Calendar
Justice4Tyranny’s work is a visual exploration of the world’s social oppressions. He takes complex social ideas puts them into multifaceted layers of visual metaphors using symbolism and sattire. Among many themes, he highlights themes of heroinism, mass incarceration, subjugation of womyn, and gentrification. He is one of the premier emerging artists rising in the Bay Area and this work is a must see.
Artist Talk 7pm
Open reception with light refreshments following.
Tonight in #Oakland at 7pm, Building for National Prison Work Strike on Sept 9th. https://t.co/cAwaJJIJll pic.twitter.com/aG0BxOPO1A
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) June 18, 2016
SJC Presents the Film “Power of the Weak”
“The Power of the Weak” film, sponsored by BFUU’s SJC and the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity, is a documentary film by independent German filmmaker Tobias Kriele, which highlights being disabled does not have to mean weak. In this film, Jorgito, a young Cuban with severe cerebral palsy, shows how a society structured to support human development can make the disabled powerful.
Refreshments available.
June 18th, El Rio, Frisco500 bail fundraiser & benefit for the family of Jessica Nelson.. ✊🏾https://t.co/96OA2ToeH2 pic.twitter.com/gokhnDiDWT
— Equipto (@EQUIPTO) June 9, 2016
Come hear clean energy mavin Carol Weed of the Contra Costa Clean Energy Alliance on the status of Community Choice Energy in CoCo County, the three options under consideration, and next steps.
Come to the cryptoparty! We will have talks about electronic privacy, encryption technology, and why it matters. There will also be volunteers waiting to help you install encryption software on your computer and phone. Refreshments will also be present.
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 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. 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 four years! 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
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 billion 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!
On June 20, activists from 35+ countries will be demanding FREEDOM FOR OSCAR. Join us in Oakland. Oscar is a community organizer, a Vietnam veteran and a political prisoner for 35 years. Join this international day of solidarity following the UN Decolonization Committee Hearings to demand Oscar’s immediate relase. Let us add our voices demanding that President Obama commute Oscar’s sentence!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Film and Discussion with Ted Frazier
Harry Bridges (July 28, 1901–March 30, 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), adding warehouse workers to its membership, and led it for the next 40 years.
Harry Bridges — A Man and his Union chronicles the life of one of America’s most important and controversial left-wing labor leaders. He headed the International Longshoremen and Warehouseman Union from the 1930s to the 1970s and was a champion of workers’ causes on an international scale.
Harry Bridges was as controversial as he was charismatic. He was prosecuted by FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower alike, and convicted by a federal jury for having lied about Communist Party membership — a conviction which was set aside. On the West Coast, Bridges still excites passions both for and against the labor movement. In our current incarnation, the Movement looks to the unions to amplify the struggle.
Time will be allotted for announcements.
@sanasaleem OPD is rotten to its core and Libby’s got to go. Press conference on Tuesday 6/21 at 10 am in front of OPD HQ #byelibby
— APTP First Response (@aptpresponse) June 21, 2016
OPD is rotten to its core and Libby’s got to go
On Tuesday, June 21st at 10:00 AM, the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP), in coalition with Oakland Rising ACTION, Black Lives Matter, Causa Justa, Just Cause, Black Power Network, Ella Baker Center, Asians 4 Black Lives and the Oakland Alliance will hold a press conference in front of the Oakland Police Department.
Oakland’s police department has entered its 13th year of federal oversight, and as investigative reporters, academic researchers and our own soon-to-be ex-mayor have revealed over the last month, it’s clear that nothing has changed since the Riders case.
“OPD is still a bastion of predatory loose cannons who have seen time and again that they will not face accountability for killing, abusing and exploiting our community members,” said Asantewaa Boykin of APTP.
The Oakland community condemns the Mayor’s underwriting of state violence that began when she spent her entire first day in office with OPD. Since that day, OPD has murdered 7 Black men with no consequences.
“Instead of stepping back to acknowledge her mistake, the mayor has doubled down on her support for state-sponsored executions through her words and financial prioritization of policing over the education and employment of our youth,” continued Boykin.
The police department currently squanders 60% of the City of Oakland’s budget. The City Administrator, Mayor and Board of Supervisors have shown and stated that they’re incapable of managing the “frat house” with guns and handcuffs that prowls our streets day and night.
The community demands immediate action and commits to working toward building an Oakland where all of us can live free of police terror.
Demands
1. Community-controlled policing – Establish a fully funded community-nominated and controlled civilian review board with the power to hire, fire and discipline all members of the OPD.
2. Defund OPD and invest in the community – Cut the policing budget in half and redirect those millions into community-run job centers, programming for youth, re-entry resources, mental health services, tenant protections and education and very low-income housing.
3. Address the child sexual exploitation scandal in a meaningful way – Launch a full investigation by an outside agency that will investigate criminal cases influenced by predatory officers and account for the trafficking investigations they have compromised. Additionally, OPD must Publicly state that coercion and enticement of a minor is never the fault of the child.
4. Resignation of Mayor Libby Schaaf
Speak up Oakland! Tell City Council how you feel.
Ya’ll know that “rent is too damn high”. Community has been working hard this year to put into place measures to protect renters by asking the city to enact a #HousingMoratorium (which ends July 5th!) and additional ordinances on the November Ballot. Plus, given the recent upheaval with the policy, the Mayor and City Council are looking to reallocate funding from the police budget to other things.
Key items are as follows:
1. Item 16 on the Agenda: The Renter’s Protection Ordinance will do the following:
– Require owners to file a petition for rent increases above 60% Consumer Price Index for Bay Area. Currently, if a tenant gets a drastic rent increase, they have to petition to the city for arbitration, which places the burden of time, money, stress on the renter. This item will ask the landlord to justify the rent increase.
– Modify New Construction Exemptions to apply to developments built after Jan. 2002
– Require relocation funding to tenants in Owner Occupancy Evictions.
– Limit City Council’s ability to modify ordinances
– Increase of the transparency of the Office of Rent Program, requiring regular reports to city council.
– Establish new composition of the Rent Board to have majority renters. (Currently 2 renters, 2 Landlords, 3 neutral members, 1 neutral alternate). Initiative asks for 4 tenant members, 3 other members. One per district). Kaplan’s alternate proposal asks for an increase to 6 alternates.
– Board independence from City Council, City Attorney and City Administration.
Learn more here: http://www.oaklandtenantsunion.org/protect-oakland-renters-…
2. Item 14 on the agenda. Affordable Housing preference policy for local neighborhoods (ie a percentage of affordable housing is reserved for those that live in that district), and a residency or Oakland worker requirement for participants in Oakland’s First Time Buyer Loan Program.
3. Item 13 on the agenda: City Budget adjustments.
– Money for training OPD
– Delaying (Schaaf) or Eliminating (Rebecca Kaplan) the next OPD Training Academy to hire new cops
– Set aside 1.5 Million to fund Police Commission (may soon be voted on to be placed on the ballot in November)
Article: http://m.eastbayexpress.com/…/town-business-delete-the-poli…
Get involved in the campaign to stop Solitary Confinement.
Come to the Ella Baker Center’s June member meeting to learn how to get involved with our local campaigns to win jobs not jails, books not bars, and healthcare not handcuffs in Oakland. The meeting will now be held on June 22nd; the June 14th meeting has been canceled.
Free dinner will be provided and all are welcome.
The event is hosted at La Cultura Cura Cultural Arts Cafe, a social enterprise of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice that aims to employ and empower systems impacted youth and young adults.
Join us for free weekly meditation happy hour on Wednesdays, co-hosted by the Art of Living Eastbay Berkeley/Oakland.
We will teach simple and easy guided meditation and breathing techniques to let go of stress and trauma, let your hair down, and celebrate!
We believe that love is the universal language. We also believe that love is the universal cure to heal what ails societies worldwide. These meditation happy hours are our love offering to the community and are the result of a beautiful new & evolving partnership w/The Art of Living facilitated by Neelam Patil…& the universe ♥
A film about the search for truth & justice for human rights crimes committed by the Salvadoran military during the Civil War in the 1980s. The film follows the efforts by the families of the four U.S. churchwomen raped and murdered in El Salvador in 1980 to bring two leading Salvadoran Generals into a U.S. courtroom. Several Salvadoran survivors of torture are also featured who confront the same Generals in the same Florida courtroom using the same legal concept: command responsibility. 90 min.
Peter Stern, one of the attorneys, will speak after the screening.
Sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild of San Francisco;
For more info about the film: http://
RSVP: http://www.nlgsf.org/
Meet with community advocates in the fight against homelessness, those without houses, Berkeley City Councils staffers and interested citizens to discuss progress on Tiny Homes solutions to homelessness, and starting a Tiny Homes village.
Open as MANY homes as possible…
Hold them as long as possible…
Oakland, CA: Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement
Please participate in an informational demonstration on Thursday, in conjunction with actions all over California and throughout the U.S. Connect with family members, formerly incarcerated people, activists, and attorneys who struggle for prisoner human rights. Unity inside, unity outside!
Get involved in the movement to end solitary confinement. Pass out leaflets. Promote the Agreement to End Hostilities. Take action to Stop Sleep Deprivation torture in Pelican Bay SHU and women’s death row. Become a Human Rights Pen Pal.
#Oakland! Take it 2 the streets!- Justice 4 #FreddieGray 4pm at 14th and Broadway. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/JKU9B19VNg
— StopMassIncarceratio (@StopMassIncNet) June 23, 2016