Calendar

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism”  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Spokescouncil Meetings are scheduled to take place:

January 5th @ 7pm at the OMNI

January 9th @ 7 pm @ the OMNI

January 12th @ 7pm (San Francisco Location TBD)

January 14th @ 7pm (Location TBD)

The MLK weekend will once again culminate in a King Day march that embodies the true spirit of King’s resistance to capitalism, imperialism and racism.

Over the last year, in the Bay Area alone, there have been dozens of police murders.  In San Francisco, we have most recently seen the brutal execution of Mario Woods, in addition to police beating a disabled man in front of the Twitter building and racist text messages exchanged between SFPD on-duty officers.

In Oakland, we have seen 8 Black men murdered by police since only June of 2015. In fact, a recent graphic by Mapping Police Violence shows that in 2015, Oakland ranks third in police killings per million people in 60 of America’s largest cities.

Police are the shock troops of gentrification.  Mayors give them a mandate: make this city appealing to developers by any means necessary.  City Councils fund police and constantly seek to expand their numbers and their powers. As a result, people of color are being pushed out of cities at unprecedented rates, by an out of control rental market, increased police occupation and terrorism against communities of color, as well as crackdowns on those who dare protest these unjust policies.

A year ago, people across the country began taking to the streets in unprecedented numbers; storming shopping centers, blocking streets and highways, interrupting cultural events and public transit.  And the people SHUT IT DOWN. We SHUT IT DOWN because there is a state-sponsored war on Black, Brown, and other marginalized peoples in the United States.  WE SHUT DOWN BUSINESS-AS-USUAL because business-as-usual is an out-of-control epidemic of police terror.

Last year, in partnership with comrades and allies, APTP launched 96 Hours of Direct Action in the Bay Area, and answered a national call to Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy which we did through a march that brought over 7,000 people into the streets of Oakland.  We believe it is important for our movement to draw on King’s legacy to ground ourselves, to reinforce our conviction and confidence in the tactics and strategy of disruptive direct action.

A year later, while we are starting to have an impact, we also see that we have a long long way to go. So this Martin Luther King Day weekend, Oakland’s Anti Police-Terror Project* is calling on you to help us SHUT IT DOWN – again.  Together, we will unleash the vast creativity and organizing capacity of our communities to produce a spectrum of disruptive and creative activity. In the spirit of MLK, we want these to actions to meaningfully interrupt business as usual whether that be with direct action, teach-ins, concerts or prayer vigils and to do so with action logic that links our resistance to fighting racism, economic injustice, and imperialism.  We want you to plan these actions independently, but together we will coordinate collective support for these actions through a spokescouncil so that they have maximal support and impact.

Please visit the facebook event page: Updates, meeting agendas, calendar, and other info will be posted.
https://www.facebook.com/events/632827553487864/

Invite your friends!

Check out the web site for more about APTP’s vision: http://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/new-events/

WE DEMAND:

• The resignation of Mayor Libby Schaaf
• The immediate termination of Chief Sean Whent
• The immediate termination of Chief Greg Suhr
• The immediate termination of the officers involved in the murders of Richard Perkins, Mario Woods, Yuvette Henderson, Amilcar Lopez, Alex Nieto, Demoriah Hogg and Richard Linyard
• The immediate reallocation of city budgets: reduce police budgets and reallocate those funds to provide for affordable housing that allows Black, Brown and other people of color to remain in San Francisco and Oakland.

