Hear:
– Judy Greenspan, Workers World Party, discuss the causes of the migrant/refugee crisis in the Middle East and Africa.
– Alice Dodge Loaiza, Marcha Patriótica – Capítulo California of Colombia, will talk about the peoples of Latin America who have been forced to flee their countries.

STOP the MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT OF PEOPLES, VIOLENCE, RACISM, WARS, & DEATH!
Whether through wars of destabilization or labor export programs, tens of millions are displaced from their home countries due to monopoly capitalism’s drive to control the markets, resources, territories, while extracting super-profits. Neoliberal economic policies and mercenary armies are unleashed on countries where imperialism has strategic interests, in order to undermine and overturn economic and political sovereignty.

As we mark the one year anniversary of the Ayotzinapa 43 students who challenged neoliberal economic policies being imposed in Mexico, while the images of 2-year old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach and an overloaded boat sinking off the coast of Libya captures the ongoing reality of refugees fleeing wars of destabilization in the Middle East and Africa due to US-backed mercenary armies seeking to overthrow regimes. Meanwhile the U.S. has seen another spike in the number of unaccompanied minors entering the U.S., with 4600 apprehended at the U.S./Mexico border in August.

Sponsored by Workers World Party
Wheelchair accessible, refreshments provided

www.workers.org

Monthly interfaith prayer meeting, held on second Sundays, dedicated to survivors and victims of violence and police terror in Oakland.

The Baha’i community of Oakland is organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.

In April, it was two years since we started holding these prayer meetings at the Baha’i Center. Come share prayers, quotes, poems, and favorite passages from your scriptures with us. We will serve a simple breakfast

Gino Pepi was a member of the Occupy Oakland Labor Solidarity Committee.

Please join us celebrating the life of Eugene Pepi who passed on from a heart attack last week in his house in the Mission. Gino was born and raised in San Francisco. As a young man he became convinced of the need of an equal and just society, and dedicated his life to socialism and to the struggles of the working class internationally. He worked hard to enhance the living conditions of all Bay Area workers especially B.A.R.T workers, fought against racism and discrimination, defended immigrant workers and women’s rights, and participated in countless efforts to stop wars and environmental destruction. When Gino wasn’t fighting tirelessly for the rights of the oppressed, he would dive deep into his other passions, Zydeco dancing and Photography. Through dance and music Gino made a long lasting group of friends that shared his joy and paasion for the sounds of Louisiana. Gino enjoyed life to its fullest. He embraced all challenges with humor, honesty and with a strong sense of solidarity.

We will remember you Gino.
This city will remember you.
Your friends, family and comrades will always remember you.

There will be time for Speaking, Musical Performance,Dancing, and food.

Sunday, October 11th, 12:30 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza.

Come remember the raising of tents at Oscar Grant Plaza on October 10, 2011, the date Occupy Oakland manifested itself to the world. This is a pot-luck, no one turned away chance to visit old friends and make new ones.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for four years. Currently we meet at Oscar Grant Plaza at 4:00 PM on Sundays (or at the Omni, in rain or severe cold). We report back on meetings and events staged by activist groups, some indirect descendants of Occupy committees such as Strike Debt Bay Area, Oakland Privacy Working Group and the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly.  We cover events in the East Bay and San Francisco, announce future events, and engage in discussion on varied political, economic and radical topics. Everyone is welcome!

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

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (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)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (kitchen@occupyoakland.org)
Occupy Oakland Calendar (events): occupyoakland.org/calendar

Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumbler.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders: http://tinyurl.com/l9hpvrz
Oakland Privacy Working Group: oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Sunflower Alliance:  sunflower-alliance.org
Occupy The Farm: occupyfarm@gmail.com
Alan Blueford Center for Justice: www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Livable Wage Assembly http://tinyurl.com/mt284ol
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: http://tinyurl.com/3s4nsl6
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepressionbayarea.com
Biblioteca Popular http://tinyurl.com/p5jop25
Fireworks: fireworksbayarea.com/
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Anti-Police Terror Project: http://tinyurl.com/qj3jdst
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Omni Collective: omnicommons.org/ Sudo Room: sudoroom.org
Interfaith Tent: https://www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent

San Francisco based groups:
First They Came for the Homeless: http://tinyurl.com/nmhbut5
San Francisco Projection Department http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
Occupy Forum: Check the OO calendar on Mondays for seminars.

This is bullshit and we know it! Gentrification is trying to take your cultural space, from churches to your beautiful lake oakland. It’s time to be heard. Come and discuss these new park laws created to keep POC people in the margins of society, while supporting white supremacy. Everything you’ve ever done with your people IS under attack. We must draw the line. Let’s meet at the steps closest to the freeway by where the farmers market is on Saturdays. Please invite anyone who is willing and please share this event on your page.

REMEMBER, DO NOT BRING YOUR DRUMS AND YOUR INSTRUMENTS! THAT’S AGAINST PARK CODE!

Come learn about continuing developments in the battle save the Berkeley Post Office, other Post Offices in the area, and the Postal Service from privatization, support our Occupiers and help us plan our next steps in opposition to the theft of our public commons.

The postal service wanted to sell the post office to Hudson-Mcdonald, a local developer. The City of Berkeley sued the post office to stop the sale. Hudson-Mcdonald backed out of the deal in early December.

Federal Judge William Alsup decided to dismiss the lawsuit in April because the Postal Service says it is not currently selling the building.  But we’re not fooled. The Postal Service could “find” a buyer at any moment. Fortunately, the Judge ordered the Postal Service to provide 42 days notice before any sale, so that the lawsuit could be refiled.

Check out the Community Garden at the Post Office.

In the latest developments, Berkeley has Declared War on Its Homeless, and an ordinance criminalizing the homeless came before the City Council on June 30th (see here and here) but was tabled until at least September.

Also check out our website and the Save the Berkeley Post Office website, and First they Came for the Homeless Facebook for updates.

BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, which itself is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.

SF Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility would like to invite our members and supporters to gather together for an important discussion about an issue of grave threat to our environment and health. Acclaimed ecologist, activist, and author Sandra Steingraber, PhD will be speaking about fracking, climate change, ecology, and the links between human health and the environment.

SF Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibillity has worked on policies to reduce and eliminate fracking in California and to bring greater attention to the dire links between it and climate change. Rather than being a source of clean energy, as it’s touted to be, fracking unleashes methane gasses while poisoning precious drinking water, damaging farmland and creating seismic instability. Now, despite growing evidence of its dangers, fracking is only increasing in California.

Please join us to strengthen our collective medical voice so that we can continue to take action for a healthier future. Dr. Steingraber will specifically address the growing threat to our health and environment from ongoing oil and gas operations, and the growing movement to stop this toxic menace to public health.

“We are all members of a great human orchestra,” says Steingraber, “and it is now time to play the Save the World Symphony. You do not have to play a solo, but you do have to know what instrument you hold and find your place in the score.”

Called “a poet with a knife” by Sojourner magazine, Steingraber has received many honors for her work as a science writer, including, in 2011, a Heinz Award. By donating the cash prize to the anti-fracking movement, she became, in 2012, the co-founder of New Yorkers Against Fracking, a statewide coalition of more than 280 grassroots organizations. Steingraber also has been named a Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine, a Person of the Year by Treehugger, and one of 25 “Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” by the Utne Reader.

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.

Join the Stop Urban Shield Coalition as we demand the Alameda County Board of Supervisors VOTE NO on the Stingray Upgrade on Tuesday, October 13th at 10:45am.

The Alameda County Sheriff wants authorization from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to execute an agreement on behalf of the District Attorney’s office for a telephone tracking technology upgrade in the amount of $113,419 for the period 8/31/15 – 12/31/15. The technology referred to is commonly known as the “Stingray” tracking device. “When cellphones within its range connect, it harvests the IMSI from all of them, which could include data from thousands of unsuspecting people. If the authorities have the IMSI of a subject — which sheriff’s officials said they wouldn’t obtain without a search warrant — they can focus on where the phone’s signal is coming from and, after moving the device a few times, triangulate a location to within 10 feet.”

More info on Stingrays, etc, and RSVP

===================================

Information from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Alameda County residents, you have a little more than a week to tell your Board of Supervisors how you feel about Sheriff Ahern’s proposed upgrade to phone surveillance technology shared by several law enforcement agencies in the county. The Board will consider the proposal on October 13.

IMSI catchers, also commonly referred to as “Stingrays”, are devices that masquerade as a legitimate cell phone tower, tricking phones nearby to connect to the device in order to track a phone’s location in real time. While law enforcement says it uses them to locate suspects, they can sweep up the signals of people in a wide radius. But the current technology in use in Alameda County does not have 4G capabilities, and this week, the Board put the brakes on approving funding to upgrade to the system.

Currently, though it’s a little unclear because of the secrecy surrounding IMSI catcher technology (also commonly referred to as “Stingrays”), records indicate that the Alameda County District Attorneys office and the Oakland Police Department have the technology. [1]The DA’s at least was purchased with federal grant money from the Department of Homeland Security. This proposal would upgrade the existing technology “in partnership with” the DA and the Oakland and Fremont Police Departments.

It’s no secret that law enforcement agencies around the country are increasingly arming themselves with incredibly invasive surveillance technology, with the help of federal money. What is secret is what kind of technology each agency has and how they use it. And perhaps more than any other kind of technology we’ve seen adopted recently, when it comes to IMSI catchers, it’s clear that this secrecy is no accident.

That’s why we were concerned to see the County of Alameda considering an upgrade to its own technology with no public discussion. We sent a letter to the Board pointing out exactly why:

Law enforcement agencies across California have improperly denied public records act requests about the use of “Stingrays.”5 That governments would work with surveillance vendors to hide technology from both the general public and the judges charged with protecting our constitutional rights is truly disturbing. Sheriff Ahern is asking for approval to sign an agreement with this company. You should deny it.

Lawmakers are starting to question this secrecy. As we mention in the letter, California bill SB 741 would address some of these problems. SB 741 passed the California Senate and Assembly nearly unanimously, and it’s currently awaiting a signature from the Governor. And Santa Clara, which recently considered purchasing an IMSI catcher:

ultimately decided against it. Santa Clara County Executive Jeffrey Smith says this was due to Harris’ overly restrictive contract terms, noting, “we couldn’t get them to agree to even the most basic criteria we have in terms of being responsive to public records requests.”

The use of IMSI catcher technology in Alameda County has never been subject to the requisite open public discussion. But the Alameda County Board of Supervisors doesn’t need to look far to get an idea of how Alameda County residents feel about street level surveillance technologies:

As demonstrations against Urban Shield, activism around Oakland’s Domain Awareness Center, and packed public hearings about Sheriff Ahern’s purchase of a drone demonstrate, Alameda County residents are clearly concerned about the use of surveillance technology in their community.9 Sheriff Ahern ignored public sentiment against drones when he decided to circumvent your authority and use taxpayer dollars to purchase a drone in December.

In fact, many of the same activists who recently demonstrated against Urban Shield, as well as Brian Hofer of the Oakland Privacy Working Group, attended the September 29^th meeting where the Board considered Ahern’s proposal.[2]

That pressure at the meeting is why the Board postponed approval of the IMSI catcher upgrade for two weeks, in order to provide more time for public comment. The Board will consider the upgrade at its October 13 meeting. In the meantime, we hope Alameda County residents will take this opportunity to make their voices heard by contacting their supervisors (contact information below). You can get inspiration from EFF’s letter. Even the two-week postponement means the Board knows IMSI catchers aren’t trouble-free. Make sure they know exactly how much trouble they can be.

Contacting the Board of Supervisors via phone is best. However, the emails provided are for their legislative aides and can also be used to contact them and tell them what you think about IMSI catchers. Check the Board of Supervisors site to find your district if you’re not sure.

District 1, Supervisor Scott Haggerty Phone number:(510) 272-6691
Aide: shawn.wilson@acgov.org

District 2, Supervisor Richard Valle:
Phone number: (510) 272-6692
Aide: christopher.miley@acgov.org

District 3, Supervisor Wilma Chan Phone number: (510)272-6693
Aide:jeanette.dong@acgov.org

District 4, Supervisor Nate Miley Phone number: (510)272-6694
Aide: anna.gee@acgov.org

District 5, Supervisor Keith Carson Phone number: (510)272-6695
Aide: rodney.brooks@acgov.org

Come out today again at 5:30 for sunset ceremony (smile emoticon). And then stay sleeping under the stars in this warm weather to support and guard the Indigenous ceremony taking place on Gill Tract. Show Ohlone and other native folks that you stand up for their rights and sovereignty!
Spread the word far and wide!!

#OhloneLand #ILAC #RestoreNativeLand #NativeLifeway

Wednesday: Rally in SF against Pacific Gas & Electric’s attack on solar in CA

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is leading an attack on rooftop solar in California. Join a rally outside of PG&E’s headquarters in San Francisco and speak out against this dirty attack on clean energy.

Rooftop solar is booming in California. So utilities are trying to kill it, with a brazen attack that would make it harder for Californians to generate their own clean solar power.¹

By the end of this year, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is required to determine how much credit Californians will get on their utility bills if they choose to go solar in 2016 and beyond. The major California utilities have launched an underhanded attack, pressing the agency to make it much more expensive to go solar.

One of the utilities leading the charge is PG&E. Our friends at the Vote Solar are leading a rally at PG&E’s headquarters in San Francisco to speak out against the company’s brazen attack on clean energy.

Click here to RSVP for the rally.

With massive water conservation efforts underway, and drought-fueled wildfires raging, it’s clearer than ever that we need to transition as quickly as possible to clean energy.

But utilities are terrified of rooftop solar because it allows individual consumers to produce their own energy and get bill credits for their excess clean power, instead of buying dirty fossil fuel energy supplied by utilities.

That’s why Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric are trying to halt the solar progress we’ve made in California. They’ve all filed proposals with the CPUC that would implement a painful combination of unfair fees essentially punishing people for installing solar, and lower utility bill credits that would not fairly compensate rooftop solar customers for the valuable solar power they deliver to the grid.

If the utilities succeed, they’ll do major harm to California’s booming solar industry, an industry employing tens of thousands of Californians and dramatically reducing fossil fuel pollution. We have to hold San Diego Gas & Electric accountable, and urge Governor Brown and the CPUC to stand up to their dirty attack on clean energy.

See description for Part I.

The question of Berkeley police’s relationship with UASI has been moved from a Police Review Commission subcommittee to the full commission

The question before the PRC is not whether to abrogate the BPD-UASI  relationship, but whether to add a rider calling on the city council to halt BPD participation in UASI-funded Urban Shield. As several of the commissioners expressed that they did not know enough about Urban Shield to take a position on it, an extra week is being taken for them to familiarize themselves with the issue.

You can help move the commission toward a negative recommendation on Urban Shield by doing two things:  speaking in public comment next Wednesday at 7, and providing written resources now for the commissioners to read in the interim (ASAP!).

Please note that these are centrist folks who see a lot of value in policing, and in disaster preparedness, and in regional cooperation among police agencies. And so forth.  They could be moved by non-rhetorical, mainstream sources.  Their process is like a cost-benefit calculation:  what does the BPD get out of the exercise, vs. what are the negatives for Berkeley?  Ideological statements will be a negative to getting them to reject Urban Shield.

If we are able to get the PRC to move against Urban Shield, that would be a major step forward in the Stop Urban Shield campaign.  Please help make this happen!

We, the General Union of Palestine Students, declare Palestine in a state of emergency and urge all of our community organizers and leaders to come forth as we rise with the uprisings, as we rise with Palestine in front of the Israeli Consulate.
As you may have heard recently, the situation in Palestine has been deteriorating. Within the past few weeks, Zionist forces have shut down Al-Aqsa and Al-Aqsa compound, forbidding all Palestinian and Muslim worshippers from their homes of prayer and restricting their rights to practice their religion in safety. Hundreds of Zionist settlers have stormed into Al-Aqsa, plunging Jerusalem and the greater West Bank into chaos. Zionist forces continue to violate and damage Al-Aqsa by burning down doors, setting fire to the rugs, and breaking the glass windows, flexing their control in complete provocation against Palestinians…leading to the murder of four Palestinian youth within the past few days and over 200 injured by snipers, rubber bullets, and gas inhalation. Our people of Palestine are frustrated, enraged, and resisting these constant acts of terror throughout the country. From Ramallah, to Nablus, to Jenin, and Al-Khalil, the Palestinian people are rising against the oppressive Zionist regime and defending Jerusalem. Along with the murder of our youth, Zionist forces have also demanded the demolition of their family homes in Ramallah, Surda and Nablus. Palestinian men and women have been surrounding each and every city day and night to protect the homes of their fellow people and to protect their cities from Zionist invasion.

We stand together in support of the Palestinian resistance against the oppressive Zionist regime and ask you all to stand with us. We need to stand united in front of the face of settler colonialism and echo the rage of our Palestinian people!

Flags, posters, and noise are encouraged.

Co-Sponsorers:
Palestine Youth Movement-PYM
The Freedom Archives