Calendar
BEARS UNITE!
Bay Area families and teachers are gathering on Tuesday, January 31st to oppose the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the Secretary of Education. During her confirmation hearing, DeVos revealed her extreme lack of knowledge about public education, saying students and teachers should be armed against bears. She’s also a multi-billionaire with many financial conflicts of interest.
DeVos’ policy of moving public funding into private schools and charter corporations has led to the destruction of public education in Michigan and will now hurt schools nationwide. It’s not the grizzly bears we should be worried about when it comes to our schools and children; it’s the corporate interest and disregard for public education that DeVos represents!
Join us alongside three hundred cities across the country to oppose this terrible Trump nomination. And BYOB: pls bring your own bears (your kids’ favorite teddy bears, that last year’s Halloween costume, old Cal gears, be creative)! We’ll line up them up, visualizing our resistance to DeVos’ hundred conflicts of interest.
11am set up starts and then press conference at 12pm.
The event is organized by Bay Resistance, a powerful new network of almost 40 organizations representing immigrant rights, Muslim communities, environmental justice, labor, women’s rights and more, uniting to resist Trump. Contact info [at] bayrising.org for more info.
#ResistTrumpTuesdays
We won’t stand idly by as Donald Trump and Republicans try to push through a shocking cabinet of billionaires and bigots – and we must speak out against Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders targeting Muslims, refugees, and immigrants.
Last week and this past weekend, tens of thousands of us rallied peacefully at senate offices, airports, and other community locations. Members of Congress, other elected officials, and the media are taking notice. If we keep up the public protest, we can change the course of history.
Will you join us again tomorrow to say NO to Trump’s #SwampCabinet, #NoBanNoWall, and to shut down this president’s unconstitutional agenda?
YES, I’LL BE THERE!
I can’t make it, but show me other events near me.
Come out to rally & make public comment at City Council for #TheVillage in #Oakland tomorrow Jan31 @ Oakland City Hall 4:30pm rally 5council
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) January 31, 2017
“Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people”-Marcus Garvey. Dont leave housing up to chance. Defend #TheVillage #homesnow pic.twitter.com/YqQxHikkE9
— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) January 30, 2017
THIS FROM THE CA SANCTUARY CAMPAIGN:
The Oakland budget process is proceeding rapidly and we need to pay attention to the City Council meeting next Tuesday, 1/31, which is going to consider the whole budget and in particular $150K (item #8 on agenda) for a rapid response network of attorneys and counselors to defend those attacked and detained by ICE.
(agenda: https://oakland.legistar.com/calendar.aspx ).
For the last two weeks, we have been trying without success to reach out to City Council members to tell them they must allocate more of the $1.5 million organizers say it will take to build and maintain an adequate rapid response network. Now we must redouble our efforts to be heard.
The City’s proposal for $150K is woefully inadequate. The City needs to contribute much more. It’s our understanding from Fred Blackwell, Executive Director of the San Francisco Foundation, that the Foundation will match up to $750K from the City and another $750K from the County. The County appears to be ready to commit to the whole match. (Supervisor Wilma Chan will put the $750K on the Feb 7 Supervisors’ agenda.) Oakland should as well.
In the next few days we should do the following:
1) Phone / email / visit offices of all eight Council members. (Constituents should contact their own Council members, and everyone should contact Rebecca Kaplan.)
2) Try to find two CC members to move and second a motion to raise the amount to something that will begin to approach the enormous need — as much as $750. That will put the matching funds within reach. If such a motion is passed, that will be the starting point for this item in the overall budget negotiations.
3) Put out calls to organizations and individuals to attend the Tuesday night meeting. Give people the info on how to sign up to speak – they can do it under items 7 and / or 8.
https://solar.oaklandnet.com/Speaker/form
4) Discuss this at our meeting next Thursday and try to get more people involved. Make plans to attend the Bd of Supervisors meeting on the 7th. Our meeting is planned for 6:30 on Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation, 1470 Fruitvale. The building is wheelchair accessible.
Please share this information with friends, contact your Councilperson and let us know what other of the above tasks you can commit to.
For more information or to discuss further ideas please call us.
Judith Stacey 510-559-0703
Sharon Rose 510-915-6894
Margaret Cunningham 510-435-7637
We have just watched as President Trump has indicated he will sign an executive order that goes back on decades of progress and advances the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline. Let’s hit him where it hurts and go after the money.
Many organizations and activists have come together in a campaign that goes after the critical loans funding DAPL like projects. Join us as we deliver a petition to the banks that demands divestment from the Dakota Access Pipeline and meetings with Indigenous leaders. This event is part of a long term campaign to pressure the banks to renegotiate and cancel their loans for dirty fossil fuels projects.
As we enter into a Trump administration era, we are seeing a dramatic increase in aggressive anti-environmental policies and agendas, it is critical we continue to put pressure on the banks responsible for the financing of dirty fossil fuel projects and human rights violations.
This event is being sponsored by Rainforest Action Network, Lakota People’s Law Project, Idle No More SF Bay Area and Friends of the Earth.
*This is a peaceful non-violent action*
If this talk isn’t already cancelled, meet us on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 4pm outside of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center on the campus of UC Berkeley (on Bancroft Ave., just west of Telegraph).
Bring your allies and friends!
Take Action Now!
1. Join us at the Police Commission hearing at 5:30 p.m. on February 1st, SF City Hall, Room 400. Resist Trump, and show your support for our local communities!
2. If you can’t make it to the hearing, send an email to the Police Commission, the Mayor, and the Board of Supervisors, and ask them to make the SFPD train its officers and promise not to violate our sanctuary city law! Draft email included at the end of this post.
3. Spread the word: Share this link and contact ALC and CAIR for more ways to help! More detailed background information available in the “discussion” section .
DRAFT EMAIL:
To: sfpd.commission@sfgov.org; mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org; Board.of.Supervisors@sfgov.org
Dear Police Commissioners, Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Lee:
Ever since Trump was elected President, you have all publicly and unequivocally said that you will protect the vulnerable communities that Trump has sworn to target. I’m writing to ask that you fulfill that promise.
Last year, community groups proved that SFPD was breaking a law meant to protect us from profiling by the FBI (the Safe San Francisco Civil Rights Ordinance). The OCC said that the SFPD wasn’t even properly trained on the ordinance that has been in place for half a decade, and as of yet, they still have not been trained. And now, our local officers work with Donald Trump’s FBI. Enough is enough. How can we be sure our local officers aren’t violating our laws when they don’t even know our laws?
Please make sure that SFPD officers working with the FBI are immediately trained on the rules and requirements of the Safe San Francisco Civil Rights Ordinance and our Sanctuary City Ordinance. Tell them that they are our officers, this is our City, and our rules apply – not Trump’s.
Sincerely,
_________________________________
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
CAIR – San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.facebook.com/aclu.norcal/
The Berkeley College Republicans have invited far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at UC Berkeley on February 1st.
Given the recent increase in fascist activity both on and around the UC Berkeley campus, we feel that the university’s willingness to provide a platform to Milo Yiannopoulos and his views is unacceptable, and we intend to shut this event down. We are inviting all allies and the Berkeley community to join us in making UC Berkeley a fascist-free zone.
Yiannopoulos is one of the many online trolls who successfully capitalized on the Trump campaign to bring fascist and racist ideas into the mainstream. While his presence on the web can be traced back to the GamerGate controversy, Yiannopoulos rose to cult fame through his work at Breitbart News Network, where he used his identity as a gay man to express overtly islamophobic views under the facade of queer interests. Similar to Trump, the core of Yiannopoulos’ support has come from places like 4Chan, Reddit, and other online bastions of the “Alt-Right”. However, since being banned from Twitter for his anti-black harassment of actor Leslie Jones, Milo has been searching for a new platform off the web for his hateful ideology. In fact, on his current book tour Yiannopoulos has used the frame of “anti-political correctness” to push dangerous narratives about a wide array of marginalized groups. Some examples of his hatred on tour so far includes such spectacles as dressing in drag to mock a sexual assault survivor; calling to keep trans folks out of the LGBT movement and encouraging their harassment; and calling BlackLivesMatter a terrorist group. Additionally, Yiannopoulos is connected to Roosh V, a well-known “men’s rights activist” that has advocated for legalizing rape, and Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute (NPI), intellectual head of the “Alt-Right” that seeks to make America an exclusively white ethno-state, who came to the UC Berkeley campus in May 2016 with UCPD protection to recruit Berkeley students to his white supremacist cause.
