Calendar

ATTENTION!!!!
ALL MAIL HANDLERS AND POSTAL WORKERS!
The National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the American Postal Workers Union are working together on Tax Day April 17th on a very important informational leafleting to the people!
We as postal workers along with support from our community will be outside Oakland Main Post office 1675 7th St from 8:30 am until 10:30pm. There will be a speak out/rally from 3:30pm until 7:30pm.
Together we can stop the fraudulent, disastrous & totally unnecessary attack on our postal service and its workers!
The Postmaster General wants to kill the Postal Service: slash 200,000 + jobs, delay the mail, and close 3,700 Post Offices.
Most shutdowns are in poor and rural communities, where jobs and service are needed most.
The postal service is NOT in financial crisis. It is subject to ridiculous and unfair requirements imposed by Congress in 2006.
This could be the last chance before a bill comes from Congress for us to lift OUR voice and stop the back door PRIVATIZATION of the postal service.
Take a day of leave or come to work a few hours early or stay after work for a few hours this is YOUR chance to fight for your Job.
SEE YOU OUT THERE!!!

DAY OF ACTION!
Occupy the Post Office!
Stop the fraudulent, disastrous & totally unnecessary attack on our postal services!

 The Postmaster General wants to kill the Postal Service: slash 200,000+ jobs, delay the mail, and close 3,700 Post Offices.
 Most shutdowns are in poor and rural communities, where jobs and service are needed most.
 The postal service is NOT in financial crisis. It is subject to ridiculous and unfair requirements imposed by Congress in 2006.
Let your voice be heard:
 No reduction in postal service – keep 6-day delivery!

 No Post Office Closings – expand the postal service, don’t destroy it!

 Stop PRIVATIZATION of the P.O. –postal services belong to the people!

 Demand a government-funded Jobs program at union wages for all, regardless of immigration status

 Jobs for Youth – NOT JAILS!

 Join with the postal workers’ unions to Save the People’s Post Office:

DATE: April 17, 2012 (Tax Day)

Place: Main Post Office Speak Out / Rally 1675 7th St Oakland CA, 94615

Time: Speak Out / Rally 3:30 pm until 7:30pm

(There will be an event going on all day from 8:30 am until 10:30 pm come out for an hour or all day stand with postal workers and help save the Peoples’ Post Off

TUESDAY, APRIL 24TH AT 10AM

Meet at Justin Herman Plaza
Near the Embarcadero BART where Market St. ends at Stuart
March to Merchants Exchange Building 465 California St.

Wells Fargo profits at the cost of our communities:

• America’s Biggest Tax Dodger – Hoarding billions of tax dollars that should be paying for public services and putting America back to work
• Leads in Foreclosure – Continuing to foreclose on families in an economy it helped to ruin
• Predatory Lender – Targeting those who can least afford it with exploitive mortgages and payday lending,especially low-income communities of color
• Corrupting our Democracy – Protecting its profits by quadrupling spending on lobbying since the financial crisis began
• Prison Profiteer – Profiting from increased incarceration by investing heavily in for-profit prison corporations and anti-immigrant legislation

wells-fargo-color-english-flier

4PM – Rally and Truth Mob at Oscar Grant Plaza, 14th & Broadway

5PM – March to Federal Building, then to:

6PM – Putting the Injustice System on Trial at 19th and Telegraph. Charges include: Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder, Inhumane Treatment of People in Prison, and more.

This action is in solidarity with the Occupy the Justice Department protest happening in Washington DC on April 24th, Mumia Abul-Jamal’s birthday. Occupy4Prisoners joins the growing list of endorsers.

HELP US TIP THE SCALES!

occupy4prisoners.org/occupythejusticedepartment.com

occupy4prisoners@gmail.com

Stand up for ATU Members, Stop Cuts in Para Transit!
Called by the ATU 192 who represents the workers there in Para Transit: as part of a campaign against Substandard conditions, contract concessions, arbitrary discipline & firings, and service cuts.

Support by Occupy AC Transit
as part of a campaign for transit equity and organizing to unite AC workers and transit riders to stop budget cuts, oppose concessions,and make the Banks pay. Passengers and Transit workers Unite. Free passes for the working poor and youth.

Directions: Bart to Hayward Station
AC Bus 86 towards W Winton (about 13 minutes)
Stop at W Winton and Corsair.
Clawiter is across from Corsair, walk left on Clawiter to A-Para Transit

More info

In response to the May 1st vandalism of small businesses and private property in this largely working class neighborhood, we at the Brooms Collective are planning on gathering at the 16th Street Mission BART Station at 11:30 on Saturday morning to participate in a neighborhood clean-up and outreach action. Many people seem to believe that these deplorable actions were attributable to supporters of the Occupy Movement, and even Occupy Oakland in particular. Many of us in the Brooms Collective found this truly senseless destruction wholly out of step with our beliefs, political, social or otherwise, and we believe that many others feel the same way. An action such as this is the only way that we could even hope to repair the damage that was done in the name of a movement that many of us believe would never have condoned it in the first place.

This Friday, May 11th, there will be an action in front of the OPD Station at 7th and Broadway to protest and bring light to the murder of 18 year old Alan Bluford this past weekend. It will begin at 5pm and will include such speakers as Jack Bryson from Occupy Oakland amongst others.

This Saturday, May 12th, there will be a march at 3pm from the corner of 90th and Birch in East Oakland and will go to the Eastmont Pol ice Substation at 73rd ave and MacArthur. Alan’s family has called for the march and has asked for a peaceful assembly and march.

Alan was shot in the back by Oakland police last Sunday. The family is asking why the OPD has changed their story of what happened 3 times, why they consider the offer competent after he shot himself in the foot and a young man who posed no threat to the officer as he was running away, and why this same officer is on paid leave.

Supplies to make picket signs will be available at 11am Saturday at Arroyo Park.

The family of Alan Blueford has asked allies to come to the Oakland City Council Meeting at 6 pm on Tuesday to demand justice for the OPD killing of their son! Get there by 6 pm to demand a real investigation into the circumstances of the killing! The police officer should not be on paid leave, beyond that, what is his name, and why are they still on the force?

March from San Pablo Park (Ward and Mabel) to Bayer (Grayson and 7th) in Berkeley to protest production of pesticide that is killing off the bees!

Castlewood workers have been locked in a dispute over health care benefits for more than two years now. Last winter Occupy Oakland supported their cause and helped organize a march and rally. Now they would like our help again:

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Walmart Supplier Plans to Cross Our Picket Line!

Join us on the line – Monday, 5/21, 12:30 pm

Acosta Sales and Marketing is having a golf
tournament at Castlewood on Monday, May 21st.
Acosta is a national food brokering company
for Walmart and other stores.

Come join us on the picket line and add your voice to the struggle.
Tell Acosta to respect the workers’ boycott of Castlewood!

Valley Course, Castlewood Country Club
(Castlewood Drive between Pleasanton-Sunol Rd. and Foothill Rd.)

Questions or Rides? Contact Sarah Norr at (510) 502-5344 or norr.sarah@gmail.com

Come out, come out wherever you are!!! Please, please, please join us
to picket the Bank of America next Monday, May 21, 5-6pm at the Albany
Branch, Solano at Neilson, next to Safeway. Nine of us, mainly
community senior citizens ranging in age from the early 60s to 85
years asked for a meeting with the manager. After he consulted with
his superiors he refused to give us any appointment. Instead, we
should submit our questions on paper without expecting a meeting
afterward. In fact, the manager wouldn’t even give us his business
card. When we tried to explain why we wanted to talk with him, his
only response was to insist that we leave immediately.

On May 30th, people will travel from around the world to descend on San Ramon, CA and confront Chevron at its annual shareholder meeting.

Join us for a colorful and fun rally outside Chevron’s headquarters in support of human rights, environmental, economic and climate justice, and more!

DIRECTIONS
From Berkeley or SF, take 80 to 24 (Caldicott Tunnel). Then 680 South. Off at Bollinger Canyon. Make a left onto Bollinger over bridge. Chevron HQ on right.
Drivers will have to park in Whole Foods parking lot across the street or at San Ramon Central Park (on left after Bishop Ranch One E).

From 580, take 680 N. Make a right at Bollinger Canyon Exit.

Chevron HQ is between Walnut Creek and Dublin Pleasanton BART stations. There are buses from these stations that go to Bishop Ranch (the corporate business park that Chevron HQ is located in).

