Calendar
L.A. Kauffman discussing her new book:
Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism
from Verso Press
A vibrant, groundbreaking history of American radicalism since the Sixties
What happened to the American left after the Sixties? This engrossing account traces the evolution of disruptive protest over the last 40 years to tell a larger story about the reshaping of American radicalism, showing how the direct-action blockades, occupations, and campaigns of recent activist movements have functioned as laboratories for political experimentation and renewal.
Propelled by more than 100 candid interviews conducted over a span of decades, this elegant and lively history showcases the voices of key players in an array of movements – environmentalist, anti-nuclear, anti-apartheid, feminist, LGBTQ, anti-globalization, racial-justice, anti-war, and more – across an era when American politics shifted to the right, and issue- and identity-based organizing eclipsed the traditional ideologies of the left.
As Kauffman, a longtime movement insider, examines how groups from ACT UP to Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter have used direct action to catalyze change against long odds, she details the profound influence of feminism and queerness on radical political practice and how enduring divisions of race have shaped the landscape of activism. Written with nuance and humor, and revealing deep connections between movements usually viewed in isolation, Direct Action is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how protest movements erupt — and how they can succeed.
L.A. Kauffman has spent more than 30 years immersed in radical movements, as an organizer, strategist, journalist, and observer. Her writings on grassroots activism and social movement history have been published in The Nation, Mother Jones, n+1, The Baffler, and many other outlets. Kauffman was the mobilizing coordinator for the massive anti-war marches of 2003-2004; she has been called a “virtuoso organizer” by journalist Scott Sherman for her role in saving community gardens and public libraries in New York City from developers. Visit L.A. Kauffman’s twitter-feed
Peaceful support for victim and his family. Mr. Moore’s bail is set at $2 Million. He was assaulted then shot by SFPD in his own home for being loud while black. He needs medical treatment, not incarceration.
Agenda:
1. 5:00pm: Call to Order, determination of quorum.
2. 5:05pm: Review and approval of January 5 meeting minutes.
3. 5:10pm: Presentation on Automated License Plate Readers by Oakland Police Department.
4. 5:20pm: Presentation on Automated License Plate Readers by Cyrus Farivar, Senior Business Editor
at Ars Technica.
5. 5:30pm: Presentation on Automated License Plate Readers by Mike Katz-Lacabe, Director of
Research at Center for Human Rights and Privacy.
6. 5:40pm: Review and discuss current Oakland Police Department Automated License Plate Reader
policy. No action on this item will be taken at this meeting.
7. 6:15pm: Open Forum
8. 7:00pm: Adjournment
Labor author STEVE EARLY with GAYLE McGLAUGHLIN + ANDRES SOTO present “Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money and the Remaking of an American City.” “As Washington remains in gridlock, the everyday citizen-heroes of Richmond, California have been getting things done to make their city work for all.”—Robert Reich KPFA event co-sponsored by 22 progressive organizations as a tribute to Steve Early and former mayor Gayle McGlaughlin and all participants in this successful creative struggle against corporate power. Tickets at brownpapertickets.com and many indie bookshops. Don’t miss this!Conference/Symposium
Berkeley Institute for Data Science
Trust in basic democratic institutions is dropping and has been for years. Trust in facts, data, and science also seem to be eroding in what is being called a “post-fact” world.
What is going on? And what can be done about it?
Please join us for a mini unconference to discuss ways academics and data scientists might constructively improve our democratic infrastructure. This will be an open forum for people representing a range of perspectives to discuss concerns and potential solutions. All perspectives are welcome, and no particular perspective will be privileged or rejected. In our view, the more political viewpoints, the better!
Anyone who wishes will have two to three minutes to speak about an issue, topic, concern, action, initiative, or project. We will then break out into groups so that people can discuss these issues in depth and come back together to share highlights with the larger group. We will conclude with mingling and networking, so everyone can get to know one another and plan for future action.
Here are some potential discussion topics we have already identified:
-Combating fake news
-Digital democracy platforms
-Preventing unconstitutional surveillance
-Managing/deleting/anonymizing database records that might be mis-used by -government
-Election integrity (voting machines)
-Algorithms of government (when are they useful, appropriate, safe?)
-Automation and its effects on political economy
-Voluntary social/health insurance
-Organizing cities
-[Your ideas here!]
