=========================

The Berkeley Anarchist Study Group (aka BASTARD: Berkeley Anarchist Students [of] Attack, Revolt, & Destruction) is one of the longest running (if not the longest running) anarchist reading groups in North America. We meet every Tuesday night from 7:30-9:30pm PST (note the new time!) at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley).

New participants are always encouraged to stop by regardless of your familiarity with anarchist ideas or practices. We warmly welcome newcomers and encourage them to make the group their own in the same manner we all do. To this effect, we endeavor to cultivate a convivial and gregarious atmosphere where everyone can contribute in whatever ways and to whatever degree they each desire. We do not, however, incorporate fixed practices aimed at creating an artificial “safe space” or prioritize the voices of certain participants as a way of ostensibly bringing about contrived parity amongst ourselves. We have no membership, no responsibilities, and no codes of behavior. In lieu of spurious standards for relating to each other, we look to every participant to find a balance between making their voice heard and hearing those of the rest of the group, between disagreeing passionately with each other and accepting our divergences without necessarily needing to resolve them. In summary, we eschew inflexible precepts for interaction and instead embrace spontaneous and honest dialogue, while leaving it up to each individual to make their voice heard and utilize the group as they see fit.

The study group organizes an annual gathering called the BASTARD Conference. This DIY event consists of informal, autodidactic presentations on anarchy and anarchists, presented by participants in the study group along with friends, guests, and accomplices from around the world.

In addition, this group has acted as a launching point for many texts, projects, and actions in its three decades of existence. Many attendees have been and continue to be integrally involved in projects which have left enduring impacts on international anarchist milieus over the years.

We pick readings for the coming week at the end of each session, after which they will be posted here. If you have a text you’d like to suggest, come pitch it to the group, but please be ready to kick off the following week’s conversation by introducing & sharing your reasons for choosing it.

If any of this sparks your interest or curiosity, then come join us every Tuesday evening from 7:30-9:30pm at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley). Email birdsoffire [at] riseup [dot] net with any questions. We hope to see you soon!

Walk expropriating and igniting!
Always leaving behind me howls of moral offenses
and smoking trunks of old things.

For the annihilation of all authority!
For the refusal of all submission!
Toward the beautiful idea of anarchy!

We meet as a coalition on the 2nd Wednesday of the month from 6-7:30p. We also have a google group where we share updates. If you’d like to be added to those meetings or google group, please contact decarceratealameda@gmail.com.

​Link to General Meetings: https://zoom.us/j/96555663590

General Questions about DAC or to get involved please contact Cynthia Nunes at Cynthia@Restoreoakland.org
​
If you have a media request, please contact Ashley Chambers at ashley@ellabakercenter.org.

If you still have questions, we have four workgroups to our coalition:

• If you’re interested in connecting with the Budget and Legislative Workgroup (meetings Thursdays 4:30p), please contact John Lindsay-Poland at JLindsay-Poland@afsc.org and Tash Nguyen at tash@restoreoakland.org.
• If you’re interested in connecting with the Communications Workgroup (meetings every other Wednesday 5:00p), please contact Amber Akemi Piatt at amber@humanimpact.org.
• If you’re interested in connecting with the Inreach Workgroup (last Tuesday of the month at 4:00p) (outreach to folks inside Santa Rita Jail and/or families of folks inside), please contact Jose Bernal at jose@ellabakercenter.org.
  • If you’re interested in connecting with Santa Rita Jail Solidarity, reach out to them on the contact tab of their website.
• If you’re interested in connecting with the Outreach Workgroup (meetings every other Monday at 6p) please contact Cynthia Nunes at Cynthia@RestoreOakland.org

Any other questions? Please contact ​decarceratealameda@gmail.com!

Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email green-new-deal@eastbaydsa.org.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Public Protection Committee is
taking up further AB1185 sheriff/jail oversight implementation
planning on Thursday, October 14th @ 10am. Make Your Voice Heard.
Links will be posted here: https:// bos.acgov.org/ committee-meetings/
Your emails to the Committee prior to the Oct 14th meeting can be sent
to Chair Valle, richard.valle@acgov.org and Supervisor Miley at
nate.miley@acgov.org supporting the principles that ICJJ, FIAEB, CPA
and allies are advocating (link) For additional followup information,
contact Bruce @ brucds@pacbell.net

Faith In Action East Bay, the Interfaith Coalition for
Justice in our Jails (ICJJ) and Coalition for Police
Accountability (CPA) have begun organizing broad
community support for implementation of the most
effective possible oversight of the Alameda County
Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). We know ACSO, which
includes control of Santa Rita Jail among its
assignments, has a record of the highest number of
inmate deaths and lawsuits in the region. Further the
US Department of Justice and ongoing lawsuits have
documented failure to provide adequate custodial
mental health services, and a variety of other practices
have been deemed violations of constitutional rights.
Members of the Board of Supervisors’ Public
Protection Committee, Chair Richard Valle of
District 1 and District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley, have
demonstrated serious interest in implementation of the
recent state law, AB1185, providing for communitybased
oversight boards and an office of Inspector
general, both with subpoena powers. FIAEB, CPA and
ICJJ have done extensive research.

We’ve identified several core principles:

First, we need both a community-based Oversight Board
as well as a professional, full-time Inspector General,
both with subpoena power and full access to all relevant
records and information related to ACSO law
enforcement operations in Santa Rita Jail.

Second, appointment of the community board, which
power is vested in the Board of Supervisors by state law,
should be a transparent, inclusive process with open
applications and evaluation of candidates from diverse
experience by an appointed selection panel which will
provide the Supervisors with the panel’s
recommendations. Current or former law enforcement
personnel will not be eligible to serve on the Board.

Third, it is essential that both the Inspector General
and the Oversight Board have legal counsel completely
independent of the County Counsel, which has conflicts
of interest as legal representative of the sheriff and
county in civil suits related to Santa Rita and the sheriff.

Fourth, the Board and office of Inspector General need
dedicated and adequate funding for administrative,
policy, community engagement and investigative staff –
we recommend a baseline of funding equivalent to 1% of
the sheriff’s budget.

Fifth, all Oversight Board meetings shall be open to the
public, with mandated public town halls and reports on
issues of community concern.

Full AB1185 Advocates Coalition Letter HERE:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BLgER7G2KMraT1mV_XyKG7GKLVfVHf3i/view

The post 9/11 war on terror framework further legitimized the targeting and criminalization of Muslim, immigrant and Black communities and produced techniques, agencies, and concepts of policing that are increasingly being used on all communities of color and protesters.  We will look at militarized policing, the development of ICE, fusion centers, “pre-crime,” the use of community leaders and social service organizations in surveillance, and what local communities are doing to push back.

Register: https://www.afsc.org/action/policing-and-war-terror

Join us for a screening of the KQED-produced documentary “Dear Homeland” by award-winning Colombian documentary filmmaker Claudia Escobar. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the film’s director and singer-songwriter Diana Gameros, whose story is the heart of this film, and a live musical performance.

—–Unete para la proyeccion del documental producido por KQED “Querida Tierra” (o “Dear Homeland” en ingles) de la galardonada cineasta documental colombiana Claudia Escobar. La proyeccion sera seguida de una conversacion con la directora de la pelicula y cantautora Diana Gameros, quien compartira algunas canciones.

About the Film

“Dear Homeland” tells the story of Bay Area-based singer-songwriter Diana Gameros as she finds her voice as an artist and fights to define home for herself as an undocumented immigrant. Told in part through Diana’s hauntingly beautiful music, we learn of her nearly 20-year journey that takes her from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to San Francisco, California, where we watch Diana assert herself not only as a musician, but as an immigrant seeking citizenship and as an advocate for immigrant rights. It is through song and finding a community of artists and immigrants that she finds the courage to share her own story of being undocumented. She channels her fears and the weight of her separation from her family into powerful songs and activism – navigating the world she left behind in Mexico while finding a home in the United States. This lyrical and poetic film gives audiences a unique look into the challenges, aspirations and opportunities Diana experiences, providing a counter-narrative to the dehumanizing language that dominates present-day narratives about immigrants. Dear Homeland is a deep reflection on family, resilience and what it means to call a place home.

Sunday at the Marxist Library (online)

So, what does Lenin take from Marx’s vast works and summarize it succinctly? And specifically on Socialism. Some of us thought that last week’s discussion on socialism did not deal aqequately with Lenin’s scientific concept, so we invited Raj Sahai to lead a Group Discusion on this important topic. Raj will be joined by Gary Hicks and Eugene Ruyle to begin our open discussion. In preparation, folks are invited to read V. I. Lenin’s Karl Marx — a Brief Biographical Sketch with an Exposition of Marxism (1914), available at:

https://libcom.org/library/karl-marx-brief-biographical-sketch-1914-vladimir-lenin
LOGIN INFORMATION

We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible, but the Zoom room will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc.. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open until about 1 pm for informal discussion.

THIS ZOOM LINK IS GOOD FOR

Raj Sahai is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2591082607?pwd=WXc2dUlJcGNJektTcGlmSWhBMHZwdz09

Meeting ID: 259 108 2607
Passcode: ICSS1017rs
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,2591082607#,,,,*4131413530# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,2591082607#,,,,*4131413530# US (Houston)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 259 108 2607
Passcode: 4131413530

Please join us for our October General Meeting! Stay tuned for more information. We’ll post the agenda here when it’s released.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87237433481?pwd=aGNVV1ZGVHl5RjdTY3RGWUhGR25XQT09

Meeting ID: 872 3743 3481

Passcode: 814562

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,87237433481#,,,,*814562# US (San Jose)

+13462487799,,87237433481#,,,,*814562# US (Houston)

NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:

occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

Every 1st and 3rd Monday from 6:30-7:30pmPT,we host a virtual meeting space for questions and direct conversation with current members. It is a chance to find out about what we do and get involved in this work. Zoom link: https://t.co/Lz3K39zXGH
DM us with any questions! pic.twitter.com/EkyNJT33cF

— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) September 19, 2021

We meet over Zoom. If you’d like to join us, and aren’t on our organizers’ list, drop us an email and we’ll send you an invitation.

If you would like to join the meeting early and get an introduction to the concepts of public banking, or more locally to who we are and what we do, please email us and we’ll see you online at 6:30.

Donate to keep us moving forward

=========================

The Berkeley Anarchist Study Group (aka BASTARD: Berkeley Anarchist Students [of] Attack, Revolt, & Destruction) is one of the longest running (if not the longest running) anarchist reading groups in North America. We meet every Tuesday night from 7:30-9:30pm PST (note the new time!) at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley).

New participants are always encouraged to stop by regardless of your familiarity with anarchist ideas or practices. We warmly welcome newcomers and encourage them to make the group their own in the same manner we all do. To this effect, we endeavor to cultivate a convivial and gregarious atmosphere where everyone can contribute in whatever ways and to whatever degree they each desire. We do not, however, incorporate fixed practices aimed at creating an artificial “safe space” or prioritize the voices of certain participants as a way of ostensibly bringing about contrived parity amongst ourselves. We have no membership, no responsibilities, and no codes of behavior. In lieu of spurious standards for relating to each other, we look to every participant to find a balance between making their voice heard and hearing those of the rest of the group, between disagreeing passionately with each other and accepting our divergences without necessarily needing to resolve them. In summary, we eschew inflexible precepts for interaction and instead embrace spontaneous and honest dialogue, while leaving it up to each individual to make their voice heard and utilize the group as they see fit.

The study group organizes an annual gathering called the BASTARD Conference. This DIY event consists of informal, autodidactic presentations on anarchy and anarchists, presented by participants in the study group along with friends, guests, and accomplices from around the world.

In addition, this group has acted as a launching point for many texts, projects, and actions in its three decades of existence. Many attendees have been and continue to be integrally involved in projects which have left enduring impacts on international anarchist milieus over the years.

We pick readings for the coming week at the end of each session, after which they will be posted here. If you have a text you’d like to suggest, come pitch it to the group, but please be ready to kick off the following week’s conversation by introducing & sharing your reasons for choosing it.

If any of this sparks your interest or curiosity, then come join us every Tuesday evening from 7:30-9:30pm at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley). Email birdsoffire [at] riseup [dot] net with any questions. We hope to see you soon!

Walk expropriating and igniting!
Always leaving behind me howls of moral offenses
and smoking trunks of old things.

For the annihilation of all authority!
For the refusal of all submission!
Toward the beautiful idea of anarchy!

Oneof the country’s leading organizers and a co-creator of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza’s work has helped shape the discourse on activism and empowerment for more than a decade.

In 2013, Alicia wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal of the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. She wrote: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.

Long before #BlackLivesMatter became a rallying cry for this generation, Alicia spent the better part of two decades learning and unlearning some hard lessons about organizing. The lessons she offers are different from the “rules for radicals” that animated earlier generations of activists, and diverge from the charismatic, patriarchal model of the American civil rights movement.

In her latest book, The Purpose of Power, Alicia reflects instead on how making room amongst the woke for those who are still awakening can inspire and activate more people to fight for the world we all deserve. Drawing on both her life and her work, Alicia shares a new paradigm for change for the next generation of change-makers.

Join performer, social worker, and activist Honey Mahogany for a powerful conversation with Alicia about her life, her work, and how to build transformative movements to address the challenges of our time.

Free, suggested donation of $20.

Join us along with @CAIRSFBA and @EFF for a CLE webinar that will survey what immigrants and noncitizens might face when entering or leaving a port of entry in California.

🗓 When: Wednesday, Oct. 20th from 6-8pm PT
✍️ Register here: https://t.co/dZL7JJJrum

(1/3) pic.twitter.com/XOtliMiieZ

— NLG San Francisco Bay Area (@nlgsf) October 5, 2021

Please email contact@oaklandprivacy.org a few days before the meeting to get up-to-date location information or obtain Zoom meeting access info.

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay and nationwide.

We fight against spy drones, facial recognition, tracking equipment, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones; we oppose “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” —  to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Check out some of what we worked on in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.  We helped fight and helped win the fight against Urban Shield.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition and other analytics, mass aerial surveillance, ubiquitous license plate readers, and pushing back against ICE.

On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work, and on March 16th, 2021 s James Madison Freedom of Information Award by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

contact@oaklandprivacy.org

Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/

Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.  Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in various municipalities around the Bay.  To help slow down the encroaching police and surveillance state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

We’ll give updates on our recent legislative wins, MACRO, MH First, and more…