Calendar
Monthly reading and discussion series for those interested in a better understanding of a socialist perspective.
Suggested readings for this topic (readings are recommended but optional)
1) The Problem is Capitalism by Speak Out Now:
https://speakoutsocialists.org/capitalism-is-the-problem-2/
2) What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism by Monthly Review
https://monthlyreview.org/2010/03/01/what-every-environmentalist-needs-to-know-about-capitalism/
3) The Principles of Communism by Frederick Engels (1847):
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm
4)Ninety Years of the Communist Manifesto by Leon Trotsky (1937):
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1937/10/90manifesto.htm
5) The Communist Manifesto (1847):
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/184
What will it take to truly address the systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism, and war economy plaguing our country today? The answer is presented in the Poor People’s Campaign Moral Budget, which lays out the policies and investments to address the widespread and systemic injustices we face.
We invite you to come together with other supporters of the Poor People’s Campaign to learn more about these solutions through our Moral Budget Reading Group. This will be a space for us to develop our collective understanding of the policies we’re working towards and how they will affect the lives of the people in our communities.
Duncan Ryūken Williams discusses his book, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War. Williams reveals the little-known story of how, in the darkest hours of World War II when Japanese Americans were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, a community of Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation’s history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American.
Reverend Williams has taken part in Tsuru For Solidarity, a non-violent direct action protest lead by Japanese Americans formerly incarcerated in WWII internment camps and descendents to demand the closure of the inhumane immigrant families and children internment sites on the border today.
Join us for an evening of tribute, music and conversation with Puerto Rican patriot and visionary, Oscar López Rivera. This event is part of a national U.S. speaking tour titled “Oscar López Rivera—Two Years Later: Resistance and Resilience”.
Two years after his release as a political prisoner for 36 years, Oscar López Rivera is returning to the Bay Area to share his current work in Puerto Rico post hurricanes Irma and Maria, and against a backdrop of a series of earthquakes that have stricken the island over the last few weeks.
Since his release in 2017, he founded the Oscar López Rivera Foundation, Libertá, through which he has been leading efforts to strengthen grassroots community organizing, demanding the auditing and cancelation of the island’s debt and advocating for the Puerto Rico’s sovereignty.
Pre-Event Reception: 4pm-5pm
Main Event: Doors open at 5pm / Event begins at 5:30pm
Dance, eat, drink, and meet local labor activists at the Bay Area Labor Notes Dance Party Fundraiser Featuring local DJ Kream from 8:30PM-11:30PM.
A small donation of $5-$35 covers food, music, camaraderie, and stories about the Bay Area labor movement from local labor activists. Cash bar available, Venmo also accepted. Nobody turned away for lack of funds. All ages.
All proceeds will help low-wage workers attend the international Labor Notes conference in Chicago this April.
The Labor Notes Conference is a unique gathering of thousands of rank-and-file union members, local leaders, and activists who are putting the movement back in the labor movement.
It is an increasingly important space for labor activists to attend skill-building workshops and meet to share effective strategies that can win gains and amplify the voice of workers.
Your support will help to (re)build a fighting, democratic labor movement across the U.S. and around the world!
See here for information about Omni Commons accessibility.
Join Black Rose/Rosa Negra Bay Area for a movie night and discussion about the current events in Chile.
Movie: The Chicago Conspiracy – This documentary addresses the legacy of the military dictatorship in Chile by sharing the story of combatant youth who were killed by the Pinochet regime as a backdrop to the history of the military dictatorship and current social conflict in the area. The larger story is wrapped around three shorter pieces, which explore the student movement, the history of neighborhoods that became centers of armed resistance against the dictatorship, and the indigenous Mapuche conflict. The filmmakers, militant film collective Subversive Action Films, question their relationship to the documentary, taking a position as combatants.
Also: Video Statements by organizers and BRRN members on the ground in the latest revolt in Chile.
STEVEN LEVY
FACEBOOK: The Inside Story
With Brian Edwards-Tiekert
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advance tickets: $12: brownpapertickets.com ::T: 800-838-3006 or Pegasus Books (3 sites), Books Inc (Berkeley), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore, East Bay Books, Mrs.Dalloway’s Books $15 door, benefits KPFA Radio 94.1FM info: kpfa.org/events
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Renowned tech writer Steven Levy delivers the definitive history of one of America’s most powerful and controversial companies: Facebook. For the past three years Levy has had unprecedented access to Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Based on hundreds of interviews inside and outside the company, Levy’s sweeping narrative digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences.
