Calendar
Join Oakland Privacy Group peeps as we pass out literature, show a slide show, perhaps have mock-up surveillance units and discuss our opposition to the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s implementation of ‘1984’ on steroids.
Join us also for our next meeting at the Sudo Room on December 11th.
Hear John Parker, Workers World Party National Committee and International Action Center West Coast Coordinator, lead a class on Lenin, Self-Determination and The National Question. There will be lots of opportunity for discussion and questions.
Short documentary screening: “The Battle for Oscar Grant Plaza” by Jacob Crawford and co-produced by Dave Id, Indybay.org. The documentary shows how the City of Oakland and its Police tried to shut down the budding “Occupy Wall Street” movement, turning downtown Oakland into a teargas filled war zone and injuring numerous people. Police video obtained in discovery in the National Lawyers Guild’s successful lawsuit and interviews with activists and journalists about their experiences, tell the real story of the disastrous Fall 2011 police actions that pushed the troubled OPD to the brink of federal receivership.
Documentary (in it’s current state) is 25 minutes and will start around 3:15. Expect light refreshments and intellectual discourse! We’re interested in sparking conversation around police accountability in the Oakland area and beyond. If you have any interest in direct involvement with OPD accountability (especially if you are a coder!), you won’t want to miss this!
The producers and some plaintiffs (including Scott Olsen) will be present to answer any questions.
Jacob Crawford is a long time Copwatcher based out of the Bay Area in California. He joined Berkeley Copwatch in 2000 and produced the first ever “in the streets” non-dramatized know your rights video “These Streets Are Watching”. He currently is running WeCopwatch.org with other Copwatchers and has been a contributor for CopBlock.org for several years.
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!! Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue on all sides of these critically important issues!
Americans don’t have a health care system, they have a free enterprise system beholden to corporate executives, shareholders and investors from the industries that benefit the most from high costs. While pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and medical product companies profit, taxpayers are getting squeezed at an accelerating rate. Our market-based, profit-driven health care system in the United States has put necessary care increasingly beyond the reach of ordinary Americans. Primary health care, the fundamental foundation of all high-performing health care systems in the world, is a critical but ignored casualty of the current system. Unfortunately, primary care is often poorly understood, even within the health professions.
Don Bechler, chair of Single Payer Now (who has worked for twenty years to pass Single Payer), will describe what has become a crisis in primary care, define its central role, analyze the reasons for its decline, and assess its impacts on patients and families. He will also show the film, “The Health Care Movie” about the Canadian Health Care System. Bechler will present a constructive approach to rebuild and transform U.S. primary care with the urgent goal to address the nation’s problems of access, cost, quality and equity of health care for all Americans.
Don Bechler is on the executive committee of the national grassroots single payer organization, Healthcare Now.
He has lead speakers training for over 1400 health care activists, and also been an officer of various UAW and the IAM unions.
David Coombs, attorney for American prisoner of conscience US Army Pvt. Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, will speak at three upcoming West Coast events hosted by the Private Manning Support Network. Mr. Coombs continues to represent the heroic WikiLeaks whistle-blower recently sentenced to 35-years in military prison.
Monday, Dec. 9 at 6:30pm — Oakland CA
Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street, Oakland CA 94612
Event will include Q&A with Mr. Coombs, and a fund pitch by the Support Network to benefit Pvt. Manning’s ongoing defense efforts, including pending legal appeals.
Oakland event is presented by Courage to Resist, with the support of the Bay Area Military Law Panel, Veterans for Peace-SF, War Resisters League-West, Project Censored and the Media Freedom Foundation, SF Women in Black, World Can’t Wait-SF Bay, CodePink Women for Peace-East Bay & Golden Gate, OccupySF Action Council & Environmental Justice Working Group, OccupyForum, SF LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, Queer Strike, National Lawyers Guild-SF, and the Civilian-Soldier Alliance. Wheelchair accessible. For more info, contact: Courage to Resist, 510-488-3559.
A continuing discussion on the state of our city.
Presented by the Oakland Branch of the International Socialist Organization.
At this meeting we’ll discuss how our side has begun to fight back, the challenges of activism in Oakland, and the possibilities for people to create an alternative Oakland build around our own needs and desires.
Evictions and destruction of people’s belonging began yesterday, December 9th.
This meetup announced via a tweet by ShareTheBulb yesterday (Monday) afternoon.
In 2005, Casino San Pablo promised to provide good jobs with good benefits. The Casino made $200 million a year in 2011-2012 – but its workers have had a wage freeze for 4 years, and more and more of them are working part time with no benefits!
Casino San Pay-LOW has BROKEN ITS PROMISES!
Come present the Casino with the WORST BOSS OF THE YEAR award – and a stocking of coal!
BBQ AND EATS – SPEAKOUT – RALLY – MARCH
“Join us as we record video messages of solidarity for Nisah, her family, and her community.”
Childcare provided.
