors just endorsed Postal Banking. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the work and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Fossil Fuel Monopolies or Community Choice Energy?
Our Path to Renewables is Under Attack!
with Eric Brooks
Although carbon emissions are rising faster than efforts to curtail them, there are glimmers of hope. A growing number of networks including cities, states, regions and even markets are working together to implement climate plans. And costs of renewable energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, cogeneration (and efficiency programs) are falling so quickly that large-scale deployment is practical. The public is ready to rally on climate change. It is now up to policymakers and industry to answer the call.
But as usual, fossil fuel monopolies and their henchmen are stalling. Community Choice Energy, (allowing local jurisdictions to offer energy-efficiency programs, develop local renewable energy resources, and buy clean wholesale electricity to sell to local residents and businesses) is being held hostage by large corporate incumbent utilities fighting tooth and nail to hang onto their business. Their efforts include disinformation campaigns, pitting ratepayers against each other, confusing ballot initiatives, and false “studies” of the grid’s capacity to handle solar, leaving Clean Energy’s prospective clients in limbo.
Yet Clean (renewable) Energy is burgeoning. The recent Intersolar North America Exhibition at Moscone Ctr. hosted approximately 600 exhibitors and 18,000 attendees, with a world-class exhibition of solar and wind solutions from across the globe, demonstrating the switch.
Meanwhile, in California, AB 2145, (a bill currently under consideration in the state’s legislature) would effectively prevent Community Choice energy programs in the state as the
Big 3 corporate utilities (PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E) and SF’s own Mayor Ed Lee attempt to crush Community Choice. Come to OccupyForum to learn about the political pressure against AB2145 and the push to implement the real fight to save the planet.
Dear Gill Tract Supporters,
Next Wednesday, July 16th from 8am-10am, please join SEAL and supporters to give public comments and rally at the UC Regents Meeting. Come talk directly to President Napolitano, and tell her that a “Global Food Initiative” starts at home!
The UC’s hypocrisy is clear. It’s our job to call them out: Walk your talk!
To read more about Napolitano’s “Global Food Initiative”, check out and share our blog post: http://sealstudents.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/tell-uc-a-global-food-initiative-starts-a-home/
Join the facebook event for updates: https://www.facebook.com/events/915281365165622/
Run-down of the day:
– 8am: Gather in front of UCSF conference center at 1675 Owens St
– 8:30am: Public comments to the regents and support for our allies
– 9am: Rally in front of the conference center to let the media know that community and students demand that the UC walk its talk with a “food initiative” on the Gill Tract!
** Cant make the Rally?? **
– Help us get over 2000 signatures on the petition by the Regent’s Meeting on July 16th! Just 600 more to go!
Peeps are continually staffing a table outside of Staples, 24-7, ongoing for more than a month now now. They are protesting the privatization of the Post Office and Staples role in it, outsourcing living wage Postal Service personnel for subsistence wage Staples employees.
Tents have gone up along the Durant sidewalk with ‘Stop Staples’ signs!
Come by and say hello, hang out, bring ’em a bit to eat and drink, and give them your support!
Release the children now! Children don’t belong in prison!
No more deportations! Immediate family reunification!
Full social, medical and physiological attention to all children and youth now!
Immediate access to legal representation!
Strike Debt Bay Area (@strikedebtba)will meet at Oscar Grant Plaza in the amphitheater or on the front steps of City Hall, Saturday, July 19, from 3-5:30 p.m. If you have specific questions for a smaller group, or just want to know a few people before the meeting starts, email us at the address above.
Activism on such a big issue – all unjust debt! – can use as many people and talents as we can find. If you are excited by the idea of Strike Debt, and/or our many projects, come join us! Our project include organizing for public banking in Oakland, participating in Occupy San Francisco’s third anniversary convergence, creating Strike Debt radio segments, a number of which have been broadcast on KPFA, securing funding from the City of Vallejo for nonprofit check cashing and public finance study initiatives, saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office Jobs, working with the City of Richmond and other municipalities for eminent domain seizure of underwater mortgages from the banksters, and more.
From some of our past activities:
Israel has announced a ground invasion of Gaza!!
All out for Palestine!!
Within the past couple weeks the state of Israel has killed over 230 Palestinians injured and displaced thousands and is now preparing for an all out ground invasion of the prison otherwise known as Gaza. .
Join us to to stand with the Palestinian people, demand an end to US aid to Israel, and honor those who have passed as Israel continues its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied 1948 Palestine.
WE DEMAND THAT
End US Aid to Israel!
Stop the Attack on Gaza now!
End the Apartheid State of Israel!
Free all our political prisoners!
Support the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation!
Flags, kuffiyehs, signs, banners, and voices are all welcome!
List of sponsors and endorsers:
Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
Al-Awda Right to Return Coalition
American Friends Service Committee of San Francisco
American Muslims for Palestine
Anakbayan- Silicon Valley
Anakbayan- East Bay
ANSWER: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center & AYO: Arab Youth Organizing
Arab Culture and Community Center
Arab Talk Radio
Art Forces
BAYAN
Buena Vista UMC — Church & Society Committee
Cal Students for Justice in Palestine
Coalition for Palestinian Rights – SF
Code Pink
Community Futures Collective
Free Palestine Movement
Freedom Archives
FreedomWriters of Northern California
Idriss Stellie Foundation
Justice for Palestinians
International Action Center
International Jewish Antizionist Network
International Socialist Organization
ISM-Northern California
League of Filipino Students- SFSU
MECA: Middle East Children’s Alliance
Northern California Friends of Sabeel
OMID Advocates for Human Rights
PAC Bay Area
Palestinian Youth Movement
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
Real Cost of Prisons
SF Women In Black
SFWILPF
Solitary Watch
South Bay Mobilization
United National Antiwar Coalition
USACBI – US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
USPCN: US Palestine Community Network
Workers World Party
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
The People’s Climate Curriculum
with Laurie Baumgarten & Anne Donjacour
Are you interested in helping people understand why climate change is occurring and what can be done about it? If so, come to our workshop and learn how the People’s Climate Curriculum is the tool you have been waiting for. It is easy to use and helps each of us become learners and teachers of basic climate literacy.
Every mass movement for change begins with a change in consciousness. It involves a leap forward into a consciousness that says, “I am a subject, not an object. I can act, I can do, I can create.” Educational tools which promote the development of this proactive stance are crucial to the work of popular education.
Our People’s Climate Curriculum educates through a method of teaching developed by Paulo Freire called dialogic pedagogy. The teacher/animator mingles among the participants. Together, through reflection, they critically examine social reality. Unlike traditional educational models in which participants are treated as objects to be taught, this interactive model attempts to counteract passivity and promote action.
Climate change is part of everyone’s social reality. Being literate in climate language helps us become empowered and thus, more able to solve the present crisis. Join us to learn more about our popular education campaign and how to use the People’s Climate Curriculum.
Laurie Baumgarten has been an activist since she was a freshman at Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement. She was active in the anti-war movement, the women’s movement and The Abalone Alliance. She was also a classroom teacher for 35 years in the Berkeley Unified School District. Laurie joined the climate movement about 2 years ago and helped develop the People’s Climate Curriculum. She now works with The Sunflower Alliance.
Our own Anne Donjacour has been a member of OccupyForum and the OccupySF Environmental Justice Working Group since the beginning. Her activism has branched out to other groups such as 350.org, the Unitarian Universalists, and many more. She is a professor at UCSF School of Medicine and is raising a passel of activist children!
Q&A and Announcements to follow.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. Just recently the American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too. We are trying to get the Alameda Labor Council to pass a similar resolution.
For the last three+ weeks the sidewalk in front of Staples has been ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members, and they plan to continue there, distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples, indefinitely. Go by and say ‘Hi!’ and help them out.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors just endorsed Postal Banking. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the work and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Third planning meeting for a Bay Area action coinciding with demonstrations in New York City at the UN Climate Summit, September 20 and 21. Although this is the third meeting, anyone interested in working on this is welcome to attend.
Additional information about the People’s Climate March in New York can be found at peoplesclimatemarch.org.
Here are the articles on Piketty we will read for the next class
Summary of Piketty argument:
http://boingboing.net/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-t.html
Critique of Piketty:
Mainstream:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/05/capital-eats-the-world/
Occupy (very short by Graeber):
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/30/savage-capitalism-back-radical-challenge
Plus a radio interview from Michael Hudson:
http://youtu.be/uv6kEd9C9CM
And another, optional, topical-historical take on Picketty and Capitalism:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/24489-the-compelling-conclusion-about-capitalism-that-piketty-resists
Here is how to get to the OMNI from BART:
1) get off at the MacArthur station
2) head East towards Telegraph
3) go North up Telegraph for 4-5 blocks
4) veer left onto Shattuck
5) go 3 blocks up Shattuck to the big white and blue building on the left (4799)
6) ring the bell (top right of door)
7) Tell ’em you’re here for he Public School class
Hope to see you all there!
Meeting of the City of Oakland’s “Privacy and Data Retention Ad Hoc Advisory Committee” – open to the public.
When:
2nd & 4th Thursdays
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where:
Council Chambers
Oakland City Hall
14th & Broadway
Read the announcement from the City of Oakland City Administrator’s Weekly Report (April 25, 2014):
This committee was created by City Council action during the discussions earlier in the year about the Port Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The goal of the DAC is to improve readiness to prevent, respond to and recover from major emergencies in the Oakland region and ensure better multi-agency coordination across the larger San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of the Privacy and Data Retention Policy is to ensure there are safeguards to protect against potential misuse of the data or violations of individuals’ privacy rights and civil liberties. The meeting is open to the public. For questions about the Ad Hoc Committee, please contact Joe DeVries, Assistant to the City
We need to show up to these meetings and pressure the City to adopt a privacy policy that makes privacy a priority, not only “security” or administrative convenience.
