Northbay Uprising - Information for the liberated zones of the San Pablo Bay

2012-01-26T14:10:00.000-08:00

2012-01-25 "Don't Let B of A Take Mama Josie's Home"
[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Let-B-of-A-Take-Mama-Josies-Home/179988002102170]
REALLY, REALLY URGENT MATTER, PEEPS!
PLEASE GIVE THIS YOUR I-M-M-E-D-I-A-T-E ATTENTION!
Just got word that as soon as our dear friend Josie Jenkins nailed down a really solid new job, which will clearly put her in a position to start paying down her past due mortgage balance and also looks to be just days away from qualifying from a mortgage modification program administered by the State of California, B of A has told her it simply can't wait any longer... her home must be auctioned off at 1:30 tomorrow (Thursday!)
Sounds to me like the big rush has a lot more to do with seeing their opportunity to add yet another piece of prime Napa real estate to their portfolio slip away than anything else.
We can't let this happen!
Especially after Josie single-handedly fed the Occupy Napa movement week after week after week, we just gotta step up and find a way to stop this, folks!
B of A: You Will Not Take Mama Josie's House — Thursday, January 26 at 1:30pm at Napa Superior Courthouse.

Josie Jenkins, victim of anti-Humanitarian foreclosure practices, also known as fascism!

2012-01-26 "Protesters Say They'll Block Foreclosure; Members of Occupy Napa say they'll do "what it takes" to stop the scheduled foreclosure sale of a local woman's home this afternoon" by Louisa Hufstader
[http://napa.patch.com/articles/protesters-say-they-ll-block-foreclosure]
Members of the Occupy Napa group are rallying around a local woman they call "Mama Josie," who expects to lose her home in a foreclosure sale this afternoon.
Napa community activist and volunteer Josie Jenkins says her house will be sold at auction on the steps of the old Napa courthouse on Brown Street at 1:30 p.m.
"I asked for a postponement but Bank of America has refused," Jenkins wrote in an email to Patch last night.
"I recently applied again for assistance from the Making Home Affordable federal program and the State program called Keep Your Home California since I have just gotten a job with Napa County. Together with that assistance I should be able to pay my mortgage. The Bank has been saying I just need to find a job. Just as I accomplish that (no small feat at my age) they pull the plug," Jenkins wrote.
Jenkins's activist colleagues are not taking the news passively.
"B of A: You Will Not Take Mama Josie's House," is the name of a Facebook page calling for a protest to block the foreclosure sale.
Another call to action appears on the Occupy Napa Facebook page:
Be at this event in big numbers at 1:30 p.m. Thursday to help us shut this bank auction down! Bring your friends, family, neighbors, fellow citizens with you, too. Mic check? Hell, yeah! And so much more, if that's what it takes!
If this can't be resolved WITH B of A's cooperation, we are fully prepared to obstruct its efforts to carry out this travesty.
The 1:30 p.m. auction and protest are expected to take place on the courthouse steps at 825 Brown Street in downtown Napa.

2012-01-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

SAVE KUSF!

JUST SAY NO TO CORPORATE RADIO
Click on the following image for the current KUSF-in-Exile radio schedule

Culture Calender

2012-01-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

Northbay Uprising Calender of
Conscious and Psychedelic events

from around the San Pablo bay area

Other calenders focusing on the metropolis outside the San Pablo bay:

[http://northbayuprising.blogspot.com/2009/08/links_09.html]

2012-01-28
Arlene Francis Center
99 Sixth st., Santa Rosa

2012-01-29

2012-01-19 Northbay Uprising radio interview with Thelma of the African Connection:
[http://www.stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=192720158]

Video chat by Stickam.com

2012-01-31The Art For Kids exhibit, entitled "The Passion for Pattern" will continue through January 31 in the Children's section of the Benicia Library.
This exhibit features works by students of Art For Kids and is an overview of children's self-initiated exploration of the process of pattern. Included works are by Stella Keppie, Rose VanDerWerf, Elle Moyer, Devon Hughes, Avalon Keene, Fiona Lovett, Haydn Bradley and Justin Hughes.
SUPPORT KIDS ART!

2012-02-10

Fresh and Fly Productions Presents:
2012-03-03 "Sactown Underground"

Sacramento's dance scene has produced many great dancers and crews such as Flex Flav, Underground Flow, Devious, Airsteps, Fallen Kings, Jabbawockeez, Quest Crew, and so many more. It's time to see who's holding down the scene and representing for our city now. This is your time to get your crew name among the list of SacTown''s illest. Its time to take it back to the underground y'all.
Hosted by: Phatso Fresh
* Bboy Crew Battle (Minimum 3, Maximum 6). Bboy Battle Prize $600 + gear and trophy.
* All Styles Battle 1 on 1. All Styles Prize $150 + gear and trophy. (Open to all different styles of dance- Popping, Locking, Turfing, Jerking, Waacking, House, Tutting, Bboying, and so on)
* 10 on 10 Next Generation Battle featuring: Bay Area vs The Valley
When: Saturday March 3rd 2012. Time: Doors open @4pm. Battles will start @5pm.
Price: $10 @ the door, $7 Pre sale. Tickets will be available on FreshandFlyProductions.com starting in January.
Location: 45 Quinta Ct. Suite D, Sacramento, Ca 95823, On the corner of Mack Rd. and Stockton Blvd. (near Burger King)
Music by -
* Dj Quantum (Head Hunters)
* Joemega Weapon the Soul Juggler (Flow Fanatics/Dragon Diggers)
Supported by -
* The Bboy Federation (BboyFed.com)
* Universal Bboy Clothing (ProtectorsofHiphop.com)
For vending and sponsorship info please contact Phatso Fresh [phatsofresh@freshandflyproductions.com]
Fresh and Fly Productions [http://freshandflyproductions.com]

Ongoing Culture

2012-01-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

Vallejo -

"Whazzup: A Guide to Events in and around Vallejo"
Compiled by Ruscal Cayangyang, available at "Vallejo Independent Bulletin" [http://ibvallejo.com]

Ozcat Radio's calender
[http://www.ozcatradio.com/707-calendar.html]

Poetry by the Bay
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month
Panama Red Coffee Co. 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo Ferry Bldg Vallejo, CA 94591
Hosted by: Profet of ProfeticLyrics [http://www.myspace.com/profeticlyrics]; [http://www.youtube.com/user/profeticlyrics]
DJ: Hybrid of Epidimik Records
Hip-hop, rock, and spoken word!
THIS IS A FREE EVENT for the community to come & enjoy live performances from some of the Bay Area's talent & to share their thoughts during our open mic session.
Bands play from 7:30-8:30 followed by Open Mic from 8:30-10pm.
For information: profeticlryics@gmail.com

A Sweet Dee Production
Macwon and T-Street's hip-hop showcase
1st and 3rd Thursday of the month

College Night
Every Tuesday, 8pm until closing, with Ozcat's Curtis J The Prince
Mark's Sports Bistro, 110 W. American Canyon rd. suite L-7 & L-8, American Canyon / [707-561-0093]

Jammin' Wednesday Night Open Mic
The Townhouse, 401 Georgia Street, Suite A Vallejo, CA 94590 / (707) 553-9109
[http://www.myspace.com/townhousevallejo]
Every Wednesday night. Friendly to ALL types of people. Bring an instrument or your poetry and jam with Vallejo's best! Hosted by Vallejo musicians Jessica Ryan and Tom Hamilton. For booking and info: Jessica (707) 297-0613 [leave a message]

Songbird Lounge
Date & Time: 1st and 3rd Friday, 7pm
Location: Consumer Music [927 Tennessee Street, Vallejo, California 94590] [707-642-7368] [consumermusic@sbcglobal.net] [www.consumermusiconline.com]
There's so much talent in our local area and Consumer Music wants you to see it. We present local artists in our Songbird Lounge and the talent ranges from singing, guitar solos, drums, etc. If you love to perform, come on down.
We would love to present you at the Songbird Lounge.

Fusion Friday
Last Friday of the month, 7pm
Location: Consumer Music [927 Tennessee Street, Vallejo, California 94590] [707-642-7368] [consumermusic@sbcglobal.net] [www.consumermusiconline.com]
Join us as we showcase a local talent and then follow up with a jam! All musicians welcome!

Napa Valley -

Open Mic Night with free Waffles!
Slack Collective Art Studios and Gallery
964 Pearl St. suite B, Napa
Every 2nd Friday of the month, 11:30am until 2:00pm
It is a small yet meaningful hidden oasis for performing artists of all mediums and for all the people that stumble upon it for the first time. The poet, the dancer, the singer, the musician and even the comedian claim a space to share their passions. Take the Mic or take a seat! Meet new people and hold a space of meaningful culture, or simple recreation--step out and open yourself to Napa's Open Mic at Slack Collective Studios! Get some yummy, warm waffles!

Services, Announcements and Ongoing events

2012-01-23T23:49:00.000-08:00

Lamorinda Peace and Justice
The Lamorinda Peace and Justice Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 7 to 9pm in the fireside room of Lafayette Methodist Church, 955 Moraga Road, Lafayette. Our group is committed to working to support a healthy planet, a thriving local community, and a safe, equitable world for all. For more information, call 925-946-0563


Faith Food Fridays
Free Groceries / Food
Every Friday – 4pm until 6pm
826 Solano ave. @ Curtola parkway
For more information, visit www.faithfoodfridays.com, or call Benjamin Buggs [510-978-2396]
This is a ministry of Faith Bible Church of Vallejo, located at 901 Solano ave.
2011-12-23: Please join us as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at this week's Faith Food Fridays grocery and children's toy distribution. Contributions can be dropped off Thursday between 5pm-7pm or Friday between 2pm and 6pm. May God bless you and surround you with His gifts of peace, joy and love!
Photograph showing Benjamin Buggs doing the work of a higher order for the community!

Boss or Landlord problems?
We are a mutual support organization of workers and tenants. Together we stand up to unjust bosses and landlords. We win through strategy, struggle, support and solidarity.
Eastbay Solidarity Network [510-629-6561] [eastbaysol@gmail.com]

Model Railroad Society Train Show
Come and see the largest HO scale layout on permanent display in the Bay Area and one of the largest in the USA. Last Friday of the month, 8 to 10pm, $2
Walnut Creek Model Railraod Society [2751 Buena Vista Avenue] [925-937-1888]

Moschetti's coffee roasting company is inviting the public to try out free samples of the coffee and tea products available from the company, which roasts & sells coffee beans directly from the source to the coffee lover.
Every Saturday, from 9am until 12 noon, you can come and enjoy a warm conversation with friends while sipping certified organic, fairtrade artisan coffees from around the world, many of which are available in the Bay Area only from Moschetti's coffee roasting company!
11 Sixth st., Vallejo, where Curtola Blvd. crosses Solano Avenue.
For more information, you can contact Moschetti's at [707-556-9000] [Fabrice@moschetti.com]

Northbay Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS)


Gathering Of The Tribes
Every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month, 5pm to 6pm
at Panama Red Coffee House
289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo

Occupy Vallejo movement General Assembly
Every Thursday, 6pm to 7pm
at the Ozcat Liberated Zone
1104 Georgia st.,Vallejo

Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council
[www.vallejointertribal.org]
Working to keep alive the Native American culture
"We recognize our relationship to the past and to the future because they are the same thing" Winona Laduke

Legal Help: Free or low-cost services
---
"Lawyer in the Library" Program
Benicia Public Library
150 E. L St., Benicia
First Thursday of month at 6 p.m. (sign-ups start 5 p.m.)
Brief legal advice and referrals
Translators welcome
746-4343
www.benicialibrary.org
---
"Lawyer in the Library" Program
John F. Kennedy Library 505 Santa Clara St., Vallejo
First and third Wednesdays of month at 4 p.m. (arrive early)
1-866-57-ASKUS (1-866-572-7587)
---
Legal Services of Northern California
1810 Capitol St., Vallejo
(707) 643-0054 or 1-800-270-7252
www.lsnc.net
---
Referral Service
Solano County Bar Association
744 Empire St., Suite 201, Fairfield
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.
$45 for matching client with attorney plus 1/2 hour consultation
(707) 422-0127
www.solanobar.org
---
Solano County Small Claims Advisor
General Information: (707) 207-7335
Direct consultation line: (707) 422-7433
Accessible Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.
www.solanocourts.com/Courts/SmallClaims.html
---
Dispute Resolution Service
Solano County Bar Association
744 Empire St. Suite 201, Fairfield
(707) 422-5087

SafeQuest Solano
Services for sexual assault and domestic violence victims
(707) 421-6881 or (866) 487-7233
www.safequest.org

Equal Rights Advocate Advice and Counseling Hotline
1-800-839-4ERA
www.equalrights.org

Workers Rights Clinic
(415) 864-8208
Wednesdays, 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Women's Employment Rights Clinic
(415) 442-6647

Senior Legal Hotline
(800) 222-1753
Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.; Thursday until 7 p.m.

Action Calender

2012-01-23T23:39:00.000-08:00

The Uprising! from PuppetGov on Vimeo.

2011-01-26

2012-01-27 "Occupy the United Nations: INDIGENOUS DAY OF RESISTANCE"
Indigenous Unity March at 10:30 AM
Meet at the Human Rights Commission, 25 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
March to the United Nations Plaza, Market & Hyde st., San Francisco
Indigenous Rights Forum & Rally 11:00 AM
An Indigenous led Movement to Decolonize and Occupy the United Nations to demand repatriations for the theft of Tribal Lands, gold and other natural resources; and address issues of Civil Rights Violations, Hate Crimes, Broken Treaties, and the Human Rights inherent to ALL Indigenous People.
For More Information
Contact: United Native Americans,Inc.
UnitedNativeAmericansInc@gmail.com
(510)672-7187

2011-01-28 "People's Movement Assembly entitled What California Can Learn from Latin America"
10:00 am to 4:00 pm (bring a brown bag lunch); at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th St, Oakland, between Broadway and Telegraph; co-sponsored by East Bay Social Forum and Task Force on the Americas; $5-20 donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Note: The Northbay Uprising upholds freedom and life. By posting for a cause against a war with Iran, we declare we do not support the fascist policies of Iran, but that we support the People of Iran against a murderous war which, if Iraq is any example, will kill MILLIONS of innocent lives, and may end up with another Holocaust of the Jewish People in Israel.
---
2012-02-04 "EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION TO STOP U.S. WAR AGAINST IRAN"
NO WAR! NO SANCTIONS! NO INTERVENTION! NO ASSASSINATIONS!
No War On Iran: National Day of Action Feb 4 [http://www.facebook.com/events/214341975322807]
[StopWarOnIran.org]
A broad spectrum of U.S.-based anti-imperialist and anti-war organizations, including the International Action Center, agreed on a Jan. 17 conference call to hold coordinated protests across the country on Saturday, Feb. 4.
The demands will be: “No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran.”
The ad-hoc group that took part in the call decided that although there are only two weeks to organize, it will invite anti-war forces around the world to join in to make this emergency protest a global day of action.
All agreed on the need to stop U.S. imperialism and/or Israel from launching a military attack on Iran. There was also a consensus that the new sanctions President Barack Obama signed into law on Dec. 31 -- with the goal of breaking the Iranian central bank -- were themselves an act of war aimed at the Iranian people. The political activists on the call raised the danger of a wider war should fighting break out in or around Iran.
While the organizations involved had varied assessments of the Iranian government, they all saw any intervention from U.S. imperialism in the Southwest Asian country as a threat to the entire region and to peace. Some of the people on the call who are originally from Iran and who were in touch with family and friends there conveyed the Iranian people’s anger at the recent assassination of a young scientist.
There was agreement to make “no assassinations” one of the demands to show solidarity with the Iranian population as well as to condemn the U.S. and its allies for criminal activities against Iran and its people.
As of Jan. 19, the organizations that called the actions or endorsed later included the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC), the International Action Center (IAC), SI! Solidarity with Iran, Refugee Apostolic Catholic Church, Workers World Party, World Can’t Wait, American Iranian Friendship Committee, ANSWER Coalition, Antiwar.com, Peace of the Action, ComeHomeAmerica.us, St. Pete for Peace, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality-Virginia, WESPAC Foundation, Peace Action Maine, Occupy Myrtle Beach, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Bail Out the People Movement (BOPM).
Individual endorsers include authors David Swanson, “When the World Outlawed War,” and Phil Wilayto, “In Defense of Iran: Notes from a U.S. Peace Delegation’s Journey through the Islamic Republic”; and U.N. Human Rights Award winner Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general.

Ongoing Action!

2012-01-23T23:38:00.000-08:00

Justice for Guy Jarreau!
Guy was murdered by Vallejo Police on 2010-12-11, and then vilified by his murderers in the mainstream media as a "thug" who deserved to be shot. Guy Jarreau was a student at Napa Valley College who worked for community peace, fed the homeless and acted as a youth mentor. Today, Vallejo Police feel they are above the law, and are white-washing the incident and withholding the video evidence that would show what really happened. Stand up for Community Justice!
Watch the Documentary: [http://northbayuprising.blogspot.com/2012/01/justice-for-guy-jarreau-jr.html]

Occupy Movement is about YOUR Civil Rights!
To Mayors and Police Chiefs,
OUR PERMIT TO OCCUPY PUBLIC SQUARES AND PARKS IS THE FIRST AMENDMENT, which affirms "the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
When people across the Middle East occupied public squares, leaders in Washington mostly cheered those protesters and warned Middle East governments not to use force to clear them. Those other societies don't have a First Amendment. Yet Washington affirmed the universal right to assembly and protest.
We DO have a First Amendment. The force being used to clear non-violent protesters from public squares in our country is unacceptable. It must stop.
Add your name to this petition at: [http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4882]

Vigil at Oscar Grant Plaza
[http://www.occupyoakland.org] current as of 2011-12-20:
There is an ongoing overnight vigil at Oscar Grant plaza.
It’s been very, very cold at nights, and folks are facing harassment by the Oakland PD resulting in continual loss of belongings, and a feeling of isolation.
Please help the Occupy Oakland vigil, with food, clothing, money, visits, etc.!
Please offer your companionship if you have time, and/or contribute these urgently needed items by bringing them down to the vigil:
* food (preferably hot)
* wool socks
* thermal long bottoms and tops
* hats
* blankets
* sleeping bags
Laundry is also a challenge. If you know of an available washer/dryer that can be moved to the 10th Street house, the 10th Street folks can help the vigil people with laundry. If you can help by doing laundry for the vigil members, that would be wonderful too.
Finally, if you can check with the 10th Street (at Mandela) house occupiers to get a grocery list and then bring them back food that they can cook for the vigil, that would also be very helpful.

Protest Chevron!
The Chevron Corporatoin is currently appealing its property tax assessment and trying to get the County to pay them a refund of $150 million dollars at hearings in Martinez. If ordered to pay these refunds, County, City and school districts would have to slash vital health, education and public services and lay off employees.
Chevron, which has long had reduced property taxes thanks to loop holes in Proposition 13, is able to hire a army of expensive lawyers to try to bully the county into accepting a settlement. Community groups, unions, and everyone who cares about justice say it is time to stop the 1% from bleeding the rest of us.
See the resolution passed at Richmond City Council at [www.richmondprogressivealliance.net]
For more information call [510-412-2260]
We are the 99%, Chevron is the 1%!

OCCUPY AND DEFEND OUR HOMES!
It's Time to Keep Families in their Homes!
It's time that Big Banks work with families and pay to rebuild our communities:
* Agree to across-the-board reductions in payments on the principal loans
* Commit to rebuilding our communities by funding public education and vital public services
* Put families in foreclosures back in their homes
Take the Pledge to Defend our Communities, Homes and Families!
Call [877-633-9251] or email [oohousingnetwork@gmail.com]
Help Defend Gayla Newsome RECLAIM Her Home by calling:
* Martin Goodman, President of Residential Mortgage Income Fund: [858-752-6150]
SUGGESTED SCRIPT: "Hello, I am calling for Martin Goodman. I am calling on behalf of homeowner Gayla Newsome. She wants to stay in her home. Your company wrongfully foreclosed on Gayla and you need to recognize her right to stay in the house that's hers. Thank you."
* Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase Bank (who made $20.8 million in 2010).
Call him NOW! [212-270-0121]
Chase's failure to work with Gayla helped lead her into Foreclosure.
SUGGESTED SCRIPT: "Hello, I am calling to leave a message for Jamie Dimon. I am calling on behalf of homeowner Gayla Newsome. She wants to stay in her home and I am calling you up to ask that you do the right thing and give her a loan modification with a principal writedown. Thank you."

2012-01-22T14:14:00.000-08:00

2012-01-22 "DHS Pumping Money into Drones for Domestic Surveillance, Hunting Immigrants and Seizing Pot"
We just heard from Jared Huffman at the Mateel's Congressional debate last Sunday that Mike Thompson approved drones flying over Federal land here in the Pacific Northwest to patrol our forests.
[http://www.alternet.org/story/153735/dhs_pumping_money_into_drones_for_domestic_surveillance%2C_hunting_immigrants_and_seizing_pot?page=entire]
Frightening, but no longer surprising in 1930's Europe, I mean 2012 Eureka.
DA Gallegos has apparently been helping build the 'resume' and grant application for more DHS funding (i.e. possible "explosives" in Occupy tents and "McVeigh type character"). It would not be the first time, post 911, he worked at getting more weapons for the cops. And making statements for DHS 'support' can have far-reaching dangerous repercussions for the people he is "suggestively" pointing the finger at (and everyone else, consequently).
...but, don't believe me- I'm just like those whackos claiming that people were getting put in gas chambers, not "showers"... one of those haters claiming that Martin Cotton was beat to death by the Eureka Police... one of those 'paranoids', fantasizing that the military wants better ground (highway) access to and through Humboldt ...

RESIST NOW
Down with the Fences at Occupy Eureka (and at the "borders"!)
No Highway Expansion Through Richardson Grove

2012-01-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

Community fascism can take on many forms.

More often than we realize, in cities where economically elitist folks have alot of influence, rather than help those who are unfortunate the "filthy rich" simply tell the police to enforce unconstitutional "laws" just to get rid of the people they would rather not see invading their precious "quality of life".
These folks may preach about "freedom", all the while supporting the tyranny of fascism for everyone else who are stuck being poor.

2012-01-22 "Restore 24 Hour Access to California Beaches"
[https://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-ca-restore-24-hour-access-to-california-beaches]
According to the California Coastal Act of 1976, the public should have 24 hour access to the beaches.
The Los Angeles’ beach curfew is well-known to people who have enjoyed an evening bonfire at Dockweiler State Beach by LAX or a moonlit walk in Venice only to have it cut short.
The police and city attorney are now ramping up to enforce a new curfew on Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach, from midnight to 5:00 am, since it was declared part of “The Park”.
Residents and visitors alike will be impacted by this new development on Ocean Front Walk (aka Venice Boardwalk) just as they are by ALL beach curfews.
Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas says: “There are a lot of people who want to use the beach, which they have a constitutional right to do, in the middle of the night…You don’t preclude the public from that use without a good justification — a good reason — and we have to be able to look at that.”
Please sign this petition that will send emails to the following:
California Coastal Commission
L.A. City Attorney
Councilmember Bill Rosendahl
LAPD Pacific Division
Recreation and Parks
California Governor and more.

2012-01-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

"The War Against The OEA and Oakland Public Education: A Report By Retired OEA Leader Jack Gerson"
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqFDNQrgMXU]
Jack Gerson, who retired teacher leader from the Oakland Education Association OEA and advocate for public education talks about the organized campaign to destroy public education in Oakland, California. The presentation was given at a United Public Workers For Action conference called The Attack On Public Education and Privatization and was held on January 22, 2012 at Laney College in Oakland. For more video on Gerson go to:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46JbhwM9VV4]
[http://blip.tv/file/3514372]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1QqePaO-DA]
[http://blip.tv/file/2652793]
[http://blip.tv/file/3104983]
United Public Workers For Action www.upwa.info

2012-01-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

2012-01-22 "Demand Amnesty for SDSU UAW 4123 Member Ashley Wardle"
On November 16, 2011, SDSU Teaching Associate and United Auto Workers 4123 Member Ashley Wardle joined hundreds of other CSU students at the Chancellor's Office in Long Beach to protest proposed tuition increases and to demand that Chancellor Reed and the CSU Trustees join a campaign to insist the rich pay their fair share to fully fund high quality, public higher education.
Ashley, along with three other students, was arrested on Nov. 16 and released the same day. No charges have ever been brought against Ashley.
On December 20, Ashley participated in an informal conference at the SDSU Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities (CSRR). The purpose of the conference was to investigate Ashley's alleged violation of the SDSU Student Code of Conduct, including obstruction of a peace officer and failure to follow peace officers' directives.
On January 6, Ashley was presented with a stark choice: accept a 2 year suspension, or face a formal hearing. Of course, a formal hearing could result in a longer suspension, or even expulsion.
CFA encourages supporters to join with UAW and call San Diego State President Elliot Hirschman at 619-594-5201 and Chancellor Reed at 562-951-4700 and demand amnesty for Ashley Wardle.

2012-01-21T22:09:00.000-08:00

2012-01-21 "Napa unemployment inches up" by JENNIFER HUFFMAN from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/napa-unemployment-inches-up/article_52586caa-43ef-11e1-923f-001871e3ce6c.html?mode=story]
Napa County’s unemployment rate inched up in December, hitting 9 percent compared to a revised 8.7 percent in November, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.
A year ago, the estimated Napa County jobless rate was 10.7 percent, officials said.
December’s unadjusted unemployment rate for California was 10.9 percent. Nationally, the rate was 8.3 percent.
As is typical with Napa’s tourism-based economy, the monthly rise is due in part to a drop in farm and leisure and hospitality jobs, EDD said.
Farm employment declined by 500 jobs from November to December, according to department figures. Leisure and hospitality employment declined by 100 jobs.
However, when comparing December 2010 to December 2011, information job employment rose from 600 to 700 jobs and educational and health services employment rose from 8,100 to 8,600 jobs.
Jim Mahoney of Bolt Staffing in American Canyon said those numbers match what he’s been seeing at his business. Normally, the industry braces for a seasonal decrease in job orders this time of year, but “We had a pleasant surprise toward the end of the year,” Mahoney said. “We got orders we didn’t expect. It wasn’t any groundswell but it was sure welcome.”
Mahoney said he’s gotten recent job orders for an export assistant for a beverage business, warehouse labor and jobs in the capsule industry. The capsule industry jobs were for a company that was expanding, he said. “These were new jobs, not replacement jobs.”
Looking ahead, Mahoney said he’s “guardedly optimistic.” Some employers who have been deferring work in the past year are trying to catch up on certain projects, he said. One distributor of industrial goods in Napa hired a temp to catch up on office and administrative work.
“He would like to hire this person, but he’s got to get a better feel for where his business is going,” Mahoney said. “It’s still iffy. He’s got lots of promising prospects but they don’t pay the bills. You have to have the orders.”

December 2011 Unemployment rates
• Napa County — 9 percent
• Marin County — 6.5 percent
• Solano County — 10.5 percent
• Sonoma County — 8.9 percent
• Lake County — 17.1 percent

2012-01-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

2012-01-21 "'The First Amendment: It's there for a reason" from "Vallejo Times Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/editorial/ci_19789500]
Politicians, take note. You have the right to remain silent.
Campaign contributors, take note. When you give a politician money, your life may no longer be completely private.
Politicians and campaign contributors, take note. Asking questions, or answering them -- take your pick -- are protected activities under the First Amendment. It's called freedom of speech, and while it can be uncomfortable at times, it's atop the Bill of Rights for a reason.
And, we might add, it shares that honor with freedom of the press.
Which brings us to our topic of the day. (Take note: Freedom of the press doesn't require us to get to the point immediately.)
Anyway, it seems that last fall, a so-called citizen journalist called a couple of campaign contributors to Benicia Councilman Alan Schwartzman's mayoral bid. The writer later wrote a critical opinion piece for Benicia Patch about Schwartzman's campaign that outlined his ties to the real estate and business communities.
The councilman apparently was strongly suspicious the source for the online column was from his opponent's camp. We can't imagine such nefarious goings on during a political campaign, but we digress.
Well, this writer apparently wanted to know why these two people had each given $500 to Schwartzman's campaign.We weren't privy to the conversations, but however they responded -- agreeing to answer questions, or not, would fall under the First Amendment. Under it and other amendments you have the right to answer any questions. You also have the right to refuse to answer any questions. Even suspected criminals know that.
Schwartzman doesn't see it that way. Feeling that such calls constitute harassment, he wants an ordinance prohibiting anyone other than the candidate or campaign treasurer from contacting contributors to Benicia political campaigns. (Ironically, some might feel more harassed getting a call from a political candidate or his/her campaign treasurer than one from a member of the public. After all, a potential donor might be hit up for more money, asked if he/she has any other friends with loose change, or both.)
Despite this nonsensical and clearly unconstitutional prohibition, Schwartzman, too, is exercising his First Amendment rights in offering it. No one should assume his proposal constitutes harassment, even though some might argue he is attacking their freedoms.
Happily, some weighed in at Tuesday's Benicia City Council meeting that such a ban is not only probably unconstitutional, but unenforceable as well. Regardless, surprisingly -- and regrettably -- the council also has agreed to waste more time on this at some future meeting.
We neither defend the phone calls to Schwartzman's donors, nor condemn them. Nor should he. But we understand why politicians would try to stop them. For one thing, donors might think twice about shelling out money to candidates if they felt a contribution would lead to a reporter's phone call. More likely, however, instead of a call from a reporter, the donor would receive calls from other candidates seeking similar cash gifts.
In either case, donors have a simple First Amendment tool to deal with such scenarios. They can simply say, "Yes" or simply say, "No."
We urge the Benicia City Council to embrace the latter response when and if this silly idea resurfaces.

2012-01-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

2012-01-21 "'Political-free zone' at Benicia farmers market not enforceable, police chief says" by Tony Burchyns from "Vallejo Times Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19789495]
For some, restricting political speech at the farmers market is about as popular as a bushel of rotten tomatoes.
For others, the idea goes hand in hand with ensuring a safe and orderly market.
But what are the rules, really, about who has a right to say what on a public street?
The question springs from City Councilman Alan Schwartzman's proposal this week to discourage political campaigning within 50 feet of Benicia's downtown farmers market. Schwartzman lost a tough mayoral battle in November to incumbent Elizabeth Patterson, who campaigned regularly at the entrance to the weekly seasonal market at First and B streets.
Patterson's supporters flanked the entrance, setting up a booth on the west side and also standing across the street to greet people and hand out literature.
Benicia Main Street, the nonprofit group that operates the market, does not allow political groups to set up or collect signatures within the market area.
Some wonder what power Main Street has to restrict speech. Benicia Police Chief Andrew Bidou said that his department would lack the grounds to arrest someone for simply passing out campaign materials in the market, despite Main Street's rules. He said that would be like arresting a resident of a condo complex for swimming in the pool past the posted cutoff time.
As Bidou put it, "We don't enforce private rules."
Nancy Martinez, Main Street's executive director, said that organizations such as the League of Women Voters and the Republican and Democratic parties in the past have been allowed to set up booths at the market. But Martinez said their purpose was to register voters, not talk politics.
The market itself has been designated a "political free zone," so outright campaigning is not allowed, Martinez said.
Other markets have established "free speech" areas for people to express political viewpoints. Part of the reason for this is to balance free speech interests with those of local farmers trying to earn a living, said Thomas Dorn, a market manager with the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association, which operates 65 weekly markets including one in Vallejo.
"Usually we have a designated spot in our markets on the curb or on the edge of the market," Dorn said. "You don't want to interrupt commerce. It's not corporate farmers here. They are individuals trying to make a living."
Dorn said merchants or others passing out advertisements or leaflets in his markets are asked to stick to the designated areas. He added that occasionally there are those who object to the rules as being "anti-free speech." But he said most realize and respect the farmers' interest in having an orderly market.
"I think it does happen at times where people start going crazy saying 'How can it be free speech?' if it's confined to an area," Dorn said. "Hopefully it doesn't get to that."
The Benicia council voted unanimously Tuesday to discuss the issue at a future meeting.
"In this particular election, people were going down to the farmers market which is supposed to be a political free zone ... and there was campaigning just literally outside the market," Schwartzman said. "While it might be not a big deal to have one candidate ... it's not difficult to make the leap that multiple committee members (may want to join them) down there doing the same thing. And that to me is where this could go if we don't do anything about it."
Schwartzman is seeking to add the restriction to the city's voluntary code of conduct for political candidates. The 2007 ordinance is meant to encourage honest, fair and responsible campaigning and, while voluntary, is viewed as a necessary pledge in the eyes of many voters.
The proposed discussion is linked to another Schwartzman request to discuss making it illegal to contact campaign donors -- an idea that has also raised First Amendment red flags.
Councilwoman Christina Strawbridge, the market's first manager when it opened 20 years ago, said the "political free zone" was modeled after other markets to foster a more inclusive atmosphere. There were also littering problems, she said, because political fliers would "wind up on the street and I would have to pick them up."
Strawbridge said the political groups were asked to set up at First and D streets, and for a while she said the idea seemed like a good compromise.
"If Main Street would dedicate a table or a space for political candidates that may be something they could do," Strawbridge said at Tuesday's council meeting. "But I think that obviously there is a lot of discussion on this and people need to know how the market works and that this wasn't a willy-nilly decision ... that we did set the policy based on other markets."

2012-01-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

2012-01-21 "Oakland hearing focuses on boys and men of color" by Jill Tucker from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/20/MNHV1MSFAV.DTL]
A standing-room-only crowd of elected officials, religious leaders, community activists, educators and children filled a downtown Oakland auditorium Friday afternoon to address the needs of young men and boys of color and the obstacles they face in their schools and on the streets.
Addressing high incarceration rates, unemployment, violence and dropout rates is an "enormous" task, said Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid. The focus needs to be on creating job opportunities, saving lives and giving men and boys a sense of hope to achieve, he said. "We cannot lose any more young men to the violence that occurs in our streets."
The hearing of the Assembly's Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in the Elihu Harris State Building, was chaired by Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda, and included speakers from health agencies, schools, and community organizations who testified about successful programs as well as barriers to success.
"Boys and young men of color in California face triple jeopardy: They grow up in poor families, live in poor neighborhoods and attend poor schools," said Junious Williams, chief executive officer of the Urban Strategies Council. "These barriers make it very difficult for them to rise above their circumstances."
The scope of the problem - the statistics about African American and Latino males - is clear, said Dr. Tony Iton, senior vice president for Healthy Communities at the California Endowment.
For example, a black boy in Oakland, on average, will die 15 years earlier than a white boy born in the hills, he said.
"We can reset the odds," Iton said. "We need all hands on deck."
The loudest applause of the day was reserved for children and teens who spoke during the hearing.
Indigo Byers, 12, called for policies that recognize the diversity of needs within schools and communities.
"The policies are made for the perfect child," she said.
She also argued for the removal of police in schools, a presence that does more to intimidate children than protect them.
Kimante Smith, 18, of Oakland Kids First, asked for more programs that promote leadership and teaches boys to be better men, and "not a statistic."
Several speakers addressed the need for job training and employment opportunities, including the spending of tax dollars to do the public's business in communities with the highest rates of men and boys of color.
"Fifty percent of African American men are unemployed," said Olis Simmons, president and CEO of Youth UpRising. "How is that possible?"
Speakers noted that research shows that an African American man who graduates from high school adds $681,000 extra in tax dollars for the state over a lifetime, and a male Latino high school graduate generates an additional $451,000.
"Young people are one of our greatest assets and the best indicator of our state's future prosperity and health," Iton said. "The future of California is tied to the future of boys and young men of color."

Attendees register in the Elihu Harris State Office Building where state and local officials will meet to discuss how to improve life chances for young men of color on Friday, January 20, 2011 in Oakland, Calif.
Photo: Dania Maxwell / Special to The Chronicle

Minister Keith Muhammad participates in an Assembly committee hearing on the status of young men of color.
Photo: Dania Maxwell / Special to The Chronicle

2012-01-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

2012-01-21 "Occupy's Financial District protest falls short" by Michael Cabanatuan, Bob Egelko, Kevin Fagan, Nanette Asimov, Henry K. Lee and Will Kane from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/20/BA4L1MS7IC.DTL]
Lots of rain. Lots of noise. Few arrests, and smaller crowds than expected.
All in all, Friday's big Occupy movement attempt to shut down San Francisco's Financial District was a mixed success for the protesters who led it - and something of a relief for those who had feared it.
Occupy San Francisco organizers mustered several hundred participants for their all-day protest against economic inequality, and as they marched throughout downtown staging rallies and skits and civil disobedience, they did manage to slow traffic and force a couple of businesses to shut down, including the headquarters of Wells Fargo Bank.
Unlike some major Occupy actions last year on both sides of the bay, nonviolence prevailed - although tensions between police and protesters flared after night fell as activists briefly occupied the vacant Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness Avenue. Two officers were injured by thrown objects there, and at least five people were arrested before the demonstration ended around 11 p.m.
Nineteen people were arrested during the daytime actions, all but one when they refused to move while blocking Wells Fargo's doors.

Business goes on -
The thousands of participants organizers had hoped for never materialized, though. And those who did show up did not paralyze business as usual - which sat just fine with many who had worried they might not get to work Friday.
"I think they had their day in the sun, so to speak, but it's a good thing people got to go to their jobs," said Raj-Ann Rekhi, who plans corporate events.
Organizers said they were happy the daytime demonstrators, which ranged from union members and longtime protesters to students and retirees, got their point across.
"It's a respectable crowd for a lousy weather day," said Bishop Joey of the First Church of the Last Laugh, a comedy troupe. "You know that for every person here there was someone else who would have been here and 10 who would have liked to have been here."
The protest, called Occupy Wall Street West, was timed to coincide with today's second anniversary of the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which removed limits on how much money corporations and labor unions could donate to political causes. Protesters, many of whom supported the Occupy movement in the fall, said the decision exacerbated the divide between the rich and poor by handing too much power to big business.
The protest also served as the first major Occupy action of 2012 after the movement went into hibernation last month in the wake of police decisions to dismantle activists' tent cities in the Bay Area and nationwide.
The first arrests came early, when crowds blocked entrances at the Wells Fargo headquarters at 420 Montgomery St. Seven people were arrested on the Sacramento Street side of the high-rise around 9:30 a.m. Several more protesters were arrested an hour later when they moved back in front of the service entrance.

'Our job is the occupation!'
On another side of the bank, a number of people covered themselves in a large swath of black fabric and undulated en masse in what they called a "black blob" representing "the security state enshrouded in ever more secrecy."
A man on his way to work dismissively shouted "Get a job!" at the blob. One demonstrator retorted, "Our job is the occupation!" At noon, about 300 protesters began marching from Justin Herman Plaza up Market Street before turning north into the heart of the Financial District. At the same time, more than 200 activists massed outside the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Seventh and Mission streets to call for a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision.
The rally, like others held Friday at more than 100 courthouses across the United States including in Oakland, was called to "proclaim a truth that should be self-evident, even to the Supreme Court," declared one speaker, Abraham Entin of the organization Move to Amend. "Corporations are not people, and money is not speech."
Across town in the Mission District, a crowd of white-haired protesters marched to City Hall, where their demonstration managed to force the cancellation of the day's scheduled foreclosure auctions.
As night fell, the remaining 200, mostly young protesters gathered outside the empty Cathedral Hill Hotel at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street and were met by police in riot helmets. Some activists threw bricks and bottles, injuring two officers, one in the chest and one in the arm. At least two protesters were then arrested.

Showdown on Van Ness -
About 40 people broke in through a back entrance of the hotel and loudly cavorted in the 600-room building for two hours. When they threw furniture from the roof, several dozen police entered to clear the building. By 11 p.m. they had arrested three more people on suspicion of trespassing, and what seemed to be the rest of the crowd had left voluntarily.
Police Lt. Michael Redmond said his officers would go through the hotel room by room to search for stragglers.
The hotel was also taken over by homeless protesters in October, and they left voluntarily.
Earlier in the evening, two men with bandannas over their faces broke a window at the nearby Bentley Motors car dealership on Van Ness. One woman, Suzi Spangenberg, who said she was a seminarian, was pepper-sprayed as police sought to control the crowd. She was not arrested.
Geza Polony of Oakland, who joined the protests in the afternoon, said he was pleased the daytime actions had been nonviolent. Throughout the day, activist monitors in orange vests sought to calm protesters who did such things as pound on glass doors.
"My thing is trying to create a protest that isn't simply about the expression of anger and that calls attention to a nationwide issue," Polony said, "and is not simply about occupying a house or a tent."

Protesters march through the Financial District during a Occupy rally on Friday, January 20, 2012, in San Francisco.
Photo: Mathew Sumner / Special to the Chronicle

Dell Burchett (l to r) of San Francisco, Jean Richie Mortensen of San Francisco and a demonstrator who gave his name as "J. Edgar Hoover" and from no city, sit together after tying and taping themselves to the doors of a Bank of America on Market and Spear Streets where OccupySF Autonomous Action set up a food bank and served a free lunch on Friday, January 20, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.
Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

"Windsong" (l to r) and Kyle Lesley, both of San Francisco, wave flags in front of the Bank of America on Market and Spear Streets where OccupySF Autonomous Action set up a food bank and served a free lunch on Friday, January 20, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.
Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Police officers order Occupy demonstrators to move off Montgomery Street in the Financial District.
Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Berkeley school teacher Julie Searle locks arms with other Occupy protesters to block a Bank of America branch at California and Montgomery streets during a day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Hundreds crowd Montgomery St. next to Bank of America, as members of Occupy SF and other supporters rally and march through the streets, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Police try to keep protesters from entering the vacant Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness Avenue.
Photo: Michael Short / SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Hundreds crowd Montgomery St. next to Bank of America, as members of Occupy SF and other supporters rally and march through the streets, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Occupy supporters yell from the upper windows as they take over the rear area of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Occupy supporters enter the rear area of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Occupy supporters assemble at the rear area of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Occupy supporters emerge from the windows after taking over the rear area of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

An Occupy supporters uses a hair dryer to dry his socks as protesters took over a section of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Police move in to remove Occupy supporters who refused to leave a section of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

Police move out Occupy supporters who refused to leave a section of the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Franklin St, during a national day of action against corporations and financial institutions in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 20, 2012.
Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

2012-01-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

2012-01-20 "UC Berkeley faculty stand between protesters, police crackdown" by Doug Oakley from "Contra Costa Times"
[http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_19779404]
UC Berkeley faculty members prevented a police crackdown of Occupy Cal protesters who took over a library Thursday evening in the school's anthropology department.
The protesters decided to take over the anthropology library and camp for the night in Kroeber Hall after its hours were cut about 50 percent after winter break.
"We are here to stand between you and the administration who might do things that would be unwise," Anthropology Department Chairman Terry Deacon told about 80 Occupy Cal members gathered in the library.
UC Berkeley and UC Davis police made national headlines late last year when they were taped mistreating Occupy protesters at their campuses. UC Berkeley police were taped beating students and UC Davis police were taped spraying passive protesters with pepper spray.
Deacon said when he heard about the planned occupation of the library, he made a deal with UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor George Breslauer to keep police away from the occupation with the understanding that he and other faculty members would stay the night with the occupiers. The deal is good only through Friday morning, he said.
"I negotiated with the administration to prevent police action because dragging students out of here would be detrimental to this space," Deacon said.
Anthropology Professor Stefania Pandolfo, who addressed a meeting of the occupiers, said she was speaking to clarify the role of the faculty in the protest.
"We are here as participants in the occupation," Pandolfo said.
Deacon said the hours at the library were cut because one librarian quit his job there over the winter break and the school had not yet hired a replacement or moved another school employee into the position. He said the cut in hours were not due to budget cuts in his department or in the wider school budget.

2012-01-20T13:45:00.001-08:00

2012-01-20 "Occupy the Courts" from "occupy Humboldt"
Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. District Court in Eureka, CA (the brick federal building on 5th and H) on Friday January 20, 2012.
The event begins at 11:30 am, when Move to Amend, Democracy Unlimited, and local Occupiers will gather in Eureka at 514 H Street.
Also, on Friday, there are people occupying the court because they have been arrested and ticketed at Occupy Eureka (see times below).
So far, out of 70+ arrests related to Occupy Eureka, there has been 1 person who went to jury trial and got a hung jury (10-2 in her favor, case dismissed) and six other dismissals. The rest of the cases are not finished, but with the way it's going, it is clear that the Eureka Police and Humboldt Sheriff's Dept. have been arresting people just to suppress the Occupy Eureka protest- not because of any "crimes".
Martin has court at 1:30pm from his arrest on November 14th.
Martin, Anne, Stan, Keelan, Amanda, and Shayanne should have 1:30pm arraignments- if the District Attorney and the Jail follow the law.
Anne, at 2:00pm has court from her arrest on November 14th (33 people arrested en masse, most at Occupy and others after leaving the site).
Jack Nounnan has court at 2:30pm for a ticket for hanging a banner. Occupy Eureka is the only protest where people have been accused of a crime for hanging signs and banners on the Humboldt courthouse lawn and nearby poles.

2012-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

2011-01-20 "Occupy Wall Street -West"

Jobs with Justice San Francisco
OCCUPY WALL $TREET WEST
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20TH
DAYLONG NONVIOLENT MASS OCCUPATION OF THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT BY THE 99%
More info: www.occupywallstwest.org

Highlighted Actions initiated by labor and community groups:
Wells Fargo HQ Action
8:00am @California and Montgomery
Contact: Sasha Wright, Pride at Work, sasha2justicia@gmail.com

Bank of America Actions
8:00am @Justin Herman Plaza
Contact: Grace Martinez, ACCE, grace@calorganize.org

ANSWER Coalition Direct Action
8:00am @ Mint Plaza, between Mission and Market Sts. on 5th St.

Occupy CPMC/Healthcare and Jobs for the 99% Action
11:00am @Van Ness and Geary
Contact: Pilar Schiavo, California Nurses Association, pschiavo@calnurses.org

Fannie Mae/Wells Fargo/ICE Action March
12:00pm @meet at Justin Herman Plaza
Contact: Robbie Clark, Causa Justa, robbie@cjjc.org

Stop Wage Theft Action with Progressive Workers Alliance
3:00pm @Church and Market
Contact: Mario Demira, Progressive Workers Alliance, mario@filipinocc.org

Occupy Hyatt Picket and Action with Unite Here Local 2
4:15pm @Grand Hyatt Union Square, Stockton and Sutter
Contact: Gordon Mar, Jobs with Justice, gordon@jwjsf.org

Closing Unity March, Rally & Celebration
5:00pm @start from Grand Hyatt Union Square or Justin Herman Plaza for convergence in the Financial District
Contact: Shaw San Liu, Chinese Progressive Association, shawsan@cpasf.org

2012-01-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19 "Support Occupy Eureka" from "The Support Occupy Eureka Working Group"
We determined that Occupy Eureka represents an important protest against thesevere inequality of American wealth distribution, the fraudulent manipulations of Wall Street, causing a world wide recession, and the Corporate Dominance of our Governments. We determined that it is important to support Occupy Eureka's constitutional and civil rights to maintain a 24/7 demonstration petitioning our local
governments to respond to the aforementioned grievances.
We also recognize that Occupy Eureka's constitutional and civil rights have been violated by repeated arrests, confiscation of personal property, removal of signs and information, harassment of protesters with ongoing court cases and punitive bail.
We feel it is very important to protect our foundational constitutional and civil rights and ask for your support. We acknowledge disagreements about strategies and tacticsamong participants in the Humboldt Occupy Movement, and disagreements with the local authorities.
We acknowledge individuals take actions that are not supported or agreed upon by their individual General Assembly or the Humboldt County Combined General Assembly. We will continue to take responsibility for our huge task of bringing together large numbers of people from different socio-economic life-styles and work toward consensus and solidarity.
The Occupation Movement is here to stay in Humboldt County and we will be heard.
We are asking you to support Occupy Eureka by signing up for shifts at the Courthouse.
James Decker has agreed to help coordinate that effort and his phone # is 707-761-5247.
It is important just to stop by and be there for any amount of time you can commit to.
Ponchos, umbrellas, warm clothing are needed.
We will have our 7th in a row "Celebrating Our Determination" Friday Gathering at 4-6pm in front of the Courthouse, whatever the weather! Join us and if you can bring some finger foods, great, but just bringing yourself is what counts.

2012-01-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19 "Police Violence at UC Riverside Regents' Meeting"
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iblmRivZKEs]
On January 19, 2011, the regents of the University of California had their quarterly meeting at UC Riverside. 400 students and workers demonstrated the Regents and demanded a reversal to the privatization of the university, tuition hikes, and budget cuts. Demonstrators were met with violence from the police and deputy sheriff's department. Several students were jabbed with batons and paint ball pellets were fired into the crowd.

Note from Dr.G.:
Did the students deserve to be violently thrown down?
Decide for yourself. Following are videos of the protests at UC Riverside:

2012-01-19 "Protesters briefly trap regents inside building at UC Riverside"
[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/uc-riverside-protest.html]
After their meeting at UC Riverside was over Thursday afternoon, some UC regents and officials were trapped inside a campus building for two hours as a noisy demonstration outside blocked vehicles from leaving the area.
Finally, police escorted the officials on foot away from the building on a route that tried to avoid confrontations and they were put on vans back to their hotel.
Two demonstrators were arrested for crossing the police lines at the Student Union Building, according to UC Riverside spokesman James Grant. No one was reported seriously injured in the incidents, although one campus police officer suffered minor cuts on his hand from a demonstrator’s sign, Grant said.
At one point, some students climbed on top of trucks that were stopped by about 200 protesters gathered in the campus roadway.
Earlier in the day, 18 students disrupted the regents meeting with a sit-down demonstration that lasted 50 minutes or so. No arrests were made in that incident and the meeting resumed with limited public access.
Clearly, UC officials did not want a repeat of the controversial incident in November when UC Davis police pepper-sprayed student demonstrators at that campus. UC is conducting investigations of that matter.

Photo: Protesters and UC police face off after a UC Board of Regents meeting Thursday at UC Riverside. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times, Larry Gordon

2012-01-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19 "Occupy LA Protestors Offered Class on “Limits of Free Speech”" by Julie Rodriguez
[http://www.care2.com/causes/occupy-la-protestors-offered-class-on-limits-of-free-speech.html]
Occupy LA protestors who were arrested in December have been told that they can avoid a court trial…if they pay $355 to a private company that will “educate” them about their free speech rights. The class is being offered to protestors who were arrested on low-level misdemeanor offenses and do not have a prior criminal history [http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/22/local/la-me-occupy-schooling-20111222].
Los Angeles Chief Deputy City Attorney William Carter claims that the educational program, offered by the American Justice League, will save the city money by avoiding the need for a trail. Protestors who complete the class successfully will not face any charges.
As if the idea of paying off a private company to avoid legal troubles weren’t offensive enough, Carter elaborated on the need for the class, telling the LA Times, “The first amendment is not absolute.” He believes that protestors need to be educated about the “limits” of the first amendment – presumably to make life more convenient for the LAPD.
An attorney who’s worked closely with Occupy LA says the class is “patronizing,” maintaining that nothing the protestors did was against the law. Meanwhile, the city is looking at the possibility of expanding the class, offering it as an option to antiwar demonstrators and students upset with tuition hikes.
It remains to be seen if any protesters decide to take the city up on the offer.

2012-01-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19 "Sides debate ban on ‘formula’ businesses" by CHANTAL M. LOVELL from"Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/sides-debate-ban-on-formula-businesses/article_751429fa-4269-11e1-aeba-0019bb2963f4.html]
A debate that has been brewing for nearly a month finally reached the City Council on Tuesday, with people in favor of regulating chain stores in downtown facing off against shopping choice advocates.
A new group, Napa Local, urged the council to adopt a 30-day moratorium to prevent any new “formula businesses,” or chains from opening shop in downtown Napa.
About 15 members of the group attended public comment sessions, supporting organizers who read a prepared statement explaining their position.
“Our overall purpose is to mitigate the effects such businesses have on locally owned shops and merchants,” said T.C. Craig, a Napa Local organizer. “We should not allow our desperation for full storefronts to homogenize the budding culture that is just now beginning to take root, something that is unique to our area.”
The grassroots group mobilized after it was reported in mid-December that a Starbucks might be interested in opening in the Eye Works Optometry building at First and Main, across the street from the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company.
While its initial purpose was to prevent the coffee giant from coming downtown, Napa Local has broadened its mission to persuade the City Council to adopt an ordinance regulating the establishment of all chain stores downtown.
“It would be easy for the council to approve and allow any and all businesses to establish themselves in our area, but at what risk?” Napa Local organizer Spencer Smith said. “The council, in our opinion, runs the hazard of essentially creating a strip mall-like effect in an area the city has so diligently worked to improve.”
Calistoga is among the nearby cities that regulate chains. In its municipal code, the Upvalley city describes formula businesses as any that share with another similar business located elsewhere: a common name; standardized services or uniforms; decor; logo or name.
Opponents said regulating a certain class of businesses when so many downtown storefronts remain empty is risky.
“I wanted to throw up a very strong cautionary flag about choosing one business and where they might be located over another business,” Jeff Doran, a downtown landlord and a member of the Downtown Specific Plan’s steering committee, said. Doran estimated there are 100,000 square feet of vacant leasable space in downtown.
“Now is not the time to put a moratorium on downtown Napa development,” he said.
Melodie Hilton, past president of the Napa Downtown Association, reminded the council of all the formula businesses that are already in downtown or were once there.
“Fans of Sushi Mambo were probably a little worried when they heard Morimoto might be coming into town,” she said, citing the high-profile chain of Japanese restaurants.
Napa resident Michael Haley said people will not come to Napa to visit a chain store they can patronize in their hometown.
“Take a look at the Oxbow market,” he said. “Ritual Coffee, Five Dot (Ranch), a number of stores in there. If the Oxbow market had Burger King, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, people wouldn’t go there. The fact of the matter is that chain businesses or formula business are just lower quality.”
Hilton pointed out that several of the Oxbow Public Market purveyors and others could be defined as “formula” businesses because they have multiple, similar locations. Among those she mentioned were the Hog Island Oyster Company, Gott’s Roadside, Ritual Coffee Roasters, Kara’s Cupcakes, Three Twins Ice Cream, The Model Bakery and even the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company.
She cited an ongoing case in Sonoma. According to local reports, Williams-Sonoma wants to open a store in the very Sonoma building where it began in 1956. But it could be stonewalled from doing so if the city council adopts an ordinance regulating formula businesses, which it may do. On Wednesday, the Sonoma council was to discuss imposing a temporary moratorium on the establishment of chains while it sorts through the possible ordinance.
“It seems that by saying large businesses should not be allowed to come to downtown Napa that you are punishing success rather than applauding it,” said Vintage High School student Angie Gervasio, who pointed out that Starbucks was once a small business.
She encouraged the Roasting Company to use the possibility of the competition as an opportunity to improve.
Mayor Jill Techel said she does not expect the prospect of an emergency moratorium on formula businesses to come up on the council’s agenda because no council members expressed an interest in having staff investigate it further. Councilman Peter Mott said the council will review supplemental information submitted by some of the speakers. If three members wish to discuss the matter further, they can place it on an agenda.
Though the council was unable to discuss the matter because it was not on the official agenda, Councilman Mark van Gorder said the council heard the people’s opinions.
“I do think that there’s a specialness of Napa that we need to be on guard and protect,” he said, adding that he was on the fence about the issue. “I have concerns about having some sort of a blanket statement. ... We have a tremendous number of people who are just starting to take interest in doing business in downtown.”
For others, the issue is simple.
“This is really about suppression of competition,” said Napa resident Chris Craiker. “Competition is what our country is all about, and for us to try to inhibit that in any way I think is a mistake.”
Others held to their belief that chain stores belong in malls, not downtown Napa.
“An ordinance that we would request in the future may have unintended consequences, however, unintended consequences are part of all ordinances and actions or lack thereof,” Craig said. “The council should weigh the current situation on the standard of more good than harm.
“In this case, we feel that more good than harm will come from an ordinance regulating the establishment of formula businesses and protecting our local merchants.”

2012-01-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19 "Occupy S.F. seeks to disrupt Financial District" by Kevin Fagan from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/19/BA0R1MR6RG.DTL]
Ending weeks of relative dormancy, Occupy San Francisco activists hope to disrupt business as usual in the Financial District on Friday with marches, demonstrations and flash mobs.
Organizers plan to muster participants at more than two dozen locations from the early morning into the evening, and say protesters are busing in from as far away as Washington, D.C., for the action.
The daylong protest is timed to coincide with the two-year anniversary Saturday of the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which allowed corporations the same rights as people in spending money on politics. Occupiers say the decision exacerbated the gap between rich and poor, their core rallying cause, by handing too much power to business titans.
In addition to picketing at the doorsteps of Wells Fargo, Bank of America and other financial institutions, activists plan a noon rally at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Seventh and Mission streets.
Across the bay, Occupy Oakland activists plan a demonstration at the Ron Dellums Federal Building courthouse at Clay and 13th streets between 8 and 11 a.m. before joining their colleagues in San Francisco.
Similar protests at courthouses and banks are planned Friday across the country.
"Corporate greed is being allowed to dominate our communities, and that means all people will suffer," Pilar Schiavo, an organizer with the California Nurses Association, said Wednesday. "This will be a peaceful day of action to say we need change."
More than 50 organizations are participating in the protest, from the Filipino Community Center and the Housing Rights Committee to the Rainforest Action Network, S.F. Gray Panthers and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. Also demonstrating will be members of the 28th Amendment Group, which seeks an amendment to the U.S. Constitution overturning the Citizens United ruling.
Occupy San Francisco's last major actions came in mid-December when police cleared out its remaining tent encampments in and near Justin Herman Plaza.
Organizers say they hope this event will attract thousands of participants to denounce a range of grievances, including economic inequality, pay-for-play politics, environmental degradation and police crackdowns on Occupy camps.
"This movement is the only hope the 99 percent have to take back our country," said Warren Langley, former president of the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco. He said he intends to join the demonstrations Friday.
Some workers in the Financial District were unenthusiastic about the plans.
"It's keeping people from working, and that's not a good thing," said Markus Neuweiler, an accountant, as he walked to his job Wednesday morning. "Like a lot of people, I agree with some of what the Occupy people are saying, but there is no leadership and no real goal. They need to have a goal if they want to move forward."

Jason Matherne of Iraq Veterans Against the War speaks at an Occupy SF informational session.
Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

2012-01-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

2012-01-19 "Rough week for Bank of America isn't over yet" by Andrew S. Ross from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/19/BUH11MQPQ5.DTL]
Folks working for Bank of America, especially in San Francisco, probably can't wait for this week to be over.
First off, there was that prank turning dozens of BofA ATMs in the city into "automated truth machines."
As part of its campaign to "track all the ways BoA is bankrupting America," Rainforest Action Network activists last weekend taped over the checking, savings and deposit interface on 85 ATMs with look-alike options such as "bankroll climate change" and "fund executive bonuses." The stickers also urged BofA customers to "stop doing business with Bank of America until they start behaving responsibly."
On Tuesday, in fact, customers, much to their chagrin, were stopped from doing businesses at BofA locations citywide, as well as in much of the Bay Area and other parts of the country, when its ATMs went down. This, however, turned out not to be the handiwork of activists, but a network failure traced to Verizon.
"Some enterprise customers may have experienced a service interruption (of about an hour and a half) when a configuration error was made on one of the data networks," explained a Verizon spokeswoman.
Certain activists might be pleased to know that other big businesses were hit by the failure, including Walmart and Morgan Stanley.
Today, BofA reports its latest earnings, a tensely anticipated event these days, given the bank's myriad woes (e.g., from Wednesday: "BofA shrinking assets leaves $2.8 billion hole in profit target" - Bloomberg).
Analysts expect the report to be better than last quarter, but who knows? The same analysts were wrong about Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase earnings.
On to Friday, and, boy, does Occupy SF have a treat in store for BofA. Its daylong "direct action protest" against "Wall Street West" - i.e., San Francisco's Financial District - is set to end up with "a lively street party," according to organizers, right outside the Bank of America building at 555 California St.
Sober reminder: For all the upbeat economic news Mayor Ed Lee has been touting about the city, a report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which he attended this week, may be a bit of a comedown.
It will take until 2016, at least, for San Francisco and the surrounding metropolitan area to regain the jobs it lost at the depth of the downturn. Same goes for median household income, according to a conference report.
The report, prepared by IHS Global Insight, projects a sluggish 1.4 percent job growth - equivalent to roughly 26,000 new jobs - for the San Francisco area (including Alameda County), between now and the end of the year.
San Francisco is one of 80 metropolitan areas, out of the 363 surveyed, that will wait as long as five years to be back where they started. San Jose/Silicon Valley is expected to recover by 2014.
While San Francisco's median household income has continued to decline, at $73,000 a year it's a lot better than the average in the country - $49,500, as of 2010. That's 7 percent lower than it was in 1999.
"This decline has been even steeper for those in lower income groups, leading to increased income inequality and deteriorating financial stability for many Americans," the report says. ( sfg.ly/wEnP4g).
Way down: San Francisco ranks 187th in terms of economic growth, according to the Brookings Institution, putting it among the "weakest" of the 200 metropolitan areas surveyed worldwide - much weaker than San Jose (61) and a little better than Sacramento (196). And no, we did not beat L.A. (146).
Apart from Houston and Dallas, the 57 U.S. metro areas didn't do well at all. Almost all of the fastest-growing metro economies are outside North America and Western Europe.
"A network of trading metros across the globe, particularly in developing Asian, Latin American and Eastern European nations, is setting the pace in an uneven recovery," says the report, which analyzed 2010-11 data on GDP, employment and income growth.
Strongest metro of all: Shanghai. ( www.brookings.edu/globalmetromonitor).

Bank of America was also a target of Occupy Congress protesters Tuesday in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Photo: Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images

2012-01-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

2012-01-18 "Fears of ‘Occupy American Canyon’ prompt debate" by MICHAEL WATERSON
[http://napavalleyregister.com/eagle/news/local/fears-of-occupy-american-canyon-prompt-debate/article_59b61d32-4217-11e1-97d1-001871e3ce6c.html]
AMERICAN CANYON — While no one expects to see tents surrounding City Hall anytime soon, American Canyon officials want to be prepared.
Council members wrestled with an ordinance Tuesday that would restrict camping in the city before ultimately agreeing the issue needed more study.
As written, the law would have limited camping on public and private property with the intent to “avoid an Occupy Oakland scenario,” as Councilmember Belia Ramos Bennett described it.
Councilmember Mark Joseph wondered if the ordinance wasn’t a solution in search of a problem.
“I’m pretty sure we don’t have an ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement brewing (here),” Joseph said.
He wondered if the city wasn’t overstepping its bounds and whether existing municipal codes on public health and public nuisance were not sufficient to address any future problem.
City Attorney William Ross said other towns have found existing law insufficient in the case of the Occupy movement. The Napa Valley is a popular tourist destination, Ross said, and as a shipping hub for the wine industry American Canyon with its heavily traveled roads could be an attractive target.
Joseph also had a problem with placing restrictions on private property. “I’m not sure we want to go there,” he said.
Councilmember Joan Bennett agreed. “I don’t see a problem with (restricting camping on) public property.” But she said that trying to say how a property owner could use his or her land was too intrusive.
After a number of attempts to revise the law, council members decided to schedule a study session on existing codes, curfew on public land and camping on residential, commercial and public property.
“We’ve tried to rewrite laws on the fly in the past,” Joseph said. Those attempts never turned out well, he said.

2012-01-18T12:08:00.000-08:00

2012-01-18 "Three women create conversation venue in Vallejo neighborhood as a crime deterrent" by Rachel Raskin-Zrihen from "Vallejo Times Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19764811]
The idea behind St. Vinnie's Culture Club is to create light, life and a great, big, open eye onto the streets to discourage crime, organizers said.
The corner of Marin and Florida streets in central Vallejo, where the club is located, has been a haven for prostitution for a long while, landscape contractor and club co-founder Sarah Nichols said.
About a year ago, Nichols, along with artist and business woman B.J. Conrad and art gallery owner Jeanette McCree Goudeau, conceived of the idea of offering the front part of the gallery at 930 Marin St. as a meeting/party venue and afternoon hangout. Named for the federally recognized historic St. Vincent's Hill district it borders, St. Vinnie's Culture Club is already attracting daily visitors, Nichols and recent visitors Maureen and Bill Moore said. The club's been open about a week, Nichols said.
"Sarah got sick, so it was put on hold," Conrad said. "She's the driving force."
The women want to "see the corner get very dynamic and have more people coming out, and having a good social experience," Conrad said. "We're hearing about possible poetry readings and some musicians are talking about playing here. Maybe some political stuff, sharing ideas, thoughts, concepts. We're looking at having it be a lively place."
Recent club visitor Maureen Moore said she thinks, "this is going to be great. It's a nice place and just what the neighborhood needs."
First-time visitor, musician Leo Cavanagh agreed, saying,"if Sarah's involved, it must be great."
Nichols said that unlike area cafés that have come and gone, like Booklover's Haven, Listen and Be Heard and Mel's Roast, St. Vinnie's Culture Club will survive because it's being sponsored by Nichols' Solano Advocates Green Environments (S.A.G.E.) and staffed entirely by volunteers.
"It began with the terrible prostitution problem we've been having along Marin Street from Tennessee Street to Georgia Street," Nichols said. "They were there all day and all night. They were coming from out of town because they knew no one was going to bother them about it."
Conrad, McCree Goudeau and Nichols said they figured that the more people and activity at that corner, the less likely that prostitutes and other criminals will gravitate there.
"We had more than 50 people at a Thanksgiving dinner here, and we had a wonderful after New Year's party," Nichols said. "And, we're open Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., basically tea time."
Not wanting to create competition for existing cafés, the club opens after Java Jax closes and is closed Saturday mornings to avoid interfering with Moschetti's Coffee's weekly coffee tastings, Nichols said. The club offers Moschetti's coffee, loose-leaf tea and bottled water for $1 each. A $5 club card entitles its owner to six beverages. Artists can display their work at the club in exchange for hosting once a week during their month-long exhibit, she said.
"We hope to be successful enough to encourage the owners of some of these empty buildings down here to find tenants, and this will revitalize the neighborhood," Nichols said. "We hope to break even, but if, by some off-chance, we make money, that will go to help beautify the neighborhood."
For information, call (707) 649-0996.

2012-01-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

2012-01-16 "Ex-Panther leader: King was 'moral center'; '60s radical tells Santa Rosa crowd that preacher showed things could change" by JULIE JOHNSON from "Sonoma Press-Democrat"
[http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120115/ARTICLES/120119638/1350?tc=ar]
Two very different men held court in Santa Rosa Sunday evening — one a radical who wanted action and revolution, the other a preacher of peaceful resistance whose memory lives on long after his death.
Though their tactics appeared radically different, former Black Panther Elbert “Big Man” Howard told more than 500 people in Santa Rosa High School's auditorium that Martin Luther King, Jr. fueled his belief that people could demand change.
“Through Dr. King, I found my moral center,” said Howard, who lives in Forestville. “Stay the course. Stay united. All power to the people.”
Howard spoke at Santa Rosa's annual celebration of the slain civil rights leader's birthday. The holiday is recognized Monday and used by many as a day of volunteering and service.
Howard and King represent two forces that galvanized African American men and many others to have the courage to march, said Rev. Donald Pete with Community Baptist Church.
“We all felt we needed to be free, but how you do it was the question,” Pete said.
King carved a path of dignity and morality, he said. The Panthers showed young men things could be different right now.
Howard told the crowd that King laid the groundwork for his group's activism. He remembers walking to the back of the bus where he was forced to sit, well aware that he was still paying the same fare as white customers.
“Then along comes this Baptist preacher, speaking bravely and clearly on our issues,” Howard said.
“He taught us, no matter what, the most important thing is to stick together and not allow the forces of oppression to deter us.”
Howard and fellow Merritt College students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in October 1966.
They were tired of watching the Oakland police harass young black men, he said. They wanted the right to vote without intimidation. They wanted poor children of Oakland to have access to food and good schools.
They formed free medical clinics specializing in sickle-cell anemia. They started work-study programs for parolees. They organized men to trail officers, and when they pulled over African American men, to observe the interactions, holding law books and guns.
Outside the high school auditorium, Will Morris, 54, of Bodega said he was “deeply moved” by Howard's recollections of being a young man in the south.
The chimney sweep said he was nearly brought to tears hearing King's words echoed in speeches given by two high school students after Howard spoke.
“If the youth get it, you can be sure we're headed in the right direction,” Morris said.
Maria Carrillo High School sophomore Erika Chang-Sing and freshman Lauren Smith were honored at Sunday's event for winning a speech competition. They each gave speeches on the theme “freedom and dignity for all people,” and elicited cries of “Amen” from the crowd.
Chang-Sing spoke about the impact of the recession on opportunities for teens as well as the outlook they hold for their futures.
“Dr. King once said, faith is taking the first step even if we don't see the whole staircase,” Chang-Sing said.

“Through Dr. King, I found my moral center,” said Elbert "Big Man" Howard. “Stay the course. Stay united. All power to the people.”
JOHN BURGESS / The Press Democrat

2012-01-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

2012-01-16 "Napa activist featured in Sundance documentary" by HOWARD YUNE from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/napa-activist-featured-in-sundance-documentary/article_96096316-400a-11e1-b66e-001871e3ce6c.html]
She has campaigned for the local Democratic Party and camped out during the Occupy Napa protest. Next week, Joanne Gifford’s political activism will travel beyond Napa County: to movie screens at the Sundance Film Festival.
The longtime local Democratic Party figure will share both her campaigns against corporate excesses — and her own and others’ struggles in a sinking economy — in “We’re Not Broke,” a documentary slated to debut Sunday at the annual film exhibition in Park City, Utah.
A middle and high school teacher by trade, the 53-year-old Gifford has been active in local Democratic circles for more than a decade, and won new attention in October by helping to organize the local version of the Occupy Wall Street movement at Veterans Memorial Park.
“I’ve been an activist as long as I can remember,” said Gifford, who was raised in Napa and returned to her hometown in 2001. “I like to describe myself as the blue sheep of the family,” she added, wryly hinting at her youth in a conservative household.
“We’re Not Broke” focuses on various U.S. corporations which activists accuse of lowering their tax bills by steering funds overseas, beyond the reach of the Internal Revenue Service. The film is set to open on the fourth day of the Sundance festival and be shown through Jan. 28.
Filmmakers in early 2011 captured footage of demonstrations and flash mobs staged outside stores and offices of firms accused of tax avoidance. Sprinkled through the film are interviews with seven Americans whose job prospects have been crimped by the recession — including Gifford, a substitute teacher who earned her teaching certificate in 2007 to gain full-time work only to see budget cuts shrink her job market.
“They were so desperate for teachers” five years ago, “it was almost annoying how many calls you’d get every night. And them, boom, nothing,” she recalled.
Discussing the film last week, Gifford described her role with the energy of the Occupiers half her age she had accompanied last fall — mixing a “Can you hear me now?” routine in Washington, D.C. mocking Verizon Wireless with calls for more muscular tax enforcement instead of more funding cuts and austerity.
“The idea that we’re overtaxing corporations is absurd,” she said Wednesday. “There isn’t only one way to balance the budget, cutting and cutting, saying we can’t afford this or that. We need to get the revenue base to where it once was — especially since corporations are such heavy users of our infrastructure, our legal system, our law enforcement.”
How wide a distribution “We’re Not Broke” will gain after Sundance remains unknown, but Gifford was hopeful the documentary would get the chance to change at least a few minds.
“I’m excited we’ve gotten this much traction,” she said, “because these are things that for so long, the other side has captured the debate and held it hostage.”
Whatever the film’s impact, Gifford declared her work far from done.
“The older I get, the more injustice I see, the more driven I am,” she said. “I don’t see a reason to hang it up. ... I’m not reliving my youth; I’m growing into this as I go on.”

2012-01-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

2012-01-16 "Black pastors urge followers to join Occupy fold" by Joe Garofoli from "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2012%2F01%2F16%2FMNVS1MPRIC.DTL]
The Rev. Harold Mayberry stood before his First African Methodist Episcopal Church congregation Sunday morning in Oakland and outlined how it was time for members to connect with the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Nationally, many African American leaders have acknowledged a disconnect between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the larger black community.
Mayberry is among nearly two dozen prominent African American Bay Area pastors trying to bridge that gap at the community level through a growing national effort that is ramping up today - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - called Occupy the Dream.
Nationally, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, former NAACP leader Benjamin Chavis and a host of black faith leaders are involved.
At 10 a.m. in San Francisco today, many from the local faith community will participate in a demonstration at the Federal Reserve Bank to highlight the growing inequity between rich and poor in the United States.
But before many in Mayberry's 2,800-member congregation at 27th Street and Telegraph Avenue would agree to get involved, he had to explain how the movement was relevant to their lives.
Remember, the pastor said, when civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala., bus 57 years ago, "she was the original mover and shaker of the movement because she had enough nerve to defy injustice."
"She said, 'My feets is tired, but my soul is rested,' " Mayberry told his congregation to shouts of "Amen!" "The original Occupy the Dream movement began right there. In a movement, there is no place for wimps."
Occupy Oakland activists have been involved in demonstrations at foreclosed properties and have protested at local banks, and many African Americans have participated in and led Occupy demonstrations.
Occupy Wall Street, Mayberry said, "had the right ideas, but it was without structure. People ask, 'Why the church?' No social movement in this country has succeeded without the involvement of the faith community."

'Joining the parade' -
One challenge he will face, Mayberry admitted, is that unlike other local faith leaders, he does not have strong ties to the local Occupy communities. He hopes to develop them, and he said faith leaders are not trying to usurp any leadership.
"We are not here to be the new drum major for the Occupy movement," Mayberry said. "We are just joining the parade."
After Sunday's 8 a.m. service, some members of FAME Church, as it is known, said they would get involved in the Occupy movement now that their pastor had put it in context for them.

'No foolishness' -
Until Sunday, many were turned off by images of demonstrators clashing with police and vandalizing local businesses during splinter protests at some Occupy events.
"There would be no foolishness at these demonstrations," Mayberry assured his congregation. "They will be peaceful."
"We know our pastor does his homework, so he's not going to steer us in the wrong direction," said Camisha Thomas-Garrett, an Oakland resident who plans to attend today's demonstration with her husband. "Until now, I didn't really know what they were about."
"I felt there was no leadership (of Occupy Wall Street), no plan," said Lorraine Johnson, 60. "Someone needed to give it a sense of purpose."
Nationally, Occupy the Dream is calling for a moratorium on foreclosures and an increase in funding for federal Pell Grants, which were cut in the recent federal budget. The movement is also asking large financial institutions to create a $100 billion fund toward job training and job creation.
In the Bay Area, some faith leaders in the fledging movement - which takes its name from Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech - are talking about other ideas, including asking "all those billionaires" who are participating in the upcoming America's Cup sailing race to contribute to a community fund that would help with job development, said the Rev. Daniel Buford, who works in the Prophetic Justice Ministry at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland.
Analysts say faith leaders could be key in spreading the Occupy movement through the African American community.

'A sign of maturity' -
"This is a great leap forward to involve local pastors," said James Taylor, an associate professor of political science at the University of San Francisco and an expert in African American studies. "The general critique of Occupy is that it has lacked a specific agenda. But this could be a sign of maturity for the movement."
In February, the pastors will ask their congregants to withdraw a small amount of money - at least $30 - from their bank accounts and deposit it in either a credit union or a minority-owned bank.
If that symbolic move doesn't get the attention of "Wall Street banks," as Mayberry described the nation's largest financial institutions, then in March, Occupy the Dream will ask larger African American-dominated institutions, churches and black professionals to begin transferring greater amounts to credit unions.
"I ain't got no problem with people becoming millionaires - I wouldn't mind joining the club myself," Mayberry told his congregation. "My problem is when you are so insensitive to people who have not been able to raise themselves up to the level where you are - and you snuff out their dreams."

Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle
The Rev. Harold Mayberry rallies at his FAME Church.

2012-01-15T16:47:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15 "Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline"
[http://www.truth-out.org/stop-school-prison-pipeline/1326636604]
“Every man in my family has been locked up. Most days I feel like it doesn’t matter what I do, how hard I try - that’s my fate, too.” -11th-grade African American student, Berkeley, California
This young man isn’t being cynical or melodramatic; he’s articulating a terrifying reality for many of the children and youth sitting in our classrooms—a reality that is often invisible or misunderstood. Some have seen the growing numbers of security guards and police in our schools as unfortunate but necessary responses to the behavior of children from poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods. But what if something more ominous is happening? What if many of our students—particularly our African American, Latina/o, Native American, and Southeast Asian children—are being channeled toward prison and a lifetime of second-class status?
We believe that this is the case, and there is ample evidence to support that claim. What has come to be called the “school-to-prison pipeline” is turning too many schools into pathways to incarceration rather than opportunity. This trend has extraordinary implications for teachers and education activists. It affects everything from what we teach to how we build community in our classrooms, how we deal with conflicts with and among our students, how we build coalitions, and what demands we see as central to the fight for social justice education.

What Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?
The school-to-prison pipeline begins in deep social and economic inequalities, and has taken root in the historic shortcomings of schooling in this country. The civil and human rights movements of the 1960s and ’70s spurred an effort to “rethink schools” to make them responsive to the needs of all students, their families, and communities. This rethinking included collaborative learning environments, multicultural curriculum, student-centered, experiential pedagogy—we were aiming for education as liberation. The back-to-basics backlash against that struggle has been more rigid enforcement of ever more alienating curriculum.
The “zero tolerance” policies that today are the most extreme form of this punishment paradigm were originally written for the war on drugs in the early 1980s, and later applied to schools. As Annette Fuentes explains [http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_fuentes.shtml], the resulting extraordinary rates of suspension and expulsion are linked nationally to increasing police presence, checkpoints, and surveillance inside schools.
As police have set up shop in schools across the country, the definition of what is a crime as opposed to a teachable moment has changed in extraordinary ways. In one middle school we’re familiar with, a teacher routinely allowed her students to take single pieces of candy from a big container she kept on her desk. One day, several girls grabbed handfuls. The teacher promptly sent them to the police officer assigned to the school. What formerly would have been an opportunity to have a conversation about a minor transgression instead became a law enforcement issue.
Children are being branded as criminals at ever-younger ages. Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia, a recent report by Youth United for Change and the Advancement Project, offers an example:
[begin excerpt]
Robert was an 11-year-old in 5th grade who, in his rush to get to school on time, put on a dirty pair of pants from the laundry basket. He did not notice that his Boy Scout pocketknife was in one of the pockets until he got to school. He also did not notice that it fell out when he was running in gym class. When the teacher found it and asked whom it belonged to, Robert volunteered that it was his, only to find himself in police custody minutes later. He was arrested, suspended, and transferred to a disciplinary school.
[end excerpt]
Early contact with police in schools often sets students on a path of alienation, suspension, expulsion, and arrests. George Galvis, an Oakland, Calif., prison activist and youth organizer, described his first experience with police at his school: “I was 11. There was a fight and I got called to the office. The cop punched me in the face. I looked at my principal and he was just standing there, not saying anything. That totally broke my trust in school as a place that was safe for me.”
Galvis added: “The more police there are in the school, walking the halls and looking at surveillance tapes, the more what constitutes a crime escalates. And what is seen as ‘how kids act’ vs. criminal behavior has a lot to do with race. I always think about the fistfights that break out between fraternities at the Cal campus, and how those fights are seen as opposed to what the police see as gang-related fights, even if the behavior is the same.”

Mass Incarceration: A Civil Rights Crisis
The growth of the school-to-prison pipeline is part of a larger crisis. Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has exploded from about 325,000 people to more than 2 million today. According to Michelle Alexander [http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_sokolower.shtml], author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, this is a phenomenon that cannot be explained by crime rates or drug use. According to Human Rights Watch (Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs, 2000) although whites are more likely to violate drug laws than people of color, in some states black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates 20 to 50 times greater than those of white men. Latina/os, Native Americans, and other people of color are also imprisoned at rates far higher than their representation in the population. Once released, former prisoners are caught in a web of laws and regulations that make it difficult or impossible to secure jobs, education, housing, and public assistance—and often to vote or serve on juries. Alexander calls this permanent second-class citizenship a new form of segregation.
The impact of mass incarceration is devastating for children and youth. More than 7 million children have a family member incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. Many of these children live with enormous stress, emotional pain, and uncertainty. Luis Esparza describes the impact on his life in Project WHAT!’s Resource Guide for Teens with a Parent in Prison or Jail: "After [my dad] went to jail I kept to myself a lot—became the quiet kid that no one noticed and no one really cared about. At one point I didn’t even have any friends. No one talked to me, so I didn’t have to say anything about my life. . . . Inside I feel sad and angry. In this world, no one wants to see that, so I keep it all to myself." (See Haniyah's Story [http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_sokolower_haniyah.shtml] and Sokolower [http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_sokolower_teaching.shtml].)

Revising the Curriculum -
As we at Rethinking Schools began to study and discuss these issues, we realized the huge implications for curriculum. Many of us, as social justice educators, have developed strong class activities teaching the Civil Rights Movement. But few of us teach regularly about the racial realities of the current criminal justice system. Textbooks mostly ignore the subject. For example, Pearson Prentice Hall’s United States History is a hefty 1,264 pages long, but says nothing about the startling growth in the prison population in the past 40 years.
Mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline are among the primary forms that racial oppression currently takes in the United States. As such, they deserve a central place in the curriculum. We need to bring this all-too-common experience out of the shadows and make it as visible in the curriculum as it is in so many students’ lives. As Alexander begins to explore in our interview [http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_sokolower.shtml], it is a challenge to engage students in these issues in ways that build critical thinking and determination rather than cynicism or despair, but a challenge we urgently need to take on. Aparna Lakshmi, a Boston high school teacher, offers an example [http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_lakshmi2.shtml].

‘Accountability’ and Criminalization -
The school-to-prison pipeline is really a classroom-to-prison pipeline. A student’s trajectory to a criminalized life often begins with a curriculum that disrespects children’s lives and that does not center on things that matter.
Last spring Federal Policy, ESEA Reauthorization, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, a collaborative study by research, education, civil rights, and juvenile justice organizations, linked the policies of No Child Left Behind and the “accountability” movement to the pipeline. According to George Wood, executive director of the Forum for Education and Democracy:
[begin excerpt]
By focusing accountability almost exclusively on test scores and attaching high stakes to them, NCLB has given schools a perverse incentive to allow or even encourage students to leave.
[end excerpt]
A FairTest factsheet cites findings that schools in Florida gave low-scoring students longer suspensions than high-scoring students for similar infractions, while in Ohio students with disabilities were twice as likely to be suspended out of school than their peers. A recent report from the Advancement Project noted that, since the passage of NCLB in 2002, 73 of the largest 100 districts in the United States “have seen their graduation rates decline—often precipitously. Of those 100 districts, which serve 40 percent of all students of color in the United States, 67 districts failed to graduate two-thirds of their students.”
The more that schools—and now individual teachers—are assessed, rewarded, and fired on the basis of student test scores, the more incentive there is to push out students who bring down those scores. And the more schools become test-prep academies as opposed to communities committed to everyone’s success, the more hostile and regimented the atmosphere becomes—the more like prison. (This school-as-prison culture is considerably more common in schools populated by children of color in poor communities as opposed to majority-white, middle-class schools, creating what Jonathan Kozol calls “educational apartheid.”) The rigid focus on test prep and scripted curriculum means that teachers need students to be compliant, quiet, in their seats, and willing to learn by rote for long periods of time. Security guards, cops in the hall, and score-conscious administrations suspend and expel “problem learners.”
Schools without compassion or understanding occupy communities instead of serve them. As our society accelerates punishment as a central paradigm—from death penalty executions to drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen—the regimentation and criminalization of our children, particularly children of color, can only be seen as training for the future.
Linda Christensen describes the dangerous pull of high-stakes testing on even the most seasoned teachers, and the powerful role of student-centered curriculum as resistance [http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_christensen.shtml].

Education Activists and the Pipeline -
As teachers and education activists, many of us are active in the fight to save and transform public schools—building campaigns to end standardized testing, to protect our union rights, to prevent the privatization of the public school system. At education conferences, there are often well-attended workshops on the criminalization of youth or related topics.
But the movement to end the school-to-prison pipeline and the movement to defend and transform public education are too often separate. This must be one movement—for social justice education—that encompasses both an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and the fight to save and transform public education. We cannot build safe, creative, nurturing schools and criminalize our children at the same time.
Teachers, students, parents, and administrators have begun to fight back against zero tolerance policies—pushing to get rid of zero tolerance laws, and creating alternative approaches to safe school communities that rely on restorative justice and community building instead of criminalization. (See Haga [http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/26_02/26_02_haga.shtml].) A critical piece of that struggle is defying the regimen of scripted curriculum and standardized tests, and building in its place creative, empowering school cultures centered on the lives and needs of our students and their families.
Some of the most exciting work with youth is being built around campaigns to stop police harassment in schools and on the streets, stop gang injunction legislation that criminalizes young people on the basis of what they wear or where they live, and increase budgets for education and social services instead of law and order. Youth provide leadership in these movements in ways that are different from what we often see in classrooms. Learning from these campaigns and making the critical connections to our own work will enable us to build a viable, principled movement for public education.
Our resistance grows from classrooms that are grounded in our students’ lives—academically rigorous and also participatory, critical, culturally sensitive, experiential, kind, and joyful. When combined with a determination to fight the school-to-prison pipeline at every level, that resistance has enormous capacity to build and sustain true social justice education.

2012-01-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15 "Labor Speak-out At Occupy Oakland Union Forum"
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83dxu5LKB1A]
At a Occupy Oakland labor forum speakers talked about ongoing labor struggles in Northern California and around the country.
These included the ILWU Local 21 Longview fight, Bakers Local 125 American Licorice workers, IBT Local 70 Teamster trucker at the Port of Oakland, Oakland Education Association OEA teachers, Unite Here Local 2850 locked out Castlemont Golf Club workers, Oakland SEIU 1021 workers and NYC TWU 100 workers.
The forum was held at Oscar Grant Plaza next to Oakland City hall on 1/15/2012
Production of Labor Video Project www.laborvideo.org

2012-01-15T14:17:00.001-08:00

2012-01-15 "Occupy Napa movement finds its local voice" by the editorial board of "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/editorial/occupy-napa-movement-finds-its-local-voice/article_2b64bba4-3f2f-11e1-ad14-0019bb2963f4.html]
As a movement, Occupy Napa — like its national precursor — does not have a tangible measure of success.
There are no candidates to support. The group offers no detailed plan for how to fix that which it is says is broken — Corporate America.
Still, Occupy Napa’s accomplishments are many.
Both locally and nationally, it is primarily a message movement. Participants in Occupy Wall Street seek to increase public awareness of their claims of corporate greed and the inequity in the country’s tax system. Occupy Napa has been able to echo that message while also using it as a foundation for other locally relevant issues.
The group’s assembly at Napa Valley College in December doubled as a sounding board for the continued safety concerns at the adjacent Napa State Hospital. Occupy’s local weekly meetings and networking also helped spawn Napa Local, an advocacy group working to support privately owned business.
Representatives of Occupy Napa and Napa Local said last week they have already met with the mayor to voice concerns about the possibility of a Starbucks coffeehouse moving in downtown.
In some ways, participants believe the fact that an Occupy Napa group even exists is a measure of success. It is rare for communities of this size to enjoy such localized support, they say.
According to group members speaking with the Register’s editorial board this week, a core of about a dozen members meet every week supported by a total of about 30 active participants.
Local assemblies have drawn even larger numbers.
Occupiers discuss community issues and determine where to direct their energy. This modern form of civic activism doesn’t come with a leadership structure, instead relying on the lone power of a voting process to guide their steps.
This “horizontal” leadership is both a blessing and curse, said Occupier Julio Soriano, as it gives the group great flexibility with its structure and purpose but can also leave its message vulnerable to those seeking to hijack an assembly’s cause and publicity.
Locally, that’s been less of a problem than it’s been nationally, where confrontations with police — like in nearby Oakland and Davis — have been the story rather than the Occupy message.
The Napa movement has been well organized and its assemblies well executed. Communication between Occupiers, local law enforcement and local government has been wide open, resulting in effective and peaceful demonstrations.
Yes, the amount of tax revenue corporations contribute to this country’s bottom line is a serious concern and yes, creating awareness of the issue locally can only help promote solutions and better regulations for this unfortunate byproduct of capitalism.
Activism is not a new concept in Napa. Through an active culture of civic responsibility at Napa Valley College, many organized movements have made an impact in recent years. Occupy Napa developed out of a local US Uncut group that got together in 2010. Dream Act supporters demonstrated on campus that same year. Occupy Napa helped form Napa Local.
Soriano is one of several college-age activists spearheading these causes. Fellow student Alex Shantz is also among them and leading the Napa Local initiative. About half the Occupy Napa group is made up of college students.
Whether you subscribe to Occupy Napa’s causes or vehemently oppose them, you will likely share in the movement’s clear lasting benefit — the development of Napa’s future leadership.
These are, by and large, thoughtful, informed individuals with the ability and passion to effect positive change for decades to come.

2012-01-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15 "An update for supporters and friends of Sogorea Te" Corrina Gould (Chochenyo/Karkin Ohlone) from "Committee to Protect Sogorea Te"
[http://protectglencove.org/2012/update-letter]
Dear Warriors, Supporters and Friends of Sogorea Te,
I want to begin by thanking each one of you for your support in protecting and preserving Sogorea Te (Glen Cove), a sacred site that has been in what is now Vallejo, CA for over 3500 years. During our occupation of the land from April through July of last year, many of you were instrumental in putting aside your lives, giving of yourselves unselfishly, and participating in creating a living community. This community allowed us all to not only protect a sacred site, but also to see what is possible for humans when they come together and rely on one another, centered around a basis of spirituality and belief in one another.
Each time someone walked onto that land and paid respects to the fire, it strengthened the community as a whole. The miracle was not in just protecting the site, but in protecting each other and allowing the space to include almost anyone who came with a good heart and good intentions. Over the months that we lived together, we endured weather hardships, boredom, laughter, tears, celebrations, and disappointments. We created bonds that will stay with us forever; sometimes with people we would have never imagined being in our lives before Sogorea Te.
We were truly blessed by the ancestors, because we took a stand and because we opened our hearts and allowed a healing to happen. No one and nothing can take away these gifts. Our lives have been transformed and we can never be the same, nor should we want to be. We were all a part of something more than history; we were a part of a miracle, a complete transformation. When that sacred fire that burned for 109 days finally went out in the physical sense, it continued to burn in each of us individually. When we come together, our shared experience rekindles those flames and reminds us that we are human beings with a purpose.
Over the last few months, people have posted alarming pictures on Facebook and have written things about the desecration of Sogorea Te, stirring up great concern amongst those who hold this sacred land close to our hearts. We, the Committee to Protect Sogorea Te, have tried to look into each issue as it has arisen and want to be transparent with all of the people who involved their time and lives in protecting the land. Some of the Committee kept watch over Sogorea Te during the early stages of GVRD’s park development project, while others, including myself, didn’t see what had happened to the land until October, when we were able to end the 2011 Peacewalk there.
Let us not mince words. The sight of what had been done to our beloved land was devastating. We knew when we parted ways and crossed that gate on July 31st that Sogorea Te would never look the same again. But what we saw upon returning was nothing short of getting kicked in the gut. It literally took my breath away.
We mourn what once was. We celebrated a victory in July, and yet, looking at the land now makes this victory taste bitter in my mouth. Out of all that GVRD wanted to do with the land, we only asked for three things: that they not build bathrooms, not include a 15-car parking lot, and not grade a hill that contains] burials/cremations. These are for the most part what we won.
They are not going to build a bathroom, the parking lot is only two handicap parking places and will be located adjacent to the sidewalk. We were aware that GVRD planned to take out the invasive species of plants and tear down the mansion and, yes, even put in trails. However, when I went there several weeks ago, what I saw was that the entire site had been molested. The creek is virtually exposed, all of the trees have been cut down, and, to our dismay, the grading has occurred.
In December, we were able to visit Sogorea Te and walk the site with tribal monitors and other tribal representatives. As I walked along the area where the hill once stood, I looked for anything that could stop them from continuing the destructive grading, but couldn’t find even a shell. The tribal representatives said that they did not find any cultural artifacts or remains and that the hill was only "fill". In fact, there were many cremations in the area, yet because the soil of the hill had been moved previously and 5ft of it has now been scraped off, finding remnants at this stage seems near-impossible.
It was frustrating that the tribal representatives didn’t have any answers. When was the project going to be finished? "I don’t know." Why did they take out native plants and still leave some of the invasive? "I don’t know." Will the tribe make a statement or have a public meeting to let people that supported the tribe in obtaining a cultural easement know what is happening to the land? "No. We don’t have to answer to anyone."
A tribal sovereign government is still a government. It is also a fact that this same tribal government allowed for the desecration of Sogorea Te in decades past and continues to make concessions to other developers, allowing desecration of other burial and sacred sites. Together we must decide what needs to be done to stop the on-going desecration of all of our sacred places.
The story of Sogorea Te is ours collectively. We each make up a part of the history that was a miracle. It is our voices that need to reach out to everyone. We stood up and lead a good fight. We protected a sacred site, and, at the same time, we protected ourselves and each other. We each brought to Sogorea Te our best and became better human beings because of this experience.
We all continue to mourn not just the loss of parts of the sacred site, but also the community we created and left behind. Human beings need to be needed, and for some, this sacred place gave us a place to belong, a place that we each had worth, and a place where prayers are answered. Our ancestors continue to bless us in so many ways.
I am eternally grateful to each person- elder, adult, youth and child. Grateful to the plants, animals, elements, and medicine that was shared. Grateful for all of the lessons learned and that I continue to learn from this experience. I am grateful to the Creator and the ancestors for allowing me to have such wonderful people cross my life path–and for the continued journey that they have in store for us, as we continue to be inspired by one another and look forward to that community that we all know is possible.

2012-01-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15 "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR." by Mitchel Cohen
[http://www.mitchelcohen.com/?p=2029]
Mitchel Cohen is the Chair of the WBAI (99.5 FM - NYC) Local Station Board [for ID only]
[http://www.MitchelCohen.com]
---
January 15, 2012 would be Dr. King's 83rd birthday. The airwaves are filled with timid and nostalgic tributes to the great man. Except for WBAI and other non-commercial stations, only Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech ‚- and even there but a tiny snippet of it -‚ makes it onto the airwaves.
Nothing about Dr. King's analysis in which he castigates the United States as being "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
Nothing about Dr. King's brilliant and courageous insights into the social and economic calamities of capitalism and the congruence of the oppression of people in Vietnam with that of people of color in the United States.
And, nothing about what it really means to be "Non-Violent". Dr. King castigates those who praised him and the Civil Rights movement for being non-violent in the face of white supremacists in the South but who condemned him for calling on his country to be non-violent in its dealings with the rest of the world.
     "In international conflicts the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. But the day has passed for our superficial patriotism. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery. Freedom is still the bonus we receive for knowing the Truth. Ye shall know the Truth, says Jesus, and the Truth shall set you free.
     "Now I ve chosen to preach about the war in Vietnam today because I agree with Dante that the hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality. There comes a time when silence is betrayal."
Ever hear any of that on mainstream corporate radio?
All of that placed -‚ and continue to place -‚ Dr. King at odds with many of his key advisers in the Civil Rights movement, and with the President of the United States -‚ then & and now.
His life -‚ and keep in mind that he was assassinated when he was just 39 years old! ‚- is thus relegated more-or-less "safe," for those in power. The hallowed if troubling days happened back then, which (they say) no longer exist. And so, Dr. King s complex analysis is distorted and rendered almost meaningless today, and offered in a sense as a paean to "Isn t America great? Look at how far we have come." Who now hears the entirety of any of Dr. King s speeches? What insights could this ancient man actually hold for us today, and for our own movements for freedom?
Three years ago, on January 15, 2009, I broadcast Steal This Radio #67 over NYTalkRadio.net. That show included [http://www.mitchelcohen.com/?p=2029]:
     * A Letter from Lori Berenson from jail in Peru
     * A perspective on the Pirates of Somalia. (Who knew that the "pirates" were defending the waters from the U.S. and Europe s dumping of nuclear wastes off the coast of Somalia?)
     * Mitchel Cohen s pained and outraged denunciation of Israel's invasion of Gaza
     * The entirety of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech, "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam."
I've decided to rebroadcast here that entire show ‚- rather than to excerpt only Dr. King s segment ‚- because Dr. King's great orations are simply not "over and done with". They took place in a context of historical forces that are every bit as powerful today as they were back then.
So here, then, is Steal This Radio #67, which includes Dr. King's speech in full, delivered at Manhattan's Riverside Cathedral on April 4, 1967 ‚- exactly one year to the day before he was assassinated. (Forgotten from history is that on the same day, Dr. King also addressed a giant anti-war rally in New York City, the largest rally I'd ever been at, until that point.) This speech in my estimation is simply one of the most profound and greatest speeches of all time.
I've broken the show into six segments (because the requirements of this site prevent the uploading of any files greater than 10 mb). Please click on each of the segments in sequence. As always, your comments are welcome.
Happy 83rd birthday, Dr. King!

2012-01-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

Note from Boots Riley:
More info on the predatory "interest swap" deal that has the City Of Oakland paying Goldman Sachs $5 Million per year for nothing until 2021.
The deal was made between Jerry Brown and his sister while he was mayor and she was Goldman Sachs's Head Of "West Coast Municipal Finance".
This deal wasn't just a bad deal made by inept city officials. It was a deal meant to purposely rape the small budget Oakland has for the few social services that are available and put that money directly back into the hands of the 1%.
It was entered into because of greed, nepotism, and extreme disregard for the people of Oakland who need it most.
If we force Goldman Sachs to cease collecting that money, the City Of Oakland will have a surplus budget. The budget deficit is $4.8 Million, which is one of the reasons schools are closing in Oakland.

2012-04-24 "Whitman, Brown have ties to Goldman Sachs; The Republican was on the Wall Street bank’s board, and the Democrat was mayor of Oakland when the city was involved in a complex financing deal with the firm" by Michael Rothfeld and Evan Halper from "Los Angeles Times"
[http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/24/local/la-me-jerry-brown-20100424]
As a main theme of his campaign for governor, Jerry Brown has attacked Wall Street bankers for fueling the nation's economic troubles.
But he has avoided mentioning Goldman Sachs, the bank that is a recent focus of scrutiny, even though it is one of the biggest liabilities for Meg Whitman, the leading Republican candidate for governor, who sat on the company's board.
Brown, a Democrat and California's attorney general, also has connections to Goldman, which was charged with civil fraud last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The links are his sister and a complicated financing deal made by the city of Oakland, where he served as mayor for eight years.
That deal, known as an "interest rate swap," was supposed to guarantee Oakland stability in its debt payments but is now costing the cash-strapped city $5 million a year. The agreement, which goes until 2021, has an estimated cancellation cost of $19 million. The city is trying to renegotiate it, and union officials representing government employees are calling on Goldman to let Oakland and other municipalities out of such agreements.
The swap, like those entered into by many governments, began in 1998, the year before Brown took office. City officials renegotiated it in 2003, right before his sister, Kathleen Brown, the former state treasurer, began working for Goldman as the West Coast head of municipal finance. In 2005, when the city paid off the debt Goldman had arranged, it left the interest rate swap in place.
Municipal officials said it made sense to do so because they would have had to pay $15 million to end the deal. That decision also continued a steady revenue stream for Goldman Sachs that has turned more favorable for the company and less so for the city as the economy has eroded.
Whitman's spokesman, Tucker Bounds, called the arrangement "a big-money deal for Wall Street that is costing California taxpayers millions of dollars a year."
"No matter how you look at it, Jerry and his sister were on both ends of a bad deal for taxpayers, and Goldman Sachs pocketed millions," Bounds said.
Besides being mayor, and appointing the city administrator and finance officials who oversaw city borrowing, Brown was president of the Oakland Joint Powers Financing Authority, albeit in a nonvoting capacity, when it renegotiated the deal and repaid Goldman's debt in 2005. His campaign spokesman, Sterling Clifford, said Brown had nothing do with any of it.
Clifford said any suggestion by the Whitman campaign that Brown was involved with the Oakland deal is "a total fabrication."
"Whitman wants to blame everyone else but won't own up to her own deep entanglement with questionable practices at Goldman Sachs," he said.
Goldman is already a campaign issue. Whitman, the billionaire ex-chief of EBay, has had extensive ties to the company. Her name surfaced at the center of a national financial scandal in 2002 when congressional investigators cited a deal she arranged with Goldman that gave her early access to initial public stock offerings.
Experts said the deal was a conflict because Goldman was seeking millions of dollars in banking business from EBay at the time, and the profits Whitman netted arguably belonged to shareholders. Whitman had a seat on the Goldman board when the scandal broke and resigned soon after.
Bounds downplayed Whitman's time on the board, saying it was for "15 short months nearly 10 years ago." He said she would end her investments in Goldman Sachs if elected," and isn't "some kind of Wall Street banker."
Interest rate swaps allow municipalities to trade fluctuating interest rates for the certainty of fixed ones. The problem for many governments has been that when Federal Reserve officials drastically reduced interest rates in response to the financial crisis, banks reaped the benefits and municipalities were stuck with the higher fixed rates.
Defenders of such deals say they were beneficial for municipalities based on economic conditions at the time and that no one could have predicted the dramatic interest rate drops ahead.
Oakland has long since retired the $187-million debt that was originally attached to its interest rate swap, but since the deal is still in place, the city now pays nearly 5.7% on what the debt would have been. In return, Goldman pays the agreed-upon fluctuating interest rate, which is almost nothing.
Oakland and Goldman officials say they believe the swap has benefited Oakland overall, though they provided no statistics to show that. The Service Employees International Union, which supports Brown, has called on banks to let municipalities off the hook. The union has estimated that the deal has cost Oakland $38 million overall.
Bahar Tolou, a researcher for the union on banking issues, said many municipalities were "hoodwinked."
"For the most part, these have all gone bad and Wall Street is making huge profits," she said. But she added, "It wouldn't be fair to hold Jerry Brown accountable for something no one saw coming."

2012-01-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

2012-01-14 "No Surprise. Oakland Police Chief Lied to Discredit Occupy Oakland"
[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/14/1054602/-No-Surprise-Oakland-Police-Chief-Lied-to-Discredit-Occupy-Oakland]
Turns out Oakland's police chief Howard Jordan is as scummy as some people suspected. The same person who ordered his men to tear gas people doing absolutely nothing wrong like our own allie123 [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/29/1031228/-OPDs-Violents-Raid:OccupyOaklands-General-Strike-Nov-2:-Update:-Oakland-Teachers-Union-support?via=user], and was ultimately responsible for the actions that nearly killed Scott Olsen and severely wounded others, had no compunction in lying about crime statistics so as to make Occupy Oakland look bad.
KTVU obtained more than 1,000 internal emails between Oakland City Hall and police through a public records request...
After the October 25th raid on Frank Ogawa Plaza / Oscar Grant Park, and before the November 2nd General Strike, a campaign by all the powers that be in Oakland had started to discredit anyone and anything associated with Occupy Oakland. And so, to no one's particular surprise, in the emails poured over by KTVU reporters was found a note that might as well have caused the spontaneous combustion of the chief's pants [http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/emails-exchanged-between-oakland-opd-reveal-tensio/nGMkF/].
When Jordan received an update that crime was actually down 19 percent in the last week of October, he wrote an email to one of Mayor Jean Quan's advisers.
"Not sure how you want to share this good news," he wrote. "It may be counter to our statement that the Occupy movement is negatively impacting crime in Oakland."
Imagine that. Reality at odds with spin. WMD. Iraq. Bush. Competency. Economics. McCain. Statistics. Crime. Jordan.
I have no idea why crime was down that last week. Maybe because the Oakland police had been corralled; ordered to lie low after running amok. And Perhaps because all of Oakland was happy to see the police humbled, if just for a few days. Maybe it was just a statistical blip. Maybe all three. Who knows?
But what we do know is that crime had not increased, and in fact decreased 19%, Statements to other effect by the Oakland Police [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45258539/ns/us_news-life/t/deaths-occupy-camps-bring-pressure-shutdown/#.TxGuejXOztk] and by the City Administration [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/15/18699600.php] were, simply put, bullshit.
Want to bet that statements by the City Administration and the Chamber of Commerce around that same time to the effect that Occupy Oakland was causing business losses in downtown Oakland were the same flavor of bovine droppings [http://www.beac.com/news/oakland-chamber-calls-out-mayor-city-leadership-occupy-oakland]? Hold your money -- no one would take the other side of that bet.
The fact of the matter is that a couple hundred Occupiers, press from around the globe, curiousity seekers and Occupy non-campers were regularly hanging out around the Plaza in downtown Oakland. You can bet your bottom dollar that restaurants, coffee shops and snackeries in the immediate area, even including the disgusting Burger King across Broadway, had their business increase, not decrease.
This dissembling started even earlier. As reported on Brad Blog [http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8890]
[begin excerpt]
The Oakland Police Department is walking back widely reported comments offered by its Interim Chief, Howard Jordan, at an Oct. 25 televised press conference (video posted below) that law enforcement "had to deploy gas in order to stop the crowd and people from pelting us with bottles and rocks...
...we have been unable to unearth evidence to support Jordan's assertion that the police initiated the assault in order to defend against either projectiles or any other threat of imminent violence from demonstrators. In fact, the video evidence included in our report reveals that law enforcement officials had determined to use tear gas on the crowd long before any threat was posed by demonstrators.
[end excerpt]
The worst of it is that the lying is just the tip of an iceberg of misconduct and abuse that goes back decades. And people wonder why there are ongoing Fuck The Police marches in Oakland.

2012-01-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

2012-01-13 "Meeting produces several visions for 'spine' of Vallejo" by Sarah Rohrs from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19734701]
Bike lanes, environmental tourism focused on White Slough, and a hub of technology-based cafes and stores downtown -- these are some ideas Vallejo residents have for improving Sonoma Boulevard.
Nearly 75 citizens attended a second community workshop Wednesday night on the city-sponsored Sonoma Boulevard Corridor Design Plan meant to present a vision and specific actions to improve the street.
For two hours residents, business owners and several city officials considered what would be best for the street that many consider the "spine" of the city.
Other suggestions included restaurants, bookstores, bed-and-breakfasts, international markets, flower shops, wine- and tea-tasting activities, and youth activities for teens.
"Sonoma needs to be improved in so many ways," Councilman Robert McConnell said, adding the street is too wide, landscaping "is terrible," cars drive too fast and there's not enough lighting.
"It's an exciting project and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get grants and other funding so we can do some of these improvements," Councilwoman Marti Brown said.
The area under consideration runs north from Curtola Parkway to Highway 37.
The Berkeley-based firm of MIG (Moore, Iacofano and Gotsman) was hired with a $300,000 California Department of Transportation grant to draft the plan.
Participants were asked to think big and to react to suggestions from Sonoma Community Advisory Committee members who have met with consultants and city staff to fine-tune the plan.
Besides presenting a vision for new businesses, the plan is also meant to address design elements, pedestrian safety problems and options for bolstering alternative transportation uses.
Moving south, four areas and the committee's suggestions for them include:
* Highway 37 to Redwood Street. A diverse district to strengthen retail while also bolstering residential, office, and open space uses. Also, more motels and better links to the Kaiser Permamente Medical Center.
This northern gateway into the city should be enhanced and made more attractive, while White Slough should be highlighted as a natural asset.
* Redwood to Couch streets. Encourage new and existing businesses and enact better zoning regulations for greater flexibility.
Due to the large number of people living and working in this area, create safer conditions through crosswalk lighting and similar tactics.
* Couch to Florida streets. Create neighborhood "commercial nodes" at key intersections as well as interim commercial uses (such as a weekly flea market) on vacant parcels.
MIG Principal consultant Chris Beynon said this stretch of Sonoma is unusually wide with enormous medians with little on them. One approach, he said, might be sidewalks, bike lanes and trees in the medians to create a narrower, safer and more attractive stretch.
* Florida to Curtola Parkway. An attractive gateway entrance into Vallejo. Highlight the city's historical heritage as well as local businesses, arts and culture facilities and street commerce.
To slow traffic and encourage more people to shop in the area, Beynon said one option would be to narrow the street from four to two lanes and use alternative parking. Others suggested enforcement of nuisance ordinances to discourage blight.
The next meeting on the Sonoma Boulevard plan will be the summer. Public comment is still being sought.
To learn more about the plan and to submit comments and suggestions visit www.sonomaboulevarddesignplan.com.

2012-01-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

2012-01-12 "Two Vallejo schools to lose $2 million in grants; State board denies them a last chance to raise test scores" by Lanz Christian Bañes from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_19726391]
SACRAMENTO -- The state school board refused Wednesday to give two Vallejo schools another chance to raise test scores, costing them a combined $2 million and potentially leading to larger class sizes next year.
Citing a desire to adhere to accountability controls built into the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA), the board voted to deny Vallejo High and Cooper Elementary schools a fourth year to raise their average Academic Performance Index scores.
"I have been very supportive of waivers of QEIA," state board member Yvonne Chan, who nonetheless supported denying them for six California schools, including the two Vallejo sites.
Chan said the QEIA goal was to raise API scores, so she was unwilling to grant the waivers based on those scores. The funds, part of a 2006 settlement between the California Teachers Association and the state, are meant to improve California's lowest-performing schools.
The schools must adhere to several standards, including improving by at least one point their three-year average API scores. Although the two Vallejo sites did see API score improvements, they failed to meet their target average.
Many other schools' representatives described the paradox of losing the very money that helped their schools improve overall, despite not meeting their targets.
A delegation of about a dozen Vallejo City Unified School District teachers, board members, parents and Superintendent Ramona Bishop argued that the district had turned a corner and was on an ascendant path.
"We are a district that has been in tremendous transition since 2004," Vallejo school board member Hazel Wilson told the state board, referencing the year the district was taken over by the state.
The district remains under receivership, but has regained most governing powers.
Both Principal Clarence Isadore of Vallejo High and Principal Lucius McKelvy of Cooper also came to Sacramento in an attempt to save their respective school's funding.
"We will make the growth, but if we don't, we should be held accountable for that," McKelvy told the state board in arguing for one more year to raise test scores.
Christal Watts, president of the Vallejo teachers union, also endorsed the waivers, contending that the two schools would meet their targets if given a chance. However, a California Teachers Association representative denounced waivers as damaging to the QEIA program.
The final decision left the Vallejo delegation subdued as they prepared to head home Wednesday night. QEIA funds pay to reduce class sizes and for extra counselors at the high school. Those affected expenses must now be considered on top of any more cuts the state imposes for the coming fiscal year.
"I'm disappointed. We did our best. But we're still going forward," Bishop said.

2012-01-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

2012-01-11 "Occupy the Wine Country: Movement Broadens, Embraces Latino Struggle"
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shepherd-bliss/northern-california-occup_b_1200447.html]
Shepherd Bliss teaches college, runs an organic farm, and works with various veterans' groups in Sonoma County, CA. If you are interested in con tributing as a citizen journalist to The Huffington Post's coverage of American political life, please contact us at www.offthebus.org.
---
Like the grapevines collecting energy for a spring bloom, Occupy groups in Northern California are preparing this winter to extend their reach into the Latino, business and other local communities.
Sonoma County Occupy opened 2012 with two well-attended events -- one in the streets and another inside. Around 140 people attended a county-wide Town Hall on Occupy at Sebastopol's United Methodist church on Jan. 8. Two days earlier, over 400 protestors temporarily shut down two Wells Fargo Bank branches in Santa Rosa.
On Jan. 6 Occupy Santa Rosa joined forces with various Latino and immigration rights groups to march on the local branches of Wells Fargo. They targeted the bank because of its investments in two private prison corporations, foreclosure of local homes, and for receiving $25 billion in taxpayer bail-out dollars, while paying CEO John Stumpf $19 million in 2010. Seven protestors were arrested but have since been cited and released.
The dramatic day included the colorful arrival of dozens of cyclists on a 13.5-mile "Pedal for Justice" ride.
"Occupy Petaluma believes that frustrations with our current system can be channeled in peaceful and creative ways," said organizer Jessica Strasen. "We seek to inspire others to rediscover the ability to occupy our own lives, and be a part of creating our shared future."
The rally began in Roseland, a largely Latino neighborhood. It included Aztec dancers in bright-feathered headdresses and a theater performance on a large flatbed tow truck. The Graton Day Labor Center, one of the half dozen sponsors of the rally, wrote the bi-lingual play.
"The next big event of Occupy Santa Rosa will be in March around education," said Frank Anderson, 20, a moderator of the Wells Fargo action. "Our educational system is falling apart and getting worse. The No Child Left Behind Act is for profit and does not help kids. We are speaking with local teachers' unions to work together to protest school day reductions."
On Jan. 8, Town Hall participants included veteran activists from Occupy Sebastopol, Occupy Santa Rosa, Occupy Petaluma, and from the surrounding towns of Sonoma, Healdsburg and Guerneville, as well as newcomers to the movement.
"The goal of this evening," said co-facilitator Jeff Aitken, "is to help Occupy deepen and broaden."
He explained that the Open Space meeting method being employed encourages those present to create their own agenda based on where their "passion and responsibility" is.
Organizer Ben Browner added, "Seeing people connect is what Occupy is about. It is a movement, a school, a network."
At the meeting, some two dozen people convened smaller groups based on their Occupy-related interests. One of the best-attended groups was about finding and keeping the movement's focus, convened by Larry Robinson, a former Sebastopol mayor and City Council member.
Other popular groups were on the foreclosure of homes, a focus of Occupy Petaluma, and the Move to Amend, which seeks to change the U.S. constitution because "corporations are not people and money is not speech," according to convener Abraham Entin.
There were also groups on public education, big bank divestiture, having an Occupy presence at the annual Harmony Festival, racial diversity, creating an Occupy Learning Center, and organizing the new North Bay Occupied newspaper.
North Bay Re-Occupied Press was founded after nearly a month of meetings and plans, with the goal of publishing a print and electronic newspaper sometime in the spring. Some planners say that the recent New York Times sale of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat to a conservative Florida publishing chain may open a space for a new grass roots publication.
During December the local Occupy movement did not receive much corporate media attention, compared to its regular front-page autumn coverage. Yet Occupy groups were quite active behind the scenes preparing for an expected spring flowering.
A look at the www.occupysantarosa.org website reveals multiple meetings happening almost every day. The websites www.occupysebastopol.net and www.occupypetaluma.com have been launched. OccupySolutions, a small affinity group, began a Community Learning Center at the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square. It will offer a series of free and open to the public classes, trainings, and teach-ins. Other trainings have been occurring regularly at the Peace and Justice Center and in people's homes.
At the January 8 Town Hall meeting were members of groups such as the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, the historic Grange, and Moveon.org. Sebastopol City Council member Kathleen Schaffer attended, as did former Sonoma County Supervisor Ernie Carpenter. The age range was from 20 to 92 years old.
"This has been like a really great cocktail party where you get to meet lots of people and have the interesting conversations you want to have," said co-facilitator Beth Meredith of Create the Good Life.
"The habits of how to do democracy and how to tolerate differences are changing," said organizer Joseph McIntyre of AgInnovations at a debriefing the next day. "Some people were there for education. Others are more interested in engagement. What is needed next? Are we going to start organizing ourselves for action?"
"I was delighted to see the high level of energy and enthusiasm. The Occupy movement has tapped a long pent-up desire to take focused, effective action," said Barry Chertov of WaccoBB.net, an online bulletin board that co-sponsors the Town Halls. "It's clear the energy behind the Occupy movement is still strong and manifesting in a rainbow of exciting initiatives, both locally and nationally focused."
Monthly Town Hall meetings are planned for Feb. 9 and "as long as needed," according to Robinson, in the United Methodist Church of Sebastopol.
Just as Sonoma County is a leader in wine production throughout the nation, this semi-rural California region is proactive with regards to questions being asked by Occupy organizers around and beyond the United States.

2012-01-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

2012-01-11 "89.5 Ozcat Radio - THE COOLEST CATS IN THE BAY AREA!!" from "Zero To Hero Films"
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6uNs7Cp78U]

Vallejo, CA - Lot's of people could have been out at THRASHOCALYPSE in Modesto on this night, but I took a chance on a benefit show for a kick ass radio station.
It was close to home and with a group of people I will always keep close to my heart.
These are the DJ's, personalities, bands and fans that showed up for what turned out to be a very powerful, theatrical show at Ozcat Radio 89.5 FM.
This radio station is truly as magical and as wonderful as the name implies.
This station runs on love, hard work and dedication of a few dozen DJ's interns and other staff that all pitch in to bring you the best of the local acts in nearly every genre out there.
DONATE to their cause dammit.
I gave all my time and effort to put this piece together - now do your part because OZCAT has been doing their part for 6 years.
TOY CALLED GOD blew the doors off in typical fashion with a huge sound.
DEATH UNDER FIRE provided great stage presence, hot chicks, sweet guitar licks and a pounding rhythm section that paved the way for Sweatleaf - one of the most skilled and creative cover bands I have ever seen or heard in my 40 years.
I'll tell you what - it sounded like having Tommy, Ozzy, Randy and the rest of the boys right there in front of us.
If you say you love Ozzy and Sabbath and aren't seeing these guys EVERY TIME THEY PLAY - you are a liar.

2012-01-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

Justice for Guy Jarreau, jr.

"THE GUY JARREAU DOCUMENTARY" (1-4 PARTS)
Produced by JOSHUA HENRY
Part 1) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehim5hNgsOc]
Part 2) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-15H1w7gEKE]
Part 3) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMkWGeLVqPw]
Part 4) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVeHPikwek]

"Im Sick of Just Living Like This Song" by Joshua feat Marty jr (R.I.P. GUY JARREAU)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIf9swnCrns]

2012-01-11T02:46:00.000-08:00

2012-01-11 "Indefinite Detention Santa Cruz Style: SleepCriminal Gary Johnson Held on $5000 Bail" by Robert Norse
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/01/11/18704560.php]
Gary Johnson, the homeless activist doing a nightly protest against the Sleeping Ban, the Lodging Ban, and the curfew at the Courthouse, was held from Friday 1-6 through Tuesday 1-10. On Tuesday morning he was brought into Department 2 (John Gallagher's court) in shackles and manacles in his orange jump suit on $5000 bail. He left in the same condition after getting a February 3 1:30 PM date for a demurrer hearing before Gallagher (challenging the Constitutionality of PC 647e, the Lodging Ban. He was refused release and returned to jail on a bail of $5000.
Ed Frey, who was convicted with Johnson last year, of the same crime he's been charged with for last week's peaceful political protest, made several arguments before Judge Gallagher. Frey argued that Gary had made all his court dates, his so-called crime was a non-violent action which hurt no one, and that, as a homeless man, he had no legal place to sleep in the City of Santa Cruz.
Judge Gallagher insisted he could go to the "homeless shelter". To this, Frey responded that the waiting list was many weeks long and the shelter could only accommodate a fraction of the homeless community. Gallagher echoed the district attorney's argument against a no-bail release pending trial saying that Johnson had told deputies he would be returning to sleep there in protest when he was initially arrested.
Johnson, however, said, through Frey, that he would obey all laws, presumably including 647e, the Lodging Ban, which Gallagher has previous interpreted to include sleeping. Frey pointed out that under that ruling, there was no legal place at all for Gary to sleep, and that sleep was a biological necessity.
Gallagher pointed out that Frey was "getting angry". Frey agreed. February 3 at 1:30 PM was the date and time set for a "demurrer" hearing, which will argue that the law is unconstitutional. Two similar arguments in prior cases have been turned down by Gallagher.

