Next week we’ll kick off October by beginning what will hopefully end up being a complete reading over the coming months of a true classic: Raoul Vaneigem’s The Revolution of Everyday Life. One of the high water marks of Situationism, a profound influence on “second-wave”/type 3 anarchisms, and an under-acknowledged example of egoist thought, this is a reading I’m very stoked to discuss with all of you. Each and every page of this text gives us ample material to unpack, so for this first reading let’s go from the introduction through the first section of “The Impossibility of Participation: Humiliation” — in other words, stopping at the section titled “Isolation”. Looking forward to hearing everybody’s thoughts on this seminal howl of revolt and refusal!
Calendar
Reading for 10/5
=========================
The Berkeley Anarchist Study Group (aka BASTARD: Berkeley Anarchist Students [of] Attack, Revolt, & Destruction) is one of the longest running (if not the longest running) anarchist reading groups in North America. We meet every Tuesday night from 7:30-9:30pm PST (note the new time!) at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley).
New participants are always encouraged to stop by regardless of your familiarity with anarchist ideas or practices. We warmly welcome newcomers and encourage them to make the group their own in the same manner we all do. To this effect, we endeavor to cultivate a convivial and gregarious atmosphere where everyone can contribute in whatever ways and to whatever degree they each desire. We do not, however, incorporate fixed practices aimed at creating an artificial “safe space” or prioritize the voices of certain participants as a way of ostensibly bringing about contrived parity amongst ourselves. We have no membership, no responsibilities, and no codes of behavior. In lieu of spurious standards for relating to each other, we look to every participant to find a balance between making their voice heard and hearing those of the rest of the group, between disagreeing passionately with each other and accepting our divergences without necessarily needing to resolve them. In summary, we eschew inflexible precepts for interaction and instead embrace spontaneous and honest dialogue, while leaving it up to each individual to make their voice heard and utilize the group as they see fit.
The study group organizes an annual gathering called the BASTARD Conference. This DIY event consists of informal, autodidactic presentations on anarchy and anarchists, presented by participants in the study group along with friends, guests, and accomplices from around the world.
In addition, this group has acted as a launching point for many texts, projects, and actions in its three decades of existence. Many attendees have been and continue to be integrally involved in projects which have left enduring impacts on international anarchist milieus over the years.
We pick readings for the coming week at the end of each session, after which they will be posted here. If you have a text you’d like to suggest, come pitch it to the group, but please be ready to kick off the following week’s conversation by introducing & sharing your reasons for choosing it.
If any of this sparks your interest or curiosity, then come join us every Tuesday evening from 7:30-9:30pm at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley). Email birdsoffire [at] riseup [dot] net with any questions. We hope to see you soon!
Walk expropriating and igniting!
Always leaving behind me howls of moral offenses
and smoking trunks of old things.
For the annihilation of all authority!
For the refusal of all submission!
Toward the beautiful idea of anarchy!
In this session, we’ll examine the expansion of and resistance against both remote and in-person worker surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spying on workers is nothing new in American history, but the rise of remote work has led to unprecedented use of invasive employee monitoring software, such as facial recognition, keystroke tracking, and remote cameras and microphones.
Joined by labor advocates Ryan Gerety and Strea Sanchez (United For Respect) and Frank Kearl (Make The Road NY), we’ll discuss these remote technologies alongside the enduring surveillance of workers in retail, restaurants, warehouses, and other in-person spaces. What’s new, what’s business as usual, and what can we do to uplift worker-led movements to resist surveillance?
Moderated by S.T.O.P.’s Albert Fox Cahn.
Panelists:
Ryan Gerety is a researcher at United For Respect and works with organizers and grassroots organizations to understand and respond to the technological acceleration of structural inequality.
Strea Sanchez is an organizer at United for Respect, and formerly was a warehouse worker at Amazon for two years.
Frank Kearl is a Staff Attorney at Make The Road NY. Based in Staten Island, NY, his legal work focuses on labor rights, including advocacy on behalf of Amazon warehouse workers.
📢 Reject the Babu Settlement! 📢
Come learn more about the Babu v. Ahern lawsuit and settlement, how it will impact mental health care in Alameda County jails, and what we can do to fight it.
✍️Register for the Teach In happening next week here:https://t.co/CKZBIT2ade pic.twitter.com/3gbGTZyzZS
— NLG San Francisco Bay Area (@nlgsf) October 21, 2021
📢 Reject the Babu Settlement! 📢
Come learn more about the Babu v. Ahern lawsuit and settlement, how it will impact mental health care in Alameda County jails, and what we can do to fight it.
✍️Register for the Teach In happening next week here:https://t.co/CKZBIT2ade pic.twitter.com/3gbGTZyzZS
— NLG San Francisco Bay Area (@nlgsf) October 21, 2021
Join Occupy Wall Street activists as they reflect on the 10 years since OWS and comment on how OWS has influenced their current work.
Friday November 12, 5:00-6:00 PM EST
Occupy Wall Street activists, Nelini Stamp, Jillian Johnson, and Manissa M. Maharawal, are joined in conversation by moderator Astra Taylor to discuss their experiences in the Occupy Wall Street movement. In reflecting on the ten years since OWS, the panelists will share how participating in Occupy informs their current work in organizing, activism, media, and politics.
This Tamiment event is generously sponsored by the Kurz Family Foundation and aims to honor the legacies of Herbert Kurz and Frederic Ewen – two outspoken advocates for academic freedom, civil liberties, civil rights, and democracy. The Ewen Forum is a discursive space to create a community of scholars, generate dialogue, promote research, and bring the public into greater awareness of the issues that were central to the life and work of Kurz and Ewen.
This event will be presented in Zoom. Live closed captioning will be available.
SPEAKERS
Astra Taylor, Debt Collective collaborator, documentarian, writer, and musician.
Nelini Stamp, National Organizing Director at the Working Families Party.
Jillian Johnson, Mayor Pro Tempore of Durham, North Carolina.
Manissa M. Maharawal, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University, collective member of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project.
Suds, Snacks, and Socialism…BYO
The Glasgow Climate Summit – What the Sierra Club Won’t Tell You
Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, 2:30 – 4:30 pm
Please register in advance at
https://bit.ly/Glasgow_SSS_211113
to receive your personal link for this event.
Although no one in the climate justice movement expects much from the global climate summit in Glasgow, it does provide a platform for activity and discussion. There will be an alternative summit and demonstrations around the world on November 6th. Join the speakers at this forum, who will report on the actions and discussions about the state of the climate justice movement and particularly on the growing eco-socialist wing of the movement.
Anne Petermann – Executive Director of the Global Justice Ecology Project
John Foran – professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara, involved with several programs including Environmental Studies
Phil Gasper –teaches philosophy at Madison College in Wisconsin and has been an environmental activist for over 40 years
This event is sponsored by the Oakland Greens, Bay Area System Change Not Climate Change, and the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party.
*Organizations listed for identification purposes only.
For more information email <info@sudssnackssocialism.org>
FLYER PDF:
https://occupyoakland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Suds-Forum-Flyer-2021-11.pdf
FREE comedy show and fundraiser for Kshama TOMORROW!
(doors 3:30pm)
Oakstop, 1721 Broadway in Oakland
Tickets are free, but space is limited: less than 20 spots left! Please make sure to reserve your tickets in advance if you would like to attend!
Featuring comedian, writer, and union organizer Nato Green as our headliner, alongside fellow comics FC Sierra and Marcus Williams, as well as speeches by Janani Ramachandran and more!
The Kshama Solidarity Campaign is being supported across the country. Here in the Bay Area, these local leaders are proud to endorse it and fight against the recall:
- Oakland City Council Member Carroll Fife
- Oakland School Board Director Mike Hutchinson
- OEA and Alameda Labor Council President Keith Brown
- UAW 2865
- Broke Ass Stuart
- Janani Ramachandran
- Gayle Mclaughlin, Richmond Progressive Alliance
This event will help provide the necessary resources to fund the efforts being made to prevent the right wing from successfully recalling Kshama. Come join us for an evening of speeches from working class fighters from around the Bay Area, and let’s defend Kshama and the socialist movement in Seattle.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
(Please note: must provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test. Masks required.)
RSVP here!
Can’t make the show, but still want to lend your support?
Donate here!
Help us organize by making a donation
Agree with us? Join today!
This talk will include the plans by the nuclear industry to establish nuclear-rockets to Mars and nuclear-powered mining colonies on the planetary bodies. Included will be a review of US attempts to destroy the United Nations Outer Space and Moon Treaties as Obama in 2015 signed a new law giving US corporations the ‘right’ to make land claims for mining the sky in violation of those treaties. This will result in moving the war system into space as other nations will not allow the US to act as the ‘Master of Space’..
Our speaker will be Bruce Cagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
LOGIN INFORMATION
We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible, but the Zoom room 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.. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open until about 1 pm for informal discussion.
THIS ZOOM LINK IS GOOD FOR
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ICSS is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: ICSS Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library November 14 2021
Time: Nov 14, 2021 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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Our program today has two speakers, Aidan Hill and Patricia St.Onge. Aidan will talk about the struggle to defend Peoples Park in Berkeley. Patricia St.Onge has been active for many years in the struggles of Native Americans over land. These struggles are attempts to undo some of the crimes done by settlers to dispossess Native Americans from their ancestral lands. What unites these two speakers are serious questions about land itself. The context of this Green Sunday is the question of who “owns” the land and who should get to decide how land should be used.
Patricia St. Onge (Haudenosaunee and Quebecoise, adopted Cheyenne River Lakota) is a grandmother and mom. She’s also the founder of Seven Generations Consulting and Coaching, offering individual and group/team coaching, primarily with members of social justice organizations. She is the lead author of Embracing Cultural Competency: A Roadmap for Nonprofit Capacity Builders. She is Assistant Adjunct Professor at Mills College, Department of Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies. At Mills, she is also the Elder in Residence.
A long time activist, she is a member of the 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations. She was appointed by the Sogorea Te Land Trust to be a director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, based in Oakland. Patricia is part of a growing community in East Oakland called Nafsi ya Jamii (The Soul Community), an Education/Spiritual Center and urban farm.
Aidan Hill (they/them) is a queer/trans political activist in the Bay Area living on the intersection of multiple identities. They are a former Vice-Chair of the City of Berkeley Homeless Commission, a Green Party Electoral Candidate and a UC Berkeley student stewarding People’s Park in Xučyun, Turtle Island. Aidan is committed to highlighting the disparity of power among marginalized groups and actively contribute to the social, cultural and political movements during their lifetime. Aidan has formerly been employed by the Riverside City College’s Political Science department to teach Model United Nations where they won dozens of awards in New York, Rome, and Seoul, South Korea. Aidan traveled the state organizing press conferences to save the Bag Ban with the assistance of the California Public Interest Research Group at UC Berkeley (founded by Ralph Nader).
November 14th, 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm Via Zoom: please see access info below
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 7:00 pm, after a 30-minute break. Council meetings are open to anyone who is interested.
Topic: Green Party of Alameda County
Description: Green Sunday presentation at 5 PM
(Followed by County Council business meeting at 7:00. All are welcome to attend)
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In this ambitious successor to The Great Derangement, acclaimed writer Amitav Ghosh finds the origins of our contemporary climate crisis in Western colonialism’s violent exploitation of human life and the natural environment.
A powerful work of history, essay, testimony, and polemic, Amitav Ghosh’s new book traces our contemporary planetary crisis back to the discovery of the New World and the sea route to the Indian Ocean. The Nutmeg’s Curse argues that the dynamics of climate change today are rooted in a centuries-old geopolitical order constructed by Western colonialism. At the center of Ghosh’s narrative is the now-ubiquitous spice nutmeg. The history of the nutmeg is one of conquest and exploitation—of both human life and the natural environment. In Ghosh’s hands, the story of the nutmeg becomes a parable for our environmental crisis, revealing the ways human history has always been entangled with earthly materials such as spices, tea, sugarcane, opium, and fossil fuels. Our crisis, he shows, is ultimately the result of a mechanistic view of the earth, where nature exists only as a resource for humans to use for our own ends, rather than a force of its own, full of agency and meaning.
Writing against the backdrop of the global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, Ghosh frames these historical stories in a way that connects our shared colonial histories with the deep inequality we see around us today. By interweaving discussions on everything from the global history of the oil trade to the migrant crisis and the animist spirituality of Indigenous communities around the world, The Nutmeg’s Curse offers a sharp critique of Western society and speaks to the profoundly remarkable ways in which human history is shaped by non-human forces.
Amitav Ghosh is a novelist and essayist whose many books include the acclaimed Ibis Trilogy (Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire), Gun Island, Jungle Nama: A Story of the Sundarban and The Great Derangement.
In 2011, Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., a senior Black veteran with a heart condition and a history of mental health challenges living in White Plains, New York, accidentally pressed the button on his medical alert pager while sleeping. The responding police officers needlessly escalated the situation and shot him to death.
The film we will be screening is about the final hours of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr’s life, and we’ll be joined by his son, Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., to discuss the film and the continued fight for justice for his father.
Register to join us on Wednesday at 6pm for a FREE virtual screening of the 2019 film, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain.
WHAT: APTP Presents Virtual Screening of The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
WHEN: Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 6 pm
WHERE: Zoom � Register to join us
ACCESSIBILITY: ASL interpretation will be available for the discussion happening before and after the screening and closed captioning will be provided for the film.
Register
See you then!
APTP
Anti Police-Terror Project is a Black-led, multi-racial, intergenerational coalition that seeks to build a replicable and sustainable model to eradicate police terror in communities of color. We support families surviving police terror in their fight for justice, documenting police abuses and connecting impacted families and community members with resources, legal referrals, and opportunities for healing.
Chris Hedges with Mickey Huff : A KPFA Zoom Event
OUR CLASS, Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison
…………………………………………………………………………………………
With the force of an Old Testament prophet Chris Hedges has denounced with righteous eloquence the unjust distribution of wealth in this country, decrying the moral decay of powerful elites. His latest book, Our Class, lays bare the cruelty of the American penal system.
Since 2013 Hedges has taught courses in the college degree program offered by Rutgers University at East Jersey State Prison and other state prisons. Having read a number of plays with Hedges, his incarcerated students wrote a play of their own, Caged, which ran for a month in 2018 to sold out audiences at the Passage Theater in Trenton, New Jersey.
Our Class is a chronicle of a remarkable creative process, exploring the artistic and personal discoveries that emerged. In this immensely readable and moving work, Hedges brings to life the remarkable stories of the incarcerated men, who speak for themselves, revealing with candor their struggles to live lives of dignity and purpose.
“This book could change everything . . . . It could make graspable why today’s prisons are contemporary slave plantations. I couldn’t put it down and I tried.”
– Alice Walker
“Raw and intimate. . . . Combining searing, well-informed critiques of the U.S. criminal justice system with sympathetic character profiles and inspirational accounts of intellectual and emotional breakthroughs, this is a powerful look at how creative expression can provide ‘a taste of freedom.’” – Publishers Weekly
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a foreign correspondent for fifteen years working for The New York Times as bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans. He has a Masters of Divinity from Harvard University and is the author of many books, including War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a National Book Critics Circle finalist, and Empire of Illusion; Death of the Liberal Class; Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt; Wages of Rebellion, Unspeakable; and America, The Farewell Tour. He has taught at Columbia, New York University, and Princeton. He currently writes for Truthdig.
Mickey Huff is director of Project Censored and president of the nonprofit Media Freedom Foundation. He has edited or co-edited ten annual volumes of Censored and is currently professor of social science and history at Diablo Valley College. He is producer and co-host of the Project Censored Show, a weekly syndicated public affairs program aired over KPFA Radio and fifty community radio stations.
Contrary to the claims of U.S. media that the November 7 Nicaragua election was illegitimate, independent observers report that it was free, fair, and democratic. We invited Rich Sterling who was in Nicaragua as an official observer to discuss the actual situation. Rick’s report can be found at:
What I Saw on Election Day in Nicaragua. By Rick Sterling.
Our speaker, Rick Sterling, is an investigative journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is active with the Taskforce on the Americas and other organizations including Syrian Solidarity Movement and the Mount Diablo Peace and Justice Center. Rick has researched and written articles challenging the trend toward corporatization of higher education. He is an active supporter of KPFA (listener sponsored radio) and Rossmoor Voices for Justice in Palestine. Rick was a full-time activist in his early years, had a 25-year detour working as an engineer in the electronics and aerospace industries, primarily at UC Berkeley, and has now returned to work full time where his heart is: progressive international causes.
LOGIN INFORMATION
We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible, but the Zoom room 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.. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open until about 1 pm for informal discussion.
THIS ZOOM LINK IS GOOD FOR
SUNDAY, Nov 21, 2021 ONLY
The ICSS is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
What I Saw on Election Day in Nicaragua – Rick Sterling
Time: Nov 21, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting:
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It's time for another CDP Friendsgiving Potluck! Join us on Nov 21 at 1:00PM at Mosswood Park! Bring a dish or drink to share with CDP members and supporters. We're having a potluck to celebrate all of the friends we've made while working to bring a #PeoplesBudget to Oakland! pic.twitter.com/QaAcdqxFjU
— CDP-Oakland (@OAKCDP) November 18, 2021
The winter holiday season in the United States can be super isolating, depressing, anxiety-producing, and triggering for many of us, especially during the pandemic! Luckily, several CDP members have been trained in peer counseling and we're here for you! pic.twitter.com/3qyMl0HhMT
— CDP-Oakland (@OAKCDP) November 18, 2021
Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the the online invite.
For December, 2021 we’re reading the first half of “Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives” by Heller & Saltzman. Amazon., Powells.
For January, 2022 we’re reading the second half.
Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this 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, Revenge Capitalism, the Edge of Chaos blog symposium , Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, The Optimist’s Telescope, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, Exploring Degrowth,
and The Origin of Wealth.
Venezuela’s Mega-elections
The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela has provided international leadership to the anti-imperialist struggle and a promise that a better world is possible. Consequently, it has been targeted for regime change by the US, which has illegally blockaded the country causing immense human suffering. The extreme right opposition will be participating in the November 21 mega-elections, rather than boycotting, for the first time in years.
If the extreme right does well, the US and its sycophantic press will proclaim that socialism has failed in Venezuela and the (in fact, blackmailed) people have spoken. If the extreme right does poorly, the US and its allies will visit even more misery on Venezuela, claiming the true voice of the people had been suppressed. Our speaker, Roger Harris, will report back on his observation of the elections in Venezuela and what the popular movements and their leadership have accomplished.
Roger D. Harris is a member of the ICSS program committee. He is active with the human rights organization, the Task Force on the Americas, and is on the executive committee of the US Peace Council. His political writings may be found at Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Mint Press News, Popular Resistance, and the Orinoco Tribune. Earlier this year, Roger observed and wrote on elections in Ecuador (https://orinocotribune.com/us-role-behind-the-defeat-of-ecuadors-leftist-presidential-candidate/) and Nicaragua (https://dissidentvoice.org/2021/11/nicaragua-has-a-public-relations-problem-not-a-democracy-problem/).
LOGIN INFORMATION
We Intend to start the presentation as close to 10:30 am as possible, but the Zoom room 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.. The program (and recording) will end at 12:30, but the Waiting Room will remain open until about 1 pm for informal discussion.
THIS ZOOM LINK IS GOOD FOR
SUNDAY, Dec 5, 2021 ONLY
ICSS Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library
Sunday, December 5, 2021 Roger Harris – Report Back: Elections in Venezuela
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88171014297?pwd=dXZDRjNxc0RFRU5QTlkyeTNJS3Zqdz09
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Protect Solar Farms In Alameda County
On Thursday, Dec 9th at 9:00am the Alameda County Board of Supervisors will be voting on a proposed moratorium for utility-scale solar farms in Alameda County. Most proponents of solar are urging a NO vote on the moratorium. See this doc for more info on how to contact your supervisor if you live in Alameda County, and how to join the meeting on Thursday to give your public comment. Info here!
On line. Free.
Register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/christopher-w-shaw-in-conversation-with-ralph-nader-tickets-168501012063
Celebrating the release of First Class, which investigates the essential role that the postal system plays in American democracy.
Christopher W. Shaw and Ralph Nader (joining via telephone) to discuss
First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat by Christopher W. Shaw
published by City Lights Books
Moderated by Katherine Isaac. Ralph Nader will be joining us via telephone.
The fight over the future of the U.S. Postal Service is on. Political ideologues and corporate interests have long sought to remake the USPS from a public institution into a private business, and in 2020, during an election dependent on mail-in votes, the attacks escalated. This year, with mid-term elections fast approaching and the next presidential contest on the horizon, attempts to undermine the essential role of the USPS are gaining ground. Three states have already passed laws to limit voting by mail, with more poised to do the same. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy recently unveiled a “10-year plan” that openly promises slower delivery times, price hikes on postage, and reduced access to post offices, outlining the next stage of battle.
In First Class, Christopher Shaw provides an illuminating history of the U.S. Postal Service, exposing the various campaigns against it. He argues that current attacks have implications that go beyond the future of mail service, and will have grave consequences for American democracy if they are not stopped.