Calendar
In solidarity with the global movement to take back our food, that is… REAL FOOD FROM REAL SEED as Mother Nature and human evolution intended…
Please save the date and take part in the groundswell of PEOPLE RISING in defense of unadulterated SEEDS, PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY, RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP OF THE SOIL, ETHICAL PRACTICES, TOXIN FREE FOOD SYSTEM AND THE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WE ALL WANT.
Millions of years of natural evolution and diversity of seeds are being wiped out in a generation if we don’t leverage our collective outrage to DIVEST from systematic poisoning of HUMANITY and PROTECT our children’s future.
Join us as we MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO!
11:30 – Meet Up & Welcome at Frank Ogawa / Oscar Grant Plaza
12:00 – March begins
1:00 – Reassemble at Lake Merritt Pergola Area for RALLY!
http://www.labelgmos.org/realfoodforall
Occupy the Farm organizer Vanessa Raditz will be speaking tomorrow at the rally following Oakland’s March Against Monsanto! Come on out and join the Occupy the Farm contingent! We will have a banner so you can find us at Frank Ogawa Plaza before the march takes off.
Monthly rally to end Solitary Confinement.
Privacy Workshop
It’s easy to succumb to privacy nihilism. That’s the idea that digital security and privacy are simply impossible. But that’s simply wrong. Better security and more privacy are possible. It is true that trying to protect yourself from 100% of the threats you face 100% of the time is a recipe for failure. But perfection is not the goal of digital security. Each person is faced with different threats—potential events that could undermine your efforts to defend your data. By determining what you need to protect and whom you need to protect it from, you can figure out how to counter the threats to your data.
The first step to good security is doing a threat modeling assessment. Using EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense materials, EFF Activist Nadia Kayyali will talk about some of the threats to your privacy and security, walk you through modeling your own threats, and give a basic overview of some of the most commonly used tools.
EFF is a proud co-sponsor of The Dissidents, the Displaced, and the Outliers, a transbay visual art exhibition about housing security and digital privacy at Random Parts in Oakland and Incline Gallery in San Francisco. This digital security workshop is part of a series of events. For more information, check out the exhibition page.
Facebook event.BYP100: Bay Area , in collaboration with The BlackOut Collective , #BlackLivesMatter Bay Area, Anti Police-Terror Project, The Alan Blueford Center For Justice, and Onyx Organizing Committee are putting out a call to action on the behalf of all Black women and girls everywhere!
On the night of Thursday, May 21st, while marching and chanting, and standing up for the lives of all Black women everywhere, Oakland Police Department informed us that there was a new ordinance in place: not only were we told that we are not longer allowed to march at night, but we were not allowed to march in the streets. Who’s streets?! Our streets! They chose the national day of action for the rights of Black women against police violence to enforce aggressive policing of our right to peacefully convene and protest.
They want for us to go into the shadows. They want for us to be silent, to bow down, to forget the lives of so many Black women who have been stolen from us by police. They want us to give up, to ignore the trauma caused by the ways our Black women bodies have been violated, policed, harassed, exploited, demoralized, dehumanized, beaten, abused, raped, and murdered…but they are sadly mistaken. We will not back down; we will fight harder! We will wage war until our lives are valued. #BlackLivesMatter Black women’s lives matter. They always have and they always will. #sayhername #blackspring
We are sending out a call to action for all Black people and allies to come together TONIGHT at Oscar Grant Plaza/OGP. We will hold space as a declaration that the rights of Black women and girls WILL BE upheld.
We ask that you join us TONIGHT!
Please wear ALL BLACK.
Bring a white candle.
Bring a scarf.
Tell all of your family friends and comrades.
Please be advised that this is a peaceful protest but diversity of tactics is respected and honored.
See you in the streets!
Sunday, May 24, 2015 is the 25th anniversary of the attack on “Earth First!” activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney by car bomb in Oakland in 1990 as Redwood Summer dawned. We will commemorate this in several ways.
At 7 pm doors to Historic Fellowship Hall will open for a Judi Bari Day evening event sponsored by the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU) Social Justice Committee.
NOTE: Earlier in the day of Sunday, May 24, people will gather to mark the moment of the bombing itself where the bomb blew up Judi’s car with Darryl and Judi in it. The location is across from the intersection of E. 33rd and Park Blvd, in front of Oakland High. Gather at 11:30 am sharp. Bring signs, songs, drums for a speak out and commemoration.
Following the film, the audience can join in the discussion for a Q & A session.
Volunteers appreciated!
Sponsored by the BFUU Social Justice Committee, www.bfuu.org/events
Come support a comrade arrested protesting the city’s recent crackdown on Black organizing.
NOTE: court is set for 9 am but COULD be pushed to 1 pm…so check here you cant come in the morning but can make it out in the afternoon!
After a period of public comment, the Oakland Public Safety Committee will again take up recommendations from the ad hoc Committee on the Domain Awareness Center Privacy Policy.
(This was postponed from May 12th, to provide time for things to be forumulated into an ordinance)
— a strong privacy policy in place for the DAC.
