Calendar
We will be having our next Decarcerate Alameda meeting this Thursday, June 22nd. If you can, please bring some snacks to share.
Our agenda will include planning for the July 24th hearing on mental health alternatives, our upcoming art build, jail outreach and more.
9:30 AM:
If you’re new to DSA, come learn how we are organizing locally, what our plans are for the future, and how you can get involved!
This orientation is open to members and nonmembers alike who are interested in DSA. It is open to the public and you do not need to be a member to attend.
Those interested in becoming members can sign up at: https://dsausa.nationbuilder.com/join.
10:30 AM
On June 24, we come together for a beautiful demonstration of democracy and solidarity. We’ll elect the new Local Council (formerly the Executive Committee) to carry out the chapter’s bold vision of a socialist East Bay through the organizing structure outlined in our new bylaws. We need your participation!
Be sure to check out the candidates before the meeting.
Members of the Oscar Grant Committee and the Perez family are organizing a special community meeting to review the Pedie Perez case and discuss how we can ensure justice is done. Co-sponsored by Richmond Progressive Alliance
Justice4Pedie Update, June 2017 Special Investigator Hired to Look into Perez Shooting
The City of Richmond has hired Mr. Lucky Narain, for the part-time position as special investigator for the Richmond Citizens Police Review Commission. Relatively unknown to the Richmond community, Mr. Narian was a candidate for Oakland School Board in 2016, when he listed his occupation as “Military Lawyer.” Narain’s first assignment, we understand, will be a full and independent investigation of the police shooting of Richard “Pedie” Perez III, shot and killed by Richmond Police Officer Wallace Jensen just minutes after midnight on September 14, 2014.
The shooting—and subsequent efforts by the Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus and Contra Costa County District Attorney Mark A. Peterson to justify the shooting and blame Pedie for being shot—have raised serious concerns within the Richmond community, concerns which led to changes in the City code on the police commission and the hiring of a Special Investigator. In February 2016, responding to public concern following exposure of law enforcement’s cover-up in the shooting of Perez, the Richmond City Council voted 4-3 to instruct the police commission to hire an independent investigator not connected to the police department to investigate the Perez murder. At the same time, the name of the Richmond Police commission was changed to “Richmond Citizens Police Review Commission.” The City Council also voted to require the Police Commission to automatically investigate any future police shootings and/or use of physical force resulting in serious injuries.
These accomplishments result from the efforts of the Perez family with the support of the Oscar Grant Committee (OGC) and the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) to bring this miscarriage of justice to the attention of the people of Richmond and the Bay Area. Members of the Perez family and OGC have been active in raising Justice4Pedie issues in a variety of venues, including the May Day celebration of the ILWU, which included “Stop Police Terror” as one of its demands. In another development earlier in May 2017, DA Peterson, who played a key role in the cover-up of Pedie’s killing, was accused of “willful or corrupt misconduct” by a Contra Costa grand jury that recommended that he be fired. These impressive accomplishments do not mean we can rest on our laurels. We must continue our vigilance to make sure that those who led the earlier cover-up do not attempt to influence the course and conclusions of this special investigation. Special Investiagator Narian owes his job and allegiance to the community, rather than to city officials and the politicians ________________________________________________________________
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
Special guest, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin! Arreguin will be speaking and answering questions.
We’ll have updates from our teams, and community event announcements, followed by team breakouts and discussions.
Bring snacks to share! Bring friends!
Volunteer with us!
The Prisoners Literature Project is based in Berkeley, California, and we’re always looking for volunteers to help answer letters, send out books, learn more about the prison system, and assist in other ways.
We currently meet on Sundays from 2-5pm and on Wednesdays from 6:30-9:30pm at the Grassroots House. This is located at 2022 Blake St. (at Milvia), Berkeley, CA 94704. (Map – there’s plenty of local parking, and the office is walkable in 11-15 minutes from downtown Berkeley BART or Ashby BART – also, AC Transit bus #18 stops nearby.)
(Please note that we can’t accept prisoner book requests at this address. Book requests from U.S. prisoners must be mailed to PLP; c/o Bound Together Books, 1369 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117.)
We welcome helpers of any age and experience at our volunteer sessions (here’s what they look like!), and are also very happy to host students looking for community service. You should read a lot, have neat legible handwriting, and be able to follow the rules to get books into prisons. We don’t make the rules, but we do have to follow them!
Bringing more than four people? Please contact us first so we can better accommodate your group. (BTW, we maintain ‘call for volunteer’ listings on VolunteerMatch.org, on Idealist.org, and on AllForGood.org, so you might have seen us there!)
Other ways to help?
If you can’t make it in-person to our volunteer sessions, we’d still love your help. In particular, we’re looking for donations — both one-time and recurring — to help pay for postage on the hundreds of book packages we send out monthly.
Other things we’d love help with include: fundraising efforts, publicity, and contacting publishers and distributors to get multiple copies of our most sought-after books. We need to keep building our reserves — and further reduce our request backlog.
Got more ideas? Come to a meeting and share them with us!
Please join us this Thursday for an emergency general meeting to discuss strategies for convincing Oakland city council members to fund the public bank feasibility study.
Last Tuesday, Oakland city council members voted to delay the vote on the public bank feasibility study to their next full council meeting, which would be on July 18th, 2017. Save the date, as we will need to show up in force again. Council members decided to delay the vote to see if they could find other entities help defray the costs of the feasibility study.
If you are interested in seeing their discussion and our testimony during the meeting, click the following link: http://oakland.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2350 – our item starts at 2:45:20
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
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.
AGENDA:
- 5:00pm: Call to Order, determination of quorum 2.
- 5:05pm: Review and approval of June 1 meeting minutes 3.
- 5:10pm: Open Forum 4.
- 5:15pm: Staff update on Surveillance Equipment Ordinance status 5.
- 5:20pm: Discuss and take possible action on city attorney feedback regarding Non-Cooperation With Anti-Registry Ordinance
- 5:30pm: Review take possible action on draft Privacy Advisory Commission Annual Report 7.
- 5:45pm: Continue ongoing Database Review with outside entities 8.
- 6:10pm: Discuss and take possible action on Oakland Police Department’s automated license plate reader policy
We’ll be going over our new jail outreach surveys and mobilization/escalation planning for the july 24 alternatives to incarceration county hearing.
� Decarcerate Alameda- Survey
Click HERE to become a member of the Ella Baker Center and organize with us to win jobs not jails, books not bars, and healthcare not handcuffs.
Come by our open Delegates Meetings every First and Third Thursday of the month at 7pm! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
Come by our open Delegates Meetings every First and Third Thursday of the month at 7pm! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
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.
- Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
- Presenting debt-related topics at forums and workshops
- Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts, and divesting from the Wall St. banks
- Tiny Homes and other solutions for the homeless.
- money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitative ticketing and fining schemes
- Student debt resistance. Check out the Debt Collective, our sister organization
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- Promoting the concept of Basic Income
- Advocating for Postal banking
- Organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first steps happen… now there’s a spinoff group
- 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.
Potluck lunch: 12:30 PM
Meeting 1 – 3 PM
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
In November, 2016 we succeeded in getting the Oakland City Council to instruct the City Administrator to report on the usefulness of a feasibility study for creating The Public Bank of Oakland. Our next goal is to convince the City Council to commission that study as soon as possible, and incorporate it into a business plan for a public bank in Oakland.
After that, we will pressure the Oakland City Council to pass enabling legislation that will create and fund a public bank for Oakland. Our overarching goal is to see a public bank flourish in Oakland while it helps the community, thereby providing an example for other jurisdictions wishing to rid themselves of their dependence on Wall Street banks.
We are always looking for help bringing Public Banking information to Oakland residents. There are many ways large and small to be involved; from data entry to tabling events to branding and marketing assistance. Whether you’re looking to jump in with something specific or just want to lend a hand from time-to-time, please be in touch or come to a meeting.
Donate to Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland
Thanks to the generous support of our fiscal sponsor, HERA (Housing and Economic Rights Advocates), you can now make a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Our main expenses at the moment are related to outreach materials and mechanisms.
Click here to donate
*Important: Select “Other” from program and include “Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland” in the Honoree’s name section.
Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland t-shirts are available for a $20 donation! Email us at contact@friendsofpublicbankofoakland.org for details.
Sign the Petition!
You will also be able to sign the petition in person at upcoming events. Be on the lookout for our table, and let us know if there are events where people would like to hear more about the Public Bank of Oakland.
https://friendsofpublicbankofoakland.org/petition/
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 Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, against Urban Shield, and to advocate for privacy and surveillance regulation ordinances to be passed by our State Legislature and around the Bay Area, including the Alameda and San Francisco County Boards of Supervisors, the BART Board of Directors, and by the Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and Davis City Councils.
We are also engaged in the fight against Predictive Policing and other “pre-crime” and “thought-crime” abominations, drones, improper use of police body cameras, ALPRs, requirements for “backdoors” to your cellphone and against other invasions of privacy by our benighted City, County, State and Federal Governments.
Oakland Privacy (nee Oakland Privacy Working Group) originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OPWG was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network; its members helped draft the Privacy Policy that puts further restrictions on the now Port-restricted DAC, and made Oakland’s new Privacy Advisory Commission to the City Council happen. We were also the lead in having Alameda County pass the most comprehensive privacy and usage policy in the country for deployment of “Stingray” technology (cell phone interceptors). Oakland and Fremont have followed suit. In conjunction with other groups we fight against Urban Shield and other killer-cop trainings.
We have presented our work at RightsCon in San Francisco and at Left Forum and HOPE in New York City.
If you would like to attend our meeting and would like a quick introduction to what we’re doing before we dive right into the thick of our agenda, send email to contact@oaklandprivacy.org and one of us will arange to meet you before the meeting.
Stop by and learn how you can help guard our right not to be spied on by the government. Look on the whiteboard inside near the entrance to the OMNI for our exact location within the OMNI.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to:
oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe AT lists.riseup.net
or send a request to contact@oaklandprivacy.org
For more information on the DAC check out