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What’s 1.6 million square kilometers, weighs 80,000 metric tons, and is three times the size of continental France?
That would be the Great Pacific Garbage Patch—the enormous collection of detritus that floats in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and California. Also known as the “GPGP,” the patch’s sprawl has made it notoriously difficult to measure. But a new studypublished last Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports has gathered the most comprehensive measurement yet. After three years of data collection, researchers from the Ocean Cleanup—a Dutch nonprofit that works on developing technologies to scrub the oceans—have calculated that the patch is four to sixteen times larger than ever before determined—and it’s growing.
“This plastic accumulation rate inside the GPGP, which was greater than in the surrounding waters, indicates that the inflow of plastic into the patch continues to exceed the outflow,” Laurent Lebreton, the lead author of the study, told Science Daily.
But how did the patch get here in the first place, and why is it getting bigger? In short: human thoughtlessness and fluid mechanics. Over the years, five large mega-gyres—that is, great whirlpools where currents collide—in the North and South Atlantic, the North and South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean have become filled with garbage. A plastic cup tossed on a San Francisco street will wend its way to the sea via storm drain, and then journey to the nearest gyre, where it will join trillions of other artifacts of human civilization.This plastic pollution isn’t just unsightly: It poses threats to marine life and it has health and economic implications for humans as well. According to the Ocean Cleanup, oceanic plastics enter the human food chain through a process called bioaccumulation, in which the chemicals in plastic can enter the bodies of sea life like fish and then later, the bodies of the predators who consume those fish. There’s a significant economic impact, too: The UN has reported that ocean plastic pollution costs $13 billion every year through the likes of beach cleanups and financial loss incurred by fisheries.
There are many schemes afoot to clean, or at least contain, ocean garbage patches: In 2015, Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat proposed a 62-mile floating wall that would catch garbage as it hugged the ocean’s currents, and drifted out to sea. There’s also SeaBin, a marine garbage can developed by two Australian surfers that sucks up trash and oil. But the challenge is enormous, given the scale of the affected areas. The researchers hope that this study will help the cause: It’s easier to remove items when they are still in large pieces, before they break down into partially submerged microplastics.“These results allow us to further improve our cleanup technology,” Slat said in a video describing the impact of the team’s new research. “It also gives us a baseline… while we clean up in the next few years we can continue to measure how much plastic is out there, and then compare it to the baseline and see how far we’ve come.”
The previous post was a warm up for this one. Too poor to matter. I read authorized areas. Holy shit!
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P R O P O S E D
REGULATIONS FOR SITTING, LYING, DOGS and OBJECTS
ON SIDEWALKS AND IN PARKLETS
1) Purposes:
The purpose of these regulations is to ensure that everyone has access to, free
passage through, and use and enjoyment of Sidewalks and Parklets in Berkeley.
2) Protection of Constitutional Rights:
These Regulations shall be applied in such a manner that does not deprive any
person of rights protected by the California or Federal Constitutions, including
freedom of expression.
3) Definitions:
a) BART Access Corridor is a Sidewalk, including a wide plaza area, on the same
side of the street as a BART Station entrance, within 120 feet of such entrance.
b) Sidewalk is defined as provided in BMC Section 9.49.020 (I).
[“Sidewalk” is that area of improved real property between any curb face and the
property line of adjoining real property.]
c) Parklet is an improved area within the dedicated public right-of-way with seating,
tables, landscaping and other amenities, being used temporarily for the
enjoyment and use of all citizens.
d) Objects include any item or thing, attended or unattended, but does not include
animals or persons.
e) Objects in Transit are Objects placed temporarily on a Sidewalk, for up to an
hour, in the actual course of receipt, removal or delivery, and include, but are not
limited to, goods, wares, merchandise, containers, and suitcases.
f) Authorized Objects are Objects the Berkeley Municipal Code specifically
permits on Sidewalks or in other public locations. [These include newspaper
racks, parking meters, bike racks, bus benches and shelters, mail boxes, etc.]
g) Path of Travel is an area that must be kept unobstructed for free passage, as
follows:
i) For Sidewalks which measure 14 feet or less in width, the Path of Travel is 6-
feet wide;
ii) For Sidewalks which measure greater than 14 feet in width, the Path of Travel
is 10-feet wide.
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Draft 4-17-18
h) Commercial Districts are Districts designated on the City of Berkeley’s official
Zoning Map with a “C” prefix.
i) Residential Districts are Districts designated on the City of Berkeley’s official
Zoning Map with an “R” prefix.
j) Manufacturing Districts are Districts designated on the City of Berkeley’s
official Zoning Map with an “M” prefix.
4) Storage Facilities:
The City shall provide one or more public storage facilities to securely store personal
belongings in an area or areas with concentrations of unhoused individuals.
5) Information:
The City shall ensure that fliers, posters or other materials are available for
dissemination in Commercial Zones, informing the public of rules and regulations for
Sidewalks and Parklets. These materials may be produced by the City or by
community partners, and shall be periodically updated. The City may also post fixed
signage informing the public of these regulations.
6) Objects – Residential Districts:
a) Except for Authorized Objects and Objects in Transit, Objects are prohibited on
Sidewalks in Residential Districts.
7) Objects – Commercial and Manufacturing Districts:
a) Objects, other than Authorized Objects:
i) May not be placed in Parklets
ii) May not be placed in the Path of Travel
b) Other than Objects in Transit or Authorized Objects, Objects on Sidewalks shall
not expand beyond a 9-square foot footprint (measured as 3 x 3, 4 x 2.25, 9×1,
etc.).
c) Objects on Sidewalks cannot obstruct traffic, pedestrian or other signs authorized
by law.
d) Other than Authorized Objects or Objects in Transit, no Objects shall be placed
on any Sidewalk directly in front of a building entrance, from the entrance face to
the edge of the Sidewalk, except between the hours of 10:00 pm and 7:00 am.
e) Other than Authorized Objects or Objects in Transit, no objects shall be placed
on any Sidewalk area three feet to either side of a building entrance, from the
building wall to the edge of the Sidewalk, except between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am.
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f) Objects must not interfere with normal access to or use of Authorized Objects or
with wheelchair ramps, driveways, or crosswalks.
8) Sitting:
Sitting is allowed on all Sidewalks and in Parklets at all times, except in the Path of
Travel.
9) Lying: Sleep is a fundamental human right and necessity, and Berkeley must provide space
for individuals to lie down at all times. Lying is permitted in all City of Berkeley Parks
during open hours, which are posted at each park.
Except in the case of a medical emergency, lying is prohibited:
i) In BART Access Corridors. The City shall post signage announcing
restrictions on lying in BART Access Corridors.
ii) On Sidewalks in all Residential and Mixed Use Residential (MUR) Districts;
iii)On Sidewalks in all Commercial Districts and in the Manufacturing (M), Mixed
Manufacturing (MM) and Mixed-Use Light Industrial Zones (MULI) between
the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m.
and 6:00 p.m. on Sundays and holidays. (Lying is permitted in these locations
from 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and 6:00 p.m.
Sunday to 7:00 a.m. Monday.)
iv)Within the Path of Travel.
10)Cushioning Material: a) Cushioning Material for sitting or lying in compliance with this ordinance is limited
to pads, folded blankets, mats or other material providing insulation or cushioning
while an individual is seated or lying.
b) Cushioning Material shall not expand beyond what is reasonably needed while
seated or lying, and shall be removed when not in use.
c) When being used for sitting or lying in compliance with this ordinance,
Cushioning Material may exceed or be non-contiguous with the allowed 9 square
foot footprint for Objects, but must maintain the Path of Travel.
11)Dogs:
No more than two stationary dogs shall be permitted in any 10-foot area on
Commercial Sidewalks or in Parklets, except for guide dogs, signal dogs or service
dogs, as provided by state law. [Same as current]
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12)Enforcement:
Ensuring broad public access to and use of Sidewalks and Parklets is the purpose of
these regulations. Enforcement must support this purpose while minimizing the
potential for criminalization.
a) Objects and Cushioning Materials:
i) If, based on complaints, direct observation or referrals, City staff become
aware that Objects or Cushioning Materials are placed in a location or
manner in violation of these or other regulations, notice shall be provided
stating the City’s regulations and the corrective action requested. If Objects or
Cushioning Materials are unattended notice shall be posted on or directly
adjacent to such Objects or Cushioning Materials.
ii) Depending on the impacts of the violation, notice shall state whether
corrective action must be taken immediately, or may specify any time period,
up to 1 hour, for Objects or Cushioning Material to be moved and brought into
compliance with these regulations.
iii) Failure to comply with actions requested in the notice within the time period
specified will result in Objects or Cushioning Material being moved by the City
to either:
(1) Conform with the City’s regulations (moved out of the Path of Travel, for
example); or
(2) For later retrieval, according to the protocols for Storage of Unattended
Property specified in the City of Berkeley’s Administrative Regulation 10.1.
iv) If Objects have been in the same location for more than 3 days and other
applicable criteria, if any, are met, Berkeley’s Encampment Response Policy
may apply. [Encampment Response Policy will be concurrently adopted]
b) Sitting and Lying Down:
i) If, based on complaints, direct observation, or referrals, City staff become
aware that an individual is sitting in the Path of Travel or lying at a location or
time that is not permitted by these or other regulations, notice shall be
provided to such individual, stating the City’s regulations and the corrective
action requested.
ii) If the individual does not come into compliance after being provided with
notice and a reasonable opportunity to comply, a Citation may be issued.
iii) Violations shall be charged as infractions, and not as misdemeanors.
iv) Fines for an infraction charged under this Section shall not exceed $100.
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v) [Concept in development] The City may waive fines for an infraction charged
under this Section if the individual fined elects to access and receive specified
homeless services or to perform specified community service [program to be
determined]. For fines to be waived and the infraction to be cleared, written
verification of performance is required.
vi) If an individual has been inhabiting a specific Sidewalk location for more than
3 days and other applicable criteria, if any, are met, Berkeley’s Encampment
Response Policy may apply.
c) Dogs:
i) If more than two stationary dogs are within a ten-foot area on a Sidewalk in a
Commercial District or in a Parklet, notice shall be provided to the individual
or individuals in control of such dogs, stating the City’s regulations and the
corrective action requested.
ii) If an individual does not comply, after being provided with notice and a
reasonable opportunity, a Citation may be issued.
iii) Violations shall be charged as infractions, and not as misdemeanors.
iv) Fines for an infraction charged under this Section shall not exceed $100.
“How can we as white people stand by while the nonwhite people of the world are suffering under imperialism?”(Photo: Amy Osborne, AFP)
The Weather Underground, a clandestine revolutionary organization that advocated violence, was seen by my father and other clergy members who were involved in Vietnam anti-war protests as one of the most self-destructive forces on the left. These members of the clergy, many of whom, including my father, were World War II veterans, had often became ministers because of their experiences in the war. They understood the poison of violence. One of the most prominent leaders of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (CALCAV), to which my father belonged, was the Catholic priest Philip Berrigan, who as an Army second lieutenant fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
The young radicals of the Vietnam era, including Mark Rudd—who in 1968 as a leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led the occupation of five buildings at Columbia University and later helped form the Weather Underground—did not turn to those on the religious left whose personal experiences with violence might have saved SDS, the Weather Underground and the student anti-war movement from self-immolation. Blinded by hubris and infected with moral purity, the members of the Weather Underground saw themselves as the only real revolutionaries. And they embarked, as have those in today’s black bloc and antifa, on a campaign that was counterproductive to the social justice goals they said they advocated.
Rudd, 50 years later, plays the role once played by the priests Phil and Daniel Berrigan and Rabbi Abraham Heschel. His book “Underground: My Life With SDS and the Weathermen” is a brutally honest deconstruction of the dangerous myths that captivated him as a young man. I suspect that many of those in the black bloc and antifa will no more listen to his wisdom than did the young radicals five decades ago who dismissed the warnings from those on the religious left for whom violence was not an abstraction. Rudd sees his old self in the masked faces of the black bloc and antifa, groups that advocate violence and property destruction in the name of anti-fascism. These faces, he said, ignite his deep embers of “shame and guilt.”
“It’s word for word the same thing,” Rudd said of antifa and the black bloc when we spoke for several hours recently in Albuquerque. “You look on a YouTube channel like Acting Out. It’s identical. How can we as white people stand by while the nonwhite people of the world are suffering under imperialism? I think the shame of being white in this society is so great [that] people want to show that they’re aware of how terrible the disparities are, and how privilege and oppression distort everything. The urge to talk about violence and commit violence in response is a way of cleansing yourself of that privilege, of the guilt of privilege. It taps into this strain that I’ve identified as self-expression rather than strategy. That, to me, is the biggest problem.”
“The anarchist Andy Cornell makes a distinction between activism and organizing,” he said. “Activism is about self-expression. It often is a substitute for strategy. Strategic organizing is about results. These acts of self-expression, which is what antifa does and what we did in the Weather Underground, are exactly what the cops want.”
“The slogan ‘diversity of tactics’ used by the black bloc and antifa is ridiculous,” he said. “Even the term ‘tactic’ is ridiculous. What we need is a strategy. And let’s be clear, even when you adopt a nonviolent strategy it will be portrayed by the state as violent. This is what the Israelis are doing at the Gaza fence. I often tell the antifa kids here—there are about four antifa kids in Albuquerque and they hate my guts—this story. There was a spontaneous anti-war demonstration in 2003 by a thousand people in Albuquerque the night the [Iraq] war began. The cops, who support the military, were angry. They attacked the crowd with tear gas and clubs. There were a lot of arrests. The victims brought a civil suit against the police. It did not come to trial until 2011. The police and the city of Albuquerque were the defendants. They were charged with violating the rights of the protesters. It was a jury trial. The jury found for the cops. Why? It turned out the police attorneys brought in a photograph. There were about 200 or 300 people in the photograph. In the front were two people wearing bandannas [as masks]. Just wearing bandannas. They zoomed in on the people wearing the bandannas. They told the jury, ‘See these people wearing these bandannas? They’re wearing bandannas because they’re terrorists. And we knew they were about to attack us. So, we had to attack them.’ The jury went for it. We had not yet convinced our fellow citizens of the value of the right to protest. My conclusion: Don’t wear bandannas! Every time I see a kid wearing a bandanna, I say, ‘You’re so beautiful, why cover your face?’ They say, ‘Well, I have to, I’m a Zapatista.’ I say that’s nice but this is what happened in 2003 and 2011. It would probably be better for you to not wear the bandanna so they won’t think we’re violent. And they say, ‘You’re a stupid piece of shit’ or they walk away.”
Rudd said that the occupation of Columbia University in April 1968, an occupation that caused him to be expelled from the university, was an example of the kind of strategy that the left has to adopt. This strategy had its roots in the organizing techniques of the labor and civil rights movement.
“The means of transmission were red diaper babies,’ he said, referring to the sons and daughters of members of the United States Communist Party. “The red diaper babies at Columbia SDS kept saying, ‘Build the base. Build the base. Build the base.’ It became a mantra for years. It was all we could think about. This meant education, confrontation and talking, talking, talking. It meant building relationships and alliances. It meant don’t get too far out in front. In the spring of 1968 it all came to a head. It was the perfect storm. A few of us knew, now is the time to strike.”
“Columbia was a success,” he said. “The deed attracted attention. And because of the alliance with the black students, which has never gotten enough media attention in the story of Columbia, we closed down the university. We accomplished our strategic aim, which was to politicize more people and to build the movement. Our goal was not to end the university’s involvement with military research. That was a symbolic goal. The real goal was to build the movement. I got into a lot of trouble for saying the issue is not the issue.”
But Rudd and other radicals in the SDS soon became, he said, “enamored with the propaganda of the deed.” Self-expression replaced strategy. The organizing, which had made the occupation of the university successful, was replaced by revolutionary posturing. The radicals believed that more radical tactics, including violence, would accelerate political and social change. It did the opposite.
“After Columbia, it was failure after failure after failure in SDS for the next year and a half,” he said. “Then we doubled down on the failures.”
The SDS radicals came under the spell of revolutionary theories propagated by those supporting armed liberation movements in the developing world. They wanted to transplant Frantz Fanon’s call for revolutionary violence, Lin Biao’s idea of “people’s war” and Ernesto “Che” Guevara foco, or insurrectionary center, to the struggle in the United States. The radicals would go underground and carry out acts of violence that would ignite a national war of liberation. This call to arms was seductive and exhilarating, but it was based on a distorted and highly selective account of revolutionary struggle, especially in Cuba.
“Che put forward a phony analysis of how the Cuban revolution was won,” Rudd said. “According to him it was won solely by Fidel and Che going into the Sierra Maestra [mountain range]. Armed struggle was the only thing that was important to the Cuban revolution. All other aspects of the revolution, including 20,000 people who were murdered by [dictator Fulgencio] Batista in the cities, the national strikes by the unions, the street protests by women, university students and the Cuban Communist Party were wiped out of history. There was only one thing to do, pick up the gun.”
The cult of the gun was disastrous. It distorted reality. It elevated violence as the only real tool for revolution. Vijay Prashad in his book “The Darker Nations” spells out the incalculable damage caused by this cult, including the doomed attempt in 1967 by Che Guevara to form a foco in Bolivia, an effort that would cost him his life. The cult of the gun saw most third-world liberation movements, such as the National Liberation Front (FLN) in Algeria, devolve into squalid military dictatorships when they took power.
“My little segment of the left worshipped Che,” Rudd said. “We believed in the propaganda of the deed. We were so sure of our strategy, of leading the armed struggle, that we decided to destroy SDS and build the Weather Underground, a revolutionary fighting force. We decided on a tactic, which was to bring thousands of people to Chicago in 1969 for the conspiracy trial [of radicals such as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Tom Hayden, charged with instigating riots during the 1968 Democratic Convention]. Very few people showed up. We got creamed with beatings, arrests, and even shootings by the cops.”
“After that we went from bad organizing to no organizing,” Rudd said. “It was purely about self-expression. That self-expression would take the form of bombs. The first thing we did was kill three of our own people.”
The premature explosion of a bomb in a New York City townhouse on March 6, 1970, that killed three of Rudd’s comrades sobered the radical group. The bomb was to have been placed at an officers’ dance at Fort Dix, in New Jersey. It surely would have killed and wounded dozens of people had it exploded at the Army base. The Weather Underground decided to bomb buildings that symbolized centers of power, including the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, the California attorney general’s office and a New York City police station, but to call in warnings beforehand so the buildings could be evacuated. The group was responsible for 25 bombings and in 1970 organized the prison escape of Timothy Leary, the famous advocate of psychedelic drugs, for which the group was paid $25,000 by the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a collection of drug dealers.
“A lot of Americans can accept their government’s violence, but they can’t conceive of political violence as anything other than criminal and mentally ill,” Rudd said. “And who has all the power, in terms of violence? Our means of violence is very little. The government’s means, the right wing’s means, are very great. So, we’ve got to adopt nonviolence. The research of Erica Chenoweth and others has shown that nonviolence is much more efficacious than violence. Gene Sharp approaches nonviolence from a practical rather than a moral point of view. It is the difference between moral pacifism and practical pacifism. The antifa kids are not moral pacifists. They believe in a cleansing moral violence. At its base is a desire to absolve themselves of white guilt.”
Rudd cautioned against the danger of intellectualizing the struggle against oppressive forces. He said all resistance had to remain rooted in practical realities and the hard, often anonymous and time-consuming work of organizing.
“As intellectuals, we can talk ourselves into anything,” Rudd said. “If we think it’s necessary we can probably figure out how to do it. David Gilbert is one of the gentlest people I have ever met. Yet he somehow talked himself into driving a getaway van with a bunch of black guys armed with automatic weapons. Gilbert left his kid at a daycare center, thinking he was going back at the end of the day to pick the kid up. Nobody picked up the kid. This is ludicrous. And that’s the point; you can talk yourself into anything. I have a bumper sticker on the back of my car that says don’t believe everything that you think.”
Rudd is acutely aware of the failure by most liberals to fight for the values they purport to defend. However, the repeated betrayal of the oppressed by the liberal class as it mouths the language of justice should not push radicals to acts of violence. Rather, radicals must make strategic alliances with liberals while being fully aware of their propensity to flee from struggle when it becomes difficult.
“The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] was a sister organization of SDS,” Rudd said. “They decided to go to the absolute worst place in the United States, Mississippi, to organize for voting rights. And they did. They lost a lot of people. A lot of people got arrested and beaten. A lot of stuff happened over a three-year period. But they won the right to vote. They organized a non-segregationist democratic delegation called the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The real Democratic Party delegation was all-white. The Democratic Party worked out a deal with their allies in the North including the United Auto Workers and other liberals. They would seat the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the Democratic Party Convention. They would exclude the segregationists. Busloads of mostly black people went to Atlantic City [site of the convention]. Lyndon Johnson had a change of heart. He feared if he seated the black delegates he would lose re-election. They didn’t get seated. That was an ultimate betrayal. Out of this betrayal came the impetus for black power. Black power was supposedly a strategy. But it was no more a strategy than the Weather Underground. It was another form of self-expression.”
“I was 18,” Rudd said. “I saw heroic SNCC people advocating for black power. The liberals betrayed them. Which side would you be on? Black power rejected the nonviolence of Martin Luther King. It rejected integration. Malcolm X used the slogan ‘By any means necessary.’ This was seized upon to justify revolutionary violence. It was the same fantasy of revolution. Black power was no more embraced by the black masses than the violence and rhetoric of the Weather Underground were embraced by the white masses. In the end, the white left became the base of the Black Panther Party. The Panther 21 was set up on charges of a bombing in April 1969. SDS in New York, which I was a part of, protested to defend them. Our demonstrations became more and more white. The black base was not behind them. I thought the reason was our presence. I was so steeped in black power ideology I thought the mere presence of white people would keep black people away. That wasn’t it. Black power made no sense to most black people. It was suicidal. Huey P. Newton’s autobiography, “Revolutionary Suicide,” captured it. What kind of a strategy is that? The black power movement was a cultural uprising. But it was not strategic. We fell for this bullshit.”
“White radicals felt personally challenged by black power,” he said. “Would we be liberals or would we be radicals? Would we go to the base, to the origin of the problem, which is capitalism and imperialism? Would we embrace ‘by any means necessary’? Would we overthrow the system? Or would we be liberal reformists? When you’re 18 or 20 that’s not much of a question. This is why David Gilbert is in prison for the rest of his life.”
“What we did was a historical crime,” he said of the destruction of the SDS. “At the height of the war in 1969 we decided to close down the national and regional offices and the newspaper of the largest student radical organization in the country. SDS had chapters in 400 campuses. We probably had 100,000 active members. It was crazy. Three of our people died immediately. We inspired copycat actions. One of them happened in the University of Wisconsin in the summer of 1970. An anti-war graduate student died. Eventually, it led to the Brink’s robbery in 1981. The worst thing of all, of all the things we did, was we split the anti-war movement over the bogus issue of armed struggle, our right to an armed struggle. This is the same thing as the call by antifa for diversity of tactics, which is a code word for violence.”
“The thing about nonviolence is that it works,” he said. “But it only works if it’s total. The cops put the burden of violence on protesters. Our job is to do the opposite. Our job is to make it crystal clear it’s the government and the system that engages violence. We muddy the water when we use violence.”
“The left has not hit on a strategy analogous to the far-right strategy, which is to unite ideological conservatives with a base, especially the Christian fundamentalist base,” he said. “A base means people show up. They vote. They go where they’re told. That was the old union model for the Democratic Party. But with unions depleted we have no institutional or structural base. This is a huge problem. We have to rebuild structures. It’s going to take a long time, maybe 20 or 40 years. I’ll be 110.”
“Antifa claims to be anarchist,” he said. “But is not the same anarchism as, say, the Wobblies. Antifa’s version of anarchism is you can’t tell me what to do. It’s self-expression. I fell into the trap of self-expression. Self-expression is narcissistic. It’s saying my feelings are so important that I can do anything I want. It’s saying once other people see how important my feelings are they will join me. It never works. There’s only two kinds of people who advocate for violence—very stupid people, of which I was one, and cops. Which are you? Are you very stupid or are you a cop?”
“I can’t communicate with antifa because my own PTSD forbids me to say you are so morally right, so courageous and so morally pure,” Rudd said. “You understand how violent the system is. You understand what it’s like to be nonwhite. I understand your motives. I applaud you for it. This is the only thing they hear, words that feed their self-adulation.”
“I’m a veteran of all of this shit,” he lamented. “But that doesn’t count for anything. It’s all expired.”
ACCESSIBILITY: Please include Accessibility Information on events! This is a JUSTICE ISSUE!
Check Indybay for other events: https://www.indybay.org/calendar/?page_id=12
UPDATES:
A. Tenderloin tenants rally against landlord, allege unhealthy living conditions (April 19, 2018)
http://www.sfexaminer.com/tenderloin-tenants-rally-landlord-allege-unhealthy-living-conditions/
B. SF seeks to expedite police reform with new contract proposal (April 17, 2018)
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-seeks-expedite-police-reform-new-contract-proposal/
See item # 18
C. Syrian ‘Chemical Victims’ Suffered from Dust Inhalation, Reports Say (April 16, 2018)
D. War Profiteer Erik Prince Reportedly in Talks to Help Forge Occupying Force in Syria
E. Filipino activist denied entry at SFO into the United States
http://www.ktvu.com/news/filipino-activist-denied-entry-at-sfo-into-the-united-states. (April 18, 2018)
THANK YOU to all who came out to the SF Airport last night and to all who made the requested phone calls. It helped to get the Philippine Consulate to make a call and allow a representative to have a brief conversation with Jerome. Our presence at the airport was spirited and could be heard throughout the international terminal. There was a steady presence of about 25 – 30 people and at times 100+ people.
Additional Notes re: Jerome Aba:
Jerome Aba was deported to the Philippines late last night.
He had been granted a US Visa for 10 years which meant he could come in and out of the US.
He had invitations from the faith community as well as congressional representatives to come to the US.
He was here to speak about the human rights crisis and the impact military aid from the U.S is having on the people in the Philippines.
Jerome is also Muslim.
Jerome is from Mindanao, Philippines which is currently under Marshall Law.
I couldn’t help but wonder how often this is happening and what happens to others who don’t have a support system? I have the same questions of those held by ICE.
18 – ANNOUNCEMENTS
Friday, April 20 – Monday, April 23
Friday, April 20
1. Friday, 10:00am, National School Walkout
Gun Violence Awareness Rally
Civic Center Plaza
SF
Lincoln High School
2162 24th Ave.
SF
Lowell High School
1011 Eucalyptus Blvd
SF
This movement is calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout on 4/20, the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. Together, we will send a message that we won’t tolerate any more inaction on this issue.
Info: http://act.indivisible.org/event/national-school-walkout/
2. Friday, 12 Noon, Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources Tour thru Yelamu (San Francisco)
Meet at:
Corner of Presidio Ave. & California St.
SF
The Next Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources Tour launching on the eve of Mama Earth day will circle back to our 1st tour stop – the stolen Ohlone/Lisjen village of Yelamu-aka San Francisco.
San Francisco is home to some of the most extreme wealth and land hoarders and also the most anti-poor people laws that criminalize the bodies of unhoused poor, black brown and indigenous peoples who reside houselessly on the streets
This tour, like the last one, will be marched in honor of Iris Canada, Ron Likkers, Elaine Turner and so many more elders who suffered the elder abuse of eviciton and displacement, leading to their death and Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, an unhoused, Mayan father, brother, who has still not received justice 2 years after his murder in the streets of SF- and as well, Alex Nieto, Amilcar Perez Lopez and so many more poor, black, brown and indigenous peoples murdered by the state sanctioned gangsters who protect stolen property more over people everywhere on Turtle Island
let us know if you would like to co-lead or join us poverty, indigenous skolaz as we share the medicine of redistribution and community reparations with extreme wealth hoarders of this part of occupied Turtle Island
This tour will be lifting up the #TechReparationsFund – launched in the SillyCon Valley tour to offer a way for conscious tech industry representatives to repair the damage of the extreme displacement caused by the influx of tech employees into to poor and working class SF neighborhoods by raising equity for poor and unhoused residents to launch
Sponsor: POOR Magazine
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1655207194529188/
3. Friday, 12Noon – 2:00pm, Mothers on the March Against Police Murders
Hall of Justice
850 Bryant St.
SF
Please join us to demand that DA George Gascon charge police officers with murder!
Countdown 06 Days To Deadline! Gascón: Charge Killer Cops Or Resign! (Justice 4 Luis Gongonra Pat) will also be present
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/170766163636713/
4. Friday, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, Melt ICE with SEIU Local 2 Unite Here!
ICE
630 Sansome St.
SF
Local 2 will be in front of ICE today. All are welcomed to stand with them against deportations!
5. Friday, 3:00pm – 4:00pm, SF Community Action ‘To Stop Privatization of Public Health Clinics and Racism
Potrero Hill Neighborhood Center
1050 Wisconsin St.
SF
Demand FAIRNESS & RESPECT at SF’s Department of Public Health
Thousands of San Francisco families and residents rely on the services facilitated by the City’s Department of Public Health (DPH). We expect this important city to live up to our city’s values of fairness, collaboration, and respect. Our City’s health and well- being depend on it.
That’s why it’s troubling to learn that management at DPH refuses to address the staffing and workload issues that are negatively impacting public services. Principal clerks who do important yet often overlooked work are also facing threats to their job security, with the reduction of their duties and responsibilities.
In addition to being unresponsive to issues related to staffing and work load, workers report that management is disproportionately disciplining African American employees and separate them from probation at alarming rates.
Sponsor: Patient Advisory Board for Potrero Hill Health Center
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/13/18808441.php#18808442
6. Friday, 6:00pm – 8:00pm Mayan War Room: Closing Reception!
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
2868 Mission St. , 2nd Floor
SF
April 25th would have been Luis’s 48th birthday. The town of Teabo has a giant celebration at the end of April. Help us close the Mayan War Room with a celebration of Luis’s Life!
6:00pm Opening
6:30pm Family words and a traditional Yucatecan Jarana dance
7:00pm Invite to the final 3 days of our countdown: “Gascón: Charge Killer Cops or Resign,” April 23-25th! We’ve got a surprise to tell you about and how you can plug-in to make it remarkable!
7:15pm Sistah Boom, an all women samba band, will close out the Mayan War Room with their fabulous percussions.http://www.womendrummers.org/sistah-boom/
We’ll have posters, buttons, t-shirts, photo prints, and the remaining exquisite embroidered protest artwork from Luis’s widow Doña Carmen, daughter Rosana and other women family members to available for a donation.
(Last chance to view the Mayan War Room will be Saturday April 21, then we need to change gears and get ready for the final countdown! )
Sponsor: MAYAN WAR ROOM in honor of In honor of Luis Góngora Pat
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1060572714094741/
7. Friday, 6:30pm – 8:30pm, Sensible Cinema: How to Change the World
Unitarian Universalist Center
1187 Franklin St.
SF
In honor of Earth Day and Climate Justice Month Sensible Cinema will screen the film How To Change The World the gripping story of the formation of the modern
environmental movement by Green Peace.
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/18/18808574.php
8. Friday, 7:00pm – 9:30pm, Mara Ahmed: A Thin Wall
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
388 9th St., Suite #290
Oakland
Doors Open: 6:45pm / Event: 7:00pm – 9:30pm
Free & open to public
The Muslims I Know , A documentary written and produced by Mara Ahmed
A THIN WALL is a documentary about memory, history and the possibility of reconciliation. It focuses on the Partition of India in 1947, but derives lessons that remain urgently relevant today. The film is shot on both sides of the border, in India and Pakistan.
Q&A after film via SKYPE with Ahmed
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/05/18808274.php
9. Friday, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, “Stop the War at Home & Abroad!” on Stephon Clark Killing & War on Syria
PSL / ANSWER
2969 Mission St.
SF
Wheelchair accessible
$3-$10 donation – no one turned away
The People Rise against the Murder of Stephon Clark!
Featured Speaker: Jamier Sale, Sacramento Anti-Police Brutality Organizer
The March 18th murder of Stephon Clark by Sacramento Police has triggered a new wave of protests. Why do racist police around the country kill on average 3 people per day? Is the problem “bad apples” or is this how the police function systemically? Hear reports from two activists who have been involved in protests against the Sacramento police.
What is Behind the Escalating U.S. War Drive?
The Trump war cabinet — with the support of Democratic leaders — is escalating U.S. wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. What is behind this dangerous expansion of the war drive?
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/12/18808422.php
Saturday, April 21
“Earth Day”
For events look under Saturday’s listing
10. Saturday, 3:00pm – 5:00pm, Solitary Man: A Visit to Pelican Bay State Prison
Black Repertory Group Theater
3201 Adeline St. (1.5 blocks from Ashby BART)
Berkeley
Tickets: https://solitaryman.brownpapertickets.com/
$10
To support the Bay View Newspaper and its readers, both in the hood and in prison,
Performed by Charlie Hinton and Fred Johnson
Written by Charlie Hinton
Music by Fred Johnson
Directed by Mark Kenward
Performed by Charlie Hinton and Fred Johnson
In “Solitary Man,” a two-person play, Charlie travels to Crescent City to visit a lifer named Otis Washington (played by Fred), a 64-year-old native of New York City, who’s been imprisoned since 1975 and at the notorious Pelican Bay since it opened in 1989. During the visit, Otis explains some of what he has learned and experienced.
