Calendar
Oakland Spring Rising
All Food is Medicine ~ All Water is Sacred
40 Farms in 40 Days
beginning May 1st, 2015
Mission:
The Mission of Oakland Spring Rising is to support existing community groups and new urban farmers to grow as much nutritious food in an urban setting as possible.
Goals:
To grow 100 pounds of healthy, organic produce for 400,000 people per year using available vacant land in Oakland. In order to achieve this, Oakland Spring Rising was formed to be a hub for material & knowledge transfer between those who have grown plants & mushrooms, who have kept bees & chickens & goats, and those who want to. Oakland Spring Rising first initiative will be to initiate 40 Farms in 40 days, beginning May 1st, 2015.
Vision:
In order to achieve the Mission, we will offer resources to all community members who wish to receive assistance. Oakland Spring Rising acknowledges that urban agriculture and nutrition exist within ongoing struggles against private property and gentrification in Oakland. With this in mind, we support food insecure communities that want to grow healthy food and medicine. Amidst catastrophic weather instability, Oakland Spring Rising acknowledges that the healthier a community’s food, the healthier their decisions.
Oakland Spring Rising has the following as its primary methods of enabling community resiliency
Soil Testing – nearly all urban soils have some degree of toxicity. Oakland Spring Rising seeks to develop community based strategies for testing and treating toxic & damaged soils using plants, beneficial soil bacteria & mushrooms. Methods for dealing with many toxins are new, and Oakland Spring Rising seeks to make Oakland the largest and most successful urban soil remediation on the planet.
Food – In areas where the soil is appropriate for growing food, Oakland Spring Rising will offer free plants & compost to communities wishing to farm. In areas where the soil needs repair, Oakland Spring Rising will offer suggestions for soil remediation, along with materials for raised beds, free plants & compost, in order to ensure that community members wishing to grow food will still be able to. Where possible, Oakland Spring Rising will use hugelkuulture beds, to encourage water retention.
Animals – Most animal products consumed by people in the United States are laden with toxins. Oakland Spring Rising seeks to provide 100% local & organic eggs to any site wishing to raise chickens. Where appropriate, Oakland Spring Rising will offer workshops and education on tending goats in an urban setting, with an intention towards getting more goats into the community.
Medicine – The modern medical system is a system of disempowerment. Oakland Spring Rising will provide herbal plant medicines to assist community members with all aspects of health.
BioChar – Where appropriate, Oakland Spring Rising will provide Biochar to community farms. Biochar assists in soil fertility and soil microbial life and is available at little to no cost, aside from transportation, as an industrial byproduct.
Mushrooms – Oakland Spring Rising seeks to transport spent mushroom logs to community members who are interested in growing culinary and medicinal mushrooms in Oakland, as well as using mycelium for mycoremediation & soil restoration. Oakland Spring Rising will also serve as a knowledge conduit for any knowledge transfer that community members request.
To Get Involved
Email: oaklandspringrising@gmail.com
Phone: David @ (530) 840-1840
The war in Viet Nam was one of the most important historical events of the 20th century. It brings to light the heroic struggle of Vietnamese people against foreign aggression, particularly the United States of America.
The Viet Nam Victory Coalition (VNVC), formed in 2014, is hosting a Community Event: “The Spirit of Viet Nam is Stronger than U.S. Bombs” – a day-full of cultural, educational & powerful sharing to mark the 40th anniversary of the US military’s forced departure from Viet Nam and international struggle for self-determination.
PLEASE REGISTER HERE:
https://
Our purpose:
• Highlight the historical meaning and ongoing significance of people’s struggles for independence and against imperial domination.
• Inform and continue to educate ourselves and all who seek to understand this history, to explore its relevance to the present and future, and to keep abreast of the current strategy of the US empire in Asia and abroad.
• Connect and celebrate our humanity with music, poetry, spoken word, and with dialogues and discussion, panels and workshops, and share our story.
Join us in solidarity with the May Day Rally on May 1st in SF (more details to come). March with us!
The space (rooms, bathrooms, etc.) is fully ADA accessible.
Rally in solidarity with Baltimore and the fight for justice for Freddie Gray. All across the country on Saturday May 2nd folks will be in the streets to demand that the war on black folks must end! Come get in the streets! #blackspring #freddiegray
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
Help make art to support the Refinery Corridor Healing Walks! Come help paint a 24-foot parachute banner with this years Healing Walk image and hand-paint t-shirts (if you got this years Healing Walk t-shirt or patch bring it and paint it–or the feathers on it). Wear clothes you can get paint on.
Here is the Facebook event to RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/982279841804638/
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 support 3 comrades still in custody who were arrested during May Day actions and are facing felony charges.
Share, invite, show up and support! Thousands of people went out to protest this weekend, and there were many arrests, but unsurprisingly, the folks who were held and face serious charges are black and brown. Part of fighting white supremacy is standing in solidarity with those who racist systems try to oppress.
FIELD TRIP: OccupyForum is co-sponsoring Kathy Kelly this coming Monday
Sponsored by: SF Friends Peace and Social Concerns Committee; Voices for Creative Nonviolence, ECUMENICAL PEACE INSTITUTE/CALC, EMERGENCY, AFSC, Vets for Peace, Occupy Forum, Campaign Nonviolence and Code Pink
Kathy Kelly
The Raft and the Shore:
Crossing Borders to Abolish War
During the war in Vietnam, two venerable peacemakers, Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan, SJ, exchanged ideas about nonviolent resistance to war in a book entitled: The Raft is Not the Shore. Drawing on experiences living alongside people trapped in war zones and in U.S. prisons, (most recently in Afghanistan, and in federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky), Kathy Kelly will discuss what she as learned from people bearing the brunt of what Martin Luther King termed “the triple evils” of racism, militarism, and poverty.
Kathy Kelly will be introduced by Sherri Maurin who has just returned from Afghanistan. Both travel as representatives of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and are hosted in Kabul by the Afghan Peace Volunteers.
Wheelchair accessible
Potluck
dessert
:Bring a dish
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.
Deep Web, a film about “Silk Road” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace), online communications and commerce, is to be screened at SF International Film Festival. Cindy Cohn, legal director of EFF is scheduled to appear at the 9:00 PM, May 4 screening. More information below and at: http://www.sffs.org/sfiff58/program/deep-web#.VUQAtqbVmJ0.
-Art
- About the film:
- Director Alex Winter, a well-known actor and a leading advocate for an open internet, lucidly investigates the implications of online technologies and the gray legal areas of anonymous communications and commerce by focusing primarily on the history and demise of online black market website Silk Road. In addition to documenting the federal trial of Silk Road’s purported founder and owner, San Francisco-based Ross Ulbricht, allegedly known to Silk Road’s users as the Dread Pirate Roberts, Winter weaves in the perspectives of futurists, journalists and legal experts. A bastion for privacy advocates and cybercriminals alike, the “deep web” refers to a place on the internet where cutting-edge technologies mask participants’ identities and facilitate secret activities. As such the deep web exposes the contradictory goals and potential conflicts between free speech advocates and government regulators. Winter’s previous documentary, Downloaded deftly detailed the history and impacts that online file sharing has had on culture, the law and music/media industries. With Deep Web, Winter presents a perfect companion piece while telling a true story of espionage, surveillance and activism taking place at the digital frontier. �Sean Uyehara
- Director Alex Winter (May 3, May 4) and presenters John Perry Barlow (May 4), Susie Cagle (May 4) and Cindy Cohn (May 3, May 4) expected to attend.
This Tuesday the Oakland City Council decides whether or not to sell off the East 12th parcel to private developers. Join us for a rally at City Hall to demand that public land be used for public good, not for private profit!
Background
In the midst of a housing affordability crisis in Oakland, the City is proposing to sell publicly owned land to private developers UDR and Urban Core to create a 24 story, 300 unit luxury high-rise apartment tower right by Lake Merritt, where the median rent will be 3k per month. The development will have no affordable units and no real community benefits. The property is on E12th and 1st Ave street, right by the new pedestrian bridge at the end of Lake Merritt.
Long-time residents are being pushed out of Oakland every day because of skyrocketing housing costs. The city’s number one priority right now should be figuring out how to make it possible for working families to stay in Oakland – not developing luxury high rises for the rich that are just going to raise rents and exacerbate displacement.
May 5th come rally for development without displacement in Oakland now! Stay for the City Council meeting to speak out against gentrification in Oakland and for affordable housing!
These local organizations, representing the people Oakland endorse this fight!
Asians4BlackLives
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Black.Seed
Causa Justa Just Cause
Classroom Struggle
Communities for a Better Environment
Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice
East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy
East Bay Housing Organizations
East Bay Solidarity Network
Eastlake United for Justice
Oakland Education Association
Oakland Rising
Oakland Tenants Union
Public Advocates
SEIU 1021
Transform
Thank you all for your support and your work! #SaveE12th
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.
Keystone XL is the fuse to one of the biggest carbon bombs on Earth, and would unlock development of Canada’s tar sands oil field. For years, Hillary has bobbed and weaved as reporters have tried to ask her where she stands on the pipeline, always giving some variation of “no comment” in response. Wednesday afternoon, as Hillary dines with donors in Pacific Heights, join us to demand a permanent rejection of Keystone XL.
Sponsored by Idle No More SF Bay, Center for Biological Diversity, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community, Martinez Environmental Group, 350 Bay Area
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.
Join other OccufFarmers for reflection on our April 25th/26th days of action, to share thoughts on what we can do better next round, and give props to those who made this one successful! We especially invite the input of folks NEW to the Gill Tract struggle, as fresh eyes offer important insights.
If you are able, bring a snack or dish to share.
6-7pm is food and socializing. 7-9pm facilitated discussion
In the wake of the recent unjust murders of Dontre Hamilton, Corey Stingley, Derek Williams, Brandon Johnson, Larry Jenkins, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and so many more at the hands of police officers and racist vigilantes, people in cities across the nation have risen up to demand Justice in their communities. For every individual killed, there is a mother who has suffered a loss greater than any one person should have to bear. We, the mothers of this movement, are calling on all concerned community members to join us in our fight. Together we unite to stand against police brutality and racial injustice and to demonstrate our love and determination to protect our children and our country. On May 9th, 2015, Mother’s Day Weekend, The Mothers for Justice United will march on the US Department of Justice in our nation’s capitol, Washington DC. Will you stand with us?
“My name is Maria Hamilton and I am Dontre Hamilton’s mother. I am overwhelmed bearing the loss of my son to police brutality. I ask with a humble heart – Join us in Washington on Mother’s Day as we take this fight directly to our elected officials. We need you.” – Maria Hamilton, Founder of Mothers for Justice United.
Mothers for Justice United is an organization of mothers whose unarmed children have been killed by police officers and white vigilantes. It is also comprised of concerned mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, clergy, and other citizens nationwide who care about the loss of these valuable lives cut short unnecessarily. We are committed to halting the epidemic of the killing of unarmed people of color by police and white vigilantes in this country through direct action, legislation, and community building.
If you know of any mothers in your own community who have lost loved ones to police brutality and racist violence and you think they may be interested in joining us on Mother’s Day, please let us know. We are working to raise funds and to secure transportation and housing for the moms to be able to make this trip. We are also in search of people to help us in our endeavor by organizing and spreading the word in your own communities
Join us for a day long event hosted by Inter Council for Mothers of Murdered Children. Event starts at 12 pm and continues until 10 pm. The Fundraiser will be held at Humanist Hall, and includes Speakers, Games (Chess, Dominoes), snacks, brunch, and dinner, as well as video clips . Families who have lost their loved ones through Gun violence and Police Misconduct will share their stories. We are scheduling a food giveaway and Vendor’s Booths are available for rent (contact Event Coordinator for details).
The Inter Council For Mothers of Murdered Children is a Non Profit 501 (c)3 Organization. Our Mission is to assist families who are in need of support and assistance after the death of a loved one. All donations are tax Deductible.
