Calendar
Opening Friday, April 5, please visit DESPERATE HOLDINGS REAL ESTATE & LandMind Spa, an immersive art installation organized by Cassie Thornton of the Feminist Economics Department (the FED). See our full website at http://www.desperateholdings.com.
Installation available for viewing through May 11th.
In 2015 Cassie Thornton, recently displaced from her San Francisco apartment, walked past the Salesforce Tower construction site in downtown San Francisco. Workers were digging 200 ft below, where they found Barbary Coast beams and thick clay-like soil. The foreman offered her and her friend a truckload of this clay, which would otherwise be sent to a toxic dump to be sanitized in Palo Alto. Since then Thornton has reconstituted, blended, and hoarded the precious clay, as liquid real estate. “At times the clay has had a home, even when I haven’t. The clay is beyond property, rent, and all the things that keep us from magic. If all I can do turn land into money, like any real estate agent, that is useless …. If I really had magic powers, what would this clay do?”
In this real estate office, we won’t sell property. Instead we will touch and hold liquid real estate sourced from underneath the financial district of SF as we imagine what it would mean to see land and our creative energies as a commons. The clay we share with our clients in this immersive installation holds the essence of the Bay Area. We are thankful for the millennia of land stewardship, reproductive labor, and revolutionary culture that has made this place so rich. Desperate Holdings is here to create new methods for land distribution which do not evict or destroy the very land and people who create this richness. In an artisanal process we have removed the toxic energy of real estate speculation by hand. For the first time in ages, you can safely touch, hold, or wear real estate as you transform into a future self, a person who holds and cares for land as if it was home.
This pop-up real estate office and spa has agents available to deal with your broken trust, lost hope and longing for a nonexistent stability. Bring your tight little pent up body over here and imagine what it would mean to see land and our creative energies as a commons, and vengeance as creative fuel. Real Estate Agents and Spa Technicians played by local artists, activists and healers, will be offering services and treatments that are meant to unravel fantasies of the good life as it relates to private property ownership on stolen land. These agents will channel their own precarious financial survival to help you heal your broken potential for finding escape, security or shelter.
Bay Area Landless People’s Alliance meeting to discuss plans, outreach, organizing regarding regional homeless communities and organizations.
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/541837129562482/
Join us for a Poor People’s Hearing on Homelessness, Mass Incarceration, and the Criminalization of Poverty in the Bay Area.
Poor People’s Hearing Bay Area. Changing the Moral Narrative: Against Systemic Racism, Poverty, the War Economy, and Ecological Devastation.
This Bay Area hearing will focus specifically on homelessness, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of poverty. It is the Oakland stop on a statewide Poor People’s Bus Tour from the Yurok Indian Nation in the North down to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Bus Tour is organized the California Poor People’s Campaign which is part of the National Poor People’s Campaign.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is organizing tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality.
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/
Organized by California Poor People’s Campaign Bay Area Steering Committee. Please join the Poor People’s Campaign Bay Area Support Group. If you can help organize future events in the National Poor People’s Campaign with us here in the Bay, please join us at the steering committee meetings.
The Green New Deal: A Step Towards Ecological Socialism? – a Suds, Snacks & Socialism forum
Join the Peace and Freedom Party’s Alameda County chapter for the monthly Suds, Snacks and Socialism forum. All are welcome to discuss the topic The Green New Deal: A Step Towards Ecological Socialism?.
Is the Green New Deal as presented in Congress the real deal? Can it restore and protect the environment, halt climate change, and bring about economic justice? Join Marsha Feinland, Michael Rubin, and Larry Shoup for a lively discussion .
Doors open at 2pm. The program will start promptly at 2:30pm and will wrap up by 4:30pm, but folks can stay and talk as long for as you like.
The April forum The Green New Deal: A Step Towards Ecological Socialism? is part of our ongoing Socialist Forum Series on the first Saturday of every month. Our purpose is informed political discussion, and the views expressed are those of the speakers only, not official positions of the Peace and Freedom Party.
Calling all filmmakers –We’re going live!
This will be a 2 hour, hands-on workshop where we’ll learn OBS (Open Broadcast Software) and low budget (>$500) multi-cam livestreaming –we’ll take feeds from multiple cameras, a projector, and an audio signal to create a live show.
$5 minimum donation suggested, but NOTAFLOF 🙂
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 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 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! 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
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.
Christoph Vandreier, Deputy National Secretary of the Sozialistiche Gleichheitspartei (SGP), is the author of a new book Why are They Back? Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germany.
He will speak about the role of the SGP in exposing the network of pro-fascist academics and state intelligence operatives who are paving the way for the far-right.
The meeting series will also take up the historical lessons that must be learned in order to build a mass working class movement capable of preventing the disaster of Nazism from taking place on an even greater scale today.
This event is sponsored by the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and its youth movement, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE).
Police should exhaust all alternatives before using deadly force
This session we are supporting AB 392 — the California Act to Save Lives – which would require law enforcement
to exhaust all other alternatives before using deadly force on us and our loved ones.
It’s our duty to protect the Black, Brown and Indigenous people
who suffer at the hands of law enforcement daily by every means possible.
Next Tuesday, April 9, will be the first hearing on AB 392. Join impacted families and the Let Us Live coalition in Sacramento in support of AB 392.
What: Get on Bus to Lobby for the California Act to Save Lives!
**Check the registration form for more times and locations.
RSVP
Increasing use of force standards and requiring police to use alternatives to lethal force has been effective in several cities utilizing similar policies, such as Seattle, WA.
We are gaining momentum, but we have to seize this moment to pressure the California Legislature to embrace it!
RSVP and register for a bus ride today to let us know you can join us.
Hope to see you there!
APTP
Anti Police-Terror Project is not a non-profit.
We are a community group powered by people like you.
The City Council will be voting on support for a
bill in the California legislature _Improving Sex Worker Health and
Safety_ (SB 233 [1]). The hearing will be in the Third Floor Council
Chambers.
US PROStitutes Collective is part of the Bay Area PPC steering committee
and has testified at several PPC hearings about the criminalization of
survival. Although PPC does not support specific pieces of legislation,
US PROS is supporting SB 233 because it aims to increase safety for sex
workers by prohibiting their arrest when they come forward to report
violent crime. The bill also prohibits the possession of condoms used
as probable cause to arrest someone for sex work.
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.
We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.
We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.
Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.
Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), opposing Urban Shield (now gone!) and pushing back against ICE with local legislation.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:
Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/ Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy
Check out our sister site DeportICE.
“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”
Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County. To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.
Agenda items of special interest:
VII. R-02: Searches of Individuals on Probation and Parole
The Commission will review an amended version of R-02: Searches of Individuals on
Probation or Parole, and may vote on approving that version. Members of communities
directly impacted by the policy may share their experiences and views.
IX. Bey Case – Noticing the Federal Monitor
The Commission will discuss, and may vote on, a letter that will be submitted to the
Federal Monitor regarding new evidence in the Bey Case
XI. Police Commission Annual Report
Commissioner Edwin Prather will present the Commission’s annual report which is must
be submitted to the Mayor, City Council, and the public on or before April 17, 2019.
Movie Nights at Reem’s
The Arab Film and Media Institute and Reem’s are partnering to bring some of our favorite Arab films to Oakland. Screenings are free + the amazing team at Reem’s will be serving the full menu throughout the evening. And that’s not all! There will be movie snacks (including za’atar popcorn!),
April 11: Refugee Stories
Far from a one-size-fits-all marking of “experience” so often depicted on Western media outlets when it comes to the plight of the refugee, this program of 5 powerful short documentaries spotlight the multitude of hues that should be considered when discussions of the refugee experience are had.
May 23: Shorts (Playful Pondering)
From dating drama in Bahrain and an abandoned Qatari cinemaplex, to wacky Lebanese nuns and land mine explosions, this eclectic mix of 6 whimsical, albeit socially-concerned short format narrative works will take viewers on a journey of humor, self-discovery, and provocation.
June 13: Seventeen
The Jordanian under-17 women’s soccer team prepares for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, hosted by Jordan in 2016. Coming from different backgrounds, each of the girls has faced a different set of challenges as a national team player. But now they come together to face their biggest challenge yet.
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Bay Area Landless People’s Alliance meeting to discuss plans, outreach, organizing regarding regional homeless communities and organizations.
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/541837129562482/
The 50th Anniversary of People’s Park is coming soon in April 2019!
We are planning two major events with music, speakers and food in April, likely on Saturday April 13 and Sunday April 28, 2019, and many side events! Stay tuned!
We acknowledge that the Bay Area P2P training weekend takes place in occupied Ohlone territory.
The Promise to Protect is a commitment to resist fossil fuels where you live and prepare to take creative action along the Keystone XL pipeline route when called upon by Indigenous leaders.
*Make sure to RSVP at one of the links below to save your spot*
Saturday training: https://actionnetwork.org/events/bayarea-saturday?source=direct_link&referrer=group-standearth
Sunday training: https://actionnetwork.org/events/bayarea-sunday?source=direct_link&referrer=group-standearth
With millions of dollars being poured into fossil fuel projects each year and TransCanada planning to begin building the pipeline this June, we must be ready to mobilize and fight back to protect our land, water and climate.
This training will educate, empower, and elevate the voices and skills of community members to resist and push out extractive oil and gas companies. After the training, community members will be equipped with the knowledge and support necessary to organize their own actions to stop the fossil fuel industry and, if invited by Indigenous leaders, be prepared to take immediate action on the route of Keystone XL.
Never before have Indigenous and non-Indigenous allies come together to build power in this way. This is an exciting opportunity for those who are committed to stopping the Keystone XL pipeline and ending the extraction of fossil fuels in their communities.
Note: This training is meant to be fun, but also not to be taken lightly. There are a limited number of spots available, therefore you should only register if you are 100% committed to attending. Because there are limited spots, only confirmed participants will receive the location information for the training leading up to the event.
Host Contact Info: Isabella Zizi isabella@stand.earth
Want to help build a better future for Berkeley?…..
Transition Berkeley wants you!
Curious about Transition Berkeley activities and projects? Wondering how you can be involved? Do you have ideas on how to help transform Berkeley into a more livable, equitable and sustainable place? Join us! And celebrate our 8th Anniversary and new nonprofit status! To build a better future, we have to act collectively and we have to act now! We’ll have light refreshments to share!
Questions: click here