Calendar
UPDATE: The community groups that called for this action have reconsidered and this action has been called off. There will still be a bit of coffee, etc. there at 5AM for folks that didn’t get the message.
In Solidarity with Palestinians, especially those beseiged and bombarded in Gaza, we will block 2 Israeli ZIM Ships from docking and unloading at the Port of Oakland.
It happened in 2010 and it will happen again!
The Palestinian people are under attack from the state of Israel. Palestinian children are being murdered, their hospitals are being bombed, and Palestinian workers are being fired, beaten, arrested, and killed for striking in response. We call on a broad coalition of Pro-Palestinian labor, human rights, and anti-war organizations to join us for direct actions and pickets against the Israeli Shipping company ZIM!
To help organize or endorse the actions blocktheboat@riseup.net
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The Plan for August 2nd:
-Meet at West Oakland BART at 5 AM where we will march to SSA Berth 57 of the Port at 5:10 SHARP!
-If you can’t make the 5 am shift show meet at Berth 57 ASAP where we will be picketing all day!
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Shuttles will be provided back and forth from the West Oakland Bart to the SSA Terminal.
There is no parking at the port! If driving, you can park at West Oakland BART for free, and/or shuttle folks to the port!
Bring food, water, layers, comfortable shoes, and picket signs!
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Use our HashTags!
#BlockTheBoat and #PicketForPalestine to spread the word!
Also #SF2Palestine and #Youth4Palestine to connect to local networks
Please copy, paste, and share this event!
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On Monday July 21st there was a General Strike in Israel protesting the bloody and violent occupation of Palestinian lands. We believe that the working class must take a stand to defend the human rights of Palestinians.
An Injury to One is An Injury to All!
Tear Down The Apartheid Wall!
Protest & March
Tell Nancy Pelosi:
STOP Supporting Genocide in Gaza!
End the Siege of Gaza!
End All U.S. Aid to Israel!
(August 6th is also known as Hiroshima Day, the day the US dropped the nuclear bomb on tens of thousands of innocent civilians.)
The Palestinian people of Gaza have been heroically resisting in the face of the merciless U.S.-backed Israeli assault. More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 8,000 wounded, the overwhelming majority civilians.
Meanwhile, virtually every U.S. politician, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have been falling all over each other to express their support for this mass murder.
The U.S. has armed, funded and supplied the Israeli occupation forces. Just this week, the Pentagon announced that it will provide an emergency resupply of ammunition to the Israeli army as it has used up so much in its Gaza operation.
For more info, visit answersf.org
Download the flyer: http://
Our next class will look at selected chapters in Ellen Brown’s new book The Public Banking Solution, mostly pertaining to BRICS countries and what a better bank could do for the world.
-Bill
Held on the last day of the Our Power National Convening, the Day of Action will amplify the grassroots-led solutions of Richmond and other communities on the frontlines of energy injustice and social injustice. Richmond is part of a growing national campaign called the Our Power Campaign, where communities on the frontline of environmental pollution are asserting Our Power to build local living economies that work for people and the planet. Richmond-based organizations and the Our Power Campaign are now calling on everyone to join them in building this just transition. The Our Power Day of Action 2014 will raise up the voices of Richmond community members to realize their visions of the future. Together we can not only stop the expansion of dangerous, polluting refineries and pipelines, but begin a just transition away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy, good jobs, and healthy thriving communities.
The day’s schedule will include a community march to the Richmond Greenway, a community speak out/rally, a festival of community-led “solutions” inspired and anchored by some of the local work happening in Richmond, culminating in a solar powered concert called “unplug the empire” which will happen in partnership with Urban Tilth and others at the 16th St. entrance of the Richmond Greenway.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
9:30am – Opening Ceremony & March for a Just Transition
Location: The Kinder-Morgan Rail Yard Gate at 144 S. Garrard Blvd
Opposite the Garrard Commercial Center
Bus Line: 72M: S. Garrard Blvd and Canal Blvd stop
*** FREE SHUTTLES PROVIDED FROM RICHMOND BART STATION starting at 8:30am ***
The day’s events will commence with an opening ceremony in collaboration with Idle No More and the Native American Health Center at the Kinder Morgan Rail Yard. We will commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the Chevron refinery explosion that sent over 15,000 Richmond residents to the ER. We will ground ourselves by honoring the land we are on, illuminating the unjust and disproportionate impacts on frontline communities like Richmond posed by unjust extractive energy industry and corporate greed.
