Calendar
——————–
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Featuring scenes from the recent May Day march in Havana, “May Day in Havana 2014,” is a short video presentation produced by Jonathan Nack.
Steve Martinot will speak about contemporary developments in Cuba and its international relations. Mr. Martinot has been involved in Cuba solidarity work since 1960 and has led tours to Cuba. His talk will examine the U..S. embargo and the origins of U.S. hostility to Cuba; and will present an overview of the inner social dynamic of political process and political changes on the island. .
Following that, there will be ample time for audience participation in an open discussion in which experiences, views, and ideas about Cuba and solidarity with its struggles.
A rally to support the Salinas Police Department has been organized for Sat. from 11am-2pm. This is a response to that rally. The Direct Action Monterey Network and our comrades in Salinas are mobilizing for a counter demonstration because a pro-cop rally in response to what’s been going on is a pro-murder-of-Latino-farmworkers rally and can not be left unanswered.
This is not about specific cops or their personal attitudes and beliefs. This is about exposing the Salinas PD for being the violent, oppressive institution that it is. Their daily intimidation and harassment, as well as these recent murders, reinforces a racist, exploitative system. We are standing up to them, as well as to those members of the community who are voicing their support for such an institution.
http://www.facebook.com/events/824296990931334/
OAKLAND: BUS FROM OAKLAND, MEET AT OGP 11:00AM
For all those who have suffered police brutality
please join us, and speak out about the corruption in San Joaquin county that affects us all.
When?
Saturday May 31st 2014 for the 3rd annual Speak out for victims of police violence/brutality. Bring your friends, invite your friends. In 2010 16 year old James Rivera Jr, was driving a mini van that was violently forced off of the road by multiple Police units. The vehicle was forced to crash, going through two residential garages, rendering the vehicle immobile. Stockton Police officers Gregory Dunn and Eric Azarvand, with deputy Sheriff John Nesbit, got out of their patrol cars and within seconds opened fire on James. A total of forty eight rounds entered the childs body from the sides and behind, killing him at the scene. Eric Azarvand, is said to have been firing with an AR-15 assault rifle. James’ family still has not received the police reports, video or picture evidence, or James’ personal property. Join his family and other members of the community who support the family or have been victims themselves.
Speakers for other families who have been victimized by the Police are expected to be attending, as well as our brothers and sisters from the East Bay area who will be coming out to support these families, and give some educational speeches about the commonalities of police violence taking place almost daily, and all around us.
If you are against Police Violence, if you or a loved one has ever been subject to non warranted police attacks, you need to be here on the 31st of May, and have your voice heard.
JUSTICE FOR JAMES RIVERA JR
JUSTICE FOR DONALD RAY HAYNES
JUSTICE FOR ANGEL SAUCEDA.
END POLICE TERRORISM.
If the Government Won’t, the People Will…..
STOP CRUDE OIL BY RAIL SHIPMENTS TO RICHMOND!
Stop pollution of our communities and our climate!
PROTEST AT KINDER MORGAN’S RAIL YARD
SHUTTLES WILL PROVIDE RIDES FROM RICHMOND BART — 12:15-12:30 pm
Meet at Castro St. entrance to Kinder Morgan train yard between entrance to Chevron Refinery/Hwy 580 &
Hensley Street, close to Hensley across Castro Street from General Chemical’s entrance at525 Castro Street.
(Closet parking is up Hensley Street)
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a permit to Kinder Morgan to operate its crude-by-rail project to import highly explosive and toxic crude oil into Richmond, a low income community of color already burdened by pollution caused by the fossil fuel industry. BAAQMD issued the permit without public notice or opportunities for public comment. The number of trains carrying crude oil has risen dramatically due to increased drilling in both the Alberta tar sands in Canada and the Bakken shale oil area of North Dakota, and the number of serious accidents has also increased.
We the people must raise our voices and send a loud and clear message that more pollution from dirty crude oil and tar sands is not acceptable in the bay area or anywhere else.
KEEP THE OIL IN THE GROUND!!
Sponsors: West County Toxics Coalition, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Sunflower Alliance, 350 Bay Area, Idle No More/SF Bay, ANSWER/SF, Communities for a Better Environment, Environmental Justice Air Quality Coalition, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Global Community Monitor, Forest Ethics
F
Policy brainstorming to generate specific recommendations for community-based public policies.
FREE! DELICIOUS FOOD! CHILD CARE!
Lots of reasons to stop by the farm this Sunday June 1st!
The 1.5 acres of the farm we planted out on April 26th are taking off, and right now we are producing many pounds of delicious greens. Lettuces and kale, chard, mustard greens, etc. Perfect for salad and stir frys! We’ll be weeding and harvesting! And you can take some fresh and healthy food home with you (bring paper bags if you have them!).
Also this Sunday, two of your favorite farmers will be celebrating a joint birthday party, with a bbq grill and possibly some a fiddling or other music. And on a sadder note, one of your other favorite farmers will be leaving us and is moving away for good. So come down to say “happy birthday”, “goodbye”, or “nice to meet you” 🙂
Regular open hours are 3:30pm-7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10am-4pm on Sundays. Updates and more can be found on gilltractfarm.wordpress.com.
Elliot, an active labor organizer and Bulb supporter, was arrested on the Albany Bulb on Thursday. He is charged with
“Prisoner MFG Weapon/Etc”
“Furnish Escape Equipment”
“Appropr Lost Prop – $400”
whatever those things mean. He is being / has been held at Santa Rita over the weekend.
It is unknown at this time whether he has a lawyer or will be assigned a public defender or, really, what is going to happen.
Friend and comrade Elliot was arrested Thursday evening as he left the Albany Bulb, located near Berkeley CA in the east bay area of California. Elliot is a longtime organizer and has been involved in a variety of struggles and campaigns. Recently, Elliot, along with others, have been working with residents of the Albany Bulb, a squattter encampment that is been under attack from the police and local government. Learn more at sharethebulb.org.
Elliot’s capture comes in the wake of the arrest of two of the last bulb residents and the destruction of their house, as well as the arrest of two other Bulb supporters. Elliot is being hit with multiple trumped up charges, including possessing tools to escape from jail and possession of weapons, both felonies, as well as two misdemeanors. His bail is set at $65,000, which means that we need $6,500 to bond him. Please support!
To donate, go to: www.gofundme.com/9pkg6c
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
We’ve started a “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard.
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. We need to continue the pressure on Staples and encourage other unions to pass resolutions denouncing the Post Office’s agreement with Staples.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it may be voted on in November.
Encouraging articles have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum
Conversation
with David Korten
David Korten will join us to share his current work on a new book and engage in conversation around the central theme – changing our story from one of “sacred money and markets” to one of a “living economy on a living Earth”. He is interested in exploring this theme with members of the Occupy Forum to test the extent to which this frame has potential broad resonance:
“Our defining cultural story determines what we most value as a society and how our institutions structure our relationships with one another and nature. We are in terminal crisis because we have our story badly wrong. To find a path to a viable human future, we must replace the “sacred money and markets” story around which we currently organize with a” sacred life and living Earth” story that acknowledges our nature and reality as living beings born of a living Earth born of a living universe.”
David Korten’s seminal book and international bestseller, When Corporations Rule the World, is considered by many to be the “bible” of the global Living Democracy Movement, and helped explain globalization to thousands. � It has become a modern classic with a message that seems increasingly prophetic with each passing day. Its central message is a clear and unequivocal wake-up call to humanity. Korten also wrote The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism; The Great Turning:
From Empire to Earth Community; Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth
� to Real Wealth,� among others.
Time will be allocated for announcements.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Staff Attorney Mark Rumold will argue before a judge that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) must release key legal opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) regarding Section 215 of the Patriot Act—the law the National Security Agency (NSA) uses to collect telephone records on a massive scale.
Judge: Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers presiding.
Walmart Associates will be on strike to protest Walmart’s illegal retaliation against Associates who have spoken up about inequality and have gone on strike.
We’ll be talking to customers and asking them to support Walmart Associates who continue to highlight the issue of Walmart’s poverty wages deepening income inequality and the impact it has on its workers, customers, and communities as a whole and call on Walmart to raise workers’ wages to $25,000 per year.
Zaki Manian and Janet Weil will host a discussion on a year since Snowden and planning future activism efforts.
Discussion of a year of activism against mass surveillance structured around video clips of significant journalism..
Space is Limited. Please RSVP.
Look for the Strike Debt Bay Area booth somewhere between 24th & 5th streets on Telegraph.
Come hang out and learn about debt! Pick up a copy of the Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual and learn how to fight against your and others debts.
The Alan Blueford Center for Justice will be open for First Friday.
Come pay a visit!
Marxist Editor, LeiLani Dowell, speaks on Uniting Women, LGBTQ, & Workers’ Struggles as part of a California statewide speaking tour. After Oakland, she will speak in San Diego and LA.
LeiLani Dowell began her activism while studying Labor Studies at San Francisco State University shortly after 9/11, when she became actively engaged in the struggle to prevent the war against Iraq. As a queer woman, Dowell has done organizing for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer rights in both San Francisco and New York, where she currently resides. Dowell has participated in solidarity and fact-finding delegations to Colombia, Lebanon, El Salvador and Haiti, reporting on her experiences in the pages of Workers World Newspaper. She represented the U.S. delegation at a deliberative session of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 2005, and was a lead organizer of a youth delegation to Cuba in 2007.
In 2009, Dowell traveled on an International Action Center-sponsored delegation to Honduras as a right-wing coup was taking place in the country, reporting on the incredible people’s resistance that awakened in response. She was the sole U.S. representative at the 3rd All India Women’s Conference in Kerala, India, in January 2013, and returned to Honduras to monitor the national elections in November.
Dowell’s writings have been published in the books Feminism and War; Marxism, Reparations & the Black Freedom Struggle http://www.workers.org/reparations/reparations-marxism_bk.pdf; Gaza: Symbol of Resistance http://gazaresistancebook.com/; and What is Marxism All About http://www.amazon.com/What-Marxism-All-About-Revolutionaries/dp/0895671530.
Currently she is a Managing Editor of Workers World Newspaper.
Andy Lopez will be honored by family, friends and supporters on the occasion of his 14th birthday. Andy will be celebrated by both those who knew him personally and by those who have been seeking a just response to his death. Speakers at the opening and concluding gatherings will share what Andy’s life and memory mean to them and what they expect to be his lasting legacy.
The noon march will lead by Danza Azteca Coyolxauqui and by youth contingents from Andy’s Youth and the Windsor Bloco Youth Ensemble. Participating group members of the Justice Coalition for Andy Lopez (JCAL), and Mothers in White, as well as other local and state-wide supporters and groups.
The event, entitled, “Not Forgotten – Andy Lopez Presente!,” will begin at 11:00. At noon, participants will march to central Santa Rosa for a culminating birthday rally at Old Courthouse Square.
Time: 11-12Noon – Gather and Speakers
12-1:30pm – March To Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, CA
1:30-3pm – Rally and Speakers
What does activism look like in Haiti & how can you be apart of it? How can it shape your work here?
Join HAC as we explore Haiti’s history, current political situation, and the connections to parallel struggles throughout the U.S. and around the world.
Come to our first meeting!
Resistance & the Lavalas Movement:
What is Lavalas? Do people in Haiti support the current government? Who is involved in Haiti’s fight for democracy? Why do the world’s superpowers fear the people’s movement? Who is really in power in Haiti? What does activism look like in Haiti?
New to Strike Debt?? Don’t walk cold turkey into a bunch of radicals talking about debt! Show up a half hour early — at 2:30 PM — for an informal pre-meeting intro session. If you’d like to attend this pre-get-together please email strike.debt.bay.area@
Join Strike Debt Bay Area in working on some exciting projects locally and nationally to fight unjust debt.
– The latest on our coalition efforts to Save the Berkeley Post Office and fight the privatization of our commons.
– The latest on our efforts to help Richmond and NGO allies push for principal reduction for Richmond’s homeowners. Read two articles here and here, written by two Strike Debt Bay Area members on the Richmond principal reduction / eminent domain case.
In addition, we are exploring the use of a public bank to help Richmond, CA and other communities escape the thrall of Wall Street.
– Work on our radio segment broadcast periodically on KPFA.
– A project to bring non-profit, non-usurious payday loan services to Vallejo and Oakland.
– Other projects include efforts to fight against student debt in conjunction with peeps at UC Cal via a Strike Debt UC Berkeley chapter of Strike Debt, a book group with semi-weekly discussions, investigations into the legitimacy of mortgage ownership and therefore the right to foreclose, and more.
– Get your very own cop of The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual!
“Just as bosses are dependent on workers, so are lenders dependent on borrowers. If workers walk out, the enterprise stops. If borrowers refuse to pay their debts, the lenders could be in real trouble. Each side depends on the other. The millions of underwater mortgage holders, of student debtors and credit card holders, need the bank loans – but so do the banks need those borrowers, and they especially need them to cooperate by paying their monthly charges. Otherwise, the capital that the banks list on their books begins to drain away.” ~Francis Fox Piven
Check out our website, our Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.
Check out the Berkeley Post Office Defenders website too.
On June 8, 2011 our beloved son, brother, father, husband, uncle, nephew, grandson, cousin & friend Justice For Ernest Duenez Jr. was murdered by John Moody of the Manteca PD.
Join us this year as we march from the place where he was murdered – 241 Flores Ave Manteca, CA – to the Manteca Police Station.
For the last 3 years you have all seen us through our darkest hours and we would be honored if you would join us as we remind the City of Manteca that we want JUSTICE FOR ERNEST & JAIL FOR MOODY!!
This will be a peaceful march. We encourage you to bring your signs representing your loved ones lost. We will never forget the lives that were stolen from us.
11:30 am meet at 241 Flores Ave Manteca, Ca
12:00 noon begin march to Manteca PD
BBQ to follow at location to be announced at march
Join us for food and family time***kids games***kids bring your swimsuits
Ernest’ murder caught on police camera: