This would criminalize sitting on a sidewalk in a business area during certain hours. It would impede free speech by requiring a permit to sit on a folding chair. This targets the homeless as well as activists holding GAs and sit-ins. Despite what the ads say, it would not help the homeless get services.
NO on T – expansion of development in West Berkeley
This would allow further development and gentrification in West Berkeley, increasing rents and driving out the long-term locals.
YES on O & N – for the Berkeley pools
NO on R – redistricting
STATE:
YES on 30 – would increase personal income taxes for seven years on those who earn over $250,000 in annual earnings a year and increase the sales and use tax by a quarter-cent for four years.
NO on 32 – Stop the Special Exemptions Act
While it claims to be about “stopping special interests,” it actually gives special exemptions to corporate special interests and Super PACs.
While Occupy Berkeley activists continue to plan actions and events in Berkeley (and beyond) and the solidarity knit-ins continue, we are no longer holding general assemblies on a regular basis. If you would like to find out what we’re working on, contact us at: info@occupyberkeley.org.
Gihan Abou Zeid, Egyptian Revolutionary Activist and journalist and technical advisor on youth policies in the Arab world, gender mainstreaming, women’s political participation, and minorities’ rights, has worked through governmental agencies worldwide on behalf of women and youth in particular. Gihan was part of the revolution of 2011 which brought millions of people, including whole families, to Tahrir Square to demand, among many demands, that Mubarek give up the presidency. While he was forced to leave, Egyptians recently faced elections that many felt offered only two bad options.
Gihan will present in the East Bay at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, co-sponsored by the Social Justice Committee, Friday, August 24 at 7pm in the Fellowship Hall. BFUU is located at 1924 Cedar St., one block East of MLK Jr. Way, Berkeley 94709. http://www.bfuu.org/events/upcoming-events She will share a slideshow of life at Tahrir Square during the revolution while discussing women’s experience at the Square, mutual help, solidarity actions, and needs, hopes, and expectations for the future.
Gihan received and distributed the box of knitted items sent to Tahrir Square activists last December by the Occupy Berkeley Solidarity Knit-in (www.occupyknit-in.org) and has come to the Bay Area to finish her book about women and the Egyptian revolution.
In addition, Gihan Abou Zeid will be the presenter at Occupy Forum SF (www.occupyforumsf.org) Monday, 8/27/12, 6-9 p.m., at The Women’s Building in San Francisco, at 18th and Valencia (near 16th St. BART). Gihan will make a presentation and the evening will be focused on discussion between activists.
— over 6,000 illegal foreclosures (including veterans) — charges customers hidden fees — lobbies against reforms that help consumers — received millions in government bail-out funds
Join us for three May 9 protests in the East Bay, the day of B of A’s annual shareholder meeting in North Carolina. Invite your friends, and protest all day long!
THREE LOCATIONS AND TIMES:
BERKELEY: 2129 Shattuck Ave (downtown), Berkeley, CA 94704 (9am-10:30am)
OAKLAND: 300 Lakeside Dr (@ Harrison/20th intersection), Oakland, CA 94612 (11:30am-1pm)
ALBANY: 1516 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94707 (5-6pm)
We will hand out fact sheets explaining why the Bank of America is Bad 4 America and will provide information about how to “break up with your bankster” and move your money to community banks and credit unions. This will be a Peaceful Protest! Occupella will lead some songs at the Berkeley protest.
If you have had any bad experiences with BoA, please show your dissatisfaction by attending a protest and sharing your story.
Get educated! Read it and weep — Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail, by Matt Taibbi
May 1 General Strike — NO work — NO school — NO business as usual!
Occupy Berkeley endorses and will be participating in these actions for the May 1 General Strike.
(One caveat: we are not sure what “autonomous actions” might entail, so be sure to find out before you join one, so you know what you’re signing up for.)
NOON – 1PM: Everyone Converge on Downtown Oakland
Mass rally from noon to 1pm at 14th & Broadway. Should include speakers, food, music activities, etc.
1PM – 3PM: Themed Actions & Marches Around Downtown
After the rally, those in attendance have the opportunity to stay downtown or join one of the autonomous actions that will be departing from 14th & Broadway to continue shutting down various capitalist institutions in the downtown area. These themed actions could include a Reclaim the Streets Party, an FTP march, more pickets, etc.
3PM: March for Dignity and Resistance
All are encouraged to join the march starting at Fruitvale BART station at 3pm.
“From San Jose to San Francisco to Santa Rosa to Sacramento to Stockton, we are inviting all workers – employed and unemployed, paid and unpaid – to join us in a family friendly, community inclusive march. The March for Dignity and Resistance is being organized by a coalition of activists from a wide variety of groups with different politics and organizing backgrounds. Together we will fight for the life we want to live and build the world we want to live in.”
6PM – 7PM: Reconvergence downtown to coincide with the march arrival
Everyone back downtown to rally and celebrate together as the March for Dignity and Resistance arrives.
“Occupy the Farm” activists reclaim Gill Tract in Albany, CA — whole food, not Whole Foods!
Here’s a video of their first day:
From their website:
(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.
For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot.
“For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure the future of our children,” explains Jackie Hermes-Fletcher, an Albany resident and public school teacher for 38 years.
Occupy the Farm seeks to address structural problems with health and inequalities in the Bay Area that stem from communities’ lack of access to food and land. Today’s action reclaims the Gill Tract to demonstrate and exercise the peoples’ right to use public space for the public good. This farm will serve as a hub for urban agriculture, a healthy and affordable food source for Bay Area residents and an educational center.
“Every piece of uncontaminated urban land needs to be farmed if we are to reclaim control over how food is grown, where it comes from, and who it goes to,” says Anya Kamenskaya, UC Berkeley alum and educator of urban agriculture. “We can farm underutilized spaces such as these to create alternatives to the corporate control of our food system.”
UC Berkeley has decided to privatize this unique public asset for commercial retail space, and, ironically, a high-end grocery store. This is only the latest in a string of privatization schemes. Over the last several decades, the university has increasingly shifted use of the Gill Tract away from sustainable agriculture and towards biotechnology with funding from corporations such as Novartis and BP.
Frustrated that traditional dialogue has fallen on deaf ears, many of these same local residents, students, and professors have united as Occupy the Farm to Take Back the Gill Tract. This group is working to empower communities to control their own resilient food systems for a stable and just future – a concept and practice known as food sovereignty.
Visit their website: http://takebackthetract.com/
and visit the land! the corner of Buchanan Street and San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA
Join OccupyBerkeley for a peaceful protest on Thursday, March 8, for International Women’s Day — Bust Up the Banks! Occupella will be singing with us. See spirited clip of an action at BART. the song book is found here. Meet at the downtown Berkeley Bank of America, 2129 Shattuck, 12:30-1:30pm. Super-sheroes, clowns, and creative theatrics are welcome and encouraged!
Occupy Berkeley’s GA is held every Saturday at 11 am and Monday at 6 PM. Saturday’s GAs are held at MLK park next to the Farmer’s Market (MLK st and Center st). Mondays GAs are held at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU) at 1924 Center Street (@ Bonita). Hope to see you there! Read minutes here.
See spirited