What is the connection between the socialist project and anti-imperialism? What can socialists in the US do to fight imperialism? And what might an international struggle against imperialism and capitalism look like?

Join us on Tuesday, June 4 for the third part of our three-part Socialist Night School series on imperialism to discuss these questions and others.

Accessibility: The venue is wheelchair-accessible.

Required Readings

See the readings that we’ll be discussing after a brief introduction from our members.

Housing Struggle & International Solidarity: Eastern Europe and Beyond

The housing crisis is a global issue. Across the world, struggles for housing justice are on the rise, as are fights against evictions, gentrification, and houselessness.

A transnational analysis and international solidarity strategy based on anti-capitalist, antiracist, and communitarian ideals has become increasingly necessary. Join us for an evening presentation and discussion around organizing and building regional and global solidarities!

Drawing upon their own contexts in Romania, Czech Republic, and the US (Bay Area), housing activists Eliska Černá (Wake up houses), Jakub Černý (Wake up houses, Squat Klinika), Erin McElroy (Anti-Eviction Mapping Project), Veda Popovici (Common Front for Housing Rights) will explore local tactics, regional radical visions, and the necessity for international housing movement solidarity.

‘Making Political Art: Expression of a Movement’ invites you to a lively conversation as Oakland art critic Jeff Kelley facilitates a discussion with Bay Area artists Leslie Dreyer, Mark Harris & Sawyer Rose.

Relevant Agenda Items:

5. 5:45pm: Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – ShotSpotter technology Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and formation of ad hoc work group. No action on the use policy will be taken at this meeting.

6. 6:00pm: Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – DOT – Mobility Data Sharing Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and take possible action.

7. 6:30pm: Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Remote Camera Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and formation of ad hoc work group. No action on the use policy will be taken at this meeting.

Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century-and she continues the fight to this day, at age 88.

With intimate and unprecedented access, Peter Bratt’s film chronicles Huerta’s life from her childhood in Stockton, California to her early years with the United Farm Workers, from her work with the headline-making grape boycott launched in 1965 to her role in the feminist movement of the 1970s, to her continued work as a fearless activist.  Featuring interviews with Gloria Steinem, Luis Valdez, Angela Davis, Dolores’ children and more, Dolores is an intimate and inspiring portrait of a passionate champion of the oppressed, and an indomitable woman willing to accept the personal sacrifices involved in committing one’s life to social change.

“exuberantly inspiring…makes you want to march and dance.” David Talbot, San Francisco Chronicle

Among its many awards:

Best Documentary Feature: SF International Film Festival

Best Documentary: Seattle International Film Festival

Best Documentary: New Orleans Film Festival

The Piedmont screening will feature a taco truck outside the theater before the screening, beginning at 5:30pm. Come early to avoid a long line.   Film starts at 7 pm. Also:

Report back from Cuba and update on Venezuela.
Two local activists who participated in the May Day activities in Cuba will be sharing information with the public. Alicia Jrapko, co-chair of the National Network on Cuba and the US coordinator of the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity, and Bill Hackwell, photo journalist and co-editor for the English edition of Resumen Latinoamericano will be speaking.

Recently returned from Venezuela:

David Paul, one of the four remaining members of the Embassy Protection Collective, arrested when it was seized by the DC police and secret service. The Collective was there for more than a month defending the Embassy on behalf of the legitimate government of Venezuela.

Laura Wells, 2018 Green Party candidate for California’s 13th congressional district.

Recently returned from Cuba:

Alicia Jrapko, co-chair of the National Network on Cuba and the US coordinator of the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity.
Bill Hackwell, photo journalist and co-editor of the English edition of Resumen Latinoamericano.                                Co-sponsored by Task Force on the Americas, BFUU Social Justice Committee and the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity.
Endorsed by Richmond, Ca./Regla, Cuba Friendship Committee, and the
Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity.

For more info: 510-219-0092 or 415- 578-7930

Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice Committee, the International Committee for Peace Justice and Dignity, and the Task Force on the Americas.

Wheelchair accessible.

Please join the Oscar Grant Foundation & Oscar's incredible Mom, Wanda Johnson, as we celebrate her son's life and legacy this Saturday, June 8 noon-2pm @SFBART Fruitvale Station unveiling his mural and the naming of Oscar Grant Way. TY @lateefahsimon: https://t.co/tLjxQ7a7tR

— Bevan Dufty (@BevanDufty) June 4, 2019

The school year is coming to a close. Join comrades and friends to celebrate a year of struggle in the schools and in the streets. Live music from left punk band Apocalypse Eventually and more! Come hungry for pupusas, tamales, and horchata. This fundraiser is to help us raise money to send comrades to the 2019 CSP-Conlutas international labor congress in Brazil in August. The CSP-Conlutas is a unique federation of socialist parties, labor unions, and social movements (LGBT, Women, Indigenous, and Quilombo) in Brazil. By bringing activists in the struggle from the US, we’re able to connect with peoples movements all over the globe, and build the international movement for a better world in which all people are free.

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

Sun, May 12
Turkey at the cross roads of imperialism
Turkey is struggling to find a new and better position in the world while fascism erodes the economy, human rights, freedom of press and all opposition.  New “elections” on March 31 is only a sham as mounting evidence of corruption piles.  Turkey has lost on Syria, a quagmire it planned on winning big with the bog guys.  As Turkey oscillates between European Union, the USA and Russia, it finds itself more and more irrelevant.  Contrary to the big plans of becoming a leader in the Middle East, Turkey has been relegated to a position where it is only trying to find who to follow.  Such is the position of those who accept imperialism instead of standing up to it. ICSS member Mehmet Bayram will present and lead our discussion. TENTATIVE

Sun, May 19
¡VIVA MEXICO!
Mexican President Díaz (1876-1880 and 1884-1911) famously commented: “Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.”
Diaz got it at least half right. Mexico has suffered in the shadow of the Colossus of the North, but Mexico is not poor. Mexico is rich in many ways, yet it also has been impoverished. And Mexico has been greatly underappreciated by North Americans. This presentation will emphasize the many poorly known accomplishments of Mexico, while uncovering the role of US imperialism.
Mexico is bucking an international right-wing tide, shifting its government from right to left-of-center with the presidential inauguration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on December 1. Speaking for international capital, The Economist is worried. The other 99% of humanity is hopeful.
Roger Harris will present a PowerPoint-illustrated cautionary history of this trice conquered land. A longtime activist with the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, Roger is on the board of the Task Force on the Americas (http://taskforceamericas.org/), a 33-year-old human rights organization, and is active with the Campaign to End US-Canadian Sanctions Against Venezuela (https://tinyurl.com/yd4ptxkx). He last visited Mexico in March.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Sun, May 26, 2019: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Report from Venezuela Delegation
Venezuela is in the cross hairs of imperialism.  It has the largest oil reserves in the world, but more than that, Venezuela is determined to use its resources for the benefit of its own people instead of handing them over to transnational corporations or imperialist rulers.  In the age of imperialism, these trends are enough to make any country the target of imperialist plunderers.  We are under a media barrage of lies, misinformation, and open US propaganda about Venezuela. With this intense muddying of waters it becomes very hard to know and understand the events happening around this Latin American, Bolivarian, country.
In order to observe what is really going on there, recently Bay Area residents Mehmet Bayram, ICSS member and journalist, and Laura Wells, Green Party Congressional Candidate, visited Venezuela with the “End Venezuela Sanctions” delegation.  They will present their experience and lead the discussion afterwards.

Sun, June 9, 2019: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee
After 24 years in the USA, 38 years in the (East) German Democratic Republic as a McCarthy-era exile, then nearly 30 years in unified Germany, Victor Grossman, the ex-pat journalist and author examines the rise and fall of a socialist experiment as he observed and participated in it. He tries to clear through a fog of misinformation and distortion regarding it, describing its achievements, its successes as well as its blunders and negative aspects. Its position regarding Nazis and fascism is compared with that in West Germany. Its school system, women’s rights, both models in many ways, cultural questions and other matters are examined from a personal, anecdotal and sometimes humorous perspective. 
The book then turns to a broader examination of possible lessons to be learned when searching for solutions to present-day problems: the growing gap between rich and poor, alarmingly malevolent dangers for a crippled environment, the menace of racism and new fascist movements, the almost ignored danger of atomic annihilation – and who is to blame for them. But the book also looks at newly invigorated hopes for a better, a socialist future despite the many barriers to its realization – seen through the prism of a veteran of the “old Left” in the USA, Communist rule and the Cold War in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, and expresses his views on current fears and hopes on both sides of the Atlantic – and the Pacific. 
(Copies of Victor’s book will be available for purchase, cash or checks only, NO CREDIT CARDS.

Sun, Jun 16, 2019: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Cuba”s Democracy
Constitutional Referendum and grassroots political processes.
Cuba is always described as a “dictatorship” by the mainstream media and the U.S. government, thus providing a pretext for the economic blockade and talk about regime change. But Sharat G. Lin found a remarkable democratic process in the recent Constitutional Referendum in Cuba and months of nationwide discussions involving millions of voters. (Awaiting confirmation)

Join Michael Lighty, long-time single-payer champion and Sanders Institute Fellow, as he tours the East Coast to discuss the urgency of the moment. This event will give you the tools you need to be a strong advocate for single-payer healthcare in your workplace and your community.

Accessibility: The Women’s Building entrance, auditorium and restrooms are ADA accessible

Calling all volunteers! The People’s Budget Initiative needs YOU to help make it a reality by gathering signatures in your neighborhood.

We’ll make sure you have everything you need to get started as early as next week: meet other volunteers and build teams around your schedule, put together shift equipment, and run through one last training session.

This is the perfect place for new volunteers to connect with experienced signature gatherers who can share their skills & knowledge and organize shifts together.

Don’t miss the next Green Sunday June 9th at 5pm on 5G, the 5th generation Big Telecom planned roll out of close proximity so-called “small” cell antennas every 2 to 8 houses on every block emitting inescapable millimeter wave wireless radiation 24/7 which would harm mammals and pollinators, risk our privacy and security, cost more than cable or fiber optic with far less reliability and speed, interfere with weather predictions, etc.  Motive for 5G?  You guessed it….corporate greed (with no regard for human need.)
20+ Ca cities have passed related urgency ordinances, but not yet in Alameda County — comin’ up!
Panel discussion will feature scientists and organizers.

Over 20 California cities have adopted measures to restrict the rollout of 5th Generation close proximity “small” cell antennas on every block.
Panel Discussion featuring health educator Sarah Aminoff, scientist Lloyd Morgan, and author Gar Smith.  Don’t miss the audience discussion that follows!
If it proceeds as Big Telecom plans, 5G will adversely affect privacy, safety, property values, weather prediction, etc.
There are far superior alternatives, cable and fiber optic, which are more reliable, more secure, faster, and more affordable.

Lloyd Morgan is Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Health Trust, and Director, Central Brain Tumor Registry of the US.  He is a retired electronic engineer who has been working on the risks of radio frequency radiation since 1991 and has published peer-reviewed studies on that topic.  After helping the city of Berkeley adopt its Cell Phone Right to Know ordinance, he founded Wireless Radiation Education & Defense (WiRED) which is on the cusp of getting the city of Berkeley to adopt an ordinance restricting 5G.  He is a Board Member of the International EMF (Electromagnetic Frequencies) Alliance and is also a member of the international science organizations, the Bioelectromagnetics Society, the European Bioelectromagnetics Association, and the Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium.

Gar Smith is editor emeritus of Earth Island Journal, co-founder of Environmentalists Against War, and director of the nonprofit Academic Publishing Inc. A veteran of Berkeley’s Free Speech Movement, Smith has been jailed for anti-war actions and has engaged in environmental campaigns on three continents.  A Project Censored award-winning journalist, he is the recipient of the Health Journalism Award and the World Affairs Council’s Thomas More Storke International Journalism Award.  He is the author of Nuclear Roulette and The War and Environment Reader, and he recently wrote “How the 5G Revolution Threatens Human Health and Nature.”

Sarah Aminoff taught freshman first year experience at Sonoma State University and health education at City College of SF, College for Teens, as well as being a K-12 educator.  With United Educators of SF, she worked on a safer technology campaign for SF schools in collaboration with Environmental Health Trust’s educational campaigns on children’s health. She is the EMF Project Coordinator for FACTS (Families Advocating for Chemical & Toxics Safety) and is a member of the California Alliance for Safer Technology, a consortium of health and environmental advocates, physicians, non-profit leaders, attorneys and government officials, as well as Americans for Responsible Technology.  Successful campaigns include Sierra Club CA Conservation Committee voting to oppose 5G without environmental review or local control.  Ms. Aminoff will add a dynamic power point presentation to the 5G discussion.

The event will be live streamed and archived on the Green Party of Alameda County facebook page.
Want more info?  At the forum there’ll be free copies of the excellent Re-Inventing Wires published by the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy.

Come check out out latest Liberated Lens production: Homeless First, a documentary about First they came for the homeless, a self organized drug and alcohol free encampment in Berkeley that provides safe space for people on the streets to get out of homelessness.

Film by Anka Karewicz and Travis Schirmer

Juggling performance by Stacey, report from Houseless People Walking To Salem For Justice march and panel with camp members after the screening.

Free admission, donations for FTCFTH and Liberated Lens will be collected.

Last month, Libby Schaaf presented her budget for the 2019-2021 budget cycle. Despite a citywide survey that revealed Oakland’s two top priorities are homelessness and affordable housing, Libby’s budget increased spending for her office and the police department. And it decreased spending on everything else including public works, libraries, social services, parks & rec and race & equity. On Monday, June 10th, Council President Rebecca Kaplan will present her amended budget for community response.

The Refund Coalition has spent the last several months creating a budget that reflects our values as a city and ensures our most marginalized populations have what they need to thrive in Oakland.

Join us on Monday for a rally and then to speak at City Council in favor of Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan’s budget which most closely aligns with the People’s Platform by redirecting monies from the bloated police budget to social services, expanding our response to the homeless crisis, ensuring city services are funded at the levels we need and investing in permanently affordable housing stock.

Failure to act today ensures that tomorrow will be too late!