In this context, Yiannopoulos’s college speaking tour should be recognized as an effort to embolden “Alt-Right” internet trolls into real world political organizing on college campuses. In light of the success of the Trump campaign, the “Alt-Right” is looking for opportunities to turn their momentum into an organized political front. This event is particularly important as an opportunity for Yiannopoulos to connect with a large audience, and for a large number of far right supporters to connect with him and others at the event. This is an opportunity that we cannot give them.
As the last year has demonstrated, this kind of free speech and discussion has meant near impunity for racists and sexists to target marginalized students on campus with little recourse for those who are harassed. We believe that an educational community should not accommodate fascist ideologies. We believe it is the responsibility of communities both on and off campus to shut down this kind of organizing in order to ensure that there is no platform for fascists in Berkeley!
This is a call to action to stand against fascism and the militarization of campuses. This is a call to stand in solidarity with those communities who are most at risk from this kind of neo-fascist “free speech,” especially in the wake of Trump’s election win. We encourage those interested in taking a stand now to use the letter template below to demand that UC Berkeley not host Yiannopoulos.
Feel free to draft your own message or use the letter script provided below however you choose to contact the University. For those interested in delivering their message over the phone or via mail we have provided that info below:
I am writing to express my anger and frustration at UC Berkeley’s decision to host notorious racist, sexist, and transphobic speaker Milo Yiannopoulos on February 1, 2017. I am also notifying you of a growing inter-community coalition to keep Milo off campus and of my support for them. In light of the increasing hostility towards marginalized groups on campus, including the hate crime committed on campus on election night and the increasing racist harassment around campus that has followed, it is disgraceful that UC Berkeley would welcome Mr. Yiannopoulos and his hateful, bigoted rhetoric on campus. Mr. Yiannopoulos was slated to speak at Portland State University and NYU, however both campuses cancelled the events stating that his viewpoints compromised student safety. He has also been permanently banned from DePaul University as the school claimed he created a “hostile environment.”
The permission of this speaking event is yet another example of the continued inaction by the university to protect the interests of many of its students. At this point it is well within the university’s ability to stop this event from happening. I urge the university to issue an apology to the community at large for permitting such a dangerous figure to come to campus and threaten the safety of its students. If the university chooses not to take action, students and community members will take the initiative to keep their campus safe.
Contacts:
UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’ office
Phone: 510-642-7464
Email: chancellor@berkeley.edu
Dan Mogulof, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Public Affairs
Phone: 510-642-3715
Mobile: 510-919-6954
Email: dmogulof@berkeley.edu
The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the far right – racists, Islamophobes and misogynists are attempting to come out into the light and gain a foothold across the country. We have to show them that we won’t tolerate any rise in far right activity. We will come together to fight oppression and prevent them from having a platform in our universities. They aim to recruit mainly young, alienated white men to their politics of white supremacy, xenophobia, and misogyny. Join us and unite against oppression and against a corporate political system that relies on this right-wing, divide-and-conquer rhetoric.
Milo Yiannopoulos is a spokesperson for the newly activated far right, an Islamophobic writer for Breitbart, a leader of the Gamergate sexual harassment campaign, and a figurehead for some of the most hateful right-wing elements in Trump’s camp. We should allow no space for his message at UC Berkeley.
We also have to do more than stop one event to prevent these far right elements from recruiting and growing their forces. We have to shut them down and drown out their events in every community they pop up, and we have to undermine them politically as well. We need a vibrant Left force in this country that will serve as a progressive outlet for the anger and frustration caused by capitalism in this moment of crisis. Socialist Alternative calls for a new party of the 99%, free of corporate money, with a political program that can offer real solutions to working people and oppressed communities.
The first step in this campaign is to build mass public pressure so that Yiannopoulos cancels his tour, or so the UC cancels it for him. This will mean building this Facebook event, inviting everyone you know, and also hitting the streets to organize and to gather signatures for a petition to the UC administration. Please SHARE this event and INVITE your friends!
If the UC fails to do close Yiannopoulos down, or if he moves to an off-campus venue, we will gather the community for a mass counter-protest and shut down that event.
L.A. Kauffman discussing her new book:
Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism
from Verso Press
A vibrant, groundbreaking history of American radicalism since the Sixties
What happened to the American left after the Sixties? This engrossing account traces the evolution of disruptive protest over the last 40 years to tell a larger story about the reshaping of American radicalism, showing how the direct-action blockades, occupations, and campaigns of recent activist movements have functioned as laboratories for political experimentation and renewal.
Propelled by more than 100 candid interviews conducted over a span of decades, this elegant and lively history showcases the voices of key players in an array of movements – environmentalist, anti-nuclear, anti-apartheid, feminist, LGBTQ, anti-globalization, racial-justice, anti-war, and more – across an era when American politics shifted to the right, and issue- and identity-based organizing eclipsed the traditional ideologies of the left.
As Kauffman, a longtime movement insider, examines how groups from ACT UP to Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter have used direct action to catalyze change against long odds, she details the profound influence of feminism and queerness on radical political practice and how enduring divisions of race have shaped the landscape of activism. Written with nuance and humor, and revealing deep connections between movements usually viewed in isolation, Direct Action is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how protest movements erupt — and how they can succeed.
L.A. Kauffman has spent more than 30 years immersed in radical movements, as an organizer, strategist, journalist, and observer. Her writings on grassroots activism and social movement history have been published in The Nation, Mother Jones, n+1, The Baffler, and many other outlets. Kauffman was the mobilizing coordinator for the massive anti-war marches of 2003-2004; she has been called a “virtuoso organizer” by journalist Scott Sherman for her role in saving community gardens and public libraries in New York City from developers. Visit L.A. Kauffman’s twitter-feed
Despite The Village creating safe, sustainable solutions for unhoused residents and an outpouring of community support, DPW has told us that they will be arriving on Thursday to evacuate this land and force vulnerable people back into uncertain situations.
We need EVERYONE this Thursday bright and early head to The Village aka The Promised Land to defend the sanctuary of homes, tents and direct services from the police and public works threat to destroy it.
Come today and help prepare. Come early tomorrow and stay all night. Check in the night before. We don’t know when they will be coming but we will need everyone to stand with us and push back to RESIST the city’s intervention. If you haven’t already, text HOMESNOW to 797979 to stay up to date on alerts.
Share widely and bring all your folks.
Call the mayor’s office and let them know how you feel about the city refusing to do anything to help its unhoused residents and going out of their way to stop folks who create solutions that offer dignity and respect : (510) 238-3141
Despite The Village creating safe, sustainable solutions for unhoused residents and an outpouring of community support, DPW has told us that they will be arriving on Thursday to evacuate this land and force vulnerable people back into uncertain situations.
We need EVERYONE this Thursday bright and early head to The Village aka The Promised Land to defend the sanctuary of homes, tents and direct services from the police and public works threat to destroy it.
Come today and help prepare. Come early tomorrow and stay all night. Check in the night before. We don’t know when they will be coming but we will need everyone to stand with us and push back to RESIST the city’s intervention. If you haven’t already, text HOMESNOW to 797979 to stay up to date on alerts.
Share widely and bring all your folks.
Call the mayor’s office and let them know how you feel about the city refusing to do anything to help its unhoused residents and going out of their way to stop folks who create solutions that offer dignity and respect : (510) 238-3141
Peaceful support for victim and his family. Mr. Moore’s bail is set at $2 Million. He was assaulted then shot by SFPD in his own home for being loud while black. He needs medical treatment, not incarceration.
Agenda:
1. 5:00pm: Call to Order, determination of quorum.
2. 5:05pm: Review and approval of January 5 meeting minutes.
3. 5:10pm: Presentation on Automated License Plate Readers by Oakland Police Department.
4. 5:20pm: Presentation on Automated License Plate Readers by Cyrus Farivar, Senior Business Editor
at Ars Technica.
5. 5:30pm: Presentation on Automated License Plate Readers by Mike Katz-Lacabe, Director of
Research at Center for Human Rights and Privacy.
6. 5:40pm: Review and discuss current Oakland Police Department Automated License Plate Reader
policy. No action on this item will be taken at this meeting.
7. 6:15pm: Open Forum
8. 7:00pm: Adjournment
Labor author STEVE EARLY with GAYLE McGLAUGHLIN + ANDRES SOTO present “Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money and the Remaking of an American City.” “As Washington remains in gridlock, the everyday citizen-heroes of Richmond, California have been getting things done to make their city work for all.”—Robert Reich KPFA event co-sponsored by 22 progressive organizations as a tribute to Steve Early and former mayor Gayle McGlaughlin and all participants in this successful creative struggle against corporate power. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com and many indie bookshops. Don’t miss this!Conference/Symposium
Berkeley Institute for Data Science
Trust in basic democratic institutions is dropping and has been for years. Trust in facts, data, and science also seem to be eroding in what is being called a “post-fact” world.
What is going on? And what can be done about it?
Please join us for a mini unconference to discuss ways academics and data scientists might constructively improve our democratic infrastructure. This will be an open forum for people representing a range of perspectives to discuss concerns and potential solutions. All perspectives are welcome, and no particular perspective will be privileged or rejected. In our view, the more political viewpoints, the better!
Anyone who wishes will have two to three minutes to speak about an issue, topic, concern, action, initiative, or project. We will then break out into groups so that people can discuss these issues in depth and come back together to share highlights with the larger group. We will conclude with mingling and networking, so everyone can get to know one another and plan for future action.
Here are some potential discussion topics we have already identified:
-Combating fake news
-Digital democracy platforms
-Preventing unconstitutional surveillance
-Managing/deleting/anonymizing database records that might be mis-used by -government
-Election integrity (voting machines)
-Algorithms of government (when are they useful, appropriate, safe?)
-Automation and its effects on political economy
-Voluntary social/health insurance
-Organizing cities
-[Your ideas here!]
What Is an Unconference?
An unconference is a loosely structured participant-driven meeting at which information and ideas are shared among attendees in a more informal manner, generally open discussions. Attendees set the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, and everyone is given the opportunity to propose a discussion topic. After the agenda is set, participants break into groups to discuss the chosen topics and then later reconvene as a larger group to share discussion highlights.
Free. Each documentary will begin promptly at 5:30 PM, discussion afterwards. Food provided.
Feb 3 – John Henrik Clarke – A Great and Mighty Walk
Feb 10 – The House I Live In
Feb 17 – The Night Tulsa Burned
Feb 24th – 13th
Lunch will be provided!
We will reimburse you for transit (keep your receipt)
YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED
The Oakland Justice Coalition Welcomes the Richmond Progressive Alliance!
“Remaking An American City.”
How the Richmond Progressive Alliance turned a company town into a model for municipal action in the Trump Era!
Guest speakers:
– Steve Early, Former CWA organizer, Labor for Bernie activist, & author of Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of An American City, and other books.
– Zak Wear, RPA steering committee member and coordinator of Richmond’s successful rent control campaign.
Light Refreshments will be served – book signing! Parking on the street or E. 18th St. Lucky’s lot
Please RSVP to Marilyn Albert at malbert@nuhw.org