Calendar
Commander Jonathan Bellusa of the Oakland School Police Department has blown the whistle on his department. Against Hired Guns has published his legally sworn testimony which claims that protocols were not followed the night Raheim Brown, Jr. was killed, and exposes several other cover ups and unethical behavior in the department.
Check out the full write up and analysis, as well as context of policing in Oakland and organizing against it, at:
Against Hired Guns.
Against Hired Guns is not interested in defining the character of public outcry, but we also want to support concrete wins. Because of this, we will be facilitating a public meeting on Friday, March 8th at Uptown Studios (1738 Telegraph Ave in Oakland) from 6-8pm to support sustained and strategic campaigns against policing in our communities. We hope that a myriad of people and organizations concerned with keeping our communities safe from the harms of policing will be there.
The Foreclosure Defense Group presents its second event in the “Welcome to Class Warfare” series
Gentrification, foreclosures, “urban redevelopment”…. all are facets of the same brute force we feel acutely in our daily lives : Displacement, the uprooting and shifting of communities serving the demands of speculative capital and white supremacy. We offer this forum to hear voices from different struggles, to deepen understanding of the powers at play, and to strategize for popular self defense.
Speakers Include:
James Bealum, former Fillmore resident and organizer, will speak on the community organizing against displacment in the Fillmore of the mid-1960s
Darwin Bond-Graham, Oakland journalist and sociologist, will present on his recent work detailing the local “foreclosure-to-rental mill”. on the further impositions of precarity on the working class and communities of color.
Tony Marks-Block, an organizer with the Stop the Injunctions Coalition will speak to the deployment of gang injunctions effecting displacement
Brooke Terpstra, FDG organizer, will present on different models of present organizing and their underlying values and limitations.
Community members…. You! Each segment is intended not only as a presentation but as provocation! As starting points for discussion, the inclusion of all our voices. Each portion will have ample time and space for any questions and discussion.
Hope to see you Friday!
Wheelchair accessible.
Childcare provided (please rsvp)
A Cityscape by Geremy George
We have launched a campaign to convince California Attorney General Kamala Harris to indict officer Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. We kicked it off with
a rally on March 5th.
We are formulating how we should interact with Judge Thelton Henderson’s newly appointed Compliance Director for the Oakland police, Thomas Frazier.
We are discussing how we can aide other families who are victims of police violence.
We are making a difference! We can use all the help we can get! Come join us!
We will divide up into groups that will look something like this:
- Study & Research Groups (people interested in tackling specific research questions, reading books together, etc.)
- Outreach & Education (people interested in getting our message out – to community groups, churches, etc.)
- Direct Action (people interested in organizing Wells Fargo and other actions)
- Debtors’ Union (tactical work for collective organizing against private and public debt)
- Alternative Institutions (Alternative currencies, public banking, communal living, and more!)
Each group will begin to figure out how they want to organize: set up email lists; set meeting times; brainstorm further ideas, etc. Everyone is welcome at this meeting and we encourage you to bring friends!
From the expanding porn industry to the escalating attacks on abortion rights… In a world like this, there is no “neutral.” If you are not fighting the oppression of women, you are saying it’s okay!
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
On February 12th Berkeley Police murdered Kayla Moore. Kayla Moore lived
with “mental illness” and has been described by friends and family as a
Transgender person who “passed as a woman.”
From Berkeley Copwatch:
“The BPD’s press release of February 13th says that they responded to “a
disturbance call” at Moore’s apartment. Media reports have said this call
was related to mental health. If she was going through a mental health
crisis, was anyone present trained to respond to that kind of situation,
to evaluate, and deescalate? According to an article from February 26th in
the Oakland Tribune: “Berkeley: Man who died after struggle with police
was severely mentally ill,” rather than take her to a hospital for
psychiatric evaluation, when they found out she had an outstanding warrant
in San Francisco, they told her they were going to arrest her…
More info in full article on IndyBay
This is a call for an uncompromisingly militant march against the racist
and transphobic Berkeley Police who murdered Kayla Moore. The march will
begin at People’s Park on Tuesday March 12th at 6:30pm. It is also a call
for queer people, trans people, women, and people of color to form a bloc
against police murders and harassment at the March Against Capitalism and
Police Repression taking place at Oscar Grant Plaza in Oakland on Friday,
March 15th at 8pm
The contract for Paratransit in Oakland is held by a company called Veolia, who also holds the contract for segregated, settler only bus lines that run inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We will march to Paratransit not with the intention of shutting them down or disrupting services for the day, but more to air their dirty laundry and pressure them to pull out of the West Bank.
This march is part of a larger day of happenings beginning at 4pm and going till about 9 that we are calling “A Feast to the Global Resistance” where we will gather at Oscar Grant Plaza for food, films, community, etc. The day marks the 4th anniversary of the shooting of Oakland activist TRISTAN ANDERSON by Israeli Border Police. Tristan survived (he was shot in the head with a tear gas grenade during a protest in Palestine in 2009) and will be leading the march from his wheelchair.
**We hope that others from the disability community will support the day’s events and join Tristan in the march on the anniversary of his shooting.**
This march is being called by Justice 4 Tristan, a small loose group of friends of Tristan, who are also folks from Occupy Oakland. We do not expect any kind of confrontation or problems. Our intentions are towards a positive, community gathering type of vibe for the day. Also, we are definitely activists who don’t take out permits and don’t march on the sidewalk.
For more info, check out the facebook event page
https://www.facebook.com/events/491728237558697/
Wed March 13
4:00- Feast and Gather [at Oscar Grant Plaza]
5:30- March
6:30- 9:00- Film Clips and Skype Calls
from Resistance Movements around the World [back at Oscar Grant Plaza]
Also, for more on the international campaign against Veolia, check out
http://wedivest.org/2013/01/why-target-veolia/
Come support the SHU prisoners’ class action lawsuit against solitary confinement! CDCR has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, and on February 14th a federal judge will decide whether to allow the case to go to trial or dismiss it.
JOIN US for a RALLY outside the courthouse to put pressure on the court to hear our case!
After the rally, PACK THE COURTHOUSE! Bring your state ID and join us in the courtroom to show our solidarity with those inside, and show the judge and CDCR that we hold them accountable!
Finally, stick around for a PRESS CONFERENCE to raise awareness about this issue. We need to amplify the voices of the thousands of men and women inside the SHU who are silenced!
The March 14 action is placing three demands on SF elected representatives:
1) Use the power of your office to ensure that Prop A funds be used as the voters intended: to reverse cuts to classes, services, staff, and faculty.
2) Commit to filling any budget gap by advancing funds to CCSF. Call on Sacramento to reverse spending priorities. (California is currently 49th in public education spending and 1st in prison spending.)
3) Call on the Department of Education to take immediate action to stop the ACCJC’s unjustified show cause sanction against CCSF.
Endorsers of Rally (partial list):
Save CCSF; Associated Students Mission Campus; AFT 2121; United Educators of SF; SF Labor Council; Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring of Northern CA; Arab Resource and Organizing Center; Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club; Poor Magazine/Prensa Pobre; Socialist Organizer; Gray Panthers of SF; Senior Disability Action; California Alliance for Retired Americans; The Potrero Hill Democratic Club; Veterans for Peace SF Bay Area Chapter; CFT Local 4681 of San Mateo Adult School; Save The Berkeley Post Office; Friends of Deir Ibz’a; SF for Democracy; Marc Krizack; Federation of Retired Union Members; SF Older Women’s League;Answer Coalition; Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition; International Brother of Teamsters 2010; The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club; Freedom Socialist Party; Radical Women; Ann Wettrich Consulting
DEFEND OUR COLLEGE! CITY HALL MUST TAKE ACTION TO SAVE CCSF!
City College of San Francisco (CCSF) is widely acknowledged to be one of the best community colleges in the country. The current crisis is largely the joint creation of two groups: the accreditation commission (ACCJC), an unaccountable rogue body that has ties to for-profit colleges and the student loan industry; second, interim administrators who have no long-term commitment to the school. Both are abusing the accreditation process to impose an agenda to downsize the college, funneling students into private and online schools that will saddle them with crushing debt. This is an attack on tens of thousands of Bay Area residents, particularly from low-income, people of color, and immigrant communities.
We, the people of San Francisco, want to save our school and reverse the cuts to classes, programs, staff, and teachers. Join us on March 14 to call on the city’s elected officials to take immediate action. City Hall must ensure that Prop A funds are used for education — as the voters intended. It must fill any extra budget gap by advancing the funds to the college . And it must call on the Department of Education to stop the ACCJC’s unjustified “show cause” sanction against CCSF. Education is a right, not a privilege. Through united action we can stop the corporatization of City College and protect public education for all.
1pm Walkouts on each campus
2pm March from the Mission Campus (22nd and Valencia)
4-6pm Rally at SF City Hall (Civic Center)
Invite your friends to the Facebook event
Please spread the word!
Get involved: saveccsf.org – info@saveccsf.org – #saveccsfnow – facebook.com/saveccsf
Since June 2012, non-union food service workers at the Oakland Airport have been demanding a fair process to decide whether to form a union. They have since called for a boycott of airport shops, and participated in multiple rallies over the past seven months to highlight injustices and retaliatory firings.
Come stand with workers as they continue their fight for justice! We will be inside the terminals near baggage claim, as well as outside Terminal 2.
If you haven’t already, be sure to sign the boycott pledge.
For more information, visit our website.
UNITE HERE Local 2850, 1440 Broadway, Suite 208, Oakland, CA 94612, Tel. 510-893-3181, Fax 510-893-5362
RALLY TO DEFEND ILWU !
International Day Of Action
Stop Mitsui Union Busting and Concessionary Contracts
Fight the Lockout of ILWU by United Grain
in the Port of Vancouver, Washington
Friday March 15, 2013 – 4:30PM
1 Montgomery/Market Sts., SF
On March 15, 2013 there will be international actions and protests against the union busting lockout of ILWU Local 4 members by the Mitsui-owned company United Grain in the Port Of Vancouver, Washington.
Since the concessionary contract at EGT in Longview, Washington, other grain handlers have imposed a similar contract in NW grain ports after longshore workers voted 94% to reject it. The contract eliminated the union hiring hall, imposed a 12 hour day and allowed the replacement of union members if they stopped work for health and safety reasons. The other anti-union grain monopoly Cargill/Temco signed a separate agreement which includes many of these draconian measures which is being heralded by union officials as a “victory” because, they say, Cargill is American-owned. Longshore workers in Portland, the West Coast’s largest grain port, voted that concessionary contract down.
Already there have been fires and dangerous accidents working under these contracts.
Mitsui-owned United Grain locked out the ILWU members and have brought in scabs who have been training for many months to bust the ILWU. This attack on the union hiring hall, a key victory of the 1934 West Coast Maritime strike, is a major defeat for members of the ILWU and all workers whether in unions or not. This also whets the appetite of all maritime bosses who are want to impose EGT-type concessions in 2014 when the West Coast longshore contract expires.
The ILWU International leadership, using racist, flag-waving nationalism, is attacking Japanese capitalist bosses like they did during the lockout of ILWU Local 30 miners who were locked out in Boron, California by British-based Rio Tinto. This is a reactionary diversion. Only international labor solidarity actions can beat these union busters. Many companies are global. Whether British-owned company, Japanese-owned or American-owned, these companies are intent on destroying union labor here and around the world.
The ILWU Local 8 Executive Board in Portland and Japanese Doro-Chiba railway union have taken the initiative to call for action against Mitsui in solidarity with ILWU grain workers. The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee (TWSC) is supporting this International Day of Action.
Join us on Friday March 15th at 4:30 PM at 1 Montgomery Street in San Francisco at the headquarters of Mitsui in California. Let them know: Union busting is disgusting!
For more information go to www.transportworkers.org Or call 510-501-7080
We have launched a campaign to convince California Attorney General Kamala Harris to indict officer Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. We kicked it off with a rally on March 5th.
We are formulating how we should interact with Judge Thelton Henderson’s newly appointed Compliance Director for the Oakland police, Thomas Frazier.
We are discussing how we can aide other families who are victims of police violence.
We are planning an outreach barbeque on April 13th! (Yum!)
We are making a difference! We can use all the help we can get! Come join us!
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
New schedule and additional location!
Bi-Monthly meetings to organize and publish web content for occupyoakland.org.
We meet the first Thursday of the month at The Holdout, 2313 San Pablo Ave Oakland,CA 94612 @ 6PM
And the third Sunday of the month at 19th Street / Rashida Muhammad Street (one block away from 19th Street/Telegraph avenue) @ 2PM
If interested on helping us out, please come and join us!
Web@occupyoakland.org
Debt is affecting all of us! Come join us to fight against unjust and crushing debt burdens.
At this Sunday’s meeting we will debrief from last week’s Ideas Into Action session, and talk about the role of the organizers group going forward now that we have five other affinity groups:
Direct Action;
Outreach & Education;
Debtors Union;
Research & Study;
Alternative Institutions.
We will also talk about outreach and organizing for the upcoming Direct Action on tax day – April 15th.
Stop Donahoe from dismantling and privatizing our public Post Office! Keep 6-day Delivery! No Closures, no cuts! Our communities depend on liveable wage postal jobs!
Rally 9:15 AM in plaza in front of Moscone Center West
* Endorsed by local postal unions: American Postal Workers and Mail Handlers Union, by Committee to Save the Berkeley Post Office, and by Communities & Postal Workers United (www.cpwunited.com), a national network fighting to Save the Post Office.
Oakland based civil rights attorney James Chanin will discuss the
federalization of Oakland police and the recent movement to hire William
Bratton, the champion of “Stop and Frisk” policing. With over 40 years in the
struggle for police accountability, from the establishment of the Berkeley
Police Review Commission to the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) that
guides Oakland’s police, James Chanin is a leading voice in the fight to stop
police abuse.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC