With May Day approaching in less than two weeks, the Safer Spaces committee invites activists and allies together for a two and a half hour panel and skill share session on:

*Basic tips for a sustainable street action

*Emotional First Aid: trauma education, emotional self care tips for pre, during and post action

*First Aid: simple street medic tips, physical self-care for pre, during and post action

*Coping with activist burnout and keeping the movement connected

When: 4/29/12 (Sunday)

Time: Noon-2:30 (hope everyone is ok with a slight overlapping of the GA)

Where: 19th and Telegraph

Formerly the Move-In Assembly, now planning 4 BBQ’s across Oakland to bring Occupy Oakland into The Town!

Dates, places:

March 17th-Deep East Oakland, Arroyo park, 77th and bancroft

March 24th-East Oakland, Rainbow Park, seminary and international

March 31st- North Oakland, 52nd and MLK

April 7th- West Oakland, Little Bobby Hutton/de Fremery Park

Come and help be a part of Occupy Oakland’s planning for May 1st, 2012, and the call for an international general strike, otherwise known as a Day without the 99%. Meetings are held at 5pm at 19th and Telegraph due to stay away orders, and will be moved into an indoor location if the weather forces the situation.

Stand up for ATU Members, Stop Cuts in Para Transit!
Called by the ATU 192 who represents the workers there in Para Transit: as part of a campaign against Substandard conditions, contract concessions, arbitrary discipline & firings, and service cuts.

Support by Occupy AC Transit
as part of a campaign for transit equity and organizing to unite AC workers and transit riders to stop budget cuts, oppose concessions,and make the Banks pay. Passengers and Transit workers Unite. Free passes for the working poor and youth.

Directions: Bart to Hayward Station
AC Bus 86 towards W Winton (about 13 minutes)
Stop at W Winton and Corsair.
Clawiter is across from Corsair, walk left on Clawiter to A-Para Transit

More info

Formerly the Move-In Assembly, now planning 4 BBQ’s across Oakland to bring Occupy Oakland into The Town!

Dates, places:

March 17th-Deep East Oakland, Arroyo park, 77th and bancroft

March 24th-East Oakland, Rainbow Park, seminary and international

March 31st- North Oakland, 52nd and MLK

April 7th- West Oakland, Little Bobby Hutton/de Fremery Park

For  individual or group trauma support, mediations and anti-oppression advocacy, please contact Safer Spaces:

Tel: (510) 502-9466

Email:saferspaces@occupyoakland.org

Healing can take place in the form of reconnecting with Mother Earth.

It can be little steps like birdwatching, hiking, going to the beach or eating freshly picked berries. Ask your five senses what do I see, hear, taste, touch, smell?

Have you tried gardening? Or are you already a gardener? What does your body, mind and soul experience when you dig that dirt, plant the seed, water, trim the weeds, ask the ladybugs to kindly tell some insects to be nice to your plants and watch the phenomenon of  seeds turning into fruits,vegetables or flowers? What does it feel like to struggle with a plant that won’t thrive but one day you go out and it turned into something beautiful? What does it feel like when you can be sustainable and self-efficient through this entire process? What does it feel like to share stories and tips with your fellow Green Thumbs? What does it feel like when you can share your harvest with your friends, family or community?

Healing from trauma is about your body regenerating and flourishing much like  plants. Sometimes you may have to become  a seed again in order to recover. There may be ups and downs but because you are part of Mother Earth, you have the resilience and strength to overcome, no matter how difficult. You are also your own gardener. What can you do for your garden? Our movement went from seeds to the bountiful harvest that it is now because of the care, faith and dedication you  and your comrades gave to it.Take care and be kind to yourself. Take care of each other. We can heal as a community.

On that note, there’s some beautiful healing going on at Occupy the Farm today! Please come if you can.

When: Thursday, May 3

Event Schedule:
“Occupy the Farm”: Permaculture workshop and Maypole 
Join Starhawk and friends to support the wonderful farm being created on a piece of vacant land in the East Bay by the Occupy movement.
Permaculture workshop, 3:00 p.m: Learn some of the basic ethics and principles of permaculture as we put them into practice at this reclaimed farm site.
Maypole celebration, 6:00 p.m.: Dance the Maypole to celebrate the rising tides of life, the diverse forms of love, and the power of regeneration.

Bring food to share.  Donations of seeds and starts for the farm are much appreciated.
Cost: Free! Kids welcome.
Location: Marin between San Pablo and Jackson streets, Albany, California
For more information: http://www.takebackthetract.com/

The OO Labor Solidarity Committee meets weekly, with every other meeting being held at Oscar Grant Plaza weather permitting. This week’s meeting will be held at Oscar Grant Plaza, on the steps between the amphitheatre and the trees.

This week’s meeting will be held at 400 Roland Way, Oakland, CA 94621 (Teamsters Local 70.). For those coming exclusively by public transportation It’s about two miles away from the Oakland Coliseum BART, (10 minutes on the 98 bus.)

Topics include coordination with labor groups (union and non-union) around the Bay Area, and this meeting will likely be focused on reviewing May Day activities and planning for our upcoming second Workers’ Assembly, tentatively scheduled for May 19th.

In response to the May 1st vandalism of small businesses and private property in this largely working class neighborhood, we at the Brooms Collective are planning on gathering at the 16th Street Mission BART Station at 11:30 on Saturday morning to participate in a neighborhood clean-up and outreach action. Many people seem to believe that these deplorable actions were attributable to supporters of the Occupy Movement, and even Occupy Oakland in particular. Many of us in the Brooms Collective found this truly senseless destruction wholly out of step with our beliefs, political, social or otherwise, and we believe that many others feel the same way. An action such as this is the only way that we could even hope to repair the damage that was done in the name of a movement that many of us believe would never have condoned it in the first place.

Occupy Oakland Research Working Group weekly meeting

Location: The Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave, in Oakland, California

Everyone who’s interested in doing research to empower Oakland’s 99% and target the city’s 1% is welcome. Bring an open mind and be prepared to learn together.

For more information, email research@occupyoakland.org or visit our website: occupyoaklandresearch.org

The OO Labor Solidarity Committee meets weekly, with every other meeting being held at Oscar Grant Plaza weather permitting. This week’s meeting will be held at Oscar Grant Plaza, on the steps between the amphitheatre and the trees. But check back here on the afternoon of May 10th in case of inclement weather — we might move indoors and the new location would be announced here.

Topics include coordination with labor groups (union and non-union) around the Bay Area, and this meeting will likely be focused on reviewing May Day activities and planning for our upcoming second Workers’ Assembly, tentatively scheduled for May 19th.

This Friday, May 11th, there will be an action in front of the OPD Station at 7th and Broadway to protest and bring light to the murder of 18 year old Alan Bluford this past weekend. It will begin at 5pm and will include such speakers as Jack Bryson from Occupy Oakland amongst others.

This Saturday, May 12th, there will be a march at 3pm from the corner of 90th and Birch in East Oakland and will go to the Eastmont Pol ice Substation at 73rd ave and MacArthur. Alan’s family has called for the march and has asked for a peaceful assembly and march.

Alan was shot in the back by Oakland police last Sunday. The family is asking why the OPD has changed their story of what happened 3 times, why they consider the offer competent after he shot himself in the foot and a young man who posed no threat to the officer as he was running away, and why this same officer is on paid leave.

Supplies to make picket signs will be available at 11am Saturday at Arroyo Park.

Occupy Oakland Research Working Group weekly meeting

Location: The Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave, in Oakland, California

Everyone who’s interested in doing research to empower Oakland’s 99% and target the city’s 1% is welcome. Bring an open mind and be prepared to learn together.

For more information, email research@occupyoakland.org or visit our website: occupyoaklandresearch.org

The family of Alan Blueford has asked allies to come to the Oakland City Council Meeting at 6 pm on Tuesday to demand justice for the OPD killing of their son! Get there by 6 pm to demand a real investigation into the circumstances of the killing! The police officer should not be on paid leave, beyond that, what is his name, and why are they still on the force?

March from San Pablo Park (Ward and Mabel) to Bayer (Grayson and 7th) in Berkeley to protest production of pesticide that is killing off the bees!

The OO Labor Solidarity Committee meets weekly, with every other meeting being held at Oscar Grant Plaza weather permitting. This week’s meeting will be held at Oscar Grant Plaza, on the steps between the amphitheatre and the trees. But check back here on the afternoon of May 17th in case of inclement weather — we might move indoors and the new location would be announced here.

Topics include coordination with labor groups (union and non-union) around the Bay Area, and this meeting will likely include planning for our upcoming second Workers’ Assembly, scheduled for May 19th at 10:00 AM at the SEIU 1021 Hall at 155 Myrtle St, Oakland, CA.