Calendar

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Jun
13
Wed
Ars Technica Live – AUTONOMOUS & HABEAS DATA @ Eli's Mile High Club
Jun 13 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

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No Coal in Richmond Meeting @ Bobby Bowens Progressive Center
Jun 13 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Photo: KPIX News

Join an ongoing discussion of  ideas and strategies at the next meeting of the community group working to end the increasing coal exports from the Levin-Richmond terminal.  There have been recent, exciting developments on this front, including a new ordinance proposed by the mayor requiring containment of open piles of coal and pet coke.  The ordinance was approved at the May 22 Richmond City Council meeting.  There are many more steps to be taken, so come take part in the strategizing.

Thanks to the falling price of clean energy and the commitment of activists around the U.S., the coal industry is in retreat.  We’ve retired 259 coal plants in seven years—that’s one plant retired every eleven days.  And more than 3 million people currently work in the clean energy economy, which now employs more people than fossil fuels in almost every state in the country.  Sadly, however, Bay Area communities still have coal trains running through them.   As the proposed ordinance recognizes, there are huge, uncovered piles of dirty coal sitting right next to our Bay at the Levin-Richmond Terminal, covering the city of Richmond with toxic dust.  The Richmond terminal is one of the last three ports left in the state to export the dirty fossil fuel—and California doesn’t even use coal power.

 

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Jun
14
Thu
Stop the Witch Hunt Against Anti-Trump Protesters – Court Support @ Wiley Manuel Courthouse, Dept 109
Jun 14 @ 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

The trial of the Berkeley 5 started today, with three witnesses for the prosecution, a cop, a fireman, and the neo-fascist Quillinan (see details below), who will take the stand again tomorrow morning. The trial is expected to last at least through the rest of the week, and possibly into early next week.

Please come out and support our antifascist comrades again tomorrow, Thursday, June 14, 9am, in Department 109 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse at 661 Washington Street (at 7th Street) in Oakland.

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HARRY BRIDGES: THE 20-YEAR CRUSADE TO DEPORT AN IMMIGRANT ACTIVIST @ Northern District Court Historical Society US District Court, Ceremonial Courtroom, 19th Floor
Jun 14 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

TONIGHT, we will speak in San Francisco about the US government’s infamous attempt to deport Harry Bridges. Bridges was a labor leader who in the 1930s led the strike that resulted in longshoremen up and down the West Coast being unionized. As a result, the United States spent the next two decades trying to deport him. After four separate trials, and two Supreme Court opinions, they failed, and Bridges eventually became a naturalized citizen.

I am joining Peter Afrasiab, who authored  Burning Bridges: America’s 20-Year Crusade to Deport Labor Leader Harry Bridges, for this exciting discussion. The panel will be moderated by famed Constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky. Pre-registration is required.

Moderator
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean of Berkeley Law and Scholar of Constitutional Law

Panelists
 Peter Afrasiabi, Esq.
Partner at One LLP, Newport Beach, California
Author of Burning Bridges: America’s 20-Year Crusade to Deport Labor Leader Harry Bridges

Chip Gibbons, Esq.
Journalist and First-Amendment lawyer;
Policy and legislative counsel for
Defending Rights & Dissent, Washington, D.C.

This event is free and open to the general public!
To reserve a space, you must register online.
Tickets will not be available at the door.

The Bridges saga has wide ranging implications:

The Bridges deportation case was never just about Harry Bridges. First and foremost, it was about smashing a successful labor union by decapitating its leadership. Following the successful 1934 strike, the ILWU grew into one of the country’s most powerful, most militant trade unions. For anti-radical ideologues, this could only be the work of outside forces.
Since the inception of the labor movement, immigrants had been blamed for bringing “foreign” radicalism to the US and injecting discord into otherwise harmonious capital-labor relationships. Labor organizing was viewed as tantamount to disloyalty, and immigrants were suspected of working to remake the US in the image of their “un-American” ideas. All that was needed to make America great again, and roll back working-class victories, was to remove them from the country.
The Bridges case was also a stand-in for a larger anti-immigration politics. When asked about one of the many efforts to deport the ILWU leader, Senator Robert R. Reynolds (D-NC) told the media, “Bridges should not be permitted to make the trip out of the country alone. There are thousands of others who ought to be deported or put into concentration camps until we can get rid of them.”
Camps, mass deportations – these are the tools of those who want to “make America great again.” A xenophobic streak is unquestionably at the root of this. But make no mistake: in Bridges’ time and in our own, reactionaries’ ultimate vision of policing – and expelling – political heresy from the body politic extends far beyond the foreign-born.

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East Bay Community Energy Comes Home! @ South Berkeley Senior Center
Jun 14 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Are you eager to power your home with clean electricity? At the same price (or less!) than PG&E, you finally can. East Bay Community Energy, Alameda’s Community Choice Energy provider, is already serving commercial customers in Alameda County. Residential customers will automatically be enrolled this fall. Learn about your choices as a customer, how this energy program advances climate mitigation and environmental justice efforts, and how you can get involved as an advocate for community choice energy. Light snacks and beverages provided.

Please RSVP.

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Safety Is Rethinking Violence Using Restorative Justice @ First Unitarian Church of Oakland
Jun 14 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Safety Is… Rethinking Violence Using a Restorative Justice Lens

The Ella Baker Center will host a panel discussion and planning session where community members can engage with advocates on how we can re-envision safety. The panel discussion will be followed by small group facilitated action planning. Dinner will be provided.

Moderated by David Muhammad, Executive Director of National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform.

Panelists include:
Reverend Daniel Buford (Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action), John Jones III (Community and Political Engagement Director, East Oakland Black Cultural Zone) and Jessica Travenia (Development Coordinator, Roots Community Health Center).

Join us for SAFETY IS… panel discussion and planning session where community members can engage with advocates on how we can re-envision safety. Dinner will be provided.

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Caring for Our Community: Responding to Needs of Houseless @ South Berkeley Community Church
Jun 14 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Follow-up meeting to Caring For Our Community – Responding to the Houseless is Thursday evening. So often the message to the homeless seems to be top down. The last meeting included a panel of homeless people who responded to the question of what are their most immediate needs. The responses included: access to bathrooms (or porta potties), drinkable water, showers, food, a place to store their belongings, pick-up of trash, a place to be (evictions, raids, towing of vehicles)

Agenda: 2nd Street eviction of houseless people, closure 9th Street Shelter, ongoing threat of citing and towing of RVs and campers.

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Screening of The New Rulers of the World @ BFUU
Jun 14 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
pilger.png The New Rulers Of The World (2001) is a documentary about how the US, UK, Dutch Neo-Colonial Corporations plotted General Suharto’s removal in 1966 of the first elected President of Indonesia, Sukarno, who had ruled from 1959 – 1966. It analyzes the corporate globalization economy and reveals that the divisions between the rich and poor have never been greater.
The film turns the spotlight on the “new rulers of the world,” the great multinational corporations running governments that back them via the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. They control developing resource-rich nations to impose austerity poverty on most of the people and to privatize the natural resources that rightly should be their commonwealth. The West, explains Pilger, has increased its stranglehold on poor countries by using the might of these powerful financial institutions to control their economies and keep them in debt.
John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and a legendary award-winning documentary film maker. Pilger has been mainly based in the United Kingdom since 1962 where he wrote for The New Statesman. Pilger is a strong critic of American, Australian, and British foreign policies, which he considers to be driven by an imperialist corporate globalization agenda.

Sponsored by BFUU Social Justice Committee’s Conscientious Projector Film Series for the 99%

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

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Michael Eric Dyson: What Truth Sounds Like @ First Congregational Church
Jun 14 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

KPFA Radio 94.1 FM & Marcus Books present

Michael Eric Dyson is one of America’s premier public intellectuals. The author of last year’s outstanding bestseller, “Tears We Cannot Stop,” Dyson is University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, a frequent contributor to the New York Times, and an editor of The New Republic. Ebony magazine named him one of America’s 100 most influential African-Americans. In addition, Dyson is a uniqely outstanding public speaker, employing exceptionally deep knowledge with a talent for Immediacy, terrific wit, and an extraordinarily rich voice.

His new book, What Truth Sounds Like: RFK, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America deftly explores the tense intersection of the conflict between politics and prophecy— of whether we embrace political resolution or moral redemption to fix our fractured landscape. Dr. Dyson examines key players today, from Jay-Z to Jordan Peele and LeBron James, from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Kamala Harris. He ends with a paean to Makanda, the all too mythical nation celebrated in the film “Black Panther”.  “If James Baldwin and his glorious crew could gather again, they could hardly have a better place to reconvene and let the beautiful momentum of blackness eash over them as they sought to make America truly great. For the first time.”

What Truth Sounds Like reveals how every big argument about race that persists to this day got a hearing in a crucial meeting convened in 1963 when Robert F. Kennedy invited James Baldwin and a few of his friends to discuss Black America’s rage: disdain for black dissent, the belief that black folk wallow in the politics of ingratitude and victimhood, and that they lack hustle and ingenuity.

Kevin Cartwright has been a radio producer, media trainer and music programmer for Pacifica Radio station KPFA-FM since 1994.  He has produced and contributed to a number of local and national public affairs programs that have included Living Room with Larry Bensky, Democracy Now, the KPFA Evening News, and The Morning Show. Kevin is a communications strategist who continues to work with a number of social change organizations across the country to help improve their overall communications.

KPFA benefit

Tickets: brownpapertickets.com
Marcus Books, Pegasus Books (3 stores), Books Inc (Berkeley), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore, East Bay Books, Mrs. Dalloway’s

64720
Jun
15
Fri
UNITING AGAINST HATE: A Conversation with Christian Picciolini @ Berkeley City College Auditorium
Jun 15 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm


Combating Hate in the East Bay

Former white extremist Christian Picciolini will speak on Uniting Against Hate Picciolini will share his experience in addressing hatred and discrimination through empathy and conversation that can result in a more inclusive world.  He will be introduced by Holocaust camp survivor, Ben Stern, who led the 1978 fierce public battle against Nazis in Skokie, Illinois, and neo-nazis at the 2017 Rally Against Hatred in Berkeley, California. The event is sponsored by the ACLU, the Alameda Labor Council, Indivisible Berkeley, Not in Our Town, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, Berkeley Citizens Action, and the Berkeley Progressive Alliance.

Christian Picciolini is an award-winning television producer, a public speaker, author, peace advocate, and a former white-supremacist skinhead. After leaving the hate movement that he helped create during his youth in the 1980s and 90s, he began the painstaking process of making amends and rebuilding his life. Since abandoning white-power ideology, Picciolini has been dedicated to helping others overcome hate. He now leads the Free Radicals Project, a global extremism prevention and disengagement platform, helping people exit hate movements and other violent ideologies.

Picciolini has spoken all over the world, including Berkeleyside’s Uncharted conference and on the TEDx stage, sharing his unique and extensive knowledge, teaching all who are willing to learn about building greater peace through empathy and compassion.

Tickets may be ordered through Eventbrite and cost $12.  Costs may be waived–please contact MargotS999@aol.com. All are welcome, wheelchair accessible.

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“Divest From War!” Medea Benjamin, Joana Macy & Betsy Rose @ BFUU
Jun 15 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

“Divest From War” is an action-focused event featuring beloved author and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, Codepink Co-founder and world renowed peace activist Medea Benjamin, musician Betsy Rose, brief presentations on active divestment campaigns from Idle No More SF Bay, Indivisible Berkeley Economic Justice, Fossil Free Calif., Public Bank of Oakland, as well as an organic vegetarian potluck dinner @ 6:30pm, live music, and a dessert reception with homemade pies, tea and wine to benefit Codepink Women for Peace Golden Gate Chapter.

Medea will sign copies of her new book Inside Iran.

Cosponsored by Codepink Golden Gate Chapter and the BFUU Social Justice Committee

64785
Jun
16
Sat
Hands Around Lake Merritt @ Lake Merritt, At the Arches
Jun 16 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

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Canvass for Housing Justice in West Oakland @ Bobby Hutton (Defemery) Park
Jun 16 @ 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

The housing crisis in the Bay Area and beyond is a wholly preventable disaster, created and maintained by the notion that housing is a commodity and not a human right.

Join us (DSA) in the campaign for the Affordable Housing Act — a proposed ballot initiative that that will give our cities and counties the power to adopt rent control necessary to address the state’s housing affordability crisis by repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act upholds landlord interests, and — in tandem with the housing crisis — has deeply exacerbated social disparities, displaced longtime communities, driven homelessness, and dealt a blow to working-class power by making housing ever more insecure and inaccessible.

Come learn more about repealing Costa-Hawkins and then we’ll hit the streets to talk with our neighbors about housing justice and the Affordable Housing Act!

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Community Celebration for Human Rights and Dignity @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Jun 16 @ 12:00 pm – 4:30 pm

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People’s Assembly on the Housing Crisis @ Lake Merritt Amphitheater, South Side of Lake Merritt
Jun 16 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

This campaign is committed to building our platform in partnership with the community. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We want to uplift the amazing progressive grassroots work that is already happening.

