Calendar
Instead of a reading, we’ll discuss Bill Still’s award-winning full-length documentary video, “The Secret of Oz.” The video includes a review of monetary history so we can better understand solutions to today’s economic problems. It’s available free online, here. In addition, a lot of positive reviews are on Amazon.
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
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.
Five weeks ago the Planning Commission passed on to the Berkeley City a proposed Zoning Ordinance that would make the Post Office property less desirable to potential purchasers of the capitalist variety. We are still waiting for action on this from the City Council.
The Postal Service has announced that they are contracting with Staples to provide Post Office window services inside Staples stores, using Staples employees instead of Post Office employees. There is already a pseudo Post Office operating inside the Berkeley Staples store (Shattuck & Durant)
Come and help plan our next actions in defense of our Post Office and against privatization and non living-wage jobs. We want to send a message to CBRE, the Post Office, Staples and Berkeley politicians that the sale will not be tolerated!
We will likely be planning an action at the Berkeley Staples for Saturday, Dec 21st. Come help up!
Check out the video of Peter Byrne’s talk at our latest Save the Post Office Rally!
We believe the Oakland City council is meeting on January 7th to vote to select a new contractor to implement Phase II of the Domain Awareness Center build-out (after SAIC was disqualified since it could not comply with the provisions of the Oakland nuclear-free city ordinance). The Privacy Working Group is organizing a protest on the day of the City Council meeting, so this get-together is to plan that demonstration. Right now thoughts are that we will meet at the Plaza at 5:30, there will be food at 6:15. then going in to the council chambers to speak out against the selection of a new contractor. (It seems like Motorola is the front-runner at this point.)
We also might discuss plans for demonstrations at City Council member houses complete with camera props, maybe even a drone!
http://oaklandwiki.org/Domain_Awareness_Center
On July 31st after midnight the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to approve allocating $2 million to continue to develop the Domain Awareness Center that would integrate surveillance cameras from all over the Port of Oakland, the city, BART, AC Transit, traffic cameras, and other sensors into a local ‘fusion’ center that could effectively track private citizens movements throughout the region. Video and data feeds from all over Oakland are to be aggregated and monitored at the DAC, then analysed with license plate recognition software, thermal imaging and body movement recognition software, possibly facial recognition software, and more, all with absolutely no privacy or data-retention policies in place, or substantive debate at the committee or council level about the program. November 20th, again after midnight, the City Council voted 6-1 to find a new contractor for the DAC after it came to light that the previous major contractor, SAIC, was involved in nuclear weapons development in contravention of Oakland’s nuclear free policy.
The Oakland Privacy Working Group and others are continuing to organize against these encroachments upon our liberty and privacy.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group listserv send an email to this address:
oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The meeting will be at the sudoroom, 2141 Broadway, but the entrance is actually on 22nd Street upstairs.
HALT THE HEIST – SAVE OUR PUBLIC COMMONS
We need to work together to:
- Address the privatization of retail postal services in Staples stores.
- Respond to the killing of the Mail Carrier, Tyson Jerome “T.J.” Barnette, after dark on Nov. 23, 2013 in Maryland.
- Address the environmental cost of the extra driving is needed by patrons’ picking up their mail, which is no longer at nearby post offices.
- Contact our Mayor and our City Council Member by Phone or Email, and ask him/her to vote to pass the Zoning Overlay Ordinance to save Berkeley’s Historic District and historic Post Office.
HALT THE HEIST – SAVE OUR PUBLIC COMMONS
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly will convene over food and libation this week at Mike’s house in El Cerrito. We normally meet at 2:00 PM, but our holiday GA, hike and social will begin later than our usual time: 3:00 PM for a hike on the Albany Hill, 4:30 PM for a short meeting, 5:30 PM for a holiday meal.
If you would like to attend either:
– send email to Mike (electionamend@gmail.com) for directions
– call Mike at 510-299-0493 for directions
– show up at the Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheatre by 2:30 for a ride to Mike’s house. Or call Ed at 510-763-0591 for a ride
All are welcome! Please bring something to share if you can.
This will be the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Reserve.
Monday evening from 6 – 9, OccupyForum will hold its meeting at the FED (101 Market) and have a panel of speakers.
There are some Scheduled events.
5:30 – anti-corporate caroling
6-6:30 – Illuminator will project a message onto the Fed, also the Petaluminator, possibly Light Brigade
Please bring flashlights and other ways to “shed light” on the FED
6:30 – 7:00 – Occupy Forum, topic the Federal Reserve and alternatives (see below)
And other ideas:
– Chalkupy: Ideas for a giant monopoly board are forming, also everyone can write messaging, answer the question “Why are you FED UP with the monetary system?” (or other messaging)
– Blankets: We’re asking everyone who can to drop by a Goodwill or Salvation Army or thrift store and get a blanket (they’re cheap! a few bucks)… The idea is to keep warm while we’re there and then leave them in the free pile for folks who need them.
