Calendar
Marissa Alexander, mother of 3, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison, after firing a single warning shot into the wall to stop her husband from attacking her. She was prosecuted by the same attorney that initially refused to prosecute the murderer of Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and was ironically denied protection under the Stand Your Ground law because she didn’t run away, but stood her ground instead.
It’s not just Florida, it’s everywhere in America. The foundations of these systems that govern are bigoted; they are built broken so they can break us.
We won’t stop, can’t stop, until prisons are emptied of women defending themselves from violence, of black and brown people, and of poor people. We will fight for Marissa, we will fight to defend ourselves, and we will fight for liberation!
Free Marissa Alexander – Oakland.
Let’s return to Wells Fargo CEO/President’s $5 million penthouse home to let him know that if our friends can’t go home due to Wells Fargo evictions, then he shouldn’t be able to go home either.
The Occupy the Auctions / Evictions campaign demands an immediate bank moratorium on all predatory or for-profit evictions or foreclosures of the 99% and a halt to all for-profit foreclosure auctions and evictions.
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Buses Leave from OGP at Midnight
On July 21, 2012 Anaheim police murdered Manuel Diaz while he was surrendering and following police orders. He was shot in the head in front of his community. In response to the outrageous (and common) murder, community members began peaceful gathering outside their homes. The Anaheim police responded with extreme violence, unleashing attack dogs and shooting life-threatening munitions on babies, small children, elderly and everybody in range.
Now, on the 1 year anniversary of the murder of Manuel Diaz (which set of this chain of events), scores of families of police brutality victims (including the mothers of Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo) are calling on people of conscious all over California to unite for a mass march in Anaheim. Only a people’s movement can turn the tide against the epidemic of police brutality.
Facebook: Much more info & RSVP
Transportation:
Bay Area: Call 415-821-6545 or email answer@answersf.org
Austerity and greed have come together to make the sale of the Berkeley Post Office to private concerns imminent.
A mass meeting of our community:
– To update everyone on appeals & legal challenges to Stop the Sale
– To organize for the July 27th Rally in direct defense of our historic Post Office
(Location is near Ace Hardware and 2 blocks from Downtown Berkeley BART)
We need your help to organize! We need your presence at the rally and defense!
Sponsored by Save the Berkeley Post Office & Strike Debt Bay Area (Facebook and Webpage)
Also see the National Save the Post Office website.
Calendar Event For the Rally Itself.
July 24, 2008 marks the last minimum wage increase in California.
While the cost of our basic needs–rent, groceries, healthcare, daycare, and gas–continue to increase, the minimum wage has remained at $8/hr for 5 years!
The City of Berkeley is considering a city-wide minimum wage increase, but opponents say that Berkeley workers don’t need a wage increase, and that those who work in the restaurant industry should be excluded if any increase does take effect.
No one who works hard should be living in poverty. We’re fighting to raise the floor for our lowest paid workers and to keep good paying, middle class jobs that allow us to support our families.
JOIN US! RALLY AND MARCH FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE!
5PM: Rally and March at Downtown Berkeley BART station
7PM: Berkeley Labor Commission meeting
North Berkeley Senior center – 1901 Hearst
Facebook
Initiating organizations: EBASE & FAME; Restaurant Opportunities Center; SEIU 1021; SEIU ULTCW; Unite Here 2850; ATU 1555; Our Walmart; Raise the Wage East Bay (RWEB); ACCE
On Tuesday, July 30th the Oakland City Council will vote on whether to approve a $2 million dollar appropriation to implement phase 2 of the systems enhancements and integration of the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The center will act as a central aggregator for video feeds and real-time data from a number of sources around Oakland with possible components including CCTV feeds, license plate recognition, facial recognition, gait recognition and more, what could possibly go wrong?
Members of Occupy Oakland and others will meet at the Sudoroom Thursday @ 6PM to plan actions to oppose this funding. We will discuss holding a rally for 5PM on the 30th before going in to speak to the city council, & how to reach out to other interested folks and the city at large, and whatever else moves us.
