Calendar
Grassroots journalism is on the rise. In recent years, reporters on social media have set new journalistic norms to reach sources and break stories. Simultaneously, renewed interest in local news during COVID-19 has bolstered a movement for non-profit news, exemplified by startups like The Oaklandside and The American Journalism Project.
What is non-profit news? What do developments in the local news landscape mean for journalism’s civic mission? How can timeless philosophical questions about privacy and community; democracy and the public sphere, be brought to bear on this rapidly evolving landscape?
On Thursday, April 8 at 4pm, join California Humanities and Dr. Ray Briggs, Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University and co-host of the Philosophy Talk radio program, for an hour’s conversation with California journalists and thinkers.
Moderator
- Dr. Ray Briggs, Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University and co-host of the Philosophy Talk radio program
Panel
- Tasmeen Raja, Editor- in-Chief of The Oaklandside
- Reyna Olaguez, Executive Director of South Kern Sol
- Megan Garvey, Executive Editor of KPCC + LAist
About this Event
In personal stories from twenty years of activism and reporting, an award-winning journalist calls on readers to imagine a world without borders.
By the time Todd Miller spots him, Juan Carlos has been wandering alone in a remote border region for days. Parched, hungry and disoriented, he approaches and asks for a ride. Miller’s instinct is to oblige, but he hesitates: Furthering someone’s unauthorized entrance into the U.S. is a federal crime.
Todd Miller has been reporting from international border zones for over twenty-five years. In Build Bridges, Not Walls, he invites readers to join him on a journey that begins with the most basic of questions: What happens to our collective humanity when the impulse to help one another is criminalized?
A series of encounters—with climate refugees, members of indigenous communities, border authorities, scholars, visionaries, and the shape-shifting imagination of his four-year-old son—provokes reflections on the ways in which nation-states create the very problems that drive immigration, and how the abolition of borders could make the world a more sustainable, habitable place for all.
Is it possible to create a borderless world? How could it emerge, and how might it be better equipped to solve the global emergencies threatening our collective survival? Build Bridges, Not Walls is an inspiring, impassioned call to envision—and work toward—a bold new reality.
The Global Just Recovery Gathering is a free interactive 3-day online event focusing on designing a new path toward a better future.
There’ll be workshops, cultural sessions, artists and musicians from every corner of the world. The event starts April 9, 2021.
350.org is hosting this event as a space for climate and social justice movements.
Once you’ve entered the virtual conference website, you’ll be able to: choose which sessions you want to attend, join both plenary presentations and smaller interactive workshops, chat 1-1 or in groups with other conference participants from around the world,
You’ll need is a decent internet connection and a mobile phone/computer.
For questions, or for more information, visit 350.org.
- https://sfsu.zoom.us/j/5981414758?pwd=ZFlFWG9ubTFDalk4RHF0SUNNUmZ0Zz09
- Meeting ID: 598 141 4758
- Passcode: college
Bay Area Debtors’ Union: We’ll be continuing our discussion on positive institutional change within higher education. We’ll analyze two particular programs: University Leadership Network at UT Austin and First Generation Initiative in the UC system.
The Global Just Recovery Gathering is a free interactive 3-day online event focusing on designing a new path toward a better future.
There’ll be workshops, cultural sessions, artists and musicians from every corner of the world. The event starts April 9, 2021.
350.org is hosting this event as a space for climate and social justice movements.
Once you’ve entered the virtual conference website, you’ll be able to: choose which sessions you want to attend, join both plenary presentations and smaller interactive workshops, chat 1-1 or in groups with other conference participants from around the world,
You’ll need is a decent internet connection and a mobile phone/computer.
For questions, or for more information, visit 350.org.
Green Eco-Socialist Network – 3 part series with David Cobb, Meleiza Figueroa, David Bond, Chey Bell!
Join us for a deep dive into Eco-Socialism, and learn how the capitalist status quo deprives us of our human rights and aspirations. The first presentation in this 3-part series is an introduction to Eco-Socialism vs. Capitalism including a discussion of what Eco-Socialism may mean to you.
The world we need and deserve is not only possible, it is an imperative. We and our children will not survive the status quo.
Event is FREE – advance registration required: https://rebrand.ly/GreenEcoSocialism.
Here’s the Facebook event page.
Event opens with Comedian Chey Bell !
The two following presentations in the series will build on the first event and will be held on Feb. 20th and April 10th, 2021. Presentations will focus on Eco-Socialist platforms and programs and institutions being built around the country to shift away from capitalist systems and into a just, sustainable future.
2020 showed us how corporate America tripled their riches while we scrambled to feed our families and keep a roof over our heads. It’s time to break up big corporations! The Green Party platform and our Green New Deal seek to build an alternative economic system based on ecology and decentralization of power. We believe private ownership of production and state ownership of production are not ecologically sound, socially just, or democratic and that both contain built-in structures that advance injustices. We seek democratic decision making in communities and workplaces in balance with nature. This decentralized system is knows as co-ops, communalism, or ecological socialism (eco-socialism).
