Calendar
Feeling angry by the continued killings of Black people by the police and vigilantes and don’t know what to do? Join us at a virtual Intro to SURJ meeting and learn about our current work and activities. Find out how SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority.
You will hear about SURJ’s pathways for engaging in the work, including Study & Action, committee work, upcoming workshops, and events. We’ll answer your questions and share how you can get involved in the movement for racial justice. You can sign up for any intro meeting, we are offering several to meet the needs of the community to engage in racial justice work.
Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? Join us at our first virtual Intro to SURJ meeting and learn about our current work and activities. SURJ moves white people to act for justice, with passion and accountability, as part of a multi-racial majority.
You will hear about SURJ’s pathways for engaging in the work, including Study & Action, committee work, upcoming workshops, and events. We’ll answer your questions and share how you can get involved in the movement for racial justice.
ACCESS
The Intro meeting will be held virtually over Zoom. Please be sure to check-in to our zoom room between 6:30 and 6:40 so we can begin promptly at 6:45pm. It will take a few minutes to check-in. Participants will receive instructions for joining the event a few days beforehand.
Been to a “Heading for Extinction” Talk or seen us in the media? Want to get more involved? Attend a Zoom (video) Orientation Call! Note that this call is phone friendly! If you want to call in by phone, you can call in using the zoom meeting number (disclosed once you sign up).
Sign up here (June 12)
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkcuuhqzMoG9Gkaji1tKcqCT_J6bDAEEqc
Sign up here (June 19)
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkcuuhqzMoG9Gkaji1tKcqCT_J6bDAEEq
Sign up here (June 26)
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkcuuhqzMoG9Gkaji1tKcqCT_J6bDAEEqc
Press Conference: In Midst of Mounting Pressure and Day of Action, Oakland Council President Kaplan to Reopen Budget Vote; Commit to Join Bas, Labor, Community to Defund Police
#DEFUNDTHEPOLICE COALITION “DRIVE 4 JUSTICE” CAR CARAVAN TO HOMES OF MAYOR, CITY COUNCILMEMBERS TO CONDEMN OAKLAND’S PRO-COP, ANTIDEMOCRATIC BUDGET
Oakland, Calif., — Today, Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan will join a press conference of labor and community organizations near her home to commit to reopen the city budget, fund vital life affirming programs, and defund the police. After weeks of unprecedented protest and five days of advocacy after the narrow, rushed, controversial initial passage of Oakland’s City Budget, Kaplan will announce today a plan for Tuesday’s council meeting to “reconsider” the budget and reallocate resources from the Oakland Police Budget to community programs.
The Defund the Police Coalition, a broad alliance of community organizations will move forward as planned and hold a massive car caravan from the Port of Oakland to the mayor’s and city councilmembers’ houses in response to the pro-police budget proposal they advanced last week, over the cries of thousands demanding they defund the police and invest in community services. The goal of the caravan, and of a full page ad in Saturday’s SF Chronicle that protestors will deliver to the mayor and council, is to raise awareness with Oakland voters about the dishonorable actions of their councilmembers, encourage them to register and vote for the Defund Police, Refund our Communities agenda in the coming election.
Press conference details:
Who: Oakland Community, Labor, and Faith Organizations and President Rebecca Kaplan
When: 11:30 am Sunday June 28th
Where: Eve’s Waterfront, 15 Embarcadero West, Oakland, CA, 94607
Action Details Include:
West Oakland Action:
Where: 32nd st just west of Telegraph, Oakland
When: 2pm
Oakland Port Starting Point:
Who: Coalition To Defund the Police
When: 2pm Sunday June 28th
Where: Various berths at the Port of Oakland
Oakland Hills Action:
Where: Corner of Hanly and Oakmore
When: Approx 3 pm
Fruitvale Action:
Where: Fruitvale and E. 17th St.
When: Approx 3pm
East Oakland Action:
Where: Campus Drive, between Crystal Ridge and Fairhill
When: Approx 3:15 pm
Visuals: Massive Car Caravan, street murals, signs, banners, musicians, etc.
Led by the Anti Police-Terror Project, the sprawling “Defund the Police Coalition” is planning Sunday’s action to let the city councilmembers, who steamrolled a status quo budget maintaining allocation of almost half the general funds to police, know that Time Is Up for Justice.
These City Council members, without prior notice to the rest of the Council or the public, rammed through a budget that pours hundreds of millions of dollars into Oakland Police, while cutting funds from Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development, and dismantling Human Services for the unhoused.
The preliminary budget, pushed forward by the so-called “equity caucus”, which was authored by Councilmembers Lynette Gibson McElhaney, Loren Taylor, Noel Gallo, and Larry Reid, was sprung on the city council and the public with less than 24 hours notice. It was forced through the preliminary vote with elements that were received after the meeting had begun, over the clear mandate from hours of unanimous public testimony to defund the police.
Despite misleading rhetoric to the contrary, the proposal will divert less than 1% of funding from policing, anticipates cuts to vital services, and does little to further public safety in Oakland.
Today’s multi-pronged car caravan will stage at five different locations at the Port of Oakland, outlined below, and caravan to Libby Schaaf’s and three councilmembers’ homes: McElhaney, Taylor, and Gallo.
Here’s the list of assembly locations at the Port.
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Schaaf: Berths 55-56 SSA/Oakland International Container Terminal
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Gallo: Berths 57-59 Oakland International Container Terminal
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Taylor: Berths 60-63 SSA/Matson
Saturday, the Defund the Police Coalition published a full page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle with over 120 organizations ranging from city worker unions to health workers to the national Sierra Club, condemning the undemocratic preliminary budget vote and telling Oakland City Hall, “Your time is up.” A parallel ad, detailing the coalition’s vision of a safe, prosperous Oakland, will run to today.
Each caravan is planning to hand deliver copies of the ad to the mayor and councilmembers, accompanied by live music and mural-painting.
Hi-Res Photos, livestream available after the event.
Hashtags: #DefundOPD #DefundthePolice #DefendBlackLife #YourTimeIsUp #Drive4Justice
Handles: @aptpaction @oaklandrising @calorganize @bayrisingaction
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
EBDSA members have the opportunity to help pass the largest tax increase in history on California’s wealthiest commercial property owners, raising $10-12 billion per year for public education and social services. With the Movement for Black Lives uprising deepening into the call for defunding the police, it will be necessary to expand revenues required to build alternative, sustainable public services, and practices. Progressive taxation—especially taxing the rich—is an essential path to accomplish that goal. “Schools and Communities First” (SCF), on the November 3 ballot, is backed by labor and opposed by the most reactionary sectors of capital.
A three-part education series will provide background for EBDSA participation in the campaign. Part I reviews the story of austerity politics and increasing inequality in California with Prop 13—which SCF proposes to reform—from 1978 to the present. Part II looks at the history of public-sector unionism and how a left-wing labor-community coalition won Prop 30, a ‘tax the rich’ ballot measure, in 2012. Part III will supply an overview of the SCF campaign, and explore how EBDSA members can plug in effectively. Biweekly on ZOOM, beginning Monday, June 29, presented by labor historian Fred Glass for EBDSA Labor Committee.
Where: Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81851574731?pwd=Y1RITkRZQjZPSFRvQmxoMENXeXpGUT09
Almost 600 people of color have been killed by police in California just in the last 5 years.
On July 1, people who have been impacted by police violence–family members, formerly incarcerated, community members–will encircle the California Capitol building and hold up the names of those killed by police.
Click the Ticket button on this page to receive event updates or to volunteer to hold up a name of the fallen.
We call on state legislators to:
–Defund the $31B police and prison industrial complex
–Hold police who kill accountable
–Prevent police unions from donating to district attorneys and judges
–Dismantle the machinery of systemic racism (restore voting rights, Ban the Box, etc.)
–Distance the state from vestiges of slavery by removing Involuntary Servitude from our State Constitution
–Establish an independent community oversight board with subpoena power to investigate police violence
Join All of Us or None, CA legislators, and victims of police violence to honor those killed by the police and to press forward with vital change.
We will also be registering people to vote, as well as providing information about campaigns to pass ACA 6 to restore voting rights, and to remove slavery / indentured servitude from the California constitution.
To receive event updates or to volunteer to hold up a name of the fallen, click the ticket button or go to: https://bit.ly/StopKillingUsCA
For more information, contact:
Sacramento: Aaliyah Muhammad
916.501.9988 / aaliyah@prisonerswithchildren.org
California: Bridget Cervelli
805.270.9853 / bridget@prisonerswithchildren.org
Join the Gray Panthers.
Alex Werth from East Bay Housing Organizations will discuss “Eviction Moratoriums 101” – a presentation on the status of renter protections in Alameda County, Berkeley, and Oakland. Slides available with q and a.
If you knew Margy Wilkinson, who died Saturday night, we will take a little time to remember her.
As time permits, we will conclude with member concerns, and action opportunities, including Berkeley Tenants Convention Online candidates forum July 5
To join Gray Panthers Zoom Meeting
Time: July 1, Wednesday 1:30 — This is a recurring meeting most Wednesday’s
For Zoom online:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5108426224
Meeting ID: 510 842 6224
One tap mobile +16699006833,,5108426224# US (San Jose)
Dial by your location (long distance charges may apply)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 510 842 6224
Other announcements and updates will follow as time permits.
Memory of Margy Wilkinson of Friends of Adeline
We will be hosting our first virtual monthly member meeting on July 1st! More to come on this, follow our social media for updates.
Register for the Member Meeting here.
Email Monifa@ellabakercenter.org for more info!
About the Membership:
Anyone, anywhere can join our membership and become connected to campaigns to move money away from prisons and police, and towards what our communities need: jobs, education, healthcare, and housing.
Through our membership, people come together to create more opportunity in our communities, and end injustice. We prioritize the needs and experiences of people who have been harmed by the justice system.
Join us for a voting General Meeting of East Bay DSA! This month, we will hear from committees and hear several candidate endorsements. Virtual voting rules & procedures will be explained during the meeting. Please RSVP and invite other comrades to hear updates on our campaigns and events.
The meeting will be conducted via ZOOM. RSVP here and we will confirm your membership and you’ll receive an email with the Zoom link. If you are not a member, the meeting will be available to stream via YouTube.
We’re making 4 stops to call for liberty, with a speaker and activity at each stop, and a cool video to be made of the event. We’ll have flags and posters for decorating your cars.
We are partnering with SF Bay Extinction Rebellion, DSASF IRIS, and other groups.
The stops will center on: defunding police, defunding the Pentagon, funding community, protecting the Earth.
1:00 pm: Meet up at SF City Hall to decorate cars, get instructions and route maps. 1 Carlton Goodlet Place, SF.
1:30 pm: First Caravan Stop, 762 Fulton St., to demand “Defund the Police; Fund Communities!”
2:00 pm: Second Caravan Stop, Broadway @ Divisadero, Nancy Pelosi’s house, to demand “Defund War, Fund Life!” Health Care, Housing, Clean Energy, Education
3:00 pm: Third Caravan Stop, Bay View Hunters Point, location TBD
4:00 pm: Pie and lemonade picnic, Bay View Hunters Point
While the 4th of July is traditionally celebrated by the United States to celebrate “independence” and “freedom”, CODEPINK goes against it by saying there is no true freedom until we are independent from war! No one is free until we are all free! Join us for a safe, socially distant peace caravan where we will call to #DivestFromWar, #HealthcareNotWarfare, #SanctionsKill, and more.
We’re looking forward to getting together with you for a regular meeting. We’ll discuss the latest developments in our fight to keep new oil and gas wells out of eastern Contra Costa County! Plus we’ll catch up on other campaigns and check in with each other. We need your participation and your voice!
RSVP to action@sunflower-alliance.org for link
The Sunflower Alliance is committed to environmental justice and the health and safety of all Bay Area communities threatened by toxic pollution and climate change. We are fighting against the poisoning of our communities and the destruction of our planet, and for an equitable and sustainable economy fueled by renewable energy sources—wind, water and solar.
We seek an end to the ruinous extractive economy and its replacement with a life-sustaining system that meets people’s real needs and nurtures the planet we live on.
Join us for our monthly member meeting as we come together to build community and practice truth telling. Learn more about our work and get plugged into our campaigns. We will be meeting virtually this month and you must register to attend. This meeting is open to non-members so we encourage you to join and get to know us.
We are named after Ella Baker, a brilliant, black hero of the civil rights movement. Following in her footsteps, we organize with Black, Brown, and low-income people to shift resources away from prisons and punishment, and towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong.
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
Because of the COVID pandemic we will be meeting virtually via Zoom on the first Monday of the month.
Meeting ID: 828 0976 4186
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a
grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.
In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity. Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression. Sisters and brothers! The Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.
We meet on the 1st Monday of each month
You can join our discussion list by sending a blank (doesn’t even need a subject) email to
oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email green-new-deal@eastbaydsa.org.
Want to know more about OPD’s share of the Oakland budget? Want to learn about the history of APTP’s Defund OPD campaign?
Register for our Defund OPD Teach-In at https://t.co/yGOmYamK7D#defundopd #defundpolice pic.twitter.com/IaMyT2XcUm
— Defund OPD (@DefundOPD) July 3, 2020
***>> EMAIL STRIKE.DEBT.BAY.AREA@GMAIL.COM FOR ZOOM INFO A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE MEETING. <<***
Strike Debt Bay Area hosts a non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, and How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century.
For our July, August and September discussions we will be reading ‘The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy’ by Stephanie Kelton. (Find it at your local bookstore or through this site.)
For July, we will have read the first two chapters.
For August, we will have read chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6,
For September, chapters 7 and 8.
The book is easy reading, and it would be easy to catch up. Join us – all are welcome!
Stephanie Kelton’s brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country.
Kelton was chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (minority staff) and an advisor to the Bernie2016 presidential campaign. Kelton is a regular commentator on national radio and television and speaks across the world at large gatherings of people interested in global finance, political economy and public policy. She has superb connections in all areas of print and broadcast national media. Her op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg.
For July, we will also have read two shorter pieces, following up on themes we have taken up in previous readings:
- The Neoliberal Era is Ending – What Comes Next? by Rutger Bregman
- From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring.