Calendar

Green Party of Alameda County: Green Sunday presentation at 5 PM
(Followed by County Council business meeting at 6:30. All are welcome to attend)

Find Zoom info below.

Dr. Rasmus will review the condition of the US economy in 2020 and explain why last summer’s partial economic rebound has begun to relapse at year’s end. Why more economists now predict a further slowdown in early 2021. What’s happened to jobs, rents, household debt, wages, and income inequality trends over the past year. Why fiscal policy and bailouts–from the March ‘Cares Act’ to the recent ‘CashAct’–have proven insufficient for recovery. How and why Federal Reserve monetary policies have enriched the 1%, big corporations, investors who play into every best Bitcoin trading robot and even created record stock market values. What are some possible scenarios for America’s current ‘Triple Crisis’–economic, health, and political–in 2021 as the Great Recession 2.0 enters its second year.Dr. Jack Rasmus is the author of the recently published book, The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Policy from Reagan to Trump, Clarity Press, January 1, 2020. He currently teaches economics at St. Marys College in Moraga, on the subjects of US economic policy, US political change, financial business cycles, history of economic thought, American Labor and unions, and US Economic History. He is a graduate of UC, Berkeley (BA Economics) and University of Toronto (MA, Ph.D Political Economy).

Dr. Rasmus is author of several prior books on the USA and global economy, including Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of the Fed, 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes, 2017; Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, 2016;  Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, 2016; Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression, 2010; Obama’s Economy: Recovery for the Few, 2012; and The War At Home: The Corporate Offensive From Reagan to George W. Bush, 2006.
His stage plays include ‘1934’, ‘Fire on Pier 32’, and ‘Hold the Light’. He blogs regularly at Znet & Counterpunch (USA), Global Research (Canada), Telesur (Caracas), World Review of Political Economy (Beijing-London), and European Financial Review (London).
Prior to teaching and publishing, Dr. Rasmus was formerly an economist and strategic market analyst for various global tech & market research companies for twenty years. Before that, for more than a decade, he was a local union president, contract negotiator, strike coordinator, and organizer for various unions, including the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981, CWA Locals 9455 & 9415, Hotel & Restaurant Local 19, and SEIU Local 715.Dr. Rasmus blogs at: https://jackrasmus.com/  His website is http://kyklosproductions.com & his twitter handle is @drjackrasmus. He hosts the weekly radio show, Alternative Visions, on the Progressive Radio Network (podcasts available at: http://alternativevisions.podbean.com).

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows, at 6:30 pm. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82620271999?pwd=S3ZwUklteGI5YjJsMEtMSnJXRzU3UT09

Meeting ID: 826 2027 1999
Passcode: 2020

One tap mobile
+16699009128,,82620271999#,,,,,,0#,,2020# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,82620271999#,,,,,,0#,,2020# US (Houston)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Meeting ID: 826 2027 1999
Passcode: 2020
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kgrlxBN1m

PLANET PEOPLE PEACE
before profit!

We're hosting a press conference MONDAY MORNING at 10a! Did you know there's a COVID-19 outbreak in #SantaRitaJail? Hear from directly impacted folks, lawyers, & advocates who are collectively working to #FreeSRJ & #DefundTheSheriff to promote public health in the jail & county! pic.twitter.com/HD1NvPBqN2

— Decarcerate Alameda County (@decarcerateAC) January 10, 2021

Zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/J/89351447947

Okland PD uses a “Bearcat” tank-like vehicle for pre-planned SWAT deployments, often to serve warrants; at the Oakland Coliseum and other public events; at Sideshows; and to respond to emergencies. OPD also uses an armored “Surburban” SUV, which is not military-looking or as large and can withstand gunfire. In 2018-2019, OPD deployed the Bearcat about twice a week on average, mostly in East Oakland and West Oakland, never in the hills. The Bearcat’s expected functional life span will be up in about 3-5 years. Some people propose not getting another vehicle like the Bearcat when its use expires.

After OPD killed Joshua Pawlik, who was awakening from sleep, in March 2018 using a Bearcat as a shooting platform, a federal judge ordered Oakland to adopt policies on armored vehicles and two other issues (including responses to armed unconscious persons), which have a deadline of next month. The Police Commission appointed an Ad Hoc Committee to develop the policies (including Anne Janks), and they drafted the first two, before turning to policy for armored vehicles, which the Commission approved last night. This Ad Hoc Committee will hear community input on January 11th from 6:15 to 7:15 pm. The full Police Commission will consider a draft policy on January 28, before turning it over to the City Council.

OPD’s SWAT (Tactical Operations) team deploys with the Bearcat as a package: assault rifles, body armor, helmets, chemical agents, flash bangs, “less lethal” shotguns. Young people have testified how traumatizing their experience of these SWAT raids were. Yet the decision to deploy the Bearcat is linked in OPD policy and practice to these SWAT raids, with unclear and wide criteria for when to deploy.

The Commission has created a web page about Bearcat and armored vehicle policy at:
https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/ad-hoc-committee-on-militarized-equipment
That page also includes OPD’s draft of the armored vehicle policy, and email addresses for Oakland Police Commission members, to whom you can send written comments. This list-serve doesn’t accommodate attachments larger than 500kb, but I can send anyone a copy of the revision to the policy that we are working on.

The proposed Oakland ordinance on militarized equipment will also require a policy for armored vehicles, but that ordinance has not yet been adopted by the City Council. The ordinance will also require an impact statement and, if equipment is approved, regular reporting on it use.

With the pandemic and its multiple, intersecting crises, and the polling popularity of Medicare for All, our commitment to the movement is more important than ever. Come learn about our committee’s efforts, as well as local, state, and national initiatives around Medicare for All and single-payer healthcare. All are welcome!

Join January 11th Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81235048894?pwd=RDZHcnRDQ0FpV3ZndzdUenVJZ3JaZz09

Meeting ID: 812 3504 8894
Passcode: M4A

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,81235048894#,,,,,,0#,,956134# US (San Jose)

+12532158782,,81235048894#,,,,,,0#,,956134# US (Tacoma)

Join January 27th Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81235048894?pwd=RDZHcnRDQ0FpV3ZndzdUenVJZ3JaZz09

Meeting ID: 812 3504 8894

Passcode: M4A

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,81235048894#,,,,,,0#,,956134# US (San Jose)

+12532158782,,81235048894#,,,,,,0#,,956134# US (Tacoma)

OTU’s Mission

The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.

Monthly Meetings

The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.

If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.

We meet over Zoom. If you’d like to join us, and aren’t on our organizers’ list, drop us an email and we’ll send you an invitation.

If you would like to join the meeting early and get an introduction to the concepts of public banking, or more locally to who we are and what we do, please email us and we’ll see you online at 6:30.

Donate to keep us moving forward

The membership of DSA, the largest socialist organization in the United States, is rapidly growing by the thousands. Democratic Socialist politicians like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Cori Bush are raising the expectations of millions of people across the United States and bringing them into a political awakening. Millions of working-class Americans are calling for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal rent control, and more.

But what is democratic socialism? What does it mean to be a member of DSA? How do socialists look at the crises of police brutality, economic recession, and COVID-19? And what will be the best course of action when Biden takes office?

Let’s talk about it.

Join us to discuss what our political moment calls for, meet new people, and get plugged into our fight for democratic control of the things that we need for all of us to live a dignified life.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89896824119?pwd=WFV4REhQVXdYeVl6anJyaWJaZ2hxQT09

Meeting ID: 898 9682 4119

Passcode: housing

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,89896824119#,,,,*4305877# US (San Jose)

+13462487799,,89896824119#,,,,*4305877# US (Houston)

The California Policy and Political Education Working Group of the CA Poor People’s Campaign will host the first monthly meeting of the Jubilee Policy Platform Study Group. Here is the section we’re reading for the first meeting.

Being a document that the campaign is using to put forward a policy agenda that addresses the interlocking injustices we want to read and discuss what it means to our work on the state and local level.

For the first session, Lauren Hill and Abraham Entin will share facilitation. They are asking us to read the introduction and 1st section (pages 1-3).

If you want to join, please RSVP. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Just us for a virtual event with Mary Ziegler for her new book “Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present”. She’ll be in conversation with Mother Jones reproductive rights reporter Becca Andrews.

Hosts: San Francisco’s Booksmith independent bookstore and Mother Jones Magazine (SF)

Cost: FREE & open to the community. The event link will be sent to everyone who registers.

RSVP required: https://app.gopassage.com/events/mary-ziegler

To order “Abortion and the Law in America”, with free shipping throughout San Francisco and the East Bay, please go to: http://booksmith.com/book/9781108735599

______________________________________________________________

“Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present” by Mary Ziegler

With the Supreme Court likely to reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision, American debate appears fixated on clashing rights. The first comprehensive legal history of a vital period, Abortion and the Law in America illuminates an entirely different and unexpected shift in the terms of debate. Rather than simply championing rights, those on opposing sides battled about the policy costs and benefits of abortion and laws restricting it. This mostly unknown turn deepened polarization in ways many have missed.

Never abandoning their constitutional demands, pro-choice and pro-life advocates increasingly disagreed about the basic facts. Drawing on unexplored records and interviews with key participants, Ziegler complicates the view that the Supreme Court is responsible for the escalation of the conflict. A gripping account of social-movement divides and crucial legal strategies, this book delivers a definitive recent history of an issue that transforms American law and politics to this day.
______________________________________________________________

ABOUT: Mary Ziegler, author

Mary Ziegler is the Stearns Weaver Miller Professor at Florida State University College of Law. Pulitzer Prize winning historian David Garrow has called her “the premier historian of abortion in the post-Roe era.” She teaches and writes on the legal history of reproduction and constitutional law, family law, and sexuality. Her latest book is Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present (Cambridge University Press 2020). Her first book, After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Harvard, 2015), was the winner of the 2014 Harvard University Press Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize for best first manuscript in any discipline. She often serves as commentator in leading mass media outlets across the world, including The Atlantic, The BBC, the Boston Globe, CNN, the Guardian, MSNBC, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, PBS News Hour, Politico, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

ABOUT: Becca Andrews, reporter for Mother Jones Magazine

Becca Andrews is a reporter at Mother Jones. A Southerner, she most often writes about the Southeast, gender, and culture. Before joining Mother Jones as an editorial fellow, she wrote for newspapers in Tennessee. Her work has also appeared in Slate, Marie Claire UK, and USA Today. Her first book, No Choice, on the dwindling access to abortion in the United States, is forthcoming from Hachette’s Public Affairs imprint.
_______________________________________________

Join us next Thursday (Jan. 14) at 6PM for a special member meeting honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's radical legacy. Join for open discussion, virtual performance, and more!

To register: https://t.co/HNLwau81hT pic.twitter.com/L23mFbpKa3

— Ella Baker Center (@ellabakercenter) January 6, 2021

Our speaker, Cde. Nagraj, is an agronomist based in Karnataka State of India in South-India. This state is now ruled by BJP but was ruled by the Congress Party in 1983. He resigned from his state gov. job in 1983 over what he saw was unfairness to the farmers. He then worked with farmers unions. I think he is associated with CPI-M (to be confirmed).  He is available both for the 17th and 31st of January 2021. I have asked him to send me a synopsis of his talk by email.  Since the farmers’ movement is at a crucial stage, we would prefer we give him the 17 January slot if at all possible

LOGIN INFORMATION
The meeting will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc. We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open for informal discussion.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2591082607?pwd=TTdlcFlnZEVCdWt2VlRHeWZLeHNKQT09

Meeting ID: 259 108 2607

Passcode: 6MwQP7

Tonight at 6 pm PST join us for a special #ReclaimMLK edition of our #DefundOPD teach-in. This will be our last weekend event before our mass caravan tomorrow!

Join us: https://t.co/KAwjMXtsfE pic.twitter.com/qVArkU20xN

— Anti Police-Terror Project (@APTPaction) January 17, 2021

Gather your friends and family. Reach out to your schools, unions, churches and other organizations. On Monday, January 18, join the Anti Police-Terror Project for the 7th Annual March to Reclaim MLK’s Radical Legacy!

This year’s Reclaim “march” will be a car caravan that begins at the Port of Oakland, makes its way down International/E14 and ends in East Oakland with a short program.

(See our separate event for how you can also support by calling related events all weekend -except MLK Day: https://www.facebook.com/events/855403635222329.)

For seven years running, the APTP Reclaim MLK event has been the only MLK March in the city of Oakland and brings together thousands of people across race, class and political ideology with a commitment to build a just and equitable Oakland that Dr. King would be proud of.

For decades, MLK’s legacy has been whitewashed. Often portrayed as a passive figure, in truth he was a radical leader demanding rational change: an end to capitalism, to war, to empire, to poverty, and to white supremacy. Communities in Oakland and across the country take this opportunity every year to celebrate the true spirit of this revolutionary. We intend to follow in his legacy through our campaign to defund the police and refund the community.

This year’s theme is Re-Imagine. Reimagine and remember King’s unrealized dream.

The work to Refund. Restore. Reimagine our communities is a modern day reflection of King’s work, legacy and unfulfilled dream. He said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” That’s Oakland’s budget every year. As we reimagine what public safety means in Oakland — violence interruption, housing as a human right, living-wage jobs with dignity, good schools, clean streets and parks, mental health care and crisis support, and thriving communities — we are making King’s Dream a reality.

We acknowledge that the pandemic is still raging through our communities. We will take this seriously. But we also acknowledge the essential work of defunding OPD in order to eradicate police terror. Police terror, like the pandemic, is a public health emergency.

And that’s why we still plan to hit the streets on MLK Day and Weekend but will do so in a car caravan that envelopes our whole city as we ride from the Port to Eastmont Mall.

On Monday, January 18, we will take action to demand:
-Cut OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million);
-Redirect funds to invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health workers and other services that actually keep us safe.
-Discontinue unauthorized overtime by OPD;
-An immediate response to the violence in our streets that is NOT rooted in the carceral state.

#ReclaimMLK
#ReclaimMLKOak
#DefundOPD
#RefundTheCommunity
#RefundRestoreReimagine
#KingsDreamLives

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION:
Kid & family friendly! More info TBD.

Message or email us if you’d like to get involved in the planning: aptpinfo@gmail.com

Join Idle No More SF Bay and Urban Tilth on the day before the Inauguration for a #BuildBackFossilFree Day of Action.

Facebook info and RSVP

Call on Joe Biden to kick off his term by taking executive action to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disasters.
• Reject new fossil fuel projects, eliminate giveaways to oil gas, and coal corporations, and end the era of fossil fuel production.
• Launch a national climate mobilization to Build Back Fossil Free, and deliver jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

Busboys and Poets and the Center for Popular Democracy are proud to present this virgual gathering to welcome in a new presidential administration:

Reflections On Our Current Political Climate: Where We Are and Where We’re Going
Tuesday January 19, 2021
6:00-8:00pm ET. 

This virtual gathering will bring together organizers, activists, artists, entertainers and political leaders to give a nonpartisan toast to the incoming administration and to share our ideas and visions of how we make sure that it is responsive to the needs, hopes and dreams of our communities. Join us to celebrate the organizing power of the progressive movement and lay out our big, bold vision of a country that treats people with dignity, respect and equality.

Special Guests:
Nikki Giovanni
Alicia Garza
Ben Jealous
Maurice Mitchell
Piper Perabo
Alice Walker
Angela Davis
Somava Saha

Tickets are free and can be purchased here!

Questions? Please contact Beth Slade at bslade@populardemocracy.org.

In the decades since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at sanitation workers strike in Memphis, his legacy has been appropriated by just about every political movement out there. From Fox News pundits claiming he would oppose tax increases on the rich because he was “for freedom,” to the more typical whitewashing of his radical politics for a broad audience, anyone and everyone claim the sainted image2 of the good Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as their own.

But in his own time, MLK was viewed as the radical that he was. By cleaving toward an uncompromising politics of racial justice, economic transformation, and peace abroad, MLK won the ire of nearly ¾ of Americans who said they disapproved of him in a 1967 Harris Poll. Today, on our national holiday celebrating his legacy, we invite you to read and listen to his own prophetic words as he wrote and spoke them in his time.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81717425470?pwd=MjRRTWRRVFhBeXhYbjJpQ1NvN1JSdz09

Meeting ID: 817 1742 5470

Passcode: school

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,81717425470#,,,,*434903# US (San Jose)

+12532158782,,81717425470#,,,,*434903# US (Tacoma)

Email contact@oaklandprivacy.org a few days before the meeting to obtain Zoom meeting access info.

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay and nationwide.

We fight against spy drones, facial recognition, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones; we oppose “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” —  to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Check out some of what we worked on in 2020 and 2019.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.  We helped fight and helped win the fight against Urban Shield.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition, mass aerial surveillance, and other analytics, and pushing back against ICE.

On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work, and on March 16th, 2021 s James Madison Freedom of Information Award by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

contact@oaklandprivacy.org

Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/

Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.  Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in various municipalities around the Bay.  To help slow down the encroaching police and surveillance state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

RSVP here
Zoom Link

It has been two weeks since the attempted far-right coup at the US Capitol, egged on by Trump and some Republicans. Though in many ways the aftermath of January 6th was a defeat for Trump, the far right isn’t going anywhere, and we need to take the riots seriously as a possible embryo for a more organized far right movement.

In response, left and establishment Democrats, along with some Republicans have started impeachment proceedings. While impeachment is positive, it does virtually nothing to neutralize the conditions that brought Trump into power, discourage far right forces emboldened by him, or prevent another far right leader from running for office in 2024.

So how can we mobilize the largest possible masses of working people into the streets to show our strength against the far right? How can we further this fight to unite working people around a program to win working-class demands like Medicare For All, COVID relief, and an end to racist policing? How can we build a political alternative to Trumpism and billionaire backed establishment politicians?

Join Socialist Alternative this Thursday, Jan 21, to discuss how we can build an organized mass movement to defeat the far right, and ultimately, the billionaire class!