Calendar
Join the Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against the surveillance state, against Urban Shield, and to advocate for privacy and surveillance regulation ordinances to be passed around the Bay Area, especially by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the BART Board of Directors, and by the Oakland City Council.
- We are also engaged in the fight against Predictive Policing and other “pre-crime” and “thought-crime” abominations, drones, improper use of police body cameras, requirements for “backdoors” to your cellphone and against other invasions of privacy by our benighted City, County, State and Federal Governments.
OPWG originally came together to fight against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OPWG was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network; its members helped draft the Privacy Policy that puts further restrictions on the now Port-restricted DAC, and made Oakland’s Advisory Privacy Committee to the City Council happen. We were also the lead in having Alameda County pass the most comprehensive privacy and usage policy in the country for deployment of “Stingray” technology (cell phone interceptors).
We have presented our work at the recent RightsCon in San Francisco and will have done so at Left Forum in New York City by this meeting.
Stop by and learn how you can help guard our right not to be spied on by the government & if you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to:
oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe AT lists.riseup.net
For more information on the DAC check out
Meet with community advocates in the fight against homelessness, those without houses, Berkeley City Councils staffers and interested citizens to discuss progress on Tiny Homes solutions to homelessness, and starting a Tiny Homes village.
Join journalist Sarah Jeong for a conversation about online trolling, which she referred to as the “Internet of Garbage.”
Jeong is a Poynter Fellow in Journalism at Yale and the author of the book The Internet of Garbage. She writes for Vice Motherboard, and other magazines and newspapers about the overlap between policy, tech, and the law.
Filmed before a live audience in Oakland tiki bar Longitude (347 14th St., Oakland, CA), each episode is a speculative, informal conversation between Ars Technica hosts Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar and an invited guest. The audience, drawn from Ars Technica’s readers, is also invited to join the conversation and ask questions. These aren’t soundbyte setups; they are deepcuts from the frontiers of research and creativity.
Doors are at 7pm, and the live taping is from 7:30 to 8:00pm (be sure to get there early if you want a seat). Then you can stick around for informal discussion at the bar, along with delicious tiki drinks and snacks. Can’t make it out to Oakland? Never fear! Episodes will be posted to Ars Technica the week after the live events.
For those who attended last month, we’ll have a new speaker setup so it should be easier to hear everything. Audio technology is the final frontier.
Sarah Jeong is a journalist who was trained as a lawyer. She is a contributing editor at Vice Motherboard who writes about technology, policy, and law. She is the author of “The Internet of Garbage”, and has bylines at the Atlantic, the Verge, Forbes, the Guardian, Slate, WIRED, Vice Magazine, and Bitch Magazine. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 2014. As a law student, she edited the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, and worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. She is a Poynter Fellow in Journalism at Yale for 2016, and also currently a fellow at the Internet Law & Policy Foundry.
Annalee Newitz is the tech culture editor at Ars Technica. Previously she was the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo and io9. She is the author of Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction (Doubleday). Her first novel, Autonomous, comes out in 2017 from Tor Books.
Cyrus Farivar is the senior business editor at Ars Technica. His book, The Internet of Elsewhere (Rutgers University Press) is about the history and effects of the Internet on different countries around the world, including Senegal, Iran, Estonia and South Korea. He previously was the Sci-Tech Editor, and host of “Spectrum” at Deutsche Welle English, Germany’s international broadcaster.
CAN THE POLICE IN SF REALLY BE REFORMED?
With the growing movement for Black Lives, and the struggle against racist policing continuing, many people are asking questions about how we can be safe from police terror. The violence of modern day policing has its roots in the capitalist state. Come join us to discuss this history and what’s next for the movement to get killer cops charged, fired, and jailed. What should we be demanding to defend Black, Latino, homeless, and working people in San Francisco and beyond?
Open as MANY homes as possible…
Hold them as long as possible…
Monthly APTP meeting, held on every 3rd Wednesday of the month.
Please join us for this important general meeting. We will be working specifically on the four demands we put forth following the OPD Rape Scandal:
1) Nancy O’Malley must publicly state she intends to launch a full investigation into the police officers who raped and trafficked a 17 year old child and press charges against all officers involved.
2) Divest 50% of the Oakland Police Department’s budget and redirect those funds to career centers, job training programs, mental health services, youth programming and services for sex workers.
3) The establishment of a CIVILIAN controlled police review commission
4) Libby Schaaf must to resign�
We will also be discussing next steps in the Teodora Valencia case, as well as First Responders needs and work.
See you in the streets~
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.
The Sheriff wants to build a new $55 million jail expansion at Santa Rita for treating mentally ill inmate. It needs to be stopped in its tracks and the money redirected to mental health treatment outside of jail.
We’ve got some momentum to re-invigorate and have a lot to discuss with the decarceration plan. Here a tentative agenda for 7/28, feel free to add additional items by directly replying to me.
