Calendar
Occupy Our Homes 1 Year Anniversary: Celebrate by taking action!
Please join us this Thursday, December 6th for the Occupy Our Homes National Day of action:
8am: Press Event to celebrate a real, community victory at Gayla Newsome’s home, 1536 Adeline Street in West Oakland
3:30 pm: Join ACCE members in kicking off a new statewide effort to hold Banks accountable to the national attorneys general settlement and calling for aggressive principal reduction by resetting mortgages to their current value! Meet in downtown Oakland.
On December 6, 2011 Oakland ACCE reached out to allies and supporters, including many members of Occupy Oakland, and helped Gayla Newsome and her family successfully re-occupy their West Oakland home after it was lost to a wrongful foreclosure. Thanks to the actions of ACCE members, Occupy Oakland and each and every one of our supporters, Gayla and her family have got their house back and on have been given a trial modification.
Last year’s Occupy Our Homes events that saw actions and home re-occupations throughout the Bay Area and across the country helped to create momentum for a national movement that began to hold Big Banks accountable to homeowners, residents and neighborhoods. In the past year, ACCE members have won more than $1 million in principal reduction and we are proud to report than none of our members have lost their homes in the past year!
Our movement has gained some momentum – but we need to keep strong if we want Wall Street banks to give quality loan modifications with principal reduction to all homeowners. We are calling on ACCE members, supporters and allies to celebrate Gayla’s victory & the anniversary of the Occupy Our Homes movement by starting a new chapter in the long fight to hold Banks accountable.
We will come together at the Port Commissioners meeting to, once again, tell the stories of the non-union food service workers at the Oakland Airport. Union and non-union workers are standing together. Come join us in the fight for justice.
Update on the Campaign:
Non-union food service workers at the Oakland Airport continue to seek a fair process to decide if they want to form a union. They have called for a boycott of their shops, and have participated in several rallies over the past few months to bring attention to injustices and retaliatory firings. Workers have filed grievances with all levels of government, and met directly with Port Commissioners to stress the urgency of the situation.
At the same time, UNITE HERE Local 2850 members working in food and retail service at the Oakland Airport have been in ongoing contract negotiations with HMS Host. Host has proposed a number of takeaways already. On November 12, workers voted 134-0 to authorize a strike if necessary to win a fair contract.
Janitors and clerical workers represented by SEIU Local 1021 were in their own contract fight for a long time at the Port of Oakland. Our members have stood with them in solidarity, and this past week the workers represented by SEIU won a fair contract.
Union and non-union workers are standing together to fight for a better future at the Oakland Airport. These fights are about ensuring that jobs at the Airport are secure, good quality jobs, and that Airport workers are treated with respect and dignity.
For questions about the event, contact Matt at 703-955-0075.
Si se puede!
UNITE HERE! Local 2850
www.unitehere2850.org www.facebook.com/unitehere2850
UNITE HERE Local 2850, 1440 Broadway, Suite 208, Oakland, CA 94612, Tel. 510-893-3181, Fax 510-893-5362
http://occupyoakland.org/2012/12/show-up-a-ga-dec-9th-to-express-solidarity-with-occupy-sandy/
Join us to send a message of solidarity to Occupy Sandy.
12/12/12 THIS EVENT
(& THE HEARING ITSELF)
IS CANCELLED (AGAIN!)
(Update: 12/11/12 10:26pm this event will happen, so our presence is essential!! Thank you for working on making this world a better world.)
.
Judge Thelton Henderson is hearing arguments for and against putting the Oakland Police Department under a Federal Receivership.
Outside the Federal District Court in San Francisco, 450 Golden Gate Ave.
December 13th, starting at 8:30 AM (until ~ 10:00 AM)
Called for by The Justice For Alan Blueford Coalition.
Press Conference to be Held Jointly by the Justice For Alan Blueford Coalition and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (Oakland Chapter). (Because of the off-again, on-again nature of this event due to what’s happened recently with the case, Malcolm X may no longer participate)
This is history in the making. No police department in the history of the United States has ever been put under the control of a Federal Judge. The fact that such a step is even being considered is a stinging indictment of the Oakland Police, in particular their racist, unconstitutional approach to policing. The whole world will be watching these proceedings.
Alan Blueford, an 18 year old Oakland high school student about to graduate, was murdered by an Oakland policeman on May 6th 2012 following an unconstitutional ‘stop & frisk.’ Many other young men of color have been killed in similar circumstances over the years. These deaths are a direct result of OPD’s inability to act constitutionally, avoid racial bias and control its trigger-happy officers.
The Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition demands that whatever steps are ultimately taken to control OPD’s illegal practices, that they include sufficient safeguards to insure:
— there are no more wrongful killings and
— the end of the racial profiling, rampant in OPD, which ultimately
resulted in the tragedy of Alan’s murder.
We demand Justice 4 Alan Blueford! We demand an end to police violence! We cannot have any more killing of our children by OPD! AND WE WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW IT. We will not stop, federal control or no, until OPD stops harassing, beating and killing young men of color of Oakland.
COME JOIN US. MAKE SURE THE WORLD HEARS ALL OF OUR VOICES!
Facebook page for this event. Tell us you are coming!
Background Links
Federal court is asked to put Oakland Police Department in receivership
Are The Oakland Police Going Down At last? At Long Last?
Today, there was a fatal shooting in Newtown, CT that cost us the lives of children and teachers. Fatality from gun violence is something the people of Oakland face on a daily basis. From Oakland to Newtown to Afghanistan, we will hold a space that says, “These lives matter, enough is enough. Violence is systemic, root to canopy, state to individual.”
Please join us at OGP, at 6pm this Friday, December 14, 2012. Wear black, bring your candles, your signs, your grief, your poetry, and music and thoughts. We will have a silent candlelit funereal procession through the streets of Oakland in honor of those who have died this year as a result of gunfire and then hold vigil in the amphitheater, where people can stay, talk, and heal as a community.
Free food and drinks please bring friends & family.
The City of Oakland has put tree removal permits on dozens of beautiful, healthy, NATIVE trees including twenty-one redwoods. City of Oakland plans to cut down a large grove of redwoods, oaks, and other native trees and
bulldoze the banks of Sausal Creek. If not for community support, this park could have already been changed forever by chainsaws. We need your support to stop the destruction of the park now! These trees have been here for hundreds of years. We need to stand up as a community, and have our voices heard.
In solidarity with nature.
Occupy Dimond Park. Starts Saturday, December 15th 2012.
Brothers and sisters, the fight at Castlewood is not over yet! Yes, the workers are back on the job, but they have not yet received any back pay (which the union estimates to be $1.8 million) nor do they have a fair contract moving forward.
December 20th is the day before Castlewood would have to file an appeal, if they choose to continue dragging out the legal process with the National Labor Relations Board. For those who missed it, an administrative law judge with the NLRB ruled back in August that Castlewood had been illegally locking out the workers for 2 years.
Our message is simple: Pay your WORKERS not your lawyers!
We will have holiday themed snacks, and there may even be a guest appearance by the Grinch!
RSVP at our facebook event. For questions, contact Matt at 703-955-0075.
Occupy Denver Calls On All Available Occupy Networks to Mobilize Against Keystone XL Pipeline January 7th.
Join us for another mass action in Southeast Texas on Monday, January 7th, including a 3 day training camp leading up to the big event. Our trainings and events are open and include roles for everyone ready to defend our homes from toxic tar sands.
RSVP right now so we can know how many people to expect.
SCHEDULE (Jan. 3rd – 8th):
Thursday, Jan. 3rd – Travel & Arrival
Friday, Jan. 4th – Day 1: Direct Action Training Camp
Saturday, Jan. 5th – Day 2: Direct Action Training Camp
Sunday, Jan. 6th – Day 3: Direct Action Training Camp
Monday, Jan. 7th – Mass Action to Stop Keystone XL
Tuesday, Jan. 8th – Debrief and Depart
More information: Facebook Event.
WHAT: Bring an open heart, and material support to offer inmates who may be released during this time and any loved ones who may be there visiting current inmates.
HOW: Some suggestions include bringing food, drinks, smokes, cell phone to make calls, clothes, info/resources for both immediate and ongoing needs post-incarceration, ears to listen, BART/bus fare, an extra sweater/jacket/shirt, etc.
WHY: FtP! Fuck the Prison industrial complex and all tools of oppression!!!
Mutual aid, because “inside or outside, we’re all on the same side.”
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors Public Protection Committee will be holding a hearing on immigration detainers (S-Comm).
Keep our Families Together, End ICE Holds in Alameda County!
Join us at the
Alameda County Public Protection Committee Hearing on “ICE Detainers”
Please join us on January 10th at the Alameda County Public Protection committee hearing on “ICE Detainers”. Community members with advocates and organizers will offer testimony on the devastating impacts of detention & deportation and urge Alameda County to adopt a new policy that ends the enforcement of ICE holds!
Increased federal immigration enforcement has resulted in a record number of deportations nationally and results in the separation of families, including here in Alameda County. In 2011, there was an unprecedented number of deportations, 400,000, more than any year before! California has had over 82,531 deportations as a result of S-Comm, more than any other state. In Alameda County approximately 2000 immigrants have been deported and many more individuals have been turned over to federal authorities by the County, facing deportation.
For the past two and a half years we have been pushing for an end to S-Comm and this is the first hearing in Alameda County where the Board of Supervisors will hear directly from our communities about the devastating impacts of local police collaboration with ICE.
We want this hearing to be filled with everyone in the community who opposes the separation of families and believes that enforcing immigration is not the job of local police.
Last Saturday January 5th, a young woman was assaulted in an attempted rape on 23rd and San Jose streets in the Mission–the first attack of this nature in 2013. She narrowly escaped by fighting off her attacker.
We are joining together in an act of SOLIDARITY. Women and in the Mission district of SF to alert the neighborhood of what has happened in order to promote increased VIGILANCE so that these crimes do not continue on our streets.
Last year, several women were brutally raped on the streets of the Mission, some with broken necks. We must ensure that our sisters, our mothers, our daughters are safe on these streets.
Please bring any signs stating a clear message of NO MORE SEXUAL VIOLENCE ON OUR STREETS and MISSION SOLIDARITY TO KEEP STREETS SAFE. Please bring a drum or a pot and a wooden spoon to drum. Please bring puppets if you have them.
We will have bilingual flyers to distribute in the neighborhood, to post in every store front, to hand out to every household asking for increased VIGILANCE so that no more women are attacked on our streets.
Walk at 430pm along 16th, down Valencia to 24th, over to 24th and Mission then back up to 16th and Mission.
Join the Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition and allies on Tuesday 1/15 to tell City Council that we reject Bill Bratton and his racist, fascist policies. Meet up at 5:00 for a rally with the meeting at 5:30. Make sure to fill out speaker cards online beforehand or at City Hall (http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/CityClerk/s/SpeakerCard/SpeakerCard/OAK032373).
If you can’t attend in solidarity with the JAB Coalition, here’s a petition for you to sign, voicing your discontent with the cities plans:
http://www.change.org/petitions/oaklanders-against-william-bratton-and-racial-profiling
As some of you may have heard, OPD has a new strategy to reduce crime in Oakland. This plan is to ask City Council for an additional $250,000 to hire Bill Bratton as a consultant for one year. They have happily announced that they are bringing in the man responsible for NYC’s dramatic drop in crime and the man who helped the LAPD work through their own federal difficulties after the Ramparts case.
Here’s what they’re not telling you about Bratton’s multi-pronged approach to crime reduction:
1) Bratton takes credit for implementing NY’s broken window policy. On the surface, the policy sounds great – if you repair minor damage then you don’t send the message that an area is worthless and thus raise civic pride and prevent crime. But Oakland has already instituted a new policy along these lines that exposes a key flaw. It is not the city that pays for this damage but home owners and business owners. Businesses and homes that fail to remove graffiti promptly can be fined. So it is the homeowner who is punished for the police’s ineptitude at preventing vandalism in the first place. Moreover, one can no longer simply leave the graffiti up and appreciate the art because the city sees it as counter-economic to have graffiti anywhere. Ultimately, broken windows forces civilians to take on police roles they already pay others to do regardless of whether they personally believe in the laws or not.
2) Bratton believes in a zero tolerance policy for all crime. This means harsher punishment and more policing of minor infractions (including public protest, public disturbance, vagrancy, public intoxication, smoking marijuana, etc). This sort of strategy takes a way a cop’s (meager) rationality and forces them to further criminalize the public. For those police who already have no problem seeing Oakland residents as criminals, zero tolerance encourages them to punish as harshly as they can to deter crime.
3) In a recent interview, Bratton talked up the importance of stop and frisk and compared it to chemotherapy (http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120322/manhattan/former-nypd-chief-bill-bratton-compares-stop-and-frisks-chemotherapy). That’s right. Bratton thinks the people being stopped are like a cancer, and the rest of the city (the innocent ones) simply need to endure the poison (in this case the unlawful stops and searches) in order to make the city healthy again. There is no doubt that bringing a de jure Stop and Frisk policy (to replace the already existent de facto policy) will only encourage police racism and police violence. Moreover, with recent comments by Fruitvale’s new City Councilmember Noel Gallo in which he proclaimed his own desire for a “search and frisk” policy, there is no doubt that the Council will be moving in this direction.
