Calendar
Tuesday, July 16, 5:30PM, City Council Meeting
Council is seeking to pass a resolution to administer a $2 million payout to major defense contractor, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for needed software and infrastructure to integrate “Phase 2” of the Domain Awareness Center (DAC) a mass centralized virtual data center for intelligence gathering in Oakland. If this gross violation of privacy has you concerned come out and voice your opinion on Big Oakland Brother the DAC to the Council.
http://oaklandwiki.org/Domain_Awareness_Center
Sign up to speak against increased government surveillance, Item 7.19:
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/CityClerk/s/SpeakerCard/SpeakerCard/OAK032373
Andres Thomas Conteris, CloseGitmo.net – Stop U.S. Torture in Gitmo and U.S. Prisons; Director, Program of the Americans of Nonviolence International — recently interviewed hunger strikers in Pelican Bay SHU
Steven Czifra is a UC Berkeley student who spent a total of eight years in solitary confinement, including five in the Pelican Bay SHU. Along with other UC students and professors, he is taking part in a rolling solidarity fast in support of the prisoners and their demands.
Larry Everest, covers the prisoner hunger strikes for Revolution newspaper and is the author of Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda. (See Revolution Interview: Carol Strickman, from Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition Prisoners’ Struggle Against “Cruel and Unusual Punishment Amounting to Torture”)
Michael Montgomery is a reporter for KQED and the Center for Investigative Reporting who has covered California prison issues.
Danny Murillo was arrested at 16 years young, and sentenced to 15 years in state prison. 17 months were spent in Administrative Segregation (the hole) and six years in the Security Housing Unit (the SHU). Currently an undergrad student at UC Berkeley in the Ethnic Studies department and a George Miller Scholar.
On July 8, California prison authorities admitted that over 30,000 prisoners had joined the hunger strike by refusing meals. The Los Angeles Times said this “could be the largest prison protest in state history.” Prisoner representatives from the Pelican Bay State Prison SHU Short Corridor Collective Human Rights Movement said, “our nonviolent peaceful protest of our subjection to decades of indefinite state-sanctioned torture, via long-term solitary confinement will resume…consisting of a hunger strike/work stoppage of indefinite duration until CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] signs a legally binding agreement meeting our demands, the heart of which mandates an end to long-term solitary confinement (as well as additional major reforms).” See statement here .
Co-sponsored by Revolution Books and the Stop Mass Incarceration Network-Bay Area
and Who Sells Them While the Nation Sleeps?
with Dr. Gray Brechin and Attorney Adam Ford
Dr. Gray Brechin will update us on saving magnificent buildings, unique art works, and the postal system itself that Americans are now losing to privatization. National Post Office Collaborate attorney Adam Ford is part of the litigation team working to protect the Berkeley Post Office. Mr. Ford will give us information on the progress of the case. This event is a benefit to support the legal action by the Berkeley-based National Post Office Collaborate. Come and help us raise funds for this important legal challenge! Save our Post Offices!
Citizens to Save the Berkeley Post Office
P.O. Box 805
Berkeley, Ca 94701
Last night 8 year old Alaysha #Carradine was at Khamel Hardin’s apartment at a #sleepover for his age 7 daughter and 4 year old son along with his 64 year old grandmother when at 11pm a maniac opened fire on their apartment wounding the others and #killing #Alaysha. She becomes the 54th person to be murdered in #Oakland this year.
There is a rally for her at 6:30pm today, 3400 Wilson Ave, West Oakland.
ONYX, Justice 4 Alan Blueford, Advance the Struggle, People’s Community Medics and the Kenneth Harding Jr. Foundation are calling for a rally, march and vigil on Friday at 6 pm. ALL OUT FOR ALL OUR BABIES will honor all of the young black and brown men and women killed as a result of state sponsored terrorism.
The fight to get justice for Trayvon Martin continues! Al Sharpton’s National Action Network is organizing actions in over 130 cities across the country this Saturday to demand that the Department of Justice prosecute George Zimmerman for violating Trayvon Martin’s civil rights. The rally in San Francisco will be at 9am this Saturday at the federal building. While we stand in San Francisco, Trayvon Martin’s parents and many others will stand in New York and Miami and all across the country. Stand with them, and join us as we add our voices to the chorus of outrage against racism and the cries of justice for Trayvon!
Endorsed by the San Francisco NAACP
Thursday, July 18, 2013 (New York, NY)—Trayvon Martin’s parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin will stand with Rev. Al Sharpton and National Action Network for the “Justice for Trayvon” 100 city vigils this Saturday, July 20th. Sybrina Fulton and her surviving son Jahvaris Fulton will stand with Rev. Al Sharpton and NAN at One Police Plaza at Noon in New York, while Trayvon’s father Tracy Martin will join NAN’s Southeast Regional Chairman and Florida chapter a the Miami location for the “100-city Justice for Trayvon” vigil.
In over one hundred cities across the United States, NAN is organizing “Justice for Trayvon” vigils on Saturday, July 20th to press the federal government to investigate civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. Hundreds of national preachers, led by Rev. Al Sharpton and NAN will hold prayer vigils and rallies in front of federal buildings calling on the Justice Department to investigate the civil rights violations made against Trayvon Martin.
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
Come help out!
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.
Speakers: Michael Thurman of Courage to Resist, Elazar Friedman of the Oscar Grant Committee.
Discussion:
The importance of Bradley Manning’s and Julian Assange’s cases. Updates, film clips.
The need for a united front. Comparison of charges of treason to US corporate elite’s
wartime trading with Nazi Germany.
Q&A with extensive audience participation.
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.
Join us for a letter-writing, open mic, and live art night in solidarity with the prisoners on hunger strike. Bring your energy and your passion, and use your creativity to help build and grow in power together. Set your words and your vision down on paper in response to issues that affect us on a daily basis: racism, police brutality, and imprisonment of our friends and loved ones.
We will be mailing our pieces to prisoners on hunger strike who continue to respond with immense strength and resilience in the face of increasing deprivation. The representatives of the hunger strike are being subjected to extreme conditions of solitary confinement in Ad Seg and especially need our support and correspondence at this time.
“As the California prison hunger strike enters its 3rd week, reports of retaliation against strikers have increased. Last week it was reported that prison officials had moved at least 14 strikers from the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay to Administrative Segregation (Ad-Seg), confiscated confidential legal documents, and forced cold air into their cells. Later in the week, legal advocate Marilyn McMahon and one of her paralegals were summarily banned from visiting any California prison. Reports that strikers have been moved to Ad-Seg or to entirely different facilities have also been coming from Corcoran State Prison. The denial of medical care to strikers, especially those with preexisting health conditions, remains a widespread concern for families and advocates.”
For more information: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
This event is the first in an ongoing series. Supplies will be provided. We’ll see you there!
Come joint us to raise funds for Dr. Alejandro Hurtado, who is studying medicine at the ELAM Medical School in Cuba.
The mission of ELAM is to make competent and cooperative doctors with the degree of MD (doctor of medicine), the same degree which is offered to medical graduates all over the Americas. The Latin American School of Medicine is officially recognized by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and the World Health Organization. It is fully accredited by the Medical Board of California, which has the strictest US standards — which means that qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US.
It is preferred that ELAM students come from the poorest communities with the intent of returning to practice in those areas in their countries. Initially only enrolling students from Latin America and the Caribbean, the school has become open to applicants from impoverished and/or medically underserved areas in the United States and Africa.
Preference is given to applicants who are financially needy and/or people of color who show the most commitment to working in their poor communities.
Please bring items which can be hard to obtain in Cuba like dental floss (not readily available), vitamins, study snacks like power bars & jerky, and the like.
$15 Minimum Suggested Donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.
