Join us to fight for a livable wage for all Bay Area workers! We collaborate in principled reflection and action on what the Bay Area livable wage would be and where we are at on the right to a livable wage.
The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds Community and Power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.
Our work together encompasses:
(1) The concerns of precarious, care and contingent workers,
(2) Campaigns to improve wages for low wage workers, and
(3) Efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life.
We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.
Oakland Livable Wage Assembly meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, 6:30-8:00 PM at the SEIU Local 1000 Union Hall, 436 14th Street #200, Oakland, CA
Please love and support one another ~ We have a duty to fight ~ We have a duty to win!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1568668586707336/
Join the Oakland Institute for two short films, focused on fracking and its resistance here in California. Dear Governor Brown looks at the contradictions of Gov. Jerry Brown—the “greenest” governor in the US (?), who’s encouraging the growth of fracking in California. The film also explores fracking in our state. Faith Against Fracking looks at the role of faith leaders from multiple backgrounds in forming alliances and contributing to the struggle to end fracking.
Following the film, join the Oakland Institute’s Policy Analyst Elizabeth Fraser, along with Shannon Biggs of Movement Rights and David Braun of Americans Against Fracking for a discussion about the incredible and important work happening here in California to ban fracking once and for all.
A one-time screening of The Brainwashing Of My Dad, a documentary by filmmaker Jen Senko about her Democratic dad and his slide into the world of hard right-wing media indoctrination. The film merges the personal story of her family with a look at the right-wing media machine and the sad state of the mainstream media – and could not be more timely in the middle of most bizarre election cycle in American history.
Featuring interviews with Noam Chomsky, David Brock, Jeff Cohen, George Lakoff, Claire Conner, Frank Luntz and narrated by actor Matthew Modine with animations by Bill Plympton. Executive producer Ryan Smith will answer questions after this special screening at the United Nations Association Documentary Festival.
A strong audience showing will demonstrate interest in the state of the media and build support for more film-making about our communications system.
Buy Tickets
Fellow Occupiers: Does the absence of real consequences for Wells Fargo – when caught in the act make you feel “tents”??
Wells Fargo, one of OccupySF’s favorite Bankster targets, is just waiting for our response to its massive criminal enterprise.
They Are Not Too Big To Nail!
Expropriate the Bank and Make It A Public Bank
For working people
and the public, and not the profiteers
The massive criminal enterprise of Wells Fargo Executives and owners to bully workers to illegally open up accounts for their customers, and then bilk them of fees, has been exposed in hearings,
yet the US Justice Department refuses to file criminal charges. Coercing workers to commit criminal fraud is a crime that could not only be prosecuted by the US Justice Department but Attorney General Kamala Harris and District Attorney Gascon, yet all these enforcement officials are conspicuously MIA.
At the same time US Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Federal OSHA chief David
Michaels refused to investigate complaints about retaliation against Wells Fargo workers who refused to violate the banking laws and illegally open accounts. They went to OSHA and the
Department of Labor and the managers refused to allow investigation and prosecutions, and/or referrals to other agencies for prosecution. This was a further example that these government agencies, which are supposed to protect workers and the public, have been captured by the companies like Wells Fargo which they are supposed to regulate.
Former US attorney general Eric Holder said that some companies are too big to nail and apparently that applies to Wells Fargo which is the 4th largest bank in the United States. At the same time the State of California, as well as other governments around the state, has broken financial ties to Wells Fargo, yet Mayor Ed Lee, the SF Supervisors and the San Francisco Pension Board continue to do business with Wells Fargo bank despite it’s criminal activity.
The people of San Francisco and California deserve a public bank run by working people and the community. The bank should be seized, the executives jailed and it should be made a public bank that will work for the people and not profits for the billionaires.
BRING SIGNS!
Initial Sponsor
United Public Workers For Action
www.upwa.info
For more information (415)282-1908
To:
OccupySF
Defend Anti-Fascist Teacher Yvette Felarca!
Community Organizing Meeting
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
5pm
North Branch – Berkeley Public Library
1170 The Alameda, Berkeley, CA
Protest and Speak-Out at School Board Meeting
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
6:30pm Rally outside
2020 Bonar Street (at University), Berkeley California
7:30pm Speak out inside (fill out speakers cards before)
1231 Addison Street (around the corner from 2020 Bonar)
Berkeley School Board Persecutes Teacher For Helping Stop Neo-Nazis: Stop the Witch Hunt Against Yvette Felarca and Interrogation of Her Students!
Anti-fascist activist and teacher Yvette Felarca has been removed from her classroom at Martin Luther King Jr Middle School in Berkeley, California, for helping stop a neo-Nazi recruitment rally on the steps of the state capitol in Sacramento this summer.
After Ms. Felarca was stabbed and beaten by the fascists, terror threats were made against her and the school if she’s not fired. Instead of defending the entire community, including Ms. Felarca, the school district is capitulating to the neo-Nazis’ demands by taking disciplinary measures against her and removing her from her job.
Prior to being put on administrative leave on September 21 the school district reached back into her bank account after depositing her wages, and took them back out, suddenly challenging previously approved sick days and leaves already taken.
Since then, both current and former students have been pulled out of class and interrogated about her, without their parents’ informed consent, targeting immigrant and limited english speaking families in particular.
Ms. Felarca has been teaching ELD (English as a Second Language) and Humanities at King Middle School for a decade. She is a member of the Executive Board of her union, the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT), and is a founding member of the Equal Opportunity Now/By Any Means Necessary (EON/BAMN) Caucus, an organization working on civil rights issues.
The actions against Ms. Felarca are directly counter to the Berkeley school district’s historic embrace of the fight against racism and fascism. Three district schools are named after civil rights leaders – Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and Malcolm X, and Berkeley was one of the very first school districts to voluntarily desegregate.
Students from all grade levels – elementary, middle, and high school, as well as parents, fellow teachers from Berkeley and Oakland, and a diverse range of community members have been rallying in defense of Ms. Felarca. Please join us in speaking out:
Come to the school board on November 2, write to the board members, and encourage your unions, collectives, and congregations to speak out and write letters and resolutions in solidarity with Yvette Felarca.
Demand that she be reinstated immediately, repaid her full wages, and the harassment of her and her students be stopped!
Write to: boardofed@berkeley.net, Superintendent@berkeley.net,
CC: yvette.felarca@ueaa.net
Defend Yvette Felarca! Non-sectarian defense of all anti-fascists!
An injury to one is an injury to all!
More Details and Background:
Grievance of Yvette Felarca: https://occupyoakland.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Grievance-of-Yvette-Felarca1.pdf
Press conference with Yvette Felarca and her lawyer, September 28: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHhVxvNt3vY
September 21 school board meeting, public comments by Yvette Felarca, her students who demonstrated how she helped empower them, parents who praised her teaching style and expressed concern about recent racist activities in the schools, fellow workers who wondered about the implications of the district’s actions for other teachers, and community members who told personal stories about fascism in their own lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg2giLt6Fu4
October 5 rally outside the school board meeting, and public comments inside by more students, parents, teachers, and community members speaking in defense of Ms. Felarca. When board members refused to disclose their personal positions on whether she should continue to teach, and instead scurried off into a second, unagendized “closed session”, the community held its own meeting in the board room, with many more speaking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdwuri1LFYI
October 19 school board meeting, more public comments in defense of Ms. Felarca, including a description of an interrogation by a student, remote participation from a former student who called in from Mexico City, and a standing ovation from one of the student representatives on the board: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az4GFkzEfSo
Report of what happened in Sacramento, and the neo-Nazis involved: http://antifasac.weebly.com/home/blood-in-the-valley-why-people-put-their-lives-on-the-line-to-run-nazis-out-of-sacramento
More about the fascist organizers of the Sacramento rally: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/06/27/violent-clashes-erupt-sacramento-between-white-nationalists-and-antifascists
Details about neo-Nazis converging in Berkeley prior to their attempted rally in Sacramento: https://itsgoingdown.org/big-nazis-on-campus/
Article about racist events at Berkeley High School over the last couple of years, including racist pages in the yearbook which had to be recalled, a noose hanging from a tree, and a terror threat citing the KKK on a school computer, which resulted in a walkout by the majority of students: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/11/04/racist-threats-posted-on-berkeley-high-library-computer/
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JOIN CODEPINK, WORLD CAN’T WAIT, OCCUPYSF Action Council and others at the huge PEACE banner
Theme this week is: “REFUGEES…”
Feel free to bring your own signage, photos, flyers, …Additional signs and flyers provided.