— creation of a privacy policy for the City of Oakland
— a surveillance equipment acquisition ordinance, demanding open and transparent processes before acquiring such devices.
The Oakland Privacy Working Group asks you to come and stand and speak in support of these proposals, which will make Oakland a model for privacy across the nation.
The Oakland neighborhood at Ground Zero for the proposed coal export terminal is getting informed and mobilizing. Join neighbors and friends to keep West Oakland coal-free and say NO to coal exports!
Help get the word out about the forum. If you can contribute an hour or two to canvassing, please contact Katy at katypolony@gmail.com. Here’s a flyer you can print and distribute.
Announcing a new monthly event organized by the Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee! Last Wednesday of every month!!
Come write letters to prisoners of the state. It’s our responsibility to support those who have directly faced state repression as a result of their involvement in political struggle. All movements face repression, and we need to do what we can to ensure that those who are shouldering the biggest burden have support, love, and care.
This Wednesday we will be focusing on writing letters to the Ferguson 3. They were arrested in the rebellions that took place this past fall after the murder of Mike Brown and have just been sentenced. They are feeling isolated and want as much communication as possible. Come take a few minutes to drop them a line! We will provide paper and envelopes, addresses and stamps, and will even make sure all the letters get dropped in the mail the next day.
We will also have snacks and music, and encourage you to bring food and BYOB so we can generally chill and enjoy each other’s company.
UPDATE
On Wednesday night, BPD Chief Meehan disclosed to the Police Review Commission that he will not be ready to present the results of their internal investigation on the December police response next week (May 27) as they had promised. He didn’t give any explanation except for saying that they have not finished their report, which they had said would be done by the end of April. Instead, they now say they will present two weeks later, on Wednesday June 10 (more than six months after the fact). So, please save that date.
The PRC is meeting almost every Wednesday for the next couple months, focused on the investigation of the December 6 protest response.
Next week on Wednesday, May 27 the PRC has summoned Chief Meehan to appear and answer our questions. The questions are extensive and pretty pointed. They can be found in:
These minutes also contain the approved PRC Policy Investigation Plan, including the meeting dates through July.
Chief Meehan also promised to release the long-awaited internal report on December and there will probably be questions about that.
I highly recommend people come to this meeting. In general, public attendance has dwindled to almost nothing. That’s too bad, because this is a setting in which important questions about how to constrain police behavior are being publicly debated.
A couple weeks ago the PRC voted to recommend more restrictions on the Suspicious Activity Reporting to the NCRIC fusion center. This puts more explicit language about constitutional protections in the BPD General Order N-17 on SARs. It is not the abolition of ties to NCRIC that many people have sought, but it is an opening to talk about this domestic spying network that Berkeley participates in. And unlike the other item, on crowd control, this one is a final recommendation that is on its way to the city council.
For the current policy, see
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Police/Level_3_-_General/GO%20N-17_18Sept12.pdf
<http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Police/Level_3_-_General/GO%20N-17_18Sept12.pdf>
THIS EVENT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN CANCELLED. IT IS NO LONGER ON THE OMNI CALENDAR.
Chairman Fred Hampton Jr (the son of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, who was assassinated by the US government) is visiting the Bay Area to build relationships and discuss strategy with activists organizing against police terrorism. This event, sponsored by CRC (Community Ready Corps) & APTP (Anti Police-Terror Project) will a panel of Oakland anti-policing activists in conversation with Chairman Fred. It will also serve as a fundraiser to send a delegation of APTP/Black Lives Matter activists to Chicago later this summer and build a national campaign to end the reign of terror by law enforcement on Afrikan communities.
Optik Allusions is a radical film & video collective dedicated to social change, based in Oakland, California.
We make media that challenge the dominant culture. We tell stories that otherwise might remain untold. We express our alternative views of the world, have fun doing it, and welcome everyone to do so, regardless of prior experience. We learn by doing. We share resources, skills and knowledge to support each other’s creative endeavours. We make films in a spirit of collaboration, inclusivity and solidarity, supply a lending library of film equipment for creative projects, organize free, at cost or donation-based workshops, and host film screenings. We also steward a room dedicated to media post-production at the Omni Commons. If you like to make videos and/or want to become a member, come to our tuesday meetings at 7 pm! We’re open and happy to welcome new members.
To contact us, write to:
optikallusions@lists.riseup.net
To know more about us, join our announce mailing list:
optikallusions.announce@lists.riseup.net
To become involved, come to our meetings on Tuesdays, 7pm at the Omni Commons!
Sometimes, the meetings turn into creative workshops!
To follow what has been going on, read our meeting notes.
Our YouTube Channel is still a WIP, but here are some of our video productions to this day:
The Omni Commons in 30 seconds
Oakland stands in solidarity with Ferguson
No Beauty with an Absence of Color
We are also working on a documentary about gentrification in West Oakland, as well as collaborating with the Oscar Grant Committee to document the work they do. We are organizing a film festival at the end of May 2015. See here for info on submissions!
Optik Allusions is so pleased to announce their very first Short Film Festival! Come discover our out-of-the-ordinary line up of intersectional short films from all over Oakland and all over the world!
The event will also be a fundraiser for our video collective to keep thriving: Optik Allusions provides equipment for video production and post production, organizes workshops… We share skills and resources to make films expressing points of view that are usually silenced, and tell stories that might otherwise remain untold. The fundraiser will also help pay our rent to a room dedicated to media post production.
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Optik_Allusions
Most of all, this event will be a way to connect with the greater community: YOU!
Please come hungry, because Sarah Bierman will be cooking her famous fried chicken plate with corn, and japaeno cabbage slaw. And her equally famous vegan gumbo!
Suggested Admission: $5 to $15
No one turned away for lack of funds.
Fight back with organizers from the No New SF Jail Coalition!
Come out on Saturday May 30 to take action, get a copy of the just-released No New Jail in SF: The People’s Report (from Critical Resistance Oakland), and join us to elevate the broad range of practical alternatives to more cages.
There will be a panel discussion with organizers and community experts discussing the the proposed jail project and the clear opportunities SF has to build a future *free* of cages. June is a big month for the fight and we need you with us. Everyone who attends can take meaningful action and help set up next steps to make this fight stronger and fiercer!
While city officials are moving forward with plans to build a new jail, they are neglecting to consider the impacts on our community: it is destructive to criminalize people with mental health challenges, and Black, Brown, and poor San Franciscans. Mental health & substance abuse treatment, housing, jobs, healthcare, lives with dignity – that’s what public safety looks like.
We can stop this jail!
MORE INFO HERE: www.nonewsfjail.wordpress.
TAKE ACTION TODAY: https://
Invite someone from the coalition to speak to your organization or community group.
Join our email list for updates on actions and opportunities to engage.
More than just a discussion on what’s wrong, the speakers will also talk about how regular people are getting organized in their neighborhoods and fighting back.
James Tracy, author of Dispatches Against Displacement
Linda Grant, Community organizer at Qilombo
Rachel Jackson, Harm reduction & anti-police brutuality activist
One Day • Seven Hours • 90 Writers • 40 Events
Schedule here.
Readings and conversations with Ben Fong-Torres, Edwidge Danticat, Tracy K. Smith, Matthew Zapruder, Jenny Offill, Novella Carpenter, and others
Panels with Paul Beatty, Astra Taylor, Vikram Chandra, Elaine Brown, Leo Hollis, Anthony Marra, and many more
Rick Prelinger with Lost Landscapes of Oakland
Children’s Area by Fairyland, MOCHA, and Oakland Public Library
Music by HipHop4Change, Oakland Youth Chorus, and Oakland School for Arts
For over 50 years Leslie Feinberg, revolutionary activist, transgender warrior in the LGBTQI community fought for justice. Leslie, who identified as an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist, died on November 15. She succumbed to complications from multiple tick-borne co-infections, including Lyme disease, after decades of illness.
Feinberg’s 1993 first novel, Stone Butch Blues, won the Lambda Literary Award and the 1994 American Library Association Gay & Lesbian Book Award. Feinberg authored Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue and Transgender Warriors: Making History; the novel Drag King Dreams; and Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba.
Feinberg was a member of the Workers World Party and a managing editor of Workers World newspaper. Most recently, Feinberg was working with her life partner of 22 years, Minnie Bruce Pratt, on publishing a 20th anniversary edition of Stone Butch Blues. The online edition will be dedicated to CeCe McDonald and contain a slideshow called “This Is What Solidarity Looks Like” documenting the Free Cece campaign.
This event is convened by Workers World Party, LAGAI-Queer Insurrection, and SF Gray Panthers. If you would like to support or help organize this event contact Judy Greenspan at judygreenspan1952@gmail.co
Wheelchair accessible, refreshments will be available
Re-Animinate, Break Bread and Celebrate.
Potluck!
Dancing!
Open Mic!
Community Circle!
Imagination Station!
Presented by Mother Jones
From Baltimore to Ferguson to the streets of Oakland, unjust shootings by cops have put law enforcement under the microscope. How is the media covering a changing police force? This panel will explore how reporting and activism can help hold cops accountable to those they are charged to protect.
JAEAH LEE is a reporter at Mother Jones. Her recent work includes investigations into police shootings and officer accountability, and a multimedia package on the cost of gun violence. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Wired, among others. She was a 2013–2014 Middlebury fellow in environmental journalism and her work has been named a finalist in the Data Journalism Awards. In a former life, she researched and wrote about China at the Council on Foreign Relations.
LATEEFAH SIMON became executive director of the Center for Young Women’s Development starting at age 19. In 2004, she joined Kamala Harris to create a re-entry program in San Francisco’s City Hall and then served as the executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Currently the director of the Rosenberg Foundation’s California Future Initiative, Lateefah is a MacArthur fellow award winner and is a nominee for the San Francisco Chronicle‘s “Visionary of the Year.”
ALI WINSTON covers law enforcement, criminal justice, and surveillance for the Center for Investigative Reporting. His writing has won awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, the New York City Community Media Alliance, CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club. Originally from New York City, he is a graduate of the University of Chicago and UC Berkeley.