Calendar
Please join Our Rev East Bay Tuesday, June 26 for a special evening with Jovanka Beckles and Gayle McLaughlin. Pizza and beverages are provided
The Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeleyhttps://t.co/zWba20Qk7m@JovankaBeckles @GayleforCA @OurRevEastBay pic.twitter.com/TiJPjWlpPH
— NorCal4OurRevolution (@NorCal4Bernie) June 23, 2018
AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
— causes, connections, and organizing for radical change
With Boona Cheema and Steve Barton
Stephen E. Barton, PhD is a long-time consultant to the Rent Stabilization Board, former Housing Director of the City of Berkeley, and an independent researcher/writer in evolutionary economics and community-based democracy. His analysis of rapidly rising rents in Berkeley led to passage of Measure U1 in 2016, increasing business license fees for commercial landlords, and providing the basis of the $100 Housing Bond on the ballot this November.
Boona Cheema is a recognized social justice pioneer, a Unitarian minister and founder/Executive Director (retired) of Better Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency. For 40 years, she, and BOSS, continue working with people experiencing poverty, disability, and the lack of affordable housing in Berkeley and Alameda County, providing jobs, shelter, and respectful aid while addressing root causes and solutions.
Join #SFLabor at a rally & march!
Workers are demanding:
1. Hotel Workers demand fair contracts and rally to say #1job is enough
2. Public Sector workers stand together to say they will stay #unionstrong in the face of corporate backed Janus case
Bay Area: We're hosting a community forum with @CAIRSFBA & @aaaj_alc on Thursday to discuss the impact of today's #MuslimBan decision. All who wish to gather in the spirit of solidarity and support are welcome. RSVP at https://t.co/TmjVYpTTNS #StandWithMuslims #NoMuslimBanEver pic.twitter.com/ZFQ5kTOWZ8
— ACLU of Northern CA (@ACLU_NorCal) June 26, 2018
About 600 people are expected to show up for a rally and human billboard protesting the detention camp at 6 p.m. Thursday at the entrance to El Cerrito Plaza on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito, according to a member of El Cerrito Shows Up.
“We will hold a human billboard action in which we will line up on San Pablo at the heart of commute time and hold up signs with messages,” said Sherry Drobner, an organizer with El Cerrito Shows Up reached by telephone Saturday morning.
“This is comparable to the Japanese internment camps,” Drobner said, linking the mass detention of immigrants to camps that existed in the Bay Area during World War II. “Our country apologized for those camps, so we already know this is wrong.”
Our People’s Assembly will focus on cleaning up our air, water and streets. A greedy developer is trying to force a dangerously polluting coal terminal on West Oakland, and Libby Schaaf has failed to stop him. The streets and parks in East and West Oakland are covered in trash, while the Hills where Libby lives are sparkling clean thanks to unequal distribution of public resources. Oakland communities are suffering from rampant, unchecked environmental injustice. Join us to dream about an Oakland where everyone, especially our children, have access to clean, safe drinking water and air, and our streets are clean and free of illegal dumping.
Join the East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses Social! Hang out with other members who are interested in getting involved in the labor movement, and hear from fellow East Bay DSA members about their experience at this spring’s national Labor Notes conference. (show less)
In the meantime, this Thursday at 7pm Franki and co. will be heard by the Oakland Rent Adjustment Board, downtown at city hall at 1 Oscar Grant (“Frank Ogawa”) Plaza, in Hearing Room 1. The plan is to keep on winning, and you’ve been invited to join—not only to show these tenants your support, but to also let the Rent Board know during open comment that Oakland takes all tenants’ needs seriously and that we demand an end to exploitation by the landlord class. More info below.
*The Fight*
The fight all started when the collective’s building was bought by real estate mega-speculator CBRE (the largest commercial real estate services and investment firm in the world). Selling to CBRE, the landlord denied the collective their contractually guaranteed first dibs on buying the building.
At the Rent Board two matters will be under consideration. First—are the collective members valid tenants with a right to live in the building (YES!). Second—how much does CBRE owe the collective for having extensively neglected their responsibilities at landlord, by refusing to remediate lead contamination, replace and repair the rotten wall, and deal with the mice that have taken up residence ($$$!). If the collective wins the Board’s support on the first matter alone, this will mean when they return to Hayward a win is straightforward—since the landlord is trying to evict simply on the grounds that the collective aren’t legitimate tenants.
So, please join us this Thursday, ready to show the rent board we stand solid and speak righteously, with Franki and co, and all tenants.
All Eyes on The Sheriff Mobilization from 12-2pm. The action outside will be at 12pm and we will head into the board chambers at 1pm.
Did you know that in the past 10 years the Alameda County jail population has decreased by half, but the sheriff’s budget keeps increasing? The Ella Baker Center and our allies are calling for an audit of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department because taxpayers deserve to know how our money is being wasted. The county supervisors will be voting to adopt the Alameda County’s $3.1 billion budget on Friday and we will be there to demand sheriff accountability and budget transparency!
The CAO just submitted a $3.1 billion proposed budget for fiscal year 18-19 to the Board. The BOS will be voting to adopt a final budget on June 29th. We are turning up to make our concerns heard by both Supervisors and media and expose the sheriff’s wasteful spending.
We’ll be making beautiful works of art, including posters, banners, etc, for the Abolish ICE protest (https://www.facebook.com/events/453365915091309/) on Saturday, June 30! A few spoken word artists will also be organizing pop up performances. We’ll have pizza, music and some supplies will be provided but please bring your own supplies if you have any. This is a family-friendly event for all folks who want to contribute.
Know Your Rights training! Saturday June 30, 11a – 2p. 2022 Blake Street, Berkeley. Learn how to protect yourself and your community from the police by asserting your rights. pic.twitter.com/ITB07ScrqQ
— Berkeley Copwatch (@Copwatch411) June 20, 2018
The conditions of detention centers are cruel and inhumane, and they exemplify a world where capital is valued over human lives. June 30 is a national day of action to support immigrant rights.
Join East Bay DSA and Families Belong Together on June 30 to protest at the ICE/West County Detention Center in Richmond.
June 30 is the anniversary of the signing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which eliminated the cruel, previously existing quotas by country. But we still have a long way to go—capital moves across borders seamlessly while it’s still too hard for people and families to do the same. We stand in solidarity with those fighting to stay in this country and stay together as families.
Family separation is another Trump-created crisis. This is not at all required under current law — despite the lies coming out of Trump’s mouth — and Trump could put an end to this with a phone call. And like so many other Trump-created crises, Republicans in Congress are letting it happen. Some may have expressed concerns about the policy, but none have done anything about it. That’s where you come in. Join our rally as part of a national day of action (like the airport protests) in support of keeping families together. (Why do we even need to say that?!)
Link to event information: https://actionnetwork.org/events/families-belong-together-indivisible-berkeley-mobilization
Event Issue Focus: Families Belong Together
HOMELESS: A documentary film by internationally renowned writer & scholar Dr Samar Habib, exposing the state emergency crisis of homelessness in Berkeley & Oakland. Plus a documentary collage of information, interviews and stills from the Berkeley Emergency Storm Shelter at 9th & University.
Dr. Habib will introduce the film and be on hand to answer questions. There will be a homemade meal from the Fabulous Chefs at Consider the Homeless.
3:15PM: Doors open
3:20PM: Music & Slide Show
3:45PM: Welcome: Consider The Homeless! founder, Barbara Brust
3:55PM: Dr. Samar Habib introduces her film “HOMELESS”
4:05PM: Screening of the film, “HOMELESS: The Story of America’s Economic Refugees”
4:55PM: Screening of the short film, “BESS – April 2018”
5:10PM: Introductions – Special Guests
5:15PM: Q & A with our guests
6:00PM: Dinner is Served
The housing crisis in the Bay Area and beyond is a wholly preventable disaster, created and maintained by the notion that housing is a commodity and not a human right.
On Saturday, June 30, join us in the campaign for the Affordable Housing Act — a proposed ballot initiative that that will give our cities and counties the power to adopt rent control necessary to address the state’s housing affordability crisis by repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.
The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act upholds landlord interests, and – in tandem with the housing crisis – has deeply exacerbated social disparities, displaced longtime communities, driven homelessness, and dealt a blow to working class power by making housing ever more insecure and inaccessible.
Come learn more about repealing Costa-Hawkins and then we’ll hit the streets to talk with our neighbors about housing justice and the Affordable Housing Act!
RSVP here: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/event-canvass-2018-06-30-canvass-for-housing-justice-in-south-berkeley
Alena Museum presents artist activism event on gentrification. We will gather the creative voices and collective power of our community and allies to demonstrate and speak out against the private investors, developers, and politicians who are set out to broaden the gap of wealth at the expense of the people. We will share with you our plans moving forward and how the community can be involved in that process. Displacing the community will not be a silent fight. Stand up for you, your family, your neighbors, and your community as we are witnessing gentrification destroying the cultural fabric of Oakland.
We document current events, make films together, steward an editing suite and share a film equipment library. We also host film screenings, often with local directors, and put on an annual short film festival for independent Bay Area filmmakers. Our goal is to make the digital filmmaking accessible – no overpriced college degree or certificate program required!
We are also a good group to reach out to if you’d like to screen a film at the Omni. We can be reached at liberatedlens@lists.riseup.net
We usually meet in the basement, unless otherwise noted.
We are hosting People’s Assemblies on everything from public safety to education. Together we will imagine an Oakland with housing security, true public safety, sanctuary for all, and create a plan to get us there.
This People’s Assembly will focus on Native communities and the struggle for Native sovereignty and land reclamation. Join us to talk about Red/Black Liberation on the day before the Farce of July.
Be part of the human billboard campaign to send a message to our community and our officials. 2,000 children are still missing! 2,000 children are still crying, frightened and alone. Trump may reunite and then jail families together, with no end date. Can we allow this? Can we let the attack on immigrants continue? The dehumanization of men, women, and children…the criminalization of those at the border and those who live in our community are purposeful attempts to convince citizens that the cruel immigration policies can be justified. We know better and we must continue to SHOW UP. Join with other families. Bring a sign, join in song. Inspire others and be inspired.
This is it. Saturday, July 7 is the FINAL DAY we have to collect enough signatures to get Our City Our Home on the ballot.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Our City Our Home:
This measure would provide $300 million of resources for affordable housing, mental health care and other services needed to house our homeless residents and protect all those who are vulnerable to eviction and displacement. We can finally make homelessness as we know it a thing of the past in San Francisco, and be a model for the rest of the country.
We ask you to INVITE YOUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY to join this urgent effort by volunteering on Saturday! We need volunteers for a variety of roles, especially signature gatherers. Call Ben at 415 674 6080 for details!