Calendar

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!! Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue on all sides of these critically important issues!

To honor Thursdays non-violent direct action at Kinder Morgan, Occupy Forum presents the film:

Just Do It.

This Thursday, more than a dozen Bay Area citizens (our comrades from Sunflower Alliance, OccupyOakland, and others in this affinity group) chained themselves to a gate at the Kinder Morgan rail terminal in Richmond to stop operations. The citizens risked arrest to protest mile-long oil trains that threaten the safety of area residents and are a massive new source of air and carbon pollution in the region.

Among the demonstrators were residents of Richmond, Rodeo, Martinez, and Benicia, all towns that currently see dangerous oil trains moving through residential areas. Earlier this year the regional air quality agency, known as the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, changed an existing permit to allow oil trains at the rail facility. Demonstrators contend that the agency broke the law when it modified the existing permit without additional environmental and safety review. “Bomb Trains” are an environmental justice issue, a climate issue, and one of the most reckless, heedless gambits Big Oil has thrown our way.

In honor of our sisters and brothers who are leading the way for us all in the Bay Area and around the country, OccupyForum will screen the film “Just Do It – A Tale of Modern Day Outlaws” by Emily James. The documentary follows climate activists as they blockade factories, attack coal power stations and glue themselves to the trading floors of international banks despite the very real threat of arrest and abuse. It seems the time has come for everyone who can muster up the courage to put our bodies on the line.

Discussion and Announcements will follow.

link to video of our comrades locking down to the gate at Kinder Morgan

Let’s fill the room and make sure the Ordinance – more than a year after it was proposed – gets passed!  It will rezone the downtown Historic District to prevent usages of the buildings or land for other than civic purposes, thereby rendering a sale of the Post Office or the other historic buildings around the downtown park to a developer not worth it to the developer, who won’t be able to build a twenty story office building with a McDonald’s at street level.

Come lend your support and speak about preserving the public commons!

If you have never come before, come and get involved!
If you have been participating, come and get re-energized!
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Although we have made tremendous gains, the fight is not over. We are still fighting for the college we want and the college all of our students deserve.  We agree with the City Attorney who says that the issue at City College is the principle of open access education for all versus success for a few.
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COME TO HEAR UPDATES
Restoration, the legal suit, Board of Trustee status and elections, etc.
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COME TO SET DIRECTION AND PLAN ACTIONS
To influence the BOT race, to lobby the Board of Governors to bring back our democratically elected BOT, etc. etc
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COME TO HELP SAVE OUR CITY COLLEGE
Keep our college a community college!
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AGENDA
5:00 – 5:30 pm
Short history and where we are at this point
5:30 � 6:00 pm
Reports from students, lobby committee, etc.
6:00 � 6:15 pm
Entertaining skit
6:15 – 6:45
Brainstorming for activities of Coalition for Fall and beyond.
6:45 – 7:15
Discussion of Coalition structure.
7:15 – 7:30
Announcements and wrap up.
7:45 � 8:00 pm
Slide show

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 The purpose of our tour is to generate audiences under one roof that want to get big $$$ out of politics with folks that want to reboot America led by renewables with those wiped out thanks to ’08.

Following is a brief description of the film:

Patrick Lovell is an accidental filmmaker/activist. Lovell was in the midst of living his American Dream when suddenly his world caved in. The Lovell’s would find themselves in the midst of the collapse of Americas middle class and like millions would eventually lose their home to foreclosure. Patrick figured out a way to make a film using his story as the entry point to broader truth that America is no longer a Democracy, that free markets have been overrun by global monopolies and the American Dream is Dead! Lovell crisscrossed the country surfing the Occupy Wall Street Wave to discover America is corrupt, defunct and unsustainable, but more importantly, how we can turn the tables on the dark forces that are undermining the American ideal to reboot the American Dream. 

Starring Bernie Sanders, Van Jones, James Hansen, Jeremy Rifkin, Mary Boyle, Jeffry Sachs, Music by Michael Franti and a slew of ordinary Americans rising becoming extraordinary. �

Here’s some recent radio:
http://kboo.fm/content/forward13wakinguptheamericandreamadocumentaryaboutfo

Here’s some national TV interviews:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-cycle/watch/waking-up-the-american-dream-226604099690
Mortgage Crisis Gets Personal <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctr77TgXVTo>

Berkeley in the Sixties” is kicking off the 50^th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement this week at the Pacific Film Archive. 

Veterans of the Free Speech Movement will be there.

Oakland California, to Ferguson, Missouri

FUCK THE POLICE MARCH

Wear all Black

Ferguson, Missouri.

To the good people of Ferguson, resisting fascism – and taking your streets: You are not alone. We will continue to take the streets here in Oakland in solidarity!

On August 31st, @LostVoices14 found a noose hanging in the Ferguson camp, showing the KKK are alive & well.
(video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWiUqcSWD_c)
We will take the streets behind an Anti-Fascist banner. We will march against the fascism of racist police forces everywhere, and the racists they empower. KKK impunity ends with the barbaric acts of Aug 31 and the finding of a hanging noose.

Oakland California!
The time has come for more than state justice for these atrocities. The time has come to draw a line in the sand and say “no more racist police killings or beatings.”

Newly awoken resistance groups across the USA, Anonymous, Occupy alumni, East Bay radicals, and many others are drawing a line in the sand that runs right down the middle of Main Street in Ferguson, Missouri. We will no longer watch the powerful oppress the downtrodden without letting our anger sing. We are simply defending ourselves and our sisters and brothers against racism and abuse of power.

Feed each other, keep each other safe – and stay in the streets until we are totally victorious in all our demands!

Rising Tide co-founder, environmental campaigner and

renowned author George Marshall will talk about his new book

“Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to

Ignore Climate Change”

It’ll be right before the climate march in NYC and our solidarity actions in the East Bay and SF, and we expect lively conversation about dynamics in the movements to address climate change and climate justice.

 
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1462038400737108/
DONATIONS: $5-15 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds.

This event is a Rising Tide production.

About the book:

Why, even with overwhelming scientific evidence, do most people still not feel or accept the full threat of climate change – or even talk about it?

What is this psychological mechanism that allows us to know something is true but act as if it is not? In this groundbreaking and engaging look at one of the most important issues facing us today, George Marshall, world renowned for his work on the psychology of climate change denial, shows that even when we accept that climate change is a dire problem, our human brains are wired to ignore it and argues that we can overcome this.

With engaging stories and drawing on years of his own research, Marshall confirms that humans are wired to respond strongest to threats that are visible, immediate, have historical precedent, have direct personal impact, and are caused by an “enemy.” Climate change is none of these – it’s invisible, unprecedented, drawn out, impacts us indirectly, and is caused by us. Taking the reader deep into our evolutionary origins, Marshall argues that once we understand what excites, threatens, and motivates us, we can rethink and reimagine climate change. In the end, his book is both about climate change and about the qualities that make us human: our limitations, our strengths, and how we can grow as we deal with the greatest challenge we have ever faced.

Interfaith prayer meeting for healing, dedicated to the survivors and victims of violence and police brutality in Oakland.

We are organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.

Please feel free to bring quotes or passages to share
All are welcome

We will serve simple breakfast.

 The Bill of Rights Defense Committee is having a rally at Oakland City Hall on the 17th.

There will be first person report backs from Ferguson, including one from Nadia Kayali, a lawyer with the EFF.

There will be a handful of speakers followed by music from a PA and food and an opportunity for people circulating in parallel, yet disconnected, circles to meet one another and expand the organizing potential across the greater Bay Area.

Or next Politics of Debt meeting will be a presentation by Chong Kee Tan on Bay Bucks, a local alternative currency.  We’ll hear him speak and then have a Q&A period, perhaps leasing into a broader discussion.

Or next meeting will be one week following, on September 24th,  instead of two. We’ll discuss chapters 21-23 of Ellen Brown’s Web of Debt.

The Zim Shanghai has changed its estimated arrival back to Saturdays (September 27th) in the morning.

The critical picket is back to 5AM Saturday. Gather at W.Oakland BART.

We will still be at W. Oakland BART at 5pm tonight to meet anyone who wants to help plan for tomorrow’s picket.

Please continue to check text messages, Twitter and Facebook alerts.

Text: “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status

Twitter: @StopZIMOak

Facebook: facebook.com/events/545270232240123/

Inquiries: stopzimoak@gmail.com / (415) 282-1908

To track the Zim Shanghai: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/477634600

Port of Oakland map: http://www.portofoakland.com/pdf/maritime/mari_map.pdf

End the Siege of Gaza!

Endorsed by:

End the Siege of Gaza! Picket the Zim Shanghai Starting September 27 at the Port of Oakland!

Israel and Hamas agreed to a set of conditions for a ceasefire on August 26th, after Israel had killed more than 2,100 Palestinians in Gaza – mostly civilians, more than a quarter children – and destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, housing, hospitals, schools and water supply.

Israel claims it does not “occupy” Gaza, yet it has complete control of Gaza’s land crossings, seacoast and air space. Israel severely restricts Palestinians’ movement and their access to food, medical supplies, and construction materials.

In 1984, protesting against South African Apartheid, the Bay Area longshore workers union, ILWU Local 10, went on strike for 11 days against the Nedlloyd Kimberley, a ship carrying South African cargo.