Following the performance – a Panel Discussion with:
José Villarreal – Chicano torture survivor who spent 10 years in solitary confinement. Jose is the founder and publisher of Aztlan Press, author of “Aztlan Realism: Chicano Revolutionary Art from Pelican Bay State Prison SHU,” member of the Barrio Defense Committee and the San Jose Brown Berets, playwright and community activist.
Marie Levin – sister of “Brutha Sitawa,” one of the four “main reps” who helped organize the 2011 and 2013 hunger strikes; co-founder of the Prisoner Advocacy Network/PAN, member of California Families Against Solitary Confinement/CFASC and Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition/PHSS
Anne Weills – co-counsel with Jules Lobel and the Center for Constitutional Rights on Ashker v. Brown, the case that ended indefinite solitary confinement in California. She continues to fight for enforcement of the settlement.
Sponsors: Solitary Man: A Visit to Pelican Bay and SF Bay View Newspaper
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1476593779118037/
11. Saturday, 4:00pm – 6:00pm, Revolution in the Air with Alicia Garza and Max Elbaum
First Congregational Church of Oakland
2501 Harrison St.
SF
West Coast release event for new edition of REVOLUTION IN THE AIR: SIXTIES RADICALS TURN TO LENIN, MAO, AND CHE.
CPE is honored to host author of the great REVOLUTION IN THE AIR, #MaxElbaum in conversation with Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter and author of the new edition’s foreward.
Released during the 50th anniversary of the worldwide 1968 protests, upheavals, and revolutions, the new edition of Revolution in the Air shares critical lessons on building organizations, movements, and the Left that are as salient as ever.
Sponsors: Verso Books & The Center for Political Education
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/103004827205485/
Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church
1188 12th Street
Oakland
+LEARN from our neighbors affected by unjust policies
+GEAR UP for 40 Days of Action
+CONNECT with other activists, people of faith, and all those who care about justice
Keynote speaker: Pastor Eddie Anderson, McCarty Memorial Christian Church. Edward L. Anderson is a third generation Pastor who serves the historic McCarty Memorial Christian Church located in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Together, we will rise up and challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality!
Sign up for the Poor People’s Campaign: https://poorpeoplescampaign.org/
La Peña Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley
Just in time for Earth Day, this report-back and fundraiser, produced by John Santos, showcases the urgent work being done by several groups to uplift and rebuild Puerto Rico in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria that caused such widespread destruction in September of 2017. The dismal response by the trump administration has added considerably to the state of emergency that most of the island will be facing for a long time.
We will hear directly from people intimately involved in projects of aid on the island:
Tito Matos, visiting directly from Puerto Rico, will describe in detail the work he is doing on the island. Mr. Matos is considered one of the best requinto players (Plena music) of his generation. A member of the New York band Los Pleneros de la 21 and founder of “Viento de Agua”, he’s recorded and toured with well-known musicians Eddie Palmieri, David Sanchez and Ricky Martin. He also owns a restaurant in Calle Loiza called La Junta, which was demolished in the hurricane.
The Bay Area’s own Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi and Frankie Ramosspeak will speak on behalf of Defend Puerto Rico, a bi-coastal organization conducting considerable relief work on the island.
The funds raised by this report-back benefit these organizations and their relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
Unitarian Universalist Church
1187 Franklin St, MLK Room
SF
Prof. David Owen is an Environmental Lawyer from Hastings Law School where he teaches courses in environmental policy, natural resources, water, land use, and administrative law.
518 Valencia St.
SF
This is not new. Muslims have historically been discriminated against in this country, leading back to the original Africans who were forced here on slave ships and the criminalization and surveillance of Black Muslim groups through COINTELPRO.
We see the continuation of the criminalization of our communities through the FBI’s surveillance of what they have defined as “Black Identity Extremists” and through xenophobic policies like the Muslim Ban.
Join us on April 22nd, just days before the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on the Muslim Ban, at an Open Mic. Let’s come raise our voices, share stories, sing, read poetry, and define our own narrative. There is Existence in Resistance. Liberation in Expression!
Sign up to perform here: https://goo.gl/forms/4Ool5x3nhD0LL0gC3
Omni Commons
4799 Shattuck Ave.
Oakland
17. Monday, 8:30am – 9:30am, Countdown 03 Days To Deadline! Gascón: Charge the Killers of Luis Góngora Pat or Resign!
Hall of Justice
850 Bryant St.
SF
Monday – Wednesday, 8:30am – 9:30am – Join the family of Luis and supporters of Justice 4 Luis Gongora Pat!
We’re keeping him accountable to the fact that he has yet to charge killer cops in any of the 24 fatal police shootings that have taken place since he entered office.
Help us with your daily presence. We’re telling Gascon, Charge Killer Cops or Resign! Get out of the way if you won’t, or don’t know how, to do your job!
Join Luis’s family in their daily countdown!
Info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/230409604013458/
18. Monday, 9:30am, Impasse Resolution Proceedings between City and County of S.F. and S.F. Police Officers’ Association
Hall of Justice
850 Bryant St., Room 551 (5th Floor)
SF
The proceedings continue today. It was announced on Tuesday that the negotiations might go into the closed mediation phase in the afternoon. A notice will be placed on the door of room 551.
Your presence and support during the hearings shows that the community is concerned about these negotiations.
Schedule of Meetings / Agenda +More info: http://sfdhr.org/sites/default/files/documents/Notices/Public-Notice-POA-Negotiations.pdf
The Seahawks were ready to bring in former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for a workout Monday as they search for a backup to Russell Wilson but postponed the meeting when he said he did not know what his plan is for his off-field social activism going forward, including whether he would continue to kneel for the national anthem.
The news was first reported Thursday by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and later confirmed by the Times.
A source told the Times that the Seahawks asked Kaepernick what his plans would be for his off-field activities if he were to play football in 2018 and that Kaepernick — who kneeled for the anthem during his most recent season in the NFL with the 49ers in 2016 — said he didn’t know. The Seahawks were said to want a firmer plan from Kaepernick about all of his off-field activities — including but not solely limited to kneeling for the anthem — and how that might impact football.
The Seahawks reportedly made the request of Kaepernick late last week after initially setting up the visit with Kaepernick roughly two weeks ago.
With Kaepernick saying he was unclear of his future off-field plans, the Seahawks then decided to postpone the trip for now so that coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider could further discuss the situation, but left the door open that Kaepernick could still be considered and brought in for a visit.
However, several national reports — including ESPN and Pro Football Talk — stated that the workout was postponed solely because Kaepernick said he would not commit to standing for the anthem.
That led to a perception that Kaepernick’s side was offering one version of what happened — that the visit was postponed solely because he would not commit to not kneeling for the anthem — while the team was offering a version that kneeling for the anthem was only one aspect of the equation.
Regardless, what is clear is that the Seahawks had a definite plan to talk to Kaepernick about being the team’s backup and that now it’s unclear if any further conversation will happen.
ESPN reported that the Seahawks “contacted Kaepernick about two weeks ago to arrange a visit to the team’s headquarters, but after tentative arrangements were made and travel planned, the trip was unexpectedly scuttled over the Seahawks’ last-minute stipulation regarding Kaepernick’s anthem stance.”
ESPN reported the Seahawks made arrangements for the visit with Kaepernick the day before Kapernick sat for his deposition administered by NFL attorneys in New York regarding the league’s alleged attempts to conspire to keep him out of the league. Seahawks owner Paul Allen is among those who is still scheduled to be deposed in the hearings, according to Yahoo.com.
Regardless of what happens with Kaepernick, the Seahawks will are expected to continue to pursue other options at backup quarterback, as well — Seattle has only Wilson on its roster at quarterback after releasing Trevone Boykin last month after he was arrested in Texas on suspicion of domestic violence.
Seattle also brought in Kaepernick for a visit last May after which Carroll saidthe team did not sign him due in part because “he’s a starter in this league and I can’t imagine — we have a starter. But he’s a starter in this league and I can’t imagine somebody won’t give him a chance to play.’’ Seattle eventually signed Austin Davis as its backup in 2017. Davis, who played just five snaps last season, remains a free agent.
Under Carroll, the Seahawks have been regarded as being as supportive of players’ social stances and on- and off-field activities as any team in the NFL. Carroll publicly supported the decision of Michael Bennett to sit for the anthem last season (with Bennett often joined by most of the rest of the defensive line). Carroll also supported the team’s decision to stay in the locker room for the anthem before a game at Tennessee when the players wanted to make a statement following tweets and statements from President Donald Trump criticizing players who did not stand for the anthem.
