NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:

occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

Worshiping Power: An Anarchist Vision of Early State Formation

Where do states come from, what causes them to arise, and how do they develop? The old dogmas that the State protects and uplifts humanity, or even that it is a necessary evil, have been thoroughly discredited. But many newer theories, that explain state formation within a single optic, or that suggest a single cause, or a linear, progressive evolution, also fall short.

This new book traces multiple pathways of state formation, describing patterns that arise within many different societies with different models of the family, religion, warfare, commerce, and economic production. Rather than being ancient history, state formation is a continuous process, given that perhaps the only feature universal to state formation is the resistance it provokes. As a result, states are continually falling apart, being overthrown, or struggling to maintain their power.

People who fight today against the problems of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, anyone who seeks to regain control over their lives, becomes wrapped up in this process as they run up against state authority.

Articulating the ongoing history of state formation—from divine states centered around new sites of spiritual production to democratic states arising from corrupted revolutions—allows us to better understand the ways states today attempt to govern, limit, or repress our movements today.

Peter Gelderloos is an anarchist from Virginia who currently lives in Catalunya. He is the author of How Nonviolence Protects the State, Anarchy Works, The Failure of Nonviolence, “An Anarchist Solution to Climate Change,” “A World Without Police,” and other works.

RSVP through 350 Bay Area here or on Facebook here.

For the last several years, the Bay Area has been part of an international movement to stop the expansion of the tar sands. We’ve supported efforts led by Indigenous peoples across North America against Keystone XL, Line 3, Energy East, and Kinder Morgan. All of these projects would dramatically increase the amount of dirty oil extracted, transported, and burned around the world. These tar sands projects impact all of us — and now it’s time to fight against this expansion in our own backyard.

2017 was a year of drought and fires for the Bay Area and much of California. Already, we’re seeing the real impacts that climate change creates for our communities — from burned homes, losss of agricultural land, job loss, and mass displacement in an area where we’re already facing extremely high cost of living.

If we’re going to truly address this climate crisis, we must demand that our local decision makers reject all new oil, gas, and coal projects, and move rapidly to a just and equitable 100% renewable energy future.

Please join us on Monday to send a message to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and say NO to tar sands.

Presenters include:
• Four women from Empower
• Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes

Hosted by the US PROStitutes Collective

Empower Foundation is a sex workers’ collective in Thailand which for 30 years has been promoting rights and opportunities for sex workers, especially access to education, health and legal advocacy. Over the years 50,000 sex workers have passed through their doors including migrant women from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam.

The English Collective of Prostitutes is a UK based group, founded in 1975, which helps sex workers defend themselves against unjust charges and spearheads campaigns for decriminalization, safety and for resources so that sex workers can leave sex work if and when they want.

US PROStitutes Collective is a Bay Area based organization, founded in 1982, which won parity for sex workers in compensation claims and with others got policies establishing immunity from arrest for sex workers reporting violence.

This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from sex workers as well as from grassroots women in the Global South who are organizing for survival across different sectors of society.

Sponsored by Global Women’s Strike/Bay Area, GWS Omni Collective, In Defense of Prostitute Women‘s Safety Project, US PROStitutes Collective and Women of Color/GWS

www.uspros.net

We’ve all seen the video! How is it that BART police officer Joseph Mateu has not already been charged with the murder of Sahleem Tindle, after he shot the 28 year old in the back three times? OPD is responsible for the investigation of this murder, since it happened outside of BART property, across from West Oakland BART. Join us to demand that OPD do their job and charge Mateu for murder. Arrest him now!

Sahleem Tindle was murdered by BART Police Officer Joseph Mateu on January 3, 2018. He is now back on the job, after only a two week leave. The family demands: fire, arrest, charge and prosecute Joseph Mateu!

Potluck reception and discussion with Water and Land Protector Vanessa Dundon aka SiouxZ Desbah, and Water Protector Legal Collective, co-sponsored by AIM-West, Intertribal Friendship House, National Lawyers Guild- SF Bay Area Chapter, and Oakland Law Collaborative.

