Calendar

Join a conversation with David Anthoff, Professor with UC Berkeley’s Energy & Resources Group, about his recent research on how to recalculate the social cost of carbon (SCC).

Anthoff helped create a roadmap for the Biden Administration to set an SCC in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and transparent; as well as specific suggestions including updating the way they calculate damage and including the inequitable effects of climate change.

The roadmap was published in the journal Nature last month.

The UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment hosts this event, which will be moderated by  Berkeley Law Professor and CLEE Faculty Director Dan Farber

Register here

The intersection of mental health crisis & police are a deadly combination for Black & Brown people going through a mental health crisis.

Join us today @ 1 PM to tell Oakland City council to vote #YesOnMACRO & make an official, mental health service that will save lives. pic.twitter.com/VzjPyYOUvs

— Sassmaster Deane (@sassmasterdeane) March 16, 2021

1 PM TODAY City Council Zoom Meeting Link: https://t.co/0AeP2fyTEo

— Sassmaster Deane (@sassmasterdeane) March 16, 2021

We meet over Zoom. If you’d like to join us, and aren’t on our organizers’ list, drop us an email and we’ll send you an invitation.

If you would like to join the meeting early and get an introduction to the concepts of public banking, or more locally to who we are and what we do, please email us and we’ll see you online at 6:30.

Donate to keep us moving forward

We need your support on March 17 to show the mayor and OPD what’s right for Oakland.

Join us for the LAST MEETING of the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force!

On the table are some of the most forward-thinking proposals in the country. Thanks to our organizing, the Task Force advisory boards have proposed a set of bold, smart, transformative recommendations that will completely reimagine public safety in the Town. These proposals are overwhelmingly popular across Oakland’s communities.

But opponents aligned with the Mayor and OPD are fighting tooth and nail to thwart the people’s will, even engaging in a series of coordinated attacks against APTP and other BIPOC-led organizations in our Defund Police Coalition.

We are on the cusp of victory for our communities and we need YOUR SOLIDARITY! Join us.

Where: bit.ly/reimaginefinalmtg

Typically we have our monthly general meetings on the third Wednesday of every month, but we need a groundswell of community members to make SO MUCH NOISE at this final Task Force meeting that we drown out those who have forgotten or rejected the mandate of the Task Force: to defund OPD by 50% and invest in community services that actually keep us safe.

Please urge the Task Force to adopt the recommendations from our Defund Coalition Report. Add a personal touch to your comments when possible, as unique comments tend to have a greater impact.
RSVP
Together, we forced the city to create this Task Force last summer to chart a course towards defunding OPD by 50% and refunding our communities. We hit the streets by the THOUSANDS. We gave HUNDREDS OF HOURS of public comment. Now we need EVERYONE to show out and push the Task Force over the finish line. Join us to DEMAND that the final recommendations they send on to City Council are as strong as possible. We will accept nothing less.

 le like you.

Email contact@oaklandprivacy.org a few days before the meeting to obtain Zoom meeting access info.

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay and nationwide.

We fight against spy drones, facial recognition, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones; we oppose “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” —  to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Check out some of what we worked on in 2020 and 2019.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.  We helped fight and helped win the fight against Urban Shield.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition, mass aerial surveillance, and other analytics, and pushing back against ICE.

On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work, and on March 16th, 2021 s James Madison Freedom of Information Award by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

contact@oaklandprivacy.org

Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/

Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.  Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in various municipalities around the Bay.  To help slow down the encroaching police and surveillance state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

JOIN US FOR THE AB 1177 ADVOCATES’ BRIEFING. Join us for a briefing call and learn more about this crucial new bill to help close the racial financial access gap.

Advocates’ briefing invite and Zoom registration link.

Nearly 1 in 4 Californians are unbanked or underbanked – they either do not have a baank account, or despite having a bank account, still largely rely on alternative financial services, such as payday lenders, prepaid debit cards, and pawn shops. The unbanked and underbanked pay more for their financial services, have fewer opportunities to build credit, and are rejected for loans more often.

Low-wage workers earning less than $15 per hour make up 80.7% of the state’s unbanked. Nearly half of all Black households in California and 41% of all Latino households are unbanked or underbanked compared to 15.5% of white households.

AB 1177 – the California Public Banking Option Acct – will provide Californians with a no-cost banking option. This bill creates the BankCal program, allowing Californians to open a no-fee, no-penalty account with an associated debit card.

Join the fight for equitable banking access with the 3 action items above!

Authors: Assemblymembers Miguel Santiago, David Chiu, Mike Gipson, Ash Kalra, Alex Lee, Wendy Carrillo, Eduardo Garcia, Lorena Gonzalez.

Coauthors: Assemblymembers Rob Bonta, Laura Friedman, Luz Rivas, Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Phil Ting, Buffy Wicks, Senators Maria Elana Durazo, Ben Hueso, Lena Gonzalez, Scott Wiener.

Sponsors: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) CA, California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA), California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC).

Learn more at bankcalnow.com.
SAVE THE DATE!

We will hold a press conference March 30 with SEIU California to officially launch AB 1177, the California Public Banking Option Act. Details soon!
 

Grandmothers for a Green New Deal, a small group of elder women (members of 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations), invite you to a 90-minute, interactive zoom workshop to examine the Green New Deal as a blueprint toward a sustainable future.

Sign up for one of these workshops by clicking on the registration links below

Register for Thursday, March 18, 4-5:30 PM

Register for Friday, March 26; 4-5:30 PM

Register for Thursday, April 1, 4 – 5:30 PM

PLEASE NOTE:

Each presentation is limited to 12 participants so everyone has a chance to share their ideas. Please register early!

The workshop is centered around a 17 minute video,

http://www.vimeo.com/grandmothers4aGND/APathForward

Please watch the video before the workshop.

The video addresses the question: What is the Green New Deal and why does it matter?  It reviews the basics of the threat of climate catastrophe, the need for a radical restructuring of society for racial, gender, and economic justice, and why these things are inseparably connected. All in the voices of grandmothers talking about why this matters to them.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers and farm-workers in India have been protesting for over 111 days seeking repeal of the three new farm laws. What started in the Indian state of Punjab as a protest against the deregulation of the agrarian economy and doing away with the limited protections the farmers have had, quickly evolved into the largest mass mobilization in post-colonial India. Despite efforts from the hyper-nationalist ruling party to derail and delegitimize the movement, it continues to grow having cut across class, caste, and gender, and threatens to challenge the prevailing alliance between the state and capital.

Join us as we discuss the development of one of the largest agrarian struggles in the world in recent history!

RSVP

Part II:   Non Violent Direct Action (NVDA) Training
Discussion facilitated by Marian Doub and Nikki Sachs

We are deeply grateful to The Society of Fearless Grandmothers for offering this training in August 2020 during the cocooning enforced by the global pandemic crisis. The Society of Fearless Grandmothers trains older women in NVDA, how to organize, how to become a police liaison, and how to nonviolently stand between law enforcement and those behind us conducting nonviolent direct actions. The Society of Fearless Grandmothers is a wholly volunteer community service organization.

This is a wonderful pre-recorded training about how to show up well as a guest and ally in solidarity and be prepared for justice and clean water, air and soil action, led by experienced Society of Fearless Grandmothers NVDA Trainers Pennie Opal Plant and  Alison Ehara Brown, founders of the Society of Fearless Grandmothers, Idle No More San Francisco Bay, and signers of the Indigenous Women of Americas Defending Mother Earth Treaty.   Facilitators will include information on “Getting Organized”, which will continue into the April training.

This training covers topics to orient and prepare for a wide range of creative, nonviolent actions. Topics will cover the ABCs of creating or joining actions with a variety of roles and tactics that match your passions and abilities: strategic use of nonviolence in social movements, affinity groups, liaison with police and media, how to create beautiful direct actions, how to provide jail support, and other topics. The training will break out into smaller group sessions to reflect more deeply on our personal understandings as elder women committed to speaking out and acting in support of a healthy, clean, safe and restored planet for all beings. We’ll practice nonviolent techniques for preventing or de-escalating potentially violent situations and how to understand and work with the emotions that can be triggered or evoked.

The video does not need to be watched prior to the training, however you are encouraged to do so if you can.   Our experience is that we get something new or deeper out of each fresh viewing, and you may get more from the training if you do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0uJ6yYbECE

We are inspired by the work of the Society of Fearless Grandmothers and recognize that their work is done on a wholly voluntary basis. As guests on stolen land, we are humble and embrace the gift of their wisdom in this training with our deep gratitude. You can make a contribution today to their sister organization, Movement Rights, to help their work with tribal communities to stop fracking and pipelines and protect the Rights of Nature.

https://www.movementrights.org/donation-page/

https://www.facebook.com/fearlessgrandmothers

Follow this link to register: https://www.surjbayarea.org/events/spill-the-disabili-tea-a-disability-justice-workshop_2021_03_20

What is Disability Justice? People often express feeling intimidated and ill-equipped to unpack what we’ve been taught about disability, and how to support and advocate for disabled people in our everyday lives. This workshop is a fabulous opportunity for you to dive into the magic of disability justice with SURJ and Alex Locust at the helm.

With “Spill the Disabili-Tea™”, Alex will be facilitating an interactive discussion of disability justice for those committed to elevating their support for disabled folks in their community. Using his lived experience, education, and advocacy know-how, he’ll lead a candid conversation exploring the following questions (and more):

Who is “disabled” and what creates that experience?

What is “disability justice?”

What’s the “right way” to interact with people with disabilities?

How can I do better about those tricky “microaggressions?”

What’s the difference between “access” and “inclusion?”

Is disability a cultural experience and how can that intersect with other cultural identities?

How can I integrate these skills in the community (e.g. Pride celebrations, workplace culture, community gatherings)?

Come join us for an afternoon of real talk, experiential exercises, group work, and lots of laughs as we all Spill the Disabili-Tea™.

Accessibility Information

Spill the Disabili-Tea™ will be held virtually over Zoom and will start promptly at 1pm. We encourage you to join a few minutes before 1 to situate yourself.

Participants will receive an email after RSVP’ing and instructions for joining the meeting in an email sent out the morning before the event.

You may want to check your SPAM/ promotions folder for these emails. If you do not find the email, please email us at accessibility@surjbayarea.org, by the day before the meeting at the latest, so we can provide you the zoom link.

Closed Captioning will be provided. If possible, please let us know you plan to access Closed Captioning by emailing accessibility@surjbayarea.org.

We hope to provide translation into Spanish at this meeting but are still working on it. If you or someone else you know would want translation into Spanish, please reach out to us as soon as possible by emailing: accessibility@surjbayarea.org. We have not yet built capacity for translation to other languages.

ASL INTERPRETATION

ASL interpretation will be provided if requested by 11:00 AM on Thursday March 18th by emailing: accessibility@surjbayarea.org. Please RSVP for the workshop as well.

COST ACCESSIBILITY

This event is sliding scale, meaning pay what you can afford or are comfortable with. The sliding scale is from $20-$80. No one will be turned away for lack of funds, if you are unable to pay please RSVP by emailing accessibility@surjbayarea.org and we will send you the link the day before the event.

Kiss the Ground is a full-length documentary narrated by Woody Harrelson that sheds light on a new, old approach to farming called “regenerative agriculture” that has the potential to balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world.

Kiss the Ground reveals that, by regenerating the world’s soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilize Earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. Using compelling graphics and visuals, along with striking NASA and NOAA footage, the film artfully illustrates how, by drawing down atmospheric carbon, soil is the missing piece of the climate puzzle.

This movie is positioned to catalyze a movement to accomplish the impossible – to solve humanity’s greatest challenge, to balance the climate and secure our species future.

This film will be open to watch from home from the 21st-23rd of March.

Free and open to all. Donations are welcome and go to support our local arts community. Make donations at https://pentanglearts.org/get-involved/donations/

Hosted by Sustainable Woodstock and Pentangle Arts. Made possible by our underwriters VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION and MASCOMA BANK and sponsors Ellaway Group, The Unicorn, and Mark Knott DDS.

Please Join The Palestinian Youth Movement, Addameer, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Freedom Archives, The Arab Resource and Organizing Center and US Palestinian Community Network for Art Against Imprisonment, a Virtual Art Exhibit, that features art from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people
in Palestine and in the US. As a small testament to their creativity, imagination, and expressions of solidarity!

Join us in launching this exhibit with former political
prisoners: Hafez Omar, Linda Evans, and Oscar Lopez Rivera. Also, we will have and Anmar Rafeedie, cultural worker and long time member of El-Fanoun Palestinian Dance Troupe; and a message from Kevin Cooper
currently on California’s death row.
with musical artist:
Naima Shaloub; and with more to come.

Register here: tinyurl.com/artagainstprisons

The topic will be the history of the 1930s. Not the Great Depression but the *responses* to it. Firstly the Great Labor Rebellion: the CP-led California farmworkers strike, the three left-led general strikes of 1934, the sitdown strikes, and the rise of the CIO. And secondly the capitalist response, the New Deal and FDR, how the capitalist class coopted Labor’s Giant Step, and how black people, Chicanos and women were mistreated under New Deal legislation.

Our speaker is John Holmes who teaches history at Merritt College in California, and is currently on the executive council of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, representing part timers. He was previously an activist in the typographical union.

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.

Login info will be posted by here by Friday, Mar 19, 2021

Right now the most vulnerable individuals are being exploited on a massive scale and it will only get worse if we don’t take action now. But can we as average citizens really make a difference to help them? The answer is YES. In Direct Action Everywhere’s workshop, you will learn the history of social movements, the groundbreaking new research that shows the power of ordinary people, and the bold plan to nonviolently abolish the most harmful industry on earth that kills billions of animals every year.

Join this Zoom link Sunday at 11am PST: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84012361059
Meeting ID: 840 1236 1059

Please sign up to our email list before you attend this event:
dxe.io/signup

– – –

This interactive workshop was created by DxE co-founder and former Northwestern law professor Wayne Hsiung. After this workshop, you will have the tools to begin taking high impact action with thousands around the world to create historic change by saving billions of lives.

If you’re interested in joining our community for change by becoming a chapter member, this workshop is required. Sign-up to be a chapter member at dxe.io/apply.