To celebrate the release of the second edition of second zine “Ours,” our September Second Saturday Skillshare will explore the direct action tactic of occupying homes and other buildings in a public way. We will watch some footage of epic HnJ actions from years past and explore how this tactic might be used in a contemporary context.
We will collect donations to support East Bay Homes not Jails and the Omni Commons.
Monthly interfaith prayer meeting, held on second Sundays, dedicated to survivors and victims of violence and police terror in Oakland.
“Remember the saying: ‘Of all pilgrimages the greatest is to relieve the sorrow-laden heart.'” ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
The Baha’i community of Oakland is organizing this gathering for the community to connect, share prayers, writings and poems from all spiritual traditions, reflect and recharge and build coalitions interested in healing.
Come share prayers, quotes, poems, and favorite passages from your scriptures with us. Simple breakfast will be served.
“Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.” ~ Bahá’u’lláh
For several months, East Bay DSA has worked to build support for single-payer healthcare in California by canvassing throughout Berkeley, and now it’s Oakland’s turn.
Come join us on Saturday, September 10, in North Oakland for our next neighborhood canvassing event. For more information, email info@eastbaydsa.org.
Please join us for the regular biweekly meeting of the Sunflower Alliance — but it’s three weeks after the last one because we skipped a week for Labor Day. We’ll discuss ongoing campaigns and future plans — we need your participation and your voice. Newcomers encouraged!
From now until October 3rd, EBSC will hold a series of workshops to provide information and to file qualifying renewal DACA applications. Below is a list of currently scheduled workshops (we will release more dates as they become available):
To register for a workshop, please fill out the following form:
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. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
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
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
Oakland has long been a center for highly polluting transportation activities. This has resulted in disproportionately high health impacts for the residents of West Oakland. Our goal is to systematically reduce the level of pollution caused by all these polluting activities, and we have made some progress. But we can’t afford to allow brand new pollution, in the form of coal dust, to further threaten our health. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel on Earth, imperiling the health of workers, endangering communities along the tracks, and contributing greatly to global warming and climate change.
Michael Kaufman, co-facilitator of the No Coal in Oakland campaign, will discuss the history of the campaign, its short-lived victory last year, and the current situation. He will also address the campaign’s importance in the larger struggle.
Michael Kaufman has been an activist for his whole adult life in anti-racist, peace, labor and environmental movements. He fought against the war in Vietnam as a college student while teaching guitar to finance his studies. He performed as a semi-professional guitarist at the Ash Gove and other venues in Los Angeles in the 1960’s. He is a founding member, and first elected Treasurer, of Washtech, a union of high tech workers, Local 37083 of the Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO.
He is a member of Vukani Mawethu, an east bay choir that has focused for thirty one years on South African anti-apartheid and U.S. Civil Rights songs. Vukani Mawethu is Zulu for “People Arise.” Last year Michael switched his voter registration to No-Party-Preference in order to vote for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 California Democratic primary election. After that primary he re-registered as a Green Party member.
Most recently he became part of the leadership of the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America chapter. Last June he was elected to be a delegate to 2017 DSA National Convention, just held in August in Chicago. Michael has been a co-facilitator of the No Coal In Oakland campaign for the last two and a half years.
Breakout Groups
We were thrilled by your enthusiasm in Breakout Groups at Green Sundays a few months ago. To grow that energy, we’re trying Breakout Groups at the beginning of the County Council meetings after the 15 minute refreshment break that follows our Green Sunday programs. Which group will you roll with?
SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and are held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County follows at 7:45 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested.
Liberated Lens Film Collective presents an evening with award-winning filmmaker Craig Baldwin.
Craig Baldwin is an experimental filmmaker who uses found-footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that targets subjects from intellectual property rights to rampant consumerism.
We will showcase three of his shorter films:
“Wild Gunman” (1978, 20 mins) – A manic montage of pop-cultural amusements, cowboy iconography and advertising imagery is re-contextualized within the contemporary geopolitical crisis in a scathing critique of US cultural and political imperialism.
“RocketKitCongoKit” (1968, 30 mins) – A barrage of found-footage images and rapid-fire narration traces a history of Zaire since its independence in 1960. The CIA, German munitions manufacturers, and American pop culture are all indicted in this comic critique of neocolonialism.
“Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America” (1991, 48 mins) – This “pseudo-pseudo documentary” is a skewed history of US intervention in Latin America and a hysterical satire of conspiracy theory.
Director will be present for Q&A.
September 10th at the Omni Commons, 4799 Shattuck Ave. Doors at 7, screening at 7:30.
The Tax the Rich group will be celebrating a tremendous achievement, its sixth year birthday party. The group has been protesting and working on issues since September 12, 2011. On domestic issues, it has been the longest running political rally in Berkeley’s history. Indeed, that’s six years on the streets of Solano Avenue.
During these years we have along with other organizations won public support for Prop 30, which funnels money to the public schools by increasing taxes on those in the higher income brackets. The Tax the Rich group played a major role in enacting a minimum wage law in Berkeley. The group also played a role in winning a minimum wage of $15 an hour wage for working people in Berkeley. On another occasion we organized a mass picket of the Bank of America to assure that the bank would not engage in unfair or illegal foreclosures. And every week our street rallies does what it can to inform those who are passing by of the issues they should be concerned about.
We very much hope that you will attend our birthday party this coming Monday.
Please come and bring your friends as well.
Agenda:
Reportbacks (15 min)
Repeating items: (15 min)
Upcoming City Council Meetings: (25 min.)
Sparkassen event planning (15 min.)
The City of Berkeley, to our great satisfaction, may be on track to fund the $25,000 that the City of Oakland asked us to find “somewhere else” before they voted funding for our feasibility study, which is the first step towards the bank. Berkeley’s City Council vote will take place on Tuesday, September 12, at the 6:00 p.m. meeting at Berkeley City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way (about two blocks from BART). Please come and support the bank. Wear your Friends of the Public Bank t-shirt.
At the September 19 Oakland City Council meeting, the councilmembers will vote on whether to fund $75,000 of the $100,000 we need to do our feasibility study. The meeting starts at 5:30 at Oakland City Hall, 14th and Broadway. Please plan on coming to support us, sporting your green Friends of the Public Bank t-shirt.
On September 25 at 7:00 p.m. in Oakland’s City Council Chambers, 14th and Broadway, Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan are sponsoring a great event, organized by us and Local Clean Energy Alliance.
Wolfram Morales, Chief Economist for Sparkasse, the association of local public banks in Germany, will explain the role of these institutions in speeding the development of local renewable resources such as solar and wind, at this panel discussion in City Hall.
Joining Wolfram will be: Nicolas Chaset, CEO of East Bay Community Energy (Alameda County’s soon-to-launch Community Choice energy program), Greg Rosen, Founder and Principal of High Noon Advisors (member of the East Bay Community Shared Solar Collaborative), and Jessica Tovar, Organizer for East Bay Clean Power Alliance. Pennie Opal Plant of Idle No More SF Bay, will lead an opening ceremony.
On Thursday, June 29, in a very contentious and controversial vote, the Oakland City Council passed a new two-year budget. Thanks to a last-minute set of amendments from Councilmember Dan Kalb, $75,000 for the public bank feasibility study is in that budget.
The Council has asked that other groups fund the remaining $25,000. In order to gain a Council majority to proceed with the study at the upcoming 9/19 meeting, we are asking for Friends to commit to donate to this cause. If you are willing to donate any amount, please donate here or email us and act quickly if you can. Thank you for your support!
OccupyForum presents…
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
September 11th, Mass Surveillance,
and Edward Snowden’s Revelations
Join us at OccupyForum for films Citizen4 and/or Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden is an American computer professional, former Central Intelligence Agency employee, and former contractor for the United States government who copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 without authorization. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments. The massive extent of the NSA’s spying, both foreign and domestic, was revealed to the public in a series of detailed disclosures of internal NSA documents beginning in June 2013. Most of the disclosures were leaked by Snowden.
On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian and The Washington Post. Further disclosures were made by other publications including Der Spiegel and The New York Times. Snowden’s identity was made public by The Guardian at his request on June 9, 2013. He explained: “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong.” He added that by revealing his identity he hoped to protect his colleagues from being subjected to a hunt to determine who had been responsible for the leaks. Snowden has said that in the past, whistleblowers had been “destroyed by the experience,” and that he wanted to “embolden others to step forward” by demonstrating that “they can win.”
Concerning the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing hyper-surveillance of the American populace, Snowden said,
“What the 9/11 Commission found, in the post-mortem, when they looked at all of the classified intelligence from all of the different intelligence agencies, was that we had all of the information we needed as an intelligence community, as a classified sector, as the national defense of the United States to detect this plot. We actually had records of the phone calls from the United States and out. The CIA knew who these guys were. The problem was not that we weren’t collecting information, it wasn’t that we didn’t have enough dots, it wasn’t that we didn’t have a haystack, it was that we did not understand the haystack that we had.”
“It’s disingenuous for the government to rxploit the national trauma that we all suffered together to justify programs that have never been shown to keep us safe, but cost us liberties and freedoms that we don’t need to give up and our Constitution says we don’t need to give up.”
A subject of controversy, Snowden has been variously called a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a traitor and a patriot. His disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy.
Want to help gear up for the Moore family’s October court dates?
The J4KM Coalition invites you to come gather with us on Monday, September 11th to get organized for the trial. We’ll be planning an action to rally community support for the family and to amplify our demands: It’s time to get the racist, transphobic and ableist Berkeley Police Department out of crisis response and to invest in community alternatives!
OTU’s Mission
The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.
Monthly Meetings
The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.
If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.
The Bay Area Remembers Chile: September 11, 1973 Remembrance Day
Join the Chilean Exile Community and friends in commemorating the 44th anniversary of the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat, which ousted the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende and lead to the disappearance and murders of thousands of Chileans.
This event includes an outdoor candlelight vigil and installation, songs of resistance by local Chilean musicians and members of the La Peña Chorus, and an art exhibit featuring rare revolutionary posters from La Peña’s private archive collection and original art by local Chilean artists inspired by their experiences since the coup.
Chilean food, wine and beer will be for sale, with proceeds benefiting La Peña Cultural Center.
There is no door cover for this event, but donations to La Peña are welcome and greatly appreciated!
La Peña Cultural Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating inter-cultural understanding and social justice through the arts since 1975.
Berkeley City Council is deciding on whether to expand the ordinance to include the use of pepper spray against people wearing masks. This an attack on organizing against white supremacy and those that seek to protect themselves from chemical weaponry and targeting through state and fascist surveillance.
COME OUT TO BERKELEY CITY HALL
Demand that Berkeley City Council not participate in heightened targeting of organizing against white supremacy.
Berkeley Police want to change the law so they can pepper spray #antifa at "#freespeech" rallies https://t.co/NNXAHB8ITe pic.twitter.com/t707cYMSRG
— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) September 11, 2017
List of Banned Items for Fascist “No to Marxism” Rally in Berkeley on August 27, 2017
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/08/26/18802255.php
Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), wants to kill net neutrality and give control of the internet to companies like Comcast and AT&T. This move would threaten economic opportunity, free speech and online dissent for communities of color.
Now he’s coming to San Francisco on Sept. 12 for a “fireside chat” with tech executives about expanding access and bridging the digital divide for underserved communities. But we aren’t fooled by lip service about expanding opportunity.
Join us in telling Chairman Pai: There can be no conversation about opportunity online without real net neutrality. Our communities depend on a free and open internet to innovate, organize and communicate. Now more than ever, our democracy depends on our ability to connect with one another without censorship or interference.
We will gather outside Galvanize, the venue where Pai will be speaking, with speakers, signs and visuals to send a message to press and the world: From communities of color to tech workers, the Bay Area demands real net neutrality.
Come to the SF Police Commission to tell them #NoTasersSF
at Bill Graham Auditorium. If you can’t make it out email the San Francisco Police Commission, & tell them #NoTasersSF sfpd.commission@sfgov.org
Next Tuesday, come to the SF Police Commission to tell them #NoTasersSF at Bill Graham Auditorium. https://t.co/HGZAbeljuE pic.twitter.com/pRUiaqj6vw
— DSA San Francisco (@DSA_SF) September 7, 2017
** Tasers Are Deadly Weapons **
Facts you should know for the meeting
Tomorrow Tue. Sept 12
6-8PM
Bill Graham Auditorium#NoTasersSF pic.twitter.com/Gvz19czecB— 64 GB (@gilbazoid) September 12, 2017
When Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked thousands of top-secret documents to the press, was asked why he did it, he turned to a 250-year-old warning from Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Today, the NSA is one of the most powerful intelligence gathering agencies in the world. But at what point does the agency’s mass surveillance programs amount to an infringement on the democratic values it was created to defend? In an era when almost all of our communications are digital and all of our security threats are global, what expectations of privacy are even reasonable? Is it possible to protect individual privacy without sacrificing the intelligence capabilities needed to keep the U.S. and our allies safe?
Timothy H. Edgar, a long-time civil liberties activist who worked inside both the Bush and Obama intelligence communities, argues that the only way to protect Americans’ privacy is to do a better job of protecting everyone’s privacy. What must be done to bring transparency, accountability, privacy and human rights protections into comprehensive programs of intelligence collection?
Timothy Edgar
Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University
Aaron Sankin
Reporter, Reveal, Center for Investigative Reporting
Gentrification comes up constantly in the Bay Area, but few of us feel equipped to take action against it. Is it inevitable? What can we do now to prevent displacement?
This SURJ workshop will put gentrification and displacement in a historical context so we understand the racialized political and economic drivers. You’ll hear about past and current struggles led by communities of color to preserve their homes and communities.
Facilitators from SURJ – Oakland/Bay Area will present analysis based on the work of Causa Justa :: Just Cause. SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), Bay Area chapter, is part of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice through communityorganizing, mobilizing, and education. However, all are welcome at this workshop regardless of identity.
Donations will go to support CJJC’s work challenging gentrification and fighting displacement.
Our workshop has space for 66 people. To reserve your spot in advance, please purchase tickets at http://
Building Accessibility: There are two entrances to Sierra Club Office building on Webster and 21st, both of which are accessible for mobility devices. The building has an elevator, and the kitchen space, conference room, and restrooms can also all accommodate mobility devices.
Scents: The Sierra Club’s space endeavors to offer a scent free environment; however as the Club is currently transitioning towards the use of only scent free products, we cannot guarantee an entirely scent free space. We ask everyone to please arrive at meetings fragrance free to support access for folks who experience multiple chemical sensitivities and allergies. This means using only body products and laundry detergent that say “fragrance free” or “unscented” on the label and do not have scented ingredients.
Restrooms: Restrooms are currently labeled in a gender-binary way. The Sierra Club is working on changing this and has an office policy that all restrooms are available to anyone, regardless of lived or perceived gender identity. We ask that folks choose the restroom that is right for them, and that no one question a person’s chosen restroom.
More info on Causa Justa: http://www.cjjc.org/
Register for the workshop: http://
SPREAD THE WORD, INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!