During a national crisis like the one we’re facing now, lawmakers must make critical decisions on a number of topics, which can define our future for decades to come. EFF is fighting to make sure that the policy changes we make in this moment are in service of a just, equitable, and healthy future for all of us.

Here are two things you can do to make sure lawmakers to do the right thing in California.

First, join us to learn about how face surveillance technology vendors are using this moment to promote surveillance products, even when they do more harm than good, in ways that endanger the very Californians most vulnerable to our current public health crisis.

Assemblymember Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) is pushing a bill through the California State legislature that would promote the expansion of unnecessary and harmful face surveillance technology in the midst of this pandemic. We aim to stop it. On May 21, we’re co-hosting an online event discussing the risks presented by face surveillance, and simple actions you can take to protect your community and loved ones:

The Path to Privacy: Stopping Face Surveillance in California

Moderator: Hayley Tsukayama

Panelists:

Jennifer Jones, ACLU of Northern California

Kaitlin Jackson, Bronx Defenders

Nathan “nash” Sheard, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Myaisha Hayes, MediaJustice

Robert Sanger, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
When:

This event will be live-streamed via Twitch where you can chat and ask questions. It will also be streaming on Facebook Live and YouTube Live. (For Twitch’s Privacy Policy, see here.) We hope to see you there.

Second, tell your lawmakers that every Californian deserves access to high-speed broadband networks. In this moment of crisis, the cracks in our state’s broadband infrastructure are more apparent than ever as social distancing guidelines have increased the pressure on our Internet connections for keeping in touch with family and friends, schoolwork, and work for many Californians.

EFF is sponsoring a bill, authored by Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) that would improve the state’s Internet infrastructure, and make strides to close the digital divide permanently – especially in areas that have been neglected by traditional Internet service providers, such as rural communities and low-income urban neighborhoods.

If you agree that California should have universal access to high-speed broadband,take action now to tell your senator to support this critical bill ahead of its May 26 hearing.

Support Fiber for All in California

We’ll get through this crisis by investing in our communities, our social safety ne

Democratic Socialist politicians like Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are raising the expectations of millions of people across the United States and bringing them into a political awakening. The membership of DSA, the largest socialist organization in the United States, is rapidly growing by the thousands. Millions of everyday people are calling for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal rent control, and more.

But what is democratic socialism? What does it mean to be a member of DSA?

Let’s talk about it.

Join us to discuss what our political moment calls for, make new friends, and get plugged into our fight for democratic control of the things that we need for all of us to live a dignified life.

Please RSVP to get the Zoom link and other information.

Public Banking Gathers Momentum in 2020

   Public Banking is a root solution that helps all other solutions from healthcare and COVID-19 to a real Green New Deal. Public banks partner with community banks and serve the interest of the public, not Wall Street. The 100-year-old Bank of North Dakota is currently the only state bank, but this year that could change. In fall of 2019 California passed a law that established a pathway for public banks at all levels from municipal to state. Now in 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis, more possibilities have opened up. The Public Banking Institute sent a letter to the Governors and Treasurers of all states, outlining the steps that can be taken to both deal with the short term crisis, and change the system for the long-term. We’ll talk about the opportunities we have in front of us right now.

Laura Wells ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor in 2010 on a platform of Public Banking and “Tax the Rich” by reforming Prop 13.

LOG-IN INFORMATION

Please note that the invitation SAYS 10:30, however, the meeting will be opened up at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi etc. We intend to start the presentation by 10:35.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85783667404…

Meeting ID: 857 8366 7404
Password: 746872
One tap mobile
+16699009128,,85783667404#,,1#,746872# US (San Jose)
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Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
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+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 857 8366 7404
Password: 746872

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/k8svz6HE6

North Oakland Neighbors! We are doing our distribution again and we would love your support for these dates:

Sunday 5.17 (Donations) 11am-1pm
Wednesday 5.20 (Donations) 3pm-5pm
Sunday 5.24 (Donations) 11am-1pm
Wednesday 5.27 (Donations) 3pm-5pm
Sunday 5.31 (Distribution) 10am-5pm

Wednesdays & Sundays (5/17, 20, 24, 27):

We are asking OUR HOUSED neighbors to contribute hygiene supplies, canned food, bottled water, rain gear, tarps, garbage bags, $$ et al to be redistributed on Sunday May 31st to encampments in North Oakland dealing with the COVID 19. We will sanitize and package your donations add a hot packaged meal and fresh fruit to the care kits to be distributed to North Oakland Encampments and surrounding encampments.

In order to properly sanitize and maintain social distancing we are collective the materials on April 26th &29th and aiming to distribute 500 hot meals and care kits on May 31st. Overflow resources will be distributed by sister orgs throughout Oakland.

To donate goods or volunteer please sign up here! :
https://forms.gle/gihhATtsXYyiNsVC9

Donate $$: https://www.facebook.com/donate/2956825734339312/2956825774339308/

***We need YOUR HELP!!!! If you have any of the items below that you can donate to your unhoused neighbors please do one of the following things:

-Drop off at 4799 Shattuck Ave (OMNI Commons)

or

-We can PICK UP FROM YOUR PORCH Sunday AM (for address within ~2.5 miles of 4799 Shattuck Ave)
**fill out this form https://forms.gle/B3J5c3PL55vmsiVK6 or email Diana at diwu118@gmail.com / text +1 510 898 6992 and volunteers will pick up from your porch (also email if you have a car and can pick up or redistribute)

*****
Items we need:
FOOD/WATER
– canned food: tuna, beans, jams, peanut butter, meats, soups, etc.
– Bagged rice, beans/pulses
– ramen, mac & cheese (easy to heat)
– Frozen Meats/Tofu (for future meals)
– bottled water
– juice packs
– Vitamin C tablets/EmergenC

HYGIENE PRODUCTS
– New tooth brush, toothpaste, deodorant
– soap (bar and liquid)
– pads and tampons
– hand sanitizer
– New wrapped toilet paper/paper towels
– Disinfectant Wipes
– Rubbing Alcohol/Bleach
– Unopened masks/gloves
– New in Package: socks and underwear
-Homemade masks

SHELTER AND GEAR SUPPORT
– rain gear
– tents
– tarp
– Garbage bags
– 5 gallon water containers

OTHER
– Dog Food
– $$$ Donate
– Ziplock Bags
– batteries

Donate $$$ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donate/2956825734339312/2956825774339308/

****
We will be organizing on an ongoing basis so funds or supplies not distributed will go out the following weeks.

Want to stay plugged in with the community restorative justice rapid response team? Text communityrj to 33222.

Partners for this distribution include: North Oakland Restorative Justice Council, Self Help Hunger Program, PLACE for Sustainable Living, Critical Resistance, The Omni and more to follow.

***As for safety we are a small group and we are wearing gloves and masks and sanitizing our items and maintaining recommend distances from each other and limiting numbers of involved people.

Main Distribution Event: MAy 31st (Sun) 10am-5pm
Sign up to volunteer for a shift for the main day. Some roles include people to help assemble bags, folks with cars to help caravan the supplies to the unhoused, etc. Please email Diana at diwu118@gmail.com / text +1 510 898 6992 to do so.

Let’s face it, we could all use a vacation right now, but the closest that most of us can get to a palm tree is that one Zoom background of a beach. We have the solution: dress for the vacation you want, chill down or shake up something special to drink, locate your most vacated virtual background, and join the East Bay DSA for our first virtual Socializing with Socialists.

Staying at home all day can be kind of isolating, but if we have to be isolated, let’s be isolated together! We’ll meet up to get to know each other better with games and time to socialize. Come to build relationships, meet new people, and learn about how you can get involved in organizing with DSA during times of social distancing.

RSVP here for the Zoom link!

Join Oakland Voices for a conversation about journalists covering Oakland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guests include: Davey D, host of Hard Knock Radio; and Darwin Bondgraham, news editor for Berkeleyside’s forthcoming Oakland newsroom. Moderated by Rasheed Shabazz and introduced by Momo Chang of Oakland Voices.

oaklandvoices.us
RSVP: https://bit.ly/ovweb-0526

A conversation among reporters, editors, and other media makers.

I'll be talking about reporting during the #COVID19 pandemic alongside Davey D with Rasheed Shabazz tonight, 7pm. Join us here – https://t.co/4QnkKlaDyw pic.twitter.com/MPBnnURMA3

— Darwin BondGraham (@DarwinBondGraha) May 26, 2020

Join us for a virtual protest the night before the Facebook shareholders’ meeting

Pro-democracy activists have a message for Facebook shareholders: “Wake the ZUCK Up!” We’ll project this message and others onto the side of the Facebook building in San Francisco the night before the shareholders’ virtual meeting. We’ll be urging the shareholders to protect the public from lies, hate, and disinformation in political advertisements during the 2020 election season.

Watch a livestream of the action at https://www.facebook.com/GlobalExchange/

Shareholders will be considering a proposal to study and report on Facebook’s political ads policy (see the Facebook shareholders proxy statement, proposal seven, page 71), which exempts ads by politicians and political campaigns from Facebook’s community standards policy and its fact-checking process.

At the projection protest on Tuesday night, Don’t Let Facebook ZUCK Up our Democracy coalition activists will call on Facebook to refuse political ads that lie, refuse to sell political ad microtargeting, and deny service to anyone seeking to disrupt the 2020 election. And they will remind Facebook shareholders that Truth Matters.

Sponsored by Don’t Let Facebook ZUCK UP our Democracy, Media Alliance, Global Exchange, Indivisible SF-Peninsula CA 14, Raging Grannies Action League, Vigil for Democracy, and others Projection by ResistanceSF.

Join the Labor Network for Sustainability, the Climate Justice Alliance, the Indigenous Environmental Network and a team of scholars and activists for the launch of the Just Transition Listening Project. The first session will focus on action in the unfolding economic crisis, featuring the renowned Noam Chomsky, just transition scholar Robert Pollin, and Economic Policy Institute president Thea Lee.

Over the course of the next four months, the Just Transition Listening Project will bring together the stories of workers and community members as they experience extreme changes in their local economy – the impact of plant closures, jobs lost to automation, company downsizing and market changes, industries impacted by climate change.

The Labor Network for Sustainability writes:

“The need for a large-scale Just Transition for workers and communities has never been more urgent as more than 30 million workers have applied for unemployment in the past month. Many face the likelihood that they will never go back to their previous jobs. The Coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis developing as a result offer an important barometer of whether and how we are prepared socially, politically and economically for massive changes to our economy. The shift to the green economy we need in order to confront the climate crisis will require economic shifts on a similar scale.

“The Just Transition Listening Projectwill offer us important lessons, shared through the experience of workers and community members who have been through such transitions, are going through them now and who face them in the near future.

“We will learn what is in place and what is lacking in government, private sector and community support. We will learn how people adjusted or are adjusting to the changes in their life and work, aspirations for their community and the vision for their local and our global economy.

“These stories will be made available online, through social media and summarized in a published report for policy makers with our findings and recommendations.”

WHEN

Wednesday, May 27, 5 PM PDT

WHERE

register here

• To observe, the public may view the televised video conference by viewing KTOP channel 10 on Xfinity (Comcast) or ATT
Channel 99 and locating City of Oakland KTOP – Channel 10
• To observe the meeting by video conference, please click on this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87212045112 at the noticed meeting time. Instructions on how to join a meeting by video
conference are available at: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193, which is a webpage entitled “Joining a
Meeting”

Some Agenda Items of Possible Interest:

X. Commission Discussion of, and Possible Action On, City Administration’s Proposed
Budget of May 26, 2020
The Commission will discuss, and possibly take action on, the proposed City budget that is
expected to be released on May 26. This item was discussed on 4.23.20 and 5.14.20.

XI. OPD Discipline Disparity Report
The Commission will discuss the recent OPD Discipline Disparity Report and status of the
RFP for the Oakland Black Officers Association (OBOA) investigation contract. This is a
new item. (Attachment 11).

XII. Measure LL Ballot Measure Initiative
The Commission will provide an update on the status of the ballot measure regarding
changes to Measure LL. This is a new item.

North Oakland Neighbors! We are doing our distribution again and we would love your support for these dates:

Sunday 5.17 (Donations) 11am-1pm
Wednesday 5.20 (Donations) 3pm-5pm
Sunday 5.24 (Donations) 11am-1pm
Wednesday 5.27 (Donations) 3pm-5pm
Sunday 5.31 (Distribution) 10am-5pm

Wednesdays & Sundays (5/17, 20, 24, 27):

We are asking OUR HOUSED neighbors to contribute hygiene supplies, canned food, bottled water, rain gear, tarps, garbage bags, $$ et al to be redistributed on Sunday May 31st to encampments in North Oakland dealing with the COVID 19. We will sanitize and package your donations add a hot packaged meal and fresh fruit to the care kits to be distributed to North Oakland Encampments and surrounding encampments.

In order to properly sanitize and maintain social distancing we are collective the materials on April 26th &29th and aiming to distribute 500 hot meals and care kits on May 31st. Overflow resources will be distributed by sister orgs throughout Oakland.

To donate goods or volunteer please sign up here! :
https://forms.gle/gihhATtsXYyiNsVC9

Donate $$: https://www.facebook.com/donate/2956825734339312/2956825774339308/

***We need YOUR HELP!!!! If you have any of the items below that you can donate to your unhoused neighbors please do one of the following things:

-Drop off at 4799 Shattuck Ave (OMNI Commons)

or

-We can PICK UP FROM YOUR PORCH Sunday AM (for address within ~2.5 miles of 4799 Shattuck Ave)
**fill out this form https://forms.gle/B3J5c3PL55vmsiVK6 or email Diana at diwu118@gmail.com / text +1 510 898 6992 and volunteers will pick up from your porch (also email if you have a car and can pick up or redistribute)

*****
Items we need:
FOOD/WATER
– canned food: tuna, beans, jams, peanut butter, meats, soups, etc.
– Bagged rice, beans/pulses
– ramen, mac & cheese (easy to heat)
– Frozen Meats/Tofu (for future meals)
– bottled water
– juice packs
– Vitamin C tablets/EmergenC

HYGIENE PRODUCTS
– New tooth brush, toothpaste, deodorant
– soap (bar and liquid)
– pads and tampons
– hand sanitizer
– New wrapped toilet paper/paper towels
– Disinfectant Wipes
– Rubbing Alcohol/Bleach
– Unopened masks/gloves
– New in Package: socks and underwear
-Homemade masks

SHELTER AND GEAR SUPPORT
– rain gear
– tents
– tarp
– Garbage bags
– 5 gallon water containers

OTHER
– Dog Food
– $$$ Donate
– Ziplock Bags
– batteries

Donate $$$ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donate/2956825734339312/2956825774339308/

****
We will be organizing on an ongoing basis so funds or supplies not distributed will go out the following weeks.

Want to stay plugged in with the community restorative justice rapid response team? Text communityrj to 33222.

Partners for this distribution include: North Oakland Restorative Justice Council, Self Help Hunger Program, PLACE for Sustainable Living, Critical Resistance, The Omni and more to follow.

***As for safety we are a small group and we are wearing gloves and masks and sanitizing our items and maintaining recommend distances from each other and limiting numbers of involved people.

Main Distribution Event: MAy 31st (Sun) 10am-5pm
Sign up to volunteer for a shift for the main day. Some roles include people to help assemble bags, folks with cars to help caravan the supplies to the unhoused, etc. Please email Diana at diwu118@gmail.com / text +1 510 898 6992 to do so.

RSVP: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1296/2020-06-02-socialist-night-school-medicare-for-all-after-bernie/

This pandemic lays bare how broken our market-based healthcare system is, as millions of Americans lose their employer-sponsored insurance and lack access to testing and treatment for COVID-19. Medicare for All is now more popular than it’s ever been, yet Democrats refuse to fight for it. Instead Speaker Pelosi is pushing for subsidizing COBRA — a massive giveaway to private insurers. Especially after Bernie’s presidential run, we have no blueprint for how to build the movement that we need to finally guarantee healthcare as a human right.

How has COVID-19 altered the terrain for healthcare reform? Despite its popularity, why do Democratic politicians refuse to fight for Medicare for All? After Bernie, how can DSA confront the colossal for-profit healthcare industry and continue the fight for Medicare for All?

Join us Tuesday, June 2 at 7pm as we discuss these questions and more with talks from guest speakers Rachel Madley and Natalie Shure.

Rachel Madley is a Ph.D. student at Columbia University Medical Center.

Natalie Shure is a Los Angeles-based writer and researcher whose work focuses on history, health, and politics. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, In These Times, Slate, Jacobin, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Salon, Pacific Standard, New York Observer, Metro, Democratic Left, and more.

Readings

COVID-19 and the Myth of ‘Choice’ in American Healthcare — Rani Marx, James G. Kahn, Common Dreams

Medicare for All Is the One-in-a-Million Shot We Have to Make Happen — Natalie Shure, Jacobin

Why Does Nancy Pelosi Want to Subsidize a Brutal For-Profit Health Insurance Industry? — Ari Rabin-Havt, Jacobin

Deep dive:

Why Congress Did Not Enact Health Care Reform — Vicente Navarro, PNHP

Bonus charts:

COVID-19 Emergency Legislation Comparison Chart — PNHP

Who are the uninsured in California? — Social Security Works

More about Socialist Night School 

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83424517084

Or Telephone:
US: +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799
Webinar ID: 834 2451 7084

Agenda Items of Interest:

4. Federal Task Force Transparency Ordinance – OPD – FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force 2019 Annual Report – review and take possible action.
5. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Forensic Logic Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and take possible action.

Registration link.

Are you ready to step into more action in defense of Black lives? Are you hungry to further support the demand to defund the police but not sure where to start? Are you curious about what the demand means and where the money would go?

Join us for a webinar with powerful Black feminist leaders and long time criminal justice reform and police accountability organizers, Charlene A. Carruthers and Dr. Barbara Ransby, for a conversation on WHAT Defunding the Police means, HOW it can work and what YOU can do to support.

Mayor London Breed has the power to move all unhoused San Franciscans into vacant units and hotel rooms, yet she has ignored calls from homeless people, community organizations, and even the Board of Supervisors to do so. Instead, she has chosen to leave thousands of our neighbors on the streets without access to bathrooms, basic hygiene, or shelter.

Leaving people outside is inexcusable at any time. Doing so during a global pandemic is absolutely unconscionable. We need safe and permanent housing for all San Franciscans. We can’t wait another day!

We are partnering with a candlelight vigil to honor the unhoused people we have already lost due to Mayor Breed’s negligent policies. After holding that space to grieve, we invite all supporters to join us in making a ton of noise in support of opening all vacant units and hotel rooms to homeless people in San Francisco!

If we can’t sleep, she can’t sleep!

SAFETY AGREEMENTS
It is very important for the safety of all participants that everyone who attends this action wear a mask or face covering, and imperative that folks practice social distancing with anyone outside their immediate pod. There will be safety monitors onsite to remind folks to adhere to these guidelines, and they will ask anyone who refuses to respect the safety of their fellow protestors to leave the action.

ACCESSIBILITY
The rally and march will begin in front of the Harvey Milk Center in Duboce Park. The park has wheelchair accessible entrances on Duboce Avenue near the Muni station and at the end of Carmelita Street. The entire route is wheelchair accessible on wide sidewalks, a total of 0.2 miles, and is mostly flat.

This event will not have ASL interpretation, deafblind interpretation, and will be predominantly in English without translators. It is likely we will not have access to bathrooms at the park or along the route.

This action is organized by Reclaim SF + Coalition on Homelessness + POOR Magazine + Do No Harm Coalition + Solidarity Forever + Public Health Justice Collective (formerly Occupy Public Health)