Protest the Deforestation and Poisoning

of the East Bay Hills by UC Berkeley

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Wednesday, June 29, 2016 – 12 Noon
UC Berkeley (Southside Entrance)
Bancroft Way and Telegraph Ave
Berkeley, California

(Black areas: Targeted East Bay forests –  From: FEMA EBH EIS)

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STOP THE DEFORESTATION AND
POISONING OF THE EAST BAY HILLS!

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UC Berkeley, the East Bay Regional Park District, the City of Oakland, and others, with funding from FEMA and other public moneys, plan to kill over 450,000 healthy trees in the East Bay hills, some over a hundred years old, on over 2,000 acres of public lands from Point Richmond to Castro Valley.
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The destruction has already started, and is expected to escalate as early as August, the end of the official nesting season, unless we stop it.
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Millions of animals will die from the loss of homes and food and the devastation left by bulldozers, chainsaws, and poison, and the air quality and climate in the Bay Area will suffer. Large amounts of herbicides are planned to be applied over a 10-year period, including Roundup (glyphosate, Monsanto), Garlon (triclopyr, Dow), and Stalker (imazapyr, BASF).
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These pesticides have been shown to cause serious health problems in both humans and animals, as well as complex negative ecological impacts on forest organisms. They persist in the soil, and have found their way into watersheds and ground water. Roundup has been banned in many countries because of its toxicity, and the World Health Organization recently classified glyphosate as a 2A probable carcinogen. The poison would affect everyone who uses the parks, and wash into the bay from the creeks. Do we need more cancer and chronic illness?
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When asked for public comment about one of the most important parts of cities — our parks and open space — of the 13,000 people who responded, 90% opposed the plans. Since then, over 65,000 have signed a petition demanding the projects be stopped. Why is the will of the people being ignored?
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Under the guise of fire safety, the agencies involved plan to kill moisture-rich forests that precipitate over 10 inches of water from fog drip in the midst of drought.  According to FEMA, the goal is to transform much of the East Bay parks landscape into “grassland with islands of shrubs”, but this will increase fire danger by creating a highly flammable environment where fires can spread quickly, driven by winds unimpeded by tall trees. Our once beautiful parks will be barren and desolate, and when the rains start, the landslides will come.
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These destructive actions are driven in large part by the ideology that the eucalyptus, acacia, and Monterey pines are non-native plants, that are harmful to native ecosystems. Conservation biologist David Theodoropoulos thoroughly debunked this ideology at a recent event in Berkeley, viewable online at youtube.com/watch?v=n1i3RP7eDFc
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Eucalyptus are the preferred nesting site for eagles, hawks, and large owls, and preferred resting site for migrating Monarch butterflies. They also feed hummingbirds, bees, and other pollinators. Monterey pines create incredible animal and plant diversity. A survey of 173 ornithologists reported that 47% of birds eat from non-native plants.
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In spite of the myths, eucalyptus are actually less flammable than native bay laurels. Firefighter David Maloney, appointed to the Oakland-Berkeley Mayors’ Firestorm Task Force to investigate the causes of the 1991 Hills Fire and make recommendations to prevent its recurrence, said:
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“The Task Force Report concluded that the spread of the fire was mostly due to the radiant heat generated by burning houses… The spread of the fire was not due primarily to burning trees — eucalyptus or any other species.”

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For more details, visit these websites:

SaveEastBayHills.org
MillionTrees.me
HillsConservationNetwork.org
EastBayPesticideAlert.org/wpad.html
TreeSpiritProject.com/sfbayclearcut
BAPD.org/trees.html

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Get in touch, and get involved:

Coalition to Defend East Bay Forests
Contact: defendeastbayforests@riseup.net
Alerts: lists.riseup.net/www/info/eastbayforests-info
Info: facebook.com/CoalitiontoDefendEastBayForests

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No Clearcuts, No Pesticides

Defend East Bay Forests!

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Please join ex-Calavera restaurant workers and the Bay Area Restaurant Worker’s Movement (BARWM) for a rally, community meal and celebration of resistance across the food system!

On July 1st, BARWM will be scaling up our #BoycottCalavera campaign, giving voice to ex-Calavera employees fighting wage theft! We’ll be serving up delicious, free tamales made with love from Tamales La Oaxaqueña! Come hungry, and help us turn away customers with our irresistible community meal. We will host a rally with ex-Calavera employees, community organizers and other food workers sharing stories of resistance and celebrating our many struggles together. And there will be music!

