Please join us for our regular biweekly meeting of the Sunflower Alliance. We’ll discuss ongoing campaigns and plans for the future.
Newcomers and old friends welcome — we need your participation and your voice. Come early to share a potluck lunch.
Calendar
9896
Feb
25
Sun
64313
General Membership Meeting
The February general meeting is going to be a big one!
For one, we’ll be voting on whether or not to join the campaign to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act, which severely restricts local governments in California from implementing rent control. See the text of the resolution.
We’ll also be voting on a major set of revisions to our Chapter’s bylaws! You can see the proposed revisions as well as a reader guide with some explanation for those proposed revisions.
And if you’d like to propose an amendment to those proposed bylaws, you can submit your own.
Democracy requires many hands, so please RSVP and volunteer. See you on February 25!
RSVP (and volunteer and get more information about venue accessibility and accommodations)
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64320
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
62637
Feb 25 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
In celebration of Black History Month The Oakland Green Party presents Denzel Washington staring in “The Great Debaters” — a two-hour film based on the true story of the debate team at Willey College Texas that took on the Harvard College elite in 1935. This screening will be the Oakland Green’s second in a series on the “Last Sundays” of every month
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., dinner will be served at 7 p.m., and the movie will start promptly at 7:30 p.m. The movie will provide a forum for discussions of debate value in a democracy and of how many stories are not told about triumph under backdrops of racial violence. The discussion is meant to be a community building event held in a relaxed fun space and organized by Green Party members to discuss solutions to local issues that hurt us and many others.
For more event information:
https://oaklandgreens.org/movie-night-cale…
https://oaklandgreens.org/movie-night-cale…
64337
Feb
26
Mon
Feb 26 @ 9:00 am – 11:30 am
UPDATE! On MONDAY Feb 26th 9 am come out to Hayward to support Aunti Frances as she begins her EVICTION TRIAL against this unjust loophole eviction! Let Aunti Frances know that she is not alone in her fight to stay in Oakland. See more info @ https://t.co/s4QKhymS06 pic.twitter.com/8xCAUZHWKT
— Defend Aunti Frances (@defendauntif) February 23, 2018
Come out to Hayward to support Aunti Frances as she begins her EVICTION TRIAL against this unjust loophole eviction! M Let Aunti Frances know that she is not alone in her fight to stay in Oakland.
TRIAL WILL GO ALL DAY BUT FEEL FREE TO COME JUST FOR A FEW HOURS at any point in the day to show your support.
WEAR BLUE to show Aunti Frances your support.
On 2/21 Aunti Frances went to her first settlement hearing, and the Morphys (her landlords) failed to give her a fair or just settlement offer. Now the eviction jury trial is starting, and we as her community need to bring all the love, support and people power out to the court house to remind them that you can’t evict community power!
NOTE: this is a court proceeding, not a demonstration. Come prepared to sit in silence for extended periods of time. Please abide by all court rules and do not attempt to interact with the jury, witnesses, or any party to the case.
CARPOOL
This event is at the Hayward Hall of Justice, which is 1.2 miles from Hayward Bart. Comment on the Facebook event page if you need a ride, or if you can offer a ride. Include: where from & how many people.
PROCEEDINGS
In instances where there is a dispute surrounding factual allegations, citizens have the right to a trial by jury in an eviction. Once this right is asserted, a landlord must prevail in order to legally evict a tenant. If the tenant wins the trial, they stay in their home. If the tenant loses, the landlord may order the Sheriff’s office to carry out an eviction.
ACCESS INFO
There are bathrooms including ADA accessible bathrooms in the court house however you must go through security to enter the building. There will not be ASL interpretation at this event. It is requested that you come fragrance free, however there will likely be chemical fragrances within the court.
BACKGROUND
https://
Aunti Frances is a beloved Black disabled activist, elder, Black Panther and community leader who has lived in North Oakland/South Berkeley her entire life. She now faces a no-fault eviction by a notorious loophole in Oakland renter protections.
Our mission is to convince Aunti Frances’ landlords, Natalia Morphy and Morphy’s parents, to end the eviction proceedings and instead support Aunti Frances in staying in her community. We need as much community support as possible to insist that the Morphys drop this eviction. We aren’t going anywhere, because you can’t evict community power!
__________________________
CONTACT US
For any questions, please contact info@defendauntifrances.or
__________________________
Thank you for your support of Aunti Frances, this campaign, and all communities organizing against gentrification!
#DefendAuntiFrances
https://
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Join us this–and every Monday for an hour of singing in front of the old Oaks Theater at the top of Solano Avenue, Berkeley. Demonstrators have kept this rally going for over six years with their “Tax the Rich” and other timely signs and good spirits. We provide music; songbooks available. Come for a song, come for an hour.
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Feb 26 @ 6:45 pm – 9:00 pm
OccupyForum presents
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Authoritarian Tactics: U.S. Immigration Policy and Race
with Professor George Wright
Designation of “the Other”, and scapegoating people for the deep problems in the state are classic authoritarian tactics. Currently, the Trump Regime plans to publish a weekly list of crimes allegedly committed by immigrants; ICE claims that those targeted in a raid have criminal records. But people who have had arrests or convictions have endured profiling in a justice system with shocking racial and class disparities.
George Wright will analyze U.S. immigration policy and race, and trace the history of scapegoating, incarceration, and deportations of “the Other” in the United States. He will include other instances of this tactic in dictatorships, and ways the citizenry fought, and won, the eventual legal freedom of their brothers and sisters.
George Wright taught Political Science at California State University, Chico between 1969 and 2003. He also taught History at Skyline Community College between 2004 and 2013. His major research includes United States Politics, International Political Economy, and the Politics of International Sport. He has a Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at the University of Leeds (UK).
Time will be allotted for announcements.
64340
Feb
27
Tue
Feb 27 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Join the UC Berkeley Haas Institute for, Race & Inequality in America. The Kerner Commission at 50, a conference exploring race, segregation, and inequality 50 years after the release of the historic Kerner Commission Report.
In the mid-1960s, a series of violent police encounters with Black Americans sparked uprisings in more than 100 American cities. Shaken by the civil unrest across the nation in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to investigate the immediate causes of the rebellions, as well as the underlying conditions of racial segregation and discrimination that gave rise to them. Headed by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, with Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York as vice chairman, the Commission issued its landmark report, which became commonly known as the “Kerner Report,” on February 29, 1968.
The Kerner Report, unanimously signed by the bipartisan and politically mainstream commission, was wide-ranging and dramatic, and concluded that white society had denied opportunity to Black Americans living in poor urban neighborhoods. The report offered both dire warnings along with a bold plan of federal action. Its most famous line, cited again by the US Supreme Court as recently as 2015, was: “Our Nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” In its other most memorable passage, the commission said: “What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”
64282
Feb 27 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will be considering Sheriff Ahern’s request to accept funding from the Department of Homeland Security for Urban Shield, 2018.
On Tuesday, February 27th, the Stop Urban Shield Coalition will be rallying to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting where we anticipate a presentation and vote on Urban Shield. The coalition continues to demand investments in life affirming resources that will support us in emergencies, while Sheriff Ahern continues to press for the militarized policing program and weapons expo known as Urban Shield.
TIME: 10 am to 1 pm – people are needed the entire time, try to come at 10 am but if not come when you can during those hours. Signs will be available to hold.
Please go to the Facebook page and mark yourself as going Use it to invite others you think might be able to turn out
CAN’T COME ON 2/27? CALL YOUR ALAMEDA COUNTY SUPERVISOR. Call-in days are targeted for Thursday, 2/22 and Monday, 2/23 but you can call anytime that is convenient for you.
Contact your Supervisor and tell them to vote NO on Urban Shield. Find your district here: http://acgov.org/ms/addresslookup/
District 1: Supervisor Haggerty // shawn.wilson@acgov.org (510) 272-6691
District 2: Supervisor Valle // christopher.miley@acgov.org (510) 272-6692
District 3: Supervisor Chan // jeanette.dong@acgov.org (510)272-6693
District 4: Supervisor Miley // anna.gee@acgov.org (510)272-6694
District 5: Supervisor Carson // amy.shrago@acgov.org (510)272-6695 (Berkeley)
https://www.facebook.com/events/1581712215246344/
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Are you an awesome democratic socialist who is involved in the labor movement or wants to be? Are you looking to socialize and scheme with others who share your interests? Then come out to the East Bay DSA Labor Social! Come hear about other DSA chapters’ labor work and give input on the direction of East Bay DSA’s own labor work. Socializing starts at 6 p,m. at Eli’s Mile High Club. Brief report-backs and discussion start at 7 p.m.
64328
Feb
28
Wed
Feb 28 all-day
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding a “listening session” in San Francisco and two other cities on its intention to repeal what is commonly known as the Clean Power Plan. According to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, this will “ensure all stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input.” (What impact this has on the future of the current Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units remains to be seen.)
Three sessions throughout the day will be structured and run identically:
– Session 1 from 8:30 AM to 12:45 PM;
– Session 2 from 1:00 to 4:45 PM; and
– Session 3 from 5:00 to 7:30 PM PST.
During the on-line registration, you must choose which of these three segments you prefer to attend.
Pre-registration information and more details are posted here. Please register as soon as possible as space is limited. Registration will close on February 21st, or once the available seats or speaking slots are filled. Those who register will receive an email confirmation within two business days.
Spanish translation will be available at the listening session.
Written comments can be submitted through April 26, 2018. EPA assures us that written statements and supporting information submitted during this period will be considered with the same weight as oral comments and supporting information presented at the listening sessions.
Comments should be identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355 and can be submitted by one of the methods listed on the Clean Power Plan Proposed Repeal: How to Comment page.
Here is some commentary that might help focus our thinking about the Clean Power Plan and shape our comments to the EPA and its Administrator Scott Pruitt:
“The Clean Power Plan Is Not Worth Saving. Here Are Some Steps to Take Instead.” (Truthout, January 19, 2018)
“What Is the Clean Power Plan, and How Can Trump Repeal It?” (New York Times, October 10, 2017)
WHEN
Wednesday, February 28, 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM
WHERE
San Francisco Main Public Library
Koret Auditorium
30 Grove St.
San Francisco 94102
64274
Feb 28 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Save our Kids – Join the Rally!
The EPA wants to repeal the Clean Power Plan, a critical policy which could prevent 4,500 early deaths and 90,000 pediatric asthma attacks EVERY YEAR by 2030.
We can’t let this happen and must demand that EPA protect public health. Health professionals are encouraged to wear white coats or scrubs.
64364
Emergency rally in SF at the ICE building. ICE has arrested more than 150 people in Northern California in the past few days. Donald Trump’s deportation force is threatening our neighbors and families with mass raids. This is nothing less than political repression against sanctuary cities, which are defending human rights! Are you ready to take a stand against Trump’s naked racism? Join us tomorrow and check this page for updates.
64367
Feb 28 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
The Berkeley Climate Action Coalition is kicking off its 2018 climate convenings with an event to strengthen our citizen power to push forward on climate issues. Climate advocates all over the world look to California for cutting edge climate policy and action. The battles that we fight at the local level have a much larger impact than we imagine. But many of us don’t know how to get our voices heard. We need a road map. At this Climate Convening, you will learn effective ways to influence local government and the regional agencies that hold power over large-scale solutions and the major polluters fouling our air and changing the climate. Meet elected officials and learn effective strategies from veteran activists.
Featuring confirmed speakers:
Sach Constantine, Managing Director for Vote Solar and former Senior Regulatory Analyst for CPUC
Kathy Dervin, co-founder of 350 Bay Area and climate change and health consultant
Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Councilmember and member of Bay Area Air Quality Management (BAAQMD) Board
Linda Maio, Berkeley City Council Member since 1992 and led the charge against crude by rail through California
Light snacks and beverages provided.
64314
Groups are forming to stage the first nation-wide anti-war protests in years. Save the date – April 15 for a march and rally in Oakland. If you are interested in helping, you can attend the next organizing meeting.
There are so many wars with US involvement that we become numb. “In 2013, the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) – one of thee nine organizational units that make up the Unified Combatant Command – had special operations forces (SOFs) in 134 countries, where they were either involved in combat, special missions, or advising and training foreign forces.” There is even greater involvement now, most likeley. It is kind of crazy that we are fighting wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and several African countries – not counting all the special operations units causing chaos everywhere. And it doesn’t seem to matter which political party has control of the white house – we are war mongers – so please plan to show up and voice your dissent.
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Mar
1
Thu
Come by our open Orientations every First and Third Thursday of the month at 6pm! We’ll introduce you to the variety of ways you can get involved at the Omni, whether through joining a working group or a collective—or starting one of your one. Write our Communications Working Group with questions: comms@omnicommons.org
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
64329
The Oakland Green Party will hold its monthly meeting in Oakland’s Temescal District. All are welcome to attend. Please join our movement to recruit candidates to run for local offices, especially for City Council and School Board seats in Districts #2, #4, and #6 and connect with those working on Saied Karamooz’s campaign for Oakland Mayor.
The Oakland Greens are a local subgroup of the Green Party of Alameda County that is committed to a just and sustainable Oakland. Our principles are aligned with the ten key values of the Green Party of California, and we emphasize the need for a new system of preventing and addressing crime, with a focus on increasing opportunities for education and employment so that residents are not driven to crime out of desperation. The election process must also be extensively reformed so that the voices of all residents are heard.
For more event information:
https://oaklandgreens.org/
https://oaklandgreens.org/
64369
Transition Berkeley presents:
Protect Our Oak Woodlands & Water Future
Did you know that Napa has the highest concentration of oak woodlands of any county in California? And that the Napa River is the second largest fresh water source emptying into San Francisco Bay? Meet the two dynamic authors of a June 5th initiative to protect these treasures Mike Hackett and Jim Wilson. Watch their film that tells the story of the Napa Valley watershed and the initiative they created to protect it – the Napa County Watershed and Oak Woodland Protection Initiative of 2018. Also special guests from Forests Forever will share their work. Find out how you can help protect the forests, oak woodlands and watershed of Napa Valley from the ever-expanding wine industry.
Event is hosted by Transition Berkeley and co-hosted by The Ecology Center, Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter and the Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists.
Bring: An earth-friendly, vegetarian potluck dish to share at 6:30pm if you like! 7 pm event begins
Info: click here
64346
Mar
2
Fri
Mar 2 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Join the picket line with SEIU Service Employees Union EVERY FRIDAY.
STOP DEPORTATIONS and harassment of immigrants and refugees.
Also…
SF Labor Council Calls for a Clean Dream Act Now,
No Compromises;
Urges Labor Movement to Take Action!
[Resolution Adopted Unanimously by the Feb. 12, 2018, Delegates Assembly of the San Francisco Labor Council]
� For a Clean Dream Act Now and a Path to Citizenship for all Undocumented Youth!
� Not One More Deportatioon!
� No Funding for the Wall of Shame!
� No More Funding for Immigration Enforcement!
• Stop the I-9 Audits!
� No Workplace Raids!
� Defend Our Sanctuary Cities!
� Maintain TPS!
Whereas, on Feb. 9, 2018, both houses of the U.S. Congress adopted a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that does not include any protections for the close to 800,000 undocumented youth (Dreamers) brought to this country when they were children;
Whereas, United We Dream and thousands of undocumented youth organized actions and lobbied Congress in support of a Clean Dream Act — that is, continued protections and a path to citizenship for the 800,000 undocumented youth, WITHOUT any funding for the Wall of Shame and WITHOUT any further funding for ICE immigration enforcement;
Whereas, March 5, 2018, has been set as the deadline by the Trump administration for the adoption of any legislation that would extend DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals);
Whereas, House Speaker Paul Ryan — taking his lead from the Trump administration — has stated that any protection for undocumented youth, would require, in exchange, millions of dollars more to build the Wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and millions of dollars more for immigration enforcement;
Whereas, Sanctuary Cities — particularly in California — are under increased attack by the Trump administration;
Whereas, on Nov. 20, 2017, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke cut off Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for 60,000 Haitians and for more than 240,000 other immigrants from 10 nations (mainly from Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua);
Whereas, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 77 I-9 audits took place in Northern California at the end of January 2018 — audits that are expected to increase and become workplace raids and deportations if and when a deal is struck on protections for undocumented youth in exchange for increased immigration enforcement and funding for the Wall; and
Whereas, undocumented youth — just like all 11 million undocumented immigrants, and just like all hundreds of thousands of TPS recipients — are part of the U.S. working class and deserve protections and a path to citizenship through a just immigration reform; in particular, they deserve the labor movement’s protection and support.
Therefore be it resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council reaffirms its stance in support of the following demands: “For a Clean Dream Act and a Path to Citizenship for all Undocumented Youth! Not one More Deportation, No Funding for the Wall of Shame, No More Funding for Immigration Enforcement! Stop the I-9 Audits! No Workplace Raids! Defend Our Sanctuary Cities! Maintain TPS!”
Be it further resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council will work closely with our community partners to call on our elected representatives to take a firm and unwavering stand for a Clean Dream Act Now; and
Be it finally resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council calls on the California Federation of Labor and the national AFL-CIO to issue statements in support of a Clean Dream Act Now and to call for mobilizations, where possible, in alliance with our immigrant sisters and brothers and their organizations, to promote the above-stated demands.
Respectfully submitted by:
Olga Miranda, SEIU Local 87; member SF Labor Council Executive Committee; Rudy Gonzalez, IBT 856, member SF Labor Council Executive Committee; Susan Solomon, UESF, member SF Labor Council Executive Committee; Alan Benjamin, OPEIU Local 29.
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