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!

IndyBay listing

Source and other events for May Day

Come to a meeting about what we learn from the real history of May Day, the Marxist traditions of working class organizing in America and discuss what we need to do today to continue the fight.

Followed by a social/fundraiser for the Socialism 2015 conference. www.socialismconference.org

Addressing police violenceand systematic racism through community building and direct action.

Open Circle, first and foremost, is an opportunity to build community with one another. Secondly, it is a space to reflect and collaborate on strategies and actions to bring an end to these egregious crimes.

Please join us for the Potluck at 3:00 pm followed by the Open Circle at 3:45 pm. Please bring a dish or snacks to share!

Open circle will begin with speakers who have lost their loved ones to police violence. Then updates / announcements of upcoming actions followed by reflection and dialogue around the current state and thoughts or approaches on how to effect change.

We will end with working groups to organize and plan next steps in the struggle.

Solidarity is afoot so bring your ideas!

Notes from last meeting:
omnicommons.org/connect

Come learn about continuing developments in the battle save the Berkeley Post Office and the Postal Service from privatization, support our Occupiers and help us plan our next steps in opposition to the theft of our public commons.

The postal service wanted to sell the post office to Hudson-Mcdonald, a local developer. The City of Berkeley sued the post office to stop the sale. Hudson-mcdonald backed out of the deal in early December.

 There was a hearing in Federal Court on December 11th. There was another hearing in March 26th. Federal Judge William Alsup decided to dismiss the lawsuit because the Postal Service says it is not currently selling the building.  But we’re not fooled. The Postal Service could “find” a buyer at any moment. Fortunately, the Judge ordered the Postal Service to provide 42 days notice before any sale, so that the lawsuit could be refiled.

Check out our response to the Judge’s order.

Check out the Community Garden at the Post Office.

Also check out our website and the Save the Berkeley Post Office website, and First they Came for the Homeless Facebook for updates.

BPOD is an offshoot of Strike Debt Bay Area, which itself is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and a chapter of the national Strike Debt movement, which is an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.

Congressman Ami Bera still has not taken a position on Fast Track for the TPP, the job-killing ‘trade’ deal that will ship more jobs overseas. SO, LET’S REMIND HIM WHO GOT HIM ELECTED…

Join us as we hold our 2nd ALL DAY Sit-In at Bera’s office: stop by ANYTIME between 10am-6pm! Invite others!!

We’ll also have some Mexican food and snacks for Cinco De Mayo! 🙂

Check out video from KXTV channel 10 from the 1st time we occupied Bera’s office: http://www.news10.net/videos/news/local/elk-grove/2015/04/23/26282929/

The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality.  The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality. In alliance with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) we organized the October 23, 2010 labor and community rally for Justice for Oscar Grant. On that day the ILWU shut down the Bay Area ports in solidarity.

Our mission is to educate, organize and mobilize people against police and state repression.

Sisters and brothers the Oscar Grant Committee invites you to join us in this vital struggle.

The Oscar Grant Committee meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month.

How the Gentrifiers are Gentrifying City College: Land Grabs, Student Push-out Policies and Downsizing

Join in a roundtable discussion of the rotten underbelly of the City College accreditation crisis: An official in Sacramento told Tom Ammiano that Mayor Lee did not want the elected Board of Trustees to be reinstated yet, as important real estate deals need
to be completed.

We will analyze the “January surprises” in which the current administration pushed out some 3100 already-
enrolled students in a single week—in the middle of a major enrollment crisis! On January 7, 2015, some
1400 students with small overdue payments were robo-dropped about five weeks before their financial aid
arrived, throwing their work schedules and childcare arrangements into chaos, and losing the college many
thousands in state appropriations.

On January 9th, the administration announced the abrupt closure of the Civic Center Tenderloin campus on
one afternoon’s notice, on the grounds of seismic concerns. When some 2000 new immigrant students
showed up for their ESL classes on Monday, the doors were locked and the administration provided
directions to alternate sites—written in English! Only 300 students ever made it to an alternate site. 1700
more students gone—the same “disposable” non-credit students de-prioritized by the Student Success Act
and the administration. Fiasco– or downsizing policy?

We will have a round table to share analysis and information (invited speakers below):

 The Shock Doctrine and Disaster Capitalism—short videos on lessons from Chicago, where public school
closures have been concentrated in gentrifying Black and Latino neighborhoods close to valuable downtown
real estate;

 A short slideshow on the Reservoir Wars in the 80s and 90s, in which the real estate industry
unsuccessfully tried three times to pass a ballot measure for luxury housing development at the Reservoir.
Grassroots organizing won the day! The real estate industry also tried to tear down Balboa High School to
build condos—grassroots organizing won the day!

 MECHA and Asian Student Union organizers will discuss the payment policy;

 James Tracy will discuss the Civic Center closure and community resistance;

 AFT 2121;

 Update on the PAEC and the May 5th meeting about the Reservoir.

Terminal Logistics Solutions, the developers of City-owned land at the former Oakland Army base, announced this week that it has received $53 million dollars from four Utah counties to export up to six million tons of Utah coal out of Oakland each year.  It intends to begin construction on a mega shipping terminal within a few months.

Terminal Solutions?  Six million tons annually?  Do we need any more symbolic reminders that this project needs to be shut down?

Sign this emergency petition to the Mayor Libby Schaaf.

Fossil fuel activists recognize this as yet another instance of whack-a mole. Jess Dervin-Ackerman of the Sierra Club points out that “major organizing victories squashing export proposals in Oregon and Washington mean that Big Coal has turned its sights on California.  Bay Area communities are already burdened by poor air quality caused by our five oil refineries and the shipping industry. We even have some coal snaking through our neighborhoods by rail and shipping out of a private terminal in Richmond. Now Oakland is in Big Coal’s crosshairs.”

Oakland Fossil Fuel Resistance, a coalition of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, Sierra Club, 350 East Bay and Sunflower Alliance, is meeting at the Sierra Club office in Berkeley on Thursday at 4 pm to begin community mobilization against the project.  Oakland residents are particularly urged to attend.

THE MISSION TAKES CITY HALL
((((( PLEASE GATHER STARTING at 11:00 AM) ))))

Stop the Evictions! • No Monster in the Mission! • Truly Affordable Housing Now! • No More Luxury-Priced Development in the Mission! • Mayor Lee: Declare a State of Emergency!

11:30 AM gather on front steps SF City Hall (Polk Street side)
12:00 PM SHARP action begins

2012 SF Poet Laureate Alejandro Murguía confirmed
Much more to be announced!

This will be a very BIG and very exciting event. Hundreds will be there. Help make history!

Co-organized by: ACCE • Calle 24 Latino Cultural District • Eviction Free SF • Our Mission No Eviction • Plaza 16 Coalition • Poor Magazine and many more

There will be a rally and a mass die-in to protest Vallejo’s police murders, especially that of Mario Romero, shot 40 times by Vallejo Police while sitting in his car.

PROTEST AND RALLY AGAINST POLICE TERROR AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF THE POOR.

The City of Vallejo Touts itself as being the most diverse cities in America but it is hiding a very dark secret. That secret is : Vallejo city leaders have failed is residents in every way imaginable by allowing the militarization of it’s police force and arming them to the teeth.

City leaders have armed Vallejo Police while failing to drug test or psychologically evaluate any of it’s police officers beyond being hired.

What does this mean? If an officer was hired 20 years ago , that is the first and last drug test and psychological evaluation they will ever have. Regardless of histories of abuse, Officer involved shootings , traffic incidents or complaint of excessive force.

In 2012 Vallejo Police Department had the highest amount of officer involved shooting per capita in the nation but still no drug testing or psychological evaluations and May Osby Davis is okay with this.

In 2012 Mario Romero was Murdered by Vallejo police officer’s Sean Kenney and Dustin Joseph as he sat in front of his Vallejo home. He was fired at 40 times, Shot 30 times including 8 times through the palms of his hands. He was cut from his seatbelt and his body taken from the crime scene, the crime scene was changed by Sean Kenney , Dusting Joseph Corporal Stan Eng Officer Matthew Thompson and Police Supervisor Clark but still no drug test or psychological evaluation.

Vallejo Police Officer Sean Kenney killed 3 unarmed men in 2012 Anton Barrett Mario Romero and Jeramiah Moore and received a promotion to detective instead of a prison cell, He is now in charge of investigating officer involved shootings for the Vallejo police department. Vallejo Police Officer Dustin Joseph has been awarded officer of the year for his terrorism on the community of Vallejo.

The city of Vallejo Has chosen to criminalize those who are apart of a protected class rather then to offer resources or assist.

The city of Vallejo has failed to step up to the plate where seniors of the Florence Douglas Senior center have been robbed of their pool table and source of enjoyment , they city has sent a clear message that they are not interested in elder abuse, theft of property and discrimination of seniors.

The city of Vallejo has failed to honor measures that have been voted upon by it’s residents by making a point to criminalize the use of medical marijuana for the disabled.

There has been a great attempt by so called leaders to insure that they have all hands in the pot by causing confusion. the city of Vallejo has made a point to include police in Medical Marijuana dispensaries while failing to enforce drug testing for its police.

Today we say enough is enough, we are calling for a federal investigation in to the Vallejo Police Department by the US Attorney General, we are demanding criminal charges be filed against Sean Kenney and Dustin Joseph for the murder of Mario Romero. we are calling for immediate enforcement of drug testing for all Vallejo Police officers.

We are demanding an end to the terrorism now!

We are demanding and end to the criminalization of homeless and disabled individuals and protections against terror

We are demanding a return of the pool table stolen from the Florence Douglas senior center Now!

(Please dress comfortably) (lunch to be provided)

Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library

Essentials of Scientific Socialism

Part of an ongoing series

“Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition.”

Einstein’s comment remains true in our Century, when the growing interest in socialism is matched by a growing confusion about socialism. This workshop, led by Gene Ruyle of the ICSS, will be part of an ongoing series seeking to overcome this confusion through study and discussion, focusing on the classics of scientific socialism: The Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, by Engels, Critique of the Gotha Program, by Marx, and Fundamentals of Leninism, by Stalin. This session will focus on a close reading of the Communist Manifesto. In preparation, participants are urged to read, or re-read, this important document.

Sunflower Alliance general meetings offer a great opportunity to learn more about fossil fuel resistance and climate justice efforts in our region. Your voice matters.

We welcome newcomers.

Occupy Forum devoted to planning and expanding the coalition event of

“Listen Up Mayors…coming up June 19-22
at Union Square, SF and other locations nearby TBD.

Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter
Stop “Fracking” Mother Earth
Stop Crude By Rail
People Before Profits
Homelessness is not a Crime
Medicare for All
Strike Against Student Debt
Tax the Rich
and Jobs Not Jails

These essential demands have been opposed by most Big City US Mayors.
So….Listen Up Mayors.. We are the 99%

WE MUST RESIST TOGETHER
also see http://www.ussocialforum.net/ussfgoals

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.

Facebook RSVP

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.

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.

#Anonymous #TonyRobinson #BlackSpring #BlackLivesMatter EMERGENCY PROTEST 4 PM, TODAY WED, MAY 13 OSCAR GRANT PLAZA 14TH/BROADWAY OAKLAND

— TruthCasterTV (@TruthCastersTV) May 13, 2015