Calendar

What can we do to have a real voice in political issues?

                  Neighborhood assemblies:

Lessons from People’s Assemblies in Jackson, MS

and Cuba’s Municipal Assemblies

 with Steve Martinot, neighborhood activist and Berkeley Planning Commissioner

Why do important issues never seem to get resolved?

�      Affordable housing
�      An end to rent increases and rent-gouging displacement
�      Shelter if not housing for the homeless
�      Policing that serves people rather than impose social control
�      An end to industrial and infrastructure pollution

These issues become endless issues because we give them to people who are not effected by them – the elite we elect too speak for us, but are not us.

What would give us a voice in our own affairs?

�      Local assemblies in which to discuss among ourselves what to do.
�      Neighborhood assemblies in which to make our own autonomous decisions
�      Community Councils that would bring together the decisions of neighborhood assemblies

Where do we see this kind of system working? In Jackson, Mississippi, and in Cuba, in its system of Municipal Assemblies. Cuba’s local assemblies are legislative for neighborhoods and cities. Composed of people elected from neighborhoods, they are composed of delegates representing 100 to 200 people. These local assemblies make policy on real issues: city maintenance, land use, housing, labor disputes, and sports facilities.

Their meetings are open and permit dialogue between people and delegates. People are not limited to “comments,” as in Berkeley. The delegates live in the neighborhoods and environments about which they pass measures.

Please join us on January 27, West Berkeley Library, to learn about neighborhood assemblies, Cuba’s Municipal Assemblies, and the possibility for “direct democracy.”

Steve Martinot has been a union and community organizer, lecturer at the Center for Interdisciplinary Programs at SFSU, and written extensively on the structure of racism and white supremacy in the US, as well as on corporate economics and culture.

How do we approach the challenging conversations in our lives, whether it’s about confederate flags, Donald Trump, cultural appropriation, Palestine/Israel, or even just racism and racial justice in general?

This workshop is an opportunity to dive in much deeper with structured time to practice a range of difficult conversations around highly-charged racial issues. We will be sharing some basic skill-building tools in how to approach conversations, and then explore scenarios relevant to the lives of participants. This will include examination of some of the ways that internalized sexism can impact our courageous speaking capacities.

Small group work, role-plays, and Theater of the Oppressed techniques will support seeing tough communication blocks in a new light. We’ll try out what feels challenging, in a relatively low-stakes and supportive environment, allowing ourselves time to debrief, reflect, and learn from each other.

Tickets are sliding scale $15 – $25. No one turned away for lack of funds. Contact basebuilding@surjbayarea.org with ticket requests or questions.

Accessibility Information

The space is wheelchair accessible. We ask that you do your best to arrive at the event scent/fragrance free to keep the space as low-scent as possible to support people with chemical and scent sensitivities – please see https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/ for helpful information.

From Mass Incarceration to Restorative Justice: How Contra Costa County is Developing the Blue Print for Criminal Justice Reform

Presented by the ACLU’s Berkeley/North East Bay Chapter

The Berkeley/North East Bay chapter of the ACLU is pleased to present a Criminal Justice Reform panel with newly appointed District Attorney Diana Becton and Public Defenders Ali Saidi and Jeff Landau. Topics will include the current state of criminal justice reform in Contra Costa County and D.A. Becton’s holistic approach for future reform including dismantling the school to prison pipeline for juvenile offenders and bail reform. This is a great opportunity for all who are interested in criminal justice reform to meet those who will be leading the way.

This event is also the Berkeley/North East Bay chapter’s Annual Meeting and Chapter Board Election.

For almost 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. The ACLU protects your freedom through a nationwide network of staffed offices in every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The Berkeley/North East Bay Chapter is active in the North East Region of the San Francisco Bay (California, USA), including Albany, Berkeley, Crockett, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Pinole, Richmond, Rodeo, Montalvin Manor and San Pablo.

South Berkeley Medicare for All Social and Political Discussion

On January 31, we’re sharing a bold vision for climate justice at an event we’re calling Fossil Free Fast. Tune in and figure out what your role in this fight can be — RSVP for a watch party in the Bay Area below.

350 Bay Area’s Live Event Watch Party: RSVP here

For too long, the San Francisco Police Officers Association (the police union) has taken hardline stances and used inflammatory tactics that destroy trust between residents and police. It has blocked or delayed common-sense reforms—like the city’s improved use-of-force policy—and has publicly attacked police accountability champions—including elected officials, prominent athletes like Colin Kaepernick, and its own police members. Unlike other unions focused on wages and benefits and reasonable working conditions for their employees, the SFPOA has used labor law to exert an enormous influence on public policy and public safety.

Right now, the SFPOA is negotiating a new labor agreement with the city. The city must not approve a new contract increasing police officer pay and benefits unless the SFPOA agrees to respect our values and increase public safety. The SFPOA shouldn’t be allowed to use its bargaining power to make San Francisco less safe.

We are a growing and diverse coalition of San Franciscans who care deeply about police accountability and community safety. We want to ensure the present negotiations of the SFPOA’s new labor contract reflects our values and our community’s need for safety. To influence these negotiations, we must act now before the contract is finalized by June 2018.

#NoJusticeNoDeal

Join us for a community town hall. We’ll share information about the campaign and get feedback on community demands.

When: Wednesday, January 31, 6pm
Where: St. John’s (corner of Julian and 15th Streets, two blocks from 16th Street BART)

Whether an Observer Corps volunteer or regular LWVO member, you’ll enjoy an evening presentation on the nuts and bolts of how the City works.

Guest speaker Tracy Rosenberg, executive director of Media Alliance, will provide an overview of the city structure––from elected officials to city manager to committees and commissions––as well as the legislation flow. Who can introduce legislation and how does a member of public use the “bully pulpit” to get the assistance from a Council member to do so? Also covered will be a review of good governance regulations such as the Brown Act, how procedural committees such as the Rules Committee operate, and what tools are available to make public meetings transparent and more productive. Did you know that Staff Reports provide context for understanding seemingly obtuse committee meetings?

This is a must-attend meeting if you want to roll up your sleeves and get more involved in local government!

To RSVP and get more information contact Gen Katz at gen@metron.com

The Budget Legislative Analyst and the Treasurer will be making presentations on a report about public banking and the status of the municipal banking task force.

We need people to pack the hearing and make public comment on how SF needs a public bank that actually serves the people of San Francisco, not Wall Street.

Meeting Agenda

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2. 5:05pm: Review and approval of November and January meeting minutes
3. 5:10pm: Open Forum
4. 5:15pm: Presentation by Oakland Police Department – Annual Report on Cellular Site Simulator Use
5. 5:35pm: Presentation by Oakland Police Department – Private Video Camera Registry
6. 5:55pm: Annual election of Chair, Vice-Chair

CALL of the FOREST

6:30 pm Potluck Dinner

7:15 pm: Film

Transition Berkeley invites you a potluck dinner and film marking our seventh anniversary! Come help us celebrate and bring your visions for Transition Berkeley’s future.  How can we best inspire our community to action?

The beautiful film CALL of the FOREST – The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees, features scientist and author Diana Beresford-Kroeger a renowned world visionary.  She takes us on a journey from the sacred sugi and cedar forests of Japan to the great boreal forest of Canada explaining the legacy of old growth forests and their role in protecting and feeding the planet. She shows us that when we improve our profound connection to woodlands we can restore our spirit, our health and our planet.

Please bring a vegetarian plastic free dish to share for the potluck dinner at 6:30.
This event is sponsored by Transition Berkeley, and the Social Justice Committee (Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists). The film is provided courtesy of Alisa Rose Seidlitz and Stephanie Thomas.

KPFA Radio 94.1FM presents

Advance tickets: $12 : brownpapertickets.com :: T: 800-838-3006
Books Inc/Berkeley,  Pegasus (3 sites), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway’s. East Bay Books

From the legendary whistle-blower who revealed the Pentagon Papers, an eyewitness exposé  of the dangers of America’s Top Secret, seventy-year-long nuclear policy that lingers to this day.
Shortlisted for the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Here, for the first time, former high level defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg reveals his shocking firsthand account of America’s nuclear program in the 1960s. From the most remote air bases in the Pacific Command – where he discovered that the authority to initiate use of nuclear weapons was widely delegated – to the secret plans for general nuclear war under Eisenhower (which, if executed, would cause the near-extinction of humanity) – Ellsberg shows that the legacy of this most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization – and its proposed renewal under the Trump administration – threatens our very survival. No other insider with high level access has written so candidly of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era.

The Doomsday Machine is a real-life Dr. Strangelove story and an ultimately hopeful, powerfully important book about not simply our country, but the future of our world. It is being published at an alarmingly relevant moment, as North Korea is seeking the capability to target the United States with nuclear missiles, and an unpredictable president, Donald Trump, has countered with threats of “fire and fury.” Experts on North Korea say that the risk of a nuclear exchange is higher than it has been in recent memory. Ellsberg, as one of the few living members of the generation of theorists who devised our nuclear strike doctrines, has been grappling with such possibilities for much of his life. “It is kind of astonishing,” he says, “that people will put up with a non-zero chance of this happening. Even after many disarmament treaties, Russia and the United States still possess enough weaponry to destroy the world many times over. “There is no essential difference between having 1,500 weapons, each side, on a hair trigger, pointed at each other, and having five or ten thousand,” he says.  For this reason, Ellsberg is happy that Trump has shown a deferential stance toward Russia. On the other hand, facing North Korea, Trump has been willing to make explicit nuclear threats. But even if their missiles can’t reach us quite yet, Ellsberg the game theorist believes that Kim Jong-un has probably devised some sort of strategy to assure that he isn’t destroyed alone.  He says that the world’s survival, so far, has been “something like a miracle.”

LARRY BENSKY is the former National Affairs Correspondent for Pacifica Radio (KPFA). He teaches Political Science at California State University East Bay. In 1987 he received a George Polk Award for his coverage of the Iran-Contra Hearings in Washington, D.C.

KPFA benefit

Gather your Books, Clothing and Crops for the next monthly Swap! You can also bring plants, seeds or something homemade to share. Clothing and books should be in good condition. Meet old friends and new, help create a strong sustainable community. Heavy rain will cancel.
Cost: FREE

Questions or to volunteer: click here