Calendar
Building the Nationwide Movement
Waging Nonviolent Struggle
to get Big Money out of American Politics
�
America is in crisis, and our democracy on the auction block. We’re here to do something about it.
99Rise is a network of activists and organizers dedicated to building a mass movement
to reclaim our democracy from the domination of big money.
We believe that only by getting big money out of politics by winning a democracy that responds to the real needs of “the 99%” will we open the door to finally realizing thhe progressive promise of the American Dream. We thus seek a Constitutional Amendment and supplemental federal legislation that would guarantee the principle of political equality, as well as ensure that neither private wealth nor corporate privilege could be used to exercise undue influence over elections and policymaking. To this end, we are committed to deploying the most powerful tool of social and political change: strategic nonviolent resistance.
Come hear about our work and the March for Democracy currently happening now,
http://www.marchfordemocracy.org/
We hope to see you on Monday!
Jade Batstone is a 99Rise volunteer organizer and co-founder of the Next 26. Next 26 engages the next generation of key influencers from a range of emerging San Francisco industries and nonprofit groups. This network will empower individuals to collaborate in new ways, build innovative solutions to real problems facing our communities, and promote a culture of diversity and inclusivity.
Jessica Nuti is passionate about social, economic and environmental justice movements. She is currently a 99Rise volunteer organizer. And works full-time at Global Exchange in their Development department. She also holds organizer and training positions in organizations that support skill sharing for transgender and women’s rights, environmental justice, and getting money out of politics. She has a strong passion for non-violent direct action, and participating in training efforts to ensure safe and effective direct actions.
Q&A and Announcements will follow.
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.
We’ve started a “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, 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. We are trying to get the Alameda Labor Council to pass a similar resolution.
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 have come out recently about using Post Offices as banking facilities for the unbanked. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
Demonstrate support for City Council resolution opposing shipping fossil fuel through Oakland
The resolution passed in committee and is on the consent calendar, which means it should be approved without discussion at the council meeting. Come out to show your support for this step, and wear red for visual impact/photos!
Glenn Greenwald’s Event is SOLD OUT!! That’s great! People love him. If you, like me, didn’t get a ticket in time please join me and my fellow lovers of Greenwald and Snowden in a demonstration of Appreciation outside the event. Bring signs
like: Greenwald and Snowden risked their LIVES to tell us the truth, or Greenwald and Snowden are our heros, or thank you, Greenwald and Snowden, for your bravery, etc. etc.
San Francisco Living Wage Coalition Meeting
(btw. Mission and South Van Ness #12, 14, 22 buses, or 16th St BART)
San Francisco Living Wage Coalition Meeting. The Living Wage Coalition is building a grassroots movement of low-wage workers and their allies to win economic justice. Anyone who works full time should be able to survive on what they earn and support themselves and their children. Come to be a part of discussing next steps in pursuing an economic justice agenda.
More information at http://www.livingwage-sf.org/
In April 2014, Greenwald and his colleagues at The Guardian received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Don’t miss Greenwald speak in-person as he fits all the pieces together, recounting his high-intensity eleven-day trip to Hong Kong, examining the broader implications of the surveillance detailed in his reporting, and revealing fresh information on the NSA’s unprecedented abuse of power with never-before-seen documents entrusted to him by Snowden himself.
Sponsored by: Haymarket Books, Center for Economic Research and Social Change, Glaser Progress Foundation, Tow Center for Digital Journalism – Columbia Journalism School.
The Montreal Student Movement Convention is a gathering of students from 5 continents that has been in the planning for nearly a year. From June 19-22, students will converge at the University of Quebec at Montreal to meet fellow organizers and learn from organizers all over the world about building student unions, creating intersectional movements, and taking a crucial step towards uniting as a global movement.
The good news is that registrations have been pouring in, and more students than originally expected will be attending the convention.
As I’m sure many of you realize, as soon as June 27th, I (Amber Whitson) am likely to be issued a stayaway order from the Albany Bulb.
I have spent SO MANY years exploring and studying the Bulb! The thought of having to just shelve that knowledge, for it to only be brought to the surface on the rare occasion that someone happens to ask me something about the Landfill, just kills me.
I would like to impart what knowledge I have about the Bulb onto as many people as I can, while I can still show the features to them myself. That way they can spread the knowledge to others whom they bring here, and so on and so forth…
To that end, I will be hosting three hikes, of graduating difficulty levels, around the Bulb, starting this coming Saturday.
The two least difficult tours (Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22) will include trips through places where people used to live: Mom-a-Bear’s, Pat’s, Gary’s, Chet’s and our place (of course) and others…
I think it is important to educate as many people as possible (who don’t already know) about the fact that pretty much ALL of the improvements that have ever been made to the Landfill were indeed done by people living there. My hope is that it will also help participants to understand a little bit better about how people lived, day to day and season to season, when we lived there.
The second level of difficulty tour (Sunday, June 22) will include a trip down to what is left of the Open Letter. As well as a trip down to the apricot trees (where the Neck and Plateau meet) and to the Buckeyes that Andy and his friends planted. The second tour will also include a venture to the remains of the Hermitage Caldarium, where Sandy lived when Phyl and I first came to the Bulb (at Sandy’s suggestion). The Caldarium sat on the far western edge of the Bulb had a fully functional, handmade hot tub, fashioned from pieces of the debris that the Landfill is made of.
When the Caldarium was burned to the ground, in late 2007, by a recently released psych-ward patient, Andy Kreamer gave Sandy his home, where Sandy lived until the recent eviction. The second tour will also include a trip down to Andy’s/Sandy’s old place on the eastern edge of the Landfill.
Both the first and second tours will start at 10:00am on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
We will meet near the Cove (aka “keyhole”, “firepit” etc.) near Albany Beach.
The most difficult hike (tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, June 24) will include a voyage down the very steep hillside on the north side of the Neck, to where the headstone of William E. Carter (born 1842/died 1889) was dumped and still lays on its back at the water’s edge.
It is very important to me that I have the opportunity to host these tours for people, so that other people can find the amazing things that are everywhere out there, for years to come, regardless of whether any of the indigenous Bulb-dwellers are allowed to come here, or not.
As I’m sure many of you realize, as soon as June 27th, I (Amber Whitson) am likely to be issued a stayaway order from the Albany Bulb.
I have spent SO MANY years exploring and studying the Bulb! The thought of having to just shelve that knowledge, for it to only be brought to the surface on the rare occasion that someone happens to ask me something about the Landfill, just kills me.
I would like to impart what knowledge I have about the Bulb onto as many people as I can, while I can still show the features to them myself. That way they can spread the knowledge to others whom they bring here, and so on and so forth…
To that end, I will be hosting three hikes, of graduating difficulty levels, around the Bulb, starting this coming Saturday. The two least difficult tours (Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22) will include trips through places where people used to live: Mom-a-Bear’s, Pat’s, Gary’s, Chet’s and our place (of course) and others…
I think it is important to educate as many people as possible (who don’t already know) about the fact that pretty much ALL of the improvements that have ever been made to the Landfill were indeed done by people living there. My hope is that it will also help participants to understand a little bit better about how people lived, day to day and season to season, when we lived there.
The second level of difficulty tour (Sunday, June 22) will include a trip down to what is left of the Open Letter. As well as a trip down to the apricot trees (where the Neck and Plateau meet) and to the Buckeyes that Andy and his friends planted. The second tour will also include a venture to the remains of the Hermitage Caldarium, where Sandy lived when Phyl and I first came to the Bulb (at Sandy’s suggestion). The Caldarium sat on the far western edge of the Bulb had a fully functional, handmade hot tub, fashioned from pieces of the debris that the Landfill is made of.
When the Caldarium was burned to the ground, in late 2007, by a recently released psych-ward patient, Andy Kreamer gave Sandy his home, where Sandy lived until the recent eviction. The second tour will also include a trip down to Andy’s/Sandy’s old place on the eastern edge of the Landfill.
Both the first and second tours will start at 10:00am on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
We will meet near the Cove (aka “keyhole”, “firepit” etc.) near Albany Beach.
The most difficult hike (tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, June 24) will include a voyage down the very steep hillside on the north side of the Neck, to where the headstone of William E. Carter (born 1842/died 1889) was dumped and still lays on its back at the water’s edge.
It is very important to me that I have the opportunity to host these tours for people, so that other people can find the amazing things that are everywhere out there, for years to come, regardless of whether any of the indigenous Bulb-dwellers are allowed to come here, or not.
We will return to W.C. BART at 7:05pm and McArthur BART at 7:30pm. This bus will allow you to go directly to the capitol rally site, or join the march for the last mile! This is a free / sliding scale donation bus. We will pass a hat on the bus.
Click on the link, then click JOIN on BUS and then fill out the form to reserve your seat:
Carpool link: http://www.groupcarpool.com/t/x6qgkn
California March for Democracy! 99Rise.
Join the Sunflower Alliance in a support rally for Democracy!99 – Rise in Sacramento
We’ll show our support for those who marched 480 miles from southern California to protest the institutionalized corruption of our government and the capture of energy policy by the fossil fuel industry.
For details visit 99rise.org or marchfordemocracy.org/
The Park Community Garden is on Park Blvd. at the corner with Cleveland street a couple of blocks down from Oakland High.
Check out all the organic veggies and free range fowl.
Park Community Garden
Sunday, June 22nd
Join us starting at 2pm.
Film at dark: Bees & Mushrooms
Bring a potluck dish, bring a friend!
To donate or coordinate, text or email:
parkcommunitygarden@gmail.com
(510) 698-9298
Where are we going next? �
OccupyForum has been meeting for over two years with the mission of educating ourselves about the main Occupy issues, building an affinity group, (and holding space for Occupy folks to get together), and building coalitions with our allies (like Greenaction, International Forum on Globalization, Homes Not Jails, Sunflower Alliance, Strike Debt, Global Exchange, Save City College and many more). We’ve held over 90 Forums with insightful panelists and Q&A sessions which have led to further participation in planning and holding actions, coalitioning, and to understanding how our movement works.
Now it is time to evaluate how we’re doing; what could be improved, and where we should be going with this group, including how we work together at the Forum sessions. Some suggestions have been to show some of the great documentaries on our situation and have breakout groups, to have potlucks to build the affinity aspect, to have nights where we hold an action (like the Fed Up With the Fed action), to talk more intimately and honestly about how we see the future of this country unfolding and visioning what we’d like to see. We are looking for more active participation, where each of us takes a role in co-creating the OccupyForum.
Please come on Monday, June 23rd, to contribute ideas and energy to pushing the OccupyForum to its next iteration with a mandate to match the times in which we find ourselves, 3 years after Occupy began. See you there!!
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.
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. We are trying to get the Alameda Labor Council to pass a similar resolution.
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. We held a forum on postal and public banking on March 29th on the Post Office steps.
We are planning our next event, ‘Jam the Sale.’ Come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called a special UN Climate Summit on September 23 to “catalyze action by governments, business, finance, industry, and civil society”. It’s unlikely any more will come of this meeting than came of the gatherings in Copenhagen, Cancún, Kyoto, and elsewhere. But a large number of environmental and progressive organizations are planning actions in New York City right before and during the UN meeting to call the world’s attention to the failure of world “leaders” to deal with the crisis. One of these actions, the People’s Climate March, will take place on Sept. 20 and 21. It is spearheaded by 350.org and endorsed by about 100 other organizations.
In solidarity, a Bay Area action is being planned. If you want to help plan the fall action, please come to this meeting. And spread the word.
Film evenings begin with optional potluck refreshments & social hour at 6:30 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by optional discussion after the film.
UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
Episode 7: Johnson, Nixon, and Vietnam: Reversal of Fortune
by Oliver Stone
Humanist Hall is wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street
The Politics of Debt Reading Group, a subgroup of Strike Debt Bay Area, meets every other week to discuss readings on debt and related issues agreed to from previous meetings.
This meeting we will be discussing Chapter’s 2 & 4 of Taibbi’s Griftopia.
Here is a PDF with the reading material (large!)
Peeps are continually staffing a table outside of Staples, 24-7, ongoing for almost a week now. Come by and say hello, hang out, and give them your support!