Calendar
Over the last three months, we’ve seen unprecedented attacks on working people and the fabric of our civil society – mass firings of federal workers, budgets gutted, crucial regulatory frameworks dismantled, horrifying attacks on the civil rights of our migrant neighbors, imperialist bloviating by the president from Greenland to Gaza…the list could go on.\
But something else is happening too. Across the country – from fruit fields in California to classrooms in Chicago, from kitchens in Queens to loading docks in Atlanta – working people are rising up to fight back.
Next THURSDAY, MAY 1st – international workers’ day – we’re taking to the streets in hundreds of cities across the country to say ENOUGH
We refuse to accept a society that forces us into debt for our healthcare, housing, and education; that asks us to accept the deportation of our neighbors as the norm; that allows our labor to be exploited to line the pockets of the ultra rich. Not on our watch.
Join us in the streets on May Day? Here’s how:
1. RSVP to join our national Hitting the Streets for May Day call this Saturday, April 26 at 3PM ET / 12PM PT and learn how you can meet us (and millions of others) in the streets on May 1st.
2. Can’t make it to Saturday’s call? Complete our May Day Action Pledge & we’ll send you a May Day toolkit this weekend. When you fill out the pledge form, be sure to let us know if you want to meet up with Debt Collective members at an action near you!
3. Last but certainly not least, be sure to FIND A LOCAL MAY DAY ACTION TO JOIN – you can find the ones near you check at the May Day action aggregators linked just below (Mobilize & Action Network) 
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Trabajadores Unidos Workers United is asking for support from allies to stand in solidarity with fastfood and Laundromat workers are standing up against wage theft, exploitation, disrespect—and they’re not standing alone. TUWU is with them. And we need you with us. Now is the chance to standing in solidarity with the workers to demand justice and send a clear message that San Francisco stands with immigrant workers!
- Meeting point: May 1st, 10:00am at Civic Center Playground (between McAllister and Larkin St).
Thursday May 1st, WE NEED YOU to join us in the streets to honor International Workers’ Day and demand justice for all immigrants, workers, and communities under attack!
They’ve fired workers, deregulated protections, and spread fear all to build a system where the rich get richer while the rest of us suffer.
But we’re not backing down.
This May Day, we rise together — workers, immigrants, families — in solidarity and in defiance. We know our strength is in each other. We know this fight isn’t just about one policy or one politician, it’s about building a future where everyone can thrive.
One Struggle, One Fight. Join us in the streets this May 1st.
1. Call to Order, determination of quorum
2. Open Forum/Public Comment on Non-Agenda matters
3. Information Item: a. Report from Public Works regarding OPD request for video footage.
4. Action Items:
a. April 3, 2025 PAC minutes
b. Annual Reports 1. Biometric Crime Lab (OPD) 2. ALPR/FLOCK (OPD) 3. ATF (OPD)
c. Use Policies 1. OPD Community Safety Camera Systems (OPD) 1
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Join us for Suds, Snacks & Socialism as we discuss The Assault on Campus Free Speech. We’ll examine the repression of the Palestinian solidarity movements on campus, the Trump administration’s revocation of 1,500 student visas, and the important role student activism plays in the fight for Palestinian liberation.
Lari Cursaro – U.C. Berkeley graduate student in Public Policy
*Organizations listed for identification purposes only.
Please help us celebrate our return to the Starry Plough by ordering food and/or drinks.
Please arrive early to place your order so that you do not miss any of the presentations.
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.
For more information email <info@sudssnackssocialism.org>
Sunday, May 4, 2025: 10:30am-12:30pm Pacific Time
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Speaker: S. Brian Willson in conversation with Gerry Condon
On September 1, 1987, some of the most dedicated peace activists in the nation – including our two guests – were protesting outside the Concord Naval Weapons Station trying to block a Navy munitions train loaded with weapons bound for Nicaragua and El Salvador. Instead of stopping the train and arresting the protestors, authorities ordered the train to speed up. While some barely made it off the tracks, S. Brian Willson was run over. He suffered horrific injuries, but survived. He lost both legs and now walks via prostheses.
Join us for a half-century reflection on the “American War” in Vietnam from two of our heroic peace activists, who were instrumental then fighting for peace and continue today as national and international leaders. We invite others attending the Marxist Forum, who were also active against Vietnam War, to share in the Q&A. An overarching theme is how the US war on Vietnam changed us and our nation.
S. Brian Willson once commanded an Air Force combat security unit in Vietnam. He has since helped create a host of veterans’ organizations and has been a critic of the US criminal justice system and its foreign policies. Brian received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award at the Kennedy Library and Museum in 1992 and, in addition to his JD, holds two honorary degrees (LL.D. and Ph.D.). Author of On Third World Legs and Blood on the Tracks, he is the subject of a 2016 documentary, Paying the Price For Peace. Brian will be speaking from Nicaragua, where he currently lives and where he is rightly considered a national hero.
Gerry Condon, a Green Beret medic, deserted the US Army in 1969 after refusing orders to deploy to the war in Vietnam. He found sanctuary in Sweden and Canada for six years before returning to the US as part of a campaign for amnesty for all war resisters. He is a former president and current national board member of Veterans For Peace (VFP – https://www.veteransforpeace.
We are committed to standing up for our family, friends, and neighbors and to continue protecting our civil liberties for everyone!
Please join ACLU NorCal for our monthly immigration update and call to action. We will update you on the latest from the Trump Administration and the federal government, provide status updates and action opportunities on important California legislation to protect the California immigrant community, and provide important know your rights information.
We hope to see you!
We hope you all had an active and inspiring Earth Day, May Day, and Spring Rebellion. Our next Open House is this Saturday, May 10, at 11 am PT, 12 pm MT, 1 pm CT, 2 pm ET. Activists who participated in the Spring Rebellion will join us to talk about their local actions. We will also provide an overview of Non-Violent Direct Action in climate activism and brainstorm ideas about what activists need in this moment to fight climate collapse. We hope to see you all there!
Register Here for the May 10 Open House
Email strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com a few days beforehand for the online invite. All are welcome!
For our May, 2025 meeting we will be reading the first fourteen essays in The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crisis (Barnes and Noble). For our June meeting, we will read the remaining essays.
2020 upended every aspect of our lives. But where is our world heading next? Will pandemic, protests, economic instability, and social distance lead to deeper inequalities, more nationalism, and further erosion of democracies around the world? Or are we moving toward a global re-awakening to the importance of community, mutual support, and the natural world? In our lifetimes, the future has never been so up for grabs. The New Possible offers twenty-eight unique visions of what can be, if instead of choosing to go back to normal, we choose to go forward to something far better.
Assembled from global leaders on six continents, these essays are not simply speculation. They are an inspiration and a roadmap for action. With essays by: Kim Stanley Robinson, Michael Pollan, Varshini Prakash, Vandana Shiva, Jack Kornfield, Mamphela Ramphele, Justin Rosenstein, Jack Kornfield, Helena Nordberg-Hodge, David Korten, Tristan Harris, Eileen Crist, Francis Deng, Riane Eisler, Arturo Escobar, Rebecca Kiddle, Mike Joy, Natalie Foster, Jess Rimington, Jeremy Lent, Atossa Soltani, Mark Anielski, Ellen Brown, John Restakis, Zak Stein, Oren Slozberg, Anisa Nanavati, and Fr. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam
Strike Debt Bay Area hosts this non-technical book group discussion monthly on new and radical economic thinking. Previous readings have included (in chronological order) 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, Jackson Rising Redux , The Feminist Subversion of the Economy, How Infrastructure Works, Inside the Systems that Shape our World, Wealth Supremacy, The Persuaders, The Path to a Livable Future, Solidarity, Mutual Aid, Breaking Together, Making Sense of Chaos and TechnoFeudalism.
Speaker: Bahman Azad
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The US/Israel are actively and overtly preparing for war on Iran. From their perspective current conditions may be favorable for an attack due to several strategic and geopolitical factors. Iran could be nearing weapons-grade uranium enrichment levels, but it does not yet have a nuclear deterrent capability. Additionally, regional instability—such as the weakening of Iran’s allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen—may reduce the risk of retaliation. Israel’s recent normalization of relations with several Arab states could also provide a buffer against diplomatic backlash. Domestically, political leaders both Washington and Tel Aviv may view military action as a way to demonstrate resolve and shift focus from internal issues. Combined, these conditions create a strategic window in which a limited strike or broader campaign against Iran might be deemed militarily effective and politically propitious.
Our speaker, Bahman Azad, is eminently qualified to discuss the current volatile situation in west Asia. He is a retired professor of economics and sociology. His area of research includes the political economy of capitalism and socialism. He is the author of the book: Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR. Bahman is currently the president of the U.S. Peace Council, a member of the secretariat of the World Peace Council, and representative of the World Peace Council at the United Nations. He is also a member of the administrative committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).
Bahman Azad is affiliated with the anti-imperialist, Iranian “10 Mehr” Group. He was co-chair of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee and is currently serving as the coordinator of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases and co-coordinator of the Hands-Off Syria Coalition.
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David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of World BEYOND War and campaign coordinator of RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and hosts Talk World Radio.
On November 10, 2024, Swanson was awarded the Real Nobel Peace Prize by the Lay Down Your Arms Foundation in Oslo, Norway. Swanson was awarded the 2018 Peace Prize by the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation. He was also awarded a Beacon of Peace Award by the Eisenhower Chapter of Veterans For Peace in 2011, and the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award by New Jersey Peace Action in 2022, and a Global Peace Leadership & Excellence Award in 2024.
We’re fighting back against attacks on our students, educators, and communities launched by the Trump/Musk administration.
Join educators and allies on May 17 to stand up for students and defend public education!
Yet, despite decades of zionist aggression, for 77 years, Palestinians continue to resist, fighting for their land, their liberation, and their return. As the genocide in Gaza intensifies, violence in the West Bank escalates, and attacks on our movement grow, now is the time to show the ruling class that the world rejects Zionism—and that the masses stand with Palestine.
This Nakba 77 March will bring together people from across the world to demand:
1️⃣ An end to the genocide in Gaza;
2️⃣ A full and immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel;
3️⃣ The release of all Palestinian political prisoners;
4️⃣ Immediate humanitarian aid and reconstruction for Gaza;
5️⃣ An end to the Zionist occupation of all Palestinian land.
In Palestine and in exile, the struggle for liberation continues. We refuse to be silenced. We call on all Palestinians, and on every person of conscience, to march with us this May 17 for a free Palestine. Your voice, your presence, and your solidarity are needed now more than ever.
“Police Brutality”
That is the name of my book.
I invite all who are interested to come to a meeting. We will discuss relations between the police and the people, the effects of police violence, and its relations to many other issues – like housing, the homeless, and the nature of free speech.
I do not make a case for cahoots. What I analyze is the police culture that can be brutal, and think that it moves toward their own end goal. I analyze local videos, local witnesses, and the ideas of ordinary people. I don’t listen to the cops.
There are three big issues that drop out of this analysis:
1- Police operations that should be peaceful (like calls by people needing help), end up with someone killed (shot, tased, strangled, etc.).
2- The secret issue of race and white supremacy; the police means of fostering racialization through their brutality.
3- Torture is not for information; the police want servitude or obeisance.
Bring your ideas, your experience, your critiques, and join us.
The book will be available at the meeting.
Or, you can get it at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or Xlibris
Steve Martinot PO Box 11842, 94712 martinot4@gmail.com
A call to discuss a book, with an open Q and A
“Police Brutality”
An analysis of the culture of the local police in the US
By Steve Martinot
Police Brutality discusses the current police culture in America and how it affects our lives. Steve Martinot will discuss his book, followed by an open Q&A. Discussion will also be about current matters, such a the new community formed around objections to Elon Musk’s financial rioting; how Trump presents himself as having a “Royal Mind;” and the meaning of recent plainclothes arrests of immigrant residents and others.
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When a man runs away from police restraint (as in handcuffing) and the cop shoots him, we know that the cop has decided to shoot this person. He can say he did it against disobedience. But obedience is irrelevant to dead men.
The circularities of police reasoning:: arresting a person for resisting arrest.
A cop stops a motorist, a few words are spoken; and then the cop rips open the car door, pulls the driver out of the car and throws him on the street. Or is the cop arresting him for objecting to the cop? That would be police impunity. The cop is the law, and a law above the law. All this even happens in Berkeley (see the Copwatch documentary).
When a homeless person took a sandwich from a downtown store, the cops surrounded him and one fired his gun. He hit the guy in the jaw. That means he was aiming for his head, which means he intended to kill him – but missed.
Copies of Police Brutality will be available. .
Speaker: Anthony D’Agostino
To Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 873 8882 4824
Passcode: 042428
Call one of these numbers and enter the codes above:
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Join us on Sunday, May 18th for a community-wide rummage sale! What better way to reduce, reuse, and recycle while supporting an amazing cause?
🥳 This will be a family-friendly event with food, music, and crafts alongside tons of awesome, gently used items. All proceeds will go directly to the beneficiaries surviving genocide.
🧤We will have new and vintage furniture, art supplies, pet supplies, outdoor gear, tools and construction supplies, music and audio gear, and more.
☎️CALLING FOR DONATIONS:
If you have items to donate to the sale, please bring them between 9am and 11am on the day of the event. All items must be in a good working condition without too much visible wear.
😷 There is an ADA accessible restroom indoors and we will have a relaxation station inside as well. Masking required inside, with limited masks provided. The rest of the event will take place outdoors.
🛍️ Plan for how you will transport your newly purchased items by bringing reusable bags/boxes, or maybe a friend with a pickup truck!