Calendar
In conjunction with Strike Debt Bay Area
Mehrsa Baradaran talks about her new book
How the Other Half Banks:
Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy
How the Other Half Banks is a history of banking for the masses in the United States, the story of how it has failed in the last thirty years – to be replaced by predatory payday lenders and their ilk – and the case for Postal Banking (find out about this!) as the way to once again provide banking services at reasonable rates for the tens of millions of unbanked and underbanked.
Mehrsa Baradaran is Associate Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law
See Mehrsa Baradaran on YouTube
Friday: At the Green Arcade Bookstore in SF.
Also in Oakland on Saturday at 6:00 PM a the Laurel Bookstore at Oscar Grant Plaza.
Event flyers:
strike debt – baradaran flyer color
strike debt – baradaran flyer color 4up
strike debt – baradaran flyer bw
strike debt – baradaran flyer bw 4up
SF Mime Troupe presents: “COINTELSHOW: A Patriot Act”, by L.M. Bogad on February 12 & 13 in SF
Follow Special Agent Christian White on a cheerfully creepy tour of declassified government surveillance documents. White probes the redacted (blacked-out) texts of the FBI’s notorious Counterintelligence Programs, searching for the words erased in the name of the Freedom of Information Act.
Learn fun techniques for the infiltration of activist groups, how to earn benefits and a pension as an agent provocateur, and how to, in the words of J. Edgar Hoover, “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize” your neighbors! Read on!
Tickets: FREE but you must reserve a seat!
JOIN US FOR A SHIFT: LATE NIGHT MASS COPWATCHING
· February 12, 10 PM – 1 AM
· February 27, 8 PM – 11 PM
Since October 2015, Berkeley Copwatch has been holding “mass copwatch” events that invite folks to join us for a shift. It’s been fun and very empowering to have up to five cars full of copwatchers patrolling our city and on the scene when police stop people.
This month we have two shifts scheduled. Please join us; we will train you in the essentials of copwatching, how to document and how to stay safe!
Contact us at (510) 548-0425 or berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com to learn where we will be meeting.
Food Not Bombs will be hosting a fundraiser for Oakland’s Omni Commons, and YOU’RE invited! This event will last pretty much ALL DAY– from 2pm until late in the evening (10 or 11pm).
Come prepared for:
*A DANCE PARTY! (or several)
*Readings and book signings!
*Open mic!
*A DELECTABLE vegan meal!
*Meeting the best friends you’ll EVER have!
…and MORE!!!!
FEATURING: (And this list has only just begun…)
Antioquia: https://antioquia.bandcamp.com/
Carol Denney: http://www.caroldenney.com/
Bicicletas por la Paz: www.bicicletasporlapaz.com/the-band/
Maracatu Pacifico: http://www.maracatupacifico.com/#!/bio
V.E.X.:
http://moirascar.blogspot.com/
http://thebaybridged.com/2015/06/10/get-to-know-moira-scar-and-v-e-x/
Interested in performing? Decorating? Cooking? Promoting? Reach out to Saryta at srod622@gmail.com and Arthur at arnoldmcpeebles@gmail.com.
Presale tickets coming soon!
PRESALE suggested donation: $10 to party, plus $10 to guarantee your seat at the FEAST! Nom nom nom nom nom.
DOOR suggested donation: $15 to party, $10 to eat, $25 for the Full On Experience.
ABOUT THE COMMONS:
The Omni Commons is comprised of several Bay Area collectives with a shared political vision—one that privileges a more equitable commoning of resources and meeting of human needs over private interests or corporate profit.
We invite you to join us in establishing a safe, productive place to pool resources for the collective use and stewardship of the greater community. A space that fosters an ethic of radical collaboration across disciplines and between individual collectives, creating a living model for future radical spaces. https://omnicommons.org/
CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!
ANSWER Coalition Forum
The Mario Woods Case & the Struggle Against Police Terror
On Dec. 2, 2015, the life of 26-year-old Bayview resident Mario Woods tragically ended by police firing squad. The SFPD, led by notorious Chief Suhr, claimed Woods attacked the officers, but video exposed that lie. Since the shooting, the Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition (J4MWC) has come together and shut down police commission meetings, disrupted Mayor Lee’s inauguration and “Super Bowl City.” As a result, the federal government has been forced to open an investigation of the racist corrupt SFPD.
Join us to learn more about the case, what’s next, and how you can join the growing struggle against racism and police brutality!
