On December 5th, Oakland’s Public Safety Committee will debate a resolution from Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan to end all Oakland Police Department cooperation with ICE, after assistance in an August 16 raid violated the city’s sanctuary policy.
Video Samples from the November 28 hearing on the ICE Raid
https://
On August 16, HSI/ICE conducted an AM raid on the 700th block of 27th Street in West Oakland with OPD assistance. The raid was advertised (erroneously) as a search warrant for the sexual trafficking of juveniles, biut there were no actual allegations of sexual abuse, no juveniles were removed from the home and the solitary arrest was for being undocumented. The 25 year old arrestee is now in the deportation process. At an October 5th investigation and hearing that the OPD Chief did not attend, Oakland’s Privacy Commission concluded that the raid violated Oakland’s sanctuary city policy and several statements made by OPD chief Anne Kirkpatrick about the raid were false.
Video of the OPAC hearing is here. https://
East Bay Express coverage is here:
https://
City Council members Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan have now initiated legislation to end the sanctuary loophole but need our help to get it through the full Council.
Oaklanders and other Bay Area residents who want sanctuary legislation taken seriously around the Bay should attend.
NOTE: THERE IS SOME POSSIBILITY THIS MEETING WILL BE CANCELLED DUE TO OAKLAND CITY WORKERS GOING OUT ON STRIKE.
Come to our social hour at Moxy! Come out to connect with DSA, learn more about our single-payer campaign, and meet your neighbors!
Meditation, service & a transformative message from Minister Cherri Murphy & Reverend C. Michael Woodstock. Ro will be sharing her inspirational art & community awareness storytelling in an interactive experience as a part of the Wednesday evening service.
Open to all, would love to have you & your voice in the room
Agenda:
Note: This meeting may be postponed because of the Oakland City Worker Striker.
Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.
We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.
We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.
Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.
If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:
contact@oaklandprivacy.org
Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/ Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy
Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. This month Oakland Privacy will be preparing for the passage of transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County, To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.
This is a free event, however we are asking folks to register if they are attending so we can make sure we have enough materials and snacks for everyone. You can register here: https://bpt.me/3189568
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With the current manifestations of violence and hatred under the Trump administration and recent natural disasters as close as the North Bay, we are more concerned than ever about police violence and the racist, Islamophobic and militarized trainings that promote and enable police and emergency response with racism and weaponized violence.
Join us for a community discussion on policing in San Francisco. Co-hosted by SURJ SF and the Stop Urban Shield Coalition, we will be facilitating an interactive forum and discussion about the militarization of police in our city and the bay area training program Urban Shield.
Urban Shield is a controversial SWAT training and weapons exposition held every year in the Bay Area. SF police, fire and emergency responders attend annually. We will explore the tactics trained at Urban Shield and share alternative options for building health and wellbeing in our city. We will discuss the impacts of Urban Shield on our city, highlight the voices and deep insights of those who have lost loved ones to police violence and uplift the ways our communities are coming together to build resilience and safety. San Francisco is the fiscal sponsor of Urban Shield and has the power to end Urban Shield and invest in true community preparedness.
All are welcome! Come join us and learn how to be involved as we push San Francisco to pull out of Urban Shield! Food will be provided.
Access: Entrance and bathrooms are wheelchair accessible. Gender neutral bathroom and breast feeding space available. We will have low scent designated seating and ask that you come low or scent free. Please contact us with any other access needs or questions.
Want to get involved with SURJ Bay Area? SURJ moves white people to act for justice with passion and accountability as part of a multi-racial majority. Come learn about our current work and activities.
You’ll also hear about SURJ’s new pathways for entering the work, including Study and Action groups as well as committee work, upcoming workshops, and events. We’ll answer your questions and share how you can get involved in the movement for racial justice.
Address info:
The Sierra Club is located at 2101 Webster Street between 21st and 22nd Street in Oakland. The Sierra Club Offices are on the 13th floor. There is a bank of elevators that go to the 12th floor and above.
Getting Into the Lobby:
The doors for the Sierra Club building lock right at 7pm, so please do your best to arrive prior to 7pm. We will have someone stationed at the Webster entrance to the building until 7:15 for late arrivals. If you arrive after 7pm, please use the Webster entrance.
