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Mary Louise Patterson speaking on her book, Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond
Dr. MaryLouise Patterson is a retired general pediatrician from Weill-Cornell Medical College and New York Hospital in New York City. Born in Chicago to two labor and community activists who were longtime members of the Communist Party, Louise and William Patterson, she grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She earned her medical degree from Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow, USSR and a Master’s of Public Health, from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the first African-American woman to graduate from medical school in the USSR.
Upon returning to the US she joined the Communist Party, recruited by a childhood friend who was also a red diaper baby.
Like all of you over the many decades she’s put her shoulder to the plow and participated in hundreds of activities for freedom, justice, peace and socialism.
In 2016 a book she co-authored with Evelyn Louise Crawford, entitled “Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond” in which we attempted to show Langston’s belief that a better world was a worker’s world had never died.
She’ll start with showing a 17 minute video that introduces an audience to her parents, her co-author’s parents and their 40+ year relationship with Langston Hughes. After which she’ll discuss her upbringing in the home of African American communists and their relationship to Paul Robeson, many African American artists, the Black Panthers and more.
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Our monthly free community event’ like a film book club. we will discuss all aspects of the movie and your input is welcomed — “What the Bleep Do We Know” (2004): Amanda, a divorced photographer, has a fantastic experience when life begins to unravel around her, revealing the cellular, molecular and quantum worlds that lie beneath everything — Question everything with the regular cast and our host who has been in the business since 1989 — The Oakland Greens Virtual events are designed to hear your ideas & thoughts. At these events we want to listen to you, not talk at you.
Join us for these ZOOM events with unique topics with unique discussions:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-oakland-greens-august-free-dinner-a-movie-discussion-series-tickets-541828653087?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
RSVP here (registration closes at 4PM, 2 hours prior to event)
Tonight from 6-8PM, join special guest speakers Tur-Ha Ak, Minister Cherri Murphy, and Dominique Walker, the co-founder of Moms 4 Housing, for an interactive virtual training and strategy session on Oakland’s role in the fight against the Right. This event will bring together a diverse group of organizations to unite against the corporate-funded astroturf movement seeking to scapegoat marginalized communities and progressive leadership for conditions that arose from an unprecedented global pandemic.
Gather your comrades, your affinity group, your community, your organization, and join us to defend our communities and advance our movements! RSVP soon at� bit.ly/Oakland_United, registration will close at 4PM tonight!
Learn about the impact of the Asia Pacific Economic Coordination (APEC) on our planet today, and how to get involved when APEC gathers in SF in November. APEC is the continuation of disastrous US imposed trade policies to promote corporate profit over the well being of people all over the world.
More information about the NO TO APEC campaign and how to get involved:
https://linktr.ee/no2APEC
Donations welcome and appreciated – not required!

Speaker: Eugene E Ruyle
Labor Day is more than just a holiday or a day for sales. From the first Labor Day March in 1882 in New York City to the the historic Pullman Strike of 1894, Labor Day has its roots in struggle. It was brought to you by the same folks who gave you the weekend: the Labor Movement. Labor Day is the twin of May Day! Let’s reclaim our history!
Gene Ruyle is a retired union member with the California Faculty Association, a former delegate to the LA County Federation of Labor, and President of Veterans For Peace, East bay Chapter. He is also a member of the ICSS Program Committee.
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The longest-running film festival on issues surrounding immigration, the San Francisco Immigrant Film Festival, SFImFF, is back with the selection of the best short films from all around the world that were shown during its five editions.
The event where refugees, immigrants and exiles find their own voice will be held this Sunday 3rd (September) at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, MCCLA, in San Francisco.
This edition will be a movie marathon with 18 short films divided into two screenings, at 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm and admission is $10.
Each year, from 2010 to 2014, SFImFF has offered its films/videos to the community with free screenings at their workplace and for student groups, which is a feature that makes this event a unique project, according to its founder/executive director, Romulo Hernandez. Now, after a long break, the festival will screen the best movies that have received during the first five years since its creation.
One of the missions of SFImFilmFestival is to bring the event to organizations that work with immigrants, to share with the staff and the community at large. We have had free OR low fee movie screenings with organizations such as SF Day Labor Program, City College (Ocean and Mission campus), Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, Nuestra Voz (Sonoma), SF International High School, Casa Quezada, Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), Sonoma Community Center, People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights (P.O.D.E.R.) and ATA theater.
The SFImFilmFestival is a volunteer-run organization.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070296993555
The public safety system has enormous consequences on the quality of life for Oakland residents, but have you ever wondered why the public safety system works as it does, and who really is in charge? At this month’s Virtual Assembly, we’ll be learning about how the Oakland public safety system works, making sense of the different players, from the Oakland Police Department, the District Attorney, City Council, and more. We’ll break down who they are, their responsibilities, duties, and powers, to understand what they legally can, and cannot, do. Join us: https://volunteer.care4communityaction.org/monthly_assembly_20230906
Prominent Agenda Items:
4. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – DOT – Mobile Parking Payment System
a. Review and take possible action on the proposed use policy
5. Surveillance Technology Ordinance – OPD – Fixed Wing Aircraft (with surveillance technology)
a. Review and take possible action on a proposed use policy
https://bit.ly/LaborOnTheMove
to receive your personal link to participate in this event online
Following the Covid disruptions, we are seeing a new militancy among U.S. workers, with an uptick of labor organizing and activity that has not been seen in decades. President Biden was able to stop railway workers from striking last December. Now union members are choosing more progressive leadership. How can they assert themselves independently and throw off the stranglehold by the Democratic Party?
Luna Osleger – UAW* member, academic researcher at UC Santa Cruz and the shop steward at her workplace
Speaker: Sara Flounders
President Obama famously announced the US foreign policy pivot to Asia: “To preserve US hegemony, we have to make sure that America writes the rules of the global economy or China will.” The US ruling class has pushed this topic of China to the top of our agenda.
US imperialism’s hostility to China is increasing with military threats, new rounds of sanctions, and increasingly wild fabrications. The media have been saturated with allegations of human rights abuses, forced labor, religious persecution and “genocide.” Addressing these topics from an anti-imperialist perspective will be Sara Flounders. She will comment on the recent BRICS summit, flashpoints Xinjiang and Taiwan, and the formation of an Asian NATO.
The big question for those on the side of socialist revolution is what is the class character of People’s China? Sara will discuss China’s road to building socialism and what it means to have a socialist state with “Chinese characteristics.” What is the critical role of mass mobilizations in the long struggle for communist ideals and the ideological commitment to egalitarian ideals? How does China’s international geopolitical role compare to that of the former Soviet Union?
Our speaker, Sara Flounders, recently visited China for the second time on a fact-finding tour. She is a longstanding political activist and author based in New York City. She is a contributing editor of Workers World Newspaper and a leader of the United National Antiwar Coalition, the International Action Center, and the SanctionsKill Campaign. She is the co-author and editor of numerous books, including Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China and the US and the recently released SANCTIONS � A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy.
Recently posted articles by Sara Flounders include:
BRICS for Cooperation, Camp David for Insecurity https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1297122.shtml
Eyewitness Xinjiang https://www.workers.org/2023/06/71723/
Camp David summit outlines military alliance against China https://www.workers.org/2023/08/73064/
Japan rearms under Washington’s pressure https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68400/
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Join us Sunday September 10! Stop by or hang out the whole time.
Know Your Rights training 12-2pm.
Share a meal in community 2-4pm!
You are invited Sunday Sept 10!
Delicious lunch grilled and prepped by your copwatch community. A training hosted by copwatch, for first-timers and those wanting a refresher course on their rights.
All are welcome.
Let’s talk about what’s going on in Berkeley, and beyond. We’ve got updates to share, and we wanna hear what you’re seeing and what you’re working on!
RSVP!
(RSVP so we can make sure there’s enough grub to go around!)
This forum will reflect on the massive wave of current labor organizing, ranging from campaigns in major logistics (UPS) to industry (auto) to retail service (Trader Joe’s and Starbucks) to education (the University of California system, the Oakland Education Association, and United Teachers Los Angeles).
It will be lead by Barry Eidlin, activist and scholar at McGill University, who is renowned for advocacy for, and analysis of, the “rank and file” strategy for building power from the base.
Barry Eidlin is Associate Professor of Sociology at McGill University. He is a comparative historical sociologist interested in the study of class, politics, inequality, and social change and is the author of Labor and the Class Idea in the United States and Canada (2018). He has published dozens of articles, including in Jacobin, Washington Post, and Labor Notes.
Eidlin’s research has examined diverging trajectories of working class power in the United States and Canada over the course of the twentieth century, changing party-class relations in the United States and Canada, intra-class conflict and organizational transformation in the Teamsters Union, and the effect of Walmart on retail sector wages, among other things. His major current project revisits the question of “why no workplace democracy in America?” He is also working on a series of other projects broadly aimed at re-theorizing contemporary notions of class identity, ideology, and politics.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.
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The Guaranteed Income Works national tour is coming to Oakland on Tuesday, September 12th, with a screening of the new film, It’s Basic. Featured in the Tribeca Film Festival, It’s Basic follows recipients of guaranteed income – monthly cash payments with no strings attached – as they experience the transformative effects of financial stabillity on their lives and families.
After the film, Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf will participate in a roundtable discussion with Michael D. Tubbs, founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, and Alisha Roe, a recipient of Oakland’s guaranteed income program, Oakland Resilient Families.
Reserve your seat now for a thought-provoking conversation on the power of cash to end poverty.
Guaranteed Income Works: Oakland
When: Sept. 12
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Where: 555 Santa Clara St., Vallejo
Why: City Council Meeting to Demand:1.) Release badge bending report
2.) Pursue firing of Tonn
3.) Hire reform Police Chief
4.) Hire reform City Manager
5.) Plan for non-discriminatory & lawful recruiting.— Melissa Nold, Esq. (@savage_esquire) September 11, 2023
Online via Zoom (Register: https://forms.gle/3ndS1aHkPnudEXSHA)
Join our community to discuss the impact of Shotspotter, an audio surveillance system used to detect gunshots, which was installed in Pasadena in 2022. We will also hear experiences and lessons learned about Shotspotter from other cities across the nation.
Speakers:
Mohammad Tajsar, ACLU, Pasadena
Ed Vogel, Lucy Parsons Labs, Chicago
Tracy Rosenberg, Oakland Privacy, Oakland
Aje “Je” Amaechi, Freedom to Thrive, Portland
Moderated by Florence Annang, POP Pasadena