Calendar
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
RETURNS
TO UC BERKELEY
ON THE MARIO SAVIO STEPS
JOIN US
Tweeted out by @OccupyUCBerk
Our next meeting for Politics of Debt will be next Friday, January 24th at the public school room. We’ll take on the Keen vs. Krugman debate about the significance of banking for economics. It’s something like a Modern Money Theorist vs. a high profile Keynesian. See you there!
Here’s the article containing links to most of the articles and blog posts – lots of them, too many to list, but they are presented in the chronological order that the debate took place, so they’re easy to follow.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46944145
There’s a tremendously important debate being waged across a bunch of different websites, including Paul Krugman’s at The New York Times, about how banking really works.
Addition:
Here is something to add to the reading list for this week:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/12/16/economy/oh-my-paul-krugman-edition
This is Keen’s reflection on the issue of banking and how it effects demand. He seems to think Krugman has quietly moved camps.
There are plenty more articles and books to read in the future and we will be furthering our understanding of Modern Monetary Theory as well as a recent school called the New Currency Theory.
E.g., this article from the real-world economics review which we can get into later:
http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue66/Huber66.pdf
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps. Come help us prepare for the City Council meeting on the 28th at Old City Hall at which the Zoning Overlay Ordinance will be considered.
AND CHECK OUT OUR SPIFFY NEW WEBSITE.
The Public Safety Committee of the Oakland City Council will be discussing the Domain Awareness Center and a new contract for Schneider Electric to implement Phase II of the DAC (replacing SAIC, which was dismissed in part for being a Nuclear Weapons Contrator and in part for being general scum, having defrauded New York City of half a billion dollars)
Subject: Domain Awareness Center (DAC) Phase 2 Contract Award From: Oakland Fire Department Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To: 1) Negotiate And Execute A Professional Services Agreement With Schneider Electric Inc. To Provide Professional Services For Design/Build/Maintain Services Represented In Phase 2 Of The City And Port Joint Domain Awareness Center (DAC) Project For An Amount Not To Exceed $1,600,000; And 2) If Negotiations Fail With Schneider Electric Inc, The City Administrator Or Her Designee Is Authorized To Negotiate And Enter Into A Contract With Another Vendor On The DAC Phase Evaluations Ranking List, Without Returning To Council
Come tell the members of the Public Safety Committee what you think of the Orwellian dystopia that is the DAC!
Join Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub.
We aim to have 2 monthly meetings, every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 6:30 at the SUDOROOM. Stop by and learn how you can help guard Oakland’s right not to be spied on by its own governement & if you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to: oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The entrance to the sudoroom is on 22nd Street, ring the buzzer and come up the stairs or take the elevator.
For more information on the DAC and how it came to be in Oakland check out the DAC FAQ, the Oakland Wiki Domain Awareness Page and the Oakland Privacy WordPress.
Download the printable flyer for the Feb. 4 Protest
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
More information to come…
International Day of Action.
� Meet at Pelosi’s office at 7th and Market 4:30 pm to speak, hear, hand out flyers, etc.
� March down Market Street to Feinstein’s office at Montgomery and Market (McKessen Building)
� Call-and-response chanting, massive phone-call-ins from the street to Feinstein, Pelosi, etc.
and much more!
� Bring signs.
Meanwhile, call Feinstein and Pelosi to stop Fast tracking of the TPP.
Feinstein: (415) 393 – 0707
Pelosi: (415) 556 – 4862
Call NOW!
Join us as we start a new year and plan a rally for February 13th demanding that Kamala Harris prosecute Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford.
Get up-to-date on the civil lawsuit that is proceeding against OPD and the City of Oakland.
JAB has denounced the Domain Awareness Center and may have a speaker at the anti-DAC rally on February 4th.
Come help us out in the fight for Justice 4 Alan and against police terrorism in general.
Join the Open University @ Occupy Cal for our initial meeting of the semester on Monday Feb. 3rd 2014 on the Mario Savio steps.
Campaigns:
1) Ax the Regents:
The UC Board of Regents is the root of all evil for the UC system. This board consists of 18 members appointed by the state Governor for 12 year terms, 7 Ex Officio members, and 1 Student appointed for 1 year terms. None of the board members are democratically elected and some are/will be on their second 12 year terms if we do nothing!
The individuals appointed/reappointed by Gov. Brown are all campaign contributors of his as the following article delineates and all have been heavily involved in the privatization, militarization and betrayal of Public Education.
http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/17/local/la-me-uc-regents-20140118
2) BP Off Campus:
The BP-EBI deal is a $500 Million privatization scam which has diverted critical Energy research at Cal from truly sustainable sources to GMO microbes for rapid fossil fuel production patents for BP. Find all the details on our campaign website:
http://www.bpoffcampus.org
3) People’s History of Activism at Cal:
In an effort to prevent past activist mistakes and to create an institutional memory of all activism at Cal, the Open University has initiated an effort to compile, edit, and present an ongoing people’s history of activism at Cal. Find below one of such articles:
http://ergoat.blogspot.com/2013/11/occupy-cal-infiltrated-by-police.html
4) Cops Off Campus:
From the UCPD thugs that brutally beat peaceful student protesters at Cal on Nov. 9th 2011 or pepper sprayed peaceful students at UC Davis on Nov. 17th 2011 to the recent takeover of the UC Presidency by the secretary of homeland security (a.k.a. the chief federal cop) all presence of armed hired hands is an unprecedented disturbing. Most civilized countries do not allow the presence of armed police on school and university campuses. Then why would the #1 Public University in the world allow such a travesty?
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps. The City Council is on a path to pass some sort of Zoning Overlay which will protect the Post Office against various commercial uses. We need to stay on top of it. The American Postal Workers Union is planning more actions against Staples; we need to support them. Encouraging articles have come out just recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked and we need to be on the leading edge of that. And Barbara Lee has introduced even stronger language into legislation to stop the sale of Historic Post Offices.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
AND CHECK OUT OUR SPIFFY NEW WEBSITE.
Stop the Domain Awareness Center before it gets built!!!
Come on Out to Oscar Grant Plaza and City Council Chambers – Together We Say:
DON’T SELL THE PEOPLE OF OAKLAND TO THE DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY!
Outside: Feast! Music! Rally! Late Night Films! More.
Read about the Domain Awareness Center.
Reference: The DAC FAQ
Twitter: @Oaklandprivacy.
Also, sign the on line petition to stop the DAC.
See Also: The Face of Quan. The Arms of Santana. The Body of OPD. Or, DAC Spelled Correctly is NSA.
Also, sign the on line petition to stop the DAC.
This class will delve into the differences between Modern Monetary Theory and New Currency Theory (only recently devised). Does MMT hold the only solutions for monetary or banking reform? Or is NCT have better options? We’ll read this position paper from the latest Real-World Economics Review to understand the nuances of our debt based financial system:
http://p.feedblitz.com/t3.asp?/332386/0/0/www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue66/Huber66.pdf
Michael Hudson’s ‘The Bubble and Beyond’ will also be mixed in the discussion. Chapter 3, ‘How Economic Theory Came to Ignore the Role of Debt’ and chapter 6 ‘The Financial Character of Today’s Crisis’ will attempt to clear up misconceptions about debt in economics. I will scan these chapters and make them available as soon as possible.
see you there!
Discussion to plan the next steps for Grow the Revolution.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps. The City Council is on a path to pass some sort of Zoning Overlay which may protect the Post Office against various commercial uses, or be totally ineffective. We need to stay on top of it. The American Postal Workers Union is planning more actions against Staples; we need to support them. Encouraging articles have come out just recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked and we need to be on the leading edge of that. And Barbara Lee has introduced even stronger language into legislation to stop the sale of Historic Post Offices.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
AND CHECK OUT OUR SPIFFY NEW WEBSITE.
Participants will pass out fliers, wearing tape over their mouths to to point out the fact that when violence against sex workers is discussed by “experts” from a prostitution abolitionist perspective, sex worker voices and perspectives are not included.
If you want, wear red or bring red umbrella
The main goal of this protest is to ask that sex workers are included in the processes that affect us.
A seat at the table for sex worker rights advocates
Adult consensual sex workers should have a seat at the table when anti-trafficking efforts are proposed and implemented. Right now, they are being shut out. Anti-trafficking efforts impact the lives and safety of adult consensual sex workers. Because they are impacted, they should be part of the leadership in the efforts to end the trafficking of children and of non-consenting adults.
Here is the information for the exclusive abolitionist celebration that we are protesting:
2014 Modern Day Abolitionist Award Ceremony & Panel Presentation on Discouraging Demand
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco
Join the CODEPINK NSA program as we surveill and monitor the house of Senator Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday, February 11th at noon.
Bring your surveillance equipment, magnifying glasses, tracking devices and drones as we monitor for any suspicious activities!
The protest is being organized in solidarity with the Day We Fight Back day of action!
-Remove Janet Napolitano as UC President and replace her with a great educator.
-Defend public education! Stop the privatization of the UC’s!
-Full citizenship rights or undocumented immigrants! Pass the Federal DREAM Act.
-Double underrepresented minority enrollment at UC Berkeley and UCLA.
-Restore Affirmative Action – Overturn Prop 209.
-BP out of UC Berkeley! Stop the Privatization of Public Education.
TELL CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL KAMALA HARRIS:
PROSECUTE KILLER COPS IT’S YOUR JOB
RALLY AND SPEAKOUT 3PM THURSDAY 2/13 1515 CLAY STREET, OAKLAND (STATE BUILDING BEHIND OSCAR GRANT PLAZA)
Initiated by the Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition.
The Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition (JAB) submitted a letter to California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris at the State March Against Police Brutality on October 22, demanding that she do her job and prosecute Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. Since then she has responded with a flat refusal to reopen the investigation. (See excerpts from the letter we sent below.) On October 22 and since we have reached out to other families with victims of police murders to join in a statewide campaign to demand that AG Harris do her job. Many families have joined on and will be sending letters about their loved ones to Harris, demanding prosecution of the killer cops. All the families are invited and welcome to join us at the rally and speakout at the State Building in Oakland.
EC. 13. Subject to the powers and duties of the Governor, the Attorney General shall be the chief law officer of the State. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to see that the laws of the State are uniformly and adequately enforced.
The Attorney General shall have direct supervision over every district attorney and sheriff and over such other law enforcement officers as may be designated by law, in all matters pertaining to the duties of their respective offices, and may require any of said officers to make reports concerning the investigation, detection, prosecution, and punishment of crime in their respective jurisdictions as to the Attorney General may seem advisable.
Whenever in the opinion of the Attorney General any law of the State is not being adequately enforced in any county, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to prosecute any violations of law of which the superior court shall have jurisdiction, and in such cases the Attorney General shall have all the powers of a district attorney. When required by the public interest or directed by the Governor, the Attorney General shall assist any district attorney in the discharge of the duties of that office.
Raise the Minimum Wage to $12.25. It’s time we make Oakland the kind of city that families can afford to put food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, and keep the lights on! Let’s ensure that workers can meet our basic needs.
Join ACCE, EBASE, Raise the Wage East Bay, ROC the Bay, SEIU 1021, SEIU ULTCW, UFCW Local 5, and UNITE HERE 2850 to gather signatures for a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage and provide workers with paid sick days.
9:30 AM: Rally.
11:00 – 3:00 PM: Signature gathering.