Calendar

Today from 9am–7pm, we’re at 350 Alabama St. collecting supplies to send up north to our family and friends in need. pic.twitter.com/3GGR7Q8r78

— DSA San Francisco (@DSA_SF) October 12, 2017

Join us for an enlightening evening with author, farmer and educator Elviria DiBrigit as she premieres her new book Why We Farm. In her book, DiBrigit shares stories about farmers from Capay Valley, including several who sell at our very own Berkeley Farmers Market!

Why We Farm is a book for people who want to know the whole truth about life as a modern day farmer. Each chapter features a different model of farming. Farmers share the stories behind their work and their lives on the farm; the business side of production, the personal challenges they face, and words of advice for the would-be-farmer. DiBrigit asks hard questions and gives a reverent yet realistic picture of a thriving local food system.

Light refreshments will be provided, including fresh produce samples from some of the farmers included in the book, courtesy of the Berkeley Farmers Market!

Join us at this free event, and reserve your spot here.

Free screening of the documentary “Merritt College: Home of the Black Panthers,” Speakers include Rep. Barbara Lee, Alameda Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer and the film’s director Jeffrey Heyman.

Join us Grow Incubator for our Monthly (every second Saturday) Community Clinic.

Enjoy a free hot meal and a wide array of healing modalities,
No-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds

Massage Therapy is always happening.
More services TBA.

4 PM- Narcan Rescue kit and harm reduction training

Speakers:

• Jovanka Beckles, Vice Mayor Richmond
• Erin Brightwell, Socialist Alternative
• Dan Siegel, Oakland Justice Coalition
• International Socialist Organization, TBA

Monthly meeting and Mutual Aid Skill Shares.

Oct 14: Common Home Repair.

Nov 11: Dumpster Diving in the Bay

THE Dec 9 EVENT:  Researching Properties, HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

East Meets West is a series of conferences and festivals that curate international entertainment and catalyze conversation around human potential + well-being, creative culture, professional development and social impact in order to bring about lasting human health and happiness.

Sing songs with Ocupella and hold signs, use a sign created by Tax the Rich or create your own on the GOP-Trump tax plan.

Mobilization to Submit Reports to the United Nations Regarding Racism and Human Rights Violations

November 20, 2017 is the deadline to submit reports to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (MCLI) is reaching out to the community to ensure that all forms of racism by the federal, state, and local governments in the U.S. are included in a report to be submitted by MCLI and allies working in communities experiencing racism at the hands of the government.

With the election of Donald Trump racism in the U.S. has been amplified. The struggle of the Water Protectors at Standing Rock, the “Muslim Ban”, the repeal of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the police violence against and mass incarceration of African Americans, harassment and criminalization of immigrant communities, and exploitation of immigrant labor are just some of the forms of racism that the MCLI would like to address in the upcoming report.

MCLI is holding this event to explain the process of holding the U.S. accountable for racism, to include the lived experiences of community members who have experienced racism at the hands of the government as well as social justice organizations working in communities of color, and to seek assistance compiling the report.

MCLI wants this report to be as expansive and comprehensive as possible. The only way we can do this is with community input and assistance. Please come to this event to find out how your experiences can be included and how you can help MCLI compile this report.

There will be a presentation by organizers working with MCLI followed by a Q and A.

OccupyForum presents…
Information, discussion, & community! Monday Night Forum!!

OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!

Society for the Many:
A report-back from the inaugural People’s Congress of Resistance

“Millions of people desire a political revolution against the billionaire class. The interest in socialism has grown rapidly in the last two years. The will to create a more just and equal society, the will to revolution, grows daily. The People’s Congress of Resistance was assembled to give voice and vision to this revolution. What kind of world do we want? What kind of society is worth fighting for?

The question contains its answer. The kind of society worth fighting for is one organized for society’s own good, for the equality and emancipation of the many. It is a society that replaces oppression with self-determination. It is a society that meets people’s needs. It is a society that protects the land, water and well-being of the planet. It is a society where people welcome the future with solidarity and hope. Today the vast wealth produced collectively by the many is in the hands of the very few. Today these few destroy our common planet for their own private profit. Today too many see nothing but misery ahead. If we are to care for our environment and provide for our common lives and futures, what working people have created through their collective labor must become theirs.”

­– ­From the Manifesto

On Sept. 16-17, the People’s Congress of Resistance movement was inaugurated with a mass convening of grassroots organizers and frontline resistors at Howard University. All told, 727 delegates from 38 states and 160 towns and cities came to Washington, D.C., to discuss the People’s Congress of Resistance manifesto “Society for the Many: A Vision for Revolution,” to share organizing experiences to take back home, to express solidarity with each other and to resolve on common projects and actions for the future.

Local activists, Nick Pardee and Michelle Schudel, who traveled to the Inaugural event in Washington D.C. will give a report-back on their experience and what’s next for the People’s Congress of Resistance.

•http://www.congressofresistance.org/inaugural_people_s_congress_of_resistance_draws_together_grassroots_leaders_unified_by_a_revolutionary_vision

•http://www.congressofresistance.org/

•http://www.congressofresistance.org/resolutions_from_the_2017_congress

Time will be allotted for discussion and announcements.

Donations to Occupy Forum to cover costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

At the next Board of Directors meeting, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) will for the first time in many years consider revisions to their permitting process—Rules 2-X.   The Air District’s past record of permitting indicates a bad habit of rubber stamping “stationary source” projects that endanger community health and destabilize the climate.  Can that behavior be reformed?

Unfortunately, BAAQMD is once again using the recent passage of AB 398, the cap and trade extension bill, to argue that they are prohibited from passing any direct regulation of CO₂ emissions.  Although the bill specifically restricts Air Districts from taking actions that produce CO₂ reductions, BAAQMD legal staff insists that this prevents them from pursuing efforts that would merely prevent future emission increases.

As a result, their proposed improvements to current permitting rules will do nothing to control future CO₂ emissions.  Dangerous projects, such as the massive expansion of crude-by-ship into the Phillips 66 marina at the Rodeo refinery, will continue to be rubber stamped.  The “improvements” fail to prevent the increased emissions that will inevitably follow from changes to dirtier, more GHG- and toxics- emitting crude sources.

Staff is using the same interpretation of AB 398 to argue that Rule 12-16, the proposed refinery emissions cap, can no longer be considered.

Please join us on Wednesday, October 18th, to demand permitting rules and refinery emission caps that truly prevent increased future emission of carbon dioxide and toxic co-pollutants.  We must have Rule 12-16 back on the BAAQMD agenda where it  belongs. Talking points will be provided before the meeting.