Calendar
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
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Occupyforum presents
“Race” is not a noun, it is a verb (“to racialize”)
with Steve Martinot
To recognize the operations of the structures of racialization in the US today, and the role of white racialized identity in maintaining those structures, we must know their history. Thus we can see the structural components, and identify them in contemporary events and political processes. This capability has become all the more urgent because, though the civil rights movements seriously undermined the hegemony of whiteness, it did not contest the underlying structures of racialization. It is the resurfacing of those structures that is now making a violent political comeback, and reconstituting the elements of white racialized identity.
The strength of this comeback leaves the old language of anti-racism weak and ineffective. The new resistance that this resurgence has engendered needs to see much more clearly what we are up against than the old civil rights movements did. To see and hit at the core of this resurgence, which includes the prison industry and the police-prison nexus, we need to see how its structural components work together and resurrect each other.”
Steve Martinot has been a human rights activist most of his life as a union organizer, community organizer, anti-war activist and historian on the structures of racialization in the US. He is a former political prisoner, and active in prisoner solidarity work today. His 8 books include “The Rule of Racialization” and “The Machinery of Whiteness,” (Temple University Press). His latest publication is
“The Need to Abolish the Prison System.”
Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.
Wheelchair accessible, ride shares announced.
Come learn about continuing developments in the battle to save the Berkeley Post Office, other Post Offices in the area, and the Postal Service from privatization. Support our Occupiers and help us plan our next steps in opposition to the theft of our public commons.
Since Federal Judge William Alsup’s ruling in April, 2015 after the Postal Service told the judge it is not currently selling the building, the Postal Service has remained silent and no further attempts at a sale have been attempted. But we’re not fooled. They could “find” a buyer at any moment (although the Judge ordered the Postal Service to provide 42 days notice before any sale, so that the City of Berkeley’s lawsuit could be refiled).
Check out the Community Garden at the Post Office.
In more recent developments, Berkeley has Declared War on Its Homeless, and an ordinance criminalizing the homeless came before the City Council on June 30th (see here and here) but was tabled to some indeterminate date.
November 1st will be the one year anniversary of First They Came for the Homeless’ occupation of the downtown Post Office’s grounds. FTCftH is planning a sit/lie protest in San Francisco on Black Friday.
Check out our website and the Save the Berkeley Post Office website, and First they Came for the Homeless Facebook for updates.
BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, which itself is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.
Berkeley Copwatch is tired of unjust policing and lack of accountability. We stand in solidarity with those protesting the murders of black people across the nation and say that this must end! We have our unique problems in Berkeley and the East Bay and we must take local action to stand up and demand justice!
We Demand:
- End racial profiling in Berkeley! Get the statistics on who is really being detained and arrested and stop handcuffing men of color for no reason!
- No tasers in Berkeley! Spend money to study how to end racial profiling – not acquire tasers!
- End the militarization of the police! No boats, no armored personnel carriers, no more weapons and no more military games. Withdraw from Urban Shield!
- Justice For Kayla Moore!
- Decriminalize Mental Illness! Police with no training in mental health crisis are most often the first responders to these kinds of situations. Berkeley must fully fund emergency mental health response in the city and prevent militarized cops from being the first point of contact for members of the public who need help in dealing with emergency mental health situations. No more putting spit hoods over the heads of people with mental illness! No taser use on mentally ill people! Counselors not cops!
Meetings at 7pm every Monday!
As part of our monthly Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHHS) folks will be writing cards to prisoners. Although this is short notice, we invite you to join us. We’ll be writing cards from 7pm til around 9-9:30pm, so come for as short or as long a time as you’re able.
The 3rd floor Conference Room is on the left side of the corridor as you exit left out of the elevator, a few doors down (near the bathrooms).
Please note that the front door downstairs at 1904 Franklin is typically locked by 7pm. We will try to have someone at the door, but if you find the door locked, you can text Kim at 415-756-2896 to come down and let you in.
If you can, please bring snacks to share.
Earlier in the day on November 23rd, from 12noon to 2pm at 14th and Broadway (Oakland), people will be out with banners, handing out information and talking with passersby about ending solitary confinement and ending the sleep deprivation torture that has been ongoing in CA solitary units for over 110 days! If you can take some lunch time to join us, please do.
Check out togethertoendsolitary.org or togethertoendsolitary.org/events/ for actions on Nov 23rd in other parts of California and the country. Also, if you are planning an action for Monday, Nov 23rd against solitary confinement, please submit the details to that site.
Statewide Coordinated Actions To End Solitary Confinement and Together to End Solitary actions on the 23rd of each month for the 23 or more hours every day that a person is kept in their solitary confinement cell.