Accessibility:
Building Accessibility: There are two entrances to Sierra Club Office building on Webster and 21st both of which are accessible for mobility devices. The building has an elevator, and the kitchen space, conference room, and restrooms can also all accommodate mobility devices.
Scents: The Sierra Club’s space endeavors to offer a scent free environment; however as the Club is currently transitioning towards the use of only scent free products, we cannot guarantee an entirely scent-free space. We ask everyone to please arrive at meetings fragrance-free to support access for folks who experience multiple chemical sensitivities and allergies. This means using only body products and laundry detergent that say “fragrance-free” or “unscented” on the label and do not have scented ingredients.
Restrooms: Restrooms are currently labeled in a gender-binary way. The Sierra Club is working on changing this and has an office policy that all restrooms are available to anyone, regardless of lived or perceived gender identity. We ask that folks choose the restroom that is right for them, and that no one question a person’s chosen restroom.
On the agenda: body worn cameras – BPD presentation, use of force
http://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Police_Review_Commission_Homepage.aspx
Interested in learning about what Urban Shield is, the work of the coalition, and how to get involved? On Wednesday, December 13, SURJ San Francisco will be hosting a public Community Meeting on Policing and Urban Shield. There will be time to hear about what organizing against Urban Shield has looked like, next steps, and how you can support us in achieving a people’s victory over Urban Shield. We encourage organizations and community members in SF to attend this gathering so that we can all be well informed and best positioned to organize and win.
Facebook page
Dr. Daniel Kammen, distinguished policy expert on energy and climate change, will report on the recently concluded Bonn Climate Conference on Wed., Dec 13, 7-9 pm in the Parlor Room of the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley. Dr. Kammen’s talk will be preceded by a holiday potluck. The Parlor Room is accessible from the parking lot behind the community building through the more southerly entrance.
Daniel Kammen is the Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley, with parallel appointments in the Energy and Resources Group, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the department of Nuclear Engineering. He was appointed the first Environment and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) Fellow by Secretary of State Hilary R. Clinton in April 2010.
Kammen is the founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), Co-Director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, and Director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. Dr. Kammen has served as a contributing or coordinating lead author on various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 1999. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He serves on the Advisory Committee for Energy & Environment for the X-Prize Foundation.
During 2010-2011 Kammen served as the World Bank Group’s Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. He was appointed to this newly-created position in October 2010, in which he provided strategic leadership on policy, technical, and operational fronts. The aim is to enhance the operational impact of the Bank’s renewable energy and energy efficiency activities while expanding the institution’s role as an enabler of global dialogue on moving energy development to a cleaner and more sustainable pathway.
All we want for Xmas: Community Health, Not Developer Wealth!
Rhythm Brigade! Picket Line! Holiday Treats! Elves Rising Up Against Coal!
On Thursday, December 14th, Building Owners and Management Association East Bay – an organization of commercial building owners and real estate brokers – is holding its annual holiday party at the Oakland Rotunda Building, which is currently under boycott. Youth and workers have had enough of landlords and developers threatening our city with gentrification, pollution, and exploitation. We interrupt BOMA’s celebration to demand our rights and celebrate resilience.
Earlier this month, youth, workers, and community members launched a boycott of the Rotunda Building in response to the building owner Phil Tagami’s lawsuit against the City of Oakland seeking to build a coal terminal which would accelerate already catastrophic ecological destruction and spread toxic coal dust in predominantly working class communities and communities of color in Oakland.
Join us on December 14th for a rocking youth performance and a lively picket of the BOMA party and Rotunda Building to tell Phil Tagami to get his dirty coal out of the Town. We’ll start at 5PM with a youth-led rhythm brigade and Elfin Uprising followed by a picket and delivery of stockings full of coal.
Phil Tagami once claimed he would never ship coal out of concern for the climate his children will inherit. This holiday season, let’s remind him of what really matters most: our families, our communities, and our planet. He can either deliver on his promise to the next generation – and to the city of Oakland – or he will face an ongoing boycott until he drops his lawsuit.
#DontBeAGrinchTagami #DeliverJobsNotCoal #KidsDontDeserveCoal #ElvesVsCoal
For more information, contact Brooke at Climate Workers at 510-846-0766 or at brooke@climateworkers.org.
If you can help with either a generator or rides for youth, please contact Carolyn Norr at 510-220-5707 or carolynclara@gmail.com.
For background about the campaign to keep coal out of Oakland, go to NoCoalInOakland.info.
Please come out to join the first in our series of spokescouncils to help plan the #96Hours of #NonCompliance to Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy.
Note that in contemplating what is happening in the world right now, and the critical importance of solidarity with indigenous peoples and peoples engages in liberation struggles around the world – the third day of #96Hours will be Indigenous/International Solidarity Day!
Here is our revised Call and please don’t forget to join our Facebook spokescouncil event series by clicking “interested” on the series, then “going” on the dates you are able to attend.
Help plan 96 Hours by attending the spokescouncils
WE.WILL.NOT.COMPLY.
96 Hours of Non-Compliance Over King Day Weekend
It’s that time again, Bay Area! For the fourth year in a row, for #96hours over the King Day Weekend, the Anti Police-Terror Project calls our comrades into the streets to stand in solidarity and say no to white supremacy, say no to state sponsored terror, say no to development over people, say no to misogyny, say no to homophobia and transphobia, say no to the targeting of immigrants, say no to the targeting of Muslims. We call on you to join us and show the Trump-Schaff Regimes that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
We call upon groups large and small, well-established or brand new, to plan your own action(s) within a common framework:
Our #96hours culminates with a mass mobilization, and we ask everyone to come together for the Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March through the streets of Oakland.
Furthermore, we call upon both individuals and groups in our community (whether you’re planning an action or not) to come together in a series of spokescouncil meetings in order to coordinate and support the many actions that will be planned:
Even before Trump took office and the KKK took off their hoods, we saw open displays of white supremacy and state-sponsored violence in the Bay Area. We saw police agents murder our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions. We saw local city governments embolden law enforcement departments with unlimited overtime, paid leave after murdering residents, militarized equipment, and a blank check to use dangerous and “non”-lethal devices to crack down on our culture and political dissent.
Even before the Oakland Police Department received national news coverage for the rape of a young teen sex worker by tens of law enforcement agents across the Bay Area, we saw the open sexual harassment and exploitation of our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions.
Even before the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress began its warpath to destroy healthcare and public education and exacerbate poverty, we saw our local city governments do NOTHING to aid long-time residents at risk FOR YEARS as the housing crisis continues to grow worse and worse.
That’s why we are telling all agents of our oppression, from 45 to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
What About Islam?
In this time of anti-Muslim propaganda, what about hearing from real Muslims who live among us? Come hear activist Ahmed Salah speak about how Islam has deeply influenced his philosophy, which is to create social change while preserving life on both sides. Ahmed Salah was one of the primary organizers of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 where hundreds of thousands of protesters filled Tahrir Square, leading to the resignation of an oppressive president. Mr. Salah is the recipient of the Center for Justice and Accountability’s 2013 Champion of Justice Award. There will also be live Middle Eastern music at the event. Let’s listen and discuss together. The event will be held in the historic Fellowship Hall at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU).
Program:
7:00 pm – 7:30 pm Middle Eastern music
7:30 pm – 7:45 pm Break
7:45 pm – 8:45 pm Talk by Ahmed Salah
8:45 pm – 9:00 pm Q&A
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm Socializing, book signing
Suggested donation $10-20; no one turned away for lack of funds
Co-sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice and Music Committees
With White Nationalist/Alt-Right activity and racist harassment on the rise in our public transportation system, Community Ready Corps (CRC) is calling for a campaign to make BART safe for all.
In just the last month, there were several sightings of BART passengers openly displaying Neo-Nazi symbols (as tattoos, pins, or patches on outer clothing), and one incident of racist harassment that went viral after being caught on tape.
In this video (linked here: https://www.youtube.com/
As a community, we need to prepare ourselves to intervene safely in these situations. Public transportation needs to be safe for all of us. 430,000 Bay Area residents rely on BART to get to work every day. We need to organize collectively to create a climate of safety on BART and send the strong message that the Bay Area is united against hate – that our community won’t tolerate racist intimidation and harassment on BART!
In our next workshop, held Saturday, December 16th from 1 – 4 pm at the ACCE office, we’ll apply the proactive response model we introduced in the first series of workshops (Self Defense, Digital Security & Intelligence Gathering, and Hearts & Minds) to the physical space of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.
