Calendar
- student debt resistance
- organizing for public banking.
- advocating for Postal banking.
- ongoing study group
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- our famous Strike Debt radio program
- staging Debtors’ Assemblies
- Reviewing our recent presentation on money and debt at the US Social Forum
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- and much more!
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.
Defenders of the East Bay Hills forests will be meeting this weekend. Please spread the word and come join us!
Our next organizing meeting will be on July 12 at 3pm at the Eucalyptus Grove/Grinnell Natural Area, near UC Berkeley campus West entrance.
(From the corner of Oxford and Center, follow the pathway into the trees across a foot bridge. Near the end of the pathway turn left across a second foot bridge into the eucalyptus grove.)
Bring lawn chairs or blankets, and anything else you need to get comfortable.
Wheelchair accessible. Please don’t wear scented products to this meeting as there are several chemically sensitive participants among us, who were injured by pesticides like the ones used in these projects.
If you’ve not signed up on the East Bay Hills Forest Defense discussion and organizing list, please do so here (or get in touch if you need help signing up): https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/eastbayhills
The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.
We meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at the SEIU Local 1000 union hall in downtown Oakland at 6:30 PM.
Our work together encompasses: (1) the concerns of precarious, contingent, and care workers; (2) current campaigns to improve wages for low-wage workers; and (3) efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life. We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.
We look forward to learning with you and making change for the better.
Please love and support one another. We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win.
Updates on our progress, organizing strategies and developing work plan to get Public Safety Oversight measure on the Nov 2016 ballot
We discuss various monetary and debt-related topics. For our next meeting we will be discussing Greece, it’s debt, the recent referendum and its implications on the world monetary system, and Greece’s prospects.
Here is a (long) investigation into the origins and odious nature of Greek debt.
https://berkeleypostofficedefenders.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/greek-odious-debt.pdf
Some recent articles. Select a subset, and/or find your own…
A good overview of how it all came to be in layman’s terms.
Greek debt crisis: ‘Of all the damage, healthcare has been hit the worst’
Tsipras Has Just Destroyed Greece.
Germany Won’t Spare Greece Pain – It Has an Interest in Breaking Us.
Michael Hudson: EU Infrastructure Undermines Sovereignty
NY Times: Debt Crisis Pits Greeks Against Germans
Wall Street Journal: Europe Takes Hard Line with Greece
Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to save Greece
Yanis Varoufakis full transcript: our battle to save Greece
The actual deal made on Monday:
Greek debt crisis: Here’s the deal
The Euro-Summit ‘Agreement’ on Greece – annotated by Yanis Varoufakis
Deal on Greek Debt Crisis Is Reached, but Long Road Remains
The Problem of Greece Is Not Only a Tragedy. It Is a Lie.
Greece put its faith in democracy but Europe has vetoed the result
How Will the Greek Privatization Fund Work?
Yanis Varoufakis: On the Euro Summit’s Statement on Greece: First thoughts
International Monetary Fund Proposed Greek Debt Relief
How Greece Was Lost: ‘We Were Set Up’ – Yanis Varoufakis
Massive debt relief for Greece would give economy chance to grow: IMF
The I.M.F. Is Telling Europe the Euro Doesn’t Work
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The Politics of Debt Reading Group is affiliated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.
Come learn about continuing developments in the battle save the Berkeley Post Office and the Postal Service from privatization, support our Occupiers and help us plan our next steps in opposition to the theft of our public commons.
The postal service wanted to sell the post office to Hudson-Mcdonald, a local developer. The City of Berkeley sued the post office to stop the sale. Hudson-Mcdonald backed out of the deal in early December.
Federal Judge William Alsup decided to dismiss the lawsuit in April because the Postal Service says it is not currently selling the building. But we’re not fooled. The Postal Service could “find” a buyer at any moment. Fortunately, the Judge ordered the Postal Service to provide 42 days notice before any sale, so that the lawsuit could be refiled.
Check out the Community Garden at the Post Office.
In the latest developments, Berkeley has Declared War on Its Homeless, and an ordinance criminalizing the homeless came before the City Council on June 30th (see here and here) but was tabled until September.
Also check out our website and the Save the Berkeley Post Office website, and First they Came for the Homeless Facebook for updates.
BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, which itself is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.
 Join us to help stop a dirty coal-export project in West Oakland!RALLY in front of Oakland’s City Hall, then join us as we speak out at the 6 pm City Council meeting to demand a coal-free Oakland.
Want to volunteer? Email coalfreeoakland@gmail.com |
Worker-leaders at Chinese restaurant M.Y. Noodles in Sonoma County stood up together to call for an intimidation-free process to unionize in November 2014. Restaurant management refused to honor the workers’ voices and continues to refuse to this day. Despite the disregard and denial, M.Y. Noodles workers remain strong. On July 21, they’re going to march through San Francisco to show that they and all the restaurant workers organizing across the Bay Area stand together in their fights for respect.
A groundswell of restaurant worker organization is sweeping across the United States as workers stand up in pursuit of better futures for themselves and their families. Bay Area restaurant workers are at the forefront of the struggle, organizing, fighting, and winning in their workplaces. Workers at forward-thinking San Francisco dim sum institution Yank Sing stood up and were able to negotiate a $4 million settlement and comprehensive benefit agreement in 2014. Fast food workers from all corners of the Bay stand shoulder to shoulder with their brothers and sisters fighting nationally, leading the charge for $15 an hour and a union. M.Y. Noodles workers continue their fight for a fair process to unionize and won’t stop until they win the respect they deserve.
To show the solidarity and strength of all Bay Area restaurant workers, M.Y. Noodles workers will lead a march for respect on July 21. The march will begin at the Powell St. Cable Car turnaround and head up Powell to Sutter St. before ending with a rally in Union Square.
We, Bay Area restaurant workers, have stood up in our workplaces for better futures. On July 21, we’re going to march in the streets for respect. Come march with us!
“My co-workers and I have asked management for a fair process to organize.
However, management has ignored our rights as workers.”
-Lilia Bermudez
Dishwasher at M.Y. Noodles
Single mom of 3
* * *
“I have stood up to management with my co-workers.
We have requested management give us a fair process to organize, but so far they have not been willing to agree.”
-Lorenzo Ceniceros
Runner at M.Y. Noodles
Supporting ill father
UNITE HERE Local 2850, 1440 Broadway, Suite 208, Oakland, CA 94612 | www.unitehere2850.org
his is a meeting to express concerns directly to the Berkeley police review commission. The public can demand a thorough investigation into policing strategy during the #BlackLivesMatter protests in Berkeley. Public comment is at the start of the meeting, and a second time for public comment is at the end of the meeting. The police review process doesn’t work if the public doesn’t speak.
This a meeting for the general public, but there is a special interest into surveillance research, investigative journalism and police militarization.
The review commission cannot make effective recommendations to changing police procedure, if the review commission doesn’t have a full understanding of what the police did in suppressing the protests.
In December of 2014, a series of protests took place in Berkeley and Oakland against systematic racism in policing.
1. How did police agencies use undercover operatives in the #BlackLivesMatter protests?
On the night of Wednesday December 10th, an undercover cop pulled a gun on press photographers and protesters, after being exposed. The officer, who was trying to entice people into breaking windows, was confronted by protesters who were trying to keep the focus on the march. (http://www.dailydot.com/politics/oakland-black-lives-matter-undercover-cop/)
2. How did the FBI use surveillance technology? On December 8th, a low flying plane flew over Berkeley at low altitudes, circling over Berkeley. This summer, information about the FBI’s “secret airforce” was revealed. The FBI owns and operates a fleet of light aircraft under the guise of dummy companies. These aircraft can be used for cellphone surveillance. (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/fbi-surveillance-government-planes-cities) (https://bgr.com/2015/06/03/fbi-dirtbox-stingray-spy-plane-program/)
3. How did police agencies coordinate operational conduct ad information sharing?
Police from the University of California, Hayward, Pleasanton, Oakland, and other agencies were present at the protests. Yet only representatives from Berkeley police have appeared at Police Review Commission meetings. Was there a command structure that set operational standards between the different departments, or were the departments acting independently with their own different standards of conduct? As outside police agencies gathered information about the protest, did those agencies give their data to Berkeley police, or did each police department keep their own data?
Hot topics with a Focus on Education
Amply your voice: Unity, Democracy, Diversity! Updates from Steering Committee & Action Teams.
Report on reorganization plans.
New members can join at the door and current members can update their status.
9. Subject: Right to Record and Photograph
From: Members Of The Public: 100 Black Men
Recommendation: Adopt A The Following Pieces Of Legislation 1) Resolution Affirming The Right To Photograph, Video And/Or Audio Record Police And/Or Peace Officer(s)
Report: https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=3761697&GUID=D340EB96-48E5-4FEA-B652-F633CEACFE48 [+ two supplemental reports …]
Also on the agenda:
From: Oakland Police Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To 1) Accept And Appropriate Grant Funds In The Amount Of $290,000 From The State Of California, Office Of Traffic Safety (OTS), For The FY 2015-16 Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP)
In order to meet grant goals, OPD staff will continue to complete the STEP in accordance with OPD policy and OTS grant requirements. These requirements include the performance of the following operations between October 1, 2015 and September 30. 2016:
� 5 DUI/Driver License Checkpoints
� 12 DUI Saturation Patrols
� 4 Distracted Driving enforcement operations targeting drivers using hand-held cellular phones and texting
� 12 Traffic Enforcement operations including, but not limited to, select primary collision factor violations
� 4 Motorcycle Safety operations
� 2 Click-It or Ticket seatbelt enforcement operations
� 12 bicycle and pedestrian enforcement operations in identified areas of high bicycle and pedestrian traffic
� Participation in the National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April
� Participation in the statewide Click It or Ticket mobilization period in May
� Collaboration with the Alameda County Chiefs of Police Association’s Avoid the 21 Driving under the Influence Coalition
The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.
We meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at the SEIU Local 1000 union hall in downtown Oakland at 6:30 PM.
Our work together encompasses: (1) the concerns of precarious, contingent, and care workers; (2) current campaigns to improve wages for low-wage workers; and (3) efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life. We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.
We look forward to learning with you and making change for the better.
Please love and support one another. We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win.
- student debt resistance
- organizing for public banking.
- advocating for Postal banking.
- ongoing study group
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- our famous Strike Debt radio program
- staging Debtors’ Assemblies
- Reviewing our recent presentation on money and debt at the US Social Forum
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- and much more!
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.
Agenda:
· review the latest draft of our proposed ballot measure,
· discuss proposals for how to ensure we get the best Commissioners
· talk about the work that lies ahead: growing the Coalition, getting important endorsements, educating the public and meeting with our Council members.
· We’ll also need to put on some community events and do some fundraising.
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality. In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity.
Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression.
Sisters and brothers the Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.
The Oscar Grant Committee meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month.
We discuss various monetary and debt-related topics. For our next meeting we will be discussing Greece, it’s debt, the recent referendum and its implications on the world monetary system, and Greece’s prospects.
A continuation of our last meeting. See there for a list of background reading and please read the latest articles in the news about what is happening in Greece.
The Politics of Debt Reading Group is affiliated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.
Today, after 70 years, nearly 16,000 nuclear weapons-94% of them held by the USA and Russia-continue to pose an intolerable threat to humanity, and the danger of nuclear war is growing. Whether a nuclear exchange is initiated by accident, miscalculation or madness, the radiation will know no boundaries. The USA plans to spend a trillion dollars over the next thirty years “modernizing” its nuclear arsenal. The human cost of this is immeasurable-to our health, environment, ethics, and democracy, to our prospects for global peace, and to our confidence in human survival.
Program featuring Daniel Ellsberg, Country Joe McDonald, Taiko drummers and more; followed by a short march to the Lab gate, a traditional Japanese Bon Dance, nonviolent direct action and witness.
Sponsored by dozens of Bay Area peace and justice groups. More info: Tri-Valley CAREs, 925-443-7148, and Western States Legal Foundation, 510-839-5877
EMERGENCY ACTION AND MEETING TO DEFEND HUCHIUN – KNOWLAND PARK!
PLEASE SHARE AND INVITE!
http://www.facebook.com/events/1621914134725011/
12:00 PM – Thursday August 6th – The Knowland Park entrance by the intersection of Malcolm and Snowdown Ave.
6:00 PM – Planning Meeting – The Knowland Park entrance by the intersection of Malcolm an Snowdown Ave.
Please join us this Thursday to stop the construction and plan a long term resistance to defend the park and neighborhood from the Zoo!
Over the weekend the Oakland Zoo began constructing a fence around the proposed development site for the Zoo expansion despite public outcry against its negative impacts on the rare habitat and working class neighborhood. The Oakland Zoo plans to cut down 50+ trees including 2 old growth Oak trees destroying the home of the threatened Alameda Whipsnake, the rare Maritime Chaparral plant community and the Mountain Lion. We see this expansion as neo-colonial, gentrifying, and devastating to this rare and beautiful land. Now that the Zoo and City of Oakland are refusing to hear the concerns of a massive community coalition the we are being forced to take direct action to protect the land.
#DayofRage is in honor of Sandra Bland. We, the people of the Bay Area, and the United State of Amerika need to stand up and fight the racist, and militant police force that controls us. Its time for us to stand up for our rights and make our voices heard.
We do not want to cause any more violence than we are already accustomed to, but we do need to raise hell. We need to stick up for our brothers and sisters nation wide. We need full police reform. We need your help. Please find time in your busy lives to make a difference. We need voices and bodies from all walks of life, after all, we are in this together. Please spread the word, and invite friends, family, coworkers, etc. We need this senseless violence to stop. Bring noise makers, loud speakers, anything to catch the attention of the masses. How many more deaths will it take for change to happen? Why wait, lets make it happen now.
Remember, if you are reading this, then you ARE the RESISTANCE.
RIP Sandra Bland. Another senseless murder for the fail to use a turning signal.
#SandraBland
#DayofRage
Normally OO holds its GA on the 2nd Sunday at 2 PM at the Omni to accommodate the Open Circle meeting there at 3:45 or so, but this week the Open Circle was rescheduled, so GA will be at it “normal” time and place, 4PM at OGP. -Special Ed
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The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway, often on the steps of City Hall. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. On second and fourth Sundays we meet at 2 PM at the Omni so we can also meet with the Open Circle folks at 3:45. There is a potluck at the Omni starting at about 3PM between the meetings.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for more than three 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
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (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)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (kitchen@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