The plan by the International Olympics Committee IOC and Japanese government to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics in the middle of a global Covid Pandemic is a threat to not only the people of Japan but the world. Despite the desperate pleas of doctors and many healthcare workers in Japan who are overloaded with covid patients, the government has said it doesn’t matter what they or the people of Japan think about the Olympics.

Over 80% of the people oppose having the Olympics in the midst of a full scale pandemic but the IOC and Japan government with the support of Secretary of State Blinken and the the Biden administration could care less. The profits for NBC and the media companies come first for the IOC and the Japanese government.

It is the people be damned for these politicians, governments and the IOC. Japanese medical doctors are even warning of a possible Tokyo Olympic Covid variant coming out of these events which
will bring tens of thousands of people from around the world to Japan for the Olympics.

The Suga Japanese government is also planning to restart more nuclear plants and also release over a million tons of radioactive water from Fukushima where the burned nuclear reactor plants continue to leak radioactive material more than ten years after the melt-downs.

Nuclear clean-up workers including workers from overseas and other workers continue to get contaminated with no proper health and safety education and tens of thousands of bags of radioactive waste continue to remain scattered throughout the prefecture with no place to go. The government is also seeking to spread the contaminated waste throughout Japan in road construction and other projects.

The denialism of the dangers of having the Olympics in Japan is directly connected to the denialism of the dangers of Fukushima, the denialism of the Comfort Women and the Japanese government’s denialism during the 2nd World War that they could not lose the war. This effort to deny the present reality is connected historically to the rulers of Japan and it has led to the cost of millions of lives.

No Nukes Action asks you to join us and speak out to demand the cancellation of the Olympics, the halt to re-opening Japan’s nuclear plants and defense of the Fukushima people. We oppose as well the militarization of Asia supported by the US and Biden along with Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi. Thiis includes the building of the new Haneko base in Okinawa.
The Okinawan residents continued to be terrorized by US military jets and helicopters and the US is even training with these aircraft in the center of Tokyo despite the great dangers to the people of Tokyo.

Physical distancing and masks for all participants at action

As both socialism and abolition grow in popularity and relevance, this event seeks to explore the connection between the two. Come join the EBDSA political education committee and racial solidarity committee for this event and discuss the connection between the fight for a world without police and prisons and a world without capitalism. It is suggested to do the readings beforehand, but not required.

The Abolitionist Road to Socialism

Full Abolition, the Highest Stage of Socialism

From Detroit to Minneapolis: Police Brutality is Key to Containing Revolutionary Possibilities

Trump’s Tech Opposition – Jacobin interview

The Shallowness of What Tech Calls Thinking

Tech Workers – Friends or Foes?

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We are excited to convene an outdoor general meeting and social this month — come and hear from our outgoing and incoming leadership, learn about our plans for the coming year, and meet and mingle with other members.

We’ll meet on Sunday, June 13 from 12:30-2:30 pm in Snow Park in Oakland, at the corner of Harrison Street and 19th Street.

Snacks and hand sanitizer will be provided. Friends, family, and kids are welcome!

RSVP and we’ll see you there!

 United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (and what you can do about it)
***  With Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff  ***

The role of news media in a free society is to investigate, inform, and provide a crucial check on political power. But does it?

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It’s no secret that the goal of corporate-owned media is to increase the profits of the few, not to empower the many. As a result, people are increasingly immersed in an information system structured to reinforce their social biases and market to their buying preferences. Journalism’s essential role has been drastically compromised, and Donald Trump’s repeated claims of “fake news” and framing of the media as an “enemy of the people” have made a bad scenario worse. That said, these concerns about media misinformation did not just disappear upon the election of Joe Biden and we must be ever vigilant against propaganda campaigns from the corporate press and both major political parties.

Written in the spirit of resistance and hope, United States of Distraction offers a clear, concise appraisal of our current situation, and presents readers with action items for how to improve it.  http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100388060

Dr. Nolan Higdon is an author and university lecturer of history and media studies. Higdon’s areas of concentration include youth culture, news media history, and critical media literacy. His most recent publications include The Anatomy of Fake News from University of California Press (2020) and United States of Distraction with Mickey Huff from City Lights Books. He sits on the boards of the Action Coalition for Media Education and Northwest Alliance For Alternative Media And Education.

