Calendar
The developers have annouced that in less than ONE WEEK they’ll break ground on the historic Gill Tract! Bring the ruckus! Bring the noise! No business as usual until Sprouts pulls out of plans to develop on our Gill Tract farmland.
We’ll meet at the Walnut Creek store on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, one of the nation’s busiest grocery shopping days, and we’ll make sure that everyone knows to Boycott Sprouts! We’ll have a Dance Disruption lead by Jasmine Fuego, and beautiful examples of what a REAL farmer’s market looks like and means to farmers and our community. Please come for part if not all of this critical action!
Many homeless people are gathered in protest at Old Berkeley City Hall this week demanding human services and opposing the anti-homeless ordinances about to be passed by the Berkeley City Council.
On Thanksgiving Day, save a dish or two from your Thanksgiving feast and bring it down to Old City Hall! Of course it will be appreciated on Friday and over the weekend too!
Please join workers and community members as we continue to challenge Walmart for $15 and Full Time. You can find more information on the national actions at www.protests.blackfriday. See you on Black Friday.
Funeral of Richard Perkins, killed by Oakland police
The mother of Richard, Ada Perkins Henderson,extends an invitation to all supporters to attend the funeral of her son. Richard was killed by the Oakland Police on Sunday, Nov. 15.
Richard was shot 16 times by 4 police officers.
Plz join us for the 16th anniversary of our annual protest. In 1999, the City of Emerryville built the Mall that now sits on the corner of Shellmound St and Ohlone Way. This space was once a Ohlone village site and it was one of the largest Shellmounds in the Bay Area. The sacred Shellmound once stood over 60ft high and 350 ft in diameter and it was considered the largest funerary complex of the Ohlone people. When the mall was built, we petitioned the city council and asked them not to destroy our sacred sites, but the developers and the businesses ignored our voices. Although, the mall was built, our resistance is alive and it has never died. Hence, every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, the biggest shopping day of the year, we’ve organized an educational protest to remind everyone that Ohlone peoples are alive in the Bay Area and we aim to educate the public on why and how the desecration of Ohlone sacred sites hurts Ohlones and everyone living here in the Bay Area. We also ask people to not shop at this mall.
Bring friends,food to share, appropriate and thoughtful signs and plz bring your positive attitudes. The ceremony at the protest will include spoken word, sacred songs and dances. Plz contact organizers beforehand if you have an offering you would like to share.
FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE HOMELESS IS ORGANIZING
Occupy the Sidewalks
DON’T STAND FOR SIT LIE
Stop the war on the poor
Section 168 of the San Francisco Police Code, makes it unlawful, with certain exceptions, to sit or lie on a public sidewalk, or on an object placed on a public sidewalk, between 7AM and 11PM.
(4) participating in or attending a parade, festival, performance, rally, demonstration, meeting or similar event conducted on a sidewalk under and in compliance with a street use or other applicable permit;
Protesting the law allows you to sit. The constitution guarantees you’re right to peaceably assemble in the commons. Remove their ability to prosecute and persecute the homeless. The commons belong to all!
The sidewalks of San Francisco have been a battleground if you are homeless. Sit lie is used to shuffle the poor out of sight. We take the shopping district on black Friday.
Join us for a speakout and rally against the recent white supremacist shootings against #4thPrecinctShutDown and #BlackLivesMatter demonstrators in North Minneapolis and in solidarity with the ongoing protests in Chicago in the wake of Laquan MacDonald horrific murder by police in 2014. From the growing white nationalism of Trump’s campaign to the now over 1,000 people shot down by law enforcement in 2015 alone, such systemic white supremacy has ushered in a new phase of the black liberation struggle. Now is the time to take sides and get organized.
Big ups to our comrades in Berkeley and East Oakland who have walked out of school and stood firm in the face of police terror.
Bring signs, banners, and noise makers!
Various community speakers will address the crowd as well as guests calling in from Minneapolis and Chicago!
#Oakland solidarity rally for #Justice4Jamar #Chicago #LaquanMcDonald #4thPrecinctShutDown. Fri November 27 5pm. pic.twitter.com/v2TyW1WcrD
— FireWorks (@FireWorksBAY) November 25, 2015
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
OccupyForum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Occupyforum Night Out…
Reassessing and Recommitting
To Your Activism in Dire Times
We are coming to the end of another year of our activism, which invites us to reassess and hopefully recommit. This year has seen a surge of resistance: Black Lives Matter, anti-incarceration, climate justice and environmental justice locally and globally, immigration activism, anti-gentrification and protection of those victimized by it, Indigenous leadership, peace activism — way too much to list. At OccupyForum, we’ve been hearing from activists in all these battles and are an active part of this Movement.
But in our own circles, we take time out to express our frustration, anger and fear that what we see in the world is just too much. We have been to workshops and read books about taking care of ourselves when we are dealing with the world’s trauma, and getting help staying sane. The topic tonight, instead, is how to stay inspired (not just functioning!). How do we keep our work strong and focused when we are feeling afraid, defeated, and hopeless about our progress as a Movement?
“Much of life is sad, and there’s nothing to be done about it. (All my activist friends are more than a little disappointed in the complacency of a populous who still refuse to join us in the streets, even as our corporate masters destroy the planet.) Sometimes we ignore happiness and healing when it’s dangled in front of us… There is one, and only one solution, but people are too scared to embrace it. Suffering, when you’re used to it, can feel safe. That solution is: come together, right now, over us.” — Peter
“I personally need to make sure I name the whole spectrum of my feelings in order to redouble efforts in the face of the madness. I’m so angry about what’s going on with black lives in this country I don’t know what to do. We protest and it flies back up in our face. We are living in an insane asylum in Amerikkka…. but it doesn’t mean we can afford to give up. Gandhi says you have to keep tipping the scales drop by drop.” – Ruthie
This Forum is for YOU. Please come to share your own feelings in the face of insanity, and tell us what advice you have for the rest of us to help focus the rage and despair into productive activism.
We have a little extra $ to help pay for food if you’re broke!
Don’t let cost keep you away!
Family friendly bike ride and rally for a renewable energy economy
Locally: We ask city government, business leaders, and everyone to commit to smart resource use (reduce, reuse, recycle, rot), safe bike and pedestrian routes, and a swift transition to clean energy (solar, wind, geothermal)
Globally: This event is part of the Global Climate March asking world leaders who meet in Paris on November 30th to commit to 100% clean energy as part of the next global climate deal
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!
Discussion / brainstorm of ideas for Leap Day Action Night 2016 in the Bay Area (February 29, 2016).
Leap Day — February 29, 2016 — is an extra day that gives us a chance to look at how we spend most of our days and wonder if we can’t do a little better? If the answer is “yes”, Leap Day can be an arbitrary but overdue moment to create decentralized, militant and yet creative and hilarious uprisings against the various oppressive systems that vex us.
Systems of inequality, racism, police violence and environmental destruction are vulnerable, but they won’t collapse on their own. They need our help. Everyone is standing around waiting for something to happen or just focused on the latest outrage. We need to take the initiative and throw the first punch every once in a while.
The call for decentralized revolt on Leap Day 2016 is open-ended in terms of tactics, goals and strategy. Leap day can be a laboratory to articulate our vision for the future in dynamic, emotionally resonant, new ways. Leap Day Action night aims to break down the artificial separation between “activism” and living our lives full of enjoyment and freedom.
Folks last week figured they would be scattered around for the Holidaze. But we’ll be meeting at 1 PM next week on the 6th for a potluck!
We are mobilizing an EMERGENCY PROTEST. This is serious.
People in solitary confinement have been loudly awakened by guards every 30 minutes 24/7 since the night of August 2nd, almost 4 months! Please participate in an emergency protest in Sacramento to stop these every 30 minute so-called “security/welfare checks” being done in the Pelican Bay SHU and other solitary units in CA prisons. Sleep deprivation is torture, and that is what these loud, intrusive checks are causing. For people in solitary cells 23-24 hours a day, the noise and disruption every 30 minutes is unavoidable, endless torture. They are experiencing severe stress, weight loss, dizziness, nausea, headaches, eye problems, stomach and bowel problems, faintness, depression, and sped-up heart rates. They cannot concentrate, exercise, read, do legal work, or anything that helps them survive, and they can’t sleep!
An emergency demo is warranted. 119 days and nights of torment!
Please help make this a powerful convergence in front of the California Department of Corrections in Sacramento.
Protest at 1515 S St, Sacramento, CA 95811 from 10am to 2pm. Rideshares will leave from MacArthur BART in Oakland at 8am. To offer or find rides from Oakland or other CA locales, please call Verbena at 510.426.5322 or email phssreachingout@gmail.com
Come out and show solidarity with our comrade who is finally getting an evidentiary hearing! After two years of fighting for it, this hearing will finally be held to show that César did not get a fair trial because the DA and OPD illegally withheld lots of favorable evidence from the defense. This is a case from Occupy and it would be great to have a big show of solidarity and support for this comrade from everyone! Please come out and spread the word!
Please note that this court date is expected to maybe be a 2 day thing, so it is likely court support will be needed on 11/30 AND 12/1!
CHECK THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE FOR UPDATED INFO, POSTPONEMENTS OR CANCELLATIONS
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Please come out and support this comrade! This court date is likely to last for 2 days, so court support is likely to be needed on both 11/30 and 12/1! Dept. 10
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Kickin it on the eve of the Tues. Dec. 1st city council meeting…
Music by Dave (Redd) Welsh on Hammond organ, Dwan on drums, plus sax, congas, and the people’s choir… music, songs and sing-along in solidarity with the homeless, now Occupying the grounds of Old City Hall in protest of anti-homeless legislation and in support of services and housing for those without a place to call their own.
Berkeley Copwatch is tired of unjust policing and lack of accountability. We stand in solidarity with those protesting the murders of black people across the nation and say that this must end! We have our unique problems in Berkeley and the East Bay and we must take local action to stand up and demand justice!
We Demand:
- End racial profiling in Berkeley! Get the statistics on who is really being detained and arrested and stop handcuffing men of color for no reason!
- No tasers in Berkeley! Spend money to study how to end racial profiling – not acquire tasers!
- End the militarization of the police! No boats, no armored personnel carriers, no more weapons and no more military games. Withdraw from Urban Shield!
- Justice For Kayla Moore!
- Decriminalize Mental Illness! Police with no training in mental health crisis are most often the first responders to these kinds of situations. Berkeley must fully fund emergency mental health response in the city and prevent militarized cops from being the first point of contact for members of the public who need help in dealing with emergency mental health situations. No more putting spit hoods over the heads of people with mental illness! No taser use on mentally ill people! Counselors not cops!
Meetings at 7pm every Monday!
Rally on the Old City Hall Steps beginning at 4:00 in support of the Homeless Occupation and Protest now ensconced on the grounds, in support of #BlackLivesMatter and against Berkeley’s participation in Urban Shield, an annual militarized police training and military-style equipment show.
Items concerning these issues will be on the City Council Agenda this evening – three anti-homeless ordinances, a spineless report about the Berkeley Police and their actions during the Black Lives Matters protests a year ago when people were tear gassed, shot at with bean-bag rounds and struck with batons, and something to continue Berkeley’s relationship with UASI, the funder for Urban Shield.
There will be a march commencing at 6:00 PM to the Longfellow School at Derby & Sacramento; there will be a press conference at 6:30 PM; and then the regular City Council meeting will begin at Longfellow at 7:00 PM.
SUPPORT
Subject: Requiring More Effective Training In The Use Of Force
From: Members Of The Public (100 Black Men Of The Bay Area)
Recommendation: Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting
Policies And Procedures Which Require OPD To Train Officers More Effectively In The
Use Of Force, Especially Lethal Force; Such Training Should Not Only Define
Conditions In Which Officers May Use Lethal Force But Also, More Broadly, Show
Them How To Avoid It
SUPPORT
Subject: Blue Wall Code Of Silence
From: 100 Black Men Of The Bay Area
Recommendation: Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting
Legislation To Eradicate The Persistent Widespread Custom Or Practice Of
Concealing Or Suppressing Investigations Into Police Officer Misconduct; In Order For
The Public To Be Safe We Must Break Down The “Blue Wall Code Of Silence” That
Exists In Law Enforcement Agencies Throughout This Nation. Good Officers Must Not
Defend Bad Officers Or Their Misconduct.
SUPPORT
Subject: Adopting Reporting Requirements For Officers In All Use Of Force Cases
From: Members Of The Public (100 Black Men Of The Bay Area)
Recommendation: Receive A Report And Recommendations Regarding Adopting
Officer Reporting And Disclosure Requirements For Both Responding And On-Scene
Officers In All Use Of Force Cases; Mandatory Firing And Criminal Prosecution For
Failure To Report And/Or Disclose Officer Misconduct And For Providing False
Information
OPPOSE
Subject: FY 2015 UASI Program Grant Agreement
From: Oakland Fire Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator Or Her
Designee To (1) Enter Into The Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant
Administration Agreement With The City And County Of San Francisco To Accept And
Appropriate Up To One Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars (1,100,000.00) For
Federal Fiscal Year 2015 UASI Grant Funds; And (2) Accept, Appropriate, And
Administer Said UASI Federal Grant Funds; And 3. Approve The 2015 UASI
Recommended Proposed Spending Plan And Authorize A Contribution From The
General Purpose Fund In An Amount Equivalent To Central Services Overhead (CSO)
Charges Affiliated With Said Grant Estimated At Thirty-One Thousand One Hundred
Ninety Five Dollars ($31,195.00) For Fiscal Year 2015-16 And Thirty-Seven Thousand
Four Hundred Thirty Three Dollars ($37,433.00) For Fiscal Year 2016-17; And 4.
Expend Funds In Accordance With Said Recommended Proposed Spending Plan
Without Further Council Approval Provided The City’s Hiring And Contracting
Requirements And Programs/Policies Are Followed.
Berkeley city council members will be discussing the city’s involvement and participation in Urban Shield, a highly militarized SWAT training and weapons expo. Join the Stop Urban Shield Coalition as we demand that Berkeley withdraw their participation in the policing program.
The city council will also be discussing the Berkeley police’s crackdown of a protest last December, in which people who came out to stand up against the murders of Black people at the hands of police were brutalized. Police claim that Urban Shield provides them with better training and skills to be able to handle emergency situations. Yet as we see with their increasingly militarized response to protests and everyday situations, Urban Shield doesn’t increase safety, but only leads to police gaining more tools, tactics, and power in their repression and control of our communities.
Press Conference at 6:30p
City Council Meeting at 7p