Calendar
Demand Justice for Kayla Moore
One year ago on February 12th, Kayla Moore was killed by Berkeley Police Officers. A transgendered, African American woman with mental disabilities who was in her own home, she posed no threat to herself or others. Without any legal justification, Berkeley Police officers grabbed her and attempted to take her into custody. On her stomach, handcuffed and struggling to breath under a pile of six police, Kayla died in the early hours of February 13th.
The Berkeley City Council has ignored the issue! Berkeley Police Review Commission has still not completed an investigation of the officers involved or the failed policies that allow untrained cops to respond to mental health emergencies instead of real professional
WE DEMAND :
* COPS INVOLVED BE DISCIPLINED/FIRED
* BERKELEY FUND CIVILIANS TO RESPOND TO
MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCIES
RALLY AND VIGIL: Wed. February 12th 6pm at GAIA Building
2116 Allston Way (above Shattuck)
SPEAKOUT: 7pm Police Review Commission
Meeting
South Berkeley Senior Center 2939 Ellis Street (off Ashby)
Facebook: Justice for Kayla Moore
-Remove Janet Napolitano as UC President and replace her with a great educator.
-Defend public education! Stop the privatization of the UC’s!
-Full citizenship rights or undocumented immigrants! Pass the Federal DREAM Act.
-Double underrepresented minority enrollment at UC Berkeley and UCLA.
-Restore Affirmative Action – Overturn Prop 209.
-BP out of UC Berkeley! Stop the Privatization of Public Education.
TELL CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL KAMALA HARRIS:
PROSECUTE KILLER COPS IT’S YOUR JOB
RALLY AND SPEAKOUT 3PM THURSDAY 2/13 1515 CLAY STREET, OAKLAND (STATE BUILDING BEHIND OSCAR GRANT PLAZA)
Initiated by the Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition.
The Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition (JAB) submitted a letter to California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris at the State March Against Police Brutality on October 22, demanding that she do her job and prosecute Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. Since then she has responded with a flat refusal to reopen the investigation. (See excerpts from the letter we sent below.) On October 22 and since we have reached out to other families with victims of police murders to join in a statewide campaign to demand that AG Harris do her job. Many families have joined on and will be sending letters about their loved ones to Harris, demanding prosecution of the killer cops. All the families are invited and welcome to join us at the rally and speakout at the State Building in Oakland.
EC. 13. Subject to the powers and duties of the Governor, the Attorney General shall be the chief law officer of the State. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to see that the laws of the State are uniformly and adequately enforced.
The Attorney General shall have direct supervision over every district attorney and sheriff and over such other law enforcement officers as may be designated by law, in all matters pertaining to the duties of their respective offices, and may require any of said officers to make reports concerning the investigation, detection, prosecution, and punishment of crime in their respective jurisdictions as to the Attorney General may seem advisable.
Whenever in the opinion of the Attorney General any law of the State is not being adequately enforced in any county, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to prosecute any violations of law of which the superior court shall have jurisdiction, and in such cases the Attorney General shall have all the powers of a district attorney. When required by the public interest or directed by the Governor, the Attorney General shall assist any district attorney in the discharge of the duties of that office.
Raise the Minimum Wage to $12.25. It’s time we make Oakland the kind of city that families can afford to put food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, and keep the lights on! Let’s ensure that workers can meet our basic needs.
Join ACCE, EBASE, Raise the Wage East Bay, ROC the Bay, SEIU 1021, SEIU ULTCW, UFCW Local 5, and UNITE HERE 2850 to gather signatures for a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage and provide workers with paid sick days.
9:30 AM: Rally.
11:00 – 3:00 PM: Signature gathering.
In the 1980’s the CIA flooded the black community with crack-cocaine as a means of funding the Right-wing insurgency in Nicaragua but also as a way of attacking the power of the black community. Join various community speakers as they discuss this history, its impact and meaning today, as well as the ways in which the Black Panther Party addressed drugs in Oakland and across the United States.
All out to City Hall to pack the next Oakland City Council meeting in opposition to the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The DAC is a massive proposed spy center for the city of Oakland, in cooperation between Oakland Police and the Department of Homeland Security. This vote could stop the DAC, if City Council is willing to take a real stand.
Exactly what time the vote will take place is uncertain, so come hang out with Oakland Privacy Group activists beginning at 6:30 and learn about the DAC.
Sign up to speak against the DAC.
The meeting is “City Council.” (under Comm/Council Name).
The agenda item is 13.
The date would be 02-18-2014
No Surveillance State in Oakland! Stop the #DAC! – 2/18 http://t.co/petkv18wyB #oakmtg pic.twitter.com/AWhBcxwJQS
— mary mad (@marymad) February 14, 2014
SPIED UPON: SURVEILLANCE AND RESISTANCE
Between the ever-present fear of informants to the profusion of metadata collection and the construction of the Domain Awareness Center (DAC) in Oakland, the growing problem of surveillance has made it into the mainstream dialogue, but the people and communities most affected are sometimes being left out of the conversation.
Join us for an evening of ideas, discussion and questions about solidarity in the face of this intimidation. How do we support one another and our movements when being targeted by police, surveillance and informants? What are the legal, community and political responses that can best keep the larger “us” safe and allow our movements to flourish?
•SPEAKERS•
JASON KIRKPATRICK, filmmaker and activist, will show clips of and discuss his upcoming film, Spied Upon. Interviewing activists across the world and telling his own personal story, Jason will take us on a journey into one of the biggest political surveillance scandals in Europe, documenting growing movements of resistance to surveillance along the way.
ZAHRA BILLOO, Civil rights attorney and Executive Director at the Bay Area Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), speaks on the use of informants in a post-9/11 context, their impact, community resistance, and lessons learned.
RICHARD BROWN, Black Panther and member of the SF8, will share his history with undercover police and surveillance, imparting the ‘long view’ of solidarity learned from a lifetime of activism.
•PANEL DISCUSSION•
Moderated by Nadia Kayyali of the EFF
(Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Q & A with the speakers will follow in conversation with representatives from:
Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee
Bay Area Coalition to Stop Political Repression (at AROC)
Legal Workers of the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
Oakland Privacy Working Group (OPWG / anti-DAC)
Some links:
Domain Awareness Center on Oakland Wiki (general info on DAC, not OPWG’s site):
http://oaklandwiki.org/
Spied Upon film:
http://spiedupon.com/
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):
http://www.cair.com/
Richard Brown / SF8::
http://www.freethesf8.org/
Anti-Repression Committee:
https://
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):
https://www.eff.org/
Coalition to Stop Political Repression (AROC):
http://araborganizing.org/
NLG:
http://www.nlgsf.org/
Oakland Privacy Working Group (OPWG):
https://
What can we learn about the state’s repressive strategies from the case of the ACAC 19? What does it mean? What doesn’t it mean?
There were several repressive tactics used in this case: apparently random attack, brutality, and arrest; the inclusion of the gang task force, felony charges, outrageous bails, DNA collection, cell phone confiscation and searches; social media subpeonas, mass media attacks and persisting with prosecuting a case with little or no grounds.
Some tactics were historically typical and some were not. Hear from defendents how it went down, from the street to the court. Then we will discuss what we can learn from this case.
There will also be a fundraising raffle and donation to benefit the restitution fund of the ACAC 19.
“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.”
A Conscious Commons Festival
As you may know, the US Postal Service is trying to sell and privatize Berkeley’s Downtown Post Office. Community members continue to mobilize to save our commons in what has become a national effort. We are involved in spreading the word through festivals and action and by participating in judicial and political efforts to let public officials, developers and buyers know that the people are defending our public resources and do not want post offices sold.
Activities hosted at the Post Office will include:
- Invocation, and meditation
- Information sharing on: postal banking, postal jobs and direct action defense of commons
- letter writing, and art
Come join us! Bring your friends! Bring your lunch!
Sponsored by Berkeley Post Office Defense
http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Our Concerns
Self-professed Buddhist’ Richard Blum is chairman of the CBRE board of directors–the agent for the sale of US post offices. The sale of our constitutionally guaranteed post offices promote the transfer of public commons and resources to private corporations which brings higher prices, worse quality of services, higher profits and non union lower paid jobs without benefits. Now, US postal services have been shifted into {84} private US Staples stores including Berkeley and San Francisco.
The Berkeley Post Office and post offices all over the US are under threat of being sold by questionable means. (For example: Goldman Sachs is one of the largest shareholders with CBRE, which has been involved in both selling and purchasing postal property and numerous sale prices appear to be below documented value. Please see: Going Postal: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s husband sells post offices to his friends, cheap by Peter Byrne.
From: The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso
During his exile in India, the Dalai Lama was fascinated by the modern world and he introduced the first Tibetan currency notes and coins. On 13 February 1913, he made public the five-point statement reasserting Tibet’s Independence. Also, in 1913 he established the first post office in Tibet
“it is not enough to be compassionate, we must act.”
David Rovics, Eric Drooker & Tristan Anderson
will perform together on Sunday, Feb. 23rd at the Art House in Berkeley, 2905 Shattuck Ave. The event will be a benefit for Justice 4 Tristan.