SiouxZ, Diné / Navajo, is a lead plaintiff in a civil rights class action lawsuit challenging the use of fire hoses, explosive grenades, and other violence against the indigenous-led #NoDAPL movement at Standing Rock. A mother of 4, she is also the founder of Missing Flowers: Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Men; an organizer of Honor Life – Protect Bears Ears; and is participating in The Longest Walk 5.3. SiouxZ was shot in the eye while trying to help a journalist to safety during the police attack on water protectors at Backwater Bridge in 2016, and suffered a permanent vision loss. There will also be a legal update from WPLC.

SiouxZ will also be speaking on Thurs, March 21, as part of the opening roundtable for INVISIBLE NO MORE: A Symposium on Resisting Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color from 5:45-7:30pm at the Multicultural Community Center in Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union Building at UC Berkeley.

Saied Karamooz will share his motivation, vision, and plans as Oakland’s next mayor.   Saied believes that everyone is entitled to safe streets, quality education, decent jobs, and dignified homes.

“With the abundance of resources, innovation, and energy in Oakland, there is no reason why our city continues to be plagued by high crime levels, low graduation rates, high unemployment, and inadequate housing,” said Mr. Karamooz.

Press conference will be held on the steps of City Hall, Frank Ogawa Plaza, on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 11:30 am.

“There is no greater disservice to the people of Oakland than allowing status quo to obliterate the rich culture, heritage, and history of Oakland,” says Mr. Karamooz, referring to the false narrative and flawed ways of career politicians who are beholden to the dirty money of their deep pocket donors.

Mr. Karamooz believes that true public safety can only be achieved through solid education, quality jobs and dignified homes.   As such, he is proposing to divert a portion of OPD’s annual budget to education, jobs, and housing initiatives.   Secondly, he is horrified that fifteen years, four mayors, and over a hundred million dollars later, the city’s largest agency, Oakland Police Department (OPD), continues to operate with racially-biased practices as evidenced by the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) that placed OPD under federal court supervision in 2003.   Mr. Karamooz pledges to bring NSA to an end within 24 months by spearheading a methodical and collaborative initiative with active participation by community leaders and OPD beat officers.   Finally, as a genuine expression of his commitment to running a clean money campaign, he is refusing donations from corporations, non-Oaklanders, or in excess of $45.

To learn more about campaign’s principles, practices, and promises, visit EveryonesMayor.org.

El Cerrito Shows Up#Enough #ICEoutofCA
Please join us today & every Wednesday 6 – 7 PM
West entrance El Cerrito Plaza nr Daiso, San Pablo Ave & Carlson.

ECSU rallies weekly to speak out in favor of equality and justice. #NoHatehttps://t.co/Wotbz2eRWM pic.twitter.com/E88ORoKhhq

— IndivisibleELCERRITO (@ECindivisible) March 14, 2018

Please join us from 6 to 7 PM at the west entrance to El Cerrito Plaza, intersection of San Pablo Ave & Carlson Ave. We’ll meet on the side nearest to Daiso.

The ECSU goals are to create a significant community presence to speak out in favor of equality, justice, inclusiveness and more. We say NO to hatred, racism, white supremacy and nationalism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism.

You can bring your own sign with your own words expressing what you stand for and against. Use BIG lettering so people in cars can see! We’ll also have some sign-making materials.

We’re from the El Cerrito area. Our Show Up location is at the borders of El Cerrito, Richmond and Albany — all are welcome!

We will assemble lawfully, and won’t block the sidewalk. All locations we select will be wheelchair-accessible. To participate you must commit to non-violent and respectful conduct. Family-friendly.

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.

We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance, opposing Urban Shield and pushing back against ICE with local legislation.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

contact@oaklandprivacy.org
Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/   Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. This month Oakland Privacy will be preparing for the passage of transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County,  To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

This free SURJ workshop will dive into the history of voter suppression and mass incarceration from slavery, through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, into the present day of New Jim Crow, and discuss details around – and signature-gathering for The Voting Restoration and Democracy Act of 2018, a ballot initiative that will restore the right to vote to more than 162,000 incarcerated folks and those on parole in California, a disenfranchised group that is disproportionately Black, Brown, and poor. This ballot initiative is led by Initiate Justice. Free but please RSVP.

Special guest speaker for January: Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr. Don’t miss this!

APTP meets monthly on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

The Anti Police-Terror Project began as a project of the ONYX Organizing Committee. We are a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color. Founding coalition members include the Black Power Network, Community Ready Corps, Workers World, and the Idriss Stelley Foundation.

Tour name: Ballad of a Wobbly WORLD TOUR

A BENEFIT for CIVIC (Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement) featuring David Rovics

David Rovics was born in New York City, and as a guitar-slinging singer/songwriter now based in Portland, Oregon, has toured in over two dozen countries, including at mass protests throughout North America and Europe.

When President Bush came to Berlin in 2002, David entertained the 100,000 or so folks who came to protest, and at the TTIP protest in Berlin in 2015, he sang for 250,000. He was also a featured performer at the G8 protests in Rostock in 2007, the G8 protests in Scotland in 2005, the G20 in Pittsburgh in 2009 and the G20 in Toronto the following year. Other countries where David has played at protests for thousands of people include England, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia and Japan.

In addition to his musical involvement with the anti-capitalist movement, labor, environmental and anti-war movements internationally, he has shared the stage on a number of occasions with Tom Morello, founder of Rage Against the Machine, who also recorded a lead guitar track on David’s 2012 album, Meanwhile In Afghanistan. He has also shared the stage with Billy Bragg, Chumbawumba, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger, and has toured extensively with Attila the Stockbroker, Robb Johnson, Anne Feeney, Tracey Curtis and Alistair Hulett.

CIVIC
Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) is the national immigration detention visitation network, which is working to end U.S. immigration detention by monitoring human rights abuses, elevating stories, building community-based alternatives to detention, and advocating for system change. Locally, CIVIC volunteers visit immigration detainees at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, and work in collaboration with the detainees to monitor conditions, educate legislators and the public, and change policy.

Tickets are $15 general admission, and $10 for Students with ID. Advance tickets are available at the link below, or you may purchase your tickets at the door the night of the show. Doors open one half hour before show time. We accept cash only at the door (ATMs are nearby).

The Back Room is an all-ages, BYOB (for those 21+) space, dedicated to (mostly) acoustic music of all kinds. You are welcome to bring your own adult beverage with no additional corkage fee. If you need more information or have any questions, please call us: #510-654-3808. Thank you for your support!

No further information

We’ll be screening and discussing Banana Land, a documentary film about the past and current practices of the Banana industry in Latin America.

This film isn’t about bananas. This is about Big Agriculture, with the banana industry as an example of what happens when Big Ag has complete control of a region. This industry is responsible for the vast majority of the animal exploitation we protest, but we can’t forget that human exploitation is key to Big Ag’s profits and protocol, regardless of if the product is vegan.

A product being vegan does not mean it’s cruelty free, and living compassionately is an ongoing, active process built on critical thinking and kind choices 💚

Join us for a two hour photography workshop by activist and photographer Brooke Anderson. Whether you’re using your iPhone or a DSLR, through this workshop you will have the opportunity to:

• reflect on the role of photography in social movements and visual storytelling
• learn key principles of composition, lightening, exposure
• explore the settings and various “tips and tricks” on your camera phone
• practice taking portraits and get feedback
• discuss key issues around consent, representation, legal rights, etc.

Brooke Anderson is a social movement organizer and photographer based in Oakland, CA. Check out her work @ https://www.facebook.com/movementphotographer/.

There is a suggested donation of $10 from any interested activists to help cover the costs of the event. Please email tia@oaklandpeacecenter.org to register.

How do we approach the challenging conversations, whether it’s about confederate flags, Donald Trump, cultural appropriation, Palestine/Israel, or even just racism and racial justice in general? Members of the White Noise Collective will facilitate this workshop ,exploring the difficult conversations in our lives around race and power.

This workshop is an opportunity to dive in much deeper with structured time to practice a range of difficult conversations around highly-charged racial issues. We will be sharing some basic skill-building tools in how to approach conversations, and then explore scenarios relevant to the lives of participants. This will include examination of some of the ways that internalized sexism can impact our courageous speaking capacities.

Small group work, role-plays, and Theater of the Oppressed techniques will support seeing tough communication blocks in a new light. We’ll try out what feels challenging, in a relatively low-stakes and supportive environment, allowing ourselves time to debrief, reflect, and learn from each other.

Contact basebuilding@surjbayarea.org with ticket requests or questions.