Calendar
On January 3 a revised deal with Barclays bank will go before the bankruptcy judge in Detroit. This deal that slightly improves the original one, will still exempt Bank of America and United Bank of Switzerland from the bankruptcy process that threatens Detroit workers pensions and the assets of the people from art, to water and parks.
Demo at BofA near Fruitvale BART at noon to support Detroit. (They are demonstrating at the courthouse Friday am and then going inside to pack the courtroom.) NY is working on a demonstration near Wall Street for Jan. 3, as well.
Cancel Detroit’s Debt –Make the Banks Pay, They Owe Us
Hands Off Our Pensions
Save City Services and Assets
Make the Banks Fund a Jobs Program
Oppose Barclays Swap Deal Which Will Cost the City of Detroit Its Future
Facebook event, RSVP and more info.
Last month we had an awesome booth, surveillance video and clips from 1984 streaming, banners and handouts. Then the powers-in-the-sky decided to pour down freezing rain.
We’ve now applied for a cloudless sky, and to untilt Earth’s axis so that it will be warm and daylight until late. Renee Domingo <WE LOVE BIG BROTHER> is considering the application. We’ll let you know.
Do come out regardless and <BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING> help us spread <FREEDOM IS SLAVERY> the word.
The Alan Blueford Center For Justice is honored to host Indo Slapmaster, Mike-aka DeeJay-West, Oscyi MT Mayor, & Moe Green for 1st Friday in Oakland, this is a show for The People, so COME ON!!!
On Saturday, Jan. 4, between 10:00AM and 5:00PM, the Berkeley Post Office Defenders will have an information table in front of the downtown Berkeley Post Office at 2000 Allston Way to inform people about the status of our strategies for halting the sale of that post office and fighting the privatization of the US Postal Service.
We will also have a petition for people to sign asking Mayor Tom Bates to vote for the proposed zoning overlay – a precedent-setting strategy that will, if passed, preserve the entire Historic District around MLK Park, including the Post Office, for civic uses. See two writeups of this approach in the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.
Please consider stopping by our outreach table on Saturday to sign the petition, find out more about our ongoing efforts to retain our vital public goods, and learn of ways you can participate.
Or just come and hang out for a while!
Join us as we start a new year and plan a rally for early February demanding that Kamala Harris prosecute Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. The subcommittee meeting for this campaign will take place immediately following the main coalition meeting.
Get up-to-date on the civil lawsuit that is proceeding against OPD and the City of Oakland.
We will also be planning other events in conjunction with other groups, including an action in Sacramento in late January.
Join Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide mass surveillance center.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to: oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
In November the Planning Commission passed on to the Berkeley City a proposed Zoning Ordinance that would make the Post Office property less desirable to potential purchasers of the capitalist variety. We are still waiting for action on this from the City Council and are organizing to put pressure on City Council members to make sure this measure is brought up and passed.
The Postal Service has announced that they are contracting with Staples to provide Post Office window services inside Staples stores, using Staples employees instead of Post Office employees. There is already a pseudo Post Office operating inside the Berkeley Staples store (Shattuck & Durant). We conducted our first action against this privatization of postal services on December 21st.
Come and help plan our next actions in defense of our Post Office and against privatization and non living-wage jobs. We want to send a message to CBRE, the Post Office, Staples and Berkeley politicians that the sale will not be tolerated!
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Despite powerful attacks, Richmond became the first municipality in the nation to beat back Wall Street threats, litigation, and a campaign dedicated to end the city’s program using eminent domain to help underwater homeowners. How was the community, led by Mayor McLaughlin, able to hold off the banks, asset managers and securities units of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and AIG, the very same firms that caused the foreclosure crisis in the first place?
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For decades, environmental justice groups including Richmond Progressive Alliance, West County Toxics Coalition, and Communities for a better environment have fought Chevron, one of the world’s top polluters and a major tax evader whose refinery has long dominated the city. Chevron’s toxic, explosive, and corrosive chemicals and toxic releases cause devastating harm. To add insult to injury, Chevron vehemently opposes paying its fair share of taxes. Last fall, the oil giant pumped $1.2 million into city elections “They have been polluting our democracy along with polluting our environment,” said McLaughlin. The City of Richmond is currently suing Chevron for damages from the massive 2012 fire and Mayor McLaughlin has called on Chevron to pay its taxes and create a new corporate culture by putting the health and safety needs of Richmond residents before its profits. At the press conference announcing the city’s lawsuit against Chevron, McLaughlin was clear: “This isn’t just about money, it’s also about a culture of abuse. This suit is a situation requiring Chevron to be accountable to our community.”