“Levy is America’s premier technology journalist.” — The Washington Post
In his sophomore year of college, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. The site caught on like wildfire, and soon students nationwide were using Facebook until, by now it is nearly unrecognizable from Zuckerberg’s first, modest iteration. It has grown into a tech giant – the largest social media platform and one of the most gargantuan companies in the entire world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users, including those on its fully owned subsidiaries, Instagram and WhatsApp. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life. In light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing “fake news” accounts, the handling of its users’ personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation.
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Steven Levy is Wired‘s editor at large. His previous positions include founder of Backchannel and chief technology writer and senior editor for Newsweek. Levy has written seven previous books and has written for Rolling Stone, Harper’s Magazine, Macworld, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and The New Yorker. He has also won several awards during his thirty-plus years of writing about technology, including for his book Hackers, which PC Magazine named the best sci-tech book written in the last twenty years; and for Crypto, which won the grand e-book prize at the 2001 Frankfurt Book Fair.
Brian Edwards-Tiekert is the founder and popular co-host of UpFront, the morning drive-time public affairs program on KPFA Radio. He began working in media by helping to set up the Independent Media Center in Chiapas, Mexico, where he also did human rights work. For two years, he ran a nationwide support program for progressive publications at colleges and universities. He started at KPFA as a beat reporter covering environmental justice issues, during which time he served as a network correspondent during international climate negotiations, produced live national broadcasts covering elections and political conventions, and established a journalism training program inside KPFA. In 2016, he was awarded a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University.
Contact: Amanda Walker 212-366-2212 amwalker@prh.com or Becky Odell rodell@prh.com
Al Sargis: Harriet Tubman as a Military Figure
The recent (2019) film, Harriet, left many aspects of Harriet Tubman’s life and work unexplored, but ICSS member Al Sargis has been researching Tubman’s military exploits as head of military intelligence of the Army of the Potomac and her planning, organizing and leading the only amphibious assault by a woman in US (and possibly world) history.
I would place her skills and talents in the context of what she learned in the Underground Railroad and her collaboration with John Brown in the raid on Harper’s Ferry. Little known is both her co-planning of the raid and furnishing many of John Brown’s troops. I want to open a whole new perspective on Tubman, as one book describes her as “America’s more unsung Civil War general.” Why did General Grant regard Harriet Tubman as “worth many regiments in the Northern forces” and John Brown call her “General”?
Tubman was the top military intelligence commander in the Department of the Potomac, the only woman to plan and lead an amphibious assault and a nurse in an army hospital. She also collaborated with John Brown on his Harper’s Ferry raid. While known for her work in the Underground Railroad, little is mentioned about how this prepared her for her later activities with John Brown and during the Civil War. This lecture will cover how each phase of her life groomed her for the next one: from before and during the Underground Railroad, her relationship with John Brown and, finally, her little known Civil War exploits.
Tubman’s turn to armed revolutionary struggle to abolish slavery in contrast to many, if not most, abolitionists and its political, moral and religious basis will be an underlying theme.
Gerald Smith may join us to say a few words from a Black HISTORICAL context.
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
In attendance will be journalist Ann Garrison who received the 2014 Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region.
The Oakland Greens look forward to seeing you at the second of this years Free Dinner & Movie Discussion Night series with MC and producer Vicente Cruz on the Last Sundays of every month from January through October.
February 23rd will screen the movie Hotel Rwanda (2004) — a film based on the Rwandan genocide staring Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana. The movie explores genocide, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence
The internet has been hailed as a leveling force that is reshaping activism. From the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, digital activism seemed cheap, fast, and open to all. Now this celebratory narrative finds itself competing with an increasingly sinister story as platforms like Facebook and Twitter—once the darlings of digital democracy—are on the defensive for their role in promoting fake news. While hashtag activism captures headlines, conservative digital activism is proving more effective on the ground.
