Via 48 Hills

The Police Commission will be talking about Tasers Wednesday/21. This is an ongoing debate, and took center stage when the supes Rules Committee voted to allow Petra DeJesus to stay on the commission for another term. The cops want Tasers, and say they are a good alternative to shooting people. A lot of activists who have studied the issue (and some police departments that have abandoned the devices) say there are really serious problems with giving officers what is generally considered a less-lethal, but still lethal, weapon.

The presentation from the “experts” will no doubt focus on how Tasers can keep people alive – if someone with a knife is threatening an officer or a civilian, zapping and thus immobilizing the suspect is better than shooting and killing them.

But what if the cops use the Taser not as an alternative to a firearm but as an alternative to de-escalation, to controlling the situation, to calling in for support from someone trained in handling mentally ill suspects? That’s what we’ve seen in other cities – the Taser is a crutch, a quick and easy way to avoid taking more peaceful steps to resolving a situation.

Interesting to see what the presentation to the commission addresses, and who the experts are. I am hearing that this is going to be a big push in the next few months.

Join the RPA in an interactive presentation which will provide an overview of local election systems, and discuss possible reforms, including ranked choice voting and forms of proportional representation.  Speakers will include Pedro Hernandez, Deputy Director of FairVote California; Steve Chessin, President of Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER); and Joan Strasser, Board Member of CfER, and a teacher at Richmond High School.
There will be plenty of time for questions and answers.

KPFA Radio and City Lights Books present:

Both Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg have asked more whistleblowers to step into the public light and speak out. Several brave individuals have responded. One of them is Melvin Goodman.

Melvin A. Goodman was a Soviet analyst at the CIA and the Department of State for 24 years, and a professor of international relations at the National War College for 18 years. He served in the U.S. Army in Athens, Greece for three years, and was intelligence adviser to the SALT delegation from 1971–1972.

Currently, Goodman is the Director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He has authored, co-authored, and edited seven books, including his “National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism”, (published by City Lights) Gorbachev’s Retreat: The Third World; The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze; The Phantom Defense: America’s Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion; Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk, and Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA.

Dennis J Bernstein will host, raising the topic of Syria and US Government lies.

Tickets at brownpapertickets.com and indie bookstores. $12 for advanced tickets. $15 at the door.

The BART Board will vote on on a proposal to rescind the ordinance that would have BART police ticket people who take up more than one BART seat. BART has limited police resources, and police should be focusing on serious crimes. This ordinance would increase BART delays, 17% of which are already caused by police interactions. And according to the BART Police Officers Association, this ordinance would likely target homeless people and increase use of force incidents.

BART should not criminalize etiquette violations. Instead Bart Board Chair Saltzman will be proposing an educational campaign to ask riders to use one seat.

The Board will also be voting on the Safe Transit Policy introduced by Directors Lateefah Simon and Nick Josefowitz, who wrote an op-ed this weekend about the policy:

“We understand how critical our system is for residents to get where they need to go. With more than 500,000 people living in the Bay Area without legal permission, we must ensure that all riders are protected when using BART in their professional and personal lives. Immigrants, including those who are undocumented, are an indispensable part of our community and economy, and their contributions to our cities are an important reality in the Bay Area.

“The policy would forbid BART from spending its resources to enforce federal immigration law and prohibit BART police officers and employees from questioning riders about their immigration status.”

There’s more on Thursday’s agenda, including approval of the annual budget, expanding the youth fare discount to youth 13-18 years old, and considering additional parking at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station. Read the full agenda here.

BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Board of Directors Meeting.  Agenda.

BART will be considering newly-elected BART rep Lateefah Simon’s proposal for “sanctuary transit” i.e instructions to BART’s police department to not cooperate with immigration enforcement activities on the Bay Area’s rail system and to ensure unfettered travel to and from work, family and leisure for all residents regardless of status.

Op-Ed in the SF Chronicle

…The risks to our undocumented riders are real. On May 14, after being questioned about his immigration status, a rider on the Metro Transit system in Minneapolis was tased and arrested. Within days, he was transferred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a federal immigration judge ordered him deported. The right to use public transit should never come with exposure to such danger. Implementing the Safe Transit Policy is essential for preventing similar incidents on BART.

…

The Safe Transit Policy ensures that regardless of ethnic or national origin, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation or immigration status, riders can count on a safe and secure environment on BART.

Specifically, the policy would forbid BART from spending its resources to enforce federal immigration law and prohibit BART police officers and employees from questioning riders about their immigration status.

Trans Power! Queer Power! Im/Migrant & Worker Power!

IN THE SPIRIT OF STONEWALL, LETS UNITE TO SMASH OPPRESSION!

Teresa Gutierrez, lesbian Im/Migrant rights socialist activist, presenting:

“No walls, no borders in the peoples struggles”

Teresa is a member of the national Secretariat of Workers World Party and National Director, International Action Center Latin-America/Caribbean and Immigration Projects. For many years, she was also the Coordinator of the NYC May 1st Coalition. In 2004, she ran for Vice-President on the Workers World Party ticket.

Note that location may change, watch this space for updates.
Refreshments will be served and the space will be wheelchair accessible.

No Coal in Oakland is hosting a free screening of a new National Geographic documentary about coal, From the Ashes.

Join us to watch this film together in community.  We will also share any updates about the coal campaign in Oakland and talk more generally about the struggle for environmental and climate justice as we resist the new administration in Washington.

You can see a trailer for the film at https://vimeo.com/user21699071/review/212647120/507d57d428

From the Ashes captures Americans in communities across the country as they wrestle with the legacy of the coal industry and what its future should be under the Trump Administration.

From Appalachia to the West’s Powder River Basin, the film goes beyond the rhetoric of the “war on coal” to present compelling and often heartbreaking stories about what’s at stake for our economy, health, and climate. From the Ashes invites audiences to learn more about an industry on the edge and what it means for their lives. Learn more: https://www.fromtheashesfilm.com/ 

Please spread the word about this opportunity to see the film and discuss the issues.  The screening is free, but donations will be accepted, and No Coal in Oakland tee shirts will be available for sale.

This conference is sure to be an inspiring journey for all in attendance. This is our opportunity to come together and shake off the dust from the 2016 election season and start anew with a revived and refreshed determination to transform the political ground under our feet!

Check out these sample agenda items and let us know what you think!
Explore the context we are operating in, under our present political reality, and flesh out the norms embedded in our cultural assumptions.
See also:
Movement School For Revolutionaries | event | Richmond

https://www.facebook.com/events/630917560446700/
.
[The conference is being presented by Green Party members David Cobb (who was Jill Stein’s 2016 campaign manager) and Meleiza Figueroa (who was Jill Stein’s 2016 media coordinator).].

Imperialism
White Supremacy
Capitalism
Patriarchy
9:30-10:30
(60 min.)

Current Historical Moment
Introduce and explore concept of conjuncture Neofascism
Mel
10:30-12:00
(90 min.)

LUNCH
12:00-12:30

Analytical Toolbox
Why the electoral terrain is important
Political realignment in the 2016 election
Translating revolt into revolution
Real Pragmatism: the Philosophy of Praxis
Hegemonic apparatus
12:30-1:30
(60 min.)

How Should Revolutionaries Engage in Elections?
Changing the strategic question
Developing symbiotic relationships
Rebel cities
1:30-2:30
(60 min.)

Brief presentations of revolutionary opportunities
Democratic Party
Green Party
Progressive Alliances
2:30-3:00
(30 min.)

Looking Ahead
How can we collaborate in our County?
3:00-4:00
(60 min.)

Wrap Up
Workshop evaluation
Likes / Wishes
4:00-4:15
(15 min.)

Note: We will be accepting donations for food costs to cover breakfast and lunch. No one will be turned away for inability to pay.

BAY AREA! Join us at the #Oakland Family Festival on June 24th! Free legal assistance & health screenings https://t.co/EUmn9FtMBK #BayArea pic.twitter.com/HKBmXe2ec1

— Dannyoso (@Dannyoso) June 20, 2017

Attorneys to work for free on Sat to reduce or throw out old convictions under Prop. 47, per @BrendonWoodsPD @safeandjust @Nate_Miley pic.twitter.com/u90DnsuZSn

— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) June 23, 2017

Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is a set of techniques, games & practices for using theater as a vehicle for transforming individuals and their communities, and effecting social and political change. It is a method of harnessing the theatrical process as a powerful tool for healing communities and breaking cycles of oppression; resulting in empowered and engaged individuals and groups that have the tools to dialogue, educate, problem-solve, and effect change. TO is a collective, creative, whole-brained problem-posing/solving technique of learning and transformation.

Jiwon Chung studied with Augusto Boal, the creator of Theatre of the Oppressed and has been teaching Theatre of the Oppressed for over 30 years in several countries.

A low, intense war is being fought on the streets of Europe and the aim is on fascism. This documentary takes us behind the masks of the militant groups called antifascists.

