Calendar
Monique Robinson’s services will be at Fuller’s in east Oakland at 11am on Thursday July 17th and Friday the 18th . Please wear purple and white. They were Monique’s favorite colors.
Please follow this link and contribute to the care fund of Taylor, who was orphaned by violence on July 3rd, 2014.
Peeps are continually staffing a table outside of Staples, 24-7, ongoing for more than a month now now. They are protesting the privatization of the Post Office and Staples role in it, outsourcing living wage Postal Service personnel for subsistence wage Staples employees.
Tents have gone up along the Durant sidewalk with ‘Stop Staples’ signs!
Come by and say hello, hang out, bring ’em a bit to eat and drink, and give them your support!
Written by the Oakland Chamber of Commerce and the California Restaurant Association, this measure would exempt 95% of Oakland employers from an Oakland minimum wage until 2017. This would include major fast food companies like McDonalds, Subway, Burger King and Popeye’s.
Please join us this Saturday, July 19th, to walk precincts and to tell the City Council to stop this competing measure.
Schedule:
Meeting starting at 9:30am
Rally at 10am
Dispatch at 10:30am
Sign up here to let us know you are coming.
Major out of town special interests are backing the effort to stop a minimum wage in Oakland. At a City Council hearing last week, the California Restaurant Association led the testimony in support of a competing measure. This group has consistently opposed raising the state minimum wage and is largely funded by major fast food chains.
If you cannot make it this weekend, please email these City Councilmembers:
Pat Kernighan
Pkernighan@oaklandnet.com
Larry Reid
lreid@oaklandnet.com
Lynette Gibson McElhaney
LMcElhaney@oaklandnet.com
Tell them to stop their efforts to confuse voters and to give major fast food corporations an exemption to a local minimum wage.
Sincerely,
The Lift Up Oakland Coalition
P.S. Make no mistake, none of these City Councilmembers want to raise the minimum wage. Councilmembers Reid and Kernighan are long time members of the City Council, and if they had wanted to raise the minimum wage, they would have introduced legislation or acted to do so years ago.
Release the children now! Children don’t belong in prison!
No more deportations! Immediate family reunification!
Full social, medical and physiological attention to all children and youth now!
Immediate access to legal representation!
We lost our beloved Monique to violence this past Thursday. Her life cut too short. She had many people who loved and supported her. She had her two babies, and many dreams and ambitions. She wanted to make a change in this world. And the impact she left, will never be forgotten.
Let’s March in solidarity, to show our support for MONIQUE and many other women we have lost due to violence.
We will march to the first stop where her first vigil was held in west Oakland Around 1pm. There, we can speak out for justice to be served and share memories about Monique, and how violence against women needs to stop.
Then March back around to OGP where we can all can eat, listen to music and make our presence known, and have another vigil for Monique.
We can all bring food, poster boards, markers, chalk, flags, music, and people who share the Love for Monique.
WE will be doing art projects in remembrance of Mo. So bring stuff! Any ideas are welcome to help make this a better event.
Invite anyone you know who would like to come and show support.
Strike Debt Bay Area (@strikedebtba)will meet at Oscar Grant Plaza in the amphitheater or on the front steps of City Hall, Saturday, July 19, from 3-5:30 p.m. If you have specific questions for a smaller group, or just want to know a few people before the meeting starts, email us at the address above.
Activism on such a big issue – all unjust debt! – can use as many people and talents as we can find. If you are excited by the idea of Strike Debt, and/or our many projects, come join us! Our project include organizing for public banking in Oakland, participating in Occupy San Francisco’s third anniversary convergence, creating Strike Debt radio segments, a number of which have been broadcast on KPFA, securing funding from the City of Vallejo for nonprofit check cashing and public finance study initiatives, saving the Berkeley Post Office and stopping the Staples non-union takeover of good Post Office Jobs, working with the City of Richmond and other municipalities for eminent domain seizure of underwater mortgages from the banksters, and more.
From some of our past activities:
The reason we feed the community is because on July 16, 2011 19 year old Kenneth Wade Harding Jr. was brutally murdered by the SFPD over a $2.00 transit fare. While the community of Bayiew Hunters Point watched this live, the rest of the world watched the horrific video on youtube. It was evident that something needed to be done to address not only the crime against Kenny and his family but also against the community members that witnessed this crime.
In August 2011 a group of young people from Bayview, members known as the Black Star Liner Incorporated stood up against the injustice in their community by the hands of police officers paid by the tax dollars to harrass and at some times kill the civilians by reaching out to the people in Kenny’s Plaza (formally known as Mendell Plaza). That interaction came in the form of communication via political and educational literature, OCC complaints and planting the seed for a regular community feed. Over two years later we are now in our 27th consecutive month.
