Calendar
NCIO COMMUNITY MEETING
No Coal in Oakland invites all interested community members to join us.
There will be updates on legal developments in court and in the city (including Oakland’s recent termination of Phil Tagami’s lease on the West Gateway), the status of the Bank of Montreal campaign, other ideas about how to further our campaign to assure coal is never shipped through the bulk commodities terminal proposed for construction on the West Gateway site, and the formation of a regional No Coal coalition including Richmond and Vallejo.
Meeting of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ Ad Hoc Committee on Urban Area Security Initiative, charged with reconstituting and rethinking Urban Shield.
The committee was established by the Board of Supervisors in March 2018 in response to sustained community concerns about Urban Shield, which is funded in part by UASI grants from the Department of Homeland Security, and coordinated by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
The Board of Supervisors decided in March, 2018 that 2018 would be the last year the county would approve Urban Shield, as currently constituted, and asked the Ad Hoc Committee to make recommendations to the Board on the UASI-funded emergency preparedness training and exercise in 2019 and beyond.
The agenda will include a presentation and Q/A with county emergency preparedness officials (from ACSO, Public Health, and Social Services); a discussion of criteria for weighing recommendations; and a presentation about community-based emergency preparedness initiatives.
Agendas and materials for each meeting are posted at http://www.acgov.org/board/calendarcom.htm
The East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest is back at the Omni Commons in Oakland.
We are introducing a Zine Store at EBABZ Fest this year. Drop off your zines and let EBABZ Fest volunteers manage your sales. Apply here:
http://bit.ly/ebabzstore2018
Workshops:
12:00 – 1:15 PM: Writing From the Margins: Creativity & Embodiment for Artists of Color with Fatima Nasiyr
https://www.facebook.com/events/2025491594197387/
1:30 – 2:45 PM: Mixed Media Sticker Making with Rafael Tapia III
https://www.facebook.com/events/196382107933370/
3:00 – 4:15 PM: Letterpress Basics with Kristi Holohan
https://www.facebook.com/events/580478732409174/
After Party:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1916456818469234/
Beyond the Bay: Building Power for California’s Future
Come celebrate with us at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California’s annual Bill of Rights Day at the Impact Hub Oakland.
Recognize bold leaders and celebrate a year of legislative successes for civil rights and civil liberties in California. This year’s honorees include:
- Basim Elkarra for his unwavering commitment to expanding civil rights for Muslim Americans and all Americans, and for building respect and understanding between ethnic groups, faith communities and government agencies.
- Lisa Honig for her exceptional, decades-long commitment to civil liberties and service to the ACLU through board leadership in Northern California and nationally.
After the program, join us for a reception and enjoy appetizers and an open bar.
Doors open at 12:30 p.m. — program starts at 1 p.m.
Doughnut Economics Reading Group:
Creating a world with neither human suffering nor planetary peril
Doughnut Economics: 7 ways to think like a 21st century economist
By Kate Raworth Chelsea Green Publishing (2017)
The capitalist economic system defines every aspect of our lives: the schooling and medical care we get, where we live, and how we sustain ourselves. The system works for a lucky few and exploits everyone else. And it’s a real threat to the survival of our species (and many others) on this planet.
We know the system needs to change—but we can’t change what we don’t understand. We have to know what we’re talking about.
Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics lays out traditional economic theory—still taught as gospel at all the major temples of capitalism—with clarity, authority, lots of graphics, and quite a bit of humor. She exposes the flawed models and persistent myths that keep the system in place. Even more importantly, she presents seven big, basic ideas with which to begin creating the world we want to see. We can indeed build an economy in the “doughnut”—meeting the needs of all while maintaining the biospheres that support us.
All of us need to read this book. We’ve all grown up in this deeply unfair and absurd system; seeing it clearly and getting free of it require a group effort.
So we at Strike Debt Bay Area are sponsoring a group discussion of Doughnut Economics. We’re doing one meeting a month on the 2nd Saturday; we’ll usually do about one chapter per meeting. Please join us!
2nd meeting:
4:30 – 6:00pm, Saturday, December 8th.
Omni Commons, 4799 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland
We’ll be discussing the 2nd chapter
Bring the book (available at your favorite online bookseller and in select local bookstores) and/or your thoughts on the topic (The first and possibly subsequent chapters are available online – http://tinyurl.com/ycysqtde ‘Look Inside’).
The book is an easy read (but full of ideas!) so it’s easy to catch up.
Author website: https://www.kateraworth.com/doughnut/
Calling all organizations, crews, congregations and affiliations around the Bay to join a People’s Assembly and formation of the Migrant Welcome Committee of the Bay Area.
On October 12, a caravan of refugees departed San Pedro Sula, Honduras fleeing rampant violence and grinding poverty, headed for the US border. Step by step, they called their trek an “exodus” as they gained steam and powered ahead 6,000-strong out of Mexico City toward Tijuana. With other caravans on the way, a crisis is building up on the US-Mexico border that will not be easily resolved.
The Bay Area Migrant Welcoming Committee invites you to join us for an evening of sharing and action as we make collective sense of the recent caravans and take action in solidarity with their participants.
We will engage with the following questions and themes:
1) What are the root causes of the mass migration of Hondurans and other Central Americans in this historic moment?
2) Hear from asylum seekers who have traveled on the recent migrant caravans about the realities, stories and power of their journey and collective action.
3) What are the many ways people and organizations right here in the Bay Area can do to support the material and political goals of the migrants who are seeking asylum in the US?
Confirmed presenters/performers:
Maya Chinchilla
Chhoti Maa
Rev. Deborah Lee
Roberto Alvarenga Lovato
Presentation will also include a person who has traveled on a previous caravan.
Financial Donations to support organizations in Tijuana supporting migrants and migrant legal defense will be collected at this event.
RSVP: bit.ly/feedthehood8Join us for another opportunity to Feed the Hood! We are excited to host #FeedTheHood8 bagged lunch and hygiene kit preparation and distribution to our unhoused brothers and sisters across Oakland.
**Event is family friendly (kids of all ages welcome to attend with their parent(s) or guardian).
**Coffee/tea and continental breakfast will be served for volunteers.
**Venue is wheelchair accessible.
<< At-A-Glance Agenda for Feed the Hood >>
7 AM: Volunteers arrive. Volunteer breakfast.
7 AM – 9 AM: Prepare bagged lunches and hygiene kits
9 AM – 9:30 AM: Program and instruction
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Load caravans
9:30 AM – 11:30 AM: Caravans head out to distribute bagged lunches and hygiene kits across Oakland.
PARKING: Parking lot available on first come basis. Street parking is also available.
For questions, donations and volunteer opportunities please email us at feedthehood@eastoaklandcollective.com.
Monthly interfaith prayer meeting, held on second Sundays, dedicated to healing.
The Bahá’í 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.
Doors open: 10:00 AM
Refreshments served: 10:00-10:30 AM
Prayers: 10:30-11:30 AM
Discussion and socializing: 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
“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
“Remember the saying: ‘Of all pilgrimages the greatest is to relieve the sorrow-laden heart.'” ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Ay!
Oakland Teachers are going on strike soon.Learn about it and support them.
Go to the community discussion on 12/9 at 1pm st Geoffrey's.
410 14th St Oakland. pic.twitter.com/Dqvx754Yyn— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) December 6, 2018
Details forthcoming.
ILWU Local 10 Pays Tribute to Howard Keylor, Longshore Veteran of Bay Area Labor Struggles
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Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in San Francisco is holding a public event to honor Howard Keylor. A veteran of the Battle of Okinawa, Howard opposed the atomic bombing of Japan, an experience that led him to become anti-militarist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist. He quit college to support Filipino farm workers in the 1948 asparagus strike and became a labor activist during the McCarthy period, joining the longshore union in Stockton in 1953.
During his decades on the waterfront, he initiated, organized and participated in many picket lines and demonstrations, including the longshore strike of 1971-1972, the ILWU’s 1974 KNC Warehouse strike of Mexican American workers in Union City, the historic 11-day 1984 boycott of South African cargo to protest Apartheid in 1984, the 1999 coastwide shutdown and march of 25,000 in San Francisco to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal, the United States’ most prominent political prisoner, the May Day 2008 anti-imperialist war shutdown of all West Coast ports, the blockades of Israeli ships to protest the war on Gaza, the 2011 ILWU struggle against the grain monopolies in Longview, Occupy Oakland’s march of 40,000 to the port, Local 10’s actions against racist police murders and fascist terror last year, and countless other militant job actions and protests.
Howard Keylor is a veteran of the militant labor history of the Bay Area. Like the core founders of the ILWU, he seeks to replace capitalism with socialism, a commitment which he has maintained all his life. He continues to approach every issue from this perspective.
PLEASE JOIN ILWU LOCAL 10 IN HONORING HOWARD ON HIS 93RD BIRTHDAY:
Sunday, December 9th 2018, 2 – 4pm
ILWU Local 10, Henry Schmidt Room
400 North Point St, San Francisco (near Fisherman’s Wharf)
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A Brief Biography of Brother Howard Keylor
An army veteran of the Pacific Theater in World War Two, Brother Keylor became a longshore worker in Stockton in 1953 and later transferred to the San Francisco local. In 1971 he, along with Brothers Herb Mills and Leo Robinson, and a majority of the Local 10 membership opposed the proposed 1971 contract which codified the 9.43 steadyman system. This led to the longshore strike of 1971-1972, which shut down 56 West Coast ports and lasted 130 days. It was the longest strike in the ILWU’s history.
Like the founders of the ILWU, Brother Keylor seeks to replace capitalism with socialism, a commitment he has maintained all his life. He continues to approach every issue from this perspective. He served on the Local 10 Executive Board and was frequently an elected Caucus and Convention delegate. Brother Keylor was a member of the Militant Caucus, a class struggle rank-and-file ILWU group which published a regular newsletter, the “Longshore Militant”. He later split from the Militant Caucus and published a separate newsletter on his own, the “Militant Longshoreman”. Both called for breaking with the Democratic and Republican Parties, and building a Worker’s Party to Fight for a Worker’s Government.
Brother Keylor has always worked to extend Local 10’s solidarity to other unions and locals. In 1974, he supported the ILWU Local 6 strike at KNC Glass in Union City in which a mass picket line defeated the police and scabs, resulting in a contract for a workforce composed primarily of Mexican-American immigrants. Keylor advocates deliberate defiance of the “slave-labor” Taft-Hartley law through illegal secondary boycotts and pickets by workers.
He worked tirelessly to uphold the ILWU’s proud tradition of militant unionism by participating in protests and boycotts of military cargo bound for the military dictatorship in Chile in 1975 and 1978 and again in 1980 to the military dictatorship in El Salvador.
In 1984, Brother Keylor made the motion, amended by Brother Leo Robinson, which led to the eleven-day longshore boycott of South African cargo on the Nedlloyd Kimberley; and in 1986 he supported the Campaign Against Apartheid’s community picket line against the Nedlloyd Kemba. When Nelson Mandela spoke at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990 after his release from prison, he credited Local 10’s actions with re-igniting the anti-Apartheid movement here.
He also supported the 1974 and 2010 ILWU Boron miners’ strikes and the 1987 Inlandboatmen’s Union strike shutting down the Bay Area ports and mobilizing boatmen and longshoremen to march onto the Redwood City docks to drive out the scabs from other unions.
Even after he retired from active longshore work in 1988, Brother Keylor continued his activism on behalf of the working class and the oppressed. In 1999, he helped organize the coastwide shutdown in defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the United States’ foremost political prisoner. ILWU Local 10 workers and the drill team led 25,000 people on a march through the streets of San Francisco. Later in the year he marched with the Local 10 contingent in the Battle of Seattle, the mass protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Throughout his life, Brother Keylor extended solidarity where it was needed, including taking action against racist police murders and fascist terror, defending abortion clinics, and supporting survivors of psychiatric abuse. He witnessed psychiatric torture while working at the notorious Stockton State Hospital in 1949-51. He also witnessed members of his family become victims of electroshock and forced drugging. Having grown up in Appalachia, he has always been an environmentalist, and in recent years helped shut down a Monsanto facility in Davis in 2012, as well as fighting pesticide use and deforestation in the East Bay.
Brother Keylor used his experience and insights to help organize picketing and marches during the PMA lockout in 2002; and in 2010 and 2014, to protest Israel’s massacre of Palestinians in Gaza, he used his experience to help organize successful pickets against Israeli ZIM Lines container ships.
In 2015, as he was approaching 90, he took part in Local 10’s protest at the APL terminal and later in downtown Oakland to protest racist police killings; and in August 2017 he supported Local 10’s anti-fascist action in San Francisco. The following day he participated in the anti-fascist demonstration in Berkeley. Brother Keylor had done this before: in 1980, the Militant Caucus called for a mass mobilization to stop the American Nazi Party from holding a rally at San Francisco Civic Center. Like Local 10’s call in 2017, the mobilization in 1980 succeeded in stopping the fascists.
In light of his contributions to the international labor movement, Local 10 voted the following resolution to honor Brother Keylor for his years of service to the working class and the oppressed:
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
- 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 Bay Area Steering Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign: a
National Call for Moral Revival (PPC) is forming and hopes you can join
us!!
The Poor People’s Campaign, A National Call for Moral Revival (PPC)
focuses on fighting the four pillars of evil: poverty, systemic racism,
the war economy and environmental devastation, and on shifting the moral
narrative. PPC supporters in the Bay Area have come together to form the
Bay Area PPC Steering Committee and hope you can join this effort and
share this information with others who may be interested.
AT THE UPCOMING MEETING WE WILL DISCUSS:
– Plans for the March 2019 PPC Bay Area Hearing (dates, times,
locations, format)
– Potential themes for the hearing (Suggestions so far are: Poverty of
Women and Children; Homelessness; Criminalization of Survival)
– Outreach to local organizations and venues
– Defining our geographic region
-And hear reports from Sacramento and LA’s Public Hearings
In the PPC, people directly impacted by the 4 pillars of evil are
central in our work.
We look forward to your participation as we move forward to build the
PPC campaign here in the Bay Area and help grow this exciting new
movement.
Let us break bread together! Bring a snack to share if you can!
Please let us know if you will need childcare by December 7th.
Celebrate the Holiday Season with old friends and new. We’ll have good fun, yummy food, drink, and open dialogue at the 2018 Annual Potluck Holiday Party
Bring your choice of food or drink for the potluck table to share.
** See you there — party on! **
(There will be no regular Green Sunday program or Green County Council meeting in December. We’ll party instead! The next regular Green Sunday program will be the second Sunday in January, 2018 (followed as usual by the County Council meeting). All members are welcome to participate).
ABOUT THE EVENT
5:00 pm – Movement Dinner and Reception
6:30 pm – Doors Open
7:00 pm – Program
Critical Resistance (CR) invites you to join us for “Critical Resistance: 20 Years of Strategy and Struggle for Abolition,” a community celebration highlighting 20 years of dismantling the prison industrial complex and building for the world we need.
We are excited to host the incomparable author, educator and activist Angela Y. Davis in conversation with Black liberationist organizer Kamau Walton (Critical Resistance), anti-imperialist organizer and former political prisoner Linda Evans (All of Us or None), and firebrand Southern freedom fighter Mary Hooks (Southerners On New Ground).
TICKETS:
Purchase your tickets here. Sponsor a community ticket.
Whether you’re purchasing your tickets to attend or sponsoring a ticket for a community member, make sure to save your space to celebrate our history with us and build for our collective abolitionist future.
SPONSORSHIPS, all info here. Sponsoring this event:
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helps subsidize tickets for formerly imprisoned people, youth, and low-income communities;
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ensures the event participation is truly reflective of the movement we are building;
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helps to advance strategic grassroots organizing and cultural work against jail expansion and the violence of policing in the Bay Area, in Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR, and New York, NY, and nationally;
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demonstrates community support for creative movement-building and rigorous, Left analysis in these inspiring yet dire times.
Sign up to Sponsor here.
Share the Facebook event widely here.
OUR HISTORY. OUR IMPACT.
Through advancing a critical understanding of prison industrial complex and abolition, CR has consistently inspired individuals, organizations and communities to take creative and practical steps to build this liberated future. We have achieved many victories from successfully stopping the construction of new jails in New York to Los Angeles to ending the use of racist gang injunctions in Oakland and stopping California’s 20-year prison building boom. Our campaigns, vision and strategies have been shared and used blue-prints across the US and internationally.
We invite you to join us in celebrating the gains we have made together, to feed our minds and our spirits, and to prepare for the pitched battle of the next 20 years. Every donation, ticket or sponsorship will amplify the vision of liberated communities and the fierce, joyful will of our people to fight to win.
If you need more information or would like to get involved please visit www.criticalresistance.org/Dec9 or contact Jess Heaney at// 510.444.0484
Come hear Ibrahim Nsasra, a Bedouin elder and founder of the Tamar Center Negev, talk about the organization’s efforts to empower the Bedouin community, which is by far Israel’s most disadvantaged population.
Do you have questions about immigration policy, immigrant rights, and advocacy efforts? Come connect, converse, listen, learn, and brainstorm a better future together. The world cafe format allows audience members to ask questions, delve into discussion, and discover what they can do to make a difference. Refreshments will be provided.
Free and open to the public, this event includes a screening of first-hand stories of immigrant detention and deportation, with the aim of providing insight and information on how to build solidarity networks and enhance the role of artistic expression in advocating for social justice and advancing political change.
Humanizing Deportation is an an ongoing project and bilingual online archive of digital stories (short testimonial videos) documenting a diverse range of personal experiences related to deportation that give a human face to the complex consequences of mass involuntary displacement.
http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en
Supported by the Mellon Initiative in Comparative Border Studies at UC Davis, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Freedom for Immigrants, UC Humanities Research Institute, UC Mexico Initiative, UC MEXUS, UCD Global Affairs, CONACYT, and UC Davis Office of the Provost.
Join us for the BIGGEST Latka Jam yet! Celebrate community, make new friends, experience kick ass local entertainment (see acts below) AND support survivors of the devastating fires in Butte County, all while enjoying the best goddamn potato cakes and libations in the Bay Area.
Our goal is to raise $5,000. Help us break potato, break this goal, bring hope to our neighbors to the north in need, and bring warmth to our community as we celebrate the festival of lights!
ABOUT THIS EVENT created by Berkeley-resident David Hermele…..
FOR THE LAST DECADE, I’ve gathered friends and neighbors to celebrate this holiday called Chanukah — which mostly gets me excited about making fried potatoes for friends! I love cooking, but I love community even more. Opening my home to friends old and new is a joy—and serving them up tasty latkas, sauces, and sides each year is one of my favorite passions. Last year, I cooked 150 pounds of latkas in my backyard with two little deep fryers and fed hundreds of people! This year we’re going big instead of going home . . .
HISTORICALLY, this has been a free private potluck, but in light of recent events and inspiration to be of service, an amazing Latkamorphisis has occurred! I’m joining forces with Revival Bar + Kitchen to take these potatoes public and raise funds for the North Valley Community Foundation.
TICKETS are $25 and will include a righteous serving of latkas with homemade sauces and other sides, plus a variety of entertainment (see details below). We’ll have $5 wine, beer, and specialty cocktails available as well. All proceeds will go directly to https://www.nvcf.org/
Leftovers will be distributed to the homeless at People’s Park and other homeless outreach groups (TBD).
Join us for Great food, Great people, and a Great purpose!
LOCAL TALENT ON DISPLAY!!
We have several artists we are thrilled to feature who are donating their time and talents for this event…..
INTERNATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED COMEDIAN ALICIA DATTNER.
Alicia has performed in London, Bali, Hollywood, and New York. She’s been voted Best Comedian in both the SF Weekly & SF Bay Guardian. Her new standup show One Life Stand is headed to New York! Check out her workshops at http://soloshowdown.com/
EXOTIC DANCE TROUPE LED BY ANASTASIA LATTANAND.
AWARD-WINNING SINGER-SONGWRITER MARY REDENTE…
Mary is a recording artist, classically trained multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter. Mary’s heartfelt music speaks of hope, healing, & her personal journey of awakening. Her mission with music is to open hearts. It’s through grace and the transformative power of music that she offers her voice and musical craft with healing intention for the world. Mary is currently working on her second album entitled ‘Sleeping Giant’ due for release in Spring 2019.
LOCAL POP-ROCK DUO LAVADIO & SUMATI…
Lavadio is a San Francisco-based composer & multi-instrumental musical artist who has spent a lifetime playing many genres from classic rock, to jazz, reggae & blues. Sumati is a singer, guitarist & lyricist from Oakland.
In addition to their catchy original songs, they love covering recognizable blues-based rock and roll anthems that force their audience to their feet and inspire them to sing along!
CELLO JOE…
the world’s only beatboxing, long distance bicycle touring cellist.
Cello Joe plays the cello while beatboxing, looping, and singing. It’s Classical Hip Hop. He creates fat beats with a cello and his mouth and he does it live!
His lyrics weave together sustainability, environmental justice, and social awareness. They entertain, inspire, and make you wonder.
We want to offer a huge thank you to all our member volunteers for our electoral campaigns this past cycle. You were a critical part of the field operations for our campaign for Jovanka Beckles, the Affordable Housing Act, the Community Power Slate, Team Richmond, and Measures O, P, and Y.
You led the way, knocking 18,000 doors, making 7,300 phone calls, sending thousands of texts, and spreading an important political message across the East Bay that the working class is ready to fight back against bought elections and corporate politics. We can’t thank you enough for your leadership, your hard work, and your commitment to building a campaign that went far beyond what any of us thought it could be.
This coming Monday, the Electoral Campaigns Committee is going to be convening a big debrief meeting to talk about what we did, what went well, where we can improve, and what’s coming next! We’d love to have you be a part of this conversation as we learn together and look toward the future.
Please feel free to reach out to any of us if you have questions. All are welcome, whether you are an East Bay DSA member or not and even if you were not part of the campaign but would like to do electoral work in the future.
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.