Calendar
Moving ahead with the feasibility study
The next Oakland City Council meeting is set for Tuesday, September 18th. On the agenda is authorizing the feasibility study on establishing the Public Bank of Oakland. But authorization is only half the battle; it is contingent on finding an additional $25,000 from outside the city coffers to supplement the budgeted $75,000.
If you live outside Oakland, you can help establish PBO so it can bring beneficial banking to the whole bay area. Whether you live in Berkeley, San Leandro, Alameda, Newark or another town, let your local councilmembers know that you support PBO. Tell them to put money into funding this study.
Of course, you can also support PBO by donating or pledging financial support on our website.
How public banking can help address climate change
We’re excited to announce the next forum on public banking! Visiting from Berlin, Wolfram Morales of the Sparkassen public banks will discuss the role of public banking in financing renewable energy projects. Joining him on the panel will be Nicholas Chaset, CEO of the brand-new East Bay Community Energy agency, and renewable energy activists. Hosted by councilmembers Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan, the forum is set for Monday, September 25th, from 7 to 9pm, at the Oakland City Hall.
FPBO at the Laurel street fair
Our outreach efforts got a major boost at last weekend’s Laurel street fair. We spoke with hundreds of fair-goers who hadn’t yet heard of public banking and collected 300+ signatures for our petition to the Oakland City Council.
Coming up in Oakland
We’ll continue to build public support for PBO at two more August events. On the 19th look for our table at the Latinx Cultural Festival at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.
And on Saturday the 26th, we’ll be at the Freedom Farmers’ Market at 5316 Telegraph Avenue. This market’s mission is to bring traditional legacy foods from Black farmers and other socially disadvantaged farmers into Oakland. We hope to meet you there!
Do you have an idea to change your community for the better? Do you have questions about policymaking on a local or state level? Do you want to explore your inner policymaker?
Come get answers, ideas, and strategies from our center’s staff, experienced attorneys and policymakers!
This is a two-part event (You can come to both, or either!)
1. From 5:00PM – 5:45PM, there will be a DIY Policymaking teach-in facilitated by Sustainable Economies Law Center’s Policy Director, Yassi Eskandari, and Executive Director, Janelle Orsi. They’ll present best practices for engaging in local and state-level policy issues.
2. From 5:45PM to 7:30PM, we’ll be hosting a Policy Cafe and offering individualized consultations for folks who want to discuss their specific ideas and get advice on questions such as:
- What are the next steps after I have come up with my policy idea?
- How do I draft a policy proposal?
- How do I approach council members, county supervisors, or other legislators about my idea?
- How do I navigate the legislative process?
- In what ways can my nonprofit participate in policy advocacy?
Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? Come learn about our current work and activities. You’ll also hear about SURJ’s new pathways for entering the work, including Study and Action groups as well as committee work, upcoming workshops, and events. We’ll answer your questions and share how you can get involved in the movement for racial justice.
Getting Into the Lobby:
The doors for the Sierra Club building lock right at 7pm, so please do your best to arrive prior to 7pm. We will have someone stationed at the Webster entrance to the building until 7:15 for late arrivals. If you arrive after 7pm, please use the Webster entrance.
Join SURJ-Bay Area for an emergency information and demo preparation meet-up to ready ourselves for the 8/27 Resist Racist Violence & Hate in Berkeley march and rally.
We’ll present an overview of what’s happening this Sunday, answer questions, and talk about things you can do to prepare when white supremacists come to town.
Our strength is in our numbers. Remember, we represent millions!
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, scent-free space.
Please join us at the Anti-Racist rally to be held in opposition to the White Supremacists that are organizing a racist rally at Chrissy Fields in San Francisco.
There is a call to assemble in the morning, followed by a march to Chrissy Field at 10:00am.
PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE TO MAKE SURE WE HAVEN’T CHANGED THE MEETING POINT.
Racism is evil. It must be eradicated from the face of the earth. We will not let facist, racist, morally bankrupt degenerates invade our beautiful city and spew hate. The time for passive tolerance is over. It’s time to stand our ground. Its time to stand up. Its time to come out of comfort zones and speak with one united voice — and send a message that hate has no safe space in San Francisco!
We are not advocating violence or physical conflicts. We are advocating participants — young, old, brave, bold; show up in force, create signs and disrupt the agenda of the unwelcome hate groups. One voice. One people. One love. United we will stand.
There will be a Special Membership Meeting to vote on the RPA’s endorsement for the vacant Richmond City Council seat. RPA Steering Committee members have been interviewing candidates, and the Steering Committee will bring their recommendations to the membership on 8/26 for a vote. Membership (and dues renewal) available at the door.
**** IMPORTANT ACTION UPDATE, READ CAREFULLY ****
Today, we scared off the white supremacists and fascists from gathering at Crissy Field, only to announce they would relocate to the Alamo Square Park tomorrow at 2PM.
San Franciscans will not tolerate hate in our city, that’s why we are STILL organizing to end white supremacy tomorrow and rallying at 11AM at the corner of Steiner and Hayes.
Our goal is to shut down white supremacy and show the real power of San Francisco. We will also be vigilant of any attacks on the Black institutions of the Western Addition—particularly its churches—and stop them from marching on events in Civic Center, the Castro and the Mission.
Tomorrow, stay careful, stay courageous and organize with us to end white supremacy.
Sign for Bay Resistance on their website AND text RESIST to 41411 for important action alerts.
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
- Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
- Presenting debt-related topics at forums and workshops
- Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts, and divesting from the Wall St. banks
- Tiny Homes and other solutions for the homeless.
- money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitative ticketing and fining schemes
- Student debt resistance. Check out the Debt Collective, our sister organization
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- Promoting the concept of Basic Income
- Advocating for Postal banking
- Organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first steps happen… now there’s a spinoff group
- Bring your own debt-related project!
If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com .
Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.
Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.
Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.
Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.
Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.
**Wear a White T-Shirt in Solidarity with Immigrant Rights and a Bandanna for Safety**
Sunday @ 10am
MLK Park in Downtown Berkeley pic.twitter.com/ANOlsgZaep— Indybay (@Indybay) August 21, 2017
Gather at Ohlone Park.
March to Old City Hall.
Bay Area United Against White Supremacy.
Our powerful SURJ contingent will gather to refuse violence and intimidation by white supremacists and nazis who intend to rally in Berkeley on August 27. Our strength is in our numbers.
Meet at Ohlone Park (Hearst and Martin Luther King Blvd.) and march with us to Berkeley City Hall (Center and Martin Luther King Blvd.) where we will maintain a presence and send a clear message: No racism, no hate in Berkeley. We stand strong for Black lives and racial justice, and shoulder to shoulder against Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, trans/homophobia, and the scapegoating of immigrants.
#Berkeley – Sunday, August 27, 11am pic.twitter.com/ohdQQNCR6h
— tree (@treekisser) August 20, 2017
Event flier for Aug. 27th march/rally to Resist Racist Violence & Hate in Berkeley pic.twitter.com/Jh8nPPFTP6
— SURJ Bay Area (@surjbayarea) August 20, 2017
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
Please note that the time and location are different from our regular General Assembly.
Monday marks the 54th anniversary of the historic March on Washington (August 28, 1963) that
signaled a turning point in the Civil Rights movement. Our country is now at another inflection point
in the fight for equality and civil rights. Following the election of Donald Trump, hate groups and
domestic terrorists have been emboldened to appear publicly and spew their dangerous messages
of white supremacy, fascism, anti-Semitism, and bigotry.
But we are stronger. We are Indivisible.
Join Indivisible Berkeley and other community members for an evening of:
celebrating our community with food, music respite from the day’s events and support for
and an atmosphere of love and support progressive friends involved in counter-protests
vision for the journey ahead grounding as we frame the arc of the Civil Rights movement
empowerment to action and where we are now on the journey to a more just society
inspiration to keep bending the arc of the moral universe
from Berkeley community social justice leaders
The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.
Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.
Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.
The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.
Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
This Labor Day, join #FightFor15 fast-food workers going on strike in over 300 cities along with community organizations and our neighbors to fight inequality and take to the streets to declare that America Needs Unions!
Unions are still the best way to fix economic and political systems rigged to benefit big corporations. Service sector jobs are the fastest growing jobs in the country, but they’re often low paying without benefits. In order to win fair pay, fair schedules, paid family leave, healthcare, and gender and racial equality we must win a union.
And not just in the U.S. At the same time, McDonald’s workers in the U.K. will be striking for the first time ever!
Join us Monday, September, 4, as we come together to demand justice in our economy!
Come by our open Delegates Meetings every First and Third Thursday of the month at 7pm! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
Do you want an Oakland City government that –
Actually does something to address the issues of gentrification and displacement?
Insures that every child in Oakland receives a decent education?
Demands protection from a police department that tolerates the sexual abuse of minors and harasses people of color?
Controls rents and builds affordable housing?
Fixes our streets and picks up the garbage we see everywhere?
Then join with the Oakland Justice Coalition as it creates a platform for progressive change and prepares to run candidates in the 2018 election.