Calendar

Do you want to learn effective techniques to intervene in an unjust world?
Do you want to plan effective and powerful direct actions?

East Bay DSA’s Direct Action Working Group is excited to continue our Direct Action Training series this weekend! The training will take place on Zoom from 10 am-12 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Attending both days is highly recommended. This training will cover the same ground as the previous Direct Action training which was very well received.

As racist violence, unemployment, evictions, and climate chaos keep increasing, we need to expand our capacity to leverage our collective power. This training series will introduce creative ways to escalate ongoing campaigns, participate in mass uprisings, and keep each other safe in our confrontations with capital and the state.

The training is 4 hours spread across two days. Please attend both days.

Direct Action Part 1: Sat Dec 19 (10 am-noon)
•History and examples of Direct Action
•Action Team roles, action design
•De-Escalation
•Affinity Groups & Decision-Making
•The Police

Direct Action Part 2: Sun Dec 20 (10amnoon)
•Gear/equipment
•Messaging
•Security Culture
•Basic First Aid

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqdeqhqjkuEt0GhjejXGHpkw-AyFwtvcnf

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

#oakland Join us next Monday (12/21) at 4pm in Temescal Creek Park as we rally to oppose the city’s new Encampment Management Policy.This policy empowers cops to harass people with no where to go and provides no new pathways off the street!#oaklandprotest pic.twitter.com/YY5pajPJya

— the United Front Against Displacement (@TheUfad) December 14, 2020

Free Julian Assange NOW! Drop The Charges Against Assange & Snowden

Now is the time to stand up for the freedom of journalist Julian Assange and whistleblower Edward Snowden. The trial decision will be read at the UK court hearing on January 1, 2020 at 12 noon and we will be rallying in San Francisco at the British consulate to demand that he be immediately freed.

He is a journalist who is in jail for exposing the crimes of US, British imperialism and the multi-nationals that run the world. WikiLeaks has taken the mask off the real criminals and terrorists running the US government.

We demand that all charges be dropped against him and Edward Snowden who is also faced with being arrested for being a whistleblower against the crimes of the US war machine.

This action was initiated by
The Bay Action Committee To Free Julian Assange.
It is endorsed by
United Front Committee For A Labor Party.
To endorse or speak contact
info(at)BayAction2FreeAssange.org

This space is to support the difficult emotional work of dismantling white supremacy within ourselves and our communities in order to fortify our hearts, minds, and bodies to continue to show up for racial justice.

We will provide opportunities to explore internal barriers that are holding us back from living out our desire to work for racial justice and practice how to deeply listen to each other to create a culture that supports calling people into the movement from a place of love.

We utilize large group and small group dialogues that are grounded in theories of social change and anti-racist white identity development. We see this space as open to any white person who is interested in honest conversation, reflection, and confrontation with race, racism, and white privilege. This space is intended to be a support to help people to build resilience in order to move into a more active role in dismantling white supremacy.

This session, part of our series exploring Calling In VS. Calling Out, focuses on the difference between calling in and calling out; what calling in looks like; and when and why to use this skill.

More info and register here: https://www.surjbayarea.org/events/saturday-dialogues-creating-a-call-in-culture9918536

Part II on January 23rd Facebook Event page

UFCLP Statement on the Storming of the Congress: Don’t be Shocked, Organize! Workers’ United Front against Fascism!

https://foramasslaborparty.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/ufclp-statement-on-the-storming-of-the-congress-dont-be-shocked-organize-workers-united-front-against-fascism/?fbclid=IwAR0CwekQPkusgb_otfOVoKNbf3ucUgCc4y3pSTynN_Ucj47h6lWwIDmR_fA

Fascists marching with a Dixie flag into the Capitol, Washington DC
Fascist Trump supporters demanded that Trump be declared president again, even though he lost the popular vote. An all-white regiment of men armed to their teeth marched into DC and stormed Congress to stage an outright coup. The photos taken from the scene of the crime speak volumes. The aggressors meant business; they were carrying automatic guns, ropes and handcuffs to take hostages, and Dixie flags with “Trump is President” inscriptions. There are also photos of the police opening the gate and encircling the gunmen to protect them against… arrests by other policemen!

Within a few hours of the siege on Congress, right-wing paramilitary gangs in other states such as Oregon and Kansas took it to the streets. There is no way that the FBI and other security agencies were oblivious to plans of violence by the Facists on a mass scale. They allowed it to happen nonetheless. There is no question that Black Lives Matter protesters, leftists, workers, or people of color organizations would have been shot dead for much less havoc! Events in both DC and around the country point to a synchronized, tightly-knit organization by the fascists, in tandem with the police.

