Calendar

Zoom link

What is the state?
Do we need it?
Why or why not?
Let’s hear from CDP members, supporters, and naysayers!

Fishbowl Rules:
The Middle: Only 2-4 people may have their microphones on at a time.

Tapping In: To tap in, let us know in the chat and the facilitator will put you in the stack.

Tapping Out: If you’ve been in the fishbowl for a long time and you see that someone is trying to tap-in, feel free to say “I’m tapping out.” Mute yourself to officially leave the middle. That will let the facilitator know that they can tap someone in.

Topics: The facilitator will have questions prepared in case participants run out of things to say but please feel free to come with your OWN questions and ideas about how to overcome spectator politics! This is a participatory event!

If you need closed captioning, please let us know by emailing communitydemocracyproject@gmail.com and we will try our HARDEST to make it happen!

Join us for a screening of the Kiss the Ground film and a follow-up Q&A panel discussion hosted by Citizens Climate Lobby, Business Climate Leaders, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers for Environmental Action.

The cure to climate change has been here this whole time, and it’s right under our feet. Kiss the Ground is a full-length feature documentary that focuses on regenerative agriculture and soil health as a leading solution to the climate crisis.

We will be discussing the ways that our relationship to food and farming directly impacts the planet as a whole. When we’re farming right, we can regenerate our soil, build community, strengthen local economies, promote biodiversity, restore ecosystems, fight climate change, and heal our bodies.

Thanks for coming together to watch this film and participate in this engaging discussion, highlighting the intersection of agricultural policy impacts on farming and climate action.  And thanks for being on this path to regeneration with us!

Run of Show:

Jan 2-6 at your leisure: Watch the feature-length film on Vimeo at your leisure

Jan 6 – 3:30 pm PST: Come together to watch the educational cut of the film with us on Zoom followed by a panel discussion and Q&A starting at 4:15 pm PST

Register here

Public Banking is on the move in California and across the country! Last year, California passed a groundbreaking law that allows for the creation of up to 10 local/regional banks, and there is a growing effort here to create the first statewide public bank in over 100 years. In addition, US Representatives Rashida Tlaib (MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) have introduced the Federal Public Banking Act, which would foster the creation of public banks across the country by establishing national guidelines and ways to finance them.

The California Public Banking Alliance is convening two conversations with national experts to explore the role public banking can play in winning economic and ecological justice.

Panel 1 – 10am to 11am: Putting People and Planet Before Profit. Featuring Emily Kawano and Mike Strode of the US Solidarity Economy Network. Moderated by David Cobb with CPBA and Cooperation Humboldt.

Panel 2 – 11:15am to 12:15pm: Public Banks, Fossil Fuel Divestment and Community Reinvestment. Featuring Reina Tello of People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER) and Sylvia Chi of Asia Pacific Economic Network (APEN). Moderated by Doug Norlen with CPBA and Friends of the Earth.

At the southern end of the Japanese archipelago lies Okinawa, host to a vast complex of U.S. military bases. A legacy of World War II, these bases have been a fraught issue for decades—with tensions exacerbated by the often volatile relationship between islanders and the military, especially after the brutal rape of a 12-year-old girl by three servicemen in 1995. In Night in the American Village, Akemi Johnson takes readers deep into the “border towns” surrounding the bases—a world where cultural and political fault lines compel individuals, both Japanese and American, to continually renegotiate their own identities.

Joining Akemi in conversation is author of Green Island and former Fulbright scholar, Shawna Yang Ryan. In a story that sweeps across six decades and two continents, Green Island traces the course of Taiwan’s history, from the end of Japanese colonial rule, to the decades under martial law, and finally to Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy. This lush, lyrical novel depicts a family and a nation grappling with the nuances of complicity and survival, raising the question: How far would you be willing to go for the ones you love?

RSVP to receive the Zoom link to participate in the live Q&A! The event will also be streamed via YouTube Live.

We’ll meet via Zoom. Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com for the invite.

For our January meeting we’ll be reading the entries in the Edge of Chaos blog symposium, orchestrated by Beth Plutchak. The symposium is available as single .pdf accessible and downloadable here.

Strike Debt Bay Area hosts a non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included Doughnut Economics, Limits, Banking on the People, Capital and Its Discontents, How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century, The Deficit Myth, and Revenge Capitalism.

Join us – all are welcome!

Current login info here

Sun, Dec 20, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

CONFIRMED: The Present Farmers’ Movement in India: A Working Class Perspective
The present farmers’ movement in India has evoked a lot of interest among progressive and democratic circles around the world. In this context, certain questions need to be answered: What do these farmers actually want? What are their principal demands? What are the three Farm Bills and whom does they benefit? Where are the demands of poor peasantry and agricultural proletariat in this entire picture? Where do the urban working class of India figure in this scenario? As Plekhanov once said, living people think on living questions and these are some of the living questions of our times. As Marxists, we need to answer these questions in order to articulate a proletarian position on these issues
Our speaker is Abhinav Sinha (Editor, ‘Mazdoor Bigul‘, Writer ‘Red Polemique‘ Blog and Political Activist, Delhi, India) to speak on this topic.

Sun, Dec 27, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
CONFIRMED: The Three Concepts of Freedom

Synopsis: In this session we will compare and contrast the Liberal, Democratic, and the communist concepts of freedom. We will discuss that the Liberal freedom consists of the legal guarantees against outside intrusions. Democratic freedom emphasizes the right to participate in the life of the community, and the communist understanding of it consists of self-determination, i.e. non-alienated life.

Our speaker, Kambiz Sakhai, was born and educated in Iran. His studies included: Sociology, Middle Eastern Studies and Psychology. He has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 30 years. He is one of the founders of ICSS. 

Moderator: Raj Sahai

Sun, Jan 3, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Open Planning Meeting
CONFIRMED: Group Discussion: 2020-2021 The Year in Review and Preview.
Time to get together, talk about what happened in 2020, and discuss our hopes, fears, and tasks for 2021. Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion. Concrete proposals welcomed and will be  considered by the Program Committee.

Sun, Jan 10, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
CONFIRMED: Michael Roberts,  The Story of the Year of the COVID: But What Now for 2021?
2020 will go down in history – a worldwide pandemic from a previously unknown virus deadly to humans, killing millions or leaving them with permanent health problems; forcing lockdowns across the world that destroyed the world economy in the worst slump in the history of capitalism; and driving millions globally into poverty and loss of livelihood.  Where did all this come from?  Can capitalism come out of this unscarred?  With vaccines on the way is the crisis over?  What are the prospects for lives and livelihoods in 2021?

Raj Sahai is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join the 12/27 Zoom Meeting

Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:15am – 1:15pm Pacific Time

Raj Sahai is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2591082607?pwd=TTdlcFlnZEVCdWt2VlRHeWZLeHNKQT09

Meeting ID: 259 108 2607

Passcode: 6MwQP7

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,2591082607#,,,,,,0#,,396538# US (San Jose)

+13462487799,,2591082607#,,,,,,0#,,396538# US (Houston)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbXBRf3FyY

Green Party of Alameda County: Green Sunday presentation at 5 PM
(Followed by County Council business meeting at 6:30. All are welcome to attend)

Find Zoom info below.

Dr. Rasmus will review the condition of the US economy in 2020 and explain why last summer’s partial economic rebound has begun to relapse at year’s end. Why more economists now predict a further slowdown in early 2021. What’s happened to jobs, rents, household debt, wages, and income inequality trends over the past year. Why fiscal policy and bailouts–from the March ‘Cares Act’ to the recent ‘CashAct’–have proven insufficient for recovery. How and why Federal Reserve monetary policies have enriched the 1%, big corporations, investors who play into every best Bitcoin trading robot and even created record stock market values. What are some possible scenarios for America’s current ‘Triple Crisis’–economic, health, and political–in 2021 as the Great Recession 2.0 enters its second year.Dr. Jack Rasmus is the author of the recently published book, The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Policy from Reagan to Trump, Clarity Press, January 1, 2020. He currently teaches economics at St. Marys College in Moraga, on the subjects of US economic policy, US political change, financial business cycles, history of economic thought, American Labor and unions, and US Economic History. He is a graduate of UC, Berkeley (BA Economics) and University of Toronto (MA, Ph.D Political Economy).

Dr. Rasmus is author of several prior books on the USA and global economy, including Alexander Hamilton and the Origins of the Fed, 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes, 2017; Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges, 2016;  Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, 2016; Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression, 2010; Obama’s Economy: Recovery for the Few, 2012; and The War At Home: The Corporate Offensive From Reagan to George W. Bush, 2006.
His stage plays include ‘1934’, ‘Fire on Pier 32’, and ‘Hold the Light’. He blogs regularly at Znet & Counterpunch (USA), Global Research (Canada), Telesur (Caracas), World Review of Political Economy (Beijing-London), and European Financial Review (London).
Prior to teaching and publishing, Dr. Rasmus was formerly an economist and strategic market analyst for various global tech & market research companies for twenty years. Before that, for more than a decade, he was a local union president, contract negotiator, strike coordinator, and organizer for various unions, including the National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981, CWA Locals 9455 & 9415, Hotel & Restaurant Local 19, and SEIU Local 715.Dr. Rasmus blogs at: https://jackrasmus.com/  His website is http://kyklosproductions.com & his twitter handle is @drjackrasmus. He hosts the weekly radio show, Alternative Visions, on the Progressive Radio Network (podcasts available at: http://alternativevisions.podbean.com).

Green Sundays are a series of free public programs & discussions on topics “du jour” sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party follows, at 6:30 pm. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82620271999?pwd=S3ZwUklteGI5YjJsMEtMSnJXRzU3UT09

Meeting ID: 826 2027 1999
Passcode: 2020

One tap mobile
+16699009128,,82620271999#,,,,,,0#,,2020# US (San Jose)
+13462487799,,82620271999#,,,,,,0#,,2020# US (Houston)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Meeting ID: 826 2027 1999
Passcode: 2020
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kgrlxBN1m

PLANET PEOPLE PEACE
before profit!

We're hosting a press conference MONDAY MORNING at 10a! Did you know there's a COVID-19 outbreak in #SantaRitaJail? Hear from directly impacted folks, lawyers, & advocates who are collectively working to #FreeSRJ & #DefundTheSheriff to promote public health in the jail & county! pic.twitter.com/HD1NvPBqN2

— Decarcerate Alameda County (@decarcerateAC) January 10, 2021

Zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/J/89351447947

Okland PD uses a “Bearcat” tank-like vehicle for pre-planned SWAT deployments, often to serve warrants; at the Oakland Coliseum and other public events; at Sideshows; and to respond to emergencies. OPD also uses an armored “Surburban” SUV, which is not military-looking or as large and can withstand gunfire. In 2018-2019, OPD deployed the Bearcat about twice a week on average, mostly in East Oakland and West Oakland, never in the hills. The Bearcat’s expected functional life span will be up in about 3-5 years. Some people propose not getting another vehicle like the Bearcat when its use expires.

After OPD killed Joshua Pawlik, who was awakening from sleep, in March 2018 using a Bearcat as a shooting platform, a federal judge ordered Oakland to adopt policies on armored vehicles and two other issues (including responses to armed unconscious persons), which have a deadline of next month. The Police Commission appointed an Ad Hoc Committee to develop the policies (including Anne Janks), and they drafted the first two, before turning to policy for armored vehicles, which the Commission approved last night. This Ad Hoc Committee will hear community input on January 11th from 6:15 to 7:15 pm. The full Police Commission will consider a draft policy on January 28, before turning it over to the City Council.

OPD’s SWAT (Tactical Operations) team deploys with the Bearcat as a package: assault rifles, body armor, helmets, chemical agents, flash bangs, “less lethal” shotguns. Young people have testified how traumatizing their experience of these SWAT raids were. Yet the decision to deploy the Bearcat is linked in OPD policy and practice to these SWAT raids, with unclear and wide criteria for when to deploy.

The Commission has created a web page about Bearcat and armored vehicle policy at:
https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/ad-hoc-committee-on-militarized-equipment
That page also includes OPD’s draft of the armored vehicle policy, and email addresses for Oakland Police Commission members, to whom you can send written comments. This list-serve doesn’t accommodate attachments larger than 500kb, but I can send anyone a copy of the revision to the policy that we are working on.

The proposed Oakland ordinance on militarized equipment will also require a policy for armored vehicles, but that ordinance has not yet been adopted by the City Council. The ordinance will also require an impact statement and, if equipment is approved, regular reporting on it use.

The membership of DSA, the largest socialist organization in the United States, is rapidly growing by the thousands. Democratic Socialist politicians like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Cori Bush are raising the expectations of millions of people across the United States and bringing them into a political awakening. Millions of working-class Americans are calling for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, universal rent control, and more.

But what is democratic socialism? What does it mean to be a member of DSA? How do socialists look at the crises of police brutality, economic recession, and COVID-19? And what will be the best course of action when Biden takes office?

Let’s talk about it.

Join us to discuss what our political moment calls for, meet new people, and get plugged into our fight for democratic control of the things that we need for all of us to live a dignified life.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89896824119?pwd=WFV4REhQVXdYeVl6anJyaWJaZ2hxQT09

Meeting ID: 898 9682 4119

Passcode: housing

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,89896824119#,,,,*4305877# US (San Jose)

+13462487799,,89896824119#,,,,*4305877# US (Houston)

The California Policy and Political Education Working Group of the CA Poor People’s Campaign will host the first monthly meeting of the Jubilee Policy Platform Study Group. Here is the section we’re reading for the first meeting.

Being a document that the campaign is using to put forward a policy agenda that addresses the interlocking injustices we want to read and discuss what it means to our work on the state and local level.

For the first session, Lauren Hill and Abraham Entin will share facilitation. They are asking us to read the introduction and 1st section (pages 1-3).

If you want to join, please RSVP. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Just us for a virtual event with Mary Ziegler for her new book “Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present”. She’ll be in conversation with Mother Jones reproductive rights reporter Becca Andrews.

Hosts: San Francisco’s Booksmith independent bookstore and Mother Jones Magazine (SF)

Cost: FREE & open to the community. The event link will be sent to everyone who registers.

RSVP required: https://app.gopassage.com/events/mary-ziegler

To order “Abortion and the Law in America”, with free shipping throughout San Francisco and the East Bay, please go to: http://booksmith.com/book/9781108735599

______________________________________________________________

“Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present” by Mary Ziegler

With the Supreme Court likely to reverse Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision, American debate appears fixated on clashing rights. The first comprehensive legal history of a vital period, Abortion and the Law in America illuminates an entirely different and unexpected shift in the terms of debate. Rather than simply championing rights, those on opposing sides battled about the policy costs and benefits of abortion and laws restricting it. This mostly unknown turn deepened polarization in ways many have missed.

Never abandoning their constitutional demands, pro-choice and pro-life advocates increasingly disagreed about the basic facts. Drawing on unexplored records and interviews with key participants, Ziegler complicates the view that the Supreme Court is responsible for the escalation of the conflict. A gripping account of social-movement divides and crucial legal strategies, this book delivers a definitive recent history of an issue that transforms American law and politics to this day.
______________________________________________________________

ABOUT: Mary Ziegler, author

Mary Ziegler is the Stearns Weaver Miller Professor at Florida State University College of Law. Pulitzer Prize winning historian David Garrow has called her “the premier historian of abortion in the post-Roe era.” She teaches and writes on the legal history of reproduction and constitutional law, family law, and sexuality. Her latest book is Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present (Cambridge University Press 2020). Her first book, After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate (Harvard, 2015), was the winner of the 2014 Harvard University Press Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize for best first manuscript in any discipline. She often serves as commentator in leading mass media outlets across the world, including The Atlantic, The BBC, the Boston Globe, CNN, the Guardian, MSNBC, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, PBS News Hour, Politico, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

ABOUT: Becca Andrews, reporter for Mother Jones Magazine

Becca Andrews is a reporter at Mother Jones. A Southerner, she most often writes about the Southeast, gender, and culture. Before joining Mother Jones as an editorial fellow, she wrote for newspapers in Tennessee. Her work has also appeared in Slate, Marie Claire UK, and USA Today. Her first book, No Choice, on the dwindling access to abortion in the United States, is forthcoming from Hachette’s Public Affairs imprint.
_______________________________________________

Our speaker, Cde. Nagraj, is an agronomist based in Karnataka State of India in South-India. This state is now ruled by BJP but was ruled by the Congress Party in 1983. He resigned from his state gov. job in 1983 over what he saw was unfairness to the farmers. He then worked with farmers unions. I think he is associated with CPI-M (to be confirmed).  He is available both for the 17th and 31st of January 2021. I have asked him to send me a synopsis of his talk by email.  Since the farmers’ movement is at a crucial stage, we would prefer we give him the 17 January slot if at all possible

LOGIN INFORMATION
The meeting will be opened up, as usual, at 10:15 for anyone to join and discuss technical matters, catch up with each other, say Hi, etc. We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open for informal discussion.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2591082607?pwd=TTdlcFlnZEVCdWt2VlRHeWZLeHNKQT09

Meeting ID: 259 108 2607

Passcode: 6MwQP7

Tonight at 6 pm PST join us for a special #ReclaimMLK edition of our #DefundOPD teach-in. This will be our last weekend event before our mass caravan tomorrow!

Join us: https://t.co/KAwjMXtsfE pic.twitter.com/qVArkU20xN

— Anti Police-Terror Project (@APTPaction) January 17, 2021

Gather your friends and family. Reach out to your schools, unions, churches and other organizations. On Monday, January 18, join the Anti Police-Terror Project for the 7th Annual March to Reclaim MLK’s Radical Legacy!

This year’s Reclaim “march” will be a car caravan that begins at the Port of Oakland, makes its way down International/E14 and ends in East Oakland with a short program.

(See our separate event for how you can also support by calling related events all weekend -except MLK Day: https://www.facebook.com/events/855403635222329.)

For seven years running, the APTP Reclaim MLK event has been the only MLK March in the city of Oakland and brings together thousands of people across race, class and political ideology with a commitment to build a just and equitable Oakland that Dr. King would be proud of.

For decades, MLK’s legacy has been whitewashed. Often portrayed as a passive figure, in truth he was a radical leader demanding rational change: an end to capitalism, to war, to empire, to poverty, and to white supremacy. Communities in Oakland and across the country take this opportunity every year to celebrate the true spirit of this revolutionary. We intend to follow in his legacy through our campaign to defund the police and refund the community.

This year’s theme is Re-Imagine. Reimagine and remember King’s unrealized dream.

The work to Refund. Restore. Reimagine our communities is a modern day reflection of King’s work, legacy and unfulfilled dream. He said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” That’s Oakland’s budget every year. As we reimagine what public safety means in Oakland — violence interruption, housing as a human right, living-wage jobs with dignity, good schools, clean streets and parks, mental health care and crisis support, and thriving communities — we are making King’s Dream a reality.

We acknowledge that the pandemic is still raging through our communities. We will take this seriously. But we also acknowledge the essential work of defunding OPD in order to eradicate police terror. Police terror, like the pandemic, is a public health emergency.

And that’s why we still plan to hit the streets on MLK Day and Weekend but will do so in a car caravan that envelopes our whole city as we ride from the Port to Eastmont Mall.

On Monday, January 18, we will take action to demand:
-Cut OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million);
-Redirect funds to invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health workers and other services that actually keep us safe.
-Discontinue unauthorized overtime by OPD;
-An immediate response to the violence in our streets that is NOT rooted in the carceral state.

#ReclaimMLK
#ReclaimMLKOak
#DefundOPD
#RefundTheCommunity
#RefundRestoreReimagine
#KingsDreamLives

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION:
Kid & family friendly! More info TBD.

Message or email us if you’d like to get involved in the planning: aptpinfo@gmail.com

Join Idle No More SF Bay and Urban Tilth on the day before the Inauguration for a #BuildBackFossilFree Day of Action.

Facebook info and RSVP

Call on Joe Biden to kick off his term by taking executive action to:

• Protect and invest in the Black, Indigenous, Brown, and working-class communities that have borne the brunt of fossil fuel pollution and climate disasters.
• Reject new fossil fuel projects, eliminate giveaways to oil gas, and coal corporations, and end the era of fossil fuel production.
• Launch a national climate mobilization to Build Back Fossil Free, and deliver jobs, justice, and opportunity for all.

Busboys and Poets and the Center for Popular Democracy are proud to present this virgual gathering to welcome in a new presidential administration:

Reflections On Our Current Political Climate: Where We Are and Where We’re Going
Tuesday January 19, 2021
6:00-8:00pm ET. 

This virtual gathering will bring together organizers, activists, artists, entertainers and political leaders to give a nonpartisan toast to the incoming administration and to share our ideas and visions of how we make sure that it is responsive to the needs, hopes and dreams of our communities. Join us to celebrate the organizing power of the progressive movement and lay out our big, bold vision of a country that treats people with dignity, respect and equality.

Special Guests:
Nikki Giovanni
Alicia Garza
Ben Jealous
Maurice Mitchell
Piper Perabo
Alice Walker
Angela Davis
Somava Saha

Tickets are free and can be purchased here!

Questions? Please contact Beth Slade at bslade@populardemocracy.org.

In the decades since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at sanitation workers strike in Memphis, his legacy has been appropriated by just about every political movement out there. From Fox News pundits claiming he would oppose tax increases on the rich because he was “for freedom,” to the more typical whitewashing of his radical politics for a broad audience, anyone and everyone claim the sainted image2 of the good Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as their own.

But in his own time, MLK was viewed as the radical that he was. By cleaving toward an uncompromising politics of racial justice, economic transformation, and peace abroad, MLK won the ire of nearly ¾ of Americans who said they disapproved of him in a 1967 Harris Poll. Today, on our national holiday celebrating his legacy, we invite you to read and listen to his own prophetic words as he wrote and spoke them in his time.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81717425470?pwd=MjRRTWRRVFhBeXhYbjJpQ1NvN1JSdz09

Meeting ID: 817 1742 5470

Passcode: school

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,81717425470#,,,,*434903# US (San Jose)

+12532158782,,81717425470#,,,,*434903# US (Tacoma)