Calendar
Nine months ago we flooded the BART Board meetings twice in a row, overwhelmed them with hours and hours of public comments, surprise banners, chanting, and general people power, and forced BART to drop the restitution against the Black Friday 14!
Now, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Black Friday action that was a call to action nationwide for people of conscience to step UP to end the state-sanctioned War on Black lives, it is time for us all to return to BART and demand that they urge D.A. Nancy O’Malley to#DROPTHECHARGES NOW!
Start practicing your speech, cuz it’s time again to flood the BART Board meeting with public comments and show BART that we’re still here, we’re still fighting, we still stand with the #BlackFriday14, we still remember their racist and deadly legacy, and it’s time they took steps to get on the right side of history!
San Francisco Progressive Democrats of America
FIGHTING BACK III
How Bay Area activists are defending our civil liberties
Our freedoms are being threatened more than at any time since the McCarthy period of the fifties. Not just by the antics of politicians, but directly in our living space: Massive surveillance with the latest technology; the militarization of the police; online monitoring of our messages; the unrestrained killing of African-American and other minority people; media self-censorship.As always, resistance and opposition are coming from activists on the ground. This is especially true in the Bay Area. At this month’s forum, activists will tell us what they are doing to fight back against the incipient police state.
Speakers:Shahid Buttar, Director of Grassroots Advocacy, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Tessa Drcangelew, Leadership Development Manager at the ACLU of Northern California:
Zaki Manian, San Francisco Organizer, Restore the Fourth
Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Media Alliance
A free public forum — Wheelchair accessible — Snacks and beverages served
PLEASE SHARE this so we pack the house with 200 new neighbors: A Panel Presentation by Experts is the next big opportunity, before the holidays, to inform and educate our community of the massive 450,000-tree deforestation plan in the Oakland and Berkeley Hills:
Panelists include:
1) Dave Maloney, former Chief of Fire Prevention at Oakland Army Base;
2) Dan Grassetti, founder of The Hills Conservation Network;
3) Peter Gray Scott, 1991 Oakland hills fire survivor who instigated The Grand Jury investigation of that fire
Moderator is Jack Gescheidt, TreeSpirit Project founder
• A full hour of audience Q&A will follow so the community can ask follow-up questions.
TreeSpirit Project Event page: http://TreeSpiritProject.com/PanelTalk111915
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/527182347436611
7pm Action tomorrow! #FruitvaleBART to #OPD hq This Fri 11/20 fight back against #Oakland killer cops! pic.twitter.com/QgsgyQrZU6
— thc (@nysrene) November 19, 2015
We observe and document all suspicious activities of our local law enforcement agencies.
Come learn the art of copwatching and help out as we go out afterwards on our “neighborhood watch.”
Pizza provided during debrief.
Join other environmental activists from around the Bay Area in a Northern California mass mobilization in advance of the 2015 UN Conference of Parties in Paris (COP21). The demands are familiar but the urgency to act grows with each passing day:
End all fracking, tar sands mining and pipelines, offshore drilling, arctic drilling. Stop expansion of the extractive economy. Wind, solar, geothermal power now. No coal exports or crude-by-rail bomb trains in Northern California.
10:30 am – Gather at Lake Merritt Amphitheatre (map)
12:00 noon – March
1:00 pm – Rally at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza
Family friendly. Wheelchair accessible march route.
Learn more, get involved at event website.
A dramatic and rapid reduction in Global Warming pollution is necessary to create:
- A world united to repair the ravages of climate change
- A world with an economy that works for people and the planet
- A demilitarized world with peace and social justice for everyone; where Black Lives Matter; where good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities belong to all.
@EastBayExpress @0aklandish @Oakland @TheNewParkway RT? Free thanksgiving meals for the community Sat Nov 21 pic.twitter.com/coyPUUqzmH
— Oak Life Church (@oaklifechurch) November 9, 2015
General Meeting of Renters. Preparations toward elections of officers. News of the ARC. Policy discussions. More to come.
Are you tired of racist, classist, ableist and anti-homeless policing? Want to deal with crisis and conflict in other ways?
When the police fail to “protect and serve,” who can we turn to in moments of need? How can we respond to conflict and crisis without the punishment and violence that comes with policing and prisons? What would take to build and use alternative responses in our own lives and communities?
Come out to talk about these questions and more.
