The “Alt-Right” is coming back to Berkeley…

DEFEND THE BAY
BLOC PARTY & COOKOUT

Trump supporters, white supremacists, fascists and bigots of many varieties are planning a rally in MLK Civic Center Park on April 15th. Let’s show them there is no space for racism or fascism here in the Bay!

Come connect with other like-minded folks. Enjoy food, music, speakers and more. Bring food to share if you can!

***To help protect yourself from the alt-right and the state, bring a mask or other way to conceal your identity and bring your friends to have each other’s backs.***

For more helpful information on staying safe and secure check out the following links:
https://itsgoingdown.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/message-in-a-bottle.pdf
https://mtlcounter-info.org/en/staying-safer-in-the-streets/

Critical Resistance- Oakland is pleased to offer “Intro to the Prison Industrial Complex and Abolition” for K-12 Educators.* Organizing to get police out of your school? Working on responses to harm in the classroom and staffroom that do not involve criminalization? Want a curriculum that creates possibilities to imagine and build a world without prisons and borders? Building to protect students and families from immigration enforcement (ICE)?

This workshop will provide a space for educators to dig into CR’s analysis of the prison industrial complex (PIC) and identify practical and strategic ways to begin integrating abolition into their work. This workshop is a followup to a panel event, “Without Walls: Abolition & Rethinking Education,” happening the night before (April 14th, 6 – 8: 30 PM at the Islamic Cultural Center, 1433 Madison St., Oakland, CA 94612).

Need childcare? Let us know by 4/12 please.

*Please note this is a workshop specifically for educators (teachers, school admin, afterschool workers, cultural workers, etc), but this is not a workshop *for K-12 youth themselves.* If you could like a workshop for youth, please email croakland@criticalresistance.org We would want to do well by young people and do our youth-friendly workshop!

Accessibiilty: The Omni Ballroom space is ADA accessible. There is a ramp into the ballroom, as well as a chairlift. Please also come fragrance free if you are able.

Peace Flag raising ceremony, first at Civic Center flagpole at 2180 Milvia Street, corner of Allston Way and then at the flagpole at MLK, Jr. Civic Center Park, 2151 MLK, Jr. Way (between Center Street and Allston Way, across from Old City Hall), Berkeley

With Conscientious Objectors and War Resisters from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

Bob Meola, Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, War Resisters League, Courage to Resist

Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist, Chelsea Manning Support Network

Sing along Ain’t Fest [“I Ain’t Marching Anymore, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, Down By the Riverside (Ain’t Gonna Study War No More)] with Max Ventura, Hali Hammer, and Nancy Schimmel

Song sheets provided; Ain’t Fest Lyrics links: www.songlyrics.com/phil-ochs/i-ain-t-marching-anymore-lyrics/  www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/joan_baez/aint_gonna_let_nobody_turn_me_around.html#! www.metrolyrics.com/down-by-the-riverside-study-war-no-more-lyrics-peter-paul-mary.html

Sponsored by City of Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission

Endorsed by War Resisters League-West and Courage to Resist

What the Health is the groundbreaking follow-up film from the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy. The film exposes the collusion and corruption in government and big business that is costing us trillions of healthcare dollars, and keeping us sick.

https://youtu.be/Jf44vLndiRM
The event is at the Koret Auditorium, Lower Level and scheduled as followed:
2:00 pm – 2:15 pm Introduction
2:15 pm – 3:45 pm Movie
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm Q&A
4:45 pm – 5:00 pm Raffles

California’s
Medicare for All
Legislation –  SB 562

How does SB 562 provide health care? How can we campaign for SB 562?

Trump and the Republican congress want to gut the Affordable Care Act, privatize Medicare, cut back on Medicaid, and privatize the Veteran’s Administration.

In California, we have the chance to legislate our own health care program that covers everyone, has no co-pays, no deductibles, and no premiums.

SB 562 will remove the insurance industry from our lives.

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Article deadline is at 3 pm Saturday April 15 and everyone is invited to join the article editing process Saturday 3-6 and Sunday 3-9 pm.

Slingshot is accepting articles, photographs, art, letters, review, etc. for issue #124, to be published in late April, 2017. Email slingshot dot tao dot ca and send your submission as an attachment please. Or you can drop it by and meet us.

Many radical topics are of interest (economics, environment, identity politics, DIY, anti-represssion, resistance, etc.) — we suggest you write about stuff you’re involved with, know about, or are passionate about. Because we only come out every 3-5 months and it takes a while for an article to go from the author to getting distributed, the best Slingshot articles are analysis, not pure news updates.

“TOMORROW” is an upbeat environmental documentary directed and narrated (in English) by actress Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) and activist Cyril Dion. Together, they traveled to 10 countries to visit Permaculture farms, urban agriculture projects, community-owned renewable initiatives. They introduce us to people making a difference in the fields of food, energy, finance, democracy, and education.

French actress and director Mélanie Laurent (starring in Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS), became increasingly aware, shortly after having her first child, of several leading scientists reports stating that man’s environmental impact on the planet had reached a critical stage, which could threaten human life as we know it.

Conscious of the kind of world her son would grow up in, Laurent teamed up with Cyril Dion to make TOMORROW, a documentary about our environmental and social challenges.

The film’s incredible success lies in their choice not to frighten – though the facts are sobering – but to inspire; to go beyond the disaster scenarios, and share concrete solutions as implemented by hundred of communities around the world.

Traveling to ten countries, from the urban farms of Detroit to an English town that mints its own David Bowie currency to encourage local spending, from a completely sustainable village in southern India to the progressive schools of Finland, Laurent and her colleagues introduce viewers to people making a difference in the fields of food, energy, finance, democracy, and education. Their shared ideas and examples make TOMORROW one of the most essential and unexpectedly inspirational viewing experiences of our time.

In French and English with English subtitles

Join us for the Thinking Ahead speaker series with a discussion of Sabeel Rahman’s book, “Democracy Against Domination“, moderated by john a powell, with community organizer Christina Livingston and pollitical scientist Paul Pierson.

Unchecked corporate power is a danger to our way of life. What would a political economy where we all belong look like? What values, institutions, and movement strategies must we develop to achieve this vision in an era of growing inequality and resurgent right-wing populism?

The event will be followed by a reception, with finger food and refreshments. The event is organized with New America California and the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

 Fundraiser backyard party for Oakland Women’s Strike Organizing Collective! *

*- We’re slinging pizza and drinks to raise $ *

*- For those who can’t attend in person, but would still like to contribute, look for @May_Day on Venmo. *

*- Funds raised will go towards the ASL interpreter fees from March 8, t-shirts & screen-printing supplies and food for May Day. *

McCarty AB 1185 Letter to the Journal

Narrated by Liam Neeson, this award-winning, landmark documentary tells the dramatic story of the events that took place in Dublin during Easter Week 1916, when a small group of Irish rebels took on the might of the British Empire.

The film – featuring a combination of rarely-seen archival footage, new segments filmed on location worldwide, and interviews with leading international experts – also uncovers the untold story of the central role Irish Americans played in the lead-up to the rebellion. Although defeated militarily, the men and women of the Easter Rising would wring a moral victory from the jaws of defeat and inspire countless freedom struggles throughout the world – from Ireland to India.

An initiative of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, this documentary tells the story of the 1916 Easter Rising in a comprehensive way and, for the first time, places these events in their proper historical, political and cultural context as the precursor to an independent Irish state and the disintegration of colonial empires worldwide.

This screening will be a feature-length version of the original 3-part television series.

Doors at 6:30pm, film starts at 7pm. Free snacks and popcorn, as always!

Sheriff Ahern not only continues to cooperate with ICE by notifying ICE on prisoner releases, but he is also the head of the California Sheriffs’ Association, which promotes the same practices. He even signed a letter as the head of their political action committee to support the nomination of arch racist Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General.

Keep the pressure on Ahern to stop cooperating with ICE!
#NotMySheriff #StopICE

Bring your signs and loud voices!
Please contact us if you would like to endorse.

Tax the Rich Rallies every Monday from 5-6 pm on upper Solano in front of the Oaks Theater and the Chase Bank.

All are welcome!

Also We’ll be at  SURJ (Stand Up for Racial Justice) event that starts at the Grand Lake Theater on Saturday April 1^st from noon-1 :00 PM.

For our calendar of events, songs to download and more: www.occupella.org.

A discussion about agreements between local police and federal enforcement and surveillance agencies.

Welcome & Opening Comments: Pastor Michael McBride, The WAY

Moderators: Councilmembers Davila & Harrison

SPEAKERS TBA

Closing remarks: Mayor Arreguin

There is a conference call on how we win Medicare for All in California that we need you to be on. We have a real opportunity to solve the health care crisis in California and lead the way for the nation with the passage of S.B. 562. That’s why Our Revolution is joining the California Nurses Association and over 70 organizations statewide in sponsoring this bill, which would guarantee:

• Medicare for All in California
• More lives saved through preventative treatment
• Improved quality in health care delivery
• The elimination of health care premiums and deductibles

Join us for the call on Monday, April 17th at 6:30 PM PST.

RSVP FOR THE CALL �

This is about us, our family, and our community. We must transform the health care system to benefit us, not the giant insurance and pharmaceutical companies that are making billions of dollars in profits off of our illnesses. We can do this. We must do this.

In addition to featuring speakers from the California Nurses Association, we’ll be hearing from local leaders and grassroots organizers who are leading the way to pass S.B. 562 and guarantee universal health care to all of California. We need you to be on it too.

RSVP your space on this urgent statewide conference call.

This is our chance to guarantee #healthcare for ALL! Join our effort, register for the call: https://t.co/avx7dBjsp8 #FridayFeeling #resist pic.twitter.com/2a7QrzPH2L

— RoseAnn DeMoro (@RoseAnnDeMoro) April 14, 2017

What: On Tax Day, in commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s prophetic speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” multi-issue peace and justice activists will do three public, participatory readings of the speech in front of Oakland’s Federal Building.

When: There will be three readings, starting at 12 noon, 2 pm and 4 pm. Each reading will take approximately one hour, with 16 readers taking turns. A closing ceremony will follow the last reading.

Why: April 18 – 28, 2017 have been designated as Global Days of Action on Military Spending by the International Peace Bureau, to challenge military spending and call for redirection of funds to meet human needs. Military spending continues to increase, as the Trump Administration plans to strip $54 billion from human and environmental spending to increase already massive spending on the military. The plan raises Pentagon spending to well over 60 cents of every discretionary dollar in the U.S. budget. Endless U.S. wars and occupations have cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars, while the needs of growing numbers of Americans go unmet. Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech laid bare the relationship between U.S. wars abroad and the racism and poverty being challenged by the civil rights movement at home. “I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today–my own government.” King’s words are as relevant today as they were half a century ago. Organizers of the readings honor the full legacy of his work opposing the “triple evils” of militarism, racism and poverty. Tragically, Dr. King was assassinated exactly one year after delivering this speech.

This event is part of a year-long campaign launched by the National Council of Elders on the 50^th anniversary of King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech, and organized by Western States Legal Foundation.

Co-sponsors: Anti Police-Terror Project; Asian Americans for Peace & Justice; Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice; CodePink Golden Gate; East Point Peace Academy; Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC; Fifth Stream Music; Idle No More SF Bay; Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area; Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center; Nafsi Ya Jamii (The Soul Community); National Council of Elders West; New Jim Crow Movement-Vallejo; Oakland Peace Center; OneLife Institute; Physicians for Social Responsibility- SF-Bay Area Chapter; Prevention at the Intersections; Tri-Valley CAREs; Women for Genuine Security; West County Toxics Coalition; Western States Legal Foundation; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, East Bay Branch; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, San Francisco Branch

Street Theater Performance + City Council Meeting

On the heels of Emeryville City Council, Oakland City Council will pass a resolution on April 18^thcalling for sanctuary workplaces for immigrant workers. This is part of a month-long escalation heading into the May 1^st mass strike in which tens of thousands of Bay Area workers will walk off the job to demand immigrant rights.

Before the Council meeting, roughly 300 immigrant workers, community supporters, and faith leaders will rally outside City Hall. They will then jam into City Council chambers and join Oakland lawmakers to speak out about their experiences and then pass the resolution calling for sanctuary workplaces.

Often in low-wage workplaces, immigration status is often not an issue until workers stand up for higher wages and better working conditions. Then suddenly, employers retaliate with threats of deportation and problems with ICE. Under Trump, both documented and undocumented immigrants are under increased attack. The Oakland resolution calls for workplace sanctuaries that are free from fear, threats, and retaliation when workers stand up for living wages, better working conditions, and a voice on the job.

What: Rally and Street Theater/Oakland City Council meeting to pass Sanctuary Workplace Resolution

When: 4:30pm rally and street theater, 6:30pm council meeting

Who: Immigrant workers, community supporters, and faith leaders

WHEREAS, every Californian should have a right to health care;

and WHEREAS, while the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) brought many improvements in health care and health care coverage, it still leaves many Californians without coverage or with inadequate coverage;

and WHEREAS, although Republicans failed in their first attempt to repeal and replace the PPACA, President Donald Trump vows the effort will continue;

and WHEREAS, administrative actions already taken by the Trump Administration, without legislation, threaten to undermine the implementation of the PPACA and increase the number of uninsured;

and WHEREAS, Californians, as individuals, employers, and taxpayers have experienced a rise in the cost of health care and health care coverage in recent years, including rising premiums, deductibles, and copays, as well as restricted provider networks and high out-of-network charges;

and WHEREAS, businesses have also experienced increases in the costs of health care benefits for their employees, and many employers are shifting a larger share of the cost of coverage to their employees or dropping coverage entirely;

and WHEREAS, rising healthcare costs harm individuals, families, employers and communities, and, from the perspective of City Government, cause cuts in other vital services;

and WHEREAS, California is one of the largest economies in the world, and has the ability to stand up for our values and our vision of a society of mutual respect and caring by providing health care for all, even if the nation does not;

and WHEREAS, Senate Bill 562 (SB 562) would create the Healthy California program to provide comprehensive universal single-payer health care coverage and a health care cost control system for the benefit of all residents of the state;

and WHEREAS, SB 562 would provide that the program cover a wide range of medical benefits and other services and would incorporate the health care benefits and standards of other existing federal and state provisions;

and WHEREAS, SB 562 would provide for the participation of health care providers in the program, require care coordination for members, provide for payment for health care services and care coordination, and specify program standards; a

nd WHEREAS, SB 562 would create the Healthy California Trust Fund in the State Treasury, as a continuously appropriated fund, consisting of any federal and state moneys received for the purposes of the act;

and WHEREAS, SB 562 would create the Healthy California Board to govern the program, made up of 9 members with expertise in health care; and would also require the Secretary of California Health and Human Services to establish a public advisory committee to advise the board on all matters of policy for the Healthy California program;

and WHEREAS, SB 562 was introduced by Senators Lara and Atkins, and co-authored by Senators Allen, Galgiani, McGuire, Skinner, and Assembly Members Bonta, Chiu, Friedman, Nazarian, and Thurmond;

and WHEREAS, SB 562 is sponsored by the California Nurses Association, Communities for a Better Environment, and many more;

and WHEREAS, the City of Oakland’s endorsement of SB 562 is consistent with Resolution No. 80617, passed by Oakland City Council in 2007, which endorsed Senate Bill 840, “The California Universal Healthcare Act”;

now, therefore be it RESOLVED: That the City of Oakland endorses SB 562, the Healthy California Act;

and be it FURTHER RESOLVED: That the City Administrator transmit this Resolution to the City of Oakland’s legislative representative for transmission to the State Legislature.