Calendar
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months, once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (Optional) Discussion Topic
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
Join us for our National Day of Action to #FreeRodneyReed. Join other members of your community in solidarity with Rodney and his family as we join the national movement to demand Justice for Rodney.
Sign up here
Join the Moms for Housing for a housewarming party! The Moms for Housing have reclaimed a vacant, investor-owned home on behalf of the Oakland community and Black, working single moms everywhere. Come down to 2928 Magnolia Street starting at noon today to celebrate the move into #MomsHouse and help the Moms for Housing defend their new home from the predatory real estate speculators that kept this home vacant for the last two years.
“As many of you know, I favor strong First Amendment protections for journalists and protesters and especially students. But I’m also very much against the President of the United States’ and his followers’ repeated attempts to get Congresswomen of color harmed or killed.
Legally, these two ideals appear to be in conflict. Would you like to see me try to square them? Would you like to hear a fully thought-through articulation of why free speech does not, or at least should not, include personal threats made against any person who dares to oppose Donald Trump? Would you like to hear an expert in First Amendment law tell me why I’m wrong?
If so, please join me and Ken White (aka @Popehat) at Berkeley Law on Monday, November 18th at 5:30 p.m. We will be having a spirited debate about what free speech does mean, should mean, and must mean in the age of Donald Trump. We’ll be playing some of our old hits like: Can a gun store suggest killing Congresswomen if it didn’t actually threaten them? And some new ones like, well, whatever dangerous, hateful thing Trump says in the next 10 days, probably.
We’re being hosted by Director Catherine Crump of the Samuelson Clinic for Law, Technology, and Public Policy. We will try very hard not to break any of the technology or public policy lying around.
Click here to RSVP. Especially if you agree with me! But, even if you don’t. I will defend forever your right to oppose me… just so long as you don’t think you can use the n-word without catching some hands.”
As of October 2, 2019, AB857, the law enabling local public bank charters in California, has been signed by Governor Newsom. We have made history! And we have more history to make! Follow our latest news page for new developments. We’re keeping an updated list of articles about the bill and other public banking news.
There has never been a better time to join the movement. We have lots of ways for you to plug in.
We have switched our meeting day back to Monday. We’ll meet on the third Monday of every month, but watch this space in case something changes.
We’ll go over all the current developments in the East Bay and California, and all next steps for working groups.
If you would like to come early and get an introduction to the concepts of public banking, or more locally to who we are and what we do, please email us and someone will come meet you at 5:30.
Working Group Meetings:
Some of our working groups meet between organizers’ meetings, and others just confer by phone and email. You can plug into any one of these:
- Outreach to Organizations
- Outreach to Individuals
- Digital Outreach
- Advocacy (working with politicians)
- Governance
- California Public Banking Alliance
- Fundraising
- Operations
Just send us a note and we’ll help you get connected to the work you want to do.
Join immigrants and their allies in fighting for a pathway to permanent residency for over a million longtime U.S. residents who are at risk of losing their legal status under the Trump administration’s attacks on programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure(DED).
The El Cerrito City Council will hear and vote on a proclamation titled “In Support of Protections from Deportation and a Path to Permanent Residency for Beneficiaries of DACA, TPS and DED” at its November 19 meeting in City Council chambers, 10890 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM. Read the entire draft proclamation at this pdf link. The City Council’s agenda isn’t available yet, but will appear at this link closer to the date of the meeting, and should include a final draft of the proclamation.
Local community organizations El Cerrito Progressives, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant,and NorCal TPS Coalition will hold a rally/vigil outside City Hall before the meeting, from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Come hear local speakers tell their stories and explain how we can all work to keep families together and our communities intact. El Cerrito Mayor Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto is also slated to speak at the beginning of the rally. Come even if you live outside of El Cerrito! TPS Coalition has been working with several cities on the issue; you can read the Berkeley City Council’s 10/15/19 resolution,
We already know that we desperately need single payer for health care. But the recent failures of PG&E show how we need a single-payer system for our energy grid, too — to stop the reckless, dangerous behavior of private companies getting rich off what should be a public good, and to fight climate change. Only one of the Democratic candidates running for President has unequivocally called for bringing PG&E under public control. Bernie Sanders’s Green New Deal proposal isn’t just the boldest proposal to save the planet that any candidate has made yet. It also includes the United States moving to 100 percent public ownership of our power grid.
How can the growing democratic socialist movement win demands that stave off the worst of the climate crisis and move us towards a more sustainable future? Solving the ecological crisis requires a mass movement to take on hugely powerful industries. Yet the environmental movement’s base in the professional-managerial class and focus on consumption has little chance of attracting working-class support. The seminal essay by Matt Huber included in the class readings argues for a program that tackles the ecological crisis by organizing around working-class interests.
The readings for the upcoming Night School class can be found here: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/night-school/
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay and nationwide.
We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.
We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.
Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network. We helped fight and helped win the fight against Urban Shield.
Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition and other analytics, and pushing back against ICE.
On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:
Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/ Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy
Check out our sister site DeportICE.
“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”
Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in various municipalities around the Bay. To help slow down the encroaching police and surveillance state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.
APTP meets the third Wednesday of every month. Join us to find out how you can get involved.
This space is wheelchair accessible. Please contact us for any additional accessibility questions or concerns.
This important discussion between two major American whisteblowers will focus on the urgent need to end unaccountable government power.
Daniel Ellsberg is an American activist and former United States military analyst formerly employed by the RAND Corporation. He precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of the U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times and other newspapers. In1973, Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act along with other charges of theft and conspiracy, carrying a total maximum sentence of 115 years. Due to governmental misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering, and the defense by Leonard Boudin and Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson, all charges against Ellsberg were dismissed. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2006. He is also known for voicing support for Wikileaks, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden. Ellsberg was awarded the 2018 Olof Palme Prize for his humanism and exceptional moral courage.
Jeffery Sterling is a former CIA agent convicted under the Espionage Act for talking to a New York Times reporter. He was released from prison after serving more than two years of his 42-month sentence. Sterling’s case drew nationwide attention because the Obama-era Department of Justice unsuccessfully tried to force the reporter, James Risen, to divulge the identity of his sources for “State of War,” his book that revealed just how the CIA had botched a covert operation against Iran’s nuclear program. Risen reported that instead of undermining the Iranians, the CIA had provided them with useful information on how to build a nuclear bomb. The case had a racial dimension, as Sterling was one of the few black undercover operatives at the CIA. After several years of what he believed was discriminatory treatment, he filed a complaint against the agency, followed by a lawsuit. The CIA fired Sterling in 2002. His lawsuit was blocked by the courts after the government argued successfully that proceeding with the suit would expose state secrets. As a whistleblower, Sterling subsequently met with Senate investigators about the mismanaging of a classified program he worked on at the agency.
Norman Solomon is the author of a dozen books including “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” He is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, where he coordinates the ExposeFacts.org program for whistleblowers and press freedom. He is co-founder of RootsAction.org. Kevin Cartwright has since 1994 handled many important positions for Pacifica Radio station KPFA-FM. He is a communications strategist who continues working with various social change organizations across the country to help improve their communications.
Give Us Something to be Thankful For
A Visit to Governor Newsom, to Expedite Healthy California for All Commission for Single-Payer Healthcare!
- -We are providing a charter bus – capacity 56, first come,, first served – that will pick up at the Larkin Street main libraryy in San Francisco and then at Ashby BART before heading to Sacramento. We ask for those able to carpool to please do so! We will also have box lunches once we arrive. So that we have a headcount to submit the lunch order in time, and to know who will be on the bus and who will need to carpool, the deadline to RSVP is November 8th. (You are welcome to complete the RSVP after the 8th, the more the merrier, but we cannot then guarantee a ride or a lunch.)
San Francisco Main Library
100 Larkin St.
10:30am
Ashby BART
3100 Adeline St.
11:00am
Governor’s Office
1315 — 10th St.
12:30pm
Meeting at Gov’s Office at 1pm // Rally on North Steps at 2pm
Bus capacity is 56; carpool caravan
encouraged! RSVP and info: tinyurl.com/HCN-Newsom
Come by our open Delegates Meetings! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
This meeting usually happens in the Ballroom, but the the location may change depending on the access needs of people attending and other events taking place in the building.
We will meet at Castro St & Chevron Way at 10 am and walk over together to Gate 19 on Castro St.
Featuring:
Bernadette Demientieff (ED of Gwich’in Steering Committee),
Gwich’in Youth Council Leaders – Quannah Potts, Araya Stoffa, Isaiah Horace
Michael Brune – Sierra Club
Local Youth and Indigenous Activists from Idle No More SF Bay, Youth vs. Apocalypse
Right now, we are fighting for the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Trump administration wants to raid the Refuge for oil, but they know that their window of opportunity is closing, so they’re scrambling to sell out the Refuge while they still can. They are aiming to hold a lease sale as early as this December.
Chevron has emerged as a top contender and potential bidder. So let’s take the fight to them and send a resounding message that Arctic drilling is bad business. Join us at the Chevron Richmond Refinery on November 22nd from 10:00 am – 11:30.
The Gwich’in Nation of Alaska and Canada have been leading the fight to protect the Refuge, and they’re asking for widespread support from people in the Lower 48 this fall. We are honored to have four representatives from the Gwich’in Steering Committee leading this action in Richmond. Come join us and learn more about how you can help protect the Arctic Refuge from destructive development.
WE CAN SAVE CHELSEA MANNING AND JULIAN
ASSANGE FROM TORTURE AND DEATH
Please sign up for our emails and alerts at: https://bayaction2freeassange.org and watch the
INCREDIBLE “SHOWTIMES” Manning doc.free @ https://archive.org/details/XYChelsea
The Main Stream Media (MSM) is so full of lies, it’s got the masses confused!!
There are only a few places we can get the truth.Chelsea and Julian were two of
the most important WHISTLE BLOWERS to tell the truth about USA’s illegal,
immoral WARS. USA is one of the largest TERRORIST countries in history,
killing, wounding, and forcing emigration on millions of folks (did you know there
are 65 million migrants?) all over the world!!
Saving Chelsea and Julian is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!! To the
Working class and it’s Allies.They told us the truth about the wars! And all the
NEW McArthyism (phony Russia Gate conspiracy led by the New York Times) is
blaming Julian for being a puppet of Russia. So much of all our issues stem
from the honesty of Chelsea and Julian!! That’s why the RULING CLASS
imprisoned them and want’s them DEAD.
Please write letters to Chelsea (only hand written and no post cards or
pictures, or anything written on the outside of the letter) Write to: Chelsea
Elizabeth Manning, William Truesdale Adult Detention Center, 2001 Mill Road,
Alexandria Va. 22314. Also write julian writejulian.com
We need to hip people to YouTube , Web sites and twitter feeds ie. –
#xychelsea,#defendassange, and wikileaks.org – Please check out these specific
links, and add comments and tell your friends:
– Real News Network – “Federal judge continues Chelsea Manning’s
confinement and $1000/day fine” https://youtub.be/qjywz_U_x1c –
The Jimmy Dore Show – “Chelsea Manning jailed again for
protecting journalism” https://youtu.be/bTqVNKXZYAY (89,000 hits)
– Chelsea Manning 2min “Abolish ICE”https://youtu.be/R7qpQGGQqa8
-Orion song”WE will keep fightin everyday even though our tears won’t go
away!” https://youtu.be/T5-3db8GDFY
– Chelsea’s scathing 7 page letter to the judge about the history of the SECRET GRAND
JURIES: – https://www.aaronswartzday.org/chelsea-manning-letter
Sponsored by ACCE, Berkeley Tenants Union, EBHO, Community Land Trust, Gray Panthers.
Gray Panthers Berkeley East Bay is co-sponsor of this Housing Justice Week rally They will share how they fought an illegal Ellis Act conversion/eviction. Learn how Prop O funds and nonprofit community land trusts could be used to help create self-governing cooperative communities. Hot cider, snacks, and music.
Who deserves to have a home in Oakland, Berkeley, or Richmond? Who makes these decisions?
In the midst of the housing crisis, speculators are buying up houses, apartments and PUBLIC LAND. In Oakland, there are 4 VACANT units for every, individual unhoused person, 25% of whom are children.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
We cannot settle for ‘trickle-down’ solutions that overproduce “luxury” market-rate housing and structurally build in vacancies and homelessness. We must not stand by while corporate landlords and greedy developers buy up our cities and force black and brown families out in droves. We must work together to make “Housing is a Human Right” more than a slogan and ensure safe, humane housing for all.
JOIN US TO:
MOVE THOUSANDS OFF THE STREETS and vehicles into safe, healthy homes by filling vacant units
PROHIBIT THE HARASSMENT OF RESPONSIBLE TENANTS
by bad landlords trying to push them out for a quick dollar
STOP WALL STREET INVESTORS
from tearing down homes that are affordable to build housing for the wealthy
DEMAND THAT PUBLIC LAND BE USED FOR PUBLIC GOOD
through passing and enforcing strong, local public land use policies
EXPAND RENT CONTROL PROTECTIONS
by repealing Costa Hawkins
Winter is coming — will you do your part to ensure our unsheltered and housing insecure families have homes?
What will it take to truly address the systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism, and war economy plaguing our country today? The answer is presented in the Poor People’s Campaign Moral Budget, which lays out the policies and investments to address the widespread and systemic injustices we face.
We invite you to come together with other supporters of the Poor People’s Campaign to learn more about these solutions through our Moral Budget Reading Group. This will be a space for us to develop our collective understanding of the policies we’re working towards and how they will affect the lives of the people in our communities.
We’ll be discussing the pages 31 through 50, “Investments in Domestic Tranquility.”
You can view the Moral Budget on your computer here: http://ppcbayarea.org/moral-budget. If you’d like to purchase a physical copy for $10, please email info@ppcbayarea.org and let us know.
We hope you’ll join us to be part of this reading group. Forward together, not one step back!
In this era of “reconciliation”, Indigenous land is still being taken at gunpoint. INVASION is a new film about the Unist’ot’en Camp, Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory, (Gidimt’en checkpoint) and the larger Wet’suwet’en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people.
The Unist’ot’en Camp has been a beacon of resistance for nearly 10 years. It is a healing space for Indigenous people and settlers alike, and an active example of decolonization. The violence, environmental destruction, and disregard for human rights following TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) / Coastal GasLink’s interim injunction has been devastating to bear, but this fight is far from over.
• ───────────────── •
INVASION is a new documentary on the Unist’ot’en struggle for sovereignty against industry giants. This film is a collaboration between Sub.Media founder Franklin López, AJ+ reporter Michael Tol, and documentary filmmaker Sam Vinal. Learn more at: http://www.unistoten.camp/invasion