We will then march from the Kinder Morgan Rail Yard to the Richmond Greenway Trail, celebrating the notion of just transition away from dirty energy and corporate greed, to local living economies rooted in justice, sustainability and community resiliency.
See the full march route here.
12:30 P.M. – “Our Power, Our Voices” – Community Speak Out
Location: the Richmond Greenway Trail – 16th St entrance (between Ohio & Chanslor Ave)
The march will arrive at the 16th street entrance of the Richmond Greenway Trail where a solar powered community speak out will be held, amplifying stories of resistance and resiliency of Richmond and other frontline communities at the junction of environmental, health, work and housing injustices.
Communities members of front-line Refinery communities, labor, health and housing justice organizations will speak out about the climate crises facing our communities and share their visions of community resiliency and a just and sustainable Richmond.
Speakers from the following communities and organizations will be present:
• Idle No More
• Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA)
• Richmond Environmental Justice Coalition
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
• Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)
• Crockett-Rodeo United to Defend the Environment
• Martinez Environmental Group
• Urban Tilth
• Black Mobilization, Organization and Education in Richmond (BMOER)
• California Nurses Association (CNA)
• Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) – Richmond
• Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST) / Landless Workers Movement
• Friends of the Earth, Mozambique
2 P.M. – 5 P.M. “Our Power, Our Harvest” – Community Solutions Festival & Unplug the Empire Solar Powered Concert
Location: the Richmond Greenway Trail – 16th St entrance (between Ohio & Chanslor Ave)
Demonstrations of Just Transition community-led strategies inspired and anchored by some of the local work in Richmond, including urban gardening, rainwater collection installation, a bike clinic, pop up health clinic for HIV testing, solar array demonstrations & workshops, live mural painting on the greenway, teach-ins and live music by Richmond and Bay Area artists (all powered by the sun!).
Join the continuing protests against Staples union-busting and Post Office management’s attempt to privatize the Post Office. Join he American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO and Berkeley Post Office defenders outside of Staples in Berkeley at an informational demo to keep the pressure on Staples and the Post Office.
In its continuing attack on postal workers and on the public service, the U. S. Postal Service has cut a deal with Staples to provide postal services at Stapes stores. Postal Jobs must be maintained as good jobs that pay a living wage. Our communities need more, not less, living wage jobs!
Visit www.stopstaples.com to learn more and get involved.
September 4-8, 2014, in Oakland, California, Urban Shield — a trade show and training exercise for SWAT teams and police agencies — will bring local, national and international law enforcement agencies together with defense industry contractors to provide training and introduce new weapons to police and security companies. Take a stand against the militarization of our community.
Decrease violence in our communities by ending the militarization of the police.
From schools, the border, prisons, to the streets, our communities have become sites of repression and violence at the hands of law enforcement. Ever increasing militarization of our communities has created a culture of surveillance and repression targeting poor communities of color. Community-led solutions addressing poverty and the violence of policing are the best ways to ensure genuine safety, health, and wellbeing for people most vulnerable to state violence.
- We demand the City of Oakland defund all activities related to Urban Shield
- We demand that all city agencies withdraw their participation in Urban Shield.
Our communities refuse to be testing grounds for tactics of global repression.
Local police departments collaborate with federal agencies to share information and tactics through vehicles such as fusion centers to surveil and control targeted communities. These same agencies are also exchanging policing and repression tactics with international security officers including but not limited to the Apartheid State of Israel. The import and export of technology and tactics includes purchasing weapons, training local police forces, and sharing strategies through activities such as Urban Shield. Our neighborhoods have become laboratories in which to test international and domestic warfare.
- We demand an end to all City collaborations with the Apartheid State of Israel.
- We call on the City of Oakland to issue a report on all collaborations between the Oakland Police Department and international law enforcement agencies.
- We call on the City of Oakland to reject all US wars and occupations here or abroad.
Community Self-determination
Our communities know what is required to address the social, economic and political problems we face. Bay Area residents should have decision-making power over how and where resources are allocated in order to build stronger and sustainable communities.
- We demand that Bay Area residents have decision-making power in the process to determine priorities for public safety and emergency preparedness.
- We demand that the City of Oakland invest in community-based programs proven to decrease violence and harm instead of in the increased militarization of its police force and emergency services.
We call on our communities to continue fighting back and resisting state violence and repression.
In the face of growing efforts to police our communities, we must forge alliances to challenge systems of repression and build power in our communities. Understanding prisons, borders, surveillance and policing as tools of global repression is critical to building and maintaining powerful movements for liberation. Gentrification in our streets is colonialism elsewhere. The War on Terror we are living through today is a new formulation of the War on Drugs, and the violence inflicted on our communities necessitates a unified stance against all forms of repression from the US to Brazil, to the Philippines and Palestine.
- We ask our allies and partners to adopt these principles and take a stand against the policing and repression of our communities.
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service has started to outsource Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
On July 29th, at our invite, Ralph Nader spoke on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office against privatization and corporatism. Watch and listen to his talk here.
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. Just recently the American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too.
Check out our correspondence with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. The APWU has been leading the charge against Staples.
For most of July the sidewalk in front of Staples was ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors recently endorsed Postal Banking. Pew Research held a day-long seminar on Postal Banking.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the work and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Meeting of the City of Oakland’s “Privacy and Data Retention Ad Hoc Advisory Committee” – open to the public.
When:
2nd & 4th Thursdays
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where:
Council Chambers
Oakland City Hall
14th & Broadway
Read the announcement from the City of Oakland City Administrator’s Weekly Report (April 25, 2014):
This committee was created by City Council action during the discussions earlier in the year about the Port Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The goal of the DAC is to improve readiness to prevent, respond to and recover from major emergencies in the Oakland region and ensure better multi-agency coordination across the larger San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of the Privacy and Data Retention Policy is to ensure there are safeguards to protect against potential misuse of the data or violations of individuals’ privacy rights and civil liberties. The meeting is open to the public. For questions about the Ad Hoc Committee, please contact Joe DeVries, Assistant to the City
We need to show up to these meetings and pressure the City to adopt a privacy policy that makes privacy a priority, not only “security” or administrative convenience.
Yes, its time for another Taser meeting! Come and get some literature and STICKERS! to distribute. We have a lot so please help us spread the word!
We have a kick-ass line up for the September forum and now we need a flyer and publicity to make sure that the place is packed! We can also strategize about other ways to make the debate happen.
I also encourage people to check out TruthNotTasers.blogspot.org
They claim that the number of taser related deaths is closer to 800. See what you think.
New endorsements include: Alameda County Green Party .
AGENDA
1. Forum- publicity/flyer/interviews in advance
2. Tabling opportunities
3. Paul’s taser video preview
4. Pressuring the candidates…how?
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Oakland California, to Ferguson, Missouri
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FUCK THE POLICE MARCH
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8/15/2014
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Meet @ 14 and Broadway in Oakland
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6:00pm
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Bring Marshmallows
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18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by police and they left him for dead in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.
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To the good people of Ferguson, take heart – and take your streets. You are not alone, we will take the streets here in Oakland.
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The time has come for more than simple justice for these atrocities. The time has come to draw a line in the sand and say “no more dead kids”, no more police killings and beatings. Anonymous is drawing a line in the sand, and that line runs right down the middle of Main Street Ferguson, Missouri. Police impunity ends with the barbaric death of Mike Brown.
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Occupy every square inch of your city. Open your homes and help in any way you can the protesters who will come to your city from every part of Missouri and the USA. Businesses and householders that are near protest rallies, open your WiFi routers so that live streamers and other independent journalists can use the Internet connections. Feed each other, keep each other safe – and stay in the streets until we are totally victorious in all our demands.
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Oakland California to Ferguson, Missouri
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FUCK THE POLICE MARCH
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Wear All Black
ALERT! ALERT! TIME CHANGE TO 3:00 PM. (ORIGINALLY 5:00 AM)
Stop Israel at the Port!
Zionism isn’t welcome in our town!
Block the Israeli Zim Ship at the Port of Oakland
Saturday, August 16th
3:00 PM – meet at West Oakland Bart and march to Berth 57
STOP THE SIEGE ON GAZA!
END THE COLONIAL OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE!
RIGHT OF RETURN FOR ALL PALESTINIAN REFUGEES!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
BOYCOTT, DIVEST, SANCTION!
