Calendar

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Nov
3
Fri
42nd Annual American Indian Film Festival @ Brava Theater Center
Nov 3 all-day

Running November 3rd – November 11th.

RedX Talks.

Amasani

Neekomok

Indian Giver

Waabooz

Wind River

63847
Homeless Eviction Farewell Party to South Berkeley @ HERE/THERE, across from Sweet Adeline
Nov 3 all-day

63873
Nov
4
Sat
Open Hours at UC Gill Tract Community Farm @ Gill Tract
Nov 4 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
sm_saturday_hours.jpg The UC Gill Tract Community Farm will be open the next two Saturdays, Nov. 4 and Nov. 11, 2017 from 10am to 2pm. Please join us to prepare planting beds, transplant seedlings, mulch pathways, assist in other farm maintenance tasks as well as learn about organic, urban agro-ecology.

We welcome all ages to work with us and take home some freshly harvested produce. We are located at 1050 San Pablo Avenue (at Marin), Albany, CA 94706. Please check our website (gilltractfarm.org) for more information.

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SAN FRANCISCO HACKATHON @ Internet Archive
Nov 4 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

SAN FRANCISCO HACKATHON – RSVP

The Internet Archive is hosting a two-day hackathon, on Saturday, November 4th (10am-6pm) and Sunday, November 5th (11am-6pm). RSVP HERE

 Admission is FREE! But you must RSVP, as space is limited. You may use a pseudonym, but you will still need an email to go with it, so we can confirm you the day before the show, if we need to.

Food and refreshments will be provided, so you don’t have to leave the building from 10 am until 9:30pm, if you are so inclined. (Yes there are vegetarian and vegan options 🙂

As always, this is a great opportunity to hack on SecureDrop, the whistleblower submission system originally created by Aaron and Kevin Poulsen, that is now managed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Jen Helsby, SecureDrop’s Lead Developer and Connor Schaefer, SecureDrop’s Senior DevOps Engineer, will be on hand to answer questions.

In addition, there are several other hackathon tracks that we will be fleshing out over in the weeks leading up to the event. (This is just a starting list):

  1. Ethical Algorithms (SF: panel on Saturday, 2pm)
  2. Usable Crypto (SF: a panel and the first ever live demo of the Pursuance Project on Saturday, 3pm) (Interview with Barrett Brown and Steve Phillips about Pursuance.)
  3. FOIA (SF: a presentation by Jason Leopold, Saturday, 5pm)
  4. Simple Secure Messaging 101

Here is a tentative schedule:

Saturday

9:30 am Breakfast – The fun starts Saturday morning – bright and early at 9:30 am. Grab a bagel and some coffee and start deciding what to do next from a wide range of possibilities.

10:00 am SecureDrop Hackathon Begins

Upstairs in the Great Room:

10:00 am – Introduction to Aaron Swartz Day 
– Lisa Rein, Mek Karpeles and various project leaders:

-Lisa Rein (Simple Secure Messaging 101)
-Nathalie Cadranel (OpenArchive)
-Steve Phillips (Pursuance Project)
-Mek Karpeles (Open Library)
-Internet Archive (AI for IA)

12 pm – Downstairs – Lunch

Lunch is from Noon – 1pm – Make sure you eat a big lunch to get you through an exciting afternoon. But if you don’t, there’s food downstairs all day, for when you realize you’re about to fall over 🙂

1pm – 1:45 pm – Hacker Culture Panel – w/audience Q and A and questions from internet. Panel: Gabriella Coleman, Lisa Rein and others.  “Aaron was a hacker, but he didn’t hack MIT.’   Gabriella Coleman, hacker antropologist, Assistant Professor, Researcher.  Lisa Rein, film maker “From DeadDrop to SecureDrop,” and other special guests to be announced.

2:00 – 2:45 pm – Ethical Algorithms Panel – w/Q and A. Kristian Lum (Human Rights Data Analysis Group – HRDAG) and Caroline Sinders (Wikimedia Foundation, Formerly of IBM Watson Chatbot team)

3pm -4:30 pm Barrett Brown and Steve Phillips – Building a Better Opposition: Process Democracy and the Second Wave of Online Resistance w/ Q and A (First live demo of the Pursuance Project!)