Mickey Huff is director of Project Censored and president of the nonprofit Media Freedom Foundation. He is currently professor of social science, history, and journalism at Diablo Valley College where he is co-chair of the history area and is chair of the journalism department. He is executive producer and host of the weekly syndicated public affairs program The Project Censored Show on Pacifica Radio. His most recent publications include United States of Distraction (City Lights Books) co-authored with Nolan Higdon, and Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2021 (Seven Stories Press) co-edited with Andy Lee Roth. www.projectcensored.org

“Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon emphasize what we can do today to restore the power of facts, truth, and fair, inclusive journalism as tools for people to keep political and corporate power subordinate to the engaged citizenry and the common good.” Ralph Nader

“The U.S. wouldn’t be able to hide its empire in plain sight were it not for the subservient ‘free’ press. United States of Distraction shows, in chilling detail, America’s major media dysfunction – how the gutting of the fourth estate paved the road for fascism annd what tools are critical to salvage our democracy. Abby Martin, The Empire Files

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. *We will start promptly at 5:00 pm each month — however, this month will be the final notice about that! The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows, at 6:30 pm. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

Sunrise Movement leaders from across California are marching 266 miles from Paradise to San Francisco for the Civilian Climate Corps. We’re marching to demonstrate the urgency of the climate and economic crisis, and need for Congress and Biden to pass an ambitious CCC by the end of Summer 2021 as an immediate first-step solution. The Civilian Climate Corps is a vision of a federal jobs program (modeled after the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps) that will put our generation to work combatting the climate crisis with equity and equality, scaled to the size of the emergency. Join us Monday, June 14th to welcome the marchers and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city. We will hold rallies and paint street murals outside the residences of our elected officials while demanding an ambitious CCC that provides good jobs to address the climate emergency and start the Decade of the Green New Deal. RSVP to stay in touch with the latest information.

JOIN US! Wednesday, June 16 at 12pm
Rally @ 12pm, Car Caravan @ 1pm, come with your car already decorated or use our supplies to decorate during the Noise Demo!

SPEAK UP! TODAY at City Council at 6pm (Item #37)
Agenda/zoom link: https://t.co/83qEceVlmZ pic.twitter.com/eO612B5PYv

— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) June 15, 2021

We are gathering every Wednesday at noon on the steps of City Hall to demand a community budget that prioritizes CARE Not Cops!

The City Manager is proposing a budget that INCREASES funding for the Berkeley Police from last year! This is despite the city’s supposed commitment to “reimagine public safety” and decrease funding to the police.

In advance of the final budget vote on June 29, we are gathering EVERY WEDNESDAY AT NOON on the steps of City Hall to make them hear us and demand a community budget that prioritizes CARE NOT COPS!

We cannot continue with business as usual. According to the City Audit, BPD stopped Black people at a significantly higher rate than their representation in the Berkeley population (34 percent compared to 8 percent). The data also shows that less than 1% of all calls for service were for violent crimes and that 55% of calls to Berkeley Police came in on their “non-emergency” line. BPD failed to even capture data on how many calls involved unhoused people or those with mental health issues.

We need to hold the City Council to their promise to reimagine public safety. We must divert our city funds to alternatives that: (1) are completely independent from the police, (2) are accountable to our most impacted community members, (3) don’t respond only during crises and then leave, and (4) are transparent to the public.

Join us and make noise on the steps of City Hall! Bring your pots, pans, noisemakers. We’ll have speakers and open mic. Tell Berkeley why this is important for everyone’s safety.

This event is wheelchair accessible.

For more info on the Care Not Cops campaign and our Five Demands for the Specialized Care Unit (SCU), go to: berkeleycopwatch.org/care-not-cops

Share the flyer! Share on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!

Join us Wed, 6/16, when Sylvia Chi reviews the CA Public Banking Act she co-authored. Homework: Please read Section 16 of AB 857 in preparation. https://t.co/bepS551P2V

See you there?

Zoom Registration Link: https://t.co/o3UkaIYZdu pic.twitter.com/AFaSaebjWP

— Public Bank East Bay (@publicbankeb) June 14, 2021

We’d like to invite you to our next Public Banking 101 session, an educational series hosted by the Friends of the Public Bank East Bay exploring public banking in the context of our ongoing efforts to create a public bank in the East Bay.

Our speaker will be Sylvia Chi, co-author of the landmark 2019 California Public Banking Act (AB 857) and former policy director for the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN).

