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Our speaker, Cde. Nagraj, is an agronomist based in Karnataka State of India in South-India. This state is now ruled by BJP but was ruled by the Congress Party in 1983. He resigned from his state gov. job in 1983 over what he saw was unfairness to the farmers. He then worked with farmers unions. I think he is associated with CPI-M (to be confirmed).  He is available both for the 17th and 31st of January 2021. I have asked him to send me a synopsis of his talk by email.  Since the farmers’ movement is at a crucial stage, we would prefer we give him the 17 January slot if at all possible

LOGIN INFORMATION
The meeting will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc. We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open for informal discussion.

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Tonight at 6 pm PST join us for a special #ReclaimMLK edition of our #DefundOPD teach-in. This will be our last weekend event before our mass caravan tomorrow!

Join us: https://t.co/KAwjMXtsfE pic.twitter.com/qVArkU20xN

— Anti Police-Terror Project (@APTPaction) January 17, 2021

Gather your friends and family. Reach out to your schools, unions, churches and other organizations. On Monday, January 18, join the Anti Police-Terror Project for the 7th Annual March to Reclaim MLK’s Radical Legacy!

This year’s Reclaim “march” will be a car caravan that begins at the Port of Oakland, makes its way down International/E14 and ends in East Oakland with a short program.

(See our separate event for how you can also support by calling related events all weekend -except MLK Day: https://www.facebook.com/events/855403635222329.)

For seven years running, the APTP Reclaim MLK event has been the only MLK March in the city of Oakland and brings together thousands of people across race, class and political ideology with a commitment to build a just and equitable Oakland that Dr. King would be proud of.

For decades, MLK’s legacy has been whitewashed. Often portrayed as a passive figure, in truth he was a radical leader demanding rational change: an end to capitalism, to war, to empire, to poverty, and to white supremacy. Communities in Oakland and across the country take this opportunity every year to celebrate the true spirit of this revolutionary. We intend to follow in his legacy through our campaign to defund the police and refund the community.

This year’s theme is Re-Imagine. Reimagine and remember King’s unrealized dream.

The work to Refund. Restore. Reimagine our communities is a modern day reflection of King’s work, legacy and unfulfilled dream. He said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” That’s Oakland’s budget every year. As we reimagine what public safety means in Oakland — violence interruption, housing as a human right, living-wage jobs with dignity, good schools, clean streets and parks, mental health care and crisis support, and thriving communities — we are making King’s Dream a reality.

We acknowledge that the pandemic is still raging through our communities. We will take this seriously. But we also acknowledge the essential work of defunding OPD in order to eradicate police terror. Police terror, like the pandemic, is a public health emergency.

And that’s why we still plan to hit the streets on MLK Day and Weekend but will do so in a car caravan that envelopes our whole city as we ride from the Port to Eastmont Mall.

On Monday, January 18, we will take action to demand:
-Cut OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million);
-Redirect funds to invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health workers and other services that actually keep us safe.
-Discontinue unauthorized overtime by OPD;
-An immediate response to the violence in our streets that is NOT rooted in the carceral state.

#ReclaimMLK
#ReclaimMLKOak
#DefundOPD
#RefundTheCommunity
#RefundRestoreReimagine
#KingsDreamLives

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION:
Kid & family friendly! More info TBD.

Message or email us if you’d like to get involved in the planning: aptpinfo@gmail.com

Join Idle No More SF Bay and Urban Tilth on the day before the Inauguration for a #BuildBackFossilFree Day of Action.

Facebook info and RSVP

Call on Joe Biden to kick off his term by taking executive action to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disasters.
• Reject new fossil fuel projects, eliminate giveaways to oil gas, and coal corporations, and end the era of fossil fuel production.
• Launch a national climate mobilization to Build Back Fossil Free, and deliver jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

Busboys and Poets and the Center for Popular Democracy are proud to present this virgual gathering to welcome in a new presidential administration:

Reflections On Our Current Political Climate: Where We Are and Where We’re Going
Tuesday January 19, 2021
6:00-8:00pm ET. 

This virtual gathering will bring together organizers, activists, artists, entertainers and political leaders to give a nonpartisan toast to the incoming administration and to share our ideas and visions of how we make sure that it is responsive to the needs, hopes and dreams of our communities. Join us to celebrate the organizing power of the progressive movement and lay out our big, bold vision of a country that treats people with dignity, respect and equality.

Special Guests:
Nikki Giovanni
Alicia Garza
Ben Jealous
Maurice Mitchell
Piper Perabo
Alice Walker
Angela Davis
Somava Saha

Tickets are free and can be purchased here!

Questions? Please contact Beth Slade at bslade@populardemocracy.org.

In the decades since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at sanitation workers strike in Memphis, his legacy has been appropriated by just about every political movement out there. From Fox News pundits claiming he would oppose tax increases on the rich because he was “for freedom,” to the more typical whitewashing of his radical politics for a broad audience, anyone and everyone claim the sainted image2 of the good Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as their own.

But in his own time, MLK was viewed as the radical that he was. By cleaving toward an uncompromising politics of racial justice, economic transformation, and peace abroad, MLK won the ire of nearly ¾ of Americans who said they disapproved of him in a 1967 Harris Poll. Today, on our national holiday celebrating his legacy, we invite you to read and listen to his own prophetic words as he wrote and spoke them in his time.

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Fascism and racism are on the rise! Covid-19 is claiming lives! Poverty, unemployment and homelessness are suffocating the working class! Biden is not going to save us with his neoliberal agenda and suppressive policies!

Join us in this rally to raise workers’ own united, independent voice against racism, fascism, poverty and the virus!

Make sure to bring your masks and keep socially distant.

Email contact@oaklandprivacy.org a few days before the meeting to obtain Zoom meeting access info.

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

We fight against spy drones, facial recognition, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones; we oppose “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” —  to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.

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.

Check out some of what we worked on in 2020 and 2019.

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.  We helped fight and helped win the fight against Urban Shield.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition, mass aerial surveillance, and other analytics, and pushing back against ICE.

On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work, and on March 16th, 2021 s James Madison Freedom of Information Award by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

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.  Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in various municipalities around the Bay.  To help slow down the encroaching police and surveillance state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

RSVP here
Zoom Link

It has been two weeks since the attempted far-right coup at the US Capitol, egged on by Trump and some Republicans. Though in many ways the aftermath of January 6th was a defeat for Trump, the far right isn’t going anywhere, and we need to take the riots seriously as a possible embryo for a more organized far right movement.

In response, left and establishment Democrats, along with some Republicans have started impeachment proceedings. While impeachment is positive, it does virtually nothing to neutralize the conditions that brought Trump into power, discourage far right forces emboldened by him, or prevent another far right leader from running for office in 2024.

So how can we mobilize the largest possible masses of working people into the streets to show our strength against the far right? How can we further this fight to unite working people around a program to win working-class demands like Medicare For All, COVID relief, and an end to racist policing? How can we build a political alternative to Trumpism and billionaire backed establishment politicians?

Join Socialist Alternative this Thursday, Jan 21, to discuss how we can build an organized mass movement to defeat the far right, and ultimately, the billionaire class!

Do you face barriers to accessing loans from traditional banks? Interested in programs that will help with debt management, jump start a business and enhance your quality of life? Join us to learn more about collective economics through the East Oakland SuSu Lending Circle program!

This space is to support the difficult emotional work of dismantling white supremacy within ourselves and our communities in order to fortify our hearts, minds, and bodies to continue to show up for racial justice.

We will provide opportunities to explore internal barriers that are holding us back from living out our desire to work for racial justice and practice how to deeply listen to each other to create a culture that supports calling people into the movement from a place of love.

We utilize large group and small group dialogues that are grounded in theories of social change and anti-racist white identity development. We see this space as open to any white person who is interested in honest conversation, reflection, and confrontation with race, racism, and white privilege. This space is intended to be a support to help people to build resilience in order to move into a more active role in dismantling white supremacy.

This session, part of our series exploring Calling In VS. Calling Out, focuses on the difference between calling in and calling out; what calling in looks like; and when and why to use this skill.

More info and register here: https://www.surjbayarea.org/events/saturday-dialogues-creating-a-call-in-culture9918536

Part II on January 23rd Facebook Event page

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Since 2015, the Saudi-led bombing and blockade of Yemen have killed tens of thousands of people and devastated the country. The U.N. calls this the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth. Half the country’s people are on the brink of famine, the country has the world’s worst cholera outbreak in modern history, and now Yemen has one of the very worst COVID death rates in the world: It kills 1 in 4 people who test positive. The pandemic, along with the withdrawal of aid, is pushing more people into acute hunger. And yet Saudi Arabia is escalating its war and tightening its blockade.

The war is only possible because Western countries – and the United States in particular – continue to arm Saudi Arabia and provide military, political and logistical support for the war.

This car caravan will demand that the new administration:

• Stop foreign aggression on Yemen
• End weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and cease logistical cooperation on the war
• Lift the blockade on Yemen and open all land and seaports
• Restore and expand humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen
• Reverse the Houthis’ designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Can’t make it in person? Take action from home. Call the White House on Jan. 25 using this script

Eventbrite Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/claire-wasserman-and-dad-steve-wasserman-ladies-get-paid-tickets-130905918125

Claire Wasserman is an author, public speaker, podcaster and founder of Ladies Get Paid, a global organization that champions the professional and financial advancement of women. She is also the producer and host of John Hancock’s podcast, “Friends Who Talk About Money.”  Claire has traveled the United States teaching thousands of women how to negotiate raises, start businesses, and advocate for themselves. She was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women and is a highly-sought-after expert for Fortune 500 companies working to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations.

Claire Wasserman has one crucial goal for women: rise up and get paid. She has worked her entire adult life to promote gender equality in the workplace. If you’re looking to get a promotion or break the glass ceiling, Ladies Get Paid is your essential toolbox for achieving success.  Filled with straightforward advice and inspiring stories, the book encourages self-advocacy and activism as a way to advance your career and earn more money. Covering topics as crucial and varied as how to find the perfect mentor, how to negotiate a raise, and how to become a leader, Ladies Get Paid is a reminder that you are valuable—both as an individual woman and as part of the female community. And ultimately, it’s about more than your wallet—it’s about your worth.

In conversation with Claire will be her proud father, Steve Wasserman, a prestigious cultural figure on his own. Heyday Books’ publisher was formerly editor-at-large for Yale University Press and editorial director of Times Books/Random House, among other achievements in publishing. Besides serving nine years as editor of The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Steve has written for The Village Voice, Threepenny Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The American Conservative, The Progressive, Columbia Journalism Review, and The London Times’ Literary Supplement. Along the way he worked as a partner in Kneerim & Williams Literary Agency, where he represented, among others, Robert Scheer, Christopher Hitchens, Linda Ronstadt, and Placido Domingo.

Attendees of those KPFA author events hosted by Steve Wasserman will know that this Zoom conversation with his daughter Claire is certain to be charming and enlightening.

Facebook info and RSVP

Join Idle No More SF Bay and Urban Tilth for a #BuildBackFossilFree Day of Action.  Call on Joe Biden to kick off his term by taking executive action to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disasters.
• Reject new fossil fuel projects, eliminate giveaways to oil gas, and coal corporations, and end the era of fossil fuel production.
• Launch a national climate mobilization to Build Back Fossil Free, and deliver jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

Join us 🚨 TOMORROW at 12:30 🚨 as San Francisco D5 Supervisor @DeanPreston and our very own @JackieFielder_ announce a plan for our city to launch the FIRST municipal bank in the nation! #ReInvestSF #SFPublicBankNow pic.twitter.com/JgwCWGC8pc

— SF Public Bank Coalition (@sfpublicbank) January 26, 2021

Watch live: https://t.co/zW8qpcw4Zk?amp=1

RSVP: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dtfn2D_QSJuQQcyX-b-i6w

Join a Build Back Fossil Free mass digital rally calling on President Biden to take bold executive action to end the era of fossil fuel production, protect communities reeling from the climate and COVID-19 crises, and #BuildBackFossilFree.

The virtual rally will feature frontline leaders fighting toxic fossil fuel projects (including in California), and lay the groundwork for a coordinated organizing push to build on this week’s momentum.

The Build Back Fossil Fuel Free national campaign is demanding that Biden take bold climate justice action by executive order in his first 100 days in office.  The Build Back Fossil Free Coalition includes “dozens of groups representing millions of people across the country fighting for climate, racial, and economic justice.” It’s leading an escalating series of actions promoting “Biden’s Executive Action Blueprint,” a comprehensive list of strong actions Biden should take to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disaster.
• Reject new fossil projects, eliminate giveaways to oil, gas, and coal corporations, and end the era of fossil fuel production
• Launch a national climate mobilization to Build Back Fossil Free, delivering jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

See the full Blueprint here.   Sign the petition in support of the Blueprint—and to receive campaign updates.  Encourage your organizations to sign.  Spread the word to your networks.

#BuildBackFossilFree Digital Rally

Please join us on Tuesday, Jan 26th for a digital rally featuring frontline leaders calling on President Biden to take bold executive action to end the era of fossil fuel production, protect communities reeling from the climate and COVID-19 crises, and #BuildBackFossilFree.

Indigenous organizers and allies won a decade-long campaign against the Keystone Pipeline. This is a huge victory – AND – we need to keep up the momentum to make sure Biden follows through with immediate action on Line 3, DAPL, nixing all fossil project approvals, and investing in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and an economy that works for all.

The rally will feature frontline leaders fighting toxic fossil fuel projects and lay the groundwork for a coordinated organizing push to build on this week’s momentum.

Tuesday, Jan 26, 2021 @ 5 PM PT (8 PM ET)

RSVP for Zoom: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dtfn2D_QSJuQQcyX-b-i6w

En español:

Traducción al español disponible registrándose aquí:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Dtfn2D_QSJuQQcyX-b-i6w

ORGANIZATIONS:

Indigenous Environmental Network
Center for Biological Diversity
Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective
Oil Change International
Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network
It Takes Roots
Movement Rights
350 Butte County
Oil Change U.S.