Calendar

Sun, Nov 10, 2019
Open Mic/Political Karaoke

What’s bugging you, politics-wise? Here’s your chance to talk about any and every thing from the PG&E Power Shutdown to Brexit, from Nancy Pelosi to Greta Thunberg, maybe even the riots in Chile. Sign up for 5 minute slots!

Sun, Nov 17, 2019
Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter.
Representatives of the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and State Repression have been invited to discuss their position on this matter.
Awaiting better blurb..

Sun, Nov 24, 2019
Women and War
Women have a long association with violent intergroup conflict and war going back to early human times.  This presentation will survey women in the highly genderized institutions of war and the military in various periods and types of societies.  Although women have been impacted in multiple ways and played many roles, the focus of this talk is on women’s role as fighter/combatant and direct supporters of this activity.  Also covered are women in some of the revolutionary wars and militaries in the past two centuries.  The fighter/combatant perspective on women is usually omitted or “hidden” in accounts by both conventional and feminist analysts who stress women as victims, survivors, peacemakers and supporters of men who fight.  Women as fighters not only redresses this imbalance but indicates a role whose impact is as significant as the other roles that are more widely promulgated.
Presented by Al Sargis, Founder/Director of the Friedrich Engels Institute of Marxist War and Military Analysis (FEIMWAMA).

Women have a long association with violent intergroup conflict and war going back to early human times.  This presentation will survey women in the highly genderized institutions of war and the military in various periods and types of societies.  Although women have been impacted in multiple ways and played many roles, the focus of this talk is on women’s role as fighter/combatant and direct supporters of this activity.  Also covered are women in some of the revolutionary wars and militaries in the past two centuries.  The fighter/combatant perspective on women is usually omitted or “hidden” in accounts by both conventional and feminist analysts who stress women as victims, survivors, peacemakers and supporters of men who fight.  Women as fighters not only redresses this imbalance but indicates a role whose impact is as significant as the other roles that are more widely promulgated.

Presented by Al Sargis, Founder/Director of the Friedrich Engels Institute of Marxist War and Military Analysis (FEIMWAMA).

s the week of actions around houselesness is approaching (November 16th-24th) Liberated Lens will conduct a Citizen Journalism training where you can learn how to do on the street media, simple streaming, vlogging, phone security etc.

Bring your cell phone or any recording device you intend on using.

Part II that will happen on November 24th will cover simple editing and post production tools.

Prior to 2017, Oakland City Hall only had $250,000 per year to spend on Homeless Services.

Since 2017, volunteers with HAWG Homeless Advocacy Working Group have spent countless hours successfully advocating for more than $56 million to be spent towards ending the outrageous homeless crisis. more than $30 million has already been spent on ineffective approaches that harm more than help curbside residents. and while the millions were wastefully spent, homelessness has doubled in Oakland in the past two years. The Mayor’s anti-homeless Encampment Management Team led by Assistant to the Administrator Joe De Vries is responsible for the mismanagement of funds and the city’s inhumane treatment of our unhoused brothers sister’s.

For the past two years, City Council has attempted to work with advocates and directed Joe and the Encampment Management Team to try a variety of effective and cost effective approaches. 99% of the time Joe and his time have ignored City Council and continue to use millions to harm, traumatize and kick down our people on the streets.

Enough is enough.

Join The Village in Oakland #feedthepeople, The East Oakland Collective @Love and Justice in the Streets on Tuesday November 26, 2019 5pm at City Council meeting to speak truth to power.

please sign up to speak even if you are not going to speak, so yo can give you time to another speaker who needs more time. if you decide to speak, here’s some points to help you when you speak:

– over the past two years, you have survived and/or witnessed the cruel and inhumane treatment of The City government to Oakland’s unhoused.
– In the past two years the Joe DeVries and his team have spent more than $30 million dollars towards “solving” homelessness. But during those two years homelessness doubled in Oakland, and dozens of unhoused residents who used the city’s programs are back on the streets. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY?

We Demand:
1. An immediate end to evictions of curbside communities, demolitions of homes and towing of vehicles people live in or store belongings in.

2. An immediate end to the destruction of curbside residents’ personal property and survival gear.

3. As the City Council directed the Mayor and her Administration two years ago, two parcels of public land in each district be identified and used for sanctuaries for curbside communities.