- organizing for public banking in Oakland
- securing funding from the City of Vallejo for nonprofit check cashing and public finance study initiatives through the participatory budgeting process
- saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office jobs
- working with the City of Richmond and other municipalities for eminent domain seizure of underwater mortgages from the banksters
- participating in Occupy San Francisco’s third anniversary convergence
- ongoing study group
- distribution of Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual
- and much more.
The 9th annual Urban Shield – the SWAT team training and weapons expo that brings together local, regional and global police-military units – will be held in Oakland this coming September 4-8. Oakland is gearing up to stop it! Building on growing resistance to police militarization in the US, Bay Area community organizations and the Facing Tear Gas campaign have come together to call for Oakland’s non-participation in Urban Shield, community self-determination, and solidarity with global movements. Urban Shield is connected to national police militarization programs such as 1033, 1122, Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) and DHS Fusion Centers. Stopping Urban Shield is one step to roll back police militarization. Stay tuned for ways to get involved!
Sign on to our demands using our form here and join us for a Community Education Forum where you can learn about Urban Shield, how it impacts our communities and find out how you can plug into the Week of Education & Action, August 30 – September 5.
Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
Critical Resistance
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)
Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
War Resisters League – Facing Tear Gas
A perspective on recent events.
URGENT Autonomous call to action: Meet Port of Oakland SSA berth 57-59WE’RE BLOCKING THE BOAT AT 5:30 #BlockTheBoat https://t.co/WMC9p6GXWf
— Alyssa (@alyssa011968) August 18, 2014
COME DOWN TO PORT! Autonomous continuation of #BlockTheBoat! Get to port by 5. Some rides leaving from W Oak BART around 430. SELF ORGANIZE!
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) August 18, 2014
#BlockTheBoat Protester organized picketline @ 5:00AM & 5:00PM at Oakland Port Berth 57-59 STILL block unloading boat #Anonymous #OpIsrael
— OccupySF (@sf99er) August 18, 2014
If you cant #BlockTheBoat at 5, consider driving with some food/ warmth for activists (tired) & dock workers (who go home with no pay) #Gaza
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) August 18, 2014
In the Bay Area? Get out, and help #BlockTheBoat https://t.co/EAkuRtg0St
— Imraan Siddiqi (@imraansiddiqi) August 18, 2014
#BlockTheBoat TONIGHT! 5:30 PM SSA Berth 57! 1717 Middle Harbor Way. Shuttles from West Oakland BART as well. Let’s do this again!!!
— Not Frantz Fanon (@violentfanon) August 18, 2014
The Postal Service has put the Berkeley Post Office up for sale!!
The Postal Service outsourced Post Office services to Staples, replacing union jobs with low-paying, low benefit work.
And we’re fighting against both!
Come help us plan our next steps.
On July 29th, at our invite, Ralph Nader spoke on the steps of the Berkeley Post Office against privatization and corporatism. Watch and listen to his talk here.
We’ve began the “Don’t Shop at Staples” campaign with some awesome… what else? … postcards to send to Staples management! Here’s the front of the postcard. The campaign has been adopted by Postal Unions, the San Francisco Labor Council and has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and has gone national!
All four Postal Unions have joined together to support maintaining full service, public Post Offices in every community, with expansion to include postal banking, and to oppose subcontracting and privatization of services. The California Federation of Teachers passed a resolution in support of opposition to Staples. Just recently the American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too.
Check out our correspondence with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. The APWU has been leading the charge against Staples.
For most of July the sidewalk in front of Staples was ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples.
And we need to be prepared if the Post Office announces a sale! The Advisory Commission on Historical Preservation came out with its report, recommending that sales of Historic Post offices be halted until the USPS conforms with historical preservation law. Here is our response. Also the Office of Inspector General’s report on the sale of Historic Post Offices came out recently – anything could happen now since Congress’ “request” that no historic Post Offices be sold until it had come out has been honored and no further Congressional request or mandate has come down. Come help us plan our response.
We have joined with other activists in Berkeley to put a ballot initiative on the ballot to rezone the Berkeley Post Office and other areas in the Historic District to prevent privatization, and also to insure a better Downtown Berkeley. We succeeded in getting the necessary signatures; it will be voted on in November, but Tom Bates and the City Council have nefarious plans to undermine our coalition.
Encouraging articles are still coming out about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. The National Conference of Mayors recently endorsed Postal Banking. Pew Research held a day-long seminar on Postal Banking.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Spread the work and come help us out!
