Calendar
National Day of Action U.S. Troops Out of Iraq!
Answer Coalition
On Saturday, January 4 the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK and others are calling on people from around the United States to organize local demonstrations to demand: NO MORE U.S. TROOPS TO IRAQ OR THE MIDDLE EAST! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW! and NO WAR/NO SANCTIONS ON IRAN!
In response to the massive protests in Iraq following the latest U.S. aerial assault that killed scores of Iraqis, Donald Trump has ordered 750 more U.S. troops to the Middle East and potentially 3,000 more. This is in addition to the 5,200 U.S. troops already stationed in Iraq. Every U.S. president over the last 28 years has ordered the bombing of Iraq. The decision by Donald Trump and the Pentagon to launch new air assaults against Iraqis in the past week ignited nationwide resistance by Iraqis who want to reclaim their full sovereignty and do not want Iraq to be used in a U.S. war on Iran.
More than a million Iraqis have died during the past 28 years as a consequence of U.S. occupation, bombings and sanctions. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have either been killed or suffered life-changing wounds. The U.S. government has spent more than $3 trillion in the ongoing occupation and bombing of this oil rich country. Instead of taking the United States out of this endless war, Trump is building up U.S. forces in the region and threatening a war with Iran.
Initiators for this call include the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, Popular Resistance, World Beyond War and many other anti-war and peace organizations. If you want to add your name as an endorser click here.
Demonstrations will also take place on Saturday, January 4 in the following cities.
The White House – Washington D.C.
12 noon at the White House
Albuquerque, NM
2pm at Kirtland Airforce Base, San Mateo and Gibson Blvd
Initiated by ANSWER Albuquerque
Chicago, IL
12 noon at Trump Tower
Initiated by ANSWER Chicago
Los Angeles, CA
1 pm at Pershing Square
Initiated by ANSWER LA
New York City, NY
11 am at Times Square
Initiated by ANSWER New York
San Francisco, CA
12 noon at Powell and Market
Initiated by ANSWER San Francisco
Arlington, MA
12noon at Broadway Plaza, Mass. Ave. and Medford St
Initiated by Arlington United for Justice with Peace (AUJP)
Seattle, WA
2pm at Westlake Park
Initiated by ANSWER Seattle
Atlanta, GA
3 pm at Little Five Points
Initiated by ANSWER Atlanta
Talk on BDS.
Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
Discussion Topic: Is this the year we will overthrow the hated dictatorship of the bourgeoisie?
“If there is going to be class warfare in this country, it’s about time the working class won that war.”
So says Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist who has a real shot at becoming president of the United States. The Democratic Socialists of America has thrown its weight behind Bernie’s campaign, which has inspired millions of working-class people to get involved in politics and to fight for a better world.
This special edition of East Bay DSA’s Socialist Night School will tackle some fundamental questions about democratic socialism and the Bernie movement. What is class warfare, and how is it related to capitalism? What do we mean by “capitalism” and “democratic socialism,” anyway? And how does the campaign for Bernie advance the cause of democratic socialism?
Join us on Tuesday, January 7 to discuss these questions, in the first of a special four-part series on Bernie Sanders, capitalism, and democratic socialism.
See the readings here: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/night-school/
Accessibility:
The venue and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible. Please message us if you have other accessibility needs such as childcare.
Due to the New Year’s Holiday the January 2nd meeting of the PAC has been cancelled. A Special Meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday January 8th from 5-7pm at City Hall in Hearing Room 1.
Agenda items of possible interest:
4. Chief Privacy Officer report – Privacy Principles status update and implementation
5. Chair/Vice Chair report – 2020 planning, PAC annual report, report tracking, agenda management
6. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – Live Stream Camera Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and take possible action
7. Surveillance Equipment Ordinance – OPD – UAS (Drone) Impact Report and proposed Use Policy – review and take possible action
The precarity of Black girls’ lives in school have been made visible by Dr. Monique Morris. Through her writing, advocacy, and now film, PUSHOUT, we now have the language to describe and understand what we see happening to Black girls in schools. Morris’ work has inspired debate and legislation with the recent sponsoring of the Ending Punitive, Unfair, School-based Harm that is Overt and Unresponsive to Trauma (P.U.S.H.O.U.T) Act,” by representatives Ayanna Pressley (D- MA), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.). The law identifies the many students made vulnerable by race, gender, and disability positionality and outlines resources and policy recommendations to secure educational spaces for children.
Join Mills College, School of Education for its culminating Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action event: a screening of PUSHOUT and townhall panel discussion moderated by Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey. Dr. Monique Morris will provide opening remarks. In collaboration with the Mills College Black History Month programming and Ethnic Studies Department, we are proud to host this screening of PUSHOUT.
UPDATE: While this event is currently marked as “Sold Out” please join our Waitlist. As seats open up due to cancellations, individuals on our Waitlist will be contacted to secure their free ticket.
Reclaim the Commons – Enough is Enough – January 9
By now, many of us want to throw Facebook over the side of a bridge. Privacy violations, government orders, hate speech, disinformation, censorship …. the list goes on.
But here’s the reality. FB is a communications platform that reaches billions of people, a public town square and a powerful influencer. It isn’t easy to build up that kind of scale again and it won’t be quick.
Zuckerberg got lucky. It’s the people that make social media and we make it every day. It needs to work for us, not against us.
The world’s biggest social media platform has basically done nothing to head off massive disinformation campaigns, blatant lies and hateful extremism. It has put profits ahead of social good, the health of democracy, and the personal safety of many.
We’ve let them. But that can stop. We’re teaming up with a coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals to force Facebook to clean up its act.
On January 9th, we’re paying a visit to 1 Hacker Way to say the jig is up.
Even the company’s own employees know what needs to happen. Facebook just isn’t listening.
Which means we need to say it a little louder.
We will no longer tolerate the company’s paralysis in the face of the harm they are causing. They can take action and the public will make them.
We hope you’ll join Media Alliance, Global Exchange, Credo Action, Code Pink, MediaJustice, Courage Campaign and many others on January 9th.
We have a bus from SF to Menlo Park and back. Tickets are $15 R/T. Reserve a seat here.
If you are a meta type, here is the Facebook event for the Facebook protest.
If you can’t come, you can support the January 9 action online by participating in #BlackOutFaceBook. Replace your profile picture and cover photo with a black box to mourn our lost public commons and start the countdown to reclaiming it.
As we told the press: We’re not willing to cede a communications network that reaches billions of people to the unfettered practices of a corporation that cares more about its profits than about our democracy. Not without a fight.
Happy Holidays and lets fix Facebook once and for all. (supported by the collective power of the MediaJustice network)
Take Action
Some agenda items of possible interest:
X. Use of Force Working Group
The Use of Force Working Group will present its revised draft report and a draft of the
Oakland Police Department Use of Force Policy, Department General Order (DGO) K-03.
The Commission will vote to approve the report and the revised DGO. This is item is
continued from 12.12.19. (Attachment 10).
XI. Presentation by National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) of Proposed Pilot
Juvenile Diversion Program
David Muhammad of NICJR will deliver a presentation on the Neighborhood Opportunity
and Accountability Board (NOAB) which will be a community based, restorative, youth
diversion initiative in Oakland. This is a new item. (Attachment 11).
Join the East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses social. Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in EBDSA Labor Committee & learn how you can get involved.
Join the East Bay DSA’s Labor Committee for their regular Beer and Roses social. Hang out with other members who are interested in the labor movement, hear about what’s happening in EBDSA Labor Committee & learn how you can get involved.
Democracy Under Siege
Join California Common Cause and special guest Leteefah Simon for a conversation on how we take back our democracy.
Speakers include Chesa Boudin (new SF District Attorney-elect), Aaron Glantz (award-winning journalist and author of HOMEWRECKERS), Lee Camp (political satirist, author and activist), Jane Kim (CA Political Director for Bernie Sanders Campaign) and many other great speakers and panelists! All are invited…please come join us celebrate our California progressive activism as we move forward together!!
8:30 am to 9:30 pm. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included with your ticket!
All young people under 25 have their registration fee waived. RSVP HERE for Youth Waiver.
Gar Smith (he/him), Guest Speaker
An overview of the invisible health and environmental impacts of the “5G wireless revolution” that lies behind The Internet of Things.
5th Generation (not to be confused with 5 Gigahertz) wireless is not yet activated here, but some 5G-ready Small Cell WTF’s have been installed, and 1000’s are planned! 5G would drastically increase: surveillance, hacking, fire risk, interference with weather prediction, property devaluations, energy use, worker endangerment, industrial clutter, co$t to cities and individuals, adverse health & environmental effects due to radiation! https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/01/04/18829432.php
Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
Speaker will be Eugene E Ruyle, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, CSU Long Beach, currently with ICSS in Oakland. Gene will discuss his forthcoming book, Socialism for Americans: A Scientific Introduction to the Global Struggle for Socialism.
Gene’s basic idea is that although socialism takes different forms in different times and places, the revolutionary core of socialism lies in those societies that have actually had socialist revolutions: the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe, Korea, Vietnam, China, and Cuba. But this does not mean that the struggle for socialism within the imperialist countries is not important. It obviously is, and it must be placed in its proper context. Socialists in the United States are advised to shed their parochialism and embrace a global solidarity with the surviving and thriving socialist camp countries of China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos, as well as other forms of socialism throughout the world.
On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. The Supreme Court’s misguided principle failed to recognize that corporations are legal fictions and only human beings are people. The corruption resulting from this and previous Supreme Court rulings has consolidated our political system into a single party plutocracy – a single “Business Party” witt Democratic and Republican wings controlled by corporate money. Move to Amend formed in response to Citizens United. We have built a Congressional coalition around the “We the People Amendment” (HJR48) that will reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. This forum will address the history of corporate rule, including more recent consolidation of corporate power ushered in with neoliberalism, and describe how HJR48 is a good first step in revoking corporate rule and establishing that “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
Lawrence Abbott is a retired Teamster, and Wildlife Biologist working as a Seasonal Political Organizer for the AFL-CIO Alameda Labor Council, and as a volunteer Organizer for Move To Amend, MoveOn, and Indivisible SF/East Bay.
Phoebe Anne Sorgen is a delegate to the Green Party USA National Committee. A long time organizer for a nuke-free, just and sustainable world, she was 2005 Outstanding Woman of Berkeley and 2015 Tom Paine Courageous Spirit awardee. Years ago, she decided to focus on the overarching cure, getting the laws changed that gave profit-motivated corporations the power to ruin our world; so she serves on the Move to Amend Bay Area Steering Committee. She is currently also tackling 5G wireless telecom, an egregious symptom of the corporatocracy.
James McFadden is a UC Berkeley research physicist who facilitates the local East Bay Move to Amend steering committee. He is also an active member of the Green Party of Alameda County and several other political groups.
Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. Snacks are potluck. Vegetarian and vegan snacks are always welcome, but we appreciate whatever you can bring! The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows, at 6:45 pm. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.