Calendar
Rising Tide co-founder, environmental campaigner and
renowned author George Marshall will talk about his new book
“Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to
Ignore Climate Change”
It’ll be right before the climate march in NYC and our solidarity actions in the East Bay and SF, and we expect lively conversation about dynamics in the movements to address climate change and climate justice.
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1462038400737108/
DONATIONS: $5-15 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds.
This event is a Rising Tide production.
About the book:
Why, even with overwhelming scientific evidence, do most people still not feel or accept the full threat of climate change – or even talk about it?
What is this psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? In this groundbreaking and engaging look at one of the most important issues facing us today, George Marshall, world renowned for his work on the psychology of climate change denial, shows that even when we accept that climate change is a dire problem, our human brains are wired to ignore it and argues that we can overcome this.
With engaging stories and drawing on years of his own research, Marshall confirms that humans are wired to respond strongest to threats that are visible, immediate, have historical precedent, have direct personal impact, and are caused by an “enemy.” Climate change is none of these – it’s invisible, unprecedented, drawn out, impacts us indirectly, and is caused by us. Taking the reader deep into our evolutionary origins, Marshall argues that once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change. In the end, his book is both about climate change and about the qualities that make us human: our limitations, our strengths, and how we can grow as we deal with the greatest challenge we have ever faced.
Interfaith prayer meeting for healing, dedicated to the survivors and victims of violence and police brutality in Oakland.
We are organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.
Please feel free to bring quotes or passages to share
All are welcome
We will serve simple breakfast.
Film and Speaker:
The Ghosts of Jeju
�
The Ghosts of Jeju is an award-winning documentary directed by Regis Trembly about the struggle of the people of Jeju Island, South Korea. Set in the context of the American presence in Korea after World War II, the film reveals horrible atrocities at the hands of the U.S. Military Government of Korea. Jeju Island is off South Korea and has three International Heritage Sites.The United States is building a huge Naval Base on the island. The film describes the brave, peaceful resistance of the indigenous people to the base today and the history of the genocide of native people during the “Korean War.” The spirit of the villagers and those who have joined their resistance movement is inspiring.
Using previously secret and classified photos, film and documents, this is the first English-language documentary about the struggle of the brave people of Gangjeong Village who are opposing the military advance of the United States, just as their parents and relatives did in 1947. As then, they are being arrested, jailed, fined, and hospitalized for resisting the construction of a massive naval base that will accommodate America’s “pacific pivot” and will destroy their 400 year old village and their UNESCO-protected environment.
The United States is a war-based economy and has been one since WW I and reconfirmed by WW II, the Korean War, the Vietnam wars and up to, and including the Gulf War in Iraq and the Afghanistan War. Sadly, the vast majority of Americans have been conditioned to accept our serial wars and to “Support Our Troops” without questioning.
Our speaker has previously spoken OccupyForum. Discussion and announcements will follow. Donations accepted; no one turned away.
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/64077154
Background: http://subversivepeacemaking.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ghosts-of-jeju.html
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service outsourced Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
On July 29th, at our invite, Ralph Nader spoke on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office against privatization and corporatism. Watch and listen to his talk here.
We began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. The American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too.
Check out our correspondence with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. The APWU has been leading the charge against Staples.
For most of July the sidewalk in front of Staples was ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples. They’re back! Come hang out with them outside Staples at Durant & Shattuck.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition. The Berkeley Planning Commission passed a similar zoning ordinance (finally) on August 27th. It will have gone before the City Council on September 9th.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors recently endorsed Postal Banking. Pew Research held a day-long seminar on Postal Banking. The Postal unions and other groups have announced plans for a conference on postal banking in November.
BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.
On this day 3 Years after the birth of Occupy Wall Street we welcome all of those who participated in OWS and those are or may be interested in joining/rejoining the movement.
During this time of our anniversary we also welcome people and group to mix, mingle, network and build/rebuild relationships that may have been lost due to time or to start new ones that will help re-build community and connect to one another on deeper levels.
Schedule of events at Zuccotti Park.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee is having a rally at Oakland City Hall on the 17th.
There will be first person report backs from Ferguson, including one from Nadia Kayali, a lawyer with the EFF.
There will be a handful of speakers followed by music from a PA and food and an opportunity for people circulating in parallel, yet disconnected, circles to meet one another and expand the organizing potential across the greater Bay Area.
Or next Politics of Debt meeting will be a presentation by Chong Kee Tan on Bay Bucks, a local alternative currency. We’ll hear him speak and then have a Q&A period, perhaps leasing into a broader discussion.
Or next meeting will be one week following, on September 24th, instead of two. We’ll discuss chapters 21-23 of Ellen Brown’s Web of Debt.
Meeting of the City of Oakland’s “Privacy and Data Retention Ad Hoc Advisory Committee” – open to the public.
When:
2nd & 4th Thursdays
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where:
Council Chambers
Oakland City Hall
14th & Broadway
Read the announcement from the City of Oakland City Administrator’s Weekly Report (April 25, 2014):
This committee was created by City Council action during the discussions earlier in the year about the Port Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The goal of the DAC is to improve readiness to prevent, respond to and recover from major emergencies in the Oakland region and ensure better multi-agency coordination across the larger San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of the Privacy and Data Retention Policy is to ensure there are safeguards to protect against potential misuse of the data or violations of individuals’ privacy rights and civil liberties. The meeting is open to the public. For questions about the Ad Hoc Committee, please contact Joe DeVries, Assistant to the City
We need to show up to these meetings and pressure the City to adopt a privacy policy that makes privacy a priority, not only “security” or administrative convenience.
The Zim
Shanghai has changed its estimated arrival back to Saturdays (September 27th) in the morning.
The critical picket is back to 5AM Saturday. Gather at W.Oakland BART.
We will still be at W. Oakland BART at 5pm tonight to meet anyone who wants to help plan for tomorrow’s picket.
Please continue to check text messages, Twitter and Facebook alerts.
Text: “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status
Twitter: @StopZIMOak
Facebook: facebook.com/events/545270232240123/
Inquiries: stopzimoak@gmail.com / (415) 282-1908
To track the Zim Shanghai: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/477634600
Port of Oakland map: http://www.portofoakland.com/pdf/maritime/mari_map.pdf
End the Siege of Gaza!
Picket the Zim Shanghai Starting
September 26 at the Port of Oakland!
Israel and Hamas agreed to a set of conditions for a ceasefire on August 26th, after Israel had killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza – mostly civilians, more than a quarter children – and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools and water supply.
Israel claims it does not “occupy” Gaza, yet it has complete control of Gaza’s land crossings, seacoast and air space. Israel severely restricts Palestinians’ movement and their access to food, medical supplies, and construction materials.
In 1984, protesting against South African Apartheid, the Bay Area longshore workers union, ILWU Local 10, went on strike for 11 days against the Nedlloyd Kimberley, a ship carrying South African cargo.
In 2010, responding to the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Local 10 honored a picket of an Israeli-owned ZIM ship by 1,200 community and labor activists, refusing to unload the ship for 24 hours. In August 2014, Palestinian, community and labor activists, in an historic victory, blocked the Zim Piraeus for five days and forced it to leave the Bay with most of its cargo still on board.
We ask the ILWU to carry on its long historical tradition of opposing injustice and honoring community picket lines. Let’s keep the pressure on and continue this tradition of labor blockades against oppression.
Please come to a sustained community and labor activist picket beginning on September 26th to stop the Zim Shanghai from unloading or loading any cargo – from when it arrives in Oakland until it leaves. This will also send a message to stevedoring companies such as Stevedore Services of America (SSA) who are pushing for concessions right now against longshore workers who are working without a contract.
Picket Lines Mean Don’t Cross!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
Stop ZIM Action Committee
======================
Endorsed by:
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition USA
BDS National Committee (Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee)
BDS Marin
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists – Social Justice Committee
Block the Boat, Tampa
Block the Boat, Vancouver
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights (BCPR)
Coalition of Lebanese Civil Societies
CodePink, Golden Gate Chapter
CodePink, SF Chapter
East Bay Veterans for Peace
14 Friends of Palestine – Marin
Free Gaza Movement
Free Palestine Movement
Global Campaign for the Return to Palestine
Global March to Jerusalem
International Bolshevik Tendency
ISM – NorCal
Justice for Palestinians (San Jose)
Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace (LMNOP)
MECA (Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance)
NorCal Friends of Sabeel
North Coast Coalition for Palestine
Muslim American Society
Palestinian Association (Hamilton, Ontario)
Palestine Solidarity Committee/ISM, Seattle
Palestinian Solidarity Committee Stuttgart, Germany
Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore
Socialist Organizer
St. Francis of Assisi Pax Christi, Derwood, MD
Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
United Public Workers for Action
Voices for Palestine
Voices for Peace in the Middle East, Bellingham
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Come one, come all!
BYO; Drinks, snacks, pillows, cushions, etc.
Donations accepted for popcorn and punch.
First screening will be The King of Hearts, by Philippe de Broca, 1966.
French, with English subtitles.
End the Siege of Gaza! Picket the Zim Shanghai Starting September 27 at the Port of Oakland!
Israel and Hamas agreed to a set of conditions for a ceasefire on August 26th, after Israel had killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza – mostly civilians, more than a quarter children – and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools and water supply.
Israel claims it does not “occupy” Gaza, yet it has complete control of Gaza’s land crossings, seacoast and air space. Israel severely restricts Palestinians’ movement and their access to food, medical supplies, and construction materials.
In 1984, protesting against South African Apartheid, the Bay Area longshore workers union, ILWU Local 10, went on strike for 11 days against the Nedlloyd Kimberley, a ship carrying South African cargo.
In 2010, responding to the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Local 10 honored a picket of an Israeli-owned ZIM ship by 1,200 community and labor activists, refusing to unload the ship for 24 hours. In August 2014, Palestinian, community and labor activists, in an historic victory, blocked the Zim Piraeus for five days and forced it to leave the Bay with most of its cargo still on board.
We ask the ILWU to carry on its long historical tradition of opposing injustice and honoring community picket lines. Let’s keep the pressure on and continue this tradition of labor blockades against oppression.
Please come to a sustained community and labor activist picket beginning on September 27th to stop the Zim Shanghai from unloading or loading any cargo – from when it arrives in Oakland until it leaves. This will also send a message to stevedoring companies such as Stevedore Services of America (SSA) who are pushing for concessions right now against longshore workers who are working without a contract.
Picket Lines Mean Don’t Cross!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
Stop ZIM Action Committee
================
Text “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status
Twitter: @StopZIMOak
Webpage: snurl.com/stopzims27
A “sustained picket” means we will picket the Zim Shanghai from when it arrives until it leaves the Bay.
Morning assembly: 5am, West Oakland BART (starting September 27th)
Afternoon assembly: 4:30pm, West Oakland BART
Carpools will be available from West Oakland BART to the picket site. The ship is expected at the SSA terminal in the Port.
Typically, each picket will last only a few hours until longshoremen decide not to cross the picket. It may last longer depending on the situation. Volunteers are need for all shifts, but especially morning shifts and the first day (morning of September 27th).
Please check your phone/Twitter/FB for updates on the ship location and picket status, particularly the day before. ZIM may delay the ship’s arrival to avoid picketers.
======================
Unions around the world, including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (Gaza) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have called for action against Israeli Apartheid.
We are asking that longshore workers honor this picket line as they have done before for the Zim Piraeus, and other ships such as the Nedlloyd Kimberley which carried cargo for the oppressive and discriminatory Apartheid regime of South Africa in the 1980s.
We understand the ILWU is currently in contract negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and that there is no contract in effect at this time. Further, SSA is one of the most aggressive stevedoring employers in the PMA going after the ILWU on work rules and concessions. ILWU longshore workers in the Pacific Northwest have been fired for work stoppages over health and safety violations despite the fact that there is no contract in effect. Working now under no contract as negotiations continue, there is more opportunity and reason to take action on behalf of workers and the community.
