Calendar
Friends and comrades,
In the aftermath of Saturday night’s protest against KINK’s prison themed party, the police brutally attacked, detained, and charged many members of our community.
Please join us in continuing and advancing the struggle for liberation from the prision industrial complex by calling in to the SF DA’s office to demand that the charges against Rebecca, Prisca, and Sarai are dropped.
Please call in to either
(415) 553-1751
(415) 553-1754
basic ask:
“We demand that the DA’s office Drop the Charges against Rebecca Luisa Ruiz-Lichter, Prisca Carpenter, Sarai Robles-Mendez.”
Please feel free to add any additional comments and spread the word.
No Justice, No Peace! Keep the calls rolling in!!
EMERGENCY! PROTEST!
Let Our Children Go!
MONDAY, JUNE 30, 11am-1 pm
I.C.E.
Enforcement and Removal Operations Office
630 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA
that they are being incarcerated and secreted away: no reporters are allowed to interview them, or to take
photographs; the general public is being denied access to them and prevented from inspecting their conditions of
confinement. NO! These children need enjoyable, positive living environments, not mass incarceration and not
deportation!
WE SAY NO MORE! LET OUR CHILDREN GO!
The U.S. has 5% of the worldʼs population but 25% of the worldʼs prison population! More than 60% of those in U.S.
prisons are Black or Latina/o. More than 80,000 people in prison are held in solitary confinement under conditions
that fit the international definition of torture. The incarceration of women has increased by 800% over the last 30
years. Alongside this has risen a massive program of criminally prosecuting undocumented immigrants.
Deportations under the Obama administration have crossed the 2 million mark, resulting in many thousands of
children separated from their parents! We stand in solidarity with the courageous anti-deportation movement and the
demand, “Not 1 More Deportation!”
ICE, the agency responsible for immigration detention within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), now
detains approximately 34,000 immigrants every night and more than 400,000 individuals each year. Immigrants in
detention facilities around the United States are often subjected to punitive and long-term solitary confinement and
denied meaningful avenues of appeal. Since 2005, the immigration detention population has increased by nearly 85
percent. And now, U.S. military installations are incarcerating thousands of refugee children in prison camps!
This must stop—NOW! Not the next generation, not in ten years, not any time off in some promised future that never
seems to come. NOW!
The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is calling for a massive Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration in October
of this year; a Month that can impact all of society; one that can open the eyes of millions of people to the need to
end this new Jim Crow. In October, 2014, our resistance to mass incarceration must reverberate across the country
and around the world. October, 2014, must be a month that makes clear that thousands and thousands are willing to
stand up and speak out today and to awaken and rally forth millions. It must be the beginning of the end of the mass
incarceration in the U.S.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) are currently warehousing hundreds and
thousands of children from Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador who have, in recent
months, streamed across the Texas-Mexico
border. Once detained, they are being held in
freezing holding cells, nicknamed “hieleras,” or
ice chests. Many thousands of children, some
unaccompanied, and mothers with toddlers are
now in U.S. detention. They lack nutritious
food, sanitary conditions, health care, and
beds. Thousands are being sent to military
bases for so-called “shelter” – but the fact is
they
Make October 2014, A Month Of Resistance To Mass Incarceration,
Police Terror, Repression And The Criminalization Of A Generation!
Sign
the
pledge
at
StopMassIncarceration.net
Local
Contact:
StopMassIncarcerationBayArea@gmail.com
Ph:
510-‐984-‐3648
Information, discussion & community!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues.
�
Leverage Points and Tipping Points: Deconstructing Political Influence
with Patrick McKercher
Patrick McKercher will begin with a brief historical overview of how the 1% and corporations gained their influence, offer an interactive tour of the map of the “Death Star,” then strategize with us how to use what it reveals for maximum leverage.
When scientists and the world were increasingly certain about global warming — including our driving it – why were Americans less and less concerned? As the fossil fuel industry was revealed as the leading climate denier, McKercher, using data visualization software to map the web of information and money flows, saw the infamous Powell Memo (the right-wing gameplan to defend corporations from the People’s will) at the heart of the industry’s gambit. At the end of a long chain, the Koch brothers (who brought much more money and created “the incubator” which recruits, trains and supports college students to be conservative activists, then generously funds the infrastructure to keep them employed for a lifetime) carried the torch.
However, the good news is that once we understand how the system works we can look for leverage points, where small pushes can create tipping points.
Dr. Patrick McKercher teaches for the Writing Program at UC Santa Cruz at the Environmental College. He participated in Occupy San Jose, and currently is involved with Move To Amend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dLAQr8p2wI&list=PL02F8ECC3CDB39BB1&index=2&feature=plpp_video
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 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. The National Conference of Mayors just endorsed Postal Banking. 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.’ Spread the workd and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
The annual AK Press anti-state event is here again. Tons of sale books priced between $1 and $5…and discounts on everything else! Snacks, refreshments, and friendly anarchists.
Come for the books, stay for the scintillating conversation.
WHY: Because you can never have too many great (cheap) books.
BAY AREA ACTION ALERT PRESS CONFERENCE:
**************************
Tomorrow our community welcomes the arrival of the immigrant parents and children from Texas in CA here in the Bay Area
Originally they were set to be processed at the Border Patrol Station in Murrieta, until anti-immigrant groups with vitriolic messages blocked the buses and they were rerouted to Chula Vista. However many immigrant families are still expected to arrive in the Inland Empire in the next few days. Community groups and organizations throughout the Inland Empire are mobilizing to provide emergency resources and monitoring to ensure the safety of arriving families.
In contrast to the small group of anti-immigrant agitators in Murrieta, diverse community groups and residents throughout the Inland Empire and CA welcome the opportunity to show hospitality and lend a hand to the immigrant families the humanity and respect they deserve.
**************************
Please join us tomorrow in solidarity with these immigrant families and hear more about the human crisis at the border and in detention centers.
Find ways how you can get involved and join our immediate action to help these families.
Please join us for a tour of the Gill Tract Community Farm with acclaimed agro-ecology professor Miguel Altieri and Rene Zazueta. Learn about the farm, planting methods and patterns, and urban agro-ecology.
Come get our new “Public Bank of Oakland” shirts!!
Learn about debt and how it is screwing everyone… or just come and hang out!
Look for our table somewhere between 24th & 25th streets.
Follow us on twitter @strikdebtba
And join us at our next meeting!
Come show solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand an end to the collective punishment and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
At least eleven Palestinians have died since Israel launched its massive crackdown, invasions and siege on June 12.
More than 1,000 homes have been raided, nearly 600 Palestinians have been detained, and Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes on occupied Gaza.
Human rights organizations have described Israel’s actions as collective punishment, a violation of international law.
Film showing: “Miners Shot Down.”
“Bloody Thursday” July 5th commemorates the police murder of maritime workers in the 1934 Big Strike which provoked the San Francisco General Strike. All US West Coast ports are shutdown to honor the 6 labor martyrs killed during the strike.
In 2012, at the Marikana mine in South Africa, 34 striking miners were massacred by police. ILWU Local 10 sent a letter of protest to the ANC-led government. Andrew Chirwa, president of NUMSA, the largest union in that country will address workers about the massacre and miners strike, the longest in South African history, and the impending metalworkers stroke.
On July 1, both the South African metalworkers union and the ILWU longshore contracts expire. NUMSA is preparing for a “full-blown strike” much like the maritime workers did in 1934. Now is the time for international labor solidarity.
Organized by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee.
Special Meeting with Andrew Chirwa.
“Bloody Thursday” July 5th commemorates the police murder of maritime workers in the 1934 Big Strike which provoked the San Francisco General Strike. All US West Coast ports are shutdown to honor the 6 labor martyrs killed during the strike.
In 2012, at the Marikana mine in South Africa, 34 striking miners were massacred by police. ILWU Local 10 sent a letter of protest to the ANC-led government. Andrew Chirwa, president of NUMSA, the largest union in that country will address workers about the massacre and miners strike, the longest in South African history, and the impending metalworkers stroke.
On July 1, both the South African metalworkers union and the ILWU longshore contracts expire. NUMSA is preparing for a “full-blown strike” much like the maritime workers did in 1934. Now is the time for international labor solidarity.
Organized by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee.
There will be a protest/demonstration for our beloved Palestine in light of the current Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine. This event will take place on Monday, July 7th at the Israeli Consulate Building in San Francisco. Please bring flags, banners, and your loud voices. We hope to see you all there!
What can we do about the growing Surveillance Industrial Complex? ”
“Surveillance is the business model of the Internet.” — Bruce Schneier
Technology and war have always been interrelated. Some historians see the intersection of science, technology and the US military during WW2 as the beginning of the modern Military-Industrial Complex. Yet mass communications technology has also been historically significant in transforming society, from the Gutenberg printing press, to Television’s connection to the 1960s political and social upheaval, to the rise of the Internet.
As the Bay Area tech industry becomes the de facto center of global technological innovation, its ties to the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies are becoming more and more apparent. Companies like Hewlitt-Packard, Google, Palantir, and Amazon all have close ties to the same military and intelligence establishment that Bay Area activists have been organizing against since the 1960’s. With our basic liberties, such as right to assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of Privacy and the right to a jury trial all under a concerted attack by the government, it should be of increasing concern that the companies we depend on for communicating and accessing information are also dependent on Defense establishment contracts and ties to appease their shareholders and continue their monopolies.
With the Internet becoming such a force for change and democratizing power, why is it under attack right now? The Internet as we know it, free and open, is being threatened by Federal government appointees. Many called Occupy “The Internet generation.” From the Arab spring to Occupy, the Internet and social media tools were key tools for communication. The Internet is a deterritorializing force that is upending the established modes of power and decision-making. This talk will delve into all these questions and more and what we can do to fight back and build the world we want to see.
Q&A and Announcements will follow. Donations to OccupyForum
to cover our costs are encouraged; no one turned away!
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. The National Conference of Mayors just endorsed Postal Banking. 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.’ Spread the workd and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
The Oakland Chamber of Commerce and the Fast Food Industry are asking the Oakland City Council to place a measure to compete with Lift Up Oakland’s on the ballot. This is an attempt to create confusion and keep Oakland workers from getting a raise until 2017.
Some councilmembers are more concerned about the profits of McDonald’s and Burger King than lifting up Oakland workers.
12:00 p.m.
Rally at the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
475 14th St #100, Oakland, CA 94612
1 p.m.
Press Conference
Oakland City Hall
Immediately following the press conference, we will attend a 1:30 p.m. meeting of the Oakland City Council Community & Economic Development Committee, which will be hearing a city-commissioned report on raising the minimum wage. We will tell councilmembers that Oakland workers cannot wait until 2017 for a raise in the minimum wage.
Please join Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity at The Alan Blueford Center For Justice as we mark the 1 year anniversary of the start of the courageous & historic hunger strike that 30,000 people took part in, THIRTY THOUSAND PEOPLE. #AllLivesMatter
We are about 5 blocks from BART & right on the bus line.
Vigil & Procession to 27th and Telegraph at 8pm.
Longtime progressive activist Larry Hales is a national organizer for the People’s Power Assemblies, (peoplespowerassemblies.org) and a contributing editor of Workers World newspaper (workers.org). Hales spent a lot of time in Wisconsin in 2011-12, supporting the “people’s uprising” after the occupation of the state capitol in February 2011. He has been on the front lines protesting police brutality, fighting for affirmative action, supporting political prisoners and working in solidarity with women’s, LGBTQ and labor struggles.
Hales has written extensively on the above issues as well as cultural and international issues. A major focus of his organizing work has been on the education crisis in the U.S.
Internationally, Hales has been a featured speaker at various events in Africa, Bangladesh, Cuba, Jordan, and Palestine. He spoke at the International League of Peoples Struggle Conference in the Philippines a few years ago, in Venezuela in 2007 with the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York, at a conference in Libya in 2008, and at the Silver Jubilee of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh in 2010.
Refreshments will be provided, wheelchair accessible.
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.
We’ll have read the Bank of England admitting that it’s own in inner workings are completely opposed to that of economics textbooks and a paper on Capital Controls. We encourage anyone to bring their own reading and video material that they think the group could benefit from. The more voices the merrier!
- For next class:
- http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q102.pdf
- http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/99/11/9911cn.pdf
- and the class after:
- http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2012/111412.pdf