Calendar

LAND AND FREEDOM: Repression and Resistance in the Struggles for Indigenous Sovereignty, Right to Return, and Anti-Displacement

Featuring:
Corrina Gould(Ohlone), Sogorea Te Land Trust
Morningstar Gali (Pit River Nation), International Indian Treaty Council
Max Rameau, Take Back the Land Movement
Bilal Mafundi Ali, POOR Magazine Homefulness Project
Leila Sayed-Taha, AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center
Ziad Abbas, Palestine Action Network

What do organizers and activists need learn and think about in how the state seeks to repress the right to land, movement, and sovereignty from the streets of Oakland, to Indigenous Territories, to Palestine?

Join us for our continuing series with National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco Chapter on defending ourselves, each other, our communities, and our movements against state repression.

This space is wheelchair accessible. For any childcare or accessibility requests, please contact antirepression2018@gmail.com, by April 12.

The Oakland Asian Cultural Center presents

The Muslims I Know

A documentary written and produced by filmmaker, writer, artist and social activist

MARA AHMED

Doors Open: 7:15pm

Free and Open to the Public

The events of 9/11 have created much interest in Islam and Muslims. Mainstream media have responded to this demand for information with generalizations and stereotypes. America’s community of Muslims longs to be a part of the discourse. THE MUSLIMS I KNOW is a documentary that gives them a chance to be heard and understood through dialogue with non-Muslim Americans.

The underlying idea is to highlight similarities between Islam and other Abrahamic faiths and to celebrate the cultural richness and diversity brought into the American mix by Muslim communities. It is also a much needed platform for moderate Muslims to express their views about what’s happening in the world. By being both American and Muslim they have a unique insight into the complex inner workings of American foreign policy and the role of the media.

Film Screening will be followed by Q & A with Mara Ahmed via skype

—– The Muslims I Know (2008) 58 minutes

There is an organized attack on professors and education workers by Turning Point USA and other rightwing organizations funded by billionaires like the Mercer family and Tea Party politicians like Illinois governor Bruce Rauner. This forum will hear from academics who have been targeted, what this has meant to them and how they and their unions have fought back.

Turning Point USA with a budget of over $8 million dollars has organized events for racists and neo-nazis throughout the US, and set up chapters not only on college and universities but also on high school campuses. They are hiring political operatives who are coordinating a national organized witch hunt of professors and education workers who have challenged the racist and growing fascist attacks in the United States. They are also operating internationally to link up with racist and neo-nazi movements around the world.

This forum will also look at the historic connections between the Nazi movement and the growing rightwing attacks developing in the US, and how the unions and working class can organize against these new threats to democratic and worker rights. They have also been trained on how to use social media including Facebook to organize their targeting and witch hunts against those on their “Professors Watchlist”.

Professor Wendy Lynne Lee was targeted by right-wing Turning Point USA using a Facebook conflagration of verbal assault, threats in person harassment, character assassination and efforts to get her University officials to punish her.
Ph.D University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign graduate student Tariq Khan who is a unionist and anti-racist activist was also targeted by Turning Point USA and framed up by this organization to get him arrested and terminated from the University.

These organized attacks by this reactionary organization is part of their plan to “cleanse” the university and campuses of anti-racists and union activists as well as recruiting young people to a fascist movement.

Educational Forum with:

Professor Lynne Wendy Lee – Professor of Philosophy Bloomberg University of Pennsylvania, and active union member in the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF)

Tariq Khan – Graduate Student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and member of AFT GEO Local 6300 UIUC IFT/AFT AFL-CIO

Sponsored by:
Defend Public Education NOW! – https://www.facebook.com/DefendPublicEducationNOW/
KPFA WorkWeek Radio – https://soundcloud.com/workweek-radio

• Regenerating the Land
• Kids Activities
• Plant Sale
• Community Lunch

Bail Clinic!

If you’ve ever used a bail bonds company in California, we might be able to help. We may be able
to help with the following issues:

Confusing contracts
Co-signers and thos e who have signed a contract
on behalf of a loved one
Debt
High payment plans
Those at risk of losin g a home or car
Harassment from debt collectors
Bad credit
Being sued by a bail bonds company

Please contact Tamura Rosby at trosby@ebclc.org to schedule an appointment. Walkins
will be seen on a first come, first serve basis.
Childcare & Food will be provided.
Email: bailclinic@lccr.com
Phone Number: 415-578-0841

Solitary Man: A Visit to Pelican Bay State Prison
A Benefit for the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper
Performed by Charlie Hinton & Fred Johnson
Written by Charlie Hinton
Music by Fred Johnson
Directed by Mark Kenward

*****
In Solitary Man, Charlie travels to Crescent City to visit a lifer named Otis Washington (played by Fred), a 64 year old native of New York City, whos been imprisoned since 1975 and at Pelican Bay since it opened in 1989. During the visit, Otis explains some of what he has learned and experienced.

*****

Following the performance – a Panel Discussion with:
José Villarreal – formerly incarcerated in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay SHU; published artist and author; prisoner advocate
Marie Levin – sister of “Brutha Sitawa,” one of the four “main reps” who helped organize the 2011 & 2013 hunger strikes; co-founder of The Prisoner Advocacy Network/PAN, member of CA Families Against Solitary Confinement/CFASC
Anne Weills – co-counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights on Ashker v. Brown, the case that ended indefinite solitary confinement in California. She continues to fight for enforcement of the settlement.

About Fred and Charlie:

Fred Johnson is a formerly incarcerated person that has gone on to address the human rights issues of drug users and formerly incarcerated persons, as well as the wider community, guided by harm reduction principles. He has worked in a variety of settings, including policy analysis and syringe access programs throughout the US. He plays trumpet, mostly in the New York City area, and has recorded a CD, History Speaking (A Tribute to my Mentors).

Charlie grew up in Joplin, MO and spent 3 years in the Peace Corps in Bolivia. He attended the founding meeting of Bay Area Gay Liberation in 1975, and through BAGL, began his prison work. He worked for 19 years at Inkworks Press, a collectively owned and managed printing company in Berkeley, CA that closed its doors in 2015, leaving him retired. Besides writing and visiting prisoners, Charlie works with Haiti Action Committee and the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Committee to End Sleep Deprivation. Solitary Man is Charlie’s second theatrical endeavor, after his solo show Life Wish. He is the author of Life Wish: Essays, Letters, Songs, Solo Performance, Haiku written over time.

Responses to Solitary Man:

I/WE want to Thank Mr. Charles Hinton for the wonderful work he is doing on our (Prisoners in California) behalf. We need for the world to see a glimpse of our daily suffering through this play, Solitary Man!!! 
Brutha Sitawa
Pelican Bay Hunger Striker
Signer, Agreement to End Hostilities, 2012

i/WE applaud Charlie Hinton for using his time, talent and creativity to help our tortured Class get the true story of our ordeal out to the World. A Solidarity Power Salute To You Charlie for your Solitary Man play.
Brutha Baridi
Pelican Bay Hunger Striker
Signer, Agreement to End Hostilities, 2012

Im a mother of a son that been in the prison system now 10 years. To hear Charlie put a voice to my silent pain lifted me. It gave me hope and strength that I need to finish this journey with my son. 
–Denise Jones

You should definitely not miss this show.  Very important, very appropriate, right on time.
–Kiilu Nyasha

West Coast release event for new edition of REVOLUTION IN THE AIR: SIXTIES RADICALS TURN TO LENIN, MAO, AND CHE.

Released during the 50th anniversary of the worldwide 1968 protests, the new edition of Revolution in the Air shares lessons that are as salient as ever. CPE is honored to host author, #MaxElbaum in conversation with Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and author of the new edition’s foreward.

Join us to celebrate people’s movements for change then and now!

As the new Poor People’s Campaign spreads across the country, we wanted to invite you and your networks to the Poor People’s Campaign’s East Bay Mass Meeting! The Poor People’s Campaign is dedicated to ending systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality, and is co-chaired by Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis.

On April 21st, join us for the East Bay Mass Meeting. We will…
> LEARN from our neighbors affected by unjust policies
> GEAR UP for 40 Days of Action
> CONNECT with other activists, people of faith, and all those who care about justice
> Pastor Eddie Anderson, McCarty Memorial Christian Church, will deliver the keynote. The Rev. Lynice Pinkard will emcee.
> We hope to see you there! You may RSVP on Eventbrite:  or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1739363892807808

Come see the acclaimed movie “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary” on the big screen. Sponsored by Labor Action for Mumia and Liberated Lens.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee bringing William J. Barber, II to Oakland! Let’s pack the house to be inspired by Rev. Dr. William Barber and to learan about the Poor People’s Campaign Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

ReZist is ninety minutes of Roy Zimmerman’s original songs, a funny and forceful affirmation of Peace and Social Justice. “Sometimes I think satire is the most hopeful and heartfelt form of expression,” says Roy, “because in calling out the world’s absurdities and laughing in their face, I’m affirming the real possibility for change.”
Roy’s songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime, and his videos have garnered tens of millions of views. He has recorded for Warner/Reprise Records. He’s shared stages with Bill Maher, Ellen DeGeneres, Holly Near, Robin Williams, Arlo Guthrie, John Oliver, Kate Clinton and George Carlin, and tours the country constantly with his wife and co-writer Melanie Harby.
Sponsored by the BFUU SJC.

Join the Ecology Center for TWO events on April 22nd.
From 10:00am – 6:00pm at the David Brower Center, join us for Berkeley Earth Day where Ecology Center’s Executive Director, Martin Bourque, will be speaking about the history of Earth Day, its power and its future.
Berkeley Earth Day includes inspiring speakers, music, up-cycled crafts, bamboo bikes, great food and much more!
Learn more at BerkeleyEarthDay.org

Join our staff from 5:00-10:00pm at Gio’s Pizza & Bocce for a fun night of drinks and food! Ecology Center will get to keep a percentage of all sales.  At 8:30pm we will have a raffle with lots of great prizes!
Kalin Freeman will be serenading on his Alto Sax. This free event is all ages, bring the family and bring your friends!

EARTH DAY IS ALMOST HERE

FIRST, join us on April 21st from 10-3 at Planting Justice Nursery (319 105 Ave. Oakland CA 94603) for a morning of community farm work, kids activities, a plant sale, and community lunch.

for more info check out plantingjustice.org

THEN join us on April 22nd at the UC Gill Tract Farm for the annual Earth Day Festival. We will kick the morning off with some good ol’ community farming to the tune of a few local DJ’s. Then together we will enjoy a FREE lunch of soup, bread and salad made with fresh produce. Our day will then focus on an enriching community conversation on working with local indigenous communities and issues titled “Living on Ohlone Land.” There will also be kids activities and tabling throughout the day.

Sign up to volunteer below!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090848abaa29a0fe3-2018

West Oakland residents will get the results of three recent air monitoring studies  and discuss how to use this information and local knowledge to push for a truly comprehensive plan that minimizes air pollution in our neighborhoods.

The three studies were done in connection with a new Truck Management Program for West Oakland. The workshop will cover 100 x 100 air monitoring sensors placed throughout West Oakland; EDF/Google air mapping; and a study analyzing why filters on trucks are not working effectively at the Port of Oakland. The results of these studies will inform attendees of scientific findings about how black carbon — the main component of soot emitted from diesel engines, wood smoke, and other sources — varies throughout West Oakland.

Workshop participants will work together to set priorities and recommend ways that this information and residents’ local knowledge can inform the City and the Port of Oakland to produce a truly comprehensive plan that minimizes air pollution in our neighborhoods.

More info here

*not “some,” not “theirs,” but every single one

FREE Workshop with NuclearBan.US co-founders Timmon Wallis, PhD and Vicki Elson, MA.
Celebrating two huge victories for the world:
1. The new UN Treaty banning nuclear weapons, signed by 122 nations!
2. The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to ICAN, the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, for achieving the “impossible!”

Come learn how, together, we will compel divestment, legislation, and enforcement, even though the US government hasn’t signed on yet.

Presented by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee with NuclearBan.US Join the campaign:www.NuclearBan.US

Co-sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom East Bay Branch and Code Pink Golden Gate

Refreshments! Free! (donations requested) Wheelchair access

This panel discussion on climate justice looks at the uneven racial and economic distribution of both environmental degradation and environmental benefits.   Come hear a lively conversation about these intersections, their impacts, and what we must do to ensure that the environmental movement is fighting for those most marginalized.  The intersection of environmental and social justice must be put at the forefront of our environmental movement.

Panelists include Jessica Tovar from Local Clean Energy Alliance, Alvaro Sanchez from the Greenlining Institute, Rachel Morello-Frosch from UC Berkeley, and Esther Goolsby from the Communities for a Better Environment.

Sponsored by the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC).

FREE admission Brown paper Tickets RSVP.
Facebook here.

Refreshments will be provided!

ADA Accessible