Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
Gentrifying Paradise? A handbook for fighting gentrification.
Actually, the book’s subtitle is Resistance and Removal in 21st Century Venice California, and Democracy Now’s Juan González described it as follows: “This is a captivating people’s history of the battle to preserve one of America’s iconic neighborhoods, Venice, California, from the claws of real estate developers, downtown politicians and the merchants of mass consumerism. Author James R Smith weaves together his own personal memoir, his many muckraking dispatches from one of the few surviving 1960s alternative newspapers, the Free Venice Beachhead, and unforgettable sketches of scores of grassroots activists who banded together over many decades to defend their beloved ocean side town from outsiders with money and power.” Author Jim Smith will join us to discuss his new (2019) book. Copies will be available for purchase and signing.
About Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
A weekly discussion series inspired by our respect for the work of Karl Marx and our belief that his work will remain as important for the class struggles of the future as they have been for the past.
https://twitter.com/crustyrustyMAD/status/1179785823064952832
Michael Diehl, whose work with the homeless and poor on Berkeley’s streets earned him the nickname “the Mayor of Berkeley streets,” was killed Sunday when a driver struck him around 8:30 p.m. in Newark, according to authorities.
Rest in Power Michael Diehl. All our gratitude and respect for your tireless, grounded, on the ground, lived work and shared wisdom in this world. #HousingIsAHumanRight #SolutionsNotSweeps #HousingIsHealthcare @StSpiritNews https://t.co/D7vBFifi7E
— Stolen Belonging (@StolenBelonging) October 3, 2019
Today, unions make up only 10.5% of the workforce in the U.S. Wages have been stagnant since the 1970s and living standards have been declining for just as long. Housing and healthcare costs continue to rise, public transit and infrastructure continue to crumble, and more and more working people are only an emergency away from bankruptcy. A good life seems to recede further toward the horizon, further out of reach for workers. Why is this the case and how have we gotten here? What can regular working people do to come together and stand up for a country that works for all of us?
Join EBDSA’s Labor Committee on as we read A Short History of the U.S. Working Class: From Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century by Paul LeBlanc and look into the history of the struggles and achievements of the working class majority as we have fought for our ability to live full, dignified, developed lives in the face of a dehumanizing drive for profit. We will seek to understand why employers appear to be so singularly united against unions, how appeals to racism among other oppressions have divided working people from coming together to fight for their shared interests, and what happened to the militant labor leaders and socialists that drove the labor movement and working class forward from the 1870s through World War II.
We will be launching the reading group on Sunday, October 6th. In this meeting, we will put participants into reading groups of six to eight people, distribute books (for a small suggested donation), and talk about what we hope to get out of our reading. Participants should expect to read roughly 37 pages per week for a four week period. After the four week period, we will meet back up as a large group to share our thoughts and perspectives on the reading and on labor today.
Accessibility Information: Entrance and bathroom are wheelchair accessible
Maggie Haberman has been covering Donald Trump for much of her decorated career as a political reporter – from his decades in the New York City tabloid headlines to his current contentious presidency. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, New York Times White House correspondent, and CNN political analyst shares her observations about the Trump administration’s combative relationship with the press, and the changing perceptions of journalism throughout the country. Haberman also discusses her award-winning investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential campaign, and offers a bird’s-eye view of our divided political landscape, outlining where opportunities exist for compromise and cooperation across the aisle.
“I get it from both directions. The left and the right, which I tend to think it means we’re doing our job. But I also think my job is not to be trusted by the politicians. I think the job is to be trusted by readers.”
�Maggie Haberman, ABC News
Tickets and information can be found at calperformances.org
or by calling the box office at 510.642.9988.
Get Tickets
Half-Earth is a clarion call to protect half the land and sea in order to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, and ourselves. At this critical moment for our planet, the Half-Earth Project is bringing together the unique expertise and experience of scientists and thought leaders from around to world to achieve this important moonshot and solve the current environmental crisis. Join visionary biologist and naturalist E.O. Wilson and other special guests for a discussion moderated by Sally Jewell about the core science and common humanity that is driving the success of this grand ambition, and how we can all work together to save the natural world.
Edward Osborne Wilson is generally recognized as one of the leading scientists in the world. He is also recognized as one of the foremost naturalists in both science and literature, as well as synthesizer in works stretching from pure biology across to the social sciences and humanities. Wilson is acknowledged as the creator of two scientific disciplines (island biogeography and sociobiology), three unifying concepts for science and the humanities jointly (biophilia, biodiversity studies, and consilience), and one major technological advance in the study of global biodiversity (the Encyclopedia of Life). Among more than one hundred awards he has received worldwide are the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize (equivalent of the Nobel, for ecology) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Prize of Biology of Japan; and in letters, two Pulitzer Prizes in non-fiction, the Nonino and Serono Prizes of Italy and COSMOS Prize of Japan. For his work in conservation he has received the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Audubon Medal of the Audubon Society. He is currently Honorary Curator in Entomology and University Research Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, Chairman of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation Board of Advisors, and Chairman of the Half-Earth Council.
Sally Jewell is the Interim Chief Executive Officer for The Nature Conservancy. Previously, Jewell was U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 2013 to 2017. During her tenure, she was recognized for using a science-based, landscape-level, collaborative approach to natural resources management. Her work included championing the importance of science and sharing data to better understand the earth’s systems, encouraging investments for more sustainable use of water in the West, deepening relationships with indigenous communities and long-term conservation of the nation’s most vulnerable and irreplaceable natural, cultural and historic treasures. She demonstrated a commitment to connecting people to nature, particularly youth, with efforts to encourage tens of millions of young people to play, learn, serve and work on public lands. Jewell was previously President and CEO of REI, a $2.6 billion retailer dedicated to facilitating outdoor adventures. Earlier in her career, she served for 19 years in commercial banking across a wide range of industries and began her career as an engineer in the energy sector. She has been active in governance and board leadership for corporations and nonprofit organizations, including serving as a Regent of the University of Washington where she is currently a Distinguished Fellow in the College of the Environment.
This year’s lectureship is co-sponsored by the Horace M. Albright Lecture in Conservation and the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation Distinguished Lectureship in Biodiversity.
Questions about the Half-Earth Day Evening Lecture featuring E.O. Wilson?
Contact UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources at (510) 642-4902 or cnr@berkeley.edu
If you require an accommodation effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact cnr@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible.
Join us for a conversation about the history of BART and the system’s impact on the Bay Area. East Bay Yesterday podcast host Liam O’Donoghue will interview Michael C. Healy, who served as the agency’s spokesperson from 1972 until 2005 and shared his memories in the book, “BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System” (Heyday Books). Expect to hear stories of epic political battles, scandals, “ghost trains,” and even a baby born on BART.
This event is free, so we recommend arriving early to guarantee seating. There will be an audience Q&A following the interview. To hear about other upcoming East Bay Yesterday events, sign up for the e-newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/eastbay_yesterday
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) invite you to a special community steering committee meeting in West Oakland about “Owning Our Air: The West Oakland Community Action Plan.” This plan lays out a series of measures to be implemented over the next five years by local, regional, and State agencies to reduce air pollution in West Oakland.
All local allies and friends of clean air are urged to come and support the plan and to remind CARB that money is needed to actually implement the actions the plan calls for. We’ll also talk about how CARB staff will review the Action Plan and present it to CARB’s Governing Board for consideration.
Please share you thoughts about the plan’s key strengths, and what you want CARB’s Governing Board to know about it. Any questions on the CARB strategies in the Action Plan?
What “lessons learned” would you like us to share with other communities or CARB’s Governing Board?
The meeting will be conducted in English, with Spanish interpretation available.
Of possible particular interest:
V. Raheem: A Proposal to Gather Community Feedback to Inform Use of Force Policy
Brandon Anderson, Founder of Raheem, will share the organization’s proposal on working
with the Commission to gather community feedback regarding a revised OPD Use of Force
policy. The Commission may vote to proceed with the proposal. This is a new item.
VIII. Draft Ordinance on Militarized Police Equipment
The Coalition for Police Accountability will present a draft ordinance for review. This is a
new item. (Attachment 8)
X. OPD Towing Policy
Discussion of OPD’s automobile towing policy towards victims of suspicious circumstances
or victims of crime and low-income persons and the effect of those policies on those
communities.
🕯️TONIGHT!!! VIGIL at @PGE4Me 🕯️
1425 Clay Street, Oakland, CA
7:30pmPG&E's negligence has significantly harsher impacts on:
🏥The sick
👴🏾The elderly
⛺️The poorThe #poweroutage is a climate justice issue and we will call it out as such!https://t.co/cn9tTla0LO
— East Bay DSA 🌹 (@DSAEastBay) October 10, 2019
Each day, bikeshare workers at Facebook climb in an unmarked van and set out to recover bikes ridden off the company’s sprawling campus. Their recovery missions are one of the few real interactions between the hyper-wealth of the tech giant’s headquarters, where the median salary is $240,000, and the surrounding impoverishment of East Palo Alto and the Baylands’ homeless encampments. After a coworker was assaulted on a recovery mission, bikeshare workers decided to begin organizing, tired of being asked to put themselves in danger for poverty wages.
