Calendar

Join community members and immigrants’ rights advocates at the first ever TRUTH Act forum in California to demand transparency and accountability! If we uphold our values, we’ll move Contra Costa County forward together.

Under the TRUTH Act, any jurisdiction that has allowed ICE access in the past year is required to hold a community forum bringing transparency to local jail entanglement with immigration enforcement.

Through our advocacy efforts, the Board of Supervisors finally scheduled the forum to ensure that our community could obtain information and ask questions about how our county works with ICE. Sheriff David Livingston will be at the forum to answer questions from the Board of Supervisors and the community.

Contra Costa Immigrant Rights Alliance

Nonprofit Organization

**Join us for a show of support during public forum at 3. We’re the last agenda item, #16, so we probably won’t be heard till after 8:30. We’ll post live updates, so come when you can and ceed your time to the coalition or other tenants if you can’t stay!

Oakland voters have a chance to amend the Just Cause ordinance to make sure ALL units in Oakland built before 1995 are covered by Just Cause eviction protections. We just have to make sure City Council votes Tuesday to put the amendment on the Nov ballot.

Currently, if tenants live in a duplex or triplex and their landlord resides on the property or claims to be moving in, they can be evicted for NO REASON. This loophole allows landlords and speculators to evict rent-controlled tenants, including seniors and disabled longtime residents who would otherwise have extra protections, avoid paying relocation payments and raise rents to market rate.

Community members and the Close the Loopholes Coalition have pushed this amendment through two committee meetings and have one final vote to get it before voters. At each step of the way, we’ve fought off attempts by landlords to squash this protection. Now, Council Member McElhaney is trying to add exceptions to the amendment by creating loopholes within loopholes and even expanding some exemptions to fourplexes!

We need your help making sure this amendment is put before voters in Nov and that it is not water down. Oakland is in a housing crisis and we cannot wait. In 2016, 75% of voters Oakland voted to extend Just Cause to 12k units. Let’s win protections for another 8k units, most of which are in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods.

*The City Council meeting starts at 3, but the agenda item number has not been set for this amendment. It’s likely that this will be a long meeting, so please check back for a better estimate of when to arrive for public comment.

We are also asking community to EMAIL City Council to ask them to PASS this legislation without any AMENDMENTS. You can also email Supervisor Gallo to thank him. Here is the script:

Mayor Schaff lschaaf@oaklandnet.com

D1 Councilmember Dan Kalb dkalb@oaklandnet.com

D2 Councilmember Guillen aguillen@oaklandnet.com

D3 Councilmember McElhaney lmcelhaney@oaklandnet.com

D4 CM Campbell Washington acampbellwashington@oaklandnet.com

D5 Noel Gallo ngallo@oaklandnet.com

D6 Desley Brooks dbrooks@oaklandnet.com

D7 Larry Reid lreid@oaklandnet.com

At Large Kaplan rkaplan@oaklandenet.com

EMAIL SCRIPT:

SUBJECT: SUPPORT JUST CAUSE AMENDMENT BALLOT MEASURE

Councilmember _____________,

My name is _____ and I’m a tenant in Oakland (City Council District ________). [If you live in a duplex/triplex: I live in a duplex and triplex and feel vulnerable to an eviction if the owner decides to move onto the property]. I am writing to you to ask that you recognize that all tenants [including myself] deserve to be protected under the Oakland Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and to ask you to take action to close the duplex/triplex loophole before going on summer recess.

There are over 8,000 duplex/triplexes in Oakland, not including un-permitted units. This exemption leaves multiple families, including the elderly and disabled individuals at the risk of eviction with no protections or even relocation payments. I ask that you vote to support the Just Cause Amendment Ballot Measure that will ensure all tenants in Oakland are afforded the same protections.

I look forward to hearing that you will be in support of this ballot measure.

BERKELEY GRAY PANTHERS REPORT BACK FROM THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF HUD TENANTS CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON DC.

What is NAHT? NAHT is the only National organization run by HUD Tenants who are mandated to lobby for the housing rights of low income, senior, and disabled people and promote housing as a “right” of all people. Gray Panthers is a member of NAHT and a sponsor of their work in the Bay Area.

Presenters will report back from the conference and report on the work being done to overturn the abusive work being done by the Trump administration to derail the advances of housing availability gained so far.

Eleanor Walden: Co-chair Berkeley Gray Panthers. Board representative to NAHT.

Stefen: Former Co-chair of Redwood Gardens. Original Director of Strawberry Creek Tenants Assoc.

Frederick Martin: VISTA Worker at Housing Rights Committee SF.

Renee Cyprian: Elected to Board of NAHT from SF.

Discussion is welcome. Coffee and tea and noshes will be available!

All are welcome – Wheelchair Accessible – No one turned away.
graypanthersberk [at] aol.org

Comrades! Are you excited about housing justice, connecting with neighbors, and building real people-power in South Berkeley? Come have a beer, meet organizers in your neighborhood, and learn about the work East By DSA is doing to fight for housing justice in South Berkeley!

A mother of four, murdered in her home.

She was “a great Black woman activist” deeply involved with the Oscar Grant Committee which worked for justice in the police murder of Pedie Perez in Richmond”

More info: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/richmond-mother-of-4-found-brutally-murdered-inside-her-apartment/1321817937

“Harley, as she was called, was a mom to a 2-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 14-year-old, and an 18-year-old who just graduated from Marine boot camp.  She was also an activist who attended Richmond city council meetings on a regular basis.”

Join the East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses Social!

Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in the EBDSA Labor Committee, and learn how you can get involved!

Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions, co-edited by Al Weinrub of the Local Clean Energy Alliance and published in 2017, captures the historical and conceptual framework, as well as the underlying values and principles of the emerging Energy Democracy movement.

Join Al Weinrub and local community energy activists to learn more about Energy Democracy‘s national tour and the launch of a new Local Clean Energy Alliance book club.  The Energy Democracy tour is inspired by the highly-acclaimed book, and includes a series of events hosted by local organizations all across the country highlighting the alternative, frontline-led and justice-centered renewable energy projects they are undertaking in their communities.

This event also marks the launch of a local book club, which will focus on reading and discussing books that promote a decentralized renewable energy economy—one that is equitable, sustainable, resilient and democratic.

RSVP here.

Emma’s Revolution is the award-winning, progressive activist duo of Pat Humphries and Sandy O, whose songs have been sung for the Dalai Lama, praised by Pete Seeger, and covered by Holly Near. With beautiful harmonies and acoustic guitars, the duo’s songs cover issues from reproductive injustice to refugees and Black Lives Matter to the sustaining power of love. You can find more about them and get tickets at emmasrevolution.com.

Documentary, 97 minutes, Rated NR

This depressing documentary, focusing mostly on matters in the state of Montana, shows the effect of untraceable corporate money on the American political system. It tries to be hopeful, but hope is hard to come by.

Waffles & Zapatismo is a free space for learning about and discussing the history, ideas, values and practices of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, EZLN or Zapatistas. We serve waffles at the start of the class to those who want them.

#OccupyICESF is having a potluck this Saturday July 28 @ 12PM at 16th St. BART Station. Everyone welcome! Bring food, friends and family; support ongoing efforts to abolish ICE and ALL prison structures as we search for communal alternatives together #AbolishICE #AbolishALLCages pic.twitter.com/OEHK2e8y79

— Abolish ICE SF (@occupyicesf) July 25, 2018

Saturday 7/28: #AbolishICESF potluck BBQ to raise money to bail out ICE detainees in Richmond. Donations to: https://t.co/NGhq9r5bzC #OccupyICE #OccupyICESF #AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/JQjvvDpFbs

— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) July 27, 2018

It’s Election Night 2018 and Bob swears she’ll never vote again. A lifetime of fading fortunes made this former Obama voter take a chance on the new guy promising change-Donald J. Trump. But it’s two years into his presidency and Bob’s still waiting to start winning. Tonight she’s telling everyone in her small-town bar that all politicians are liars, the system is rigged, and nothing’s ever gonna change.

Along comes a mysterious stranger with an intriguing offer. He’ll show her an America where working people come together to demand a brighter future, where socialism isn’t a dirty word. He’ll take her all the way … to 1912.

Bob soon finds herself traveling back to a time when the Socialist Party was winning millions of American votes; uncovering a hidden history and realizing that she may have more in common with those pesky progressives on the coasts. She begins to ask: what will it take to get people to stop voting against their interests? How do we overcome the divide-and-conquer tactics that keep us all down? When did our electoral choices get so limited? And isn’t it time to get off the swinging pendulum that’s left us at our current impasse?

MoveOn Community Potluck at the Farm!

Connect with MoveOn Members near you at a Resist & Win Community Potluck!

Our path to ending Republican control of the House begins in our own communities: marching, calling, canvassing, and … eating! Come together with fellow activists in your area to share a meal and recharge for the work ahead at a Resist & Win Community Potluck near you!

Here’s a brief description of this Resist & Win Potluck from the host:

Meet your neighbors and share some grub; as we draw, sing and speak about what community means to us in Oakland. Join us at our local West Oakland community garden – City Slicker Farms – from 2-4pm. Bring your favorite dish or drink, guitar or drum, paint brush or sharpie! Let’s build some community and momentum as we organize with MoveOn for the 2018 mid-terms. City Slicker Farms is an urban farm and park providing individuals and groups a comprehensive farm to table, we hope that in joining our event you can also learn more about what they do to address food scarcity in our community.

On Saturday July 28th, KPFA in partnership with The New Parkway Theater in Oakland present our inaugural movie matinee All The President’s Men.

All The President’s Men, stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who uncovered the Watergate scandal. This film is the story of a story: of two reporters covering a suspicious third-rate burglary and following it, all the way to the White House.

All the President’s Men is as smart and as cautionary today as it was in 1976.  “Nothing’s riding on this except the first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country.”

Saturday at 3pm at the New Parkway Theater 474 24th St, between Telegraph and Broadway in Oakland for All The Presidents Men, an intelligent and provocative film about our nation’s political failings, and a near-perfect depiction of journalism at its most inspired.

Join us to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of the attack on the Moncada bar­racks that marked the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The program will include Bay Area Participants of the XIII May Day International Brigade to Cuba and US graduated from the Latin America School of Medicine in Cuba. Music by DUAMUX – Marci Valdivieso and Ricardo Valdivieso. Co-sponsored by National Network on Cuba, BFUU SJC, International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity.
Photo by Bill Hackwell

Documentary, 97 minutes, Rated NR

This depressing documentary, focusing mostly on matters in the state of Montana, shows the effect of untraceable corporate money on the American political system. It tries to be hopeful, but hope is hard to come by.

Do you sometimes get “triggered” or shutdown in stressful, racially tense situations? This workshop, facilitated by the White Noise Collective, will explore how the brain and body respond to these perceived threats, help you manage guilt and shame that can arise in learning about race and racism, and build skills that enable greater resilience in moments of challenge.

join us in the campaign for Proposition 10: the Affordable Housing Act — a ballot initiative that that will give our cities and counties the power to adopt rent control necessary to address the state’s housing affordability crisis by repealing the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act upholds landlord interests, and – in tandem with the housing crisis – has deeply exacerbated social disparities, displaced longtime communities, driven homelessness, and dealt a blow to working class power by making housing ever more insecure and inaccessible.

Come learn more about repealing Costa-Hawkins and then we’ll hit the streets to talk with our neighbors about housing justice and the Affordable Housing Act!

RSVP

It’s Election Night 2018 and Bob swears she’ll never vote again. A lifetime of fading fortunes made this former Obama voter take a chance on the new guy promising change-Donald J. Trump. But it’s two years into his presidency and Bob’s still waiting to start winning. Tonight she’s telling everyone in her small-town bar that all politicians are liars, the system is rigged, and nothing’s ever gonna change.

Along comes a mysterious stranger with an intriguing offer. He’ll show her an America where working people come together to demand a brighter future, where socialism isn’t a dirty word. He’ll take her all the way … to 1912.

Bob soon finds herself traveling back to a time when the Socialist Party was winning millions of American votes; uncovering a hidden history and realizing that she may have more in common with those pesky progressives on the coasts. She begins to ask: what will it take to get people to stop voting against their interests? How do we overcome the divide-and-conquer tactics that keep us all down? When did our electoral choices get so limited? And isn’t it time to get off the swinging pendulum that’s left us at our current impasse?