4. Immediately upgrade all curbside commuities with adequate portapotties, trash services, clean drinking water, solar power and upgrades to self-built homes.

5. Due to his anti-homeless tendencies, his absuse of power, his complete disregard of the humanity and right of curbside residents, his mismanaement of millions of dollars to go towards solutions to homelessness, an immediate dismisal of Assistant to the Administrator Joe De Vries. Due to his deep anti-homeless biases and arbitrary decisins that impact the lives and well being of Oakland’s unhoused, he cannot lead the approaches to solve this crisis.

6. The immediate implementation of City Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas’ reccomendations to align all The City’s appraches to homelessness with a human rights lense.

7. No more fundraising for or building any more Tuff Sheds. These programs are a waste of money and not effective to meet the scale of the homeless state of emergency or the actual needs of curbside residents.

8. An end to market rate and above market rate development. The City must turn its attention to the neglected deeply affordable housing development goals in the next year.

Join Extinction Rebellion SF Bay as we perform XR’s version of the Evening Prayer from the opera Hansel and Gretel outside the Opera House. This event will take place between 1:30 PM and 2 PM, as the opera is presented inside by the SF Opera.

Wells Fargo is the season sponsor of the SF Opera. Wells Fargo is the largest financier of the fracking industry, and the second-largest financier of the fossil fuel industry in the world. This year the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK is cutting its ties to their sponsor, BP, after school children threatened a boycott. A similar outcome in San Francisco would be one small step in combating climate chaos.

This is an open action. Anyone moved to participate is welcome to join us as we listen to the singers tell us about getting pushed into the oven of climate chaos.

Roles needed: lip syncers, gingerbread people, folks to hand out flyers and hold signs, and pretend opera-goers (to create buzz around the action).

Participants who want to take on one of the roles will need to report to the staging area for this event at 1 PM. If you would like to take on a role, please contact lwbdarkdeep@protonmail.com. All ages welcome!

Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library

Town Hall Meeting on Hong Kong (China)

Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep Jim McGovern (D-MA) are sponsoring the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019,” but many believe that the U.S. should not be interfering in the internal affairs of China. After a brief introduction by ICSS member Eugene E Ruyle, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Cal State Long Beach, and perhaps a few additional speakers, we will have an open discussion of the issue with all opinions welcome.

Please spread the word and join us on Monday in San Francisco at the 9th Circuit Court, which will hear arguments in our case to block Trump’s asylum transit ban.

Repeatedly in recent months, Bay Area community members have packed federal courts to oppose Trump’s attempts to block people from seeking protection in the U.S. We hope you’ll join us again.

WHEN: Plan to arrive before 9am, when the judges begin proceedings for the morning. Let’s gather afterward in solidarity as well.

After multiple victories to halt the new rule, in September the Supreme Court temporarily sided with Trump while the 9th Circuit considers East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. William Barr, thus blocking folks who must transit through a third country from seeking asylum in the United States.

As you all know, the policy is part of a larger effort to effectively end the ability of immigrants of color to seek protection in the United States. We must continue to fight against this atrocious program and organize for just solutions instead.

Hope to see you on Monday.

This is it! Join us when the Richmond City Council will finally vote on the Richmond Coal Ordinance.   The ordinance would phase out the storage and handling of coal and petroleum coke (pet coke) over a three year period.

Doors open at 6:00 PM.

We expect many people to show up in opposition, as happened at the Planning Commission hearing, so get there early. Faced with a rowdy show of force, the commission voted to delay approval of the ordinance. We need to show the council members that there are even more people who support passing the ordinance without delay and transitioning the terminal to cleaner commodities that won’t endanger the health of residents and workers.

Richmond residents and workers are encouraged to testify about health impacts, visible dust, and other concerns.  If you are willing to speak, please email action@sunflower-alliance.org for information about this process.

No Coal in Richmond has collected more than 2,000 signatures on a letter to the City Council urging them to act to end coal and petroleum coke handling and storage at the Levin-Richmond Terminal. Richmond already suffers from the areas’s highest levels of asthma and other health problems caused by bad air quality.

Time to get coal out of Richmond!

The Life enrichment committee has agreed to host a special meeting to focus on homelessness that will include voices and reflect the work of unhoused leaders and advocates in the trenches day in day out.

we will breaking down the roots and scope of crisis, evaluate the current approaches and present real, cost effective solutions, new approaches to service providing, and crisis informed models of rapid rehousing.

we are hoping the audit of all things related to homeless will also be presented at this meeting.