- Check in
- What’s happening, what’s coming up in the community
- LeeLoo Update
- Individual and org commitments
- Shared leadership structure and coalition admin.
- agenda setting
- meeting location
- facilitation
- meeting frequency
- listservs
- Decarceration Plan
East of Salinas: Film & Discussion for Immigrant Heritage Month, 6/16/16
East of Salinas takes us to the heart of California’s “Steinbeck Country,” the Salinas Valley, to meet a bright boy and his dedicated teacher – both sons of migrant farm workers. With parents who are busy working long hours in the fields, third grader Jose Ansaldo often turns to his teacher, Oscar Ramos, for guidance. But Jose is undocumented; he was born in Mexico. Like many other migrant children, he is beginning to understand the situation – and the opportunities that may be lost to him through no fault of his own.
Sponsored by MomsRising’s Good Food Force, Ecology Center, Civic Engagement Laboratory and Welcome.US for Immigrant Heritage Month. Light snacks and non-alcoholic beverages will be served.
Click here to get your tickets for this free event!
The demand for justice is happening and needs you!
THURSDAY: 6:30pm–9:00pm
Healing
Blessed with an abundance of local healing pracitioners in so many modalities, we assert the right of people and land to Heal. Herbal pain patches from Shift Acupuncture Collective; Danza Azteca with CuauhTonal; South African songs with the Vukani Mawethu choir; free food, and more.
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FRIDAY: 3:00–4:00pm
Rally & March Kickoff with #StopStayExpand
“WE DEMAND immediate protections for renters, redirecting City money to protect low wage workers & public education around connection between police terror, displacement and the impact on our schools/young people!”
More info on the Week of Action to ReClaim Oakland:
https://www.facebook.com/events/504950389694691/
Averi Sellassie Blackwell, 39, will lead a frank conversation with Bobby Seale, 79. Tickets are available for $20.
March to City Hall, Rally at OGP.
Oakland’s rents are rising faster than almost every city in the United States creating a displacement crisis that touches all of our communities. The crisis has particular negative impacts on Black residents that manifest in lack of access to quality housing, jobs, and education, as well as increased racialized profiling.
Meanwhile, the Oakland Police continue to be out of control.
STOP the hemorrhaging of severely impacted populations.
STAY – Retain current & long-time residents of Oakland.
EXPAND opportunities for displaced persons to return to the City.
and put the Oakland Police under civilian control.
The Week of Action is Supported by: ACCE Action, Anti-Police Terror Project (APTP), Community Ready Corps (CRC) and East Bay Organizing Committee (EBOC, Fight 4 $15).
Forty-five years ago, before Watergate, Wikipedia Leaks and Eric Snowden, there was Media, Pennsylvania, 1971. It was the town where eight brave souls broke into the FBI office and stole secret files and shared them with the public. In doing so they uncovered the FBI’s illegal domestic spying program COINTELPRO.
The film was produced and directed by Johanna Hamilton bringing this crucial but little known episode to life.
This riveting heist story told through a combination of exclusive interviews, rare primary documents, the investigation, and national news coverage spurs dramatic reactions. The film reveals the haunting echoes to today’s question of privacy in the era of government surveillance.
As usual, popcorn and other refreshments will also be available.
Free Admission (donations appreciated).
May 14, May 21, May 28, June 4, June 11, June 18, June 25, 1-5pm
Using news photographs, memorabilia, reconstructed objects, documentary fragments, and original documents, contemporary artist Kate Haug re-tells the story of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last monumental social protest prior to his assassination. The exhibition features images and objects culled from Haug’s extensive research in the archives of the Associated Press, the popular press, and eBay, which have not been seen together before, bringing to life the complex ambition of King’s vision.
King began organizing the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) in 1967 to unify America’s poor across class rather than racial lines, believing that economic parity was key to African American equality within the United States. The PPC culminated with a 3,000 person shanty town named Resurrection City, constructed on the National Mall in Washington DC. Resurrection City drew people from all over the country, was the nineteen sixties version of the 1932 Bonus March and a predecessor to “Occupy”. The exhibition time frame for this show mirrors many of the actual dates of the campaign, tracing the Resurrection City’s opening day to its final destruction.
The PPC echoes aspects of current social movements such as Black Lives Matter, Fight for Fifteen, and Our Walmart. In San Francisco, a city with one the highest rates of income inequality in the United States, King’s work asks pointed questions about the contemporary social contract and the democratic promise of America.
News Today: A History of the Poor People’s Campaign in Real Time runs from April 9, 2016 to June 25, 2016.
Gallery Talks:
Sat May 14, 2pm:
Justin Gomer Ph.D., Lecturer, American Studies, UC Berkeley
A discussion of the images in News Today as they relate to the shifting political landscape in the years after 1968.
Sat May 21, 2pm:
E.C. Feiss, Ph.D. Student, Art History, UC Berkeley
The Politics of Display
Join the Alameda Renters Coalition for a BBQ and launch party for our new website! All are welcome — long-time friends, family, kids, pets, and those just learning about us! We’ll have barbeque from a special member and Alameda resident, opportunities to get involved with the Coalition’s exciting summer work, and games for kids. Hope to see you there!
The first West Oakland screening of Dogtown Redemption is this Saturday Producer/co-director Amir Soltani will discuss the film after the screening. Find out more at DogtownRedemption.
Shot over seven years, DOGTOWN REDEMPTION is not only the intimate story of recyclers in West Oakland but a journey through a landscape of love and loss, devotion and addiction, prejudice and poverty.
A surprising number of Americans make their living off a vast river of trash. DOGTOWN REDEMPTION follows this river, and its inhabitants in a lively, bustling yet invisible corner of California. Every year, Californians buy about 22 billion carbonated and non-carbonated drinks in aluminum, glass, and plastic containers—a river of trash. Under California law beverage containers can be redeemed for a few cents per container. As a result of this legal innovation, trash can be turned into cash—a lifeline for a subculture of marginalized recyclers: the unemployed and underemployed, the elderly, the mentally and physically disabled, former criminals, drug addicts and prostitutes can reclaim the pride and joy that comes with having a job.
We follow the lives of three recyclers: Jason Witt, the titan of recycling; Landon Goodwin, a former minister, and addict who struggles with his own fall from grace; and Miss Hayok Kay, the ultimate outsider, formerly a Polkacide drummer from a prominent Korean-American family, now at the mercy of the elements and predators. Through them, we are introduced to the art, science, economics and politics of recycling: what it offers, how it touches the poor and why it matters to all of us.
We follow their lives through the prism of a single recycling center: Alliance Metals, located in West Oakland. With annual sales in the millions, Alliance is an anomaly in an otherwise depressed neighborhood that has witnessed the steady flight, erosion and collapse of American industry. Its owner, Jay Anast, purchases bottles and cans from shopping cart recyclers. His business operates as a financial hub and community center, turning Alliance not only into a center of economic activity but a Fellini set populated with the most improbable of characters—the pirates of trash. By virtually any measure, the denizens of the recycling center—the poorest of the poor—should be dead. But they defy Darwin. Poverty has turned them into the masters of improvisation and ingenuity.
In the view of the residents of Magnolia Row and other new developments in West Oakland, Jay’s time is up. His business is noisy, smelly, ugly and dirty—a giant garbage can. It attracts blight: scavengers, drug dealers, and criminals who depress, destroy and disrespect the promise of the American dream. The rattle of the shopping carts, missing garbage cans, litter on the streets, public defecation, theft, crime and trespassing are offered as evidence that the recyclers are not only stealing garbage but are a blight upon the neighborhood.
Dogged by addiction, mental health issues, homelessness and poverty, the recyclers’ grip on life remains tenuous. Recycling serves as the only constant in their life. Yet with commodity prices collapsing, the neighbors calling for a ban on shopping cart traffic, and the city launching a sting against Alliance Metals, their way of life is threatened from all sides. As the battle for the future of the recycling center heats up, a larger debate over the history, culture and future of West Oakland grows more intense.
The question of who owns our garbage makes these otherwise marginal characters important voices in a conflict over race, class and space in a modern American city. And that war is not only one waged on the streets, but also at City Hall—a battle over who defines the rules that equate poverty and recycling with blight, crime and theft.
DOGTOWN REDEMPTION humanizes and celebrates this other America; the America that many of us do not see. That a small recycling center has allowed so many to survive on a daily basis—for years, even decades—is a minor miracle. A reminder that even in trash there can be life, love and redemption.
Justice4Tyranny’s work is a visual exploration of the world’s social oppressions. He takes complex social ideas puts them into multifaceted layers of visual metaphors using symbolism and sattire. Among many themes, he highlights themes of heroinism, mass incarceration, subjugation of womyn, and gentrification. He is one of the premier emerging artists rising in the Bay Area and this work is a must see.
Artist Talk 7pm
Open reception with light refreshments following.
Tonight in #Oakland at 7pm, Building for National Prison Work Strike on Sept 9th. https://t.co/cAwaJJIJll pic.twitter.com/aG0BxOPO1A
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) June 18, 2016
SJC Presents the Film “Power of the Weak”
“The Power of the Weak” film, sponsored by BFUU’s SJC and the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity, is a documentary film by independent German filmmaker Tobias Kriele, which highlights being disabled does not have to mean weak. In this film, Jorgito, a young Cuban with severe cerebral palsy, shows how a society structured to support human development can make the disabled powerful.
Refreshments available.