4) Bratton has also been vocal in his disgust with cities that have tolerated Occupy camps. In regard to NYC, he reportedly almost ran for mayor because he was so angry at how tepidly Bloomberg had responded to the Zuccotti Park Camp. Bratton despises the tents for the same reason as the broken windows and encourages harsh response to populist movements to preserve the status quo.
So what’s really going on here? The last two consultants, Frazier (who they chose) and Warshaw (who was forced on them by Judge Henderson), both wrote scathing reports of OPD that Deanna Santana tried to cover up and edit. So now they found someone to say exactly what she wants to hear. They’re not out of control, they’re too controlled. They’re not too violent, they’re not violent enough. Also, with the new Federal Compliance Director coming in with a clear mandate to stop Stop and Frisk as it already exists off the books in Oakland and to work against racial profiling, the Police and City Officials want to make it harder to change their backwards, racist policies. Oakland has become the epicenter of anti-brutality campaigns, so those who want the brutality to continue are bringing in their big guns. They know that in the wake of Oakland’s crime and murder spike, that the people of Oakland will be much easier to bully into whatever program they recommend.
We say no.
No to zero tolerance!
No to “broken windows” policies!
No to Stop and Frisk!
No to racial profiling!
No to Bill Bratton!!
Come out and tell the Public Safety Committee that we want none of this and that we will be heard. Get a speaker card, bring a banner, get rowdy. Remind City Council whose city this is.
Join the JAB Coalition and allies on Tuesday 1/15 to tell City Council that we reject Bill Bratton and his racist, fascist policies. Meet up at 5:00 for a rally with the meeting at 5:30. Make sure to fill out speaker cards online beforehand or at City Hall.
As some of you may have heard, OPD has a new strategy to reduce crime in Oakland. This plan is to ask City Council for an additional $250,000 to hire Bill Bratton as a consultant for one year.
Here’s what they’re not telling you about Bratton’s multi-pronged approach to crime reduction…
Stop the Injunctions Coalition writeup.
City Council Public Safety Committee Meeting Agenda (The 2nd item listed, labelled as Item #4).
Non-union fast food workers at the Oakland Airport continue to seek a fair process to decide if they want to form a union. They have called for a boycott of their shops, and have participated in several rallies over the past few months to bring attention to injustices and retaliatory firings. Workers have filed grievances at all levels of government, and met directly with Port Commissioners to stress the urgency of the situation.
This past week, the Port of Oakland concluded their investigation into alleged violations of the Living Wage Ordinance by several of the non-union employers. The Port’s investigation found many violations of the law, confirming the stories of nearly all of the workers who filed complaints. One positive result is that many workers will have the opportunity to cash out paid time off they should have received.
Hakima Arhab was terminated by the owners of Subway in what the Port found to be retaliation for filing a complaint. The only remedy recommended by the Port , however, is back pay for time she should have worked. So far, the Port is unwilling to demand that she be reinstated! What kind of precedent does that set?
The Port is unwilling to stand with Hakima. Will you?
Join our statewide mobilization to Chowchilla to protest the unconstitutional overcrowding in California’s women prisons and show our support for our loved ones inside who are struggling to survive as the conditions worsen. As a result of the conversion of Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW), one of the remaining women’s prisons has now reached 179% capacity. A woman recently transferred to CCWF informed us that they were given clothes and bedding that “you wouldn’t want even your dog sleeping on.” Another person confirmed, “Everything we rely on to survive, including medical and legal, is highly impacted by overcrowding. Overcrowding is the issue. It causes everything else to come crashing down like dominoes.”
We need your help to show the U.S. Supreme Court, the government, and prison officials that not only are we witnessing this discrimination and abuse but we will not be silent! Join us in demanding an end to overcrowding! Our loved one’s deserve humane living conditions and their freedom! Bring them home!
Caravans leaving from MacArthur BART in Oakland at 10:30AM and Chuco’s Justice Center in Inglewood at 8:30AM. We will gather at 2PM at SE corner of Ave. 24 and Fairmead Blvd off Highway 99 in Chowchilla.
NEED A RIDE? HAVE A RIDE TO OFFER? Contact chowchilla.rally@gmail.com or 415-255-7036 x 314
More information at Occupy For Prisoners Web Site.
Nell Myhand was locked out of her home on Tuesday 1/22/2013 after Chase foreclosed and sold her home to Freddie Mac instead of modifying her loan to make it affordable. Join us on Thursday 1/31/2013, from 4:30 -5:30 pm at 1330 Broadway St (12th St BART) to protest this injustice and send Chase the message to work with Nell. For regular updates go to www.nellmyhand.net
Show your support – Sign Nell’s petition here; – phone/fax/e-mail blast Today! (sample RAP at end) Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon Tel: 212-270-1111; Fax: 212-270-1121; e-mail address; jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com
Nell Myhand (1329 E. 32nd St Oakland CA 94602) lived with her partner, Synthia, for over ten years. They fell behind on their mortgage payments after Synthia became disabled and Nell lost her job. Synthia has been forced to move into assisted living because of the stress of threatened eviction. After they spent over two years and hundreds hours pursuing an affordable mortgage payment through the loan modification process, Freddie Mac, which was bailed out by tax payer dollars refused to approve a loan modification and supported Chase Bank in foreclosing and evicting Nell.
Freddie Mac and Chase Bank are now giving conflicting reasons as to why they did not modify the loan. They threatened to change the locks trying to bully Nell into leaving. Nell and Synthia have already paid over 2/3 of the value of their home but face being made homeless and being left with nothing. We demand that Chase work with Nell.
Supporters to date: Berkeley Unitarian Universalists, Boots Riley; Causa Justa Just Cause; Commemoration Committee of the Black Panther Party; Ecumenical Peace Institute, Every Mother is a Working Mother; Global Women’s Strike; Haiti Action Committee; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network; Payday Men’s Network; Oakland/Bay Area stop foreclosures ad hoc working group; Paul Kivel, No2 HousingCrime; US PROStitutes Collective; Queer Strike; Ruckus Society; Sister Circle; Women of Color in the Global Women’s Strike; activists in Occupy Oakland, friends & others…
Nell Myhand, a local activist with Cause Justica/Just Cause, was locked out of her home on Tuesday 1/22/13 after Chase foreclosed instead of modifying her loan.
This is INTERNATIONAL CALL-IN DAY.
Call Jamie Dimon @ 212-270-1111 any time between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
Fax: 212-270-1121
Email: jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com
Hello, my name is —– and I am calling on behalf of Nell Myhand at 1329 E. 32nd St, Oakland CA. I want Jamie Dimon to use his power to end Nell’s eviction and work with her to get her home back. Taxpayers bailed out banks but Nell is one of hundreds of thousands getting sold out! Where is justice?
On Jan. 24 at 24th and Mission Sts., the Mission community witnessed the brutal beating of an 18-year-old African American CCSF student, Kevin Clark, by SFPD.
The incident was videotaped by passersby. It is extremely hard to watch, but we ask that you witness it, send to your contacts and help us get the word out for this emergency protest rally:
The gentrification of the Mission district is pushing out the working-class communities of color, and the police are increasing their harassment and brutality against the people. Join us for a rally at 24th & Mission where we will march through the community and have a press conference in front of the 17th and Valencia St. police station to say: “We will not tolerate violence against our youth and community!”
JOIN COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND ORGANIZATIONS STANDING UP AGAINST RACIST POLICE VIOLENCE!
Link to video & more info.
Action endorsed by the Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition.
Some of our friends and comrades are still facing heavy shit from the Columbus Day Cop-riot. Their next court day is coming up and they could use some support.
“Come pack the courtroom on February 8th to support the ACAC 19!
Solidarity is our weapon against the state! Our love for our comrades is stronger than their cages and their court.
On Friday February 8th, 2013 members of the Anti-Capitalist Anti-Colonial (ACAC) 19 will be appearing in San Francisco Superior Court at 850 Bryant Street for a pretrial motions hearing. We call on you, supporters, friends, and comrades to pack the courtroom. Support comes in many forms: banners and signs on the court steps, people in the courtroom and spreading the word about the trial. Let us show the District Attorney that our comrades are not alone in their relentless struggle against colonialism, capitalism and the state.”
The Brooms Collective has been meeting Saturday mornings at 9 AM or 10 AM for a year now at a tiny park at 32nd and San Pablo in Oakland. To commemorate this auspicious anniversary folks will be meeting there at 11 AM Saturday, February 9th to sweep away late-capitalist decay and maybe have a little fress at noon, as well. Bring a little food to share, there will be paper plates and utensils and maybe some gelatinous Ed-chow if we are unlucky.
