Calendar
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.
Tell The FCC and Public Servants The Internet Should Be OPEN
On July 10th, when public commenting ends for “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet” we’re going to send a clear message
What we are looking to create and maintain is an internet that acts as a free speech zone, a horizontal space for communication and sharing of information, and a public commons. We want to maintain the internet as a network that allows all users equal access to speak and be heard. It is through this that the internet has supported marginalized groups, provided a communications platform for the world, and fostered innovations in technology and services.
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
Meeting of the City of Oakland’s “Privacy and Data Retention Ad Hoc Advisory Committee” – open to the public.
When:
2nd & 4th Thursdays
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where:
Council Chambers
Oakland City Hall
14th & Broadway
Read the announcement from the City of Oakland City Administrator’s Weekly Report (April 25, 2014):
This committee was created by City Council action during the discussions earlier in the year about the Port Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The goal of the DAC is to improve readiness to prevent, respond to and recover from major emergencies in the Oakland region and ensure better multi-agency coordination across the larger San Francisco Bay Area. The goal of the Privacy and Data Retention Policy is to ensure there are safeguards to protect against potential misuse of the data or violations of individuals’ privacy rights and civil liberties. The meeting is open to the public. For questions about the Ad Hoc Committee, please contact Joe DeVries, Assistant to the City
We need to show up to these meetings and pressure the City to adopt a privacy policy that makes privacy a priority, not only “security” or administrative convenience.
The Chalkupy crew (aka Fresh Juice Party) will put down chalk art at Oscar Grant Plaza in memory of Monique Robinson. Come help out.
Sponsored by Berkeley Copwatch.
Come and help organize the resistance against more police getting more weapons.
Tasers kill!
A teenage artist known in the graffiti world as “Reefa” died of heart failure after a Miami Beach Police officer shot the 18-year-old in the chest with his Taser, the medical examiner has concluded.
It’s time to transition to a fossil free future & stop the potentially explosive Bakken crude oil trains. Join us for the fourth of four healing walks along the refinery corridor in Northeast San Francisco Bay. We will begin at the Lone Tree Park (End of Parker Ave) in Rodeo and walk in prayer and conversation to the Chevron Refinery in Richmond. Please see here for full details, map, schedule, transportation, etc.
Native American elders and those in prayer will lead the walk, stopping to pray at certain places. The walk is approximately 13 miles with support vehicles so that walkers can rest whenever they would like. There are also several places where walkers can join the walk along the route – see map below.
Around the last mile, walkers will be encouraged to begin imagining their own communities beyond fossil fuel. Walkers will be invited to share those ideas with their own drawings on muslin at the end of the walk. The muslin squares will be sewn in to a quilt and shared publicly. Art from previous walks will be exhibited. Joining us? Please make sure to check back for more details no later than July 10.
Please click here for CARPOOLS!
AYO-Arab Youth Organization of AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center are calling for a protest this coming Saturday.
AYO calls on our community and allies to take a stand with Palestine and let the city of San Francisco know that we demand an end to the US support of Israel and their ongoing attacks on our people throughout all of occupied Palestine.
Everyone is welcome! Bring your parents, your kids, cousins, friends, extended family! Our voices need to be heard! Never forget that our existence is our resistance!
The San Francisco Bay Area says no to zionism!
Stop US Aid to the Apartheid State of Israel!
Free all our political prisoners!
Support the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation!
Flags, kuffiyehs, signs, banners,and megaphones are all welcome!
Hashtag #Youth4Palestine for more updates and photos and events!
Endorsed by:
ANSWER: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
Al-Awda Right to Return Coalition
American Muslims for Palestine
Anakbayan- Silicon Valley
Anakbayan- East Bay
Arab Culture and Community Center
Arab Talk Radio
Art Forces
BAYAN
Buena Vista UMC — Church & Society Committee
Cal Students for Justice in Palestine
Coalition for Palestinian Rights – SF
Code Pink
Community Futures Collective
Free Palestine Movement
Freedom Archives
FreedomWriters of Northern California
Justice for Palestinians
International Action Center
International Jewish Antizionist Network
International Socialist Organization
ISM-Northern California
League of Filipino Students- SFSU
MECA: Middle East Children’s Alliance
Northern California Friends of Sabeel
OMID Advocates for Human Rights
PAC Bay Area
Palestinian Youth Movement
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism
Real Cost of Prisons
Solitary Watch
South Bay Mobilization
USACBI – US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
USPCN: US Palestine Community Network
Workers World Party
SF Protest For Palestine #Youth4Palestine
Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco
(Embarcadero Bart)
Free all our political prisoners!
Support the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation!
Flags, kuffiehs, signs, banners,and megaphones are all welcome!
Endorsed by:
ANSWER, Arab Culture and Community Center, Palestinian Youth Movement
US Palestine Community Network, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Northern California Friends of Sabeel, Al-Awda, Coalition for Palestinian Rights – SF, PAC Bay Area, Free, Palestine Movement, International Jewish Antizionist Network, South Bay Mobilization, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, Art Forces, ISM-Northern California, Workers World Party, International Action Center, International Socialist Organization, Arab Talk Radio, Buena Vista UMC — Church & Society Committee, Freedom Writers of Northern California, Freedom Archives, BAYAN
No other details.
Community Forum on the Gill Tract (Occupy the Farm): 1:00 PM
Music: 1:30 PM
Performance: 2:00 PM
The San Francisco Mime Troupe creates and produces socially relevant theater of the highest professional quality and performs it before the broadest possible audience.
We do plays that make sense out of the headlines by identifying the forces that shape our lives and dramatizing the operation of these giant forces in small, close-up stories that make our audiences feel the impact of political events on personal life.
To make this work accessible the Mime Troupe performs its shows in local parks at a price everyone can afford: FREE.