Calendar
Urban Shield is a regional, national and global weapons exposition and SWAT training. It is funded by the Department of Homeland Security via the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Every year, local police, fire and health departments from cities all over the Bay Area (and a few foreign countries) come together to perform drills and practices throughout the region, all mandated to have a nexus to terrorism.
By focusing the majority of the training given to local departments on extremely violent responses, Urban Shield immerses local SWAT teams in war-like practices and encourages disproportionately violent responses. Urban Shield events are filled with disturbing themes including macho t-shirts disparaging social justice movements (the best-selling one a few years ago was called “Black Rifles Matter”), glorification of hi-tech military-style equipment flowing into local police departments including tanks and drones, and scenarios triggered almost inevitably by people of color as the villains.
For a video of an Urban Shield SWAT training – click here.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will be reviewing the 2017 funding request to Homeland Security on December 20 on January 10th.
Send an email to them now saying that you want them NOT TO APPROVE funding for a 2017 Urban Shield exposition in the Bay Area.
On 12/20, the fight to #StopUrbanShield continues. Use our easy two-click alert to send an email saying no more. https://t.co/R2friNCzm5 pic.twitter.com/vTPoGggXc4
— Media Alliance (@twrling) November 26, 2016
Hear from a delegation from the Marin County Task Force that traveled from the San Francisco Bay Area to to participate at the US-Mexican Border to raise issues of immigration justice:
(1) participate in a national convergence at the border to highlight the militarization of the southern border and the U.S.-sponsored militarization of Central American borders, and the human rights crisis of an unjust immigration system
(2) support maquiladora workers, highlight the failures of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in protecting workers rights and demonstrate the dangers of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in further depressing wages in Mexico and the United States
This is part of the Alliance for Social and Economic Justice participating organizations: Bay Area Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Global Exchange, Marin Task Force on the Americas, San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, Trabajo Cultural Caminante, School of the Americas Watch West.
Eyewitness Aleppo: Journalist Eva Bartlett Reports from Her Experience on the Ground:
Independent Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett, newly arrived from Syria, will report on her experiences in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, as will Gerry Condon, US Veterans for Peace VP and member of the US Peace Council Delegation to Syria. You will definitely hear much that you have not heard elsewhere, and perhaps question what you think you know about Syria. Eva lived in Gaza for three years and was one of the few western reporters present during the Israeli attacks that killed thousands of Palestinians.
Organizers, sponsors and co-sponsors: International Action Center (IAC), United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), US Peace Council, Syria Solidarity Movement, Socialist Action, Workers World Party, Resource Center for Non Violence Palestine/Israel Action Committee, ANSWER – SF Bay Area, Cindy Sheehan Soapbox, Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Peace and Freedom Party (Marin), Peace and Freedom Party (San Francisco), Project Censored, Media Freedom Foundation, Veterans for Peace East Bay Chapter 162
Urban Shield is a regional, national and global weapons exposition and SWAT training. It is funded by the Department of Homeland Security via the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Every year, local police, fire and health departments from cities all over the Bay Area (and a few foreign countries) come together to perform drills and practices throughout the region, all mandated to have a nexus to terrorism.
By focusing the majority of the training given to local departments on extremely violent responses, Urban Shield immerses local SWAT teams in war-like practices and encourages disproportionately violent responses. Urban Shield events are filled with disturbing themes including macho t-shirts disparaging social justice movements (the best-selling one a few years ago was called “Black Rifles Matter”), glorification of hi-tech military-style equipment flowing into local police departments including tanks and drones, and scenarios triggered almost inevitably by people of color as the villains.
For a video of an Urban Shield SWAT training – click here.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will be reviewing the 2017 funding request to Homeland Security on December 20 on January 10th.
Send an email to them now saying that you want them NOT TO APPROVE funding for a 2017 Urban Shield exposition in the Bay Area.
On 12/20, the fight to #StopUrbanShield continues. Use our easy two-click alert to send an email saying no more. https://t.co/R2friNCzm5 pic.twitter.com/vTPoGggXc4
— Media Alliance (@twrling) November 26, 2016
We have received word from Manny’s attorney that this court appearance is important and that support in the audience is very likely to influence the judge!
Manny was arrested in Burlingame at the Anti Trump demonstrations outside the Hyatt Hotel. (Remember in the Spring when Trump was so scared by demonstrators he had to sneak in through the back??) He has been fighting his charges ever since!
We realize the peninsula is out of the normal area that we usually call for folks to give support, however, it would really mean a lot to Manny and his defense team to supporters in the audience!
Standing Rock water protectors still urgently need our help. Efforts continue in our own backyard to encourage divestment from Citibank, that perpetual bad actor and financial ringleader of the global investors bankrolling the Dakota Access Pipeline. Because Energy Transfer Partners plans to go ahead with pipeline construction under the Missouri River despite the Army Corps of Engineers permit denial, it is more important than ever to stop the financing for this pipeline. Without investors, this project simply cannot move forward.
Join us on Saturday, December 17th at Citibank branches across the Bay Area to urge customers to close their bank accounts and demand that Citibank divest from DAPL.
We just need two to three people at each branch any time on Saturday. Which of these branches can you target? Please RSVP to both Carolyn (carolynclara [at] gmail.com) and Lora Jo (ljfoo60 [at] gmail.com). Here are four documents that you can print and use: talking points, a flyer to distribute, a petition for signature-gathering, and a letter that customers can send to Citibank:
samplescript-forbanksdivestingfromdapl-12-7-16
Citibank, Piedmont Branch
4101 Piedmont Ave.
Oakland, CA 94611
Citibank, 4017 Macarthur Blvd Branch
4017 Macarthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94619
Citibank, Fruitvale Village
3301 East 12th Street
Oakland, CA 94601
Citibank, Alameda-Downtown Branch
2420 Santa Clara Ave.
Alameda, CA 94501
Citibank, Oakland-Chinatown
801-A Franklin St.
Oakland, CA 94607
Citibank, Berkeley Square Branch
2000 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704
Citibank, San Leandro-Downtown
1300 E 14th Street
San Leandro, CA 94577
Citibank, San Lorenzo Branch
429 Paseo Grande
San Lorenzo, CA 94580
Citibank, Albany Branch
1377 Solano Ave.
Albany, CA 94706
Citibank, 280 El Cerrito Plaza Branch
280 El Cerrito Plaza
El Cerrito, CA 95630
Remember to check their Saturday hours—best way to do that is enter the branch in Yelp. If you don’t live near any of the banks listed on the spreadsheet, go here to to find one nearest you.
This year’s theme is Community: for good or ill.
For anarchists the idea of community represents both an ideal and a practice. The ideal community is either explicitly anarchist, one that concerns itself with an anti-authoritarian rigor, challenging culturally normative standards like beauty, heterosexuality, diet, and bigotry or it is a broader group that allows anarchists to live within it, and listens to their concerns. The practice for anarchists, by and large, is identical to that of our neighbors— isolation, slavery to job and routine, and association only with a small subset of who is possible, even just within a geographical area.
March in the streets with homies & comrades: America was never great. It has always been a country where indigenous, black, brown, migrant, queer and trans folks y muchos más have been systematically exploited and attacked by the police, the state and fascists. This has been the colonial tradition of America. With the rise of yet another fascist as president on stolen land, the threat to our lives and communities deepens and we need to defend ourselves and each other, together, with all the love & rage that we feel. This action is to show our resistance and make our presence visible. Community collectiveness is necessary and healing, aqui estamos and we have each other’s back. Let’s make the Mission and all of our neighborhoods places where racists and bigots are afraid to go – para siempre, always.
Vigil:
Candlelit Procession
Time to Remember and
Honor those Lost
Potluck:
Fellowship Following the Vigil
Please bring a dish to share
Alcohol-free event
Focus:
The focus of the event is to honor those who have been affected by violence and as a fundraiser in support of the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders who have been organizing to get justice for the victims and families and to erect a permanent memorial for the over 200 missing or murdered Black women, many of them sex workers, in LA and to press for victims compensation for their children and families.
International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers was originally conceived as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, Washington. It has evolved into an annual international event. The day calls attention to violence committed against sex workers worldwide, including police violence and abuse. It also calls for the removal of criminalization, stigma, indifference and discrimination that have contributed to violence against sex workers. Sex workers demand justice, an end to state controls and prohibitionist laws that perpetuate such violence. Sex workers are plaintiffs in a lawsuit to decriminalize prostitution that is currently in the CA Federal Court.
Organized By:
US PROStitutes Collective / Sex Worker Outreach Project Bay / Erotic Service Providers Union
Hey there everyone, we are all in mourning over the terrible tragedy of the Ghost Ship Fires this past weekend, and if you’re like us and want to help out, we’ll be holding a Fundraiser.
Doors @ 7pm
Performances from:
Zack Bateman and The Coal Minds
Blatherskite
Toxic Shock Syndrome
Georgia Sam
Mykee Ramen (Solo)
and LunaSol Music
Hosted by Kylo Montez (Of Animation KO… and stuff)
21+
We will also have Vegan Baked goods for sale from Sonni Marina Echeverria-Corzan, Original art from Jessica Sun Lee, and some spinnin’ from DJ Just Delicious!
Entry will be a Sliding scale of 5$ to whatever you can spare. All Proceeds will go to https://www.youcaring.com/
If you are unable to make it, then please Donate and support Oakland Underground!
We normally have a meal before GA on the last Sunday of the month, but this month that would be on Xmas Day, so we are having our fress a little early. We’ll cook something inedible to but us in a sour mood for the Electoral College vote Monday, the 19th.
The last Sunday of every month attendees of the OO GA will get together a little earlier than usual, at 2 PM (3 PM pn the summer) to share some food with each others and the community. There should be a table and utensils/plates courtesy of the Kitchen Committee (such at he is), so just bring a nosh to share… 
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway, often on the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. During the warmer months we tend to meet at 4 PM.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for more than four years! 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)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (kitchen@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
Harvey Wasserman co-wrote THE STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016 (with Bob Fitrakis), soon to become THE STRIP & FLIP DISASTER OF AMERICA’S STOLEN ELECTIONS: FIVE JIM CROWS & ELECTRONIC ELECTION THEFT at www.freepress.org and www.solartopia.org
Funny things will happen on the way to the Trumpocalypse. We will fight like hell. We will win a few (already the TPP). And we’ll never lose, because it’s never over til it’s over. We will also take California (and then the world) to Solartopia, because we have no choice.
At this gathering we’ll discuss the 2016 Selection, including how it was REALLY rigged, how we will cope with the coming of The Donald, and how we will shut Diablo Canyon while making California the decentralized post-grid renewable energy capital of the world. And all because of you! Don’t miss this talk!!! No Nukes/4 Solartopia.
Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice Committee and Codepink Women for Peace.
S Refreshments provided. Volunteers appreciated!
*Note: This event will be in the Connie Barbour Room, which is not wheel-chair accessible. It’s on the second floor of the RE Building of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists at 1606 Bonita (@ Cedar) in Berkeley (next door to Fellowship Hall).
Urban Shield is a regional, national and global weapons exposition and SWAT training. It is funded by the Department of Homeland Security via the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Every year, local police, fire and health departments from cities all over the Bay Area (and a few foreign countries) come together to perform drills and practices throughout the region, all mandated to have a nexus to terrorism.
By focusing the majority of the training given to local departments on extremely violent responses, Urban Shield immerses local SWAT teams in war-like practices and encourages disproportionately violent responses. Urban Shield events are filled with disturbing themes including macho t-shirts disparaging social justice movements (the best-selling one a few years ago was called “Black Rifles Matter”), glorification of hi-tech military-style equipment flowing into local police departments including tanks and drones, and scenarios triggered almost inevitably by people of color as the villains.
For a video of an Urban Shield SWAT training – click here.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will be reviewing the 2017 funding request to Homeland Security on December 20 on January 10th.
Send an email to them now saying that you want them NOT TO APPROVE funding for a 2017 Urban Shield exposition in the Bay Area.
On 12/20, the fight to #StopUrbanShield continues. Use our easy two-click alert to send an email saying no more. https://t.co/R2friNCzm5 pic.twitter.com/vTPoGggXc4
— Media Alliance (@twrling) November 26, 2016
* Come dressed for holiday cheer and spirited solstice salutations! *
The Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty calls upon all of us, but especially women, to conduct a direct action to stop harming Mother Earth on every solstice and equinox. Treaty sisters are working with Friends of the Earth, United States (FOE) to call on all our relatives to join us for this winter solstice action!
Friends of the Earth collected more than 30,000 signatures demanding that financial institutions divest from funding DAPL. We will be delivering these signatures this morning to one of the top investors.
We encourage everyone to close their accounts during the month of December at the financial institutions funding DAPL and to write a letter to the CEO or CFO of the bank telling them:
– Why you closed your account: water is life, human rights violations, broken treaties, etc.
– How much was in your account
– You would consider going back to their bank if there were no longer investments in fossil fuel and fossil fuel infrastructure
– Write #NoDAPL on the outside of the envelope
More info here on contacting banks funding DAPL: http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/10/28/how-contact-17-banks-funding-dakota-access-pipeline
Inmsfbay@gmail.com & www.foe.org
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
ANOTHER STOLEN ELECTION
ON THE WAY TO SOLARTOPIA?
With Harvey Wasserman
At this gathering we’ll discuss the 2016 Selection, including how it was REALLY rigged, how we will cope with the coming of TheDonald, and how we will shut Diablo Canyon while making California the decentralized post-grid renewable energy capital of the world.
And all because of you! Don’t miss this talk!!!
Harvey Wasserman co-wrote THE STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016 (with Bob Fitrakis), soon to become THE STRIP & FLIP DISASTER OF AMERICA’S STOLEN ELECTIONS: FIVE JIM CROWS & ELECTRONIC ELECTION THEFT
Federal Judge Alsup will hear the case of United States Post Office v City of Berkeley wherein the Postal Service is suing Berkeley for passing a Zoning Ordinance for its historic district (which includes the Post Office) which prevents commercial uses of the properties therein.
“If you are able, please be there. Tony Rossmann [Berkeley’s lawyer in the original lawsuit challenging the sale back in 2014-2015] reminds us that it’s important Judge Alsup know that there is still strong community concern about Berkeley’s Main Post Office.”
Berkeley Post Office Defenders, in August, 2013, and subsequently First They Came for the Homeless, for 17 months, Occupied the downtown Berkeley Post Office in protest of the possible sale and the privatization of postal services.
Background:
NO, YOU STILL CAN’T SELL THE PEOPLE’S POST OFFICE!
Berkeley Defends Against Post Office Lawsuit
Feds Sue Berkeley Over Historic Zoning Overlay Ordinance.
TODAY! 12pm 850Btyant rain or shine #Mothersfightingpoliceterror @GeorgeGascon #ProsecuteOrElse @FleshmanKaren @Tysonamir @HipHop4Justice pic.twitter.com/by9snAmuJn
— Justice4MarioWoods (@Justice4MWNow) December 9, 2016
NO! In the name of humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America! Donald Trump, the President-elect, is assembling a regime of grave danger.
New Year’s Eve must be marked by outdoor protests and candlelight vigils, gatherings of defiance.
No Fascist New Year! We Say NO to Trump and Pence!”
From there, waves of decentralized protests must spread across the country, different organizations and communities acting in their own ways but with the unified theme of “No!
The word must appear on walls, on shirts, on social media, on television, in artistic ways and ways that inspire others to act.
https://www.facebook.com/HuffPostPolitics/…
