Calendar
People’s Park Rapi: SHOW UP: we’re taking over Telegraph, starting at the corner with Haste, until we get our park back! Come anytime;Rally at 11am; live updates via Instagram @peoplesparkberkele
Cops entered the park last night around midnight. They used bulldozers and cut trees down. Several people were arrested.
1. Call to Order, determination of quorum
2. Review and approval of the draft December 7 meeting minutes
3. Open Forum/Public Comment for non-agenda items
4. Federal Task Force Ordinance – OPD – Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
a. Review draft MOU and take possible action
Each person wishing to speak on items must fill out a speaker’s card. Persons addressing the Privacy Advisory Commission shall state their names and the organization they are representing, if any.
Members of the public can view the meeting live on KTOP or on the City’s website at https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/ktop-tv-10.
Comment in advance. To send your comment directly to the Privacy Commission and staff BEFORE the meeting starts, please send your comment, along with your full name and agenda item number you are commenting on, to Felicia Verdin at fverdin@oaklandca.gov. Please note that eComment submissions close one (1) hour before posted meeting time. All submitted public comment will be provided to the Privacy Commission prior to the meeting.
Please register in advance at
https://bit.ly/MiddleEast-24-01-06
to receive your personal link to participate in this event online
The Israeli Government responded to the October 7 attack by Hamas with collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza. The slaughter and destruction continues as the war expands in the region. American activists protesting Israel’s escalation and its support by the U.S. government are subjected to accusations of anti-semitism and repression of dissent.
Join our panelists to discuss the roots of the conflict and current developments in the Middle East and in the U.S.
Steven Zunes – Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, directed the program in Middle Eastern Studies
Lujain Al-Saleh – Arab Resource and Organizing Committee
[TBA] – representative from Jewish Voice for Peace
*Organizations listed for identification purposes only.
An open discussion will follow the presentations.
We will be accepting donations which will be divided among the sponsoring organizations.
This event is sponsored by the Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party,
the Alameda County Green Party and Bay Area System Change Not Climate Change.
The New Parkway is now hosting Drag Queen Story Time—Come for the hair, the glitter, the glamour, and the stories!
Drag Queen Story Time was created to be enjoyed by everyone; whether you’re a kiddo yourself or a kiddo at heart, this event is for you!
In order to allow seats for everyone, we are requiring one ticket per person over 1 year of age. Seating will still be limited, so please come prepared to share space with other groups and be generous with your story queen; they are only charging a nominal fee for this event!
SF Vote for Ceasefire Resolution! Join us to continue to demonstrate overwhelming support for #ceasefire. Monday, January 8 @ 9am Rules Committee Meeting and Tuesday, January 9 @ 1pm Full Board meeting and vote. Email Board of Supervisors: https://t.co/PEvWrq1bqu #SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/7LnE5Jfj98
— AROC #FreePalestine (@AROCBayArea) January 5, 2024
If you’re joining virtually, you will receive a Zoom videoconference link.
Register: https://secure.ngpvan.com/tiKLTg2ck0iLJ4ABglXAWA2
Speakers:
There’s going to be an Oakland Port Shut Down in Solidarity with Palestine this Saturday 1/13. 5am
Please spread the word with Bay Area people. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/WJhqE44UFB
— Only Ceasefire Fans 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@lesuperburp) January 9, 2024
Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the online invite.
For our December meeting we are reading the first half (through chapter 2) of The Feminist Subversion of the Economy. (Common Notions Press, Amazon). For our January, 2024 meeting we will read the remainder.
The political response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the pressures on the global capitalist economies has, once again, imposed the priority of markets over life. Add to this the climate crisis and, undoubtedly, the task of sustaining life continues to be privatized, made invisible, and feminized.We must ask: what does a dignified life look like, especially one that transforms the gendered labor divisions and a racialized, exploitative feminized care economy that falls mainly on the shoulders of women—from the household to the wider effects of the capitalist economy on social reproduction.
At the same time, these questions are intimately connected with considerations of our environment. The Feminist Subversion of the Economy makes the conection between patriarchy, capitalism, and ecological crisis—and rallies women, the LGBTQ+ community, and movements worldwide to center gender and social reproduction in a vision for a just ecology and economy.
Public intellectual, academic, and activist Amaia Pérez Orozco offers a vision beyond the myths of development (unlimited growth), wealth (accumulation of capital), and work (limited to waged labor) and, at the same time, accounts for the tasks, networks, and economic subjects that, materially and daily, guarantee that life keeps going.
Newly translated and updated in collaboration with Liz Mason-Desse, who has won a PEN translation award for her work on feminist economics, The Feminist Subversion of the Economy shows the urgent need to radically and democratically discuss what we mean by a dignified life and how we can organize to sustain life collectively.
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, The Origin of Wealth, Mine!, The Dawn of Everything A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, Beyond Money, Less is More, Cannibal Capitalism, Debt, the First 5000 Years , Poverty, By America, End Times, and Jackson Rising Redux.
Speaker: Immanuel Ness
For more than a century, a trend within Western Marxism has been to retreat from endorsing actually existing socialist projects such as the Soviet Union and retheorizing their significance in relation to capitalism. In this context, these scholars have begun to, in effect, reject imperialism as a driving force of capitalism, while obscuring the central regressive role of the US in particular.
Such re-theorization downplays the historical significance of actually existing socialism and especially socialist projects in the Global South, often by reframing them as part of global capitalism or global modernity. Recent versions of Western Marxism often conflate capitalism and modernity. The presentation explores the source of Western Marxism’s antagonism to socialism, especially socialism in the Global South. Our speaker contends that a new shift occurred in the 1980s and 1990s as Western Marxists began to focus on global capitalism and globalization.
Our speaker, Immanuel Ness, is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College (CUNY) and a visiting professor of sociology at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. A trade union organizer in the US and labor activist in the Global South, Immanuel Ness is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Labor and Society. He is chair of the New York Peace Council and of the International Committee of the PSC/CUNY, a labor union representing faculty at CUNY. He recently returned from a US Peace Council delegation to meet with the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament.
His many books, academic articles, chapters, and edited volumes handbooks focus on US imperialism, labor movements, and international migration.
His latest book is Migration as Economic Imperialism (Polity 2023), which focuses on Western financial imperialism and the oppression of the Global South.
His other books include Sanctions as War (Brill 2022) , Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class (Pluto 2016), and the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (2014/2021).
ZOOM LINK
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85175860127?pwd=bfZRQOSMuhX9Pfm4qhPMOZMrmE9Ohm.1
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88083342274
The USA’s corporate oligarchy made the fateful decision to go for global empire during World War II. This led the US to rescue and repurpose Axis fascists so that the US could consolidate and rebrand the Anticommintern under US management. From this decision to go for global dominance flowed other fateful choices like the dropping of the atom bombs, the launching of the Cold War, the creation of the CIA, alliances with organized crime, the clandestine overthrow of foreign governments, and political assassinations. The deep state and tripartite state constructs were devised to allow us to name this new form of governance which essentially gives plausibly deniable veto power over democracy to an oligarchy of corporate wealth. Exceptionism describes this institutionalized abrogation of the rule of law. Today, the empire forged by the exceptionist deep state is tottering. With no effective democratic check on its power, the empires excesses have dialectically generated the forces which are now collectively bringing about the collapse of US global primacy. As such, this is an exciting – if dangerous – historical mo moment.
Aaron Good is a political scientist and an historian of the US Empire. His dissertation from Temple University was published by Skyhorse in 2022 under the title AmericanException: Empire and the Deep State. A documentary film based on the book is currently in production. Previously, Aaron Good worked on the 2008 Obama campaign in Missouri. Born and raised in Indiana, he has since lived and worked in Taiwan and Shanghai. He currently resides with his wife and son in the greater Philadelphia area where he has been a history and social science instructor. Currently, Aaron Good hosts the American Exception podcast on Patreon, and is co-host of Devil’s Chess Club with David Talbot and Bryce Green.
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.
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88083342274
Meeting ID: 880 8334 2274
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Meeting ID: 880 8334 2274
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before profit!
How do you define “the border” when it comes to the migration of people? What comes to mind when the term immigrant/immigration is used? Do you start at colonization or at the natural borders defined by a people’s existence with the land? Join the Oakland Greens & special surprise guests, Monday, January 15 2024. Discussion starts at 6:30 PM PST and will end no later than 9:30 PM PST.
The Oakland Greens Townhall Discussion Series is a hybrid community discussion event. These hybrid community engagement events are held the 3rd Monday of the month, January thru October.
San Franciscans are saying LOUD AND CLEAR that we stand for and with a #FREEPALESTINE. It’s time for DA Jenkins to end her frivolous prosecution of the #BayBridge78 NOW. In December, the #BayBridge78 appeared in court to face the 390 criminal charges that DA Jenkins is pursuing against them for protesting genocide. Nearly a month later, these bizarre and indefensible charges for civil disobedience have STILL not been dropped! The genocide in Gaza continues while DA Jenkins squanders our public funds on right wing political posturing.
Can you amplify the call to drop the charges and demand a ceasefire now?
More info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C17v1UKyRco/?img_index=1
In person and Zoom streaming (https://uchastings.zoom.us/j/92681523008)
Panelists:
Hatem Bazian | De-Colonial Islamic Thinker, Chair & Founder at Berkeley Center for Race & Gender
Phyllys Bennis | Director of The New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
Marc Van Der Hout | Founder Van Der Hout LLP and local Plaintiff’s counsel for Defense for Children International – Palestine, et al. v. Biden
Guest speaker:
Melissa Hernandez | Legislative Aide to SF Supervisor Dean Preston
Moderators:
Co-Chairs of UC Law SF NLG
Camilo Pérez-Bustillo | Executive Director at NLG SF Bay Area
Host:
UC Law SF NLG
Please join our coalition of Bay Area Healthcare Workers for a Solidarity Gathering and Vigil for Palestine, a collective space to mourn the loss of countless colleagues and innocent civilians, and bring our voices together for peace. We’ll have speakers, readings and songs, as well as opportunities for action. White coats/scrubs 🩺🕊️suggested. BYO light 💡. Please mask.
More info:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C1-L_8gPFZy/
We are hosting a community-based maker fair at Omni Commons!!! There will be artists/vendors, musical performances, and workshops taking place all day throughout the Omni. Please sign up and share with other creatives in your community!
EBABZ (East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest) is an annual festival for writers, artists, makers, and everyone who creates or appreciates zines and alternative books. We strive to make EBABZ reflect the diversity, vibrance, and sense of community of the East Bay. Each year over 100 zinesters gather at the fest to share their wares, meet new friends and collaborators, and have an amazing time!
Learn more
Speaker: Jack Rasmus
As we head into election 2024, the Biden administration, Democratic Party politicians, and media pundits have has launched an aggressive campaign touting the “accomplishments of Bidenomics.” Yet according to an AP News poll, only 34 percent of Americans say they approve of Biden’s handling of the economy. Democratic Party politicians and pundits echo the theme that the economy is doing great, decry unfounded pessimism, and insist that expressions of discontent are reflections of misinformation and MAGA propaganda.
This Sunday, Economist Dr. Jack Rasmus will set the record straight for working people: what is going on in the economy in 2024? What is the basis in reality for peoples’ discontent with the economy?
Dr. Jack Rasmus (Twitter/X: @drjackrasmus), Ph.D Political Economy, teaches economics at St. Mary’s College of California, and is an Economist, radio show host, & author of The Scourge of Neoliberalism: US Economic Policy From Reagan to Bush, Clarity Press, October 2019; Alexander Hamilton & The Origins of the Fed, Lexington books, March 2019; Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression, Clarity Press, August 2018.
ZOOM LINK
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85175860127?pwd=bfZRQOSMuhX9Pfm4qhPMOZMrmE9Ohm.1
Hardware and SoftWEAR Hack Nights are better than ever!
Each Tuesday we welcome all to bring their hardware (and software and firmware) projects to Omni Commons, or simply come by to learn and tinker! All welcome, 7pm til ∞ …whomever’s left standing!
○ Projects: can range from building course materials for teaching local kids electronics to a robotic arm that draws, to light projection art, to people building their own microchip boards! We provide the space, tools and peer learning – you bring your project and enthusiasm!
○ Group Sewing: Learn to do simple mending or get help with technical fabric and textile projects. In addition to regular machines our Sewing Lab features heavy-duty industrial sewing machines and sergers. Our in house sewing guru CC has worked for Academy or Art College, Tesla, SuitX, and Zipline and has vast sewing machine repair and maintenance experience; bring your own machine to tune up for tip-top operation and sew alongside others.
○ General Repair: Fixit Clinic’s weekly Oakland residency: bring your broken, non-functioning things – electronic gadgets, appliances, computers, toys, sewing machines, fabric items, etc.– for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. We’ll provide workspace, specialty tools, and guidance to help you disassemble and troubleshoot your item. First-time repairers and “Fixing Families” are heartily invited. Learn more at https://www.fixitclinic.org/
Join us every Tuesday evening for a trifecta of awesomeness; you can also jump in virtually via https://meet.waag.org/turtlesturtlesturtles !
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