Calendar

9896
Nov
17
Sat
CANCELLED: People Get Ready: Charting a path forward to building powerful movements and the radical left @ Dwinelle Hall Room, UC Berkeley
Nov 17 @ 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm

 

PEOPLE GET READY IS NEXT WEEK! PRE-REGISTER NOW!

The People Get Ready II planning committee has been hard at work to make November 17 a powerful gathering for learning and discussion. This one day conference is aimed at assessing the post-midterm terrain and charting a path forward to building powerful movements and the radical left. People Get Ready II will include two powerful keynotes, nine discussion sessions, and a workshop featuring dozens of visionary organizers from the Bay and beyond.

At last year’s conference, our comrade Linda Burnham urged us to take up the often-difficult task of balancing our revolutionary imagination with the brutal realities we face.  Amid war, right-wing terror, racist state policy, environmental devastation, and capitalist barbarism, it seems that the fate of our peoples and the planet requires the utmost from our imaginations and our energies on the ground.  And times aren’t without hope. A growing tide of people all over the world are mobilizing, strategizing, and building the liberatory politics and movements necessary for us to live in humane and sustainable societies.

Our goal is to create a space where people in struggle can converge to understand where we are, what we’re up against, how to fight back, build strength, and shift power—now and into the future.  Join us for People Get Ready II.

Details are still being worked out but we are proud to share what we’ve got so far!

People Get Ready II will feature the following sessions:

  • Taking Stock: Analyzing the Political Terrain after the Midterms
  • Hard Work: New Battles, New Organizing in the Workplace and Beyond
  • Spanning the Globe: Internationalist Solidarity vs. US Militarism
  • Land: The Basis of Freedom, Justice and Equality
  • Who’s Got the Power?: A Workshop on Assessing the Balance of Forces
  • Towards 2020: People Power at the Ballot Box and in the Streets
  • No Pasarán!: Strategies to Defeat Fascism and the Authoritarian Right
  • Against Displacement: Freedom to Stay, Freedom to Move, Freedom to Return
  • Deep and Wide: Building Alliances with Teeth
  • Fighting to Win: Cultivating a Successful Left Strategy

Speakers will include:

Aimee Allison (She the People)

Brace Belden (DSA)

Calvin Cheung-Miaw (Left Inside/Outside Project)

Cathi Tactaquin (National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights)

Clare Bayard (Catalyst Project)

Claude Marks (Freedom Archives)

Donté Clark

Ellen Choy (Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans)

Elsadig Elsheik (Haas Institute)

Francesca Fiorentini

Isaac Ontiveros (Center for Political Education)

Kimi Lee (Bay Rising)

Kung Feng (Jobs with Justice—San Francisco)

Lara Kiswani (Arab Resource & Organizing Center)

Leila Sayed-Taha (Arab Resource & Organizing Center)

Linda Evans (co-founder and former staff, All of Us or None)

Maria Poblet (LeftRoots)

Max Elbaum (Organizing Upgrade)

N’Tanya Lee (LeftRoots)

Rebecca Gordon

Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz

Saba Waheed (UCLA Labor Center)

Sara Kershnar (International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network)

Tony Samara (Urban Habitat/Right to the City)

Tur-Ha Ak (Community Defense Corps)

Vanessa Moses (Causa Justa :: Just Cause)

Walter Turner (Africa Today)

As we put the finishing touches on our program, we will share news about more of our exciting guests!

 

We are excited to have People Get Ready II endorsed by the following organizations:

Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA), Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Ambedkar King Study Circle, Asians 4 Black Lives, Bay Resistance, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Causa Justa :: Just Cause, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, Dignidad Rebelde, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy(EBASE), Freedom Archives, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, GABRIELA–SF, Generative Somatics, Haiti Action Committee, Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans (HOBAK), International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jobs with Justice San Francisco, Labor and Community Studies–City College of San Francisco, LeftRoots, Movement Generation, National Lawyers Guild–SF, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Organizing Upgrade, Palestinian Youth Movement, PODER, Race and Resistance Studies—SFSU, Teachers for Social Justice, Underground Scholars Initiative, Viet Unity.

To pre-register or sign up to volunteer at the conference, click here.

Help us spread the word!

peoplegetreadyii-web-image.jpg
65276
Free Workshop: Divest from War and Fossil Fuels @ Berkeley South Library
Nov 17 @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Align your money with your values– stop funding war and fossil fuels!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-workshop-on-divesting-from-weapons-fossil-fuels-tickets-49846056898

Free Workshop to help you align your money with your values, break up with your Wall Street bank (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, etc.), and divest from investments in fossil fuels and weapons. Join the growing movement for a “Peace Economy” and withdraw financial support from the War Economy.

Optional: Bring your laptop or other wi-fi-enabled device for a hands-on experience.

Learn to:
Identify local banks and credit unions where you can move your money with confidence. Break up with your Wall Street bank and keep your money local and used for community needs.

Use tools such as the online “As You Sow” program to discover if you’re invested in weapons and fossil fuels, plus identify socially responsible funds that perform as well as funds invested in weapons and fossil fuels.

Form support groups for continued mutual assistance on how to move your money.

Presenters include Cynthia Papermaster of CODEPINK, Sandy Emerson of Fossil Free California, Dave Peattie and Steve Murphy of Indivisible Berkeley Economic Justice Team.

Handouts, refreshments, hands-on workshop.

65282
Nov
18
Sun
Difficult Dialogues Workshop @ Sierra Club
Nov 18 @ 10:00 am – 1:30 pm

Exploring the difficult conversations in our lives around race and power. 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 a workshop exploring the difficult conversations in our lives around race and power. 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?

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.

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION The space is wheelchair accessible. We ask that you do your best to arrive at the event scent/fragrance free to keep the space as low-scent as possible to support people with chemical and scent sensitivities – please see https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/ for helpful information.

65289
Sunflower Alliance Meeting @ Bobby Bowens Progressive Center
Nov 18 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Please join us for our regular biweekly meeting of the Sunflower Alliance. We’ll discuss ongoing eco-campaigns and plans for the future. Newcomers and old friends welcome — we need your participation and your voice. Come early to hang out and share a potluck lunch.

Potluck lunch: 12:30 PM

65078
GA at OMNI today @ Omni Commons
Nov 18 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

PARADISE is coming to Oakland!  One particle at a time. Because we don’t trust air we can’t see or feel, & on the orders of Chicken Little we will be meeting at the Omni Commons today, same bat time (3PM) until the sky stops falling. Personally, I prefer the Little Red Hen, she never let the exploiters to extract her surplus labor.

The Little Red Hen persuades Chicken Little to call for expropriating the means of production.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 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 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! 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

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (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

65314
Nov
19
Mon
Ending Urban Shield “As It Is Currently Constituted” – Task Force Meeting @ Old Berkeley City Hall
Nov 19 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Ad Hoc Committee on Urban Area Security Initiative, charged with reconstituting and rethinking Urban Shield.

The committee was established by the Board of Supervisors in March 2018 in response to sustained community concerns about Urban Shield, which is funded in part by UASI grants from the Department of Homeland Security, and coordinated by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

The Board of Supervisors decided in March, 2018 that 2018 would be the last year the county would approve Urban Shield, as currently constituted, and asked the Ad Hoc Committee to make recommendations to the Board on the UASI-funded emergency preparedness training and exercise in 2019 and beyond.

The agenda will include a presentation and Q/A with county emergency preparedness officials (from ACSO, Public Health, and Social Services); a discussion of criteria for weighing recommendations; and a presentation about community-based emergency preparedness initiatives.

More information.

Agendas and materials for each meeting are posted at http://www.acgov.org/board/calendarcom.htm

Facebook Event:

After forays to Fremont and Castro Valley, the task force charged with implementing the transition from the “last Urban Shield as we know it” to a different kind of emergency preparedness training, will be meeting in Berkeley in the City Council chambers on the 19th.

The task force is countywide, so any Alameda resident is welcome, although the intent of meeting in each supervisor’s district is to make it easier for local constituents.

For more on the task force’s work, the meetings to date and the long process to transform the police militarization expo: https://www.afsc.org/story/alameda-county-emergency-preparedness-uasi-and-post-urban-shield-resources

The task force has to deal with a funding cycle in process, Alameda’s desires to both retain the funding and to transform the event, and the Department of Homeland Security, so the challenge is not small.

Oakland Privacy, a regional citizens group that protects privacy and works on surveillance and overpolicing issues, made some recommendations to the task force here: https://oaklandprivacy.org/2018/10/25/rebooting-alameda-county-emergency-preparedness/

A report back from the 2018 event from MA director Tracy Rosenberg, who attended the last urban Shield as we knew it.
https://medium.com/p/67bfeaaeeaba

65246
Nov
20
Tue
Rally to End Yemen War @ Outside Nancy Pelosi's Office
Nov 20 @ 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
sm_sf_11.20.jpg Saturday the State Department said it had not reached a final decision on responsibility for the murder, despite the CIA’s conclusion the Crown Prince personally ordered it. The US-Saudi relationship has come under increased scrutiny, particularly in regards to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen. A group of bipartisan senators Thursday introduced the Comprehensive Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act which would halt weapons sales and other military support for Yemen. The House likely will vote on their own Yemen bill in January.

PHOTO OP: Members of the Yemeni-American community and friends speaking and protesting with signs outside of Reps Pelosi and Schiff offices

WHAT: Activists will rally at Reps Pelosi and Schiff offices in SF and LA to demand they cosponsor HConRes138. This bill would end US military involvement in the Saudi war on Yemen. The US has been complicit in creating the conditions for famine in Yemen for years.

WHO: Cindy Sheehan, the mother of the U.S. Army specialist killed in Iraq, and Jehan Hakim, chair of Yemeni Alliance Committee, will speak at the rally at Pelosi’s office. Sarah Burns of Just Foreign Policy, and Frances Motiwalla of Peace Action, will speak at the rally at Schiff’s office. The rallies are organized by Just Foreign Policy, Action Corps, and Yemeni Alliance Committee. They are co-sponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace, MoveOn, Bay Area for Bernie, Women’s March on the Pentagon, Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, and Partnerships for Trauma Recovery (List in Formation).

WHY: The US Administration recently announced it would stop refueling Saudi warplanes over Yemen. But Wednesday the US House narrowly voted to block debate of a bill to withdraw the US completely from the Saudi Coalition in Yemen. The US continues to provide critical military support and diplomatic cover for Saudi Arabia in Yemen. The Saudi Coalition has stopped the flow of food, medicine, and fuel into Yemen, leaving 14 million people on the brink of the world’s worst famine in a 100 years. Since the Trump Administration called for a ceasefire, Saudi Arabia has further intensified its assault on Yemen’s main port of Hodeida causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee for their lives, worsening the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. Congress has never authorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen, and it’s long overdue for Congress to vote on it.

In September 2018, Reps Ro Khanna (D-CA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Walter Jones (R-KY), Thomas Massie (R-NC) introduced House Concurrent Resolution 138 (HConRes138). If passed, it would direct the President to completely withdraw from the war by cutting off mid-air refueling and targeting assistance for Saudi warplanes. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — who faces a vote to become the next House Speaker — and Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, have yet to publicly support the bill, despite it being supported by almost every other ranking Democrat in the House. It’s time for them to get on board.

QUOTES FROM SPEAKERS
“Just as the House killed HConRes81 last year, GOPs fought to block HConRes138 [November 15]; which is a strong resolution that will finally end US support for the Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen. We are disappointed that our lawmakers chose to stand on the wrong side of history… again. We’ve seen it in Iraq, Lisbya and still see it in Syria. There are over 14 million Yemenis on the brink of starvation, and we have not only been supporting and backing the almost three-year-long war on the poorest Arab nation, but our Congressional Representatives are abdicating their duty to save lives and pull us out of this illegitimate war. If the 50,000 Yemenis that have been killed, or the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Khashoggi at the hands of the ‘Kingdom,’ does not make us rethink our relationship Saudi Arabia, then what will? We demand from our Representatives to have the courage to support peace in Yemen, accountability in our involvement and to support HConRes138.”
– Jehan Hakim, Yemeni Alliance Committee Chair

“Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff market themselves as ‘progressive leaders,’ but when the House vote finally came on ending the Saudi regime’s Yemen war, Pelosi and Schiff weren’t leaders; they were people who just barely showed up at the last minute. Pelosi and Schiff must lead now on ending the war, starting with co-sponsoring the Yemen war powers resolution, or other Democrats should take their places in the House Democratic leadership in the election on November 28.”
– Robert Naiman, Just Foreign Policy Policy Director

“Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) has said the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen ‘look like war crimes.’ Then why have not Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Ranking Member Adam Schiff co-sponsored the bill to stop backing these airstrikes? We appreciate Ms. Pelosi’s recent statement on the war, but it is not enough. We need her and Mr. Schiff to publicly pledge they will make Yemen a top priority if Ms. Pelosi is elected speaker on November 28. The lives of millions of people depend on it.”
– Isaac Evans-Frantz, Action Corps Organizer

65307
East Bay DSA Night School: Capitalism vs Nature @ East Bay Community Space
Nov 20 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

The recent UN report on climate change is sobering. Urgent action is required to avert environmental disaster. We need a bold vision of a good and livable future — and a political program to match. For starters, that means insisting on a publicly funded clean energy transition on a rapid timeline and a major green jobs program. The main obstacle to achieving this vision should be obvious. Corporations spent millions of dollars to defeat clean energy initiatives in the elections earlier this month.

Please join the Night School for a discussion on how democratic socialists can organize for climate justice and help build the mass movement that will be needed to take on the corporations.

Accessibility: East Bay Community Space has a wheelchair-accessible entrance and bathrooms.

Required Readings
See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.

65308
Sudo Mesh: Save the Internet @ Omni Commons, Upstairs
Nov 20 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Hello we are here to Save the Internet!

Join us every Tuesday in the Omni Commons mezzanine to help build a community-owned and -operated wireless mesh network in the East Bay!

Every Tuesday night, we meet to discuss on-going projects, technical bugs, community and media outreach, finances and budgeting, and upcoming events, such as node mounts, office hours, and workshops.  Newcomers are encouraged to come on the last Tuesdays of the month for general orientation, but are welcome at any meeting.

A wireless mesh network is a network where each computer acts as a relay to other computers, such that a network can stretch to cover entire cities.

Our goal is to create a wireless mesh network that is owned and operated by the community.

Want to help create an alternate means of digital communication that isn’t governed by for-profit internet service providers? Join us for the mesh hacknight! We need people of all backgrounds to help with everything from community involvement and grant writing to mounting antennas on buildings and developing software!

Learn more at https://peoplesopen.net and http://sudomesh.org/

65318
Nov
23
Fri
Black Friday Protest Against War and for Palestine @ Outside Powell St BART
Nov 23 @ 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Please join Bay Area Women in Black in their annual Black Friday protest in downtown San Francisco. Gather at 11:45am at the Powell Street BART Station on Friday, November 23, march to Union Square and stand in silence until 1pm, then return to the BART station and disperse. This action is one way to support the Palestinian struggle, with a focus on using boycott, divestment, and sanctions against the repressive military-colonialist policies of the state of Israel, in a similar action to the campaign that helped end apartheid in South Africa.

Please dress in black and strive to maintain a dignified silence throughout. Signs and fliers will be provided but you may wish to bring your own sign. No racist, sexist or nationalist slogans, please.

Bay Area Women in Black are Jews and allies in the United States who stand against militaristic and fundamentalist leadership in all countries, including our own. We are committed to nonviolent resistance against injustice, believing that all people have the right to security, home, education, justice and freedom. We are part of the international movement of Women in Black, a transnational network of feminist activists which includes women of many ethnic and national backgrounds who cooperate across these and other differences. Our international solidarity is an expression of the political decision to attempt to create a moral and ethical way to live our interconnected lives.

Our central focus is working non-violently to end the Israeli Occupation which we believe is a violation of human rights and international law. Only a just resolution of this conflict can bring peace and security for Israelis, Palestinians and the whole Middle East community. We challenge the key role of the United States government’s support of the Occupation through financial and military aid which threatens global security and widens militarism in the Middle-East.

65304
Nov
24
Sat
Waffles & Zapatismo @ Omni Commons
Nov 24 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Waffles & Zapatismo is a free space for learning about and discussing the history, ideas, values and practices of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, EZLN or Zapatistas. We serve waffles at the start of the class to those who want them.

65047
March and Rally for Justice for Terry Amons, Jr.
Nov 24 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Pittsburg Police or the People of Pittsburg?

Terry Amons, Jr., a 43 year old Black man, was shot and killed by Pittsburgh police late Friday night on January 12, 2018, while eating dinner inside his car outside of Nations Burgers in Pittsburgh. The police claim that Terry was reaching for a gun, but body cam video does not support this claim. We hold the Pittsburgh PD responsible for murdering an innocent Black man.
Terry’s mother, Sandra, said: “They executed my son. The Pittsburgh Police Department (PPD) illegally, without a warrant, searched Terry’s home after they killed him.”. The PPD did not provide Terry’s family with the names of the officers involved. The Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights is the legal justification for withholding this information. Only months later did the Oscar Grant Committee learn the names of the Police Officers involved: Dillon Tindall, who fired the shots, and Jesus Arellano. According to the East Bay Times, the body cam video shows Terry being shot by Tindall after shouting “Do not reach for that fucking gun.” As Terry falls out of the car., he continues to say, “I wasn’t reaching for nothing, I swear to God.” Then the officers handcuffed him. Terry died at John Muir Medical Center in Martinez.

According to attorney John Burris, “I must admit, I do not see (Amons) reaching for that gun. I see him playing around with gloves, but certainly not reaching. He was trying to comply,” “I have reservations about the justification of this shooting, frankly.”

The family is considering filing a lawsuit.

Terry’s family deserves justice.
YOU BE THE JUDGE: Watch the Body Cam Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVhBiDilpzs
Terry Amons Jr.
March 1, 1974-January 12, 2018
Please join us to rally together and unite against police terror.

Potluck BBQ at end of March

The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and State Repression was born from the struggle for justice for Oscar Grant, murdered by BART police on Jan 1, 2009. We organize working class resistance in support of families whose loved ones were murdered by police.

JOIN US, our meetings are normally on the First Monday of every month at 7:00 PM at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Avenue in North Oakland.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All. • Without Struggle, There is No Justice.

65319
Strike Debt Bay Area: Debt Resistance is NOT Futile! @ Omni Commons
Nov 24 @ 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.

Come get connected with SDBA’s projects!
  • Presenting debt and inequality related topics at forums, workshops and in radio productions.
  • Relieving Medical Debt through pennies-on-the-dollar buyback programs.
  • A book group focused on Economic Inequality and Economic Theory for the modern age.
  • Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
  • Money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitative ticketing and fining schemes
  • Tiny Homes and other solutions for the homeless.
  • Student debt resistance. Check out the Debt Collective, our sister organization
  • Helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
  • Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts, and divesting from the Wall St. banks
  • Promoting the concept of Basic Income
  • Advocating for Postal banking
  • Organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first steps happen… now there’s a spinoff group
  • Bring your own debt-related project!

If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com

 Also check out our website, our twitter feed, our radio segments and our Facebook page. Take a look at the local Public Banking website, Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland.
Strike Debt Bay Area is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and Strike Debt, itself an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.

Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity

Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.

We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.

Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.

Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.

Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.

Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.

65173
Nov
25
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Nov 25 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 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 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! 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

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (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

62637
Nov
26
Mon
Friends of the Public Bank of the East Bay @ University Terrace Commons Room (in the rear, halfway up Jefferson towards Addison on west side of street)
Nov 26 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

All welcome. Come support efforts to create the Public Bank of the East Bay.

Meeting Agenda:

Reportbacks:

  • Meeting with County Auditor and Special Projects Assistant to the County Administrator (Susan, Debbie, Margie, Lou, David)
  • California Public Banking Alliance press release and other news

Introduce new members
Moving further with our reorganization:
Logo/website/branding report
Advocacy committee:

  • preparation for attending meetings with officials
  • ongoing search for someone in Supervisor Haggerty’s district
  • next steps

Growing capacity/outreach
Membership/money/treasury
Governance

Upcoming

  • East Bay for Everyone

65306
Nov
27
Tue
Sudo Mesh: Save the Internet @ Omni Commons, Upstairs
Nov 27 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Hello we are here to Save the Internet!

Join us every Tuesday in the Omni Commons mezzanine to help build a community-owned and -operated wireless mesh network in the East Bay!

Every Tuesday night, we meet to discuss on-going projects, technical bugs, community and media outreach, finances and budgeting, and upcoming events, such as node mounts, office hours, and workshops.  Newcomers are encouraged to come on the last Tuesdays of the month for general orientation, but are welcome at any meeting.

A wireless mesh network is a network where each computer acts as a relay to other computers, such that a network can stretch to cover entire cities.

Our goal is to create a wireless mesh network that is owned and operated by the community.

Want to help create an alternate means of digital communication that isn’t governed by for-profit internet service providers? Join us for the mesh hacknight! We need people of all backgrounds to help with everything from community involvement and grant writing to mounting antennas on buildings and developing software!

Learn more at https://peoplesopen.net and http://sudomesh.org/

65318
Nov
28
Wed
East Oakland Collective General Meeting @ Mills College Faculty Lounge
Nov 28 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Join us for our November General Body Meeting.

Join us for our monthly general body meeting to learn more about us, pressing topics/issues in East Oakland and how you can take action! At this meeting hear updates on Feed the Hood 8, East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative (EONI), Housing and Dignity Village and more.

**Faculty Lounge is located on Post Road inside campus. Parking available in lot on Kapiolani & Post Road (directly across from the Faculty Lounge).
**Wheelchair accessible.
**Childcare not available, but kids are welcome.

65339
Nov
30
Fri
Ending Urban Shield “As It Is Currently Constituted” – Task Force Meeting @ County Building, across the street from the Courthouse
Nov 30 @ 9:00 am – 11:30 am

Meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Ad Hoc Committee on Urban Area Security Initiative, charged with reconstituting and rethinking Urban Shield.

The committee was established by the Board of Supervisors in March 2018 in response to sustained community concerns about Urban Shield, which is funded in part by UASI grants from the Department of Homeland Security, and coordinated by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

The Board of Supervisors decided in March, 2018 that 2018 would be the last year the county would approve Urban Shield, as currently constituted, and asked the Ad Hoc Committee to make recommendations to the Board on the UASI-funded emergency preparedness training and exercise in 2019 and beyond.

The agenda will include a presentation and Q/A with county emergency preparedness officials (from ACSO, Public Health, and Social Services); a discussion of criteria for weighing recommendations; and a presentation about community-based emergency preparedness initiatives.

More information.

Agendas and materials for each meeting are posted at http://www.acgov.org/board/calendarcom.htm

65256
Dec
1
Sat
SUPPORT STRIKING WORKERS AGAINST MARRIOTT HOTELS @ BART exit on Market between 3rd and 4th St.s
Dec 1 @ 10:30 am – 1:30 pm

SUPPORT OF STRIKING WORKERS AGAINST MARRIOTT HOTELS IN SF FOR A RALLY AND MARCH

For 57 days 2,500 workers in SF have been out on strike at the Marriott Hotels.  We are partnering with the San Francisco and San Mateo Labor Councils for another day of action this Saturday.
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Let’s show support for the workers! Meet at 10:30am at the Powell Street BART Station exit on Market Street between 3rd & 4th Streets.  Look for the ALC banner!

Help get the word out! Share the flyer: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0wpl4lwn0b8pgkw/Flyer.12-01-18-OneJobRally.pdf?dl=0

65351
East Bay for Everyone – Introductory Meeting
Dec 1 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

East Bay for everyone is a pervasive network of voices speaking up for housing abundancy and better cities all over the East Bay. We organized YIMBYtown 2017, the world’s Yes In My Back Yard conference which brought nearly 200 organizers to experience Oakland and learn more about housing justice across the country. We’ve also organized for the approval of nearly three thousand homes across the region, received international news coverage, and helped sue Berkeley with a winning outcome for housing all over the state of California.

East Bay for Everyone runs on our membership; even though much has changed since our beginning, our organization has been open to all who can commit to the most important rule of East Bay for Everyone: Show Up.

We are a broad anti-racist coalition of socialists, anarchists, liberals, progressives, communists, YIMBYs, housers, YIOBYs and more. If there’s a sect on the left, it’s here and have figured out how to work together to secure the right of the city for everyone.

 

65326