Calendar
Berkeley C.O.
and
War Resisters Day
Peace Flag raising ceremony, first at Civic Center flagpole at 2180 Milvia Street, corner of Allston Way and then at the flagpole at MLK, Jr. Civic Center Park, 2151 MLK, Jr. Way (between Center Street and Allston Way, across from Old City Hall), Berkeley
With Conscientious Objectors and War Resisters from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
Bob Meola, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, War Resisters League, Courage to Resist
Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist, Chelsea Manning Support Network
Sing along Ain’t Fest [“I Ain’t Marching Anymore, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, Down By the Riverside (Ain’t Gonna Study War No More)] with Max Ventura, Hali Hammer, and Nancy Schimmel
Song sheets provided; Ain’t Fest Lyrics links: www.songlyrics.com/phil-ochs/i-ain-t-marching-anymore-lyrics/ www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/joan_baez/aint_gonna_let_nobody_turn_me_around.html#! www.metrolyrics.com/down-by-the-riverside-study-war-no-more-lyrics-peter-paul-mary.html
Sponsored by City of Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission
Endorsed by War Resisters League-West and Courage to Resist
MISSION STATEMENT
On April 15, 2017, we peacefully march to demand that Donald Trump release ten years of his most recent tax returns. Reviewing Mr. Trump’s tax returns will ensure that domestic or foreign conflicts of interest do not compromise Mr. Trump in his role as president and that he complies with safeguards set forth in the Constitution. Tax March San Francisco is not an organization, but a non-partisan movement.
MARCH ROUTE AND PROGRAM
The current plan is that we will hold a rally at Civic Center and then march down Market Street. Stay tuned for more details about our program and march route. Our schedule so far:
1:00 pm: Civic Center Plaza opens to the general public and organizations to gather
2:00 pm: Tax March Rally in front of City Hall. Special guests include David Cay Johnston and the Trump Chicken!
3:00 pm: We’ll march along Market Street toward Justin Herman Plaza
AT THE RALLY
The following organizations will be doing outreach at the rally. Join us at 2pm in front of City Hall to hear our guest speakers, and meet representatives from the following groups:
Indivisible SF
Inspired by “Indivisible: A Practical Guide For Resisting the Trump Agenda,” Indivisible SF unites San Franciscans to support Congressional representatives who resist the Trump agenda and hold accountable those who do not.
Indivisible Berkeley
Indivisible Berkeley is a part of the national Indivisible Movement. Our mission is to resist the Trump agenda and promote a progressive and inclusive agenda at all levels of government.
California National Party
The CNP is a new political party that was founded to fight for increased independence for California and advance California’s unique values and interests.
California Common Cause
Common Cause works to deliver honest, open, accountable government for the American people. Founded in 1970, Common Cause defends the rights of voters and works to limit the influence of big money.
We Persist
We connect communities, build resources and advocate for policy to enable everyone—from seasoned activists to people new to politics—to show up for our country.
Albany Democratic Club
The ADC supports the Democratic Party by inspiring greater participation; through education; and by working to improve life for the people of Albany, Alameda County, California and the nation.
Evolve California
Evolve organizes high-impact grassroots campaigns to benefit all Californians. Our ground-up approach uses local organizing to form a network that includes thousands of elected officials, community leaders, and activists in every part of the state.
Tax Wall Street Party
The program of the Tax Wall Street Party is the modern revival of the American School of Political Economy, based on the work of Alexander Hamilton.
Peace Chain
Joe Peace uses art to promote the idea that each individual seeking their own inner peace contributes to world peace. His work ‘A Peace Chain’ symbolically connects its participants and brings awareness to our interconnection.
Want to feature your organization at the Tax March? Find information about applying for booth space here.
RALLY BUSES AVAILABLE
Rally buses are available from around the greater Bay Area to the Tax March San Francisco.
Register for a Rally Bus here
Please share the link far and wide! Promo code TAXMARCH is good for $5 off (first 100 bookings). Rally is taking volunteers for Bus Captains; you can volunteer after you book.
What the Health is the groundbreaking follow-up film from the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy. The film exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars, and keeping us sick.
https://youtu.be/Jf44vLndiRM
The event is at the Koret Auditorium, Lower Level and scheduled as followed:
2:00 pm – 2:15 pm Introduction
2:15 pm – 3:45 pm Movie
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm Q&A
4:45 pm – 5:00 pm Raffles
California’s
Medicare for All
Legislation – SB 562
How does SB 562 provide health care? How can we campaign for SB 562?
Trump and the Republican congress want to gut the Affordable Care Act, privatize Medicare, cut back on Medicaid, and privatize the Veteran’s Administration.
In California, we have the chance to legislate our own health care program that covers everyone, has no co-pays, no deductibles, and no premiums.
SB 562 will remove the insurance industry from our lives.
Discussing SB 562 – The Healthy California Act
Krista Farey, MD – Co-writer of Proposition 186, the 1994 Single Payer Initiative. Staff Physician of Contra Costa County Health Services.
Barry Hermanson – Small businessman and Green Party Leader.
Ellen Yoshitsugu – Execcutive Member of United Educators of SF.
Don Bechler – Chaiir of Single Payer Now, past member of SF Labor Council.
Sponsored by Single Payer Now
For more information, call 415-695-7891 or email dbechler@value.net
net
Article deadline is at 3 pm Saturday April 15 and everyone is invited to join the article editing process Saturday 3-6 and Sunday 3-9 pm.
Slingshot is accepting articles, photographs, art, letters, review, etc. for issue #124, to be published in late April, 2017. Email slingshot dot tao dot ca and send your submission as an attachment please. Or you can drop it by and meet us.
Many radical topics are of interest (economics, environment, identity politics, DIY, anti-represssion, resistance, etc.) — we suggest you write about stuff you’re involved with, know about, or are passionate about. Because we only come out every 3-5 months and it takes a while for an article to go from the author to getting distributed, the best Slingshot articles are analysis, not pure news updates.
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
- organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first steps happen… now we have to keep the momentum going! We organized the forum for Public Banking in Oakland on February 9th.
- Tiny Homes for the homeless.
- Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
- Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts
- money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitive ticketing and fining schemes
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- student debt resistance
- Promoting the concept of Basic Income
- advocating for Postal banking
- Presenting debt-related topics at forums and workshops
- Bring your own debt-related project!
If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com .
Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.
Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.
Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.
Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.
Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.
“TOMORROW” is an upbeat environmental documentary directed and narrated (in English) by actress Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) and activist Cyril Dion. Together, they traveled to 10 countries to visit Permaculture farms, urban agriculture projects, community-owned renewable initiatives. They introduce us to people making a difference in the fields of food, energy, finance, democracy, and education.
French actress and director Mélanie Laurent (starring in Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS), became increasingly aware, shortly after having her first child, of several leading scientists reports stating that man’s environmental impact on the planet had reached a critical stage, which could threaten human life as we know it.
Conscious of the kind of world her son would grow up in, Laurent teamed up with Cyril Dion to make TOMORROW, a documentary about our environmental and social challenges.
The film’s incredible success lies in their choice not to frighten – though the facts are sobering – but to inspire; to go beyond the disaster scenarios, and share concrete solutions as implemented by hundred of communities around the world.
Traveling to ten countries, from the urban farms of Detroit to an English town that mints its own David Bowie currency to encourage local spending, from a completely sustainable village in southern India to the progressive schools of Finland, Laurent and her colleagues introduce viewers to people making a difference in the fields of food, energy, finance, democracy, and education. Their shared ideas and examples make TOMORROW one of the most essential and unexpectedly inspirational viewing experiences of our time.
In French and English with English subtitles
Join us for the Thinking Ahead speaker series with a discussion of Sabeel Rahman’s book, “Democracy Against Domination“, moderated by john a powell, with community organizer Christina Livingston and pollitical scientist Paul Pierson.
Unchecked corporate power is a danger to our way of life. What would a political economy where we all belong look like? What values, institutions, and movement strategies must we develop to achieve this vision in an era of growing inequality and resurgent right-wing populism?
The event will be followed by a reception, with finger food and refreshments. The event is organized with New America California and the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Fundraiser backyard party for Oakland Women’s Strike Organizing Collective! *
*- We’re slinging pizza and drinks to raise $ *
*- For those who can’t attend in person, but would still like to contribute, look for @May_Day on Venmo. *
*- Funds raised will go towards the ASL interpreter fees from March 8, t-shirts & screen-printing supplies and food for May Day. *
McCarty AB 1185 Letter to the Journal
Everyone in the Sunflower Alliance community is strongly encouraged to come to our next meeting, a brainstorming session on future directions and possible new campaigns. Because decision points on a couple of our campaigns are coming soon, we have a chance to look to the future and decide where to go next. Your ideas and input are especially needed in this discussion.
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 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 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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
Narrated by Liam Neeson, this award-winning, landmark documentary tells the dramatic story of the events that took place in Dublin during Easter Week 1916, when a small group of Irish rebels took on the might of the British Empire.
The film – featuring a combination of rarely-seen archival footage, new segments filmed on location worldwide, and interviews with leading international experts – also uncovers the untold story of the central role Irish Americans played in the lead-up to the rebellion. Although defeated militarily, the men and women of the Easter Rising would wring a moral victory from the jaws of defeat and inspire countless freedom struggles throughout the world – from Ireland to India.
An initiative of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, this documentary tells the story of the 1916 Easter Rising in a comprehensive way and, for the first time, places these events in their proper historical, political and cultural context as the precursor to an independent Irish state and the disintegration of colonial empires worldwide.
This screening will be a feature-length version of the original 3-part television series.
Doors at 6:30pm, film starts at 7pm. Free snacks and popcorn, as always!
Sheriff Ahern not only continues to cooperate with ICE by notifying ICE on prisoner releases, but he is also the head of the California Sheriffs’ Association, which promotes the same practices. He even signed a letter as the head of their political action committee to support the nomination of arch racist Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General.
Keep the pressure on Ahern to stop cooperating with ICE!
#NotMySheriff #StopICE
Bring your signs and loud voices!
Please contact us if you would like to endorse.
Tax the Rich Rallies every Monday from 5-6 pm on upper Solano in front of the Oaks Theater and the Chase Bank.
All are welcome!
Also We’ll be at SURJ (Stand Up for Racial Justice) event that starts at the Grand Lake Theater on Saturday April 1st from noon-1 :00 PM.
For our calendar of events, songs to download and more: www.occupella.org.
A discussion about agreements between local police and federal enforcement and surveillance agencies.
Welcome & Opening Comments: Pastor Michael McBride, The WAY
Moderators: Councilmembers Davila & Harrison
SPEAKERS TBA
Closing remarks: Mayor Arreguin
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Refuse Fascism:
Driving the Trump Regime from Power
Millions of people abhor this, and there is righteous resistance. But, stopping the dire threat that the Trump/Pence regime poses to humanity means recognizing and acting on the understanding that fascism must be stopped before it becomes too late.
Fascism is not just a gross combination of horrific reactionary policies. It is a qualitative change in how society is governed. It is crucial to understand that fascism, once consolidated, essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights. Even if we push back this or that measure, this regime will repeatedly launch new and highly repressive measures, eventually clamping down on all resistance and remaking the law – IF THEY ARE NOT DRIVEN FROM POWER.
The March for Science, April 22; the People’s Climate March, April 29 and the “Day Without Immigrants”, May 1: Ten days that can and must become a leap in a movement to drive this fascist regime from office. The stakes could not be higher.
Bruce Neuburger: Former farm worker and cab driver, recently retired teacher with a long term commitment to social justice and a firm belief that capitalism does not represent the pinnacle of human potential. Bruce will be accompanied by a local leader in the organization, Refuse Fascism.
Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.
There is a conference call on how we win Medicare for All in California that we need you to be on. We have a real opportunity to solve the health care crisis in California and lead the way for the nation with the passage of S.B. 562. That’s why Our Revolution is joining the California Nurses Association and over 70 organizations statewide in sponsoring this bill, which would guarantee:
- Medicare for All in California
- More lives saved through preventative treatment
- Improved quality in health care delivery
- The elimination of health care premiums and deductibles
Join us for the call on Monday, April 17th at 6:30 PM PST.
This is about us, our family, and our community. We must transform the health care system to benefit us, not the giant insurance and pharmaceutical companies that are making billions of dollars in profits off of our illnesses. We can do this. We must do this.
In addition to featuring speakers from the California Nurses Association, we’ll be hearing from local leaders and grassroots organizers who are leading the way to pass S.B. 562 and guarantee universal health care to all of California. We need you to be on it too.
RSVP your space on this urgent statewide conference call.
This is our chance to guarantee #healthcare for ALL! Join our effort, register for the call: https://t.co/avx7dBjsp8 #FridayFeeling #resist pic.twitter.com/2a7QrzPH2L
— RoseAnn DeMoro (@RoseAnnDeMoro) April 14, 2017
50th Anniversary Public Readings of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech
What: On Tax Day, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” multi-issue peace and justice activists will do three public, participatory readings of the speech in front of Oakland’s Federal Building.
When: There will be three readings, starting at 12 noon, 2 pm and 4 pm. Each reading will take approximately one hour, with 16 readers taking turns. A closing ceremony will follow the last reading.
Why: April 18 – 28, 2017 have been designated as Global Days of Action on Military Spending by the International Peace Bureau, to challenge military spending and call for redirection of funds to meet human needs. Military spending continues to increase, as the Trump Administration plans to strip $54 billion from human and environmental spending to increase already massive spending on the military. The plan raises Pentagon spending to well over 60 cents of every discretionary dollar in the U.S. budget. Endless U.S. wars and occupations have cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars, while the needs of growing numbers of Americans go unmet. Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech laid bare the relationship between U.S. wars abroad and the racism and poverty being challenged by the civil rights movement at home. “I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today–my own government.” King’s words are as relevant today as they were half a century ago. Organizers of the readings honor the full legacy of his work opposing the “triple evils” of militarism, racism and poverty. Tragically, Dr. King was assassinated exactly one year after delivering this speech.
This event is part of a year-long campaign launched by the National Council of Elders on the 50th anniversary of King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech, and organized by Western States Legal Foundation.
Co-sponsors: Anti Police-Terror Project; Asian Americans for Peace & Justice; Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice; CodePink Golden Gate; East Point Peace Academy; Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC; Fifth Stream Music; Idle No More SF Bay; Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area; Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center; Nafsi Ya Jamii (The Soul Community); National Council of Elders West; New Jim Crow Movement-Vallejo; Oakland Peace Center; OneLife Institute; Physicians for Social Responsibility- SF-Bay Area Chapter; Prevention at the Intersections; Tri-Valley CAREs; Women for Genuine Security; West County Toxics Coalition; Western States Legal Foundation; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, East Bay Branch; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, San Francisco Branch
The Defund DAPL Coalition is on the march to urge the SF Board of Supervisors to continue their divestment from banks financing Transcanada, the company constructing the KXL Pipeline right through Lakota lands of the Great Sioux Nation. A related demand is for the City conduct a feasibility study for a municipal bank so we can rid ourselves of these parasitic banks once and for all.
Join us as we march along Market Street, home to many branches of banks financing DAPL and Keystone XL, including Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Bank of America. This event comes in tandem with Rainforest Action Network’s Week of Action (April 15 – 21) to prevent banks from giving Transcanada project-level financing for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Volunteers are needed:
Native singers and drummers
Food donations for participants awaiting to give testimonies at the BOS meeting
A canopy and table (in case of rain)
If you want to volunteer, please show up at 3pm and await assistance from the organizers. The SF Board of Supervisors meetings always vary on time, so there’s a likelihood that participants will miss lunch or dinner. Please donate snacks! This is an alcohol and drug free event (this includes marijuana). If there are any questions, please email sfdefunddaplcoalition@gmail. com.
Street Theater Performance + City Council Meeting
On the heels of Emeryville City Council, Oakland City Council will pass a resolution on April 18thcalling for sanctuary workplaces for immigrant workers. This is part of a month-long escalation heading into the May 1st mass strike in which tens of thousands of Bay Area workers will walk off the job to demand immigrant rights.
Before the Council meeting, roughly 300 immigrant workers, community supporters, and faith leaders will rally outside City Hall. They will then jam into City Council chambers and join Oakland lawmakers to speak out about their experiences and then pass the resolution calling for sanctuary workplaces.
Often in low-wage workplaces, immigration status is often not an issue until workers stand up for higher wages and better working conditions. Then suddenly, employers retaliate with threats of deportation and problems with ICE. Under Trump, both documented and undocumented immigrants are under increased attack. The Oakland resolution calls for workplace sanctuaries that are free from fear, threats, and retaliation when workers stand up for living wages, better working conditions, and a voice on the job.
What: Rally and Street Theater/Oakland City Council meeting to pass Sanctuary Workplace Resolution
When: 4:30pm rally and street theater, 6:30pm council meeting
Who: Immigrant workers, community supporters, and faith leaders