The sudoroom is a hackerspace and creative community that is oriented towards positive social change. Although the address is on Broadway the entrance is on 22nd Street, up some stairs. The venue normally has several events on Thursday evening but the sudoroom’s common area is quite large, so it should be possible to have several meetings at once. However if it seems too crowded, hectic or noisy we can troop across the street to Farley’s where I’ll buy everyone a round or three for the inconvenience.
A Proposal To Block Everything
The Zimmerman verdict reminds us that in the United States Black life is given no value by the forces of law, order, and property. While #hoodiesup shows a historical force drawn up in opposition, the direction of the protests is still uncertain. Some demonstrators call for a federal civil rights suit, while others draw attention to the larger structural oppression faced by black and poor people. Some want to stay focused on a single vigilante, while others draw the connection to Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, and Rodney King. Some want to ignore the institution of the police, while the rest of us know that Zimmerman is a wannabe cop, and that every cop is a wannabe Zimmerman.
Leaders urge peace, calm, and obedience. But even if peaceful rallies result in a federal suit against Zimmerman, will that change what brought us into the streets in the first place? Do we mean it when we say, “Never Again”? What would it take to actually stop all this misery?
Every movement that’s ever meant anything has given itself the means to disrupt daily life. If there is a common thread that runs through Civil Rights to Black Power, this is it. The simple question is how to become a force. Moments of disruption teach us new ways to relate to each other and our cities. Most importantly, they teach us that we are powerful. A determined people doesn’t have to rely on wannabe cops or politicians. That’s why the cowards caution us to obey the law over the call in our hearts. They know this—and it terrifies them.
“I’m not shocked, I’m outraged.” The murder of a black teen is not the exception, but the norm; we are coming to fists with normal life in America. Hence, #hoodiesup must disrupt the places that sustain this normal: cities, highways, trains, ports, social media—all the flows that compose the false harmony of America. The sit-ins in Pittsburgh and Florida, the marches blocking streets around the country, the highway takeovers in Oakland, LA, and Houston, all share a wisdom: every place that politics and commerce carry on as if nothing has happened is ripe for disruption. Block everything!
It is an “EMERGENCY SITUATION! WE HAVE TO KICK OUR SUPPORT OF THE HUNGER STRIKERS TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL!”
Meet us at MacArthur BART at 7:30 am for a day in Sarcramento – Speaking out, leafletting, rallying, banner-ing, and going out to the people. CALL US (510-926-5207). Facebook.
Statement by the Hunger Strikers.
Greetings of solidarity and respect to all of our supporters, all people of conscience around the world, and all similarly situated prisoners. You should know that once again our peaceful protest is making history, bringing international attention to our collective efforts to bring an end, once and for all, to the inhumane conditions and torture of indefinite solitary confinement.
We are being tortured each day by state officials (Governor Brown, his appointee CDCR Secretary Beard, and all his underlings). Increased retaliation has been perpetuated upon defenseless and starving prisoners who only seek what any human being strives for—humane treatment, dignity, equality, and justice for our families, loved ones, and ourselves. These are the fundamental rights of all people, including those incarcerated by the state. We are doing all we can, together with our outside supporters, to bring about a positive changes. Gov. Brown is not above the will of the people of California, and if he refuses to recognize the legitimacy of our human and civil rights struggle against the practices of this prison system, then it is the responsibility of the federal government and President Obama to use their powers to stop the harm being done to thousands of prisoners being held in solitary confinement.
CDCR officials are attempting to undermine the voluntary actions of prisoners who truly want better treatment and living conditions by wrongfully accusing us of forcing tens-of-thousands of prisoners across California, along with our supporters in the free world, to participate in our protest. Prisoners across the state are participating because of the inhumane conditions they are being subjected to. As HUMAN BEINGS prisoners are collectively resisting such treatment, and they are doing so peacefully. The attempted repression of our protest has not broken our spirits. In fact it has only helped to strengthen each of us—individually and collectively. Despite CDCR’s retaliations and propaganda, we remain steadfast in our commitment. We will see our peaceful hunger strike through to victory, even if this requires us to endure the torture of force-feeding. We believe at this point in our struggle we are prepared to do what is necessary in order for Gov. Brown and the CDCR to realize how serious we are, and how far and long we are willing to go to have our reasonable demands implemented.
We are hopeful that all those brave men and women across the state who are participating in this strike—all who are able health-wise—will be encouraged to issue public statements of their own, via media outlets across the country, letting the world know why they have taken part in this historic, collective struggle.
In closing, we want to inform the world that this hunger strike is far from over. We are in it for the long haul. Thus, we strongly urge Gov. Brown to return from his “get-away” vacation overseas and deal urgently with this crisis before more prisoners suffer serious health damage or death. If any deaths do occur, the responsibility for them will fall squarely on Brown and the CDCR in their callousness and inaction.
We believe that we will prevail.
In Solidarity,
PBSP-SHU Short Corridor Representatives
– Todd Ashker, C-58191, PBSP-SHU, D4-121
– Arturo Castellanos, C-17275, PBSP-SHU, D1-121
– Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (Dewberry), C-35671, PBSP-SHU,D1-117
– Antonio Guillen, P-81948, PBSP-SHU, D2-106
The ONYX Organizing Committee, Advance the Struggle, People’s Community Medics, the Kenneth Harding Jr. Foundation, the Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition, Workers World, The Oscar Grant Foundation, Young Oakland, Healthy Hoodz and East Bay ISO call on the people to keep the pressure on the state. Not just for Trayvon but for ALL of the young Black and Brown lives that have been stolen by the state! We Need to STAY in these Streets!!!!!
We are beginning a FACTS and LIES campaign to educate Oakland about the truth of what happened to Alan Blueford and the lies OPD and the DA promulgated and continue to promulgate.
Perhaps you have seen our WANTED posters about town:
We participated in the Rally against police violence: One Year After Anaheim on July 21st.
We are supporting the California prisoners’ hunger strike.
We are discussing how we can aid other families who are victims of police violence.
We are making a difference! We can use all the help we can get! Come join us!
Justice 4 Alan Blueford website.
Meeting location subject to change. Please check the website (above link) a day or two before to verify the meeting location.
A Rally in Direct Defense of our Post Office!
Our heritage is being auctioned off to privateers, as austerity and Congressional mandates squeeze the US Postal Service to the point of breaking. The same forces that want to privatize Social Security and prisons are now in the process of selling off Post Offices across the United States.
Come help save the Berkeley Post Office and send a message across the United States that our Post Offices – jobs, services, buildings and history – are worth saving!
– Starting at 1:00 pm at 2000 Allston Way (1 block from Berkeley BART), with speakers, music and dance, street theater, public forums, and a Birthday Cake to celebrate the founding of the Post Office in July 1775.
– We need everyone’s help to mount a defense that cannot be ignored.
– National Weekend of Action to save the Post Office, including actions at threatened post offices in the Bronx, New York; Portland, Oregon; Berkeley; Tacoma, Washington; and at the Southern Calif. offices of Rep. Darrell Issa, who’s leading the Congressional effort to dismantle and privatize the Post Office.
Help plan and run this event: Come to the organizing meeting. We need everyone’s help
Sponsored by: Direct Defense Action Team to Save the Berkeley Post Office in coalition with Strike Debt Bay Area.
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: It doesn’t rain in Oakland in August or September.
If you would like to help us monetarily with our work. We don’t need much, but we do keep a phone hotline active and do flyers and posters. Any little bit helps.
• Are you Bogged Down with Debt?
• Getting Calls From Debt Collectors?
• Having Trouble Paying What you Owe?
• Want to Know your Options?
10-11 for English Speakers
11-12 for Spanish Speakers
The workshop will include a presentation about different types of debt and information about your options once you’re behind in payments. It will also give time for you to check in and ask questions to advocates and attorneys.
Call (510) 548-4064 to Reserve your spot now!
We will be discussing Christian Marazzi’s ‘The Violence of Financial Capitalism’ – first two chapters. I put up a free online version on the class blog.
More info. Location map. The entrance is on 22nd St.