Calendar

The time is right for rooftop solar!  At our Solar for All Convening learn about opportunities for renters and time-limited discounts for homeowners through the Bay Area SunShares bulk purchasing program. Hear about financing options and tax credits from local solar advocate Doug McKenzie of SunWork Renewable Energy Project, and GRID Alternatives’ low-to-no-cost solar for qualified low-income homeowners. Solar vendors and zero-emission vehicle dealers participating in SunShares will be on hand to discuss their products and answer questions.  Light refreshments served.

Co-presented by the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition and the City of Berkeley’s Office of Energy and Sustainable Development.

All residents of the nine Bay Area counties are encouraged to learn more about SunShares! SunShares is a limited time program; enrollment ends November 4th. Attending this event is not required to participate in SunShares.

RSVP: Registration Required
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bay-area-sunshares-solar-for-all-workshop-berkeley-tickets-27077410263

Bresha Meadows of Ohio was just 14 years old when she was incarcerated and charged with aggravated murder for defending herself and family against the unrelenting terror and abuse of her father. On October 6, Bresha has an important court hearing in which the prosecutor will determine if she will be prosecuted for a crime (possibly charged as an adult) instead of given the support & safety that she needs.

We take action in solidarity with Bresha and demand that she is returned home to her family and that all charges against her are dropped. For this year’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we are coming together in solidarity nationwide with Bresha and all survivors of domestic & sexual violence who are criminalized for surviving.

Join us in sending our love and support to Bresha, and learn more about the larger historical context that Bresha’s story is a part of. We will read and discuss No Selves to Defend, an anthology that situates Bresha’s case in a centuries-long history of women (particularly Black women and women of color) being criminalized for self defense.

https://noselves2defend.wordpress.com/

No Selves to Defend was created during the #FreeMarissaNow mobilization campaign for Marissa Alexander, and its themes and lessons continue to be relevant today.

This event is sponsored by Survived and Punished, and Asians for Black Lives.

Accessibility information: ALC office is located on 55 Columbus Ave in San Francisco. 12 minute walk from Montgomery BART station, limited street parking. Wheelchair accessible and low-fragrance but not fragrance free. Please refrain from wearing perfumes and scents.

(UPDATE: Note earlier time at more publicly visible place for the rally)


Protest and Speak Out in Defense of Anti-Fascist Teacher Yvette Felarca at the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Directors Meeting


Wednesday, October 5, 2016


6:30pm Rally outside (march to school board meeting 7pm)
2020 Bonar Street (at University), Berkeley California

7:30pm Speak out inside (fill out speakers cards before)
1231 Addison Street (around the corner from 2020 Bonar)



Contact the Berkeley school board and demand that the suspension of Yvette Felarca and harassment of her students be put on the agenda of Wednesday’s board meeting: boardofed@berkeley.net, Superintendent@berkeley.net



Yvette Felarca, a Berkeley middle school teacher, is being persecuted by the school district for her political activities.


After she helped prevent the neo-Nazi rally on the steps of the capitol in Sacramento this summer, and was one of several people who were stabbed by the fascists, terror threats were made against the school if she was not fired. Instead of defending the entire school, including Yvette, the Berkeley Unified School District has since capitulated to the neo-Nazis, docked some of her pay, and suspended her.


Parents of some of her students have reported that their children were removed from class without parental notification, consent, or presence, and were interrogated about Yvette.




Voice your solidarity with Yvette Felarca, and demand that she be reinstated immediately, paid her full wages, and the harassment of her and her students be stopped: boardofed@berkeley.net, Superintendent@berkeley.net




Non-sectarian defense of all anti-fascists!
An injury to one is an injury to all!




For more information:


Last week’s press conference with Yvette and her lawyer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHhVxvNt3vY


Public comments at the last school board meeting, including Yvette, her students, their parents, fellow workers, and community members: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg2giLt6Fu4


Details of what happened in Sacramento, and the neo-Nazis involved: http://antifasac.weebly.com/home/blood-in-the-valley-why-people-put-their-lives-on-the-line-to-run-nazis-out-of-sacramento


More about the fascist organizers of the Sacramento rally: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/06/27/violent-clashes-erupt-sacramento-between-white-nationalists-and-antifascists


Details about neo-Nazis converging in Berkeley prior to their attempted rally in Sacramento: https://itsgoingdown.org/big-nazis-on-campus/




 

…

Stop the Political Witch-Hunt Against Ms. Yvette Felarca
Protest and Speak Out at the Berkeley School Board Meeting
7pm Rally outside
7:30 pm Speak Out inside

 

Community members, parents, teachers and students plan to rally and speak at the  the Berkeley School Board Meeting  to defend Yvette Felarca, an anti-fascist middle school teacher in Berkeley under attack by the school district.

After Ms. Felarca helped prevent the neo-Nazi/KKK rally on the steps of the capitol in Sacramento last June where she and 8 other anti-fascists were stabbed by the Nazis, racist threats were made against the school if she was not fired. Instead of defending the entire school, including Yvette, the Berkeley Unified School District turned on her, docked 17 days of her pay, and on Wed. Sept. 21, abruptly suspended her. Yvette is now the target of a witch-hunt. She has been disciplined on unfounded accusations of “unsatisfactory performance” and “unprofessional conduct” and was given no reason for her suspension.

Our weekly PARTY to get this hackerspace together, to provide a venue for those things that otherwise cannot be worked out through day-to-day practice.

Potluck! – bring your own tasty dish!

Sudo room, located in the southwast corner of the ground floor, is a creative community and hackerspace. We offer tools and project space for a wide range of activities: electronics, sewing/crafting, 3D and 2D manufacturing, coding, and good old-fashioned co-learning!

Hours: The space is open whenever a member is present. Come visit! Best times to drop in are evenings between 7 and 9pm. See the calendar for recurring meetups and upcoming events: https://sudoroom.org/calendar

For over 4 years, we have been fighting to hold McDonalds accountable for driving wages and working standards down.  They pay poverty wages, often are perpetrators of wage theft and turn a blind eye to the needs of their workers.

Sexual harassment is widespread at fast-food companies like McDonald’s, which, too often, turn a blind eye to their workers’ complaints. Forty-percent of women working in the fast-food industry have been sexually harassed on the job – that’s 60% higher than other industries on average.

Women who speak out about the problem often face negative consequences from their employers, so many women try to confront the harassment on their own, or, even worse, feel that they have to put up with harassment to keep their jobs.

Workers and allies will be silent no more.

On Thursday we will be joining workers nationwide for a press conference about this serious issue.  We will be meeting at 11:30 and beginning the press conference at 12.

The ACLU of CA has prioritized working on bail reform and we are currently setting meetings with folks across the state to work through some critical issues as we begin to pull together this campaign as well as a coalition of folks who are interested in working on it with us.  As an organization doing critical work in the bay area, we very much need your input and would love to have you come to our first bay area meeting (You don’t have to agree to join the coalition to come to this meeting).

Our first bay area in-person meeting will be October 6^th from 12-2pm at the ACLU NorCal office in San Francisco.

We will provide a light refreshments for those of you who attend. Please RSVP by Tuesday, 9/27 and please feel free to forward this email to anyone else who might be interested.

Last but not least, and regardless of whether or not you can make it on the 6^th, please take a moment to fill out our short community surve

Help fight the plan to build more jail space at Santa Rita!

The Oakland Advisory Privacy Commission meets monthly, addressing the surveillance technology OPD and the City of Oakland already possess and wish to possess.  It’s first task is to develop a generalized Surveillance Equipment Regulation Ordinance governing how such equipment is to be assessed and procured.

Scroll to the bottom here for agendas and video of previous meetings:

Press conference on the 6 Month Anniversary of Luis’s Murder by SFPD

WHAT: Family of Luis Demetrio Góngora Pat —a Mayan indigenous father, husband,brother, son, uncle—, refute the biased autopsy report released by the San Francisco Medical Examiner on the six month anniversary of his murder by SFPD officers. They also plan a march to celebrate his life.

WHERE: The Luis Góngora Pat Community Altar on Shotwell Street (east side), near 19th Street in the Mission District

IMPORTANT NOTE: Afterwards, we will join the Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition @ NOON at 850 Bryant Street in a clamor to D.A. Gascón to press charges against killer cops. More information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/153890998400464/

ArtCar Fest celebrates their 20th year exhibiting around the San Francisco Bay Area! They will be displaying their elaborately decorated vehicles on 23rd between Valley and Telegraph.

You can view the entertainment line-up for Friday here. And check out what artisan and food vendors we’ll be featuring here.

As always, the First Friday street festival is free, but we appreciate your help to keep our community-art event affordable for vendors and accessible to our community.

Please donate to Oakland First Fridays today to help us thrive and don’t forget to bring cash ($5-$10) to the event.

All donations to Oakland First Friday are tax-deductible as we are fiscally sponsored by KONO.

Thanks for helping us thrive, and see you on Friday!

This year, the Arab Film Festival is going bigger and bolder than ever: we are honored to host the US premiere of Clash, the Egyptian entry to the 2017 Oscars. Tickets are on sale, and bound to sell out, so snatch yours right away. And we will be making a special announcement on Opening Night, you won’t want to miss it!

Described as “bravura filmmaking with a kick-in-the-gut message” by the Hollywood Reporter, Clash was widely praised after opening Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival just a few months ago. Mohamed Diab’s film is set entirely within a padded wagon, traveling through the streets of Cairo in 2013, as supporters of Morsi’s toppled government and pro-military supporters fight each other inside and out. It is a hard hitting, intense action movie that will leave you at the edge of your seat, while challenging you.

Synopsis: Cairo, summer of 2013 – two years after the Egyptian revolution. In the wake of the ouster of Islamist president Morsi, a police truck full of detained demonstrators of divergent political and religious backgrounds roams through violent protests. Can the detainees overcome their differences to stand a chance of survival?

Note: Clash is an intense movie, not for young children

Renewed Hope Housing is putting on a forum on affordable housing. October 8, 10 to noon, at the United Methodist Church. 2311 Buena Vista.

They have lined two speakers who have real knowlege of the problem and the power to do something about it- Victoria Johnson, Director for Housing and Community Development, and Debbie Potter, Community Development Director for the City of Alameda. The Alameda Renters’ Coalition will be there too!

THE 9TH ANNUAL LIFE IS LIVING FESTIVAL

LEGACY: A TRIBUTE TO THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY

The Coup will rock the Life Is Living festival.

October 8th. Oakland. Defremery Park.
It’s free. pic.twitter.com/96n5eOZpa6

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) September 16, 2016

This year marks the 9th Annual Life Is Living Festival in Oakland. Over the past 10 years, we have transformed deFremery Park (Little Bobby Hutton Park) from vacant to vibrant. We are indebted to the local West Oakland heroes and sheroes of The Black Panther Party for inspiring us to use culture as a vehicle for social change. That said, we are honored to pay tribute to the enduring legacy of The Black Panther Party at this year’s Festival.

Through efforts such as The Free Breakfast Program, we re-dedicate ourselves to sustaining the Panther’s revolutionary commitment to community generated solutions. From babies to grandparents, Life Is Living believes in intergenerational dialogue that honors the wisdom of children and elders. Our partners have been engaged in a year long process to envision, strategize and create a Festival that is inclusive, dynamic and democratic.

We hope you will join us for what is to be a beautiful day as we honor the 50 year legacy of the Black Panther Party.

Payday Loans, Panama Papers and Poverty

Why the fight to end extreme poverty is global, local and winnable

Keynote Speaker: Andrew Hanauer,

Campaigns Director at Jubilee USA in Washington, D.C.

We can heal our broken economy and build strong, safe and prosperous communities. Learn how predatory financial behavior from the East Bay to East Africa harms people and communities and what we can do about it.

Workshops will discuss predatory payday loans, anonymous shell companies, and how East Bay organizations, congregations and individuals can help stop the damage they do in our local communities.

To RSVP, email: Meg Bowerman  megbowerman@gmail.com

FAME is a network of clergy, spiritual leaders, and people of faith who work to educate and mobilize communities to stand with low-wage and immigrant workers.

 Jubilee USA is a coalition of 550 US faith communities working to address the structures and systems that perpetuate poverty and inequality here and around the world. Jubilee seeks to build an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable.

 Jubilee East Bay, a coalition of 20 congregations and individuals based in the Bay Area, works with Jubilee USA through education and local organizing.

Panelists: Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Steven Pits, Austin Long-Scott

RSVP – seats are limited. Call 877-687-1021.

Sponsored by SEIU 1021’s SEJ and Afram Solidarity Committees.

Beyond Occupy!

An art show with music and speakers, celebrating the 5th anniversary of the Occupy Movement, highlighting its achievements and the work that has continued since the heady days of October and November, 2011.

GA. Kitchen. Info. Medics.  Library. Garden. Media. Labor Solidarity. Anti-Repression. Occupy Forum. Foreclosure Defense. Occupy the Farm. Strike Debt. Anti-Surveillance. Berkeley Post Office Defense. And more!

A bit of history: The Port Shutdown Video featuring Boots Riley.