Schedule:
- 5 PM Potluck dinner
- 6 PM Welcoming
- 6:15-6:45 Tristan Anderson slide show
- 6:45-7:15 David Rovics amplified set
- 7:15-8:00 Eric Drooker Multimedia Performance
- 8PM-….. David Rovics acoutic set
David Rovics is a great folk singer of songs of social significance. You can download most of his music at his web site or over at Soundclick and other places.
Eric Drooker is an artist, painter, graphic artist, and animator from New York.
Tristan Anderson is an activist and photographer who was critically injured by an Israeli tear gas cannister in 2009 during a peaceful protest. Tristan is hemiplegic- mostly paralyzed on the left (formerly dominant) side of his body. He uses a wheelchair. He has lost sight in his right eye, suffers chronic pain in his paralyzed limbs, and has had pronounced, life changing cognitive and emotional repercussions as a result of the injury that was done to his brain. He has an ongoing lawsuit against the Israeli government.
Click on image to get printable PDF
Click HERE for 11×17″ Poster Image.
And HERE to get a letter sized 4-to-a-page flyer for small handbills.
Col. Ann Wright, peace activist “extraordinaire,” coming to Occupy Beale AFB this month.
Please join us for one or both days! Together we can stop the War Machine and ground those drones for good!
For three years activists have been gathering monthly at Beale AFB, near Marysville, CA. This month
Col. (ret.) Ann Wright joins us to protest and will be speaking at several local events.
Monday, February 24th Protest/Vigil: 3-5 p.m. at Wheatland Gate,
(Intersection of So. Beale Rd. and Ostrom Rd.)
5:30 p.m. Teach-in and Encampment at Main Gate (N. Beale Rd.)
Tuesday, February 25th Vigil: 6-9 a.m. at Wheatland Gate
(S. Beale Rd. and Ostrom Rd.)
Hear Col. Ann Wright!
Noon: Yuba City College, Room 716, Math & Science Bldg.
2:30-3:45 p.m. Eating Well Cafe, 1908 North Beale Rd., Linda
6-8 p.m. Brick Coffe House, 316 D St., Marysville
Carpool from the Bay Area: Contact Toby Blome, 510-215-5974, ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net
David Rovics tours on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, college campuses, churches, union halls and protest rallies. Many activists consider him a leading voice of the Occupy Movement in that he has visited and performed at 30 Occupy tent cities throughout the U.S. Our Steve Jacobson traveled to Mendocino with David last year and says whether David is performing for an audience of 10 people or 100, he gives it his all. This should be really great; inspiring and galvanizing.
The Sunflower Alliance is pleased to host a series of forums in northern Contra Costa County on the dangers of the fossil fuel industry’s turn to extreme energy in recent years. CoCoCo and Benicia are home to five refineries, specializing in the dirtiest and heaviest crude oils, and the industry has proposed five major projects to expand refineries and bring in crude oil by train.
In Pittsburg, Martinez, and Richmond, we will have panel discussions with experts and community activists, featuring a special guest from Lac-Mégantic, Canada, which suffered a devastating oil train explosion last July that killed 47 people. They’ll educate us on Big Oil’s plans and the local, regional, and global effects.
Learn about the consequences for your community, and learn how communities are organizing to fight back and protect our health and safety!
The forums will be held on the following dates:
Pittsburg: Monday, February 24th, 2014, from 7pm to 9pm at First Baptist at 204 Odessa Ave. Facebook event here.
Martinez: Wednesday, February 26th, 2014, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Veterans Memorial Building at 930 Ward St. Facebook event here.
Richmond: Saturday, March 1st, 2014, from 12pm to 2pm at the Bobby Bowens Progressive Center at1021 MacDonald Ave. Facebook event here.
Speakers
Each forum will have a slightly different set of panelists, tailored for the concerns of that area. However, every panel will feature:
- Marilaine Savard: spokesperson for a citizens’ group in the region of Lac-Mégantic, Québec.
- Antonia Juhasz: oil industry analyst, journalist, and author of The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry and What We Must do to Stop It and Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill.
Look at the descriptions in the Facebook events for each location (see above) to find out more about each panel’s members.
We look forward to seeing you at one of the panel discussions!
Hundreds of thousands of Korean workers are striking F25 to defend the basic right to organize unions and their right to strike.
In December some 5000 police were sent to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions headquarter; 138 unionists were arrested, rail workers were fired upon, and the union was fined millions of dollars for “obstructing business.”
We demand:
- Free all jailed workers.
- No reprisals, rehired fired workers, drop charges and fines.
- Stop government repression against unions
- Defend the right to strike and stop privatizaion.
SAN FRANCISCO TENANTS’ GROUPS TO HOLD “MARCH ON GREED” IN PROTEST OF LOCAL LANDLORD AND “SERIAL EVICTOR”
San Francisco – Next Wednesday, February 26, a coalition of tenants’ rights activists and and local economic justice groups, led by the rising direct action group Eviction Free San Francisco, will hold a march in protest of a local landlord Kaushik Dattani, who has been receiving increased notoriety as a “serial evictor” due to him recently being added to the “dirty dozen” by the Anti Eviction Mapping Project, for being one of the worst Ellis- Act evictors in San Francisco. The event, titled “A March on Greed: Housing is a Human Right”, aims to make Mr. Dattani an example of real estate speculation that has been directly affecting the displacement of the City’s lower and middle income renters.
The meet-up for this event is to happen at 11:30am on Wednesday, at the 24th Street BART station. From there, the group plans to walk to Mr. Dattani’s office at 3232 22nd Street. The event is anticipated to last no longer than an hour, and is expected to have a similar crowd size as past protests led by the group, which has shown to be 50 to over 100 participants.
Rally & March.
We Aer All Trayvon Martin. The whole Damn System is Guilty.
Youth Are Not Suspects, They Are Human Beings.
The murder of Trayvon Martin was, and still is, a towering outrage. Remember: when the verdict came down many thousands rejected the call for “calm reflection” from Obama and others and took to the streets in outrage.
Many more asked: Why does this happen? And, what can we do about it? There is a challenge before us: What kind of world are we going to live in? On February 26, 2014 we must answer that challenge with a day of outrage and remembrance for Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Andy Lopez, Renisha MeBride and all the thousands of others like them.
These are modern day lynchings. They sent a message that Black and Latino youth have a bulls-eye on their backs that cops and any ordinary racist can use as target practice.
In response we must deliver our own message: we will not stand by in silence as our youth are brutalized, locked up, murdered and more. On Feb 26th, in Oakland and EVERYWHERE across the country we must say NO MORE! to the criminalization of whole generations of Black and Latino youth.
Come speak out on a “privacy policy” that allows the City of Oakland to violate our 1st and 4th amendment rights with impunity.
Staff is taking a new and aggressive approach to public engagement around this draft framework. Distribution of this framework will happen via EngageOakland, a survey monkey, and broad dissemination via the Neighborhood Service Coordinators. This framework is being disseminated for a thirty day public comment period. During that time period there will be two public meetings scheduled for Wednesday, February 26th in City Council Chambers, and Thursday, March 13th at the Dimond Branch Library located at 3565 Fruitvale Avenue. Both meetings will occur between 6 to 8pm.
“During Phase 2, City/Port staff will develop a Privacy and Data Retention Policy that governs the collection, retention, storage, and dissemination of information processed by the DAC ensuring the protection of privacy rights by individuals, and will return said policy to the Council for approval no later than March 2014.”
Oakland Police were video taping anti-surveillance activists at City Council meeting tonight. #DAC #OAKMTG via @guelo pic.twitter.com/RlTynCD40N
— Domain Awareness (@domainawareness) February 19, 2014
The Sunflower Alliance is pleased to host a series of forums in northern Contra Costa County on the dangers of the fossil fuel industry’s turn to extreme energy in recent years. CoCoCo and Benicia are home to five refineries, specializing in the dirtiest and heaviest crude oils, and the industry has proposed five major projects to expand refineries and bring in crude oil by train.
In Pittsburg, Martinez, and Richmond, we will have panel discussions with experts and community activists, featuring a special guest from Lac-Mégantic, Canada, which suffered a devastating oil train explosion last July that killed 47 people. They’ll educate us on Big Oil’s plans and the local, regional, and global effects.
Learn about the consequences for your community, and learn how communities are organizing to fight back and protect our health and safety!
The forums will be held on the following dates:
Pittsburg: Monday, February 24th, 2014, from 7pm to 9pm at First Baptist at 204 Odessa Ave. Facebook event here.
Martinez: Wednesday, February 26th, 2014, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Veterans Memorial Building at 930 Ward St. Facebook event here.
Richmond: Saturday, March 1st, 2014, from 12pm to 2pm at the Bobby Bowens Progressive Center at1021 MacDonald Ave. Facebook event here.
Speakers
Each forum will have a slightly different set of panelists, tailored for the concerns of that area. However, every panel will feature:
- Marilaine Savard: spokesperson for a citizens’ group in the region of Lac-Mégantic, Québec.
- Antonia Juhasz: oil industry analyst, journalist, and author of The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry and What We Must do to Stop It and Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill.
Look at the descriptions in the Facebook events for each location (see above) to find out more about each panel’s members.
We look forward to seeing you at one of the panel discussions!
- Come to this event to find out what’s going on in Venezuela. For another source that is not from the “elite” point-of-view, see http://venezuelanalysis.com/