Calendar
At SF Mime Troupe
Dear Healthcare Activist,
I hope you can help us campaign for expanded Medicare this Saturday at the San Francisco’s Mime Troupe performance at Berkeley’s Live Oak Park.
We will be asking people to sign a card for HR 676, (Medicare For All) from noon to 2pm, and for those who do sign we will invite them to the July 30 rally in Oakland.
We will collect cards from noon to 2pm, and then enjoy the Mime Troupe’s show “Freedomland” which asks the question: is a young black soldier safer in Afghanistan than in his own neighborhood?
MILITARIZATION OF LOCAL POLICE
A Talk and Discussion with
Toby Blome
Code Pink activist
Please join East Bay and SF WILPF
Free, Refreshments, Handicapped Accessible
www.wilpfEastBay.org
- student debt resistance
- organizing for public banking.
- advocating for Postal banking.
- ongoing study group
- 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
- staging Debtors’ Assemblies
- Reviewing our recent presentation on money and debt at the US Social Forum
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- and much more!
Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.
Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.
Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.
Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.
Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre is proud to present Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter, a special presentation created, written, and performed by playwright, actor, and educator Anna Deavere Smith. Directed by Obie Award-winner Leah C. Gardiner, this limited engagement opens Saturday, July 11 and runs through Sunday, August 2, 2015 in the Roda Theatre. Individual tickets start at $50 and are currently on sale to the general public. Tickets can be purchased by phone at (510) 647-2949 or online at berkeleyrep.org.
Smith garnered a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2012 and a MacArthur Award for her incisive and astounding theatrical investigations – from racial tension (Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992) to the deficiencies in our health care system in Let Me Down Easy. Now she turns her attention to the school-to-prison pipeline, which, by pushing children out of the classroom into the criminal justice system, has created a lost generation of youth from poor communities. In act one, Smith performs striking portraits culled from interviews she conducted with nearly 150 individuals in Northern California and elsewhere in the nation affected by the pipeline’s devastating policies – capturing the dynamics of a rapidly shifting social issue through her trademark performance technique. She will be joined by Bay Area favorite, jazz musician Marcus Shelby.
In act two, Smith invites the audience to engage in dynamic conversations and be active agents to help dissolve the school-to-prison pipeline and inequities in the education system. With the compelling and inspiring Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter, Smith believes that we all have the imagination, the wit, and the heart to make a difference.
“I’m pleased to present Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, The California Chapter at Berkeley Rep,” says Smith. “This is my coming home project. By that I mean that I come from teachers who in my generation gave their lives to changing the lives of young Baltimoreans through belief in the potential of public education. I feel that the Bay Area is the perfect place for conversations about the school-to-prison pipeline to start and possibly for solutions to emerge. I’ve had a long history with Berkeley Rep and the Bay Area where I have presented my work since the early 1980s.”
Smith continues, “There’s a lot of research being conducted and has been done about the relationship of early suspensions and how that perpetuates a cycle of incarceration. Though the focus of fixing racial inequity is currently focused on problems with urban policemen, as President Obama cautioned us, in the midst of riots in Baltimore, the problem is broader and deeper than that. I believe that we have a chance to reimagine and recreate a new war on poverty. Education is a crucial part of that. Through this special presentation I hope that we can build a model for art to be in direct connection to advocacy. We can bring people forward to ask not just what they think, but what they can do. I hope this process will help us understand more about our children, our teachers, our judges, and our criminal justice system.”
To cultivate participation in the dialogue by as many voices as possible, Berkeley Rep is offering a wide array of ticket discounts including:
· 1,000 free community tickets are available by application to nonprofit, and government organizations serving populations impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline and indviduals for whom cost would be a barrier; details available at http://www.berkeleyrep.org/season/1415/9293.asp#tabbed-
“Mogi and I are in need of some help. I need to move at the end of July and I won’t have enough to cover a deposit and last months rent for a new home. So, I’m throwing a Rent Party & Art Show.”
