Calendar
Through the eyes of children, their families, and the helping industry that has developed from the housing crisis, A Rising Tide follows the strategies of families and service providers struggling with homelessness.
The film results from a conversation between the filmmaker and Dr. Christine Ma. Dr. Ma is the Medical Director of two clinics working with houseless children and their families.
New Copwatcher Orientation
Wanna get involved in Berkeley Copwatch? Sign up for an orientation this month. Learn about how we do the work and find where you can plug in!
Wed. September 13, 7:00-8:00pm
Wed. September 21, 7:00-8:00pm
There will be more new copwatcher orientations in the future, please email us if you can’t make the sessions above:
berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com
Do you want to get involved in Berkeley Copwatch?
Learn more or contact us directly at berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com
Donate
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn’t go as planned.
Stanley Kubrick’s controversial adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s dystopian nightmare of youthful mayhem and madness remains just as provocative now as it did upon first release. It creates its own language both literally and cinematically, a dark satire of one possible future that seems more likely every day.
Speaker: Laura Wells
The United States was a leading democracy two centuries ago. Now many other nations have leap-frogged over the US by developing better political/electoral systems. As a consequence, they also have better systems for healthcare, higher education, housing, and justice combined with increased personal safety.
The locked-down two-party system has joined with the vast inequality of wealth and power in the US in order to raise hurdles to block solutions that people want, create, and support. We will take a good look at those hurdles, many of which are now being highlighted during the presidential campaign of Cornel West, who is running as an independent “third party” candidate.
There are solutions, and steps we can take. We will discuss why proportional representation is key to an inclusive multi-party system, and why ranked choice voting by itself has not lived up to its expectations.
Laura Wells has been a Green Party activist since the party became ballot-qualified in California in early 1992. She is a co-coordinator of the state Coordinating Committee of the Green Party of California (GPCA). She has run for State Controller and Governor, and ran once for Congress. Laura Wells, both as a Green Party candidate and behind-the-scenes organizer, has experienced first-hand the roadblocks put up by the two Titanic parties, including being arrested outside of the gubernatorial debate in 2010 for the accurate charge of “trespassing at a private party.”
Website: https://laurawells.org/
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09
Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
Dial by your location
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdVC04xvn9
NOTE: Our programs are all recorded and will be placed on our website soon after they are finished.
A memorial service celebrating the legacy of Eugene Norman Newport lovingly known as Gus Newport.
Gus Newport dedicated his life to protecting the rights of all people to live in peace and realize their full potential.
Gus is best remembered for serving two terms as mayor of Berkeley, where he championed progressive causes — from police reform to rent control — that drew national attention. But Gus fought for social justice long before he was elected to office — and long after his tenure. He was a crusader, both at home and abroad.
Gus traced his lifelong commitment to social justice to his mother and grandmother. His great-grandmother had been a slave in Virginia, and his grandmother grew up in the Jim Crow South picking cotton as a child. Gus often told the story of how she got to school late from the fields one day and was slapped by a teacher. Defiant, she decided to leave and never return, seeking enrichment elsewhere. Later in life, she took Gus, as a five-year-old, to hear Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson perform; the events would leave a lasting impression.
As a young man in the 1960s, after serving in the Army, Gus chaired the largest civil rights organization in Rochester, New York, his hometown. While organizing to combat police brutality in that city, he came to the attention of Malcolm X, with whom he worked to establish the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Gus was traveling with Malcolm four days before he was assassinated.
Decades later, Gus served on the five-person advisory body whose mission was to guide the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
As a global advocate for human rights, Gus served on several United Nations committees, including the Special Committee Against Apartheid and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and was vice president from the U.S. to the World Peace Council.
In his final years, Gus provided leadership on boards and committees for organizations whose missions he held dear, including the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation, Children’s Defense Fund, Middle East Children’s Alliance, National Council of Elders, Project South and the Urban Strategies Council. One of his last public roles was on Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, formed after the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of police.
As recently as May, just weeks before his death in June, Gus traveled to Alex Haley’s farm in Tennessee to meet with young organizers at a National Council of Elders gathering. He did this despite having had a leg amputated — the result of vascular disease — in his mid-80s.
“Gus was an inspiration, standing alongside civil rights giants like Malcolm X in the fight for the human rights of all African Americans,” said U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a friend. “He has spent his life fighting for justice and liberation, and the world is a better place because of him. He is a true friend and an inspiration to us all. May he rest in peace and power.”
As mayor of Berkeley, from 1979 to 1986, Gus led innovative policy reforms and programs to address the rights of underserved residents, from working women to LGBTQ+ families and low-income renters. He spearheaded innovative programs on police reform, affordable housing, environmental protections and community development. He advocated for small businesses against rent increases, and the city succeeded in protecting rent control in a Supreme Court case argued pro bono by famed Constitutional attorney Lawrence Tribe.
Gus’ many accomplishments are a testament to his tirelessness. After his time as mayor, he directed the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, the only nonprofit organization in the country to be given the power of eminent domain to buy land for community revitalization. He also worked as an independent consultant in the area of community building, assisting several foundations and neighborhood organizations across the country, and he served on the faculties of MIT, Yale, UC Santa Cruz, UMass Boston and Portland State.
In recent years a cohort of Gus’ mentees came together to ensure that his history and social justice legacy would be remembered and sustained. They worked with Gus to create the Gus Newport Project, recording dozens of oral history interviews and conversations with people from many of the movements in which he had been so instrumental. The project continues: a documentary, archive and other programs are underway.
All those who knew Gus cherished his warmth, humor, steadfast convictions and honesty. His charisma and joyful presence transformed any room he entered, giving strength to his loved ones and allies and disarming those who might disagree with him.
Gus is survived by his wife, Kathryn Kasch; two children, Kyle and Maria; two grandchildren, Maasai and Dominic; and two brothers, Robert and John.
ACCOMMODATIONS:
If you require accommodations to attend the service, contact the Oakland Marriott City Center to receive a corporate rate. Use the link below to book a room.
Book your corporate rate for Oakland Marriott City Center Catering Rate
Sketch of Gus Newport created by local artist Jos Sances
Memorial services for #GusNewport, former #Berkeley mayor & #Oakland resident, will be held this Saturday, September 23, 1-3 pm at the #ParamountTheater. Please register: https://t.co/xS3OENN9aW…
He was a lifelong progressive, fighter for civil rights & peace.… pic.twitter.com/MMxOrkAtVC— Jean Quan (@jeanquan) September 22, 2023
In her journal Octavia E. Butler wrote “All good things must begin.” Abolitionist alternatives to police must begin somewhere, but alternatives can only be sustained when individuals like you come together to build them together.
Mental Health First (MH First) is a project of APTP and Oakland’s first and only non-police, non 9-1-1 crisis response line for mental health crises, including but not limited to psychiatric emergencies, substance use support and intimate partner violence safety planning. We are currently dispatching on a case-by-case basis, and have volunteers on the hotline Friday and Saturday from 2pm to 2am.
We have an MH First volunteer training coming up open to all community members who want to join our team.
Register to join our next virtual MH First training!
The 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. In addition to our MH First services, 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.
Register to join this incredible crew!
Register: bit.ly/NicaSep24How do the Nicaraguan police sustain one of the lowest crime rates, and highest levels of citizen trust, in all of Latin America? A key answer is their much-heralded community-based model. Please join us for this 90-minute webinar, with Spanish – English interpretation, focused on these key topics:
- What is the Nicaraguan Community Policing
Model? - What special programs and approaches are used to protect women from violence?
- What were the experiences and activities of the police during the 2018 coup attempt?
Bring your questions! There will be time to address them, after we hear from:
- Commissioner General Jaime Vanegas Vega, Inspector General of the National Police
- Commissioner General Vilma Rosa Gonzalez, Head of Public Relations of the National Police
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 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 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! 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
Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(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
HOME IS A HOTEL
From a single mother trying to find her missing daughter to an elderly woman who is going blind and facing eviction, the low-income residents of San Francisco’s single room occupancy housing tell their stories.
Across America, cities are struggling with homelessness and housing affordability. How does one decades old solution – cramped Single Room Occupancy units – impact the lives of those who live in them? Home Is a Hotel takes you inside San Francisco’s SRO housing through intimate portraits of their residents filmed over five years. This character-driven, verit- documentary immerses viewers in what it means to call a single room home in the heart of one of America’s richest cities. Screening is followed by a filmmaker Q & A.
Today we highlight our affordable housing and health care activism! we do with two groups: the grassroots California Long Term Supports and Services for All Coalition and East Bay.
LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE: PROGRESS IN CALIFORNIA
California Long Term Supports and Services Coalition (LTSS4All) – Juan Guerrero (right), Manager of Regional Organizing at Caring Across Generations, will catch us up on the coalition members progress on the designs for a long-term home care and services insurance program coming before the Legislature and the Governor in December. He aims to uplift the care agenda so that ALL families can get the support they need to live full, robust lives in this beautiful state.
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/california-needs-universal-long-term-services-and-supports?source=direct_link&
AFFORDABLE HOUSING: ACTIONS & LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO) is just one of the Housing Justice coalitions we are involved with!
Megan Nguyen (left), EBHO Policy Associate, will update us on recent developments and next steps on statewide bills that can make affordable housing easier to create.
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.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) is again seeking approval to increase ACSO’s stockpile of military equipment beyond what Sheriff Ahern had previously included in ACSO’s military equipment inventory.
On Thursday, the Board of Supervisors Public Protection Committee considers the sheriff’s proposal to acquire additional drones, ‘flashbang’ grenades, and ‘scattershot’ grenades and munitions.
“Scattershot” munitions are indiscriminately fired “less lethal” munitions that cannot be aimed because they are designed to spray or scatter projectiles. The sheriff wants to acquire more than 500 more of them, for an arsenal of over 1,000.
Such weapons are illegal to use by law enforcement for crowd control situations in California. They’ve been used against protesters in Oakland. Of course, these weapons are also very dangerous to use inside Santa Rita Jail. Testimony from prisoners in Santa Rita reveals that scattershot munitions – known inside as “bumblebees” – have been fired at mentally ill prisoners.
In June, Supervisor Elisa Marquez called on the sheriff to report on the sheriff’s use of munitions and chemical agents such as pepper spray over the last two years.
But given how dangerous and indiscriminate these weapons are, why should the sheriff possess them at all – much less acquire more? Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights have called for banning their use by law enforcement.
You can read more about how to craft your public comment, and more details about the sheriff’s proposal, here:
https://bit.ly/demilitarizeACSO
Please join us on Thursday, September 28 at 10am – in person or via zoom – at the Board of Supervisors Public Protection Meeting and call on the Supervisors to BAN scattershot munitions and grenades.
Connect to the meeting via zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/83246519903
Welcome curious threads!
Only 8 seats open for this course!
From Atlanta to the Bay
Stop Police Militarization in our Communities
The City of San Pablo plans to build a $43 million police training center and shooting range for cops around the Bay Area. The people of San Pablo and the Bay Area oppose this expansion of police power because of cops long history of harassing, abusing, incarcerating, and killing Black and Brown people.
Show up and march with us against the construction. We need healthy communities not police! Together we can stop Cop Campus!
—————————————————
¡Marcha en contra el Campus Policial!
¡De Atlanta a él Bay!
¡Detengamos la militarización policial en nuestras comunidades!
Sábado 30 de Septiembre a las 3pm
Kennedy Plaza en San Pablo (23rd St & Brookside Dr)
La ciudad de San Pablo planea construir un centro de entrenamiento y un campo de tiro para la policía en el Bay Área de 43 millones de dólares.
La gente de San Pablo y el Bay Área se oponen a esta expansión del poder policíaco debido a la larga historia de acoso, abuso, encarcelamiento y asesinato de personas negras y racializadas por parte de la policía.
¡Ven y marcha con nosotrxs en contra de esta construcción!
Necesitamos comunidades sanas, no a policías.
¡Juntxs podemos parar el Campus Policial!
La declaración de accesibilidad estará disponible pronto
Speaker: Noah Khrachvik of Midwestern Marx
Noah will discuss the issues that often arise when connecting Marxism and the working masses.
Our speaker, Noah Khrachvik, is a proud working class member of the Communist Party USA and co-director of the Midwestern Marx Institute for Marxist Theory and Political Analysis. He is 42 years old, married to the most understanding and patient woman on planet Earth (who puts up with all his deep-theory rants when he wakes up at two in the morning and can’t get back to sleep) and has a thirteen-year-old son who is far too smart for his own good. When he isn’t busy writing, organizing the working class, or fixing rich people’s houses all day, he enjoys doing absolutely nothing on the couch, surrounded by his family and books by Henry Winston.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81133350622?pwd=dUUyUWppbWt6djVTaElISUhocXpSUT09
Meeting ID: 811 3335 0622
Passcode: ICSS2717rs
Dial by your location
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdVC04xvn9
NOTE: During the Plague Year of 2020 GA will be held every week or two on Zoom. To find out the exact time a date get on the Occupy Oakland email list my sending an email to:
occupyoakland-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 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 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)
On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.
OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! 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
Welcome & Introductions
Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
Announcements
(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
Because of the COVID pandemic we will be meeting virtually via Zoom on the first Monday of the month.
Meeting ID: 828 0976 4186
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
Protest Tuesday, October 3, 5pm
970 Broad St, Newark Federal Building – In Response to the UN Security Council's Authorization of Another Military Invasion of Haiti!DEMANDS by @HaitiAction1:
Stop supporting the Ariel Henry dictatorship.
No to another US/UN/foreign military… pic.twitter.com/9YWAYLzdDo— Terri Kay (@TKJerseyCWL) October 3, 2023