OccupyForum presents…

The History of Socialism in America:
from Robert Owens’ utopian experiment
of 1825 to Bernie’s political revolution of 2016

By Eugene Ruyle, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology,  Cal State, Long Beach Institute for the Critical Study  of Society in Oakland

As a democratic socialist, Bernie Sanders began a political revolution to transform a political system run by the billionaire class into one that represents working and middle class Americans and creates more opportunity for everyone. This workshop will take a closer look at Bernie’s socialism by placing it within the global context of two centuries of working class struggle against capitalist rule. This will allow a better understanding of how Bernie has adapted socialism to the United States in the Twenty-First Century, and how to improve our struggles for a better world for all humanity. Now that Bernie is no longer a candidate, it’s up to us to continue the struggle.

Gene Ruyle is author of “Rethinking Marxist Anthropology,” and other essays. He is active with the Oscar Grant Committee, Veterans for Peace, and the Peace and Freedom Party.

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

Q&A and Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!

Friday’s powerful action was the beginning of a major organizing push that can end Urban Shield in Alameda County once and for all. Bring your people to get involved in the next steps to defund and end Urban Shield. We believe that we can defund and end Alameda County’s hosting of Urban Shield, but we need your support to win this fight.

Sign the petition online – https://campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/stand-up-against-police-militarization-say-no-to-urban-shield

Sign up for our email list at stopurbanshieldnow@gmail.com, and visit stopurbanshield.org to stay involved.

Please join us for two consecutive lectures by Cassie Thornton of the Feminist Economics Department and Alessandra Saviotti of the Asociación de Arte Útil.
Sponsored by the Birdhouse Collective and WICAN

Cassie Thornton, working under the Feminist Economics Department (FED), presents the three recent projects in Chicago, Halifax and New York. These projects involve (respectively) (a) encouraging children to use crowbars to destroy walls made out of debt-wracked adults’ imagination, (b) mobilizing citizens in a pub to use yoga to demand the economically depressed Nova Scotia be declared a postwork province, and (c) placing cursed watercolors in financial institutions.

Alessandra Saviotti is an independent curator who focuses on collaborative practices according to the motto ‘cooperation is better than competition’. She presents three projects realised in cooperation with artists, curators, cooks, architects and asylum seekers which try to implement the idea of Arte Útil. Arte Útil (roughly translated into English as ‘useful art’ or, more accurately, art as a tool or device) is an ongoing body of work that draws on artistic thinking to imagine, create and implement tactics that can change how we act in society.

We can’t let Berkeley forget Kayla. City government continues to fail to prioritize people over policing. But, what we really need is accountability, not a motion to dismiss. What we really need is community care, not killer cops!

NEXT TUESDAY, we’ll come together in community to keep Kayla’s memory alive in the streets of Berkeley.

Down Syndrome and deafness in 1950 consigned Judith Scott to a state institution for 35 nightmare years before her twin sister obtained her release. Once discarded by society, she responded to opportunities at Creative Growth Art Center by becoming a world-famous fiber artist. “Entwined”, a book by her sister Joyce, explores the twins’ closeness and the profound impact of Judith’s extraordinary life and remarkable creativity. Copies will be available for sale. Also on this program, Betsy Bayha’s film, “Outsider”, is an intimate portrait of a compelling, eccentric and talented individual who prevailed in the face of daunting odds.

Sponsored by the BFUU SJC.

This screening is co-presented by World Trust and features a post-film discussion with filmmaker Shakti Butler.

Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible allows white people to find their own voice, and to reflect on their own experience and understanding. They hear from role models — other white people who have already committed themselves to racial justice. This has been a missing piece in social justice and cultural competency work. And, when viewing this film, people of color have an opportunity to focus on their own issues of internalized racism, should they chose to do so.

Who stole the American Dream?  (And How Can We Get it Back?)

This documentary explores the worldwide economic collapse of 2008, tracing its originals to a 1971 secret memo entitles ‘Attack on the American Free Enterprise System.’

Free snacks and popcorn!

Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, The Center for Ethnographic Research presents:

Steve Viscelli, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

Co-sponsored by the Center for Labor Research and Education

Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. Deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets–once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history–into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

This talk will explain how this massive degradation in the quality of work occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it.  It is based on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months spent training and working as a long-haul trucker.

Biography

Steve Viscelli (Ph.D. in Sociology, 2010, Indiana University; M.A. in Anthropology, 2002, Syracuse University; B.A. in Philosophy, 1996, Colgate University) is an economic and political sociologist.  He is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.  Steve’s research focuses on work, labor market economics and economic regulation. He has a recent book with the University of California Press entitled The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream. Steve is also a Senior Fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and a Fox Family Pavilion Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.  In addition to his academic research, Steve works with a range of public and private stakeholders to make the trucking industry safer, more efficient, and a better place to work.

Light refreshments will be served.

**Books will be available for sale and signing. Cash and credit cards accepted.

This event is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible.

For accessibility requests, including wheelchair access, please call or email one day prior to the event.

Open as many homes as possible…
Hold them as long as possible…

Our weekly PARTY to get this hackerspace together, to provide a venue for those things that otherwise cannot be worked out through day-to-day practice.

Potluck! – bring your own tasty dish!

Sudo room, located in the southwast corner of the ground floor, is a creative community and hackerspace. We offer tools and project space for a wide range of activities: electronics, sewing/crafting, 3D and 2D manufacturing, coding, and good old-fashioned co-learning!

Hours: The space is open whenever a member is present. Come visit! Best times to drop in are evenings between 7 and 9pm. See the calendar for recurring meetups and upcoming events: https://sudoroom.org/calendar

Oakland – As part of the national renters’ day of action, on September 22, there will be a rally in support of renters’ rights in Oakland and many other cities across the nation. Organizers have planned a day of action for renters in 46 cities on September 22, including some days near September 22 to fight back, and demand a freeze on all unjust evictions and rent increases.

On September 22, according to Causa Justa/Just Cause, in Oakland there will be a rally & banner drop in Oakland at 14th & Broadway at 12:00 PM to amplify #RenterPower and to lift up our fights against evictions, rising cost of rents and displacement. Members include Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, East Bay Housing Organizations, Committee to Protect Oakland Renters-Measure JJ, East Bay Organizing Committee/Fight for $15, SEIU Local 1021, and Housing Rights Committee San Francisco.

In Alameda renters will have a day of action on September 20 — 10:00AM, at 470 Central Ave, one day before the 60-day deadline of no-cause evictions will take effect being conducted by Matt Sridhar and Sridhar Equities.

The renters’ day of action will take place a week after Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, and Councilmembers Nathaniel Bates and Vinay Pimplé blocked a proposed 45-day urgency moratorium on rent increases and no-cause evictions, that was proposed by Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin, and supported by Councilmembers Jael Myrick and Jovanka Beckles.

Attacking renter protections being proposed in a ballot measure in Richmond, the California Apartment Associations’ (CAA) campaign againstMeasure L (renter protection ballot initiative) includes a TV commercial.

More TV commercials are to be aired that are paid for by the CAA, realtors, and wealthy landlords attacking the reasonable renter protections being proposed that voters can vote on in November in the Bay Area. Ballot measures that voters can vote on to help stabilize families, communities, schools and jobs, in the cities of Richmond, Alameda, Burlingame, San Mateo, and Mountain View.

Additionally, the September 22 renters’ day of action is occurring around three weeks after an anti-rent control petition supported by the CAA hit the streets in an effort to block much needed reasonable renters’ protections in Santa Rosa from taking effect.

The “September 22 National Renters’ Day of Action” has been organized by Homes For All, and renters and their advocates across the nation in 46 cities will hit the streets to demand renter protections including rent control, and just cause eviction protections.

List Of Demands

As organizers of the National Renters’ Day of Action, Homes For All is demanding a freeze on all unjust evictions and rent increases. The establishment of a national livable rent standard to restrict rents to 30% of a family income and a livable wage for all workers. The right of all tenants to organize and bargain collectively with landlords without fear of discrimination, retaliation or eviction. The transfer of vacant, foreclosed and underused land to community control through community land trusts and cooperatives to meet the needs of communities of color and working class communities that have historically been targeted ­­from disinvestment to redlining ­­­to the foreclosure crisis and the current eviction epidemic.

“We need bold, transformative and strong solutions to this crisis. Until we get them, we’re going to take to the streets and fight for our homes and our communities,” says Alma Blackwell, an organizer with Causa Justa/Just Cause, in Oakland CA and a renter.

Renter protections will be on the ballot in 6 cities during November in the Bay Area. No matter how hard the landlords and the California Apartment Association are trying to stop the renters movement, tenant advocates across the Bay Area are urging renters to vote on strong renter protections during the upcoming November elections in the cities of Richmond, Oakland, Alameda, Burlingame, San Mateo, and Mountain View. The activists are urging people to vote “no” against any weak proposals placed on the ballot by the City Council in Alameda, and Mountain View.

We anticipate that Sheriff will be making some major moves to push forward the jail expansion soon, so we are ramping up our opposition and could use all the support we can get. Here are some ways you can help:

Come to our next organizing meeting.

Like our Facebook page to stay in the loop and amplify our social media presence.

On September 9th, the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising, thousands of prisoners took action in more than 40 facilities across the country as part of a national strike to demand their rights as workers and humans.
The fight against legal caging and murder is not new, and continues. Two death penalty propositions on the November 2016 California ballot are stirring debates about capital punishment. It’s undeniable that capital punishment targets the poor, is racist, kills innocent people, is cruel and unusual, and doesn’t deter crime.

The ISO has been fighting against the death penalty for over 20 years. Come hear more about the lessons and arguments from past struggles while putting a human face on the ongoing fight to save the more than 725 men and 20 women on California’s death row.

For more information about Kevin Cooper’s case and the Campaign To End the Death Penalty, please check out SaveKevinCooper.org.

9am: coffee and food.

10am: hearing begins. Hearing could take as little as an hour or could be longer.
More info: Facebook event: click HERE

Some details about court support tomorrow:

• WEAR PURPLE! Or, if you have one of the black & white Justice for Kayla Moore shirts bring that plus a back up in case the judge disallows shirts with a message.
• COMING FROM BERKELEY? A group of folks will be meeting at Downtown Berkeley BART at 8am. They’ll have a banner so you can find them to BART over together.
• SECURITY INFO: The court has a security check. Keep that in mind and bring an ID in order to be let in. The court most likely won’t allow photo-taking or signs inside either.

We need YOUR presence in the courtroom to show that our communities reject the City of Berkeley’s attempts to escape accountability for Kayla’s death and the violence she faced, along with so many other people of color, trans women and disabled folks.

Though the hearing begins at 10 a.m., we are asking people to come out early so we are all allowed into the courtroom. We will be there at 9 a.m. with coffee and food, and we will be ready to make some noise.

Kayla Moore was an African American transwoman who lived in Berkeley. She lived with schizophrenia for most of her adult life and was supported by a loving family in her effort to live independently. On February 12, 2013, she was with a friend who grew concerned about her mental health and called 911 for help. Although Berkeley police were familiar with Kayla and had done status checks on her in the past, on this day, they were especially aggressive in their response. Without a legal basis, they grabbed her soon after she answered her door and engaged in a violent struggle with a panicking Kayla. They ordered Kayla’s care provider to leave the room and then proceeded to wrestle her face down on her own mattress. More cops arrived and piled on top of her. Not surprisingly, Kayla stopped breathing and was not given any assisted breathing by the police officers. She died soon after.

This fall, show up to support the Moore family as they seek to hold the city of Berkeley and the BPD accountable for the 2013 in-custody death of their loved one Kayla Moore. Let’s make it clear that the Bay Area has not forgotten Kayla Moore, that her life and memory matter and that we demand an end to racist, transphobic and ableist police violence!

Other ways to get involved:

• Tell Kayla’s story. Spread the word far and wide!
• Sign up for updates about the case: http://eepurl.com/b8MJnL
• Endorse our demands: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/justice-for-kayla-moore-endorse-the-demands
• Make contributions of art, supplies or resources to help make this struggle visible.
• Email us at justice4kaylamoore@gmail.com

ENDORSE at www.actionnetwork.org/forms/

OUR DEMANDS Justice-for-kayla-moore-endorse-the-demands

1 Justice for Kayla Moore! Honor her memory, tell her story, #SayHerName.

On February 12, 2013, Kayla Moore, a Black trans woman with a schizophrenia diagnosis, was in her home when a friend of hers called BPD to get help for Kayla, whose behavior seemed out-of-the-ordinary. Police arrived, but instead of offering Kayla assistance, they immediately tried to take her into custody. Although they had no legal basis for arresting her, they wrestled her onto the ground. Kayla died face down on a futon with six police officers on top of her. She was a beloved sister, daughter, loved one and friend.

2 Hold the City of Berkeley and Berkeley police accountable for killing Kayla Moore.

This fall, the Moore family is pursuing a civil suit against the City of Berkeley and the officers to blame: Gwendolyn Brown, Kenneth Tu, Brandon Smith, Brian Mathis, Timothy Gardner, Nikos Kastmiler and Amber Philips. Let’s pack the courtroom on October 17th to let Berkeley know that we remember Kayla and demand recognition and accountability.

3 Police must not be first responders to mental health crises.

We need community, not cops! We call on the City of Berkeley to cut 1/3rd of the police budget to account for the 35% of police calls that are mental health-related. Instead, redirect these city dollars and fully fund community-run mental health care, including a 24/7 civilian-run crisis response.

4 End the BPD’s violent attacks, criminalization and profiling of people who are Black, Brown, disabled and/or trans.

When Berkeley police showed up at Kayla’s apartment and saw that she was a Black trans woman with schizophrenia, they approached her not as a person to care for but rather as a criminal — despite the fact that she had done absolutely nothing wrong. The officers then used extreme force to try to arrest her for a warrant that was not even in her name. Tragically, we are outraged but not surprised by the BPD’s behavior. After all, we live in a city where 32% of those whom the police stop are Black, despite only 8% of the city population being Black. We live in a country where over 25% of people killed by the police in 2015 were mentally ill. And we live in a country where, in a nationwide study, 38% of Black transgender and gender non-conforming respondents who had interacted with the police reported being harassed by them. The City of Berkeley cannot allow the BPD’s racism, ableism and transmisogyny to continue to have violent — and in Kayla’s case, deadly — results.

Alejandro Ramos, Morelos y Pavón Human Rights Center, Guerrero, Mexico
Gerardo Espinoza, Fray Matías Human Rights Center, Chiapas, Mexico
Sagnicthe Salazar, Xicano Moratorium Coalition
Cat Brooks, Anti Police-Terror Project
Moderator: Rev. Debbie Lee, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

From the Bay Area to Mexico, police act with impunity against local communities and migrants. The ‘drug war’ that has incarcerated millions in the United States has killed 150,000 people and forcibly disappeared another 27,000 in Mexico since 2007. In both countries, spurred by Washington’s policies, immigration agents detain and deport Central Americans fleeing violence back to situations of acute danger. But movements are organizing across borders to defend communities against state violence.

This forum is a rare chance for dialogue and learning from human rights struggles from Oakland to Guerrero. Human rights defenders will bring fresh testimony and discuss what we can do.

This is part of a national speaking tour by the two Mexican activists, which includes visits to Washington, DC (Sept 25-28), Denver (Sept 28-Oct 1), San Diego (Oct 1-5), and Nogales, AZ (Oct 7-10).

This is a two part event. An in-depth presentation by Alejandro Ramos and Gerardo Espinoza will take place the following day: https://www.facebook.com/events/973337199458431/

Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and Global Exchange. Event is free of charge, but donations will be requested to support Mexican human rights work

Hurt people hurt people.
Healed people heal people.
Because we believe this to be true, our main mission at The Alan Blueford Center for Justice is to help heal the commUnity❤️
Much gratitude to Pratiksha Ahuja from The Art of Living for bringing this healing opportunity to the commUnity❤️

We invite you to our first Art of Living Yoga course in Oakland, CA. Please feel free to share this flyer and info below. The course is open to all. No prerequisites required.

“A weekend immersion – Art of Living Yoga”
Art of Living Yoga Workshops offer a holistic experience that beautifully blends Postures, Breath-work, Meditation, Ayurveda talk, and wisdom from classic yoga texts such as Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This combination profoundly elevates the quality of yoga practice.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience and uncover the Yogi in you!

Who can attend: “Open to all levels”
Dates: September 23-25
Time: Weekday: 6:30-9:00 PM, Weekend: 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Address: 2424 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA
Register: http://tinyurl.com/artoflivingyoga

Charlie Hinton & Bill Crossman
Directed by Mark Kenward

Charlie created Solitary Man based on letters and visits with prisoners in Pelican Bay SHU/solitary confinement. The show takes place in November, 2014, a year after the largest prisoner hunger strike in history. Pianist Bill Crossman will improvise music throughout the performance. Afterwards, we will have an update about Pelican Bay and the “security/welfare” checks that are waking up prisoners every 30 minutes in solitary confinement units throughout CA.

Suggested Donation $5-10, no one turned away

Sponsored by

San Franciscans for Police Accountability

The evidence is clear: San Francisco Police Department is badly broken, operates without effective oversight and is in need of transformational reform. The Blue Ribbon Panel on Police Transparency and Accountability  composed of independent volunteer judges and attorneys has thoroughly studied SFPD and made thoughtful recommendations for change. But unless San Franciscans speak out, SFPD will continue to embarrass our City and harm our citizens while these recommendations gather dust.

On September 24, 2016, you are invited to learn more about the Blue Ribbon Panel’s recommendations for reforming SFPD and groups working on police accountability. Our Community Conversation will engage citizens and unite voices to ensure that change occurs.

PROGRAM

• 10:00 TO 10:15 AM: Welcome & Mixer
• 10:15 to 11:00 AM: Family Stories; Making the Problem Real
• 11:00 to 1:00 pm: Overview of the Blue Ribbon Panel Report and the current state of SFPD, Lawyers, Judges, Activists, Experts Panel Discussion, Q&A
• 1:00 PM: Bag lunch & Beverages served, networking with Volunteer Organizations
• 2:00 PM: End of Community Conversation

CONFIRMED PANELISTS

• John Crew, ACLU Police Practices expert
• Anand Subramanian, Blue Ribbon Panel Executive Director
• Adriana Camerena, lawyer, Justice for Alex Nieto Coalition activist

Contact: David Carlos Salaverry 415 426-90738 or Karen Fleshman 917 686-2041