Open mic & cypher THIS SATURDAY July 11th at The Alan Blueford Center for Justice @abc4justice #Oakland https://t.co/4vsVadK4DV
— Mollie Costello (@missmollie33) July 9, 2015
Martin Luther King meets Alfred North Whitehead:
the praxis of Realist social philosophy
If you could prune half of capitalist demagoguery, leaving the other half for 2050’s young socialists to whittle at, would you take the job? Land rent communist David Giesen speaks this morning about the plausibility of engaging 40% of the US population in a conversation about disengaging land values from private ownership. With a modest dollop of historical review (1776-yesterday) of land speculation in America, a sliced banana’s worth of “their own scripture’s injunction” theological talking points for the faith community, and a heaping helping of predictable results economic logic challenge for Republicans and Tea Party folk, Giesen will serve up a credible conversational dessert that Marxists can offer the other 99% of the population. And if 40% bite, a big hunk of capitalism is going down, baby!
Defenders of the East Bay Hills forests will be meeting this weekend. Please spread the word and come join us!
Our next organizing meeting will be on July 12 at 3pm at the Eucalyptus Grove/Grinnell Natural Area, near UC Berkeley campus West entrance.
(From the corner of Oxford and Center, follow the pathway into the trees across a foot bridge. Near the end of the pathway turn left across a second foot bridge into the eucalyptus grove.)
Bring lawn chairs or blankets, and anything else you need to get comfortable.
Wheelchair accessible. Please don’t wear scented products to this meeting as there are several chemically sensitive participants among us, who were injured by pesticides like the ones used in these projects.
If you’ve not signed up on the East Bay Hills Forest Defense discussion and organizing list, please do so here (or get in touch if you need help signing up): https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/eastbayhills
If you want to hear the latest from one of the groups and some of the organizers of perhaps the biggest fight against gentrification in SF right now, please join us this Monday when Andy Blue of Plaza 16 Coalition tells of their work to slay the Monster in The Mission. He’ll be joined by activist and videographer Peter Menchini who’ll show a few of his videos on recent anti-gentrification actions such as Mission Takes City Hall.
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
OccupyForum presents
A Turning Point
In The Fight For SF?
However, City Hall and the developers haven’t gone unchallenged. Organizations have formed to fight evictions, disrupt auctions of foreclosed-on homes, and to speak out at public hearings, planning commission meetings and in marches and demonstrations against massively inappropriate development. And while the mayor and a majority of supervisors seem intent on ethnically (and economically) cleansing the city, some of the efforts of groups such as The Plaza 16 Coalition, seem to be having at least some effects on the blind develop-everything-at-all-costs mentality of housing investors and the planning commission.
The Plaza 16 Coalition formed in 2013 to fight the largest ever market rate (luxury) housing development ever proposed for The Mission District. The group, which now has over 100 member organizations, advocates for affordable housing and to oppose the Maximus Investments plan for BART Plaza at Mission and 16th Streets for two ten-story towers of luxury apartments. The coalition has disrupted public meetings held by the developers to pitch their project and has demanded they turn the property over to the community which would be so negatively effected by its construction.
Since our Occupy Forum is held in the Global Exchange board room (thanks for your generosity GX!) this is an issue of direct interest to participants and fans of the Forum. Such a project would certainly increase both commercial and residential rents for blocks and so may put Occupy Forum at risk of losing its home.
Andy Blue is one of the organizers of Plaza 16 and he will update us on what’s happening in the fight against the luxury development and will tell us about the people and groups getting involved and what their vision for The Mission is. More info at: plaza16.org
Peter Menchini is a longtime SF activist and videographer who will show some of his footage from some Plaza 16 events and other recent affordable housing actions including the big, noisy Mission Takes City Hall.
A Victory in the Fight to Save our Historic Post Offices
With members of the Committee to Save the Berkeley Post Office
The U.S. Postal Service, now headed by those favoring privatization, is closing and selling off many post offices listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reducing postal services and cutting public sector union jobs. Many of these historic post offices have murals and art created during the New Deal. The City of Berkeley, however, prevailed in federal court saving the historic post office building and setting a precedent for others. The case promises to save union jobs by requiring the USPS to follow the law. Come hear the story of how a spirited group of Berkeley residents set a national precedent.
Citizens to Save the Berkeley Post Office fought for their historic building and art for three years. They made the nation aware of the issue with articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
For information: harveysmithberkeley@yahoo.com
or call 510-684-0414
A large number of items regarding police practices are on the agenda, descriptions of which can be found here, including
1) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Legislation Requiring The Use Of Psychological Testing And Screening For Officer New Hires
2) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Policies And Procedures Which Require OPD To Train Officers More Effectively In The Use Of Force
3) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Legislation To Eradicate The Persistent Widespread Custom Or Practice Of Concealing Or Suppressing Investigations Into Police Officer Misconduct;
4) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Officer Reporting And Disclosure Requirements For Both Responding And OnScene Officers In All Use Of Force Cases
5) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Legislation Prohibiting Any Law Enforcement Officer To Ask For, Or Take, Someone’s Camera, Phone, And/Or Other Device That Takes Photos Or Records Video Without First Securing A Warrant Issued By A Judge;
6) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Legislation To Send Law Enforcement Video, Dash Cams, Etc., To The Cloud In Real Time, To Avoid Any Tampering Of Evidence;
7) Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting Legislation To Stop Criminalizing The Victim;
8) Receive A Report And Recommendations Encouraging The Public To Initiate A “Do Shoot” Campaign Urging Anyone Who Sees Someone Being Pulled Over By The Police Or Being Arrested To Shoot Video Of The Incident With Their Cell Phone Camera As A Means Of Self Defense
The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.
We meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at the SEIU Local 1000 union hall in downtown Oakland at 6:30 PM.
Our work together encompasses: (1) the concerns of precarious, contingent, and care workers; (2) current campaigns to improve wages for low-wage workers; and (3) efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life. We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.
We look forward to learning with you and making change for the better.
Please love and support one another. We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win.
Stand with our sisters and brothers in Greece on this day of international solidarity in saying NO to austerity, NO to pension cuts, and NO to privatization. OXI means OXI! NO MEANS NO! CANCEL THE ILLEGAL DEBT. MAKE THE BANKS PAY.
The group ‘Europe says OXI’ has called for everyone all over the world to take to the streets on Wednesday, the day the Greek government will implement legislation that the Greek people voted resoundingly NO to last week.
Just a few of the cities so far holding solidarity demonstrations:
Athens, Greece
London, United Kingdom
Leeds, United Kingdom
Bristol, United Kingdom
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Duns, Scotland
Berlin, Germany
Paris, France
Graz, Austria
Sofia, Bulgaria
Belgrade, Serbia
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Chicago, USA
Detroit, USA
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Prague, Czech Republic
Barcelona, Spain
Naples, Italy
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Lisbon, Portugal
Manchester, United Kingdom
Padua, Italy
Vienna, Austria
and BUFFALO NY USA
Endorsed by Workers World Party, Marcha Patriotica Colombia, International Action Center
Updates on our progress, organizing strategies and developing work plan to get Public Safety Oversight measure on the Nov 2016 ballot
We discuss various monetary and debt-related topics. For our next meeting we will be discussing Greece, it’s debt, the recent referendum and its implications on the world monetary system, and Greece’s prospects.
Here is a (long) investigation into the origins and odious nature of Greek debt.
https://berkeleypostofficedefenders.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/greek-odious-debt.pdf
Some recent articles. Select a subset, and/or find your own…
A good overview of how it all came to be in layman’s terms.
Greek debt crisis: ‘Of all the damage, healthcare has been hit the worst’
Tsipras Has Just Destroyed Greece.
Germany Won’t Spare Greece Pain – It Has an Interest in Breaking Us.
Michael Hudson: EU Infrastructure Undermines Sovereignty
NY Times: Debt Crisis Pits Greeks Against Germans
Wall Street Journal: Europe Takes Hard Line with Greece
Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to save Greece
Yanis Varoufakis full transcript: our battle to save Greece
The actual deal made on Monday:
Greek debt crisis: Here’s the deal
The Euro-Summit ‘Agreement’ on Greece – annotated by Yanis Varoufakis
Deal on Greek Debt Crisis Is Reached, but Long Road Remains
The Problem of Greece Is Not Only a Tragedy. It Is a Lie.
Greece put its faith in democracy but Europe has vetoed the result
How Will the Greek Privatization Fund Work?
Yanis Varoufakis: On the Euro Summit’s Statement on Greece: First thoughts
International Monetary Fund Proposed Greek Debt Relief
How Greece Was Lost: ‘We Were Set Up’ – Yanis Varoufakis
Massive debt relief for Greece would give economy chance to grow: IMF
The I.M.F. Is Telling Europe the Euro Doesn’t Work
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The Politics of Debt Reading Group is affiliated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.
10:00 AM — Gather at City Hall steps
10:30 AM — Hearing at the Government Audit & Oversight Committee on ALTERNATIVES to the NEW JAIL! (room to be announced)
Last month, anti-police violence activists and the No New SF Jail Coalition testified to the Board of Supervisors about the racial bias in SFPD and against the new jail. New reports have shown that black women make up 50% of arrests and that black people are 56% of those locked up in SF county jails.
The hearing on alternatives to the new jail scheduled for 6/18 was postponed to July 16th. We need people to mobilize to demand no new jail and to fund alternatives to incarceration!
The imprisonment rate in San Francisco is at a record low, with only about half of the jail capacity being used on any given day. Most of the people in the jail system are pretrial – meaning they have not been convicted or sentenced, and are only imprisoned because they cannot afford bail. People with mental health issues and homeless people also make up a significant number of those locked up. Simple bail reform, mental health diversion programs, and affordable housing would make wasting $290 million on a new jail completely unnecessary.
Organizers against the jail are gearing up for a public hearing on “Alternatives to Jail Rebuild,” sponsored by Supervisor Jane Kim and Board President London Breed. Community members and residents will be mobilizing for the hearing to urge elected officials to invest in effective alternatives to the jail, such as expanded community-based mental health programs, drug treatment, and bail reform.
Read more about the SF Jail Fight here: www.nonewsfjail.wordpress.
For 3 years, the commercial development project that is slated to pave the southern 7 acres of the historic Gill Tract has been held off by a lawsuit. On June 16th, the courts ruled in favor of the UC, citing that their polluting, privatizing, pavement project breaks no state laws.
But we hold ourselves accountable to the laws of nature:
Did you know the neighborhood surrounding the Gill Tract already ranks in the top 2% nationwide for traffic congestion? Now imagine how many cars and diesel trucks the addition of a Sprouts grocery store would bring to the area. Did you know that same neighborhood ranks in the top 22% nationwide for asthma rates? Now imagine the air pollution and health implications of that traffic (approximately 6500 cars per day) on the community.
Join us Thursday, July 16th, one month after the court’s mis-ruling, to take a stand and demonstrate refusal to accept the misuse of public land in utter disregard of environmental and public health. We will be gathering to take action at the proposed development site on the corner of Monroe & San Pablo, from 4-5pm.
July 17, 2015 – one year since the murder of Eric Garner. One year since we watched the cops choke him to death! One year since we heard his dying words: “I can’t breathe” – words that the cops ignored. And still no justice! This murder, and how the whole system went into motion to exonerate Eric Garner’s killer, concentrate the slow genocide this system continues to enforce on Black and Latino people.
As we observe the anniversary of the murder of Eric Garner, we are confronted with a genocide that is speeding up, and getting even more blatant and ugly – whether from white supremacist murderers waving Confederate flags, or killer cops wearing American flags. To observe the one-year since Eric’s last breath, we need to get back out into the streets. We must let everyone know that we have not forgotten; that we have not moved on; that we refuse still to suffer these horrors in silence; and that “healing” cannot happen until the gaping wound of white supremacy is closed and no longer bleeding out. We call on every organization, and every person, who stands against this genocide against Black and Brown people, to come together on July 17th, in the memory of Eric Garner and the 1000’s of other Stolen Lives, and re-dedicate and declare our determination to end police murder once and for all.
And we invite all to join us in building toward #RiseUpOctober 22-24, culminating with tens of thousands of people from all over the country, shutting down the streets of New York City on October 24th.
Song and Story from Occupy
Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Chorus presents a celebration of the Occupy movement, in song and story. The audience is invited to sing along: lyric sheets will be provided. Founded in 1999, the Labor Chorus helps keeps working-class culture alive, in four-part harmony. We will also have special guests.
www.laborchorus.org