If folks want to share (optional, of course), there will be time to talk about situations from our lives and brainstorm responses that prioritize de-escalation, accountability, healing and preventing harm.
Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of their stance on the police. However, the focus of this workshop will be on considering options other than the police.
Snacks will be provided.
***Please RSVP by 11/14 if possible to email above***
Fundraiser for Soli-Kitchen Convoy, a radical group in Europe which travels to various border points providing direct services to refugees.
Food, speakers, and discussion on the political and historical context of the current wave of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Europe, and Central American refugees in North America, the policing of migration and the possibilities for resisting borders.
Organized by the Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee.
What: Fundraiser, cafe, and discussion on the political and historical context of the current wave of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Europe and Central American refugees in North America. We will discuss the policing ofmigration and the possibilities for resisting borders. Benefit for solidarity group providing material aid to migrants as they make their journey across Europe.
*please note that Station 40 is up two flights of stairs and is unfortunately wheelchair inaccessible.
The family of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old boy who was killed on November 22, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio, has called for a national day of action on the anniversary of this blue-blooded act of terrorism.
We must continue the fight for justice on Tamir’s behalf and on behalf of ALL VICTIMS OF STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM. We must stand together with all the families as one ~ in love, solidarity, and struggle. By fighting against police terrorism in unity, we will bring an end to these vicious crimes against humanity.
Rally at 1:00pm at Powell & Market
March to follow.
Please bring red ribbon to symbolize the trail of bloodshed and honor the lives of all those slain by police terrorism.
#NoMoreStolenLives #NoFamilyLeftBehind
Protests nationwide on the 1-year anniversary of the killing of Tamir.
One year and still NO CHARGES against his murderers.
Teach-In on the housing affordability crisis in Berkeley and what can be done about it.
Facilitator:
Paola Laverde, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner
Speakers:
Stephen Barton, Ph.D., Former Director of the Housing Department
and Deputy Director of the Rent Stabilization Program in Berkeley
Moni Law, Affordable Housing Activist
Rick Lewis, Executive Director, Bay Area Community Land Trust
and former Housing Advisory Commission Member
Austin Pritzkat, President, Berkeley Student Cooperative
Katherine Harr, Berkeley Tenants Union
Panelist will address
* What are the dimensions of this crisis and what can we do about it?
* What could our local elected officials do to address this crisis?
* How do we prevent displacement?
* How could the City generate more revenue for the Housing Trust Fund
to fund affordable housing construction and acquisition?
Peruse or post local announcements:
http://berkeleycitizensaction.org
Join Berkeley Citizens Action on Facebook please: https://www.facebook.com/groups/319627034774973/
The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.
Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.
Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.
The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.
Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!
Free Movie: This is What Democracy Looks Like (2000 Documentary Directed by Jill Friedberg and Rick Rowley – 72 minutes.) Filmed during the WTO protest in Seattle, November 30, 1999. Plus WTO shorts and discussion.
The Fukushima nuclear plant disaster remains very dangerous. What might we still be able to do about it? Who’s monitoring radiation levels? What about California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon, surrounded by a dozen earthquake faults, and San Onofre, closed in 2013 but containing tons of nuclear waste? Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen and Fairewinds Director Maggie Gundersen; with Joanna Macy, environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism, deep ecology, whose work addresses psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age; Gar Smith, author “Nuclear Roulette”; Mary Beth Brangan, EON-Ecological Options Network; songs by singer-songwriter Vic Sadot.
Sponsored by the BFUU SJC, EON, Codepink Women for Peace
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
For weekly notices of BFUU services etc. go to:
http://www.bfuu.org/signup.html
Stand against the war on black people on Monday Nov. 23rd! Protest global displacement, policing and repression! Protest state Violence!
One of the many weapons of State sanctioned violence is displacement. The gentrification we see in the Bay Area is an extension of land theft, exploitation, colonial expansion, and forced migration seen all across the world. Communities impacted by displacement will be coming together to raise their voices in support of the Black Friday14! While the State attempts to criminalize Black activists for demonstrating their power, we will demonstrate our commitment collective liberation and to ending anti-Black violence here and everywhere.
Let’s honor cultures and the resilience of our communities here in Oakland. Let’s show the City of Oakland what the people of Oakland stand for!
**Bring a paint brush OR a toothbrush!!**
#3rdWorld4BlackPower #BlackLivesMatter #BlackPowerMatters#BlackResistanceMatters #BlackFriday14