Stand (or sit) with us and the huge PEACE banner.
Come to our monthly member meeting for a discussion of our 2016 voter guide, updates on our local campaigns, and opportunities for plugging in to our work!
Organize with us to win jobs not jails, books not bars, and healthcare not handcuffs.
Every member meeting is a little bit different, with topics and agendas that range from campaign planning, outreach, and political education. Since it’s election season, tonight we will be discussing state and local ballot initiatives. We’ll also give a campaign update for our fight against the expansion of Santa Rita and ways members can help us build campaign pressure.
Our weekly PARTY to get this hackerspace together, to provide a venue for those things that otherwise cannot be worked out through day-to-day practice.
Potluck! – bring your own tasty dish!
Sudo room, located in the southwast corner of the ground floor, is a creative community and hackerspace. We offer tools and project space for a wide range of activities: electronics, sewing/crafting, 3D and 2D manufacturing, coding, and good old-fashioned co-learning!
Hours: The space is open whenever a member is present. Come visit! Best times to drop in are evenings between 7 and 9pm. See the calendar for recurring meetups and upcoming events: https://sudoroom.org/calendar
Help stop new jail construction in Alameda County!
Join us for a conversation with Fred Glass, longtime friend of the Labor Center and author of a new book, From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Labor Movement. The author will delve deep into the vibrant labor history of the Golden State where workers have engaged in politics, strikes, and a variety of organizing strategies to find common ground among its diverse communities to achieve a measure of economic fairness and social justice.
About the book
There is no better time than now to consider the labor history of the Golden State. While other states face declining union enrollment rates and the rollback of workers’ rights, California unions are embracing working immigrants, and voters are protecting core worker rights. What’s the difference? California has held an exceptional place in the imagination of Americans and immigrants since the Gold Rush, which saw the first of many waves of working people moving to the state to find work. From Mission to Microchip unearths the hidden stories of these people throughout California’s history. The difficult task of the state’s labor movement has been to overcome perceived barriers such as race, national origin, and language to unite newcomers and natives in their shared interest. This is an indispensable book for students and scholars of labor history and history of the West, as well as labor activists and organizers.
About the author
Fred B. Glass is Communications Director for the California Federation of Teachers and Instructor of Labor and Community Studies at City College of San Francisco. He is the producer of Golden Lands, Working Hands, a ten-part documentary video series on California labor history.
This event is free and open to the public.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event. Books are also available online from UC Press.
Space is limited. Please register for the event.
Join us as we welcome award winning filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin, co-directors of the PBS film Shift Change as they screen their latest documentaries, WEconomics and La Empresa es Nuestra.
WEconomics was filmed in the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy which has one of the highest concentrations of cooperative businesses in the developed world. The capital, Bologna, is an industrial powerhouse, where prosperity is widely shared, and cooperatives of teachers and social workers play a key role in the provision of government services.
La Empresa es Nuestra, filmed in the Basque region of northern Spain, describes the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, that largest cooperative corporation in the world. Founded in the town of Mondragón in 1956, it is the tenth-largest Spanish company and the leading business group in the Basque Country. At the end of 2014, it employed 74,117 people in 257 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: finance, industry, retail and knowledge.
SPACE IS LIMITED! PLEASE RSVP!
Please join us for a film screening and discussion of how these examples can be helpful toward developing a stronger coop economy in the U.S. and specifically the East Bay. Young and Dworkin have produced films about worker coops over a period of 15 years, first in Argentina after the dramatic economic/political collapse in late 2001, then in the Basque Country of Spain and across the U.S., including the Bay Area, for Shift Change. Their work encourages us to think and work toward a more just, equitable, sustainable economy.
In Cooperation,
Ricardo
Ricardo S. Nuñez
http://www.theselc.org/
A meeting is being held to join Bay Area organizations with the national struggle in December to free Mumia:
Many of us in the Bay Area have been fighting against the racist murders by police, and racist policies by those in Administrative Positions, (City Councils, School Boards, Boards of Supervisors, etc.) for a long time. Unfortunately many of our protests have been small and separate despite our common agreement on the issues.
Those of us fighting back in the Bay Area include:
-Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
-APTP – Anti Police Terror Project
-Oscar Grant Committee
-Oakland and S.F. Occupy
-Haiti Action Committee
-E. Oakland group for Omar Shakir
-Black Panther Party,
– Black Muslims.
-Black Lives Matter
-Open Circle- Families United 4 Justice:
Dionne Smith – Justice for James Earl Rivera Jr., Justice for Colby Friday
Rick and Julie Perez -Justice 4 Pedie Perez; Cyndi Mitchell- Justice for Mario Romero
Cadine Williams-Justice for O’Shaine Evans; Teresa Smith– Justice for James Smith
Maria Moore- Justice for Kayla Moore; Dolores Piper- Justice for Derrick Gaines
Uncle Bobby Justice for Oscar Grant; Anita Wills– Justice for Kerry Baxter Jr.
Tony Serrany-Garcia- Justice for Yanira Serrano-Garcia; Gilda- Justice for Diallo Neal
Stephanie Grant– Justice for Jose Paulino; Dee Na– Justice for Nate Greer
Laurie Valdez– Justice for Josiah
-Groups fighting for Justice for Alan Blueford, Mario Woods, Emile Lopez, and others.
-Code Pink
-Code Pink Wednesday night vigils for peace and justice at Feinstein’s office, SF.
-Yvette Felarka action group against Racist and Fascist violence, and rehiring HERO Ms. Felarka, who was fired from MLK Middle School for her activism against Racism and Fascism.
I know all of us are also very concerned about Mumia, his illness, and wanting him released. The Phillidelphia Police tried to execute him for being a Black Panther 35 years ago, then when they failed, they framed and imprisoned him. ONLY INTERNATIONAL MASS PROTESTS HAVE PREVENTED HIS EXECUTION!!
Can you see the importance of a coalition of all our groups to join with national movements to free him? All our groups will benefit from such a coalition.
Please send a representative to the Oct. 27th meeting so we can decide together the best plan:
– A march from OGC to the police station?
– A gathering at 1st Congregational Church, Oakland, with speakers such as Cornell West, Colin Kaepernick, Michelle Alexander, or others, to help build this movement?
– A gathering at Humanist Hall in Oakland to spread the word? Come give your opinion!!
FREE MUMIA!
Audrie & Daisy is an urgent real-life drama that examines the ripple effects on families, friends, schools and communities when two underage young women find that sexual assault against them has been caught on camera and distributed online. From acclaimed filmmakers Bonni Cohen and John Shenk, “Audrie & Daisy”– which made its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival — takes a hard look at America’s teenagers who are coming of age in this new world of social media bullying, spun wildly out of control.
“Audrie & Daisy” will be presented FREE in both Piedmont and Oakland by the Appreciating Diversity Film Series and by Piedmont Parents Network. The film was co-produced by documentary filmmaker and Piedmont High School alum Sara Dosa, who will be in attendance to facilitate a discussion after the film on October 27.
The directors were motivated by what they saw: “We are struck by the frequency of sexual assaults in high schools across the country and have been even more shocked by the pictures and videos, posted online–almost as trophies–by teens that have committed these crimes. This has become the new public square of shame for our adolescents. Unfortunately, the story of drunken high school parties and sexual assault is not new. But today, the events of the night are recorded on smartphones and disseminated to an entire community and, sometimes, the nation. Such was the case for Audrie Pott from Saratoga, California and Daisy Coleman, from Maryville, Ohio, 15- and 14-year old girls, living thousands of miles apart but experiencing the same shame from their communities.”
We invite you to this moving and meaningful film so that you can understand more about the world teenagers live in today.
The Appreciating Diversity Film Series is sponsored by the Piedmont Appreciating Diversity Committee, Piedmont League of Women Voters, Piedmont Adult Education, and the City of Piedmont.
Free, no RSVP needed, usually all are able to find seats.
This screening is the Bay Area premiere of The Last Crop documentary.
The Last Crop is an intimate exploration into the lives of small family farmers Jeff and Annie Main of California’s Central Valley. The film follows these organic pioneers’ ten-year pursuit to ensure that a farm need not be imperiled at the end of every generation. Theirs is a story that is being echoed on farms across our nation as our largely aging farming population faces retirement. What sets the Mains apart is their resolve to create an alternative for their farm’s succession that ensures its productivity and affordability for future farming generations.
Post film panelists: Annie & Jeff Main, Andrea Davis-Cetina owner Quarter Acre Farm & National Young Farmers Coalition member, Evan Wigg, Executive Director, Farmers Guild, Kathryn Lyddan, Executive Director, Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust and filmmaker Chuck Schultz
Please contact us if you have any questions at info@blueprintproductions.biz
Because policing fails to meet people’s needs, and puts people in danger of arrest, imprisonment, and/or even death, we must eliminate connections between policing and healthcare.
Critical Resistance Oakland and The Oakland Power Projects present: The “Know Your Options: Chronic illness” workshop
This workshop is designed to increase people’s understanding of mental health-related experiences, events, trauma, and conditions so that we don’t default to 911 or the cops when a baseline or escalated mental health-related event or experience happens.
The “Know Your Options” workshop series aims to increase people’s access to the healthcare they need and to decrease people’s contact with law enforcement. Workshops are facilitated by healthcare workers and community organizers.
Food First is the original food policy think tank, founded in 1975 by activist author Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins. Over the years, they’ve produced action-oriented research and analysis in order to help build the movement for food justice and food sovereignty around the world. Their projects range from working to stop ‘land grabs’ in the Americas to pollinator restoration and farmer to farmer education. Their Food Sovereignty tours to places such as Italy and Cuba are well known and sought after.
The October gala gathering celebrates the work Food First has contributed to the food justice movement and provides an opportunity to learn more about their organization. There is no cost to attend and no pressure to contribute financially, though opportunities to do so will be available if you so desire.
Loco Bloco, a non-profit performing arts organization and playwright Paul S. Flores announce their final full production of On The Hill, a play about the impact of the death of Alex Nieto. Directed by the renowned playwright Paul Flores, On the Hill tells the story of the impact that the death of Alex Nieto – at the hands of the SFPD- has had on youth of color residing in SF neighborhoods – neighborhoods that are currently being gentrified. The project uses music, dance and theater as a powerful tool for communities divided by issues of police violence, racism, gentrification and economic disparity,to find ways to dialogue with each other, and discover opportunities for solutions, healing and unification. Through their interpretation of death and life, the young actors incorporate spoken word, bilingual theater, drum, dance and video projection to retell the story of the night Alex Nieto was murdered on Bernal Hill in March 2014. The production is co-directed by Eric Reid.
It’s Time to Escalate!
For folks who can make a lunchtime demonstration in SF:
Noon rally in SF, please share widely.
#NoDAPL #MniWiconi #StandingRock
Join AIM-WEST and others in an urgent call for a NOON RALLY IN SAN FRANCISCO
When rubber bullets, tasers, bean bags and pepper spray fired, (dogs unleashed in the recent past), continued violation of treaties and human rights, protectors being jailed, media communications being jammed, it is time we stand together in the BAY AREA in solidarity with the Peoples of Standing Rock Reservation
in North Dakota, and against the Dakota Access Pipeline project.
Today, a large militarized police force raided the Treaty Camp on the banks of the Missouri River in North Dakota which has held a strong line against the Dakota Access Pipeline threatening the water of the Standing Rock Sioux and millions of other people downstream. Hundreds of police using armored personnel carriers, LRAD sound weapons, automatic weapons have begun to break up the camp that lay directly in the route of construction.
The message is clear and urgent. Oil companies, politicians and the police state have no regard for the health and safety of peaceful people standing in the route of power and profit. We urgently need you to join this struggle and organize bold and effective actions in solidarity with Indigenous people and allies on the ground in North Dakota.
We must continue to support those at Standing Rock who fight back every day. Thank you to those that have already hosted rallies, vigils and protests. We have raised the profile of the fight on Standing Rock across the world. But now we need friends and allies across the world to step up and continue to fight with Standing Rock.
The Red Warrior Camp has called for more action in solidarity with water protectors in North Dakota.
The asks are simple:
1. Go to North Dakota as resistance will continue through the winter. Email Organizer@nodaplsolidarity.org for more information.
2. Organize a solidarity action against a bank, oil company or politician profiting from this horrid pipeline. Sign up here.
3. Donate to the legal fund. Details here.
Please join the fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Thanks for all you do.
In solidarity, Rising Tide North America
. On Sunday, October 30th at 8pm EST/7pm CST/6pm MST/5pm PST, we’ll have a briefing and coordinating conference call to discuss our response to the police raids in North Dakota. Click here to register
People are also calling the White House to protest the illegal draconian crackdown on the peaceful protesters. White House: The public comment line (202-456-1111) is manned by volunteers recruited by the current administration. The White House switchboard (202-456-1414) is manned by professional White House operators.
URGENT: Tell the City Again: No New Jails OR Jail-like Facilities in SF!
Come to the Final Meeting of the SF Jail Replacement Project Work Group
Friday, October 28, 2-5 PM, 25 Van Ness, Room 610
A huge grouping of community groups, service providers, and justice activists stopped a new SF jail last spring, but there’s a danger the City may try again.
Last spring, the City set up the “Work Group to Re-envision the Jail Replacement Project” to decide what to do, or build, or plan INSTEAD of a new jail. At Friday’s meeting they will vote on proposed alternatives to present to the Supervisors.
The Workgroup had been considering alternatives to to jail construction and is proposing some strong and viable community based solutions, including more housing and reentry services. But now the list of proposals includes building a smaller jail, renovating jail cells, and a locked mental facility, in spite of overwhelming public and workgroup opinion against jail facilities. See list of proposals at http://tinyurl.com/zk395r9
We defeated the proposed jail last year; we can’t let the Mayor and Sheriff turn this around! Please come and speak out. We need everyone’s voice.
The No New SF Coalition has an 8-Step Plan for a jail-free San Francisco, based on open user-led facilities, community investment in housing and services, separating services from law enforcement, equitable access to care for all, bail and bond reform, pathways to permanent housing, and immediate closure of 850 Bryant. See http://tinyurl.com/jqurr7j The Coalition’s longer and more detailed report, Build Justice, Not Jails, is available at http://tinyurl.com/h7w2rmg.
Read more about Friday’s action at http://tinyurl.com/hb3w9yz .
Militarized police are gearing up to clear out the camps and arrest the water protectors who are defending their rivers and land – including Sioux sacred sites and burial grounds – against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Over 100 tribes have come together to fight back against this corporate encroachment.
We will protest at the Wells Fargo building, one of a long list of banks responsible for funding the pipeline companies to the tune of $467 million.
Capitalist expansion and the corporate drive for profit have caused untold suffering for native people throughout US history, and recent police aggression reveal once again who’s side the state is on. Join us to protest this government action carried out for big business.
Native speakers have been invited.
SOLIDARITY with STANDING ROCK!
FIGHT CORPORATE GREED!
EVICT THE REAL TRESPASSER: BIG OIL!
GREEN JOBS NOW!!
Hosted by Bay Area Socialist Alternative. In September SA helped raise $1600 and many supplies that we delivered to the Sioux camp.