HERE WE GO AGAIN, EVERYTIME WE TURN AROUND NOW ITS ONE BLACK LIFE AFTER ANOTHER ASSASSINATED, JUSTIFIED, AND SWEPT UNDER A RUG, WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR RENISHAS KILLER AS WELL AS ALL PEOPLE KILLED UNJUSTLY BY SO CALLED PROPERTY DEFENDERS AND WANNA BE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS. WE DEMAND TO KNOW WHY THEY DIDNT GET A POLICE CALL UNTIL HRS LATER, THEN FOUND HER BODY. WE SAY NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!!!
WE IN OAKLAND KNOW FAR TO WELL THE INJUSTICES OF MUREDRS THAT GET SWEPT UP UNDER THE RUG. THIS SYTEM LIES AND PROTECT EACH OTHER AGAINST MURDER ALL DAY IN THIS COUNTRY. WE IN OAKLAND KNOW THAT INJUSTICE IS A GLOBAL EPIDEMIC.
ALL FAMILIES AND SUPPORTERS OF MURDERED VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ARE ENCOURAGED TO COME OUT AND SPEAK. BRING BANNERS, POSTERS, SIGNS WHATEVER YOU LIKE.
IN SOLIDARITY WITH DETROIT, WE WILL HAVE A SPEAKOUT, MARCH, AND RALLY THROUGH THE STREETS OF EAST OAKLAND TO EXPOSE AND BRING AWARENESS TO THIS GLOBAL EPIDEMIC DUE TO THE FACT THAT OUR COMMUNITIES ARE SUFFERING FROM LOSS OF LIFE SO MUCH THAT SOME OF US HAVE GOTTEN IMMUNED TO DEATH.
THERE WILL BE A POSTER AND BANNER MAKING EVENTAND ALSO SCREENPRINTING RENISHA MCBRIDE TSHIRTS, PLEASE BRING WHITE TSHIRTS IF YOU CAN, JUST TO MAKE SURE OTHERS CAN HAVE ONE TOO!! DATE DEC 7TH
**** WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO MAKE A VIDEO OF THE RALLY AND MARCH TO SEND TO RENISHA FAMILY MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS.
WE WILL ALSO BE HAVING ONE ON ONE INTERVIEWS FOR FOLKS WHO WANT TO SEND THEIR OWN PERSONAL MESSAGES OF LOVE, SOLIDARITY,AND SUPPORT.
CHILDCARE PROVIDED!!!!! PLEASE BRING KIDS, KID-FRIENDLY!!!
PLEASE COME OUT TO SHOW RENISHAS FAMILY SOME LOVE AND SUPPORT.
AN INJURY TO ONE IS A INJURY TO ALL
Worker Solidarity!
Union Garden Work Party
with UNITE HERE 2850, Planting Justice, and MG!
at the Home of Isidoro Saravia-Ramos
Isidoro singing a song of struggle on the land we’ll be cultivating!
Join UNITE HERE 2850, Planting Justice, and Movement Generation in planting a “Union Garden” at the home of UNITE HERE 2850 member and Casino San Pablo dishwasher, Isidoro Saravia-Ramos.
Despite the fact that the Casino brings in over $200 million in revenue, the average Casino worker only earns $9.60/hour and hasn’t received a raise in 4 years. Workers are forced to work in a smoke-filled environment and most don’t receive health insurance. While workers continue their struggle for fairness inside the casino, workers and neighbors are joining together to build community and reclaim our own health and labor.
In inviting folks to his home to plant a garden, Isidoro said: “I am very excited to build a garden with my fellow unions members, my family, and my community. By working together on the land, we will harvest justice.”
Bring work clothes, sturdy shoes, a water bottle, and any food you want to share (to supplement the carne asada / BBQ we’ll do for lunch).
Please RSVP to gavin@plantingjustice.org.
WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT? DON’T KNOW WHO KALI IS? Here’s the not-so-short version:
Monday will mark another year since a beloved part of our community was ripped away from us and locked up behind bars…because he dared to love and fight for a better life and something bigger than himself.
WHY WAS HE ARRESTED? As absurd as it sounds even now, he was initially taken into custody for sitting on a public bench with a blanket. But we know the real reason they brutalized him and locked him away for 3 more years (nearly giving him a life-sentence!) was for being a bold, beautiful, black man they want so badly to break.
He was one of many arrested during the post-camp Occupy Oakland Vigil but unlike most of us who have since been released or served out our time, he is currently serving out a 3+ year sentence in state prison.
My hope is that you will join me in sending him some mad love and letting him know he is not forgotten.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Come out on Sunday to be part of the group photo and/or sign the card we’ll send him. Write him a letter of your own. Put some money on his books. Let him know he is loved and will not be forgotten!!!
The Long Haul Infoshop will be showing the documentary ‘Soweto to Berkeley’ this week, and is welcoming anti-Apartheid activists to speak.
From Soweto to Berkeley
Documentary (1987), 50 min, dir. Scott Wiseman
“Soweto to Berkeley” explores the student protests and debates at UC Berkeley in the 1980s which led to the Board of Regents decision to withdraw $3.1 billion in funds from companies doing business in South Africa. With the students’ tactics including occupations and direct actions, their organizing efforts, and their successes and failures, still resonate today.
Discussion to follow. Folks who were involved in the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s are invited to attend and speak about their experiences.
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
The Spirit of CODEPINK: More than Marches!
with Nancy Mancias and Inder Comar
On April 3, 2014, the class action lawsuit targeting six key members of the Bush Administration will come before the United States District Court in San Francisco. Sundus Shaker Saleh, an Iraqi single mother of four, is the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit. George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Paul Wolfowitz are the six key members mentioned in the lawsuit and all will be represented by the Department of Justice. In Saleh v. Bush, Saleh alleges that the Iraq War was not conducted in self-defense, did not have the appropriate authorization by the United Nations, and therefore constituted a crime of aggression under international law — a designation first set down in the Nuremberg Trials after World War II. The aim of the suit is simple:
to achieve justice for Iraqis, and to show that no one, not even the president of the United States, is above the law.
Nancy Mancias is a campaign organizer for CODEPINK. Mancias is a contributing writer to Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution. Beautiful Trouble brings together ten grassroots groups and dozens of seasoned artists and activists from around the world to distill their best practices into a toolbox for creative action. Among the groups included are Agit-Pop/The Other 98%, The Yes Men/Yes Labs, CODEPINK, SmartMeme, The Ruckus Society, Beyond the Choir, The Center for Artistic Activism, Waging Nonviolence, Alliance of Community Trainers and Nonviolence International. Mancias be talking about creative tactics taken from the book.
Attorney Inder Comar will join Nancy to discuss the class action lawsuit to hold Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell and Wolfwotiz accountable for the illegal invasion & occupation of Iraq. CODEPINK’S creativity and strength demonstrates what has become increasingly clear: we need more than marches to successfully address the enormous problems facing our society and our democracy.
Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.
Mail Carrier Tyson Jerome Barnette was killed recently while delivering mail after dark in Maryland. He would never have been delivering mail after dark but for USPS mismanagement, under staffing, and the mass closings of mail processing centers. Monetary reasons are the why of after dark mail delivery. Never again should the USPS “lose a life to save a dollar.”
Join us for
SINGING ON THE STEPS
OF THE BERKELEY MAIN POST OFFICE
with Hali Hammer, Dave Welsh & Anna DeLeon
and remembering Tyson Jerome Barnette.
(Event will be cancelling if raining)
100 trees on public community farmland are slated for destruction… to build a parking lot and supermarket!
The Albany, CA Planning and Zoning Commission just approved a development plan for UC Berkeley’s Gill Tract, one that includes the destruction of these 100 beautiful trees and paving of acres of open green space to build a purely commercial development with no educational value.
Jeff Bond, Albany’s “community development director” graciously agreed to give a tour of these trees to the public. Please come and bear witness yourself!
We hope it will inspire you to join us in defending this precious resource from the bulldozers and the chainsaws!
For more info on the campaign to stop this development: www.boycottsprouts.com
Strike Debt Bay Area has been working with ACCE and the Richmond Progressive Alliance against the Big Banks and for Richmond homeowners, attempting to create national awareness on the issue of principal reduction and the use of eminent domain to help. Read about the issue in an essay written by two SDBA’ers.
Now another key vote is set on the issue at the Richmond City Council:
Tuesday, December 17, 5 PM
Critical Vote on Anti-Blight/Save Our Communities
There will be national media coverage. We must show that the Council has overwhelming support in the city. Please come for the rally at 5pm in front of the City Council and plan on staying until 8 pm. Refreshments and signs will be provided. Sign up to speak.
Saturday, December 14, 2-6pm
ART VS WALL ST BANK FORECLOSURES
Help paint and make art and visuals for the December 17 mobilization to Stop Wall St Foreclosure in Richmond
SAT DEC. 14, NEW TIME: 2-6pm
Bobby Bowens Progressive Center
1021 Macdonald Ave
Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning is the US soldier sentenced to 35 years in jail for leaking thousands of documents to Wikileaks exposing US and other governments’ war crimes and corruption. She is 26 years old on this day. Ever since she was detained and tortured in 2010, international protests, including from LGBTQ people, have demanded her release.
Demonstrate your support for her courageous whistleblowing, and for all who blow the whistle on corruption, dictatorship and dirty government secrets.
Join Eviction Free San Francisco and all allies in the fight for housing justice in San Francisco as we take on a landlord (to be named at the action) in San Francisco’s Mission District.
We Say “HELL NO” to the displacement of seniors, artists, immigrants, and workers from this vibrant, diverse, working-class Neighborhood and citywide!
Join two long – time San Franciscans (one disabled senior) who refuse to leave the city they love! By standing up for this household, we stand up for all of our Mission homes…all of us together!!
On October 22nd, Andy Lopez, a 13 year old boy was shot and killed by deputy Erik Gelhaus,(a supposed firearms expert that writes columns for many militia magazines) who says he mistook the toy gun that Andy was carrying for a real rifle. The deputy ended up shooting 8 rounds – 7 hitting and killing Andy. 2 months later, no justice has been served, initial findings from the Sheriff’s Department show that the deputy acted according to procedure in his use of deadly force, and on December 10th, Gelhaus returned to administrative work at the Sheriff’s Department.
Information source and livestream info.