We will be overview/scouting of the Zoo’s cruel, gentrifying, and neo-colonial “California Trail” Development Plans as well as identifying native plants and trees that are to be cut down unless we stop them.

A Rideshare is being organized, stay tuned!  You can take the 46L from Coliseum Bart or the North Oakland MacArthur 57 bus to a Foothill Square and by picked up there.

Get involved with the fight against solitary confinement.

Become a human rights pen pal: Contact cws@igc.org

OccupyForum presents
Information, discussion & community!
Monday Night Forum!!

Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Rebels With a Cause:
A Film by Helen Garvy

Descended from the Intercollegiate Socialist Society started in 1905, SDS held its first meeting in 1960. Its political manifesto, the Port Huron Statement drafted by Tom Hayden, criticized the political system of the United States for failing to achieve international peace. It critiqued Cold War foreign policy, the threat of nuclear war, and the arms race. In domestic matters, it criticized racial discrimination, economic inequality, big businesses, trade unions and political parties. In addition to its critique and analysis of the American system, the manifesto also suggested reforms: a need to reshape into two genuine political parties, for stronger power for individuals through citizen’s lobbies, for more substantial involvement by workers in business management, and for an enlarged public sector with increased government welfare, including a “program against poverty.” The manifesto provided ideas of what and how to work for and to improve, and also advocated nonviolent civil disobedience as the means by which student youth could bring forth a “participatory democracy.”

Sound familiar?

But When, in 1965, United States President Johnson dramatically escalated the war in Vietnam, SDS held the first teach-in against the war, and then hundreds more, all over the country. SDS worked to organize the march against the war in Washington that attracted 25,000 anti-war protesters, and SDS became the leading student group against the war on most U.S. campuses.

SDS pursued civil-rights and anti-war activities, was in 1967 the scene of an SDS-generated free speech movement (the University Freedom Movement) that mobilized thousands of students in massive demonstrations and other activities and coordinated series of demonstrations against the draft.

In the spring of 1968, National SDS activists led an effort on the campuses called “Ten Days of Resistance” and local chapters cooperated with the Student Mobilization Committee in rallies, marches, sit-ins and teach-ins, which culminated in a one-day strike on April 26. About a million students stayed away from classes that day, the largest student strike in the history of the United States.

The student shutdown of Columbia University in New York, led by an inter-racial alliance of Columbia SDS chapter activists and Student Afro Society activists. As a result of the mass media publicity given to Columbia, SDS activists such as Columbia SDS chairperson Mark Rudd during the Columbia Student Revolt, the organization was put on the map politically and “SDS” became a household name.

SDS in San Francisco played a major role in the Third World Student Strike at San Francisco State College. This strike, the longest student strike in U.S. history, led to the creation of Black and other ethnic studies programs on campuses across the country.

A new incarnation of SDS was founded on January 16, 2006, and by 2010 had grown to over 150 chapters around the United States. It has held five national conventions to date, including the fifth in 2010.

Come watch Rebels with a Cause and find out how they did it!

Q&A and Announcements to follow.

Donations to OccupyForum gladly accepted; no one turned away!

The Human Rights Commission will hold a special mtg. to hear testimony/stories from those with encounters with the Richmond PD.  The HRC is a sympathetic group. This meeting was requested by George Galvis and others in response the the recent shooting of Leno Gonzales by Richmond PD.

For more info. contact George Galvis with  “Communities for Restorative Youth Justice”.  Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice | Newsletter All are invited to attend this HRC mtg. on April 27th.

Abby and Evan will have a pre-trial hearing on the charges against them for participating in the BART shutdown on Bart Friday, part of a #BlackLivesMatter weekend of action.

Come stand in solidarity with them!

Facebook page:

Come support Antoinette and Evan, arrested unjustly at the BART Friday action in January. BART police and SF Sheriffs targeted these two brave individuals while they were in custody. Particularly severe pain and trauma was caused to Antoinette, whose cane was stolen by BART PD, and despite repeated requests for mobility assistance, she was denied any help and police mocked her as they forced her to move about the BART station and jail without assistance. The proceedings are a farce. The judge has denied dismissing charges despite vague charges, lack of evidence and the brutal manner of arrest, and is proceeding with pretrial. Please come out and show the judge, BART police and SF Sheriffs that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Join us to celebrate Earth Day and San Francisco’s #cleanenergy future by rallying to tell city leaders we need to step up our game on climate action and launch #CleanPowerSF this year! (After talking about it since 2004.)

We’ll hear from community leaders, organizers, students, and residents about why launching CleanPower in 2015 is critical to the city taking meaningful climate action — then we’ll head into City Hall to tell policymakers in their 1:30 meeting that SF cannot wait any longer: we need a clean energy program for our city now!

Event Sponsors include:
San Francisco Green Party
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club
Sierra Club, SF Bay Chapter
350 SF Bay Area
LEAN Energy US
San Francisco League of Conservation Voters
Our City
Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council

The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month.

Our work together encompasses:

• (1) the concerns of precarious, contingent and care workers;
• (2) current campaigns to improve wages for low-wage workers; and
• (3) efforts by unionized workers and unions to improve wages and quality of work life.

At this meeting we will review our actions on 4/15 – shutting down the McDonald’s in  West Oakland, the march from OGP to Sproul, and our participation in the mass rally on Sproul. We will plan for future actions including various potential May Day (May 1st) events.

We share stories and information in an egalitarian and participatory way to build relationships and build the movement.

We look forward to learning with you and making change for the better. Please love and support one another. We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win.

Training 8

Meeting People Where They’re At

This training will teach participants how to be conscious of the experiences and conditions incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people face, in order to improve participants’ advocacy. Trainers will focus on methods to increase mindfulness and improve relationship building and advocacy skills during phone calls, correspondence, visits, and other support activities. Examples will be drawn from experiences at CDCR Women’s facilities.

RSVP & Survey: Please complete to shape venue, content, and number of copies for the series.
Email List Sign up for announcements here http://eepurl.com/7WwfL 

 

Materials, resources, and flyers for this training series are available here http://caitlinkellyhenry.com/support/
Cost If you can afford to, please donate to cover expenses http://www.nlgsf.org/contribute.

• Invite Here https://www.facebook.com/events/421294274710875

• Windy Click, California Coalition for Women Prisoners Coordinating Committee Leader, Parole Support Coordinator, Spitfire Speaker’s Bureau Coordinator http://www.womenprisoners.org/about/. Windy is a survivor of prison and prisoner rights organizer. She was released in 2012 from Valley State Prison for Women where she did 17 years on a 15 to life sentence. Windy was a leader inside prison educating on Domestic Violence and Health Education. She has been a member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners for the past 13 years.
• Samantha Rogers, Program Coordinator, California Coalition for Women Prisoners http://www.womenprisoners.org/about/ (bio forthcoming)
• Nora E. Wilson, Director of Legal Advocacy, Justice Now http://jnow.org/who.html is a prison abolitionist, attorney, and human rights activist. As Director of Legal Advocacy at Justice Now, she coordinates direct service provision to people in prison, trains future lawyers and activists in advocating for people in California prisons, and provides support to family and friends advocating for loved ones inside. Such support ensures people in prison and communities targeted for imprisonment the physical and emotional respite required to take part in Justice Now’s systemic change activities. Nora grew up in a conservative town in the deep South and learned from watching her mother advocate on behalf of a family member in prison. During law school, she discovered the most meaningful work she had ever undertaken through an internship with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, where she worked to secure the human and civil rights, health, and welfare of pregnant and parenting women who were suffering harm at the hands of the criminal justice system. After law school, Nora moved from the East Coast to become a proud resident of the East Bay. She began volunteering with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children in San Francisco and soon discovered Justice Now. Nora continued her legal training at Justice Now for over a year before she became a Staff Attorney, specializing in provision of direct services and medical advocacy on behalf of people in women’s prisons, as well as compassionate release advocacy and support on behalf of terminally ill and permanently incapacitated people in California prisons. In January 2015, when Justice Now adopted a collective staff structure, Nora transitioned to the role of Director of Legal Advocacy. She received her BA in Political Science from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and her JD from Fordham University School of Law in New York City.

There’s (or soon will be) a new world-wide lending institution in town. What affect will it have on the global economy? On the IMF and World Bank? On US control of the world’s monetary system? We’re discussing the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank being pushed by China and how it effects American hegemony over the worldwide banking system.

A few articles we’ll be reading. More may be coming.

Hudson on the Real News Net:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13470

William Engdahl (a reference in Ellen Brown’s works):
http://journal-neo.org/2015/04/10/aiib-brics-development-bank-and-an-emerging-world/

Another similar one:
http://www.goldcore.com/us/gold-blog/u-s-hegemony-and-dollar-threatened-by-new-chinese-bank/

New York Times editorial: Japan Must Join China’s Bank

Five Things about the Asian Infrastructure Bank

Demystifying the Asian Infrastructure Bank

The Guardian: In defence of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Joseph Stiglitz

Wikipedia: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

The Diplomat: China’s AIIB and the US Reputation Risk

The Politics of Debt Reading Group is affiliated with the Bay Area Public School and Strike Debt Bay Area.

Come make May Day banners and Picket Signs with us at the Omni to the May Day #SHUTITDOWN activities in Oakland!

Can’t paint? You can support us by bringing paint, brushes, fabric, flag poles, ect.

You will also be able to pick up May Day flyers for last minute distribution!

May Day is the traditional holiday of the working class, the oppressed, and the rebellious. It is a day to celebrate our collective power against exploitation, capitalism, and control. This Friday, May 1st, 2015, we want to start the day off the right way.

Oakland is seeing an unprecedented wave of gentrification creeping in from every direction. The rich have begun colonizing North Oakland, West Oakland, and Downtown. Their tech buses, their pricey cafes, and their luxury apartments have begun to appear with alarming frequency. This May Day, we will deliver a simple message to these colonizers during their morning commute.

Starting at 7:30 AM and lasting until 9:30 AM, we call on everyone to converge at the MacArthur BART station to interrupt the morning commute. The tech shuttle buses for Facebook, Google, and Apple all stop outside the BART station on 40th Street, below the freeway. We will converge in front of these buses, on the platforms of the station, and in front of the BART gates to spread our message.

We call on everyone affected by gentrification to make banners, bring megaphones, and prepare words or speeches to deliver to these colonizers. Tell them what you have been thinking, what you have been seeing, what you have been feeling. Let them know that they are not welcome, that their high-priced world is not welcome, and their terrible world of surveillance and alienation must end. Bring all of your creativity, joy, and anger to the streets. Together, we can deliver a clear and undeniable message.

Oakland is a people’s town!

Facebook event.

 Local 10, outraged by the recent escalation in police brutality throughout the US that has resulted in the needless killing of innocent and unarmed minorities, has called for unions and workers to join our march from the port to Oakland City Hall.

WHERE: Port of Oakland, take Adeline St. to portside of overpass.

Rides should be available from the West Oakland BART (see bottom).

The labor force has played an integral part in social justice movements throughout United States history and beyond. ILWU, Local 10 in particular, has been at the forefront of many monumental events including, but not limited to the Big Strike of 1934, the 1984 Anti-Apartheid action against South Africa, and the 2010 Oscar Grant rally and port shut down.

Police terrorism in the United States is out of control. We have witnessed an endless onslaught of police brutality and police killings of innocent and unarmed people. These assaults have been mainly directed towards Black men and Black communities. We as union and non-union workers alike cannot standby and become desensitized to these great injustices.

ILWU, Local 10 is leading a Day of Action on May 1st, 2015 to call national attention in order to STOP POLICE TERROR. There will be no longshoremen working on that day in the Port of Oakland. The port will be SHUT DOWN. Disrupting commerce in this country is one means to find viable solutions to STOP POLICE TERROR. Please join us in this action and stand up against police terror.

We will gather at the ALREADY SHUTDOWN port at 9am for an hour long rally which will be at the APL gate near berth 62 close to the overpass (parking is available along Adeline close to 6th & 7th).

After the rally, WE MARCH! We will march from the port to Oscar Grant Plaza as we demonstrate that AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!

There will be another rally at noon when we reach OGP.

From The Internationalist:

Working people across the country are outraged. Now key unions have decided they’ve had enough,the time has come to act. In an April 16 statement, the South Carolina AFL-CIO announced it would “reach out to workers around the country to join with us on May 1st in actions to protest the continuing unjustified killings.” The labor federation added, “We want to commend ILWU Local 10 for your courageous actions of solidarity.” The reason? On May 1 the West Coast longshore local will hold a stop-work meeting, shutting down the Port of Oakland and marching on City Hall to demand “Stop Police Killings of Black and Brown People.”

We urge workers across to country to mobilize on May 1 against racist police terror! With rallies, marches and strike action, unions and labor supporters should bring our collective strength to bear,demanding these killings must stop!

nternational Workers Day Regional Festival and March

1:30-3:30 Festival @ Civic Center Plaza
3:30 Regional March to 24th and Mission
5:00-5:30 Closing program @ 24th and Mission

More info, RSVP.

Silicon Valley De-Bug’s Class Conscious Photographers and Studio Grand present the opening night of:

Eyes on the Movement:
Images from Bay Area Activist Photographers

Powered by working class people and captured by photographers embedded in these struggles.

Photography, music, cultural performances, and refreshments. Special digital slideshow photo exhibit from that day’s May 1st marches.

Photographers include Brooke Anderson, David Bacon, Jenny Cain, Charisse Domingo, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Isabel Gonzalez, Najib Joe Hakim, Jean Leasiolagi, Abraham Menor, Antonio Nava, Karen Ng, Ronald Orlando, Leopoldo Pena, Daniel Zapien.

IndyBay listing

Source and other events for May Day