Carpooling can be arranged at
http://www.facebook.com/events/317844888283134/

There’s also a teach in the night before in Berkeley.  Tuesday, May 29, 7pm David Brower Center  2150 Allston Way.   Community and Union leaders will travel from Ecuador, Angola, Nigeria, Brazil, Texas, Richmond and more to expose the True Cost of Chevron and encourage us to join them in fighting back.  Please come to hear these and other accounts and to join the discussion on what you can do.

May Day! May Day! Shut down Stockton! Come out May 31 to Stockton, California and help shut down the town to protest racist police murders, criminally greedy banks and a corrupt and incompetent city government!

Justice for James Rivera!
Justice for Luther Brown
Justice for the People of Stockton!

1-130pm– Meet-up/drop off point-Eden Park (El Dorado St)
2-3pm– Rally @ MLK park (El Dorado & Fremont)
3-5pm– Bank Shutdown Parties and Justice for the
Families march through Downtown Stockton
5-8pm– “the Right–to-Assemble” Street Dance Party

All-day BBQ and Services @ Fremont & Sutter St

Free buses leaving Oakland
14th and Broadway 11am
19th & Telegraph 11:30am

Pack the court: Trial readiness for Ted and Colin, arrested on October 26th, 2011, after Oscar Grant Plaza was reclaimed

Over the last few months, we have been enheartened by the revolt taking shape in the streets of Montreal. The students of Quebec have taken a struggle against tuition hikes and mobilized hundreds of thousands against austerity and state repression. What began as a one-week university student strike has precipitated into an anti-capitalist revolt against universities, banks and police in what many are calling a general and indefinite social strike. In the face of intense state repression, including the draconian law 78 more or less banning protest, court injunctions against university picket lines, and mass arrests, the rebels of Montreal return to the streets night after night for over 100 days. They have called for solidarity actions from everyone and everywhere that can connect with the struggle, saying that if the strike “cannot inspire disruptions of its own, then it will die out quick.”

In the Bay Area, we, too, have seen revolt spread from universities into the community through Occupy, and we’ve seen tens of thousands come together against state repression for the November 2nd general strike and December 12th west coast port shutdown. And during those days of intense struggle, we drew strength and joy from the solidarity extended to us from as far as New York to Mexico City to Cairo.

It is now time for us to extend our solidarity to our comrades in Montreal and work to inspire the same solidarity and desire to disrupt business as usual in our friends, families and neighbors.

Keep striking and don’t ever stop!

Infinite solidarity with the infinite social strike!

Bring pots, pans, and red squares of cloth. These are the symbols of solidarity with our Quebec comradies

The carre rouge, or red square, has become the Canadian symbol of revolt. It comes from the French phrase carrement dans le rouge, or “squarely in the red,” referring to those crushed by debt… The din of citizens beating pots and pans reverberates nightly in cities in Quebec. The protesters are part of what has been nicknamed the army of the cacerolazo, or the casseroles. — Truth Out

We’ve all seen the images of the hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of Quebec. Our comrades up north are really turning up the volume and standing up for the world they want! Come out Saturday night in solidarity for a second night of “casserole”-style marching, which means…bring your pots and pans! This is gonna be the LOUDEST FTP march EVER! Bring red squares of cloth too. 19th & Telegraph, Rally at 7, march at 9.

And as usual, TAC asks for the following:
SHIELDS: If you have the capability and the will to march in the front line, make a shield to carry for this Saturday’s action.

NO DAMAGE TO PRIVATE PROPERTY of any kind — people’s cars, any Oakland businesses (especially small businesses – but the Starbucks that was hit last time actually gives free coffee and food to our vigil so we prefer to leave all of them out at this time).

PROPERTY THAT IS FAIR GAME IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED – police vehicles and equipment, Mainstream Media vehicles and equipment. The police and the MSM are not our friends, never have been, and never will be.

NO FRONTAL ASSAULTS ON THE POLICE – i.e., no bottle throwing. Defensive actions are fully accepted and encouraged. Shields, unarresting, disarming cops that are beating comrades, etc. MAKE THE POLICE STRIKE THE FIRST BLOW.

SPLIT-OFF MARCHES AND AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS ARE NOT DISCOURAGED. If you do decide to go your own route, please respect the above parameters. Large banks, huge international corporations that run this city with their money, political organization HQ such as the Democrat campaign office or the chamber of commerce are not considered private property for the purposes of the parameters. If you decide to split off, do your autonomous actions away from the main march, not right next to it.

We are not encouraging anyone to attack any property whatsoever, but some property is more acceptable than others if you really must risk your freedom by doing something of that nature.

FIRE CAN BE FUN – if you want to burn something in the street (that isn’t somebody’s car) then more power to you. If someone is burning something in the street then DO NOT INTERFERE.

STREET BARRICADES ARE FOR YOUR PROTECTION – Do not remove them if they have been placed. Do not stop comrades from placing barriers if they choose to take that risk. It is actually to protect the march. If you are uncomfortable with the barriers, just walk away from them.

BLOC UP: If you hear the shout, “Bloc up!” Or “Tighten up!” It is in your best interest to clump together with the main group in tight formation. Be aware of distance and do not string out along the march route. Do not give the police an opportunity to snatch you and plant evidence on you to conflate charges with.

And to repeat:

NO INTERFERING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S ACTIONS EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PERSONALLY AGREE WITH THEM. Do not yell stop. Do not grab your comrades. If you feel unsafe, move away. The parameters listed above are for our own use so that we can hold one another accountable afterwards for things that may not have gone according to plan. But in the face of the enemy WE SHOW FULL SOLIDARITY. Afterwards we can argue about stuff. Not during the action.

We are all adults. We are all comrades. We have a common enemy and we will have to learn to work as a unit. Following the action parameters on each FTP march should mitigate the fighting and problems we have consistently had after every action to date.

Thank you for your cooperation.

***

The Oakland Police Department has harassed and brutalized Occupy Oakland and participants in the vigil. Camps and liberated foreclosed buildings have been raided and shut down. OOers at the vigil have been arrested for as little as standing nearby when the police decide to raid, all the way up to the ridiculous charge of lynching. People have been physically assaulted by those supposed to protect and serve, but only do so in the interests of the 1%.

With dozens of our comrades having been arrested in the past couple of weeks, and culminating in the city’s revocation of the vigil’s permit and the immediate threat of another police raid to clear the plaza, the time has come to rise up and let them know what we think of them and that we will no longer meekly accept their violations of our civil and human rights.

Spread the word, send the invite, join us as we march in solidarity against police repression.

Wear black
Bring shields if you are able and willing

Rally at 7:00 pm
March on OPD HQ at 9:00 pm

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING OCCUPY OAKLAND
SOLIDARITY

Over the last few months, we have been enheartened by the revolt taking shape in the streets of Montreal. The students of Quebec have taken a struggle against tuition hikes and mobilized hundreds of thousands against austerity and state repression. What began as a one-week university student strike has precipitated into an anti-capitalist revolt against universities, banks and police in what many are calling a general and indefinite social strike. In the face of intense state repression, including the draconian law 78 more or less banning protest, court injunctions against university picket lines, and mass arrests, the rebels of Montreal have returned to the streets night after night for over 100 days. They have called for solidarity actions from everyone and everywhere that can connect with the struggle, saying that if the strike “cannot inspire disruptions of its own, then it will die out quick.”

In the Bay Area, we, too, have seen revolt spread from universities into the community through Occupy, and we’ve seen tens of thousands come together against state repression for the November 2nd general strike and December 12th west coast port shutdown. During those days of intense struggle, we drew strength and joy from the solidarity extended to us from as far as New York to Mexico City to Cairo.

It is now time for us to extend our solidarity to our comrades in Montreal and work to inspire the same solidarity and desire to disrupt business as usual in our friends, families and neighbors.

Keep striking and don’t ever stop!

Infinite solidarity with the infinite social strike!

Our first Solidarity March on June 1 was tons of fun and a big success! Join us for our 2nd Solidarity March June 8th. Invite all your friends. Bring pots, pans, and red squares of cloth. These are the symbols of solidarity with our Quebec comrades.

The carre rouge, or red square, has become the Canadian symbol of revolt. It comes from the French phrase carrement dans le rouge, or “squarely in the red,” referring to those crushed by debt… The din of citizens beating pots and pans reverberates nightly in cities in Quebec. The protesters are part of what has been nicknamed the army of the cacerolazo, or the casseroles. — Truth Out