“Call going out far and wide to be at the port at 5am. If the ship leaves at 4am, it will be the best 5am victory party ever.”
Shuttles are up amd running as is BART! Come on in!! #BlockTheBoat!
— BlockTheBoatForGaza (@BlockTheBoat) August 19, 2014
We need more people. We’ve seen one red SUV cross picket. No idea if he’s unloading this ship. #BlockTheBoat
— Not Frantz Fanon (@violentfanon) August 19, 2014
The Zim cargo ship left Berth 57 this afternoon, sailed out the Golden Gate apparently on its way south, then did a U-Turn
and is now heading back into San Francisco Bay, probably to Berth 22 (map below), which people reported Zim had reserved for this evening.
Berth 22 now! #BlockTheBoat!!! #Oakland, 1599 Maritime St @BlockTheBoat
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) August 20, 2014
Need to have crowd at "Ports America" gates well before 7 to block shift that would otherwise unload Israeli cargo ship #BlockTheBoat
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) August 20, 2014
The boat made a u-turn. Heading back to the bay! https://t.co/edVV8KOHh7 @hyphy_republic @thehoopoe @OccupyOakland #BlockTheBoat
— mary mad (@marymad) August 20, 2014
RT @OccupyOakland: Where to go to block the sneak attack of the Israeli ship, returning to port #BlockTheBoat HURRY! pic.twitter.com/1J5GUdZpMJ
— Anarcho Anon (@AnarchoAnon) August 20, 2014
The cargo ship targeted by anti-Israel protesters now headed back to @PortofOakland, not LA. Activists mobilizing pic.twitter.com/wtXS3mHF4q
— Henry K. Lee (@henryklee) August 20, 2014
walking and driving directions & times from West Oakland BART to berth 22 (1500-1599 Maritime) #BlockTheBoat pic.twitter.com/nuBPBqtoyt
— shitty podcast (@uItradian) August 20, 2014
CALL OUT for continued blockade TONIGHT to keep 12am lunch break from re-entering the port. Arrive 10:30-11pm to #BlockTheBoat, #Oakland
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) August 20, 2014
Zim ship reportedly has days of unloading. This ain't over, not by a longshore. Support needed Midnight & 6:30AM #BlockTheBoat
— OccupySF (@sf99er) August 20, 2014
Over the last few weeks, police have murdered five Black men & women across the country:
Mike Brown: Ferguson, MO
Ezell Ford: South Los Angeles
Eric Garner: New York
Jacorey Calhoun: Oakland
Unidentified woman in San Jose who had a power drill
And of course, there have been thousands and thousands more murdered Black, Brown & poor people throughout the years.
Oscar Grant
Alan Blueford
Alex Nieto
Andy Lopez
Kimani Gray
Kendrec McDade
Amadou Diallo
Sean Bell
Ramarley Graham
We will take to the streets and tell the police: IT ENDS TODAY
We will gather at 5:00 pm in FOUR locations:
– Oscar Grant OG Plaza
– Oakland Main Library (659 14th Street, Oakland Ca 94612)
– African American History Museum (125 14th Street, Oakland CA 94612)
– Jack London Square (near Waterfont Hotel)
5:00 – 5:15: banner making, public education, speakers
5:15 – 5:30: music & chants
5:30: MARCH to 7th & Broadway
6:00 – 6:30: music, speakers, chants
6:30: MARCH to Oscar Grant Plaza
6:30 – 7:00: Community Speak Out and Action Planning for a Sustained Campaign Against Police Terrorism
Simultaneous Actions in Los Angeles & Mississippi
PLEASE choose a different location for you and your comrades to begin the action! It is important that we show the power of the people to a larger share of our city than just OG plaza.
Again the action will begin in FOUR locations at 5:00 pm:
– Oscar Grant Plaza
– Oakland Main Library (659 14th Street, Oakland Ca 94612)
– African American History Museum (125 14th Street, Oakland CA 94612)
– Jack London Square (near Waterfont Hotel)
Endorsing Organizations: ONYX, MXGM, Healthy Hoodz, Young Oakland, Inner Council of Murdered Children, Alan Blueford Center for Justice, Hip Hop Congress, Workers World
Here is the reading for the next Politics of Debt meeting – OMNI basement.
We will continue on with Ellen brown’s Public Banking solution on the topic foreign policy and other countries’ use of Public Banks.