5pm – 6:00 pm – Jason Leopold’s FOIA Wisdom w/ Q and A 
BuzzFeed’s Senior Investigative Reporter Jason Leopold will provide a FOIA how-to, with a presentation of “Tips and Tricks,” he has learned along the way. Jason wrote about Aaron’s FOIA request filings in the weeks following his death, and was greatly inspired by them.

6:00-7:00 pm Hackathon Reception – Join us in celebrating many incredible things that we’ve accomplished by this year!

We will toast to the launch of the Pursuance Project (an open source, end-to-end encrypted Project Management suite, envisioned by Barrett Brown and brought to life by Steve Phillips).

7:00-7:30 – Reception finishes up 7:10pm and guests will make will make their way upstairs

Speakers 7:30 – 9:30 pm

Sunday – Tentatively

10:30 – Breakfast

11 am -SECUREDROP hackathon continues 🙂

11 am – noon – Talks from Project Leaders about Hackathon Projects – Lisa Rein, Mek Karpeles, Project Leaders

NOON – 1pm LUNCH

1 – 2 pm EFF/Let’s Encrypt Lead Developer Jacob Hoffman-Andrews w audience Q and A

2 – 3 pm Pursuance Advanced Tech (w Q and A) – Steve Phillips and Barrett Brown

3-6 pm More intense technical/lightning talks

3:00 pm:  TBA

3:20 pm: TBA

3:40 pm: TBA

4:00 pm: Natalie Cadranel – OpenArchive

4:20 pm: TBA (10 minute talk)

4:30 pm: John Light – A Brief History of Blockchain Name Systems

5:00 pm: TBA

5:20 pm: TBA

 

RSVP TO THE SAN FRANCISCO HACKATHON HERE

 

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Alameda Renters Coalition General Meeting @ Alameda Point Collaborative
Nov 4 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

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Berkeley Film Festival: VOICES FOR FREEDOM, and others @ East Bay Media Center
Nov 4 @ 3:00 pm – 7:30 pm

VOICES FOR FREEDOM:The Hyers Sisters’ Legacy – Documentary – Susheel Bibbs – 30 min              

In 1877, when nightriders terrorized African-Americans and black-face minstrels ridiculed them across the land, The Hyers Sisters (African-American, opera prodigies) arose to become Voices For Freedom.  Q&A Follows   

4:00 – Citizen Clark… A Life Of Principle – Joseph C. Stillman – Documentary – 90 min. Q&A Follows  Introduction of the film by Alice Walker, in person.
This is a film about former U.S. Attorney General and Humans Rights Activist Ramsey Clark. Narrated by Martin Sheen. This is a ‘work in progress’.

6:00 –  An Exploration of Our History – Doug Harris – Documentary – 10 min. Q&A Follows                                         

Berkeley  filmmaker, Doug Harris, discovers his family’s history of escaping slavery in 1855 from Virginia to Canada through the Underground Railroad.                                                                            

      

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Aaron Swartz Day 2017 @ Internet Archive
Nov 4 @ 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm

The Fifth Annual Aaron Swartz Day International Hackathon and Evening Event.

 

The event will take place following this year’s San Francisco-based Aaron Swartz International Hackathonwhich is going on Saturday, November 4, 2017 from 10-6 and Sunday, November 5, 2017 from 11am-6pm at the Internet Archive.

Hackathon Reception: 6:00pm-7:00pm – (A paid ticket for the evening event also gets you in to the Hackathon Reception.)

Come talk to the speakers and the rest of the Aaron Swartz Day community, and join us in celebrating many incredible things that we’ve accomplished by this year! (Although there is still much work to be done.)

We will toast to the launch of the Pursuance Project (an open source, end-to-end encrypted Project Management suite, envisioned by Barrett Brown and brought to life by Steve Phillips).

Migrate your way upstairs: 7:00-7:30pm – The speakers are starting early, at 7:30pm this year – and we are also providing a stretch break at 8:15pm – and for those to come in that might have arrived late.

Speakers upstairs begin at 7:30 pm.

The purpose of the evening event, as always, is to inspire direct action toward improving the world. Everyone has been asked to speak about whatever they feel is most important.

Speakers in reverse order (speaker bios are at the bottom of this invite):

Chelsea Manning (Network Security Expert, Former Intelligence Analyst)

Lisa Rein (Chelsea Manning’s Archivist, Co-founder, Aaron Swartz Day & Creative Commons)

Daniel Rigmaiden (Transparency Advocate)

Barrett Brown (Journalist, Activist, Founder of the Pursuance Project) (appearing remotely)

Jason Leopold (Senior Investigative Reporter, Buzzfeed News)

Jennifer Helsby (Lead Developer, SecureDrop, Freedom of the Press Foundation)

Cindy Cohn (Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Gabriella Coleman (Hacker Anthropologist, Author, Researcher, Educator)

Caroline Sinders (Designer/Researcher, Wikimedia Foundation, Creative Dissent Fellow, YBCA)

Brewster Kahle (Co-founder and Digital Librarian, Internet Archive, Co-founder Aaron Swartz Day)

Steve Phillips (Project Manager, Pursuance)

Mek Karpeles (Citizen of the World, Internet Archive)

About the Speakers:

Chelsea Manning – Network Security Expert, Transparency Advocate

Chelsea E. Manning is a network security expert, whistleblower, and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst. While serving 7 years of an unprecedented 35 year sentence for a high-profile leak of government documents, she became a prominent and vocal advocate for government transparency and transgender rights, both on Twitter and through her op-ed columns for The Guardian and The New York Times. She currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area, where she writes about technology, artificial intelligence, and human rights.

Lisa Rein – Chelsea Manning’s Archivist, Co-founder, Aaron Swartz Day (& Creative Commons)
Lisa Rein is Chelsea Manning’s archivist, and ran her @xychelsea Twitter account from December 2015 – May 2017. She is a co-founder of Creative Commons, where she worked with Aaron Swartz on its technical specification, when he was only 15. She is a writermusician and technology consultant, and lectures for San Francisco State University’s BECA department. Lisa is the Digital Librarian for the Dr. Timothy Leary Futique Trust.

Daniel Rigmaiden – Transparency Advocate
Daniel Rigmaiden became a government transparency advocateafter U.S. law enforcement used a secret cell phone surveillance device to locate him inside his home. The device, often called a “Stingray,” simulates a cell tower and tricks cell phones into connecting to a law enforcement controlled cellular network used to identify, locate, and sometimes collect the communications content of cell phone users. Before Rigmaiden brought Stingrays into the public spotlight in 2011, law enforcement concealed use of the device from judges, defense attorneys and defendants, and would typically not obtain a proper warrant before deploying the device.

Barrett Brown – Journalist, Activist, and Founder of the Pursuance Project

Barrett Brown is a writer and anarchist activist. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, the Guardian, The Intercept, Huffington Post, New York Press, Skeptic, The Daily Beast, al-Jazeera, and dozens of other outlets. In 2009 he founded Project PM, a distributed think-tank, which was later re-purposed to oversee a crowd-sourced investigation into the private espionage industry and the intelligence community at large via e-mails stolen from federal contractors and other sources. In 2011 and 2012 he worked with Anonymous on campaigns involving the Tunisian revolution, government misconduct, and other issues. In mid-2012 he was arrested and later sentenced to four years in federal prison on charges stemming from his investigations and work with Anonymous. While imprisoned, he won the National Magazine Award for his column, The Barrett Brown Review of Arts and Letters and Prison. Upon his release, in late 2016, he began work on the Pursuance System, a platform for mass civic engagement and coordinated opposition. His third book, a memoir/manifesto, will be released in 2018 by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.

Jason Leopold, Senior Investigative Reporter, Buzzfeed News

Jason Leopold is an Emmy-nominated investigative reporter on the BuzzFeed News Investigative Team. Leopold’s reporting and aggressive use of the Freedom of Information Act has been profiled by dozens of media outlets, including a 2015 front-page story in The New York Times. Politico referred to Leopold in 2015 as “perhaps the most prolific Freedom of Information requester.” That year, Leopold, dubbed a ‘FOIA terrorist’ by the US government testified before Congress about FOIA (PDF) (Video). In 2016, Leopold was awarded the FOI award from Investigative Reporters & Editors and was inducted into the National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame by the Newseum Institute and the First Amendment Center.

Jennifer Helsby, Lead Developer, SecureDrop (Freedom of the Press Foundation)

Jennifer is Lead Developer of SecureDrop. Prior to joining FPF, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Data Science and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, where she worked on applying machine learning methods to problems in public policy. Jennifer is also the CTO and co-founder of Lucy Parsons Labs, a non-profit that focuses on police accountability and surveillance oversight. In a former life, she studied the large scale structure of the universe, and received her Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Chicago in 2015.

Cindy Cohn – Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From 2000-2015 she served as EFF’s Legal Director as well as its General Counsel.The National Law Journal named Ms. Cohn one of 100 most influential lawyers in America in 2013, noting: “[I]f Big Brother is watching, he better look out for Cindy Cohn.”

Gabriella Coleman – Hacker Anthropologist, Author, Researcher, Educator
Gabriella (Biella) Coleman holds the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University. Trained as an anthropologist, her scholarship explores the politics and cultures of hacking, with a focus on the sociopolitical implications of the free software movement and the digital protest ensemble Anonymous. She has authored two books, Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking (Princeton University Press, 2012) and Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous (Verso, 2014).

Caroline Sinders – Researcher/Designer, Wikimedia Foundation
Caroline Sinders is a machine learning designer/user researcher, artist. For the past few years, she has been focusing on the intersections of natural language processing, artificial intelligence, abuse, online harassment and politics in digital, conversational spaces. Caroline is a designer and researcher at the Wikimedia Foundation, and a Creative Dissent fellow with YBCA. She holds a masters from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program from New York University.

Brewster Kahle, Founder & Digital Librarian, Internet Archive
Brewster Kahle has spent his career intent on a singular focus: providing Universal Access to All Knowledge. He is the founder and Digital Librarian of the Internet Archive, which now preserves 20 petabytes of data – the books, Web pages, music, television, and software of our cultural heritage, working with more than 400 library and university partners to create a digital library, accessible to all.

Steve Phillips, Project Manager, Pursuance Project

Steve Phillips is a programmer, philosopher, and cypherpunk, and is currently the Project Manager of Barrett Brown’s Pursuance Project. In 2010, after double-majoring in mathematics and philosophy at UC Santa Barbara, Steve co-founded Santa Barbara Hackerspace. In 2012, in response to his concerns over rumored mass surveillance, he created his first secure application, Cloakcast. And in 2015, he spoke at the DEF CON hacker conference, where he presented CrypTag. Steve has written over 1,000,000 words of philosophy culminating in a new philosophical methodology, Executable Philosophy.

Mek Karpeles, Citizen of the World, Internet Archive

Mek is a citizen of the world at the Internet Archive. His life mission is to organize a living map of the world’s knowledge. With it, he aspires to empower every person to overcome oppression, find and create opportunity, and reach their fullest potential to do good. Mek’s favorite media includes non-fiction books and academic journals — tools to educate the future — which he proudly helps make available through his work on Open Library.

 

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A Force More Powerful – Film @ Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists’ Hall
Nov 4 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Don’t miss hearing firsthand accounts of how nonviolent power overcame oppression and authoritarian rule all over the world!
“A veritable manual on how to mount a successful nonviolent resistance movement …stark footage and personal stories add drama to the history of a 20th century movement.” LA Times

“The film is a work of art because, first, it is a work of fact.” National Catholic Reporter
“Outstanding! …rich in archival footage and thoughtful interviews….The stories are inspiring, sometimes awesome.” Washington Post

We’d like a full house, and your presence is very much wanted!
BFUU’s Social Justice Committee presents films that engage our hearts and minds, followed by discussion.

For more info: http://www.aforcemorepowerful.org/films/index.php

Sponsored by BFUU Social Justice Ctee

Sliding scale at the door—no one turned away for lack of funds.
Wheelchair accessible.

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APTP Evaluate What You Tolerate Release Party @ Eli's Mile High Club
Nov 4 @ 8:00 pm – 11:45 pm

Maximum Rocknroll and the Anti Police-Terror Project present…

The Evaluate What You Tolerate tape release party and mixer!

DJ tba — let’s dance
Silent Era — silenterabayarea.bandcamp.com
Preening – preening.bandcamp.com
MANE — manesf.bandcamp.com

All proceeds to APTP. 21+. An all ages show is planned for the new year. Flyer and set times to come.

Come meet and hang out with some great comrades. Everyone is welcome. Get the November issue of MRR featuring an interview with APTP’s Cat Brooks for FREE when you pick up a comp. 

No non-sense and fuck nazis.

————————–——————-

This Fall, 50 bay area punk bands came together on ‒ Evaluate What You Tolerate: a two volume compilation and zine against white supremacy, racism and hate ‒ to raise $$ for the Oakland-based Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) and their work to a create strong community support system for Black, Brown and Poor people.

Evaluate What You Tolerate was made in solidarity with people who are profiled, left unsupported, pushed out of their homes, murdered by police, made to feel like they don’t belong, deported and targeted. It’s a nod to the importance of community care/defense and sustained resistance against the brutalization of our friends, family and communities.

All proceeds from Evaluate What You Tolerate will benefit the Oakland-based Anti Police-Terror Project, a group of concerned and committed institutions, organizations, and individuals dedicated to ending state-sanctioned murder and violence perpetrated against Black, Brown and Poor people. They’re a Black led, multi-racial, multi-generational coalition that organizes to resist police terror and to create a strong and sustainable community support system.

Made with much love and rage on Ohlone Lands.

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Nov
5
Sun
SAN FRANCISCO HACKATHON @ Internet Archive
Nov 5 @ 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

SAN FRANCISCO HACKATHON – RSVP

The Internet Archive is hosting a two-day hackathon, on Saturday, November 4th (10am-6pm) and Sunday, November 5th (11am-6pm). RSVP HERE

 Admission is FREE! But you must RSVP, as space is limited. You may use a pseudonym, but you will still need an email to go with it, so we can confirm you the day before the show, if we need to.

Food and refreshments will be provided, so you don’t have to leave the building from 10 am until 9:30pm, if you are so inclined. (Yes there are vegetarian and vegan options 🙂

As always, this is a great opportunity to hack on SecureDrop, the whistleblower submission system originally created by Aaron and Kevin Poulsen, that is now managed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Jen Helsby, SecureDrop’s Lead Developer and Connor Schaefer, SecureDrop’s Senior DevOps Engineer, will be on hand to answer questions.

In addition, there are several other hackathon tracks that we will be fleshing out over in the weeks leading up to the event. (This is just a starting list):

  1. Ethical Algorithms (SF: panel on Saturday, 2pm)
  2. Usable Crypto (SF: a panel and the first ever live demo of the Pursuance Project on Saturday, 3pm) (Interview with Barrett Brown and Steve Phillips about Pursuance.)
  3. FOIA (SF: a presentation by Jason Leopold, Saturday, 5pm)
  4. Simple Secure Messaging 101

Here is a tentative schedule:

Saturday

9:30 am Breakfast – The fun starts Saturday morning – bright and early at 9:30 am. Grab a bagel and some coffee and start deciding what to do next from a wide range of possibilities.

10:00 am SecureDrop Hackathon Begins

Upstairs in the Great Room:

10:00 am – Introduction to Aaron Swartz Day 
– Lisa Rein, Mek Karpeles and various project leaders:

-Lisa Rein (Simple Secure Messaging 101)
-Nathalie Cadranel (OpenArchive)
-Steve Phillips (Pursuance Project)
-Mek Karpeles (Open Library)
-Internet Archive (AI for IA)

12 pm – Downstairs – Lunch

Lunch is from Noon – 1pm – Make sure you eat a big lunch to get you through an exciting afternoon. But if you don’t, there’s food downstairs all day, for when you realize you’re about to fall over 🙂

1pm – 1:45 pm – Hacker Culture Panel – w/audience Q and A and questions from internet. Panel: Gabriella Coleman, Lisa Rein and others.  “Aaron was a hacker, but he didn’t hack MIT.’   Gabriella Coleman, hacker antropologist, Assistant Professor, Researcher.  Lisa Rein, film maker “From DeadDrop to SecureDrop,” and other special guests to be announced.

2:00 – 2:45 pm – Ethical Algorithms Panel – w/Q and A. Kristian Lum (Human Rights Data Analysis Group – HRDAG) and Caroline Sinders (Wikimedia Foundation, Formerly of IBM Watson Chatbot team)

3pm -4:30 pm Barrett Brown and Steve Phillips – Building a Better Opposition: Process Democracy and the Second Wave of Online Resistance w/ Q and A (First live demo of the Pursuance Project!)

5pm – 6:00 pm – Jason Leopold’s FOIA Wisdom w/ Q and A 
BuzzFeed’s Senior Investigative Reporter Jason Leopold will provide a FOIA how-to, with a presentation of “Tips and Tricks,” he has learned along the way. Jason wrote about Aaron’s FOIA request filings in the weeks following his death, and was greatly inspired by them.

6:00-7:00 pm Hackathon Reception – Join us in celebrating many incredible things that we’ve accomplished by this year!

We will toast to the launch of the Pursuance Project (an open source, end-to-end encrypted Project Management suite, envisioned by Barrett Brown and brought to life by Steve Phillips).

7:00-7:30 – Reception finishes up 7:10pm and guests will make will make their way upstairs

Speakers 7:30 – 9:30 pm

Sunday – Tentatively

10:30 – Breakfast

11 am -SECUREDROP hackathon continues 🙂

11 am – noon – Talks from Project Leaders about Hackathon Projects – Lisa Rein, Mek Karpeles, Project Leaders

NOON – 1pm LUNCH

1 – 2 pm EFF/Let’s Encrypt Lead Developer Jacob Hoffman-Andrews w audience Q and A

2 – 3 pm Pursuance Advanced Tech (w Q and A) – Steve Phillips and Barrett Brown

3-6 pm More intense technical/lightning talks

3:00 pm:  TBA

3:20 pm: TBA

3:40 pm: TBA

4:00 pm: Natalie Cadranel – OpenArchive

4:20 pm: TBA (10 minute talk)

4:30 pm: John Light – A Brief History of Blockchain Name Systems

5:00 pm: TBA

5:20 pm: TBA

 

RSVP TO THE SAN FRANCISCO HACKATHON HERE

 

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Stroller Brigade: Save The Birth Place of the East Bay @ Alta Bates Hospital
Nov 5 @ 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Did you have a baby at Alta Bates?
Know someone born at Alta Bates?
Join Nurses to Help Stop the Alta Bates Closure!

Sutter Health wants to close Alta Bates Medical Center — Berkeley’s only acute-care hospital — a mother and
infant-care center of excellence for more than a century! Sutter is crippling nurses’ ability to care for the community right now with unsafe short staffing! Closing Alta Bates will leave Berkeley and other cities along the Interstate 80 corridor, through the Caldecott Tunnel, without access to a full-service, acutecare hospital, putting lives at risk.

Berkeley and East Bay Communities Need Alta Bates!

Bring friends, families, and neighbors — and all available STROLLERS (no baby required) — for our march to save Alta Bates hospital!

The East Bay Must Rise Up to Save Alta Bates in Berkeley!

CNA: A Voice for Nurses. A Vision for Healthcare.

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Occupy Oakland General Assembly @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Nov 5 @ 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
Berkeley Film Festival: The Ito Sisters @ East Bay Media Center
Nov 5 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

The Ito Sisters – Antonia Grace Glenn –  Documentary – 83 min. Q&A Follows                                                          

The Ito Sisters is a documentary film capturing rarely told stories of the earliest Japanese immigrants to their United States and their American – born children.

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Nov
6
Mon
Justice 4 Kayla Moore! Support the family in court in Oct & Nov! @ Phillip Burton Federal Building,
Nov 6 all-day

***Note: Dates are tentative. Stay tuned to this page for any changes!***

Show up this Oct. & Nov. to support the Moore family as they finally have been granted their days in court, after over four years of seeking a fraction of accountability from the City of Berkeley and BPD.

Stay tuned for more details about each day of court.
www.facebook.com/Justice4KaylaMoore ~ justiceforkaylamoore.wordpress.com ~

WHEN:
Wednesday, October 18 – final pre-trial hearing
Tuesday, November 6 – FIRST DAY OF TRIAL
November 7,8,9,10 – Trials Dates

===============
About Kayla Moore
===============
Kayla Moore was a Black trans woman with a mental health disability – schizophrenia – who was born, raised and living in Berkeley. She was a poet and loved to cook, dance and help people – her neighbors, friends and even strangers on the bus.

On Feb. 12, 2013, Kayla was in her home when a friend of hers called 911 to request a mental health wellness check. When officers showed up at Kayla’s door, however, they didn’t offer assistance or support. Instead, they immediately tried to arrest her on a false and unconfirmed warrant, wrestling her onto the ground and restraining her violently until she passed away with six police officers on top of her. Since then, no one involved has seen any consequences.

======================
About the family’s court case
======================
In 2016, the Moore family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City and the BPD officers involved. After many delays and attempts by the City to have the suit dropped, the family finally has confirm trial dates: October 23-27, 2017. The lawsuit will center on holding the cops and the city accountable for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate Kayla’s mental health disability, and, instead, treating her as a criminal because of it. We know that disability is NOT a crime and being a black trans woman is NOT a crime.

The Moore family’s court case could set a major precedent for other cities and police departments by re-affirming that cities and police must comply with the American’s with Disabilities Act when responding to mental health crises.

To the Justice 4 Kayla Moore Coalition, it’s common sense that crisis is not a crime and a militarized police response is not the way that cities should offer “support” to people experiencing mental health crises. The Moore family’s court case is a call to action for Berkeley and all cities: it’s time to build alternative, ADA-compliant crisis responses that truly support and honor Black people, people of color, trans people and queer people with disabilities.

63688
Oakland Jericho: liberation of US political prisoners @ Omni Commons
Nov 6 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

To discuss, publicize, and work for the liberation of the political prisoners now being held in the US.

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Occupy Forum: TREASURE ISLAND @ Unite Here Local 2
Nov 6 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
OccupyForum presents
Information, discussion & community! Monday Night Forum!!
Occupy Forum is an opportunity for open and respectful dialogue
on all sides of these critically important issues!
TREASURE ISLAND:

Carol Harvey’s Update on Environmental Injustice,
the Homelessness Catastrophe, and Big Development
on Treasure Island

Treasure Island, the former radioactive-waste dump site off the coast of San Francisco, is turning into a $5 billion housing development for big profits.

 

Treasure Island, a man-made island off the coast of San Francisco, looks more like a post-apocalyptic wasteland than a Bay Area suburb. But as demand for housing in the area continues to climb, developers including Lennar  now thee largest homebuilder in the US  turned to Treasure Island in hopes of creating the next big real-estate destination.

In 2011, the city of San Francisco approved a proposal to add 8,000 homes, 500 hotel rooms, 300 acres of parks, 140,000 square feet of retail, and 100,000 square feet of office space to the island over 15 years. The island’s population is expected to grow from 2,500 to about 20,000 by 2032, when the final stages of development wrap. Most of the existing buildings will be demolished to make room for new developments. The development project comes with a price tag of $5 billion. With construction on infrastructure underway, we are learning that there’s more to this former toxic-waste site than meets the eye.

Like the Bayview, these landfills were used by the Navy to decommission its radioactive ships and for other toxic work.  In 1993, the Navy decommissioned Treasure Island, moving sailors’ families out. The 1994 federal Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act,“A bill to revise and improve the process for disposing of buildings and property at military installations under the base closure laws,” opened national floodgates to environmental racism. Men, women and children are stricken with tumors and cancers from exposure to radiation, chemicals and lead the Navy dumped into island soil during 50 years training sailors for nuclear war, as well as lung disease from asbestos and mold in the walls of military housing.

A 1997-1998 city government report announced, “Three hundred housing units on TI [Treasure Island] are expected to be occupied in October or November of 1998 under an interim housing plan. TIDA has contracted with the John Stewart Company to rehabilitate and manage these units. This interim plann is intended to preserve the housing stock which deteriorates rapidly with lack of use, and to provide an income stream.”San Francisco began to use HUD subsidies for maintenance and eventual island redevelopment.

As mayor, veteran of 30 years in the state Assembly and 15 as the all-powerful speaker, Willie Brown used his pull to deprive Treasure Islanders of San Franciscans’ equal rights to rent control, subjecting them to no cause evictions. Additionally, he crafted a consortium of collaborating organizations.

� The Treasure Island Development Authority Board (TIDA), which serves at the mayor’s pleasure

� Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative (TIHDI), an umbrella organization of nonprofits, which provides rehabilitation services for marginalized people

� The John Stewart Co., California’s largest poverty pimp, which manages HUD-subsidized and market rate housing

� The Navy arm of the consortium, following federal law, which began radiation and chemical cleanup.

By 2017, 18 years of subsidy money and intimidation have elapsed. As the cartel prepares the toxic soil for lucrative high-rise condos and hotels, homeless families’ incomes are no longer required. Redevelopment has begun. With three generations of subsidies in its coffers, John Stewart Co. is quietly launching evictions. Ill from chemical and radiation exposure, their offsprings’ DNA forever transformed, targeted families are, as planned, being returned to City streets.

Carol Harvey will share with us the history, and the damning revelations she continues to unearth, and what we can do about it.

Carol Harvey is a San Francisco political journalist specializing in human rights and civil rights.

http://sfbayview.com/2017/09/death-camp-treasure-island/

http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-treasure-island-san-francisco-transformation-2017-8/#you-can-live-in-san-francisco-your-whole-life-and-never-set-foot-on-treasure-island-1

Time will be allotted for announcements.

 

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100 Years after the Balfour Declaration: The Anti-Colonial Struggle in Palestine @ first Congregational Church of Berkeley
Nov 6 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

The Middle East Children’s Alliance Presents

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee
DR. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI

Speaking on
100 Years after the Balfour Declaration:
The Anti-Colonial Struggle in Palestine

Facebook event

Mustafa Barghouti is General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative & President of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees

Introduced by linguistics professor Dr. Khalil Barhoum, Stanford University
Interviewed by Dr. Samia Shoman, Palestinian-American educator whose research was on a sovereign Palestinian state
Benefit for the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees
Wheelchair Accessible

Tickets: $10 – $100, available now through Eventbrite
$100 ticket includes seats reserved up front
To avoid the service charge, buy tickets directly from MECA: email Susan@mecaforpeace.org, or call Sue 9am-4pm, Tuesday-Friday at 510-548-0542.
$15 tickets available at these East Bay bookstores: Moe’s, Laurel Books (cash and checks only), Walden Pond, and East Bay Booksellers (formerly Diesel).

Cosponsored by KPFA 94.1 FM, Friends of Sabeel, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, and more!

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Oscar Grant Committee @ Niebyl Proctor Library
Nov 6 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Against Police Brutality and State Repression

 

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Oscar Grant Committee Meeting @ Zoom Meeting
Nov 6 @ 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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Nov
7
Tue
Rally in SF to Save Temporary Protected Status for Immigrants @ SF City Hall Plaza
Nov 7 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Rally to Save Temporary Protected Status for Immigrants

The Trump administration is threatening to remove TPS from Salvadorans, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, Syrians, and Haitians and send them back to situations of life-threatening violence. Many came to the United States because of wars and natural disasters and have been here for years, and for some, even decades. Removing Temporary Protected Status will put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of deportation. Sending them back to countries where there are ongoing conflicts or economic instability is a human rights disaster.

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