Calendar
Oscar Lopez Rivera is coming to the Bay Area after 36 years in prison for his struggle to support Puerto Rican Independence and sovereignity . For many of us, this is a welcome opportunity to celebrate his release and our shared victory.
He will be visiting the Bay Area for this unique one time only public appearance on May 31st. Help us support Oscar as he continues his work while beginning his new life. Please make as generous a donation as possible. Let us show Oscar that the SF Bay Area community supports him as he continues to advocate for sovereignty and independence for Puerto Rico.
Book Talk: Sam Dolgoff, a lifetime well known anarchist from NYC, had many encounters and meetings with such notables as Emma Goldman, Lenin, Eugene Debs, MLK Jr. an many others. Anatole Dolgoff, his son, will discuss his book on his outrageous and adventurous father.
Learn the sobering facts about oil production in California and the damage it’s doing to families, agriculture, our water and environment. Explore ways we can work together to challenge our Governor to be consistent in his environmental policies. We’ll watch a short film called DEAR GOVERNOR BROWN, STOP DRILLING CALIFORNIA. The discussion afterward features representatives from Food and Water Watch, a leader in the anti-fracking movement, and several other organizations concerned about fracking in California. We’ll close out the evening with a postcard writing campaign.
Bring healthy vegetarian snacks or a refreshment to share for meet and greet at 6:30. The program begins at 7:00 pm. This event is sponsored by: Transition Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Chapter, Sierra Club and BFUU Social Justice Committee.
Please join Angel Rico Ramos’ family and Anti Police-Terror Project at a press conference demanding justice for Angel and the release of his autopsy report.
Angel was murdered on January 23, 2017, by Vallejo police, and on June 3, 2017 he would be turning 22.
Solano county sheriff failed to release the autopsy report, which we believe constitutes negligence on their part. We feel the need to point out that Solano County has the largest number of murders by law enforcement in the Bay Area, and refusing to release Angel’s autopsy report appears to be a tactic to prevent the community from knowing what happened to Angel.
All that Angel’s family is asking for at this point is to be able to receive his autopsy report for his birthday.
Multiple requests by his family, community, and his family legal representatives to release the autopsy report have been denied. In order for Angel’s family to begin a healing process they need to know what happened to their loved one. Not releasing the autopsy report is exacerbating and prolonging the family’s pain.
At this press conference, we demand that the sheriff releases the report immediately, whether or not it is a part of a VPD investigation. We would also like to use this opportunity for the family, community members and organizations to voice their concerns regarding the high number of police murders in Solano County and the negligence of the sheriff’s department. We are concerned that as gentrification spreads to Vallejo and surrounding areas, local communities are at risk of further increase of police violence and terror.
We hope that the community can turn up to support Angel’s family.
If you need a ride – or can offer a ride, please email aptp.rides@gmail.com
To guarantee access to indoor sessions, we recommend that you purchase a Priority Admission Ticket for only $8. Otherwise, you can purchase a General Admission Wristband for $15 for the whole weekend, with first-come, first-served admission after Priority Ticket holders are let in. Outdoor sessions — at the San Francisco Chronicle Stage in the Park and the Showtime Stage for families — are free, with first-come, first served seating.
Monthly Vigils
Interfaith Vigils to Support Immigrant Detainees
1st Saturdays of every month.
We invite you to join our vigils each month as we gather to pray and bear witness to the pain, suffering, and separation of immigrant detainees, and to call for real and immediate immigration reform. We invite you to join us to pray, sing, and act for just immigration solutions. Please bring a noisemaker for our sacred Moment of Noise– where we let the detainees know that we have not forgotten them.
Why we vigil at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond
We do this to stand in solidarity with the (150-300) people being held here for deportation and thousands in the other 250 detention centers across the country. We know that many have not been convicted of any “crime”, but are charged with a civil immigration offense. We know that detained here and facing deportation are asylum seekers, green card holders, and long term residents. Often the chief breadwinner is taken away, putting children and families in economic jeopardy. We know that ICE’s implementation of our immigration laws makes communities insecure. THEREFORE…
We come here each month, to call attention to our government’s wasteful spending of resources, deporting 315, 943 in FY 2014 (865 people a day), while failing to address root causes of migration. We seek to stop this system of detention and deportation and change our nation’s policies.
We know that all the deportees held here have families, most came not just for a better life, but to survive and support families. Many have fled terrible violence and now face it here, in another form. And now, the children have come, many to reunite with families already here…. and even they, face expedited deportation processes.
We do this to give moral and spiritual support to the families whose loved ones are being held here. We know their trauma can be deep and their lives filled with fear. We seek to give practical advice and counsel on legal, medical, food and housing issues and to be a friendly face. And we also do this to provide opportunity for people directly impacted by our detention and deportation policies to share their truth – to give their testimony so that they know, they are not alone.
We pray together for a just and fair immigration policy closer to what our Statue of Liberty proclaims “Mother of Exiles … Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
We pray, knowing that all our faith traditions call upon us to welcome strangers and aliens, for they are our sisters and brothers and our families, like them, we were once strangers and aliens in this land.
For more information about immigration detention, go to: Detention Watch Network, CIVIC.
RSVP now for a free spot on the bus. Buses leave from San Francisco and Oakland at 9am and return by 530pm. Or meet us in Modesto by 11am. Box lunch provided. Please RSVP!
— jeralynn (@mommablueford) June 2, 2017
More than $70 million had been cut from the Alameda county’s mental health care budget since 2007. Yet, Alameda County has the highest per capita incidence in the state of involuntary holds placed on individuals experiencing a mental health emergency.
While the overall number of people locked up in Santa Rita Jail is decreasing, the percentage of people with mental health issues who are imprisoned there is on the rise. This disparity is caused by our failure to provide mental health services in the community, and the criminalization of mental illness.
Join Alameda County Jail Fight Coalition for a Town Hall envisioning what it would look like to provide #CareNotCages to members of our community with mental illness.
A space for learning and discussion for directly impacted people, their family and friends, service providers, activists, and all others concerned with incarceration of people with mental illness, especially here in Alameda County.
Envisioning Community Care for People with Mental Illness
If you are in need of childcare, please contact acjailfightcoalition@gmail.com to RSVP.
Join Alameda County Jail Fight Coalition for a Town Hall envisioning what it would look like to provide #CareNotCages to members of our community with mental illness.
A space for learning and discussion for directly impacted people, their family and friends, service providers, activists, elected officals and all others concerned with the over incarceration of people with mental illness.
If you are in need of childcare, please contact hollydelanycole@gmail.com to RSVP. Please includes the number and ages of kids, any allergies, if they will do best with a 1 on 1 aid, and anything else you think is important to share.
There is more than sufficient cause for alarm about the role Russian state-led hacking and information warfare played in the 2016 election, and there are crucial unanswered questions about the relationship between the Russian state and Donald Trump, his associates and his campaign. The legitimacy of the United States government may hinge on the answers to these questions. If the President was elected even in part due to collusion with a foreign effort to interfere in our democratic process, then the will of the people has been subverted.
We call for a #MarchForTruth to raise our voices and let our elected leaders know that American citizens want answers. The legitimacy of our democracy is more important than the interests of any party, or any President. So, we will rise together to call for a fair and impartial investigation, for the pursuit of truth, and for the restoration of faith in our electoral system and the Office of the Presidency.
Our goals are simple:
1. Congressional investigations should be properly resourced and pursued free of partisan interests, or an independent investigation must be established;
2. As much information should be made available to the public as possible, and as soon as possible;
3. Donald Trump should release his tax returns to clarify his business interests and obligations to any foreign entity;
4. If crimes were committed or if collusion is discovered, it must be prosecuted.
To guarantee access to indoor sessions, we recommend that you purchase a Priority Admission Ticket for only $8. Otherwise, you can purchase a General Admission Wristband for $15 for the whole weekend, with first-come, first-served admission after Priority Ticket holders are let in. Outdoor sessions — at the San Francisco Chronicle Stage in the Park and the Showtime Stage for families — are free, with first-come, first served seating.
SHOW UP FOR FOLSOM PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE RALLY & PRESS CONFERENCE Please join us to rally outside Folsom Priosn and show that we support prisoners’ efforts to strike for humane”
RALLY & PRESS CONFERENCE at Folsom To Support Hunger Strikers
On May 25th, prisoners in Folsom State Prison B4 ASU (Administrative Segregation Unit) began a hunger strike to peacefully protest the inhumane conditions of their confinement in the administrative segregation unit. Prisoners have exhausted all reasonable remedies and have attempted to open lines of communication with administrative officials, and have been met with only resistance, silence, and now retaliation.
We cannot say exactly how many people are refusing meals, but we know that there are roughly 30 people in the unit that announced the strike.
- Check for Hunger Strike updates HERE
- Read Hunger Strikers’ Media Release (includes Demands and Grievances)
- Contact Officials to Support the Hunger Strikers
by prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity
Rally to stop the deportations of Hugo Mejía and Rodrigo Núñez are both fathers – and community volunteers – with deep roots in the Bay Area. They’ve been trapped in detention since May 3, cut off from their families and communities.
More details about their story:
ICE put Rodrigo and Hugo in chains after they reported for a construction project at a hospital, sparking a huge outcry that made headlines.
The men didn’t know the project was located inside Travis Air Force base. When they gave their information at the gate, the base turned them over to Trump’s deportation force. ICE might deport both Rodrigo and Hugo without them ever having the chance to tell their story to a judge. Just this week, The Trump administration denied both men a hearing on their request for asylum.
Join Centro Legal de La Raza, The Venetia Valley Family Center, SIREN, CIYJA, Bay Resistance, Jobs with Justice and other local organizations. Today we rally for Hugo and Rodrigo, in hopes to set them free back to their family. Together we can stop the deportations of our community!
“Susan’s life story is one our nation desperately needs to hear and understand. This is a story about personal transformation and collective power. It is about one woman’s journey to freedom, but it will help free us all.” -Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow.
Join Susan Burton for her Bay Area book release! Susan will offer some remarks and will be signing copies of her books. Books will be available for purchase. Light refreshments provided.
Event Hosted By: Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, All of Us or None, Essie Justice Group
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
CODEPINK: SHUT DOWN CREECH!
With Toby Blome and friends
WHY WE PROTEST AT CREECH (from the CODEPINK website):
In 2005, Creech Air Force Base secretly became the first U.S. base in the country to carry out illegal, remotely-controlled assassinations using MQ-1 Predator drones, and in 2006, the more advanced Reaper drones were added to its arsenal. Creech drone personnel sit behind computers in the desert north of Las Vegas and kill “suspects” thousands of miles away. Recent independent research indicates that the identity of only one out of 28 victims of
U.S. drone strikes is known beforehand. Though officials deny it,
the majority killed by drones are civilians.
In 2014, it was leaked that the CIA’s criminal drone assassination program, officially a separate operation from the Air Force’s, has been piloted all along by Creech’s super-secret Squadron 17. In November 2015, four Air Force drone veterans who were based at Creech wrote to President Obama: “We came to the realization that the killing of innocent civilians only fueled the feelings of hatred that ignited terrorism and groups like ISIS, while also serving as a fundamental recruitment tool similar to Guantanamo Bay. This administration and its predecessors have built a drone program that is one of the most devastating driving forces
for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”
Since 2009 dozens of activists have been arrested for allegedly trespassing at Creech, while attempting to peacefully interrupt the indiscriminate killing and burning of innocent people by drones. The US drone program is rapidly proliferating as air bases are being converted to drone bases across the U.S. and abroad, but Creech remains the primary air base in U.S. state-sponsored global terrorism. Creech is where the killer drone program started – it is where we shall end it.
We must put an end to this desecration of our Mother Earth and all creatures who inhabit it.
We must put an end to the dehumanization of lives from Ferguson to Palestine to Syria and Yemen. CODEPINK stands with our Muslim sisters & brothers in the circle of life.
We must put an end to drone murder, drone surveillance and global militarization
Shut DownCreech 2016, (4 min); Fall 2016 CODEPINK Action, (6 min); ShutDownCreech 2015, (25 min); MusicVideo #1, (4 min); Music Video #2, (3 min) (music videos by Nico Colombant)
Now more than ever, the times demand that we resist US drone assassinations and perpetual wars!
WE MUST RISE, LOVE, RESIST! NO DRONES, NO BAN, NO WALLS!
Come to Rene C Davidson courthouse Dept 7 at 9am on Tuesday June 6, to support Cesar, who was arrested at an anti trump demo on election day. Lets pack the court!
