Calendar

9896
Aug
26
Sat
Richmond Progressive Alliance @ Bobby Bowens Progressive Center
Aug 26 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

There will be a Special Membership Meeting to vote on the RPA’s endorsement for the vacant Richmond City Council seat.  RPA Steering Committee members have been interviewing candidates, and the Steering Committee will bring their recommendations to the membership on 8/26 for a vote.  Membership (and dues renewal) available at the door.

63506
Strike Debt Bay Area: Debt Resistance is NOT Futile! @ Paris Baguette
Aug 26 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.

Come get connected with SDBA’s projects!
  • Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
  • Presenting debt-related topics at forums and workshops
  • Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts, and divesting from the Wall St. banks
  • Tiny Homes and other solutions for the homeless.
  • money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitative ticketing and fining schemes
  • Student debt resistance. Check out the Debt Collective, our sister organization
  • helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
  • Promoting the concept of Basic Income
  • Advocating for Postal banking
  • Organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first steps happen… now there’s a spinoff group
  • Bring your own debt-related project!

If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com .

 Also check out our website, our twitter feed, our radio segments and our Facebook page. Take a look at our Public Banking website, Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland.
Strike Debt Bay Area is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and Strike Debt, itself an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.

Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity

Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.

We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.

Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.

Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.

Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.

Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.

63365
Aug
27
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Aug 27 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall.  If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph.  If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

62637
Indivisible Berkeley General Assembly @ First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley - Westiminster Hall
Aug 27 @ 4:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Please note that the time and location are different from our regular General Assembly.

Monday marks the 54th anniversary of the historic March on Washington (August 28, 1963) that
signaled a turning point in the Civil Rights movement. Our country is now at another inflection point
in the fight for equality and civil rights. Following the election of Donald Trump, hate groups and
domestic terrorists have been emboldened to appear publicly and spew their dangerous messages
of white supremacy, fascism, anti-Semitism, and bigotry.

But​ ​we​ ​are​ ​stronger.​ ​We​ ​are​ ​Indivisible.
Join Indivisible Berkeley and other community members for an evening of:

celebrating our community with food, music respite from the day’s events and support for
and an atmosphere of love and support progressive friends involved in counter-protests
vision for the journey ahead grounding as we frame the arc of the Civil Rights movement
empowerment to action and where we are now on the journey to a more just society

inspiration​ ​to​ ​keep​ ​bending​ ​the​ ​arc​ ​of​ ​the​ ​moral​ ​universe
from​ ​Berkeley​ ​community​ ​social​ ​justice​ ​leaders

63505
Community Democracy Project @ Omni Commons - Disco Room
Aug 27 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.

Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.

Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.

The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.

Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!

63470
Sep
3
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Sep 3 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall.  If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph.  If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

62637
Sep
7
Thu
Omni Commons General Assembly @ Omni Commons
Sep 7 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Come by our open Delegates Meetings every First and Third Thursday of the month at 7pm! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom

62917
Sep
9
Sat
Oakland Justice Coalition General Meeting @ ACCE Oakland
Sep 9 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Do you want an Oakland City government that –

Actually does something to address the issues of gentrification and displacement?

Insures that every child in Oakland receives a decent education?

Demands protection from a police department that tolerates the sexual abuse of minors and harasses people of color?

Controls rents and builds affordable housing?

Fixes our streets and picks up the garbage we see everywhere?

Then join with the Oakland Justice Coalition as it creates a platform for progressive change and prepares to run candidates in the 2018 election.

63582
Alameda Renters Coalition @  Alameda Point Collaborative
Sep 9 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

63562
Sep
10
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Sep 10 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall.  If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph.  If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

62637
Green Sunday: No Coal in Oakland: An Update @ Niebyl Proctor Library
Sep 10 @ 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

 

NCIO-at-March-For-Science_2017-04-22.jpg

Oakland has long been a center for highly polluting transportation activities. This has resulted in disproportionately high health impacts for the residents of West Oakland. Our goal is to systematically reduce the level of pollution caused by all these polluting activities, and we have made some progress.  But we can’t afford to allow brand new pollution, in the form of coal dust, to further threaten our health.  Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel on Earth, imperiling the health of workers, endangering communities along the tracks, and contributing greatly to global warming and climate change.

Michael Kaufman, co-facilitator of the No Coal in Oakland campaign, will discuss the history of the campaign, its short-lived victory last year, and the current situation.  He will also address the campaign’s importance in the larger struggle.

Michael Kaufman has been an activist for his whole adult life in anti-racist, peace, labor and environmental movements.  He fought against the war in Vietnam as a college student while teaching guitar to finance his studies.  He performed as a semi-professional guitarist at the Ash Gove and other venues in Los Angeles in the 1960’s.  He is a founding member, and first elected Treasurer, of Washtech, a union of high tech workers, Local 37083 of the Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO.

He is a member of Vukani Mawethu, an east bay choir that has focused for thirty one years on South African anti-apartheid and U.S. Civil Rights songs.  Vukani Mawethu is Zulu for “People Arise.”  Last year Michael switched his voter registration to No-Party-Preference in order to vote for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 California Democratic primary election.  After that primary he re-registered as a Green Party member.

Most recently he became part of the leadership of the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America chapter.  Last June he was elected to be a delegate to 2017 DSA National Convention, just held in August in Chicago.  Michael has been a co-facilitator of the No Coal In Oakland campaign for the last two and a half years.

Breakout Groups

We were thrilled by your enthusiasm in Breakout Groups at Green Sundays a few months ago. To grow that energy, we’re trying Breakout Groups at the beginning of the County Council meetings after the 15 minute refreshment break that follows our Green Sunday programs. Which group will you roll with?

  1. ELECTIONS (including endorsements, campaigning, ballot drives, voter guide…)
    2. More CONVERSATION re No Coal in Oakland, AND Green Party ORIENTATION
    3. OUTREACH (recruiting, social events, networking with other groups…)
    4. TECH (website, social media, newsletter, recording/broadcasting our events…)
    5. OPERATIONS (including Green Sundayplans, fundraising, working with state and national Green Party…)

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and are held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County follows at 7:45 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. 

63583
Sep
11
Mon
Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland @ Omni Commons
Sep 11 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Agenda:

Reportbacks (15 min)

  • Freedom Farmers’ Market
  • First Friday
  • Les Leopold training
  • Other? Alameda County?

Repeating items: (15 min)

  • Treasurer’s report
  • introductions of new attendees
  • overview of public banking for new attendees
  • set next meeting time and place (two weeks is the Sparkassen event). Includes reportback on library venue possibilities.

Upcoming City Council Meetings: (25 min.)

  • Berkeley, 9/12, 6:00 p.m. If more than three people speak on our behalf, we go off the consent calendar.
  • Richmond, 9/12, 6:30 p.m.
  • Oakland, 9/19, 5:30 p.m.

Sparkassen event planning (15 min.)

Up-to-Date Situation

Berkeley City Council Meeting

The City of Berkeley, to our great satisfaction, may be on track to fund the $25,000 that the City of Oakland asked us to find “somewhere else” before they voted funding for our feasibility study, which is the first step towards the bank. Berkeley’s City Council vote will take place on Tuesday, September 12, at the 6:00 p.m. meeting at Berkeley City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way (about two blocks from BART). Please come and support the bank. Wear your Friends of the Public Bank t-shirt.

Oakland City Council Meeting

At the September 19 Oakland City Council meeting, the councilmembers will vote on whether to fund $75,000 of the $100,000 we need to do our feasibility study. The meeting starts at 5:30 at Oakland City Hall, 14th and Broadway. Please plan on coming to support us, sporting your green Friends of the Public Bank t-shirt.

Public Banking Funds Sustainable Energy

On September 25 at 7:00 p.m. in Oakland’s City Council Chambers, 14th and Broadway, Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan are sponsoring a great event, organized by us and Local Clean Energy Alliance.

Wolfram Morales, Chief Economist for Sparkasse, the association of local public banks in Germany, will explain the role of these institutions in speeding the development of local renewable resources such as solar and wind, at this panel discussion in City Hall.

Joining Wolfram will be: Nicolas Chaset, CEO of East Bay Community Energy (Alameda County’s soon-to-launch Community Choice energy program), Greg Rosen, Founder and Principal of High Noon Advisors (member of the East Bay Community Shared Solar Collaborative), and Jessica Tovar, Organizer for East Bay Clean Power Alliance. Pennie Opal Plant of Idle No More SF Bay, will lead an opening ceremony.

 

How We Got Here

On Thursday, June 29, in a very contentious and controversial vote, the Oakland City Council passed a new two-year budget. Thanks to a last-minute set of amendments from Councilmember Dan Kalb, $75,000 for the public bank feasibility study is in that budget.

The Council has asked that other groups fund the remaining $25,000.  In order to gain a Council majority to proceed with the study at the upcoming 9/19 meeting, we are asking for Friends to commit to donate to this cause.  If you are willing to donate any amount, please donate here or email us and act quickly if you can. Thank you for your support!

63612
Meeting & Potluck: Gear up to show up for Kayla Moore’s family! @ Grassroots House
Sep 11 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Want to help gear up for the Moore family’s October court dates?

The J4KM Coalition invites you to come gather with us on Monday, September 11th to get organized for the trial. We’ll be planning an action to rally community support for the family and to amplify our demands: It’s time to get the racist, transphobic and ableist Berkeley Police Department out of crisis response and to invest in community alternatives!

63567
Oakland Tenants Union monthly meeting @ Madison Park Apartments, community room
Sep 11 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

OTU’s Mission

The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.

Monthly Meetings

The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.

If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.

59289
Oscar Grant Committee @ Niebyl Proctor Library
Sep 11 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Against Police Brutality and State Repression

 

63615
Sep
16
Sat
Strike Debt Bay Area: Debt Resistance in the Age of Trump is NOT Futile! @ Paris Baguette
Sep 16 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.

Come get connected with SDBA’s projects!
  • Promoting single-payer / Medicare for All to end the plague of medical debt
  • Presenting debt and inequality related topics at forums and workshops
  • money bail reform and fighting modern day debtors’ prisons and exploitative ticketing and fining schemes
  • Working on debarring US Banks that have been convicted of felonies from municipal contracts, and divesting from the Wall St. banks
  • Tiny Homes and other solutions for the homeless.
  • Student debt resistance. Check out the Debt Collective, our sister organization
  • helping out America’s only non-profit check-cashing organization and fighting against usurious for-profit pay-day lenders and their ilk
  • Promoting the concept of Basic Income
  • Advocating for Postal banking
  • Organizing for public banking in Oakland! We made the first steps happen… now there’s a spinoff group
  • Bring your own debt-related project!

If you are new to Strike Debt and want to come early, meet one or two of us and get a briefing on our projects before we dive into our agenda, email us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com .

 Also check out our website, our twitter feed, our radio segments and our Facebook page. Take a look at our Public Banking website, Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland.
Strike Debt Bay Area is an offshoot of Occupy Oakland and Strike Debt, itself an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street.

Strike Debt – Principles of Solidarity

Strike Debt is building a debt resistance movement. We believe that most individual debt is illegitimate and unjust. Most of us fall into debt because we are increasingly deprived of the means to acquire the basic necessities of life: health care, education, and housing. Because we are forced to go into debt simply in order to live, we think it is right and moral to resist it.

We also oppose debt because it is an instrument of exploitation and political domination. Debt is used to discipline us, deepen existing inequalities, and reinforce racial, gendered, and other social hierarchies. Every Strike Debt action is designed to weaken the institutions that seek to divide us and benefit from our division. As an alternative to this predatory system, Strike Debt advocates a just and sustainable economy, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence.

Strike Debt is committed to the principles and tactics of political autonomy, direct democracy, direct action, creative openness, a culture of solidarity, and commitment to anti-oppressive language and conduct. We struggle for a world without racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all forms of oppression.

Strike Debt holds that we are all debtors, whether or not we have personal loan agreements. Through the manipulation of sovereign and municipal debt, the costs of speculator-driven crises are passed on to all of us. Though different kinds of debt can affect the same household, they are all interconnected, and so all household debtors have a common interest in resisting.

Strike Debt engages in public education about the debt-system to counteract the self-serving myth that finance is too complicated for laypersons to understand. In particular, it urges direct action as a way of stopping the damage caused by the creditor class and their enablers among elected government officials. Direct action empowers those who participate in challenging the debt-system.

Strike Debt holds that we owe the financial institutions nothing, whereas, to our friends, families and communities, we owe everything. In pursuing a long-term strategy for national organizing around this principle, we pledge international solidarity with the growing global movement against debt and austerity.

63558
Sep
17
Sun
Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Sep 17 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall.  If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph.  If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

ooGAOO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

  1. Welcome & Introductions
  2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
  3. Announcements
  4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

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Oscar Grant Committee Meeting @ Zoom Meeting
Sep 17 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Because of the COVID pandemic we will be meeting virtually via Zoom on the first Monday of the month.

Meeting ID: 828 0976 4186

If you wish to get the password please subscribe to the Oscar Grant Committee mailing list by sending an email to:

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.

We meet on the 1st Monday of each month
You can join our discussion list by sending a blank (doesn’t even need a subject) email to

oscargrantcommittee-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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Sep
20
Wed
Oakland Privacy: Fighting Against the Surveillance State in the Age of Trump. @ Omni Commons (usually in ballroom or downstairs)
Sep 20 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state,  against Urban Shield, and to advocate for privacy and surveillance regulation ordinances to be passed by our State Legislature and around the Bay Area, including the Alameda and San Francisco County Boards of Supervisors, the BART Board of Directors, and by the Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Albany and Davis City Councils.

We are also engaged in the fight against Predictive Policing and other “pre-crime” and “thought-crime” abominations, drones, improper use of police body cameras, ALPRs, requirements for “backdoors” to your cellphone and against other invasions of privacy by our benighted City, County, State and Federal Governments.

op-logo.2.1Oakland Privacy (nee Oakland Privacy Working Group) originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OPWG was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network; its members helped draft the Privacy Policy that puts further restrictions on the now Port-restricted DAC, and made Oakland’s new Privacy Advisory Commission to the City Council happen.  We were also the lead in having Alameda County pass the most comprehensive privacy and usage policy in the country for deployment of “Stingray” technology (cell phone interceptors).  Oakland and Fremont have followed suit. In conjunction with other groups we fight against Urban Shield and other killer-cop trainings.

We have presented our work at RightsCon in San Francisco and at Left Forum and HOPE in New York City.

If you would like to attend our meeting and would like a quick introduction to what we’re doing before we dive right into the thick of our agenda, send email to  contact@oaklandprivacy.org and one of us will arange to meet you before the meeting.

Stop by and learn how you can help guard our right not to be spied on by the government. Look on the whiteboard inside near the entrance to the OMNI for our exact location within the OMNI.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy Working Group email listserv, send an email to:

oaklandprivacyworkinggroup-subscribe AT lists.riseup.net

or send a request to contact@oaklandprivacy.org

Check out our website.

For more information on the DAC check out

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Anti Police-Terror Project General Meeting @ EastSide Arts Alliance
Sep 20 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Monthly APTP meeting, held on every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

– Strategize on addressing proposed changes to the BART police use of force policy.
– Find out ways you can use your talents and resources to support APTP and get involved with the work, including how to join various committees such as the Black Leadership Committee, First Responders, Action, Policy, Media, and Security committees.
– Find out more about the #DefundOPD campaign.

The Anti Police-Terror Project is a project of the ONYX ORGANIZING COMMITTEE that in coalition with other organizations, like Idriss Stelley Foundation, Community READY Corps and Workers World Party – Bay Area, is working to develop a replicable and sustainable model to end police terrorism in this country.

We are led by the most impacted communities but are a multi-racial, mutil-generational coalition.

For the July meeting:

There will be report backs on some of our recent actions including the Defund OPD campaign around the city budget process, including our shutdown of the Council budget meeting. You’ll also hear about our action to protest the promotion of rapist OPD Cops at their “secret” promotions ceremony.

We’d also love to have you get involved with APTP on a regular basis, by joining one of our committees. We will have committee breakouts as part of Wednesday’s meeting, so you can learn about what the different committees do. We know you all have lots of ideas and talent, so please contribute to further APTP’s on-going work.

Some of the committees include:
– Black Leadership
– First Responders
– Action
– Comms/Media
– Policy
– Security
– Fundraising

See you all on Wednesday!

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