SPEEDY TRIAL MIGHT LEAD TO A HUNG JURY OR JURY NULLIFICATION
Jury nullification is the right of a jury to say "not guilty" in spite of the judge's instructions and the law's wording in the interests of justice.
Gallagher's clear bias led me to suggest to Frey that instead of another demurrer hearing before Gallagher, Johnson demand a speedy jury trial (required within 30 days, since he's in custody). If one juror refused to find Johnson guilty--seeing the absurdity of the charges perhaps--then the D.A. might be less likely to go for a second trial (costing thousands of bucks). It might also discourage deputies from citing Occupy Santa Cruz protesters for the offense---something repeatedly done, followed by "disappearing charges" which don't show up when the victims come to court. Frey said he would propose this to Johnson.
Linda Lemaster's attorney Jonathan Gettleman has used a different strategy against the protest-smashing 647e charge. He filed a writ of habeas corpus in response to her 647e charge to which the D.A.'s office has recently responded. Gettleman's brief can be found at [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/20/18690858.php?show_comments=1]

SLEEPING BAN UPDATE
Meanwhile a review of court records reveals that the City's Sleeping Ban (MC 6.36.010a), the law against which Johnson has been protesting for several years as far back as PeaceCamp2010 shows that the new fine for sleeping after 11 PM outside or in a vehicle on public property is $155.
Those cited with this law are advised to get on a waiting list at the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center in order to have such future tickets dismissed. HLOSC Director Monica Martinez is refusing to write letters to the court acknowledging that the shelter is full--something previously done as a matter of course under HLOSC Directors Ken Cole and Doug Loisel. However, a law passed under protest pressure in the fall of 2010 requires the City Attorney to dismiss MC 6.36 charges if the person charged was on a waiting list for the HLOSC or the River St. (mini) Shelter.
For those convicted of the City's Sleeping Ban or Blanket Ban (MC 6.36.010b), the law limits judges from giving more than 8 hours of Community Service. In Johnson's case, Commissioner Kim Baskett has twice defied this requirement and given him 25 hours last spring.
Just as Gallagher refuses to follow the U.S. and California Constitutions, Baskett apparently has no problem ignoring even the city's own legal code when by doing so, she can punish poor people more severely.

2012-01-10T21:41:00.001-08:00

2012-01-10 "Napa Local formed to maintain area’s unique qualities" from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/napa-local-formed-to-maintain-area-s-unique-qualities/article_08db7a54-3b48-11e1-bb52-001871e3ce6c.html]
The following was written by Alex Shantz from Napa
---
Napa Local formed on Dec. 20, 2011 to organize against the prospect of Starbucks opening up on First and Main streets in downtown Napa. Napa Local is composed of concerned people in Napa dedicated to preserving the unique qualities of downtown Napa, enhancing Napa’s diverse culture and commerce and revitalizing Napa’s local economy.
Starbucks is a formula business, which, by definition, is designed to propagate standardization in “services, décor, uniforms, architecture, signs or other features.” It is designed to be identical to businesses that exist nationally and globally, consequently undermining the unique qualities of a community. Since they are generally multinational corporations, formula businesses remove money from the community instead of circulating it within the community.
A growing number of cities throughout the nation are enacting ordinances to regulate formula businesses in order to preserve and enhance the diversity and unique qualities of the community. Nearby examples of such cities include Fairfax, Calistoga and Benicia. Calistoga’s municipal code defines a formula business as one “which is required by contractual or other arrangement to maintain any of the following: Standardized services, decor, uniforms, architecture, signs or similar features.”
In keeping with our desire to support the vitality and uniqueness of downtown Napa as it grows and changes, Napa Local has adopted four demands:
1) We do not want Starbucks to open on the corner of First and Main streets.
2) We do not want a Starbucks to open anywhere in downtown Napa.
3) The city of Napa must adopt an ordinance to regulate formula businesses to conform to the existing Downtown Napa Specific Plan.
4) The city must implement a moratorium on any new formula businesses until such an ordinance is adopted.
Napa Local urges the City Council to implement a moratorium on any new formula business until it has adopted an ordinance. This issue promises to be relevant within the coming years. The future development of downtown Napa and our community is at stake.
We plan to address these issues at the Jan. 17 City Council meeting.

2012-01-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

Condemn Use of U.S. Military to Escort Scab Grain Ship in Longview WA
San Francisco Labor Council Resolution - Adopted Jan. 9, 2012 by unanimous vote (with one abstention)
(resolution submitted by Dave Welsh, NALC 214; Alan Benjamin, OPEIU 3, Maria Guillen, SEIU 1021; Frank Martin del Campo, SF LCLAA; Marcus Holder, ILWU Local 10 and Robert Irminger, ILWU-IBU)
---
Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge, agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview WA, but once the terminal was built has tried to void its contract and refused to hire ILWU labor. With the use of brutal police and courts and 220 arrests in the 225 member ILWU Local 21, EGT has managed to get enough scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port; and
Whereas, a solidarity caravan of thousands of union members and community activists -- endorsed by ILWU Locals 10 and 21, the S.F. and Cowlitz County (Longview) labor councils and many others -- is being organized to support our brothers and sisters in Longview, for an emergency mass protest when requested to do so, to confront union-busting by Wall Street on the Waterfront; and
Whereas, according to Longshore & Shipping News, within a month, the empty grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility. The Coast Guard is an integral part of the US Armed Forces, operating under the Department of Homeland Security (except when engaged in combat operations abroad, as it did in Iraq, when it operates under the Navy); and
Whereas, this is the first known use of the US military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years -- not since the Great 1970 Postal Strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike. The use of the Armed Forces against labor unions is something you expect to see in a police state. This is part of a disturbing trend where the US military, acting as enforcers for the 1%, is poised to be used against our own people, as exemplified by the new law allowing the military to imprison US citizens indefinitely without trial; and
Whereas, now the US military, which has been oppressing, bombing and threatening other nations [a military that's paid for with the workers' taxes] is now being used against us, against American working people and our unions. To quote ILWU international President McEllrath: "ILWU's labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities."
Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council condemn in the strongest terms the announced use of US Armed Forces (Coast Guard) to provide an armed sea and air escort for the empty grain ship, which is due to call at the new EGT grain terminal, Port of Longview, Washington, to load scab grain for export to Asia. We condemn this use of the military as part of a union-busting campaign to lower the cost of labor on the waterfront and destroy the union;
And be it further Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council join with allies in other cities on the West Coast to participate in any press conferences and demonstrations that are organized to denounce this use of the military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of Wall Street on the Waterfront;
And be it finally Resolved, that the Council circulate this resolution to affiliated unions, Bay Area labor councils, the California Labor Federation, as well as labor bodies in Oregon and Washington, for concurrence and action, and urge labor leaders including Richard Trumka and Mary Kay Henry to take a strong stand against this brazen assault on our labor rights and civil liberties.

Political Prisoner from Occupy Oakland

2012-01-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

FREE KHALI!
* He was arrested on minor misdemeanor charges
* He was then incarcerated for four days before charges were formally filed, during which time his psych meds were withheld.
* This created the conditions under which he has now been charged with a serious three strike felony.
DROP THE CHARGES IMMEDIATELY!
Call and express your concern:
* Nancy O'Malley, District Attorney: (510) 272 6222
* Eileen McAndrew, (925) 803 7171

----------------------------------------------
See also:
* Video: Khali interview about his role in, and his experiences with the police during Occupy Oakland:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF7OYP2Kvrc]
* Occupy Oakland Activist May Face Three Strikes (East Bay Express):
[http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2012/01/05/occupy-oakland-activist-may-face-three-strikes]

2012-01-10 "Occupy Oakland activists rally for former pariah" by Demian Bulwa from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/09/BAS21MMU8J.DTL]
(01-09) 18:30 PST PLEASANTON -- One obstacle Occupy Oakland faced after building a City Hall encampment came not from authorities but from within - a mentally ill homeless man with a long prison record who witnesses said beat fellow campers in fits of rage. Some were so frightened they moved out.
No one called the police on the man, who called himself "Kali." Instead, he was banished in an act of freelance justice, with a protester knocking him unconscious with a two-by-four Oct. 18. Police cleared the tent city a week later, and Mayor Jean Quan has cited the incident as a motivating factor.
Times have changed. On Monday, dozens of Occupy Oakland protesters went to a courthouse in Pleasanton to rail against prosecutors for filing assault charges against Marcel "Kali" Johnson, 38. Some said they forgave him and have come to see him as a good man who needs support, not more prison time.
"That's the beauty of Occupy," said Laleh Behbehanian, a UC Berkeley graduate student trying to help Johnson. She spoke after telling activists how they can visit him, in groups of four, at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Improved behavior -
Johnson returned to Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall a couple of weeks after being knocked unconscious, witnesses said, and did better this time, helping out before police swept through the camp a second time Nov. 14.
Johnson was one of several demonstrators arrested on minor charges there Dec. 16, as Occupy Oakland sought to maintain a 24-hour-a-day vigil. The next day, at Santa Rita Jail, Johnson was accused of assaulting an Alameda County sheriff's deputy.
According to an affidavit by the arresting officer, Deputy Clifford Malihan, Johnson struggled as a second deputy, referred to as W. Chase, tried to handcuff him and move him between housing units.
Malihan wrote that Johnson first tried to strike Chase in the head, then got behind him and wrapped his arms around him. Malihan said he performed a leg sweep, causing Chase and Johnson to fall, and punched Johnson repeatedly.
Malihan said Chase suffered cuts, bruises and neck pain, while a third deputy suffered a minor concussion from an inadvertent baton strike.

Not-guilty plea -
Johnson pleaded not guilty Monday and is scheduled to return to court Feb. 6. Alameda County prosecutors say he has six felony convictions, including one for domestic violence and two for robbery that count as strikes under California's "three strikes" law, meaning he could face up to 25 years to life in prison.
However, Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said prosecutors had decided - at least for now - not to seek a "three strikes" sentence.
Johnson's supporters said they believed the alleged assault would not have happened if he had been given proper psychiatric care. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a sheriff's office spokesman, said the jail had treated Johnson appropriately but would not elaborate, citing Johnson's privacy rights.
"Are they going to blame someone else for everything he's done in his criminal history?" Nelson said. "Throughout the course of Occupy we've been accused by them of many things regarding the custody and control of inmates."

'It's a family' -
Activist Rachel Dorney, 23, said she had tried to calm Johnson in the early days of the Occupy camp, and when he returned after being beaten, she was scared.
"Then, once you're in our camp, and you're helping people out, and you're talking and not being so aggressive, it's a family," Dorney said. "And you have to support everyone."
She added, "There's a larger issue with the system. The city won't support people who have mental issues or who are homeless, and they come to us."
Jaime Omar Yassin, 42, said Johnson had a political awakening through Occupy.
"He's exactly the kind of person you would hope would get a second chance," Yassin said, "and contribute his experiences and knowledge to the movement."

2012-01-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

2012-01-09 "Occupy Protesters Cause Stir at Licorice Strike; Talks between the union and the American Licorice company will resume Tuesday as Occupy Oakland protesters join factory workers on the picket line" by Zoneil Maharaj
[http://unioncity.patch.com/articles/occupy-protesters-cause-stir-at-licorice-strike]
Tensions flared at the American Licorice factory Monday as protesters associated with the Occupy Oakland movement joined the month-old factory workers’ strike, blocking entrances and turning away delivery trucks [http://unioncity.patch.com/articles/licorice-strikers-in-it-for-the-long-haul].
According to protesters, about 100 protesters were onsite between 5 and 6 a.m. and had helped turn away three freight delivery trucks in the morning before local police were sent to escort vehicles into the factory lot. Many of the protesters had dispersed by noon, when only a dozen remained on scene.
Protesters also said that the owner of the company, as well as the head of security and several employees, were forced to use a rear entrance to get into the facilities.
“We’re forcing the people who consider this to be their domain to sneak through the back door, which I think is shameful,” said Occupy protester Shon Kay, 32, of Oakland.
Kay, a musician and former farmer, said he’d been coming to the American Licorice picket line for the last couple of weeks but that the Occupy Oakland Labor Solidarity Council agreed last weekend to hold a more organized and concentrated effort Monday in Union City.
“Occupy Oakland has evolved,” Kay said. “We see any situation in our area where people are being scared by the One Percent, and if we have time for it, we’re going to help.”
Monday’s Occupy action was not officially endorsed by the Bakery Workers Union Local 125, which represents American Licorice’s employees, said union vice president Rene Castillo.
Those blocking the entrances and shouting at drivers, employees and security were primarily Occupy protesters. According to Union City police, several protesters had also attempted to crawl under incoming trucks and climb onto the hoods.
“We have no problem if they’re supporting us, but it’s not endorsed by us,” Castillo said. “We can’t hold them back or stop what they do.”
Monday also marked the first negotiation meeting between the local union and licorice company [http://unioncity.patch.com/articles/american-licorice-workers-union-management-to-hold-meeting-next-week].
A meeting began at 10 a.m. Monday morning at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service office in Oakland and lasted until the afternoon. The details of those discussions have not yet been released.
Castillo could not comment on the day’s discussion but said that all American Licorice employees would join union leaders and the company at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the same location.
The strike began at midnight Dec. 5 when all 178 employees left the factory in protest of what they say are unfair medical benefits [http://unioncity.patch.com/articles/american-licorice-workers-on-strike]. The Union City factory manufactures their popular Red Vines candy. Factory workers have since remained on the picket line 24/7, through cold weather, rain and what they say are rude and disrespectful security guards.
According to factory workers, security at the factory has become increasingly hostile as the strike has progressed.
Workers said that a guard shoved two elderly women and shouted racist slurs, calling one woman a derogatory term for a Mexican immigrant.
While the strike has remained peaceful, Monday’s actions by Occupy protesters resulted in several police officers being called to the scene.
“It was a little tense in the morning,” said Cmdr. Ben Horner of the Union City Police Department. “The workers know what they can and can’t do.”
Horner said police were brought in to ensure safety. “We didn’t want anyone getting hurt,” he said.
“Prior to today, there hasn’t been any threat of violence,” Horner said. “This is a Union City issue. There are a lot of families that work there, and they’re doing their best to negotiate. Hopefully it will work out.”
But factory workers said they’re grateful that their issue is receiving greater attention and support from the Occupy Movement.
“We’re happy. We want more Occupy people to come,” said Victor Nguyen, 47, who has worked at the factory for 14 years.
Occupy protesters came in and out throughout the day, with popular Occupy video blogger OakFoSho live streaming the protest [http://oakfosho.com/].
Union leaders said they didn’t feel that the day’s actions were counterproductive to the federal mediation held that day.
“You’re seeing the American public, the working class who are tired of corporate America. They’re just tired of being attacked,” said Oscar Hernandez, a business agent for the Bakery Workers Union Local 24 in Redwood City, who were holding the line for the local union. “Whether we support it or don’t support it, it’s just a reality of life.”
Calls to the company for comment were not immediately returned Monday.

Occupy Oakland protesters join American Licorice factory workers on strike in Union City on Jan. 9, 2012. Local police officers were sent to maintain order as protesters attempted to block trucks and workers from entering the factory's facilities. Credit: Zoneil Maharaj

Victor Nguyen, 47, who has worked at the factory for 14 years, welcomed the support from Occupy Oakland protesters on Jan. 9, 2012. “We’re happy. We want more Occupy people to come,” Nguyen said. Credit: Zoneil Maharaj

Former City Council member and mayoral candidate Richard Valle, CEO of Tri-CED Community Recycling, has donated food to American Licorice picketers shortly after the strike began on Dec. 5, 2011. “A lot of them live in town. I know a lot of them and what they’re up against,” Valle said. “It’s cold out here. It gets lonely. It can be miserable … I’m just asking people to be patient and let’s see what the outcome of today is.” Credit: Zoneil Maharaj

Credit: Zoneil Maharaj

2012-01-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

2012-01-09 "Coercive Attrition and the Occupy Movement: Oakland’s Dirty War" by GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER
[http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/09/oakland’s-dirty-war/]
George Ciccariello-Maher is an exiled Oaklander who lives in Philadelphia and teaches political theory at Drexel University. He can be reached at gjcm(at)drexel.edu.
---
As winter sets in, the Occupy Movement nationwide confronts a new series of challenges. Conspiring with the weather, however, is the threat of a shifting policing model currently being tested out in Oakland.

Coercive Attrition -
The Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci spoke of a distinction between “war of position” and “war of maneuver,” between those gradual and occasionally imperceptible political struggles that occur every day and the frontal attack on power toward which they eventually build. While this distinction is necessary, it should not be overstated, and nor can we associate the war of position too directly with ideological struggle and war of maneuver with direct military attacks on and by the coercive apparatus of the state. Recent events in Oakland and the strategy of coercive attrition directed against the Occupy Movement make perfectly clear just how insufficient such a correlation would be.
Recent weeks have seen the Occupy Movement confronted with a war of attrition nationwide: as cold weather sets in, many cities have opted to wait out the movement, allowing excitement to fade and the movement to devour itself in the petty squabbles of disempowerment. Often, though, this strategy of passive attrition operates alongside a more aggressive approach. In Philadelphia, for example, a hands-off approach to the now-decamped Occupy Philly operates in tandem with ferocity toward those who step out of line in a transparent attempt to bully radicals into submission (as with the case of two housing activists currently facing multiple felonies).
But it is in Oakland more than anywhere else that friendly weather and sustained militancy have given rise to a different approach, one similarly premised on chipping away at the movement through attrition and fatigue but doing so in a far more repressive manner. One key ingredient to this peculiar constellation of forces is the empty vessel perched atop the city government: Mayor Jean Quan. Quan was discredited long ago and from all sides, hated by the left for unleashing the near fatal attacks on Occupy Oakland in October [http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/27/oakland-on-strike/], and by the right (represented by OPD and the City Council) for not taking a harder line. Now, having opted to vacillate rather than stand on the side of history, she will simply be hoping to serve out her term and avoid an embarrassing recall campaign.
This vacillation has been nowhere clearer than on the question of the epic Port Shutdowns on November 2nd and December 12th, the first of which catapulted Occupy Oakland to the forefront of the national movement, and the second of which demonstrated a capacity for coordinated militancy not seen in this country for decades at least. Since it was Quan who took the heat for the unrestrained actions of police in October, one could hardly blame the Mayor for hesitating to unleash OPD and other forces against those blocking the port. But when Quan suggested that the city might not be able to prevent future shutdowns of the port, her critics in City Council found powerful echo in Governor Jerry Brown [articles.sfgate.com/2011-12-28/news/30564010_1_oakland-port-port-closure-oakland-mayor-jean-quan]. But for now at least, OPD’s hands are at least partially tied, an the full-on assaults of many an officer’s dream go unfulfilled for now.
Blocked from engaging in a brutal war of maneuver, OPD’s strategy has been a different one, and what remains of Occupy Oakland’s presence in Oscar Grant Plaza has seen small raids with a handful of arrests several times a week. While some interpret this half-heartedness by the forces of order as a sign of impotence, the frequency, the timing, and the serious charges incurred in the raids speak to a more sinister strategy.

“Shit’s Gonna Pop” -
I arrived at Oscar Grant Plaza in the immediate aftermath of one such raid on Friday, December 30th, where rebels circulated through the plaza denouncing the most recent skirmish. Some still carried their belongings in the familiar plastic bags, souvenirs from a recent trip to Santa Rita County Jail. The rage is palpable and growing, with many pronouncing that “shit’s gonna pop” in somber tones, and another occupier angrily insisting that “they’ll see me in hell before they see me in jail.”
Just an hour earlier, a small OPD contingent had swept into the plaza and snatched a selected few who were gathered there. Those targeted included Brian Glasscock, an Occupy Oakland organizer well-known to Oakland Police as the sound operator for many Occupy events. It was for this reason, rather than any illegal activity, that Glasscock was identified by Lieutenant Hamilton, who had targeted him previously over sound system issues, and arrested for inciting a riot. “I think their strategy is to target those they know have been around doing things and throw them in jail hoping that something will stick,” Glasscock explained to me.
This strategy was perhaps clearest in the case of Tiffany Tran, a young occupier who faced felony charges under California’s Lynching Law [http://shrineodreams.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/occupier-charged-with-lynching-herself/]. Just as police have recently begun to arrest Copwatchers who record their activities under felony wiretapping laws originally intended to control the police themselves, so too is this so-called “lynching” a case of inverting a law’s original intention. Originally designed to prevent Black Americans from being seized from the hands of police by lynch mobs, this law has been deployed recently to criminalize the practice of “de-arresting” those in police custody.
With the arrests, a scheduled New Years Eve noise demonstration outside the North County lockup gained new significance. A rowdy and celebratory crowd gathered at Oscar Grant Plaza to bid adieu to an epic year in militant style, before occupying the intersection of 14th and Broadway, ignition point for many a rebellion past. As we awaited the arrival of the sound system (that Glasscock was supposed to operate), we gulped the obligatory champagne from nondescript containers. The sound system soon arrived, some faces were covered, a massive banner was unfurled that sums up the spirit of the night as bluntly as possible–“Fuck the Police”–and we were off.
A block from our destination, attention inevitably turns to OPD headquarters, where a small phalanx of riot police stand guard behind closed doors. The scene was striking, as two occupying forces faced off against one another: one, an occupying army imported from the suburbs to oppress, the other, exuberant and brimming with the optimism of a new society in the works.
Arriving at the jail, cheers rebounded off the thick walls, their echoes doubled as imprisoned comrades began to flash lights inside to make it clear that we were being seen and heard inside. But there was no question of being seen or heard: soon, the ground was shaking with M-80 blasts and fireworks were launched from the middle of the street, exploding directly outside the windows of the jail [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q065zlByITg]. One previously injured protester reclined in a bike-drawn-cart, decadently sipping whiskey and enjoying the show. Astonishingly, there was not a cop in sight.

Requiescat in Pace, Habeas Corpus -
While the charges thrown at protesters have been consistently ridiculous and few have stood up in court, Glasscock insists that “if nothing sticks then they’ve at least fucked with that person’s week.” And in this case, the police strategy was to hold those arrested for almost an entire week: strategically arresting protesters on a Friday, and before a holiday weekend no less, meant that the habeas corpus guidelines requiring that arrestees be charged within 48 hours of arrest were flexible at best. Since this refers to 48 business hours, neither the weekend nor the Monday holiday were included, and anger mounted outside the courtroom late Tuesday afternoon as it became increasingly clear that the authorities would wait until the last possible minute to drop the charges.
Walter Riley, lawyer for those arrested and father of rapper Boots Riley, who has played a key role in the Occupy organizing around the port shutdowns, complained loudly that the actions of the police and the District Attorney constituted a transparent attack on habeas corpus, and that more direct pressure needs to be brought to bear to make it clear that we won’t accept such strategies. But given the national offensive against habeas corpus embodied in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), local authorities might rightly sense that no federal authority will leap to defend the occupiers. It was little surprise when, despite this extended display of punitive power, the charges against all those arrested were later dropped after some had spent nearly 5 days behind bars.
But there would be little time for celebration when those arrested were released on Wednesday, as OPD again swept into the plaza later that evening in a repeat performance of the prior week. Again, there were a handful of arrests. Again, these were highly targeted, with eyewitnesses recounting how police broke off to arrest occupiers who had crossed the street to avoid a conflict. The vocal and militant Tactical Action Committee seemed to be the primary target, with some of the previous arrestees overhearing guards talking about how they wanted to get one member in particular. And again, the charges would have been laughable were they not a part of a broader and overarching strategy of containment.

Targeted Terror -
One occupier known as Ali had become a clear target for repression due to his visibility, and even those arrested on the 30th had overheard officers discussing how the hoped to get their hands on him. On Wednesday the 4th, OPD seemed determined to do just that, chasing Ali across the street to arrest him. When they did so, he explained to me, officer Phan reached into his back pocket before feigning surprise and insisting that he was “going away for a long time” because they had found him to be in possession of ecstasy. Some in the Anti-Repression Committee believe that it was only the presence of the Livestream camera, and the fact that Ali immediately began to shout about the attempt to plant drugs, that prevented the charges from being successfully fabricated. Ali was later charged with misdemeanor obstruction.
A member of the recently-formed Anti-Repression and Solidarity Committee (ARC) of Occupy Oakland explained to me that the movement has seen in recent weeks a broad arc of repression, beginning on December 28th with the clearing of a small camp established in West Oakland by the Tactical Action Committee, followed the next day by the raid and arrests at an occupied house on Mandela Parkway. The most recent raids were but an upping of the stakes, she explained, adding that “I think the idea is that if they can bog us down in as many legal battles as possible, we won’t be able to restart this movement… Why would they come and raid the plaza when it’s just an info table and a food tent? They’re afraid if they don’t get rid of it it will just get bigger.”
Laleh, also a member of the ARC, feels that beyond merely the organizational toll taken by the targeting of key committee members, the police strategy is one of terror. “The fact that they have been chasing particular people and ignoring others has had a psychological effect, instilling a terror in people that wasn’t there before.” If these were isolated cases they could be accidental, she argues, but the fact that groups have been repeatedly arrested, slapped with charges, and held for days only to see the charges dismissed “makes the strategy clear.” The District Attorney needs to step in and restrain the OPD, she insists.
This strategy also includes both fishing for parolees and attempting to provoke prisoners. “Everyone who is coming out is reporting targeting and segregation while in country jail, all kinds of physical abuse, taunting by COs, and even sleep deprivation,” Laleh explains, and all this in an effort to get a reaction that can lead to more charges (this seems to have been at play in the case of an occupier named Khali, who is being charged with assaulting an officer after his psychiatric medication was reportedly withheld for days).
Thankfully, though, not everyone is terrified, and an anonymous ARC member sees signs of the breakdown of the strategy of attrition both by occupiers and by the police themselves: at a “Fuck the Police March” called in response to the arrests, OPD officers clearly went beyond what the city had hoped, knocking a woman off her bike and beating her [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMh19aY5HmI], firing rubber bullets, and allegedly breaking another marcher’s arm. More importantly still, the OPD’s strategy of low-level warfare “isn’t scaring people, it’s only making them angrier.”
When the Philadelphia Police Department wanted to destroy the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), they did not feel hindered by legal niceties: police arrested the RAM membership nearly every day on imaginary charges, knowing full well the toll taken on movements by even demonstrating the falseness of the ridiculous. Now, faced with the Occupy Movement, it would seem as though some local police agencies are once again taking a page from the PPD playbook on coercive attrition. Legality and its opposite thus march hand-in-hand, as a movement is harassed with impunity.

After Winter, Another Spring Looms -
We press toward spring in this age of riots [http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/12/planet-of-slums-age-of-riots/], closing an annual circuit opened in North Africa, but with no end in sight to the global cycle of struggle unleashed by Mohamed Bouazizi’s literal self-sacrifice. As I depart Oakland, this sinister war of position continues unabated, but and impending war of maneuver looms almost as certainly as the sun sets over the Golden Gate Bridge.
January 1st marked the 3rd anniversary of Oscar Grant’s murder by BART officer Johannes Mehserle [http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/01/09/oakland-s-not-for-burning/], an event which opened a more localized cycle of struggle that in many ways laid the organizational foundations for Occupy Oakland’s peculiar militancy while teaching those in the streets a lesson in their own power. This year, organizers, myself included, marked this somber day with a march of several hundred between two popularly baptized locations: beginning in Oscar Grant Plaza, we retraced in reverse the path of the 2009 rebellions, covering miles of familiar ground before arriving at Oscar Grant Station (Fruitvale), where he was killed. Family, friends, and activists took to the stage at the memorial, remembering Oscar and the struggle bearing his name, and promising to keep up the fight by establishing an automatic response system with demonstrations at 14th and Broadway every time the police kill.

Monday at 5am, the momentum of the Port Shutdown will stretch its roots into fertile local soil, as Occupy Oakland will staff a “hard picket” of the American Licorice Factory in support of striking workers. If this uptick in worker militancy doesn’t prompt a frontal assault by the state, then the planned takeover of a large building on January 28th likely will, and if not this, then perhaps the impending blockade of the Port of Longview in Washington State, or the growing anger at ICE’s “silent raids” taking their toll on undocumented communities across the Bay Area.

Wandering around Oscar Grant Plaza, one phrase is on many lips: “There’s always spring.” But in this land of perpetual spring, seasons are but metaphors, and as the kindling is stacked ever higher, any of these moments could provide the spark. Spring looms, heavy with the promise of the future, but foreboding in the guarantee that its birth will be a violent one.

2012-01-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

2012-01-08 "Senior Citizens Occupy, Shut Down Bank Of America" by Beth Buczynski
[http://www.care2.com/causes/senior-citizens-occupy-shut-down-bank-of-america.html]
Last week, while most of us tried to wake up from our holiday lethargy, a group of feisty senior citizens were standing to corporate greed and corruption.
KCBS San Francisco reports that a dozen senior citizens calling themselves “the wild old women” succeeded in closing a Bank of America branch in Bernal Heights on Thursday [http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/01/occupy_geriatrics_seniors_in_w.php].
The dubious lending and foreclosure practices used by Bank of America caused it to become a favorite target of the Occupy Wall Street movement, as well as a catalyst for the wildly successful Bank Transfer Day in early November, 2011. There was also a massive public outcry when BoA attempted to instate a $5/month fee for use of their debit cards. The bank later canceled this policy.
Toting walkers and wheelchairs, the “wild old women” certainly weren’t the most rambunctious group to fight for the interests of the 99%, but they did cause the branch to close and lock its doors, much to the protesters’ surprise.
“We’re upset about what the banks are doing, particularly in our neighborhood and neighboring areas, in evicting people and foreclosing on their homes,” protester Tita Caldwell, 80, told KCBS. “We’re upset because the banks are raising their rates because it really affects seniors who are on a fixed income.”
Bank Transfer Day saw a billion dollars moved out of large commerical banks. In one of the most visible actions against Bank of America, a San Jose church divested $3 million, closed its accounts, and moved to a local credit union [http://www.care2.com/causes/goodbye-bank-of-america-church-divests-3-million-video.html].

2012-01-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

2012-01-08 "Police club young woman riding bike at Oakland protest" by Eric W. Dolan
[http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/08/police-club-young-woman-riding-bike-at-oakland-protest]
Police officers knocked down and clubbed a young woman during an anti-police march in Oakland late Saturday night, and arrested six people.
Video of the incident uploaded to YouTube showed the young woman riding her bicycle towards a small group of officers. As she approached, officers shoved her to the ground and at least one clubs her with his baton.
Protesters quickly rushed to her aid, and dragged her away from police.
An “Occupy Oakland” press release [http://www.bayofrage.com/from-the-bay/saturday-jan-7-8pm-fuck-opd-be-there/] said the “Fuck the Police” march was held to protest the “brutal campaign of repression” conducted by Oakland police to prevent protesters from re-establishing their camp in Frank Ogawa Plaza. It describes the City of Oakland as a “war zone.”
About 100 people marched from Frank Ogawa Plaza to the Oakland Police headquarters at 7th and Broadway, where more than 50 officers stood guard.
Police clashed with the protesters after some people threw bottles at the officers [http://hellaoccupyoakland.org/violence-and-arrests-at-anti-repression-fuck-the-police-march]. Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said the protesters also broke patrol vehicle windows and vandalized a media van [http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/08/4171424/police-arrest-6-at-oakland-protest.html].
Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below:

2012-01-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

2012-01-08 "Committed to change: From Green Party to Occupy NVC, Shantz is working at creating local power" by NATALIE HOFFMAN from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/from-green-party-to-occupy-nvc-shantz-is-working-at/article_fabdfbb6-3a72-11e1-a1fb-0019bb2963f4.html]
Alex Shantz, a local political activist and Napa Valley College student, isn’t afraid of doing things a little differently — especially if that means fighting for political causes he believes in.
As the North Bay representative for the Green Party of California Coordinating Committee, Shantz represents the Green parties of Napa, Marin and Sonoma counties on a state level. On campus, he’s the vice president of Napa Valley College’s Student Senate. Shantz, who grew up in St. Helena, said being a voice for the people always makes for meaningful work.
“I have always understood myself as (being) interconnected with those around me,” Shantz said. “So, when I witness an injustice being carried out against someone else, I experience this as an injustice being carried out against me. This is a perspective I was simply born with. And this perspective drives my activism and organizing.”
Most recently, Shantz, a philosophy major, helped to mobilize grassroots “Occupy” rallies downtown and on the Napa Valley College campus.
Modeled after the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy Napa, which started drawing a small band of protesters downtown beginning in the fall of 2011, railed against the growing gap between the rich and middle classes, rising unemployment, and corporations’ influence on government policies.
“On a local level, many young people have been getting involved with local politics. Occupy Napa Valley College was supported by half a dozen student organizations,” Shantz said. “I do not think my generation has reached critical mass locally yet. But we have made some very inspiring and progressive steps toward that direction.”
The local Occupy movement, he said, was inspiring in part because it drew people from diverse backgrounds together to work for what protesters deemed the common good. Like many of its kind, the group called for increasing taxes on the rich, ending privately financed election campaigns, “free public higher education” and other changes, Shantz said.
“When Occupy Napa organized Occupy Napa Valley College, we worked in coalition with labor unions, Greens, Democrats, student organizations, and community leaders. … My biggest concern is to see the momentum sustained so we, as a community, can actually construct some concrete political change,” he said.
Some of Shantz’s past efforts include working on behalf of the Wandering Rose, a grassroots arts group promoting Napa’s art scene. He is also a former member of the Napa Valley Dream Act Coalition, a group that promoted the California Dream Act — legislation that increased access to education for undocumented students who meet in-state tuition requirements.
Shantz also played key roles in several Napa Valley College rallies protesting budget cuts to education.
Finally, he’s passionate about promoting diversity on campus, particularly when advocating on behalf of “historically marginalized” young people, including undocumented residents, he said.
Shantz, 23, is unabashedly unconventional with his living arrangements. Describing himself as “somewhat transient,” he sometimes makes his home at an undisclosed Napa commune. He also stays at friends’ places. The full-time college student’s community values extend even to the ways he attains life’s necessities.
“When we are able to create a community of people, everyone is able to contribute what they can and take what they need in an equitable manner,” he said, referring to living at the Napa commune. “That is how many of us involved with activism get by.”
Poised to graduate from Napa Valley College in the fall, Shantz plans to transfer to San Francisco State University. His career aspirations include teaching at the college level.
In the meantime, Shantz said he will continue his organizing and activist efforts. There’s nothing like bringing people together to have their voices heard and, hopefully, to inspire change, he said.
“In order to achieve this, we can start by obtaining power locally,” he said, adding that launching ballot initiatives, serving on local commissions, and attending local government meetings are among the ways to do that. “Grassroots politics is a way for us, as ordinary people, to achieve local power and to begin constructing a community that benefits us.”

WEDNESDAY - JANUARY 04, 2012 - NAPA, CA - Napa Valley College student Alex Shantz is co-coordinator of the Napa County Green Party. J.L. Sousa/Register

2012-01-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

2012-01-08 "'Vallejo Rising' mural touts city's ascendancy" by Lanz Christian Bañes [http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19699800]
For one Vallejo mother, a downtown mural dedicated Saturday was more than just bright colors and neat imagery.
It was a way for Champaygne Tafoya's son to live again.
"That makes me happy that he's going to be on this wall forever," said Tafoya as she stood near the portrait of her son Joseph "Joey" Tafoya III, who was struck and killed by a garbage truck in November while riding his skateboard.
The 12-year-old is not the only Vallejoan immortalized on the mural at Georgia and Marin streets, titled "Vallejo Rising."
After four months of work and community input, local artist and Peoples High School teacher Alvaro Garcia also included others who lost their lives. They include musician Dewey Tucker, 24, one of Garcia's former students. Tucker was shot to death on Interstate 80 while driving to a rehearsal nearly two years ago on Jan. 12, 2010.
The mural, covering most of the west wall of 401 Georgia St., was approved by the Youth Commission this summer and completed last week. Showing images of an ascendant Vallejo, the most prominent symbol of the artwork is a white lotus with "hope" written in various languages on its petals.
"It's just incredible," Garcia said of the community reaction to the mural.
Community members helped paint the mural and gave input as to what went in the blank spaces between Garcia's main images, including butterflies, dogs and words of hope.
If all goes as planned, "Vallejo Rising" will be the first of many murals that will brighten the city. Already, Garcia has received permission to extend the mural into the rear of the building at 401 Georgia St.
Garcia hopes to create a "healing wall" that will again involve community participation.
"Every wall in this town should be painted," said local artist Harold Beaulieu, who helped with the mural.
Among those who plan to work on the healing wall is Edd Arreguin, 20, who painted the word "Rising" in the "Vallejo Rising" mural.
"It's coming out nice," Arreguin said.

Champaygne Tafoya holds her 9 month-old nephew Andrew Soriano as he touches the face of Joey Tafoya during the dedication of the 'Vallejo Rising' mural on Saturday in downtown Vallejo. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

2012-01-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

2012-01-08 "Accountability sought from UC, CSU systems" by Nanette Asimov from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/08/BALL1MM1I9.DTL]
California's public colleges and universities are changing too many rules unilaterally and should be more accountable to the public, the state's independent Legislative Analyst's Office said in a report released last week.
California State University is setting its own rules for raising executive salaries; the University of California is shifting who is eligible to enroll; and community colleges are hoarding data that should be open to the public, say the higher education experts who advise the Legislature.
To fix the problem, the state should create a system for higher education oversight, according to the report, which points back to 1960 when the California Master Plan for Higher Education warned of the need to keep a watchful eye on the state's three higher-education systems.
For years there was such a body, the California Postsecondary Education Commission. But it was weak, bogged down by bureaucracy and never fulfilled its original function, according to the report from Mac Taylor, the legislative analyst.
Before being eliminated in the latest round of budget cuts, that commission performed two key functions: It maintained the state's higher education database, and it set rules for how California State University could raise executive pay.
It did that by choosing which universities CSU could compare itself to when setting executive compensation levels. Involved in the process were representatives from CSU, UC, community colleges and the Legislature.
With the commission gone, CSU is choosing its own comparison schools, which will be considered for approval by its Board of Trustees later this month.
Among them is Temple University, which has a medical school. None of the 23 CSU campuses has a medical school, which typically pay administrators far more than executives at other campuses. Other comparison schools conduct more research than CSU campuses, which is another indicator for higher salaries.
"How can you even make those comparisons?" asked Judy Heiman, an education finance expert with the Legislative Analyst's Office. "Clearly, self-interest would be the concern - that they could use that group to justify allocation of state resources that may not make sense."
The report faults CSU for failing to consult anyone from the Legislature or state Department of Finance until a legislative committee insisted on being included.
"We always appreciate input and working collaboratively," said Claudia Keith, a CSU spokeswoman. "We have a lot of accountability to the Legislature already.
"Without knowing how (a new oversight body) would work, it's difficult to comment on," she said.
The defunct commission also maintained community college education data. Now, if analysts want to study data, such as transfer rates from each school, they need the approval of the schools.
"We believe there is a potential conflict of interest in relying on (the institutions) for permission," according to the new report.
At UC, whose Board of Regents adopted a new eligibility system for freshmen entering next fall, spokesman Steve Montiel said that officials "look forward to engaging in a discussion about coordination moving forward."
Previously, UC automatically admitted the top 12.5 percent of high school students. UC will now admit the top 11 percent and place roughly the top 20 percent into a group to be considered for admission.
"It's a significant change about access," said Steve Boilard, director of higher education for the Legislative Analyst's Office. "It raises fundamental questions of access that deserve involvement at the state level."

Occupy Eureka Demonized by Humboldt DA

2012-01-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

2012-01-07 "NEWS BLAST" from "Diablo Valley Students and Movement for a Democratic Society [SDS/MDS]"
Concord 99% & All Occupyistas & Social Justice Warriors,
I recently received this emergency post from Sister Verbena up in Occupy Eureka , which is under attack
by the corrupt DA and EPD up there.
Sister Verbena recently beat back her own false arrest case up in Eureka. She was also instrumental in the recent Civil court case victory against the EPD for beating to death of Martin Cotton. Her tireless and heroic organizing led to the EPD being fined over $3 million to be awarded to Martin Cottons daughter & family for his wrongful death at their hands.
The Eureka PD and DA are out of control. This reminds me of the police harassment and brutality faced by civil rights organizers in the deep south.
SDS/MDS calls on all social justice organizations and activists to send resolutions of support and solidarity to Occupy Eureka & sister Verbena. Send protests to the Eureka DA and demand a end of the harassing arrests and attacks and the dropping of all the bogus charges against the non violent activists of Occupy Eureka.
Tomorrow a solidarity statement will be placed on the Occupy Concord GA agenda as a first step.
AN INJURY TO ONE, IS AN INJURY TO ALL
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED

2012-01-07 "Occupy Eureka Demonized by Humboldt DA"
Below are responses to government documents uncovered by Occupy Eureka through a CA Public Records Request. Please come to the Press Conference at 1:00pm on Monday, Jan 9th in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse steps in Eureka, CA (if they haven't fenced it off by then!)

from an Occupy Eureka participant regarding non-violence:
Our whole Occupy movement is intimately tied to the legacy of Martin Luther King. On this eve of our celebrating his struggles to emancipate blacks and make certain of our civil rights, our very rights to protest, we again find ourselves immersed here and nation wide...struggling to avoid further desecration of these inalienable rights.
Martin Luther King said: "Over and over again depending upon the political winds of our times we must battle for our human rights."
Non violence, a term born out of the absolute need to confront brutal force, this alternative whole way of life nurtured for centuries amidst the same terrible arrogance and devastation of violence that have swept the earth.
MLK said: "Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech...of the greatness of America . . .the right to protest for our rights..."

2012-01 Statement from Occupy Eureka:
It has come to our attention that the Humboldt County District Attorney is indulging in paranoid speculation. In an Email with the subject line, “tents outside of the courthouse” the DA raises the possibility of a sinister threat to county government posed by tents on the lawn.
Following in the despicable tradition of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, he speculates on the possibility of “explosives or otherwise dangerous materials” in tents. He states, “...nor are we aware of who occupies those tents.” He clearly states several times that he has absolutely no basis for these suspicions: “I do not believe that any individual out there intends to do any harm to the county government, county property or any individual.” We are still waiting for the county to produce any other Emails as well as the details of any meetings that this speculatory fear must have generated. Initiating the arrest of 15 people and the confiscation of their property based on something that he clearly knows to be false has opened the taxpayers of this jurisdiction to costly civil actions as well as possible criminal penalties.
The District Attorney is fully aware that this is a nonviolent movement. The facilities manager and the police freely moved about the occupation without interference by the protesters. He was invited to visit the occupation and attend our open-to-the-public general assemblies to see that those occupying the tents were peaceful protesters including members of the houseless community who have been struggling for basic human rights with this county for years. We conduct ourselves in a transparent system for any person to see and participate in.
He asks that the tents be removed, “as soon as possible” while citing no ordinance being violated and no basis for his reckless speculation. He put into motion a police raid that occurred on the 7th of November with no facts and he states clearly that he has no reasonable basis for his suspicion.
There have been no violent acts at any of the occupations except those committed by the police, and any attempt to conflate nonviolent political protest with terrorism is an affront to democracy. We are therefore demanding that the District Attorney publicly repudiate this wild speculation and tell the public the real reason for the continued harassment of the occupy movement.

2012-01-07 Open Letter to Humboldt County District Attorney, Paul Gallegos, from Redwood Curtain CopWatch:
We have reviewed your November 2, 2011 email to the Humboldt County Sheriff, County Counsel, and the County Administrative Officer in which you direct that the tents of Occupy Eureka be removed from the front of the Humboldt County Courthouse. The “go get 'em” email, obtained through a California Public Records Request, instigated, with no legal basis, the November 7 militarized raid, arrests, and civil rights violations by the Eureka Police Department [EPD] and the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department (and presumably the subsequent raids, arrests, and civil rights violations) and creates a conflict as you attempt to prosecute people arrested in those raids and related police actions. Most egregious, however, is that your email to the County is a malicious work of “shock and awe” deceit that should be retracted immediately. You wrote of Occupy Eureka protesters as if they might be terrorists with “explosives” in their tents. Redwood Curtain CopWatch is outraged and disgusted at your dangerous, wholly unfounded, and secret implications regarding non-violent Occupy Eureka protesters. Undoubtedly, thousands of people who will learn of your disingenuous and inflammatory Nov 2 email and the subsequent similar emails will also be appalled and offended by your actions.
You are the District Attorney in a county that painfully remembers the bombing of non-violent Earth First! activists and organizers, Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney, and the government's baseless attempt to depict these victims of horrendous violence, and their fellow activists, as terrorists, in order to destroy their movement. Congress and Obama have just passed a bill allowing for indefinite military detention of anyone the government chooses to deem a possible terrorist. Having endured McCarthyism in the 1950's, still experiencing the affects and injustices of COINTELPRO, suffering Iraq to preemptive attacks and years of war based on suspected “weapons of mass destruction,” we are in the age of the post-911 USA PATRIOT ACT, Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, “Islamaphobia,” the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and other atrocious affronts to due process, democracy and humanity. You conjured up a basis for the ongoing conspiracy to violate Occupy Eureka protesters' civil rights relying on a similar to that which produced the above-mentioned bigoted and repressive campaigns. Your Nov 2 email and subsequent nefarious emails wherein you speak of “security concerns” regarding Occupy Eureka has now earned you a place with other government officials and propagandists who strip people of their fundamental right to fairness and use spurious allegations and labels such as “terrorist” to suppress dissent.
The “War on Terror” is based on manufactured fear of a nebulous idea. When Americans are fearful, they allow their military to invade countries illegally and immorally and are willing to surrender their civil liberties. Your rationale for invading tents (and possibly cars and homes) regarding “potential” explosives is the same 'war on terror' based on creating fear. The paranoid directive you gave police regarding Occupy Eureka has led them to treat backpacks, blankets, anything that is under a tarp or a table as illegal or suspect, and they steal and even destroy that property.
You claim in your Nov 2 email that you are “not aware of who occupies those tents” and imply that such a fact is ground for legal suspicion, which it is not. It is also unbelievable that you are “not aware” being that Occupy Eureka demonstrators have been living in the public view. Your Nov 2 email degenerates to a record low when you put forward the most ludicrous, offensive and incendiary statement : “While I do not suspect that any of those tents contain any explosive or otherwise dangerous materials, I cannot confirm that they do not and I do not believe that we can allow the risk of such an occurrence to continue.” What “occurrence”? Are you asserting that your duty includes creating fear and suspicion upon which to predicate preemptive raids and arrests? Are/were you seeking Homeland Security monies by crying wolf, when you know your implications are not true? Your orders and unlawful accusations have already been used locally as the premise for a long list of wrongs perpetrated by the EPD and Humboldt Sheriff's against Occupy Eureka, and they have the potential to ruin peoples' lives forever.

Why did you lie to the public, claiming that Occupy Eureka gets raided because of broken camping laws and municipal codes? There is nothing in your emails that alludes to the illegality of the tents, nothing requesting enforcement of the “crime” of displaying signs and banners, nothing that gives officers a legal basis for mass arrests or clearing all protesters from the sidewalks and lawn near the Courthouse, nothing that instructs officers to arrest people filming their activity, and nothing that alleges Occupy Eureka demonstrators were harming any property, government business, or other people. (In fact, you specifically state that you do not believe Occupy Eureka demonstrators are harming property, government business, or other people). Nevertheless, the officers have consistently pretended that all of those things are the reasons for their unlawful actions, and you have told the media the same.

You remind the recipients of your Nov 2 email that “the courthouse is, in effect, the seat of all Humboldt County government.” That is the primary reason why Occupy Eureka is located in front of the courthouse. You defame the character of people engaged in constitutional activity with your preposterous suggestion of explosives.
In mid-November, you acknowledged in a message to County Supervisor, Mark Lovelace, that the [Occupy] movement “has been somewhat co-opted locally by our professional protesters.” Putting aside the absurdity of such a statement, we do understand the implication that you recognize some of the non-violent protesters and that you believe they are experienced, know what they are doing. However, you repeatedly suggest that “All you need is 1 McVeigh guy... and the whole seat of government is gone.” How dare you correlate such an inflammatory idea with Occupy Eureka. How dare you create such a false and secretive premise and then tell the public that the police (through their illegal activities) are protecting the community and the safety of the “300 employees and 300 jail inmates.”
You have protected no one.
We understand now that you use menacing and inflammatory “what ifs” to prompt officers to raid Occupy Eureka in riot gear with semi-automatic weapons, to interfere day and night with every form of first amendment expression, to oppose release from jail for protesters held on non-violent misdemeanor charges, and to order warrants and arrests that have no legal grounds. Perhaps you have forgotten that people still have basic legal protections including the presumption of innocence, the right to be free from unlawful search and seizure, the requirement of probable cause before arrest, and the right to due process. These rights and others have been completely disregarded beginning on November 7th when Eureka Police began its raids, wrongful arrests, and unrelenting theft from Occupy Eureka. If the reason for the raids and daily harassment began with suspicion of explosives, the police should have had a search warrant, some kind of legal investigation. But you know, and so do the Eureka Police and Humboldt County Sheriff's, that there was never a threat of explosives at Occupy Eureka. It is incredulous that you are worried about “1 McVeigh guy” who “doesn't even have to [be] from here.” If you are acting on a concern that anyone from anywhere could come and harm everyone in the courthouse/jail building, perhaps you are too paranoid and delusional to hold an office. Invoking a tragic incident with many victims that occurred in another state over fifteen years ago does not give you legal grounds to create more victims by violating the rights of people peacefully assembling and redressing grievances.
In addition to laying the groundwork for a string of civil rights violations against Occupy Eureka participants (and anyone who happens to be in front of the courthouse when the police decide to handcuff, steal, intimidate, etc.), your dangerous and unlawful framing of Occupy Eureka protesters as potential terrorists resulted in Eureka Police Officer, Louis Altic, telling protesters recently that he wanted to search a bag because “it may have a bomb in it.” People refused to consent; Altic did not get a warrant; he did not search the bag; the bag continued to hold clothes and toiletries for its owner. If there was a legitimate suspicion that the bag contained a bomb, it would have been criminally negligent for Altic to not search the bag. The fact that he did not only proves that he never had a legitimate suspicion and used a baseless accusation as a flimsy pretext for harassment. This dishonest behavior in dealing with the Occupy protest seems to be standard operating procedure for not only the EPD, but the office of the District Attorney as well.
Stop deceiving the public and stop targeting the Occupy Eureka protest.
You have not only defied the law at the expense of many peoples' civil liberties, property, and well being, but you are wiping out any remaining trust from the 'progressive' community that put you in office. Your terrorist rhetoric has no place here.

2012-01-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

OCCUPY CONCORD STARTS THE NEW YEAR 2012
99%ers Welcome - Join Us,
Occupy Concord finished off the old year, 2011, with our 2nd powerful public protest rally & march in Todos Santos on Dec 17 against abuse of the 99% by the 1%. Once again we generated headlines, controversy and sparked public debate on the issues. We held our largest Concord GA [General Assembly] ever, with 35 people voting on and adopting 5 new demands to help crystallize and focus the issues.
Our 3 month old movement ended 2011 strong and is now ready to, after the holiday hiatus, to step into the New Year refreshed, determined and ready to struggle for a better community, a liberated country and justice for the people of the world.
We know that "organized people [the 99%] can beat organized money [the 1%]" if we are brave, steadfast and determined. We know we have the power to right the wrongs and change the world. The power is in the people.
Help us unleash, promote and develop that POWER. Lets start the New year off stronger than ever!!!
Come to the "Occupy Concord" GA this Sunday.
For more information call [925-798-3698] or [925-435-9906]
General Assembly
Sunday 1/8/12, 10am-Noon
Todos Santos Plaza, Concord

2012-01-07T11:52:00.000-08:00

2012-01-07 "Eureka PD arrests 6 at Occupy Eureka, early morning Jan 7th"
Just after midnight, this morning, two Eureka Police Officers walked up to the encampment, surveyed it, and walked off. Around 1:15am, three or four police cruisers and a service truck pulled up and started arresting people. In the end, six people were arrested. EPD told one Occupy Eureka participant that they were going to start arresting people again because the camping tickets "aren't working."
In the midst of the chaos, a man who no one present seemed to recognize, jumped over the fence surrounding the lawn and raised a sign on the flagpole. The sign read "Yahweh." Two officers entered the fenced area to pursue the man.

2012-01-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

"General Strike Coalition call from Occupy LA"Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Long Beach, Occupy Riverside and Occupy the Hood, building on the "Occupy the Ports - A Day without Goldman Sachs!" action on December 12, have all issued calls for and started building towards a General Strike on May 1, 2012.
At a meeting of the General Strike Preparation Committee of Occupy LA today, with representation from Occupy Long Beach, Pasadena and Riverside as well as Occupy the Hood, consensus was reached to call for the formation of a broad, deep and larger coalition for a General Strike, first meeting to be held on Sunday, January 22 at 2:00 PM, location to be announced, around the following program:

A General Strike, Boycott and Day of Action on May 1, 2012, the anniversary of the historic general strike for the 8-hour day in Chicago IL in 1886.
We are seeking to unite with immigrant communities resisting oppression, organized and unorganized labor, the unemployed, prisoners, unwaged workers, students, and the rest of the 99%.
The next sub-committee meetings of the Occupy LA general strike preparation committee (including media, labor, student and community outreach, research and resources) will take place Tuesday, January 10 at 7:30 PM at Corazon del Pueblo, 2003 E. First St., East L.A. 90033 (at Cummings, just east of the I-5). Check us out on-line at [www.occupymay1st.org], by email at [occupymay1st@gmail.com], or call [323-250-MAY1].

FOR IM/MIGRANT RIGHTS
FOR ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND LABOR RIGHTS
FOR PEACE WITH JUSTICE
FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES AND AN END TO THE POLICE STATE
FOR HOUSING, EDUCATION, AND HEALTH CARE AS HUMAN RIGHTS
FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUITY

2012-01-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

2012-01-06 "STOCKTON ACTION REPORT- STOP POLICE TERROR" from "Diablo Valley Movement / Students for a Democratic Society (MDS/SDS)"
Mothers Cry for Justice, James Rivera family, Ernest Duenez family, Oscar Grant Committee, Modesto Copwatch, MDS/SDS [Movement and Students for a Democratic Society] and the Nation of Islam united to sponsor this spirited and loud protest action in downtown Stockton demanding answers from the DA who has remained silent about the police killing of unarmed youth & adults. Sisters Bianca & Sharena kept up the powerful outrage by leading chants.
Local youths insisted on carrying the SDS banner.
OGC and MDS brought out 8 people and 40 memes guns [picket signs] from the East Bay. It was militant action with no arrests even tho the police mobilized and pushed back the rally for a few minutes before leaving. The locals felt empowered by the action and thanked the the East Bay folks for our support.

Demonstrators in front of the San Joaquin County Courthouse chant “We want justice for James Rivera” on Friday afternoon in Stockton.

2012-01-07 "Protesters say officers' fatal clashes unnecessary" by Jennie Rodriguez-Moore from the "Modesto Record"
[http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120107/A_NEWS/201070317/-1/A_COMM01]
STOCKTON - Demonstrators held signs and chanted "No justice, no peace" ["No Killer Police" -MDS/SDS] outside the courthouse Friday afternoon.
Rosemarie Duenez said she wants an investigation completed on the June 8 shooting of her son, 31-year-old Ernest Duenez Jr., by Manteca police
"We are still waiting for the D.A.'s Office to wrap up the case," said the 57-year-old mother.
The county District Attorney's Office conducts reports on fatalities involving law enforcement officers, but limited resources has led to a backlog in cases, prosecutors have said.
Manteca police have contended that Duenez, a parolee, was stopped for a traffic violation but advanced on officers with a weapon.
His family sees it differently. "We did get a police camera video of the incident," Rosemarie Duenez said. She said her son was not armed.
Duenez's relatives were part of a Friday demonstration of about 30 [60 really -frh ] participants, organized by the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression, a group honoring a man killed by BART police in 2009.
The Stockton gathering is part of a statewide effort to mobilize supporters and spread awareness.
"When the state kills, it's a serious matter," said Oakland activist Gerald Smith, who spoke to the crowd Friday. "We are not going to accept the state-sponsored murder against our people."
One of the examples used during the protest in Stockton was the fatal shooting of 16-year-old James Rivera Jr.
Rivera was shot to death by Stockton police and a San Joaquin County sheriff's deputy on July 22, 2010, while behind the wheel of a stolen van that had crashed into a garage after a high-speed chase. Police said the van was coming toward them.
Smith said killing Rivera was unnecessary. "He was a child," Smith said.
Friday's rally was peaceful but did require some law-enforcement resources to direct the protesters away from a doorway of the courthouse that they were blocking.

2012-01-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

2012-01-06 "Two Occupy Protesters Arrested Trying to Occupy Oakland Mayor’s Office" from "Associated Press"
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland police say two people were arrested when anti-Wall Street protesters tried to occupy Mayor Jean Quan’s office at City Hall.
Police closed the building around 2 p.m. Thursday. The people who were arrested allegedly refused to leave and pounded on a side entrance door and yelled at officers.
Police later allowed four members of the Interfaith Council to enter the building and meet with city staffers about concerns related to Occupy Oakland.
City spokeswoman Karen Boyd says the two sides plan to meet again next week.
The attempt to occupy Quan’s office came after police the night before cleared Occupy Oakland protesters from the plaza in front of City Hall and dismantled the teepee they had set up.
Twelve people were arrested on suspicion of resisting police during the raid.

2012-01-04T12:22:00.000-08:00

2012-01-04 VOICE OF THE ILWU LOCAL 21, LONGVIEW, WASHINGTON
----------
THE LONGVIEW LONGSHORE FIGHT
Join the Caravan to Mass Labor Protest
DEFEND OUR UNION AND OUR JOBS!!!
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is waging a battle against union-busting. ILWU Local 21 in Longview, Washington is under attack by a giant consortium, EGT, which has built a $200 million grain terminal and is running it as a scab operation. This directly violates the port agreement with ILWU which has had jurisdiction for over 75 years. This union-busting must be stopped. It's the fight of working people everywhere.
If EGT succeeds, other grain handlers will push for scab operations as well. That would affect the entire ILWU, as grain contracts contribute 30% to our benefits. Not only health & welfare but also our pension fund, dangerously under funded at 64%. Breaking ILWU jurisdiction would immediately threaten our container ports.
ILWU is one of the most militant unions in the country. This is a make-or-break struggle for all organized labor.
Longview Local 21 and San Francisco Local 10, Harry Bridges's local, are asking for your support. The struggle is coming to a head as EGT plans to bring in a ship to load the scab grain stored in their terminal in Longview. This could happen at any time, possibly in mid- to late-January. We are urging workers to join a caravan to go to Longview from your area when the ship comes in and to participate in a mass labor protest rally.
It's your right and your duty, to your fellow union members and to yourself.
If thousands of union brothers and sisters show up, along with supporters in other unions and the Occupy movement who have aided the struggle against EGT in Longview, we can put a stop to this union-busting operation. We won't have much advance warning. So we need to prepare to come with our workmates, friends, family, with everyone who understands that our future is at stake in Longview. Get ready to be there!
It can be done. Longshore workers have done it. Last July a thousand ILWU members and supporters blocked a train carrying grain to the scab terminal. On September 7, 400 union supporters blocked a grain train in Vancouver, Washington, and then again in Longview. The next morning hundreds of longshore workers arrived from all the Northwest ports before dawn, and news media reported thousands of tons of grain ended up on the tracks. The ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Vancouver and Portland were shut down the workers were all in Longview. Now we need you to "meet and greet" the scab ship.
The brothers and sisters in Longview are doing their part. Under a police reign of terror Local 21 with only 225 members has 220 arrests for defending ILWU jurisdiction. They have built a large and broad support campaign with rallies and mass pickets several totaling over a thousand.
Others have contributed too. On Nov. 2, Occupy Oakland mobilized 30,000 people to shut down the port to show their "commitment to solidarity with Longshore workers in their struggles against EGT in Longview, Washington." Local 21 President Dan Coffman speaking about Nov. 2 at Occupy Oakland said, "You can't believe what you people did for the inspiration of my union members..." And on Dec. 12, Occupy called to shut down the coast in support of the struggle in Longview. Again shipping in the port of Oakland was shut down, along with terminals in Seattle, Portland and elsewhere.
We're all in this together. The San Francisco and Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Councils have already declared their support. We will be signing up people who are ready to go up to Longview in a caravan when they call us. Local 21 is leading the way. Northwest locals have stepped up to the plate, as has the Occupy movement. Now it is everyone's turn. Together we have the power! Use it or lose it. Show that working people are ready, willing and able to fight for our rights.

2012-01-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

2012-01-02 "Oscar Grant march marks 3rd anniversary of killing" by Victoria Colliver from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/01/BADE1MJSOH.DTL]
Hundreds of people marked the third anniversary of a BART police officer's killing of Oscar Grant on Sunday by marching peacefully from Oakland City Hall to the site of the shooting, the Fruitvale train station nearly 3 miles away.
The marchers, carrying signs and shouting, "We are Oscar Grant," among other chants, included many protesters involved in the Occupy Oakland movement, which has often focused as much on opposing police brutality as fighting economic inequality.
"We're all the same people out here," said Michael Haley, 33, of Vallejo, an Occupy Oakland participant who didn't want to draw a distinction between the groups. "Everyone here has woken up to the facts that the cops in this town are out of hand - really everywhere - but especially here."
"We are in solidarity with Occupy Oakland. They've supported and helped us," said Anita Wills, 65, of San Leandro, who became involved with the Oscar Grant Committee, which seeks to fight police abuse, after the unsolved killing of her grandson early last year in Oakland.

Symbolic renaming -
Many of the protesters, and Grant's family members, noted that one of the first things the Occupy activists did when they set up their encampment in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza in October was to symbolically rename the site Oscar Grant Plaza.
"I want to thank Occupy Oakland for what you have done for Oscar Grant," said Jack Bryson, the father of two sons who were with Grant when he was killed on the Fruitvale Station platform.
Former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot Grant, 22, in the early hours of New Year's Day 2009 while trying to handcuff and arrest him as he lay, facedown and unarmed, on the platform. Other passengers captured the shooting on cameras and cell phones.
Mehserle said he intended to subdue Grant with a Taser but accidentally pulled and fired his pistol. After he was initially charged with murder, a jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Sentence called lenient -
Mehserle was released from a two-year prison sentence on June 13, 2011. Though the punishment was among the most serious given to a police officer for a line-of-duty killing, Grant's supporters believe it was too lenient.
"It has been a hard day for my family and myself," Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, told the crowd as it gathered in a plaza beside the Fruitvale Station at the end of the march. "Yesterday was my birthday, so to get the news my son was killed, it was just tragic. It was just devastating."
Marcher George Cammarota, 60, of San Jose, who has attended past demonstrations over Grant's death, said such public displays send a "very clear message that this cannot and will not happen again.
"We still ask for justice," he said. "We haven't given up hope."

Michael Macor / The Chronicle
Beverly Dove of Berkeley attends a peaceful rally outside Oakland's Fruitvale BART Station to mark the third anniversary of the death of Oscar Grant, an unarmed passenger shot by a BART police officer.

2012-01-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

Our California culture did not back down. It was emboldened by the tyrannical methods of repression (with the severe beat-downs, illegal incarceration and torture) and today, occupied the minds of 40,000,000 people in the USA during the televised Rose Parade. We are strong, we stand as tall as equals amongst the people rising up against the maniac rulers of the world, here in the proverbial belly of the Beast!

2011-01-02 "Occupy protest follows 123rd annual Rose Parade" by CHRISTINA HOAG, Associated Press
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/02/national/a005603S53.DTL]
(01-02) 14:46 PST Pasadena, Calif. (AP) --
The 2012 Tournament of Roses brought its flowery floats and strutting bands to a worldwide audience Monday under clear blue skies, and in its wake came a scruffier parade — hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters.
The 123rd annual New Year's Day event, with the theme "Just Imagine," flowed along downtown Pasadena to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of sidewalk spectators.
An estimated 40 million people viewed this year's procession of 44 floats, 16 marching bands and 22 equestrian troupes on U.S. television.
There were 10 arrests overnight, including four felonies, as thousands of spectators staked out viewing places along the route but that figure was down from the previous year, police said.
"Everything went very, very well. We're very pleased," police Lt. Phlunte Riddle said.
On the heels of the two-hour parade came anti-Wall Street protesters in a pre-arranged demonstration.
The thunder of the retreating marching bands mingled in the air with chants of "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" as the Occupy the Rose Parade demonstrators retraced about 1.5 miles of the 5.5-mile parade route before veering off for a rally near City Hall.
They carried a 250-foot-long banner that said "We the People" to represent the U.S. Constitution. Some also held a 70-foot-long octopus made from recycled plastic bags that represented the tentacles of perceived corporate greed.
"This is about getting money out of politics," said Greg Stevens, a 38-year-old public health lecturer at the University of Southern California. "I support everything this movement is about."
As the protesters marched by, some Rose Parade spectators yelled "get a job" while others snapped photos and cheered.
"It's kind of crazy but kind of exciting," said Alana Olvick, 26, of Valencia, Calif.
The ragtag group of protesters made an interesting comparison to the slick, glittering Rose Parade offerings.
"It's contradicting the parade," Olvick said.
Behind the protesters came three truckloads of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in riot gear but no arrests were immediately made and the protest was noisy but peaceful.
Occupy the Rose Parade organizer Pete Thottam estimated the crowd of protesters at 5,000, although police said it was around 400.
Police, parade and city officials held numerous meetings with the protest organizers to ensure that they did not disrupt the parade.
Heightened security is nothing new to the parade, which took place on Jan. 2 this year because New Year's Day falls on a Sunday.
Police also stepped up measures after 9/11 and the Y2K threat, and have regularly dealt with protests through the years ranging from anti-Vietnam war demonstrators to Native Americans incensed at the choice of a descendant of Christopher Columbus as grand marshal.
This year's parade featured Iraq war veteran J.R. Martinez as grand marshal, the children and grandchildren of Roy Rogers on a float commemorating cowboys, and the parents of Christina-Taylor Green, the 9-year-old girl killed in the mass shooting that injured U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords last year, on the Donate Life float honoring organ donors. The Greens donated their daughter's corneas.
The 2012 parade was the first in 58 years without the famed Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale horses after the company withdrew in a change of marketing strategy.

Occupy protesters march along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several thousand Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration.
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press

Occupy protesters march along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several thousand Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration.
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press

Occupy protesters march along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several thousand Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration.
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press

An Occupy protester with a sign marches in front of police officers along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several thousand Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration.
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press

An Occupy protester with a sign marches along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several thousand Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration.
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP

Occupy protesters march along Colorado Boulevard during the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, Jan. 2, 2012. Several thousand Occupy protesters marched at the end of the Rose Parade in a pre-arranged demonstration.
Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press

2012-01-02T14:37:00.000-08:00

2012-01-02 "Occupy Oakland: The Port Shutdown and Beyond–All Eyes on Longview!" by Jack Gerson from "Insurgent Notes"
[http://insurgentnotes.com/]
On Monday December 12, the Occupy movement shut down the major west coast ports of Oakland, Portland, Longview (Washington), and Seattle. There were partial shutdowns or support actions at the ports of San Diego, Vancouver, and Long Beach, as well as in Hawaii and Japan. Wal-Mart distribution centers were blockaded in Denver, Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque. Other actions occurred in New York, Houston, Tacoma, and Anchorage. The Seattle, Long Beach, San Diego, and Houston protests were met with police violence.
These coordinated actions showed that the Occupy movement is still very much alive, the various rants to the contrary by the bosses, the mass media, and assorted leftists notwithstanding. This is certainly true in Oakland, where I live. The nearly 10,000 protesters who shut down the port showed that Occupy Oakland’s November 2 Strike and Day of Action was no fluke. The December 12 actions rattled the entire Oakland establishment – corporate Oakland and the liberal politicians and labor bureaucrats who for years have carried their water while cultivating a “progressive” image. And the port shutdowns up and down the coast have delivered a strong message to the world maritime conglomerates: the Occupy movement will rally mass support to defend the longshoremen in Longview WA against a vicious union-busting attack from a multinational conglomerate.

NEXT UP: MASS CONVERGENCE ON LONGVIEW -
The Longview longshoremen, ILWU Local 21, are locked in a life-and-death struggle with the Export Grain Terminal corporation (EGT). EGT is a joint venture between three conglomerates: U.S.-based Bunge North America, Japan-based Tochu Corporation, and South Korean-based STX Pan Ocean. EGT just spent $200 million to construct a highly automated grain elevator at the Port of Longview. Although EGT signed a lease agreement with the Port promising that all cargo work would be done with ILWU labor, it won’t honor that agreement. EGT tried to hire non-union labor and, when that failed, contracted with another union, Operating Engineers Local 701, that is willing to raid ILWU 21 and to cross their picket lines.
EGT is using tactics straight out of the coal field labor wars of the 1920s. They hired private “security” (Pinkerton-like goons). They’ve enlisted the local cops to stalk, harass, and assault ILWU members – tailing them around town and even dragging them out of their homes in the middle of the night.
Local 21 has fought back. In the course of the battle in Longview, ILWU members and their supporters have blocked trains from bringing grain to the terminal and organized mass pickets to disrupt its operations. 220 of the local’s 226 members have been arrested. Both the Washington and Oregon state labor federations have passed resolutions supporting the Longview ILWU and condemning the Operating Engineers for raiding and for crossing ILWU 21′s picket lines.
This ought to be a central priority for the AFL-CIO, because if EGT succeeds in locking out ILWU 21, it will set a precedent for union-busting up and down the coast. The AFL-CIO ought to provide material support to ILWU 21. It ought to tell the Operating Engineers to either end their raid or face censure and expulsion. And it ought to build towards a general strike against the union-busting. But none of this will happen. AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka won’t take sides and he won’t act. Trumka calls it a “jurisdictional dispute”. Indeed, the AFL-CIO leadership – and not just the top leaders, but most local officials and staffers as well – have for decades bought into the “team concept” of collaboration with management. Fundamentally, they believe that there is no alternative to capitalism. Thus, when the system is in crisis, they try to coerce workers to passively accept austerity (cuts to jobs, compensation, pensions and social security, and public services). So instead of leading mass organizing drives, they raid each other’s unions as union membership dwindles to barely one in ten workers.
A confrontation is imminent. EGT plans to bring in its first ship in mid-January. So with Trumka and the AFL-CIO sitting on their hands, what can be done? Here is where the Occupy movement can play a role. On December 17, Occupy Longview, which has close ties to ILWU 21, called for a mass convergence on Longview in January to block the loading of the EGT ship. On December 21, Occupy Oakland voted overwhelmingly (123 – 2) to respond to Occupy Longview’s call by organizing a caravan to Longview. Occupy organizers are projecting well over 10,000 – perhaps as many as 25,000 – occupiers descending on Longview from around the West. And unlike ILWU International President McEllrath (who opposed the December 12 port shutdown by an “outside group trying to advance a broader agenda”), ILWU Local 21 President Dan Coffman welcomes support from the Occupy movement. This from Coffman: “On behalf of Local 21, we want to thank the Occupy movement for shedding light on the practices of EGT and for the inspiration of our members”.
In addition to the convergence on Longview, Occupy can support and help propagate the call from ILWU rank and file militants who are urging the International to strike the entire West Coast when the EGT ship arrives – and, if McEllrath won’t issue the call, then the locals and the rank and file need to organize a coast-wide wildcat. Let’s recall that in significant – although admittedly infrequent – cases, ILWU locals (and, in still rarer instances, the entire West Coast ILWU) have acted in defiance of the contract and the law to shut down the ports, even without the spur of community (“outside”) picketers. (To name such instances: the 11-day boycott of South African cargo famously saluted by Nelson Mandela; a one-shift West Coast shutdown to support Mumia; a one-day strike against the war; a shutdown in Los Angeles in solidarity with Australian longshoremen; and a Puget Sound ferry strike in defiance of injunctions.) Shutting down the big ports of Oakland, Portland, and Seattle got the attention of the world maritime industry. Shutting down the twin megaport of Long Beach / Los Angeles would deliver a heavy blow: Long Beach / Los Angeles handles 40% of this country’s shipping, nearly ten times as much as the Port of Oakland.
So we believe that the ILWU can win this immediate battle. But it will take far more to win the long-term war. First of all, it will take identifying the true nature of that war. Today longshore is highly automated and longshoremen are the highest paid but one of the numerically smallest group of workers at the port. Meanwhile, the most numerous workers at the port – the port truckers – are by far the lowest paid, the most exploited, and are completely unorganized (forced to work as independent contractors). There cannot be a long-term victory for labor on the longshore without organizing the unorganized port truckers. But more than forty years ago, the ILWU agreed to deals around containerization / automation that guaranteed high pay, benefits, and job security in exchange for allowing gross attrition of jobs as workers retired. The ILWU has been far too content to rely on this arrangement, rather than reaching out aggressively to support and help organize the port truckers. So although Longview Local 21 is fighting militantly against EGT and is reaching out to Occupy for support, the ILWU International shows zero interest in organizing or otherwise fighting for the truckers. Such organizing remains essential. We ought not to look to the ILWU International to do it.
Our enemies try to play on this weakness to exacerbate the divisions. Thus, from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan: "The people who are planning to stay at the port—do they have families who have trucks that because of the shutdown in the economy may lose those trucks? A day’s pay – $600, $700—could be the difference as to whether they can keep that truck or not."
Quan is disingenuous: most truckers clear less than $100 / day for a long day’s haul – often as little as $50. But she is poking at a weakness, and it’s one that we can ill afford to ignore.
Let’s be clear. Occupy has not ignored the port workers. Indeed, port truckers in Los Angeles’s Latino community were the first to call for a December 12 port action, when they voted to withhold their labor on this day, which is a cultural holiday in the Latino community. In solidarity with them, Occupy LA voted to blockade ports servicing the SSA shipping company, partly owned by Goldman Sachs. Occupy Oakland then joined their call and broadened it, calling for a west coast port shutdown in solidarity with the truckers and with the locked-out longshoremen of ILWU Local 21 in Longview, and to disrupt the profit chain of Goldman Sachs and “Wall Street on the Water”.
In the event, the LA port truckers were unable to repeat their successful wildcat of May 1, 2006, when they effectively organized a significant number of the more than 15,000 southern California port truckers to shut down LA / Long Beach longshore operations. Nevertheless, the successful port shutdowns in Oakland and the Washington and Oregon ports have fully focused attention on the desperate struggle in Longview.
But organized labor has ignored the port workers. And the Occupy movement itself has steered clear of direct labor organizing. It does not educate about the need to organize the unorganized, and Occupy leaders have discouraged efforts to educate internally and organize externally around a set of concrete demands that could speak to the needs of the unorganized and ensure that organized jobs are decent jobs. This leaves such organizing at the mercy of the labor bureaucracy. Can Occupy sustain and deepen a mass movement on this basis? Without at least discussing this question and developing strategy, the Occupy movement is bound to act as a large “solidarity” movement: engaging in episodic disruptive mass actions followed by weeks of lull where organizing slows to a crawl while waiting for new struggles to support and/or new occasions for disruptive direct action; supporting others’ struggles and demands from the outside. This leaves Occupy vulnerable to the nature of those struggles and the content of those demands. To be clear: I am not proposing that the Occupy movement as a whole adopt a set of detailed demands and set out to organize the unorganized. (I think that Occupy derives much strength by remaining essentially a broad united front under the general umbrella sentiment of economic justice and anti-capitalism.) But I do believe that groupings inside of the Occupy movement should do so – and that this should be a priority for Occupy labor outreach groups.

Lesson to the Left: Occupy Oakland Has Not Capitulated to the Democrats -
The Occupy movement – and especially Occupy Oakland – has demonstrated remarkable resilience and an almost unprecedented ability to repeatedly mobilize mass actions against economic injustice and police brutality. Many of us have underestimated this movement. Leftist blogs are filled with statements like “Occupy Oakland is dead” and warnings that Occupy is capitulating to the liberals, capitulating to the Democrats, capitulating to the labor bureaucracy — and that unless this or that formula is followed failure is certain. If we are to be taken seriously by this movement – and, perhaps more to the point, if we are to understand it and help it to move forward – we need to first acknowledge that the movement hasn’t corresponded to the preconceived notions of veteran socialists. Moreover, it has far exceeded our expectations. And, despite problems, it continues to act independently of the Democrats and the bureaucrats. Indeed, its deep-seated, if inchoate, anti-capitalist message and its remarkable ability to mobilize mass disruptive protests have left the Oakland establishment dazed and disoriented.
In the weeks preceding the west coast port shutdown, the Oakland establishment engaged in perhaps the most concerted effort to defeat labor solidarity since the campaign to bust the Professional Air Controllers union in 1981. Perhaps the clearest signal of the importance of the port shutdown to world maritime interests was the decision of the Port of Oakland to place an ad in the New York Times (3000 miles away, but the home of Wall Street). The ex-radical, left-liberal politicians who run Oakland city government and their long-time friends and political allies in the local union bureaucracy rallied to the defense of the shipping and financial corporations. Recriminations were hurled by ex-Maoist Mayor Jean Quan (who ranted about “economic violence … a small group of people are going to hold this port, this city, this economy hostage”). Port Commissioner and prominent local labor official Victor Uno, together with his wife Josie Camacho (secretary-treasurer of the local central labor council), argued that a port shutdown would inflict hardship on longshoremen, port truckers, and other workers. ILWU International President Bob McEllrath, under a not-so-veiled threat of a lawsuit by Goldman Sachs (part-owner of shipping conglomerate SSA and a target of the Occupy movement), sent a letter to ILWU members warning, “Support is one thing. Outside groups trying to advance a broader agenda is quite another and one that is destructive to our democratic process.”
But their campaign failed, and its failure took them by surprise. The cops had estimated that at most 300 protesters would try to shut down the port. But more than 1,000 picketers showed up at the Port of Oakland to shut down the morning shift, and nearly 10,000 shut down the afternoon shift. Now, Occupy Oakland has organized the largest mass militant demonstrations in at least forty years, targeting corporate Oakland and suspending business as usual. And it has done it on multiple occasions.
This has dragged into the open the true role of the ex-radical politicians who run Oakland city government and their long-time friends and allies in the local union bureaucracy. All of these “progressives” operate on the assumption that Oakland’s well-being depends upon the well-being of Oakland business – especially the port, the developers, and the banks. So to them, anything that gets in the way of business hurts the people of Oakland. Thus, Quan argues that shutting down the port is “economic violence” that “holds the city hostage”, and City Council members echo the same refrain. Of course, in the context of the current, deepening global economic crisis, there will be no end to corporate demands for cuts, layoffs, and handouts from the city. The Occupy movement has challenged this assumption, and the politicians are ducking for cover. Their election has been based on their “left” image, but for years they have been pawns of the corporate bosses. Occupy is forcing them to choose: which side are you on? The labor bureaucrats, who have for decades embraced the “team concept” of collaboration with management, are caught in the same bind.
Consequently, cracks are developing in the “progressive” cabal, as long-time Quan allies hedge their bets. Thus, Quan’s long-time comrade Dan Siegel resigned as her legal adviser to distance himself from her authorization of cop violence in October. Oakland Education Association President Betty Olson-Jones, another ally and personal friend, supported the port shutdown (OEA was the only union to support the December 12 action). The local labor council condemned Quan’s authorization of cop violence against Occupy and declared that she is “on the wrong side of history”. Sharon Cornu, a mover and shaker in the local Democratic Party and the former head of the local labor council, resigned as Deputy Mayor. To be sure, they continue to hedge their bets: thus, within days of the port shutdown Olson-Jones was a featured speaker at a mass meeting organized to try to salvage Quan’s career; a few days later the local labor council leadership held a press conference to urge workers to “give the Mayor a chance” so that “she can bring jobs to Oakland”; Cornu continues to praise Quan’s handling of Occupy Oakland.
So Occupy has not capitulated to the liberal politicians. But neither does it pose a political alternative to this leadership. Occupy remains a powerful force, but its power lies exclusively in its ability to mobilize massive but episodic direct actions. It consciously eschews political action. Left unchanged, this will cede political leadership to one set or another of representatives of the bosses. Whether or not the Occupy movement as a whole adopts a specific course of political action, it is important that the movement at least understands the importance of combining mass political action with mass direct action, and creates space and opportunity for its participants to pursue this.

Lesson to the Left: Occupy Oakland Has Not Capitulated to the Bureaucrats -
Just as Occupy has not capitulated to the liberal politicians, neither has it capitulated to the labor bureaucracy. It is, however, a fact that much of Occupy Oakland’s labor outreach committee consists of the old “labor left”, including several who have made a career of carrying water for and currying favor with the local labor bureaucrats and the “progressive” politicians. This is one of the factors that have caused many, myself included, to conclude, mistakenly, that the “progressives” had taken charge – or, at a minimum, that capitulation to them was well under way. To be sure, there are problems here – most importantly, perhaps, has been the tendency to overly orient to the labor bureaucrats. This came out most sharply when the Occupy Oakland leaders insisted on treating the local bureaucrats as equal partners in organizing an “Occupy / Labor” rally and march on November 19. They used the terms “labor”, “organized labor”, and “labor leadership” synonymously, and did not seem aware that except in rare instances the bureaucrats can’t or won’t mobilize their members. Thus, although a few thousand marched on November 19 – and although several labor officials spoke at the rally, it was not a “labor march” at all – there were only two or three labor contingents on the march, each of fewer than 10 people. This helped local labor officials strengthen the image they present to their rank and file, without mobilizing the rank and file and without in any way changing their long-term collaboration with management.
Nevertheless, Occupy has not capitulated to the labor bureaucracy. If one does not appreciate this, one cannot really understand the December 12 port shutdowns, when only one union (OEA) supported the action and the full power of corporate Oakland and much of the labor bureaucracy was arrayed against Occupy. Instead, the direction of Occupy Oakland’s labor work continues to be largely determined by the “insurrectionist anarchist” core that has been the power behind the scenes for all of Occupy Oakland since its inception in early October. That direction remains to organize mass disruptive direct action protests, and there is little evidence that they have altered their approach to accommodate labor officials or politicians. The insurrectionists are not about to capitulate to the progressives – at least not in the near future.
But while there has not been a capitulation to the labor bureaucracy, much of Occupy’s labor orientation has been to attempt to engage unions through the union leadership. The interests and actions of workers are not synonymous with the elected leadership of their unions, particularly at the International level. The Internationals, and many locals, are integrated into the Democratic Party machine and act as agents for labor-management collaboration, government ideology and policy in administering concessions and opposing militant action. Thus, as we discussed earlier, the labor movement cannot move forward without an aggressive campaign to organize the unorganized and to provide jobs with adequate pay and decent working conditions. This simply will not happen at the initiative of the labor bureaucracy – indeed, they will squash it and / or try to channel it into a campaign to organize some of the unorganized into rotten sweetheart contracts. It is very important to be clear about this, because without such clarity Occupy will inevitably “leave to Caesar what is Caesar’s” – i.e., to treat the elected labor leadership as though it represents the interests of the organized workers, rather than those of the Democrats, the state, and – at bottom – the bosses.

2012-01-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

2012-01-01 "S.F. Bay Area change makers keep struggling" by Brenda Payton
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/01/INQN1MHEHL.DTL]
See Change Makers 2012: Watch Chronicle photographer Lacy Atkins' video. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/12/30/INQN1MHEHL.DTL&o=0]
----
The other night, Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society, had a dream.
"I was sitting on a hill with two men," she recalled. "We were talking about the unemployment crisis and how the official numbers don't capture the people who have stopped looking. The men said, 'It's hopeless. We can't do anything about it.'
"I said, 'No, we have to keep struggling.' I got up and started walking down Piedmont Avenue (in Oakland), where the ACLU was giving a rally in support of Mexican immigrants, and I thought, 'How am I going to get home? I don't have my car, and I'm thirsty.' Then I woke up."
"Trying to get home" dreams may be familiar to a lot of us. The "we've got to keep struggling" aspect is probably more recognizable to the activists profiled here. In this second installment, The Chronicle talks to people in the Bay Area dedicated to change. (The first installment ran July 3. You can read it online at [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/03/IN3Q1K2K1S.DTL].)
Paterson, 62, has been working for social justice for more than four decades. Currently, she is organizing for the state initiative that would replace the death penalty with life without the possibility of parole.
She said that over the years, the "people fighting so brilliantly to preserve the status quo" have learned to frame issues to get people to act against their own self-interests. "So the people who destroyed the economy are called the job creators."
On the positive side, Paterson sees a vibrant, national and international community working on a range of issues to realize a progressive vision. And for a moment, it looked as though two African Americans might be running for president.
"Herman Cain was backed by conservative white people. That's enormous progress. It's perverse," she said, laughing heartily, "but it's progress."

East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, EBASE, led by Executive Director Nikki Fortunato Bas, 43, has a track record of working on issues popularized by the Occupy Wall Street movement. "Our niche is creating good jobs. We focus on economic inequity," Bas said.
To that end, Ebase has initiated several campaigns for living-wage policies. At the Port of Oakland, the living-wage policy added $3,500 a year to the average worker's salary. Affecting 1,500 workers, it put more than $5 million in the workers' pockets. Currently, Ebase is advocating the Revive Oakland plan, which would guarantee jobs for disadvantaged communities at the redeveloped Oakland Army Base.

Malkia Cyril, 37, founder and executive director of the Center for Media Justice, and Tim Silard, 49, president of the Rosenberg Foundation, had a similar epiphany. Systemic reform is necessary to accomplish needed change.
Recognizing that the media usually portray young people of color negatively, Cyril set out to ensure that the coverage was more balanced. She quickly realized the problem wasn't individual reporters, but the changing world of journalism, as chains gobbled up papers, and communication giants took over local radio stations.
"I realized we had to deal with regulations." She learned about media conglomerates and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. She is proud of the role the center played in educating civil rights groups about the drawbacks of the now-abandoned AT&T and T-Mobile merger, and in the establishment of the FCC's first net-neutrality rules.
"I don't say 'net neutrality,' that bores me, too. But when I tell people their ability to communicate and connect is threatened, they care about that," Cyril said.
As an attorney with a background in civil rights and poverty law, Silard went to the San Francisco district attorney's office to work "in the belly of the beast." While the office developed some promising innovations, he realized broader reforms were needed. He became increasingly alarmed by the "enormous racial disparities in the criminal justice system."
"What excited me about the Rosenberg Foundation was the ability to support the work of reform advocates in California." He thinks the state's inability to financially support the current criminal justice system is an opportunity.
"If done well, realignment can be transformative," Silard said of the state's new initiative to move nonviolent inmates out of prisons and into county jails. "I'm hopeful that in five to 10 years, the California criminal justice system will have a different shape."

James Bell Jr., 57, has always worked to help juvenile offenders, first as an attorney and now as founder and executive director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute. The institute investigates the overrepresentation of young people of color in detention centers.
In one case, researchers found that intake officers treated young people rated as low risks differently - the white kids were sent home, the kids of color were detained. "They were conflating the risk for public safety with the social needs of the kids. So if there was no father at home, or the kid hadn't been to school for four days, the officer would hold him," Bell said.
And by instituting a notification system that reminded juveniles about an upcoming court date, the "failure to appear" rate for African American juveniles dropped from 47 to 19 percent in Baltimore County, Md.
"That's a huge savings to the county and keeps the kid from spending two to four days in detention on a bench warrant," Bell said. "Every day a kid of color spends in detention, he's getting further behind."
Back to her "we've got to keep struggling" dream: Paterson could have been speaking for her activist colleagues: "Really, do I have the choice to say, 'I give up?' I just don't."

Nikki Fortunato Bas (second from right), of East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, prays with clergy before talking with truckers at the Port of Oakland.
Photo: Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle

2012-01-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

2012-01-01 "Lawyers offer free consultations at public libraries in Benicia, Vallejo" by Tony Burchyns from "Vallejo Times-Herald" and based on press-release from Solano County Library
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/news/ci_19655837]
Suzanne Sprague is the kind of lawyer who likes bringing the law to the people.
That's why she and some of her colleagues started the Lawyer in the Library program in Benicia.
Sprague and other lawyers spend two hours a month at the Benicia Public Library offering free consultations and referral services, mainly to those who lack access to the courts. The program is similar to successful ones in Vallejo and Vacaville.
"We just think it's a good community service for the people," said Sprague, an attorney with Gizzi & Reep in Benicia.
"We're not there to solicit business," she added. "A lot of times, we're just helping them find resources."
So far, about 10 attorneys are involved in the service, which offers 20-minute consultations on a first-come, first-served basis on the first Thursday of the month. The program started two months ago, with its third installment coming Thursday.
Sprague previously volunteered for a similar program that's been around for years at Vallejo's JFK Library. That program has become so popular that it's offered twice a month, on the first and third Wednesday.
"It speaks directly to me," said Vallejo JFK reference librarian Nancy Atkins, whose father Merton Wray was a municipal court judge in Whittier from 1965 to 1974. "It's extremely helpful to us that we have lawyers come in and give correct, relevant information. People are uniformly grateful. That's why it functions. Grateful people, and it's simple."
"And we don't use a bunch of paperwork," Atkins joked.
The program is meant to provide general legal guidance to residents with information that's meant to help them help themselves. People who may need help from a private attorney are generally referred through the Solano County Bar Association.
"It's only one facet of what a library does," Atkins said. "There are few other public agencies where you can go in and get free legal information and we think of it as an extension of the reference desk."
Sprague said the topics that come up run the gamut, but generally include bankruptcy, landlord-tenant disputes and family law issues.
"It's an opportunity to give back," said Scott Reep, who serves on the nonprofit Benicia Library Foundation board. Along with Sprague and others, he helped bring the program to Benicia.
It's not the first time Reep's done pro bono work. He said he started the nonprofit Law Center in Contra Costa County about 10 years ago. About 30 attorneys were involved when he left the board about four years ago while shifting his practice to Solano County.
"It would be nice to have something similar in Solano County," Reep said. He added that starting the library program is "a first step" in expanding free and low-cost legal services to the needy.
"Then we can direct people in the right direction," he said.
The volunteer attorneys may offer basic advice, but they will not act as people's lawyers. Nothing that is said or done during the program creates an "attorney-client" relationship. However, Sprague said discussions are considered personal and confidential.
While the State Bar of California urges all attorneys to devote at least 50 hours per year to providing free legal services, there's no public service requirement.
"It's a goodness of the heart thing," said Bob Hawley, the State Bar's deputy executive director. The profession promotes pro bono work, but he said it's really up to law firms and lawyers to meet that responsibility.
"There have been times when I've really been able to answer people's questions and I've really been able to help them," Sprague said. "The other thing is, this is just how I was brought up. Volunteering is just part of who I am. That's just me."

Legal Help: Free or low-cost services
"Lawyer in the Library" Program
Benicia Public Library
150 E. L St., Benicia
First Thursday of month at 6 p.m. (sign-ups start 5 p.m.)
Brief legal advice and referrals
Translators welcome
746-4343
www.benicialibrary.org

"Lawyer in the Library" Program
Solano County Library
John F. Kennedy Library
505 Santa Clara St., Vallejo
First and third Wednesdays of month at 4 p.m. (arrive early)
1-866-57-ASKUS (1-866-572-7587)

Solano County Family Law Facilitator
Hall of Justice
600 Union Ave., Fairfield
Monday, Tuesday Thursday, Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Services in Spanish offered Monday, Tuesday and Friday
(707) 207-7348
www.solanocourts.com

Legal Services of Northern California
1810 Capitol St., Vallejo
(707) 643-0054 or 1-800-270-7252
www.lsnc.net

Referral Service
Solano County Bar Association
744 Empire St., Suite 201, Fairfield
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.
$45 for matching client with attorney plus 1/2 hour consultation
(707) 422-0127
www.solanobar.org

Solano County Small Claims Advisor
General Information: (707) 207-7335
Direct consultation line: (707) 422-7433
Accessible Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon.
www.solanocourts.com/Courts/SmallClaims.html

Dispute Resolution Service
Solano County Bar Association
744 Empire St. Suite 201, Fairfield
(707) 422-5087

SafeQuest Solano
Services for sexual assault and domestic violence victims
(707) 421-6881 or (866) 487-7233
www.safequest.org

Equal Rights Advocate Advice and Counseling Hotline
1-800-839-4ERA
www.equalrights.org

Workers Rights Clinic
(415) 864-8208
Wednesdays, 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Women's Employment Rights Clinic
(415) 442-6647

Senior Legal Hotline
(800) 222-1753
Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.; Thursday until 7 p.m.

2012-01-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

2012-01-01 "Vallejo to lose redevelopment agency, weighs options" by Jessica A. York from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19655849]
Vallejo may not have the luxury of keeping its Redevelopment Agency running in the coming months, after last week's state Supreme Court ruling eliminated a buy-in option for local governments.
Instead of having the chance to keep the agency's doors open by reducing property tax flowing into the city's two redevelopment district coffers, Vallejo could now take about a $550,000 annual hit, the city's finance director said.
In eliminating redevelopment agencies, the state approved companion legislation to allow them to be reformed -- at a price. Specifically, the agencies would need to provide the state a large down payment and a continuing chunk of the agency's property taxes, to be redirected to schools.
On Thursday, the state's high court invalidated this legislation, ruling that it failed to align with state legislation protecting local money from state raids.
"We won't get the same revenue stream that we got as a redevelopment agency," city Finance Director Deborah Lauchner said. "(But) the way that they wrote the decision leaves it open for the Legislature to make the opt-in legal. I don't know what they're going to do."
Lauchner said a big chunk of that lost revenue comes from the elimination of the agency's debts. The Vallejo Redevelopment Agency has been repaying the city's general fund about $350,000 a year to pay down a debt of several million dollars, Lauchner said.
As the legislation stands, city coffers will lose about an $800,000 benefit, with about $250,000 reimbursed to continue paying the agency's staff, Lauchner said.
The city's next step will be to establish itself as the successor to the Redevelopment Agency and form an eight-member oversight board, Lauchner said. After that, the city will need to begin repaying agency debt, using cash from the city's two redevelopment district coffers and by selling off assets -- primarily waterfront property, Lauchner said.
"Once there's no more debt, the Redevelopment Agency automatically goes away, and it becomes regular tax base," Lauchner said.
Mayor Osby Davis said Friday that the court's decision was not expected, and will leave city leaders with many issues to resolve and ramifications to consider.
"It is a big blow," Davis said. "I expect staff will be briefing us on that some time in the near future."
Redevelopment in Vallejo has been broken up into two major areas: The 167-acre Merged Downtown Waterfront Redevelopment Area and the 490-acre Flosden Acres Redevelopment Area. The latter includes Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, the Solano County Fairgrounds and the Country Club Crest neighborhood.
The city's five-year Redevelopment Agency plan calls for general waterfront development, completion of the downtown parking garage, county fairgrounds development, community center renovations and other street and sidewalk repairs in blighted neighborhoods.
The state authorized redevelopment agencies more than 60 years ago as special property tax districts aimed at rebuilding neighborhoods and eliminating blight. The agencies grew to more than 400 statewide by July, when legislation eliminating them was enacted.
By eliminating the agencies, funds dedicated to redevelopment activities will be redirected to local municipal services, alleviating the state's obligation to cover those costs.
A court-issued freeze on the legislation was set in August, due to a lawsuit by the California Redevelopment Association, League of California Cities and others.

2012-01-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

2012-01-01 "Vallejo hits its second highest homicide rate in past 25 years" by Irma Widjojo from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19655850]
Vallejo's 18 homicides in 2011 were the second most in a quarter century, according to FBI data, and exceeded last year's by one.
The fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Vallejo resident Ceasar Villalobos on Dec. 23 capped last year's death toll at 18.
According to FBI data collected since 1985, the city had the highest number of homicides in 1994 at 30, and the lowest in 1997 with three.
The 2011 Vallejo homicide total, however, does not include a May 10 double-slaying in the unincorporated area of Vallejo. Solano County sheriff's deputies found both shooting victims separately in the 20 block of Reis Avenue.
The shooting death of Vallejo police Officer Jim Capoot on Nov. 17 was the year's most notable homicide. Capoot, 45, was killed during a foot pursuit of a bank robbery suspect. He was the fourth officer who has died in the line of duty in the Vallejo Police Department's history.

Fire deaths, accidents -
Four people also died in three separate fires last year. The victims included a couple in their 80s, a 39-year-old paraplegic man and a 59-year-old man.
A three-alarm fire in April also engulfed the vacant and fire-prone former Bill Lang Cadillac building, known to be a shelter for many homeless people. Although no one was injured, the fire displaced about 50 people, and the building was eventually demolished after it was deemed unsafe.
Another tragic accident in November also took the life of a 12-year-old boy, Joseph "Joey" Tafoya III, and seriously injured his 8-year-old friend, Kaleo Young. The two Vallejo boys were both sitting on a single skateboard heading downhill on Chapman Court when they wound up under a Recology Vallejo truck.

Some relief, changes -
Vallejo public enforcement agencies experienced some upswing last year with the return of a couple of special units and additional hires at the police and fire departments.
Through the federal SAFER grant, the Vallejo Fire Department was able to add three more firefighters, bringing the total number of city firefighters to 68.
Former interim Fire Chief Doug Robertson retired in May. He was replaced by Paige Meyer, who was named permanent chief in November.
The police department's SWAT team, suspended last year due to lack of funding, returned in April as a regional team with Benicia and Suisun City police departments to form the Southern Solano County Regional SWAT team. The new team has 13 Vallejo officers, six Benicia officers and two from Suisun City.
The department also returned to operating with two K-9 dogs in 2011.
At the beginning of the year, the Vallejo Police Department's Crime Suppression Unit, which focuses on street-level crimes, was combined with the Investigations Unit to form the Major Case Section because of restructuring and lack of manpower.
Through private and federal grants in 2011, the department increased its ranks, before Capoot's death, from 90 to 93 officers. The increase also enabled the Crime Suppression Unit to once again become a separate entity in October.

2012-01 "Activist News" by John Stephans of Napa Valley

2012-01-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

2011-12-31T21:37:00.000-08:00

2011-12-31 "Another Pelican Bay Prison SHU man dead after strip celled, blasted with 'ice cold air' in retaliation for peaceful hunger strike" by Deborah Dupre
[http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/breaking-news-man-dies-calif-state-sponsored-torture-scandal]
Another Pelican Bay Prison Hunger Striker has died this week according to an Examiner.com source Saturday evening. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has yet to announce the death, name or cause. State-sponsored torture continues throughout California's solitary confinement units prompting another prison to announce a mass hunger strike this weekend [http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/u-s-solitary-confinement-most-pressing-ignored-human-rights-issue].
This death "makes it three now here, all strikers and its sad," inmates at Pelican Bay Prison Segregated Housing Unit (SHU) solitary confinement said on Dec. 30, their message emailed to this reporter by a source late Saturday evening.
Prisoners in Pelican Bay Prison's SHU decided early this summer to protest tortuous conditions in isolation using the only peaceful means available to them, a hunger strike, quickly spreading to over a third of California's 33 prisons, 16 prisons where up to 12,000 prisoners refused food [http://www.presstv.com/detail/190665.html].
After the prisoners officially ended the strike, it resumed but ended again in October, Since then, at least three of the strikers "committed suicide," two in Pelican Bay State Prison’s SHU and another at Calipatria State Prison’s Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU).

Retaliation on hunger strikers continues -
"There have been reports of hunger striker leaders at Pelican Bay State Prison facing disciplinary action for their participation in the strikes," reported Sal Rodriguez for Solitary Watch [http://solitarywatch.com/].
One of the hunger strike leaders recently reported, "On November 30th, myself and several other men here (whom CDCR has labeled as 'leaders' of the peaceful-protests) received serious rule violations, charging us with 'causing a riot/mass disturbance' and they referred it for felony – prosecution, to the local D.A’s office.
"The Ad-Seg/ ASU units are bad news. I was never housed in them until being put in the one here on Sept. 29th. This was CDCR’s retaliatory action against (15) of us here.
"We were all isolated on a tier, in strip cells with nothing but a set of clothes and fish kit (spoon, cup, bar of soap, etc…), with ice cold air blasting outta the vents!"
Confinement in those ASU conditions reportedly lasted until October 13th, end of the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike.
By mid-October, prisoners had begun reporting “grave medical issues.”
A relative of a striker at Calipatria State Prison said, “Men are collapsing in their cells because they haven’t eaten in two weeks. I have been told that guards refuse to respond when called. This is clearly a medical emergency.”

Hunger strike resumes at Concoran State Prison, despite brutal retaliation -
Rodriguez states, "Since this time, there has been difficulty maintaining the momentum sparked by the first hunger strike, which notably led in a historic California Assembly hearing on the matter with promises of future Public Safety Committee inquiries into the system of solitary confinement.
With little progress by the slow-moving CDCR, ASU inmates at Corcoran State Prison were to resume or launch another hunger strike on December 28th.
A letter declaring the purpose of the strike with a list of demands, similar to the previous hunger strike Five Core Demands, has been published on December 30th.
Pelican Bay Short Corridor inmates wrote the letter below, dated December 22nd.
Pelican Bay Short Corridor inmates are considered leaders of the previous hunger strikes.
Their letter (below) reflects growing frustration and determination for their torturous situation.
The inmates are urging individuals to keep pressure on CDCR and the California government to fully address the human rights violations including torture by people at all levels of the California prison-industrial-complex.

Pelican Bay Short Corridor Update
(December 2011)
A Shout-out of respect and solidarity – from the Pelican Bay Short Corridor – Collective – to all similarly situated prisoners subject to the continuing torturous conditions of confinement in these barbaric SHU & Ad/Seg units across this country and around the world.
This is our update of where things currently stand and where we’re going with this struggle – for an end to draconian policies and practices – summarized in our “Formal Complaint” (and many related documents published and posted online, since early 2011)
As many of you know… beginning in early (2010), the PBSP – SHU Short Corridor Collective initiated action to educate people and bring wide spread exposure to – the (25+) years of ongoing – progressive human rights violations going unchecked here in the California Department of Corruption – via dissemination of our “Formal Complaint” to 100’s of people, organizations, lawmakers, Secretary Cate, etc… wherein, we also sought support and meaningful change.
The response by CDCR – Secretary Cate was “file an inmate appeal” (collectively, we’d filed thousands); therefore, after much reconsideration and dialogue, the collective decided to take the fight to the next level via peaceful protest action – in the form of hunger strike.
With the above in mind – beginning in early (2011)… we again sought to educate people about the ongoing torture prevalent in these prison systems – solitary confinement units; and pointing out our position that – the administrative grievance process is a sham, and the court system’s turned a blind eye to such blatantly illegal practices – Leaving us with no other meaningful avenue for obtaining relief, other than to put our lives on the line and thereby draw the line and force changes, via collective peaceful protest hunger strike action.
We believed this was the only – fully advantageous – way for us to expose such outrageous abuse of state power, to the world and gain the outside support needed to help force real change.
We requested support in the form of – asking people to write letters to those in power… we received more support than we ever expected – in the form of letters, rallies, and hunger strike “participants” – more than (18,000) similarly situated prisoners and some people on the outside!
All united in solidarity, with a collective awareness – that the draconian torture practices described in our “Formal Complaint” are prevalent across the land; and that – united in peaceful action, we have the power to force changes.
The hunger strike actions of (2011) achieved some success, in the form of – mainstream world wide exposure – solid, continuing outside support – some small improvements to SHU/Ad-Seg unit conditions … and assurances of more meaningful – substantive changes to the overall policies and practices re: basis for placement and amount of time spent, in such units – a substantive review of all prisoners files, per new criteria – and more change to the actual conditions in such units.
However, this fight is far from over! Notably, the second hunger strike action was suspended in mid-October … in response to top CDCR administrator’s presentation that the substantive changes be finalized… would be provided to “the stakeholders” (this includes our attorneys), within 60 days for comment. To date, CDCR hasn’t produced anything re: SHU/Ad-Seg policy changes; and PBSP’s Warden has not even replied to the (2) memo’s we’ve sent him concerning – additional program – privilege issues, per core demand #5 (see footnote #1 below)
Naturally, many people are not happy about CDCR’s failure to abide by their word – again – and they are asking… “what’s the next move in this struggle?”
Based on our collective discussions, our response is … people need to remain focused, and continue to apply pressure on CDCR, via letters, emails, fax, etc… summarizing the continuing core demands – immediately! There’s real power in numbers!! (see addresses to contact below, at footnote #2)
It’s important for everyone to stay objective and on the same page – remember… united we win, divided we lose. And, if we don’t see real substantive changes within the next 6 months… we’ll have to re-evaluate our position.
Additionally, now is a good time for people to start a dialogue about changing the climate on these level IV mainlines… As it stands now, these lines are warehouses, with all the money meant for programs – rehabilitation, going into guard pockets.
It’s in all of our best interests to change this in a big way, and thereby force CDCR to open these lines up and provide all of us with the programs and rehabilitative services that we all should have coming to us!!
Respect and Solidarity,
T. Ashker, A. Castellanos, Sitawa (s/n Dewberry), A. Guillen
-Dec. 2011-

Footnote#1: To date, we’ve received zero improvements re: core demand #5 … while Corcoran and Tehachapi have gained on canteen and dip-pull up bars – which, is all good. This is an example of what we pointed out in our “Formal Complaint” re: disparate treatment at PBSP-SHU compared to other SHU’s.
This is also a typical CDCR attempt to create discord and disruption to our unified struggle…we’re certain this feeble move will fail because all of us understand what our main objective is – an end to long term torture in these isolation units! It is our fundamental right to be treated humanely… we can no longer accept state sanctioned torture – of our selves! (and, our loved ones!) and we remain unified in our resistance!!

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) [http://www.nrcat.org/index.php] is now one of the leading groups dedicated to ending torture in U.S. prisons. It's specific focus is on the widespread use and abuse of solitary confinement according to James Ridgeway and Jean Casella of Solitary Watch [http://solitarywatch.com/].
At the core of NRCAT’s work is it’s “Statement of Conscience,” titled “Torture is a Moral Issue,” Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved — policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation’s most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable.
"Nothing less is at stake in the torture abuse crisis than the soul of our nation. What does it signify if torture is condemned in word but allowed in deed?
"Let America abolish torture now — without exceptions."
America's widespread torture of 100,000 people in solitary confinement [http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/07/24/hellhole-the-most-devastating-article-about-long-term-solitary-confinement-in-us-prisons-and-why-it-is-torture/] across the nation's prison-industrial-complex is one of the most pressing and ignored domestic human rights issues [http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/u-s-solitary-confinement-most-pressing-ignored-human-rights-issue].

2011-12-31T20:42:00.000-08:00

2011-12-31 "Truck of two visiting Navy personnel is shot at in Vallejo" from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19651921]
A group of men shot at the truck of two Navy personnel from Washington state early Friday, Vallejo police said.
At about 1:25 a.m., the two men, who are active duty military personnel, were walking out of the Coconut Grove, 905 Lincoln Road East, to their truck. Across the street, a group of men started verbally challenging them, police said.
One of the men from the group produced a handgun and threatened them further. The Washington men got into their truck and drove away, but police said they heard gunfire, and realized that the truck had been shot.
The back window was shattered, and a bullet hit one of the head rests, nearly missing one of the men. They were uninjured, and police found shell casings at the scene.
The reason for why the two were shot at was unclear.
Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at (800) 488-9383 or leave an anonymous message on the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (707) 644-STOP (7867).

2011-12-31T19:51:00.000-08:00

2011-12-31 "Wee Pals" comic-strip by Morrie Turner
[http://www.creators.com/comics/36/86036_thumb.gif]

2011-12-30T19:17:00.000-08:00

2011-12-30 "Judge upholds proposed Napa land use regulations" from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19645187]
NAPA -- A Napa Superior Court judge handed a Latino agency a defeat this week with a proposed ruling that Napa County's land use regulations do not violate state and federal fair housing and land use laws.
The court also ruled the county's "Density Bonus Ordinance" is valid, denying charges filed by Latinos Unidos del Valle de Napa y Solano (LUNA). The organization filed suit against the county in November 2009, alleging that county rules prevent construction of new affordable housing and have resulted in the loss of existing affordable housing.
In his decision, Judge Raymond Guadagni ruled the county's land use policies and practices do not discriminate against any group of people, including the disabled, farmworkers, families with children, female-headed households and Latinos. Further, he upheld the Density Bonus Ordinance, which allows the county to grant incentives or concessions to builders who agree to develop affordable housing beyond the minimums required by the zoning code.
This ruling was Guadagni's second and third in the LUNA lawsuit. The first, which challenged the sufficiency of the county's 2009 Housing Element to its General Plan, was denied in June.
The parties have 15 days to object to the proposed decision, after which the court is expected to make its final ruling.

2011-12-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

2011-12-29 "Occupy Oakland camp re-emerges, is quickly removed" by Demian Bulwa from "San Francsico Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/28/BACL1MHR7O.DTL]
A fenced-off triangle of land that became the new Occupy Oakland encampment was being dismantled by police Wednesday night after the property owner urged authorities to remove the squatters.
The 15 tents, makeshift kitchen and a bathroom on the city's industrial west side got the same treatment as other recent encampments - it was taken down almost as soon as it went up.
Since police dismantled Occupy Oakland's original tent city outside City Hall on Nov. 14, protesters fed up with economic inequality and corporate greed have sought to set up a new base for the cause and a new encampment for homeless people who gravitated to the movement.
Late last month, protesters tore down a fence around a vacant lot in the Uptown neighborhood before being ordered to leave. A few days later, a lot in West Oakland was occupied, then cleared out after the owner objected.
The new encampment, behind a chain-link fence topped by barbed wire, was first occupied last Thursday and named "Zion Cypress Triangle," according to Occupy protesters.
The site, bounded by Peralta Street, Mandela Parkway and 20th Street, was going to be a drug- and alcohol-free "winter camp" and "safe haven" for homeless people and activists, according to a camp organizer who identified himself as Christopher M.
It didn't work out that way.
Oakland police moved in shortly after 5 p.m. and began clearing out the campers and dismantling the tents and other facilities. Three protesters left voluntarily, 14 others were cited for trespassing and one demonstrator was arrested after failing to produce valid identification, police said.
"The property owner requested that Oakland police go in and remove the protesters from the property," Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said. "That's what we are doing."
Brian Collins, one of the partners who bought the property in 2006, said he learned of the encampment Wednesday and took "the appropriate steps to ask them to leave peacefully."
"Typically, we would ask them to leave first," Watson said. "In the past, they have left without any incidents."
The sweep means another move for Alex Thompson, 28. The homeless woman said she had moved from one Occupy camp to another since October, when she and her mother were evicted from an Oakland residential motel after a dispute with the owner.
Thompson said she had no income of any kind, or even identification, and did not want to seek help at a homeless shelter. She said she was happy to be the "camp dog-sitter."
"I'm not ready to go indoors," she said. "If I get tied to one place for too long, I don't do anything. At least out here I'm doing something."

A protester marks Occupy Oakland's new camp just hours before police moved in and dismantled it. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Alex Thompson entertains Yoda, a fellow camper's dog, at the new Occupy Oakland encampment at 20th Street and Mandela Parkway in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. About 16 tents have been pitched in the previously vacant lot but that number is expected to grow in the coming days. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Alex Thompson, a homeless woman who has lived at several Occupy camps, was among those evicted from the latest site. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Campers prepare a lunch in the kitchen at a new Occupy Oakland encampment at 20th Street and Mandela Parkway in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. About 16 tents have been pitched in the previously vacant lot but that number is expected to grow in the coming days. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

More than a dozen tents have been pitched at the new Occupy Oakland encampment at 20th Street and Mandela Parkway in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Campers Julion Lewis-Tatman (left) and Ben carry a trash bag of debris collected from the new Occupy Oakland encampment at 20th Street and Mandela Parkway in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. About 16 tents have been pitched in the previously vacant lot but that number is expected to grow in the coming days. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

More than a dozen tents have been pitched at the new Occupy Oakland encampment at 20th Street and Mandela Parkway in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

2011-12-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

"Occupy Eureka" in Humboldt County has been undergoing straight police terror and repression for a long while now. Older ladies have been fatally beaten with broken bones. People are being harassed and taken off the streets.

Localized Fascism is here, now.

It's happening from Concord to Vallejo, from Sacramento to Richmond...

2011-12-27 "You Can Jail the Resistors, But You Can't Jail the Resistance!"
INCARCERATION: Holiday Gift from Paul Gallegos to Occupy Eureka -
While the District Attorney vacations with his family for the holidays, he (ultimately responsible for actions of his office) has set in motion another campaign of harassment, wrongful arrests, and incarcerations.
* As you know, Anne Rian was locked up on X-mas morning "for a warrant". She was just bailed out today (Dec 27).
* The next morning, 4am-ish, Martin Katz was arrested "for a warrant" and is still in jail.
* Today (Dec 27th), Pat Kanzler was arrested for hanging her American flag banner with the words "Freedom of Speech" at the bottom on the main anti-first-amendment fence at the courthouse. She was released from jail.
* Also, today (Dec 27th), Keelan McWayne was arrested "for a warrant" and is still in jail.
What do the three people who were arrested "for a warrant" have in common? They all are dedicated Occupy Eureka demonstrators. They all were arrested in the 'no warning' mass arrest on November 14th. They all made sure to inquire about their court dates. NONE of them received notice in the mail to appear. All of them had signed for or been told that their dates were after the holiday. And NONE of them had, or could have, missed a date! (In fact, Martin went in to the court clerk on his own to make a Dec 28th court date!)
So, why the warrants and the cruel X-mas arrests?
We could call it absolute incompetence by the District Attorney's office (who is precisely the entity to cause warrants to be issued here), or we could call it deliberate and blatant action to stifle political dissent. Violating constitutional rights and locking people up to stifle dissent: the same reason that the county and the city and the DA have criminalized hanging a flag banner (or any sign) around the courthouse, and arrested Pat today. The DA's office won't tell us who has these bogus warrants.
Who will it be tomorrow?
*Call for the RELEASE OF MARTIN KATZ AND KEELAN MCWAYNE!
COME OUT TO OCCUPY EUREKA, HOLD SIGNS AND SUPPORT!
NO MORE BOGUS WARRANTS AND ARRESTS!!
*Leave message for Kelly Neal, Assistant District Attorney at 707-441-3051 and fax 707-445-7416
KNeel@co.humboldt.ca.us, pgallegos@co.humboldt.ca.us, districtattorney@co.humboldt.ca.us

As stated above, Martin Katz made a court date which is tomorrow morning, Thurs, at 8:00am. If he is still in jail, please show up to support Martin in court. Watch out: The DA's office might oppose his release back to the community like it has for other Occupy protesters!
Additional note: EPD's Sgt. Guy, while arresting Martin Katz, pulled out his nunchukas (his favorite torture weapon) to squeeze around Martin's limbs. Guy put them away, however, when a camera focused on him. Consequently, Sgt. Guy wrongfully arrested me for filming in November, had earlier tried to break my camera, and uses his nunchukas on non-violent protesters.
UPDATE as of 7:09pm: I just heard that Keelan was released!! yeah!! Martin Katz is still in jail. He is not on the court calendar for 8 in the morning, but Angie is!

2011-12-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

2011-12-26 "Port of Oakland looks to prevent another shutdown" by Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/26/BA511MG2U1.DTL]
There's a big reason why the Port of Oakland is worried about the potential business losses from another Occupied shutdown - they're on the hook for $1.2 billion.
That's how much the port spent on all of those new big white cranes and other improvements that were part of an ambitious Vision 2000 program instituted by the port a few years back.
Next year, annual payments on the loan will be at $115 million.
And that's one of the reasons port First Vice President Gilda Gonzales tells us they plan to have "very frank and clear" discussions with Mayor Jean Quan about what "federal, state and local" options are available to keep the port's gates open.
"Businesses are not happy about what has happened," Gonzales said. "They are asking what is our plan? And I think that is a legitimate question."
Gonzales' comments came on the heels of Quan telling Chronicle editors that the city could not guarantee keeping the port open.
Gonzales said she had spoken to the mayor about the comment and that Quan said she had been misquoted.
FYI, Quan's comments were taped.

2011-12-26T11:41:00.000-08:00

Whole Foods is just another anti-labor business for the upper-class!

Their management terminated the employment of a loyal worker who was only asking for her human-rights to be recognized. Fascism is the political philosophy where human-rights are secondary to business-rights.

Is this still the "Land of the Free"?

Natalia Fon

Victim of localized fascism

2011-12-26 "Picket against Whole Foods victimisations"
[http://internationalworkersassociation.blogspot.com/2011/12/picket-against-whole-foods.html]
Today saw the London Solidarity Federation [www.solfed.org.uk] hold a picket in support of a victimised Whole Foods worker. The action was held in conjunction with protests in Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Reno and San Francisco.
The demonstration had been called in defense of Natalia, a San Francisco Whole Foods worker who was sacked for speaking up in support of herself and her workmates and took place outside the Soho branch of Whole Foods in London.
The picket was a resounding success. Solidarity Federation members turned up from both the North and South London locals (including a visitor from Hull Solidarity Federation) and were supported by Anarchist Federation members and trade unionists. Public reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with numerous customers not only vocalising support, but refusing to go into the shop. Some of the most vociferous supporters even went into the store to speak to management about the abuses taking place in San Francisco. This activity was bolstered even further as SolFedders entered the store to speak to and flier customers directly.
Our message to Whole Foods is simple: International solidarity will continue until Natalia is reinstated with back pay.
Facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Natalia-at-Whole-Foods/237561452981445]
The flier we handed out is attached: [http://www.solfed.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/whole_foods_amended.pdf]

2011-12-22 "The Bay Area is organizing hella solidarity actions across the country and demanding Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods! Reinstatement now!"
[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Natalia-at-Whole-Foods/237561452981445]
The Bay Area is organizing hella solidarity actions across the country and demanding Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods! Reinstatement now!
[Photograph caption] Natalia's store in San Francisco's South of Market (SOMA) district. Bay Area activists and working class organizers came out in full force to protest Natalia's unfair firing and demand her reinstatement. Many customers were turned away after hearing Natalia's story and learning about Whole Food's terrible treatment of good workers.

2011-12-22 "Seattle Solidarity Network demands Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods!!"
[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Natalia-at-Whole-Foods/237561452981445]

2011-12-22 "Workers in St. Paul, Minnesota demand Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods!!"
[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Natalia-at-Whole-Foods/237561452981445]

2011-12-22 "Workers in Portland, OR joined the Justice for Natalia movement by picketing at Whole Foods!!"
[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Natalia-at-Whole-Foods/237561452981445]

2011-12-15 "Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods: Reinstatement Now!"
[http://www.change.org/petitions/justice-for-natalia-at-whole-foods-reinstatement-now]
Why This Is Important -
Natalia, a former worker at corporate grocery giant Whole Foods who had
reached the $19-per-hour salary cap for her position, was fired after 13 years of working for the company, without having received any warnings or write-ups.
Any employee, especially one who has been dedicated for 13-years, deserves to be able to defend themselves against unfounded accusations that greatly damage their livelihood. Contrary to Whole Food’s progressive rhetoric Natalia was denied the opportunity for due process prior to her termination, despite overwhelming support from her co-workers, customers, and the community. Unfortunately, democracy is not a core value at Whole Foods.
Natalia is demanding her job back at her previous wage with full back pay.
Please voice your demand for Natalia's reinstatement at Whole Foods by signing this petition and contacting Whole Foods Regional President David Lannon by emailing david.lannon@wholefoods.com or calling 510-428-7400.

Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods -
Facebook: [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Natalia-at-Whole-Foods/237561452981445]
You Tube: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTMlx31bf8]

Sample letter -
Support Natalia at Whole Foods.
Greetings,
I just signed the following petition addressed to: Justice for Natalia at Whole Foods.
Support Natalia at Whole Foods.
Natalia, a former worker at corporate grocery giant Whole Foods who had
reached the $19-per-hour salary cap for her position, was fired after 13 years of working for the company, without having received any warnings or write-ups.
Any employee, especially one who has been dedicated for 13-years, deserves to be able to defend themselves against unfounded accusations that greatly damage their livelihood. Contrary to Whole Food’s progressive rhetoric, Natalia was denied the opportunity for due process prior to her termination, despite overwhelming support from her co-workers, customers, and the community. Unfortunately, democracy is not a core value at Whole Foods.
Natalia is demanding her job back at her previous wage with full back pay.
Please voice your demand for Natalia's reinstatement at Whole Foods by signing this petition and contacting Whole Foods Regional President David Lannon by emailing david.lannon@wholefoods.com or calling 510-428-7400.
Sincerely,
[Your name]

2011-11-25 "Justice For Natalia At SF Whole Foods SOMA" by "Laborvideo"
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTMlx31bf8]
Production Of Labor Video Project [www.laborvideo.org] [laborvideo.blip.tv]
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A solidarity picket was held on 11/23/11 to demand the rehiring of Natalia Fon and 13 year employee of San Francisco Whole Foods SOMA store. Call management at 415-618-0066 to rehire Natalia. To find out more information about this case and others go to EastBay Sol at 510-629-6561

2011-12-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

2011-12-25 "Wee Pals" comic-strip by Morrie Turner