Calendar
O_O Who is watching you? O_O
For a new installation at the Oakland Museum, The Center for Investigative Reporting is teaming up with local artists to host a community-focused look at surveillance in the Town. We’ve literally been driving around Oakland in an old Ford Falcon van to both educate and interview residents about the different types of technologies police use in the name of public safety, and what those technologies mean for our day-to-day lives.
Now, the Off/Page Project – a collab between Youth Speaks and CIR – wants your voice in the mix. We’re hosting an Eyes on Oakland writing workshop at Sole Space that will take a look at some of these surveillance practices that are used right here in Oakland.
Join us as we weave personal experiences, news reports and data points to create poems that explore local viewpoints on surveillance and how you can help shape the conversation. We’ll show you new ways to think like a journalist with your art, and give you the tools to dig deeper into what’s happening in your own community. Selected pieces created during the workshop will be featured in the Who Is Oakland? exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California, which is currently on display until July 12
What exactly does an Off/Page writing workshop look like? Check out our short film, Broken City Poets, to see us in action: https://
We are encouraging folks 16-22 to attend. There are 15 spots available, please RSVP here: http://bit.ly/1J5z7D3
Questions? Ideas? Email Niema Jordan, the Off/Page Project program manager: njordan@cironline.org
Revolutions come in waves and cycles. We are again riding the crest of a revolutionary epic, much like 1848 or 1917, from the Arab Spring to movements against austerity in Greece to the Occupy Movement. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges – who has chronicled the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline in his books, Empire of Illusion and Death of the Liberal Class- investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance. Drawing on an ambitious overview of prominent philosophers, historians and literary figures, he shows not only the harbingers of a coming crisis but also the nascent seeds of rebellion. Hedges’ message is clear: popular uprisings in the United States and around the world are inevitable in the face of mounting environmental destruction and grotesque wealth polarization.
Focusing on the stories of rebels from around the world and throughout history, Hedges investigates just what it takes to be a rebel in modern times. For Hedges, resistance is carried out not simply for its success, but as a moral imperative that affirms life.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Chris Hedges spent nearly two decades as a correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans, with fifteen years at The New York Times. Among his bestselling books are: Empire of Illusion, Death of the Liberal Class; War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning; and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (written with Joe Sacco). He currently writes a weekly column for Truthdig.
Hosted by Richard Wolinsky, the veteran producer and host of Book Waves, an interview show broadcast on KPFA Radio.
Tickets: 800-838-3006 or Pegasus (3 sites), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore, Diesel a Bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway’s Books SF: Modern Times, Online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1447124
Fight for a city budget that puts communities and workers first.
We are a group of labor, housing, racial and social justice advocates that believes the Oakland City Council should pass a budget that reflects the needs of our communities. We fight alongside working people throughout the East Bay.
8:00 AM: Telegraph & MacArthur Blvd. Join tenats to demand the city reinvest in Healthy Housing.
11:00 AM: Oakland City Hall. Justice for low-wage workers! Join fast food workers and community members calling on the City to enforce the Minimum Wage.
3:30 PM: Oakland City Hall. Reinvest in Public Services. Join residents as they call on the City to reinvest resources to fix our roads and address illegal dumping in the flatlands.
4:30 PM: Oakland City Hall steps. Press Event to call for a Budget that Reinvests in Oakland.
7:00 PM: 14th & Broadway, Oscar Grant Plaza. Take back our streets! The new curfew can’t stop us from holding space in the streets.
What do we DEMAND???
Reinvesting in Tenants & Housing: Enforcing the Tenant Protection Ordinance & adequately staffing city housing inspectors
Reinvesting in Workers: Enforcing Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Days & making sure there are resources for the city’s most vulnerable workers including fast food and day laborers
Reinvesting in Equity: Supporting the creation of a Department of Race & Equity
Reinvesting in Public Services: Ensuring that flatland communities get the services they need by working toward a fair contract that gives our city workers the pay, rights & respect they deserve
Reinvesting in responsible development: Public land for the public good & ensuring that communities benefit from the rise in development taking place in our city
Background on ReFund Oakland:
The ReFund & ReBuild Oakland Community-Labor Coalition representing over 15 labor, community and faith groups has been focused on building a broad based agenda to ensure big banks, large corporations and our elected officials reinvest in working families, communities of color and neighborhoods impacted by inequity, displacement and underrepresentation.
In 2013 ReFund groups came together and, alongside a 1 day strike organized by city unions, helped to push a budget that prioritized public services and an agenda that reinvested in working class families and communities of color across the city.
The program includes a short film “Until All Are Free”, updates and letter-writing
Originating as a day of solidarity for eco-prisoners, June 11 remains anchored in a project of ecological defense and struggle against a society based on exploitation and confinement.
Join us on the annual day of solidarity with long-term eco- and anarchist prisoners, including Marius Mason and Eric McDavid. They were subject to the longest federal prison terms (22 yrs and 20 yrs respectively) of those indicted in the so-called “Green Scare”, targeting radical activists.
In calling for the day, we aim to deepen ongoing support for comrades facing long sentences. We are committed to building a model of solidarity that is both long-term and rooted in our work.
Transitions…
On January 8th of this year, Eric McDavid was released from prison after nine years of incarceration.
Last year Marius Mason publicly shared his new name and use of male pronouns that better reflect his transition to a masculine gender identity.
Join us to discuss ways to support our comrades.
Join us for a discussion of V.I. Lenin’s key writing on the process of overthrowing capitalism, State and Revolution! Todd Chretien, editor of the new annotated edition from Haymarket Books, will present.
Lenin was hiding from the police during the 1917 Russian Revolution while he finished State and Revolution. Lenin’s most widely read—and most misunderstood—book describes the “monstrous oppression of the working people by the state” and how capitalism transforms whole areas of the globe into “military convict prisons for workers.” State and Revolution defends Marx and Engels’s argument that workers must dismantle, or “smash,” capitalist states through revolution from below, and replace them with radically democratic states.
This new edition features an introduction and hundreds of explanatory annotations by Todd Chretien that place Lenin’s work in its historical context. Chretien will kick off a discussion of the key insights from the book and their applicability to struggles against state violence and for liberation today.
This movie tells the story of the many struggles for neighborhood communities against “urban renewal” displacement by the collusion of corporate and city planners. The story is told through the eyes of tenants, city planners, business owners, scholars, and politicians, The Vanishing City exposes the real politic behind the alarming disappearance of New York’s beloved neighborhoods, the truth about its finance dominated economy, and the myth of inevitable change. Artfully documented through interviews, hearings, demonstrations, and archival footage, the film takes a sober look at the city’s luxury policies and high-end development, the power role of the elite, and accusations of corruption surrounding land use and rezoning. The film also links New York trends to other global cities where multinational corporations continue to victimize the middle and working classes.
Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice as part of our Conscientious Projector Series for the 99%
Wheelchair accessible.
For occasional email notices of peace/eco/social justice alerts and related events at BFUU, send any email to:
bfuusjev-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net
A man was killed in the morning on Saturday 6/6 by the 76 gas station at the 580 Lakeshore exit in Oakland. Police found him sleeping (or unconscious) in his car. It is not clear whether this was a case of medical emergency where the man simply was not able to follow police orders.
APTP, together with Mr. Hogg’s family members are holding a vigil on Friday 6/12 at 6:00 PM at the location where Mr. Hogg was killed – the intersection of Lakeshore and Lake Park Ave, by the 76 gas station.
WE ARE SEARCHING FOR WITNESSES OF THIS KILLING AND ITS AFTERMATH. Please inbox Anti Police-Terror Project.
A Food Not Bombs benefit featuring Everymen(FL.), a punk/bluegrass band from Florida, The Sour Mash Hug Band, and The Navigator.
All proceeds go to support East Bay Food Not Bombs, feeding the homeless, low income, and disenfranchised in the East Bay since 1980. Funds will go toward the remodeling of a commercial kitchen in the basement of the Omni Commons, for primary use of FNB. Currently EBFNB feeds the hungry 6 days a week. Learn more at https://ebfnb.org/
There will be free food in abundance, of course!
EB Food Not Bombs is a founding member collectives of the Omni Oakland Commons, a collective of collectives stewarding shared space and resources for all of Oakland! The Omni Commons is located at 48th and Shattuck Avenue very near Telegraph Ave. and is a few blocks north of the MacArthur BART station.
Everymen: http://www.everymenfl.com/
Sour Mash Hug Band: http://
Come see what homescale urban farmers are up to and what is possible on a x-small, small, medium or large lot.
Details and Tickets: iuhoakland.com
Continuous Music outdoors and in Cafes.
Crafts, Bazaar, Kids Zone.
Open mic & cyphers happen EVERY 1st Friday & EVERY 2nd Saturday of the month at The Alan Blueford Center for Justice 2434 Telegraph Ave Oakland, CA 94612.
Show starts at 7pm-ish, give or take an hour or so 😉 depending on the time of the year–we probably start later in the summer & earlier in the winter.
All ages are welcome.
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Prisoners of Consciousness Committee: http://chairmanfredjr.blogspot.com/
Ras Ceylon: https://www.reverbnation.com/rasceylon
Ras Ceylon: https://rasceylon.bandcamp.com/
The Alan Blueford Center for Justice on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE?…
The Alan Blueford Center for Justice on Twitter: @abc4justice
Donations desperately needed as well. Send to
Prison Literature Project
P.O Box 1253
Berkeley, CA 94701
The Oscar Grant Committee is hosting a press conference regarding the killing of Richard “Pedie” Perez III on September 14, 2014 by Richmond PD.
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
OccupyForum presents
Film and discussion about the 1971
burglary which exposed massive FBI corruption
Dramatic news at the time, but little remembered now, the Media burglary was the beginning of the end of the mythical FBI the bureau’s director, J. Edgar Hoover, had constructed in the American mind over nearly a half century through the successful efforts of a vast internal public relations office operated with public funds.
Based on Betty Medsger’s book The Burglary, the film 1971 tells the full story of the Media burglary for the first time. The burglars, never found by the FBI despite one of the largest investigations in the bureau’s history, were found by the author and interviewed extensively for The Burglary. In addition to revealing the motivations and life stories of the burglars, who kept their secret for 43 years, The Burglary also documents the very significant impact of this burglary that shocked the public and moved congress, long intimidated by Hoover, to acknowledge the FBI director’s illegal and damaging actions.
For more info on the book, take a look at: http://theburglary.com/
Discussion and Announcements to follow.
OccupyForum welcomes donations but no one turned away.
Note: The City Council meeting has been moved to Wednesday. The Facebook event for still says Tuesday, and an inquiry and response in the comments seems to confirm that the rally is still on for Tuesday.
The City of Oakland & County of Alameda are making plans for a huge new development project at the Coliseum. But Oakland doesn’t need more tech offices, luxury condos, low-wage jobs or displacement of our communities! We need:
*AFFORDABLE HOUSING!
*PUBLIC TRANSPORT!
*GOOD UNION JOBS for OAKLAND RESIDENTS!
*JOB TRAINING FOR YOUTH!
Tell the City of Oakland: protect good union jobs at the Coliseum – and build a Coliseum City that benefits OUR COMMUNITY.
4 PM – Gather at City Hall
4:30 – Rally
5:30 – Speak at City Council
Co-sponsored by EBASE, Unite Here 2850, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Oakland Community Organizations, East Bay Housing Organizations, Communities for a Better Environment, Causa Justa Just Cause, SEIU USWW, Urban Peace Movement, and Public Advocates.
Join our Facebook event and invite friends!
Come to the meeting on the 17th to learn more about what’s at stake and how you can support both Just Cause and Rent Control for Richmond. It’s being organized by a coalition that includes the Richmond Progressive Alliance. These issues will be taken up at the Richmond City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 23. Please plan to be there, too.
E. 12th Vote this Wednesday 6/17 – Need your support!
This is it! We need to go ALL OUT to the City Council this Wednesday June 17th at 6 pm to demand public land for public good and 100% low-income housing on E 12th!
The regular Tuesday 6/16 City Council hearing was cancelled, and have just learned that the Special Meeting on Wed. June 17th will include the vote on the E 12th development. We are troubled by the opaque process from the City.
Compounding our concerns are the latest proposed changes to the development, which we still have very little information about. While developers have put more money on the table to pay for future affordable housing, the changes to the development include an INCREASE in the number of luxury units, ZERO on-site low-income units, and still fails to comply with STATE LAW!
The good news is that the developers and UDR, the out-of-state corporate real estate investment firm backing the project, are running scared. Lets keep instilling the fear of Oakland’s mighty people power in them!
Wed June 17th, 6 pm: SPEAK AT CITY COUNCIL against this luxury hi-rise on public land! We need each and every person who is willing to speak – your voice DOES make a difference! We are still waiting to get the final agenda for the meeting and will let folks know as soon as we have more details. We will keep our Facebook event updated with info on the timing: http://on.fb.me/1Fk1syg
Also this week: RALLY Tuesday June 16th @ 4 pm: we will be joining the Oakland United Coalition’s rally to demand public lands for public good in the new Coliseum City development, and encourage folks to support! This project will have huge impacts on East Oakland and we need to stand in solidarity with the community effort to get housing, jobs and other meaningful community benefits. http://on.fb.me/1Tp04VI
Can’t join on Wednesday? Email and call City Councilmembers TODAY!
Do not doubt it: every call & email has an impact. Many City Councilmembers cited the number of emails and calls they have received on this issue and that has helped turn the tide on the project. So even if you cannot join us on 6/16, send an email or make a call today.
THANK YOU for everyone’s incredible support over the past several months – it is truly inspiring. See you on Wednesday to #SaveE12th – public lands for public good!
~Eastlake United for Justice
Film evenings begin with optional potluck refreshments & social hour at 6:30 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by optional discussion after the film.
RADIOACTIVE WOLVES OF CHERNOBYL
by Klaus Feichtenberger
For a description of this film, see here.
Humanist Hall is wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street