What Is an Unconference?
An unconference is a loosely structured participant-driven meeting at which information and ideas are shared among attendees in a more informal manner, generally open discussions. Attendees set the agenda at the beginning of the meeting, and everyone is given the opportunity to propose a discussion topic. After the agenda is set, participants break into groups to discuss the chosen topics and then later reconvene as a larger group to share discussion highlights.
Free. Each documentary will begin promptly at 5:30 PM, discussion afterwards. Food provided.
Feb 3 – John Henrik Clarke – A Great and Mighty Walk
Feb 10 – The House I Live In
Feb 17 – The Night Tulsa Burned
Feb 24th – 13th
Lunch will be provided!
We will reimburse you for transit (keep your receipt)
YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED
The Oakland Justice Coalition Welcomes the Richmond Progressive Alliance!
“Remaking An American City.”
How the Richmond Progressive Alliance turned a company town into a model for municipal action in the Trump Era!
Guest speakers:
– Steve Early, Former CWA organizer, Labor for Bernie activist, & author of Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of An American City, and other books.
– Zak Wear, RPA steering committee member and coordinator of Richmond’s successful rent control campaign.
Light Refreshments will be served – book signing! Parking on the street or E. 18th St. Lucky’s lot
Please RSVP to Marilyn Albert at malbert@nuhw.org
We normally have a meal before GA on the last Sunday of the month, but this month that would fall the day after Chinese New Years, and our mayoral caninedate Einstein gets very spooked by fireworks after being so traumatized by flashbang grenades and tear gas on October 25th, 2011, when the cops broke up the first encampment that he and Ed Not Bombs are going to try and visits some friends in the country to get away from the noise. And without Einstein keeping the pigeons at a respectful distance its hard to enjoy a peaceful repast in the plaza, so we are delaying our meal until the first Sunday in February, so we’ll take the 5th at 2 PM.
The last Sunday of every month attendees of the OO GA will get together a little earlier than usual, at 2 PM (3 PM pn the summer) to share some food with each others and the community. There should be a table and utensils/plates courtesy of the Kitchen Committee (such at he is), so just bring a nosh to share… 
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway, often on the steps of City Hall. 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 tend to meet at 4 PM.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for more than four 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. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. 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
- Welcome & Introductions
- Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
- Announcements
- (Optional) Discussion Topic
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
Open Circle is taking steps to repeal the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. The timing to achieve this is now.
President trump vows to give police a wider bearth which means more racial profiling, more stop and frisk, more killer cops, zero accountablity.
Let’s work together on this now. The longer trump is in office the harder it will be to turn over this reprehenisble pos Bill.
“Trump states his administration “will be a law and order administration,” committed to ending the “dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America.”
breitbart.com/
We are meeting as a community with the families whose loved ones have been harmed and killed by cops. Hear their experiences and updates on their cases for police accountability, participate in further organizing, and, most of all, love and support one another. ♥
Agenda:
3:45 – 4:00 Introductions
4:00 – 4:30 Family Updates
4:30 – 5:15 Collaborate on repealing the Police Bill of Rights
5:15 – 5:30 Announcements
5:30 – 5:45 Network
*This is a Potluck Event, please feel free to bring a dish, snack or (non-alcoholic) beverage to share. ♥
Location Information:
From Oakland : BART to Embarcadero Center, transfer downstairs to MUNI and get on the T Light Trsin going south bound towards Bayview, get off on Caroll Street and walk back half a block on 3rd.
Emergency door on the armstrong side will be open so that attendees can come directly to the common room.
~~~
Open Circle – Families United for Justice provides an opportunity to build community with one another, to offer support to Families victimized by police misconduct, including police murder and stand with Families in their struggle for justice for their loved ones.
Join us for a report back, art auction & fundraiser for the Standing Rock Two Spirit Nation camp!
Trump’s administration brings new, imminent, and scary threats to water protectors at the Standing Rock encampment in North Dakota. Please help the Two Spirit Nation stand up for our water and the sovereignty of our First Peoples!
Candi Brings Plenty belongs to the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe and identifies as an Indigenous Queer, Two Spirit Woman. In addition to her leadership within Two-Spirit Nation at Oceti Sakowin/Oceti Oyate camp, Candi is Executive Director of the Equi Institute of Portland, Oregon’s first Trans- and Queer-focused health clinic, and director of the Portland Two Spirit Society.
Two-Spirit Nation camp is a camp within Oceti Sakowin/Oceti Oyate led by Two-Spirit community members. Two-Spirit Nation was honored with a Grand Entry at Standing Rock on October 14th, 2016, and has been leading the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline since.
**If you cannot make it in person and you are able to contribute to the Two Spirit Nation camp at Standing Rock, please donate directly to the camp’s PayPal account: http://paypal.me/
Food & drinks available for purchase. 21 & over.
Accessibility Information:
The event is in the upstairs ballroom space of the Starline Social Club, which regrettably is not yet wheelchair accessible. There are 2 flights of stairs – approximately 20 steps total – leading up to the ballroom. Restrooms have relatively wide stalls. There will be one gender neutral and one women’s* restroom upstairs, and a single-stall gender-neutral restroom attendees can use downstairs. Guests should use whichever restroom they feel most comfortable with. The venue may use some scented cleaning supplies, but we ask that people do their best to arrive ***free of scents and fragrances,*** to support access for community members with chemical sensitivities. More information about being fragrance free here: https://
Please come out on monday at 9am to Rene C. Davidson Courthouse Dept 7 to support a comrade arrested at the Anti Trump election day protest. Let’s show our solidarity by packing the court!
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
Standing Rock:
“Every Footfall is a Prayer”
with The Reverend Meg Whitaker-Greene
The Rev. Meg Whitaker-Greene, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry where she formerly served as Adjunct Faculty. She has served as Minister to four UU Congregations. Her psychotherapy experience includes successful facilitation to heal post-traumatic stress, historic trauma, and issues being experienced by couples, families, and individuals. She has been Clinical Supervisor of the Native American Counseling Center in San Francisco. She is a graduate of The Reverend Dr. Jeremy Taylor’s Dreamworker Institute. She presently leads Dream Groups and does short term counseling in her private practice.
Support Standing Rock!
Are you wondering how you can support the Water Protectors at Standing Rock? There are some great ways you can help!
Oceti Sakowin is the “big camp” at Standing Rock. The easiest and most direct way to support the camp is to donate at http://www.ocetisakowincamp.org. The Medic and Healer Council is busy keeping folks at camp safe & healthy this winter. You can donate to them at�] https://psmag.com/inside-the-battle-over-the-dakota-access-pipeline-2509fa77f23e#.88r2314pphttps://medichealercouncil.com/
EMERGENCY #NoDAPL Action! Arrestival! Stand with us! Share widely!
Today the Army Corps of Engineers notified Congress that it will grant an easement for the Dakota Access Pipeline in the next 24 hours, trampling a planned environmental and tribal consultation review process.
Statement from Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network:
“Donald Trump will not build his Dakota Access Pipeline without a fight. The granting of an easement, without any environmental review or tribal consultation, is not the end of this fight — it is the new beginning. Expect mass resistance far beyond what Trump has seen so far.
“The granting of this easement goes against protocol, it goes against legal process, it disregards more than 100,000 comments already submitted as part of the not-yet-completed environmental review process — all for the sake of Donald Trump’s billionaire big oil cronies. And, it goes against the treaty rights of the entire Seven Councils Fires of the Sioux Nations.
“Donald Trump has not met with a single Native Nation since taking office. Our tribal nations and Indigenous grassroots peoples on the frontlines have had no input on this process. We support the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, and stand with them at this troubling time.”
You can read that notification letter here:
http://www.ienearth.org/
After taking down “the Village” that had been erected at Marcus Garvey Park last week, the city agreed to have a meeting about homelessness tomorrow at 4 at city Hall in hearing room 1.
San Franciscans passed Prop W to fund the Free City College initiative. Since then the Board of Supervisors have kept their promise to the voters by acting to set aside the monies needed and the DCCC has unanimously passed a resolution in support of making the Free City College Initiative REAL by Fall 2017. Now we need to Mayor Lee to just cut the check!
We’ve learned Mayor Ed Lee is considering drastically reducing the scope of Free City or possibly preventing it from moving forward at all, despite being supported by the voters.
