Calendar
We still meet via Zoom.
Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com for the invite.
For our May meeting we’ll be reading Part I and Part II of
Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism by Marianna Mazzucato
For our June meeting we will be finishing the book.
Capitalism is in crisis. The rich have gotten richer—the 1 percent, those with more than $1 million, own 44 percent of the world’s wealth—while climate change is transforming—and in some cases wiping out—life on the planet. We are plagued by crises threatening our lives, and this situation is unsustainable. But how do we fix these problems decades in the making?
Mission Economy looks at the grand challenges facing us in a radically new way. Global warming, pollution, dementia, obesity, gun violence, mobility—these environmental, health, and social dilemmas are huge, complex, and have no simple solutions. Mariana Mazzucato argues we need to think bigger and mobilize our resources in a way that is as bold as inspirational as the moon landing—this time to the most ‘wicked’ social problems of our time.. We can only begin to find answers if we fundamentally restructure capitalism to make it inclusive, sustainable, and driven by innovation that tackles concrete problems from the digital divide, to health pandemics, to our polluted cities. That means changing government tools and culture, creating new markers of corporate governance, and ensuring that corporations, society, and the government coalesce to share a common goal.
We did it to go to the moon. We can do it again to fix our problems and improve the lives of every one of us. We simply can no longer afford not to.
Mariana Mazzucato, PhD, is a professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London, where she is the founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose. She has written, edited, or co-authored numerous books, articles, and papers on policy, capitalism, economics, and innovation, including The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths and The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy.
She advises policy makers worldwide and is currently a member of the South African Presidential Economic Advisory Council, the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisors; the UN’s Committee for Development Policy, and the OECD’s Secretary General’s Advisory Group on a New Growth Narrative. She is also a Special Advisor to the Italian Prime Minister, and a Special Advisor for the EC Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation
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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,, and The Optimist’s Telescope.
This year the Ella Baker Center is partnering with various organizations and hosting a series of in-person mutual aid events across Alameda County. As we know, the pandemic has only further exacerbated racial & socio-economic inequalities in our communities. So many of our neighbors are not safe as they face food insecurity and struggle to keep a roof over their head. Despite this clear public health crisis, Alameda County and certain city governments continue to push a false narrative of public safety. Spending our valuable tax dollars on more police and more jails cells will not keep us safe. We know that we are safe when our needs are met. #WeKeepUsSafe. Here is how you can support our June mutual aid event:
Donation Drive: Tuesday, June 1st, 4p-7:30 pm @ 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland, 94610 (Lake Merritt): We will be collecting diapers, baby wipes, baby formula, pet food, cooking oil. All donations will be handed out to our community members during mutual aid events
Mutual Aid Day: Sunday, June 6th, 11a-2p @ Weekes Park, 27182 Patrick Ave, Hayward, 94544: We will be providing free hot to-go plates, PPE, baby supplies, back to school supplies, toiletries, and more. Spread the word & join us!
Join the NLG-SFBA for another CPRA workshop with @CPRAlawyer. This workshop will discuss tactics and challenges of California Public Act requests made regarding officer use-of-force incidents, sexual assault, and acts of dishonesty.
📝 Register Here: https://t.co/z3GxU05PLY pic.twitter.com/20O7yt8G2Q
— NLG SF (@nlgsf) May 20, 2021
In the 1960s, Daniel Ellsberg traveled to Vietnam to study conditions on the ground, as the war escalated during the Johnson presidency. While there, he slowly but surely came to the conclusion that the war was not only immoral but also unwinnable. And, upon his return Stateside, he told this to anyone whose ears he could catch, be they Defense Secretary Robert McNamara or Ambassador Averell Harriman, as Sasha Abramsky detailed in a recent Nation profile of Ellsberg as he approaches his 90th birthday. When these senior figures didn’t listen, when the war continued and the list of lives lost grew longer by the hour, he made the momentous decision to go public with his insider knowledge that that war was based on a web of lies. The Pentagon Papers published in 1971 by The New York Times changed the course of history.
Fifty years after leaking the Pentagon Papers, he shows no signs of slowing down. Join a conversation with the OG whistleblower and Katrina vanden Heuvel about trying to open eyes kept deliberately shut by those who would prefer to avoid having to deal with the crises of our times.
Tickets are $10. All proceeds directly support The Nation’s journalism. We hope you will join us! There will be ample time devoted to audience questions and conversation. All ticket-holders will also be sent a link to the recording 24 hours after the event concludes. If you have any questions, please email us at events@thenation.com.