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Richmond is on the rise. Mayor McLaughlin’s focus on working side by side with a community that has suffered decades of injustice is helping to showcase how an urban community is transforming itself in the 21st Century.
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More info at:
http://www.saverichmondhomes.org/
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Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements. Donations
to OccupyForum to cover costs are encouraged; no one turned away!
Let the City Council know that you are not happy with the idea of an oil terminal in Pittsburg! We are getting as many people as possible to come join us at the City Council meeting and show with our numbers and our voices that we do not want the WesPac project!
Some people will be making public comment, and you can do that if you want (we have tips on speaking for you), but we would love just to have your support!
Bring a friend!
via Pittsburg Defense Council.
Mothers in White will pleasd for justice for Andy at the January 7, Tuesday, meeting of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, at 1 p.m.
A bi-lingual flyer about the event includes a photo of Andy’s parents Sujey and Rodrigo over his coffin. Mrs. Lopez apparently plans to attend the event and may speak to the supervisors as a mother whose innocent son was killed by law enforcement.
“Every member of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is staring into a moral crisis!” reads the flyer. “What kind of ‘policy’ permits the brutal killing of a 13-year-old child who committed NO CRIME?” it asks. It poses the questions, “To what length would you go if your innocent child or grandchild was brutally murdered?”
The committee reported its intention to “create a dramatic visual impact” of at least 50 Mothers in White, as well as their allies, including men in white and the group Women in Black, which has appeared on street corners around the world to bear witness to those killed by violence.
People are invited to bring mirrors to hold up to the supervisors to examine themselves. Supervisor Mike McGuire apparently said that Andy’s death was a time to reflect in the mirror. This peaceful event intends such a reflection.
The color white was selected because it was Andy’s favorite color. White is not the absence of color, but the mixture of all colors, which is what this mass movement for justice seeks.
In the spirit of building solidaristic relationships between anarchist social centers, collectives, and event spaces, we will host a special panel and social hour at Station 40 on January 8 at 7 pm.
We’ve invited members of The Holdout (Oakland, theholdout.org), Outtaline (Emeryville), and The Base (Brooklyn, NY, thebasebk.org) to join us in a conversation about the activities we have been organizing in our spaces, and the political motivations that form what these activities look like. We also hope to touch on the impact of our spaces. After a short panel discussion, everyone is welcomed and encouraged to kick it! We’ll have food, tea, and games.
This event is open to the public, but those involved other collectives are especially encouraged to come and hang out with old and new comrades.
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2014/01/03/fcc/
Protest FCC Chair Wheeler
Thurs. Jan. 9th SF Bay Area
WIRELESS MICROWAVE RADIATION KILLS
Thomas E. Wheeler, recently appointed by President Obama as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will be speaking in Mountain View and Oakland, CA on Thursday, January 9. Join planned protests and speak out against increasing wireless health damage.
Fox in Charge of the Hen House: From 1992- 2004, Wheeler headed the wireless industry lobbying group, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA). During his stint at the CTIA, his own scientists told him that cell phones were causing brain tumors. He buried the data and fired the scientists.
Wheeler buried the truth. Now, we are burying the victims.
Mountain View Event
Wheeler will be speaking in Silicon Valley at the Computer History Museum – 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View. Protest outside starts at 11am, event is from 12-1pm (it is a free Commonwealth Club event and is now open to the general public.) You must sign up in advance here.
Click “register” first. Where it asks for your membership number simply enter “non-member.”
WE NEED YOU TO COME WITH SIGNS AND YOUR VOICES! We would also like to see babies, toddlers, preschoolers, teens, etc at both events. A funeral procession will be held for the victims of wireless technology. Dress in Black! Media will be there and we need to get our message across.
Oakland Event
Wheeler will be speaking at the Preservation Park Niles Hall at 1233 Preservation Park Way in Oakland at 7 pm. We will hold a rally at the main entrance on 12th St. starting at 6pm. Tickets to this free event are sold out but the public is free to attend the rally- more information here.
Again, bring your signs, voices, children, grandchildren and friends. Media will be there also. A funeral procession will be held for the victims of wireless technology. Dress in Black!
What we want:
- adequate health warnings on wireless devices
- a complete ban on wireless radiation in K-12 schools
- a recall on ‘smart meters’
- repeal of the 1996 Telecom Act
- defense of our copper-based landline network
- research-based wireless health standards
- Chair Wheeler to step down from the FCC
- Most of all, we want people to be told the truth- WIRELESS KILLS.
