News Topics
Maria Poblet on Making Contact Radio Show
Occupy: From Encampments to a Movement
Listen to Making Contact radio program:
Making Contact's November 29 radio program featured a discussion about the future of the Occupy movement with members of several grass-roots social justice organisations - including Causa Justa :: Just Cause.
"This round-table discussion featuring Maria Poblet, executive director of Just Cause/Justa Causa; Steve Williams, co-executive director/co-founder of POWER;
Mass March Saturday, Dec 3 in SF, Dec 6, Oakland
Banks: No more Evictions and Foreclosures for Profit!
Join tenant and homeowner groups together with Occupy SF for a Mass March on Saturday, Dec 3, 2011.
From the subprime mortgage crisis that began our current recession, to bank bailouts, the rising rates of homelessness and policies like the Ellis Act that prioritize profit over people, housing has been central to...
Pancho's Free, But It's Still Not Over
Tell Alameda County Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern: Don't Make Police Immigration Agents. No More ICE Holds
After pressure from many of you, and the work of the communities he is a part of, Pancho Ramos has been released on his own recognizance.
This is something unusual (most people are kept in ICE custody for months, or even years) and clearly...
Social Justice Groups Engage Occupy Movement
By Ambika Kandasamy, New America Media
Social justice organizations in the Bay Area are joining forces with the Occupy movements in Oakland and San Francisco.
Local nonprofits that have been advocating for the eradication of economic inequities in various sectors of society for years are finding that the Occupy movements are presenting a unique opening to engage in dialogue across socioeconomic...
Oakland’s General Strike – A Victory of the 99%
Approximately 50,000 people turned out to mass actions held during the Oakland General Strike on November 2nd, called by the General Assembly of Occupy Oakland at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant plaza, and supported by dozens of community based organizations, unions, and activist groups. The actions shut down every major bank in downtown Oakland, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Chase,
Undocumented Youth Occupy Wells Fargo In Oakland
Story courtesy of News Taco
Undocumented youth leaders of the group 67 Sueños helped to shut down a Wells Fargo branch in Oakland as part of the Occupy Oakland movement over the weekend. We spoke to organizer Pablo Paredes who told us that 67 Sueños, a group advocating and organizing for a legalization program for undocumented young people, took their proposal about Wells Fargo...
Oakland General Strike: Building Solidarity
Thousands upon thousands of people turned out to mass actions held as part of the Oakland General Strike Nov. 2, called for by the General Assembly of Occupied Oakland at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant plaza. (check out this video!) The actions shut down several banks, snarled traffic, closed businesses around the plaza and downtown, re-routed buses, shut down the port and...
We should do this more often
Yesterday, 50,000 people participated in the mobilizations throughout the day and night, shutting down every corporate bank in downtown Oakland as well as the 5th largest Port in the nation. We called for taxation and accountability from big banks, and demanded investment in schools, services, healthcare, and housing. Movement veterans are calling this the largest mobilization in the Bay Area...
OPOA is not Confused and neither am I
The police violence against peaceful marchers last week was unconscionable. Someone has to be held responsible for the actions of officers who blatantly disregarded the rights of protestors to peacefully assemble, injured so many, and put Iraq Veteran and Community Activist Scott Olsen in a coma.
My organization started a petition last week calling on Mayor Jean Quan and the...
Foreclose on the 1%, Occupy the Banks!
AT OAKLAND'S GENERAL STRIKE AND MASS DAY OF ACTION
JOIN US WED. NOV. 2 as we march on the banks!
Meet @ 9 AM, Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, Broadway & 14th St. (we will be on the 16th Street side of the Plaza with the marching band)
Meet again @ 12 Noon, Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, Broadway & 14th St.
Can't Stop, Won't Stop
Occupy Oakland Transforms Ugliness In To Beauty :: Occupy San Francisco Thwarts Raid
We are immeasurably inspired. The 99% have continued Occupy Oakland and protected Occupy San Francisco. After a devastating early morning raid and a night of police repression and brutality, our people did what they had to do: they returned to the site by the thousands. This time the police stood down. In a triumphant return to Oscar Grant / Frank Ogawa Plaza, 3,000 members of the 99% held their General Assembly. It was powerful. It was peaceful. And it could not be stopped.
Across the Bay in San Francisco, over a thousand gathered to stop a planned raid ordered by Interim Mayor Ed Lee. Community organizations, labor unions and progressive members of the Board of Supervisors came down to defend the camp and risk arrest. Supporters from Occupy Oakland streamed across on BART to stand with SF. With hundreds picketing, chanting and rallying all through the night, the city wisely called the raid off.
Community organizations, labor, and faith leaders worked throughout the day yesterday, pushing the Mayors to back off and let the encampments continue and calling our people to come out and support. We told them the movement would not be deterred and the people would come back. This movement is now too big to fail.
If you haven't already, sign the petition to permanently prevent the raid in SF.
Go visit your local encampment. Stay a while. Let's find even more ways to connect Occupy, community organizing, labor, and all of the 99%, to keep this movement growing.
Demand Mayor Jean Quan Stop the Police Repression of Occupy Oakland
If your organization would like to sign-on, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
View full petition with signatures here.
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Oakland Mayor Jean Quan:
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with Occupy Oakland.
We are outraged by your decision to have that peaceful, lawful and inspiring assembly raided. We denounce police intimidation, harassment and incarceration of peaceful protesters. We call on you to drop all the charges against these community leaders, to release them immediately, and to allow for the restoration of the encampment.
Occupy Oakland has been a public forum, on public land, about matters of dire urgency to the public: unemployment, affordable housing, taxation, bank accountability, and the unconscionable and deeply racialized inequity between the 1% and the rest of us.
These very same concerns are the heart of the work of dozens of community organizations, labor unions, and activists throughout the SF Bay Area. Our government must represent these progressive commitments, and not pander to the 1%.
A city government of the 99% should work proactively to support the encampment with resources like medical assistance, electricity, and bathrooms.
A city government of the 99% should open its doors to the encampment, come down to hear the concerns of the protesters, and defend the constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
A city government of the 99% should take inspiration from the encampment, and use its power to meet some of its demands: taxing the rich, holding big banks accountable, job creation, affordable housing, healthcare, and so many rights our communities have been denied for too long.
What Oakland needs and wants is a city government of the 99%.
Filipino Advocates for Justice
APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network)
Liberation Ink, Worker Collective
SOUL (School of Unity and Liberation)
Global Justice Ecology Project
Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project
AYPAL (Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promiting Advocacy and Leadership)
Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative, San Francisco State University
POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights)
Center for Community, Democracy and Ecology
Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco
Global Women's Strike SF/Bay Area
California Reinvestment Coalition
US PROStitutes CollectiveCedar Tree Architects
Californians United for a Responsible Budget
California Prison Moratorium Project
Alliance for South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Jobs with JusticeOscar Grant Committee
Legal Services for Prisoners With Children
All of Us Or None, a project of LSPC
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)
Korean Community Center of the East Bay
East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)
Read more: Demand Mayor Jean Quan Stop the Police Repression of Occupy Oakland
Demand Mayor Ed Lee Not Evict Occupy SF
If your organization would like to sign-on, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and specify the SF petition.
View full petition with signatures here.
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Dear Mayor Ed Lee and Chief Greg Suhr,
We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with Occupy Oakland and the Occupy Movement across the country. We urge you to continue to stand with us by making a public commitment to not disband Occupy San Francisco and to not use force against peaceful protestors. We call on you to work with the Occupy movement to establish the living conditions and environment that we all desire.
We are outraged by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s decision to raid a peaceful, lawful and inspiring assembly. We denounce police intimidation, harassment and incarceration of peaceful protesters. We call on you to join us in our call to Mayor Quan and Police Chief Jordan to drop all the charges against these community leaders, to release them immediately, and to allow for the restoration of the encampment in Oscar Grant (a.k.a. Frank Ogawa) Plaza.
Today, the whole world is watching— not only Oakland, but also San Francisco. Around the world, people are looking to elected officials to stand in solidarity with the Occupy movement. Occupy San Francisco has been a public forum, on public land, about matters of dire urgency to the public: unemployment, affordable housing, taxation, bank accountability, and the unconscionable and deeply racialized inequity between the 1% and the rest of us.
These very same concerns are the heart of the work of dozens of community organizations, labor unions, and activists throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. A truly democratic government of the people must defend these commitments, regardless of the desperate pleas coming from the 1%.
A city government of the 99% should work proactively to support the encampment with resources like medical assistance, electricity, and bathrooms.
A city government of the 99% should open its doors to the encampment, come down to hear the concerns of the protesters, and defend our constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
A city government of the 99% should take inspiration from the encampment, and use its power to address the demands for taxing the rich, holding big banks accountable, job creation, affordable housing, healthcare, and so many rights our communities have been denied for too long. What San Francisco needs and wants is a city government of the 99%.
Not long ago, the world fretted that peaceful protestors in plazas across North Africa and the Middle East would be met with police batons and tear gas. Now is the time for San Francisco to stand by the freedom of speech. The whole world will be watching your actions. We call on you to stand with the 99%.
Organizational Signers:
POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights)
San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness
Wells Fargo: Foreclosed by the 99%!
Chants of “We are the 99%!” echoed through San Francisco’s Financial District on Wednesday, as Wells Fargo Bank found itself unable to operate for 5 hours, surrounded on all sides by protesters, it’s windows covered with huge “Foreclosure” notices.
Our demands of Wells Fargo were clear: a moratorium on foreclosures, respect for the rights of tenants in foreclosed properties, divestment from private prisons that turn a profit from immigrant detention, and that Wells Fargo pay their fair share in taxes.
Having advocated for these many times with Joseph Ohayon, Wells Fargo VP of Public Relations, we took the opportunity to put his phone number up on poster board, and ask hundreds of protestors call him, which quickly filled his voicemail with support for our demands. We look forward to our next interaction with him and will let you know how it goes!
We were honored to work with allies in labor, community, and with Occupy SF activists, to make this an inspiring and movement-building convergence, covered by more than 60 media outlets, bringing diverse communities to the fore, and putting the Bay Area on the map of resistance to the 1% that are hoarding the wealth and decision-making power that belongs to all of us. This was an international day of action, happening throughout Latin America, marking indigenous people’s day, and echoing the call of the “indigndados” (outraged) for economic justice on our continent.
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As a community-based organization of working class Black and Latino families defending their homes and their rights, we have had a bone to pick with the 1% for a long time. In July, the Pew Research Center reported that since 2005 median wealth fell by 66% among Latino households, and by 53% among Black households, compared with just 16% among white households. Most of this wealth was lost in the housing market, controlled by corporate giants like Wells Fargo, when families defaulted on predatory loans, or lost their entry-level jobs and as a result lost their homes.
Of course, then, we find common cause with the encampments springing up across the country, criticizing the unequal distribution of wealth. From Walls Street to Market Street, from union halls to CJJC’s membership meetings, there’s a promising new energy in our movement, and a new shared identity, as the 99%! We are hopeful that this is just the beginning of what we can do together.
Sat 10/15 is another international day of action, where there will be an exiting “Jobs not Cuts!” rally and march connecting with Occupy Oakland: http://jobs-not-cuts.org/
Check out some of the sympathetic coverage of 10/12, below!
San Francisco Bay Guardian Article:
KGO - Excellent representation of UNITE HERE Local 2850, a lead organization on this event:
Short Video by New American Media, featuring CJJC:
Please DONATE to CJJC to help us build up this work.
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