There is no arbitration procedure without a contract and longshore workers cannot be compelled to cross a labor and community picket line to comply with a contract. Honoring a picket line of the Israeli shipping line ZIM actively supports the Palestinian people, and shows that union members care about what happens to others who suffer discrimination and oppression. Supporting the community in this struggle further strengthens community support for the ILWU in fighting to keep the hiring hall, work rules, and other benefits union members have.
ILWU members should be aware that Israeli unions actively discriminate against Palestinians – who make up a significant portion of the labor force within Israel. As many of you are well aware, longshore workers in San Francisco and the entire West Coast established the hiring hall after the strike in 1934 to end discrimination in hiring based on union membership and race.
We’re excited to let you know about the 2nd training in our “Support
from Outside the Walls” series.
The invite is here https://www.facebook.com/events/663599277069128/
Please help us spread the word.
People in prison are often required to exhaust internal, administrative
complaint processes before they can take a case to court. In California,
non-lawyers and lawyers can be a huge help to people with their
complaints against the prison system. Learn how to assist California
inmates with their administrative appeals in this session led by Sajad
Shakoor of the Tayba Foundation.
Please RSVP & complete this poll so we can customize the training and
connect you with projects http://tinyurl.com/Walls-Pre-Training-Survey
Materials from last training and this training are here
http://caitlinkellyhenry.com/support/
This training will focus on practical skills development for activists,
legal workers, and lawyers to understand the nitty gritty methods and
best practices for “Supporting People in California Prisons to Address
and Appeal Grievances.”
Come get connect with SDBA’s many projects:- organizing for public banking in Oakland
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- working with the City of Richmond and other municipalities for eminent domain seizure of underwater mortgages from the banksters
- ongoing study group
- distribution of Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual
- student debt resistance
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization
- and much more!
The blockade of the Zim Shanghai continues tonight, after all but one longshore worker refused to take the job at morning dispatch.
Gather at W. Oakland BART by 4:30pm tonight to march and/or carpool to the port, or come directly to the SSA Terminal, Berth 57, at the Port of Oakland by 5pm.
Please continue to check text messages, Twitter and Facebook for alerts and messages.
Text: “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status
Twitter: @StopZIMOak
Facebook: facebook.com/events/545270232240123/
Inquiries: stopzimoak@gmail.com / (415) 282-1908
To track the Zim Shanghai: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/477634600
Port of Oakland map: http://www.portofoakland.com/pdf/maritime/mari_map.pdf
End the Siege of Gaza!
Picket the Zim Shanghai Starting
September 27 at the Port of Oakland!
Israel and Hamas agreed to a set of conditions for a ceasefire on August 26th, after Israel had killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza – mostly civilians, more than a quarter children – and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools and water supply.
Israel claims it does not “occupy” Gaza, yet it has complete control of Gaza’s land crossings, seacoast and air space. Israel severely restricts Palestinians’ movement and their access to food, medical supplies, and construction materials.
In 1984, protesting against South African Apartheid, the Bay Area longshore workers union, ILWU Local 10, went on strike for 11 days against the Nedlloyd Kimberley, a ship carrying South African cargo.
In 2010, responding to the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Local 10 honored a picket of an Israeli-owned ZIM ship by 1,200 community and labor activists, refusing to unload the ship for 24 hours. In August 2014, Palestinian, community and labor activists, in an historic victory, blocked the Zim Piraeus for five days and forced it to leave the Bay with most of its cargo still on board.
We ask the ILWU to carry on its long historical tradition of opposing injustice and honoring community picket lines. Let’s keep the pressure on and continue this tradition of labor blockades against oppression.
Please come to a sustained community and labor activist picket beginning on September 27th to stop the Zim Shanghai from unloading or loading any cargo – from when it arrives in Oakland until it leaves. This will also send a message to stevedoring companies such as Stevedore Services of America (SSA) who are pushing for concessions right now against longshore workers who are working without a contract.
Picket Lines Mean Don’t Cross!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
Stop ZIM Action Committee
======================
Endorsed by:
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition USA
BDS National Committee (Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee)
BDS Marin
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists – Social Justice Committee
Block the Boat, Tampa
Block the Boat, Vancouver
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights (BCPR)
Coalition of Lebanese Civil Societies
CodePink, Golden Gate Chapter
CodePink, SF Chapter
East Bay Veterans for Peace
14 Friends of Palestine – Marin
Free Gaza Movement
Free Palestine Movement
Global Campaign for the Return to Palestine
Global March to Jerusalem
International Bolshevik Tendency
ISM – NorCal
Justice for Palestinians (San Jose)
Keep Hope Alive
Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace (LMNOP)
MECA (Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance)
NorCal Friends of Sabeel
North Coast Coalition for Palestine
Muslim American Society
Palestinian Association (Hamilton, Ontario)
Palestine Solidarity Committee/ISM, Seattle
Palestinian Solidarity Committee Stuttgart, Germany
Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore
Peace and Freedom Party
Socialist Organizer
St. Francis of Assisi Pax Christi, Derwood, MD
Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
United Public Workers for Action
Voices for Palestine
Voices for Peace in the Middle East, Bellingham
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Continuing the blockade from the morning shift.
See the morning shift announcement for details.
The Zim Shanghai has left the Golden Gate and is now near the Farallon Islands. It has long passed the point at which the Zim Piraeus did its U-turn last month. Current destination on Marine Tracker is Los Angeles, ETA 11pm Monday night.
No need to gather at 5am this morning, but please check text messages and Twitter at about 6am, just in case ZIM is up to its previous tricks.
Text: “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status
Twitter: @StopZIMOak
Facebook: facebook.com/events/545270232240123/
Inquiries: stopzimoak@gmail.com / (415) 282-1908
To track the Zim Shanghai: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/477634600
Port of Oakland map: http://www.portofoakland.com/pdf/maritime/mari_map.pdf
End the Siege of Gaza!
Picket the Zim Shanghai Starting
September 27 at the Port of Oakland!
Israel and Hamas agreed to a set of conditions for a ceasefire on August 26th, after Israel had killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza – mostly civilians, more than a quarter children – and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools and water supply.
Israel claims it does not “occupy” Gaza, yet it has complete control of Gaza’s land crossings, seacoast and air space. Israel severely restricts Palestinians’ movement and their access to food, medical supplies, and construction materials.
In 1984, protesting against South African Apartheid, the Bay Area longshore workers union, ILWU Local 10, went on strike for 11 days against the Nedlloyd Kimberley, a ship carrying South African cargo.
In 2010, responding to the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Local 10 honored a picket of an Israeli-owned ZIM ship by 1,200 community and labor activists, refusing to unload the ship for 24 hours. In August 2014, Palestinian, community and labor activists, in an historic victory, blocked the Zim Piraeus for five days and forced it to leave the Bay with most of its cargo still on board.
We ask the ILWU to carry on its long historical tradition of opposing injustice and honoring community picket lines. Let’s keep the pressure on and continue this tradition of labor blockades against oppression.
Please come to a sustained community and labor activist picket beginning on September 27th to stop the Zim Shanghai from unloading or loading any cargo – from when it arrives in Oakland until it leaves. This will also send a message to stevedoring companies such as Stevedore Services of America (SSA) who are pushing for concessions right now against longshore workers who are working without a contract.
Picket Lines Mean Don’t Cross!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!
Stop ZIM Action Committee
======================
Endorsed by:
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition USA
BDS National Committee (Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee)
BDS Marin
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists – Social Justice Committee
Block the Boat, Tampa
Block the Boat, Vancouver
Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights (BCPR)
Coalition of Lebanese Civil Societies
CodePink, Golden Gate Chapter
CodePink, SF Chapter
East Bay Veterans for Peace
14 Friends of Palestine – Marin
Free Gaza Movement
Free Palestine Movement
Global Campaign for the Return to Palestine
Global March to Jerusalem
International Bolshevik Tendency
ISM – NorCal
Justice for Palestinians (San Jose)
Keep Hope Alive
Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace (LMNOP)
MECA (Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance)
NorCal Friends of Sabeel
North Coast Coalition for Palestine
Muslim American Society
Palestinian Association (Hamilton, Ontario)
Palestine Solidarity Committee/ISM, Seattle
Palestinian Solidarity Committee Stuttgart, Germany
Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore
Peace and Freedom Party
Socialist Organizer
St. Francis of Assisi Pax Christi, Derwood, MD
Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
United Public Workers for Action
Voices for Palestine
Voices for Peace in the Middle East, Bellingham
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
After the Zim shanghai had been prevented from being unloaded for two shifts today, the call has gone out to continue the blockade.