Register
Join us on June 3rd for our first virtual regional summit, We Take Care Of Us: A Deep Dive Into The Movement to Decriminalize Mental Health & Skin Color. We’ll spend an inspiring afternoon learning about how to build replicable and sustainable alternatives to police and prisons for mental health — and how we as a community can take care of each other in moments of crisis.
May is #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth, and we know that alternatives to the police for mental health crises are more critical than ever. Up to 50% of the people killed by law enforcement are in the middle of a mental health crisis. Those who are killed are disproportionately Black and Brown. A mental health crisis should not be a death sentence, but it too often is, particularly for people with Black and Brown skin.
We’ll learn from families directly impacted and fighting for justice, elected officials ready to implement new approaches, and healers and organizers who are already doing the work of birthing new, life-affirming, community alternatives into existence from the ashes of today’s barbarous systems of state violence.
Come hear from local leaders and participate in workshops on topics such as:
- Mental Health First: learn about APTP’s cutting-edge community response program in Oakland and Sacramento, and how you can build a similar program in your community without waiting for the state.
- MACRO: how organizers can work with cities to find solutions.
- What is CAHOOTS? Learn about the Oregon model that everyone’s talking about!
- First responders: a case study in how community can prevent police murder and keep each other safe.
- The movement to defund the sheriff and decriminalize mental health in Alameda County
- How police became the answer to every social ill and what we must do to end that practice
- And more!
Come spend the day with the people who are powering the movement to decriminalize mental health and create a world without cops and cages in Northern California and beyond. Learn about current efforts to provide compassion and care to those in crisis, not a badge and a gun. We don’t need police because #WeTakeCareOfUs.
ASL, Spanish interpretation and closed captioning will be provided.
Co-sponsored by the Anti Police-Terror Project, Justice Teams Network and KPFA.
Proceedings have begun in Marin County Superior Court against San Quentin State Prison and the California Department of Corrections (CDCR) for what one judge has called “the worst epidemiological disaster in California correctional history.”
More than 300 individuals have filed ‘habeas corpus’ petitions, alleging the prison violated 8th Amendment protections against “cruel and unusual punishment” when a transfer of incarcerated people which failed to test for COVID, to San Quentin resulted in a massive COVID-19 outbreak.
In May of 2020, CDCR decided to move 121 incarcerated people from the California Institution for Men (CIM), in Chico, to San Quentin. At the time, CIM had the highest COVID-19 infection rate of any prison in California. Prior to the transfer, San Quentin did not have a single confirmed case.
In the ensuing weeks, approximately 75 percent of prisoners and staff were infected with the virus.
We will have a panel to discuss this massive injustice.
Confirmed speakers:
Danica Rodarmel, SF Public Defender’s Office
Professor Hadar Aviram, UC Hastings Law School
Adamu Chan, Former Incarcerated Person
Member of the Legal team, invited
Alameda County’s budget decisions will have many implications for communities throughout the County. This training on Saturday morning is open to the public.Join us as community leaders discuss how labor and community can work in partnership together. Let’s build people power.
Wednesday, May 5th, 5:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Register: bit.ly/EBCmeeting
We are hosting another Mutual Aid day on Sunday in Hayward! All are welcome, supplies are on a first come, first serve basis. Come through for a hot plate of food, essentials, and community.
If you are interested in volunteering please fill this out: https://t.co/SBiqsNpyOR pic.twitter.com/MmD7goWg7q
— Ella Baker Center (@ellabakercenter) June 3, 2021
Come celebrate the unveiling of Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area’s new mural, “The world is on fire,” with music performances, art activities, storytelling and some surprises!
The mural is larger than life and has to be seen in person to fully appreciate the love and detail that our Art Working Group painters put into this over many months during COVID lockdown in 2020. Now that we can finally be out on the streets again, come celebrate and find community in the power of creativity to help us #TellTheTruth and turn the tide on the climate and ecological emergency.
Our first date got rained out, but we are going to reschedule for early June. We will be screen printing posters on-site for you to take home, and have painting stations for children and adults alike.
This event is outdoors and COVID-safe, so please follow community health guidelines, wear a mask, and bring hand sanitizer.
Contact leanarosetti@gmail.com for more info about Extinction Rebellion SF Bay Area’s Art Working Group.
Email clarionalleymuralproject@gmail.com for info about the Clarion Alley Mural Project.
Want to know your rights & stand up for others in your community? Want to document the police & organize for change? Every 1st & 3rd Monday from 6:30-7p we're hosting New Member Mondays. Hop on zoom so we can answer yr questions & get you plugged in
Zoom: https://t.co/Henl2S4Pc9 pic.twitter.com/UHiSti3Slv— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) May 7, 2021
The Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee hearing is tomorrow at 1:30 pm; public comment will be at the beginning. We hope for a unanimous vote of support, which could mean the ordinance goes on the full City Council’s consent calendar, as early as next week. This may be the principal time for telling City Council why we have worked for this measure.
We have two asks of you to put this over the finish line:
1. Join us tomorrow Tuesday at 11:30 am for a brief Facebook Live event with Vice-Mayor Rebecca Kaplan and community sponsors of the military equipment ordinance. We will voice the broad community support for this ordinance
2. Show up on zoom on Tuesday at 1:30 pm to make a public comment in support of the military equipment ordinance. This is our chance to make ourselves heard. If the ordinance passes unanimously in Public Safety with no harmful amendments, it could go onto the full City Council’s consent calendar. See talking points on the ordinance here. The zoom link is here. A graphic for social media is attached also.
Berkeley passed a similar ordinance in April, and California is considering another, but neither is as encompassing as the Oakland ordinance, which explicitly applies to mutual aid deployments from other city’s police in Oakland, has a private a right of action, and stronger reporting requirements. Let’s make this ordinance a reality.
American Friends Service Committee
California Healing Justice Program
Tel: 510-282-8983
With Juneteenth quickly approaching, we dive into WEB DuBois’ classic book Black Reconstruction in America, specifically looking at the chapter “The General Strike”.
Join us as we discuss this important part of American history and how we can apply these lessons today.
Readings:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84352872381?pwd=KzhMS0RsWlllZ0t3SzNSYkJ2a2daQT09
Meeting ID: 843 5287 2381
Passcode: school
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,84352872381#,,,,*072690# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,84352872381#,,,,*072690# US (Houston)
Register online using this form(link is external)
About the Speakers
Keisha Blain, Ph.D.
Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang, Bay Area native and UC Berkeley alumnus, has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. Jeff serves as the Vice President of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward. He was formerly the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University.Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, he is a graduate of ‘Iolani School, the University of California at Berkeley, and the
University of California at Los Angeles. Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke — now known as the Center for Cultural Power — and ColorLines. He has written for a number of publications, including The Guardian, Slate, The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, Foreign Policy, N+1, Mother Jones, Salon, and Buzzfeed.
Rosa Clemente
Tim Wise
Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1500 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the country.
Wise has also trained corporate, government, entertainment, media, law enforcement, military, and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racial inequity in their institutions, and has provided anti-racism training to educators and administrators nationwide and internationally, in Canada and Bermuda.
Featured panelists: Dr. Nikki Jones, professor of African American Studies at University of California, Berkeley and Dr. Aisha Mays, the director of Adolescent and School Based Programs at Roots Community Health Center.
Facebook Event: https://bit.ly/3w3zkSG
In honor of World Refugee & Immigrant Day, a weekend of free streaming access to the documentary “A Place to Breathe” is available from June 18 to 20th.
The film explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant and refugee healthcare practitioners and patients as well as highlights the strategies by which immigrant communities in the U.S. survive and thrive.
Visit https://screening.gooddocs.net/a-place-to-breathe-wrid and see the Facebook event at https://fb.me/e/2fBp9es6q
Visit https://underexposedfilms.com/a-place-to-breathe to watch a trailer and read more about the film and its accomplishments to date.
For years, Amazon has used its technological power to supercharge the criminalization of immigrants by providing cloud services to ICE and its partners. Now, the tech giant is an integral part of a $4.3 billion dollar biometrics database that would track and identify millions of immigrants and US citizens in real time. If we dont stop it, the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) project would expand policing of immigrants and their families by connecting biometrics databases across federal agencies and granting access to police departments.
Join panelists from Mijente, Immigrant Defense Project, Just Future Law.
Oakland Jericho’s monthly online events focus on Political Prisoners, their cases, dedication to the community, and guidelines for writing to them. This month we will discuss and write to: Ed Poindexter and Keith LaMar (Bomani Shakur).
You must register for your free ticket on Oakland Jericho‘s Eventbrite page to receive the zoom link.
Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oakland-jerichos-political-prisoner-writing-sessions-tickets-154792064231
You will receive an email from Eventbrite confirming your ticket and then you will receive an email from Oakland Jericho within 2 days with the Zoom link. You will also receive a reminder email 1 day prior to the event. All ticket sales end the day before the event (June 9th) at 10pm PST for processing.
We look forward to seeing you!
Free em All!