Featured Speakers:
• Phelicia Jones, union organizer & coordinator of J4MWC
• Eugene Puryear, Stop Police Terror Project—DC and Justice First
• Frank Lara, ANSWER Coalition
Sponsored by Strike Debt Bay Area…
Writer and lawyer Mehrsa Baradaran will be at Laurel Bookstore to read from her new book How the Other Half Banks and talk about credit inequality in modern American banking.
The United States has two separate banking systems today—one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. How the Other Half Banks contributes to the growing conversation on American inequality by highlighting one of its prime causes: unequal credit. Mehrsa Baradaran examines how a significant portion of the population, deserted by banks, is forced to wander through a Wild West of payday lenders and check-cashing services to cover emergency expenses and pay for necessities—all thanks to deregulation that began in the 1970s and continues decades later.
Corporate megabanks with trillions of dollars in assets believe, with some evidence, that they can run the government and control how money works in the lives of people and the budgets of local governments. Baradaran explains how banks and governments have always been in complex relationships with each other; governments need banks to provide money services to people, and banks need governments for protection against economic fluctuations and to provide credit on favorable terms. But in the 21st century, American banks in particular have shed their social contract with the American people and the U.S. government, demanding to be treated as a private industry while enjoying all the benefits of a public service industry.
Baradaran proposes a solution: reenlisting the U.S. Post Office in its historic function of providing bank services. The post office played an important but largely forgotten role in the creation of American democracy, and it could be deployed again to level the field of financial opportunity.
Mehrsa Baradaran is Associate Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law.
Also Friday 2/12 At the Green Arcade Bookstore in SF.
Event flyers:
strike debt – baradaran flyer color
strike debt – baradaran flyer color 4up
strike debt – baradaran flyer bw
strike debt – baradaran flyer bw 4up
SF Mime Troupe presents: “COINTELSHOW: A Patriot Act”, by L.M. Bogad on February 12 & 13 in SF
Follow Special Agent Christian White on a cheerfully creepy tour of declassified government surveillance documents. White probes the redacted (blacked-out) texts of the FBI’s notorious Counterintelligence Programs, searching for the words erased in the name of the Freedom of Information Act.
Learn fun techniques for the infiltration of activist groups, how to earn benefits and a pension as an agent provocateur, and how to, in the words of J. Edgar Hoover, “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize” your neighbors! Read on!
Tickets: FREE but you must reserve a seat!
Monthly interfaith prayer meeting, held on second Sundays, dedicated to survivors and victims of violence and police terror in Oakland.
The Baha’i community of Oakland is organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.
In April, it was two years since we started holding these prayer meetings at the Baha’i Center. Come share prayers, quotes, poems, and favorite passages from your scriptures with us. We will serve a simple breakfast.
The Oakland City Council has the power to block coal exports out of a new terminal under development at the former Army Base. But despite an avalanche of community opposition to the prospect of dirty coal trains traveling through Bay Area communities, the Council has pushed action again and again. We need to let Council members know that we’re watching and we won’t let them delay on this critical issue. Join us on February 16th and show your support for immediate action to block coal from being a part of the Army Base redevelopment project.
At 4:30, an interfaith group of clergy will hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall to voice their opposition to coal. This will be followed by a brief theatrical dance piece, “The History of Coal.” A half-hour prayer vigil will follow, before going in to the city council meeting.
The council meeting begins at 5:30. A group of clergy will speak during open forum, which is the first agenda item, voicing their opposition to coal. Later in the agenda we will have a chance to comment on the administrative update delaying a vote and on the allocation of funding for experts to review testimony regarding the dangers of coal.
The Oakland City Council has the power to halt a reckless proposal to bring in coal by rail and ship it overseas from its port. It can do that on the basis of the proposal’s significant health and safety impacts. At its Feb 16 meeting the council will discuss the issue and there may be a vote on options. We need to make sure the council votes for the option to ban coal outright.
Three Ways to Help Ensure the Council Bans Coal
These are not mutually exclusive. But you need to act now.
1. Help the No Coal in Oakland campaign campaign do outreach and build pressure on the Oakland City Council. To find out more about joining the Sunflower Alliance team, contact Margaret Rossoff, margaretmft@gmail.com
2. Sign up ASAP to be a speaker at the Feb. 16 city council meeting. You don’t need to speak but we ask you to cede time to No Coal in Oakland activists and supporters so they can speak. You do have to be present to cede time. Sign up here. For Item, enter “coal” You don’t need to say if you are for or against. You can also sign up for open forum instead or on a second card.
3. If you live in Oakland, write a letter to your city council member and to Rebecca Kaplan, the at-large council member (districts, names, contact information). Urge him or her to vote to ban coal outright. If you live in another Bay Area city, write Mayor Libby Schaff (contact information).