But Carroll also said at the end of last season that he thought some of the off-field activities took a toll on the team’s performance on the field, especially the 33-27 loss at Tennessee following a day of meetings to discuss what the team should do in reaction to Trump’s comments, and seemed to hint that he hoped the team would be more focused on football in 2018. Since then, the team has traded Bennett to Philadelphia.
“You know, I think it had an effect in the game that week in Tennessee, yeah I really do think it had an effect,” Carroll said in his season-ending press conference on Jan. 2. “I think it had an effect on a lot of teams and a lot of players. It was an extraordinarily heated time. I think that was a different amount of emotional output that occurred before the game. It looked like it the way we played; it looked like it took its toll, and we had gone through the whole process in doing what we did. We needed to do it, and we couldn’t avoid it. We had to face it and we had to deal with it, and the other team called us up and said ‘What are you guys going to do,’ and they said ‘Ok, we’ll do that, too.’ I don’t know if they went through the same process that we went through or not, I don’t know, but I know we did. Honestly, if I could’ve done something about it I would’ve. I don’t think that there was anything but needing to face it; it’s too real.
“I did find out during the course of the year that guys didn’t want to stay on the topic. It was too draining and it was too deep and I hope in the off-season, guys can come back around to find what they want to work at and learn and grow with, but it was draining. It’s a real-life discussion that we’re talking about here when we’re talking about inequality and justice and stuff like that. There’s real-life stuff here that needs to be talked about and needs to continue to be connected with, but in the course of a football season and all of those factors that contributed to keeping that alive, some came from across the country, and some came right internally from the locker room, and it was all over the place. It was taxing; and I think it is something to not be forgotten about this football season. I think it was part of it.”
Kaepernick did not play in 2017 after spending the 2011-16 seasons on the roster of the 49ers. He led San Francisco to the Super Bowl following the 2012 season and then to the NFC title game following the 2013 season when the Seahawks beat San Francisco 23-17 at CenturyLink Field when Richard Sherman tipped a Kaepernick pass into the hands of Malcolm Smith for a game-clinching interception in the final seconds.
The visit with Seattle last May is the only reported visit Kaepernick has had with an NFL team since he opted out of his contract in March, 2017, a move he made knowing the team was going to release him, which allowed him to hit free agency earlier. Kaepernick began kneeling for the anthem during the preseason in 2016 and continued through the regular season saying he wanted to bring attention to police brutality and other social injustice.
The 30-year-old is 28-30 in his career as a starter.
April 17, 2018
A bill to create California’s version of expiring national net neutrality regulation passed its first major test Tuesday by getting through the state Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.
The committee voted 8-3 to send the bill authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill, however, still has a long road ahead before gaining approval by both houses of the Legislature.
“Californians want to protect net neutrality, and this is not a partisan issue,” Wiener said during the hearing.
Still, the bill is highly political, and the Democrat-dominated committee voted along party lines. Under the Trump administration, the Federal Communications Commission voted in December to rescind rules that forced Internet service providers to adhere to the principles of net neutrality. The rules were meant to ensure companies that provide Internet service to treat all Web traffic fairly and evenly. The net neutrality repeal is scheduled to go into effect April 23.
Wiener called the FCC’s action “outrageous” and said it reversed “more than 15 years of careful bipartisan work.”
Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, the energy committee chairman, went a step further, opening his comments about the bill by saying “totalitarian dictatorships and monarchies are not very popular” and “at the very core of what we do not support in America.”
“In this case in particular, the president overstepped his bounds,” Heuso said. The state needed to take action “in absence of our federal government that refuses to do its job.”
Under the Obama administration, the FCC adopted net neutrality rules in 2015 to prevent the biggest Internet providers from favoring certain websites over others by blocking or slowing down service for some customers or charging not to do so.
But under Trump, the Republican-dominated commission voted in December to return to a “light touch” set of regulations that Chairman Ajit Pai said had allowed the Internet industry to prosper.
The FCC’s December decision was supported by the largest telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, which strongly oppose Wiener’s bill.
“We do not block websites, we do not censor Internet content, we do not degrade Internet access,” Bill Devine, an AT&T vice president, told the state Senate committee. “This bill is built upon speculation that somebody, somewhere, sometime in the future might violate net neutrality rules.”
Wiener’s bill goes far beyond the FCC’s 2015 order and contains confusing language that could stifle investment in Internet infrastructure, Devine said.
Wiener hopes to use California’s sheer market size to force the biggest Internet providers to adhere to net neutrality policies throughout the country. Proponents and opponents nationwide had their eyes fixed on this bill because it was the most comprehensive bill introduced in any state so far.
“It’s the only state level bill that fully restores all of the 2015 net neutrality protections,” Weiner said.
Carolyn McIntyre, California Cable & Telecommunications Association president, said the bill “would shift increased costs to consumers” and subject Internet companies to “a patchwork of potentially conflicting requirements both within and outside of California.”
Faith Bautista, president of the nonprofit home counseling agency National Asian American Coalition, said the real problem was solving the digital divide and providing cheap online access for seniors and immigrants.
With the bill, “We’re trying to solve a problem that’s not a problem,” Bautista said. “Who will be the winners? The lawyers. We all want an open Internet, but we are all opposed to SB822.”
Proponents of the bill feared the committee would gut it of consumer protection measures, but Wiener said in a statement that amendments to the bill approved in the committee “maintain all the key provisions of the bill intact.”
The committee removed a proposal to make the state Public Utilities Commission in charge of net neutrality rules. It also clarified how the state attorney general’s office would enforce issues such as whether an Internet service company was improperly connecting companies to the Internet or not offering equal access to services competing for consumers.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra submitted a letter supporting the bill on Tuesday.
Benny Evangelista is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChronicleBenny
April 17, 2018 (JohnLaurits.com)
Last Saturday, as most are surely aware, the prime ministers of France and the UK assisted failed meatpacking-entrepreneur Donald Trump in violating all the most important international laws by attacking Syria in Damascus and Homs. For whatever reason, the US-led coalition thought it was a good idea to get revenge against Syria for an alleged gas-attack by blowing up any hypothetical evidence that might have proven the Syrian government was behind said gas-attack. The truth, it seems, was part of the price we pay for — well, no one can really be sure (since the evidence blew up) but dammit our freedom is safe and that’s what counts. The other part of the price is mostly really expensive bombs.
Altogether, the Brits chipped in 8 stormshadow missiles, the French (not to be outdone) threw down 9 stormshadows plus 3 Missiles de Croisière Navals, and the US furnished 66 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 19 JASSM-ER (joint air to surface standoff missiles – extended range). The total price for all 105 bombs was a measly $177 million. And to get an idea of how staggeringly large $177 million is, think of it this way – if you filled every seat in the Fenway Park stadium, $177 million would be enough to hand out about $5000 cash to every person.
$1,048,030 X 8 Stormshadow missiles = $8,384,240
$1,048,030 X 9 Stormshadow missiles = $9,432,270
$3,300,000 X 3 Missiles de Croisière Navals = $9,900,000
$1,869,000 X 66 Tomahawk cruise missiles = $123,354,000
$1,359,000 X 19 JASSM-ER = $25,821,000
$8,384,240 + $9,432,270 + $9,900,000 + $123,354,000 + $25,821,000 =
$176,891,510 or about $177 million
A look at the US Department of Defense’s 2017 budget request shows that each Tomahawk cruise missile costs a mere $1.869 million. According to its maker Raytheon, this hellish metal vulture “can circle for hours, shift course instantly on command and beam a picture of its target to controllers halfway around the world before striking with pinpoint accuracy.” Each time the US fires off one of these bad boys, imagine 60 full-time, living-wage jobs ripping through the air above a group of frightened Arab children…
2,087 hours per-year × $15 wage = $31,305
$1,869,000 ÷ $31,305 = 59.7029 or about 60 full-time jobs per tomahawk cruise missile
Or, as an alternative, one might imagine a building in Damascus being leveled by a year’s worth of food for 1,242 of the poorest US-Americans.
Avg. Yearly SNAP Benefits (food-stamps) received: $1,504.8
$1,869,000 ÷ $1,504.8 = 1,242.0255 or about 1,242 hungry US-Americans
While Lockheed-Martin’s joint air to surface standoff missile or JASSM may lack the Tomahawk’s added cultural-appropriation, they still get the job done (if that job is killing people) at a bargain price of $1.359 million. As Lockheed-Martin’s website says — “with superior performance and affordable price, JASSM offers the best value of any weapon in its class.” Using the same units of measurement above, each JASSM-ER is about enough to create 43 US-American jobs or to provide food for a year for 903 hungry people.
Adding the total cost for 19 JASSM-ER (“extended range”) to the 66 Tomahawk missiles Trump launched during his little terror-attack on Syria last weekend brings the total cost for US missiles to….
$25,821,000 + $123,354,000 = $149,175,000
…about $149.2 million! Yay. For perspective, $149.2 million is equal to the yearly incomes of about 2,640 US-American households at the median. In a world that made sense, this $149.2 million might have funded coverage for 45,647 people as part of a universal healthcare program or employed 4,765 workers as part of a self-managed federal job guarantee.
Median Household Income: $56,516
$149,175,000 ÷ $56,516 = 2639.5180 or about 2,640 US household-incomesAvg. Per-Person Healthcare Spending in OECD Countries: $3,268
$149,175,000 ÷ $3,268 = 4,5647.1848 or about 45,647 people with healthcare2,087 hours × $15 wage = $31,305
$149,175,000 ÷ $31,305 = 4,765.21322 or about 4,765 full-time, living wage jobs created
But all of this math is just a fun thought experiment. Public spending could — in theory, of course — create more jobs or ensure that people have access to healthcare or food but then Raytheon’s stock prices would never have increased by 3.2% over the weekend. And besides, using public funds to promote the general welfare or public safety and happiness would be socialism. Where would that leave the shareholders? Think about it.
In solidarity,
John Laurits
ACCESSIBILITY: Please include Accessibility Information on events! This is a JUSTICE ISSUE!
Check Indybay for other events: https://www.indybay.org/calendar/?page_id=12
UPDATES
A. Caught in a lie, US & allies bomb Syria the night before international inspectors arrive – Op-Ed by Eva Bartlett(April 15, 2018)
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/424186-us-allies-syria-lie/
B. Stephon Clark’s killing raises tough question: Should cops always charge in? (April 15, 2017)
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Stephon-Clark-s-killing-raises-tough-question-12835278.php
C. East Bay Cities Consider Banning Companies That Help ICE Track Down Immigrants From Bidding on City Contracts (April 16, 2018)
See item # 7
D. Israel targets reporters, medics in Gaza protests (4/13/18)
2 – ACTIONS
1. Tell border state governors: Don’t help Trump terrorize border communities
Petition to the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas reads: “Don’t help Donald Trump terrorize border communities.
Call back your National Guard members and refuse to deploy any more of them.”
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/nationalguards_border?t=2&akid=28112%2E21110%2ExuB7SV
2. Tell DHS: Stop separating families at the border
Petition to Department of Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen:
“Separating families at the border is inhumane and unnecessary. Stop this cruel practice immediately.”
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_family_separation?t=5&akid=28131%2E21110%2EO3-PVV
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tuesday, April 17 – Thursday, April 19
Tuesday, April 17
1. Tuesday, 8:30am – 9:30am, Countdown 9 Days To Deadline! Gascón: Charge the Killers of Luis Góngora Pat or Resign!
Hall of Justice
850 Bryant St.
SF
Tuesday – Thursday 8:30am – 9:30am – Join the family of Luis and supporters of Justice 4 Luis Gongora Pat!
In 2016, the SF Board of Supervisors approved a $1.5 million dollar budget for D.A. Gascon to investigate police criminal misconduct. What changed? NADA! This bureau has dismissed the back log of @SFPD killing cases since 2011, without charges!
Pending from 2016 only are Luis’s and Mario Wood’s cases plus the new ones of 2017-2018. Every other fatal officer involved shooting since 2011, Gascon has dismissed without charges. He either starts charging killer cops or steps aside and let’s someone else do it! Gascon: Charge or Resign!
Your presence will make a huge difference!
Mayan War Room in Honor of Luís Góngora Pat at the Mission Cultural Center, 2868 Mission St., 2nd Floor.
Come by to visit on Tuesday-Saturday. The exquisite embroidered protest artwork from Luis’s widow Doña Carmen, daughter Rosana and other women family members will be available for a donation.. T-Shirts; buttons are also available
Closing reception is on Friday, April 20th. https://www.facebook.com/events/1060572714094741/
Info: https://www.facebook.com/groups/230409604013458/
2. Tuesday, 9:30am – 6:00pm, Impasse Resolution Proceedings between City and County of S.F. and S.F .Police Officers’ Association
Hall of Justice
850 Bryant St., Room 551
SF
Open to the public.
From the agenda Tuesday appears to be the ONLY day that the public can comment on the contract negotiations: “…The Arbitration Board will take public comment on the single item for this meeting at the conclusion of the proceeding on the second day, April 17, 2018, before recess…”
Schedule of Meetings / Agenda +More info: http://sfdhr.org/sites/default/files/documents/Notices/Public-Notice-POA-Negotiations.pdf
Brief summary of today’s hearings from Anand of The No Justice No Deal Coalition
Other takeaways:
Next week’s schedule hearings are Monday 4/23, Tuesday 4/24 and Wednesday 4/25.
3. Tuesday, 4:30pm – 5:30pm, TAX Rally
Grand Lake Theater
3200 Grand Ave – Intersection
Oakland
Note from organizer: We will be part of over 100 Tax March events happening throughout the country, uniting to call for a fair tax code and an economy that works for everyone.
As the local organizer, I wanted to introduce myself to you and encourage you to invite friends and family to join you at this important event.
The organizers sent some T-shirts and posters and also a giant TRUMP CHICKEN which I hope to assemble!
I will make some signs or you can bring your own.
4. Tuesday, 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Kayla’s Birthday Celebration at Provo Park!
Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park
2151 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley
Accessibility: We will be setting up in a paved area, so the event will be wheelchair accessible. We will also provide chairs for those who wish to sit.
Five years have passed since the death of disabled Black trans loved one Kayla Moore at the hands of Berkeley Police, so we are throwing a great big party to keep her memory alive! Expect food, music, art and updates from the family about the court case.
Sponsor: Justice 4 Kayla Moore
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/175014956627047/
5. Tuesday, 6:30pm – 9:30pm, Israel: A Democracy Or A Colonial Project?
UC Berkeley
110 Boalt Hall
Berkeley
A discussion with Knesset Member, Haneen Zoabi facilitated by Dr. Hatem Bazian.
Zoabi was elected to the 20th Knesset (Israeli Parliament) on behalf of the Joint List (Hadash, Raam, Balad, Taal), and is member of the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, and the Lobby for the Strengthening and Development of the Arab Economy.
Sponsors: Center for Race & Gender’s Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at UC Berkeley.
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/356376081544211/
6. Tuesday, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, “Colombia: the struggle for lasting peace: w/union leader Nidia Quintero
ANSWER
2969 Mission St.
SF
A tour featuring Nidia Quintero, General Secretary of FENSUAGRO, Colombia’s largest federation of agricultural workers unions.
Over a year ago, peace accords were signed in Colombia that officially ended 52 years of civil war. But there are powerful enemies of the peace who want to undermine the accords any way they can.
The transnational corporations and big landowners are trying to stop reforms that benefit rural communities. They are terrorizing rural, indigenous, and Afro Colombian families and forcing them to leave their land.
Nidia Quintero, General Secretary of FENSUAGRO, comes from a farming family that was displaced because of the armed conflict from the department of Cauca. She relocated to Putumayo, where she and her family became community and labor organizers. Fifteen of her fellow organizers were assassinated for their activities between 2000 and 2004, including her husband, a union leader, and her 19-year-old son.
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/03/21/18807577.php
7. Tuesday, 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Deport ICE: Alameda
Alameda City Council
2263 Santa Clara Ave., Rm. 320
Alameda
Making Sanctuary Real continues in the Bay Area. On April 17, we have a Deport ICE doubleheader with the cities of Richmond and Alameda both considering a Sanctuary City Contracting and Investment Ordinance which wil cut the data pipes to ICE by prohibiting municipal contracts and investments with data brokers that sell information to ICE to track and profile immigrants. This gets public money out of subsidizing the Trump deportation machine.
In Alameda, the bill sponsor is Vice Mayor Malia Vella.
We need Alamedans to turn out, but all of us in the Bay Area are in the sanctuary city battle with the Trump Administration. We need to support our elected officials all over the Bay Area in standing up with our immigrant communities.
Sponsor: The Day We Fight Back & 3 Other groups
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/904102786426479/
Wednesday, April 18
8. Wednesday, 5:00pm – 6:30pm, Solidarity Demonstration with LaZAD
Civic Center BART Station
SF
As the ZAD fights for its preservation against ongoing state repression, we’ll take up the spirit of our comrades in France here in SF.
Last week the French state began evicting the ZAD (Zone to defend) – an occupation by more than 80 collectives which forced the abandonment of an airport project. The state sent 2,500 police accompanied by armored vehicles and demolition machinery to attack everything the occupied territory stands for and all that it has achieved. The ZAD is one of the longest-running projects of autonomous politics in our time, and serves as a coordinating node for radical organizing across France and Europe.
In 2011 police raided and destroyed the Occupy encampments across this country, then in 2017 a militarized force dismantled the Standing Rock camp. Now the forces of order, with constant gas and thousands of stun grenades, wish to write the ZAD into history as another thwarted possibility.
For more info. on the ZAD:
https://zadforever.blog/2018/04/05/targeted-evictions-begin-monday-9th-april/
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/15/18808488.php
9. Wednesday, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, PEACE VIGIL
One Post Street
(on the steps facing Market Street, below Feinsteins office,
directly above the Montgomery BART/Muni station).
SF
If it rains we will meet below the stairs to BART/MUNI
Focus varies each week on Peace & Justice issues
Signage & fliers provided
All are welcomed
10. Wednesday, 5:30pm – 8:00pm, Defend Mission Protections at community meeting
The Women’s Building
3543 18th St.
SF
MISSION – WE NEED YOU HERE! We expect gentrifying neighbors to show up to oppose our proposed Mission and Mission St protections that will be presented at this meeting.
Come get some food, share your thoughts about the legislation we have been working on with city officials, and defend our right to these Mission protections!
Sponsors: United to Save the Mission, Our Mission No Eviction, Cultural Action Network, Calle 24 Latino Cultural District
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/175467006605036/
11. Wednesday, 6:30pm – 8:30pm, Meeting – Oakland Privacy: Fighting Against the Surveillance State
Omni Commons
4799 Shattuck Ave.
Oakland
We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.
We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/03/22/18807643.php
12. Wednesday, 7:00pm – 8:30pm, Bay Area Writers and Artists of Color Endure Gentrification – A Collection of Stories
The Green Arcade
1680 Market St.
SF
Free
Endangered Species, Enduring Values is a new anthology of prose, poetry and four-color artwork by over sixty San Francisco area writers and artists of color. It presents a compelling snapshot by and of the city’s majority minority, who now comprise 58% of the residents in the nation’s most diverse and progressive metropolis.
According to editor Shizue Seigel, the book’s title, Endangered Species, Enduring Values, refers to people all over the world, of every race and culture, who are losing their connection to the places, histories, values, and traditions that shaped societies over millennia. San Francisco’s residents of color, a significant but largely silent majority, draw strength from their heritage not only to survive but to thrive—through compassion and collaboration rather than competition.” Seigel gathered over 70 people of all ages and walks of life to respond artistically to these questions:
• In challenging times, how do heritage, history, or spirituality inspire you as a person of color?
• What sustains you and keeps you working for a just and inclusive society?
• What do you want the world to understand about your heritage or community?
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/14/18808469.php
13. Wednesday, 7:30pm – 9:30pm, Anti Police-Terror Project General Meeting
East Side Arts Alliance
2277 International Blvd.
Oakland
Monthly meeting
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1930821550561269/
Thursday, April 18
14. Thursday, 9:30am – 11:00am, Rally & Petition Delivery for Stephon Clark!
Meet at:
1300 I Street
Sacramento
We will be meeting at the Attorney General’s office (1300 I Street), and marching to the District Attorney’s office (901 G Street) to hand deliver these signatures.
Color of Change’s petition met its signature goal and now it’s time to deliver.
District Attorney Ann Marie Schubert, we need you to press charges on these two officers now! We are tired of police in Sacramento murdering us in the street with no consequences.
Sponsors: Black Lives Matter Sacramento and Color of Change
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/173788433275615/
15. Thursday, 1:00pm – 3:30pm, Budget Hearing on Homelessness!
SF City Hall
1 Dr. Carleton B. Goodlett Pl, Room 250
SF
Join the Coalition on Homelessness and the Homeless Service Providers Association (HESPA) as we fight for more funding to serve homeless San Franciscans! Advocate with us at Budget Committee so that we can get the budget justice we need and deserve!
We will be requesting for $13.8 million to be added to the budget to serve homeless families, youth, seniors, and adults, including:
** 257 new housing subsidies
** replacement family emergency shelter
** new adult shelter in the Bayview
** housing navigators
** emergency housing assistance for youth
** right to counsel in evictions
** critical mental health services
This budget proposal was created with homeless people and homeless service providers.
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/662466744084542/?notif_t=plan_edited¬if_id=1523918604685804
16. Thursday, 3:00pm – 6:00pm, Food Not Bombs – Food prep
Station 40
3030B 16th Street (between Mission & Julian –across from 16th Street BART)
Ring door bell
(Up a flight of stairs)
SF
Thursday, 6:00pm, Food Not Bombs – Food Share
16th Street BART Plaza
SF
For information or to volunteer: call Micah at 415-738-9249 or send email to sffnbvolunteers@riseup.net.
Food Pickups: Help Needed!
Cooking: 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm–Ring doorbell for entry–Help Needed!
Sharing: 16th and Mission BART Plaza — 6:00 pm–Help Needed!
Cleaning Up: 3030B 16th Street–after Cooking–6:00 pm – 8:00 pm–Help Needed!
17. Thursday, 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Jacobin Launch Party: Health of Nations
California Nurses Association
155 Grand Ave.
Oakland
Wheelchair accessible
For those fighting for Medicare for All, and health justice everywhere, Jacobin Magazine’s latest issue, The Health of Nations is an indispensable tool. Join us in coming together to discuss its relevance and celebrate its release!
Program will feature the latest left perspectives on our broken healthcare system and where the fight for health justice is heading, with talks by contributors to the issue, including Michael Lighty (Public Policy Director of National Nurses United) and Meagan Day (Staff Writer at Jacobin).
Sponsors: East Bay Democratic Socialist of America and Jacobin Magazine
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/365346660631223/
18. Thursday, 6:30pm – 9:00pm, CARF April Community Meeting
New Valencia Hall
747 Polk St. (nr. Ellis St.)
SF
Be a part of building the Communities Against Racism and Fascism (CARF) Coalition and Rapid Response Network!
Communities Against Racism & Fascism (CARF) is seeking to build a direct-action Rapid Response Network with broad based coalitions to assemble the community to protest far-right, fascist, and neo-Nazi appearances with mass, direct counter-demonstrations. The Rapid Response Network is a text and email communication system that alerts members of upcoming actions so they can turn out for the protest and organize others to do the same.
Come to this community meeting if you are interested in doing something about the fascist threats against our communities by joining the CARF Coalition and/or the Rapid Response Network, or if you would like to learn more.
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/16/18808527.php
19. Thursday, 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Land & Freedom: Sovereignty, Right to Return, Anti-Displacement
Eastside Annex Gallery (NEXT DOOR TO MAIN EASTSIDE BUILDING!)
2289 International Blvd.
Oakland, CA
Wheelchair accessible
Featuring:
Corrina Gould(Ohlone), Sogorea Te Land Trust
Morningstar Gali (Pit River Nation), International Indian Treaty Council
Max Rameau, formerly with Take Back the Land Movement and currently with Pan-African Community Action
Bilal Mafundi Ali, POOR Magazine Homefulness Project
Leila Sayed-Taha, AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center
Ziad Abbas, Palestine Action Network
What do organizers and activists need learn and think about in how the state seeks to repress the right to land, movement, and sovereignty from the streets of Oakland, to Indigenous Territories, to Palestine?
Sponsors: The Center for Political Education and National Lawyers Guild SF Bay Area Chapter
Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/2014364115546570/
20. Thursday, 7:30pm – 9:30pm, Mara Ahmed: The Muslims I Know
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
388 9th St., Suite #290
Oakland
Doors Open: 7:15pm / Event: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Free & open to public
The Muslims I Know , A documentary written and produced by Mara Ahmed
The events of 9/11 have created much interest in Islam and Muslims. Mainstream media have responded to this demand for information with generalizations and stereotypes.
America’s community of Muslims longs to be a part of the discourse.
THE MUSLIMS I KNOW is a documentary that gives them a chance to be heard and understood through dialogue with non-Muslim Americans.
Q&A after film
Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/04/05/18808273.php
