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Bay Area Occupy Returns With Labor Day Convergence on Monday…September 2
August 31, 2013—Occupy Action Council, a coalition of Bay Area Occupy groups that are part of the world-wide Occupy Wall Street movement announces their plans for a convergence on Labor Day (September 2nd) 2013. The all-day gathering starts at 10AM at Chelsea Manning Plaza (formerly Bradley Manning Plaza).
The location is the re-christened Justin Herman Plaza aka Harry Bridges Plaza, at San Francisco’s Embarcadero and Don Chee Way. Notable events throughout the day will include a press conference at 1PM, a General Assembly at 3 PM and a protest march to denounce and Chalkupy the Federal Reserve building at 101 Market Street.
An offensive symbol of the financial stranglehold that private (for profit) banks in the Federal Reserve System hold over the people of the world, the Federal Reserve building at 101 Market Street is also a symbol of political resistance and protest, being the site of the occupation that began in September 2011 and later spread to Chelsea Manning Plaza nearby. It is the place from which Occupy San Francisco was forcibly evicted in December 2011. Because the Federal Reserve represents the pinnacle of modern financial corruption, inequality, and the unchecked powers of concentrated wealth, alternatives to the Federal Reserve System including Public Banking and issuing debt free money, will be an integral part of the discussion at the convergence.
Ruthie Sakheim, a member of OccupySF Environmental Justice Working Group explained, “The convergence is needed because voting in elections is no longer enough to bring about political change. Regardless of party, our politicians have repeatedly proven themselves either unable or unwilling to challenge the corporate elite. Victorious candidates have continued to serve the interests of the corporations, including companies within this building, at the expense of the rest of us: the workers, the middle class, the poor and the powerless. The only ones who’ve continued to prosper are the 1% by ruthlessly exploiting the people and recklessly plundering the natural world. They have so thoroughly corrupted and co-opted every level of our government that protest and direct action are our only means of redress left.”
“Occupy is coming together again because recent events have shown Occupy’s goals still have not been met,” said Jane Smith, an Occupy Bay Area United activist. Citing such problems as unwarranted privatization of public assets like the Post Office, dishonest double-dealing and union busting by the bosses and civic officials in places like the BART strike, the looting and pillaging of our public education system through attacks on the City College of San Francisco by opportunistic corporate bandits, and America’s still worsening income inequality, Smith felt a convergence is needed to brainstorm ideas and find objectives to end the ultimate corporate control that grips the Bay Area, the country, and the world in cycles of poverty, war, and environmental disasters.
Activities at the Occupy Convergence will include Displays of Occupy Art, Chalkupy, Free Food, Free Light Show, Local Advocacy Groups, Occucards, and Occupy Information, music, GENERAL ASSEMBLY speak outs, a childrens’ playspace, and an interactive Occupy Art Table. Spontaneous protest marches throughout the nearby financial district are likely to occur. The convergence will be open to all current Occupiers and all other interested persons. Occupy Action Council emphasizes that the group is wholly committed to nonviolent direct action, public safety, and to building our community of nonviolent resistance.
The Albany City Council has voted to begin the eviction of everyone living on the Bulb in October. More than 50 people, some of whom have been residing on the landfill for a decade will have nowhere to go but the streets and sidewalks of Albany. Come with us and tell the Albany City Council that we can share the Bulb, as we have been doing for years, and that eviction without housing is not a solution. March with Bulb residents to the City Council meeting and show that the future of the Albany Bulb should be decided in a way that includes the people who live there.
6:00 p.m: meet at the Albany Bulb Parking Lot (1 Buchanan Street Extension)
6:30 p.m: march along Buchanan Street to City Hall
7:30 p.m: Meeting, Albany City Hall (1000 San Pablo Avenue)
We are gathering every Thursday at 5:00pm at Oscar Grant Plaza in support of the 5 demands of the prisoner hunger strike.
This Thursday, September 5th will be DAY 60 of the hunger strike! We need to continue to grow support for the demands and demand that Gov. Brown and CDCr Sec. Beard negotiate!
Please join us, bring signs or banners if you have them.
Since OUR Walmart workers went it’s longest 2-week extended strike in June, Walmart has illegally fired and disciplined over 80 Walmart strikers. OUR Walmart Members gave Walmart until Labor Day to reinstate all workers. Yesterday we celebrated the victories we have won through organizing and the courage of every person to stand for what we believe in. Labor Day passed without a word from Walmart.
As promised, we will be taking to the streets nation-wide. Stand with illegally fired Walmart Strikers and to hold major corporations and CEOs, like Walmart and their Board of Directors, accountable to every working person Thursday Sept. 5, 5:30pm at Powell St. Bart Station!
RSVP here: Stand With The Walmart 60 – Bay Area.
Oakland Hunger Strike Solidarity peeps are conducting a 60 hour fast in solidarity with the 60-day (now suspended) CA Prison Hunger Strike.
From Thursday noon to Saturday, midnight, in honor and respect for the California Prison Hunger Strikers, who suspended their hunger strike after 60 days, we will publicly fast in front of Governor Brown’s condo, shining a light on his gross disregard for life and blatant profiteering off human suffering. We invite everyone to claim space with us, whether fasting or not. POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
They are going to have a noise demo at 9:00 PM Friday (as First Friday is winding down). They would love for us all to join them and to hang out with them any time on Friday and through the end of their fast.
Bay Area March & Rally in Solidarity w/Mass Protest at Capitol in DC
Gather at Chelsea Manning Plaza (Embarcadero), SF
Time is of the essence. We have been in the streets all over the country. The opposition to a new war is everywhere. This forced the administration to step back from imminent bombings.
But the danger also exists for an even larger war against Syria as Obama seeks to make a deal with pro-war senators and congresspersons like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Nancy Pelosi and others.
Now is the time for the people to step up pressure on Congress and demand that they vote NO to any resolution authorizing a military attack on Syria.
On Saturday, September 7, people are descending on Congress for a major demonstration as Congress returns to Washington, D.C., and prepares to vote. This demonstration is initiated by a broad ad hoc coalition called the Vote No War Against Syria Coalition. If you or your organization would like to be an endorser of the Sept. 7 demonstration, email votenowaronsyria@yahoo.com.
Here in the Bay Area, there will be a parallel march and rally in solidarity with the mass protest in Washington DC, beginning at Chelsea Manning Plaza (Embarcadero) at 12 noon. We urge everyone who wants to stop a new war against Syria before it starts, to endorse, help organize and join the demonstration on Saturday, Sept. 7.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Convene at Honduran Consulate Sep 10th and demand the respect and saftey of the Rio Blanco Lenca community.
The Rio Blanco Lenca community in Honduras is under attack. The Honduran government signed onto an illegal concession with DESA and SINOHYDRO, against the peoples will, to build a dam on indigenous land. The concession is a direct violation of UN ILO convention 169, that clearly states the indigenous people have the right to determine their own process of development. Since the road blockade April first the community has been threatened, attacked by DESA personnel, one man has been murdered by the Honduran Military, one man has been brutality injured by the military, three people are potentially facing criminal charges and prison time, and now, as this morning Sep 5th 3am, one man was kidnapped out of his home and threatened to be tortured in front of his family including six children. The man has not be released and no one has information on where he was taken.
There is a National Day of Action all throughout Latin America as well as the United States on Sep 9th or 10th to show the Honduran government that the international community will not stand for this abuse of humanity. Please come on Tues the 10th 11-1pm Honduran Consulate, 870 market st SF to show your support and stand against the behavior of the Honduras Government and the companies involved. Please spread the word, blast the blogspot and contact leilafli@yahoo.com if you would like to organize for this event.
Visit rioblancocommunity.blogspot.com for details and more information.
(make signs and statements if you can)
Pack the Court 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Rally on the Court steps at 12:00 noon.
Support anti-colonial, anti-capitalist comrades.