– Caroling (with words to describe the FED provided)
The FEDERAL RESERVE BANK (commonly called the Fed) and Wall Street banks create just about all the money we use every day. Most people think that the Fed is an agency of the Federal Government. But it’s not. It’s 100% owned by the largest private banks in the US. The Fed uses its incredible power to decide how much new money to create and, more importantly, where to spend it, to benefit the Wall Street banks.
Since most of us think new money is generated by government, we would also expect that money to be directed toward things that benefit all of us such as highways and other infrastructure, education, health care and social security.
However, all money the government spends has to be borrowed at interest from the banks and the Fed. The banks and the Fed create this money, instead, by investing in areas that will provide them with maximum profits – usually wars, the coal and oil industries and real estate. This results in crashes like the current one which started in 2008, and depressions, and no consideration is given to the moral or environmental costs of these investments. Profits over people as usual.
The Fed operates largely in secret, and is not required to be accountable to anyone. There has never been a proper audit of the Federal Reserve Bank. The power to create money is arguably the most important single power in the US economy and yet the people have no control over it!
It’s time to shine a light on the workings of the Fed. We need to start discussing solutions like making the Fed accountable and handing over the power of money creation to the Federal Government! This could be the single most powerful way to create a more democratic economy that serves the interests of all of us – not just a few who profit immensely off of our labor.
Join us this Monday, Dec. 23 at 5pm on the Federal Reserve’s 100th Birthday when we will Illuminate the Fed!
Speakers will include Occupy activist Jane Smith, who will provide us with details on how the Fed works (or doesn’t work), and how we can take control of money creation away from big banks. The Illuminators will be there to project images and messages onto the FED building and there will be other events as well, listed below. Bring flashlights! Bring blankets! Bring ideas for chalking: “Why are you FED UP?”
This meeting we will be discussing the Shock Doctrine Documentary, video-lectures from Michael Hudson, and a debate between the Monodern Monetary Theorists vs. the Austrian School of Economics. Additionally, an edition of the Real World Exonomics Review headed by Steve Keen is attached and can be discussed as well. Come join the raucus assembly of amateur economic theorists!
Michael Hudson on Money, Debt, and History video
Modern Monetary Theory vs. the Austrian School of Economics video
64th Real World Economics Review
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the weeks tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Our weekly open meeting for members and supporters to discuss the week’s tasks and projects. Come get plugged into ongoing housing defense work! We have abundant and varied work for all folks in any number of meaningful projects.
Rain location: SF Pizza, 1500 Broadway, Oakland
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
Join us as we start a new year and plan a rally for early February demanding that Kamala Harris prosecute Miguel Masso for the murder of Alan Blueford. The subcommittee meeting for this campaign will take place immediately following the main coalition meeting.
Get up-to-date on the civil lawsuit that is proceeding against OPD and the City of Oakland.
We will also be planning other events in conjunction with other groups, including an action in Sacramento in late January.
Join Oakland Privacy Working Group to organize against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide mass surveillance center.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to: oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
Through the end of January we will have General Assembly at the sudoroom on 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
Here are instructions to access the room, the entrance is on 22nd Street:
https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Getting_there
This Sunday will be a Cryptoparty at the sudoroom, along with the third Sunday in January, these will be opportunities to update your digital profile so the government can’t easily track your every move. More blather on this to follow this afternoon when I have a moment.
Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally and has equal decision-making power. Occupy Oakland’s General Assembly uses a participatory decision-making process appropriately called, “Occupy Oakland’s Collective Decision-Making Process.” Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
Autonomous Action & the General Assembly
The bulk of the work of Occupy Oakland does NOT happen in the General Assembly. It happens in various committees, caucuses, and associated groups that report back to the general assembly. Everyone participating in Occupy Oakland should be part of at least one associated group. Occupy Oakland encourages autonomous actions that do not require consensus from the General Assembly. This encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
- Welcome
- Welcome Announcements
- Agenda Overview
- Forum
- Reports from Committees, Subcommittees, Caucuses, & Working Groups
- Action Announcements
- General Announcements
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.
In November the Planning Commission passed on to the Berkeley City a proposed Zoning Ordinance that would make the Post Office property less desirable to potential purchasers of the capitalist variety. We are still waiting for action on this from the City Council and are organizing to put pressure on City Council members to make sure this measure is brought up and passed.
The Postal Service has announced that they are contracting with Staples to provide Post Office window services inside Staples stores, using Staples employees instead of Post Office employees. There is already a pseudo Post Office operating inside the Berkeley Staples store (Shattuck & Durant). We conducted our first action against this privatization of postal services on December 21st.
Come and help plan our next actions in defense of our Post Office and against privatization and non living-wage jobs. We want to send a message to CBRE, the Post Office, Staples and Berkeley politicians that the sale will not be tolerated!