Calendar

9896
Oct
1
Tue
Occupy Forum: Movie Night: The Secret of Oz @ Global Exchange, 2nd floor, near 16th St. BART
Oct 1 @ 1:00 am – 4:00 am

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!

Come join us for this compelling documentary which uses the metaphor of The Wizard of Oz to explain the history of the monetary system, how it has gotten us into our current economic malaise, and how we can get out of it. The movie was created by Bill Still, a documentary film maker that has been exploring monetary issues in movies since 1996.

The movie is 1:50 long, we will have a short break in the middle, and our always engaging discussion will follow!

The Secret of Oz won the Silver Sierra award at the Yosemite Film Festival and the Award of Merit at the Accolade Competition La Jolla, California.

The yellow brick, the emerald city of Oz, even Dorothy’s silver slippers (changed to ruby slippers for the movie version) were powerful symbols of author L. Frank Baum’s belief that the people – not the big banks — should control the quantity of a nation’s money. The bottom line: No More National Debt. All our money is created out of debt. But nations don’t have to borrow money from banks. Sovereign nations can create their own money — debt free — just as Abraham Lincoln did to win the Civil War. This is the secret that’s been hidden from us for over 100 years.

Time will be allotted for Q&A, discussion and announcements.

Donations to Occupy Forum to cover costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

52815
HEIDI BOGHOSIAN / Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power and Public Resistance; in conversation with ROBERT SCHEER @ Hillside Club
Oct 1 @ 2:30 am – 4:30 am

“Heidi Boghosian’s Spying on Democracy is the answer to the question, ‘if you’re not doing anything wrong, why should you care if someone’s watching you?'”
— Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU and former FBI agent

Until the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the Guardian UK and the Washington Post, most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. As made startlingly clear, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. In that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, Apple, and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets.

In Spying on Democracy, National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies.

More info and ticket purchase.

52798
Banner-Holding Rally Against Napolitano @ Upper Sproul Plaza
Oct 1 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

As head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano implemented programs such as Secure communities and 287g which have deported almost 2 million undocumented immigrants. Her only background on education is getting rid of in-state tuition for undocumented youth in Arizona.

We’ll be having a rally on Tuesday at 11:00AM on Upper Sproul to protest Napolitano’s nomination. At 12:00PM students from the Multicultural coalition are going to meet with Napolitano and present their demands.

It’s important that we show that we are one! Napolitano thinks this will be a quick and easy meeting. However, we will make it clear that she is not welcome in our UC System!
Therefore, around 11:20 We’ll head out from Upper Sproul to Oakland. Where her office is located.

Facebook event & RSVP.

52724
Oct
2
Wed
Oakland City Council: Defeat Urban Shield Funding! @ Oakland City Hall, City Council Chambers
Oct 2 @ 1:30 am – 3:30 am

From October 25th -28th, 2013 in Oakland, California, Urban Shield – a trade show and training exercise for SWAT teams and police- will bring together more than 150 local, state, federal, int’l and private sector partners and defense contractors. Urban Shield has taken place over the past six years, and is hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Last week at the city of Oakland’s public safety meeting, community groups challenged the notion of funding for Urban Shield – being hidden in the language and process, by requesting a mere $200,000, to be used for “safety drills” for the Fire Department. Meanwhile, Alameda county record’s indicate that the sheriff’s office is being paid up to $7.5 million in federal funding for Urban Shield – and activities couched as anti-terrorist “safety drills” when the record demonstrates that these methods are also used on civilians in ‘scenarios’ that include public protest, stop and frisk, deportation, and the criminalization of poverty and mass incarceration.

This is our opportunity to make our voices heard again at City Hall, and say:

1) We do not want a gun show that sells militarized weapons to the police in the heart of downtown Oakland.
2) We want to know why City Council is permitting known human rights violators, to operate in the heart of the city?
3) We demand a clear budget of all public funds that are being spent on Urban Shield.

Facing Urban Shield Action Network (FUSAN) is composed of 30 diverse Bay Area groups who believe that hosting Urban Shield in Oakland is the wrong direction for public policy. FUSAN firmly rejects the use of city space and funding for Urban Shield, to practice “war games”. This partnership between police with human rights violations from Bahrain, Israel, Guam, and Brazil, deepens the possibility of continued misconduct and human rights violations already on record. Urban Shield ‘exercises’ further militarizes police responses to all kinds of emergencies, like people in crisis with mental health issues with devastating results. Urban Shield is militarizing police with more weapons, which results means increased harm to African-American, Latino and Arab and Muslim communities.

More info.

52831
Oct
3
Thu
Solidarity CampOut at The Albany Bulb @ Albany Bulb (Buchanan west of I80)
Oct 3 @ 1:00 am – 6:45 am

To prevent the eviction of its current residents and explore solutions.

POTLUCK + DOCUMENTARY SCREENING.

Bring your own water, camping gear, and love of the land.

52723
Public Hearing to Save the Berkeley Post Office! @ North Berkeley Senior Center
Oct 3 @ 2:00 am – 4:00 am

The Berkeley Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on a proposed Zoning Ordinance that would preclude the downtown Berkeley Historic District (which includes the Post Office building) from being used for commericial purposes.

While this sounds incredibly boring it is also very important. The Post Office is very scared about the potential for this ordinance to inhibit their imminent sale of the the 2000 Allston Way Post Office building to private developers.

Come make your voice heard for a strong zoning ordinance, against the sale of the Post Office, and against the privatization of our commons!

52623
Oct
4
Fri
The Untold Story of Oscar Grant’s Father @ Student Center, Laney College
Oct 4 @ 1:00 am – 3:30 am

As millions around the country flock to theaters to watch the acclaimed film, ‘Fruitvale Station’, there is little said about the role of Oscar Grant’s father in his life. But stepping forward for the first time to tell this tale is Oscar Grant’s cousin, Samuel Morris, who will discuss the wrongful imprisonment of Oscar Grant’s father for the past 27 years and the outrage felt by many who see an innocent relative held behind bars while the man who clearly murdered Oscar walks free after a miniscule 11 month jail sentence.

Read the Liberation News’ article that discusses the Oscar Grant Jr. case:

http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/untold-story-oscar-grant.html

Join the Party for Socialism and Liberation as we discuss the story of Oscar Grant’s father and the connections between economic oppression, mass incarceration, and police brutality.

Facebook event & RSVP.

52725
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity @ Outside Jerry Brown's condo.
Oct 4 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

People will be staffing a table with information about California solitary confinement conditions in solidarity with the suspended prisoners’ hunger strike.

Come on down and hang out and help pass out literature.

52574
Support the ACAC 19! @ San Francisco Courthouse
Oct 4 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Your support is needed, all out for a critical day for the ACAC 19: anti-colonial, anti-capitalist comrades arrested last Columbus Day weekend in San Francisco.

All Out for a Settlement Hearing on Friday, October 4th!

All 19 defendants have been ordered to appear at a “settlement hearing” on Friday, October 4 at 850 Bryant St., Department 23. Rally at noon on the steps and fill the courtroom for the hearing immediately following. This will be a key moment where the case could be settled – let’s pack the court and pressure the Judge and the DA to drop the charges!

At the settlement hearing a judge will try to negotiate a deal between the DA and the defendants. The judge will likely call all attorneys into chambers and try to convince both sides to come to an agreement that will avoid trial. Sometimes that means convincing the defense attorneys to try to sell their clients on a deal because the judge thinks that they may be convicted at trial. In this case, however, it could be more likely that the judge will tell the DA what we already know; the DA doesn’t have a case. The state may also be influenced to capitulate in order to avoid trial when they see the amount of support that the ACAC 19 has and get a taste of what trial will be like. It would be great if the last thing that the Judge and the DA see before they go into chambers was a courtroom overflowing with support for these comrades.

Website for more info.

Please, join the support committee and the ACAC 19 at a rally at noon on the steps of the courthouse at the end of which, we will fill that courtroom with solidarity !

52680
Oct
5
Sat
100% Ceasefire: First Friday in Oakland @ Oakland Police HQ
Oct 5 @ 12:00 am – 1:00 am

We will read the names of those killed by police in Northern California.

We remember. Please join us.

Stand against systemic racism and violence that cost us the lives of too many young black and brown men
causing long-lasting, detrimental affects on all our communities.

The Interfaith Tent for Justice grieves with all victims of violence and their families. Whether victims of drone attacks, bombings, torture, oppression, gang shootings, domestic violence, rape culture, systemic racism, or increased violence from police and security forces, we stand with you. No one is immune to the effects of violence, including those who are involved in the systems that use violence as a means of social control.

We will continue to work for justice for all, to the best of our abilities.

A program called Operation Ceasefire works to stop gang violence. This isn’t enough. Police must be held accountable for extrajudicial killings and violence. This is why we call for 100% Ceasefire. A long term goal, but one worth working toward.

Original announcement.

52871
First Friday: Justice 4 Alan Blueford. @ JAB Headquarters
Oct 5 @ 12:00 am – 4:00 am

Come check out the Justice 4 Alan Blueford table as we interact with the readily available masses of people, spreading the word about JAB’s upcoming work & direction, which is to:

•continuing to raise awareness about what Masso did to Alan & the associated coordinated cover-up

• mounting a campaign demanding Kamala Harris to prosecute Masso

• opposing Gallo’s proposed youth curfew

• educate the community & help build JAB’s base of support

• spread the word about Oct 22nd–National Anti-Police Brutality Day.

• standing in solidarity w/local labor struggles such as the upcoming BART strike.

52886
First Fridays in the Plaza! Art Out! @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Oct 5 @ 12:00 am – 5:00 am

The ONYX Organizing Committee, Healthy Hoodz, Young Oakland, oakland artists, cultural workers and families invite you to continue cultural resistance in the plaza!

OCTOBER ART OUT!
FROM COLUMBUS, TO OAKLAND TO SYRIA

Full description of the event on Facebook & RSVP.

WHY 14TH AND BROADWAY/OSCAR GRANT PLAZA?

A town plaza is a central meeting place for the people of the community. OG Plaza is our town center, our neutral meeting place for free speech and public dialouge. it was the epicenter of a bay area youth movement in the ’90s were hundreds of thousands of youth and their supporters closed down public schools to open freedom schools; halted the construction of new juvenile detention centers; interupted major corporations profit flow. it was the epicenter of the largest uprising in response to police terrorism in the history of the United States during the days of rage around oscar grant’s murder. it became the epicenter for occupy oakland.

52817
Debt Into Space @ Royal Nonesuch Gallery
Oct 5 @ 3:00 am – 4:00 am

The Debt2Space Program is going to be shooting debt to space, (aiming to break through this debt ceiling) quickly and nicely.

Your debt will be turned into a sonic material (when you scream about it) and the recording will be mixed and put onto a record with other screams from other people with financial hardships. This record will be played at various radio stations across the US. The radio waves will arrive at or near the sun in about 8 minutes from the time the DJ plays them, allowing the woes to burn to smithereens ASAP
S
More info: Debt2Space website

52888
Suds, Snacks and Socialism: Peace & Freedom Presents ‘You R Not A Loan!’ @ Starry Plough Pub
Oct 5 @ 9:00 pm – 11:30 pm

The Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party and Movement presents

You Are Not A Loan
Strike Debt Bay Area

As individuals, families, and communities, most of us are drowning in debt for the basic things we need to live, including housing, education, and health care. All of us are affected by predatory lending and the effects of speculative Wall Street gambling. Our essential public services are cut because our cities and towns are held hostage by the same big banks that have been bailed out by our government. All of us are outraged that big banks don’t have to pay their debts, but we do.

Strike Debt is building a movement to challenge this system while creating alternatives and supporting each other. Debt resistance is just the beginning. Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits. Join members of Strike Debt Bay Area to talk about debt, contemporary capitalism, and emerging tactics of resistance and solidarity.

Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013 • 2pm-4:30pm
At the Starry Plough Pub, 3101 Shattuck Ave, at Prince St in Berkeley

FREE! (But please buy food & drink at the Pub.) FREE!

This is part of our on-going Socialist Forum Series on the first Saturday of every month from 2-4:30 pm. The featured panel will start promptly at 2:30 pm and the forum will end by 4:30 pm, but folks can stay and talk as long as you like.

The Peace and Freedom Party is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism and racial equality.

52679
Oct
8
Tue
OCCUPY FORUM PRESENTS “The Struggle for Free Speech at CCNY, 1931-42″ with Carol Smith @ Global Exchange, 2nd floor, near 16th St. BART
Oct 8 @ 1:00 am – 3:00 am

Presentation will include police surveillance photos, cartoons and graphics documenting the student and faculty activism at the City College of NY spawned by the Depression and the rise of fascism in Europe. This activism brought repeated crackdowns by the administration and culminated in the dismissal of 50 CCNY faculty & staff — the largest academic purge in US history.

52936
Rally to Save Albany Bulb! MARCH and CAMPOUT on Solano Avenue! @ Albany City Hall
Oct 8 @ 1:00 am – 6:45 am

Party/Street Party

The City of Albany plans on evicting the residents of the Albany Bulb sometime this month. The Albany Bulb is home to over sixty residents who have made the Bulb a home and a community like nothing else in the Bay Area. If evicted, the residents of the Bulb will have no where to go but the streets of Albany, a city with next to no support for its homeless.

Rally at the Albany City Council this Monday at 6:00pm! At 6:30 we will participate in the public comments meeting and make sure everyone in Albany knows about the Bulb and what’s at stake.

Afterwards there will be a march down Solano Ave. for an overnight camp out and demonstration.

Show your solidarity, lets save the Bulb!
Bring camping gear and tents!

Learn more at:

Share the Bulb.
Facebook event & RSVP.
Notice on IndyBay.

52945
Oct
9
Wed
Speak Out for Lynne Stewart @ Diane Feinstein's San Francisco Office
Oct 9 @ 12:00 am – 1:30 am

Lynne Stewart’s burthday is October 8th and rallies, vigils and speak outs will be held throughout the country. In the Bay Area, we will gather at 5 p.m. and speak out from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. outside the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Market and Montgomery in San Francisco. Our goal continues to be to win compassionate release for our fellow Guild member, who is suffering from cancer and turning 74 years old. Senator Feinstein has a unique role to play as a member of the Judiciary Committee.

There are two things you can do. (1) Join us on October 8th to call on Feinstein to exert pressure over the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons to release Lynne Stewart and accelerate compassionate release for all people in federal prisons. And (2) click here to add your name to the new petition to free Lynne Stewart.

Sponsored by the National Lawyer’s Guild.

52695
Unity Rally to Stop Attacks on BART Workers @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Oct 9 @ 12:00 am – 2:00 am

No Concessions for BART workers! Fight union-busting! Stop Scabbing! BART managers want to provoke a strike when the 60-day “cooling off period” ends at midnight on Oct. 10 and blame it on the transit unions. Thousands of other Bay Area workers are working without a contract.

All out on Oct. 10! BART is threatening to run scab trains and unleash cops to protect strikebreakers. We can’t allow this vicious anti-labor attack to prevail in the San Francisco Bay Area, a union stronghold!

Defend George Figueroa, former ATU strike coordinator. Demand the DA drop bogus misdemeanor charges of falsifying a police report: Full Amnesty for Brother Figueroa!

Fight the attacks on working people — cut transit fares; restore bus service and all other programs the community needs to survive; good jobs at living wages for all!

Stop the victimization of the black and brown community, especially the police murders of black and brown youth!

Stop letting them play divide and conquer! Come to a labor and community rally to stop the attacks on BART workers, labor, and the community. No More Austerity Cuts! Unity Rally organized by ATU Local 1555 & endorsed by SF Labor Council

For info visit www.atu1555.org or www.transportworkers.org

Facebook event & RSVP.

52869
The Prisoner-led Movement to End Solitary Confinement Continues! @ State Capitol
Oct 9 @ 6:30 pm – Oct 10 @ 12:00 am

All Out to Sacramento Wednesday October 9!

11:30 am: Opening Rally
1:00-3:30 pm: California Public Safety Hearings on Solitary Confinement & Human Rights
4:00 pm: Closing Rally

During their historic 60-day hunger strike, California prisoners were able to endure incredible violence from prison administrators and garner international support for their cause. As a result, on October 9, California’s Public Safety Committee will hold the first of several promised hearings to address and take action around solitary confinement and human rights abuses in California prisons. Former prisoners, loved ones, lawyers, experts and advocates will testify before the legislature and rally with the people.

These Public Safety hearings provide a key opportunity for us to take the next steps toward ending solitary confinement. Mobilize, rally and continue to stand in solidarity with the Hunger Strikers! Continue the fight to win their demands!

“We will be with the prisoners in the courts, in the legislature, and out in the community. We will use every venue available to us, until the torture is ended.”

Bring signs and art to make the rallies visually stunning! Self-care and community-care: Bring a lawn chair if you want to rest at the rally and some water/snacks to stay healthy.

Need a ride? Have a car and can offer rides? Please RSVP to Tynan@curbprisonspending.org by Monday, October 7.

Carpools will leave from MacArthur BART in Oakland at 9:30am on Wednesday.

More info. Original Notice.

52884
The Egyptian Crisis: A Personal Account and a Report Back. @ 120 Latimer Hall
Oct 9 @ 11:00 pm – Oct 10 @ 12:30 am

Almost three years have passed since the events that led to the ousting of Hosni Mubarak after 30 years of autocratic rule. In her talk, Shimaa Helmy, a young human rights activist, will give a first-hand account of the unfolding crisis in Egypt, the state of human rights and media activists, and will offer some insight into what is next for Egypt.

The event is hosted by: HASS Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.
Event cosponsors: Center for African Studies and Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley

Facebook event & RSVP. Flyer available in comments.

52890