This year, we shut it down in the names of:

Yuvette Henderson

Nate Wilks

Richard Perkins

Richard Linyard

Demoriah Hogg

Yonas Alehegne

Amilcar Lopez

Mario Woods

Alex Nieto

#mlkshutitdown

#96hours

#reclaimMLK

Reminder this is a call out for affinity groups to organize autonomous solidarity actions in line with APTP’s Principles.
Questions, ideas, comments, or to get involved
Email aptpspokescouncil@gmail.com

Tomorrow! #ReclaimSF pic.twitter.com/PMeK4rnR2O

— FireWorks (@FireWorksBAY) January 6, 2016

We're holding a DIRECT ACTION TRAINING to DEFEND the Gill Tract FARM on Wednesday, the 6th between 6:30 and… https://t.co/Mzw30jeLZW

— Occupy the Farm (@occupyfarm) January 5, 2016

Homes Not Jails is a consensus-based collective of squatters and squat supporters who believe housing is a human right. Our goal is to open as much vacant housing as possible and to keep it open as long as possible. HNJ is a place to organize mutual aid among squatters and squat supporters and housing rights advocates in the bay. We actively fight to make our space inclusive and safe for everybody and combat oppression in all forms.

Kurdish Film Series in #Oakland coming up in solidarity w #Rojava first one Dec 20th 5:30pm @ 1501 Harrison St pic.twitter.com/u2CnfVpbFC

— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) December 17, 2015

“Suhr & Lee: Stop Killing SF & Its Black, Brown, Disabled & Poor People -Mayor Lie Must Resign & Greg Suhr Must be fired”

Bring a car, truck if you have on to help folks who are disabled- we will drive, march, walk up to his house which is three blocks away

Statement by impacted, displaced, and po’Lice terrorized:

For Mario Woods and all crimes of displacement and police terror against our poor, Black, Brown and disabled bodies we, the most impacted, are calling for the resignations of the San Francisco Mayor and Police Chief

“As a Black activist with a disability I have seen/read in 2015 alone three high-profile cases of police brutality against Black disabled men on the streets of San Francisco including the recent killing of Mario Woods,Today in 2015 we realize that more promises of training is not the only answer, it’s time for institutional changes in the police department and on the police commission board..” said Leroy Moore, Race and Disability writer for POOR Magazine and founder of Krip Hop Nation.

In response to San Francisco Police murders of Mario Woods, a disabled, African-American resident of the Bayview Hunters Point district of San Francisco, Amilcar Lopez earlier this year and Alex Nieto last year, a group of poor, disabled, Black, Brown, homeless and poor residents, advocates and youth who have personally dealt with eviction, displacement and police terror are demanding the immediate resignation of police chief Greg Suhr and his overseer SF Mayor, Ed Lee. This latest tragedy involving a young man of color murdered by police is directly connected to Mayor Lee’s prioritization of wealthy development over people. As well, we are putting forth and demanding an urgent solution; to elect a community member to the Police Review Commission and the San Francisco Planning Commission.

…In the beginning of the year we saw Bo Frierson of the Filmore almost tipped over from his wheelchair by an officer, in August we have seen seventeen cops take down Musa Fudge, a Black homeless man with a prosthetic leg in downtown and now a deadly shooting of Mario Woods, a Black man with a history of mental health disabilities in the Bayview district. Back in 2001 the community fought for the police crisis training after the shooting of another Black man with mental health disabilities, Idriss Stelley however more than ten years later, less than half of the department has undergone the training,and the watered down version of the training and funding snatched away and the recent shooting, all points to the effectiveness of the training has always been questionable and now have been seen as a band-aide that has never been the purpose to heal it is the purpose to keep the public quiet as the institutional culture of police continues to be hidden from the community . Leroy Moore.

“As the mother of a mentally disabled young African Sun who was murdered by San Francisco police department after a 911 call for help and who was involved in training police for years, iI don’t believe training can stop the police culture of murder against black, brown and disabled people,” said Mesha Irazarry, mother of Po’Lice murder victim Idriss Stelley. She continued, “They should defund the police and give the money to mental health providers, expecting police to respond to a mental health crisis is like expecting a mortician to deliver your baby.”

“Mayor Lee and Chief Suhr have shown a lack of leadership in this crisis. The Mayor in particular has shown no leadership at all levels and his reaction to the murder indicates how out of touch he is with the community. Mayor Lee and Chief Suhr need to resign”, said Tony Robles, Board president of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation.

The brutality of San Francisco police and housing policies against San Francisco’s low-income, African-American and communities of color are so flagrant that our collaboration of very grassroots, poor and impacted people-led organizations have no choice but to come forward with this demand before we are no longer here, said Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, Poverty Scholar and co-author of this statement and author of Criminal of Poverty, Growing Up Homeless in America. She continued, “Police policies put in place by Mayor Lee’s administration have increased our homelessness, have increased our arrests and incarceration and have led to our eventual removal as poor people, as disabled people, as people of color.”

The co-authors of this statement represent the most impacted residents of San Francisco, a city with less than 3% of its African-American population left,down from over 20%, a city with a police chief who enables the extra-judicial killing of its young Black , Brown and poor residents and a City run by a Mayor who because of his investment in luxury development and displacement, makes it impossible for its Black, Brown and Low-income elders and families to remain here.

This media release is co-authored by disabled, homeless, poor, Black and Brown leaders at POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE, the Idriss Stelley Foundation, Krip Hop Nation and The Manilatown Heritage Foundation and The Coalition on Homelessnes #######

link to statement:http://www.poormagazine.org/mario-woods-san-francisco-call-mayor-police-chief-resign

Our next meeting will be on Thursday at SEIU local 1020 at 6 pm. Enter at 350 Rhode Island . Enter on Kansas Street side between 16 th and 17th street side.

What really happened at the Paris Climate Talks and what does it mean now that they are over? Hear first hand from Kathy Dervin, 350 Bay Area, and other local activists.

Why does local action matter? Learn about the City of Berkeley’s progress in reaching its climate action goals and how YOU can take action now through the Transition Streets program and the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition.  Bring your questions and ideas on how we’re going to transition to a lower carbon, more equitable and connected future. Please feel free to bring a snack to share around 6:30 pm (ditching plastics if you can). Film starts at 7.

For more info: info [at] transitionberkeley.com
website: http://www.transitionberkeley.com

This event is co-sponsored by Transition Berkeley, the BFUU’s Social Justice Committee, the Ecology Center and the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition

Wheelchair accessible.

Court Support for Janye

SUPPORT JANYE WALLER! – arrested in an obvious case of racial profiling, in which the cops said he “fit the description” of a crime he did not commit. A witness to the “crime” immediately confirmed that Janye had nothing to do with it, but Janye was still taken into custody where he was questioned and then leveled with serious charges related to last year’s protests in Oakland against the non-indictments for the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

JANYE WALLER IS A YOUNG BLACK ACTIVIST, A LOCAL OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA. He lives and works in Oakland, providing financial support to his mother, his two younger brothers, and his cousin. He attended Berkeley Community College where he planned to major in Accounting, but had to take leave in order to help support his family, and he hopes to return to college soon. Janye also volunteers at a social center in West Oakland that works to empower black and indigenous people living in the Bay Area through education and mutual aid. Within this space Janye works tirelessly, helping coordinate and administer programs focusing on skills like urban farming, which foster both community and individual autonomy.

JANYE IS THE ONLY PERSON WHO IS CURRENTLY FACING SERIOUS CHARGES AFTER THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FLOODED THE STREETS DURING THE WAVE OF PROTESTS IN THE BAY AREA LAST WINTER. After several high profile police killings of young black men, the Bay Area, like much of the rest of the country, surged into a wave of protest and resistance. The state responded by using the legal system as a tool of repression, threatening incarceration and steep fines for some of those involved in these actions. It is sad but obvious that the one person getting targeted for that beautiful moment of protest is a strong and politicized young black man.

Facebook page

Mayor Lee has been decidedly absent as we have sought dialogue with him about Chief Suhr’s inability to run a police force. Chief Suhr has created a culture of racism and brutalization that gave those five officers permission to assassinate Mario Woods. If he will not fire Chief Suhr, who refuses to step down, then we will let him know that he can go too. If we do not get justice, he will not get peace!!! We will be at the doors of San Francisco’s City Hall for the Mayor’s Inauguration not in celebration, but in protest!

Everyone please try to wear black. The mayor may be celebrating his re-election but we will turn it into a funeral march in honor of Mario Woods

#calltoaction #justice4mariowoods #mariowoods #shutdownSF #BlackLivesMatter #firechiefsuhr pic.twitter.com/18O61d9eck

— Justice4MarioWoods (@Justice4MWNow) January 2, 2016

Middle East – Justice First, Peace at Last

The Communist Party USA (Oakland/Berkeley) invites you to a discussion: Middle East – Justice First, Peace at Last.

Suggested Readings:

Communist Party of Israel, ‘Palestinian & Israeli Protesters: “The Last Day of the Occupation is the First Day of Peace”’ http://maki.org.il/en/?p=6287.

Uri Avnery, ‘ The Reign of Absurdiocy’. http://www.politicalaffairs.net/a-powerfful-isreali-critique-of-the-concept-of-international-terrorism-and-wars-without-end-against-it-by-norman-markowitz/.

Salam Ali, ‘The Iraqi Uprising Against Corruption And Sectarianism, http://iraqiletter.blogspot.com/

Come and help us draw awareness to and fight unjust debt!

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism”  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Spokescouncil Meetings are scheduled to take place:

January 5th @ 7pm at the OMNI

January 9th @ 7 pm @ the OMNI

January 12th @ 7pm (San Francisco Location TBD)

January 14th @ 7pm (Location TBD)

The MLK weekend will once again culminate in a King Day march that embodies the true spirit of King’s resistance to capitalism, imperialism and racism.

Over the last year, in the Bay Area alone, there have been dozens of police murders.  In San Francisco, we have most recently seen the brutal execution of Mario Woods, in addition to police beating a disabled man in front of the Twitter building and racist text messages exchanged between SFPD on-duty officers.

In Oakland, we have seen 8 Black men murdered by police since only June of 2015. In fact, a recent graphic by Mapping Police Violence shows that in 2015, Oakland ranks third in police killings per million people in 60 of America’s largest cities.

Police are the shock troops of gentrification.  Mayors give them a mandate: make this city appealing to developers by any means necessary.  City Councils fund police and constantly seek to expand their numbers and their powers. As a result, people of color are being pushed out of cities at unprecedented rates, by an out of control rental market, increased police occupation and terrorism against communities of color, as well as crackdowns on those who dare protest these unjust policies.

A year ago, people across the country began taking to the streets in unprecedented numbers; storming shopping centers, blocking streets and highways, interrupting cultural events and public transit.  And the people SHUT IT DOWN. We SHUT IT DOWN because there is a state-sponsored war on Black, Brown, and other marginalized peoples in the United States.  WE SHUT DOWN BUSINESS-AS-USUAL because business-as-usual is an out-of-control epidemic of police terror.

Last year, in partnership with comrades and allies, APTP launched 96 Hours of Direct Action in the Bay Area, and answered a national call to Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy which we did through a march that brought over 7,000 people into the streets of Oakland.  We believe it is important for our movement to draw on King’s legacy to ground ourselves, to reinforce our conviction and confidence in the tactics and strategy of disruptive direct action.

A year later, while we are starting to have an impact, we also see that we have a long long way to go. So this Martin Luther King Day weekend, Oakland’s Anti Police-Terror Project* is calling on you to help us SHUT IT DOWN – again.  Together, we will unleash the vast creativity and organizing capacity of our communities to produce a spectrum of disruptive and creative activity. In the spirit of MLK, we want these to actions to meaningfully interrupt business as usual whether that be with direct action, teach-ins, concerts or prayer vigils and to do so with action logic that links our resistance to fighting racism, economic injustice, and imperialism.  We want you to plan these actions independently, but together we will coordinate collective support for these actions through a spokescouncil so that they have maximal support and impact.

Please visit the facebook event page: Updates, meeting agendas, calendar, and other info will be posted.
https://www.facebook.com/events/632827553487864/

Invite your friends!

Check out the web site for more about APTP’s vision: http://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/new-events/

WE DEMAND:

• The resignation of Mayor Libby Schaaf
• The immediate termination of Chief Sean Whent
• The immediate termination of Chief Greg Suhr
• The immediate termination of the officers involved in the murders of Richard Perkins, Mario Woods, Yuvette Henderson, Amilcar Lopez, Alex Nieto, Demoriah Hogg and Richard Linyard
• The immediate reallocation of city budgets: reduce police budgets and reallocate those funds to provide for affordable housing that allows Black, Brown and other people of color to remain in San Francisco and Oakland.

This year, we shut it down in the names of:

Yuvette Henderson

Nate Wilks

Richard Perkins

Richard Linyard

Demoriah Hogg

Yonas Alehegne

Amilcar Lopez

Mario Woods

Alex Nieto

#mlkshutitdown

#96hours

#reclaimMLK

Reminder this is a call out for affinity groups to organize autonomous solidarity actions in line with APTP’s Principles.
Questions, ideas, comments, or to get involved
Email aptpspokescouncil@gmail.com

Despite unparalleled demonization, military threats, and sanctions the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) opens an unprecedented window into life in cities and countryside alike, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where the Cold War lives on, and how the country took a hitherto little-known path towards socialism.

Gloria La Riva is a lifelong social activist and organizer with the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.  She visited North Korea in 1989 and 2015.

Sharat G. Lin, PhD writes on global political economy, labor migration, and public health.  He is a research fellow and former president of the San José Peace and Justice Center.

Now meeting once a month, on the fourth Sunday, instead of twice a month.

4:30 pm Program Part 1:
Issues Roundtable, Gitmo, misc. topics
6:00 pm Vegetarian Potluck Dinner
live music, Mike Rufo, Vic Sadot, Francis Collins
7:00-9:00pm Program, Part 2:
Joanna Macy: Keynote on “Active Hope”

Speakers/Facilitators

Harvey Wasserman and Jon Simon: Clean Elections and Voting Machines
Dennis Burnstein, KPFA host, poet
Donald Goldmacher, “Heist” filmmaker/producer: the new Berkeley Progressive Alliance
Linda Seeley, SLO Mothers for Peace: Shut Diablo Canyon Now!
Shahid Buttar, Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation: Privacy Rights, Surveillance
Cynthia Papermaster, No More Gitmos and Ann Fagan Ginger, Meiklejohn Institute: Shut Gitmo and Prosecute Torture
Anna Cecelia Blackshaw: SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice)
Susan Harman: Public Banking
Toby Blome, Codepink: Ending Drone Wars
George Lippmann: Berkeley Peace & Justice Commission, Police Accountability Civilize and De-militarize the police; stop police murders and brutality
John Lindsay-Poland, AFSC: Stop Urban Shield Audit the Pentagon, End U.S. Wars of Occupation and Plunder

Many activists are overwhelmed with the variety of issues needing their attention. The number of meetings, protests, and actions of various sorts are causing burnout, but worse, we are not seeing many victories and we need some victories to have hope and to keep going to make this world a just and healthy one.

This 2016 election year will be a real opportunity for change if we take advantage of the predicted huge voter turnout to turn the corporate-funded Republicans and Democrats out of office who are not protecting the environment, upholding the law, or legislating for citizens’ needs. Can we unite behind progressive candidates and elect them? We think so. We know it’s possible given the current disgust with the mainstream political parties, the gridlock in Washington, and the corruption that’s evident and literally killing us.

The hoped-for goal of the gathering will be to identify actions and strategies that are, or could, lead to victories on the local, state, national and international level.

Another goal is to cross-pollinate and enhance our limited resources by working together more, by sharing ideas, support and communication so we can better join our voices and creative actions for more clout and more effective results.

The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.

Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.

Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.

The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 million per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.

Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!