Calendar
Judge William Alsup will hear oral arguments on the Post Office’s “Motion to Dismiss.” The Post Office claims that since they have delisted the Berkeley Post Office from their sales website that the City of Berkeley’s lawsuit against the sale is no longer moot and should be dismissed.
This is an important milestone in the two and a half year (so far) struggle to save the Berkeley Post Office and Post Offices around the country from being sold and the Post Office itself from privatization.
(Note: This event was postponed from its original date, on March 19th)
Via Save the Berkeley Post Office:
The U.S. Postal Service has moved to dismiss the suits filed by the City of Berkeley and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Both suits call out the Postal Service for violations of federal environmental and historic preservation laws in the Postal Service’s attempt to dispose of Berkeley’s historic 1914 downtown post office.
The USPS is arguing that both suits are moot as the USPS is not currently in contract to sell the building. But statements made by the Postal Service tell us the building is still for sale. And the Postal Service has done nothing to remedy their flaunting of environmental and historic preservation laws.
Judge William Alsup will hear the case. If Judge Alsup rules that the case should proceed, the attorneys defending our historic post office anticipate a full hearing on the merits will be held in the fall of this year.
No signs are permitted in the court room, but your presence will be noted and is helpful. The federal building in SF has airport-type security so bring identification (e.g. a drivers license). Judge Alsup starts court promptly. If you’re able to come, plan on arriving early, 7:30 a.m. or thereabouts.
Chevron Refinery Rally
It’s time to take action! On Thursday, March 26th at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, Evolve will be launching a series of rallies with our partners to highlight the multi-million dollar tax breaks that corporations are getting from Prop. 13. We’re kicking off our first rally at the Chevron refinery because Chevron is saving nearly $1 billion a year from Prop. 13. That’s a billion dollars each year that should be going to our public schools and services!
Join us to take a stand against Prop 13’s massive corporate loophole! We’ll meet at Washington Park (W Cutting Blvd and S Garrard Blvd) at 12pm to start the rally. Chevron won’t go down without a fight, so it’s up to people like you to help us out-organize them, so we can finally get our schools and services the funding they deserve.
The Red Poppy Art House is pleased to present Beyond the Blues: Ending the Prison Industrial Complex on March 12th, 19th, and 26th, 2015.
In a series of interactive discussions, Marcus Shelby will delve into our justice system, its flaws, and how music can be used as a tool for reform and change; both in front and behind bars. This lecture series will culminate with a performance on Friday, March 27th.These engaging discussions will explore the blues, the prison industrial complex, mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, restorative justice, prison abolition, and more led by Marcus Shelby. Using readings, recorded music, poetry, video, these events are open to anyone interested in reforming our criminal justice system and how art can be part of that process.
March 12: History of Prisons, Rockefeller Laws, School-to-Prison
March 19: Mass Incarceration, The Prison Industrial Complex, Black Prison Movement; Incarcerated Women with guest speaker Naima Shalhoub
March 26: Ending the Death Penalty, Restorative Justice, Prison Abolition
March 27: Performance by Marcus Shelby Quartet: Beyond the Blues: Ending the Prison Industrial Complex
- Invitation to all people interested in planning a new economy for Richmond based on pro-people values are invited to join. To RSVP contact Ellen Choy at ellen@movementgeneration.org
The planting was in January. Now the garden is in full bloom! The gardening work continues. Join us!
More information on the Berkeley Post Office Defense against the sale and privatization here.
The Dreyfus Affair
In a scandal hat divided France from 1894 to 1906, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason based on falsified evidence and blatant anti-Semitism and spent five years on Devil’s Island before being completely exonerated.
Elazar Friedman, a member of ICSS, will discuss this case and its continuing significance, including: 1.) A synopsis of the case and frame up of Dreyfus, 2.) The role of antisemitism in the army, society at large , 3.) The direct linkage to the League of Human rights on the one hand and to Accion Francaise and the Vichy regime. 4.) How the Dreyfus Affair split French Society and set the intelligentsia at each others throats. 5.) The role of Emil Zola and other important Dramatis Persona and conspiratorial aspects of the case. 6.) The role of the left and the workers movement. Rosa Luxembourg essay on Dreyfus and the need for the left to intervene.
For our full schedule, go to: http://icssmarx.org
Jabari Shaw, a well-known Oakland activist, his daughter and friend were nearly killed by US Marshalls and Oakland Police in a case of “mistaken identity.”
Come show your support for Jabari!
Check out this video for more info.
And these articles:
http://www.crc4sd.org/blog/2015/3/17/the-6-phases-of-engagement-of-power
http://www.crc4sd.org/blog/2015/3/16/black-oakland-activist-attacked-by-opd-feds
SF and Mayor Ed Lee will be hosting the 83rd U.S. Conference of Mayors, June 19th – June 22nd, in San Francisco.
SF Action Council is focusing on creating events around their meeting.
This is an opportunity to raise issues locally and nationally that are of concern to us, THE PEOPLE, that the mayors have resisted and refused to act upon – or acted against the interest of The People. For instance: “Black Lives Matter”, police militarization and excessive use of force, gentrification of our communities, homelessness, racism, immigration, privatization of our commons, homophobia, trans-phobia, the People’s taxes being spent on wars enriching the 1% and not serving the people and more.
All are welcome to help plan for actions as equal participants, OccupySF Action Council is merely acting as a central hub for organizational purposes.
Meetings Every Sunday, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
O’Shaine Evans was shot and killed by SFPD Officer David Goff October 7th.
Join his family as they file for damages!
O’Shaine was a Caribbean immigrant raised in Oakland, an aspiring boxer, an enthusiastic uncle, and a beloved community member whose life was tragically cut short just five months ago.
Since O’Shaine’s death, his mother Angela, his sister Cadine, and his brother and brother-in-law Troy and Raheim, have become incredibly active in the anti-police brutality movement–attending rallies and marches, speaking to draw connections between immigrant rights, racial discrimination, and police misconduct.
Now it’s our time for all Bay Area residents fighting the criminalization of Black and Brown young people to come together and support O’Shaine’s fight for justice!
Get involved with the fight against solitary confinement.
Become a human rights pen pal: Contact cws@igc.org
Information, discussion & community!
Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogueon all sides of these critically important issues!
OccupyForum presentsDEEP GREEN RESISTANCE
An Analysis, a Strategy, and a Movement for Justice
First and foremost, members of DGR recognize that all of us currently living in the United States of America, with the exception of surviving indigenous peoples, are living on stolen land. Over the last 500 years, the ongoing genocide of indigenous people has been carried out by the U.S. Government and its allies in an effort to illegally occupy the land beneath our feet. Deep Green Resistance uses a radical analysis to reveal that the current dominant culture, and civilization as a construct, is irredeemable and fundamentally unsustainable. We are living in a society based on violence, oppression, and resource depletion. It is the most destructive and exploitative culture that that planet has ever known and it must be stopped immediately and decisively if future generations are to have any hope of a livable planet.
The liberal movement has created many environmentalist groups who, for the last 40 or so years, have fought a hard battle against the institutionalized destruction of the planet. Unlike many other environmentalist groups, Deep Green Resistance is rooted in radicalism as opposed to liberalism. By identifying the underlying, concrete power structure of society, we can have a fighting chance to confront and dismantle the oppressive system that is at the root of the destruction. Capitalism, patriarchy, race and gender oppression, and the threat of violent state repression all help to sustain the system of destruction. DGR seeks to build a culture of resistance to dismantle these systems and to utilize our strategy of DEW (Decisive Ecological Warfare) to build a movement capable of gaining the power back which has been stolen from all of us. Unlike most environmental and social justice organizations, DGR asks “What must we do to be effective?”; not “What will those in power allow us to do?”
Members from Deep Green Resistance will be speaking and answering questions at tonight’s forum. A short presentation of the analysis, strategy, and current projects will be followed by a discussion about future goals and solidarity building. Come by for a meet and greet and learn more about what membership of Deep Green Resistance is about.
On WED APRIL 1st we will be getting out the message on the VICTORY and WAGE INCREASES at Walmart! Over 500,000 Walmart Associates will get a WAGE INCREASE! BUT WALMART ASSOCIATES STILL NEED HIGHER WAGES!
Join us in front of Walmart Stores where we will be getting out the message.
Oakland Walmart 5-7pm! 8400 Edgewater Dr
Oakland, CA
San Leandro Walmart 3-430pm 15555 Hesperian Blvd
San Leandro, CA
Richmond Walmart 5-7pm (Hilltop mall)1400 Hilltop Mall Rd, Richmond, CA
Help spread the Historic Victory and to make $15 and Full Time a reality!!
Join Movement Generation us for a Meal & Conversation
Behind that delicious #2 Burger & Fry Combo is a billion dollar fast food industry that not only erodes our soil, contaminates our water and destroys our health, but also serves up poverty wages and deadly working conditions to millions of fast food workers.
As food justice activists fighting to transition our food system away from industrial farming toward local, sustainable agriculture, how do we unite our frontlines with the very workers who plant, harvest, pack, transport, cook, serve, and compost our food?
As workers organizing for $15/hour and a union, how do we win not just respect and a fair wage, but also the power to transform the food industry itself into one that is good for both people and planet, for both our customers and our children?
From farm to plate, warehouse to compost, loading dock to drive thru, workers are the scholars of this rotten food system, placing them front and center in crafting solutions to the food, climate and economic crises.
Join us for a delicious meal and powerful conversation between food sovereignty activists and farmworkers, grocery workers, fast food workers, and restaurant workers about the future of our food system.
Visit http://bit.ly/1CouOAk to co-sponsor the event.
Free event. Accessible space. Program will be bilingual – Spanish & English. Childcare provided. For more information,
Film evenings begin with optional potluck refreshments & social hour at 6:30 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by optional discussion after the film.
CENTURY OF ENSLAVEMENT
by James Corbett
Humanist Hall is wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street
We are having an orientation for our hands-on study group. The focus of the project is both analytical and activist. As a group, we will develop an understanding of the relationship between gentrification and police violence thru readings, workshops and discussions. At the same time, we will be developing and implementing strategies in our neighborhoods that seek to discourage other people that are new to Oakland from calling the cops. It will last about 3 months
PolicyLink and Food First present “Occupy The Farm”, the story of 200 urban farmers who plant 2 acres of crops on a publicly owned research farm in order to save the land from becoming a real-estate development. The Village Voice calls the film, “Riveting from start.” The New Parkway Theater screening is for one night only. Q&A to follow screening will include Effie Rawlings from Occupy the Farm
Which way for the ILWU-
Militant Unionism or Business Unionism?
We’re all very honored to be having 2 parents from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero and 2 surviving students come to UCBerkeley from April 2nd to April 3rd. We’ve been working very hard planning events where everyone can come and see the parents speak on their journey and on their continuous fight to find their missing children. We want the whole community, non-students and students, to come out and come together to welcome them to UCBerkeley and show them what international solidarity looks like.
We are asking you all to spread the word of their anticipated arrival and attend the spaces we are holding for them because their testimonies are direct evidence as to why, we, thousands of miles away from Ayotzinapa, should continue to carry on this struggle and denounce the injustices of their government.
Agenda/ Here is the schedule for the 2 days.
April 2nd:
2PM-4PM Martin Luther King Civic Center Park (2151
M.L.K. Jr Way)
Bienvenida a los padres y normalistas/Welcoming the parents
6PM-8PM 110 Boalt Hall
Discusión/ Discussion with Jim Cavallaro
Commisioner, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights/Berkeley Law School
April 3rd
1PM -3PM
“Ayotzinapa: Mexico at the Crossroads”
Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall
5PM
Vigilia/ Vigil at Campanile
Transition Berkeley invites you to join us for an award winning film about Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese American philosopher, writer and activist in Detroit with a thick FBI file and a surprising vision of what an American revolution can be. Rooted for 75 years in the labor, civil rights and Black Power movements, she challenges a new generation to throw off old assumptions, think creatively and redefine revolution for our times.
American Revolutionary has won six Audience Awards from film festivals around the world, including the 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival. The film will be introduced by Alison Paskal, educator and urban gardener, and Hank Herrera, food justice activist, working to build new sustainable, local healthy food systems serving vulnerable neighborhoods, who have both known and worked with Grace in Detroit.
Come at 6:30 for conversation and snacks. At 7:00 the film will be preceded by a short presentation from the Gil Tract Community Farm and the Ashby Garden where gardeners are practicing their own style of remaking our world in a more just and sustainable way. The film begins at 7:15 and will be followed by small group discussions. Don’t miss this film!
For more info: info [at] transitionberkeley.com
website: http://www.transitionberkeley.com
This event is co-sponsored by Transition Berkeley, Victory Garden Foundation, We Bee Gardeners and BFUU’s Social Justice Ctee.
Wheelchair accessible.
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