Sylvia will give an overview of AB857 and how it frames what the public bank can be, the steps we need to take to create one, and the latest regulatory updates from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. We’ll also be addressing questions like:

• How can a public bank serve the specific needs of East Bay communities?
• How can we build a bank that reflects our values and priorities?
• How do we ensure it’s truly public, governed by the people we aim to serve?

And, of course, we’ll address your questions. We hope you’ll join us for an insightful conversation as we move towards making public banking a reality in the East Bay.

Are you hungry for deeper dialogue about the climate crisis and building community around solutions? We are too.

A group of us at California Doughnut Economics Coalition are reading All We Can Save — it’s a book club! The book club helps us build on our doughnut economics foundation, further connect the (social & ecological) dots, and think more like a 21st-century economist. We want to extend the invite to all.

About Book Club: A unique opportunity to read and share some information and inspirational conversation on important issues. The book club is an unbiased and safe forum that opens our minds to ideas and information for a more in-depth look at our world, our community, and hopefully ourselves.

• Date/Time: third Thursday of each month
• Time: 6-7 PM PST
• Register for event and Zoom link will be provided.
• This Month’s Book: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. All We Can Save is a national bestseller. Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.

Each month, we will discuss essays from each section:

• 4/15: Begin
• 5/20: Part 1 – Root
• 6/17: Part 2 – Advocate & Part 3 – Reframe
• 7/15: Part 4 – Reshape & Part 5 – Persist
• 8/19: Part 6 – Feel & Part 7 – Nourish
• 9/16: Part 8 – Rise & Onward
• 10/21: TBD

—

How it relates to Doughnut Economics: The book club helps us to further connect the dots and think more like a 21st-century economist.

Want to know your rights & stand up for others in your community? Want to document the police & organize for change? Every 1st & 3rd Monday from 6:30-7p we're hosting New Member Mondays. Hop on zoom so we can answer yr questions & get you plugged in
Zoom: https://t.co/Henl2S4Pc9 pic.twitter.com/UHiSti3Slv

— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) May 7, 2021

Oakland: join us at the Lake Merritt Vigil for Peace tonight, with @carroll_fife & @nikki4oakland. 6 p.m. at the Pergola. pic.twitter.com/xHYmCy1RKT

— SEIU 1021 (@seiu1021) June 22, 2021

JOIN US! Wednesday, June 16 at 12pm
Rally @ 12pm, Car Caravan @ 1pm, come with your car already decorated or use our supplies to decorate during the Noise Demo!

SPEAK UP! TODAY at City Council at 6pm (Item #37)
Agenda/zoom link: https://t.co/83qEceVlmZ pic.twitter.com/eO612B5PYv

— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) June 15, 2021

We are gathering every Wednesday at noon on the steps of City Hall to demand a community budget that prioritizes CARE Not Cops!

The City Manager is proposing a budget that INCREASES funding for the Berkeley Police from last year! This is despite the city’s supposed commitment to “reimagine public safety” and decrease funding to the police.

In advance of the final budget vote on June 29, we are gathering EVERY WEDNESDAY AT NOON on the steps of City Hall to make them hear us and demand a community budget that prioritizes CARE NOT COPS!

We cannot continue with business as usual. According to the City Audit, BPD stopped Black people at a significantly higher rate than their representation in the Berkeley population (34 percent compared to 8 percent). The data also shows that less than 1% of all calls for service were for violent crimes and that 55% of calls to Berkeley Police came in on their “non-emergency” line. BPD failed to even capture data on how many calls involved unhoused people or those with mental health issues.

We need to hold the City Council to their promise to reimagine public safety. We must divert our city funds to alternatives that: (1) are completely independent from the police, (2) are accountable to our most impacted community members, (3) don’t respond only during crises and then leave, and (4) are transparent to the public.

Join us and make noise on the steps of City Hall! Bring your pots, pans, noisemakers. We’ll have speakers and open mic. Tell Berkeley why this is important for everyone’s safety.

This event is wheelchair accessible.

For more info on the Care Not Cops campaign and our Five Demands for the Specialized Care Unit (SCU), go to: berkeleycopwatch.org/care-not-cops

Share the flyer! Share on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!

Registration page

As US grapples with ongoing gun violence w/in its boundaries, it also must better address its role as the world's largest small arms exporter. Join us June 25 at noon EDT for expert discussion on improving oversight and transparency of US small arms tradehttps://t.co/7gws1w2GGe pic.twitter.com/CxIfZSRGV8

— ForumArmsTrade (@ForumArmsTrade) June 15, 2021