In 2013 a group of armed nazis attacks a peaceful demonstration in Stockholm where several people are injured. In Greece, the neo-nazi party Golden Dawn becomes the third largest in the election. In Malmö, the activist Showan Shattak and his friends are attacked by a group of nazis with knives and he ends up in a coma.

In this portrait of the antifascists in Greece and Sweden, we get to meet key figures that explain their view on their radical politics but also to question the level of their own violence and militancy.

Doors at 7pm, screening at 7:30. Free snacks and popcorn!

~Liberated Lens~

Speaker Anthony Rendon is not letting SB 562, the Healthy California Act, progress through the Assembly Committees. Let’s visit his office and let him know that this is not ok! Meet at the South Entrance of the Capitol at 10 AM.

Pack a lunch if you want to picket all day outside of his office with signs. Room 219.

CNA Statement
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/statement-by-ca-nurses-on-decision-by-assembly-speaker-rendon-to-block

Join APTP in demanding Oakland City Council pass a progressive budget that ensures ZERO % increase in the Oakland Police Department Budget

OccupyForum presents…
Sacred City: On Loss, Betrayal
and the Art of Gentrification
with Pearl Ubuñgen accompanied by Dave Mihaly percussion

Improvising with images, sonic sources, writings, dreams and daily heartbreak, choreographer/cultural activist Pearl Ubuñgen reflects on the conflicted role artists and arts organizations play as bewildered accomplices in the gentrification-based activity of cultural erasure. Inspired by the subtle presence and memory of her mentor, the late great Master Artist Ed Mock (1938 -1986). Ubuñgen performs an illustrated case-study weaving a sorrowful, soulful lament drawn from the terrain of today’s late phase, hyper-gentrified San Francisco.

Sacred City is an ongoing series of community-based projects in which Ubuñgen subverts disciplinary borders and offers activism, the arts and the dharma as interrelated practices. In September 2016, she curated a day-long retreat at the Shambhala Meditation Center of San Francisco, which brought together dharma practitioners, local performance artists, and advocates/organizers for tenants rights, the unhoused, and victims of police violence. The gathering featured the family of Luis Gongora-Pat who was murdered by SFPD on 7 April 2016 at Shotwell and 19th Streets in SF’s Mission District.

Pearl Ubuñgen is a fourth generation pilipina american who grew up in San Francisco’s Fillmoreand Richmond districts. Ubuñgen is known for her commitment to community engagement and groundbreaking innovations in the field of community-based work. During the 1990’s she worked with youth in the South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhood where her studio was located in the school building of St. Boniface Church. This year marks the 20-year anniversary of “Take Me to the Tenderloin, Now! (1997), created in collaboration with social documentary street photographer Ken Miller.

During the dot-com era, Ms. Ubuñgen was displaced from her rehearsal and living spaces in San Francisco and relocated to Boulder, Colorado. While in Boulder, Ubuñgen served briefly as Chair
of Performing Arts at Naropa University where she designed and implemented an innovative interdisciplinary BFA in Performance (2002-2006). During this time ubuñgen deepened and enriched her study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, lineage holder of Shambhala Buddhism. Ubuñgen now serves as the Northern California Regional Chopon (Master of Offerings) for Shambhala Buddhist rituals and is a Director of Shambhala Training and Meditation Instructor.

Time will be allotted for discussion and announcements.
Donations to Occupy Forum to cover costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!

There will be a 15-hour reading of 1984 across the country on June 27.

This includes KPFA here in the Bay Area, and KPFK in Socal, which is the largest radio transmitter west of the Mississippi and can be heard from Santa Barbara to Tijuana. As well as NY, Houston, DC and a few hundred smaller stations across the country..

“The reading of George Orwell’s 1984 is going to be a Pacifica national event, using the 1975 recording from the 64GB USB drive from PRA”.

The ACLU, Copwatch, NAACP, NLG & UC Berkeley Black Student Union are holding a press conference to demand the chief release the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) report on racial profiling, and that the City of Berkeley commit to a program to address racial profiling by the BPD. Press conference on the steps of Old City Hall ahead of the City Council meeting.

Join us to urge the California Assembly to stop the delay and pass SB 562 – guaranteed healthcare for all Californians.

Very Slight Time & Location Change for Tomorrow's Sacramento Protest
Meet 11:30 a.m. South Capitol Steps – Move #SB562 Forward! pic.twitter.com/1EAox9qlls

— Healthy CA (@4HealthyCA) June 27, 2017