Prior to 2017, Oakland City Hall only had $250,000 per year to spend on Homeless Services.

Since 2017, volunteers with HAWG Homeless Advocacy Working Group have spent countless hours successfully advocating for more than $56 million to be spent towards ending the outrageous homeless crisis. more than $30 million has already been spent on ineffective approaches that harm more than help curbside residents. and while the millions were wastefully spent, homelessness has doubled in Oakland in the past two years. The Mayor’s anti-homeless Encampment Management Team led by Assistant to the Administrator Joe De Vries is responsible for the mismanagement of funds and the city’s inhumane treatment of our unhoused brothers sister’s.

For the past two years, City Council has attempted to work with advocates and directed Joe and the Encampment Management Team to try a variety of effective and cost effective approaches. 99% of the time Joe and his time have ignored City Council and continue to use millions to harm, traumatize and kick down our people on the streets.

Enough is enough.

Join The Village in Oakland #feedthepeople, The East Oakland Collective @Love and Justice in the Streets at the Life Enrichment Committee to speak truth to power, listen to real solutions, understand what’s really going on with the money.

please sign up to speak even if you are not going to speak, so yo can give you time to another speaker who needs more time. if you decide to speak, here’s some points to help you when you speak:

– over the past two years, you have survived and/or witnessed the cruel and inhumane treatment of The City government to Oakland’s unhoused.
– In the past two years the Joe DeVries and his team have spent more than $30 million dollars towards “solving” homelessness. But during those two years homelessness doubled in Oakland, and dozens of unhoused residents who used the city’s programs are back on the streets. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY?

We Demand:
1. An immediate end to evictions of curbside communities, demolitions of homes and towing of vehicles people live in or store belongings in.

2. An immediate end to the destruction of curbside residents’ personal property and survival gear.

3. As the City Council directed the Mayor and her Administration two years ago, two parcels of public land in each district be identified and used for sanctuaries for curbside communities.

4. Immediately upgrade all curbside communities with adequate portapotties, trash services, clean drinking water, solar power and upgrades to self-built homes.

5. Due to his anti-homeless tendencies, his absuse of power, his complete disregard of the humanity and right of curbside residents, his mismanagement of millions of dollars to go towards solutions to homelessness, an immediate dismissal of Assistant to the Administrator Joe De Vries. Due to his deep anti-homeless biases and arbitrary decisions that impact the lives and well being of Oakland’s unhoused, he cannot lead the approaches to solve this crisis.

6. The immediate implementation of City Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas’ reccomendations to align all The City’s approaches to homelessness with a human rights lense.

7. No more fundraising for or building any more Tuff Sheds. These programs are a waste of money and not effective to meet the scale of the homeless state of emergency or the actual needs of curbside residents.

8. An end to market rate and above market rate development. The City must turn its attention to the neglected deeply affordable housing development goals in the next year.

On November 30, 1999, more than 40,000 activists spanning organized labor, climate justice, migrant justice, indigenous organizing, the peace movement, and the global justice movement, joined forces to disrupt the trade negotiations scheduled to take place at the WTO conference in Seattle. Inspired by mass mobilizations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America against neoliberal policies developed by the WTO and similar financial institutions, the takeover of downtown Seattle re-energized the fight against neoliberalism and strengthened international alliances.

Twenty years later, in the context of an intensified neoliberal offensive by the same institutions and revived resistance against them in countries such as Ecuador, Chile, Lebanon, and Haiti, this panel discussion will help us analyze the events and organizing that led up to Seattle, take stock of the movements and alliances that grew out of that mobilization, and draw lessons from the past two decades that will set our movements up for more decisive wins.

Confirmed speakers include:
Colin Rajah, International Coordinator of the Civil Society Action Committee
Sharon Lungo, Former Executive Director of the Ruckus Society
Bill Fletcher Jr., Former president of TransAfrica Forum

Black Software: The Internet, Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter

Charlton D. McIlwain in conversation with E. David Ellington

Activists, pundits, politicians, and the press frequently proclaim today’s digitally mediated racial justice activism the new civil rights movement. As Charlton D. McIlwain shows in this book, the story of racial justice movement organizing online is much longer and varied than most people know. In fact, it spans nearly five decades and involves a varied group of engineers, entrepreneurs, hobbyists, journalists, and activists. But this is a history that is virtually unknown even in our current age of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Black Lives Matter.

Beginning with the simultaneous rise of civil rights and computer revolutions in the 1960s, McIlwain, for the first time, chronicles the long relationship between African Americans, computing technology, and the Internet. In turn, he argues that the forgotten figures who worked to make black politics central to the Internet’s birth and evolution paved the way for today’s explosion of racial justice activism. From the 1960s to present, the book examines how computing technology has been used to neutralize the threat that black people pose to the existing racial order, but also how black people seized these new computing tools to build community, wealth, and wage a war for racial justice.Through archival sources and the voices of many of those who lived and made this history, Black Software centralizes African Americans’ role in the Internet’s creation and evolution, illuminating both the limits and possibilities for using digital technology to push for racial justice in the United States and across the globe.

Charlton D. McIlwain is Vice Provost of Faculty Engagement & Development at New York University, and Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU’s Steinhardt School. He is also the Founder of the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies, and the co-author of Race Appeal: How Candidates Invoke Race in U.S. Political Campaigns, winner of the 2012 APSA Ralph Bunche Award.

E. David Ellington is Founder & Executive Chairman of the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society (SVBS). SVBS is a global, invite-only, private, member-driven ecosystem supporting blockchain and cryptocurrency related projects across industries and for social impact. SVBS members are active investors primarily in technology. They collectively represent more than $1.5 Trillion in investment capital.  The SVBS mission is three words: “Fund the Revolution.”

Californians will organize the San Francisco tour stop as part of this nine-month, 22-state ‘We Must Do MORE Tour: Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering, Educating’; building towards a Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 20th, 2020.
—
Richmond, California— Join the Poor People’s Campaign for Art-Build featuring local Bay Area artist David Solnit at David Solnit’s studio. At the Art- Build community members will create colorful banners and signs for our upcoming We Must Do MORE Tour: Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering, Educating visit in Oakland and San Francisco on Wednesday, December 11, 2019.

David Solnit is a climate justice, global justice, Anti-war, arts, and direct-action organizer, an author, a puppeteer, and a trainer from the Bay Area. He is co-founder of Courage to Resist, co-author of Army of None. He is co-founder of Art and Revolution, using culture, art, giant puppets and theater in mass mobilizations, for popular education and as an organizing tool.

At the March and Mass Meeting, we will hear from people directly impacted by systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the corrupt moral narrative. We will also hear from Rev. Barber and Rev. Theoharis, Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

This nine-month, 22-state tour is the lead-up to the Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington, where thousands of poor people and moral agents will gather at the nation’s capital on June 20, 2020 to demand the implementation of our Moral Agenda and call all people of conscience to engage in deeply moral civic engagement and voting that uplifts the needs of the most impacted–poor and low-wealth people, the sick, immigrants, workers, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQIA+ community

We just received an eviction notice from #Wedgewood. They’d rather see #MomsHouse sit empty than let our kids be safely housed there.

We won't go without a fight. Join us TOMORROW, Friday 11 AM at 2928 Magnolia St to learn about our next moves and how you can help.

— Moms 4 Housing (@moms4housing) December 5, 2019

Text “Save Moms House” to (510) 800-7810 to join the text alert system so you can throw down! #SaveMomsHouse #EvictTheSpeculators

Around the world, people are rising up and mobilizing in record numbers against repressive regimes, for democratic rights, and rebelling against the neoliberal austerity measures implemented during the ongoing crises of capitalism.

The Chilean rebellion began when young people protested against a public transportation fare, which grew into a general strike on October 24th and 25th coalescing all the accumulated grievances against the government, and later into periods of generalized insurrection. These mass demonstrations have been met by brutal repression.

In Colombia on November 21, there was an historic national strike bringing out thousands of people protesting against President Duque’s ‘Paquetazo’ – reforms that increase labor precarity, attack the public pension system, and a series of measures to reduce taxes on employers and increase them for workers.

Join Workers’ Voice at PLACE on Friday, Dec. 6th from 5-8pm for a panel discussion to analyze the causes of the crises, understand the debates in the movements, and identify ways we can express our solidarity from the US! Refreshments will be served.