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On September 1, 2014 Anwar was falsely arrested during our 2nd Annual Community Appreciation BBQ, On this day we marched in solidarity with Ferguson and the family of Michael Brown, murdered by Ferguson Police , At the end of our march while returning back to our destination Ali Oakbaba was arrested falsely arrested by Vallejo Police , came from behind to capture and silence him for exercising his right to protest. Those of you who are active in the movement against police brutality know how dedicated he is to the movement
Please Join us as we stand in solidarity with Ali and let them know that he is not alone in this fight
PACK the BART Board Meeting for #blackfriday14!
1. Turn out to the BART Board of Directors meeting tomorrow, Thursday, January 22nd, at 4:45pm: The Bay Area Black Lives Matter chapter will be there, at 344 20th St, 3rd Flr, Oakland, CA, along with our Bay Area allies, to demand that the BART Board of Directors show the necessary leadership to put an end to this outrageous criminalization. And here is a poster you can print out to bring with you: http://goo.gl/JDHv4D
2. Call the BART Board of Directors and urge them to �pass a resolution to drop the restitution.” After 25 people called, the board signaled that they were considering changing course. Now we need to turn up the pressure and every voice counts: http://act.colorofchange.org/call/callBART/
On Thursday, January 22nd the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club will host a wide ranging discussion on the status of local police agencies, their records in our East Bay communities and the invigorated social movement that is demanding these agencies respect the communities they were hired to serve.
The panel will include Cat Brooks of ONYX and the Blackout Collective, Attorney Jim Chanin, who along with John Burris brought the suit resulting in the federal oversight of OPD, Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor, local journalist, author and political commentator, and Rasheed Shabazz, photojournalist and online editor of the ONYX Express.
Potluck dinner begins at 6, panel around 7:15.
Join the International Socialist Organization for a discussion about the origins and function of the police and their relationship to racism, class and capitalism.
Osha is a long time stalwart civil rights attorney, advocate for the disenfranchised, artist and renaissance activist. Thursday he will be a MECA on 1101 8th Street, Berkeley, signing his latest book, Doodling On The Titanic: The Making Of Art In A World On The Brink. Faceplant
Every Thursday in January is Black Lives Film Night
This week: “Watermellon Man” (1971) narrative of a white guy who wakes up as a black man
Please come to court in San Francisco to support our 2 comrades who were arrested by the during #BARTFriday.
BART police and SF Sheriffs retaliated against these two brave individuals while they were in custody. Particularly severe pain and trauma was caused to one of our arrestees, whose cane was stolen by BART PD, and despite repeated requests for mobility assistance, she was denied any help and police mocked her as they forced her to move about the BART station and jail without assistance.
Check the Facebook event for last minute postponements, etc!
Carl Dix, co-founder of the
Stop Mass Incarceration Network
will be speaking on:
POLICE MURDER BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE ALL THE DAMN TIME!
Why does this happen?
Why are they almost never punished for their crimes?
And what will it take to end this?
During the last few months, powerful, beautiful and determined protests have been dragging some of the reality of what it means to be Black or Latino in Amerikkka out into the open for all to see. People in Ferguson first stood up to say NO MORE to police murder. Many, many people, all across the country and of different nationalities joined in determined and defiant resistance to STOP BUSINESS AS USUAL in a system where the USUAL BUSINESS is MURDER by POLICE.
The actions of the people have done more than all the commissions, all the “conversations about race,” all the “programs that (supposedly) ‘work,’” all the et cetera et cetera blah blah blah bullshit of the past two decades. And they have compelled tens of millions to confront one huge, taproot part of the ugliness that is America: America’s ghoulish, horrific practice of using people who are supposed to be “serving and protecting” to not just pen in, lock down, abuse, humiliate, and brutally attack its Black and Latino youth, as these heartless monsters do every hour of every day, but to outright murder these youth under “color of authority.” The people have, in these past months, taken a big step toward stopping this. Obama, once again, has it exactly wrong: righteous rebellion is precisely what changes things.
Carl Dix grew up in an African-American working class community of Baltimore, Maryland. While attending college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War. In 1970, he was one of six GI’s who refused orders to go to Vietnam. This was the largest mass refusal of orders to Vietnam during that war. Dix served two years in Leavenworth Military Penitentiary. It was during his incarceration that he became a revolutionary. After his release from Leavenworth, Dix returned to Baltimore, Maryland, and worked and organized at the Bethlehem Steel plant. In 1985, Carl spearheaded the publication of the Draw The Line Statement that condemned the bombing of the MOVE house in Philadelphia, killing 11 people, 5 of them children. In 1996, he co-foundedthe October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. In 2011, Carl, together with Dr. Cornel West, co-founded the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and initiated a campaign of civil disobedience to STOP “Stop and Frisk.” This campaign took the effort to end that racist and illegitimate policy to a higher level. In 2014, Carl and Cornel called for making October 2014 a Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
@BellaEiko discusses why #BlackLivesMatter based upon her Oakland activism, KDVS Davis 90.3 FM, 5:30pm today, 1/23, http://t.co/5NTBGNjnXw
— KDVS (@KDVS903fm) January 24, 2015
Bay Area tweeps: Check out this event on Friday>>#BlackPanthers, #Oakland 1968, Henry Raulston Photographs pic.twitter.com/U2ek7j7U6T
— Sonny Lê (@sonnylebythebay) January 22, 2015
“Groundswell Rising”– a new film about fracking
Learn more about how fracking is poisoning our water and air, causing cancer and asthma, and how ordinary people are successfully fighting to stop the oil and gas industry from fracking in their communities. This provocative and hopeful film documents a people’s movement, a groundswell rising, challenging a system that promotes profit over health.
The film will be followed by a discussion with the director Renard Cohen and a representative of Bay Area 350 who will talk about the movement to ban fracking in California.
New York has banned fracking. We can too!
The planting was a few weeks ago. The gardening work continues. Join us!
More information on the Berkeley Post Office Defense against the sale and privatization here.
Pictures and videos of the soil preparation and planting here.
You are invited to join a citywide discussion about the relationship between Black & Brown communities and Law Enforcement.
On Saturday January 24, the Oakland City Council will convene a special meeting to hear from community groups and individuals about concerns raised in recent protest activities and to discuss what the City can do to improve police/community relations.
If you would like to speak at the meeting, you can fill out a speaker’s card in advance or on the day of the meeting.
#Oakland City Council #BlackLivesMatter forum flyer AND draft agenda. #oakmtg pic.twitter.com/v1Zlrsb7WZ
— TDL (@tdlove5) January 20, 2015
Sponsored by Radical Women and SFSU Rebel Voices.
The Walk for Life is a pro-life event that opposes reproductive rights, taking place two days after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Stand with us as we defend the right to a safe and legal abortion!
- organizing for public banking in Oakland and elsewhere.
- advocating for Postal banking.
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- working with the City of Richmond and other municipalities for eminent domain seizure of underwater mortgages from the banksters
- ongoing study group
- student debt resistance
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- our famous Strike Debt radio program
- and much more!
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A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice is an anthology of stories, analysis, and reflections from global movements fighting the tar sands and oil extraction using a wide variety of strategies and approaches. It features writing by Indigenous organizers from across the continent, analysts, and campaigners, as well as 350.org staff and board members, including a forward by Naomi Klein and Bill Mckibben.
What: The multimedia book launch will include a discussion on solidarity, extraction, and Indigenous sovereignty and climate change, with panel of frontline activists fighting tar sands in the Bay Area, as well as international perspectives. Presenters will include Winona La Duke of Honor the Earth (via Skype), Vivian Huang of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Pennie Opal Plant of Idle No More, an organizer from Pittsburg fighting Wespac oil-by-rail, and Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign (via video).
Click here to RSVP for the event on Facebook.
Event Co-sponsors include Idle No More SF Bay, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Movement Generation, Center for Story Based Strategy, and the Ruckus Society. If you can’t make it on Sunday, we’ll also be holding a more intimate discussion in San Francisco on Thursday evening — more info here.
As the largest industrial project on earth, the Alberta tar sands essentially constitute a strip mine spanning an area the size of Florida. Tar sands development comes with an enormous environmental and human cost. But tar sands opponents — fighting a powerful international industry — are likened to terrorists, government environmental scientists are muzzled, and public hearings are concealed and rushed.
Yet, despite the formidable political and economic power behind the tar sands, many opponents are actively building international networks of resistance, challenging pipeline plans while resisting threats to Indigenous sovereignty and democratic participation.
This struggle is one of the most epic of our times. I hope this book can offer us both a bit of hope and some solid lessons on resistance.
You can read more about the book here.
Our 4th open circle to connect and organize toward the end of police militarization, state violence and systemic racism.
- RSVP and invite folks to the Facebook event
This open circle will continue the dialogue and planning around support, goals, and long-term strategy in addressing the long-standing issues of the extremely disproportionate degrees of police brutality and killings of black people and people of color, systematic racism, state violence, militarization of police, and more that have been brought to the forefront once again due to the recent surge of such atrocities.
Let’s kick this meeting off with a potluck at 3:00 pm followed by the Open Circle at 3:30 pm. Please bring a dish or snacks to share!
- Open circle will begin with report backs and announcements of upcoming actions followed by group discussion.
- The announcements segment will be shorter than last time to allow more time for group discussion.
- There will be breakout groups to allow time for networking and collaboration on projects and affinity groups.
- The facilitation team welcomes suggestions, guidance, and especially participation. Please get in touch by commenting on this page if you want to offer any of these.