“Let all of our deliberations be made with the seventh generation in mind”. Haudenosaunee Guiding Principle
On March 7th, the Oakland City Council nearly voted to end its banking relationship with JPMorgan Chase, one of the principal financiers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the private prison industry, and the foreclosure crisis. Since then, Defenders of Mother Earth-Huichin has been working to introduce an amendment to Oakland’s Linked Banking Services Ordinance that will prohibit the City from banking with Chase and other institutions that benefit from violations of indigenous sovereignty, climate chaos, and mass incarceration.
On June 13th, our proposed amendments will go to the Oakland Finance Committee Meeting. Let’s make Oakland #NextToDivest!
Now is the time to invite in our city representatives to stand in solidarity and integrity with the Chochenyo Ohlone (the first people of Huichin/Oakland), with indigenous people across the continent, with their own resolutions, and with the people of Oakland and future generations: #DefundDAPL and end our relationship with JPMorgan Chase! #Divest from ongoing violations of indigenous sovereignty and climate chaos, and #Reinvest in native leadership, community resilience, and restorative economies! #MniWiconi
3 ways YOU can support:
TURN OUT! Join us on June 6th at 5pm in front of City Hall to gather our hearts and minds together in ceremony before making our voices heard at the City Council meeting. Then TURN OUT for the Finance Committee meeting on June 13th at 9:30am to support our proposed amendments!https://www.facebook.com/
SEND AND SHARE! Send the attached letter of support to Councilmembers on the Finance Committee expressing your support for our amendments. Then share your letter with friends! [TEMPLATE LETTER COMING SOON]
CALL THE COUNCIL! Call these councilmembers and flood their phone lines with messages of support! [PHONE SCRIPT COMING SOON]
As the City Council deliberates about where to invest our community assets, we invite their deep consideration of the following:
The Dakota Access Pipeline is yet another in a long list of violent violations of Native sovereignty for the sake of profit. We call upon the City of Oakland to stand in solidarity with Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Lakota Nations, all indigenous people, and all lifeforms hoping to inhabit a livable planet by ending their relationships with financial institutions that fund the Dakota Access Pipeline and similar fossil fuel pipelines.
By keeping depository accounts in JP Morgan Chase, the City has made all of its taxpayers complicit in violence against the Lakota and other Indigenous peoples. When Oakland residents pay taxes, those funds are held in J.P. Morgan Chase, who can use them to make a profit in whatever way they see fit.
JP Morgan Chase is among 26 banks profiting from the Dakota Access Pipeline, and is thus profiting from the violation of U.S. Treaties and the eventual poisoning of drinking water for millions of people. Chase Bank alone has invested $312,500,000 in the company that is carrying out the project, Energy Transfer Partners.
JP Morgan Chase’s record of abuse extends beyond the Native community and the planet. It is one of the most avid lenders to private prison industry leaders, CCA and GEO Group, hence playing a crucial role in the exacerbation of mass incarceration of immigrants and people of color, which directly affects the people of Oakland. JPMorgan Chase also agreed to a $55 million settlement with the United States government over allegations that it discriminated against “thousands” of African American and Latino mortgage borrowers, and the bank’s independent brokers charged minority borrowers higher mortgage interest rates and fees from 2006 to 2009, compared to “similarly situated white borrowers.”
Oakland’s money should not be used to support these multiple forms of violence and furthering of inequities. It should be used to support community. Oakland has an abundance of financial institutions that are committed to lifting up all members of our city. The City could support these institutions with no cost and low risk by keeping their deposits in aligned institutions instead of extractive banks.
We call upon the City of Oakland to:
1. Close all current depository accounts with JP Morgan Chase.
2. Refuse to open a depository account with any of the 26 banks that invest in, lend to, or otherwise profit from the Dakota Access Pipeline, and/or whose investments negatively impact Indigenous Sovereignty.
3. Open depository accounts at local community-based financial institutions.
4. Continue working toward the creation of banking alternatives aligned with indigenous values.
Join us for this Berkeley Film Foundation funded film screening with an in-depth panel discussion post-screening with:
Azadeh Zohrabi, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
David Muhammad, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR)
Tamara Perkins, Director | Producer
Jesse Dana, Cinematographer | Co-Producer
Kevin Jones, Editor | Associate Producer and special guests from the film Harrison Seuga and Noel Valdivia Sr.
Life After Life Trailer https://vimeo.com/137638023
Hosted by: Berkeley Film Foundation