Come pack the court on September 10 as pretrial begins for the ACAC 19! The ACAC 19 are comrades who were arrested at an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist demonstration on Columbus day weekend last year. This is the last chance to pressure the DA to drop charges before trial. Pack the court from 9am – 4pm. Rally in front of the courthouse at noon. Bring signs, court allowable attire and solidarity! Even though a year has passed, comrades are still facing a slew of charges and it appears that the DA is intent on bringing them to trial. The state would like nothing more than to quietly convict and punish opponents of its colonial, capitalist rule. Don’t let them! The ACAC 19 need your support.
OCCUPY THE CIVIC CENTER STEPS
TO STOP STRIKES AGAINST SYRIA.
There will be painting, chalking, speak-outs over the bullhorn and solidarity.
Bring art supplies, signs, cardboard.
Come by any time during the day and evening. Occupy is there now, and
no one’s leaving any time soon.
Please join the rally for public education and the march to the bargaining session of the UC Student-Workers Union (UAW 2865), this Tuesday, September 17, beginning at noon.
At the rally, speakers will address the meaning of Napolitano’s appointment for workers and students, and will talk about how this appointment shows the priorities of those who manage and govern the University: militarization, repression, and financial accumulation; not quality and accessible education.
The rally will be followed by a series of teach-outs on the following topics:
– financial speculation and student debt;
– austerity and the privatization of public education;
– Napolitano, the militarization of the campus and undocumented rights;
– the US threat to bomb Syria and the Syrian revolution; and
– the stakes for students and workers of the UC Student-Workers Union’s current contract campaign.
The teach-outs will be followed by a march to the bargaining session between the UC Student-Workers Union and UC management. Those who come to bargaining, which is open to all, will have the chance to speak about the importance of higher instructor / student ratios and better support for student workers to the quality and accessibility of public education in California.
Here is the schedule of the afternoon:
12-12.30pm: Rally on the Steps of Sproul Hall
12.30-1:30pm:
– Announcement of a contingent leaving to the Regents meeting to participate in public comment and possible action
– Teach-Outs in front of Sproul
1:30 – 2pm: All the groups reconvene for a common mini presentation and Q&A on the UAW contract negotiation
2 pm: March towards the UAW bargaining session
Hayward city employees are facing a 5% pay cut on top of a previous 12% cut. Join them to demand that the mayor and city council “Put People First” and stop the cuts.
Find the event closest to you or of most interest to you in the Bay Area here:
Over 70 events are already planned in states coast-to-coast, and this is shaping up to be an epic — not to mention beautiful — day of action. There are a bunch of neat actions planned: from a solar-powered barn going up in the pipeline route in Nebraska, to a tug of war between the fossil fuel industry and the climate movement in Boston, to a swimming party in a park in Jacksonville that might be underwater in the not-too-distant future — and many more to come.
Starting at 8 AM
Rally at 11 AM — Vigil at 4 PM
Twitter Updates @stopsfevictions
Like thousands of other working class San Franciscans, Mr. and Ms. Lee worked for decades in the city. Now elderly and caring for their disabled adult daughter, they are facing eviction by a real estate investor who bought their eight-unit apartment building in the once blue-collar Polk Gulch neighborhood. The investor has admitted that from the start, his business plan was to evict all the tenants and sell off the apartments. He has almost succeeded. All the other families have moved out and the Lees have also desperately tried to move. But as seniors on a fixed income with a disabled family member they faced a costly and doubly discriminatory rental market. They have applied to dozens of apartments without success. Yet their investor landlord has rejected their requests for help finding alternative housing and has asked the sheriff to force the family into the streets.
The Lee family’s story might be like thousands of others who have been quietly moved without public awareness. But overcoming their initial fears, Mr. and Ms. Lee have decided to take a stand: they are staying in their apartment and publicly protesting their eviction by the sheriff. With the support of the Tenants Union and others, they hope their fight will result in increased protections for all tenants and help for evicted tenants like themselves who need housing in the City.
Last month, a judge approved the eviction of the Lees without a trial, disregarding evidence that the landlord-investor misrepresented in his plans to evict the tenants in order to finance for his project. The court’s has allowed the landlord to proceed to request the sheriff to forcibly remove the family despite a pending appeal of that ruling. The sheriff is now scheduled to evict the family on Wednesday, September 25.
As head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano implemented programs such as Secure communities and 287g which have deported almost 2 million undocumented immigrants. Her only background on education is getting rid of in-state tuition for undocumented youth in Arizona.
We’ll be having a rally on Tuesday at 11:00AM on Upper Sproul to protest Napolitano’s nomination. At 12:00PM students from the Multicultural coalition are going to meet with Napolitano and present their demands.
It’s important that we show that we are one! Napolitano thinks this will be a quick and easy meeting. However, we will make it clear that she is not welcome in our UC System!
Therefore, around 11:20 We’ll head out from Upper Sproul to Oakland. Where her office is located.
Party/Street Party
The City of Albany plans on evicting the residents of the Albany Bulb sometime this month. The Albany Bulb is home to over sixty residents who have made the Bulb a home and a community like nothing else in the Bay Area. If evicted, the residents of the Bulb will have no where to go but the streets of Albany, a city with next to no support for its homeless.
Rally at the Albany City Council this Monday at 6:00pm! At 6:30 we will participate in the public comments meeting and make sure everyone in Albany knows about the Bulb and what’s at stake.
Afterwards there will be a march down Solano Ave. for an overnight camp out and demonstration.
Show your solidarity, lets save the Bulb!
Bring camping gear and tents!
Learn more at:
Share the Bulb.
Facebook event & RSVP.
Notice on IndyBay.
Lynne Stewart’s burthday is October 8th and rallies, vigils and speak outs will be held throughout the country. In the Bay Area, we will gather at 5 p.m. and speak out from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. outside the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Market and Montgomery in San Francisco. Our goal continues to be to win compassionate release for our fellow Guild member, who is suffering from cancer and turning 74 years old. Senator Feinstein has a unique role to play as a member of the Judiciary Committee.
There are two things you can do. (1) Join us on October 8th to call on Feinstein to exert pressure over the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons to release Lynne Stewart and accelerate compassionate release for all people in federal prisons. And (2) click here to add your name to the new petition to free Lynne Stewart.
Sponsored by the National Lawyer’s Guild.
Support Richmond eminent domain Wednesday October 9
Join the demonstration in Oakland to support the Richmond local principal reduction program, called by ACCE/Home Defenders League with the endorsement of Strike Debt Bay Area. Richmond has offered to restore financial stability to hundreds of homeowners by buying their distressed mortgages and negotiating new loans at fair market value–or seizing the mortgages by eminent domain if necessary. The banks holding these mortgages ignored the offers, Wells Fargo and other banks filed a law suit (dismissed for the time being) and Wall Street withheld purchasing a city bond. Wall Street is fighting back–and so are we! Show your opposition to the 1% and your support for Richmond’s creative campaign to protect homeowners. The demonstration will also push the Oakland City Council to make a strong statement to the banks that will express Oakland’s support for Richmond.
For more background information on the Richmond campaign see http://strikedebt.org/em-dom-richmond/
BART workers could go out on strike at 12:01 AM Friday, October 11th. BART management may attempt to run BART trains between West Oakland and Embarcadero.
Sponsored by the Transit Workers Support Committee.
On Friday at 6:30 pm we will be screening “Bum’s Paradise”, a documentary about the Albany Bulb, outside the Sierra Club’s bi-monthly “Green Friday” event. The Sierra Club is pushing a project on the land that would result in the eviction of the Bulb’s 60+ residents. Our screening will demonstrate to the Sierra Club that there is public support for the continued existence of the Bulb.
Food will be provided but bring blankets, folding chairs, mats, and warm clothing to stay warm!
“Bums’ Paradise is a 53-minute documentary that depicts the lives of the men and women who lived in the ten-year-old Albany Landfill community prior to their eviction. It follows them through the eviction and documents them one month after the eviction. The film emphasizes their concepts of community as well as the amazing art that they created. Instead of being a documentary about homelessness, Bums’ Paradise considers the question: What if the homeless — the indigent, the bums — told their own stories?”
http://www.bumsparadise.com/synopsis_new.html
http://sharethebulb.org/