Calendar
What is Disability Justice? People often express feeling intimidated and ill-equipped to unpack what we’ve been taught about disability, and how to support and advocate for disabled people in our everyday lives. This workshop is a fabulous opportunity for you to dive into the magic of disability justice with SURJ and Alex Locust at the helm.
With “Spill the Disabili-Tea™”, Alex will be facilitating an interactive discussion of disability justice for those committed to elevating their support for disabled folks in their community. Using his lived experience, education, and advocacy know-how, he’ll lead a candid conversation exploring the following questions (and more):
-Who is “disabled” and what creates that experience?
-What is “disability justice?”
-What’s the “right way” to interact with people with disabilities?
-How can I do better about those tricky “microaggressions?”
-What’s the difference between “access” and “inclusion?”
-Is disability a cultural experience and how can that intersect with other cultural identities?
-How can I integrate these skills in the community (e.g. Pride celebrations, workplace culture, community gatherings)?
Come join us for an afternoon of real talk, experiential exercises, group work, and lots of laughs as we all Spill the Disabili-Tea™.
How do we approach difficult conversations, whether it’s about racist violence on the border, cultural appropriation, or white supremacy and racial justice in general? What is it like to have these conversations with our family, friends and coworkers with a vision for the long haul? Members of the White Noise Collective will facilitate this workshop exploring the difficult conversations in our lives around race and power.
Preregistration is required due to limited space.
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (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
Migrant rights groups & activist organizations united to #DisarmICE
Please come learn about Rojava’s history, organization, and current struggle.
Years after imperialist markings on a map separated their people and fragmented their territory, 7 years ago the Kurdish people realized a piece of their resistance and reclaimed territory in what is known as northeastern Syria, what has come to be known as Rojava.
A revolution led by women, based on ecological justice and anti-capitalism, that developed a political infrastructure for regionally nested direct democracy and a cooperative solidarity economy among an ethnically and religiously diverse population, Rojava is a beacon for anyone yearning for liberation from the forces of extraction, exploitation, and oppression that dominate global geopolitics.
As a realization of peace and self-determination in the so-called Middle East, Rojava is under constant threat from regional and global authoritarian and fascistic powers. With the recent US facilitated Turkish invasion, this threat is more real than ever. It is of crucial importance to understand what is in jeopardy in Rojava, and how we can mobilize to defend it.
Because of the COVID pandemic we will be meeting virtually via Zoom on the first Monday of the month.
Meeting ID: 828 0976 4186
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.
In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity. Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression. Sisters and brothers! The Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.
We meet on the 1st Monday of each month
You can join our discussion list by sending a blank (doesn’t even need a subject) email to
oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
ACCE Action Oakland is calling for a Bay Area-wide spokescouncil to plan and coordinate actions for a Week of Action for Housing Justice – November 17th – 23rd.
The housing crisis has never been this bad – at least in our lifetimes. Low-income communities of color are being hit the hardest. People are literally dying on our streets, because they cannot afford housing. We are calling on everyone who is being impacted in any way by the artificially-created housing scarcity in Oakland – whether you are unhoused, housing-insecure, rent-burdened, or just tired of watching your friends and , family and neighbors being forced to leave – to help us SHUT IT DOWN!
We need to continue raising the alarm and demanding action until our politicians recognize that housing is a basic human right; until everyone has a stable and affordable place to call home. We need to take the crisis in our communities to the doorsteps of decision-makers.
During this week we will be highlighting the damage being done by large corporate speculators that have bought up homes in our neighborhoods as an investment strategy for Wall Street bondholders. We will expose the large number of units sitting vacant in luxury buildings, bought as investments by the wealthy. We will expose speculators that are flipping our apartment buildings and jacking up our rents to move in wealthier tenants.
Together, we will unleash the vast creativity and organizing capacity of our communities and produce a spectrum of disruptive and visionary activity. We want these actions to meaningfully interrupt business as usual whether that be with direct action, teach-ins, flash mobs, or prayer vigils, and to do so with action-logic that links our resistance to fighting racism, economic injustice, and colonization. We want you to plan these actions independently, but together we will coordinate collective support for these actions through a spokescouncil so that they have maximal support and impact.
Attend a spokescouncil meeting :
Monday, November 4th at 7 pm
Thursday, November 7th at 7 pm
Saturday, November 9th at 11 am
Monday, November 11th at 7 pm
Thursday, November 14th at 7 pm
What is a spokescouncil?
A spokescouncil is a collective framework for direct action mobilizations, where large masses of people organize themselves into smaller teams called “affinity groups”. Affinity groups plan their actions independently with the intention of advancing the larger goal of the spokescouncil. Affinity groups are represented by at least one person (“a spoke”) at the meetings, where they are able to share resources and coordinate their actions with other groups.
Why a spokescouncil?
We propose the spokescouncil as a solution to many of the shortcomings of unstructured mass assemblies. We intend to provide a highly structured organizing space with clear tactical and messaging guidelines, that empowers participants to organize independently and in parallel. We intend to inspire a multitude of diverse actions and awaken the massive potential we have as a community engaging in direct action.
Start forming an affinity group now:
Discuss this callout with your friends, comrades, fellow workers, families, roommates, etc. See if you can pull together a crew of people who will be in close contact for the next few weeks, who are similar-minded and want to step up to organize or take part in actions. Then start planning an action! At least one of you should come to the spokescouncil meeting to share ideas and coordinate with the larger group.
Members Needed for Working Groups:
If you have the capacity to participate in the week of action but do not have an affinity group, plus come and join one of our Week of Action working groups:
– Media
– Outreach
– Big March – Wednesday, November 20th
Dear neighbors and allies,
The fight for the maximum amount of 100% affordable housing on the E12th St. parcel continues. In the past month, we filed a legal appeal with the city, raised $2k for filing fees, submitted a Public Ethics Complaint against a council member for their conflict of interest, and successfully pressured the council to move the E12th land sale discussion from a closed meeting, to a public session. Next week, the Oakland City Council will make the final decision on whether to approve our appeal. If we win, we will have a new opportunity to realize the People’s Proposal, a community-generated proposal for 100% affordable housing, but we need your help.
In the next week, we need individuals and ally organizations to help in four specific ways:
1. Sign-on to our letter to the City Council asking them to approve our legal appeal of the UrbanCore luxury tower development. We need ally organizations and individual community members to endorse our letter. Read the letter and sign-on here: bit.ly/E12Appeal
2. Send your own individual email to the City Council, asking them to approve our legal appeal and support the maximum amount of affordable housing on our public land. You can write your own email, or use the template attached. Email council@oaklandca.gov by Nov. 4.
3. Join an upcoming meeting with individual city council members this week, to push them to support the People’s Proposal. Email Jen Miller at soyjenn@gmail.com ASAP if you can attend a meeting with a council member on behalf of your organization, or as an individual.
4. Fill the council chambers for the Nov. 5 City Council meeting and to speak out in support of our appeal and the People’s Proposal. The Council will decide whether to approve UrbanCore’s market-rate housing tower or to uphold our appeal — we need a massive turnout to win. We are ready to support you with talking points and snacks! Please come and bring two friends! Please share this call out!! Tuesday Nov. 5 at 5:30 pm or when you can, at City Hall.
Background: Eastlake United for Justice and the E.12th St. Coalition has been engaged in a multi-year campaign to win affordable housing on city-owned public land. Despite massive community opposition, the City of Oakland has offered the developer a series of sweetheart deals to develop a luxury tower consisting of 253 market-rate units, and a separate smaller building with only 90 “affordable” units. After several years, the market-rate tower development is now moving toward final approval, and we have one more chance to re-engage the City, kill the deal, and guarantee 133 100% affordable homes for close to 700 people and numerous public amenities on public land through our community-generated People’s Proposal.
Thank you for being part of our collective fight for affordable housing and community-driven development on public land in Oakland.
In solidarity,
Eastlake United for Justice
E12th Individual Supporter Letter Template for City Council:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sRSikAOdBY7hz0GCkGA1WoJI3CFzO-xhgxns2HT-glg/edit
Every Face Every Tent Has A Story!
This will be an engaging evening through the use of the films from two local Berkeley film makers, highlighting some of the “Unhoused” population residing in Berkeley followed by a presentatiom/discussion of the problems facing those on the streets as well as their impact on the housed residents that have been their neighbors.
Dinner will be buffet style and several local restaurants have already agreed to donate. Some of the sponsors are: The Thai Table, Everett & Jones, Juan’s Place, all in Berkeley, and Cal Peternell’s new restaurant, The LEDE located in Oakland… and MORE!