As part of this next phase, BARWM seeks to deepen our relationships with food, economic and racial justice groups organizing across the Bay. We believe in a food chain solidarity that transcends borders and industries, to heal our rotten food system while fighting for justice on the job.

Join us as we launch our official #BoycottCalavera endorsement letter with a celebration of food and music as we continue to educate Oakland residents about the labor exploitation and injustices that have been going on in our very own city.

More information on the campaign & the BARWM: https://goo.gl/LYGBUX

Yes we are going back to demand our right to rest, housing we can afford, ending 647e. Donations always needed tents, blankets,food, propane stove and housewares.Cash is always welcome so we can buy the survival stuff we realy need. Got big furniture you don’t need? Drop it off especially that big ratty sofa the dog sleeps on. Sorry Fido homeless people need it more then you do.

For #AltonSterling and #PhilandoCastile, and for all the women trafficked and exploited by the rapists and murderers in Oakland Police Department and across the Bay Area. For all who are displaced from their neighborhoods and robbed of opportunity. We march. We act. We Shut It Down.

Rally & March Against Racist Police Terror
Tomorrow July 8 at 6pm
Justin Herman Plaza
1 Market St.
Hosted by ANSWER Coalition

— LolaLolaLola (@Lola_Casanova) July 7, 2016

Justice for Alton Sterling!
Justice for Philando Castile!
End Racist Police Terror!
———-
ANSWER Coalition
San Francisco Black Lives Matter
West County Toxics Coalition
———-
Police in Minnesota and Louisiana just killed two more Black men. The cops have murdered 562 people of color and poor people this year alone. The majority are Black men and women. These killer cops know that they will never face jail time. This is state-sanctioned terror directed against Black, Brown and poor people. Join us in the streets Friday July 8 in San Francisco to demand justice for all the victims of police brutality and end to racist police terror.

BREAKING VIDEO: #BlackLivesMatter movement has called for a #DayOfSolidarity alongside #Anonymous https://t.co/z5la1aJDJm #CallToAction

— TheAnonMessage (@TheAnonnMessage) July 10, 2016

N A T I O N W I D E C A L L T O A C T I O N === J U L Y 1 5 2 0 1 6

Phoenix: 5:00PM (EASTLAKE PARK, 1549 E Jefferson St , Phoenix, AZ 85034)
Tuscon: 5:00PM (CATALINA PARK, 900 N 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705)
Little Rock: 6:00PM (OUTSIDE STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr., Little Rock, AR 72201)
San Francisco: 4:00PM (CIVIC CENTER PLAZA, 355 Mcallister St, San Francisco, California 94102)
Oakland: 4:00PM (FRANK OGAWA PLAZA, 1 Frank H Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612)
Los Angeles: 4:00PM (LEIMERT PLAZA PARK, 4395 Leimert Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008)
Denver: 5:00PM (CIVIC CENTER PARK, 100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, Colorado 80204)
Washington DC: 7:00PM (OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500)
Atlanta: 7:00PM (OLD DECATUR COURTHOUSE, 101 E Court Sq, Decatur, GA 30030)
Tampa: 7:00PM (OUTSIDE HILLSBOROUGH COURTHOUSE, 800 E Twiggs St, Tampa, FL)
Orlando: 7:00PM (LAKE EOLA PARK, 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801)
Miami: 7:00PM (GWEN CHERRY PARK, NW 71 St., Miami, Florida, 33147)
Chicago: 6:00PM (RICHARD J DALEY CENTER, 50 W Washington St, Chicago, Illinois 60602)
Des Moines: 6:00PM (IOWA STATE CAPITOL, 1007 E Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50319)
New Orleans: 6:00PM (LAFAYETTE SQUARE, New Orleans, LA 70130)
Baltimore: 7:00PM (201 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21202)
Boston: 7:00PM (MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE, 24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 01233)
Detroit: 7:00PM (Campus Martius Park, Detroit, Michigan 48226)
Lansing: 7:00PM (STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, Capitol Avenue at Michigan Avenue, Lansing, MI 48933)
Ann Arbor: 7:00PM (THE DIAG, Burns Park, Ann Arbor, MI 48109)
Minneapolis: 6:00PM (MINNEAPOLIS URBAN LEAGUE, 2100 Plymouth Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55411
St. Louis: 6:00PM (GATEWAY ARCH, St. Louis 63102)
Carson City: 4:00PM (NEVADA STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, 101 N Carson St, Carson City, Nevada 89701)
Manhattan, NY: 7:00PM (TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan, NY, 10036)
Newark: 7:00PM (NEWARK CITY HALL, 920 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102)
Durham: 7:00PM (200 E. Main St. Durham, North Carolina)
Columbus: 7:00PM (GOODALE PARK, Columbus, Ohio 43215)
Cleveland: 7:00PM (CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, 325 Superior Ave E, Cleveland, Ohio 44114)
Portland: 4:00PM (PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE, 701 SW 6th Ave, Portland, Oregon 97204)
Philadelphia: 7:00PM (LOVE PARK, 1599 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102)
Pittsburgh: 7:00PM (PITTSBURGH CITY-COUNTY BUILDING, 414 Grant St, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219)
Nashville: 6:00PM (801 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 Estes Kefauver Federal Building)
Memphis: 6:00PM (Health Sciences Park Memphis, TN)
Austin: 6:00PM (TEXAS STATE CAPITOL, Outside South Gate-11th and Congress Ave.)
Salt Lake City: 5:00PM (SALT LAKE CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE, 4600 S Redwood Rd, Salt Lake City, Utah 84123)
Seattle: 4:00PM (QUEEN ANNE BAPTIST CHURCH, 2011 1st Ave N, Seattle, Washington 98109)
Milwaukee: 5:00PM (DINEEN PARK, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Facebook event page

A teachers strike that began on May 15 has grown into a widespread rebellion in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. 14 compañeros have been killed by the state, including 12 in a massacre on June 19.

Join us in San Francisco to mark two months since the strike began as we march in defiance of state repression and in solidarity with our compañerxs on the barricades in Oaxaca.

To our compañerxs, teachers, mothers, fathers and children of the Oaxacan community, here and there, though we are miles apart, we fight with you.

Because here and there we fight against the same monster called capitalism. Because here and there, freedom, health care, and housing must be for all.

We march with love for our sisters and brothers who have been murdered and who will always be remembered, who walk alongside us in this struggle. We in the Bay Area, in solidarity with the Oaxacan community, say no more repression, no more deaths. We are ready to stand together. If they attack one of our communities there, we will respond here.

#SF STAND UP #SayHerName #SFPD pic.twitter.com/IK9pVNDHsH

— Sylvia R (@achillesgirl) July 16, 2016

July Copwatch Shift.

RSVP required.

Contact Charlotte at (510) 224-5950 or crivka@sonic.net.

STATEWIDE MOBILIZATION.

On September 9, the Stop Urban Shield Coalition and communities from across the state will be mobilizing to Pleasanton, CA, where the Urban Shield weapons expo will be held. Join us in saying no to militarization and policing in our communities!

**We are organizing buses and travel from across the state for people everywhere to be able to attend. Please let us know if you would like travel support.**

Current pickup locations: Pleasanton, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles

Stop militarized policing. Stop #UrbanShield! Friday, September 9 in Pleasanton: https://t.co/yZpoZNAxhz pic.twitter.com/ysM8Uzwgum

— ACLU of Northern CA (@ACLU_NorCal) August 30, 2016

Urban Shield is an annual SWAT team policing training and weapons expo that brings together local, regional, and international police-military units – including those from the Apartheid State of Israel – to collaborate on new forms of surveillance, state repression, and state violence. It consists of extremely militarized policing trainings and war games that only seek to expand the power of law enforcement over our communities. As we continue to face and witness increased militarizaton and the violence of policing, we must resist programs like Urban Shield, and demand the resources that build our self-determination.

Stop Urban Shield is a broad based coalition of grassroots and social justice organizations that are working to put an end to Urban Shield. In 2014, our organizing and grassroots mobilizing led to Urban Shield being kicked out of Oakland. This year, with enough support from across the state, we can end it for good. Join us and spread the word!

Visit StopUrbanShield.org for more info.

#Oakland September 10th at Latham square pic.twitter.com/kKJZgpsg0t

— BlackOUT Collective (@blackoutcollect) August 11, 2016

#Oakland: Take The Streets In Solidarity With The September 9th Prison Strike pic.twitter.com/JphaoIByDw

— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) August 5, 2016

ORGANIZED BY THE OAKLAND CHAPTER OF IWOC:
https://iwocoakland.wordpress.com/

ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH people across Oakland, the Bay Area, and Northern California in general, will converge in Downtown Oakland and rally and march in solidarity with the US wide prison work strike against prison slavery.

Slavery is legal in America. Written into the 13th Admendment, it is legal to work someone that is incarcerated for free or almost free. Since the civil war, tens of millions of people most arrested for non-violent offenses, have been used as slaves for the sake of generating massive profits for multi-national corporations and the US government. Today, prison labor is a multi-billion dollar industry which helps generate enormous wealth for key industries such as fossil fuels, fast food, telecommunications, technology, the US military, and everyday house hold products.

The strike, which starts officially on September 9th, the 45th anniversary of the Attica Uprising, is historic. The strike is being led by groups such as the Free Alabama Movement, Free Texas Movement, Free Ohio Movement, Free Virginia Movement, Free Mississippi Movement, and many more. Prisoners have asked that supporters hold noise demonstrations outside jails and prisons, protest, disrupt, and demonstrate outside of corporations that profit from prison labor, and also support the strike that is happening across the US.

This is not just a prison strike for better wages or conditions, it is a strike against white supremacy itself.

Bring banners, signs, noise makers, friends, co-workers, neighbors, family members, and more! Gather at Latham Square next to OGP (Broadway and Telegraph Ave), 1pm. Also, be sure to join us the day before at our BBQ which will feature banner making, a film showing, and open discussion about the strike. See more info on that here: https://www.facebook.com/events/283959538629493/

#StrikeAgainstPrisonSlavery
#PrisonStrike

Contact Oakland IWOC:

https://iwocoakland.wordpress.com/

More info:

Strike Against Prison Slavery: https://itsgoingdown.org/strike-against-white-supremacy/

Let the Crops Rot in the Field: http://insurgenttheatre.org/theory/letthecropsrot.pdf

Incarcerated Workers Take the Lead: http://unityandstruggle.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/IWOC_pamphlet_print-1.pdf

End Prison Slavery: https://supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org/post/2015/07/19/end-prison-slavery-zine/

#Oakland: Demonstration in Solidarity With #Charlotte Rebellion #RevoltWithCharlotte https://t.co/BcOwNoqqhi pic.twitter.com/TyKEV01PQm

— It's Going Down (@IGD_News) September 23, 2016

Hold large banners for freeway traffic to see this is a legal demonstration

Join Haiti Action Committee to commemorate the 25th anniversary of a coup that continues to inform the present struggle of the Haitian people for democracy and justice.

SEPTEMBER 30th – 4:30 PM DEMONSTRATION meets at 14th & Broadway in Oakland

OCTOBER 2nd – 3PM EVENT at Eastside Arts, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland

Why is it important to remember September 30, 1991?

It is a battle of memory against forgetfulness, because we think that we cannot build the democracy we want for this country if we continue to erase what happened. It is impossible. – Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

September 30, 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the coup that overthrew Haiti’s first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide who was the candidate of Haiti’s popular movement Lavalas in the 1990 presidential election; he won with 67% of the vote.

Aristide’s Feb. 7, 1991 inauguration marked a huge victory for Haiti’s poor majority after decades living under the Duvalier family dictatorship and military rule. The inauguration signaled the participation of the poor in a new social order. This radical change was represented by Aristide’s first act as President when he invited several hundred street children and homeless to join him for the inaugural breakfast at the National Palace.

A brave young democracy set out to reverse centuries of exclusion of Haiti’s poor majority in the country’s political, economic and social life against the backdrop of right wing death squads and a corrupt Haitian military tied to former dictators and Haiti’s wealthy elite. Just four days before the inauguration, an orphanage founded by Aristide – Lafanmi Selavi – was torched, killing four street children.

The new administration began to implement programs in adult literacy, health care, and land redistribution; lobbied for a minimum wage hike; proposed new roads and infrastructure to create jobs. Aristide renounced his $10,000 a month salary. He enforced taxes on the wealthy and dissolved the rural section chief infrastructure that empowered the Ton Ton Macoute. He denounced the treatment (akin to slavery) of Haitian sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic, and called for improved working conditions.

After the September 30th coup, Lavalas supporters turned out by the hundreds of thousands to defend the constitutional government. They were brutally suppressed, starting on the eve of Sept. 30th when National Police chief Lt. Col. Michel Francois led busloads of soldiers to the Champs de Mars where they machine gunned hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the National Palace.  Francois would later be convicted in absentia for the 1993 murder of Antoine Izmery, a prominent businessman and supporter of Aristide who was dragged from a church in broad daylight and executed. Aristide’s Justice Minister Guy Malary was murdered one month later.

Between the years 1991-1994, during the military regime headed by General Raoul Cedras, four to seven thousand supporters and activists of Lavalaswould be killed; others savagely tortured; rape as a political weapon was widespread; thousands fled or were driven into hiding. Poor neighborhoods were particularly targeted, as was the Ti Legliz (little church) – an important sector of the grassroots movement. Anti-coup journalists and radio stations were attacked. Haitian elites and the coup regime, with the support of US intelligence agencies, backed the formation of a violent paramilitary organization known as FRAPH, which emerged in August 1993. FRAPH operated as a death squad, and was responsible for thousands of deaths and human rights violations. Its leaders like Louis-Jodel Chamblain, associate of Guy Philippe, still operate freely in Haiti.

No commemoration of September 30th would be complete without remembering Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a psychologist and leading spokesperson for Lavalas, who was kidnapped and disappeared in Port-au-Prince in 2007. Lovinsky founded the Fondasyon Trant Septanm organization dedicated to justice for the victims of the September 30th coup and the release of political prisoners. He remains forever present at the forefront of Haiti’s struggle for justice and democracy.

Sources:

Stop the Political Witch-Hunt Against Ms. Yvette Felarca
Protest and Speak Out at the Berkeley School Board Meeting
7pm Rally outside
7:30 pm Speak Out inside

 

Community members, parents, teachers and students plan to rally and speak at the  the Berkeley School Board Meeting  to defend Yvette Felarca, an anti-fascist middle school teacher in Berkeley under attack by the school district.

After Ms. Felarca helped prevent the neo-Nazi/KKK rally on the steps of the capitol in Sacramento last June where she and 8 other anti-fascists were stabbed by the Nazis, racist threats were made against the school if she was not fired. Instead of defending the entire school, including Yvette, the Berkeley Unified School District turned on her, docked 17 days of her pay, and on Wed. Sept. 21, abruptly suspended her. Yvette is now the target of a witch-hunt. She has been disciplined on unfounded accusations of “unsatisfactory performance” and “unprofessional conduct” and was given no reason for her suspension.

ON SEPTEMBER 9TH, inmates at the county jail in Merced, California, located in the Central Valley, in conjunction with the nationwide prison strike that began on the 45th anniversary of the Attica Uprising, issued a set of demands to jail staff. Inmates were demanding the firing of a brutal sheriff, Lt. Moore, access to baseline calories per day and proper legal resources, an end to forced dress out in gang colors and classifications, an end to solitary confinement, and much more.

Inmates at Merced county have long had to live with brutal staff and horrible conditions. Almost monthly, guards have carried out raids which have left various inmates injured from projectile weapons. Many inmates at the county jail haven’t even been found guilty of a crime and are simply waiting for court and cannot afford to bail out. For many locked up in Merced, their only crime was being poor.

The response to the historic hunger strike, which quickly spread throughout the facility, from jail staff was more repression, lockdowns, and cutting off access to phones. When asked for a comment on the hunger strike, Sheriff Vern Warnke replied to people standing up to his department’s attacks on basic humans rights, “This isn’t a country club. If they don’t like being here then quit getting arrested!”

After a series of negotiations with prison staff that went no where and was designed to end the strike ended, inmates again went back out on hunger strike in early October. Some inmates have also remained on strike since mid-September.

As people on the outside, we need to show solidarity with those on hunger strike in Merced. Towards this end, people across Northern California will converge in Merced on Saturday, October 15th at 12 Noon, at the downtown Merced Jail located at 700 W 22nd St to show support with the hunger strikers and connect with friends and family of those locked inside.

For people in the bay area, a carpool is being organized at the West Oakland BART station starting at 8:30 AM and will be leaving at 9 AM for Merced.

Support the #PrisonStrike, victory to the hunger strikers in Merced!

More actions across the country.