Facebook Page and RSVP.

Flyer with more info.

The Veolia Group is a French owned multi-national, which plays a growing role in the world economy pushing privatization of water resources, transportation and other public services.
In the Bay Area, Veolia has pushed for the privatization of water treatment in Richmond, CA, which has led to union busting and environmental degradation. Thomas P. Hoch, Vice President of Veolia Transportation Services was hired to represent BART management in recent negotiations. Hoch attacked BART unions ATU 1555, SEIU 1021 and AFSCME 993.
Veolia is also involved in privatizing transportation services and has attacked unions such as the Boston School Bus Drivers USW 8751, where Veolia has blatantly violated their union contract and fired 4 of the union leaders. They are still fighting for their jobs back, (Team Solidarity- the Voice of United School Bus Union Workers).

Globally, the Veolia group is the largest water privatization company and various environmental groups have tracked its record of destruction and corruption. In the occupied West Bank, subsidiaries of the group operated segregated buses to illegal Israeli settlements, operated an illegal settler dump and ran a light rail system that sustains the Israeli settlements around Jerusalem.

Communities all around the world have organized against Veolia and managed to get their cities and unions to pass anti-privatization resolutions declaring their cities “Veolia Free”.

Topics will include: Veolia’s labor, environmental and human rights
record and what poor and working people can do about their activities.
We invite you, your union/organization to attend and endorse this conference.
SCHEDULE
1:00 PM Registration
1:15 PM Introductions
Speakers: Steve Gillis, VP USW 8751*, Boston School Bus 5; George Figueroa, BART ATU 1555*; Charles Smith, AFSCME 444* and Richmond Fight with Veolia; Omar Barghouti Co-founder BNC, Palestine
2:45 PM International Panel
Speakers: Hugh Lanning, Chair, Palestine Solidarity Committee in UK; Jackie Lewis, London Regional Committee of Unison, Dump Veolia Information Group and PSC; Dalit Baum, Middle East Program, AFSC
3:45 PM Regional Panel
Speakers: Erin Diaz , Director, Public Water Works! Campaign, Corporate Accountability International (Boston); Lois Pearlman, Sonoma Campaign N. Coast Coalition For Palestine; Mikos Fabersonne, Chair, Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights (DCPR); Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10 Executive Board*
5:00 PM Workshops-Education and Action, Labor And Privatization, Organizing In Local Communities
6:00 – 6:30 PM Report Back and Action Proposals
7:30 PM Film Screening “Even The Rain” and poetry, music by Dave Welsh and others.
(* for identification only)
Endorsers: Team Solidarity- the Voice of United School Bus Union Workers, UTU 1741, San Francisco Labor Council, Food And Water Watch, United Public Workers For Action, Inter Union Organizing Committee at CDPH, Labor Video Project, Workers World Party, Marcha Patriótica – Capítulo California , International Action Center, American Friends Service Committee, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace, Code Pink, Transportation Workers Solidarity Committee
For registration and contact: call 415-282-1908

Discussion to plan the next steps for Grow the Revolution.

Show some love for Tristan on his birthday, and show some love for the Holdout too! Kid friendly, wheel chair accessible. Free food. Tristan’s been through a lot, his body has been through a lot. This winter [get out in the streets with us THURS MARCH 13] marks five years since Tristan was shot in the head with a tear gas grenade, changing his life forever. Join us Sun Feb 9 to have a good time and cherish our comrades. Every birthday is a victory against state aggression.

Facebook page & RSVP.

Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue on all sides of these critically important issues!

OccupyForum presents…

Power, Privilege and Terrorism:

Hindu Extremism in India and its tentacles

in the Indian American Diaspora

With Ahmed Syed, member Indian American Muslim Council

and Karthik Ramanathan, Occupy activist

The year 2002 will remain an infamous moment in the history of secular India. During this time, thousands of unarmed Muslim civilians — men, women and children — in the state of Gujarat were targeted by Hindu Terrorist groups using as an excuse an incident of a train coach burning that had resulted in the deaths of 58 Hindus. This anti-Muslim violence and the hate campaign that followed were supported by the National and State governments led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including its current Priministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi.

Ahmed Syed, member of the Indian American Muslim Council and Karthik Ramanathan, Occupy Activist, will address the rising social challenges posed by Hindu fundamentalist parties like the BJP which are inimical to the ideals of equality and liberty, that have risen over the Indian political landscape. We will also explore the support and funding being received by these forces from sections of the Indian American diaspora, the work of IAMC in supporting the fight for justice in India, and what we can do to support the struggle.

Participants will pass out fliers, wearing tape over their mouths to to point out the fact that when violence against sex workers is discussed by “experts” from a prostitution abolitionist perspective, sex worker voices and perspectives are not included.

If you want, wear red or bring red umbrella

The main goal of this protest is to ask that sex workers are included in the processes that affect us.

A seat at the table for sex worker rights advocates

Adult consensual sex workers should have a seat at the table when anti-trafficking efforts are proposed and implemented.  Right now, they are being shut out. Anti-trafficking efforts impact the lives and safety of adult consensual sex workers. Because they are impacted, they should be part of the leadership in the efforts to end the trafficking of children and of non-consenting adults.

Here is the information for the exclusive abolitionist celebration that we are protesting:

2014 Modern Day Abolitionist Award Ceremony & Panel Presentation on Discouraging Demand

Tuesday, February 11, 2014
10:00 am to 12:00 pm
San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco

All Out to Sacramento!

9:30 AM: Hearing, Rm 4203.

12:00 noon: Rally.

2:00 PM. Lobby legislators.

Rideshare: Contact Tynan 415 361 8436.  Rides from McArthur Bart 7:00 AM.

In response to the largest prison hunger strike in US history, California lawmakers are holding the 2nd legislative hearing on solitary confinement in US prisons.

We will be with the prisoners… in the courts, in the legislature, or out in the commnity. We will use every venue available to us, UNTIL THE TORTURE IS ENDED.

— Marie Levin, sister of Hunger Striker Sitawa Jaama.

Join the CODEPINK NSA program as we surveill and monitor the house of Senator Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday, February 11th at noon.

Bring your surveillance equipment, magnifying glasses, tracking devices and drones as we monitor for any suspicious activities!

The protest is being organized in solidarity with the Day We Fight Back day of action!

Original IndyBay listing.

Facebook event.

SAN FRANCISCO CONVERGENCE

* Mark Klein, former ATT technician and whistleblower on the NSA/ATT.

* Guerrilla Projections and Video by the SF Projection Dept. in conjunction with projection/illuminator groups across the country.

* Bay Area Light Brigade!

* Giant “Stop Watching Us” painted Parachute.

Join us at the site of Room 641A, the telecommunication interception facility operated by AT&T for the U.S. National Security Agency in a massive, unconstitutional, illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans’ communications.

In January 2012 we defeated the SOPA and PIPA censorship legislation with the largest Internet protest in history. A year ago this month one of that movement’s leaders, Aaron Swartz, tragically passed away. Today we face a different threat, one that undermines the Internet, and the notion that any of us live in a genuinely free society: mass surveillance. If Aaron were alive, he’d be on the front lines, fighting against a world in which governments observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action.

Mass surveillance is an escalation of of spying and disruption–from COINTELPRO of the 60’s and 70’s to the Palmer Raids of the ’20’s– to silence social change movements for social, economic, environmental, climate justice and democracy; so if we are part of those movements or support them, we can step up so they have the political breathing space to grow. win and make a better world.

TELL CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL KAMALA HARRIS:
PROSECUTE KILLER COPS IT’S YOUR JOB

RALLY AND SPEAKOUT 3PM THURSDAY 2/13 1515 CLAY STREET, OAKLAND (STATE BUILDING BEHIND OSCAR GRANT PLAZA)
Initiated by the Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition.

The Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition (JAB) submitted a letter to California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris at the State March Against Police Brutality on October 22, demanding that she do her job and prosecute Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. Since then she has responded with a flat refusal to reopen the investigation. (See excerpts from the letter we sent below.) On October 22 and since we have reached out to other families with victims of police murders to join in a statewide campaign to demand that AG Harris do her job. Many families have joined on and will be sending letters about their loved ones to Harris, demanding prosecution of the killer cops. All the families are invited and welcome to join us at the rally and speakout at the State Building in Oakland.

Raise the Minimum Wage to $12.25. It’s time we make Oakland the kind of city that families can afford to put food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, and keep the lights on! Let’s ensure that workers can meet our basic needs.

Join ACCE, EBASE, Raise the Wage East Bay, ROC the Bay, SEIU 1021, SEIU ULTCW, UFCW Local 5, and UNITE HERE 2850 to gather signatures for a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage and provide workers with paid sick days.

9:30 AM: Rally.

11:00 – 3:00 PM: Signature gathering.

In the 1980’s the CIA flooded the black community with crack-cocaine as a means of funding the Right-wing insurgency in Nicaragua but also as a way of attacking the power of the black community. Join various community speakers as they discuss this history, its impact and meaning today, as well as the ways in which the Black Panther Party addressed drugs in Oakland and across the United States.

All out to City Hall to pack the next Oakland City Council meeting in opposition to the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The DAC is a massive proposed spy center for the city of Oakland, in cooperation between Oakland Police and the Department of Homeland Security. This vote could stop the DAC, if City Council is willing to take a real stand.

Exactly what time the vote will take place is uncertain, so come hang out with Oakland Privacy Group activists beginning at 6:30 and learn about the DAC.

Sign up to speak against the DAC.

The meeting is “City Council.” (under Comm/Council Name).
The agenda item is 13.
The date would be 02-18-2014

Facebook Event & RSVP.

Sign the petition.

Help us fund a lawsuit.

No Surveillance State in Oakland! Stop the #DAC! – 2/18 http://t.co/petkv18wyB #oakmtg pic.twitter.com/AWhBcxwJQS

— mary mad (@marymad) February 14, 2014

SPIED UPON: SURVEILLANCE AND RESISTANCE

Between the ever-present fear of informants to the profusion of metadata collection and the construction of the Domain Awareness Center (DAC) in Oakland, the growing problem of surveillance has made it into the mainstream dialogue, but the people and communities most affected are sometimes being left out of the conversation.

Join us for an evening of ideas, discussion and questions about solidarity in the face of this intimidation. How do we support one another and our movements when being targeted by police, surveillance and informants? What are the legal, community and political responses that can best keep the larger “us” safe and allow our movements to flourish?

•SPEAKERS•

JASON KIRKPATRICK, filmmaker and activist, will show clips of and discuss his upcoming film, Spied Upon. Interviewing activists across the world and telling his own personal story, Jason will take us on a journey into one of the biggest political surveillance scandals in Europe, documenting growing movements of resistance to surveillance along the way.

ZAHRA BILLOO, Civil rights attorney and Executive Director at the Bay Area Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), speaks on the use of informants in a post-9/11 context, their impact, community resistance, and lessons learned.

RICHARD BROWN, Black Panther and member of the SF8, will share his history with undercover police and surveillance, imparting the ‘long view’ of solidarity learned from a lifetime of activism.

•PANEL DISCUSSION•
Moderated by Nadia Kayyali of the EFF
(Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Q & A with the speakers will follow in conversation with representatives from:

Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee
Bay Area Coalition to Stop Political Repression (at AROC)
Legal Workers of the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
Oakland Privacy Working Group (OPWG / anti-DAC)

Some links:

Domain Awareness Center on Oakland Wiki (general info on DAC, not OPWG’s site):
http://oaklandwiki.org/Domain_Awareness_Center

Spied Upon film:
http://spiedupon.com/

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):
http://www.cair.com/

Richard Brown / SF8::
http://www.freethesf8.org/who.html

Anti-Repression Committee:
https://oaklandantirepression.wordpress.com/

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):
https://www.eff.org/

Coalition to Stop Political Repression (AROC):
http://araborganizing.org/campaigns-our-work/coalition-to-stop-political-repression/

NLG:
http://www.nlgsf.org/national-lawyers-guild-mission-statement

Oakland Privacy Working Group (OPWG):
https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com/

What can we learn about the state’s repressive strategies from the case of the ACAC 19? What does it mean? What doesn’t it mean?

There were several repressive tactics used in this case: apparently random attack, brutality, and arrest; the inclusion of the gang task force, felony charges, outrageous bails, DNA collection, cell phone confiscation and searches; social media subpeonas, mass media attacks and persisting with prosecuting a case with little or no grounds.

Some tactics were historically typical and some were not. Hear from defendents how it went down, from the street to the court. Then we will discuss what we can learn from this case.

There will also be a fundraising raffle and donation to benefit the restitution fund of the ACAC 19.

Facebook page & RSVP.

“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.”

― Dalai Lama XIV

A Conscious Commons Festival

As you may know, the US Postal Service is trying to sell and privatize Berkeley’s Downtown Post Office.   Community members continue to mobilize to save our commons in what has become a national effort. We are involved in spreading the word through festivals and action and by participating in judicial and political efforts to let public officials, developers and buyers know that the people are defending our public resources and do not want post offices sold.

Activities hosted at the Post Office will include:

• Invocation, and meditation
• Information sharing on: postal banking, postal jobs and direct action defense of commons
• letter writing, and art

Come join us! Bring your friends! Bring your lunch!

Sponsored by Berkeley Post Office Defense

http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/

Our Concerns

Self-professed Buddhist’ Richard Blum is chairman of the CBRE board of directors–the agent for the sale of US post offices. The sale of our constitutionally guaranteed post offices promote the transfer of public commons and resources to  private corporations  which brings  higher prices, worse quality of services, higher profits and non union lower paid jobs without benefits. Now, US postal services have been shifted into {84} private US Staples stores including Berkeley and San Francisco.

The Berkeley Post Office and post offices all over the US are under threat of being sold by questionable means. (For example: Goldman Sachs is one of the largest shareholders with CBRE, which has been involved in both selling and purchasing postal property and numerous sale prices appear to be below documented value.                                           Please see: Going Postal: U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s husband sells post offices to his friends, cheap by Peter Byrne.

From: The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso

During his exile in India, the Dalai Lama was fascinated by the modern world and he introduced the first Tibetan currency notes and coins. On 13 February 1913, he made public the five-point statement reasserting Tibet’s Independence. Also, in 1913 he established the first post office in Tibet

                           “it is not enough to be compassionate, we must act.”                                                                 

― Dalai Lama XIV

David Rovics, Eric Drooker & Tristan Anderson

will perform together on Sunday, Feb. 23rd at the Art House in Berkeley, 2905 Shattuck Ave. The event will be a benefit for Justice 4 Tristan.

Schedule:

• 5 PM                   Potluck dinner
• 6 PM                   Welcoming
• 6:15-6:45            Tristan Anderson slide show
• 6:45-7:15             David Rovics  amplified set
• 7:15-8:00             Eric Drooker Multimedia Performance
• 8PM-…..               David Rovics acoutic set

David Rovics is a great folk singer of songs of social significance.  You can download most of his music at his web site or over at Soundclick and other places.

Eric Drooker is an artist, painter, graphic artist, and animator from New York.

Tristan Anderson is an activist and photographer who was critically injured by an Israeli tear gas cannister in 2009 during a peaceful protest. Tristan is hemiplegic- mostly paralyzed on the left (formerly dominant) side of his body. He uses a wheelchair. He has lost sight in his right eye, suffers chronic pain in his paralyzed limbs, and has had pronounced, life changing cognitive and emotional repercussions as a result of the injury that was done to his brain. He has an ongoing lawsuit against the Israeli government.

Click on image to get printable PDF

Click HERE for 11×17″ Poster Image.

And HERE to get a letter sized 4-to-a-page flyer for small handbills.