None of this should be a surprise to anyone. The pandemic combined with Trump’s racist rhetoric and policies has untethered the vile racism that has existed in this country since its inception. The US is based on both the genocide of the indigenous population and upon slavery. Capitalist politics has pit one ethnic group against the other for years, driving down the wages of all workers. US imperialism has uprooted workers internationally, especially from Latin America, and forced them to migrate to the states. This has added fuel to the fire for these racist thugs. Trump speaks hatefully about the oppressed while his actions continue to widen racial divisions within the working class. These tensions can only result in racist violence. We should not have been surprised. In fact many of us, especially revolutionaries, have predicted this for years.

For the last few months, the UFCLP has warned against the violence unleashed both by the police and by the paramilitary gangs against protesters who demand justice for the victims of police terror. We called attention to the increasingly organized nature of the so-called “counter-protests” called for by white supremacists. We demanded that the Left and the organized working class form United Fronts and Public Safety Committees. When the Republicans seemed to be retreating in the face of the slim Democrat victory, we pointed out that this concession was a tactic to buy time and whip up support. Our warnings didn’t come out of the blue but from careful observation of Trump’s tactics and actions. Throughout the summer, Trump did everything in his power to put down the anti-racist popular revolt and steal the election. He deposed the Commander of the Armed Forces when the latter refused to deploy troops against the people in revolt. Trump’s threats to overturn the election and stay in power no matter what the results dictated were commonplace. Today, we are witnessing their culmination! This is not the ordinary racist “mob” that this country is unfortunately used to. This is an organized fascist attack.

The trade union leadership has been missing in action, allowing the capitalist politicians, both Democrat and Republican, to follow the lead of their bosses, permitting Trump to become leader of the “free” world. Trump did not just appear from thin air. The ground has been laid for him for more than four decades. By the 1970s working class people began to take a hit: outsourcing became the lynchpin of capitalist development, privatization of public services held sway, and many workers were barely able to hold on to their jobs. At the same time, the Southern Strategy was employed, pitting white working class people against workers of color. The union leadership took no stand against the cuts. In fact, when air traffic controllers went on strike in 1981, the workers were left high and dry by the bureaucrats who refused to call for a general strike to support them. Capitulations like this eventually threw white workers into the clutches of a demagogue like Trump. Nonetheless, the trade union so-called leaders have been supporting Democrats who have time and again demonstrated that are as anti-worker as the Republicans. We are still asked to put our faith in the police who are the same goons that shoot Black people daily. The chickens are now coming home to roost! THIS OUTBURST WAS INEVITABLE!

We shouldn’t harbor any illusions that the Democrats will come to our rescue, for they are unwilling to fight even for their democratically won election. Today’s events proved irrefutably that relying on the forces of “law and order” to uphold their own rules is a deadly mistake. In fact, the mayor of Portland has now said he is gunning for Antifa instead of the Proud Boys who created the crisis in Portland in the first place. Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, went on national TV to announce that he will no longer tolerate dissent and therefore will be going after Antifa. One can expect this kind of rhetoric more and more from public figures. We have seen this all before. Capitalism has already plunged the world into two world wars and countless others killing untold millions. The capitalists and their politician servants are criminals against humanity.

This kind of carnage will continue if we let it, impacting people of color the worst. This country is in deep crisis because capitalism is gasping for breath in its death throes. Unless there is a working class movement to cohere a coordinated challenge against this capitalist assault, repression against people who are fighting for their legitimate rights will go on. The police will come down harder on people of color for any perceived transgressions.

We need to build a political party based on working class self-activity, and eventually, we need a society that is built and controlled by workers. The only way we will survive the devastation of wars foisted on working class people globally is to change society from one based on profits to one based on human cooperation.That means building a socialist society. As a first step, we need to form a labor party independent of capitalist politicians that will guide the working class to fight for their rights and the rights of all oppressed people.

This incident at the Capitol will be the first of many. We have to decide as workers how to stand tall and firm against fascists to defend and expand our democratic conquests, and how we can eventually rid the world of capitalism.

Forward for Workers’ United Front against Fascism! Forward for a Workers’ Party! Down with the Fascists! General Strike to defend and expand our democratic conquests! Millions of fellow workers, to the streets on the 20th!

