Calendar

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Oct
21
Fri
The Greatest Heist You Never Heard of: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI and the Unveiling of COINTELPRO @ Berkeley Repertory Theater
Oct 21 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party, the National Alumni Association of the Black Panther Party (NAABPP), in association with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre ~ presents a special program ~

The Greatest Heist You Never Heard of: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI and the Unveiling of COINTELPRO


Friday, October 21, 2016 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm

With our democracy in the cross hairs of “G” Man #1, some courageous citizens stood up to defend our liberties.

The program will feature the film, 1971: Before Watergate, WikiLeaks, and Edward Snowden, There Was Media, Pennsylvania.

Directed by Johanna Hamilton, 1971 is a moving account of how citizens found the extraordinary courage to carry out one of the most powerful acts of non-violent resistance in American history: a break in to the FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania. |

“We were early whistleblowers before whistleblowers were known as such,” says Dr. John Raines, a member of the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI (group who broke into the office).
PANEL DISCUSSION with QUESTION and ANSWER SESSION
 * Bobby Seale – Co-Founder, Black Panther Party
* Kathleen Cleaver, Esq. – Former Communications Secretary, Black Panther Party
* Dr. John Raines – Professor of Religion (Retired)
* Bonnie Raines – Civil Rights and Anti-War Activist
* Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele – Senior Community Organizer, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
* Michael D. McCarty – Former Chicago Black Panther
Moderator: Dr. J. Vern Cromatie – Professor of Sociology; Chair of the Sociology Dept., Contra Costa College

There will be a post-screening presentation by Dr. Raines on why dissent is the lifeblood of democracy.
“As a nation we continue to debate the proper use of domestic surveillance techniques, particularly as technology has evolved in ways that could not have been foreseen during the 1970s, the country must remain vigilant to abuses of power, no matter what the stated public purpose of the abusers. May we strengthen our resolve to protect the rights the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI cherished and helped preserve over forty years ago”

Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (from the Congressional record commending the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI for exposing the illegal COINTELPRO program)

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McKibben & the Millennials @ San Rafael Community Center
Oct 21 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

McKibben & the Millennials in Marin

brother_billDon’t miss this cross-generational event!  Renowned writer, climate activist and 350.org c0-founder and senior advisor Bill McKibben is the keynote speaker at “Bill McKibben and Bay Area Millennials: Reclaiming Our Climate Future.”  Following his talk, Bill will participate in a lively panel discussion with Bay Area millennial activists about the climate work they are engaged in. 

The panel will be moderated by Joe Mueller, Professor of Environmental Science at College of Marin.  Speakers include:  Rose Strauss, leader of 350 Bay Area Youth Climate Action, a Drake High School senior; Sophia Baratashvili, President of the Environmental Action Club at College of Marin; Cesar Fragoso, East Oakland intern with Communities for a Better Environment; and Owen Bartolf of the Marin School of Environmental Leadership.

The last segment of the program will be a Q&A session with the audience focused on the steps we all need to take to rapidly mobilize and regain control of our climate future.

Sponsored by 350 Marin, the event is free to students, with a $10 suggested donation for others.

RSVP ON FACEBOOK.

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Oct
22
Sat
Oakland Freedom Fest @ Caesar Chavez Park
Oct 22 @ 11:00 am – 2:30 pm

OAKLAND FREEDOM FEST: Building Beyond Police & Prisons

October 22nd is the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality and the Take Bake Oakland Coalition and the Justice Reinvestment Coalition is collaborating to put on a Freedom Fest to end and amplify the entangled state violence of police terror, criminalization, and imprisonment.

FREE FOOD | COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS | MUSIC | CULTURAL PERFORMANCES | RESOURCE FAIR

The trauma and oppression our black, brown, immigrant, queer, trans, gender non-conforming, poor, and disabled communities face with police terror and imprisonment go hand in hand. So turn out to the Oakland Freedom Fest to build the power of our communities. Let’s break the cycles of of state violence and poverty and make our communities safe, healthy, and strong!