RESERVATIONS: Due to limited seating, If you want to attend, PLEASE let Eleanor know ASAP and get your seats reserved now:
Email her at: Eleanor@ConsiderTheHomeless.org
Be sure to include your name, email address, phone number and the # of tickets to reserve. To guarantee your reservations tickets must be paid in full by Oct. 31st
Pay by Check: Make it out to Consider The Homeless!
then mail it to Consider The Homeless
PO Box #2771
Berkeley, CA 94702
Pay by Credit Card: only available via PayPal.
Barbara Brust – Founder, Director – Consider The Homeless!
Please forward this to others or share with them this link.
www.ConsiderTheHomeless.org/Newsletters/100819.html
Join us election night, Tuesday, Nov. 5th at 7pm for KPFA’s Documentary Night Screening of:
The Great White Hoax by Tim Wise.
In The Great White Hoax, anti-racist educator Tim Wise explores how American political leaders have scapegoated people of color to divide working class voters and consolidate power. Taking from Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign it expands its scope to make sense of what’s happening today as we gear up for 2020 and how Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric fits a pattern of racism that goes back centuries.
After-film discussion led by Adrienne Lauby of the program Pushing Limits. Adrienne will share her insight on the film (with audience participation) and her own 9 years of anti-racism work experience.
Join the East Bay DSA Socialist Night School for a discussion of Suzy Lee’s groundbreaking essay “The Case for Open Borders,” kicked off by a video interview with Lee herself.
For a century, the US labor movement advocated immigration restrictions in fear that new immigrants would drive down wages for US workers. In the last few decades, however, the AFL-CIO has made a dramatic turn to become advocates for comprehensive immigration reform. What accounts for that shift?
Policies that aim to restrict immigration flows rarely achieve their intended result. Instead, their main result is to deprive immigrant workers of rights and to undermine the ability of all workers to organize to improve their conditions. For that reason, Lee argues, the labor movement should advocate for the free movement of labor across borders. Such a stance provides the basis for solidarity between working-class people regardless of where they are born.
Find the readings here: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/night-school/
We will rally on Sproul Steps on the UC Berkeley Campus to defend, protect, and save People’s Park from development. Don’t let UC destroy our historic, green, and public space! Join us! Be part of the power of the People of People’s Park!
PUBLIC FINANCE WORKSHOP: MEMBER MEETING
Ella Baker Center November Member Meeting
Public Finance in Elections: Why it Matters to Oakland Residents
A non-partisan workshop lead by Voting Rights Attorney of Northern CA, Christina E. Fletes in collaboration with the Oakland Public Ethics Committee.
Learn what public finance is, why it’s important, how it’s worked in other cities and how Oakland can incorporate public finance in its elections.
This is an open member meeting, all are welcome, ADA Accessible, free dinner will be provided. The Ella Baker Center is right off of Fruitvale Village at 34th and International.
50 years ago this fall, on November 20, a group of people that came to be known as Indians of All Tribes began a 18-month occupation of Alcatraz Island. This act of self-determination emerged from conditions faced on reservations and in urban centers, from the activism of the Third World Strike at San Francisco State, and resulted in major changes taking place across the continent. From a new consciousness of sovereignty to at least ten major policy and law shifts, Mary Jean Robertson, host of the radio show Voices of the Native Nations, discusses the far reaching impact of claiming “the Rock”.
Relevant Agenda Items:
4. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Live Stream Camera Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and take possible action
5. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OFD – Data Collection for Wildfire District and Fire Safety Inspections – review and take possible action
6. Federal Task Force Transparency Ordinance – OPD – FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force MOU – review and take possible action
As guest curator of Who Owns the Earth? –A New exhibit that examines Henry George’s, 1800’s masterpiece on societal inequality, I invite you to attend a free event!
140 years ago in San Francisco Henry George, rocked the world with his book Progress & Poverty. At the Main Library, Koret Auditorium Historian and actor David Giesen takes on the role of Henry George in a Chautauqua performance set in 1890. Addressing the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, for whom George had been the founding secretary, George reminisces about his San Francisco days during the 1860s and 1870s.
https://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1039825001
An informal discussion on chapters 3-6 of Angela Davis’ book Women, Race and Class focusing on the intersections of race, class and gender in relation to slavery and the early abolitionist and suffragist movements. This will be the second part of an ongoing reading series. Feel free to attend even if you missed the first discussion.
Come by our open Delegates Meetings! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
This meeting usually happens in the Ballroom, but the the location may change depending on the access needs of people attending and other events taking place in the building.