Over the next few weeks, we will host People’s Assemblies on everything from public safety to education. Together we will imagine an Oakland with housing security, true public safety, sanctuary for all, and create a plan to get us there.

Our next People’s Assembly will focus on housing, and the crisis of affordability that is displacing Black communities and forcing thousands of long-time Oakland residents into the streets. We believe public land should serve the public good – not generate profit for developers. Join us to dream about an Oakland where housing is a human right, and displaced Black families have the right to return to the communities from where they were displaced.

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Jun
17
Sun
BERKELEY JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION
Jun 17 @ 11:00 am – 7:00 pm

The City of Berkeley holds it’s Juneteenth Celebration on Sunday, June 17, from 11am to 7pm. This cultural event celebrates African American culture and traditions, as well as promotes community diversity.

The event – featuring music, food, health screenings, historical exhibits & art for children – takes place along Adeline Street, from Ashby to Alcatraz in Berkeley.

 

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Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Jun 17 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

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

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Green Sunday: Wrap-up on the Election and Report-back from the State Green Party Meeting @ Art House Gallery and Cultural Center
Jun 17 @ 5:00 pm – 6:45 pm

First we will have a report-back from folks who attended the June 9-10 Meeting of the Green Party of California, in Stockton.   Then, we will have a free-ranging discussion on the current state of electoral politics. Let’s talk about topics such as:

** June 2018 election results (both local and wider): How did Green and Progressive candidates and measures do? Can we improve their campaigns? Comments on our Voter Guide?

** California’s top-two “Open Primary” (both local and wider): Can it occasionally help us, such as our Congressional race? OTOH, have we moved any closer to its abolishment?

** Green candidates: How can we develop a pool of potential candidates and candidate staff, in advance of the 2020 election?

** Vote-by-mail-only: It’s moving across the country. Is it coming to Alameda County? Is that a good or a bad thing?

** Green voter registration, voter turnout, other burning topics?
Please come with your thoughtful questions and answers!

Moderators: US Congressional Candidate Laura Wells, and GPAC County Councilmember Tina Kimmel


SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and are normally held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County follows at 6:45 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https://acgreens. wordpress.com/

https://acgreens.wordpress.com/
Express your green ideas and “like” us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/greenpartyofalamedacounty/

Participation and/or donations appreciated!  https://acgreens.wordpress.com/donate/
FLIER to print, post, distribute please:
https://acgreens.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/gpcaac_gs.png

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Movie: Gods in Shackles + Vegan Potluck @ Berkeley Animal Rights Center
Jun 17 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Please join us to watch the award winning documentary ‘Gods In Shackles’. Bring along your favorite vegan dish (enough for 6-8 people)

6:00 to 6:15: Mingle with attendees and enjoy the delicious food
6;15 to 7:45: Screening of ‘Gods in Shackles’
7:45 to 8:00 PM: Call for donations and Q-A with Seema Vaid

Details about the film:
Gods in Shackles is a feature-length documentary film, an exposé revealing the dark side of the southern Indian state of Kerala’s glamorous cultural festivals that exploit temple elephants for profit under the guise of culture and religion.
By exposing the abhorrent torture suffered by India’s heritage animal, Gods in Shackles offers hope to the thousands of endangered captive and wild elephants in India through heightened awareness that will inspire key stake holders and policy makers to enhance the living conditions of these highly social animals.

By film maker Sangita Iyer (B. Sc., M.A. PGD Journalism), Filmmaker born and raised in Kerala, India

Event Co-ordinator: Seema Vaid, Volunteer, Voice for Asian Elephants Society a non profit organization that has the following vision:
“Creating sustainable communities through caring for, and protecting endangered captive and wild Asian elephants”

Note: This event is free but donations would be much appreciated. Funds will go towards, creating a safe havens for temple elephants rescued from the endless abuse and cruelty in Kerala.

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Liberated Lens general meeting @ Omni Commons
Jun 17 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

We document current events, make films together, steward an editing suite and share a film equipment library. We also host film screenings, often with local directors, and put on an annual short film festival for independent Bay Area filmmakers. Our goal is to make the digital filmmaking accessible – no overpriced college degree or certificate program required!

We are also a good group to reach out to if you’d like to screen a film at the Omni. We can be reached at liberatedlens@lists.riseup.net

We usually meet in the basement, unless otherwise noted.

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