United Front Committee for Labor Party, UFCLP

January 6th, 2021

committeeforlaborparty(at)gmail.com

Are you feeling angry by the continued killings of Black people by the police and vigilantes and want to do something about it? Come learn about SURJ Bay Area at a virtual introductory meeting and find out how SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority.
​
Hear about our current work and activities including SURJ’s pathways for engaging in the work such as Study & Action, committee work, upcoming workshops, and events. We’ll answer your questions and share how you can get involved in the movement for racial justice. ​

Green Eco-Socialist Network – 3 part series with David Cobb, Meleiza Figueroa, David Bond, Chey Bell!

Join us for a deep dive into Eco-Socialism, and learn how the capitalist status quo deprives us of our human rights and aspirations. The first presentation in this 3-part series is an introduction to Eco-Socialism vs. Capitalism including a discussion of what Eco-Socialism may mean to you.
The world we need and deserve is not only possible, it is an imperative. We and our children will not survive the status quo.

Event is FREE – advance registration required: https://rebrand.ly/GreenEcoSocialism.

Here’s the Facebook event page.

Event opens with Comedian Chey Bell !

The two following presentations in the series will build on the first event and will be held on Feb. 20th and April 10th, 2021. Presentations will focus on Eco-Socialist platforms and programs and institutions being built around the country to shift away from capitalist systems and into a just, sustainable future.

2020 showed us how corporate America tripled their riches while we scrambled to feed our families and keep a roof over our heads. It’s time to break up big corporations! The Green Party platform and our Green New Deal seek to build an alternative economic system based on ecology and decentralization of power. We believe private ownership of production and state ownership of production are not ecologically sound, socially just, or democratic and that both contain built-in structures that advance injustices. We seek democratic decision making in communities and workplaces in balance with nature. This decentralized system is knows as co-ops, communalism, or ecological socialism (eco-socialism).

Please join the Ecosocialist Network for this kick ass kick off with California Greens: Cooperation Humboldt co-founder David Cobb, 2016 press director for Stein/Baraka presidential campaign & UC Berkeley PhD candidate Meleiza Figueroa, and David Bond of Los Angeles who was Kenneth Mejia’s campaign manager.  Cobb is an attorney who was the 2004 Green Party candidate for U.S. President.
This is sure to be a riveting panel, with kick ass comedy, to boot, to kick off the series!

Fascism and racism are on the rise! Covid-19 is claiming lives! Poverty, unemployment and homelessness are suffocating the working class! Biden is not going to save us with his neoliberal agenda and suppressive policies!

Join us in this rally to raise workers’ own united, independent voice against racism, fascism, poverty and the virus!

Make sure to bring your masks and keep socially distant.

This space is to support the difficult emotional work of dismantling white supremacy within ourselves and our communities in order to fortify our hearts, minds, and bodies to continue to show up for racial justice.

We will provide opportunities to explore internal barriers that are holding us back from living out our desire to work for racial justice and practice how to deeply listen to each other to create a culture that supports calling people into the movement from a place of love.

We utilize large group and small group dialogues that are grounded in theories of social change and anti-racist white identity development. We see this space as open to any white person who is interested in honest conversation, reflection, and confrontation with race, racism, and white privilege. This space is intended to be a support to help people to build resilience in order to move into a more active role in dismantling white supremacy.

This session, part of our series exploring Calling In VS. Calling Out, focuses on the difference between calling in and calling out; what calling in looks like; and when and why to use this skill.

More info and register here: https://www.surjbayarea.org/events/saturday-dialogues-creating-a-call-in-culture9918536

Part II on January 23rd Facebook Event page

RSVP to the Facebook event

Since 2015, the Saudi-led bombing and blockade of Yemen have killed tens of thousands of people and devastated the country. The U.N. calls this the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth. Half the country’s people are on the brink of famine, the country has the world’s worst cholera outbreak in modern history, and now Yemen has one of the very worst COVID death rates in the world: It kills 1 in 4 people who test positive. The pandemic, along with the withdrawal of aid, is pushing more people into acute hunger. And yet Saudi Arabia is escalating its war and tightening its blockade.

The war is only possible because Western countries – and the United States in particular – continue to arm Saudi Arabia and provide military, political and logistical support for the war.

This car caravan will demand that the new administration:

• Stop foreign aggression on Yemen
• End weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and cease logistical cooperation on the war
• Lift the blockade on Yemen and open all land and seaports
• Restore and expand humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen
• Reverse the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Can’t make it in person? Take action from home. Call the White House on Jan. 25 using this script

Facebook info and RSVP

Join Idle No More SF Bay and Urban Tilth for a #BuildBackFossilFree Day of Action.  Call on Joe Biden to kick off his term by taking executive action to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disasters.
• Reject new fossil fuel projects, eliminate giveaways to oil gas, and coal corporations, and end the era of fossil fuel production.
• Launch a national climate mobilization to Build Back Fossil Free, and deliver jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

ave People’s Park!

Friday 3PM – Stand in Solidarity with our unhoused neighbors in preventing displacement

Fences are already being built at People’s Park!

Mask up!

Bring your own signs if possible

food provided by Food not Bombs

Meeting held afterwards if interested

Instagram: @peoplesparkberkeley

Join text alert list: text “SAVETHEPARK” to 81257

Tag photos with #peoplesparkberkeley

As of 1/18/21, Newsom and CDCR are responsible for murdering 175 incarcerated people since the beginning of the pandemic. Join us in holding Newsom accountable and DEMAND MASS RELEASES NOW!

Mass incarceration in California created the ideal conditions for a predictable and preventable mass outbreak of COVID-19 in state prisons. Currently, every California State Prison is responding to a wave of active cases of COVID-19. Recent major surges occurred at Ironwood State Prison, California Men’s Colony, Central California Women’s Facility, and CTF Soledad. …

Join us   for a Jail Support Training to show up & show love for folks getting released from Santa Rita Jail.

Shifts are currently every day of the week 7:30p-12a. We hope to have folks out there as often as possible!

To take on a shift, you’d form a crew with one or two other people (who you already come into contact with in your day-to-day life) to drive out to Santa Rita Jail (5325 Broder Blvd, Dublin, CA).

If you’re interested in taking on a shift, please join our Zoom training on Wed Feb 3rd at 7pm! Here’s the link to join the training: bit.ly/3iQ6PST

If you can’t make this training but are interested in forming a crew and doing a shift, let us know so we can set up a training for another time!

Oakland Rally To Demand 1,000 Ca-OSHA Inspectors, PPE & Health and Safety On The Job

Stop The Murders and Pandemic In Our Workplaces NOW!

Workers and trade unionists will speak about about the failure of the the California Cal-OSHA to protect workers on the job.

There are less than 200 inspectors in California for 18 million workers. In fact there are more Fish and Game inspectors than OSHA inspectors.

In Los Angeles over 700 longshoreman are infected and 12 have died. At Foster Farms in the Central Valley 13 workers have died and workers face a lack of PPE and masks to protect their lives and those of their families. Farmworkers in California are being treated as disposable workers.

This is over a year after the pandemic has ripped through California workplaces.

Healthcare workers at Highland Hospital, San Francisco General, Kaiser, Sutter and UC are still fighting against reusing PPE masks and gowns and Cal-OSHA is unable to do regular physical inspections even after complaints. Healthcare workers are dying as a result of the failure to have proper protection for them and their patients.

Plants like billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla in Fremont has no Cal-OSHA inspections to enforce the law and other workers at Amazon, UBER and even public transit agencies are not getting regular inspections because of the virtual collapse of Cal-OSHA. Governor Newsom earlier this year instituted a freeze on hiring. Although this has recently been lifted this we are seeing the death agony of this critical agency in the middle of a deadly and historic pandemic. Apparently profits are above lives for the worker of California Cal-OSHA has become a ghost agency when workers need it the most.

For more Information:
committeeforlaborparty(at)gmail.com
Sponsored by
United Public Workers For Action upwa.info
United Front Committee For A Labor Party UFCLP
https://foramasslaborparty.wordpress.com

Register here

We may not know what is coming next, but we can prepare for it anyway. Direct Action has historically been the most effective way to change the world, and we built a workshop to teach folks how it has worked, and how we can plan and execute strategic, effective, and engaging actions.

Do you want to learn effective techniques to intervene in an unjust world?
Do you want to plan effective and powerful direct actions?

East Bay DSA’s Direct Action Working Group is excited to teach our 3rd Direct Action Training! The training will take place on Zoom from 2 pm-4 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Attending both days is highly recommended. This training will cover the same ground as the previous Direct Action training which was very well received.

As racist violence, unemployment, evictions, and climate chaos keep increasing, we need to expand our capacity to leverage our collective power. This training series will introduce creative ways to escalate ongoing campaigns, participate in mass uprisings, and keep each other safe in our confrontations with capital and the state.

The training is 4 hours spread across two days. Please attend both days.

Direct Action Part 1: Sat Feb 20 10am-noon
•History and examples of Direct Action getting the goods
•Team Roles, Action Design
•De-Escalation
•Basic First Aid
•Affinity Groups & Decision-Making
•Know Your Rights
•Action Planning Breakout Groups

Direct Action Part 2: Sun Feb 21 10am-noon
•Gear/equipment
•Messaging
•Security Culture
•Action Planning Breakout Groups
•How to get involved