Calendar
The Political Education Committee is proud to invite you to East Bay DSA’s Socialist Day School on Saturday and Sunday, August 29-30!
A lot has happened this year, from Bernie failing to win the nomination, to the economic and health disasters triggered by coronavirus, to the mass mobilization against the structural racism perpetuated by police violence. Discussion and debate of our strategies and tactics are crucial–now more than ever! The moment demands that we seriously engage with strategic debates and that we look critically at the theory which guides us.
We have designed a weekend-long event to ensure that we have the tools to do so. The weekend will focus on two topics: Electoral Politics and Mass Movements in America, and Socialist Anti-Racism & Mass Uprisings. Attendees will engage in free-form discussion on a set of readings that cover key debates, sharing and comparing their thoughts in an effort to develop a more solid understanding of strategy and theory, both as individuals and as a chapter.
It is evident that we now face a situation that requires rigorous analysis and critical understanding. So join us as we rise to the occasion!
Find the readings here: https://tinyurl.com/DaySchoolReadings
To register for this event please fill out this registration form.
Day 2 Sunday, August 30th: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1427/2020-08-30-socialist-day-school-day-2/
THE OCCUPY OAKLAND POTLUCK BEFORE THE GA ON THE LAST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH HAS BEEN INOPERATIVE SINCE THE PANDEMIC STARTED AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE INOPERATIVE FOR THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE.
(Due to technical problems with the calendar events are nearly impossible to remove, hence this notice)
Anyone wishing to get notices about the GA, which is currently being held online every other Sunday, can email
occupyoakland@lists.riseup.net
and request to be put on the list.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82465546845
Agenda items:
4. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Forensic Logic Impact Report and proposed Use Policy –
review and take possible action.
5. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Exigent Circumstances Use Reports – review and take
possible action.
6. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Live Stream Use Reports – review and take possible
action.
7. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance Amendments – Hofer/Patterson/Gage – review and take
possible action.
a. Prohibition On Predictive Policing And Remote Biometric Surveillance Technology
b. Annual Report metrics and due dates
c. Additional cleanup language
8. Sanctuary Contracting Ordinance – CPO – Annual Report – review and take possible action.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84693488061?pwd=M2t3S0dzdkhwN01oZm1hcFpHZS91UT09
In 2018 the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released an alarming report, stating that the world needed to steeply cut its carbon emissions and make radical changes in order to limit the planet’s temperature from rising to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. If that goal wasn’t met, the report predicted a horrifying increase in suffering for almost all life and ecological collapses.
In America, this report was met on the political Left by sustained calls for the abolition of capitalist exploitation of people and the planet. The rationale was that capitalism’s imperative for endless economic growth required massive amounts of energy, the vast majority of which is still produced through fossil fuels. Some of the specific responses were reinvigorated support for anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggles by Indigenous peoples, surges in attendance at climate strikes, and great support for proposals like the Green New Deal by elected officials.
East Bay DSA will explore this theme in a Socialist Night School mini-series, co-organized with our Green New Deal Committee. These 3 events will explore what it means to be an ecosocialist, the Red Deal and Indigenous struggle, and how to fight for a Green New Deal after Bernie.
In this first Night School, we’ll get an introduction to ecosocialism, its history, and how we can organize as ecosocialists today from the local to the national and international levels. Our readings will cover a broad swath of socialist history, and we’ll get started with 2 speakers:
Becca Miller has been a member of Boston DSA for two years and is a core member of the Take Back the Grid energy democracy campaign. She recently started her second term on DSA’s nationwide ecosocialism working group steering committee, where she’s been working on a new member onboarding process. Becca works as a campaign manager to increase state funding for a program that helps SNAP recipients afford more fruits and vegetables from local farmers.
Benny Zank is a member of the East Bay DSA Steering Committee and has previously served as co-chair of the chapter’s Green New Deal committee. He has organized as an ecosocialist for several years building strong coalitions with other organizations in the Bay Area and works professionally on addressing environmental issues, like supporting the California Energy Code. Follow him @bread_by_benny.
Priority Readings:
DSA Ecosocialist Working Group Principles
Care and Repair: Left Politics in the Age of Climate Change
Recommended Readings:
Karl Marx on the materials of production
We are asking OUR HOUSED neighbors to contribute hygiene supplies, canned food, bottled water, rain gear, tarps, garbage bags, $$ et al to be redistributed on Sunday Sept. 13th to encampments in North Oakland dealing with the COVID 19. We will sanitize and package your donations add a hot packaged meal and fresh fruit to the care kits to be distributed to North Oakland Encampments and surrounding encampments.
In order to properly sanitize and maintain social distancing we are collective the materials on Sept. 4th, 5th & 6th and aiming to distribute 500 hot meals and care kits on Sept. 13th. Overflow resources will be distributed by sister orgs throughout Oakland.
***>> EMAIL STRIKE.DEBT.BAY.AREA@GMAIL.COM FOR ZOOM INFO A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING. <<***
Strike Debt Bay Area hosts a non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, and How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century.
For our July, August and September discussions we will be reading ‘The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy’ by Stephanie Kelton. (Find it at your local bookstore or through this site.)
For July, we will have read the first two chapters.
For August, we will have read chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6,
For September, chapters 7 and 8.
The book is easy reading, and it would be easy to catch up. Join us – all are welcome!
Stephanie Kelton’s brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country.
Kelton was chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (minority staff) and an advisor to the Bernie2016 presidential campaign. Kelton is a regular commentator on national radio and television and speaks across the world at large gatherings of people interested in global finance, political economy and public policy. She has superb connections in all areas of print and broadcast national media. Her op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg.
For July, we will also have read two shorter pieces, following up on themes we have taken up in previous readings:
- The Neoliberal Era is Ending – What Comes Next? by Rutger Bregman
- From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring.
We are asking OUR HOUSED neighbors to contribute hygiene supplies, canned food, bottled water, rain gear, tarps, garbage bags, $$ et al to be redistributed on Sunday Sept. 13th to encampments in North Oakland dealing with the COVID 19. We will sanitize and package your donations add a hot packaged meal and fresh fruit to the care kits to be distributed to North Oakland Encampments and surrounding encampments.
In order to properly sanitize and maintain social distancing we are collective the materials on Sept. 4th, 5th & 6th and aiming to distribute 500 hot meals and care kits on Sept. 13th. Overflow resources will be distributed by sister orgs throughout Oakland.
There are increasing concerns as to what will happen before, during, and after our November election so this is an opportunity to express our concerns. Our group discussion will be introduced by Gene Ruyle and other ICSS members with ample opportunity for discussion. Be prepared to voice, and defend, your views For background, we will post a list of recommended sources in early September, for example in Democracy Now, the New York Times, and elsewhere ss they develop. ICSS member Sharon Rose will moderate.
LOG-IN INFO
The meeting will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc. We intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible.
Check here for Zoom connection info before the meeting: https://icssmarx.org/icss-sched-latest.html
This Labor Day weekend, join the EBDSA Labor Committee for a screening of Harlan County, USA, and learn about our newly-launched Jobs Program!
This Oscar-winning film documents the struggles of Brookside Mineworkers while striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages.
Following the screening, we will discuss the film and how the Jobs Program aims to build working-class power through strategic workplace organizing.
Point Molate is the last unprotected headland along San Francisco Bay. For several years, this rare, wild shoreline was being considered as a site for a mega-casino. A hardworking coalition of local groups helped defeat that wrongheaded proposal. Now, a Southern California-based luxury housing developer is trying to make this beautiful site available only to the rich. Opponents of the SunCal proposal argue that the site should be held as a regional park instead of an elite housing complex. As a public park, Point Molate could be enjoyed by nearby Richmond residents, who have shouldered a disproportionate share of the Bay Area’s toxic pollution, and by all visitors to this precious shoreline. The outcome of this fight will affect each and every one of us for years to come.
Sunflower Alliance encourages even non-Richmond residents to sign this Sierra Club petition and speak at the Richmond City Council meeting on September 8th, when the fate of Point Molate is to be decided. As residents Courtney Cummings and David Helvarg explain, “The fight to save Point Molate is, like many land use decisions, also about institutional racism and environmental justice. When it comes to racial equity, no one can seriously doubt that if Richmond, California . . . were a wealthy white community, this last unprotected natural headland . . . would have long ago been set aside as a regional park and visitor destination.”
Take a look at the Richmond Community News, which contains their article as well as an analysis of a whole range of serious problems with the SunCal proposal.
Zoom: https://zoom.us/join Webinar ID: 969 8696 1620 Passcode: ccsept8
Phone: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-253-215-8782 or 1-346-248-7799 Webinar ID: 969 8696 1620
Join us for a conversation with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Starting in Fall 2020, BCNM commits to paying an annual Shuumi Land Tax, a small step towards acknowledging the history of genocide on this land and contributing to its healing, as well as embarking on our Indigenous Technologies Initiative.
About Corrina Gould
Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone) is the chair and spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan— she was born and raised in Oakland, CA, the village of Huichin. A mother of three and grandmother of four, Corrina is the Co-Founder and Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native run organization that works on Indigenous people issues and sponsored annual Shellmound Peace Walks from 2005 to 2009. These walks brought about education and awareness of the desecration of sacred sites in the greater Bay Area. As a tribal leader, she has continued to fight for the protection of the Shellmounds, uphold her nation’s inherent right to sovereignty, and stand in solidarity with her Indigenous relatives to protect our sacred waters, mountains, and lands all over the world.