Please join us and spread the word to as many as possible. We look forward to seeing you there! If you have any questions about these events, or you are a member of the news media please call 925-285-5437 or 360-201-3959
Thank you so very much & we hope to see you all next week,
Ellie Marks, California Brain Tumor Association
Josh Hart, Stop Smart Meters!
p.s. please spread the word through social media- we depend on grassroots efforts to make events like these a success!
We cordially invite you to share your collective ideas and effects in the community. A night to share your projects and learn what else is happening with other collectives. If nothing else, it will be a night of art and mysticism.
6:00-7:30 – Collective discussion
7:30-8:00 – Poetry reading
8:00-9:30 – Musical ensemble
9:30-1:00 – Food and dance
Politics of Debt will be primarily discussing the Modern Monetary Theory vs. Austrian School proponents’ video debate. We will elaborate on what Modern Monetary Theory is and stands for.
A link to the public school webpage with the class info and reading/video links.
Community Rally and March to City Hall.
Stop the Crude Oil Storage and Raily Transfer Facility.
Keep Pittsburg safe and healthy.
Say NO to Toxic Racism,
Say NO to any more “DUMPS” in Pittsburg,
Say NO to Hazardous Facilities
next to Housing & Schools
We need to be righteously angry.
Let folks know we are mad as hell and
we ain’t gonna tolerate this.
On January 11th we will be holding a public forum to organize actions for March 15th, international day against police brutality. This forum will take place at the Alan Blueford Center for Justice, which is located near 25th on Telegraph Ave in Oakland.
Everyone is invited! We encourage approaching this forum as individuals rather than as an organization.
Hope to see you there!
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
24 Hours to Save the Post Office! A Festival of Celebration and Resistance.
It’s happening Saturday starting at 11:00 AM at the Post Office and going for 24 hours.
In November the Planning Commission passed on to the Berkeley City a proposed Zoning Ordinance that would make the Post Office property less desirable to potential purchasers of the capitalist variety. We are still waiting for action on this from the City Council and are organizing to put pressure on City Council members and the Mayor to make sure this measure is brought up and passed. We collected 600 petition signatures so far as part of that pressure and are aiming for a lot more!
The Postal Service has announced that they are contracting with Staples to provide Post Office window services inside Staples stores, using Staples employees instead of Post Office employees. There is already a pseudo Post Office operating inside the Berkeley Staples store (Shattuck & Durant). We conducted our first action against this privatization of postal services on December 21st.
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
OccupyForum presents
What’s That Stench???
Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Expansion
in the North Bay / Pittsburg
and the Campaign to Stop it in its Tracks
The WesPac Pittsburg Energy Infrastructure Project would transform Pittsburg CA into a major crude oil receiving, storage and shipping facility. WesPac develops, constructs, owns and operates infrastructure throughout North America for petroleum products handling, and Pittsburg is the next target for modernization and reactivation of its existing marine terminal and oil storage and transfer systems. Plans are to move Canadian tar sands crude to the Chevron and Shell refineries through pipelines and extended rail systems, load it onto ships and send it to Asia to the tune of 242,000 barrels per day. This is the same dirty crude slated for the Keystone XL pipeline, a project drawing widespread opposition. Even dirtier crude oil would be shipped to the WesPac facility from southern California. Oil would also come from a huge deposit in North Dakota, which, like the California oil, would be extracted by fracking. Do we want the Bay Area to be the locus of this scheme which threatens Pittburg and North Bay towns and our Bay,
not to mention the climate impact of burning all that fossil fuel???
Spills, leaks, blow-ups, smog, gas, fires like the one in Richmond, soil contamination, prolonged effects on area air and water quality and health effects such as asthma, cancer and birth defects, loom. Increased pollution from idling trucks, rail cars and ships — affecting wildlife, marshes and wetlands, the shoreline, polluted water in the delta (water used for drinking and agriculture), — jeopardized property values, and critically, significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions warming the climate are the risks and threats. This development would include:
� Pipelines: Expand existing pipelines and add new lines from rail cars to tanks;
� New Rail: Build crude-by-rail transload facility; extend tracks, greatly increase rail shipments right through town;
� Storage: Modernize and reactivate the site�s tanks and build new ones;
� Tanker trucks, diesel trucks: Mobilize for construction and transport: (congestion, diesel fumes, road deterioration, traffic hazards);
� Shipping: Dredge and pile drive to deepen the Bay and reopen, expand and modernize Marine Terminal