Calendar
Tell City Council to adopt a REAL Living Wage
Raise Berkeley’s minimum wage to $15 by Oct. 2017
Raise it each year by 3% + inflation until it’s in sync with Berkeley’s official “Living Wage” (now $16.37)
Bring sick leave up to the standards set by Oakland, Emeryville and San Francisco
There is a crisis in Berkeley and the Bay Area. Rents are out of control and the wage standards are so low families can’t work enough hours to keep their heads above water. Many are being pushed out of our communities.
Working families need relief now. The good news is some is on the way. More than enough signatures were submitted last Monday to insure a progressive Berkeley Minimum Wage measure will be on the Ballot in November.
But relief could come sooner if the city council majority stopped stalling and adopted the initiative now. Their inaction and foot dragging has already extracted a heavy toll on Berkeley’s lowest paid workers costing them over $3,500 to date. Instead of joining with the voters of Oakland, SF and the Emeryville City Council, Bates, Capitelli, Droste, Maio, and Moore chose to prolong allowing poverty wages.
As unconscionable as that is they are now lining up to do it again. Their current proposal will unnecessarily delay getting to $15 several years and will never catch up to Berkeley’s official Living Wage which the city defines as “a wage that can support a family at, or above, the poverty level” currently pegged at $16.37.
SPEAK OUT!
We believe that love is the universal language. We also believe that love is the universal cure to heal what ails societies worldwide. These meditation happy hours are our love offering to the community and are the result of a beautiful new & evolving partnership w/The Art of Living facilitated by Neelam Patil…& the universe ♥
Vandana Shiva is a physicist, world-renowned environmental thinker and activist, and a tireless crusader for e
conomic, food, and gender justice.
She has just compiled and edited a new book – Seed Sovereignty, Food Security; Women in the Vanguard of the Fight Against GMO’s and Corporate Agriculture – that is an extensive anthology of essays by women from around the globe. They write about the vital struggle to preserve small-scale farming, seed sharing, and local and indigenous knowledge. Seed keepers and community organizers, scientists and activists, mothers and scholars, the women in this collection are dedicated to speaking out against the GMO takeover and advocating for a food system that would truly support the health of our eco-systems, communities, and children.
With contributions by such notable women as Winona LaDuke, Frances Moore Lappe, and Marion Nestle, among others – this anthology dismantles the myths propagated by the GMO industry to reveal the widespread and devastating repercussions of genetic engineering. Highlighting the nightmarish effects of industrial agriculture on both the ecology and the human body, Seed Sovereignty, Food Security is a clear explication, an eloquent protest, and a cry for change.
“Women are not just sowing the seeds of resistance against an agriculture based on monocultures and corporate monopolies, they are sowing the seeds of alternative paradigms of science and alternative agricultural practice.”
“Her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly, accessible manner have made her a valuable advocate for people all over the developing world” -Ms. magazine
Hosted by Jeannine Etter
advance tickets: $15 : http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2513607 :: T: 800-838-3006 or Books Inc, Pegasus (3 sites), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore, Diesel a Bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway’s S.F. – Modern Times. $18 door, Benefits KPFA & Navdanya Institute,
Discussion to start at 7pm, potluck precedes. All are welcome.
Representatives [from] … East Bay Housing Organizations, the Oakland Tenants’ Union, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, The Berkeley Progressive Alliance, The Alameda Renters’ Coalition and the Oakland Alliance[will] brief the club and all interested parties on their efforts-how to join, support each other, learn from each other, and to organize region-wide towards long term, state solutions.
Please plan to attend, bring your friends, your organization, if not represented here, such as-small business and artist advocates who currently have few protections against the corporate gentrification of the neighborhoods they have invested in-and get ready to organize with the power of the not-so-silent majority in your cities, towns, counties and at the state house with us.
The Omni Commons Fair is an all day event showcasing the power within interdisciplinary collaboration and grassroots community organizing. We will highlight the experimental and educational nature of social justice endeavors. The all day event will include a panel discussion about cooperatively organized arts groups featuring arts and cultural leaders in the Bay Area, an array of interactive booths which showcase Omni’s interdisciplinary, creative, and practical endeavors, and guided tours of the space. Light refreshments will be served.
“Today, Casey and I had court for our arrests at Liberty City. Trial begins April 29, 9 am, room 112.
We want to pack the courtroom. What is at stake is the freedom to protest without government being able to say “that’s not a protest.” We want to challenge the ability of the state to use 647e, illegal lodging, in the commons. The law plainly states “without the permission of the owner” in it. Yet, this law has been used on public property to prevent homeless people from sheltering themselves. This law is used by cities to steal people’s possessions as “evidence of lodging” and once confiscated, are destroyed.”
Birdhouse Art Collective, in conjunction with Open Engagement, will be hosting an interactive, all-day art fair celebrating a variety of arts collectives and other collectively organized, non hierarchical organizations within the Omni Commons and in the Bay Area.
Presentations from within the Omni will include ferrofluid demonstrations from Counter Culture Labs’ monthly event The Art of Science/The Science of Art, a film screening and lens dissection by Liberated Lens, a multimedia installation about the Zapantera Embroidery Project by the Chiapas Support Committee, medicine making demonstrations by Buried Seeds, a demonstration open wireless internet systems by Sudo Room, and a poetry table by small press Timeless Infinite Light. There will also be presentations from the student-run alternative art education program DIY MFA and the art center for artists with disabilities The New Space Studio.
The panel discussion will feature members from local arts collectives including 924 Gilman, Birdhouse Art Collective, Black Salt Collective, Design Action Collective and Qulture Collective. Panel participants will discuss the impact they make in their communities and the ins and outs of starting, running and maintaining an arts collective in our extremely expensive time and place.
The fair will run from 10am to 5pm, with fair booths active from 10am to 3pm and the panel discussion beginning at 3:30pm.
Birdhouse Art Collective is the art collective of the Omni Commons. For more information visit: http://
The Omni Commons is a volunteer-run, horizontally-organized community space comprised of a number of different horizontally organized collectives. For more information about the Omni Commons visit:https://omnicommons.org/
Open Engagement is an annual, three day, artist-led conference dedicated to expanding the dialogue around and creating a site of care for the field of socially engaged art. For more information about Open Engagement visit: http://
Tomorrow evening, San Francisco Vision will be holding a public forum on police violence against the community. Afterwards, they will march to the Mission Police Station to hold a rally in support of the #Frisco5.
People of San Francisco…enough is enough. Come to a public forum on police violence and how we can bring the SFPD under community control.
Speakers include Sana Saleem, who recently covered the Alex Nieto trial and is following the #HungerforJusticeSF hunger strike for 48 Hills; Father Richard Smith, who will discuss the Amilcar Perez Lopez case, Yayne Abeba from the Mario Woods Coalition, Lisa Marie Alatorre, Human Rights Coordinator at the SF Coalition on Homelessness, and others.
Ray McGovern, Joanna Macy
“Active Hope: Going Forward”
6pm Potluck dinner; music
6:30 Program
Codepink Women for Peace Golden Gate Chapter, BFUU Social Justice Committee, Peaceworkers present:
Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and one of the most respected progressive activists in the United States, talking about the “Panama Papers”, drone warfare, the surveillance state, the CIA, and war criminal/ UC Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo. http://raymcgovern.com/
Keynote: Joanna Macy, beloved author of Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In Without Going Crazy. http://joannamacy.net/
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/19/18785372.php
Also (so far; more to come!): Cecile Pineda, Codepink Women for Peace; Pierre Laboissier, Haiti Action Committee; Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance; Berkeley Progressive Alliance; Mike Rufo, Bill of Rights Defense Committee; Linda Seeley, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace/Shut Diablo Canyon; David Hartsough, Peaceworkers and World Beyond War; Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission; SF Occupy Forum; Standing Up for Racial Justice; Sunflower Alliance; Cynthia Papermaster, No More Guantanamos; Christopher Macy, Stealth Geoengineering (“Chemtrails”); Jimminywinks and Friends, Barkers Agitating for Reactor Closures; musicians Gwen Winter, Mike Rufo, Francis Collins
This is our second 2016 “Active Hope” event bringing together groups/issues to discuss, strategize, collaborate and celebrate social and environmental justice activism.
