Almost 600 people of color have been killed by police in California just in the last 5 years.

On July 1, people who have been impacted by police violence–family members, formerly incarcerated, community members–will encircle the California Capitol building and hold up the names of those killed by police.

Click the Ticket button on this page to receive event updates or to volunteer to hold up a name of the fallen.

We call on state legislators to:

–Defund the $31B police and prison industrial complex
–Hold police who kill accountable
–Prevent police unions from donating to district attorneys and judges
–Dismantle the machinery of systemic racism (restore voting rights, Ban the Box, etc.)
–Distance the state from vestiges of slavery by removing Involuntary Servitude from our State Constitution
–Establish an independent community oversight board with subpoena power to investigate police violence

Join All of Us or None, CA legislators, and victims of police violence to honor those killed by the police and to press forward with vital change.

We will also be registering people to vote, as well as providing information about campaigns to pass ACA 6 to restore voting rights, and to remove slavery / indentured servitude from the California constitution.

To receive event updates or to volunteer to hold up a name of the fallen, click the ticket button or go to: https://bit.ly/StopKillingUsCA

For more information, contact:

Sacramento: Aaliyah Muhammad
916.501.9988 / aaliyah@prisonerswithchildren.org

California: Bridget Cervelli
805.270.9853 / bridget@prisonerswithchildren.org

Join the Gray Panthers.
Alex Werth from East Bay Housing Organizations will discuss “Eviction Moratoriums 101” – a presentation on the status of renter protections in Alameda County, Berkeley, and Oakland.  Slides available with q and a.

If you knew Margy Wilkinson, who died Saturday night, we will take a little time to remember her.

As time permits, we will conclude with member concerns, and action opportunities, including Berkeley Tenants Convention Online candidates forum July 5

To join Gray Panthers Zoom Meeting
Time: July 1, Wednesday 1:30 — This is a recurring meeting most Wednesday’s
For Zoom online:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5108426224
Meeting ID: 510 842 6224
One tap mobile +16699006833,,5108426224# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location (long distance charges may apply)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 510 842 6224

Other announcements and updates will follow as time permits.

Memory of Margy Wilkinson of Friends of Adeline

We’re making 4 stops to call for liberty, with a speaker and activity at each stop, and a cool video to be made of the event. We’ll have flags and posters for decorating your cars.

We are partnering with SF Bay Extinction Rebellion, DSASF IRIS, and other groups.

The stops will center on: defunding police, defunding the Pentagon, funding community, protecting the Earth.

1:00 pm: Meet up at SF City Hall to decorate cars, get instructions and route maps. 1 Carlton Goodlet Place, SF.
1:30 pm: First Caravan Stop, 762 Fulton St., to demand “Defund the Police; Fund Communities!”
2:00 pm: Second Caravan Stop, Broadway @ Divisadero, Nancy Pelosi’s house, to demand “Defund War, Fund Life!” Health Care, Housing, Clean Energy, Education
3:00 pm: Third Caravan Stop, Bay View Hunters Point, location TBD
4:00 pm: Pie and lemonade picnic, Bay View Hunters Point

While the 4th of July is traditionally celebrated by the United States to celebrate “independence” and “freedom”, CODEPINK goes against it by saying there is no true freedom until we are independent from war! No one is free until we are all free! Join us for a safe, socially distant peace caravan where we will call to #DivestFromWar, #HealthcareNotWarfare, #SanctionsKill, and more.

Want to know more about OPD’s share of the Oakland budget? Want to learn about the history of APTP’s Defund OPD campaign?

Register for our Defund OPD Teach-In at https://t.co/yGOmYamK7D#defundopd #defundpolice pic.twitter.com/IaMyT2XcUm

— Defund OPD (@DefundOPD) July 3, 2020

***>> EMAIL STRIKE.DEBT.BAY.AREA@GMAIL.COM FOR ZOOM INFO A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING. <<***

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts a non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, and How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century.

For our July, August and September discussions we will be reading  ‘The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy’ by Stephanie Kelton. (Find it at your local bookstore or through this site.)

For July, we will have read the first two chapters.

For August, we will have read chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6,

For September, chapters 7 and 8.

The book is easy reading, and it would be easy to catch up.  Join us – all are welcome!

Stephanie Kelton’s brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country.

Kelton was chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (minority staff) and an advisor to the Bernie2016 presidential campaign. Kelton is a regular commentator on national radio and television and speaks across the world at large gatherings of people interested in global finance, political economy and public policy. She has superb connections in all areas of print and broadcast national media. Her op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg.

For July, we will also have read two shorter pieces, following up on themes we have taken up in previous readings:

• The Neoliberal Era is Ending – What Comes Next? by Rutger Bregman
• From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring.

Zoom connection link

EBDSA members have the opportunity to help pass the largest tax increase in history on California’s wealthiest commercial property owners, raising $10-12 billion per year for public education and social services. With the Movement for Black Lives uprising deepening into the call for defunding the police, it will be necessary to expand revenues required to build alternative, sustainable public services, and practices. Progressive taxation—especially taxing the rich—is an essential path to accomplish that goal. “Schools and Communities First” (SCF), on the November 3 ballot, is backed by labor and opposed by the most reactionary sectors of capital.

A three-part education series will provide background for EBDSA participation in the campaign. Part I reviews the story of austerity politics and increasing inequality in California with Prop 13—which SCF proposes to reform—from 1978 to the present. Part II looks at the history of public-sector unionism and how a left-wing labor-community coalition won Prop 30, a ‘tax the rich’ ballot measure, in 2012. Part III will supply an overview of the SCF campaign, and explore how EBDSA members can plug in effectively. Biweekly on ZOOM, beginning Monday, June 29, presented by labor historian Fred Glass for EBDSA Labor Committee.

Where: Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81851574731?pwd=Y1RITkRZQjZPSFRvQmxoMENXeXpGUT09

COME THRU AND SUPPORT! We need everyone to come and demand justice for Breonna Taylor and Vanessa Guillén. Keep in mind this will be a caravan to Oakland so make sure to eat and hydrate yourselves before you come.

We will be marching in Oakland so bring any supplies you need! Stay 6ft apart and wear your masks at all times. As we all know there has been a lot of disagreements with the black and brown community but this is time to show people that WE can come together and unite.

DM @alejvndxa if you would like to bring any supplies or would like to speak out or help organize this protest!!
All help is VERY much appreciated

TOMORROW 7/14 there is a Speakout at Driver’s Plaza @ 11:30 am. This is organized by Auntie Frances Moore’s #SelfHelpHungerProgram and Phat Beets, who provide regular services like this food/PPE/sanitation supply drive by SHHP.

SHOW UP to stand against racist displacement! pic.twitter.com/XvSLYgggAf

— The Village, Oakland (@VillageOakland) July 13, 2020

Join Sunflower Alliance, the Sunrise Movement, and other climate activists to support workers at the Oakland Telegraph Ave. MacDonald’s, who have been on strike since May demanding PPE, sick pay, hazard pay and social distancing.

The workers report that they were asked to wear dog diapers for PPE,  that they got no sick pay when they were sick and thought they had COVID, and that the store was not enforcing social distancing. Of the 33 workers, 12 ended up getting COVID and 31 of them are now on strike. See news story here

Join Fight for 15 for a short march/rally on July 20, a national day of action for Fight for 15., starting at 11 am at Mosswood Park, then march to the Telegraph McDonald’s (march route here) where there will be a noon rally.

Donate to MacDonald’s workers strike fund here

Register for the action here

Join Berkeley Copwatch!

Register today for our new Berkeley Copwatch Volunteer Training 2020!
If you’ve been looking for a way to plug into the movement that is happening NOW, this could be what you’re looking for.

Topics Include:
1. Know Your Rights
2. How to Film Police
3. Shift Procedures
4. Overview of Berkeley Municipal Codes
5. De-Escalation Techniques
and much more!


Think globally, ACT LOCALLY!
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuceysrj0uGNaFx1Bb7m9SXbOVALR6vFrl
DONATE NOW!

Zoom connection link

EBDSA members have the opportunity to help pass the largest tax increase in history on California’s wealthiest commercial property owners, raising $10-12 billion per year for public education and social services. With the Movement for Black Lives uprising deepening into the call for defunding the police, it will be necessary to expand revenues required to build alternative, sustainable public services, and practices. Progressive taxation—especially taxing the rich—is an essential path to accomplish that goal. “Schools and Communities First” (SCF), on the November 3 ballot, is backed by labor and opposed by the most reactionary sectors of capital.

A three-part education series will provide background for EBDSA participation in the campaign. Part I reviews the story of austerity politics and increasing inequality in California with Prop 13—which SCF proposes to reform—from 1978 to the present. Part II looks at the history of public-sector unionism and how a left-wing labor-community coalition won Prop 30, a ‘tax the rich’ ballot measure, in 2012. Part III will supply an overview of the SCF campaign, and explore how EBDSA members can plug in effectively. Biweekly on ZOOM, beginning Monday, June 29, presented by labor historian Fred Glass for EBDSA Labor Committee.

Where: Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81851574731?pwd=Y1RITkRZQjZPSFRvQmxoMENXeXpGUT09

Join Bay Area Amazonians, Tesla workers, Gig Workers Collective, People’s Strike Bay Area, Workers United Against COVID-19, & other essential workers on a creative caravan for worker safety, workers’ rights, & worker solidarity.

RSVP: https://bayareaamazonians.org/petition-delivery-action

Or just show up!

Meet very early in the morning this Saturday outside the Amazon San Leandro warehouse,  at the nearby Walmart parking lot.

Amazon is putting workers’ lives at risk. Drivers don’t have access to COVID data from the warehouse workers and vice versa, even though they interact daily. Amazon is even delaying release of information about infections because they’re required to pay people to quarantine at home, so sometimes they wait until after the quarantine period is over before they tell people they might have been exposed!

We will deliver signatures on this petition demanding that Amazon shut down the warehouse for 14 days of deep cleaning: https://www.coworker.org/petitions/close-dsf4-for-deep-cleaning-and-pay-workers-for-the-time-off-work

Protest against Alameda County Sherriff budget increase tomorrow 1pm 1401 lakeside drive, Oakland.

Alameda County County Supervisors approved a budget that increases the sheriff department budget by $106 Million, $318 Million over the next three years.#oakmtg #oaklandprotest

— BackPorch Lobby (@BackPorchLobby) August 6, 2020