Her life’s work has led to the creation of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a women-led organization within the urban setting of her ancestral territory of the Bay Area. Sogorea Te’ Land Trust works to return Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Based on an understanding that Oakland is home to many peoples that have been oppressed and marginalized, Sogorea Te works to create a thriving community that lives in relation to the land. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on native and non-native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization, genocide, and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.
Due to unhealthy air quality, this memorial event is postponed until next Thursday.https://t.co/q9PjfNRCpy
— Indybay (@Indybay) September 10, 2020
Come through to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater (Oakland) on Thursday, September 10th 7-10pm for a memorial honoring the dozens of lives that have been taken by police and vigilante violence since George Floyd was killed. This number grows everyday 💔 Just as we exercise collective power through demonstrations, it is also important to collectively mourn and make the time and space to honor those for whom we seek justice 🖤 bring candles, flowers, offerings, and your mask! Please maintain social distance when possible
This is a virtual meeting: join with this link: https://tinyurl.com/SudsSnacks
2:30-3:30 Discussion of local elections, Featuring:
– Carroll Fife, candidate for Oakland City Council District 3
– Aiden Hill, Green Party candidate for Berkeley Mayor
– The Action 2020 slate for Oakland School Board
– The socialist slate for Hayward City Council
3:30-4:00
Presentation and discussion of the Statewide propositions on the
California ballot –
– A short summary of all of the propositions with concurring positions by the Alameda County Greens and the Peace and Freedom Party, and a brief presentation of their differing views on Propositions 24 and 25.
4:00-4:30
Additional time for questions and comments
– Note: A forum about the national election will be held on Oct 3, 2020.
This event is sponsored by the Oakland Greens, Bay Area System Change Not Climate Change, and the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party.
For more information call 510-465-9414
Welcome to East Bay DSA’s Annual Convention!
The convention is the highest decision-making body of the chapter, where we discuss and reflect upon our work and organizing, debate priorities and platform for the future and ratify our annual Priorities Resolution. If you want to influence or provide your opinion on what you think the chapter should focus on, prioritize, or otherwise organize for, you don’t want to miss it!
This year is a little different than previous years though:
- Because of COVID-19, we’ll be holding our convention digitally
- Normally we have our Steering Committee elections during the convention, but they have already happened
- We’re using a new, more participatory process to choose our priorities (more on that below)
For the full Convention breakdown, check out convention.eastbaydsa.org!
How Will the Convention Work?
Similar to our General Meetings, we will have structured debate and voting. All members of East Bay DSA are welcome to join and vote (double check your membership at proof.dsausa.org).
The final agenda for the convention will be available in the upcoming weeks.
How Will Priorities Be Determined?
Over a month-long span, committees, leaders, and members like you will draft short priority proposals around a single issue and/or campaign, gather signatures from membership in support, and bring them to the convention floor for debate. The purpose of these proposals is to outline political positions and concrete tasks that will guide our chapter’s work for the coming year. You can read about the whole process on our website soon!
Once the priority proposals are final, we will send them out along with a poll to members to agendize them in order of support. Most things will go on the consent calendar while contentious things will come to the convention floor.
Once we have heard and debated all of the proposals, we will vote them each up or down and those that were adopted, in addition to the consent calendar and the political preamble, will be our new priorities resolution.
Email info@eastbaydsa.org ASAP with any accessibility needs so we can begin to arrange accommodations.
Other questions about the convention? Reach out with questions at info@eastbaydsa.org.
See you there!
Details
When: September 13, 2020, 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Monday, September 14th — 6pm to 8pm
Monday, September 21st — 6pm to 7:30pm
Rosemarie Day and Zach Norris discuss both of their books, the pandemic’s effect on communities of color and lower income communities, public health policy across a wider range of issues, and much more!
Find participation info, observation info, the agenda, the taskforce timeline, and more here:
https://www.oaklandca.gov/meetings/reimagining-public-safety-taskforce-special-meeting
Learn about why a for-profit PG&E will never work for the people or the planet and be a part of winning a Community-owned, Community-controlled PG&E.
Where: Zoom: RSVP for link for 8/19
Due to unhealthy air quality, this memorial event is postponed until next Thursday.https://t.co/q9PjfNRCpy
— Indybay (@Indybay) September 10, 2020
Come through to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater (Oakland) on Thursday, September 10th 7-10pm for a memorial honoring the dozens of lives that have been taken by police and vigilante violence since George Floyd was killed. This number grows everyday 💔 Just as we exercise collective power through demonstrations, it is also important to collectively mourn and make the time and space to honor those for whom we seek justice 🖤 bring candles, flowers, offerings, and your mask! Please maintain social distance when possible