Annie Danger, Mike Esmailzadeh and Heather will lead a two hour workshop on the basics of intervening in public as a bystander. They will cover the basics of stance, assertiveness, and situational awareness as well as go into depth about different potential scenarios, legality of bystander intervention, physical and social skills and tactics for successful intervention, de-escalation, police involvement, knowing your place, and aftercare.

This workshop cannot cover all possibilities of intervention, but will provide a baseline for reducing harm and acting in effective solidarity with people being harassed or assaulted.

If you have any physical disabilities or differences in ability organizers should know about, please email basebuilding@surjbayarea.org.

Tickets are sliding scale $10 – $20. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Anti Lab is a kind of clubhouse for creative resistance, a meeting place for people who want to transform their frustration with the current political climate into action. Anti Lab’s calendar features everything from a tenants’ rights workshop presented by the East Bay Community Law Center to weekly screen-printing hours and a trans photo booth. All for free.

It will be open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 11am-8pm (ish). With workshops/events on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday afternoons.
​

In the mood for resistance? Read our profile on Anti Lab & join them tonight at 6pm for Hot Fresh Dissent: https://t.co/1vZpSDX7xJ

— East Bay Express (@EastBayExpress) May 4, 2017

Health Care for All – Contra Costa County Chapter and Indivisible Central Contra Costa County will sponsor a showing of a powerful new documentary, Now Is The Time Healthcare for Everybody.

With the future of the Affordable Care Act in serious doubt, millions may lose their health insurance. Medicare and Medi-Cal are under attack. This documentary explains what single payer healthcare is and how it saves money. It shows what behind-the-scenes heroes are doing to clear the fog of misperceptions that has kept us from moving forward.

Q&A and Discussion about newly-introduced State Senate Bill 562,The Healthy California Act (Lara/Atkins).

RSVP here: https://goo.gl/forms/shmW9eipJ1ZFxEjn2

This is a key moment in the fight for single-payer health care. On April 26, the CA Senate Health Committee approved SB-562, a single-payer bill that will make healthcare free for all California residents. No more co-pays, no more expensive premiums. We have been calling our senators relentlessly to urge them to support the bill – now we need to develop more people power to usher SB-562 through the Senate appropriations committee, and through the CA legislature!

Since our February canvassing kick-off, we’ve had 250 volunteer canvassers sign up 1,260 East Bay residents to stay informed and support the fight. Learn more about one of our past big canvassing events here:http://www.eastbaydsa.org/single_payer_campaign_kickoff_building_power_to_win_big

Anyone who comes will receive education on single payer and be trained on how to talk to your neighbors and friends about the issue. First-time canvassers will be paired with experienced organizers and canvassers to go spread the word about single payer, sign people up to be supporters, and recruit new members to DSA. We want all hands on deck for this exciting day! No prior experience necessary!

Please RSVP to let us know if you need childcare, what kind of transportation you will bring, etc
https://goo.gl/forms/shmW9eipJ1ZFxEjn2

BAY AREA: Stand up to attacks on healthcare & join our fight for #SinglePayer in California. Canvass with us on Sunday, May 7 ️ pic.twitter.com/cHJlsUMezr

— DSA East Bay (@DSAEastBay) May 4, 2017

The As Salaam Mosque has invited the East Bay community to show solidarity against harassment and discrimination, share cultural experiences, and celebrate diversity this Sunday from two to four thirty at 975 7th Street. There will be speakers, refreshments, and time to network with neighbors and local leaders.

Imam Muhammed and Pastor Jim Hopkins of the Lakeshore Baptist Church will lead the event in prayer. Speakers include Assembly Member Rob Bonta, leader in the State Sanctuary movement, Assembly Member Tony Thurmond,  Council Members Lynette Gibson McElhany and  Noel Gallo, Jose Hernandez of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s office, School Board Trustee Jumoke Hodge, and former Mayor Jean Quan.  Sundiata Rashid of the Lighthouse Mosque and Reverend Ken Chambers of the West Oakland Baptist Church will also address the gathering.

Jehan Hakim of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, organizer of the event along with Jean Quan, stated, “In these times of bigotry and harassment, it’s important for us as residents of the East Bay and beyond to spend the day with our Muslim neighbors learning what it means to create a real sanctuary in our community.”

Have you ever wondered:

• What do police really spend their time doing?
• How much do they make, and why do they get paid so much?
• Could we shrink OPD and make Oakland an even safer, better place to live?

The process of allocating Oakland’s 2.6 billion dollar budget for 2017-2019 has begun.  We believe that the scandal-ridden and dysfunctional Oakland Police Department consumes far too many of our city’s resources.  It’s time to audit police spending and performance, and redirect wasted funds to community-building, constructive strategies for making Oakland a safer and better place to live.

Our Demands:

• INDEPENDENT AND THOROUGH COST SAVINGS AND PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
• DEFUND OPD BY 50%

PLEASE COME OUT TO YOUR LOCAL BUDGET FORUM:

Monday May 8, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
St Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave

Wednesday May 10, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Annie Campbell
Bret Harte Middle School, 3700 Coolidge Ave

Saturday May 13, 10am-12pm, Councilmembers Lynette McElhaney & Dan Kalb
Beebe Memorial Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave

Wednesday May 17, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmembers Larry Reid & Rebecca Kaplan
Oakland Zoo- Snow Building, 9777 Golf Links Road

Thursday May 18, 6-8pm, Councilmember Desley Brooks
Eastmont Police Dept. Substation, 2651 73rd Ave

Monday May 22, 6-8pm, Councilmember Lynette McElhaney
West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St

Thursday May 25, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
Lincoln Rec Center, 261 11th St. (cantonese interpretation)

Defund OPD will be at each of these budget meetings with information about the police budget, questions to ask, and our demands!  Please show up 15 minutes early if possible.  More information is available at defundopd.org.

#DefundOPD
In the last few weeks we’ve built a ton of momentum and had some significant successes:

-With incredible and wide-ranging community support, we’ve succeeded in making sure that the city’s outrageous and unaccountable spending on police is the #1 topic of discussion at every single city council member budget forum.
-We’ve already gotten the mayor to stand down from her effort to increase the police force to 800 officers, and now the discussion is turning to maintaining the current staffing levels (near 750) instead of the fully budgeted levels (792).
-We’ve gotten almost every council member to commit, on the record, to supporting an independent, thorough audit of police spending, and the city auditor’s office is on board.
-We’ve built a huge amount of synergy and mutual support with dozens of organizations who are calling for various budget priorities that will ACTUALLY make Oakland a safer and more just city — and many of them are now making explicit connections between the bloated police budget and the lack of funding for these crucial measures to support housing affordability, education, homeless services, youth programs and employment, and cultural initiatives.

Press event to ReFund and ReInvest in Oakland & Release of our Community-Labor Budget Platform

We are inviting you to join renters, residents of affordable housing developments, city workers, seniors, artists, immigrants and low wage workers to call on City Leaders to ReFund our communities and support a Community Budget that ensures a healthy, livable and sustainable Oakland for EVERYONE!

In the wake of the Administration’s release of their proposed Bait & Switch Budget that prioritizes displacement and criminalization over the needs of our communities, the ReFund Oakland Community-Labor Coalition will be unveiling the community and worker’s vision for ReFunding & ReInvesting in our city and its most impacted neighborhoods.   It’s time to prioritize public services, housing our residents and protecting our workers and artists who make Oakland the soul of the Bay.

We will be demanding the Administration stand on the side of long-term residents, youth, seniors and workers and NOT wealthy developers who have helped to shape a Bait and Switch Budget that prioritizes displacement!

Please RSVP by responding directly to this email!

Background:

Oakland is in the midst of possibly the worst housing crisis in its 165 year old history.  Thousands of mostly Black and Brown families have been pushed out of the city, homeless encampments have proliferated, wages are still stagnant for low wage workers and our youth and long term, residents of color do not have access to the higher paying jobs that are attracting wealthier newcomers to the city.

In November, 2016, voters took to the polls in hopes of addressing many of these concerns, voting overwhelmingly to authorize ballot measures including Measure KK, Measure HH and others that they thought would alleviate the housing crisis and increase health amongst young people.  However this past Tuesday, Oakland’s current Administration released a Bait and Switch Budget that misallocates and redirects these funds. It continues to prioritize large developers and displacement, placing renters, youth, our city workers and first responders, low wage, immigrant workers, homeless folx and families on the back burner.  At a time of record displacement, nearly weekly fires at homeless encampments and a national administration that has waged war on poor, communities of color, we must demand that Oakland ReFund and ReInvest in our long-term communities and the thousands who have been forced out of their homes and onto the streets.  Additionally, there was no concrete plans in the Mayor’s budget to implement Measure JJ, the renter protection act, to ensure we are protecting tenants at a time of increased displacement.

The ReFund coalition includes ACCE Action, EBHO, SEIU 1021, Street Level Health Project (SLHP), Causa Justa::Just Cause, IFPTE Local 21, Oakland Tenants Union (OTU), CURYJ, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and many others!

Anti Lab is a kind of clubhouse for creative resistance, a meeting place for people who want to transform their frustration with the current political climate into action. Anti Lab’s calendar features everything from a tenants’ rights workshop presented by the East Bay Community Law Center to weekly screen-printing hours and a trans photo booth. All for free.

It will be open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 11am-8pm (ish). With workshops/events on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday afternoons.
​

In the mood for resistance? Read our profile on Anti Lab & join them tonight at 6pm for Hot Fresh Dissent: https://t.co/1vZpSDX7xJ

— East Bay Express (@EastBayExpress) May 4, 2017

Tell the City Council to pass the Privacy Commission’s version. No weakening. No watering down. Real change. 

Subject: Surveillance And Community Safety Ordinance

From: Office Of The City Administrator

Recommendation: Adopt A Surveillance And Community Safety Ordinance Which Prescribes The Rules For The Acquisition And Use Of Surveillance Equipment And Technology, Establishes Oversight, Auditing And Reporting Requirements, And Imposes Penalties For Violations

Facebook Event

It’s been a little over three years since we came together to stop the DAC – the surveillance octopus orwellingly named the Domain Awareness Center.

Out of that effort came the establishment of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission by the Oakland City Council. One of its mandates was to propose an ordinance to regulate all use of surveillance equipment by the City of Oakland, including and especially by OPD.

The ordinance the Commission has crafted, approved unanimously in January, is now up for consideration by the Oakland City Council. It will first be taken up by the Council’s Public Safety Committee on May 9, 2017. This is a crucial hearing.

We need and would very much like you to send a simple letter of support for the ordinance to City Council members. Here’s a brief summary of what the ordinance will do:

• Public hearings on every new gadget and computer program that can be used for surveillance or monitoring
• Approval or denial by vote of the Council on such equipment and software acquisition.
• Approval or denial by vote of the Council on any proposed information sharing with Federal agencies (e.g. ICE).
• Evaluation of civil rights concerns, and a cost/benefit analysis, BEFORE approval.
• Putting in place a privacy and use policy before any equipment or software can be deployed, specifying what it may – and may not – be used for, and how long any data it may gather may be kept.
• A public report every year on how and when the equipment or software has been used. 
• Imposes penalties for violations of the ordinance or a use policy.

Send Them An Email: Tell the City Council NOW to pass the Privacy Commission’s version. No weakening. No watering down. Real change. 

Join experts Nicole Ozer (ACLU of California) and Malkia Cyril (Center for Media Justice) for a timely conversation about digital rights and freedom.

For 15 years there’s been a heated battle over your right to privacy online — from the Patriot Act to the Snowden revelations to the recent repeal of Internet privacy protections.

* What can we expect in the Trump Era?
* What’s at stake? Who’s at risk?
* And, most of all, what can you do to protect yourself and defend democracy in a digital world?

This event during Digital Inclusion Week (May 8-13) kicks off Oakland Public Library’s Digital Self Defense series, which will include hands-on workshops this summer.

Call for information: 510-238-6931

Have you ever wondered:

• What do police really spend their time doing?
• How much do they make, and why do they get paid so much?
• Could we shrink OPD and make Oakland an even safer, better place to live?

The process of allocating Oakland’s 2.6 billion dollar budget for 2017-2019 has begun.  We believe that the scandal-ridden and dysfunctional Oakland Police Department consumes far too many of our city’s resources.  It’s time to audit police spending and performance, and redirect wasted funds to community-building, constructive strategies for making Oakland a safer and better place to live.

Our Demands:

• INDEPENDENT AND THOROUGH COST SAVINGS AND PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
• DEFUND OPD BY 50%

PLEASE COME OUT TO YOUR LOCAL BUDGET FORUM:

Monday May 8, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
St Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave

Wednesday May 10, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Annie Campbell
Bret Harte Middle School, 3700 Coolidge Ave

Saturday May 13, 10am-12pm, Councilmembers Lynette McElhaney & Dan Kalb
Beebe Memorial Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave

Wednesday May 17, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmembers Larry Reid & Rebecca Kaplan
Oakland Zoo- Snow Building, 9777 Golf Links Road

Thursday May 18, 6-8pm, Councilmember Desley Brooks
Eastmont Police Dept. Substation, 2651 73rd Ave

Monday May 22, 6-8pm, Councilmember Lynette McElhaney
West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St

Thursday May 25, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
Lincoln Rec Center, 261 11th St. (cantonese interpretation)

Defund OPD will be at each of these budget meetings with information about the police budget, questions to ask, and our demands!  Please show up 15 minutes early if possible.  More information is available at defundopd.org.

#DefundOPD
In the last few weeks we’ve built a ton of momentum and had some significant successes:

-With incredible and wide-ranging community support, we’ve succeeded in making sure that the city’s outrageous and unaccountable spending on police is the #1 topic of discussion at every single city council member budget forum.
-We’ve already gotten the mayor to stand down from her effort to increase the police force to 800 officers, and now the discussion is turning to maintaining the current staffing levels (near 750) instead of the fully budgeted levels (792).
-We’ve gotten almost every council member to commit, on the record, to supporting an independent, thorough audit of police spending, and the city auditor’s office is on board.
-We’ve built a huge amount of synergy and mutual support with dozens of organizations who are calling for various budget priorities that will ACTUALLY make Oakland a safer and more just city — and many of them are now making explicit connections between the bloated police budget and the lack of funding for these crucial measures to support housing affordability, education, homeless services, youth programs and employment, and cultural initiatives.

“To the Ends of the Earth” follows concerned citizens living at the frontiers of extreme oil and gas extraction, bearing witness to a global crossroads. They call for human ingenuity to rebuild society at the end of the fossil fuel era.

The people we meet are uniquely positioned to watch this global crossroads unfold. For example, the mayor of an Inuit village in Canada’s high Arctic who is concerned that seismic testing for oil in the ocean is blowing up the eardrums of the animals that the Inuit hunt to survive. Or the environmental lawyer who goes on a journey to areas that produce energy for the tar sands of Alberta — he learns of the massive inputs of energy that have to be put into this resource — and the reasons why the second largest oil project in the world is economically unsustainable. Or the river conservationist in Utah who fights to protect the Colorado River from oil shale projects that would disturb its headwaters.

“To the Ends of the Earth” brings forward the voices of those who not only denounce the rise of extreme energy, but also envision the new world that is taking shape in its stead: a future beyond the resource pyramid, a post-growth economy.

A film by David Lavallee. Narrated by Emma Thompson. 80 min. DCP.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with Gar Smith, formerly from the Earth Island Institute and Ash Lauth, with the Center for Biological Diversity, moderated by Tracy Rosenberg, film partner and the ED of Media Alliance

Wednesday 7pm at the Roxie in San Francisco. Only, sole, single San Francisco showing. To The Ends Of The Earth https://t.co/9Ou6R9qgwr

— Media Alliance (@twrling) May 9, 2017

Whose Technology? Protest, Resistance, and the Reshaping of the Global Village

Two groundbreaking critics and historians of technological effects on culture discuss a re-envisioning of the electronic commons. As reactionary corporate elites reshape our geo-political landscape, possibilities emerge for a radical re-accessment of our relationship to information technology and its use. Finn Brunton and Ramesh Srinivasan rigorously explore the possibilities for grassroots resistance to misinformation campaigns, invasions of privacy, trolling, and offer creative approaches for the rebooting of progressive agendas and effective techniques of re-appropriating technology into the service of democratic principles.

Ramesh Srinivasan celebrates the release of his new book:
Whose Global Village? Rethinking How Technology Shapes Our World

About the speakers:

Finn Brunton (finnb.net) is an Assistant Professor in Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. He is the author of Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet and, with Helen Nissenbaum, Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest (both MIT Press) and numerous articles and papers. He is currently working on a history of digital cash and utopian currencies.

Ramesh Srinivasan studies the relationship between technology, politics and societies across the world. He has been a faculty member at UCLA since 2005 in the Information Studies and Design|Media Arts departments. Srinivasan earned his Ph.D. in design studies at Harvard; his master’s degree in media arts and science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at Stanford. Srinivasan is a regular speaker for TEDx Talks, and makes regular media appearances on NPR, Al Jazeera, “The Young Turks,” and Public Radio International. His writings have been widely published by Al Jazeera English, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post. Visit:http://rameshsrinivasan.org/about/

Shahid Buttar is the Director of Grassroots Advocacy for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Shahid leads EFF’s community outreach efforts. He’s a constitutional lawyer focused on the intersection of community organizing and policy reform as a lever to shift legal norms, with roots in communities across the country resisting mass surveillance. Visit: www.eff.org/

http://www.citylights.com/info/?fa=event&event_id=2904

Anti Lab is a kind of clubhouse for creative resistance, a meeting place for people who want to transform their frustration with the current political climate into action. Anti Lab’s calendar features everything from a tenants’ rights workshop presented by the East Bay Community Law Center to weekly screen-printing hours and a trans photo booth. All for free.

It will be open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 11am-8pm (ish). With workshops/events on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday afternoons.
​

In the mood for resistance? Read our profile on Anti Lab & join them tonight at 6pm for Hot Fresh Dissent: https://t.co/1vZpSDX7xJ

— East Bay Express (@EastBayExpress) May 4, 2017

Join us, build with us and unite around an issue that affects all families and all communities. Featuring music, poetry and moderated dialogue with local activists, performing artists and literary icons.

Among other pertinent issues of the day, this event will aim to increase awareness for the missing Black girls in D.C. through catalyzing both conversation and action around the growing epidemic of abducted Black youth nationwide. Although this tragedy has afflicted families and communities on the east coast, we are here in the spirit of solidarity. We will also discuss the horrific conditions of the prison system, the importance of knowing our civil and human rights, and we will address many other injustices faced by oppressed people here and abroad.

Presented by The Hijabi Chronicles in conjunction with Anti Lab

Confirmed participants:
Cat Brooks– Anti Police-Terror Project / KPFA Radio
Zahra Billoo-Executive Director of CAIR – San Francisco Bay Area
Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.-Black Panther Party Cubs / POCC
Dave ‘Davey D-Oakland’ Cook– DJ / Hard Knock Radio – 94.1
Alia Sharrief -MC/Music Artist/Founder The Hijabi Chronicles
Christina Krea Gomez – Indigenous community
Field Marshall Tur-Ha Ak– Pocc Panther Cubs /ARMED Combatives
Ras Ceylon -Educator/Organizer/MC
Yahsmin M. B. Bobo- Writer/Speaker/Educator
Richelle Scales – Songstress/Live band
Candice Antique Davis -Songstress
Edil Yousuf-Poetry
CamishaFatimah Gentry-Ford and daughters – Poetry
Kamilah Mahasin Bilalian Shuaibe -Songstress
Amelah El-Amin – Poetry
*More speakers, performers and special guests TBA soon!*

WHERE: Anti Lab & Chapter 510
2301 Telegraph Ave
Oakland, CA 94612

WHEN: THURSDAY May 11th, 2017
Doors open at 6PM

Admission: FREE

Join us for a speakers panel with visionary artists and organizers Patty Berne, Reina Gossett, Malcolm Shanks, and Kiyaan Abadani, on the intersections and tensions between struggles for disability and trans justice.

This event will be Livestreamed on the Sins Invalid Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/events/206085096568351/

This event is free but due to limited space, RSVP through Eventbrite is required at bit.ly/WeMoveTogether.

As disabled and/or trans people whose bodies are pathologized and policed, how can we move together towards collective liberation? How do we reclaim self-love for our bodies, establish our autonomy, foster interdependence, and assert our right to exist in public space? How can we build cross-movement solidarity from an understanding that no one is disposable? How can artists advance our vision of a world where all body/minds are valued?

This event is organized in conjunction with Trans Life + Liberation, an art exhibit at the event space. It is co-sponsored by Sins Invalid, Peacock Rebellion, Barnard Center for Research on Women – BCRW, and CultureStrike.

Capacity is limited and due to the popularity of this event, we will be seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please refrain from using scented products so more community members may attend. For a partial list of unscented products, visit bit.ly/2n85XuZ. See more info here about being fragrance free and why it’s important.

A parking garage is available on 13th St and Franklin until 8pm. Street parking is scarce but sometimes available.

Childcare is available upon request, provided by Bay Area Childcare Collective, from 6:30-9:30pm at the event space. Please contact micah [at] forwardtogether.org if you’d like childcare.

ACCESS INFORMATION
– The venue is wheelchair accessible.
– Gender neutral ADA accessible restrooms are on the same floor as the event.
– ASL and Spanish interpretation provided from 6:30-8:30
– A quiet/chill room will be available for those wanting reduced stimulation.
– A fragrance reduced area and access to an outdoor rooftop patio will be available.
– Please note: This building has off-gassing materials and other construction scents. There are multiple florescent lights in the lobby, elevators, and event space.
– Access support people will be wearing purple armbands and positioned at the front of the building, the building elevators, the food and drink table, the quiet room and by the fragrance reduced area. A volunteer will be available in the central display area throughout the event to read gallery labels, art text, and visual descriptions.

SAFETY INFORMATION
There will be a trained safety team at the event. They are available to walk with people short distances to and from the event.
>>>Call 510-679-7185 if you’d like a someone to walk with you for safety and/or access support.

This event is supported in part by the Akonadi Foundation’s Beloved Community Fund.