Our January 10 event gathered over 100 activists to “get out of our silos and find common cause” to end drone warfare, shut Diablo Canyon and Guantanamo Prison, save our East Bay Forests, elect a progressive Berkeley City Council, demand Police Accountability, stop Crude Oil Trains and Fracking– and this event continues the momentum. Join us for a potluck dinner, great presentations, music, video clips and active hope! You’ll leave energized, inspired and re-committed to activism.
Please forward to your lists, friends, colleagues. Let’s give Ray McGovern a huge welcome!
Contact (information, volunteer, make a presentation/perform): Cynthia Papermaster, Codepink Golden Gate, 510-365-1500; cynthia_papermaster@yahoo.com
Join us to gather signatures for our three endorsed ballot initiatives! We’ll do a short training on how to get signatures and then hit the streets. Bring a car if you are able!
We’re working to get these three measures on the ballot:
From the Coalition for Police Accountability: Measure X turns the current Citizens’ Police Review Board into a Police Commission that has power to approve police policies and discipline officers who are found guilty of misconduct.
From the Oakland Tenants Union: Oakland’s “Renters Upgrade” would expand Oakland’s current “Just Cause for Eviction” law and provide greater ability for the city to enforce existing laws amidst a wave of unfair evictions and widespread harassment as demand for housing in Oakland grows.
From Oakland Livable Wage Assembly: A Minimum Wage/Fair Scheduling ordinance that will raise Oakland’s minimum wage to $14/hr in 2016 and $20/hr by 2020, as well as implement fair scheduling similar to San Francisco’s recent ordinance and mandate enforcement of both.
These three measures represent a people’s legislative agenda, enacted through direct democracy at the ballot box. The Oakland Justice Coalition invites anyone who is concerned about Oakland’s housing crisis, police repression of communities of color and rampant income inequality to join us in building a grassroots movement for social, racial, economic and environmental justice.
On May Day We Vote In The Streets For Justice!
March for Legalization, Housing, Education, and a Living Wage!
No More Raids! No More Deportations! No More Gentrification!
No More Police Violence- Black Lives Matter!
Sunday, May 1: Bay Area Regional March 12 pm Rally at Fruitvale Bart / 1 pm March to San Antonio Park for Closing Program.
– Bring food, picnic items, and plan to stay at San Antonio Park!
– This event IS FAMILY FRIENDLY!
Call to Action: On May Day 2016, We Vote in the Streets for Justice!
On May Day We Vote In The Streets For Justice
March for Legalizaton, Housing, Education, and a Living Wage!
No More Raids! No More Deportations! No More Gentrification! No More Police Violence – Black Lives Matter!
We, the Bay Area May Day Coalition, call on all immigrant, labor, and community of color organizations to endorse and mobilize for May 1st and May 2nd, 2016.
In the Bay Area our communities face increased state and economic violence. Only by building a mass movement in the streets that unites all of our struggles can we win our fight for justice and dignity. This May Day, it’s our day to vote! To endorse this call to action, please email Baymaydaycoalition@gmail.c
– Bring food, picnic items, and plan to stay at San Antonio Park after the march!
– This event IS FAMILY FRIENDLY!
Points of Unity
UPHOLD WORKER AND STUDENT RIGHTS
We demand respect for all workers’ rights: living wages and employee benefits, and an end to labor trafficking and wage theft. We demand empowering and free education, including ethnic studies programs, and for campus Graduate Student Workers to earn fair wages.
LEGALIZATION FOR ALL UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS, IMMEDIATE END TO DEPORTATIONS
We demand a clear path to legalization for all and an end to deportations and detentions. Regardless of skill, background, history of criminalization, sexuality, or gender identity, all migrants and their families have the right to freedom of movement and to live together in dignity.
SUPPORT THE STRUGGLE OF BLACK COMMUNITIES AGAINST STATE VIOLENCE IN THE U.S.
We march for Black Lives, Black Power, and Black Resistance. We support Black-led struggles against state violence and for self-determination. We stand with trans people of color against state violence.
BRING OUR LOVED ONES HOME FROM PRISONS, JAILS, AND DETENTION CENTERS
We march against all forms of state violence, including those inherent to systems of policing, imprisonment, and surveillance that primarily target Black, Brown, and poor communities. We march for the freedom of our loved ones locked in cages and for the families of those killed by the police.
BUILD AND DEFEND STRONG AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
We demand access to meaningful work, guaranteed and comfortable housing, free and sustainable healthcare, and environmentally sustainable communities. We demand real solutions to reverse the effects of climate change that endanger us all globally but especially poor people and people of color.
END U.S. MILITARY AGGRESSION & CAPITALIST POLICIES THAT FORCE MIGRATION
More than 200 million people have been forced to leave their country of origin because of war, environmental degradation and unequal trade policies. We say: No More! End US military aid. End US imperialism and support for colonial governments.
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Endorsed by: Bay Area May Day Coalition, East Bay Immigrant Youth Coalition (EBIYC), Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), School of the Americas Watch – SF (SOAW-SF), United Educators of San Francisco, Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition (BALASC), Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, East Bay Immigration Interfaith Coalition, Socialist Organizer
#Oakland: Join us tomorrow at 11AM for a rally & press conference for #InternationalWorkersDay #MayDay #Fightfor15 pic.twitter.com/lc82ugtRVz
— Fight For 15 Nor Cal (@NorCalFF15) May 1, 2016
Sing for an hour on Solano Avenue at the old Oaks Theater, Berkeley.
Guess what, oil industry: the game is up. The SHOWDOWN is on!
We’ve been pushing to ban fracking and other extreme oil extraction methods in Alameda County for years. At every turn, the oil industry has thrown up roadblocks. But the people of Alameda County have a message: we’re tired of waiting. We demand the strongest ban on fracking and extreme extraction possible. It’s the only thing that will protect our water, our families, and our health. And we won’t be silent.
Join us for the most critical hearing of the campaign yet: a showdown at the Planning Commission. You bet the industry will be there in force, trying to water down our hard-fought protections. They’re a formidable opponent. But we’re stronger. We have people power on our side. Now’s the time to show it.
OccupyForum presents…
(please note location !)
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue on all sides of these critically important issues!
Move To Amend:
Waging Non-Violent Revolution through Constitutional Amendment
With David Cobb
Corporations do not merely exercise power, they rule over us. The wealthy elite have stolen our sacred right to self-government, and the illegitimate, court-created legal doctrines of “corporate constitutional rights” and “money is political speech” legalize the theft.
All across the country ordinary folks are crying ENOUGH!!!! Come hear how you can get involved in a concrete campaign to abolish these doctrines via a constitutional amendment. Move To Amend’s strategy incorporates art and culture, grassroots organizing and educating, resolutions and initiatives, and we are beginning to explore direct action strategies.
Come help us!
The session will be facilitated by David Cobb, a people’s lawyer and an engaged citizen. Cobb has sued corporate polluters, lobbied elected officials, run for office himself, and been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. He ran for Attorney General of Texas pledging to use the office to revoke the charters of corporations that violate health, safety and environmental protection laws. In 2004 he was the Green Party nominee for President of the US, and filed for the Ohio Recount that helped to launch a movement for election integrity and against the use of electronic voting machines.
Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.
Wheelchair accessible.
We’ll make sure folks know that Sprouts Farmers Market will be paving over the Gill Tract farm, where the local community has been proposing a community center for regenerative agriculture, education, and ecological demonstration. This is also where the Gill Tract Community Farm currently farms on an acre and a half of the total 20 acre tract that the development is taking over.
COME DEFEND THE GILL TRACT AND TELL SPROUTS TO STOP ITS DESTRUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT!!!
San Francisco’s Police Chief Greg Suhr has blood on his hands. Specifically, the blood of Mario Woods, Alex Nieto, Amilcar Perez-Lopez, Kenneth Harding, and a whole host of others who his officers have gunned down. Every time SFPD murders Black, Brown, and poor people you can count on Chief Suhr lying to the community and creating a false narrative of officers fearing for their lives.
The Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition demands the immediate firing or resignation of Chief Suhr. With the hunger strikers putting their lives on the line for this demand, Chief Suhr should have been fired yesterday. There will be no peace and definitely no business as usual until our demand is met. Join us in a march and press conference on Tuesday May 3rd, before Suhr is scheduled to participate in a “police accountability forum” and demand #FireChiefSuhr!
We are meeting at 5pm near Divisadero and Geary at Raymond Kimbell Playground and then marching at 5:30 over to the “police accountability forum” at 2266 California Street for a 6pm press conference, demanding#FireChiefSuhr
