Calendar
Jehane Noujaim’s THE SQUARE is a gripping portrait of the Egyptian revolution and the way it has been fought on the front lines with the game-changing weapons of cameras and social media. It is an epic documentary that captures the immediacy and intensity of the protests in Tahrir Square— from the 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, to the ousting of Mohammed Morsi in 2013— through the eyes of the movement’s young activists. The Square will be showing all week at the Roxie Theater.
After the movie screening, we will be hosting a Skyped Q and A with Mostafa Ali, a journalist for Ahram Online and member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists.
Co-hosted by the International Socialist Organization
Co-sponsors: Arab Resource Organizing Center & Arab Cultural & Community Center
Pre-sale tickets available! $8 – regular admission. $10-$20 – solidarity price. Please speak w/
For more information:
Website: http://thesquarefilm.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Trailer: http://bit.ly/1c7OUeG
International Socialist Organization: norcalsocialism.org || socialistworker.org
Arab Resource Organizing Center: http://araborganizing.org/
Arab Cultural & Community Center: http://
The San Francisco Gray Panthers are very concerned about issues of mass incarceration, prison expansion, profiling of minorities and youth, and the criminalization of poverty. Particularly in San Francisco, with such extremes of wealth and poverty, it seems outrageous to build more jail space, when three-quarters of prisoners are there because they’re too poor to make bail.
We are helping to organize two important upcoming events to stop the new jail and we hope you will join us! The first was on January 18th. This one:
Thursday, January 23rd: Speak out at the San Francisco Supervisor’s Neighborhood Services and Safety Committee Hearing on the Jail Replacement Project.
The discussion will be led by a formidable cast of advocates including:
- Cindy Cohn, Legal Director and General Counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Ms. Cohn serves as counsel in First Unitarian Church v. NSA and Jewel v. NSA, each seeking to stop the ongoing dragnet warrantless surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans.
- Daniel Ellsberg, the iconic whistleblower and national hero described by President Nixon as “the most dangerous man in America,” and co-founder of Freedom of Press Foundation.
- Norman Solomon, Journalist, media critic, anti-war activist, co-founder of RootsAction.org, founding director of Institute for Public Accuracy, and author of War Made Easy.
- Shahid Buttar, Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, constitutional lawyer, grassroots organizer, independent columnist, musician, and poet.
Robert Jaffee, a volunteer attorney on the Hedges v. Obama case challenging indefinite detention without trial, will moderate the discussion. He and the panelists will discuss issues including:
Whether dragnet NSA surveillance is constitutional, and the dueling federal court rulings in December
The history of government secrecy, and how it relates to the mounting controversy surrounding NSA spying
How the NSA dragnet threatens not only to privacy, but also freedom and democracy
The role of the press, and the tremendous contributions of Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and others
Prospects for legislative reforms in Congress, and opportunities for grassroots action going forward
For more details about the forum, please contact Robert Jaffee at rjaffe2[at]gmail.
You can also RSVP on Facebook, though you don’t have to RSVP to attend.
Proceeds will benefit the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
A full day educational program to mark the anniversary of the ongoing Egyptian revolution. In Egypt, the 25th of Jan this year is going to be a day of action against the continuity of military rule and the atrocities committed by the coup regime.
The program will start from 3 pm and will be all night long until the last person leaves, so you’re welcome to stop by any time!
Program details:
-Film screening of rare footage highlighting different stages of the Egyptian struggle.
– Skype conversations with Egyptians in Egypt and abroad to hear their perspective on the situation.
– A talk by Shimaa from Tahrir Square, an eyewitness to the Egyptian movement who’s currently in Oakland, CA.
– An open forum and a Q/A session on the state of affairs in Egypt since 2011 and up to date.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
RETURNS
TO UC BERKELEY
ON THE MARIO SAVIO STEPS
JOIN US
Tweeted out by @OccupyUCBerk
Our next meeting for Politics of Debt will be next Friday, January 24th at the public school room. We’ll take on the Keen vs. Krugman debate about the significance of banking for economics. It’s something like a Modern Money Theorist vs. a high profile Keynesian. See you there!
Here’s the article containing links to most of the articles and blog posts – lots of them, too many to list, but they are presented in the chronological order that the debate took place, so they’re easy to follow.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46944145
There’s a tremendously important debate being waged across a bunch of different websites, including Paul Krugman’s at The New York Times, about how banking really works.
Addition:
Here is something to add to the reading list for this week:
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/12/16/economy/oh-my-paul-krugman-edition
This is Keen’s reflection on the issue of banking and how it effects demand. He seems to think Krugman has quietly moved camps.
There are plenty more articles and books to read in the future and we will be furthering our understanding of Modern Monetary Theory as well as a recent school called the New Currency Theory.
E.g., this article from the real-world economics review which we can get into later:
http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue66/Huber66.pdf
Come hang out with the coolest people around: The Berkeley Post Office Defenders. We’ll be continuing to gather signatures to Save the Post Office from privatization (we already got more than 1200…), talk to people, hand out literature and maybe listen to some cool bands.
Lie down on the grass at MLK park, get yourself a bite to eat at the Farmer’s Market, and make your day complete with a visit next door at All of Our’s Post Office.
Meet at the parking lot area first bench and “keyhole area” to rebuild the Albany bulb library which was mysteriously burned down recently.
The Bulb community and supporters will rebuild the Albany Bulb library 1pm to 3pm.
At 4pm we’ll have a pot luck and fire
More info on this issue sharethebulb.org
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
WMDs in Syria and Iran today, and formerly in Iraq, have been pretexts for U.S. military intervention, not the motivation for intervention. Uranium enrichment has thresholds that play into those pretexts. The seemingly implacable opposition between the U.S. versus Syria and Iran, and formerly Libya as well, is not the result of any fundamental anti-imperialism in these Middle Eastern states, but rather the U.S. policy obsession for financial and military compliance.
Were it not for this U.S. obsession, the rulers of Syria and Iran would welcome foreign investment with open arms, though with protective limits, while they obliterate opposition of the left or right. Nevertheless, U.S.-led military intervention must be unconditionally opposed, while support is given towards building a secular democratic socialist alternative in presently authoritarian states.
Dr. Sharat G. Lin writes on global political economy, the Middle East, South Asia, labor migration, and public health. He is a contributing author to the book Studies in Inequality and Social Justice. He spent two months in Tahrir Square during 2009-2012, including during the initial uprising that overthrew President Mubarak. He is a research fellow at the San José Peace and Justice Center.
Join us for the film screening of Andy Kreamer’s inlightening documentary about life at the Albany Bulb. Come out and learn more about their way of life and their struggle. Also meet activists working alongside in Solidarity with Bulb Residents and how you can get involved.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps. Come help us prepare for the City Council meeting on the 28th at Old City Hall at which the Zoning Overlay Ordinance will be considered.
AND CHECK OUT OUR SPIFFY NEW WEBSITE.
Hosted by the Marin Peace & Justice Coalition.
Potluck dinner is 6:30 PM followed at 7:30 by the screening of a portion of Jekyll Island: The Truth Behind the Federal Reserve”, directed by Bill Still. Guest speaker Laura Wells, the Green Party’s 2014 candidate for State Controller, will suggest alternatives to our present monetary system, including the option is a state-owned bank, such as the Bank of North Dakota.
More info is at: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/01/01/18748635.php
The struggle over the environment is a struggle over people’s relationship to the planet: who will determine that relationship, the 1% who want to profit from the earth or regular people?
Join a discussion of the environmental crisis, the problems with the market-based solutions pushed by politicians and business, and the potential for new popular movements.
Featuring:
Chris Williams, author of Ecology and Socialism
Brooke Anderson, Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project*
The Public Safety Committee of the Oakland City Council will be discussing the Domain Awareness Center and a new contract for Schneider Electric to implement Phase II of the DAC (replacing SAIC, which was dismissed in part for being a Nuclear Weapons Contrator and in part for being general scum, having defrauded New York City of half a billion dollars)
Subject: Domain Awareness Center (DAC) Phase 2 Contract Award From: Oakland Fire Department Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To: 1) Negotiate And Execute A Professional Services Agreement With Schneider Electric Inc. To Provide Professional Services For Design/Build/Maintain Services Represented In Phase 2 Of The City And Port Joint Domain Awareness Center (DAC) Project For An Amount Not To Exceed $1,600,000; And 2) If Negotiations Fail With Schneider Electric Inc, The City Administrator Or Her Designee Is Authorized To Negotiate And Enter Into A Contract With Another Vendor On The DAC Phase Evaluations Ranking List, Without Returning To Council
Come tell the members of the Public Safety Committee what you think of the Orwellian dystopia that is the DAC!
Come pack the City Council meeting to continue pressuring our elected officials to Do The Right Thing.
Rezoning the Historic District around MLK park would make commercial use of five or six of Berkeley’s historic buildings, including the Post Office, illegal.
Rally: Beginning at 6:30 PM, possibly with the Light Brigade!
City Council Meeting: 7:00 PM
Expected time of beginning of consideration of Zoning Overlay: between 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM.
Spaghetti Dinner for the 99% – dinner and program
Our Liberties, Our Voices, Our Lives! featuring
– JERRY MANDER, author and activist speaking on”Can Capitalism Be Reformed to Work for Democracy and Nature?”
– WILL DURST, political satirist
– KAREN MELANDER MAGOON & DEE ALLEN, Revolutionary Poets Brigade
– Local activists will be honored for their work for Peace and Protecting the Rights of People and the Earth
Join Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub.
We aim to have 2 monthly meetings, every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 6:30 at the SUDOROOM. Stop by and learn how you can help guard Oakland’s right not to be spied on by its own governement & if you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to: oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The entrance to the sudoroom is on 22nd Street, ring the buzzer and come up the stairs or take the elevator.
For more information on the DAC and how it came to be in Oakland check out the DAC FAQ, the Oakland Wiki Domain Awareness Page and the Oakland Privacy WordPress.
Download the printable flyer for the Feb. 4 Protest
TAKE BACK YOUR POWER: Investigating the Smart Grid
This week there will be two Bay Area screenings of the award-winning documentary, Take Back Your Power. Researchers, energy experts, doctors, environmentalists, and community members share their insights into the problems with ‘Smart’ meters and the ‘Smart’ grid, including damage to health, fires, invasion of privacy, and NO promised energy savings. There will be extensive discussion after the San Rafael screening. To learn more about this film, please go to http://www.takebackyourpower.net.
Prolonged Solitary Confinement and the
Constitution
Brown Bag Presentation by
Jules Lobel, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh
California currently holds several thousand prisoners in solitary confinement in what are known as Special Housing Units (SHU’s) throughout the state. Over 1000 of those prisoners confined in isolation at housed at Pelican Bay State Penitentiary SHU. These prisoners live in 80 square foot windowless cells. Their cells have solid steel doors perforated with small holes with permit some air to circulate and an extremely limited view into the hallway. The prisoners remain in their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day. They only leave their cells to shower, or for exercise in a somewhat larger cell that does get fresh air and very limited sunlight. They never see birds, trees, grass, and only rarely see other people. They receive no phone calls and can make no phone calls to the outside world. They have virtually no programming.
About 500 of these prisoners have been in solitary in these conditions for over a decade. Almost one hundred of them have lived in these conditions for over 20 years. Several years after Pelican Bay was opened, a class action lawsuit challenging solitary confinement as practiced at Pelican Bay was tried in federal court. The Federal District Court Judge refused to enjoin the State’s use of solitary confinement generally, but did hold that mentally ill prisoners, or those at risk for serious mental illness could not be placed there. Professor Lobel is lead counsel in a lawsuit that again – 20 years later- challenges California’s use of prolonged solitary confinement at Pelican Bay.
This talk raises questions of how we define the “cruel and unusual” punishment prohibited by the Constitution. Is solitary confinement cruel for constitutional and moral purposes only if it can be shown that the prisoner is either seriously mentally ill or will become mentally ill? What is the relationship between mental and physical pain imposed on prisoners for purposes of the Eighth Amendment? What makes a practice cruel – should it require a showing of serious mental or physical harm at all? What are “unusual” practices – are practices that we might recognize as cruel but are nonetheless widespread such as solitary confinement – unconstitutional? Should our society accept prolonged solitary confinement as a means to make prisons less violent?
Please RSVP to emui@law.berkeley.edu. Subject: RSVP – Jules Lobel Presentation.
Sponsored by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy. http://www.law.berkeley.edu/ewi.htm
—
Elaine T. Mui
Center Administrator
Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy
(formerly Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity)
Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice
University of California, Berkeley
School of Law