To date with the guidance of Kenneth Harding Jr.’s Courageous mother Denika Chatman we feed up to 100 people per month.
Donations are needed and welcomed! Below you will find a detailed list of the essential items that make our monthly feeds such a success!
WHAT WE NEED:
* Turkey, Chicken or Beef sandwich meat (NO PORK!!!)
* Whole wheat bread
* Condiments (mayo and mustard)
* Lettuce, Tomatoes and other veggies
* Fruit both fresh and canned
* Healthy snacks (crackers, chips, granola, fruit bars, fruit snacks, pastries, nuts, yogurt etc.)
* Water
* Juice
***And anything else healthy that you think would fill the bag and a belly with love!
ADDITIONALLY ASIDE FROM FOOD WE NEED:
*** Paper sandwich bags
*** Plastic sandwich bags
*** Serving Gloves
*** Paper towels
*** Hand sanitizer
*****And any other suggestions that you may have would be great!
DONATIONS CAN BE MADE THROUGH
http://www.gofundme.com/
Thank you so much for your support in this struggle! The best way to heal the community is to provide the pathway to the basics that we have been denied as a whole. In order to fight we must feed The Body, The Mind and The Spirit!
Israel has announced a ground invasion of Gaza!!
All out for Palestine!!
Within the past couple weeks the state of Israel has killed over 230 Palestinians injured and displaced thousands and is now preparing for an all out ground invasion of the prison otherwise known as Gaza. .
Join us to to stand with the Palestinian people, demand an end to US aid to Israel, and honor those who have passed as Israel continues its attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied 1948 Palestine.
WE DEMAND THAT
End US Aid to Israel!
Stop the Attack on Gaza now!
End the Apartheid State of Israel!
Free all our political prisoners!
Support the Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation!
Flags, kuffiyehs, signs, banners, and voices are all welcome!
List of sponsors and endorsers:
Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
Al-Awda Right to Return Coalition
American Friends Service Committee of San Francisco
American Muslims for Palestine
Anakbayan- Silicon Valley
Anakbayan- East Bay
ANSWER: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center & AYO: Arab Youth Organizing
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
Idriss Stellie Foundation
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
SF Women In Black
SFWILPF
Solitary Watch
South Bay Mobilization
United National Antiwar Coalition
USACBI – US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
USPCN: US Palestine Community Network
Workers World Party
Join us in a symbolic funeral procession to honor the Palestinian martyrs that have sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Palestine.
Within the past couple weeks the illegal, terrorist, and apartheid state of Israel and their military have killed over 170 Palestinian, and thousands have been injured as the Israeli government has bombed Gaza.
It is going to be a symbolic procession that are similar to the funeral processions that happen in the streets of Palestine for over 60+ years!
WE DEMAND THAT
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, kuffiehs, signs, banners, and voices are all welcome!
Soul, our dear friend and lifelong community activist has accumulated quite a large medical debt. Let’s have a night of feast, revolution, and getting down on the dance floor to show our love and support!
6PM: $5. suggested donation per plate (more most welcome!!, but no-one turned away…support comes in many forms, and the presence of good friends is the best!)
MENU:
Chili
Brown Rice
Veggie dawgs & grilled zucchini
Salads
Desserts:
Chocolate chip cookies by Stormy
Coconut cream pie bunt cake by Gail
7PM Film: “Berkeley Liberation Radio: Micro Power for the People” (1hr.)
8PM on: Dance Party: Dedicate & Request special songs for the playlist…
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
The People’s Climate Curriculum
with Laurie Baumgarten & Anne Donjacour
Are you interested in helping people understand why climate change is occurring and what can be done about it? If so, come to our workshop and learn how the People’s Climate Curriculum is the tool you have been waiting for. It is easy to use and helps each of us become learners and teachers of basic climate literacy.
Every mass movement for change begins with a change in consciousness. It involves a leap forward into a consciousness that says, “I am a subject, not an object. I can act, I can do, I can create.” Educational tools which promote the development of this proactive stance are crucial to the work of popular education.
Our People’s Climate Curriculum educates through a method of teaching developed by Paulo Freire called dialogic pedagogy. The teacher/animator mingles among the participants. Together, through reflection, they critically examine social reality. Unlike traditional educational models in which participants are treated as objects to be taught, this interactive model attempts to counteract passivity and promote action.
Climate change is part of everyone’s social reality. Being literate in climate language helps us become empowered and thus, more able to solve the present crisis. Join us to learn more about our popular education campaign and how to use the People’s Climate Curriculum.
Laurie Baumgarten has been an activist since she was a freshman at Berkeley during the Free Speech Movement. She was active in the anti-war movement, the women’s movement and The Abalone Alliance. She was also a classroom teacher for 35 years in the Berkeley Unified School District. Laurie joined the climate movement about 2 years ago and helped develop the People’s Climate Curriculum. She now works with The Sunflower Alliance.
Our own Anne Donjacour has been a member of OccupyForum and the OccupySF Environmental Justice Working Group since the beginning. Her activism has branched out to other groups such as 350.org, the Unitarian Universalists, and many more. She is a professor at UCSF School of Medicine and is raising a passel of activist children!
Q&A and Announcements to follow.
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. Just recently the American Federation of Teachers, AFCSME and UNITE HERE did too. We are trying to get the Alameda Labor Council to pass a similar resolution.
For the last three+ weeks the sidewalk in front of Staples has been ‘occupied’ 24/7 by an intrepid band of San Francisco occupiers with solidarity and support from BPOD members, and they plan to continue there, distributing literature and convincing people not to shop at Staples, indefinitely. Go by and say ‘Hi!’ and help them out.
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 work and come help us out!
THINGS ARE HAPPENING!
The Community & Economic Development Committee of the City Council will take up a proposed ballot initiative which would conflict with and undermine the $12.25 min wage and paid sick leave ballot initiative that will appear on the ballot in November. This is a cynical attempt by the one percent and their Council lackeys to destroy what 33,000+ voters of Oakland have already said they support (by their signatures on the ballot petition).
Oakland Sustainable And Fair Compensation Act Of 2014 From: Council President Patricia Kernighan Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Submitting, On The Council’s Own Motion To The Electors At The November 4, 2014 Statewide General Election, The “Oakland Sustainable And Fair Compensation Act Of 2014”, A Proposed City Ordinance Establishing A City Minimum Wage And Requiring Paid Sick Leave; And Directing The City Clerk To Fix The Dates For Submission Of Arguments And Provide For Notice And Publication In Accordance With The Law
Third planning meeting for a Bay Area action coinciding with demonstrations in New York City at the UN Climate Summit, September 20 and 21. Although this is the third meeting, anyone interested in working on this is welcome to attend.
Additional information about the People’s Climate March in New York can be found at peoplesclimatemarch.org.
Here are the articles on Piketty we will read for the next class
Summary of Piketty argument:
http://boingboing.net/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-t.html
Critique of Piketty:
Mainstream:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/05/capital-eats-the-world/
Occupy (very short by Graeber):
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/30/savage-capitalism-back-radical-challenge
Plus a radio interview from Michael Hudson:
http://youtu.be/uv6kEd9C9CM
And another, optional, topical-historical take on Picketty and Capitalism:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/24489-the-compelling-conclusion-about-capitalism-that-piketty-resists
Here is how to get to the OMNI from BART:
1) get off at the MacArthur station
2) head East towards Telegraph
3) go North up Telegraph for 4-5 blocks
4) veer left onto Shattuck
5) go 3 blocks up Shattuck to the big white and blue building on the left (4799)
6) ring the bell (top right of door)
7) Tell ’em you’re here for he Public School class
Hope to see you all there!
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.
Stop the War on Children from Gaza to the U.S./Mexican Border!
Say No to Racism and War! Stand with children and youth under attack. Solidarity with Palestine and the people of Central America. In support of the call for a national week of actions from 7/17 – 7/24. A united action initiated by the International Action Center – Bay Area and supported by the AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center, EBIYC – East Bay Immigrant Youth Coalition, Middle East Children’s Alliance, and American Friends Service Committee.
Come help stop Berkeley Police from getting tasers!
After each mishap or tragedy that occurs these days in Berkeley, we are told that it could have been averted “if only” the police had been issued tasers. The mayor of Berkeley made this claim after six Berkeley police killed a mentally ill transgender woman in her own home last year. BPD officers made the same claim again when a mentally ill man stabbed himself several times. This week, Chris Stines of the Berkeley Police Association (BPA) went to great pains to spread the notion that if a Berkeley police officer had had a taser this past week, he wouldn’t have been assaulted. It is regrettable that the BPA uses these incidents as nothing more than a way to win political points. The issue of how to protect officers as well as the human rights of the citizenry is far more complex than simply giving cops more hardware on their belts.
Of course, these kinds of statements can never be proven. No one can know whether a taser would have prevented the confrontation in which the officer was involved in a fistfight with a suspect who was believed to be mentally ill. The BPA continues to apply steady political pressure to our local politicians and insists that somehow, real safety resides in our ability to meet suspects with electric shocks. At Berkeley Copwatch, we disagree. We believe that it is the duty of the officers to place the well being of the community at the forefront of their efforts. We believe that mentally ill people have a right to treatment and should not be subjected to torture because of a condition which they do not control. It is time for the City of Berkeley to return to the humane approaches for which it was once famous and reject the militarization of care which has overtaken our approach to community health and safety.
Top ten reasons against tasers.
