Calendar

There will be a documentary film screening of PUSH with former United Nations Housing Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha on solutions to Oakland’s housing crisis. The screening will be followed by a discussion, and will be a great opportunity to learn about ways you can get active in the fight to make housing as a human right this election cycle and beyond.

Please RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve your spot

Fife’s District 3 Office is co-hosting alongside Moms 4 Housing, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE Action), Oakland Tenants Union, Centro Legal de la Raza, Housing Rights Committee, Berkeley Tenants Union, Alameda Renters Coalition, East Bay Community Law Center and it is sponsored by the Community Ready Corps (CRC).

PUSH Synopsis

Housing prices are skyrocketing in cities around the world. Incomes are not. PUSH sheds light on a new kind of faceless landlord, our increasingly unliveable cities and an escalating crisis that has an effect on us all. This is not gentrification, it’s a new kind of monster.

The film follows Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, as she travels the globe, trying to understand who’s being pushed out of the city and why. “I believe there’s a huge difference between housing as a commodity and gold as a commodity. Gold is not a human right, housing is,” says Leilani.
Important Details

* Please RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve your spot

** We will be asking for $10 at the door, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

*** We ask everyone to wear masks while in the theater.

Join Youth vs Apocalypse to say: No to Coal in Oakland! and  No to all forms of violence! This is action is part of the Global Climate Strike on September 23, 2022

This global climate strike is focused specifically on economic, racial, and international justice   “To demand policymakers and world leaders to prioritize #PeopleNotProfit!  Globally, we are asking for Climate Reparations, not as charity, but as a transformative justice process in which political power will return to the people.  This should be a follow through on the demands from Indigenous, black, anti-patriarchal and diverse marginalized communities to get their lands back, giving resources to the communities most affected  by the climate crisis for adaptation, loss and damages.”

Now that Oakland is again threatened with coal shipment from the port, YVA is rallying to say no to coal in Oakland and also no to all forms of violence. Join the youth who are leading this important action “to support each other, express joy, celebrate life, fight to protect our lives and be able to live together.”

YVA says:
“Together let’s bring back the power to the people whose power has been stolen. Together, let’s build a system and home where we prioritize #PeopleNotProfit.”

WHERE

Gather at Oscar Grant/Frank Ogawa Plaza (Broadway and 14th St. Oakland. then march on a 1-mile loop through downtown, past the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Building, then return to the plaza. Map here.

Schedule:

10am – Gather, practice chants, learn song/ movement

10:30 am – Short march

11:30pm – Speakers, Hip Hop performances and lunch

1pm – end

Background: For more information on the history of the fight against coal in Oakland, check out these google slides

School Support Request Form: https://forms.gle/U4kDsc4DaD3yWXM16

Volunteer Sign Up: https://forms.gle/8tqZwvD13rUR4PjW6

Our speakers, Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny will discuss their book,  Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union (2004), and  their reflections since writing the book, including Gorbachev’s role in overturning socialism in the Soviet Union, why he arose, whether this was inevitable, and what lessons are to be learned.

Roger Keeran is  Professor Emeritus at Empire State School of the State University of New York (SUNY), He has been a member of the Communist Party USA for three decades and is currently a member of the advisory board of the Marxist journal Science & Society.

   Joe Jamison (Thomas Kenny) is co-author with Roger Keeran of Socialism Betrayed:  Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union. He is a retired labor economist, member of the U.S. Peace Council and Editor of Marxism-Leninism Today (mltoday. com).

ZOOM LINK

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH AT 7:00 PM

Please join KPFA Radio  when we welcome Pulitzer-prize winning author Chris Hedges in celebration of the release of his most recent book, The Greatest Evil is War. This live, in-person event will be hosted by Project Censored’s Mickey Huff.

