Calendar
More information: Facebook Event.
WHAT: Bring an open heart, and material support to offer inmates who may be released during this time and any loved ones who may be there visiting current inmates.
HOW: Some suggestions include bringing food, drinks, smokes, cell phone to make calls, clothes, info/resources for both immediate and ongoing needs post-incarceration, ears to listen, BART/bus fare, an extra sweater/jacket/shirt, etc.
WHY: FtP! Fuck the Prison industrial complex and all tools of oppression!!!
Mutual aid, because “inside or outside, we’re all on the same side.”
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors Public Protection Committee will be holding a hearing on immigration detainers (S-Comm).
Keep our Families Together, End ICE Holds in Alameda County!
Join us at the
Alameda County Public Protection Committee Hearing on “ICE Detainers”
Please join us on January 10th at the Alameda County Public Protection committee hearing on “ICE Detainers”. Community members with advocates and organizers will offer testimony on the devastating impacts of detention & deportation and urge Alameda County to adopt a new policy that ends the enforcement of ICE holds!
Increased federal immigration enforcement has resulted in a record number of deportations nationally and results in the separation of families, including here in Alameda County. In 2011, there was an unprecedented number of deportations, 400,000, more than any year before! California has had over 82,531 deportations as a result of S-Comm, more than any other state. In Alameda County approximately 2000 immigrants have been deported and many more individuals have been turned over to federal authorities by the County, facing deportation.
For the past two and a half years we have been pushing for an end to S-Comm and this is the first hearing in Alameda County where the Board of Supervisors will hear directly from our communities about the devastating impacts of local police collaboration with ICE.
We want this hearing to be filled with everyone in the community who opposes the separation of families and believes that enforcing immigration is not the job of local police.
Last Saturday January 5th, a young woman was assaulted in an attempted rape on 23rd and San Jose streets in the Mission–the first attack of this nature in 2013. She narrowly escaped by fighting off her attacker.
We are joining together in an act of SOLIDARITY. Women and in the Mission district of SF to alert the neighborhood of what has happened in order to promote increased VIGILANCE so that these crimes do not continue on our streets.
Last year, several women were brutally raped on the streets of the Mission, some with broken necks. We must ensure that our sisters, our mothers, our daughters are safe on these streets.
Please bring any signs stating a clear message of NO MORE SEXUAL VIOLENCE ON OUR STREETS and MISSION SOLIDARITY TO KEEP STREETS SAFE. Please bring a drum or a pot and a wooden spoon to drum. Please bring puppets if you have them.
We will have bilingual flyers to distribute in the neighborhood, to post in every store front, to hand out to every household asking for increased VIGILANCE so that no more women are attacked on our streets.
Walk at 430pm along 16th, down Valencia to 24th, over to 24th and Mission then back up to 16th and Mission.
Join the Justice for Alan Blueford Coalition and allies on Tuesday 1/15 to tell City Council that we reject Bill Bratton and his racist, fascist policies. Meet up at 5:00 for a rally with the meeting at 5:30. Make sure to fill out speaker cards online beforehand or at City Hall (http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/CityClerk/s/SpeakerCard/SpeakerCard/OAK032373).
If you can’t attend in solidarity with the JAB Coalition, here’s a petition for you to sign, voicing your discontent with the cities plans:
http://www.change.org/petitions/oaklanders-against-william-bratton-and-racial-profiling
As some of you may have heard, OPD has a new strategy to reduce crime in Oakland. This plan is to ask City Council for an additional $250,000 to hire Bill Bratton as a consultant for one year. They have happily announced that they are bringing in the man responsible for NYC’s dramatic drop in crime and the man who helped the LAPD work through their own federal difficulties after the Ramparts case.