The first half of this workshop will be a training for safe and effective bystander intervention and self defense by Field Marshall Tur-Ha Ak and Deputy Field Marshall Che Bowe. This training is appropriate for anybody of any skill level, and will equip community members with skills they can use to intervene, de-escalate, and defend themselves against racist harassment and violence. We strongly encourage anti-racist white people to come to this training and get skilled up.
In the second half, we’ll break into working groups to begin growing this campaign to #TakeBackBART. Hope to see you there! Please invite your friends to this workshop!
The fight for single-payer healthcare in California is still just beginning. We have momentum, and so far the opposition has been content only to shelve the bill for now. In our neighborhood canvasses, we are knocking every door to talk to every one of our neighbors, amplify the demand for a decommodified healthcare system, and set the stage for the fight to come when those who stand to lose 30 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare by cutting out the private insurance industry.
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com .
Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.
We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.
Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.
Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.
Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.
Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.
Please join us for our regular bi-weekly Sunflower Alliance meeting. We’ll discuss current campaigns and strategies for the future. We need your participation and your voice! Newcomers and old friends welcome. Please join us for a potluck lunch half an hour before the meeting.
potluck lunch: 12:30 PM
meeting: 1 – 3 PM
(1/2 mile walk from Richmond BART)
Please come out to join the first in our series of spokescouncils to help plan the #96Hours of #NonCompliance to Reclaim King’s Radical Legacy.
Note that in contemplating what is happening in the world right now, and the critical importance of solidarity with indigenous peoples and peoples engages in liberation struggles around the world – the third day of #96Hours will be Indigenous/International Solidarity Day!
Here is our revised Call and please don’t forget to join our Facebook spokescouncil event series by clicking “interested” on the series, then “going” on the dates you are able to attend.
Help plan 96 Hours by attending the spokescouncils
WE.WILL.NOT.COMPLY.
96 Hours of Non-Compliance Over King Day Weekend
It’s that time again, Bay Area! For the fourth year in a row, for #96hours over the King Day Weekend, the Anti Police-Terror Project calls our comrades into the streets to stand in solidarity and say no to white supremacy, say no to state sponsored terror, say no to development over people, say no to misogyny, say no to homophobia and transphobia, say no to the targeting of immigrants, say no to the targeting of Muslims. We call on you to join us and show the Trump-Schaff Regimes that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
We call upon groups large and small, well-established or brand new, to plan your own action(s) within a common framework:
Our #96hours culminates with a mass mobilization, and we ask everyone to come together for the Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March through the streets of Oakland.
Furthermore, we call upon both individuals and groups in our community (whether you’re planning an action or not) to come together in a series of spokescouncil meetings in order to coordinate and support the many actions that will be planned:
Even before Trump took office and the KKK took off their hoods, we saw open displays of white supremacy and state-sponsored violence in the Bay Area. We saw police agents murder our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions. We saw local city governments embolden law enforcement departments with unlimited overtime, paid leave after murdering residents, militarized equipment, and a blank check to use dangerous and “non”-lethal devices to crack down on our culture and political dissent.
Even before the Oakland Police Department received national news coverage for the rape of a young teen sex worker by tens of law enforcement agents across the Bay Area, we saw the open sexual harassment and exploitation of our Black and Brown community members in broad daylight with no repercussions.
Even before the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress began its warpath to destroy healthcare and public education and exacerbate poverty, we saw our local city governments do NOTHING to aid long-time residents at risk FOR YEARS as the housing crisis continues to grow worse and worse.
That’s why we are telling all agents of our oppression, from 45 to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf that WE WILL NOT COMPLY with their corporate agenda.
Feed The People!
The last Sunday of every month attendees of the OO GA get together a little earlier than usual, at 2 PM (3 PM during DST) to share some food with each other and the community. There should be a table, utensils/plates, meat and veggie entrees and whatnot, courtesy of the Kitchen Committee (such at he is), so just bring yourself, or something to share as well if you’d like.
For reasons of meteorology (rain in November) and convenience we have fused the November fress with the one that would normally be scheduled for December 31st, so this meal is slated for Sunday, dec. 17th at 2PM, barring rain or a police state. I believe swine is on the menu.
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at the Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway in the amphitheater. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. During the warmer months we meet at 4 PM at the plaza.
The OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for more than five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.
At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.
General Assembly Standard Agenda
Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.
Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Occupy Oakland Kitchen Committee: (kitchen@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area
San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv
