Calendar
Suds, Snacks, & Socialism at the Starry Plough
2 blocks from Ashby BART in Berkeley
The Peace and Freedom Party presents
YOU ARE NOT A LOAN!
Banks, Debt, and Socialism
Bertolt Brecht famously asked whether it’s worse to rob a bank or to own one. Good question. To explore this issue, we are inviting Debbie Notkin and Maren Poitras from Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland and Gloria La Riva, 2016 Presidential Candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party.
Sat, Jan 6, 2018 • 2:00 PM-4:30 PM
FREE! (Please buy food & drink at the Pub.) FREE!
This is part of our on-going Socialist Forum Series on the first Saturday of every month. Doors open at 2 pm and the program will start promptly at 2:30 pm. The forum will end by 4:30 pm, but folks can stay and talk as long as you like. Speaker’s affiliations are listed for identification only. The opinions expressed do not reflect the official views of the Peace and Freedom Party.
The Peace and Freedom Party, born from the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality, and internationalism.
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org
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.
- Presenting debt and inequality related topics at forums, workshops and in radio productions
- Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
- money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitative ticketing and fining schemes
- 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.
- 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.
We're hosting a Know Your Rights training in support of the #96Hours to help people get ready for massive police presence at actions and demos. THIS SUNDAY, January 7 @ 11am, 2022 Blake Street, Berkeley https://t.co/qIVoSLnckG
— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) January 6, 2018
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
We document current events, make films together, steward an editing suite and share a film equipment library. We also host film screenings, often with local directors, and put on an annual short film festival for independent Bay Area filmmakers. Our goal is to make the digital filmmaking accessible – no overpriced college degree or certificate program required!
We are also a good group to reach out to if you’d like to screen a film at the Omni. We can be reached at [ liberatedlens@lists.riseup.net ].
We usually meet in the basement, unless otherwise noted.
Bay Area, we need you to show up to this eviction defense TOMORROW! Khaliff Webb is facing an eviction by a tech landlord thru the same loophole in protections that Aunti Frances' landlords are using. Protect 3 generations of #Oakland community! #ClosetheLoopholes #gentrification pic.twitter.com/Y2fq23rp1u
— Defend Aunti Frances (@defendauntif) January 8, 2018
Tentative agenda:
Reportbacks (15 min)
- Feasibility study in progress!
- Governance
- Peace and Freedom Forum
General news (15 min)
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- New Jersey
- Cannabis developments (repeal of Cole memo)
Repeating items (15 min)
- Treasurer’s report
- introductions of new attendees
- overview of public banking for new attendees
- set next meeting time and place
Upcoming (20 min)
- Friends of Public Bank focus group: proposed date, 1/22.
- First Presbyterian Church
- Next forum (student debt?)
Anything not discussed above.
Please come out to join the first in our series of spokescouncils to help plan the #96Hours of #NonCompliance to Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy.
Note that in contemplating what is happening in the world right now, and the critical importance of solidarity with indigenous peoples and peoples engages in liberation struggles around the world – the third day of #96Hours will be Indigenous/International Solidarity Day!
Here is our revised Call and please don’t forget to join our Facebook spokescouncil event series by clicking “interested” on the series, then “going” on the dates you are able to attend.
Help plan 96 Hours by attending the spokescouncils
WE.WILL.NOT.COMPLY.
96 Hours of Non-Compliance Over King Day Weekend
It’s that time again, Bay Area! For the fourth year in a row, for #96hours over the King Day Weekend, the Anti Police-Terror Project calls our comrades into the streets to stand in solidarity and say no to white supremacy, say no to state sponsored terror, say no to development over people, say no to misogyny, say no to homophobia and transphobia, say no to the targeting of immigrants, say no to the targeting of Muslims. We call on you to join us and show the Trump-Schaff Regimes that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
We call upon groups large and small, well-established or brand new, to plan your own action(s) within a common framework:
- On Friday, January 12, 2018, we are calling for actions that focus on State-Sponsored Violence.
- On Saturday, January 13, 2018, we are calling for actions that focus on Housing.
- On Sunday January 14, 2018, we are calling for actions that focus on Indigenous/International Solidarity.
- On Monday, January 15, 2018, we reclaim MLK Day.
Our #96hours culminates with a mass mobilization, and we ask everyone to come together for the Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March through the streets of Oakland.
Furthermore, we call upon both individuals and groups in our community (whether you’re planning an action or not) to come together in a series of spokescouncil meetings in order to coordinate and support the many actions that will be planned:
- Thursday 12/14 7:00 – 9:30 pm
- Sunday 12/17 1:00 – 3:30 pm
- Wednesday 12/20 7:30 – 9:30 pm
- Wednesday 1/3 7:00 – 9:30 pm
- Saturday 1/6 1:00 – 3:30 pm
- Monday 1/8 7:00 – 9:30 pm
- Wednesday 1/10 7:00 – 9:30 pm
Even before Trump took office and the KKK took off their hoods, we saw open displays of white supremacy and state-sponsored violence in the Bay Area. We saw police agents murder our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions. We saw local city governments embolden law enforcement departments with unlimited overtime, paid leave after murdering residents, militarized equipment, and a blank check to use dangerous and “non”-lethal devices to crack down on our culture and political dissent.
Even before the Oakland Police Department received national news coverage for the rape of a young teen sex worker by tens of law enforcement agents across the Bay Area, we saw the open sexual harassment and exploitation of our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions.
Even before the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress began its warpath to destroy healthcare and public education and exacerbate poverty, we saw our local city governments do NOTHING to aid long-time residents at risk FOR YEARS as the housing crisis continues to grow worse and worse.
That’s why we are telling all agents of our oppression, from 45 to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
- Ann Fagan Ginger, founder of MCLI, took action and wrote an open letter to the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission asking them to join with us to demand that the City of Berkeley end its harassment of people who are unsheltered and allow sanctioned encampments so that landless people can be treated with dignity. In response the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission has added this issue to their agenda for public comment at their next meeting on January 8, 2018.
- Make your voice heard before that meeting.
Sign the email petition now!
- After you sign the petition then we ask that you spread the word to your friends, family, and on social media.
- We also ask everyone who is able to join the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute at the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission meeting at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley, CA, to support the open letter by Ann Fagan Ginger and to demand that the City of Berkeley fulfill the principles upon which the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission was founded which is the respect of human rights for all people.
OTU’s Mission
The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.
Monthly Meetings
The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.
If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.
grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity. Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression. Sisters and brothers! The Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.
We normally meet on the 1st Monday of each month
You can join our discussion list by sending a blank (doesn’t even need a subject) email to
oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
POSTPONED! THIS IS NOT HAPPENING ON THIS DATE – AWAITING SCHEDULING AND LOCATION FOR ANOTHER SELECT COMMITTEE HEARING, SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT SB 562.
Join us for a day of action for the Healthy California Act (SB 562) as the 2018 Legislative Session begins. We will be providing bus transportation to and from Sacramento Sign up here. Please join us to send a clear message that it’s time to free the bill!
OAKLAND/BERKELEY
- STOP 1: Departs @ 7:20 am from CNA Headquarters, 250 22nd Street, Oakland CA
- STOP 2: Departs @ 7:45 am from Ed Roberts Campus across from Ashby Bart, 3075 Adeline St, Berkeley CA
Start 2018 Right! RSVP today to join our Statewide #FreeTheBill Day of Action for #SB562 – give the gift of guaranteed healthcare! RSVP👉🏼https://t.co/acMaLVWw2I pic.twitter.com/mP6wleojXN
— Healthy CA (@4HealthyCA) December 14, 2017
The CM Kaplan, Brooks, Gallo sponsored Resolution to prohibit any assistance to ICE will be heard.
Background:
On August 16, HSI/ICE conducted an AM raid on the 700th block of 27th Street in West Oakland with OPD assistance. The raid was advertised (erroneously) as a search warrant for the sexual trafficking of juveniles, biut there were no actual allegations of sexual abuse, no juveniles were removed from the home and the solitary arrest was for being undocumented. The 25 year old arrestee is now in the deportation process. At an October 5th investigation and hearing that the OPD Chief did not attend, Oakland’s Privacy Commission concluded that the raid violated Oakland’s sanctuary city policy and several statements made by OPD chief Anne Kirkpatrick about the raid were false.
Video of the OPAC hearing is here. https://
East Bay Express coverage is here:
https://
City Council members Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan have now initiated legislation to end the sanctuary loophole but need our help to get it through the full Council.
Oaklanders and other Bay Area residents who want sanctuary legislation taken seriously around the Bay should attend.
Join No Coal in Oakland for a rousing rally before the court hearing that could put an end to developer Phil Tagami’s lawsuit against the City of Oakland. We are planning a presence outside the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco at 8:30 a.m. The hearing will begin promptly at 10 a.m.; we encourage No Coal in Oakland supporters to arrive early to participate in our rally and have a good chance of getting a seat in the courtroom.
OBOT’s, the City of Oakland’s, and Sierra Club/SF Baykeepers’ Motions for Summary Judgment will be heard in the courtroom of US District Judge Vince Chhabria. At this hearing, Judge Chhabria could decide the case and call off the trial if he considers that one side or the other is entitled to prevail as a matter of law. If he decides that a trial is needed, this hearing will be followed by a Pretrial Conference at which the final details of the trial starting on January 16 will be set.
No Coal In Oakland supporters are encouraged to come and observe the courtroom proceedings as well as participate in the rally beforehand. Wear red T-shirts in the courtroom to show our strength.
To get through security at the Federal Building, you must present government-issued picture ID such as a driver’s license. Judge Chhabria’s courtroom is Courtroom 4 on the 17th Floor.
For more information about the legal issues, see our report at https://
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.
We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.
We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.
Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:
contact@oaklandprivacy.org
Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/ Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy
“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”
Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. This month Oakland Privacy will be preparing for the passage of transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County, To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.
Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority.
Featured Speaker: Troy Williams, former editor of the monthly San Francisco Bay View, National Black Newspaper which has been publishing since 1976.
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.
Building Accessibility: There are two entrances to Sierra Club Office building on Webster and 21st both of which are accessible for mobility devices. The building has an elevator, and the kitchen space, conference room, and restrooms can also all accommodate mobility devices.
Please come out to join the first in our series of spokescouncils to help plan the #96Hours of #NonCompliance to Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy.
Note that in contemplating what is happening in the world right now, and the critical importance of solidarity with indigenous peoples and peoples engages in liberation struggles around the world – the third day of #96Hours will be Indigenous/International Solidarity Day!
Here is our revised Call and please don’t forget to join our Facebook spokescouncil event series by clicking “interested” on the series, then “going” on the dates you are able to attend.
Help plan 96 Hours by attending the spokescouncils
WE.WILL.NOT.COMPLY.
96 Hours of Non-Compliance Over King Day Weekend
It’s that time again, Bay Area! For the fourth year in a row, for #96hours over the King Day Weekend, the Anti Police-Terror Project calls our comrades into the streets to stand in solidarity and say no to white supremacy, say no to state sponsored terror, say no to development over people, say no to misogyny, say no to homophobia and transphobia, say no to the targeting of immigrants, say no to the targeting of Muslims. We call on you to join us and show the Trump-Schaff Regimes that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
We call upon groups large and small, well-established or brand new, to plan your own action(s) within a common framework:
- On Friday, January 12, 2018, we are calling for actions that focus on State-Sponsored Violence.
- On Saturday, January 13, 2018, we are calling for actions that focus on Housing.
- On Sunday January 14, 2018, we are calling for actions that focus on Indigenous/International Solidarity.
- On Monday, January 15, 2018, we reclaim MLK Day.
Our #96hours culminates with a mass mobilization, and we ask everyone to come together for the Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March through the streets of Oakland.
Furthermore, we call upon both individuals and groups in our community (whether you’re planning an action or not) to come together in a series of spokescouncil meetings in order to coordinate and support the many actions that will be planned:
- Thursday 12/14 7:00 – 9:30 pm
- Sunday 12/17 1:00 – 3:30 pm
- Wednesday 12/20 7:30 – 9:30 pm
- Wednesday 1/3 7:00 – 9:30 pm
- Saturday 1/6 1:00 – 3:30 pm
- Monday 1/8 7:00 – 9:30 pm
- Wednesday 1/10 7:00 – 9:30 pm
Even before Trump took office and the KKK took off their hoods, we saw open displays of white supremacy and state-sponsored violence in the Bay Area. We saw police agents murder our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions. We saw local city governments embolden law enforcement departments with unlimited overtime, paid leave after murdering residents, militarized equipment, and a blank check to use dangerous and “non”-lethal devices to crack down on our culture and political dissent.
Even before the Oakland Police Department received national news coverage for the rape of a young teen sex worker by tens of law enforcement agents across the Bay Area, we saw the open sexual harassment and exploitation of our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions.
Even before the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress began its warpath to destroy healthcare and public education and exacerbate poverty, we saw our local city governments do NOTHING to aid long-time residents at risk FOR YEARS as the housing crisis continues to grow worse and worse.
That’s why we are telling all agents of our oppression, from 45 to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
Judge Alsup will hear arguments for and against the Postal Service’s motion to award them victory in the case without a trial.
Berkeley has rezoned the Civic Center District, including the Post Office property at Allston & Milvia, to not allow most commercial activities. The Postal Service claims this was unconstitutional.
Some background in various articles here.
3:16-cv-04815-WHA – United States Postal Service v. City of Berkeley
Motion for Summary Judgment
Motion to Strike
The City of Berkeley is moving to dismiss the First They Came for the Homeless lawsuit against Berkeley and BART for various evictions, raids, theft of property and failure to provide housing or any kind of legal status for homeless residents of Berkeley.
3:17-cv-06051-WHA – Sullivan et al v. Bay Area Rapid Transit
Motion to Dismiss