The #StopZim committee has put out a call for a 5AM picket tomorrow morning at SSA Berth 57, 1717 Middle Harbor Rd. #BlockTheBoat
— Not Frantz Fanon (@violentfanon) September 28, 2014
Pickets tonight were successful. We urgently need you at Sunday AM shift at 5AM W Oakland BART. Please bring friends. #Blocktheboat #stopzim
— Stop Zim Action Comm (@StopZIMOak) September 28, 2014
All six cranes at SSA sit motionless. Zim ship won't unload tonight. What a beautiful sight!
#StopZim #BlockTheBoat pic.twitter.com/LAC6Blj2ZN
— Not Frantz Fanon (@violentfanon) September 28, 2014
Come to a forum about militarization and repression in our communities, from
Ferguson to Gaza to Oakland. Hear speakers actively fighting to stop this.
– “Uncle Bobby” Johnson (Oscar Grant’s uncle), reporting back from Ferguson
– Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10 member, former SFSU BSU leader, with a worker’s
perspective on the Block the Boat for Gaza campaign, which stopped an Israeli Zim ship from
unloading most of its cargo at the Port of Oakland
Sponsored by the Black Student Union in conjunction with Workers World Party
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service outsourced Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
On July 29th, at our invite, Ralph Nader spoke on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office against privatization and corporatism. Watch and listen to his talk here.
We began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by a large number of national and local unions, including teachers’ unions and the AFL-CIO.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. The American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too.
Check out our correspondence with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. The APWU has been leading the charge against Staples.
For almost three months the Berkeley Staples has been ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples. They’re still there! Come hang out with them outside Staples at Durant & Shattuck.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition. The City Council passed the ordinance in a first reading on September 9th. The 2nd reading is September 30th.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors recently endorsed Postal Banking. Pew Research held a day-long seminar on Postal Banking. The Postal unions and other groups have announced plans for a conference on postal banking in November.
BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.
OccupyForum Field Trip
KPFA Radio 94.1FM , Earth Island Journal
and Movement Generation present:
NAOMI KLEIN
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
Hosted by Jason Mark
� This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate is the most important book yet from the author of the international bestseller The Shock Doctrine.
Naomi Klein clearly explains why we must soon abandon the core free market ideology of our time, restructure the global economy,
and remake our political systems. In short, either we embrace radical change,
or radical changes will be violently visited upon us. Status quo is no longer an option.
Naomi Klein argues that climate change is not merely another issue to shrug off and file away for the future. It is an alarming certainty that demands
we fix an economic system already failing in many terrible ways. Klein meticulously presents the case for how massively reducing
our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce the growing inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies,
and rebuild our gutted local economies. She exposes the ideological desperation of climate-change deniers, the messianic delusions
of would-be geo-engineers, and the tragic defeatism of far too many mainstream green initiatives. She demonstrates precisely
why the market has not and can not fix the climate crisis, and will in fact make things worse,
with ever more extreme, ecologically damaging extraction methods,
accompanied by rampant disaster capitalism.
Klein reveals how the changes to our relationship with nature and one another that are required to respond humanely
to this crisis should not be viewed as grim penance, but as a kind of gift, a catalyst to transform broken economic and cultural priorities
and heal long-festering historical wounds. She documents the inspiring movements already involved, communities not simply refusing
to be sites of further fuel extraction, but already building
the next regeneration-based economies.
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and the author of the critically acclaimed #1 international bestseller
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, which The New York Times called “a movement bible.”
Klein is a contributing editor for Harper’s Magazine, a reporter for Rolling Stone, and a syndicated columnist for The Nation and The Guardian.
She is a member of the board of directors of 350.org and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute.