Calendar
This year, Oakland’s Anti Police-Terror Project is calling on our Bay Area community to up the resistance level, as we reclaim the radical legacy of Martin Luther King and resist the fascist Trump agenda. This year the Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March on Monday (1/16) will launch 120 hours of direct action, culminating on #HellNawGuration Day (1/20). This year we are focused on immigrant rights, protection of our Muslim brothers and sisters, womens reproductive rights, loving our LGBTQ sisters, brothers and siblings, and the defense of Black life.
As is our custom, we will host a Spokescouncil meeting to plan and coordinate actions in the SF Bay Area. PLEASE SAVE THE FOLLOWING DATES in your calendar.
Tues Jan 3 – 6-9pm – Omni Commons**
Sat Jan 7 – 2-5pm – First AME Church
Tues Jan 10 – 6-9pm – Omni Commons**
Sat Jan 14 – 2-5pm – First AME Church
Tues Jan 17 – 6-9pm – Omni Commons**
Thurs Jan 19 – 6-9pm – 955 7th St.
What is a spokescouncil?
A spokescouncil is a collective framework for direct action mobilizations, where large masses of people organize themselves into smaller teams called “affinity groups”. Affinity groups plan their actions independently with the intention of advancing the larger goal of the spokescouncil. Affinity groups are represented by at least one person (“a spoke”) at the meetings, where they are able to share resources and coordinate their actions with other groups.
Why a spokescouncil?
We propose the spokescouncil as a solution to many of the shortcomings of unstructured mass assemblies. We intend to provide a highly structured organizing space with clear tactical and messaging guidelines, that empowers participants to organize independently and in parallel. We intend to inspire a multitude of diverse actions and awaken the massive potential we have as a community engaging in direct action.
** for questions or more information about the spokescouncil please contact aptpspokescouncil@gmail.co
NO WORK! NO SCHOOL!
#oaklandJ20 #GeneralStrike #DumpTrump #InaugurationDay
http://www.carlsjr.com/locations
On #J20 shut down Carl’s Jr, Hardee’s, Green Burrito stores wherever you are. Let Trump and Puzder know we won’t go back! The fight is on! Respond on Facebook with locations you will be holding down on #J20
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (In prior years we have agreed to meet at 4:00 PM during summer hours, that is, once Daylight Savings Time goes back into effect).
On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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)
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
Join families whose loved ones have been harmed and killed by cops. Hear their experiences, share ideas for further organizing, and, most of all, love and support one another. ♥
Agenda:
– Introductions
– Family Updates
– Announcements
– Collaborate and Network
*This is a potluck event, please feel free to bring a snack or (non-alcoholic) beverage to share. ♥
Open Circle provides an opportunity to build community with one another, to offer support to Families victimized by police misconduct, including police murder and stand with Families in their struggle for justice for their loved ones.
Location TBD. Check Facebook.
The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.
Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.
Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.
The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.
Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!
Join us in promoting a public bank for the City of Oakland!
The Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland was formed by members of Commonomics and Strike Debt Bay Area in August, 2016.
In November, we succeeded in getting the Oakland City Council to instruct the City Administrator to report on the usefulness of a feasibility study for creating The Public Bank of Oakland. Our next goal is to convince the City Council to commission that study as soon as possible, and incorporate it into a business plan for a public bank in Oakland.
(The City of Oakland is planning a public forum on public banking in Hearing Room 3 of Oakland City Hall, on Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 6:00 p.m., in City Hall (14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland), Hearing Room 3 – Come and support creating our bank!)
After the Administrator’s report, we will lobby the Oakland City Council to pass enabling legislation that will create and fund a public bank for Oakland. Our overarching goal is to see a public bank flourish in Oakland while it helps the community, thereby providing an example for other jurisdictions wishing to rid themselves of their dependence on Wall Street banks.
Join us to fight for a livable wage for all Bay Area workers! We collaborate in principled reflection and action on what the Bay Area livable wage would be and where we are at on the right to a livable wage.
The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds Community and Power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.
Our work together encompasses:
(1) The concerns of precarious, care and contingent workers,
(2) 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.
Oakland Livable Wage Assembly meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, 6:30-8:00 PM at the SEIU Local 1000 Union Hall, 436 14th Street #200, Oakland, CA
Please love and support one another ~ We have a duty to fight ~ We have a duty to win!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1568668586707336/
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.
- organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first step happen… now we have to keep the momentum going! We’re helping to put on a forum for Public Banking in Oakland on February 9th.
- Tiny Homes for the homeless.
- Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts
- money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitive ticketing and fining schemes
- helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
- student debt resistance
- Promoting the concept of Basic Income
- advocating for Postal banking
- Presenting debt-related topics at forums and workshops
- Bring your own debt-related project!
If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com .
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.
Demonstrators at #SFO are requesting that thousands of people show up to the airport later today (Sunday, January 29) at noon.#NoBanNoWall
— Indybay (@Indybay) January 29, 2017
Come To the All-Day SFO #MuslimBan Protest Today! https://t.co/TG6qcdNa9J
— GlenThePlumber (@GlenThePlumber) January 29, 2017
Coming to @flySFO at 12PM? Print some beautiful #NoBanNoWall/#SanctuaryForAll art from @designaction https://t.co/7SUQPlgECm #NoMuslimBanSFO pic.twitter.com/5Kindmh76O
— San Francisco Rising (@SF_Rising) January 29, 2017
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (In prior years we have agreed to meet at 4:00 PM during summer hours, that is, once Daylight Savings Time goes back into effect).
On every last Sunday we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five 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)
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
The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.
Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.
Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.
The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.
Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!
We won’t stand idly by as Donald Trump and Republicans try to push through a shocking cabinet of billionaires and bigots – and we must speak out against Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders targeting Muslims, refugees, and immigrants.
Last week and this past weekend, tens of thousands of us rallied peacefully at senate offices, airports, and other community locations. Members of Congress, other elected officials, and the media are taking notice. If we keep up the public protest, we can change the course of history.
Will you join us again tomorrow to say NO to Trump’s #SwampCabinet, #NoBanNoWall, and to shut down this president’s unconstitutional agenda?
YES, I’LL BE THERE!
I can’t make it, but show me other events near me.
If this talk isn’t already cancelled, meet us on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 4pm outside of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center on the campus of UC Berkeley (on Bancroft Ave., just west of Telegraph).
Bring your allies and friends!
The Berkeley College Republicans have invited far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at UC Berkeley on February 1st.
Given the recent increase in fascist activity both on and around the UC Berkeley campus, we feel that the university’s willingness to provide a platform to Milo Yiannopoulos and his views is unacceptable, and we intend to shut this event down. We are inviting all allies and the Berkeley community to join us in making UC Berkeley a fascist-free zone.
Yiannopoulos is one of the many online trolls who successfully capitalized on the Trump campaign to bring fascist and racist ideas into the mainstream. While his presence on the web can be traced back to the GamerGate controversy, Yiannopoulos rose to cult fame through his work at Breitbart News Network, where he used his identity as a gay man to express overtly islamophobic views under the facade of queer interests. Similar to Trump, the core of Yiannopoulos’ support has come from places like 4Chan, Reddit, and other online bastions of the “Alt-Right”. However, since being banned from Twitter for his anti-black harassment of actor Leslie Jones, Milo has been searching for a new platform off the web for his hateful ideology. In fact, on his current book tour Yiannopoulos has used the frame of “anti-political correctness” to push dangerous narratives about a wide array of marginalized groups. Some examples of his hatred on tour so far includes such spectacles as dressing in drag to mock a sexual assault survivor; calling to keep trans folks out of the LGBT movement and encouraging their harassment; and calling BlackLivesMatter a terrorist group. Additionally, Yiannopoulos is connected to Roosh V, a well-known “men’s rights activist” that has advocated for legalizing rape, and Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute (NPI), intellectual head of the “Alt-Right” that seeks to make America an exclusively white ethno-state, who came to the UC Berkeley campus in May 2016 with UCPD protection to recruit Berkeley students to his white supremacist cause.
In this context, Yiannopoulos’s college speaking tour should be recognized as an effort to embolden “Alt-Right” internet trolls into real world political organizing on college campuses. In light of the success of the Trump campaign, the “Alt-Right” is looking for opportunities to turn their momentum into an organized political front. This event is particularly important as an opportunity for Yiannopoulos to connect with a large audience, and for a large number of far right supporters to connect with him and others at the event. This is an opportunity that we cannot give them.
As the last year has demonstrated, this kind of free speech and discussion has meant near impunity for racists and sexists to target marginalized students on campus with little recourse for those who are harassed. We believe that an educational community should not accommodate fascist ideologies. We believe it is the responsibility of communities both on and off campus to shut down this kind of organizing in order to ensure that there is no platform for fascists in Berkeley!
This is a call to action to stand against fascism and the militarization of campuses. This is a call to stand in solidarity with those communities who are most at risk from this kind of neo-fascist “free speech,” especially in the wake of Trump’s election win. We encourage those interested in taking a stand now to use the letter template below to demand that UC Berkeley not host Yiannopoulos.
Feel free to draft your own message or use the letter script provided below however you choose to contact the University. For those interested in delivering their message over the phone or via mail we have provided that info below:
I am writing to express my anger and frustration at UC Berkeley’s decision to host notorious racist, sexist, and transphobic speaker Milo Yiannopoulos on February 1, 2017. I am also notifying you of a growing inter-community coalition to keep Milo off campus and of my support for them. In light of the increasing hostility towards marginalized groups on campus, including the hate crime committed on campus on election night and the increasing racist harassment around campus that has followed, it is disgraceful that UC Berkeley would welcome Mr. Yiannopoulos and his hateful, bigoted rhetoric on campus. Mr. Yiannopoulos was slated to speak at Portland State University and NYU, however both campuses cancelled the events stating that his viewpoints compromised student safety. He has also been permanently banned from DePaul University as the school claimed he created a “hostile environment.”
The permission of this speaking event is yet another example of the continued inaction by the university to protect the interests of many of its students. At this point it is well within the university’s ability to stop this event from happening. I urge the university to issue an apology to the community at large for permitting such a dangerous figure to come to campus and threaten the safety of its students. If the university chooses not to take action, students and community members will take the initiative to keep their campus safe.
Contacts:
UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks’ office
Phone: 510-642-7464
Email: chancellor@berkeley.edu
Dan Mogulof, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Public Affairs
Phone: 510-642-3715
Mobile: 510-919-6954
Email: dmogulof@berkeley.edu
The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the far right – racists, Islamophobes and misogynists are attempting to come out into the light and gain a foothold across the country. We have to show them that we won’t tolerate any rise in far right activity. We will come together to fight oppression and prevent them from having a platform in our universities. They aim to recruit mainly young, alienated white men to their politics of white supremacy, xenophobia, and misogyny. Join us and unite against oppression and against a corporate political system that relies on this right-wing, divide-and-conquer rhetoric.
Milo Yiannopoulos is a spokesperson for the newly activated far right, an Islamophobic writer for Breitbart, a leader of the Gamergate sexual harassment campaign, and a figurehead for some of the most hateful right-wing elements in Trump’s camp. We should allow no space for his message at UC Berkeley.
We also have to do more than stop one event to prevent these far right elements from recruiting and growing their forces. We have to shut them down and drown out their events in every community they pop up, and we have to undermine them politically as well. We need a vibrant Left force in this country that will serve as a progressive outlet for the anger and frustration caused by capitalism in this moment of crisis. Socialist Alternative calls for a new party of the 99%, free of corporate money, with a political program that can offer real solutions to working people and oppressed communities.
The first step in this campaign is to build mass public pressure so that Yiannopoulos cancels his tour, or so the UC cancels it for him. This will mean building this Facebook event, inviting everyone you know, and also hitting the streets to organize and to gather signatures for a petition to the UC administration. Please SHARE this event and INVITE your friends!
If the UC fails to do close Yiannopoulos down, or if he moves to an off-campus venue, we will gather the community for a mass counter-protest and shut down that event.