Movement Generation

Movement Generations’ Earth Skills training track is a series of interactive, hands-on & land-based workshops. They are designed to help us restore and manage our relationship to our own work and to the resources that meet our basic needs. Organizers, community members and all participants will gain practical skills that both help communities weather the impacts of the economic and ecological crises, and lighten our collective footprint on the planet. We aim to cultivate these skills in organized communities that want to build grassroots power by creating place-based, community controlled economies.

Earth Skills Training #1 – Restoring Health, Childbirth & Independence from Industrial Medicine
Saturday March 24 | 10am-5pm |  Location TBA

In order for our communities to be truly resilient, self-sufficient and able to weather the impact of scare resources (money, services, etc.), being able to access ‘health care’ in the basic & broad sense and not depend on the medical industrial complex is crucial.
In this training we will highlight the importance of natural healing. We will talk specifically about restoring the role of Women in facilitating health, and look at the invaluable work of Midwifery and birth as a clear example of one of the most fundamental human experiences that has been co-opted and highly industrialized as part of the capitalist/dominant-culture way of life.

We are proud to bring you Sara Flores – Certified Nurse Midwife, Nurse Practitioner in Woman’s and Queer Health, Registered Nurse and founder of the ReCLAIM Collective of healers (Resisting Colonial Legacy & Its Impact on Medicine), Atava Garcia-Swiecicki – founder of Ancestral Apothecary, herbalist, flower essence, acupressure, massage and dream-work practitioner, as well as other amazing midwives and healers!

Participants will learn practical healing techniques from first-aid to making plant- medicine.

Earth Skills Training #2 – Bee Keeping
June (date TBA) | 10am-4pm  | Tassafaronga Community Garden: 975 – 85th Ave, Oakland 94621

Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced all over the world today. Bee Keeping is the practice and art of maintaining bee colonies in hives in order to collect honey and other valuable materials produced by bees that have been used for health and healing for many centuries.

In this training we will consider the importance of bees and other pollinators at a time when biological diversity is collapsing at the fastest pace humans have ever experienced. We will learn about what it takes to maintain a bee colony, how to harvest honey and other products of the hive, as well as how this practice can strengthen our local community of pollinators.

This training will be hosted by Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project at the Tassaforanga Recreation Center in East Oakland.

Earth Skills Training #3 – Gleaning in the City
August (date TBA) | 10am-4pm | Location TBA

Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Recently gleaning has become part of an overall urban sustainability strategy, with overgrown fruit trees in residential neighborhoods being a major source.

In this workshop we’ll come to understand just how to establish a gleaning operation, that can not only meet community nutrition and economic needs, but also fosters building neighborhood relationships and networks that provide security and support.

Earth Skills Training #4 – Rainwater Harvesting: Installing Rainwater Catchment Systems
November (date TBA) | 10am-4pm | Location TBA

Given the critical nature of securing water in a future of water scarcity, we are excited to offer this training in 2012, after a hugely successful Rainwater Harvesting training this past fall at the People’s Grocery Garden & Greenhouse in West Oakland.

“Water is Life” is a globally used slogan that captures the critical necessity all living things have for this precious element. And yet, it has been turned into a profit-making commodity that prevents numerous communities from accessing clean water for their health and survival.

In this training we will learn about one step we can take towards becoming stewards of our own water supply again.  We will install a simple and effective system to capture & store rainwater that falls on our roofs. This system is low-cost, low-tech and easy to duplicate in many urban settings!

Sign up for Movement Generation’s email newsletter, for up-to-date announcements as we develop details for each training.

Congratulations to the Indigenous Environmental Network and other communities and organizations for their victory in stopping the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline! The decision by the Obama administration to deny the permit to build and operate the pipeline is greeted as a victory by Indigenous peoples who have been fighting to block the massive project that would carry oil extracted from Canada’s tar sands to refineries across the US and Canada. The following statement was released on January 18, 2012 by the Indigenous Environmental Network, including statements from tribal leaders and native organizations.

Bemidji, Minnesota - Tribal leaders and Native organizations from the United States and Canada are standing together today pleased that President Barack Obama is acknowledging his pledge to listen to the voices of this countries’ original people, by rejecting the Transcanada Keystone XL pipeline. Recent months have brought tribal leaders to Washington DC requesting Obama to reject the pipeline. “Tribal governmental leaders from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, and the Sac and Fox Nation met with President Obama and his administration in Washington DC in early December to deliver a message to reject the Keystone XL pipeline in defense of Mother Earth,“ says Tom B.K. Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

“I say miigwetch, thank you, to the Creator for giving President Obama and the U.S. Department of State the courage, strength and wisdom to deny the presidential permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Lifting up this issue as a Native rights issue bringing our tribal grassroots and governmental leaders together with environmentalist and private land owners of the prairie lands sent a message loud and clear that this was the right thing to do,” said Marty Cobenais, lead pipeline organizer with IEN.

Debra White Plume, a grandmother of the Oglala Lakota Oyate who was arrested in the Washington DC protest of the pipeline says, “Rejection of the Keystone XL oil pipeline is a reason to celebrate! At least that source of contamination that was a threat of our drinking water sources, the Missouri River, and the Ogallala Aquifer has been removed. Now we just have to stop the uranium mining that is poisoning the aquifer every day.”

“President Obama and the State Department deserve our thanks for having the foresight and courage to reject the permit application for the pipeline.  The stated number of jobs on the project was so inflated that it started to outweigh the health, environmental and climate impacts being experienced by the Cree, Dene and Métis communities living downstream from the tar sands in Canada. In any of these carbon intense fossil fuel developments, and its pipeline infrastructures, economic externality costs have to be thoroughly assessed,” said Pat Spears, President of Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, based in South Dakota. “In the Northern Plains our tribes have alternatives for clean renewable energy.”

“This is one battle won for our Mother Earth,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, campaign coordinator with IEN Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign. “Other pipeline battles linked to the Canadian tar sands continue. We remain vigilant in our work with First Nations in Canada and grassroots leaders to halt the tar sands. We are working with activists in British Columbia to stop the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, and other pipelines throughout Canada.”

Over the course of a year, our friends at Global Justice Ecology Project, with the Global Forest Coalition, documented the impacts of and resistance to REDD, in Cancun and Chiapas, Mexico; in Acre, Brazil; and among environmental justice communities in California. We are excited to announce the premiere of “A Darker Shade of Green,” which puts this work into the compelling form of a short, sharp video.

As policies and programs to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and to enhance forest carbon stocks (REDD+) are promoted around the world by global and national elites, Indigenous Peoples and other forest-dependent communities are raising the alarm that these programs will have serious negative impacts – and will not reduce the cascading threats of the climate crisis. This 28-minute documentary introduces the many concerns about REDD from the perspective of the people who are most impacted, featuring interviews and testimonies from Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Uganda, India, and California.

Friday, January 27th
7-9pm
Eastside Arts Alliance
(2277 International Blvd, Oakland)

Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans (HOBAK) will be hosting the Bay Area premiere screening of short films by independent filmmakers about people’s struggles against the construction of a military base on Jeju Island.

On the island of Jeju, off the tip of South Korea, the South Korean government has been trying to build a huge naval base in Gangjeong Village that will not only host the Korean military, but also US naval warships and destroyers. From the beginning, the villagers have been resisting the construction of this base, but they have been brutally suppressed by the police and mainland military, as well as heavily fined for the “obstruction of governmental affairs.” This naval base threatens not only the ecosystem and the livelihoods of the villagers here, but the geopolitical balance in the region. Join HOBAK at Eastside Arts Alliance’s Final Fridays film screening to learn more about the incredible story of Jeju’s resistance against the naval base! Along with a full program and other solidarity activities:

INTERVIEWS — AnakBayan, Palestinian Youth Movement, and other allies will be interviewing each other about links between the many fronts against US imperialism around the world.

SONGS — performance by Dohee and Adria of Jeju Warrior.

VALENTINES GRAMS — send messages of love and resistance to people in Jeju.

This past Monday, Jan 16th, Movement Generation was proud to participate in Urban Tilth’s MLK Day of Service at the Richmond Greenway.  Each year, Urban Tilth throws an annual day of service that brings 100s of community members together.  This year, volunteers helped grow and maintain the beautiful community garden on the Richmond Greenway, while community organizations hosted tables of information and fun activities, and talented performers took the stage.

MG has closely partnered with Urban Tilth in the past year, currently collaborating with them through our resilience-based organizing work. For the event, MG hosted a table with materials and info posters, that made the connection between climate change and the global ecological crisis and the importance of Urban Tilth’s work to grow community resilience and localize their food system!  We were excited to be a part of the event, and to support Urban Tilth in doing the critical, powerful work that they are doing for communities in Richmond.

To learn more about Urban Tilth’s work, visit urbantilth.org.
And look out for information about next year’s day of service!

Occupy Wall St West is calling a day of mass action centered in the SF Financial District to “occupy” banks & corporations attacking our communities, homes,
education, environment, livelihood and democracy.

General mass mobilization times are at 6AM, Noon and 5PM. There are many actions happening throughout the day, but here is a list of highlighted actions initiated by labor and community groups.

Wells Fargo HQ Action
8:00am @California and Montgomery
Contact:  Sasha Wright, Pride at Work, sasha4justicia@gmail.com

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

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:  Jaron Browne, POWER, jaron@peopleorganized.org

You can visit www.occupywallstwest.org for a more detailed list of all J20 actions.

Catch this great read, by Aileen Suzara – a participant in our last Earth Skills Workshop on rainwater harvesting, and a long-time community activist and friend.  She makes deep connections between what she learned at the workshop and her Filipina  experience and history.

—————

By Aileen Suzara
Re-posted from Kitchen Kwento

Back to barrel basics. BarrelManApps and Movement Generation.

If you haven’t yet seen the barrel man in real life, don’t let me spoil it. Let me just say that both the iconic wooden figurine and its hidden “surprise,” and the concept of saving rainwater in barrels, are familiar to many Filipinos.

But being a Filipina raised in the States means there are things I’ve had to relearn that would have been second nature to my grandparents. I enrolled in Tagalog 101 as a 20-year-old and struggled to wrap my tongue around conjugations. I worked my way through Filipino cookbooks with the help of a dog-eared English-Tagalog dictionary. I tried my feet at sipa and made my mom look like a World Cup champion of our native hackeysack. Last weekend was another experience of getting back to the basics, this time with water. I went to learn rainwater harvesting 101 through a workshop organized by Movement Generation.

Walking in, I wondered what other 20-something Filipino/Americans would think of this workshop. While my parents raised my sister and I to be resource-conscious as a practical matter, saving rain to wash clothes or irrigate plants was not a part of our daily lives in the US. It was only when I first visited the Philippines that I saw ordinary folks catch rain on an everyday basis. It was not unusual to experience brownouts, those times when the water was cut off and the tap ran dry. In preparation for days like these my uncles and aunties stored many heavy, colorful barrels of water in backrooms.

I adored taking cold tabo showers and how my skin felt to bathe in rainwater. But while it seemed like a novelty to my American-born self, it was normal survival mode for those who understood water would not always come from a faucet.

The workshop was full of educators, community, and gardeners intent on applying these skills to their daily work and lives. We started from the beginning, refreshing on the water cycle and our place in the watershed. Brock Dolman, one of the facilitators, framed the water crisis as something even more immediate than food security. If we or our crops are thirsty and we cannot access clean water, how can we survive?

Participants took part in the hands-on work to install a system to channel water from the roof into a series of interconnected barrels. We drilled holes, hoisted barrels into place, and installed a gutter. I was struck not just by how accessible it all was, but just how absurd that a most fundamental right to water has been privatized, polluted, and taken out of reach for so many. It’s that crazy. As we closed the workshop it felt right on time when a light rain began to sprinkle and the first sheen of water slicked the roof.

In leaving the workshop I felt not only more skilled to adapt water saving skills in my urban environment, but even more fired up to steward the water we all depend on…becoming another kind of barrel (wo)man.

Climate Justice Now! Press Release
Reposted from Global Justice Ecology Project

Video by Rebecca Sommers covering the Climate Justice Now! press conference, and protests that happened at the end of COP17.

Durban, S. Africa, 11 December, 2011 – Decisions resulting from the UN COP17 climate summit in Durban constitute a crime against humanity, according to Climate Justice Now! a broad coalition of social movements and civil society. Here in South Africa, where the world was inspired by the liberation struggle of the country’s black majority, the richest nations have cynically created a new regime of climate apartheid.

“Delaying real action until 2020 is a crime of global proportions,” said Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International. “An increase in global temperatures of 4 degrees Celsius, permitted under this plan, is a death sentence for Africa, Small Island States, and the poor and vulnerable worldwide. This summit has amplified climate apartheid, whereby the richest 1% of the world have decided that it is acceptable to sacrifice the 99%.”

According to Pablo Solón, former lead negotiator for the Plurinational State of Bolivia, “It is false to say that a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol has been adopted in Durban. The actual decision has merely been postponed to the next COP, with no commitments for emission reductions from rich countries. This means that the Kyoto Protocol will be on life support until it is replaced by a new agreement that will be even weaker.”

The world’s polluters have blocked real action and have once again chosen to bail out investors and banks by expanding the now-crashing carbon markets – which like all financial market activities these days, appear to mainly enrich a select few.

“What some see as inaction is in fact a demonstration of the palpable failure of our current economic system to address economic, social or environmental crises,” said Janet Redman, of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies. “Banks that caused the financial crisis are now making bonanza profits speculating on our planet’s future. The financial sector, driven into a corner, is seeking a way out by developing ever newer commodities to prop up a failing system.”

Despite talk of a “roadmap” offered up by the EU, the failure in Durban shows that this is a cul-de-sac,  a road to nowhere. Spokespeople for Climate Justice Now! call on the world community to remember that a real climate program, based on planetary needs identified by scientists as well as by a mandate of popular movements, emerged at the World People’s Summit on Climate Change and Mother Earth in Bolivia in 2010. The Cochabamba People’s Agreement, brought before the UN but erased from the negotiating text, offers a just and effective way forward that is desperately needed.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

On technology

“The technology discussions have been hijacked by industrialized countries speaking on behalf of their transnational corporations,” said Silvia Ribeiro from the international organization ETC Group.

Critique of monopoly patents on technologies, and the environmental, social and cultural evaluation of technologies have been taken out of the Durban outcome. Without addressing these fundamental concerns, the new technology mechanism will merely be a global marketing arm to increase the profit of transnational corporations by selling dangerous technologies to countries of the South, such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology or geoengineering technologies.

On agriculture

“The only way forward for agriculture is to support agro-ecological solutions, and to keep agriculture out of the carbon market,” said Alberto Gomez, North American Coordinator for La Via Campesina, the world’s largest movement of peasant farmers.

“Corporate Agribusiness, through its social, economic, and cultural model of production, is one of the principal causes of climate change and increased hunger. We therefore reject Free Trade Agreements, Association Agreements, and all forms of the application of Intellectual Property Rights to life, current technological packages (agrochemicals, genetic modification) and those that offer false solutions (biofuels, nanotechnology, and climate smart agriculture) that only exacerbate the current crisis.”

On REDD + and forest carbon projects
“REDD+ threatens the survival of Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities. Mounting evidence shows that Indigenous Peoples are being subjected to violations of their rights as a result of the implementation of REDD+-type programs and policies,” declared The Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities against REDD and for Life.

Their statement, released during the first week of COP17, declares that “REDD+ and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) promote the privatization and commodification of forests, trees and air through carbon markets and offsets from forests, soils, agriculture and could even include the oceans. We denounce carbon markets as a hypocrisy that will not stop global warming.”

On the World Bank and the Global Climate Fund

“The World Bank is a villain of the failed neoliberal economy,” says Teresa Almaguer of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance in the U.S.

“We need a climate fund managed by participatory governance, not by an anti-democratic institution that is responsible for much of the climate disruption and poverty in the world.” “The Green Climate Fund has been turned into the Greedy Corporate Fund,” said Lidy Nacpil, of Jubilee South. “The fund has been hijacked by the rich countries, on their terms, and set up to provide more profits to the private sector”

On the Green Economy

“We need a climate fund that provides finance for peoples of developing countries that is fully independent from undemocratic institutions like the World Bank. The Bank has a long track record of financing projects that exacerbate climate disruption and poverty” said Lidy Nacpil, of Jubilee South. “The fund is being hijacked by the rich countries, setting up the World Bank as interim trustee and providing direct access to money meant for developing countries to the private sector.  It should be called the Greedy Corporate Fund!”

Climate policy is making a radical shift towards the so-called “green economy,” dangerously reducing ethical commitments and historical responsibility to an economic calculation on cost-effectiveness, trade and investment opportunities. Mitigation and adaption should not be treated as a business nor have its financing conditioned by private sector and profit-oriented logic. Life is not for sale.

On climate debt

“Industrialized northern countries are morally and legally obligated to repay their climate debt,” said Janet Redman, Co-director of the Sustainable Energy & Economy Network at the Institute for Policy Studies. “Developed countries grew rich at the expense of the planet and the future all people by exploiting cheap coal and oil. They must pay for the resulting loss and damages, dramatically reduce emissions now, and financially support developing countries to shift to clean energy pathways.”

Developed countries, in assuming their historical responsibility, must honor their climate debt in all its dimensions as the basis for a just, effective, and scientific solution. The focus must not be only on financial compensation, but also on restorative justice, understood as the restitution of integrity to our Mother Earth and all its beings. We call on developed countries to commit themselves to action. Only this could perhaps rebuild the trust that has been broken and enable the process to move forward.

On real solutions

“The only real solution to climate change is to leave the oil in the soil, coal in the hole and tar sands in the land.” Ivonne Yanez, Acción Ecologica, Ecuador

For more information, contact:

Mike Dorsey – mkdorsey@professordorsey.com, or call+27 (0)79 863 8756 or +1-734-945-6424

Nick Buxton – nick@tni.org or call +27(0)81 589 8564 or +1 530 902 3772

On Dec 3, in solidarity with 1000 Durbans, 75 people came together to build up community resilience in East Oakland — a real solution to climate disruption. Under the leadership of Acta Non Verba and Communities for a Better Environment, we doubled the raised beds at a community farm.

From toddlers to high school students to elders, we worked, made art, shared food, and played together. We shared messages from communities fighting dirty energy from the Philipines to Durban.

As part of our efforts to connect movements, Occupy Oakland issued a statement of solidarity with the social movements in Durban exposing the Conference of Polluters and the communities who are building the real solutions to climate disruption.

We are organizing together!

Special shout out to FACES (Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity) – they held a fun paper lantern (“parol”) making table, and to the Castlemont High School Green Pioneers, who shared with us their final projects and their infinite wisdom.

Here are some inspiring words from Nile Malloy, Regional Director of Communities for  Better Environment – NorCal:

“Thank you all so much for blessing the space this past Saturday in East Oakland and building out the 10 raised beds.  With less than a week to put this together, we all just took action and THREW DOWN!

It was a beautiful day with beautiful people getting our hands dirty, building together, enjoying the December sun, building our food justice movement, strengthening our intergenerational with families and youth with around 100 folks that came thru to participate throughout the day.

Let’s keep planting seeds of action for our future harvest of having more access to more vacant, public, private, and idle land for local food.”

You can also read Acta Non Verba’s “Open Letter of Thanks”, from Director Kelly Carlisle, HERE.

As part of the 1000 Durbans Day of Action for Climate Justice, we produced posters that illustrate the linkages between toxic industries in Durban, South Africa and the Bay Area, California.  These posters were put on display at the Bay Area’s 1000 Durbans action – a community garden work day at the Tassafaronga Farm in East Oakland.  Now, here they are available online.

Click on each image to download:

Design by Ellen Choy. For higher resolution versions, contact ellen@movementgeneration.org.

975 – 85th Avenue

Even as the 1% profiting from pollution and environmental racism here in Oakland and around the world, they continue to propose false solutions to climate change designed to make more profits instead of improve the health of people and the planet.

MG stands in Solidarity with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance & LA Via Campesina North America, as we call on our allies to mobilize on Saturday, December 3rd for

Movement Generation will also join Communities for a Better Environment and other allies at the Tassafaronga Recreation Center in East Oakland to foster community- based solutions that feed the hearts and minds of the people! CBE is working to reclaim city and public land through expanding the Tassafaronga Farm in East Oakland from 10am to 4pm. Email us for more details at michelle@movementgeneration.org.

To read more about the 1000 Durbans Global Week of Action, and to see other actions happening around the US, visit www.grassrootsclimatesolutions.net.

The Funders Network on Transforming the Global Economy has just released a dynamic 9-minute film, documenting recent grassroots climate justice organizing. Centering around efforts to overturn California’s historic global warming legislation, the film highlights how community organizations and networks throughout the state played a crucial role in mobilizing the vote in immigrant and low income communities to defeat Proposition 23, making the case that equity-based and community-driven solutions are essential in bringing about the deeper restructuring of societies to confront the climate crisis.  The well-produced video features many allies and friends, including MG staff.
Visit the film’s website at wherewelivefilm.org.

Join tenant and homeowner groups together with Causa Justa:: Just Cause, Occupy SF, SF Tenants’ Union and a host of others on Saturday, Dec. 3 in San Francisco.  We gather and rally in four neighborhoods in San Francisco who have experienced high rates of evictions for profit, and highlight the local struggles of the 99% against banks, and real estate speculators. Then join us for a Mass March at 3pm from Justin Herman Plaza. Demand housing justice and corporate accountability! The march will stop at a number of corporate targets including Wells Fargo Bank.

Dec 3rd Schedule:
Bayview: 11am, 3rd and Palou
Castro: 12pm, Harvey Milk Plaza (Castro and Market)
Mission: 1pm, corner of 24th and Mission
Tenderloin: 2pm, Civic Center
MASS MARCH: 3pm, Justin Herman Plaza

Tuesday, Dec. 6, Oakland

Causa Justa::Just Cause with Occupy Oakland and many other community organizations will be part of a National Day of Action to Stop Foreclosures. Homeowner meetings will take place Tuesday, Nov. 22, and Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 3463 San Pablo Ave 6:30pm.

More details and updates on both actions at www.cjjc.org.

From westcoastportshutdown.org:

EGT and Goldman Sachs are the 1%. The Occupy movement is committed to shutting down the one percent and is using its collective political power in order to confront the 1% with mass mobilizations that shut down sites of profit.

More details and updates on the Shutdown at www.westcoastportshutdown.org.

Featuring a conversation with:
Elias Araujo, MST Maranhão State-level Coordinator and
Janaina Stronzake, MST Activist and Scholar

Learn how a movement can come to scale while holding true to principles of bottom-out democratic engagement.    Learn about the MST’s model of building power through fostering resilience. And hear their thoughts about the Occupy movement and what it means for building people’s power in the US!

The MST works with peasants to identify and settle on underutilized land, gain legal title to the land and bring it into productive use. Through these efforts, over to 350,000 families have been settled and another 89,840 families are living in encampments, awaiting title to their land. Here in the U.S., we dream of a movement that can foster resilience and resistance while restoring land and livelihood in a way that sparks people’s vision of what is possible and necessary. So we are excited to learn from these leaders who are helping to build such a movement to transform consciousness and material reality in Brazil.

The fight against the Keystone XL Pipeline has culminated to massive direct actions this past year, led by First Nations and other communities standing up against a dangerous oil-industry development project that puts lives and land at stake.  The following statement is a great show of support from the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly, and is in response to an opportunistic front group called “Jobs for the 99%.” Read the statement below.

———————————————————————-

The General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street dissociates itself from the “Jobs for the 99%,” which is a front for groups supporting the Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline would transport tar sands oil. It would mean “game over” for the climate, pollution of pristine aquifers, the killing of long-term, existing jobs and devastation of First Nations communities.

The leadership of the unions behind this campaign have made a public alliance with the oil industry and Tea Party funders.

Big Oil and Tea Party billionaires are part of the 1% . The reference to the 99% is opportunistic and misleading.

We express solidarity with the unions that oppose Keystone XL and support a transition to a sustainable, green economy, namely the Transport Workers Union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Domestic Workers United. We also applaud those hundreds of rank-and-file members of all unions who have publicly expressed their opposition to Keystone XL pipeline.

We dissociate ourselves completely from this attempt at co-optation by the 1% in order to preserve our movement as the 99%, and as definitive precedent to dissuade future attempts of co-optation.  Thank you!  Peace, Love and Justice!

General Assembly, Occupy Wall Street, New York City

On Wednesday, November 2, thousands of Oakland residents, students and workers will be participating in a General Strike and Mass Day of Action – in solidarity with the worldwide Occupy Movement. The goal of the general strike is to shut down the city of Oakland for one day to show that it truly is the 99%, not the 1%, that controls what happens in our society.

Movement Generation has been working closely with groups organizing events during the day – including two marches on the big banks, as well as the family bike/stroller brigades.  Below is a listing of the main actions happening throughout the day, that are planned so far.  Join the mass day of action, as the world watches Oakland shut down the 1%!

< ![endif]--> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE < ![endif]--> < ![endif]-->
< ! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} -->

MEALS will be served throughout the day at Oscar Grant Plaza, including a healthy lunch provided by People’s Grocery, Farm to Table, Food First and other food justice community groups from 12pm-2pm!

See you Wednesday!

< ![endif]--> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE < ![endif]--> < ![endif]--> < ! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} table.MsoTableGrid {mso-style-name:"Table Grid"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-priority:59; mso-style-unhide:no; border:solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-border-insideh:.5pt solid windowtext; mso-border-insidev:.5pt solid windowtext; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} -->

9:00am

Oscar Grant/ Frank Ogawa Plaza

General Strike Mass Convergence #1
+ meet up for Morning March on Banks
MORE INFO

Including: “I Will Survive…Capitalism” Flashmob
[Join Us!] MORE INFO http://on.fb.me/sOsdFb

12:00pm

Oscar Grant/ Frank Ogawa Plaza

General Strike Mass Convergence #2
+ meet up for Afternoon March on Banks

MORE INFO

12:00pm

Main Library (14th & Madison)

Family Bike/Stroller Brigade #1

MORE INFO

2:00pm

Telegraph & Broadway

Anti-Capitalist March

MORE INFO

3:00pm

Main Library (14th & Madison)

Family Bike/Stroller Brigade #2

MORE INFO

3:00pm

Main Library (14th & Madison)

Youth Teach-In/Gathering
For middle & high school aged youth: meet other youth + learn about Occupy Oakland!

5:00pm

Oscar Grant/ Frank Ogawa Plaza

General Strike Mass Convergence #3
+ March to Shut Down the Port of Oakland

MORE INFO

NOVEMBER 2nd – During the Oakland General Strike

In honor of Occupy Oakland’s General Strike and Day of Action November 2nd, join Oakland’s 99% to march on the banks and Foreclose on the 1%!

The Banksters have been robbing the 99% for too long.
It’s time to STOP THE HOLDUP: Foreclose on Wall Street and Fund Our Communities!

JOIN US Weds. NOV. 2 as we march on the banks! We ARE the 99%

Meet @ 9 AM, Oscar Grant/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, Oscar Grant/Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, Broadway & 14th St. for lunch and another march.

Occupy Oakland will gather again at 5pm at the Plaza to march to the Port of Oakland and shut it down!

–
RSVP on Facebook HERE.

–
The morning and afternoon marches and bank actions have been spearheaded by LeftBay99, a loose coalition of Bay Area social justice and community-based organizations.

NOVEMBER 2nd – During the Oakland General Strike
12pm and 3pm
Meet up at the Oakland Main Library (14th ST & Madison)

Parents and families of the Oakland area are excited to demonstrate their solidarity with the growing movement of the 99% and are working to create real change for our children’s futures.

Parents, Children, Teachers, and Librarians Unite!

It’s critical to have a diverse group of working families and children at the center of this movement. Lets Bike, Stroll, and Roll to Occupy.
…
In order to include as many children and families as possible, we’re going to have two chances for folks to gather and both will be at the Oakland Public Library Main Branch.

FIRST CONVERGENCE
12:00 Noon – Gather at Oakland Public Library Main Branch (14th and Madison)
12:30 PM – Bike, March, Stroll and Roll down to join the rest of the 99% at Children’s Village at Oscar Grant Plaza/Frank Ogawa Plaza.

The People’s Grocery, Farm to Table, Food First and others will be working on coordinating lunch for approximately 700 people at Occupy Oakland from 11 to 2pm. The lunch will consist of spinach salad with black beans and feta, ciabatta and fruit.

Children’s music performed Rock’n Kids Sing Along.

SECOND CONVERGENCE
3:00 PM – Gather at Oakland Public Library Main Branch (14th and Madison) Stories, Art and Organizing for Occupy Oakland (Teachers, Parents, Librarians unite)

There will be sidewalk chalk, stenciling “share” t shirts and have a “mamas mic” – basically a peoples’ mic led by women on what we want for our kids future.

4:30PM – Bike, March, Stroll and Roll down to join the rest of the 99% at Children’s Village at Oscar Grant Plaza/Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Lets all join our children in telling the 1% “Don’t You Dare Steal My Future”

See you in the streets Wednesday.

–
RSVP on Facebook HERE

Demand Mayor Jean Quan stop police repression on Occupy Oakland.
Click HERE to sign the petition!
We are in need of organizational sign-ons. Please email petition@cjjc.org to sign your organization on.