Here’s what they’re not telling you about Bratton’s multi-pronged approach to crime reduction:
1) Bratton takes credit for implementing NY’s broken window policy. On the surface, the policy sounds great – if you repair minor damage then you don’t send the message that an area is worthless and thus raise civic pride and prevent crime. But Oakland has already instituted a new policy along these lines that exposes a key flaw. It is not the city that pays for this damage but home owners and business owners. Businesses and homes that fail to remove graffiti promptly can be fined. So it is the homeowner who is punished for the police’s ineptitude at preventing vandalism in the first place. Moreover, one can no longer simply leave the graffiti up and appreciate the art because the city sees it as counter-economic to have graffiti anywhere. Ultimately, broken windows forces civilians to take on police roles they already pay others to do regardless of whether they personally believe in the laws or not.
2) Bratton believes in a zero tolerance policy for all crime. This means harsher punishment and more policing of minor infractions (including public protest, public disturbance, vagrancy, public intoxication, smoking marijuana, etc). This sort of strategy takes a way a cop’s (meager) rationality and forces them to further criminalize the public. For those police who already have no problem seeing Oakland residents as criminals, zero tolerance encourages them to punish as harshly as they can to deter crime.
3) In a recent interview, Bratton talked up the importance of stop and frisk and compared it to chemotherapy (http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120322/manhattan/former-nypd-chief-bill-bratton-compares-stop-and-frisks-chemotherapy). That’s right. Bratton thinks the people being stopped are like a cancer, and the rest of the city (the innocent ones) simply need to endure the poison (in this case the unlawful stops and searches) in order to make the city healthy again. There is no doubt that bringing a de jure Stop and Frisk policy (to replace the already existent de facto policy) will only encourage police racism and police violence. Moreover, with recent comments by Fruitvale’s new City Councilmember Noel Gallo in which he proclaimed his own desire for a “search and frisk” policy, there is no doubt that the Council will be moving in this direction.
4) Bratton has also been vocal in his disgust with cities that have tolerated Occupy camps. In regard to NYC, he reportedly almost ran for mayor because he was so angry at how tepidly Bloomberg had responded to the Zuccotti Park Camp. Bratton despises the tents for the same reason as the broken windows and encourages harsh response to populist movements to preserve the status quo.
So what’s really going on here? The last two consultants, Frazier (who they chose) and Warshaw (who was forced on them by Judge Henderson), both wrote scathing reports of OPD that Deanna Santana tried to cover up and edit. So now they found someone to say exactly what she wants to hear. They’re not out of control, they’re too controlled. They’re not too violent, they’re not violent enough. Also, with the new Federal Compliance Director coming in with a clear mandate to stop Stop and Frisk as it already exists off the books in Oakland and to work against racial profiling, the Police and City Officials want to make it harder to change their backwards, racist policies. Oakland has become the epicenter of anti-brutality campaigns, so those who want the brutality to continue are bringing in their big guns. They know that in the wake of Oakland’s crime and murder spike, that the people of Oakland will be much easier to bully into whatever program they recommend.
We say no.
No to zero tolerance!
No to “broken windows” policies!
No to Stop and Frisk!
No to racial profiling!
No to Bill Bratton!!
Come out and tell the Public Safety Committee that we want none of this and that we will be heard. Get a speaker card, bring a banner, get rowdy. Remind City Council whose city this is.
Join the JAB Coalition and allies on Tuesday 1/15 to tell City Council that we reject Bill Bratton and his racist, fascist policies. Meet up at 5:00 for a rally with the meeting at 5:30. Make sure to fill out speaker cards online beforehand or at City Hall.
As some of you may have heard, OPD has a new strategy to reduce crime in Oakland. This plan is to ask City Council for an additional $250,000 to hire Bill Bratton as a consultant for one year.
Here’s what they’re not telling you about Bratton’s multi-pronged approach to crime reduction…
Stop the Injunctions Coalition writeup.
City Council Public Safety Committee Meeting Agenda (The 2nd item listed, labelled as Item #4).
Non-union fast food workers at the Oakland Airport continue to seek a fair process to decide if they want to form a union. They have called for a boycott of their shops, and have participated in several rallies over the past few months to bring attention to injustices and retaliatory firings. Workers have filed grievances at all levels of government, and met directly with Port Commissioners to stress the urgency of the situation.
