OccupySF

~ Action Council ~  

Occupy San Francisco Bulletin Board:

 http://www.occupysf.net

ANNOUNCEMENTS

January 8 – January 14

Friday, January 8

 January 8, Friday, 11:00am, Let’s Crash Mayor Ed Lee’s Inauguration (time change!)

SF City Hall (meet on the steps of City Hall
1 Dr. Carleton B. Goodlett Place
SF

11:00am – Meet on the Polk St. steps of City Hall
11:30am – Ceremony begins

Open to the public

Mayor Lee has been decidedly absent as we have sought dialogue with him about Chief Suhr’s inability to run a police force. Chief Suhr has created a culture of racism and brutalization that gave those five officers permission to assassinate Mario Woods. If he will not fire Chief Suhr, who refuses to step down, then we will let him know that he can go too.

The demand of the re-elected mayor: Replace Police Chief Greg Suhr ”

Wear black – dress nicely.

Host: Justice For Mario Woods Coalition

Info:  https://www.facebook.com/events/451194355088191/453296248211335/

J 8, Friday, 12:45pm, Protest  Governor Brown’s PROPOSED BUDGET FOR NEW JAIL – Press Conference

State Building
355 McAllister (across from Civic Center Plaza)
SF

Governor’s budget reneges on promise for sustainable prison population reduction, funds new jail construction

Gov. Brown’s 2016-17 budget projects future prison population growth, extends the use of in-state and out-of-state contract beds, spends $250 on new jail expansion, refurbishes the Norco prison that has been slated for closure for years, and lacks any reforms that would meaningfully reduce the prison population. Rather than investing in vital community-based programs, the budget focuses on in-custody services.

Host: CURB & Anti-Prison and Anti- Poverty groups

Info: 510-504-9552 pete@communitychange.org

J 8, Friday, 6:00pm, Candlelight Vigil – IN MEMORY OF THE QUADRUPLE HOMICIDE – on January 9, 2015 IN MEMORY OF THE DOUBLE HOMICIDE – on January 14, 2007

RAIN or SHINE!

Bring a Candle.

Begin: 6:00pm

Japan Town Benihana Restaurant (outside)
1737 Post St.
SF

Proceed to following sites:

–          Geary @ Fillmore – Check Cashing
–          Fillmore @ Golden Gate – Charlie’s
–          Haight @ Webster – Candle Vigil Memorial

Walk through Hayes Valley to:

–          Laguna @ Page – Candle Vigil Memorial

IN MEMORY OF THE QUADRUPLE HOMICIDE OF:

  YALANI CHINYAMURINDI, DAVID SAUCIER, EMANUEL O’NEAL & HARITH ATCHAN

IN MEMORY OF THE DOUBLE HOMICIDE OF:

   TONY HUNT & YUSEF CAMPBELL

Host: Mothers & Fathers Coalition & Family & Friends of Murdured Loved Ones in San Francisco

Info: 415-287-7481 (Cultural Village Tribal Council)

J 8, Friday, 6:00pm – 8:00pm, SF Living Wage Coalition Presents: Silent Art Auction (fundraiser)

The Redstone Building
2940 16^th St.
SF

Benefit for the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, 863-1225, sflivingwage [at] riseup.net, http://www.livingwage-sf.org

Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/26/18781238.php

J 8, Friday, 7:00pm – 9:00pm, Forum: Palestine: The Struggle Continues

2969 Mission St.
SF

$3-$10 Donation requested – no one turned away.

Program:

Eyewitness Palestine: Greg Thomas, Professor of Literature and Africana Studies at Tufts University in Massachusetts, returned from Occupied Palestine in Nov. 2015.

Palestine, Israel and the 2016 Presidential Election: Gloria La Riva, Party for Socialism and Liberation 2016 Candidate for President

Host: Party for Socialism & Liberation

Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/29/18781301.php

Saturday, January 9

J 9, Saturday, 2:30pm, Defend Kurdish Educators, Students Stop The War On The Kurds and Working Class of Turkey

518 Valencia St.
SF

The mass repression against the Kurdish people and labor continues. The government demanded the evacuation of all government employees to launch a war against the people in these towns and communities.

Forum will provide an update on developments and how trade unionists and people in the US can build direct solidarity action for the Kurdish people and workers in Turkey

Sponsor: United Public Workers For Action UPWA, LaborNet, Solidarity Committee With The People Of Turkey SCPT

Info: (415) 282-1908, info@upwa.info  & https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/20/18781158.php

Sunday, January 10

J 10, Sunday, 10:00am – 12Noon, Farm Host Training! Pt 3 of Volunteer Training Series

Gill Tract Organic Farm
Albany

Experienced community farmers would like to orient you to these topics so that you can be more involved. We’ll be doing more extensive trainings into next year, possibly culminating in a certificate program…

Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1743650452532502/

J 10, Sunday, 12 Noon, Codepink Golden Gate Bridge Peace Walk – Them CLOSE GUANTANAMO NOW!

Noon:   Peace Walk begins on both ends of bridge, walking on eastern walkway and meeting in the middle for a PEACE convergence.

1:00:  Rally on SF side.  To include a reading of the names of the remaining prisoners and a reading of Tariq’s own words.

105 PRISONERS REMAIN, 46 ARE CLEARED FOR RELEASE AND STILL REMAIN IN THE HELLHOLE CALLED “GITMO”.  MOST OF THOSE HAVE BEEN CLEARED FOR RELEASE FOR OVER 5 YEARS.  JANUARY 11TH IS THE 14TH ANNIVERSARY OF GUANTANAMO PRISON

Will you walk for Tariq Ba Odah? Unjustly arrested in Pakistan. Sent to Guantanamo in 2002Never Charged, Cleared for release in 2009Hunger Striking since 2007Force-fed twice daily

Help needed to wear 6 orange jumpsuits and black hoods.

Info Toby: 510-215-5974  /  ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net

J 10, Sunday, 3:00pm – 5:00pm, Open Circle ~ Addressing Police Terrorism & Systemic Oppression

Omni Oakland Commons
4799 Shattuck
Oakland

Potluck at 3:00
Meeting at 3:30

Open Circle ~ Addressing Police Terrorism & Systemic Oppression, first and foremost, is an opportunity to build community with one another. Secondly, it is a space to reflect and collaborate with the families on strategies and actions to bring about justice for their loved ones murdered by the police.

Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/842362539219731/

J 10, Sunday, 4:30pm – 9:30, 2016: New Beginnings for Activism in Berkeley

Berkeley UU
1924 Cedar (@ Bonita)
Berkeley

Suggested donation: $5-$10 – no one turned away Diverse issues to discuss & strategize creatively 4:30- 6:00 pm Program, Part 1
6:00 pm community vegan potluck dinner
7:00-9:00 pm Program, Part 2 Program: Joanna Macy: eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, author of 12+ books, co-founder of “The Work that Reconnects”
Harvey Wasserman: author of Solartopia, American journalist, author, democracy activist, green power advocate
Linda Seeley: Spokeswoman, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, legal intervenors against Diablo Canyon nuclear plant
Jon Simon: author, Code Red: Computerized Election Theft and The New American Century, a call to action for election integrity.Cynthia Papermaster: Berkeley No More Guantanamos; BARC (Barkers Agitating for Reactor Closures); Codepink
Paul Kangas: solar policy activist  Info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/12/29/18781302.php

Continue reading →

DREAM ON TRAILER from Public Policy Productions on Vimeo.

Free screening on:

When: Wednesday, January 13, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Where: San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

January 4, 2016

SACRAMENTO — As California lawmakers returned to work Monday after a monthslong break, a bipartisan group of state senators unveiled a proposal to tackle one of the Golden State’s toughest problems: homelessness.

Under the plan, the state would use proceeds from a $2 billion bond to construct more than 14,000 permanent housing units for chronically homeless Californians who suffer from mental illness. The state would also provide millions of dollars for temporary housing while those homes are under construction.

To minimize any impact on the next state budget, which Gov. Jerry Brown is set to unveil Thursday, the plan would tap into the tax revenue collected annually from California’s top earners under 2004’s Proposition 63 — known as the Mental Health Services Act.

“Homelessness is not just a social issue that impacts a handful of distressed communities,” Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León said at a Los Angeles news conference. “It negatively impacts families, businesses, cities and counties in every part of California.”

Almost a quarter of the nation’s homeless people live in California, with a large majority living in Los Angeles, but the problem is also acute in Silicon Valley, where 4,500 people live on the streets or in encampments each night, Santa Clara County officials estimate.

Advocates dedicated to ending chronic homelessness in the Bay Area cheered the Senate plan, saying it was time for the state to step up and address a problem that had largely been left to county and city governments to solve on their own.

“In recent years, the state’s efforts took a back seat to the heavy lifting local governments did to mitigate homelessness,” said Jennifer Loving, an advocate in San Jose who directs the nonprofit Destination: Home. “The issue wasn’t a top priority for the state until now. I only wish this proposal had come sooner.”

If lawmakers enact the plan, city and county governments could apply for a portion of the bond proceeds as well as $200 million in funding from the state budget for temporary housing assistance. The plan also calls for increased state spending on grants for aged, blind and disabled Californians who cannot work.

Continue reading →

January 5, 2016

A federal judge Tuesday set a Nov. 7 trial date in a lawsuit on behalf of demonstrators who are seeking damages because they allege they were victims of police brutality in an “Occupy Cal” protest at the University of California at Berkeley in November 2011.

U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers expressed doubts about some aspects of the suit filed by the activist group By Any Means Necessary and 29 other protesters but said some of the issues in the case should be heard by a jury.

The suit, which was filed on Nov. 29, 2011, accused UC Berkeley, top administrators including former Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, university police, and the Alameda County sheriff’s office of police brutality, false arrest and violating their free speech rights during protests on Nov. 9, 2011.

The protesters’ lawyers dropped the false arrest allegation and attorneys for UC Berkeley and the other defendants filed multiple motions for summary judgment asking that the other allegations be dismissed as well because they believe the protesters have failed to produce enough evidence to support them.

At a lively hearing today that was attended by a large group of protesters and their supporters, Gonzalez Rogers said, “Many of the objections by the defense are well-taken” and will grant some of the defense’s motions for summary judgment.

But the judge, who will issue her final ruling in the near future, said she will deny other defense motions for summary judgment and let some issues proceed to trial.

Shanta Driver, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told protesters after the hearing that Gonzalez Rogers’ rulings “were not everything we wanted” but said they still represented “a real victory” because the plaintiffs will have a chance to call Birgeneau and other top UC Berkeley officials to the witness stand.

Driver said:  “This is the first time the administration will be called out in a public forum to answer for their crimes.”

Driver said the plaintiffs won’t be able to raise free speech issues in the trial but will be allowed to pursue their police brutality allegations.

UC Berkeley officials have said they wanted to remove the protesters from Sproul Plaza because they were concerned about safety and sanitation problems that had plagued other Occupy encampments across the country in the fall of 2011.

At today’s hearing, Driver said the protest was a free speech matter and “was part of a national movement that was fighting against inequality.” Driver alleged that in cracking down on the “Occupy Cal” protest, UC Berkeley administrators were suppressing speech they didn’t agree with.

But Daniel Sharp, an attorney for the university, said UC Berkeley officials acted because protesters “took the law into their own hands and actively resisted police.” Referring to the university, Sharp said, “We’re at the forefront of free speech but there are limits and we didn’t want to become overrun.” Sharp said, “This was not civil disobedience. This was mob rule.”

Some of Sanders’ suggestions: Break up banks. Tax speculators. Cap interest rates.

Bernie Sanders has declared war on the biggest players in Wall Street’s financial sector, saying they are overrun with “greed, fraud, dishonesty and arrogance,” and criticizing his top rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, as being naïve about what needs to happen to create a financial system that “works for all Americans.”

“To those on Wall Street who may be listening today, let me be very clear,” Sanders said in a midtown Manhattan speech on Tuesday. “Greed is not good. In fact, the greed of Wall Street and corporate America is destroying the fabric of our nation. And here is a New Year’s resolution that I will keep if elected president: If you do not end your greed, we will end it for you.”

Sanders laid out a 10-point program to deeply change the nature of the financial sector, while occasionally digressing to emphasize how much more sweeping his proposals are compared to Clinton’s. As always, he started by recounting how the “20 richest people own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans”—and said the finance industry has spent “billions” to get Congress and federal agencies to deregulate almost all areas of the financial industry while weakening consumer protection laws.

“They spent this money in order to get the government off their backs and to show the American people what they could do with that new-won freedom,” he said. “They sure showed the American people. In 2008, the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street nearly destroyed the U.S. and global economy. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their life savings.” Sanders continued, “While Wall Street received the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world with no strings attached, the American middle class continues to disappear, poverty is increasing and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider.”

Here are the 10 major components to Sanders’ Wall Street reforms.

1. End too-big-to-fail. The underlying logic of this federal policy is that the biggest banks cannot fail and shut down, even if they make terrible investments or wreak great harm to the economy, because the U.S. economy and millions of ordinary people would become financially destitute. Sanders said this “scheme…is nothing more than a free insurance policy for Wall Street.” Compared to before the crash of 2008, the biggest banks in the country are larger than ever, he said, adding, “if a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”

“In 2008, the taxpayers of this country bailed out Wall Street because we were told they were ‘too big to fail,’” Sanders said. “Yet, today, three out of the four largest financial institutions [JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo] are nearly 80 percent bigger than before we bailed them out. Incredibly, the six largest banks in this country issue more than two-thirds of all credit cards and more than 35 percent of all mortgages. They control more than 95 percent of all financial derivatives and hold more than 40 percent of all bank deposits. Their assets are equivalent to nearly 60 percent of our GDP. Enough is enough!”

Sanders concluded, “A handful of huge financial institutions simply have too much economic and political power over this country. If Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican trust-buster, were alive today, he would say, break ‘em up. And he would be right.”

Continue reading →

OCCUPY SAN FRANCISCO
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(For Wednesday & Thursday)

Wednesday, January 6

J 6, Wednesday, 5:00pm (see details) A Solidarity Night March – Rosca de Reyes – Justice4AlexNieto and Justice4MarioWoods

The march will start in two locations: Bernal Heights and Bay View. Both groups will march towards each other until they meet for a culminating ceremony, Meet at either locations:

1. 5:00pm – Bernal Heights Park at Alex Nieto’s Memorial

2. 5:30pm – In the Bayview – Palou & 3rd Streets

50th Anniversary of the 1966 Bayview Riots

SFPD has a rich history of violence enforced in black and brown communities. The Alex Nieto Case along with the Mario Woods case are direct examples of the detrimental effects of systematic racism, gentrification, and police impunity. In order to win justice for these two young men and our communities as a whole, we must unite! The goal of this March is to create solidarity not only with the families of Alex Nieto and Mario Woods but also the surrounding friends, family, and community members.

Two FB sites for info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1717605878475545/ & https://www.facebook.com/events/943183185766874/

J 6, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, Weekly PEACE VIGIL (RAIN OR SHINE)

If it’s raining, our vigil will be held below inside the BART station.
Montgomery and Market Sts.
(on the steps facing Market St., below Feinstein’s office)
Directly above the Montgomery BART/Muni Station
SF

Join Codepink, World Can’t Wait, OccupySF Action Council and Others at the huge PEACE banner
Theme today: CLOSE GUANTANAMO NOW!

Feel free to bring your own signage, photos, fliers. Additional signs and flyers provided.
Stand (or sit) with us.

J 6, Wednesday 5:30pm – Weekly SF Police Commission Meeting

CITY HALL, ROOM 400
#1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, California

Agenda: http://sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=5034

J 6, Wednesday, 6:00pm, No more luxury rentals! We need 100% affordable housing!

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
2868 Mission St. (@25th St.)
SF

Please attend this meeting and let Robert Tillman know we don’t want luxury rentals in the Mission. We need 100% real affordable housing! He wants to build 6 floors of luxury units (55) on Mission St. between 25th and 26th with 12% affordable. It will demolish a laundry Mat and Market. Mr. Tillman is a key member of SFBARF and a member of SFHAC.

Info / RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/145162942514522/

Thursday, January 7

J 7, Thursday, 12 Noon – Sharp: Suhr & Lee: Stop Killing SF & Its Black, Brown, Disabled & Poor People Mayor Lie Must Resign & Greg Suhr Must be fired

Glen Park BART (meet @ 12Noon Sharp!)
SF

Rally at SF Mayor Ed Lee’s House – The Most Impacted Peoples Demand Ed Lie Resign for Crimes Against Black,Brown, Disabled & Poor People & Greg Suhr be fired for Official Misconduct in the Mario Woods Murder Case

Bring a car, truck if you have on to help folks who are disabled- we will drive, march, walk up to his house which is three blocks away

Sponsor: POOR Magazine
Info / Statement: https://www.facebook.com/events/142628212777876/

J 7, Thursday, 6:00pm, Justice for Mario Woods Coalition Meeting – with Police Commissioner Joe Marshall

SEIU – Local 1021
350 Rhode Island (nr 16th Street
SF

This is an additional coalition meeting this week.

Two different FB groups for info RE: Mario Woods:

1. Justice For Mario Woods Coalition: https://www.facebook.com/Justice-For-Mario-Woods-Coalition-336100619846955/

2. Justice 4 MARIO WOODS, 26, assassinated by SF Bayview Police, 12-2-15: https://www.facebook.com/groups/418363851694303/

THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION: AN ENORMOUSLY DYSFUNCTIONAL AGENCY
NOVEMBER 12, 2015 – CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS 11/12/2015

Jordan Klepper speaks to Federal Election Commission Chair Ann Ravel to find out why the agency has such a hard time enforcing campaign finance laws. (5:47)

Same-sex marriage, #BlackLivesMatter, the DREAM Act, the People’s Climate March, End the New Jim Crow, Occupy Wall Street, the fight for a $15 minimum wage—these are just a few of the remarkable movements that have blossomed in the past decade, a most fertile and productive era of activism. Now, in a visually rich and deeply inspiring book, the leaders and activists of these and other movements distill their wisdom, sharing lessons of what makes—and what hinders—transformative social change.

Longtime social activist Greg Jobin-Leeds joins forces with AgitArte, a collective of artists and organizers, to capture the stories, philosophy, tactics, and art of today’s leading social change movements. When We Fight, We Win! weaves together interviews with today’s most successful activists and artists from across the country and beyond—including Patrisse Cullors-Brignac, Bill McKibben, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Karen Lewis, Favianna Rodriguez, Rea Carey, and Gaby Pacheco, among others—with narrative recountings of strategies and campaigns alongside full-color photos. It includes a foreword by Rinku Sen and an afterword by Antonia Darder.

When We Fight, We Win! will give a whole generation of readers the chance to celebrate and benefit from a remarkable decade of activism—a decade that shows just how ripe these times are for social transformation.

–from amazon.com

Go to:  www.whenwefightwewin.org