Please join the Ecosocialist Network for this kick ass kick off with California Greens: Cooperation Humboldt co-founder David Cobb, 2016 press director for Stein/Baraka presidential campaign & UC Berkeley PhD candidate Meleiza Figueroa, and David Bond of Los Angeles who was Kenneth Mejia’s campaign manager. Cobb is an attorney who was the 2004 Green Party candidate for U.S. President.
This is sure to be a riveting panel, with kick ass comedy, to boot, to kick off the series!
The Green Party of California invites you to join us for a discussion on EcoSocialism cohosted with the Green EcoSocialist Network (GEN).\
Register to attend HERE and share the Facebook event page.
Many people are considering what it means to be an EcoSocialist these days. In this second presentation of our three-part series, we explore how we can build EcoSocialist programs in our own communities. Featuring Hip Hop Artist and Spoken Word Performer Shamako Noble, Guest speakers include Kali Akuno Cooperation Jackson, Misty Cross Moms4Housing, David Cobb Cooperation Humboldt, Mel Figueroa David Bond, and Green Party CA State Delegates – Noura Khouri, Nassim Nouri who will explore a number of issues including indigenous rights, housing, co-ops + solidarity economies and more. Presentations will be followed by breakout sessions focused on non-reformists reforms designed to help move us towards a general strike and ultimately an EcoSocialist future! Register to attend HERE and share the Facebook event page.
The first event in this series, on Jan. 16, was an introduction to EcoSocialism vs. Capitalism and the recording can be viewed HERE. The third and final event in this series on April 10th, 2021, will build on the first two. This event is open to all and free, but advance registration is required at https://rebrand.ly/GreenEcoSocialism
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When two parties have effectively bought and sold US democracy, it exists to serve their corporate paymasters NOT the people. The Green Party platform represents the majority point of view within the U.S. and is no longer the alternative; the Green Party is the imperative. To build political power and get on the ballot, would take over 20 years for another party–and is very difficult to do unless you have billions of dollars. Unless people stop voting for ‘lesser evil’, then nothing’s going to change and we along with the planet, are doomed. Imagine for a moment however, if we were able to effectively focus our demands on the kind of agenda and electoral infrastructure the Green Party has with a strong and unified message and everyone actually stood for and voted for what they believed in – then everything not only could, but would actually change.
The Global Just Recovery Gathering is a free interactive 3-day online event focusing on designing a new path toward a better future.
There’ll be workshops, cultural sessions, artists and musicians from every corner of the world. The event starts April 9, 2021.
350.org is hosting this event as a space for climate and social justice movements.
Once you’ve entered the virtual conference website, you’ll be able to: choose which sessions you want to attend, join both plenary presentations and smaller interactive workshops, chat 1-1 or in groups with other conference participants from around the world,
You’ll need is a decent internet connection and a mobile phone/computer.
For questions, or for more information, visit 350.org.
Our speaker, Laura Wells, just returned from two weeks in Nicaragua with a delegation sponsored by Sanctions Kill, Alliance for Global Justice, and Friends of the ATC. When she received the announcement for the delegation, she felt instantly inspired. She had already visited the other two countries named as the “Troika of Tyranny” by Trump’s Secretary of State Pompeo. She knew “tyranny” was a lie about Cuba and Venezuela and wanted to see if it was also a lie about Nicaragua. She was especially interested because there is a common impression across the political spectrum that Daniel Ortega was good in the 1980s but became corrupt and authoritarian when he returned to the presidency in 2006. See more at https://laurawells.org/ten-things-for-us-to-understand-about-latin-america/
Laura will report back on the struggles in Latin America and the Caribbean resisting US imperialism to create a better world, based on her visits and studies. In the Q&A, she would like to engage in a robust discussion of what we can learn from the shift in consciousness in Latin America and about their advances toward socialism.
Laura Wells is a longtime political and social activist. She is a leader in the Green Party, running for Congress in 2018 and for governor in 2010. In 2002 she garnered nearly a half million votes in her run for California state controller. A former financial systems analyst, she supports taxing the rich, implementing public banks, and making significant changes to Proposition 13.
We highly recommend her blog: http://laurawells.org/
LOGIN INFORMATION
We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible, but the Zoom room will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc.. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open until about 1 pm for informal discussion.
Raj Sahai is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2591082607?pwd=TTdlcFlnZEVCdWt2VlRHeWZLeHNKQT09
Meeting ID: 259 108 2607
Passcode: 6MwQP7
One tap mobile
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+13462487799,,2591082607#,,,,*396538# US (Houston)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc4RrpvAiQ
Join us for our April General Meeting of East Bay DSA!
The meeting will be conducted via Zoom — please register and find the call-in info below!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88197589947?pwd=eDJvajZYdUF1VlRxd1loRGI0QThBdz09
Meeting ID: 881 9758 9947
Passcode: 215458
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,88197589947#,,,,,,0#,,215458# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,88197589947#,,,,,,0#,,215458# US (Houston)
RSVP to action@ sunflower-alliance.org by 10 am on Friday, April 9 to receive a Zoom link, along with the agenda and notes about our campaigns.
