Calendar
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privaztization of services. We need to support them in these endeavors!
The Berkeley City Council is on a path to pass some sort of Zoning Overlay which may protect the Post Office against various commercial uses, or be totally ineffective. We need to stay on top of it.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Post Offices was supposed to come out before the end of March – anything could happen after it comes out. Come help us plan our response.
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
New to Strike Debt?? Don’t walk cold turkey into a bunch of radicals talking about debt! Show up a half hour early—at 2:30 PM—for an informal pre-meeting intro session. If you’d like to attend this pre-together please email strike.debt.bay.area@
Join Strike Debt Bay Area in working on some exciting projects locally and nationally to fight unjust debt.
– The latest on our coalition efforts to Save the Berkeley Post Office and fight the privatization of our commons.
– The latest on our efforts to help Richmond and NGO allies push for principal reduction for Richmond’s homeowners. Read two articles here and here, written by two Strike Debt Bay Area members on the Richmond principal reduction / eminent domain case.
In addition, we are exploring the use of a public bank to help Richmond, CA and other communities escape the thrall of Wall Street.
– Work on our radio segment on KPFA
– Other projects include efforts to fight against student debt in conjunction with peeps at UC Cal via a Strike Debt UC Berkeley chapter of Strike Debt, a book group with semi-weekly discussions, investigations into the legitimacy of mortgage ownership and therefore the right to foreclose, efforts to thwart payday loan usury and more.
“Just as bosses are dependent on workers, so are lenders dependent on borrowers. If workers walk out, the enterprise stops. If borrowers refuse to pay their debts, the lenders could be in real trouble. Each side depends on the other. The millions of underwater mortgage holders, of student debtors and credit card holders, need the bank loans – but so do the banks need those borrowers, and they especially need them to cooperate by paying their monthly charges. Otherwise, the capital that the banks list on their books begins to drain away.” ~Francis Fox Piven
Check out our website, our Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.
Check out the Berkeley Post Office Defenders website too.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privaztization of services. We need to support them in these endeavors!
The Berkeley City Council is on a path to pass some sort of Zoning Overlay which may protect the Post Office against various commercial uses, or be totally ineffective. We need to stay on top of it.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response.
The Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices was also supposed to come out before the end of March – anything could happen after it comes out. Come help us plan our response.
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Screening and discussion:
“How to Start a Revolution”
— a film on the work of Gene Sharp
Any power structure relies upon the People’s obedience to the orders of the ruler(s).
If the People do not obey, rulers have no power.
Gene Sharp is known for his extensive writings on nonviolent struggle, which have influenced numerous anti-government resistance movements around the world. In 1953-54, Sharp was jailed for nine months after protesting the conscription of soldiers for the Korean War, and wrote and organized throughout his entire life. In 1983 he founded the Albert Einstein Institution, devoted to studies and promotion of the use of nonviolent action in conflicts worldwide.
Feature documentary “How to Start a Revolution” (2011) about the global influence of Sharp’s work has been described as the unofficial film of the Occupy Wall Street movement, shown in Occupy camps in cities all over the world.
David Hartsough, longtime friend of OccupyForum, will lead a discussion on the film and Gene Sharp’s work. From his time with Martin Luther King in Montgomery Alabama to his life-long work in peacemaking including in the Soviet Union, Kosovo, Berlin, Cuba, Nicaragua, Palestine and Israel and Iran — Hartsough has spent his life working for peace and justice. Co-founder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. David has helped initiate a Global Movement to End All War. He has just returned from a peacemaking trip to Korea and Vietnam. His book, Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist, comes out in September. He is the Director of PEACEWORKERS San Francisco.
https://itunes.apple.com/movie/how-to-start-a-revolution
Global Movement to End All War www.worldbeyondwar.org.
Q&A and Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum
to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!
The Community & Economic Development Committee of the City Council will be considered a “proposal” by Larry Reid to increase the minimum wage to $10.20 beginning January 1, 2015.
Come tell Reid and the other members of the committee that Oakland wants nothing less than a living wage – $15.00/hr, and that his proposal is an insult to the working class.
The committee to create a DAC privacy policy, formed because of the protests against the DAC, will hold its first meeting. By City Council resolution a privacy policy must be in place before the DAC can operate.
Open to public.
Come and tell the committee members: “The only good DAC is a dead DAC.”
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privaztization of services. We need to support them in these endeavors!
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response.
We join with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley.
The Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices was also supposed to come out before the end of March – anything could happen after it comes out. Come help us plan our response.
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Here is the PDF for the final class meeting on Michael Hudson’s The Bubble and Beyond. We will like meet upstairs.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privaztization of services. We need to support them in these endeavors!
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response.
The Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We join with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. The last two days of signature gathering will follow this meeting – come and pick up materials to help the effort by gathering signatures.
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Panel Discussion on anarchism — past, present, and future — with Ramsey Kanaan (AK Press & PM Press), Liz Highleyman (journalist and historian), and Joey Cain (Bound Together Bookstore, LGBT activist)
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Ramsey Kanaan has republished works of classical anarchist theory by Peter Kropotkin, Alexander Berkman, Rudolf Rocker, Emma Goldman and others, while encouraging the development of contemporary anarchist theory and analysis, such as libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin‘s Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm, which he commissioned for AK Press. He was involved in the early UK anarcho-punk musical scene as lead singer of the Scottish anarcho-punk band Political Asylum. He belongs to Folk This, which performs folk songs from the past, including from the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, and the Paris Commune, and hymns and anthems of the IWW. Kanaan played a key role in the five-year anti-poll tax campaign that ultimately brought down Margaret Thatcher. He is one of the founders of the San Francisco Anarchist Book Fair and is a member of Bound Together Books in San Francisco, a collectively run anarchist bookstore. He is a contributing host and producer at KPFA.
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Joey Cain has been a member of the Bound Together Anarchist Collective Bookstore for three and a half decades and co-produced the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair for 17 years. He has served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, was instrumental in getting a statue of Harvey Milk placed in SF City Hall, and has been involved in advocating for Private Chelsea Manning. He curates exhibits on radical LGBT History at the SF Main Public Library and serves on the Board of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Association.
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Liz Highleyman considers herself a philosophical anarchist, though an eclectic one without allegiance to any particular party line. She’s written widely on the topic of anarchism and radical politics, including an Introduction to Anarchism that has been propagated over the web and translated into several languages. Since 1999 she has been involved with the global justice movement and has written several related articles, including articles on drug pricing and patents for AlterNet, AIDS drug access in developing countries for BETA, and an essay on queer activism and the global justice movement for the book From ACT UP to the WTO .
The KPFA Community Advisory Board invites you to an information and
music sharing Town Hall gathering in West Oakland .
We want to hear from youth, listeners, community members, musicians and media activists about your favorite music, community actions and programming ideas. Learn about creating press releases and posting announcements. Help KPFA to address our cultural, political and economic challenges now.
New to Strike Debt?? Don’t walk cold turkey into a bunch of radicals talking about debt! Show up a half hour early—at 2:30 PM—for an informal pre-meeting intro session. If you’d like to attend this pre-together please email strike.debt.bay.area@
Join Strike Debt Bay Area in working on some exciting projects locally and nationally to fight unjust debt.
Thomas Gokey from Strike Debt New York City – creative debt thinker and Rolling Jubilee organizer – will be joining us!
– The latest on our coalition efforts to Save the Berkeley Post Office and fight the privatization of our commons.
– The latest on our efforts to help Richmond and NGO allies push for principal reduction for Richmond’s homeowners. Read two articles here and here, written by two Strike Debt Bay Area members on the Richmond principal reduction / eminent domain case.
In addition, we are exploring the use of a public bank to help Richmond, CA and other communities escape the thrall of Wall Street.
– Work on our radio segment broadcast periodically on KPFA.
– A project to bring non-profit, non-usurious payday loan services to Vallejo and Oakland.
– Other projects include efforts to fight against student debt in conjunction with peeps at UC Cal via a Strike Debt UC Berkeley chapter of Strike Debt, a book group with semi-weekly discussions, investigations into the legitimacy of mortgage ownership and therefore the right to foreclose, and moe.
