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!
Liberated Lens is a digital filmmaking collective dedicated to social change, based in Oakland, California. We share resources, skills and knowledge to help each other tell stories that might otherwise remain untold. We make films in a spirit of collaboration and solidarity, share a lending library of film equipment for creative projects, and organize free, at cost or donation-based workshops.
Join us for our weekly meeting and a workshop!
We usually meet in our editing suite (2nd floor in the ballroom, to the left of the stage) and then work on projects. It’s open to all!
Militarization of Mental Health and the Berkeley Police
Case Study of the Death of Kayla Moore presented by Maria Moore (Sister to Kayla)
In February of 2013, BPD forcibly entered the home of Kayla Moore, an African American transgender woman with mental illness. In this all-too-familar story, a friend called police for help at 11:30pm when he thought Kayla was having a mental health crisis. Once police arrived, they attempted to forcibly take Kayla Moore into custody. Face down on a futon with five cops on top of her, Kayla died. Her case has amplified the calls for fundamental change in the way that we attend to the safety of our citizens who experience mental health crisis. Maria Moore will share her experience of what happened before and after Kayla’s passing and the lessons and reflections from her family’s struggle for justice and healing.
OccupyForum // We had a last-minute cancellation, but we will meet, program will be a surprise (to us all!)
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Q&A and Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum
to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!
Meetings held Mondays at 7:00 PM
Excepting Monday March 7, when we will meet at 8:15 PM. Come one, come all!
VOLUNTEER NOW!!!
If you would like to go out on Copwatch shifts, work in our office, create art, become a Know Your Rights Trainer or help us out in other ways, WE NEED YOU! Send us an e-mail, subscribe to our email list, call our office or just come to our weekly meetings on Mondays, 2022 Blake Street, Berkeley or our weekly office hours on Wednesdays from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
RightsCon is the world’s leading conference convened on the future of the internet. This year will see a bigger, brighter, and better RightsCon, more dynamic and outcome-oriented than ever before. Join us to shape the global conversation among human rights experts, business leaders, technologists, human rights experts, government representatives, investors, and advocates.
Homes Not Jails is a consensus-based collective of squatters and squat supporters who believe housing is a human right. Our goal is to open as much vacant housing as possible and to keep it open as long as possible. HNJ is a place to organize mutual aid among squatters and squat supporters and housing rights advocates in the bay. We actively fight to make our space inclusive and safe for everybody and combat oppression in all forms.
The janitorial industry has gone off the rails with economic exploitation, wage theft, harassment, and abuse.
25 years ago, janitors broke the silence to clean up the industruct. In 2016, we’re breaking the silence again to stop the sexual assault of immigrant women. We fight in the streets and at the bargaining table to stand up against economic exploitation.
On Cesar Chavez Day, immigrant women janitors are joining immigrant women farm workers to say !Ya Basta! and put a stop to the rampant exploitation and sexual assault of immigrant women workers.
Join us to honor the legacy of fighting for immigrant workers that was led by the United Farm Workers and its leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.
We encourage all Oakland residents to attend the weekly No Coal in Oakland meeting.
Up until its February 16th meeting, the position of a majority of Oakland City Council members on permitting coal shipment from the city’s port may have been in doubt. Even now the proposal remains on the table. But at that meeting, council members took concrete steps toward banning coal exports once and for all. Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Libby Schaff, local clergy, State Senator Loni Hancock, and community activists, the Council has signaled its intention to enact an outright ban on coal exports. In fact, it passed a moratorium on the issuance of any permits for the terminal until the question has been resolved. Read details on the latest developmemts here.
(And for more background, see A Coaltastrophe Threatens Oakland on this website.)
Why is fracking still allowed in our county? What can we do to ban it once and for all?
Join Alameda County Against Fracking for a free film screening of Dear Governor Brown, a game-changing new film about Californians living with extreme oil. Learn how you can play a crucial role in banning fracking and extreme oil extraction in Alameda county, and how a victory here will turn the tide on California’s toxic past, present, and future.
Film followed by discussion.
Val Rosenfeld and Flor Fortunati present their book: “Voices of the Undocumented”
Voices of the Undocumented brings to life the lives of people who have been forced to live in the shadows of this society because they have no legal status. These stories give a glimpse into the reality of the lives of the 11 million people who work and struggle to live in the U.S. who are subjected to deportation and exploitation. Nine immigrants tell their stories about their lives in Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala before coming here and about their lives once they arrive. Some tell of arduous journeys, walking through the desert to cross the border while hiding from the U.S. Border Patrol. Some came with visas and overstayed their time limits. Some left their children behind in their countries – children they have not seen for years. Their stories are based on interviews done by Val Rosenfeld, an English as a Second Language teacher and Flor Fortunati, a volunteer at the Day Worker Center of Mountain View, California.
From the heartbreaking story of Salvador (an illiterate Mexican farm worker who entered the U.S. illegally four times), to Ernesto (an educated Peruvian womanizer), to the amazing accomplishments of Rocío (a graduate of a prestigious university), Voices of the Undocumented relates poignant accounts of the undocumented workers’ lives.
Support Anti-Gentrification Activists Facing Political Repression & Trumped-Up Charges!
The DA is aggressively prosecuting four Land Action organizers for their involvement in a recent adverse possession project. There are seven criminal charges, including three felony counts. Contrary to established precedent in Oakland in recent years, the DA has deliberately, and in violation of the law, pushed this civil dispute into criminal court. The case was brought to the DA’s attention because the property owner was personally connected to the DA’s office!
On Wednesday January 20, 2016 the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office issued arrest warrants for 4 organizers working with the non-profit Land Action. The organizers, now being called The Land Action 4, face 7 criminal charges-3 of which are felonies, up to 8.5 years imprisonment and $89,000 in fines . Among the allegations is that these organizers were involved in a “Conspiracy to Trespass,” a common charge used to target civil rights organizers.
Hundreds of abandoned/vacant properties have been occupied in the Bay Area in recent decades. Disputes over these properties generally remain in the civil realm. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the court rules in the title-holder’s favor and the occupiers are ordered to leave. Very rarely do they end with arrests, and never before have they resulted in felony charges. But this time, the DA has pushed what has historically been considered a civil matter into criminal court.
Please come pack the courthouse with us for our initial hearing! April 1st at 9m at the Wiley Manuel courthouse. There is plenty of 4-hour parking available, south of the 880 freeway on 4th, 3rd, and 2nd Streets, within walking distance of the Courthouse.
We ask for your support in the upcoming legal battle. Please come pack the courthouse with us for our initial hearing!
Also, please support our staff and volunteer activists by donating to cover the $3,500 in legal expenses currently accrued –https://www.gofundme.com/
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, together with the Oasis Clinic in Oakland, urges you to support this demonstration to protest the outrageous price-gouging of Big Pharma corporations, like Gilead Sciences! Corporations such as Gilead hike-up the cost for essential, life-saving medications such as the cure for the deadly Hepatitis-C disease (HCV), in order to reap huge profits.
Public transportation is available —
Take BART Richmond/Daly City line to Milbrae Station,
transfer to Caltrain Shuttle to 353 Lakeside, then walk to 333 Lakeside Dr.
One pill a day for 12 weeks does the trick to cure Hepatitis-C with a 95 percent success rate. But Gilead charges $1,000 per pill, or nearly $100,000 for a full course of treatment!! Gilead Sciences, the “owner” of Harvoni, which is the effective new cure for HCV, did not develop this cure: it bought another company! Now its profit gouging threatens many thousands of lives! Obama Care does not protect against Big Pharma’s outrageous price gouging!
Nearly 5.2 million Americans are infected with HCV, according to the Center for Disease Control. And political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is among as many as 700,000 prisoners who are victims. Prisoners who are infected with Hep-C are among the least likely to receive the newly available cure for the disease, due to both the exaggerated price, and the refusal of prison authorities to provide proper health care for inmates! Prisons are killing them by medical neglect and mistreatment! And corporations are exploiting the rest of us, except in some countries, which enforce lower prices.
WE DEMAND: PUBLIC HEALTH, NOT CORPORATE WEALTH!
NO EXECUTION BY MEDICAL NEGLECT! • FREE TREATMENT FOR HCV-INFECTED PRISONERS AND OTHERS NOW! � JAIL DRUG PROFITEERS, FREE MUMIA!
Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
“From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.” – Michelle Alexander, The Nation, February 10th.
On April 1st former US President Bill Clinton is speaking at UC Berkeley during the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference. His presidency engineered the structural racism of mass incarceration. The Welfare Reform Act (1996) pulled the rug out from under African American communities. The “Tough On Crime” Bill (1994) destroyed families as it incarcerated masses of jobless black men and barred them from employment, housing and welfare. In short, his presidency slashed public welfare programmes and transferred the funding to a massive expansion of policing and prisons. A black child born today has a 1 in 3 chance of spending time in prison, a latino child 1 in 6, and a white child 1 in 17. This is on Bill Clinton.
We want to remind Clinton of the real destructive consequences of his policies. Mass incarceration and structural racism exist today. Apologies are not going to give the incarcerated their freedom back and restore destroyed families. The positive image that the Clintons’ sponsorship of education and research creates should not go unchallenged. They should not be allowed to forget and neither should we. In 1992 Clinton used the execution of the mentally impaired black man Ricky Ray Rector as a publicity stunt to prove that he was tough on crime: “I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I’m soft on crime”, he said afterwards. All the philanthropy in the world should not be allowed to overshadow this legacy.
This protest is organized by activists from Socialist Alternative and other organizations, on and off campus. A full list of speakers will be published soon. Does your organization wish to support the protest? Please contact us at aoe012@berkeley.edu
We refuse to let the Clintons use our campus as tool for whitewashing their legacy. Join us at 5pm outside the Haas Pavilion April 1st to protest mass incarceration. We demand:
– End mass incarceration!
– End racist police violence!
– Defund the prison-industrial complex!
Join restaurant workers and community allies in an autonomous picket of a fine dining restaurant in Uptown Oakland. Former employees are alleging widespread wage theft, among many issues of oppression. So we say Boycott! Oakland will no longer stand by and allow our restaurant industry to fail to care for so many thousands of our most low-income workers!
No to racism, theft and abuse – food justice means worker justice!
Join the Bay Area Restaurant Worker’s Movement and the Brass Liberation Orchestra for a family-friendly and spirited protest. Gather outside the 19th St BART station in Uptown for a brief walk over!
Follow @Restaurant_Mvmt for updates!
From Akai Gurley to Mario Woods …
Rally for Justice for ALL Victims of Racist Police Brutality
Fire SFPD Chief Suhr!
Stop Police Terror!
As racist presidential candidate Donald Trump emboldens white supremacist groups to openly organize and lash out against the most oppressed sectors of society, the police in the United States continue to terrorize and murder Black, Brown, Native, immigrant, and poor and working people who are targeted by the same racist hate groups with impunity.
These acts of racist police terror continue largely unchallenged by the so-called “justice system.” The rebellions in Ferguson and Baltimore along with the mass mobilizations in Chicago have forced concessions from those in power to remove police chiefs and prosecutors and make department-wide reforms, proving the struggle to be the determining factor in the outcome of these cases.
In New York, the struggle for justice for Akai Gurley who was murdered by NYPD has reached a critical point where killer cop Peter Liang is facing potential jail time. While some reactionaries have mobilized to prevent this conviction, we demand that all killer cops must be held accountable for their crimes.
With the recent sham civil trial surrounding the murder of Alex Nieto in San Francisco that reinforced the right of officers to kill with impunity, it’s time to stand up and fight back against the militarized gangs of police that criminalize and terrorize people like Akai Gurley, Alex Nieto, Mario Woods, Amilcar Perez-Lopez and every other person stolen from our communities.
Join the ANSWER Coalition on Friday, April 1 for a rally to demand “From Akai Gurley to Mario Woods, justice for all victims of racist police brutality!”
A festive, mobile happening with art, giant projections, drumming and more!
Be on time cuz we’ll be moving!!!
Meet at 80 Grand Avenue (The plaza at the intersection of Broadway and Grand)
Details:
Oakland residents, community groups, organizations, arts groups and local small businesses facing the biggest housing and inequality crisis of our time are standing together in solidarity to block displacement. We are celebrating Oakland roots and collective power and raising our voices in rhythm and unison to demand a right to a roof and the city. Join us for this mobile happening featuring art, music and a series of powerful speakers highlighting how we can help each other hold onto home. This powerfully creative, family-friendly event will build momentum to push for a moratorium on evictions and rent hikes.
Multiple groups, fighting for equity and housing, aim to build a stronger, connected anti-displacement movement. We have to become a force to be reckoned with as our politicians continue to sell our land and city out from under us. With the influx of tech wealth and real estate speculation, we need a network that we can depend on showing up as we receive eviction notices and commercial spaces receive 100-200% rent increases. Join us April 1st to plug into the action, gather know-your-rights resources and tether together to hold onto our homes and community spaces.
Campaign Launch & our FIRST Signature Gathering mobilization
The “Protect Oakland Renters Act” & initiative campaign officially starts this Saturday and we want each and every one of you to be part this movement moment!
This is the official launch of our effort to qualify a measure on the November 2016 Ballot to protect renters being displaced in droves by skyrocketing rents, unfair evictions, and unlawful practices. We will have a brief program and training on why the time is NOW to protect renters and take on Oakland’s growing displacement crisis, a quick “signature gathering 101” followed by heading out to neighborhoods and high traffic areas to speak directly with Oakland voters and collect signatures to qualify this measure on the November Ballot! Can we count on you to join us this Saturday?!
We are calling on all allies of renters, working families and communities of color being pushed out of the city to turn out in large numbers to show both the breadth and strength of the coalition, as well as to ensure that we have a solid crew of folks to kick off our volunteer signature gathering program!
Please respond directly to this post or RSVP: becki@cjjc.org
Berkeley working families need your help. Join us in getting the few more signatures needed to qualify our initiative for the November ballot. The initiative will:
� Raise Berkeley’s minimum wage to $15 by October 2017
� Raise it further each year by 3% + inflation till it gets in sync with Berkeley’s official “Living Wage” currently $16.37
� Bring sick leave up to the standards set by Oakland, Emeryville and SF
� Prevent tip theft
Everyone has probably heard by now of the legislation speeding through the California Legislature with the governor ready to sign. It will make our state the first in the nation to adopt a path to a $15 minimum wage. Clearly this is a victory for the nationwide fight of fast food and other low paid workers to make $15 the floor under everyone’s wages.
This is a major victory for all of us but not the end of the fight. Working families in the bay area and many other very expensive areas need to get to $15 faster and move beyond it. It is a matter of survival. Berkeley activists have set the stage to do just that.
Join us. Make history. Lead the way to setting the new, higher standard for the very expensive Bay Area.
The Oakland Justice Coalition is a coalition of organizations and individuals that grew out of a series of public forums hosted by theOakland Alliance, and now includes the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Oakland Education Association, the Anti Police-Terror Project, Block by Block Organizing Network, the Coalition for Police Accountability, the The Community Democracy Project (Oakland), the Oakland Green Party, the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly, the Oakland Tenants Union and Socialist Alternative Bay Area .
This is the kickoff event for our plan to turn out hundreds of volunteers to canvass disenfranchised communities across Oakland, registering voters and building a people’s campaign for our three endorsed ballot measures:
From the Coalition for Police Accountability: Measure X, an amendment to the Oakland City Charter that turns the current Citizens’ Police Review Board into a Police Commission that has power to approve police policies and discipline officers who are found guilty of misconduct.
From the Oakland Tenants Union: Oakland’s “Renters Upgrade” would expand Oakland’s current “Just Cause for Eviction” law and provide greater ability for the city to enforce existing laws amidst a wave of unfair evictions and widespread harassment as demand for housing in Oakland grows.
From Oakland Livable Wage Assembly: A Minimum Wage/Fair Scheduling ordinance that will raise Oakland’s minimum wage to $14/hr in 2016 and $20/hr by 2020, as well as implement fair scheduling similar to San Francisco’s recent ordinance and mandate enforcement of both.
These three measures represent a people’s legislative agenda, enacted through direct democracy at the ballot box. The Oakland Justice Coalition invites anyone who is concerned about Oakland’s housing crisis, police repression of communities of color and rampant income inequality to join us in building a grassroots movement for social, racial, economic and environmental justice.