Schradie’s talk, based on her book, The Revolution That Wasn’t, identifies the reasons behind this previously undiagnosed digital-activism gap. Large hierarchical political organizations with professional staff can amplify their digital impact, while horizontally organized volunteer groups tend to be less effective at translating online goodwill into meaningful action. Not only does technology fail to level the playing field, it tilts it further, so that only the most sophisticated and well-funded players can compete. The findings from her southern case U.S. case – from both online quantitative data analysis and offline in-depth ethnographic observations and interviews – have national and even international implications for a growing right-wing populist movement.
About Jen Schradie
Jen Schradie is a sociologist and Assistant Professor at the Observatoire sociologique du changement at Sciences Po in Paris. Her work on digital democracy has been featured on CNN and the BBC and in the New Yorker, Washington Post, Newsweek, WIRED, Time, Vox, and Buzzfeed, among other media. She was awarded the Public Sociology Alumni Prize at the University of California, Berkeley, and has directed six documentary films.
Older adults are now a majority of those living unhoused in the Bay Arrea. Nearly half faced homelessness for the first time after the age of fifty. Rapid aging, chronic illnesses, and premature death are becoming common – at a very high cost in suffering and dollars.
Researchers at UC-San Francisco’s HOPE-HOME collaborative are shining a light at the intersection of health, housing, and aging. They are also bringing a new perspective, and now funding, to democratize the process of change, identify evidence based solutions and help communities and decision-makers better align health and housing policies.
Our speaker is Dr. Margaret Handley, public health trained epidemiologist. She is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Center for Vulnerable Populations at San Francisco General Hospital, at the University of California San Francisco. Her research focuses on applied public health, implementation science, and health communication. She has worked with the HOPE-HOME project for several years and is on the steering committee of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.
� Program includes Gray Panther Committee updates
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‘Socializing and refreshments after the talk until 4pm
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Full agenda: https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Police-Commission-2.27.20-Agenda-Packet.pdf
Of possible interest:
VII. Committee Reports
Representatives from the following Standing and Ad Hoc Committees will provide updates
on their work. This is a recurring item. (Attachment 7)
i. Personnel
ii. Outreach
iii. Mental Health Model
iv. Use of Force
v. Equipment [[ Militarized Equipment Ordinance — see full agenda ]]
vi. Rules of Procedure
IX. OPD Overtime Report
The Department will present the overtime report that was delivered at the Finance and
Management Committee meeting on February 25, 2020.
@moms4housing "Housing is a human right! Our immigrant neighbors have been on rent strike for 4 months & are on brink of historic victory – they need our support! Please join us at Rally Against Fear Thursday, 2/27, 6:30 pm, 1534 29th Ave. Moms will be speaking & sharing updates"
— Anti Police-Terror (@APTPaction) February 26, 2020
New York Times bestselling author and Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne sounds the alarm in Code Red, calling for an alliance between progressives and moderates to seize the moment and restore hope to Americas future for the 2020 presidential election.
Will progressives and moderates feud while America burns? Or will they take advantage of the greatest opportunity since the New Deal Era to strengthen American democracy, foster social justice, and turn back the threats of the Trump Era?
The country is at a crossroads. Principled opposition to Trumps presidency has drawn millions of previously disengaged citizens to the streets and to the ballot boxes. This growing activism for political change hasnt been seen since the days of Franklin Roosevelts New Deal policies and the Progressive and Civil Rights movements. But if progressives and moderates are unableand unwillingto overcome their differences, they could not only enable Trump to prevail again but also squander an occasion for launching a new era of reform.
Dionne calls for a shared commitment to decency and a politics focused on freedom, fairness, and the future, encouraging progressives and moderates to explore common ground and expand the unity that brought about Democrat victories in the 2018 elections. He offers a unifying model for furthering progress with a Politics of Remedy, Dignity, and More: one that solves problems, resolve disputes, and moves forward; that posits a positive future for Americans with more covered by health insurance, more with decent wages, more with good schools, more security from gun violence, more action to roll back climate change. Because at this point in our national story, change cant wait.
A thrilling book, from one of Americas most universally respected minds. — Rachel Maddow
E.J. DIONNE, JR., is a columnist for The Washington Post, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, visiting professor at Harvard University, and professor at Georgetown University. He is a co-author of the recent New York Times bestseller One Nation After Trump and author of Why the Right Went Wrong.
KRIS WELCH is a veteran, very popular KPFA on-air host, a mother, and a devoted grandmother.