“Just as bosses are dependent on workers, so are lenders dependent on borrowers. If workers walk out, the enterprise stops. If borrowers refuse to pay their debts, the lenders could be in real trouble. Each side depends on the other. The millions of underwater mortgage holders, of student debtors and credit card holders, need the bank loans – but so do the banks need those borrowers, and they especially need them to cooperate by paying their monthly charges. Otherwise, the capital that the banks list on their books begins to drain away.” ~Francis Fox Piven
Check out our website, our Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.
Check out the Berkeley Post Office Defenders website too.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privaztization of services. the California Teachers Union passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. We need to continue the pressure on Staples and encourage other unions to pass resolutions denouncing the Post Office’s agreement with Staples.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. The last signature gathering was last week – come find out whether we succeeded!
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Or next politics of debt class will be at Xolo Taqueria on Telegraph avenue in downtown Oakland in the upstairs room.
We will be reading from Richard Heinberg’s The End of Growth, which looks at the energy limitations facing our politician’s attempts to restart the economic growth machine. There are implications for finance and bubble making as well. Much thanks to Spencer for scanning the chapters!
A BARBECUE FOR HERBIVORES AND CARNIVORES ALIKE
The time of year cries out for a backyard party to ring in the outdoor season, and there’s no more benevolent use for carbon as a fuel than a barbecue. Also, we’ll be saying “Keep in touch” to our great friend Hannah who will be leaving in June for Gomorrah – the City of Angels – with her family.
For more details please visit: https://occupyoakland.org/ai1ec_event/oo-barbecue-herbivores-carnivores-alike/?instance_id=260928
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The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets Sundays, 2-4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway, often on the steps of City Hall. “If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 2:00 PM we meet inside at the Sudoroom, 2141 Broadway, the entrance is on 22nd St between Telegraph and Broadway. Ring the buzzer and say you are here for the OO GA. Directions
We have met on a continuous basis for almost two and a half 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.
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives voluntarily come to the GA and report on past and future actions. 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
- Discussion Topics
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)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (kitchen@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders: http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Justice 4 Alan Blueford: justice4alanblueford.org
Oakland Privacy Group: 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
Albany Bulb Defense: sharethebulb.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: sudoroom.org
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
The regularly scheduled meeting has been postponed until next week, Monday, June 2nd, at 6:00 PM, at the Downtown Berkeley Post Office at 2000 Allston Way.
Park Garden is under the threat of development. A recent notice posted in the area indicates an intent to build a 6-story building on the lot we garden in.
There is a Design Review hearing at City Hall this coming Wednesday, May 28th, at 4:30pm. We need as many friends, neighbors, and allies to show up and speak out on such issues as:
– The already dangerous traffic situation along the entire length of Park.
– Parking, which is already an issue.
– Pedestrian access, or lack of. We have a birth center across the street.
– Impact of construction on local area.
– Protection of open space and wildlife.
This Design Review hearing will be a great chance for gardeners, neighbors, and allies to make their voices heard. In addition to protecting our hard-earned community space, there are other issues this development will have a negative effect upon, including traffic, pedestrians, parking, and more.
A smaller project was stopped back in 2005, and we may be able to do so again, but we need bodies and voices at this hearing.
Anyone interested in offering logistical support in getting the word out, flyering, going door to door, it would be more than appreciated at this time. We will continue to plant and maintain Park Garden throughout the season, and more than likely through winter, which is always plenty of work. Thanks for your enthused involvement!
The strategy meeting for how to keep tasers out of Berkeley. We’ll talk about how to run this campaign and what’s our strategy. Sponsored by Berkeley Copwatch.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. We need to continue the pressure on Staples and encourage other unions to pass resolutions denouncing the Post Office’s agreement with Staples.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it may be voted on in November.
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
What does activism look like in Haiti & how can you be apart of it? How can it shape your work here?
Join HAC as we explore Haiti’s history, current political situation, and the connections to parallel struggles throughout the U.S. and around the world.
Come to our first meeting!
Resistance & the Lavalas Movement:
What is Lavalas? Do people in Haiti support the current government? Who is involved in Haiti’s fight for democracy? Why do the world’s superpowers fear the people’s movement? Who is really in power in Haiti? What does activism look like in Haiti?