Calendar

9896
Feb
23
Thu
Movement to End the New Jim Crow: Reimagining Justice @ First Congregational Church of Oakland
Feb 23 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

New_Jim_Crow.png

A conversation on ending mass criminalization and incarceration with:

• Fania Davis, Executive Director, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth

• Dorsey Nunn, Co-Founder, All of Us or None

62359
Poets against War & Racism @ Omni Commons
Feb 23 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Poets Against War & Racism |
Poetas contra la guerra y el racismo

Sponsored by the Chiapas Support Committee
https://chiapas-support.org/

This is the first gathering of Poets Against War & Racism.

Donation requested: $5.00-25.00
No one turned away for lack of money.

Poets:
Amira Ali
Arnoldo Colibrí
DeMareon Gipson
María de la Rosa
Rafael Jesús Gonzalez with Gerardo Omar Marín on flute
Teboho Motaba
Other poets & performers coming too
Open mic.

We have invited several poets and will also have an open mic.

Chiapas Support Committee will be showing a 15 minute video of the recent CNI congress held with the EZLN whose first sessions were held in Oactober 2016. The video will be part of an update on the EZLN-CNI proposal to form an indigenous council of government and to run an Indigenous woman for President in Mexico’s 2018 presidential elections and other developments in Mexico.

*
MORE

Why?
The challenge is to reclaim our power of self-determination and live our lives and words in community that resists and begins to dream how to govern itself. The infinite war that the U.S. started in 2003 added another layer of calluse and numbing, distorting our consciousness and our language.

As a result, racism and war has become normalized to unprecedented and new levels with the new U.S. regime taking office and power.

Questions and poems:
How will we reclaim all the Black lives lost?
How will we change the relationship we have with each other and with the original peoples when we are uninvited guests on Indigenous lands?
How do we live in community where everyone belongs and has something important to contribute, to do and to say?
What is to be done?

What are your key words? What are our powerful words?
* No Ban
* No Walls
* No DAPL
* No war on the natural world and her peoples
* No more migrant deaths
* Yes to poetry, peace, bread, living wage jobs or income, justice…
* Yes to water & life
* Yes to Black Lives Matter
* Yes to Indigenous and women of color power and leadership
* Yes to trans-border poor people’s soldarirty and power
* Indigenous peoples lands everywhere you stand…
* Everyone is a poet.

This first gathering to to let loose some outrage, begin to learn how to dream together and each one continue to what they are best at to stop war and racism in all its forms, end homophobia, islamophobia, transphobia, stop destruction of the natural world…
Painting by Arnoldo García

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Feb
24
Fri
The Fight for Mumia – Support for our Political Prisoners @ Alan Blueford Center for Justice
Feb 24 @ 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

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Black History Month Film Series @ Oakland City Hall, City Council Chambers
Feb 24 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Free. Each documentary will begin promptly at 5:30 PM, discussion afterwards.  Food provided.

Feb 3 – John Henrik Clarke – A Great and Mighty Walk

Feb 10 – The House I Live In

Feb 17 – The Night Tulsa Burned

Feb 24th – 13th

 

62380
Feb
25
Sat
Defend Immigrants Training @ Carpenter's Hall
Feb 25 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

*HELP DEFEND OUR COMMUNITIES, WORKERS, AND UNIONS !*

*RESIST IMMIGRATION RAIDS AND FIRINGS!*

Raids and the threat of more raids is upon us. Please join us at training about workplace raids and immigration
enforcement:

The legal rational for workplace enforcement –  called Employer Sanctions –
became part of immigration law in 1986.   Since then workplace raids –
sometimes called ’silent raids’ – have been a mainstay of immigration
enforcement and will likely ramp up under the Trump regime.  Immigration
enforcement has included firings for immigration status, raids and
detentions at work, street corner raids and others.  Trump promises to
unleash all of those strategies to round up and deport thousands of
immigrants.

*The training has 3 goals:

Educate advocates about how workplace enforcement has played out here in
the SF Bay Area (through multiple examples) and lessons learned,

Strengthen immigrant defense through know your rights education and a
system of support/solidarity for immigrants who are picked up; and

Plan creative political responses from the labor, faith and general
community.

Help our communities, workers, and unions get ready.
Everyone is welcome – knowing our past workplace enforcement history and
sharing critical rights information is important for all advocates
preparing to resist Trumps attacks on immigrants and refugees.

If you have any questions, please contact Lillian Galedo (Filipino
Advocates for Justice), 510-456-9876 (510) 20456-9876 (ofc) or
510-409-1679 (510) 20409-1679 (cell) or Agustin Ramirez (ILWU),
916-606-4681

Spanish/English translation provided.

62506
Know Your Options Before Calling 911 @ EastSide Arts Alliance
Feb 25 @ 11:00 am – 1:30 pm

POLICING IS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE
Because policing fails to meet people’s needs, and puts people in danger of arrest, imprisonment, and/or even death, we must eliminate connections between policing and healthcare.
Critical Resistance Oakland and The Oakland Power Projects present: “Know Your Options: Acute Emergencies” workshop
When: Saturday February 25th, 11am-1:30pm
Where: East Side Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland, California 94606
RSVP: croakland@criticalresistance.org

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Single Payer Healthcare Kickoff event @ California Nurses Association
Feb 25 @ 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

 

This will be the first major organizing drive for our campaign to make single-payer health care a reality in California. You can learn more about this issue here. We want all hands on deck for this exciting kick-off day! No prior experience necessary!

You can RSVP by filling out this short form. And don’t forget to share the event on Facebook!

DSA members who come will receive education on single payer and be trained on how to talk to your neighbors and friends about the issue. Then, first-time canvassers will be paired with experienced organizers and canvassers to go spread the word about single payer, sign people up to be supporters, and recruit new members to DSA.

This is not only EBDSA’s first big day of organizing, but it’s also an opportunity for new members and people new to organizing to learn the ropes and build confidence for the work of socialist organizing we will be doing for years to come.

62427
Roundtable discussion on a civic campaign for basic income in the United States @ Covo
Feb 25 @ 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Enno Schmidt will be returning to San Francisco Saturday, Feb 25th.
He’ll be engaging with us in a deeper afternoon roundtable discussion: A Civic Campaign for Basic Income in the United States.

If you’re interested, you can RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/178774692617282/

What would a civic campaign for basic income look like in the United States? Join us for an afternoon roundtable conversation with Enno Schmidt, co-founder of the Swiss basic income campaign — we’ll discuss what’s happening right now in the US and how we can foster a strong civic and cultural movement in support of basic income here.

We’ll be starting the conversation promptly at 1:30pm, so make sure to arrive by then!

We’ll see you next Saturday!
The Universal Income Project team

P.S. We’re looking for volunteers to help on the web development front. If you’re interested, or know anyone who is, reply and let us know!

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Bob Moses – Lead Organizer for “Mississippi Freedom Summer” @ First Presbyterian Church
Feb 25 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series presents
BOB MOSES
President and Founder, The Algebra Project
Bob Moses served as Director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) Mississippi Voter Registration Project from 1961-1964, and was a lead organizer for the “Mississippi Freedom Summer.”
Moses’ civil rights work in the 1960s culminated in the national response to protect a fundamental right: the right to vote. His current work seeks a national response to establish a fundamental right: the right of every child to a quality public school education.
Co-produced by Merritt College and the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center

62332
Feb
26
Sun
Milo Yiannopoulos and Free Speech @ Niebyl Proctor Library
Feb 26 @ 10:30 am – 12:30 pm

Milo Yiannopoulos and Free Speech on the Berkeley campus: A Discussion

Trump tweeted on Feb 2: “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”

We are inviting speakers to lead our discussion on this topic.

62449
Liberated Lens Film Night: Within Our Gates @ Omni Commons ballroom
Feb 26 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Within Our Gates by Oscar Michaeux.

Oldest known surviving film made by an African-American director.

1920’s silent film. Portrays the contemporary radical situation in the United States during the early 20th Century – the years of Jim Crow, the revival of the Klan, the Great Migration of blacks to cities of the North and Midwest, and the emergence of the ‘New Negro.’

Free snacks and popcorn.

62370
Indivisible Berkeley: Fourth General Meeting @ Finnish Hall
Feb 26 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

We will review the work our 18 teams have accomplished over the past two weeks, and set action plans for the next two weeks. Time permitting, we might also offer a training on Grassroots Organizing 101 or another topic as part of our evening. A more detailed agenda will be developed over the next week, as we hear back from our new groups and see what they would find most helpful.

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Feb
27
Mon
Justice for Angel Ramos at Vallejo City Council @ City Council, 2nd floor
Feb 27 @ 6:36 am – 7:36 am

The family of Angel Ramos inivites community members to attend and make their voices heard during public comment at the next Vallejo City Council meeting. Vallejo police murdered Angel on January 23rd, 2017.

The family demands:
-The release of the officers’ body camera footage
-Naming of the officer(s) who killed Angel

This is an important early opportunity to put City Councilmembers on notice that the community will not tolerate a cover-up or failure to investigate.

62522
Tax the Rich Rally and Singalong – Occupella @ In front of Chase Bank
Feb 27 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Sing for an hour with the Tax the Rich crew.

Event is cancelled if it is raining.

62420
#deleteUber rally and street party @ Uber HQ
Feb 27 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Bring your signs. Bring your noisemakers. Bring your crew. Show the world we will not stand for this in our backyard. #deleteUber

We say NO to:

* Sexism and misogyny of tech bro culture
* Exploiting workers with low wages and predatory loans, “contracting” economy
* Tech driven displacement of people of color and immigrants, the poor and working class, queers and artists
* Silicon Valley “neutrality” and complicity with Trump’s agenda and neoliberal capitalism.

Why #deleteUber?

http://mashable.com/2017/02/21/uber-disgusting-examples/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/06/uber-subprime-auto-leases/485480/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dozens-uber-employees-describe-sexist-hostile-work-culture-article-1.2979909
https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber

62512
Occupy Forum: At the River I Stand: The 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike @ Black and Brown Social Club
Feb 27 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

OccupyForum presents…

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!

Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue

on all sides of these critically important issues!

At the River I Stand:
The 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike,

the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Strike as Strategy

Film and Discussion with George Wright

Memphis, Spring 1968 marked the dramatic climax of the Civil Rights movement. At the River I Stand skillfully reconstructs the two eventful months that transformed a strike by Memphis sanitation workers into a national conflagration, and disentangles the complex historical forces that came together with the inevitability of tragedy at the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This 58-minute documentary brings into sharp relief issues that have only become more urgent in the intervening years: the connection between economic and civil rights, debates over strategies for change, the demand for full inclusion of African Americans in American life, and the fight for dignity for public employees and all working people.

In the 1960s, Memphis’ 1,300 sanitation workers formed the lowest caste of a deeply racist society, earning so little they qualified for welfare. In the film, retired workers recall their fear about taking on the entire white power structure when they struck for higher wages and union recognition.
But local civil rights leaders and the Black community soon realized the strike was part of the struggle for economic justice for all African Americans. Through stirring historical footage we see the community mobilizing behind the strikers, organizing mass demonstrations and an Easter boycott of downtown businesses. The national leadership of AFSCME put the international union’s full resources behind the strike. One day, a placard appeared on the picket lines, which in its radical simplicity summed up the meaning of the strike: “I am a man.”

Endemic inner-city poverty, attempts to roll back gains won by public employees, and the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us make clear that the issues Martin Luther King, Jr. raised in his last days have yet to be addressed. At the River I Stand succeeds in showing that the causes of (and possibly the solutions to) our present racial quandary may well be found in what happened in Memphis.

We are very lucky to have George Wright with us to help disentangle the issues and tease out the strategies applicable to ourselves today.

Time will be allotted for announcements.

Donations to Occupy Forum to cover costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

62495
Feb
28
Tue
National Bird: Film Discussion (Drones) @ KPFA, 94.1 FM
Feb 28 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Today on Flashpoints KPFA Producer.. Water Protector and Drone Base Resistor, Freewillin Franklin will join host Dennis Bernstein in featuring the documentary film “National Bird”
National Bird follows the dramatic journey of three whistle blowers who are determined to break the silence around one of the most controversial current affairs issues of our time: the secret U.S. drone war. At the center of the film are three U.S. military veterans. Plagued by guilt over participating in the killing of faceless people in foreign countries, they decide to speak out publicly, despite the possible consequences….Their stories take dramatic turns, leading one of the protagonists to Afghanistan where she learns about a horrendous incident. But her journey also gives hope for peace and redemption. National Bird gives rare insight into the U.S. drone program through the eyes of veterans and survivors, connecting their stories as never seen before in a documentary. Its images haunt the audience and bring a faraway issue close to home.

The show will feature excerpts from the film and an interview with the producer/director Sonia Kennebeck.

People will also be able to donate to KPFA for a copy of the film..

62525
From Ferguson to Oakland: Rev. Traci Blackmon on Activism and Community Health @ Samuel Merritt University Health Education Center
Feb 28 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Rev. Traci Blackmon, an organizer and registered nurse, discusses her experiences in social justice activism and community health in the wake of Michael Brown Jr.’s murder in Ferguson, MO. In Ferguson, Rev. Blackmon provided a mobile faith-based outreach program to improve health outcomes in underserved and impoverished areas. She co-authored the newly released “White Privilege” curriculum currently being taught throughout the United Church of Christ.

The event is FREE and open to the community.

62514
Refinery Town – book discussion with author Steve Early @ Piedmont Branch Library
Feb 28 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

How activists in a working-class company town (Richmond, CA) harnessed the power of local politics to reclaim their community.

62509
Mar
1
Wed
Court Support for Michael Brewster!
Mar 1 @ 9:30 am – 11:00 am

Court Support Needed!

Michael Brewster, was brutally attacked by police on February 8th.
His mother, Trina Peters, flagged down the police, explained Michael was having a mental health problem and asked them to call an ambulance for him. They said they would. Instead, the officers rushed him threw him on the ground and began to detain him. They called for back up and police swarmed the area.
Michael was unarmed and posed no threat to the officers, yet, they had him face down on the ground. Despite telling him he couldn’t breathe, several officers were on top of him. They beat him up and attempted to assault him with a billy club. Police told the people recording the incident to get back because it was a crime scene.
They beat him so badly that he was at SF General Hospital for 4 days before transferring him to the jail at 850 Bryant St, SF. The police denied his mother visitation and refused to release information regarding his wellbeing and that his court date was this last Wednesday. She only learned of it that day by chance.
The judge set his bail at $100,000. He is still being held at 850 Bryant St, SF.
His family is begging for court support.

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