Speaker: Mark Albertson

Extract: Sykes-Picot (May 1916) was a secret convention held during World War-I between Britain and France supported by imperial Russia for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The Sykes-Picot agreement led to the division of Turkish-held Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine into various French- and British-administered areas. Mark Albertson, historian, will go through that progression of the April 1914 request by Arab nationalists desiring British assistance with their nationalism in throwing off the Ottoman yoke; the British acquiescing in November 1914 when the Ottomans join the Germans and Austria-Hungary; the Hussein-McMahan Correspondence; the Damascus Protocol; Sykes-Picot Agreement; Balfour Declaration; San Remo Conference; Treaty of Sevres; & the Treaty of Lausanne.

The inhabitants of the area in question did not forge the borders of the nations they are in, the British and French did, for colonial aspirations in expectation of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.  Sole Arab nation of any consequence forged by Arabs was Saudi Arabia. The Palestine-Israel conflict is a product of this colonial division of the land of Arabs.

Our speaker, Mark Albertson, is a frequent presenter at the Library. Mark is a military historian with a commanding knowledge of geo-politics. He is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He has authored several books: USS Connecticut: Constitution State Battleship; They’ll Have to Follow You! The Triumph of the Great White Fleet; On History: A Treatise. He is at work on a two-volume history on the saga of Army aviation. Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut.

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https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89531900427?pwd=mXg1rSZe3ONl4pfWlALW4ornc32Eez.1

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

Beginning in June– hoping to solidify a regular monthly meeting time. We will try out the 2nd Monday of the month, so June 10 from 6-8p. Also, starting next month will be bi-weekly newsletters with updates, resources and announcements.� 🤞

Update–

The Federal loan consolidation deadline has been extended until June 30th. The Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC) is holding a workshop to discuss the options available to borrowers right now as well as what folks can expect to see later this year. Some folks will have payments cut in half through the SAVE plan, others will have their debt canceled through the IDR & PSLF Adjustments. Student Debt Workshop on Tuesday, May 21st at 7pm ET (4PM PT)
[disclaimer– this is not a Debt Collective affiliated event, but I thought it may hold some useful info for those still uncertain about the consolidation process}

Join Zoom Meeting–>
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89423587022?pwd=QW5CNjBvRG8zbk9QQnBkeTdEdC8yUT09

Meeting ID: 894 2358 7022
Passcode: 123456

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� +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Tonight, May 27th
All Eyes on Rafah
Vigil for Palestine
Lake Merritt Amphitheater
7:30pm@YallaBerkeley @AROCBayArea pic.twitter.com/kgafEG7Rv3

— Mama Lisa (@LisTeague) May 27, 2024

Hardware Hacking Tuesdays are better than ever! Plus Fix-It Clinic!

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, about 7:30pm until ∞ …whomever’s left standing!

We are inside the Omni Commons at 48th and Shattuck, see the link at the end of this text to call in in case the doors are locked!

○ 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: Fix it 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 our zoom-like video conference at this link: https://meet.waag.org/turtlesturtlesturtles

Beginning in June– hoping to solidify a regular monthly meeting time. We will try out the 2nd Monday of the month, so June 10 from 6-8p. Also, starting next month will be bi-weekly newsletters with updates, resources and announcements.� 🤞

Update–

The Federal loan consolidation deadline has been extended until June 30th. The Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC) is holding a workshop to discuss the options available to borrowers right now as well as what folks can expect to see later this year. Some folks will have payments cut in half through the SAVE plan, others will have their debt canceled through the IDR & PSLF Adjustments. Student Debt Workshop on Tuesday, May 21st at 7pm ET (4PM PT)
[disclaimer– this is not a Debt Collective affiliated event, but I thought it may hold some useful info for those still uncertain about the consolidation process}

Join Zoom Meeting–>
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89423587022?pwd=QW5CNjBvRG8zbk9QQnBkeTdEdC8yUT09

Meeting ID: 894 2358 7022
Passcode: 123456

Dial by your location
� +1 669 4444 9171 US
� +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Speaker: Özgür Narin

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Machine Learning Algorithms running on Artificial Neural Networks and particularly reinforcement learning were real breakthroughs of 2010s, Generative AI and transformers are of 2020s, all of them developed and spread to various branches.

And nowadays they even talk about an “existential risk” created by AI as if capitalism itself was not the real existential risk for centuries. So we should talk about capitalist production process of AI and the class structure of it.

Hence, I will first try to analyse the path from machine to machine-learning via Marx’s analysis of machine while considering the alienation as the dual and complementary part of it. Datafication of society is a consequence of this process. The data extractivism of capital transforms the datafication into profit seeking capitalist production as well as parameterisation of the society. So the data gathered in and for the sake of the capitalist production is the input of the capitalist cycle and at the same time actively intervening and manipulating both the labour process data and consumer behaviour data. The data was and is not “as given” in a capitalist production. It would be better to discuss this constant manipulation before “bias” and “ethical issues” in data gathering. AI and constantly produced and reproduced data sets transformed this problem into a new sphere. When we consider the machine learning algorithms using large dataset gathered through all cycles of capitalist social reproduction, it would be better to consider the alienation of total social labour and this new level of “manipulation”. I will try to discuss this problem and suggest “parameterization of society” vis a vis “datafication of society” considering the distinction between the social form of data collection that is capitalist data extractivism and the objective content of data gathering which is in fact a possibility to organize the social production in a different classless society. The key factor is the subjective side, that is the intersection of the producers of the AI architecture, algorithms and the data.

The evolution from machinery to AI is actually a social process that is structured by class struggle. So I will try to trace the historical development of producing “learning machines” as a class struggle and point out both sides of the development, i.e. capitalist side of AI research, from cybernetics to AI and the Soviet side of it. And finally, modern class struggle, workers involved in the production of AI versus Tech-giants…

Last but not the least, considering the rather futuristic scenarios of AI, I will discuss the limits of AGI and creating AI with ‘the ability to transfer learning from one domain to other domains’ namely “AI with the capacity to engage and behave intelligently in a wide variety of contexts”.

Our speaaker, Özgür Narin, is currently a union member and Assistant Professor of Economics at Ordu University in Turkey. He graduated from the Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University. He studied the capitalist production of science and technology, particularly innovation and the changing scientific labour process. His current research is on Artificial Intelligence “General Intellect” and the alternative reorganization of social production and society. His writing has appeared in Monthly Review and Science & Society