“Hedges delivers a blistering condemnation of war in all forms and for all reasons -this spiky treatise deserves to be reckoned with.” Publisher’s Weekly

“Chris Hedges has compiled a remarkable record of reporting and analysis. This is a contribution of great significance in these troubled times.” Noam Chomsky

TICKETS / INFO AVAILABLE HERE

THIS SATURDAY COME THROUGH TO OUR BBQ AND BE IN COMMUNITY WITH US♥️

ALSO HELP US MEET THE MATERIAL NEEDS OF THE RESIDENTS IN THE PARK AND VENMO: pparkberk:) pic.twitter.com/VNGa2rj1h6

— Defend People's Park (@defendppark) September 26, 2022

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Workshop

October 4: Our Beautiful Planet Home Living in, coping with, and learning from our changing environment: coyotes in San Francisco, cattle ranching in Silicon Valley, vertical cave diving in China.

October 5: Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly Bay Area directors Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht tell the powerful story of the outspoken artist and activist Ai Wei Wei’s Yours Truly exhibition at the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz.

October 6: On the Edge People following their own unique paths: America’s desert “hairstorian,” a boy’s quest to become a butler, a young woman’s quest to be more animated, genderqueer partners in love, an animated East Bay punk band chases fame during a pandemic.

October 11:  Somewhere Else Instead Understanding where we are and might be: a wandering puzzle piece, a drag artist and an unusual request, a man who lives with Parkinson’s, dancing on the Albany bulb, a strange night in LA.

October 12: Transformations Exploring people and ideas in the midst of change: an LGBTQ+ generation gap, reclaiming the swastika as a message of peace, a circus seeking to do what others cannot do, two counties approach criminal justice differently.

October 13: Engaging with Life Living an authentic life: An artist of many “firsts,” a nonbinary social worker/activist, brave students resisting Nazis, and an aging magician looking for connection.

At Landmark’s Albany Twin Theatre October 4, 5, 6 & 11, 12, 13 / Doors open 7pm / All shows start 7:30pm / Tickets available online or at the box office.  Full program and details www.albanyfilmfest.org.

October 4: Our Beautiful Planet Home Living in, coping with, and learning from our changing environment: coyotes in San Francisco, cattle ranching in Silicon Valley, vertical cave diving in China.

October 5: Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly Bay Area directors Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht tell the powerful story of the outspoken artist and activist Ai Wei Wei’s Yours Truly exhibition at the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz.

October 6: On the Edge People following their own unique paths: America’s desert “hairstorian,” a boy’s quest to become a butler, a young woman’s quest to be more animated, genderqueer partners in love, an animated East Bay punk band chases fame during a pandemic.

October 11:  Somewhere Else Instead Understanding where we are and might be: a wandering puzzle piece, a drag artist and an unusual request, a man who lives with Parkinson’s, dancing on the Albany bulb, a strange night in LA.

October 12: Transformations Exploring people and ideas in the midst of change: an LGBTQ+ generation gap, reclaiming the swastika as a message of peace, a circus seeking to do what others cannot do, two counties approach criminal justice differently.

October 13: Engaging with Life Living an authentic life: An artist of many “firsts,” a nonbinary social worker/activist, brave students resisting Nazis, and an aging magician looking for connection.

At Landmark’s Albany Twin Theatre October 4, 5, 6 & 11, 12, 13 / Doors open 7pm / All shows start 7:30pm / Tickets available online or at the box office.  Full program and details www.albanyfilmfest.org.

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85817209915

Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 669 900 9128 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 646 558 8656
Webinar ID: 858 1720 9915

Consequential Agenda Items:

6. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Automated License Plate Reader
a. Review and take possible action on the impact statement and proposed use policy

October 4: Our Beautiful Planet Home Living in, coping with, and learning from our changing environment: coyotes in San Francisco, cattle ranching in Silicon Valley, vertical cave diving in China.

October 5: Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly Bay Area directors Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht tell the powerful story of the outspoken artist and activist Ai Wei Wei’s Yours Truly exhibition at the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz.

October 6: On the Edge People following their own unique paths: America’s desert “hairstorian,” a boy’s quest to become a butler, a young woman’s quest to be more animated, genderqueer partners in love, an animated East Bay punk band chases fame during a pandemic.

October 11:  Somewhere Else Instead Understanding where we are and might be: a wandering puzzle piece, a drag artist and an unusual request, a man who lives with Parkinson’s, dancing on the Albany bulb, a strange night in LA.

October 12: Transformations Exploring people and ideas in the midst of change: an LGBTQ+ generation gap, reclaiming the swastika as a message of peace, a circus seeking to do what others cannot do, two counties approach criminal justice differently.

October 13: Engaging with Life Living an authentic life: An artist of many “firsts,” a nonbinary social worker/activist, brave students resisting Nazis, and an aging magician looking for connection.

At Landmark’s Albany Twin Theatre October 4, 5, 6 & 11, 12, 13 / Doors open 7pm / All shows start 7:30pm / Tickets available online or at the box office.  Full program and details www.albanyfilmfest.org.

Join us to help inaugurate Democracy’s Library and celebrate all the different efforts happening at the Internet Archive!

Why is it that on the internet the best information is often locked behind paywalls?  Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, believes it’s time to turn that scarcity model upside down and build an internet based on abundance. Join us for an evening event where he’ll share a new project—Democracy’s Library—a free, open, online compendium of government research and publications from around the world. Why? Because democracies need an educated citizenry to thrive.

This year’s event is hybrid. We will be celebrating in-person at our main library in San Francisco, and will be livestreaming the event itself from 7pm-8pm PT so that everyone who cares about democracy around the world can join in.

Register now for in-person or virtual attendance

Event details
5pm: Entertainment, Mingling and Food Trucks
7pm: Building Democracy’s Library presentation in our Great Room
8pm: Dancing in the Streets with “Hot Buttered Rum”

Registration is required: Register now for in-person or virtual attendance.

Join us on Saturday, October 8th from 10am – 12pm for a Rally to protest the Supreme Court’s taking away legal abortion and to support expanding access to full reproductive care as part of the nationwide mass actions for reproductive rights!

RSVP

People all around the country are uniting for a Fall of reckoning. We will not sit back and accept the attacks on our families, future, and our freedom.

We are honored to follow the “A Day Without Us” on Sept 30th, Student Walkouts on October 6th, and to kick off the Yes on Prop 1 Weekend of Action to codify the right to an abortion in the CA State Constitution! Use the energy and momentum of our rally to launch you into concrete action that same day, or the next! Register for a phonebank shift here: https://www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/a/vote-yes-prop-1-statewide-phonebank

Join us.

Endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte & East Bay Democratic Socialists of America in collaboration with a growing list of groups and union and community activists.

The topic is “The California Propositions Demystified.” The November 8, 2022 ballot contains seven propositions. Some offer easy decisions for the left. Others raise questions about health care and environmental policy, and require us to scrutinize who really benefits and where the money is coming from. Join us with your questions and ideas. Speakers will include:

Marsha Feinland – Retired PPublic School Teacher, Peace and Freedom Party member

David Campbell – Peace and Freedom Party member

David Landry – Peace and Freedom Party Webmaster and Orange County PFP chair.

Please register in advance at
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvfu-uqDwrHNV44YFO7hGlZ_hhJHWqZRMz
to receive your personal link for this event.

For more information email: info@sudssnackssocialism.org.

This event is sponsored by the Oakland Greens, Bay Area System Change Not Climate Change, and the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party.

Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the the online invite.

For October, 2022 we’re re-reading the first four chapters of  Doughnut Economics – 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist, by Kate Raworth.  Order it via her website here.  For November, we will be re-reading the remaining chapters.

‘Humanity’s 21st century challenge is to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet. In other words, to ensure that no one falls short on life’s essentials (from food and housing to healthcare and political voice), while ensuring that collectively we do not overshoot our pressure on Earth’s life-supporting systems, on which we fundamentally depend – such as a stable climate, fertile soils, and a protective ozone layer. The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries is a playfully serious approach to framing that challenge, and it acts as a compass for human progress this century.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century, The Deficit Myth,  Revenge Capitalism, the Edge of Chaos blog symposium , Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, The Optimist’s Telescope, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Exploring Degrowth, The Origin of Wealth, Mine!, The Dawn of Everything  A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, and Beyond Money.

Written by 55 of the richest white men, and signed by only 39 of them, the US constitution is the sacred text of American nationalism. Popular perceptions of it are mired in idolatry, myth and misinformation – many Americans have opinions on the constitution but have little idea what it says.

Our speaker’s new book examines the constitution for what it is – a rulebook for elites to protect capitalism from democracy. Social movements have misplaced faith in the constitution as a tool for achieving justice when it actually impedes social change through the many roadblocks and obstructions we call ‘checks and balances’. This stymies urgent progress on issues like labour rights, poverty, public health and climate change, propelling the American people and rest of the world towards destruction.

Robert Ovetz’s reading of the constitution shows that the system isn’t broken. Far from it. It works as it was designed.

Our speaker, Robert Ovetz, is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at San José State University, California, USA. He is the author of the new book We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few (Pluto, 2022).  His previous publications include When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921, and he was the editor of Workers’ Inquiry and Global Class Struggle. He is the book review editor of the Journal of Labor and Society and writes about labor for Dollars & Sense magazine.

ZOOM LINK

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09

Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs

Dial by your location
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
9 US (Chicago)
+1 386 347 5053 US
+1 564 217 2000 US

Green Sunday:  How can we support our local Green Party candidates?

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89559844652

Being a Green Party candidate can often be an uphill battle, but this year 3 Alameda County Greens have risen to the challenge.  In this year’s June primary, Laura Wells ran for State Controller, and for the current November election, Aidan Hill is running for Berkeley City Council, District 7, and Brian Donahue is running for the Emery School Board.  Aidan was not able to commit for tonight, but Brian and Laura will join us this evening to discuss their campaigns and how we can help Green Party candidates, both before and after their elections.

What does it mean to run as a “third-party” candidate, and as a Green?  Is there more to helping candidates than making donations and helping them pass out literature?  How important are the final 3 weeks before the election compared to before and after that time window?  What should we be doing now, and what might we do in the near and not-so-near future?  Join Brian and Laura tonight to discuss these questions and much more.

Brian Donahue is running for the Emery School Board in the current November election.  He notes that in 2017, the Emery School Distict dropped from the 4th worst academically in Alameda county to “the bottom that year and it has remained on the bottom.”  To turn this around, he advocates empowering teachers and changing the “culture so that the administration morphs into a teacher helping culture.”  He also wants to get “major corporations in Emeryville to commit to supporting the schools with a special emphasis on Disney/Pixar.”  Brian has been an activist on school and other issues for many years and publishes the Emeryville Tattler blog.  He also was a co-founder of Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), which was able to elect every City Council member during their 14-year existence, but which came to a close earlier this year after having been sidelined by the pandemic..

Laura Wells ran for State Controller in the June, 2022 election as a member of the Left Unity Slate. She lives in Oakland and is a political activist in California and in solidarity with Latin America. She has been a Green Party organizer and also ran for Congress in 2018, and for Governor after the global financial meltdown in 2010. A former financial systems analyst, Laura focuses her platform on public banking, taxing the rich, and saving money and lives by shifting California’s financial priorities away from destructive uses like the prison and war industries, and toward meaningful work including an improved Medicare for All healthcare system, tuition-free high-quality schools and universities, and restoration of our environment. Her webpage for this past June’s campaign is here:  https://laurawells.org/controller-2022/

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows at 7:00 pm, after a 30-minute break. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

Join Zoom Meeting

Dial by your location

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbmHLDhwS9

Join rooftop solar defenders to tell the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)  to reject the plans of corporate utilities like PG&E to impose high costs on households with rooftop solar panels:  large monthly fees to connect to the grid and much lower payment for electricity they sell back to the grid.

Soon the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is expected to release a new proposal that will determine the fate of rooftop solar from now on. There will then be a 30-day public comment period, followed by a final vote of the five-person commission.

The Solar Rights Alliance, an organization of solar panel installers, says, “We don’t know what the CPUC will propose. We do know that utility lobbyists are still pushing a Solar Tax and deep cuts to the credit for sharing surplus energy with the grid.”

The Solar Rights Alliance is hosting “the biggest pro-solar event yet,” Everyone Under the Sun Rally & Festival at the State Capitol, to remind the CPUC, Governor Newsom, and the media:

• No Solar Tax or other changes that make rooftop solar unaffordable for everyday people.
• Keep rooftop solar growing so that more Californians can get it, not fewer.

RSVP

If you can’t make it to the rally, you can sign up here to be alerted when the CPUC releases its next solar rooftop proposal

October 4: Our Beautiful Planet Home Living in, coping with, and learning from our changing environment: coyotes in San Francisco, cattle ranching in Silicon Valley, vertical cave diving in China.

October 5: Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly Bay Area directors Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht tell the powerful story of the outspoken artist and activist Ai Wei Wei’s Yours Truly exhibition at the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz.

October 6: On the Edge People following their own unique paths: America’s desert “hairstorian,” a boy’s quest to become a butler, a young woman’s quest to be more animated, genderqueer partners in love, an animated East Bay punk band chases fame during a pandemic.

October 11:  Somewhere Else Instead Understanding where we are and might be: a wandering puzzle piece, a drag artist and an unusual request, a man who lives with Parkinson’s, dancing on the Albany bulb, a strange night in LA.

October 12: Transformations Exploring people and ideas in the midst of change: an LGBTQ+ generation gap, reclaiming the swastika as a message of peace, a circus seeking to do what others cannot do, two counties approach criminal justice differently.

October 13: Engaging with Life Living an authentic life: An artist of many “firsts,” a nonbinary social worker/activist, brave students resisting Nazis, and an aging magician looking for connection.

At Landmark’s Albany Twin Theatre October 4, 5, 6 & 11, 12, 13 / Doors open 7pm / All shows start 7:30pm / Tickets available online or at the box office.  Full program and details www.albanyfilmfest.org.

October 4: Our Beautiful Planet Home Living in, coping with, and learning from our changing environment: coyotes in San Francisco, cattle ranching in Silicon Valley, vertical cave diving in China.

October 5: Ai Wei Wei: Yours Truly Bay Area directors Cheryl Haines and Gina Leibrecht tell the powerful story of the outspoken artist and activist Ai Wei Wei’s Yours Truly exhibition at the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz.

October 6: On the Edge People following their own unique paths: America’s desert “hairstorian,” a boy’s quest to become a butler, a young woman’s quest to be more animated, genderqueer partners in love, an animated East Bay punk band chases fame during a pandemic.

October 11:  Somewhere Else Instead Understanding where we are and might be: a wandering puzzle piece, a drag artist and an unusual request, a man who lives with Parkinson’s, dancing on the Albany bulb, a strange night in LA.

October 12: Transformations Exploring people and ideas in the midst of change: an LGBTQ+ generation gap, reclaiming the swastika as a message of peace, a circus seeking to do what others cannot do, two counties approach criminal justice differently.

October 13: Engaging with Life Living an authentic life: An artist of many “firsts,” a nonbinary social worker/activist, brave students resisting Nazis, and an aging magician looking for connection.

At Landmark’s Albany Twin Theatre October 4, 5, 6 & 11, 12, 13 / Doors open 7pm / All shows start 7:30pm / Tickets available online or at the box office.  Full program and details www.albanyfilmfest.org.