Please join us on Thursday, 2/9 at 12:30pm at City Hall Polk St. steps to show your support for making City College FREE for ALL San Franciscans! We will rally from 12:30-1pm and then march to the Mayor’s office at 1pm to deliver thousands of signed postcards urging him to do the right thing for the future of higher education in San Francisco.
With exorbitant housing prices and high student debt, students often face choices between enrollment and rent, between textbooks and groceries. In the face of these calamitous times San Francisco must set the example and ensure access to quality education.
Let’s make Free City REAL!
Can’t attend the day of the action? Here’s one thing you can do instead:
Make a short 30 second video answering this question: Why do we need to act now to make City College FREE for all San Franciscans again? Tag Mayor Edwin M. Lee (type “@MayorEdLee “) and include the hash tags#FreeCity #KeepYourPromise
The City of Oakland is planning a public forum on public banking in Hearing Room 3 of Oakland City Hall (14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland).
Presenters are:
- Marc Armstrong, member, Federal Reserve Faster Payments Task Force, co-founder and past President of the Public Banking Institute, co-founder and President of Commonomics USA;
- Jesse Arreguin, mayor of Berkeley, former Berkeley City Council member
- Tom Sgouros, author of Checking the Banks: The Nuts and Bolts of Banking for People Who Want to Fix It (2014), Senior Policy Advisor to Rhode Island Treasurer; and
- Nichoe Lichen, member of Santa Fe’s Brass Tacks Team (“public banking facts that stick”), Board Member of the Public Banking Institute; and
- Henry Wykowski, past prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Northern California, currently Harborside Health Center’s lead attorney, speaking on cannabis law as it relates to public banking.
Panel Discussion – How Do We Make This Happen?
Questions and Answers
Endorsing the Idea of Public Banks
“…a Public Bank here in California. I think it’s a good idea.”– Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, address to the California Democratic Convention.
“By using state deposits to finance local investments, the Public Bank will support billions of dollars of critical investments in infrastructure, small businesses, and student loans — saving our residents money and returning all profits to the taxpayers.” – Philip Murphy, leading Democratic candidate for New Jersey Governor.
“Oakland has been raided by Wall Street for too long. Disastrous pipeline projects have been bankrolled by unaccountable banks for too long. Finance must be under democratic control for the good of our cities, towns, states, and country. Public banks are a real step in this direction.” – Hannah Appel, Professor of Economic Anthropology, UCLA, and former Oakland resident.
“Evidence from around the world suggests that public banks can be a powerful tool to support local economic development that is sustainable and inclusive. Since giant private banks have lost the public trust for their predatory actions, responsible city leaders must consider the option of a public municipal bank.”– Fred Block, Professor of Sociology, UC Davis. Author “Democratizing Finance”
Going Deeper
Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland: www.friendsofpublicbankofoakland.org
Commonomics: www.commonomicsusa.org
Public Banking Institute: www.publicbankinginstitute.org
Bank of North Dakota: bnd.nd.gov
(Essay) Public Banks: Bank of North Dakota: ilsr.org/rule/bank-of-north-dakota-2
(Book) The Public Bank Solution, From Austerity to Prosperity, by Ellen Brown
The words of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution were supposed to guarantee that slavery and involuntary servitude effectively were outlawed. With the exception of punishment for a crime where the “party shall have been convicted.” That’s the loophole. And as detailed in Ava DuVernay’s “The 13th”, the injustice system in America has not changed all that much since the earliest days of slavery.
The statistics DuVernay puts onscreen say it all: African-Americans make up 6.5% of the U.S. population but a whopping 40% of the prison population — in a country with the highest level of incarceration in the world; up more than tenfold since 1970 and existing mostly to put away black and Latino men. It all comes down to money. That was the driving force in the beginning, when slavery effectively was ended, but the South had to figure out a way to balance the economics when suddenly short about 4 million slaves. Using the loophole in the 13th Amendment, Southerners started putting blacks in prisons for petty reasons and used them as a workforce without calling them “slaves.” Today the practice is very much alive, overcrowding our prisons and filling them with minorities, the most vulnerable and underprivileged among us.
Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice Ctee as part of our Conscientious Projector series.
Wheelchair accessible.
Join us for a ‘Black Lives Matter — Protect the Vulnerable’ Sing. Everyone welcome!