Their fight to change the power structure in their work place spanned more than six months, drew international media attention, and found organizers facing off against social media’s biggest tech titan and every union busting trick in the book. Now that they’re finally past the bureaucratic hurdles and welcoming a union into their shop, the campaign rank and file have insights to share on what the frontline of the labor movement looks like in the heart of Silicon Valley’s stratified caste-based tech economy.
We’re excited to host the lead organizers from Bike Workers United to hear their story of struggle and organization in conversation with journalist Padmini Parthasarathy.
Help us imagine the next decade of social transformation with food, dance, and art.
For the past ten years, Sustainable Economies Law Center has been supporting movement changemakers with the legal expertise needed to transition from destructive economic systems to innovative and cooperative alternatives. Our story is the story of our partners, clients, volunteers, and staff. It is the story of the movements we uplift for a more just, joyful, and resilient world. It’s the story of you! It’s the story of us!
And the next ten years are even more important. We believe we have the tools, resources, and communities needed for social transformation! This celebration is about the spirit, wisdom, and solidarity that already exists and will continue to deepen over the next ten years. Come celebrate with us and imagine the future that we need, together!
We want all of our communities to join us! If you are unable to afford a General Admission ticket and would like to request discounted admission, please email Ricardo at ricardo@theselc.org. We have a limited number of reduced price tickets. Also, children under the age of 5 get in free!
Meet us in the sunshine on the 7th West patio for delicious Filipino food by Jeepney, drinks, games, art, and a dance party courtesy of DJ Baagi!
Join us on October 12th to celebrate 10 amazing years of cultivating people power and community resilience.
Beginning on August 10th, the Strike Debt Bay Area Economics Book Group began discussing Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age. We tackled the introduction and first chapter, available through the ‘Look Inside’ feature on Amazon, for the August 10th meeting.
For our September 7th meeting, we will be discussing the rest of the first section, Chapters 2-6.
For our October 12th meeting, we will be discussing Chapters 7-9, the first part of the second section.
For our November 16th meeting, we will be discussing Chapters 10 – 13.
For our December 14th meeting, we will be discussing Chapters 14 and through to the end.
All are welcome!
The Economics Book Group began with Doughnut Economics and continued with Take Back the Economy. We read a few chapters every month.
“Today most of our money is created, not by governments, but by banks when they make loans. This book takes the reader step by step through the sausage factory of modern money creation, explores improvements made possible by advances in digital technology, and proposes upgrades that could transform our outmoded nineteenth century system into one that is democratic, sustainable, and serves the needs of the twenty-first century.”
“In Banking on the People, attorney Ellen Brown provides a much-needed roadmap for reforming monetary and credit systems and the central banks now strangling our common human future. More lucidly that any other expert I know, she shows how we can break the grip of predatory financialization now extracting value from real peoples’ productive activities all over the world. Her in-depth research and systemic overview of the global and local politics of money-creation and credit allocation include all the viable proposals of global experts and reformers. She reviews many of these reforms: from financial transaction taxes, to a universal basic income to provide purchasing power for the cornucopia of goods and services now produced, to expanding the public banks she so ably promotes via the Public Banking Institute, to returning the Fed and all banks to serving the public utility functions that economies require. This book is a must read for citizens in all societies who see the promising future as we seek to widen democracies and transform to a cleaner, greener, shared prosperity, based on the renewable abundance of free daily energy from our sun.” – Hazel Henderson, CEO of Ethical Markets Media and author of Mapping the Global Transition to the Solar Age and other books.
Dream Farm Commons, ProArts and Xiquihuitl Media invite you to an evening of free outdoor video celebrating the roots, cultures, and contributions of our indigenous communities. Featuring documentaries and narratives from across the Americas, these videos show us how strength and resistance shape our histories, present, and future. De-colonizing our imagination one video frame at a time, we invite you to reimagine future possibility as we project a selection of videos onto the graffitied walls into the evening. As a part of the current exhibition Subterranean Borders: Colonialism, Extraction and Defiance, Dream Farm Commons is hosting a series of events, or Encuentros, to decolonize our imagination or as practical border action. Please visit the exhibition and the related programs thru October 27th. Photo credit: Robert Gomez Hernandez. Design credit: Stacey Goodman.Hands off Venezuela, Support the Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Collective. Welcome Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese.
In April-May, 2019, Venezuelan Embassy Protection Collective (EPC) members, at the request of the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro, defended the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. for 37 days. Citing U.S. and international law (the Geneva Convention), they rejected the Trump administration’s imperial “appointment” of coup leader Juan Guaido to the Venezuelan presidency. The EPC members inside were cut off from receiving food, electricity and water. EPC members who tried to deliver food were physically assaulted. All EPC members were subjected to loud noises, strobe lights, harassment, threats and intimidation.
On May 16, federal agents raided the embassy and arrested the four remaining EPC members, who are now faced with felony charges, to wit, “interfering with U.S. government operations.” Government attorneys have demanded that the protectors pay $100,000 fines and serve one year in prison. Join us in demanding that all charges be dropped. Meet courageous defenders Kevin and Margaret.
Our democracy is in grave danger, and Congress needs to hear from the people before they return to DC after their undeserved recess. Wear RED to reclaim the #ColorOfLove from hate-mongers. #ImpeachNow
Our speakers and acts will focus on bravery in the age of Trump.
1. Lea Jones, producer of Hang On, Ruthie! will be traveling from Oregon to perform his hit original in support of Justice RBG. We’re looking for individual singers or a local choral group willing to show up in black robes and lace collars to accompany them for the interactive parts. Please email vigilfordemocracy1@gmail.com if you’re interested.
2. Dr. Amy S. Morgenstern, known as the Feminist Devil, will highlight the story of whistleblowers like the current Ukraine one, and Reality Winner. Reality is an Air Force veteran who first alerted us to Russian election interference in 2017, and is serving 63 months in prison for it.
3. Regina Fletcher, the comedian who does Regina Monologues, will be speaking on the topic of the first amendment, and about Justice Ginsburg as well.
#ImpeachNow
After this event, if you want to be inspired some more, please head over to St. Paul’s Towers in Oakland to a lecture by Pennie Opal Plant, an indigenous grandmother. It’s titled “Let Us Save The World Together”!!
2-4PM, 100 Bay Pl, Oakland
Join the annual gathering of East Bay Peace Action to hear Pennie Opal Plant, indigenous grandmother, founder of Idle No More SF Bay, and signer of the Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty.
Her keynote address, “Let us Save the World Together,” will connect our work for the environment, climate, justice, and peace.
There will also be a program and EBPA board elections.
Light refreshments. Wheelchair accessible.
More info here
Join APTP in sharing hot food, drinks, and solidarity with folks visiting loved ones at and getting released from Santa Rita Jail!
Let us know you’ll be there by sending us a text at (510) 686-3284.
Prisons function to repress, warehouse and extract labor from primarily those of us who are Black or poor. We believe that solidarity is a weapon of resistance, and that we must respond to the basic needs of our community while also confronting state terror.
In honor of Dujuan Armstrong Jr. who entered Santa Rita Jail for a weekend sentence and never came home, APTP is providing material support and direct care to folks at Santa Rita Jail as a small but meaningful way to address the harm caused by incarceration in our community. We do not positively engage with the racist pigs who work at the jail, as they are willing agents of the state that criminalizes and incarcerates us.
We’d love to see you there! Meet APTP outside of the Lake Merritt BART Station at 4pm – we’ll drive out to the jail together from there. All are welcome, no experience required.
The ecosystem, the political system and the economy are all in crisis, yet the 99% seems powerless to influence the ruling class which continues on a path toward disaster. The panel will address some of the following questions:
America’s leading scholar of high strangeness, Erik Davis celebrates release of High Weirdness, a study of the new psychedelic spirituality that arose from the 1970s counterculture writings of Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and Robert Anton Wilson. These three authors changed the way millions of readers thought, dreamed, and experienced reality. But how did their writings reflect and shape the seismic cultural shifts taking place in America? Davis and R.U. Sirius discuss these vital, iconoclastic thinkers, as well as their own life-changing mystical experiences.
Bringing sustainable energy, low carbon emissions, and green jobs to low-income people is the passion of Zach Franklin of Bay Area nonprofits Grid Alternatives and Rising Sun Center for Opportunity. Join us for stories of struggle and success that illuminate why these efforts matter — for workers, volunteers, and all of us affected by global warming.
Free Bay Currents talks on Bay Area natural history and environmental issues, with emphasis on positive solutions, are at St. Alban’s Parish Hall, 1501 Washington (at Curtis, one block north of Solano), Albany.
Refreshments 7 PM, talks 7:30 PM.