This past week, the Port of Oakland concluded their investigation into alleged violations of the Living Wage Ordinance by several of the non-union employers. The Port’s investigation found many violations of the law, confirming the stories of nearly all of the workers who filed complaints. One positive result is that many workers will have the opportunity to cash out paid time off they should have received.
Hakima Arhab was terminated by the owners of Subway in what the Port found to be retaliation for filing a complaint. The only remedy recommended by the Port , however, is back pay for time she should have worked. So far, the Port is unwilling to demand that she be reinstated! What kind of precedent does that set?
The Port is unwilling to stand with Hakima. Will you?
Join our statewide mobilization to Chowchilla to protest the unconstitutional overcrowding in California’s women prisons and show our support for our loved ones inside who are struggling to survive as the conditions worsen. As a result of the conversion of Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW), one of the remaining women’s prisons has now reached 179% capacity. A woman recently transferred to CCWF informed us that they were given clothes and bedding that “you wouldn’t want even your dog sleeping on.” Another person confirmed, “Everything we rely on to survive, including medical and legal, is highly impacted by overcrowding. Overcrowding is the issue. It causes everything else to come crashing down like dominoes.”
We need your help to show the U.S. Supreme Court, the government, and prison officials that not only are we witnessing this discrimination and abuse but we will not be silent! Join us in demanding an end to overcrowding! Our loved one’s deserve humane living conditions and their freedom! Bring them home!
Caravans leaving from MacArthur BART in Oakland at 10:30AM and Chuco’s Justice Center in Inglewood at 8:30AM. We will gather at 2PM at SE corner of Ave. 24 and Fairmead Blvd off Highway 99 in Chowchilla.
NEED A RIDE? HAVE A RIDE TO OFFER? Contact chowchilla.rally@gmail.com or 415-255-7036 x 314
More information at Occupy For Prisoners Web Site.
Nell Myhand was locked out of her home on Tuesday 1/22/2013 after Chase foreclosed and sold her home to Freddie Mac instead of modifying her loan to make it affordable. Join us on Thursday 1/31/2013, from 4:30 -5:30 pm at 1330 Broadway St (12th St BART) to protest this injustice and send Chase the message to work with Nell. For regular updates go to www.nellmyhand.net
Show your support – Sign Nell’s petition here; – phone/fax/e-mail blast Today! (sample RAP at end) Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon Tel: 212-270-1111; Fax: 212-270-1121; e-mail address; jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com
Nell Myhand (1329 E. 32nd St Oakland CA 94602) lived with her partner, Synthia, for over ten years. They fell behind on their mortgage payments after Synthia became disabled and Nell lost her job. Synthia has been forced to move into assisted living because of the stress of threatened eviction. After they spent over two years and hundreds hours pursuing an affordable mortgage payment through the loan modification process, Freddie Mac, which was bailed out by tax payer dollars refused to approve a loan modification and supported Chase Bank in foreclosing and evicting Nell.
Freddie Mac and Chase Bank are now giving conflicting reasons as to why they did not modify the loan. They threatened to change the locks trying to bully Nell into leaving. Nell and Synthia have already paid over 2/3 of the value of their home but face being made homeless and being left with nothing. We demand that Chase work with Nell.
Supporters to date: Berkeley Unitarian Universalists, Boots Riley; Causa Justa Just Cause; Commemoration Committee of the Black Panther Party; Ecumenical Peace Institute, Every Mother is a Working Mother; Global Women’s Strike; Haiti Action Committee; International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network; Payday Men’s Network; Oakland/Bay Area stop foreclosures ad hoc working group; Paul Kivel, No2 HousingCrime; US PROStitutes Collective; Queer Strike; Ruckus Society; Sister Circle; Women of Color in the Global Women’s Strike; activists in Occupy Oakland, friends & others…
Nell Myhand, a local activist with Cause Justica/Just Cause, was locked out of her home on Tuesday 1/22/13 after Chase foreclosed instead of modifying her loan.
This is INTERNATIONAL CALL-IN DAY.
Call Jamie Dimon @ 212-270-1111 any time between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
Fax: 212-270-1121
Email: jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com
Hello, my name is —– and I am calling on behalf of Nell Myhand at 1329 E. 32nd St, Oakland CA. I want Jamie Dimon to use his power to end Nell’s eviction and work with her to get her home back. Taxpayers bailed out banks but Nell is one of hundreds of thousands getting sold out! Where is justice?
On Jan. 24 at 24th and Mission Sts., the Mission community witnessed the brutal beating of an 18-year-old African American CCSF student, Kevin Clark, by SFPD.
The incident was videotaped by passersby. It is extremely hard to watch, but we ask that you witness it, send to your contacts and help us get the word out for this emergency protest rally:
The gentrification of the Mission district is pushing out the working-class communities of color, and the police are increasing their harassment and brutality against the people. Join us for a rally at 24th & Mission where we will march through the community and have a press conference in front of the 17th and Valencia St. police station to say: “We will not tolerate violence against our youth and community!”
JOIN COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND ORGANIZATIONS STANDING UP AGAINST RACIST POLICE VIOLENCE!
Link to video & more info.
Action endorsed by the Justice 4 Alan Blueford Coalition.
Some of our friends and comrades are still facing heavy shit from the Columbus Day Cop-riot. Their next court day is coming up and they could use some support.
“Come pack the courtroom on February 8th to support the ACAC 19!
Solidarity is our weapon against the state! Our love for our comrades is stronger than their cages and their court.
On Friday February 8th, 2013 members of the Anti-Capitalist Anti-Colonial (ACAC) 19 will be appearing in San Francisco Superior Court at 850 Bryant Street for a pretrial motions hearing. We call on you, supporters, friends, and comrades to pack the courtroom. Support comes in many forms: banners and signs on the court steps, people in the courtroom and spreading the word about the trial. Let us show the District Attorney that our comrades are not alone in their relentless struggle against colonialism, capitalism and the state.”
The Brooms Collective has been meeting Saturday mornings at 9 AM or 10 AM for a year now at a tiny park at 32nd and San Pablo in Oakland. To commemorate this auspicious anniversary folks will be meeting there at 11 AM Saturday, February 9th to sweep away late-capitalist decay and maybe have a little fress at noon, as well. Bring a little food to share, there will be paper plates and utensils and maybe some gelatinous Ed-chow if we are unlucky.
Within the next few weeks, one of the worst banks we know is trying to foreclose on three homeowners–Gaylynne, a laid-off OUSD educator; Jill–a single mother, working finally after a long bout of unemployment; and Gloria, a 78 year old woman with no place else to go; and Carnell and his family a laid-off Auto Worker.
Tell the bank that we will not accept this–putting people out of their homes rather than working with them to reach an affordable mortgage and market-rate principal is inexcusable!
Meet at the Downtown Berkeley BART, UNDERGROUND at the bottom of the Escalators at Shattuck and Center at 3:30 PM.
Why: This is our city, our homes, and our community, and we can’t let this bank take over any more than they already have.
On Thursday, February 14th, at 1:00PM, the Public Protection Committee of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors will be holding a hearing on the potential acquisition of a drone by Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern. The meeting will take place at the Alameda County Administration Building, located on 1221 Oak Street Room 512, Oakland, CA.
While drones are particularly notorious for their use in targeted killings overseas, they can be deployed for surveillance purposes as well. In addition, they can be armed with weapons such as tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets. They also crash frequently, increasing their danger to public safety. Sheriff Ahern wants a drone with live video capabilities, high definition cameras, infrared, license plate readers, and laser radar. He wants to further militarize his police force, but we know that Alameda County does not need more policing. It needs money for schools and community services.
Say no to militarization of the police. Say yes to an Alameda County that is safe for all!
Facebook page
Sign the petition against drones.
Join Alameda County Against Drones and BORDC Legal Fellow Nadia Kayyali at the Committee Meeting. For more information about Alameda County Against Drones, check out: https://nomby.wordpress.com.
WHAT: Bring an open heart, and material support to offer inmates who may be released during this time and any loved ones who may be there visiting current inmates.
WHEN: Every Friday from 7pm-10pm, unless otherwise specified
(…and also other times/dates that folks suggest!)
WHERE: Outside of Santa Rita Jail
HOW: Some suggestions include bringing food, drinks, smokes, cell phone to make calls, clothes, info/resources for both immediate and ongoing needs post-incarceration, ears to listen, BART/bus fare, an extra sweater/jacket/shirt, etc.
WHY: FtP! Fuck the Prison industrial complex and all tools of oppression!!!
Mutual aid, because “inside or outside, we’re all on the same side.”
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/326826344086214/?notif_t=plan_user_invited
Please come join us for our on-going clean-up at St. Andrew’s Park in West Oakland, in collaboration with the San Pablo Corridor Coalition. We will have plenty of equipment and safety gear. We’re there from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM on Saturdays, and those who wish to will have the opportunity to move on to other clean-up sites once we’re done at St. Andrew’s.
Join us as we mark 1000 days of wrongful confinement and demand justice for Bradley Manning!
Speakers, Visuals, Performers, Art, Action
BRADLEY MANNING, a 25 year old, openly gay, US army intelligence analyst is facing life in prison and has been held in pre-trial confinement for nearly 1000 days without a court martial. He endured torture and solitary confinement for the first 10 months of his incarceration. He is accused of sharing with the following with the Wikileaks whistle blowing website: the “Collatoral Murder” video of the killing of civilians by a US helicopter in Iraq, the Guantanamo Files, the Afghan War Logs & revealing US diplomatic cables. In short, he’s been charged with blowing the whistle on war crimes & telling us the truth about US foreign policy.
For anyone interested in preforming, speaking or for further details and questions, please contact michael@couragetoresist.org.
“The current society, stuck between economic crisis and over consumption, is gradually invaded by the technologies of surveillance.
This diffuse invasion insinuates itself into our daily life : the social networks or the connected objects are the most blatant examples. Facebook, the most popular social network, analyzes the information, the links and the photos posted by its members to adapt advertisements for the users. “Smartphones” are of fabulous tools : we receive the advertisements of the store near which we pass, we take a photo during the last barbecue between friends and we post it on the Internet with the localization of the event, or we obtain real time maps to have a walk…
In our cities, we cross every day more and more numerous cameras. In purposes of ” video protection ” of the citizens, we are filmed many times a day.
“INDECT-FP7, Trapwire, CleanIT, SOPA, PIPA, CETA… Many acronyms make regularly their appearance. Behind these terms are hidden systems of control and surveillance of the citizens. The inspection of the contents to reveal forgeries in certain cases; the analysis of the communications detecting possible terrorist activities on others; using a global system re-cutting the available data on the Internet (social networks, blogs, chats) with the pictures from cameras of video surveillance, from governmental databases, or from banking data (etc.).
“February the 23rd will take place the first International Day for Privacy #IDP13.
“We are Anonymous
We are Legion
We do not forget
We do not forgive
Expect us !”
February 26 is one year since the vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin—one year since George Zimmerman saw Trayvon, a 17-year-old wearing a hoodie, and decided this Black youth “…must be up to no good.” One year since Zimmerman followed Trayvon and gunned him down. One year since the Sanford, Florida, cops walked Zimmerman into and out of the police station letting him go free, citing Florida’s racist “Stand Your Ground” law. Only after powerful outpourings of protest spread all across the country was Zimmerman re-arrested and charged for his crime. We cannot stop now! Justice for Trayvon! Take to the streets!
THIS ANNIVERSARY MUST BE MARKED BY POWERFUL OUTPOURINGS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY! The racial profiling that led to his murder is the same thing that has led to almost 2.4 million people, most of them Black or Latino, being warehoused in prisons in the U.S. It’s the same thing that has led to 100’s of killings by police every year in this country. The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is calling for everyone who hates the way Black and Latino youth are treated as less than human to take their outrage to the streets in cities and towns across the country at 4 pm on February 26.
We Say NO MORE Racial Profiling and Targeting Our Youth!
The WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM is GUILTY!
Wear Your Hoodies, Bring your signs, Blow your Whistles