Background
For meeting updates, flyers, media coverage and more, please visit our No Coal in Oakland campaign page. And for more background on this hazardous proposal, see A Coaltastrophe Threatens Oakland.
The Alameda City Council will once again consider various proposals for tenant protection, including rent control, just cause eviction and moving-out compensation. Come support the Alameda Renters Coalition in its battle against the powers-that-be in Alameda.
Gather at 4:30, rally at 5!
Bring your cellphone or tablet tuned to www.protestsign.org and stand up for your privacy!
This is really dangerous. The FBI just got a judge to order Apple to build a software “backdoor” to help them hack into an iPhone. They’ve been wanting to do this for years, but now they’re exploiting the tragedy in San Bernardino, CA to push their agenda to weaken the security of all of our phones to enable more government surveillance.
Our basic safety and security is at stake! So we’re gathering at Apple stores nationwide with two simple messages: “Don’t Break Our Phones!” and “Secure Phones Save Lives!”
We’re not protesting Apple, they are fighting back against this too. We’re protesting the government’s dangerous attempt to undermine our security by demanding a backdoor.
See our main site for nationwide protests next week: https://
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:
Breaking the security features of our iPhones won’t just hurt our privacy, it puts all of our safety at risk. Once a backdoor is built, it won’t just be used by governments or law enforcement. It will enable malicious hackers, foreign governments, terrorists, thieves and stalkers to use our data against us.
What the FBI is doing is dangerous, but it’s also illegal. Apple has a right to offer customers secure devices that protect our most sensitive information. According to the ACLU, forcing Apple to hack their own customers is unconstitutional and will undermine our privacy and safety without improving national security.
So far, Apple is vowing to fight this unlawful and reckless demand by the government, but we need to show them that they’re not standing alone. Join us at one of these important events to stand up for everyone’s safety.
We will feature on the agenda our brothers and sisters from SEIU 1021 who have experience in signature collection campaigns for successful ballot measures. They will engage with us on lessons learned and we will discuss ways in which we might collaborate in our efforts to get our respective measures on the November ballot.
Homes Not Jails is a consensus-based collective of squatters and squat supporters who believe housing is a human right. Our goal is to open as much vacant housing as possible and to keep it open as long as possible. HNJ is a place to organize mutual aid among squatters and squat supporters and housing rights advocates in the bay. We actively fight to make our space inclusive and safe for everybody and combat oppression in all forms.
Monthly APTP meeting, held on every 3rd Wednesday of the month.
The Anti Police-Terror Project is a project of the ONYX ORGANIZING COMMITTEE that in coalition with other organizations like The Alan Blueford Center For Justice, Idriss Stelley Foundation, Community Ready Corps and Workers World is working to develop a replicable and sustainable model to end police terrorism in this country.
We are led by the most impacted communities but are a multi-racial, mutil-generational coalition.
Join CURB on Thursday, February 18, from 12pm-1pm (PT) for a webinar about how the No New SF Jail Coalition stopped San Francisco’s proposed new jail, and learn valuable lessons on how to stop a jail in your town!
Since early 2013, CURB members and allies have fought tirelessly to stop plans for a new jail in SF, building an incredible network of allies and encountering obstacles of all shapes and sizes. Almost three years of organizing came to fruition in December when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected funding for the new jail.
While this was a historic victory, the fight is not over. SF won’t be building a new jail any time soon, but more than 40 other counties are still trying to build new jails, and the governor is looking to allocate another $250 million for jail construction in the upcoming state budget.
During this webinar, community leaders who have been at the center of SF’s jail fight will share their strategies, stories, victories, failures, and advice on what ultimately made their fight successful.
Panelists:
Mohamed Shehk, Critical Resistance
Lisa Marie Alatorre, San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness
Roma Guy, San Francisco Taxpayers for Public Safety
Click here to register for the webinar.
We encourage all Oakland residents to attend the weekly No Coal in Oakland meeting.
Up until its February 16th meeting, the position of a majority of Oakland City Council members on permitting coal shipment from the city’s port may have been in doubt. Even now the proposal remains on the table. But at that meeting, council members took concrete steps toward banning coal exports once and for all. Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Libby Schaff, local clergy, State Senator Loni Hancock, and community activists, the Council has signaled its intention to enact an outright ban on coal exports. In fact, it passed a moratorium on the issuance of any permits for the terminal until the question has been resolved. Read details on the latest developmemts here.
(And for more background, see A Coaltastrophe Threatens Oakland on this website.)