Calendar

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.

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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!

Do you face barriers to accessing loans from traditional banks? Interested in programs that will help with debt management, jump start a business and enhance your quality of life? Join us to learn more about collective economics through the East Oakland SuSu Lending Circle program!

Join Zoom Meeting
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 Meeting ID: 259 108 2607 Passcode: 6MwQP7

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Eventbrite Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/claire-wasserman-and-dad-steve-wasserman-ladies-get-paid-tickets-130905918125

Claire Wasserman is an author, public speaker, podcaster and founder of Ladies Get Paid, a global organization that champions the professional and financial advancement of women. She is also the producer and host of John Hancock’s podcast, “Friends Who Talk About Money.”  Claire has traveled the United States teaching thousands of women how to negotiate raises, start businesses, and advocate for themselves. She was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women and is a highly-sought-after expert for Fortune 500 companies working to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations.

Claire Wasserman has one crucial goal for women: rise up and get paid. She has worked her entire adult life to promote gender equality in the workplace. If you’re looking to get a promotion or break the glass ceiling, Ladies Get Paid is your essential toolbox for achieving success.  Filled with straightforward advice and inspiring stories, the book encourages self-advocacy and activism as a way to advance your career and earn more money. Covering topics as crucial and varied as how to find the perfect mentor, how to negotiate a raise, and how to become a leader, Ladies Get Paid is a reminder that you are valuable—both as an individual woman and as part of the female community. And ultimately, it’s about more than your wallet—it’s about your worth.

In conversation with Claire will be her proud father, Steve Wasserman, a prestigious cultural figure on his own. Heyday Books’ publisher was formerly editor-at-large for Yale University Press and editorial director of Times Books/Random House, among other achievements in publishing. Besides serving nine years as editor of The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Steve has written for The Village Voice, Threepenny Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The American Conservative, The Progressive, Columbia Journalism Review, and The London Times’ Literary Supplement. Along the way he worked as a partner in Kneerim & Williams Literary Agency, where he represented, among others, Robert Scheer, Christopher Hitchens, Linda Ronstadt, and Placido Domingo.

Attendees of those KPFA author events hosted by Steve Wasserman will know that this Zoom conversation with his daughter Claire is certain to be charming and enlightening.

Join us 🚨 TOMORROW at 12:30 🚨 as San Francisco D5 Supervisor @DeanPreston and our very own @JackieFielder_ announce a plan for our city to launch the FIRST municipal bank in the nation! #ReInvestSF #SFPublicBankNow pic.twitter.com/JgwCWGC8pc

— SF Public Bank Coalition (@sfpublicbank) January 26, 2021

Watch live: https://t.co/zW8qpcw4Zk?amp=1

RSVP: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dtfn2D_QSJuQQcyX-b-i6w

Join a Build Back Fossil Free mass digital rally calling on President Biden to take bold executive action to end the era of fossil fuel production, protect communities reeling from the climate and COVID-19 crises, and #BuildBackFossilFree.

The virtual rally will feature frontline leaders fighting toxic fossil fuel projects (including in California), and lay the groundwork for a coordinated organizing push to build on this week’s momentum.

The Build Back Fossil Fuel Free national campaign is demanding that Biden take bold climate justice action by executive order in his first 100 days in office.  The Build Back Fossil Free Coalition includes “dozens of groups representing millions of people across the country fighting for climate, racial, and economic justice.” It’s leading an escalating series of actions promoting “Biden’s Executive Action Blueprint,” a comprehensive list of strong actions Biden should take to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disaster.
• Reject new fossil 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, delivering jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

See the full Blueprint here.   Sign the petition in support of the Blueprint—and to receive campaign updates.  Encourage your organizations to sign.  Spread the word to your networks.

#BuildBackFossilFree Digital Rally

Please join us on Tuesday, Jan 26th for a digital rally featuring frontline leaders calling on President Biden to take bold executive action to end the era of fossil fuel production, protect communities reeling from the climate and COVID-19 crises, and #BuildBackFossilFree.

Indigenous organizers and allies won a decade-long campaign against the Keystone Pipeline. This is a huge victory – AND – we need to keep up the momentum to make sure Biden follows through with immediate action on Line 3, DAPL, nixing all fossil project approvals, and investing in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and an economy that works for all.

The rally will feature frontline leaders fighting toxic fossil fuel projects and lay the groundwork for a coordinated organizing push to build on this week’s momentum.

Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 @ 5 PM PT (8 PM ET)

RSVP for Zoom: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dtfn2D_QSJuQQcyX-b-i6w

En español:

Traducción al español disponible registrándose aquí:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dtfn2D_QSJuQQcyX-b-i6w

ORGANIZATIONS:

Indigenous Environmental Network
Center for Biological Diversity
Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective
Oil Change International
Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network
It Takes Roots
Movement Rights
350 Butte County
Oil Change U.S.

Facebook Live URL

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deeply rooted imbalances at the core of so many or our economic institutions. As Wall Street banks continue to exploit the crisis and exacerbate economic inequalities, we must advance toward a financial solution that will help us invest in our New York State. The need for a public bank that will generate revenue, with our community as its top priority, has never been clearer.

On January 28th at 6 p.m. Public Banking Institute’s Chair Ellen Brown, Chair Emeritus and Senior Advisor Walt McRee & Advisory Board member Amara Enyia, will be joined by NYS Senator James Sanders, Jr. for a virtual Town Hall: Bring on the Power of Public Banking for New York.

Our Special Guest is Eric Hardmeyer, President and CEO of the Bank of North Dakota!

They will be joined by NY elected officials, union representatives and public policy experts.

The Town Hall will be livestreamed on Facebook, where staff from PBI and Senator Sanders’ office will answer your questions in real time.

Join us on Thursday, 1/28 at 6PM for a panel on Fighting Police Repression & the Surveillance State

How lawyers and activists can work together in the fight for civil rights

Register now: https://t.co/2XSQZlAXHb

Facebook event: https://t.co/0B7RzanqCb pic.twitter.com/p2pHL2nmAu

— Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights SF (@lccrsf) January 27, 2021

The past year has shed sustained light on the immense influence white supremacy continues to have on our nation. From police violence to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color to the recent insurrection at the Capitol, now is the time to find pathways into anti-racism work in our communities. If you are feeling called to action but are not sure how to or where to begin, this workshop is for you.

Click here to RSVP: https://actionnetwork.org/events/anti-racism-101-how-to-show-up-for-racial-justice-3?source=direct_link

KPFA Radio 94.1 FM presents:

Jerald Walker and Kevin Cartwright: A Zoom Event

How to Make a Slave

Finalist, 2020 National Book Award in Nonfiction

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

For the Black community, Jerald Walker asserts in How To Make a Slave,” anger is often a prelude to a joke, as there is broad understanding that the triumph over this destructive emotion is in finding its punchline.” It is on the knife’s edge between fury and farce that the essays in this exquisite collection balance. Whether confronting the medical profession’s racial biases, considering the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson, paying homage to his writing mentor, or attempting to break free of personal and societal stereotypes, Walker elegantly blends intimate revelation and cultural critique. The result is a bracing, often humorous examination by one of America’s most acclaimed essayists of what it is to grow, parent, write, and simply exist at this time as a Black American male.

“These powerful essays offer an incisive glimpse into life as a Black man in America…crafted with honesty and a wry comedic flair, these essays are both engaging and enraging.” —Kirkus Review

Jerald Walker is the author of The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult and Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption (winner of the 2011 PEN New England Award for Nonfiction). His work has been widely anthologized, including five times in The Best American Essays. He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College.

Kevin Cartwright, a former Program Director with KPFA Radio, has also produced a and contributed to a number of local and national public affairs programs, including Democracy Now, Living Room, The Morning Show, Education Today, 1440, and various short run documentaries. In addition, Kevin is a playwright, poet, and short story writer. He’s written several full-length plays about life in Oakland, and is currently finishing two plays dealing with the musical implications of life under racism.

The Piedmont Racial Equity Campaign + League of Women Voters will co-host a virtual panel at 7 pm on January 28th: Reimagining Public Safety: Can Surveillance Be a Fair and Effective Tool?

Piedmont’s Police Chief Jeremy Bowers will participate, along with:
Brian Hofer, Chair, City of Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission, and Exec. Dir., Secure Justice
Jennifer Jones, Technology and Civil Liberties Fellow, ACLU of Northern California
Mathew Guariglia, Policy Analyst, Electronic Frontier Foundation

RSVP to get the Zoom info here

Join Zoom Meeting
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Bruce Gagnon will reveal the deadly connections between the corporate drive to ‘control and dominate’ space as spelled out in the US Space Command’s 1997 planning document called Vision for 2020.
https://thecommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Vision2020.pdf

The gold rush is now underway as space technologies have matured to the point where mining the sky for precious resources becomes possible.  Corporate forces intend to use the newly formed ‘Space force’ to guard the front gate on and off Earth to ensure that only ‘authorized’ companies and nations would be allowed to access space.

This vision was first spelled out before Congress in the early 1950’s when former Nazi Maj. Gen. Walter Dornberger shared his vision of orbiting battle stations in space to control the pathway on and off our planet.  Dornberger had been Hitler’s liaison to V-1 & V-2 rocket scientist Wernher  von Braun during WW II.  After the war Dornberger, Von Braun and more than 1,000 Nazi leaders were secretly brought to the US to serve in the military industrial complex.  Van Braun built the US space program and Dornberger became a V-P of Bell Aerospace in New York.
http://www.space4peace.org
BIO: Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.  He was a co-founder of the Global Network when it was created in 1992.

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.

Raj Sahai’s Zoom Meeting.

Sun Jan 24, 2021 10:15am – 1:15pm Pacific Time

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Giant Book Sale (New & Used) and a wild variety of mainly Classical sheet music to Benefit the Revolution Tour

Friday- Sunday, Jan. 29-31 from 1-5 pm

Come early for the best selection

Alternative Political Parties: a local approach

The Oakland Greens present the January 2021 Virtual Townhall:
Alternative Political Parties: a local approach
These Happen on the Last Sundays of the month, from January through October

From third parties to alternative political parties, how to break the two party system. The Oakland Greens Virtual Townhalls are designed to hear your ideas & thoughts. At this event we want to listen to you, not talk at you. Join us in ZOOM Sunday January 31, room opens at 5:45 PM PST, discussion at 6:15 PM PST, with unique topics & unique discussions. These are donation only events and as always NO ONE TURNED AWAY FOR LACK OF FUNDS.

Find tickets @ https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-oakland-greens-30818034656  or:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-oakland-greens-present-alternative-party-virtual-town-hall-vote-local-tickets-126696501647