Don Pageler will give his first hand account of how the USS Liberty, a virtually unarmed American navy ship, was attacked by Israeli planes and torpedo boats on June 8, 1967. 34 American sailors were killed and 174 injured that day, a casualty rate of 70%. This is among the highest casualty rates ever inflicted upon a U.S. naval vessel. President Lyndon Johnson recalled the planes that responded to the distress call, saying he didn’t care if they all died, he did not want to embarrass an ally.

Hear about one of the biggest cover ups in American military history.

Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice Cmte

For occasional email notices of peace/eco/social justice alerts and related events at BFUU, send any email to:
bfuusjev-subscribe [at] lists.riseup.net

Rally for Housing! pic.twitter.com/WEzBx6hj8F

— East Bay Forward (@EastBayForward) June 9, 2016

Support the Oakland Justice Coalition, have a great soul food buffer dinner, and listen to Jazz.

• Putting people committed to economic, social, racial, and environmental justice into power in Oakland.
• Advocating for policy and legislation to implement an Oakland People’s Agenda.
• Putting people committed to economic, social, racial, and environmental justice into power in Oakland.

The Oakland Justice Coalition is a coalition of organizations and individuals that came together around common goals for the 2016 Oakland elections. Our aim is to build people power and advance radical change through the arena of electoral politics. It is time for us to unite around the causes we all believe in ­ stronger protections for workers and renters, an end to displacement and police violence, a public education system that serves all its students well ­ and act in solidarity together to advance a political agenda that serves the people of Oakland.

We’re building a people’s movement driven by the power of organizations with different goals coming together as one to support each other and build collective strength. We have anchored our 2016 work in three demands, all captured in ballot initiatives proposed by community-led grassroots organizations.

• Strengthen rent control and other tenant protections to stabilize rent prices and stop displacement of Black, Brown and poor people from the community they helped to build; as proposed by the Oakland Tenants Union and Citywide Network
• Create a police commission with the authority to fire the police chief and conduct independent investigations of incidents of police violence; as proposed by the Coalition for Police Accountability
• Establish a $20 minimum wage by 2020 and fair scheduling regulations, and mandate enforcement for both; as proposed by the Oakland Livable Wage Assembly

First vote on a Coal Ordinance.

Rally at 4:00 PM, Fill the Council Chambers at 4:30 PM.

Come to the special City Council meeting and speak out for a complete ban!

Will the Council vote to ban coal storage and export from Oakland? Or will they compromise and allow coal with some phony “mitigtions” that won’t protect Oakland from coal dust and won’t stop the global climate impact of the coal burned overseas?

As part of the new economic development plan for Telegraph Avenue, aka the “Telegraph Public Realm Plan”, the economic development manager for the city of Berkeley (Michael Caplan) is recommending that Berkeley city council support new student housing in People’s Park.

Show up to the city council special session at 5:30PM (this is not the regular meeting which starts at 7PM) and speak during the public comment period. Show your support for keeping People’s Park as an open space.

2019 will be the 50th anniversary of People’s Park. In 2019, the public can demand that People’s Park be turned into a California State Park, as to be preserved in perpetuity. People’s Park could also be placed on the national historical register. Developers and UC Berkeley are well aware that there is mass support for People’s Park’s preservation, but they ignore public sentiment by continuing to place People’s Park under threat of development.

Directed by Grace Lee

What does it mean to be an American revolutionary today? Grace Lee Boggs (June 27, 1915 – Oct. 5, 2015) was a Chinese American woman in Detroit whose vision of revolution will surprise you. A writer, activist, and philosopher rooted for more than 70 years in the African American movement, she has devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses the contradictions of America’s past and its potentially radical future. The documentary film, AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS, plunges us into Boggs’s lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century; from labor to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond.

Doors open at 7pm, film starts at 7:30. Free popcorn and snacks, as always.

Join us for free weekly meditation happy hour on Wednesdays, co-hosted by the Art of Living Eastbay Berkeley/Oakland.

We will teach simple and easy guided meditation and breathing techniques to let go of stress and trauma, let your hair down, and celebrate!

We believe that love is the universal language. We also believe that love is the universal cure to heal what ails societies worldwide. These meditation happy hours are our love offering to the community and are the result of a beautiful new & evolving partnership w/The Art of Living facilitated by Neelam Patil…& the universe ♥

Dogtown Redemption, with post-film discussion

Leeloo is an artist and musician living with mental illness. She is also a trans woman of color.

Leeloo had a crisis situation that was mishandled by John George Hospital, resulting in an irresponsible discharge that left her on the streets of San Leandro without a phone, glasses, or money. As a result, she allegedly acted out of her own self preservation and as a result is jailed in ‘protective custody’ at Santa Rita.

We are fighting for her to get her case seen in Behavioral Health Court. Please come out and show support for Leeloo! We will be wearing all black in solidarity with Leeloo.

The more community that can show up for her proves to the DA that she is an excellent candidate for this ‘diversionary’ legal process.

*The event is listed at 9:30am on Thursday. There’s likely to be some waiting around, folks are welcome to continue arriving any time before 11am.

“WE HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO GO.”

Like thousands of other Oakland residents, our family was evicted by a slumlord after we reported
him to the City. After 6 months of living out of our car, searching three counties for housing or even
shelter services with no help in sight, we have decided to take our struggle directly to City Hall. Since
we cannot find shelter, we will take shelter in this public building until our city officials provide relief
for us and the thousands of other families who have been displaced.
Stand with us at Oakland City Hall (14th & Broadway) this Thursday (June 30th) at noon.

If you have nowhere to stay,
stay with us at City Hall Thursday night.
Hot meals will be provided.
#HousingIsAHumanRight #StopStayExpand

More info (PDF):

nowhere-else-to-go

A fundraiser for survivors of the fire that burned down the homes of 58 people on Mission and 29th.

Door fee will be $10 USD (but no one turned away). We’ll also do a raffle (please message if you have suggestions for raffle prizes). El Rio are kindly donating all bar proceeds from 8-12 to the fund.

All proceeds will go directly to the familes and will be matched 1-1 by a corporate sponsor. The Mission Economic Development Agency will process all donations and won’t be charging a fee.

The Tony Award-winning SF Mime Troupe opens in Berkeley July 2 & 3, then San Francisco July 4 with its 57th season premiering “Schooled“

Education. It’s like the weather: everyone has an opinion but nobody does anything about it. That’s how Livina Jones feels about her son Tom’s new school, Eleanor Roosevelt High. With it’s old textbooks, crumbling classrooms, and racist treatment of kids just like hers Livina believes Roosevelt is exactly the sort of school that can benefit from a little free-market common sense. The nanny-state government has failed to see students as individuals, and failed to give them the real-world skills they’ll need to get ahead. So who says it isn’t time for some big money, for-profit schooling?

Edith Orocuru, for one. She’s the long serving history/civics/American government/basketball coach at Eleanor Roosevelt, and she’s willing to fight for her version of education as long as her reconstructed hips will allow. But is she fighting for a system that can be fixed, or is she just too blind by her past to see how times have left her and her school behind? And when an efficiency expert, Mr. Babbit, is assigned to improve her class is it a sign that Edith is behind the times, or a sign of something more sinister? And with privatization on the line, and a Wall Street heavy hitter lined up to fold the entire district into his conglomerate, suddenly the next School Board election is more about a hidden agenda than the open curriculum. And when did the hall monitors start wearing brown shirts and arm bands?

Dogtown Redemption, with post-film discussion

This dinner (of spaghetti and a sweet red sauce with grilled garlic bread) is being held in conjunction with First They Came for the Homeless’ re-establishment of Liberty City in an effort to demonstrate peaceful, communal living and self-sufficiency.

https://www.facebook.com/events/294334184246214/

A homeless person is still a person, but in America the homeless are less than Untouchables: they are invisible to most of us, and a nuisance to others. In Berkeley the homeless not only have to live on some of the most dangerous streets in America, they have to constantly deal with persecution from the police. Why is the city insisting on harassing and ticketing those without money, many of whom have served our country, many of whom have mental illness and/or are struggling with drug addiction and/or the after-effects of abuse? Why are these people being scapegoated as millionaires and billionaires continue to hoard money when we know once you’ve got enough of it, it can’t buy you anymore happiness? Did the bankers not ruin our country and world economy? Why are they still making so much, continuing to profit off of the cheap labor and suffering of the Underclass? And why does so much of the Underclass still defend them? Because they believe in the myths of the American Dream and the Self-made Man?… No man is an island…

But let’s talk more about it over spaghetti on Saturday!

COME MARCH WITH US 
Calling all renters to march with ARC in the Alameda 4th of July Parade ! The city has seen some of us on the streets gathering signatures, now let Alameda see MORE of us to show the city how important the issue of rent stabilization is and how many people it impacts.

We’re calling on individuals, families, students, faith groups, and other sympathetic groups to join in.  Kids on bikes, trikes, in wagons, and in strollers welcome and wanted.  Dogs, too – great way to take your dog for a walk !

The parade starts at 10 am on July 4. Line-up starts as early as 8 am.  The parade route is 3 miles long but you don’t have to walk the entire route.

We will send you more information after June 29 with our parade line-up number and exact instructions on how to get in the line-up.

Let’s show the city that the ALAMEDA RENTERS COALITION is a important part of Alameda and here to stay. COME MARCH WITH US !”