RESOURCE FAIR DIRECTORY:
– Alternatives to Calling the Cops & De-Escalation Trainings
– Voter Registration & Voter Guides
– Prop 47 & Clean Slate Record Expungement Clinics
– Community Mapping
– more to come!

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Power to the People! Black Panther 50th Anniversary Rally and Concert @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Oct 22 @ 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

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Making Solidarity With BLM Visible in East Bay Neighborhoods
Oct 22 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Are you outraged by recent attacks by police upon unarmed Black men and women in Baltimore, Tulsa, Minneapolis, Baton Rouge, and Charlotte, NC? Are you angry that as brutal as the attacks have been, almost no officers have been charged or held accountable for their actions? Join SURJ – Bay Area for an initial coordination meeting to discuss bringing our support for the Movement 4 Black Lives to neighborhoods across the East Bay.

As non-Black allies, we witness these injustices and know that it is critical to make our empathy and support for Black people visible and public now more than ever! Throughout the East Bay and nationally, folks have been holding weekly gatherings on prominent street corners and freeway overpasses, holding signs and making visible our support for Black communities in these critical times. These gatherings, or “human billboards,” have been a simple yet effective way of calling attention to injustice and demonstrating solidarity.

Meeting objectives:
1) To listen to and Q&A with folks who have established regular vigils/billboards in their neighborhoods.
2) To provide interested folks the tools and skills necessary to organize their own committee.
3) To establish a new network of neighborhood-based committees that will organize human-billboards in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives

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A Socialist Perspective on the Environment – With Carol Danserea @ Niebyl-Proctor
Oct 22 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
sm_website01.jpg Why are we losing our fight for the Earth? And what will it take to win? To answer these urgent questions, we must understand what’s blocking our way forward: an economic system based on exploitation of the earth and of its people. We must acknowledge that many of the strategies followed by environmental groups up until now have limited the possibility of real change. There are solutions for all of the world’s environmental problems. We can create the world we want and prevent the destruction of the planet when we mobilize our forces to bring about the changes that we want and need.

Come and hear Carol Dansereau who has been fighting for the Earth as an organizer, attorney and non-profit director for three decades. Based in Seattle, she is the author of What It Will Take: Rejecting Dead-ends and False Friends in the Fight for the Earth. (http://www.caroldansereau.com.)

After the presentation, there will be time for discussion.

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Film Showing: Do Not Resist! “The increasingly disturbing realities of American police culture.” @ Elmwood Theater
Oct 22 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Do Not Resist

Q&A with director Craig Atkinson Sat, Oct 22nd after 7pm show!

To Purchase Tickets Click HERE

DO NOT RESIST is director Craig Atkinson’s directorial debut. From the protests in Ferguson to disagreements on Capitol Hill — whether he is following a heavily armored SWAT team as they issue a no-call warrant or inside a police training seminar that teaches the importance of “righteous violence”– Atkinson delivers a unique and powerful image of the stories and characters surrounding an issue that has billions of dollars — and lives — hanging in the balance. Using footage shot over two years, in 11 states, The Tribeca Film Festival winner for Best Documentary Feature DO NOT RESIST reveals a rare and surprising look into the increasingly disturbing realities of American police culture.

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Oct
23
Sun
Sunflower Alliance General Assembly @ Bobby Bowen Progressive Center
Oct 23 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Join us for an in-depth look at rent control measures on the ballot in Richmond and Oakland — two of the key Bay Area cities where rising costs are pushing working- and middle-class people out of their communities. Plus updates on our campaigns. We need your participation and your voice!

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Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza or basement of Omni basement if raining
Oct 23 @ 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over four years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

 

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Community Democracy Project @ Omni Commons
Oct 23 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.

Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.

Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.

The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.

Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!

61761
Community Democracy Project: 4th Sundays are 4 Sci-Fi @ Omni Commons
Oct 23 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Every Sunday The Community Democracy Project and our supporters gather to imagine a society that functions differently. We organize and strategize to make Participatory Budgeting a reality in Oakland through a voter initiative that uplifts and values the voices of the most marginalized.

Beginning August 28th every 4th Sunday will be dedicated to a work of Science Fiction that inspires us. We’re very excited to blast off with the short story, Bloodchild by Octavia Butler. Read (attached in the comments!) and join us to share your insight and inspiration.

Future works may include but are not limited to: novels, articles, episodes and films!

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Liberated Lens Collective @ Omni Commons
Oct 23 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Liberated Lens Collective is a community media project based in Oakland, California. We share resources, skills and knowledge to tell stories that might otherwise remain untold. We believe that story telling belongs to everyone. We do not depend on mainstream media or an expensive film school: we empower ourselves to make our own images!

We learn by doing. We teach eachother. We work horizontally, and operate by consensus. We make films in a spirit of collaboration, inclusivity and solidarity, maintain a film equipment library for creative projects, organize free, at cost or donation-based workshops, and host film screenings. In May 2015 we organized the Films 2 The People Short Film Festival.

To be updated about what we do, join our announce mailing list: Liberated_Lens.announce@lists.riseup.net

To get involved, come to our meetings! We’re open and happy to welcome you, no matter your experience level. Sometimes, the meetings turn into creative workshops!

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Oct
24
Mon
Black Panther Leader Kathleen Cleaver Speaks @ Merritt College, R-110
Oct 24 @ 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

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Black Panthers, Pop Art and the Sixties @ 142 Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley
Oct 24 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

61861
Occupy Forum: Report from The Homeless People’s Popular Assembly @ Global Exchange, 2nd floor, across from 16th St. BART
Oct 24 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

OccupyForum presents…

 

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!

Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!

Report from The Homeless People’s Popular Assembly

 

 

The Homeless People’s Popular Assembly (HPPA) is a gathering of the homeless, formerly homeless, and their supporters for self-determination to create solutions for encampments.

Strategies involve:

• Collectively develop a political analysis of the current homeless crisis and the systemic root causes of homelessness,

• Come up with visions of the life we want and create plans to get there (consider short, medium,and long-term demands as appropriate),

• Create and coordinate related collective actions, campaigns, and strategic movement agendas.

We will report on our efforts re: establishing the Homeless People’s Popular Assembly. Additionally we will speak about props R&Q, two anti-homeless measures on the November ballot.

Bilal Mafundi Ali is a longtime organizer/activist with over 30 years experience living and organizing in oppressed communities in Los Angeles. Bilal became involved in the Black Liberation Movement as a teen in Los Angeles as a member of the Black Student Union, organized by the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party Self-Defense.

Throughout the 90’s Bilal served as the program coordinator for the Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA) in Los Angeles. CAPA was started by former members of the BPP, who continue to carry out work against police misconduct. Through his involvement with CAPA, Bilal was imprisoned for six years.

In the 2000s Bilal’s worked and lived in the Skid Row area in Downtown Los Angles as lead organizer with the Los Angeles Coalition Action Network (LACAN) and Coalition L.A. organizing those living in skid row to confront the social-economic policies that give rise to poverty and homelessness, along with organizing resistance against gentrification of the West lake / MacArthur area.

Since moving to San Francisco in 2014, Bilal has been involved with the Coalition On Homelessness, as a Human Rights Advocate and organizer. His current activities with the COH includes establishing the Homeless People’s Speakers Bureau, the Homeless People’s Popular Assembly, and building the campaign against Props R&Q. Bilal is also a board member of the Idriss Stelley Foundation. Bilal serves as the co-coordinator of the

Peoples Commission for Justice Campaign.

Kelly Cutler of the Coalition On Homelessness will also be speaking about Propositions Q & R and our organizing to defeat both these ballot measures. Both anti-homeless ballot measures legislation will be on the November ballot.

 

 

61860
Class: Structures of Radicalization @ Omni Commons
Oct 24 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

An invitation to a class on the

Structures of Racialization

At the Bay Area Public School

A free university in the Omni Commons

When the English first got to Virginia, in the early 1600s, they didn’t see themselves as “white.” It took a century for their colonialism to produce the concepts of race and white supremacy.

We’ve been fighting racism, white privilege, white supremacy, and institutional racism since then. And still, a Trump can come along with his “dogwhistle” politics, and get an instant white following at varying degrees of frenzy. Today even the most liberal cities cannot stop police racial profiling  – while thee illiberal ones officiate over “stop and frisk.”

Ø                 What are we missing?

Ø                 If racism is just a “divide and rule” strategy, why has it always worked so well? Why does it still work so well?

Ø                 How is it that new groups, like immigrants and Muslims, can be continually targetted for racial assault (victim de jour)?

Ø                 If race is a social construct, what is the structure that has been constructed?

Ø                 Is it an economic structure? A cultural structure? What?

Ø                 How deep culturally does it reside in this country?

Ø                 Is “race” a noun or a verb?

This class will look at the the structures of policing today, of segregation yesterday, and of colonization and slavery the day before that. If the “modern concept of race” was constructed socially at a particular moment, does that imply an ending we can programmatize?

This class will be mostly discussion and dialogue. We will have to address our prejudices about prejudice in order to get to the issues of structure. There will be non-mandatory readings on line for the class. It will also be open to other texts that class members wish to propose.

Facilitator:         Steve Martinot

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Oct
25
Tue
Stand Against Juvenile Fines and Fees @ Room 107
Oct 25 @ 9:00 am – 11:30 am

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Protest the Raid on BackPage @ CA Supreme Court
Oct 25 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

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Black Panthers, Pop Art and the Sixties @ 240 Stephens Hall, UC Berkeley
Oct 25 @ 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm

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Investigative Journalism and Human Rights @ Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley
Oct 25 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism was established in 2011 to honor all those who fought against fascism during the Spanish Civil War by connecting the legacy with international activist causes today. This year’s winners, Lydia Cacho and Jeremy Scahill, discuss their work with Kate Doyle, director of the Evidence Project at the National Security Archive.

Lydia Cacho is an award-winning Mexican journalist, author and human rights activist specialized in women and children’s rights. She has written a dozen books from poetry to fiction, nonfiction, and investigative reporting.Slavery Inc. her international best seller on sex trafficking, human slavery and child pornography has been translated into many languages. Cacho has been recognized for her international investigations of human rights violations and organized criminal networks. She has received 40 international human rights and journalism awards including the Human Rights Watch Ginetta Sagan Amnesty Award; OXFAM award; IWMF award; CNN Hero; UNESCO-Guillermo Cano freedom of expression award; the Wallemberg Medal; the Tucholsky Award; PEN Canada Award; and World Press International Hero 2010 for the International Press Institute in Vienna.

Jeremy Scahill is one of the three founding editors of The Intercept. He is an investigative reporter, war correspondent, and author of the international bestselling books Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield andBlackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere across the globe. Scahill has also served as the national security correspondent for The Nation and Democracy Now! Scahill’s work has sparked several congressional investigations and won some of journalism’s highest honors. He was twice awarded the prestigious George Polk Award, in 1998 for foreign reporting and in 2008 for Blackwater. Scahill is a producer and writer of the award-winning film Dirty Wars, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Kate Doyle is senior analyst of U.S. policy in Latin America at the National Security Archive where she directs the Evidence Project, connecting the right to truth and access to information with human rights and justice struggles in Latin America. Since 1992, Doyle has worked with human rights organizations, truth commissions and prosecutors to obtain government records from secret archives that shed light on state violence. In 2012, Doyle was awarded the ALBA/ Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism, which she shared with Fredy Peccerelli of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala.

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