Calendar
- organizing for public banking in Oakland
- securing funding from the City of Vallejo for nonprofit check cashing and public finance study initiatives through the participatory budgeting process
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- working with the City of Richmond and other municipalities for eminent domain seizure of underwater mortgages from the banksters
- participating in Occupy San Francisco’s third anniversary convergence
- ongoing study group
- distribution of Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual
- and much more.
Come join in the activities as First They Came for the Homeless and Berkeley Post Office Defenders peeps protest the privatization of the Post Office by Staples and Post Office Management.
It’s going to be a pot-luck and radio show as well as a protest. Come hang out at the once-again-up-and-going 24-hour a day table outside of Staples in Berkeley.
The 9th annual Urban Shield – the SWAT team training and weapons expo that brings together local, regional and global police-military units – will be held in Oakland this coming September 4-8. Oakland is gearing up to stop it! Building on growing resistance to police militarization in the US, Bay Area community organizations and the Facing Tear Gas campaign have come together to call for Oakland’s non-participation in Urban Shield, community self-determination, and solidarity with global movements. Urban Shield is connected to national police militarization programs such as 1033, 1122, Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) and DHS Fusion Centers. Stopping Urban Shield is one step to roll back police militarization. Stay tuned for ways to get involved!
Sign on to our demands using our form here and join us for a Community Education Forum where you can learn about Urban Shield, how it impacts our communities and find out how you can plug into the Week of Education & Action, August 30 – September 5.
Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
Critical Resistance
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)
Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
War Resisters League – Facing Tear Gas
Join us The Art on the Bulb was painted over grey We must organize to save our ART.
Print out and sign our petition and get your friends to sign, you do not have to be a Albany city resident.
For more info call Orion (510) 541-3835
For more info on the Bulb go to public facebook.com/sharethebulb You don’t need to be a Faceplant member
To Albany City council & City Mananger P. Leach and East Bay Regional Park District:
We, the working people of the Bay Area, demand that the City of Albany and East Bay Regional Parks District not touch or remove any tiny or large sculptures, paintings on rocks, shoes on trees, Castles made of cement, images of deities, driftwood dragons, huge Rubik’s cubes, stencils, graffiti, tagging etc., under the guise of “Graffiti Removal” or “abatement of unauthorized artistic expression”.
In short we say HANDS OFF! of all of the people’s art that we have loved for the last 30 years and the art that will surely come tomorrow.
send completed petitions to
- Orion Edmonson
- 8 Admiral Drive, Apt.424
- Emeryville, CA, 94608
emeryville ca 94608
Celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Infoshop opening at Long Haul.
Modest Party with free vegan chocolate cake and free raffle
See artifacts and fliers from the last 21 years and hear zany stories about the infoshop’s formation and adventures since then.
The long haul infoshop opened August 13, 1993.
Khalid was arrested during the FTP march Friday evening, August 15th, while helping another person. His charges are Obstructing police and Battery on Police.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning.
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Ryan Rising & Zaigham Kabir
Creating the World We Want to See
This Forum picks up where we left off in Ryan’s and Zaigham’s recent OccupyForums. Subjects up for discussion are building momentum through direct actions, thinking beyond left and right, creating coalitions across political spectrums.
We’ll also discuss building local food and energy independent systems for our communities through local organizing such as advocating and creating urban agriculture and community choice energy, while also connecting discussion to the ‘national security state’ and ‘war on terror’ as these apparatuses of power seek to stifle dissent and continue economies based on extracting resources, perpetual growth and destroying the Earth.
We will discuss the “Block the Boat” action that is happening on Saturday as that will be fresh in people’s minds and connects directly to all these issues as well.
Ryan Rising is a permaculture designer, community organizer, and direct action advocate living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ryan recently returned from the first grade of the Zapatista Little School in Chiapas, Mexico where he learned about the power of the connection to the landbase.
Zaigham Kabir recently addressed OccupyForum on the surveillance state and OccupyGoogle. “With our basic liberties, such as right to assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of Privacy and the right to a jury trial all under a concerted attack by the government, it should be of increasing concern that the companies we depend on for communicating and accessing information are also dependent on Defense establishment contracts and ties to appease their shareholders and continue their monopolies.”
Q&A and Announcements will follow.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service outsourced Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
On July 29th, at our invite, Ralph Nader spoke on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office against privatization and corporatism. Watch and listen to his talk here.
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. Just recently the American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too.
Check out our correspondence with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. The APWU has been leading the charge against Staples.
For most of July the sidewalk in front of Staples was ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors recently endorsed Postal Banking. Pew Research held a day-long seminar on Postal Banking.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the work and come help us out!
Rats, Riots, Revolution: Gentrification and Fightback
Gentrification and displacement are disrupting lives and communities all over the country, and the Bay Area is ground zero. With the San Francisco tech boom, and the redevelopment of neighborhoods resulting in the displacement of working class people and communities of color, living and working in Oakland and San Francisco is becoming more and more difficult. But gentrification is also nothing new, and the US has a rich history of fightback against housing discrimination and displacement.
Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor is a writer, public speaker, and activist in Chicago. She writes on black politics, housing inequality, and issues of race and class in the United States. Her articles have been published in Souls: A critical journal of black politics, Culture and Society, New Politics, The Black Commentator, Gaper’s Block, and Ms. Magazine, among other publications. She is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review.
Over the last few weeks, police have murdered five Black men & women across the country:
Mike Brown: Ferguson, MO
Ezell Ford: South Los Angeles
Eric Garner: New York
Jacorey Calhoun: Oakland
Unidentified woman in San Jose who had a power drill
And of course, there have been thousands and thousands more murdered Black, Brown & poor people throughout the years.
Oscar Grant
Alan Blueford
Alex Nieto
Andy Lopez
Kimani Gray
Kendrec McDade
Amadou Diallo
Sean Bell
Ramarley Graham
We will take to the streets and tell the police: IT ENDS TODAY
We will gather at 5:00 pm in FOUR locations:
– Oscar Grant OG Plaza
– Oakland Main Library (659 14th Street, Oakland Ca 94612)
– African American History Museum (125 14th Street, Oakland CA 94612)
– Jack London Square (near Waterfont Hotel)
5:00 – 5:15: banner making, public education, speakers
5:15 – 5:30: music & chants
5:30: MARCH to 7th & Broadway
6:00 – 6:30: music, speakers, chants
6:30: MARCH to Oscar Grant Plaza
6:30 – 7:00: Community Speak Out and Action Planning for a Sustained Campaign Against Police Terrorism
Simultaneous Actions in Los Angeles & Mississippi
PLEASE choose a different location for you and your comrades to begin the action! It is important that we show the power of the people to a larger share of our city than just OG plaza.
Again the action will begin in FOUR locations at 5:00 pm:
– Oscar Grant Plaza
– Oakland Main Library (659 14th Street, Oakland Ca 94612)
– African American History Museum (125 14th Street, Oakland CA 94612)
– Jack London Square (near Waterfont Hotel)
Endorsing Organizations: ONYX, MXGM, Healthy Hoodz, Young Oakland, Inner Council of Murdered Children, Alan Blueford Center for Justice, Hip Hop Congress, Workers World
Here is the reading for the next Politics of Debt meeting – OMNI basement.
We will continue on with Ellen brown’s Public Banking solution on the topic foreign policy and other countries’ use of Public Banks.
The next Taser-free Berkeley organizing meeting.
Also see
PUBLIC FORUM: SHOULD BERKELEY POLICE USE TASERS ON THE PEOPLE OF BERKELEY?
We are proud to host Dennis Banks, Native American leader and co-founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to speak and present the documentary “A Good Day To Die.”
The folks who serve you your hot dogs and nachos at the Oakland Coliseum deserve respect! Many of them are longtime Oakland residents who’ve worked at the ballpark for 10, 20 or 30 years and count on their jobs for a stable income and health care.
But this year, a new company, Ovations, took over the food service operation. Instead of sitting down to negotiate a fair contract, Ovations is stalling, asking for take-aways, and offering unfair proposals.
*Seven months into bargaining, Ovations hasn’t even given us a proposal on health care.
*Ovations’ proposal on wages is a 25-cent raise over 3 years. That’s 8.3 cents a year.
*Ovations is also proposing to subcontract as many stands as they want, let managers do union workers’ jobs, and institute drug testing.
JOIN COLISEUM WORKERS for a march across the Coliseum parking lot to reach out to fans as they tailgate before a big game! Let Ovations know that they can’t come in from out of town and disrespect Oakland workers who’ve been on the job for years!
For questions or rides, contact Jessica Medina (jmedina@unitehere.org, 510-219-6358).
In solidarity,
UNITE HERE Local 2850
PEACE AND FREEDOM PARTY YEARLY POTLUCK PICNIC .
Last week’s event was a big success, so we’re doing it again. Come hang out with the people Occupying outside of Staples, advocating the Staples boycott. Expect great music and great conversation, and postcards to US mail to Staples telling them why you are boycotting. Maybe food too!
The US Postal Service has contracted out Post Offices to Staples stores, replacing living wage Postal Union jobs with min wage non-union Staples employees.
Let’s keep the pressure on and make sure students back at UC Berkeley and buying supplies know why they shouldn’t be purchasing stuff at Staples.
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
A film by Stephen Vittoria
Mumia Long Distance Revolutionary
A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Through prison interviews, archival footage, dramatic readings, as well as a potent chorus of voices, this riveting film explores Mumia’s life
before, during and after Death Row.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an internationally celebrated writer and radio journalist who has devoted his life both inside and outside prison to resistance media.
He is the author of eight books and hundreds of columns, articles, and radio broadcasts; an organizer and inspiration for the prison lawyers movement where prisoners dedicate time to helping fellow prisoners; former member of the Black Panther Party, and supporter of Philadelphia’s MOVE organization of the 1970s which advocated green politics, expressed its opposition to technology and zoos, and supported animal rights. Mumia was framed for the death in 1981 of Philadelphia policeman, Daniel Faulkner, and has spent more than 30 years in prison, almost all of it in solitary confinement on Pennsylvania’s Death Row.
Mumia Long Distance Revolutionary is a powerful documentary that includes the story of the Philadelphia police crackdown of the MOVE organization in the late 70s. You can make your own connections between that event and more recent events in Ferguson, MO and elsewhere.
Frank Rizzo, Chief of Police, in Philadelphia at the time of the confrontations was quoted as saying, “The police department in Philadelphia could invade Cuba and win” and “What I’m saying is that we are now trained and equipped to fight wars.”
“He is Mumia Abu-Jamal on Death Row. No parole. Speaking from the depths of his soul, depths of his heart, depths of his mind of the sufferings of others, not even his own suffering, the sufferings of others.” –Cornel West
Discussion and Announcements will follow.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service outsourced Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
On July 29th, at our invite, Ralph Nader spoke on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office against privatization and corporatism. Watch and listen to his talk here.
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. Just recently the American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too.
Check out our correspondence with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. The APWU has been leading the charge against Staples.
For most of July the sidewalk in front of Staples was ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples. They’re back! Come hang out with them outside Staples at Durant & Shattuck.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors recently endorsed Postal Banking. Pew Research held a day-long seminar on Postal Banking. The Postal unions and other groups have announced plans for a conference on postal banking in November.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the work and come help us out!
The Zoning Overlay Ordinance on Berkeley’s existing Historic Civic Center District, including our historic Post Office, has gained national attention. On August 27, 2014, the Planning Commission will vote on whether to forward the Ordinance to the City Council for consideration at the September 9, 2014 council meeting. The Zoning Overlay will save the Post Office, Old City Hall, and our historic Civic Center from commercial development.
The Mayor and Council have stated that they are ready to make the Zoning Overlay submitted by citizen initiative the law in Berkeley. The Commission must approve an Environmental statement and new use definitions before the Overlay can return to Council.
Show the Planning Commissioners That We Care.
Bring a Friend. Let’s Fill the Room!
Berkeley’s Historic Civic Center District is our Public Commons. Let’s protect it with appropriate zoning.
Planning Commission agenda for the 8/27 meeting.
pdf of entire Planning Commission 8/27 packet (103 pages)
Green Downtown & Public Commons Initiative
Designated as “Measure R”
Measure R on the November ballot will guarantee that our historic Civic Center – including the Main Post Office and Old City Hall – are reserved for public-serving uses, and that our Downtown is developed in concert with Berkeley’s values of equity, access and support for the environment.
Under Measure R, new developments
- meet high green building standards
- include affordable housing on site
- offer generous bike parking
- include parking for the disabled, car-sharing and electric vehicle charging
- guarantee jobs for Berkeley residents and fair wages for construction, maintenance, security and hotel workers.
- provide funding for public transportation, improvements to streets, sidewalks, parks and open spaces and for loans to small businesses
Measure R protects Our Civic Center as a public commons � in perpeetuity � preserving traditional uses that serve the common good succh as museums, libraries, government, non-profits, arts, live performance venues and farmer’s markets. No future Council can vote to allow exclusively private uses – ever.
In November vote “YES” on R for a Green, Equitable and Civic Downtown.