In 2010, responding to the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Local 10 honored a picket of an Israeli-owned ZIM ship by 1,200 community and labor activists, refusing to unload the ship for 24 hours. In August 2014, Palestinian, community and labor activists, in an historic victory, blocked the Zim Piraeus for five days and forced it to leave the Bay with most of its cargo still on board.

We ask the ILWU to carry on its long historical tradition of opposing injustice and honoring community picket lines. Let’s keep the pressure on and continue this tradition of labor blockades against oppression.

Please come to a sustained community and labor activist picket beginning on September 27th to stop the Zim Shanghai from unloading or loading any cargo – from when it arrives in Oakland until it leaves. This will also send a message to stevedoring companies such as Stevedore Services of America (SSA) who are pushing for concessions right now against longshore workers who are working without a contract.

Picket Lines Mean Don’t Cross!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Solidarity with the Palestinian people!

Stop ZIM Action Committee

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Text “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status
Twitter: @StopZIMOak
Webpage: snurl.com/stopzims27

A “sustained picket” means we will picket the Zim Shanghai from when it arrives until it leaves the Bay.

Morning assembly: 5am, West Oakland BART (starting September 27th)

Afternoon assembly: 4:30pm, West Oakland BART

Carpools will be available from West Oakland BART to the picket site. The ship is expected at the SSA terminal in the Port.

Typically, each picket will last only a few hours until longshoremen decide not to cross the picket. It may last longer depending on the situation. Volunteers are need for all shifts, but especially morning shifts and the first day (morning of September 27th).

Please check your phone/Twitter/FB for updates on the ship location and picket status, particularly the day before. ZIM may delay the ship’s arrival to avoid picketers.

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Unions around the world, including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (Gaza) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have called for action against Israeli Apartheid.

We are asking that longshore workers honor this picket line as they have done before for the Zim Piraeus, and other ships such as the Nedlloyd Kimberley which carried cargo for the oppressive and discriminatory Apartheid regime of South Africa in the 1980s.

We understand the ILWU is currently in contract negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and that there is no contract in effect at this time. Further, SSA is one of the most aggressive stevedoring employers in the PMA going after the ILWU on work rules and concessions. ILWU longshore workers in the Pacific Northwest have been fired for work stoppages over health and safety violations despite the fact that there is no contract in effect. Working now under no contract as negotiations continue, there is more opportunity and reason to take action on behalf of workers and the community.

There is no arbitration procedure without a contract and longshore workers cannot be compelled to cross a labor and community picket line to comply with a contract. Honoring a picket line of the Israeli shipping line ZIM actively supports the Palestinian people, and shows that union members care about what happens to others who suffer discrimination and oppression. Supporting the community in this struggle further strengthens community support for the ILWU in fighting to keep the hiring hall, work rules, and other benefits union members have.

ILWU members should be aware that Israeli unions actively discriminate against Palestinians – who make up a significant portion of the labor force within Israel. As many of you are well aware, longshore workers in San Francisco and the entire West Coast established the hiring hall after the strike in 1934 to end discrimination in hiring based on union membership and race.

We’re excited to let you know about the 2nd training in our “Support
from Outside the Walls” series.

The invite is here https://www.facebook.com/events/663599277069128/
Please help us spread the word.

People in prison are often required to exhaust internal, administrative
complaint processes before they can take a case to court. In California,
non-lawyers and lawyers can be a huge help to people with their
complaints against the prison system. Learn how to assist California
inmates with their administrative appeals in this session led by Sajad
Shakoor of the Tayba Foundation.

Please RSVP & complete this poll so we can customize the training and
connect you with projects http://tinyurl.com/Walls-Pre-Training-Survey

Materials from last training and this training are here
http://caitlinkellyhenry.com/support/

This training will focus on practical skills development for activists,
legal workers, and lawyers to understand the nitty gritty methods and
best practices for “Supporting People in California Prisons to Address
and Appeal Grievances.”

The blockade of the Zim Shanghai continues tonight, after all but one longshore worker refused to take the job at morning dispatch.

Gather at W. Oakland BART by 4:30pm tonight to march and/or carpool to the port, or come directly to the SSA Terminal, Berth 57, at the Port of Oakland by 5pm.

Please continue to check text messages, Twitter and Facebook for alerts and messages.

Text: “Join” to 88202 for alerts on ship location and picket status

Twitter: @StopZIMOak

Facebook: facebook.com/events/545270232240123/

Inquiries: stopzimoak@gmail.com / (415) 282-1908

To track the Zim Shanghai: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/477634600

Port of Oakland map: http://www.portofoakland.com/pdf/maritime/mari_map.pdf

End the Siege of Gaza!

Endorsed by: