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“Black People Had War Declared on Them By Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.”

On Thursday, May 21st, 2015, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, in response to window breaking during protests the evening of May 1st, promulgated, secretly, new edits prohibiting night time street protests. These were enforced by Oakland Police that night when Black Lives Matter protesters attempted to take to the streets after a #SayHerName rally remembering Black women killed by police terror. Forced back onto the sidewalk under threat of arrest, Black Lives Matter organizer Cat Brooks spoke out, saying then and there “We Gonna Take Back These MotherFuckin’ Streets!” Inevitably, the … Continued

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We Gonna Take Back These MotherFuckin’ Streets

Cat Brooks connects the dots. Thursday evening, May 21st, a totally peaceful protest march in support Black Women’s lives and against Police terror was threatened with arrest for exercising their first amendment rights, and in clear violation of Oakland’s crowd control policy. Darwin BondGraham in the East Bay Express explains the origin and how of the bullshit, and below in a video taken by Indybay Thursday evening, Cat Brooks explains the why, and what is to be done. Your browser is not able to display this multimedia content. Black people … Continued

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If Ghosts Could Talk.

Thorn Coyle, noted East Bay activist against police terror and a member of the Interfaith Tent at Occupy Oakland has written a novel. The book is dedicated to the memory of Alan Blueford, with scenes set in the Oakland of the Occupy encampments at Oscar Grant Plaza, and later Movein Day, January 28th, 2012. Like Water: a story of love and sudden violence. a story of a ghost and a city. a story for our times. Welcome to the streets of Oakland, CA. Meet Alex and Jonah. Best friends since … Continued

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A Pile of Coal and a Shitload of Kayaks: From Oakland to Seattle, No More Foul Fossil Fuels!

Thursday morning, May 14th, environmental activists rallied at Oscar Grant Plaza in front of Oakland Army Base developer Phil Tagami ‘s office, sending a message to him that shipping coal through and out of Oakland was not something that would happen without massive resistance. “Tagami recently announced plans to transport coal from Utah through Oakland by rail to a new bulk export facility at Oakland’s former army base. Tagami’s plan has drawn extensive criticism from local community and environmental groups…” And in Seattle on Friday and Saturday, off the coast, … Continued

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Rise Up. Shut it Down. Oakland Should Be the People’s Town.

The Oakland City Council has a habit of not listening to the people. And as May 5th, 2015 approached the Council was once again shooting up on dollar bills instead of healthily contemplating the needs of its existing residents. This time they got busted, as dozens of peeps from “rogue organizations” and over one hundred supporters arrested the City Council proceedings, declared a “People’s Council” and gave City Council members the gift of adjourning by 8:00 PM – with no business, funny or otherwise, being transacted.   Instead of listening … Continued

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A Body Camera Won’t Bring a Dead Boy to Life Nor Revoke a License to Kill.

Police pull up suddenly on some young black men. One of them runs. A cops gives chase. “Shots fired.” One more dead. “I feared for my life.” This is a script that is running on loopback in cities large and small across America. But it’s a script that some say might become less popular if there was an unimpeachable witness to the play – video as it happened. The Oakland Police have had body video cameras for some years now. Three years ago to this day, late into the night … Continued

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From Oakland to Baltimore. Labor & Community Against Police Terror on May Day.

Vingettes from today’s march from the Port and rally at OGP. Putting the final touches on chalk art at Oscar Grant Plaza before the march arrives. The March in Solidarity Against Police Terror, called by ILWU Local 10 and community organizations united against murder by police, left the Port of Oakland as scheduled at 10:00 AM and arrived at Oscar Grant Plaza outside of City Hall in downtown Oakland at 11:30 AM.   from the 510 to the 410 pic.twitter.com/3EhcbjcnWw — m4rg1n4L (@marg1nal) May 1, 2015 The pre-march rally at … Continued

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Occupy The Farm and Friends Retake Sprouts-To-Be-Or-Not-Be Space on Gill Tract

Dozens of local farmers reclaimed the lot that has been designated as a new Sprouts store and parking lot at the Gill Tract (Marin and San Pablo, Albany, CA) Saturday morning, April 25th, exactly three years after the original Occupy the Farm movement took back parts of Gill Tract space to the north of this lot. Soil was turned for a new garden and a small, community “farmer’s market” shelter was erected (watch the video at that link!), demonstrating the people’s vision for this space. No local or UC police presence … Continued

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ILWU TO SHUT DOWN PORT OF OAKLAND ON MAY DAY IN SUPPORT OF #BlackLivesMatter.

That’s really all you have to know. Oh, and be there, May 1st, 2015 at 9:00 AM to march from the APL Terminal to OGP. Oh, and the significance of May Day across the world. #BlackLivesMatter activists and allies have shut down freeways and BART here in Oakland and around the country, speaking out, marching and protesting. They’ve made it clear that enough is far too much. That something needs to be done yesterday. Instead, all of us have watched, every day, as more black lives become #hashtags. A policeman … Continued

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March 4 $15 on April 15!

The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly invites you to a (brief)1:00 PM rally and invigorating march on the National Day of Action, Wednesday, April 15th, for the Fight for $15. Please RSVP here. Weather forecast: perfect! No chance of rain, 74F. Please join us at 1:00 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza, 14th & Broadway (Frank Ogawa Plaza) for the March to UC Berkeley where we will join forces with Bay Area families, workers, people of faith, students, artists, leaders, and community supporters for what is expected to be the biggest rally ever … Continued

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