We are very pleased to announce that Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia will be a special guest at our next meeting, where we’ll discuss late-breaking Just Transition-related news on the county, state and federal levels.
California Assemblymember Tim Grayson and Congressman Mark DeSaulnier have recently introduced legislation that would provide processes and resources for Contra Costa County to plan a just transition from fossil fuels. Learn about these bills and what they could mean for workers and the community. And watch this space for more details as speakers from state and federal legislative offices confirm.
Please come with suggestions, questions and your grassroots enthusiasm. Good things are definitely in motion!
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
Capitalism and US imperialism are faced with a crisis of legitimacy brought about by first amendment rights given to the Press. Journalists are protected from control by laws passed by Congress. However, private control of the press has allowed corporations and the capitalist class to maintain gatekeeper status for most information, news and propaganda. The internet changed that by opening a door to information and publications not controlled by the power establishment. Organizations like Wikileaks were free to reveal the brutality, corruption and hypocrisy of Western governments and corporate pillaging. In response, the US and its allies are attempting to control journalism by defining a “journalist class” so they can delegitimize journalists and any news outlet outside their control.
Although Assange has been a member of the Australian MEAA journalist union since 2011, western governments and corporate media are attempting to characterize him as “illegitimate” and therefore not covered by first amendment rights, opening him to charges under the 1918 Espionage Act. This attack on Assange is designed to create fear within journalism and to set a precedent that state power to control information is global. The ruthless and illegal prosecution and imprisonment of Assange is not only about the vicious repression of an individual who defied western imperialism. These events reveal western governments’ desperate collusion to undermine all Press Freedom in an attempt to maintain the capitalist power structure.
For the April Green Sunday, Steve Zeltzer will discuss the role of Assange as a journalist, the attack on journalists and journalism by the capitalist class and the role of the media worker union and labor in general in taking up the case of Julian Assange. Kim White will provide an introduction to the Wikileaks archives so people will gain an understanding of what is contained within the archives with the goal of providing them with the tools to conduct their own searches.
Steve Zeltzer is a member of CWA Pacifica Media Workers Freelance unit, the Producer of WorkWeek and Executive Producer of Pacifica’s Covid, Race & Democracy. He is also a Founder of www.laborfest.net and a Member of United Front Committee For A Labor Party: https://www.facebook.com/masslaborpartyusa/
Kim White has been involved in many organizations including: Vallejo for Community Planned Renewal (VCPR), a grass roots group that staved off an attempt by Shell Oil and Bechtel to locate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Mare Island; Occupy Oakland Research Group; Strike/Debt Bay Area; Occupy Forum San Francisco; and Vallejo Participatory Budgeting.
For more information see:
https://bayaction2freeassange.org/
https://assangedefense.org/about/
https://defend.wikileaks.org/take-action/
OTU’s Mission
The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.
Monthly Meetings
The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.
If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.
Join us at the Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee meeting tomorrow at 130pm to tell them we need to reimagine, not reform.https://t.co/0BUGUI1vTP pic.twitter.com/GJLAHpUF83
— Anti Police-Terror Project (@APTPaction) April 13, 2021
Eyes on ICE: Why ICE can’t be Reformed Only Abolished, A Truth and Accountability Forum
Join United We Dream Network for #EyesOnICE: Truth and Accountability Forum! // Únete a United We Dream Network para La Migra en la Mira: Foros Sobre Verdad y Rendición de Cuentas!
https://secure.everyaction.com/C8kmklw0P0CDZdI9Glz9ag2
We meet virtually on zoom on the second Wednesday of every month from 6-7:30pm. These meetings are open to the public. The content of our meetings span from trainings, campaign updates, teach-ins, debates, roundtable discussions, etc. Click below to join the meeting or use this link: https://zoom.us/j/96555663590
2021 General Meeting Dates: February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, June 9, July 14, August 11, September 8, October 13, November 10, December 8
East Oakland residents are meeting tonight to hear about the MACRO pilot – a community response to some emergency calls, instead of police. We take care of us! We must participate in implementing the program so it serves us well.
Register here: https://t.co/no80CudgXE pic.twitter.com/MVyUBjA3bI— Coalition for Police Accountability (@oakcopoversight) April 14, 2021
Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email green-new-deal@eastbaydsa.org.
Where: Zoom – please RSVP for the URL & instructions.
Learn EV Basics.
We’ll review available electric vehicles, charging at home and on the road, incentives, total cost of ownership, and you’ll have the chance to ask the questions you’ve always wondered about EVs.
These are the following dates and times we are presenting.
Tuesday, March 16th, 7pm
Wednesday, March 24th, 12pm
Monday, March 29th, 5pm
Wednesday, April 14th, 7pm
Tuesday, April 20th, 4:30pm
Thursday, April 29th, 12:30pm