Calendar
Come protest the Bank of Montreal’s involvement in financing Oakland’s unwanted coal terminal.
We will be demonstrating outside the conference of Principles for Responsible Investment, running concurrently with Global Climate Action Summit. Inside the conference, bankers and investors will be discussing responsible investment.
Outside we will be asking why the Bank of Montreal won’t renounce its plan to finance the Oakland coal terminal.
The Bank of Montreal has been instrumental in attempting to raise the $$ to finance the proposed coal terminal on the Oakland waterfront. They lobbied to get $50 million from the State of Utah and proposed to raise $200 million from pension funds, downplaying if not outright concealing that coal is involved. You can read more about this at NoCoalinOakland.info.
We want to stop the Bank of Montreal (which claims to practice socially responsible financing) and warn pension funds and other institutions that they may be targeted for this toxic and risky investment.
If there is no funding, there will be no terminal!
This is an informational event with leafletting, colorful banners, creative picket signs, chants, singing, and possible street theater.
You can also sign our Open Letter to the Bank of Montreal at tinyurl.com/BMO-letter
Mass Action: Stand With Communities, Not Corporations!
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In September, Governor Jerry Brown is convening the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in San Francisco to promote his “real climate leadership” credentials on a global stage. But Jerry Brown’s promotion of continued fossil fuel production, carbon trading markets and other incentives to oil, gas and other polluting corporations, perpetuates climate change and decimates Indigenous communities and Native nations, communities of color and other working class peoples throughout California and around the world.
Such perverse subsidies for “climate capitalism” will turn frontline communities into sacrifice zones for decades to come. Despite Brown’s efforts to show he is different from Trump and the forces of climate denial, his “climate leadership” promotes a similar corporate agenda – aimed at expanding the dig, burn, drive, dump industries, and the banks and tanks economy destroying our communities and the air, land and water we depend on.
Join us to stand in solidarity with Indigenous and frontline communities protecting Mother Earth, and cultivating real solutions to the twin crises of climate change and capitalism. Join us to demand that elected leaders stand with our communities on the streets, and not the climate profiteers gathered inside.
On September 13th, join us in mass action at the Global Climate Action Summit. Our actions will be wrapped in prayer and committed with love for all we hold dear. We call for all peoples around the world to join us on the streets of San Francisco as we tell Jerry Brown and his friends that “real climate leaders” stand with people, not the pollution profiteers.
JOIN US AS WE TAKE BOLD ACTION!
Organized by Idle No More SF Bay, Diablo Rising Tide, the Ruckus Society, It Takes Roots, Indigenous Environmental Network and Brown’s Last Chance.
For more info, go here.
**We’ve scheduled a number of direct action trainings to help prep folks for action, please check them out here:
Terry Amons, Jr. was shot and killed by Pittsburg, CA police on January 12, 2018, while eating dinner inside his car outside of Nations Burgers in Pittsburg. We hold the Pittsburg PD responsible for murdering an innocent Black man. Terry’s family deserves justice.
Please join Terry’s family to rally together and unite as a collective force against police terror.
For those coming from the Oakland area, we will try to help with rides and carpooling. If you’re able to provide a ride or if you need one, please direct message the APTP page.
This is a family friendly event. There will be water and snacks provided
“As an act of protest, occupation is a strategy often used by social movements and other forms of collective social action in order to take and hold public and symbolic spaces, buildings, critical infrastructure such as entrances to train stations, shopping centers, university buildings, squares, and parks.”
Whole Foods claims to treat their animals humanely by following the “5 step Animal Welfare Rating.” But we know this is far from the truth. Our investigations inside their farms have found animals without access to food and water, hens rotting to death and turkeys so densely crowded in indoor sheds that they could not move.
On their website, Whole Foods claims to be committed to transparency, yet they’ve refused to talk to us when we asked them if they supply from factory farms. They went as far as arresting two nonviolent activists simply because they asked where Whole Foods animal products are coming from.
You can help us demand a response from Whole Foods by joining this nonviolent occupation!
WEAR: Whatever you like!
ACCESSIBILITY: This event will include walking which will be done at a moderate pace. If you have questions or need support to attend this event, email sfbay-protest [at] directactioneverywhere.com.
WHO: Everyone welcome! If you’re nervous about protesting, you can come observe or hold a sign quietly. All forms of participation are appreciated!
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Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) is a grassroots network of animal rights activists. Through open rescue, demonstration, and disruption, we are creating a world where every animal is safe, happy and free.
DxE cultivates a welcoming and supportive community. We ask that all those who attend our events (online and offline) respect our Code of Conduct which can be reviewed at http://dxecodeofconduct.wikispaces.com/Code+of+Conduct.
To learn about our vision, goals, strategy and more check out the San Francisco Bay Area chapter Activist Handbook here: https://dxe.io/sfbayhandbook
If you have any questions or concerns, please email sfbay [at] directactioneverywhere.com.
Last week, one of the largest consulting and management firms in the world cut ties with ICE. McKinsey and Company showed just how easy it is to stay true to its values. McKinsey’s contract did not deal directly with immigration enforcement but the company still took a stance stating they, “will not, under any circumstances, engage in any work, anywhere in the world, that advances or assists policies that are at odds with our values.”
McKinsey’s move to cancel their ICE contract comes amid growing outcry over company’s contracts with ICE, including more than 100,000 people signing petitions and participating in-person protests at Salesforce, Amazon, and Northeastern University.
Meanwhile, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, has claimed since the company’s contract with CBP does not deal directly with activities at the US-Mexico border, Salesforce will not drop their contract.
On September 27 it will be one year since OPD brutally murdered Marcellus Toney, a Black man who had gotten into a car accident. We will meet to honor his memory and provide support to his wife.
Here is more information about the murder:
https://oaklandnorth.net/2017/11/09/protestors-demand-answers-to-death-of-man-tased-by-oakland-police/
For more event information:
http://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/
We're sad. We're angry, And we won't give up.
Join us in SF at 1:00 p.m. today, Friday Sept 28 in front of One Post Street (above Montgomery Bart) as we rally to #StopKavanaugh and thank @SenKamalaHarris and @SenFeinstein for their work.
Wear black and please come. pic.twitter.com/Ryufjq0TDO
— Indivisible East Bay (@IndivisibleEB) September 28, 2018
Thanks to the power of the #MeToo movement and the courage of Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and now Julie Swetnick, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, appearing only days ago to be a virtual lock, is now hanging by a thread. Kavanaugh, having amassed a thoroughly reactionary anti-woman, anti-worker, and pro-corporation record as a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, was already the most unpopular Supreme Court nominee since Robert Bork in 1987.
Come on out on Saturday to build a movement to #CancelKavanaugh and halt these right wing attacks on women!
National Call to Action
Stay Mobilized Until Kavanaugh is Defeated: No “Business As Usual”
Everyone Who Can Possibly Go to Washington, DC Between Now and When Kavanaugh is Defeated—Get There NOW
No Reliance on the Politicians
The Hands of the FBI Must Not Be Tied, the FBI Must Be Free to Conduct a Full Investigation of All the Charges Against Kavanaugh
Mass Direct Action Now to Defend Democracy and Defend Women’s Rights
Confirming Kavanaugh sends a message to women across the country that victims of sexual assault should stay silent. Defeating Kavanaugh sends a message that victims should speak out, stand up, and fight.
Resist. Confront. Disrupt. Fight to win (AND WE CAN WIN)!
Over the past week, the protests and confrontations in Washington, DC, by the Resistance, the mass movement against Trump, have been pivotal in reversing the impending catastrophe of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. Above all, the courageous determination and action of women who are survivors of sexual assault and abuse have been decisive in making it possible to defeat Trump and the Republicans’ rush to put a sexual abuser on the US Supreme Court. The indelible courage of Christine Blasey Ford’s disclosure of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual assault and her testimony last Thursday showed the nation a real hero. Other women have answered her call, and have since come forward with their own searing accounts of Kavanaugh’s sexual assaults: Deborah Ramirez, Julie Swetnick, and Elizabeth Rasor. Our support for Dr. Ford and all these women is unequivocal and categorical. The stand they have taken has dragged this nation from the precipice of a national and international disgrace to the genuine possibility of saving American democracy.
Despite Professor Blasey Ford’s courageous and obviously true testimony Thursday, afterwards, on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the Republican politicians were still attempting to jam Kavanaugh’s nomination through the US Senate Judiciary Committee, filling the Senate hearing room with the gross male rage of a bunch of crude sexist bullies, repeating one after the other the long-discredited arguments misogynists have used to silence women trying to fight against sexual assault. The Democratic politicians on the other side who supposedly opposed Kavanaugh and rightly claimed to support Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony, behaved far too much as if they had been abused into passivity themselves by the Republicans’ abusive ranting and raving, rather than finding the courage to really defend Blasey Ford’s heroic stand and actually fight to win.
Under these circumstances, two young women, Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher had to join Blasey Ford and the other Kavanaugh accusers as the real heroes of this struggle. On Friday morning, after the supposed open-minded Republican Senator Jeff Flake announced that he would actually vote with the other Republicans to send the Kavanaugh nomination to the full Senate for a vote for confirmation, these two women caught the cowardly Senator Flake in an elevator. They genuinely and passionately spoke truth to power. They expressed the indignation and determination of millions of women across the nation and the Resistance fighting for the future of democracy in America to break the suffocating silence imposed on the victims of sexual assault and abuse by American society for far too long. Their confrontation with the timid Senator Flake communicated the reality that for the rest of his life, wherever he goes, he will be held accountable for his role in accepting or rejecting sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh on the US Supreme Court. They demanded, “Look at me when I’m talking to you,” when Flake tried to avoid hearing their own declarations of their histories of sexual assault. Their bold and decisive action, not the passive, boring, and half-stepping speeches of politicians inside the committee, forced Flake, after the elevator confrontation, to change his position and demand an independent FBI investigation of the sexual abuse charges against Kavanaugh before a vote could take place in the full Senate. The audacity of Archila and Gallagher is a model for how our movement can and must carry through on the fight we need to make now.
With MORE of this kind of bold and determined direct action in DC between now and the final vote on Kavanaugh, our movement can win. We must make the most of this opportunity. With the Senate confirmation vote officially postponed only by a week, we must act and we must act fast. Hundreds of people have been protesting inside and outside of the Capitol. Throughout the course of this entire process, fresh Resistance forces need to flood the capital. We need a mass confrontation of the movement with the politicians, especially the ever-so-timid waverers Jeff Flake (R), Susan Collins (R), Lisa Murkowski (R), Paul Manchin (D), and Heidi Heitkamp (D), and demand that they oppose Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. This entire fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination makes clear Rule #1 of the movement: do NOT rely on the politicians to fight; rely on ourselves and each other to win.
“Never again” begins now. It is obvious the confirmation of Kavanaugh will send a message that in America, people who are sexually assaulted or abused should keep silent. That message must be defeated, and the message sent by Christine Blasey Ford and the other heroic survivors who have been speaking out must prevail. Kavanaugh has also clearly, throughout his career, been an enemy of the legal and political gains of the women’s movement, in particular an enemy of the right of women to control over their own bodies secured in 1973 in the Roe v Wade decision. Despite the statements to the contrary of certain cowardly waverers, it is obvious that Kavanaugh will take advantage of the first opportunity he could get to overturn Roe all together, and until he can accomplish that, vote to render Roe v Wade a dead letter in practice as much as possible. Trump would not have nominated him if that were not the case.
In addition to the message aimed at silencing the struggle against sexual abuse and the attack on the fundamental rights of women, the threat of Kavanaugh’s confirmation places democracy at stake in yet another way, which is completely bound up with Donald Trump’s aspiration to create an authoritarian presidency. Even among Trump’s short list of reactionary candidates to nominate to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh stood out as holding absolutely extreme positions in favor of presidential power and against presidential accountability. In particular, Kavanaugh has publicly argued repeatedly that presidents should not be subject at all to investigations like the Mueller investigation. For the past year, the Mueller investigation has been the only governmental process aimed at determining the role the Trump campaign may have played in conspiring with Putin’s attempt to distort and determine the results of the 2016 presidential elections. Only the Mueller investigation can make possible holding Trump accountable for his numerous efforts to obstruct justice and turn the FBI, the Justice Dept. as a whole, and the nation’s intelligence agencies into his own personal state police. Given that there are already four judges on the Court ready to uphold a very expansive view of presidential power, Kavanaugh’s confirmation would create a long-term majority prepared to uphold the emergence of a reactionary, authoritarian presidential dictatorship over the next period of American history, beginning with an imminent set of decisions pertaining to the Mueller investigation.
The future of democracy is at stake. We are being called by history to meet the challenge of this extraordinary moment.
To all supporters of the movement to defeat Kavanaugh and Trump: get to DC this week, however you can. Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the US Supreme Court must be defeated. While Dr. Ford’s forthright courage was celebrated across the nation, anyone watching last Thursday’s performance by Brett Kavanaugh shuddered in disgust at his debauched rage. His performance was, from the beginning to end, the behavior of a guilty man. His testimony left no doubt that he is a dangerous misogynist and sexual predator. He presented an appalling display of exactly the kind of judge who should never receive a lifetime appointment to the most powerful court in the world. His testimony made utterly clear that Kavanaugh on the Court would be the closest equivalent to giving Donald Trump a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
Until Dr. Ford came forward, Kavanaugh’s nomination seemed all but secured. Today, the opposite is true. Today, Kavanaugh’s nomination presents a test of the #Metoo movement that has come forward against Trump’s misogyny, his promotion and defense of sexual assault that has been central to his political platform. As long as Donald Trump, as Abuser-in-Chief, remains in office, misogynist men like Kavanaugh will feel they have a greenlight to attack, harass, objectify and abuse women. By defeating the nomination of Kavanaugh we will be dealing a blow to Trump’s attacks on democracy and his movement of reactionary supporters who have been emboldened to carry out misogynist, immigrant-bashing, and racist attacks.
Now more than ever, as our nation stands at a crossroads, the Resistance must rise to our historic challenge. This is no time for “business as usual” or to rely on the promises and maneuvers of cynical politicians or the FBI. BAMN calls on all anti-Trump and pro-democracy Resistance fighters to join us in action to defeat the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, and to force Trump to resign or be removed. The future of freedom and democracy is in our hands.
Vigil in solidarity with all who have suffered sexual violence and to call on all senators to vote no on Kavanaugh
Our Unite HERE 2850 brothers and sisters are on strike against the
Oakland Marriot City Center as part of their national strike along with
more than 8,000 Marriott workers from San Francisco, San Jose, Boston
and Seattle. Local 2850 represents East Bay’s hotel and restaurant
workers union who is saying, _“One job should be enough”_ — enough
for workers at the richest and biggest hotel company in the world.
Wei-Ling Huber, President Local 2850 says, _”Our workers have been
uplifted and empowered by the amazing support of IATSE 107, IOUE
Stationary Engineers Local 39 and others who have reached out.”_ IN
SUPPORT OF THEIR STRIKE, PLEASE JOIN US ON THE PICKET LINE THIS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11TH STARTING AT 6AM AT OAKLAND MARRIOTT CITY CENTER,
1001 BROADWAY, OAKLAND, CA. Bring snacks, food and water to donate to
the workers as they will continue to picket every day from 5am to
midnight.
Donate to the “Strike Fund” by sending your check made out to ALC
Community Services Hardship Fund with “Strike Fund” in the memo line and
send to the Alameda Labor Council at 7750 Pardee Lane, Ste 110, Oakland,
CA 94621.
*****CLICK HERE FOR MORE GREAT PHOTOS OF THE STRIKING WORKERS BY
PHOTOGRAPHER, DAVID BACON:
HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/56646659@N05/SETS/72157698901870202 [1]
Build elsewhere in Berkeley. Save our Greenspace. Save People’s Park.
If UCB gets their way, Berkeley will be covered with high-rises and hotels and the legal of Berkeley’s historic contributions to Free Speech, Anti War and Community Democracy will be reduced to a bronze plaque.
Oakland Marriott workers are in the second week of their strike for jobs that are enough to get by in the Bay Area. Marriott is the biggest and richest hotel company in the world and can afford to provide good jobs. That’s why nearly 8000 workers at 23 Marriott-operated hotels around the country, from Boston to Hawaii, are on strike for the principle that One Job Should Be Enough.
Join us for a rally to show Marriott that the whole East Bay stands behind the striking Marriott workers.
On October 23, more than 35,000 University of California workers across the state will be walking off the job!
Pickets will happen all day at Sproul Plaza on October 23 through 25. We are particularly encouraging people to show up for a rally at noon on Tuesday, October 23.
Patient care workers from AFSCME 3299 — backed up with a solidarity strike by other AFSCME service workers and UPTE technical workers — are demanding improvements on wages and working conditions, no cutbacks on benefits, and an end to management’s weaponization of inequalities of race, gender, and immigration status to exploit and intimidate workers.
Back in May, East Bay DSA showed up big to the AFSCME and UPTE strike, and we are going to do so again!
Please sign up for the Labor Committee’s Rapid Response system if you’d like to receive text messages that let you know about labor actions around the East Bay.
Accessibility: The UC campus is ADA-accessible. This will be a live picket line.
Update: Eviction action by City was called off today after people showed up. But:
#oakmtg We have received information the city WILL return tomorrow to evict. We anticipate more force, more aggression from the government, more cops.
If you can be here before 8am, please do. Historically they don’t come before 8am, but we are in new territory here.
— Jesse A.J. Smith 4 Oakland Mayor (@OakSmith2018) October 24, 2018
#Oakland! Unhoused activist Nino Parker, who lives here, is asking for as many people as possible to come down by 9am on 10/24 to help the fight. PLEASE come to offer support, supplies, documentation, & assistance.@CatsCommentary @EOakCollective @BlakeDontCrack @johnajonesIII https://t.co/546uEiQYvr
— jcat (@jcatjcatjcat) October 20, 2018
Update: Eviction action by City was called off today after people showed up. But:
#oakmtg We have received information the city WILL return tomorrow to evict. We anticipate more force, more aggression from the government, more cops.
If you can be here before 8am, please do. Historically they don’t come before 8am, but we are in new territory here.
— Jesse A.J. Smith 4 Oakland Mayor (@OakSmith2018) October 24, 2018
#Oakland! Unhoused activist Nino Parker, who lives here, is asking for as many people as possible to come down by 9am on 10/24 to help the fight. PLEASE come to offer support, supplies, documentation, & assistance.@CatsCommentary @EOakCollective @BlakeDontCrack @johnajonesIII https://t.co/546uEiQYvr
— jcat (@jcatjcatjcat) October 20, 2018
Join Yemeni Alliance Committee (YAC) and our partners in SF to protest the ongoing US involvement in the war in #Yemen.
Since March of 2015 Saudi Arabia and its coalition, which includes the Arab countries of: UAE, KUWAIT, BAHRAIN, QATAR, SUDAN, EGYPT, JORDAN, MOROCCO, backed and supported by the US AND THE UK-have been bombing Yemen. It has not been a civil war since then. The United States has provided the Saudis with weapons and logistical and intelligence support and helped refuel coalition jets (mid air) as they drop bombs on Yemeni civilians.
The U.S.-backed Saudi-led campaign has killed over 50 thousand Yemenis, destroyed the country’s infrastructure, has led to widespread disease and sparked a famine thats become one of the worst in living memory.
On top of this the Saudi blockade has restricted humanitarian aide, medical supplies and clean water to Yemen. According to the UN, Yemen is the worlds worst humanitarian crisis in decades. The war in Yemen has left more than 22 million people—75 % of the population in dire need of aide.
By now, we all know what the Saudi de facto ruler Mohammad bin Salman and his regime are capable of, and its clear from the brutal murder of one of their own; when Washington Post journalist Jamal #Khashoogi was beheaded and dismembered earlier this month AND the atrocious attack on a school bus that killed at least 40 children by American-made bombs in August of this year-which is just a strike in a long string of attacks on the poorest nation in the Arab world. Only by Saudi Arabia could a crime like premeditated murder, or the mass killing of innocent Yemenis be called a mistake. Saudi warplanes target schools, hospitals and wedding halls in Yemen, and they shamelessly call such crimes “mistakes.
The Trump administration is allowing Saudi Arabia’s rivalry with Iran to dictate its policy in the region, and it comes at the cost of the innocent lives of Yemenis.
The only realistic check left is in Congress, where more voices are asking why the world’s most powerful country is helping to perpetuate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. We’ve been complicit in this war, But Its time to take action, especially during election season.
WAYS YOU CAN HELP:
Contact your Representatives: ASK them to sponsor #HConRes138 to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. CALL: 202-224-3121 or visit: https://callyourrep.co
Contact your Senators: ASK them to support #SJRES54, ending unauthorized U.S. military involvement in Yemen’s war. CALL: 202-224-3121 or visit: https://bit.ly/1ujDDoD
Take it to the streets, join a protest or organize one and use this hashtag: #YemenCantWait
Sign and share this petition by CREDO
Help YAC amplify next Saturday’s action on social media (using #YemenCantWait): http://bit.ly/2CLaTkn
In Solidarity,
-Yemeni Alliance Committee
To join the list of event hosts and add your organization’s name to this effort, complete this form: http://bit.ly/2yBTzvi