Calendar
Join us in planning, organizing and building for the 6th Annual MLK Day Weekend, including the Monday, 1/20, Rally and March. Come to two remaining planning meetings on Wednesday, 1/8 at Omni Ballroom, and Wednesday, 1/15 at Eastside Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606 both at 7pm.
We’re joining with many organizations to lift up the radical legacy of Martin Luther King all weekend long. We invite people and organizations to plan events all weekend, culminating in our 6th Annual Rally and March on Monday, 1/20, at noon at Oscar Grant Plaza, 14th and Broadway.
We want to lift up the struggles against ICE and Concentration Camps, for Housing for all, against school closures and cops in the schools. We will continue to support the families and community against police violence. We support movements for land and growing our own food. And we fully support the Oakland Climate Strike and Resilient Village organized by Youth Vs. Apocalypse and Mycelium Youth Network: https://www.facebook.com/events/573190676790237/
Look for updates to specific actions here and contact us with your ideas and proposals.
Some agenda items of possible interest:
X. Use of Force Working Group
The Use of Force Working Group will present its revised draft report and a draft of the
Oakland Police Department Use of Force Policy, Department General Order (DGO) K-03.
The Commission will vote to approve the report and the revised DGO. This is item is
continued from 12.12.19. (Attachment 10).
XI. Presentation by National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) of Proposed Pilot
Juvenile Diversion Program
David Muhammad of NICJR will deliver a presentation on the Neighborhood Opportunity
and Accountability Board (NOAB) which will be a community based, restorative, youth
diversion initiative in Oakland. This is a new item. (Attachment 11).
Join the East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses social. Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in EBDSA Labor Committee & learn how you can get involved.
Join the East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses social. Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in EBDSA Labor Committee & learn how you can get involved.
Democracy Under Siege
Join California Common Cause and special guest Leteefah Simon for a conversation on how we take back our democracy.
Speakers include Chesa Boudin (new SF District Attorney-elect), Aaron Glantz (award-winning journalist and author of HOMEWRECKERS), Lee Camp (political satirist, author and activist), Jane Kim (CA Political Director for Bernie Sanders Campaign) and many other great speakers and panelists! All are invited…please come join us celebrate our California progressive activism as we move forward together!!
8:30 am to 9:30 pm. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included with your ticket!
All young people under 25 have their registration fee waived. RSVP HERE for Youth Waiver.
We start a new book for the new year. All are welcome at host Strike Debt Bay Area’s economics book group discussion.
We meet once a month. For January we are reading the first three chapters of “Limits (Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care” by Giorgos Kallis (Amazon, Stanford University Press). For February, the remaing chapters. Not a problem if you will have missed January – the chapters are short and it is easy to catch up for February!
Previous books er have discussed include Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics and Ellen Brown’s Banking for the People.
“In an era addicted to endless growth, Giorgos Kallis artfully explores the power of limits and the surprising freedom that they can unleash. A compelling―and fittingly concise―read for our times.” (Kate Raworth author of Doughnut Economics)
“Western culture is infatuated with the dream of going beyond, even as it is increasingly haunted by the specter of apocalypse: drought, famine, nuclear winter. How did we come to think of the planet and its limits as we do? This book reclaims, redefines, and makes an impassioned plea for limits—a notion central to environmentalism—clearing them from their association with Malthusianism and the ideology and politics that go along with it. Giorgos Kallis rereads reverend-economist Thomas Robert Malthus and his legacy, separating limits and scarcity, two notions that have long been conflated in both environmental and economic thought. Limits are not something out there, a property of nature to be deciphered by scientists, but a choice that confronts us, one that, paradoxically, is part and parcel of the pursuit of freedom. Taking us from ancient Greece to Malthus, from hunter-gatherers to the Romantics, from anarchist feminists to 1970s radical environmentalists, Limits shows us how an institutionalized culture of sharing can make possible the collective self-limitation we so urgently need.” – Book description.
Join us!
Gar Smith (he/him), Guest Speaker
An overview of the invisible health and environmental impacts of the “5G wireless revolution” that lies behind The Internet of Things.
5th Generation (not to be confused with 5 Gigahertz) wireless is not yet activated here, but some 5G-ready Small Cell WTF’s have been installed, and 1000’s are planned! 5G would drastically increase: surveillance, hacking, fire risk, interference with weather prediction, property devaluations, energy use, worker endangerment, industrial clutter, co$t to cities and individuals, adverse health & environmental effects due to radiation! https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/01/04/18829432.php
Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
Speaker will be Eugene E Ruyle, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, CSU Long Beach, currently with ICSS in Oakland. Gene will discuss his forthcoming book, Socialism for Americans: A Scientific Introduction to the Global Struggle for Socialism.
Gene’s basic idea is that although socialism takes different forms in different times and places, the revolutionary core of socialism lies in those societies that have actually had socialist revolutions: the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe, Korea, Vietnam, China, and Cuba. But this does not mean that the struggle for socialism within the imperialist countries is not important. It obviously is, and it must be placed in its proper context. Socialists in the United States are advised to shed their parochialism and embrace a global solidarity with the surviving and thriving socialist camp countries of China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos, as well as other forms of socialism throughout the world.
East Bay DSA’s bimonthly voting general meetings (GMs) include deliberation and voting on member-submitted resolutions, member announcements, reports from our committees, and more.
With our new regular schedule, member-submitted resolutions will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please email them to resolutions@eastbaydsa.org. The submissions deadline for each meeting is three weeks before the meeting.
Want to make sure our meeting runs smoothly? Sign up to volunteer with the meetings committee. This is a great, low-commitment role for new and experienced members alike. Please use the same form if you have child supervision or accessibility needs, including the need for an ASL interpreter.
For questions or comments please contact meetings@eastbaydsa.org.
Agenda TBD.
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
On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. The Supreme Court’s misguided principle failed to recognize that corporations are legal fictions and only human beings are people. The corruption resulting from this and previous Supreme Court rulings has consolidated our political system into a single party plutocracy – a single “Business Party” witt Democratic and Republican wings controlled by corporate money. Move to Amend formed in response to Citizens United. We have built a Congressional coalition around the “We the People Amendment” (HJR48) that will reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. This forum will address the history of corporate rule, including more recent consolidation of corporate power ushered in with neoliberalism, and describe how HJR48 is a good first step in revoking corporate rule and establishing that “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
Lawrence Abbott is a retired Teamster, and Wildlife Biologist working as a Seasonal Political Organizer for the AFL-CIO Alameda Labor Council, and as a volunteer Organizer for Move To Amend, MoveOn, and Indivisible SF/East Bay.
Phoebe Anne Sorgen is a delegate to the Green Party USA National Committee. A long time organizer for a nuke-free, just and sustainable world, she was 2005 Outstanding Woman of Berkeley and 2015 Tom Paine Courageous Spirit awardee. Years ago, she decided to focus on the overarching cure, getting the laws changed that gave profit-motivated corporations the power to ruin our world; so she serves on the Move to Amend Bay Area Steering Committee. She is currently also tackling 5G wireless telecom, an egregious symptom of the corporatocracy.
James McFadden is a UC Berkeley research physicist who facilitates the local East Bay Move to Amend steering committee. He is also an active member of the Green Party of Alameda County and several other political groups.
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. Snacks are potluck. Vegetarian and vegan snacks are always welcome, but we appreciate whatever you can bring! The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows, at 6:45 pm. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.
Doors open at 7. We start promptly at 7:30.
Questions? Email info@indivisibleberkeley.org.
ADA Accessibility: The Finnish Hall has stairs leading up to the entrance so is not ADA accessible.
Indivisible Berkeley brings the Trump Resistance to 4000+ of our closest neighbors in Berkeley and surrounding communities.
Our mission is to resist the Trump agenda by engaging our elected officials at all levels of government and promote progressive and democratic values. Read our entire mission statement here.
Participation in Indivisible Berkeley activities constitutes agreement with our terms of participation.
The Moms who occupied a vacant house in West Oakland on Nov 18th, owned by a development corporation, lost their court case Friday, the judge ordering the Sheriff to evict them “within five days.”
At their press conference at the house after the decision, the Moms called for people to stand with them beginning at 6:30 AM at 2928 Magnolia (one block off Adeline), Oakland. Should you be willing to risk arrest in non-violent civil disobedience the Moms and their allies have lawyers available and ready to help. Otherwise, there are plenty of roles for those not willing or unable to risk arrest, and the more bodies there are the less likely Sheriff’s deputies are to attempt an eviction.
Depending on what happens, they will need people continually throughout the day and evening and into Tuesday. Coming at any time (and perhaps bringing food or coffee…) will help.
TEXT 510-800-7810 TO SIGN UP FOR TEXT UPDATES.
Follow their twitter feed: https://twitter.com/moms4housing
Spread this ask as you think appropriate!
Their website: https://moms4housing.org/
Their statement:
No one should be homeless when homes are sitting empty. Housing is a human right. The Moms for Housing are uniting mothers, neighbors and friends to reclaim housing for the Oakland community from the big banks and real estate speculators.
Moms for Housing is a collective of homeless and marginally housed mothers. Before we found each other, we felt alone in this struggle. But there are thousands of others like us here in Oakland and all across the Bay Area. We are coming together with the ultimate goal of reclaiming housing for the community from speculators and profiteers.
We are mothers, we are workers, we are human beings, and we deserve housing. Our children deserve housing. Housing is a human right.
A statement as of 1/12/20, from https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Update-Moms-Call-Offer-For-Temporary-Housing-An-14968732.php
One of the homeless mothers who has been living in a vacant West Oakland house since Nov. 18 scoffed Saturday night at an offer by the house’s owner to pay to move them out and shelter them for the next two months, calling the offer “an insult.”
“It is deeply disingenuous for this multi-million-dollar corporation, through their multi-million-dollar public relations firm, to pretend to be concerned about the well being of black families,” said Dominique Walker, one of the mothers who has been staying at this Magnolia Street house, owned by the real estate investment firm Wedgewood Properties. “Wedgewood CEO Greg Geiser is desperate to avoid taking responsibility for how this company has contributed to the housing crisis that is causing families like mine to be homeless and for participating in an industry that has robbed Black and marginalized communities of land and wealth for generations.”
“We want to buy this home through the Oakland Community Land Trust, but Wedgewood would rather see our kids be in shelters or worse,” Walker said in her statement Saturday night. “We have seen corporations with blood on their hands try to buy public favor and this is an example. Their ‘offer’ is an insult.”
Earlier Saturday, Wedgewood said it’s offering to pay for the women’s move to a shelter run by a nonprofit and pay for them to stay there for two months.
If you would like to come 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 someone will come meet you at 5:30.
Working Group Meetings:
Some of our working groups meet between organizers’ meetings, and others just confer by phone and email. You can plug into any one of these:
- Outreach to Organizations
- Outreach to Individuals
- Digital Outreach
- Advocacy (working with politicians)
- Governance
- California Public Banking Alliance
- Fundraising
- Operations
Just send us a note and we’ll help you get connected to the work you want to do.
You can help us find interim board members for the Public Bank of the East Bay. We are building an Interim Board to facilitate the transition to an approved, operating Board of Directors. Review the requirements for Board members. If you would like to be on the Interim Board, or you know someone you think would be good, you can email us or use the contact page linked above.
You can donate to our efforts, or get and wear our spiffy t-shirt, through the green buttons on the right. (Pic of the t-shirt shows up when you click.)
You can help us with outreach (tabling at events, farmers’ markets, etc.)
You can encourage your organization(s) to join us as supporters.
You can come to our meetings and work with us.
You can help us find major donors.
You can tell people about public banking.
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.
Vote on ‘No Coal’ Ordinance
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At the December 3 Richmond City Council meeting, after hours of public testimony, the vote on the Richmond Coal Ordinance was delayed to a later meeting. Well, that meeting is now just around the corner! On Tuesday, January 14, the Richmond City Council will finally vote on the ordinance, which would phase out current coal and petroleum coke storage and handling at Richmond’s Levin terminal. It would also prevent future coal and petcoke operations in the city. Last year Richmond’s Levin terminal handled nearly one million metric tons of coal, which is stored in massive uncovered piles on the waterfront before being shipped overseas. This is a serious threat to Richmond’s public health and the environment. City leaders can put a stop to this pollution. If you are a Richmond resident concerned about the effects of coal and petcoke dust pollution on your family’s health, now is your chance to make sure the council finally enacts the ordinance! Please join us on January 14 at 6:30 PM for the City Council meeting. Your presence will make a difference. For more information visit ncir.weebly.com. |
Additional Directions: Accessibility Info: The meeting will take place inside the City Council Chambers in the Richmond City Council Building. This building is wheelchair-accessible via a ramp near the intersection of 27th Street and Nevin Avenue. Inside the Richmond City Council Building, there is another ramp that will take wheelchair users up to the level where the doors to the City Council Chambers are located.