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Oakland Coalition Fights State's Draconian Cutbacks

News
Oakland protesters rallied against severe cutbacks imposed by the State of California that will imperil low-income families, seniors, the disabled and poor children. Laurie Jones, director of Alameda County Social Services said, “These cuts hurt our families, they hurt our communities, they hurt our children, they hurt our most needy.”

Young People Lead Protest at Berkeley City Hall

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Homeless youth led a colorful protest at Berkeley City Hall, displaying scores of prayer flags in an appeal for compassion for homeless people targeted by a sitting-ban proposal. The Stand Up For The Right To Sit Down coalition scored at least a temporary victory by sending this proposal “to limbo.”

Building a Movement to Reclaim Public Spaces

News
Same-day protests were held in San Francisco, Berkeley and Portland to challenge laws banning sitting or lying by homeless people. These “copy-cat laws” travel from city to city, as municipal officials copy each other’s efforts to erode human rights by making it illegal for poor people to exist in public.

Creative Sit-In Challenges Berkeley Sitting Ban

News
A unique, quirky and imaginative protest was held at the Berkeley BART on May 22 to protest the City Council’s proposed sitting ban ordinance. Called a “Chair-a-Pillar,” the colorful act of defiance summoned forth a powerful historic echo of past sit-ins for civil rights.

Town and Gown Join Forces to Oppose Sitting Ban

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Human rights include not only civil rights, but economic rights as well. George Lippman, chair of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, said, “Nothing defines the right to human dignity more clearly than such elemental human needs as the right to sit, the right to rest, the right to eat.”

Oakland Tenants Are Targeted for Displacement

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Oakland tenant Aiyahnna Johnson said, “They caused us a lot of stress and anxiety in our community by trying to frighten us out of our housing. They have been trying to pressure us into signing documents in an effort to force us to move out of our homes.”

House Votes to Terminate Key Foreclosure Program

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“Last week, the U.S. told the United Nations that addressing homelessness here at home is a human rights obligation. Cutting vital housing programs gives the lie to those obligations — and damages our credibility as a leader in the world community.” — Maria Foscarinis, NLCHP executive director

Pentagon’s Stealth Spending Spree

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We’re reducing government spending by shrinking investment in our long-term well-being while ignoring the military budget. Even cutting nearly a trillion dollars out of the defense budget over the next 10 years would leave the government spending 14 percent more on defense than it did during the Cold War, according to an analysis by the Sustainable Defense Task Force.

Oakland Menlo Hotel Owner Charged with Arson Plot

By Lynda Carson on
News
The wealthy Tiburon owner of Oakland’s low-income Menlo Hotel has been arrested, and is facing 10 years in prison, on suspicion of hiring someone to burn down the residential hotel, according to officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

East Bay Hospital Is Closed for Good

By Terry Messman on
Features   News
The undeserved suffering of poor and homeless mental-health clients galvanized us to shut down East Bay Hospital so this anguish would never visit another family. This negligent psychiatric hospital had crammed disabled clients into shamefully overloaded wards in pursuit of higher profits. Now those once-crowded wards have been closed forever.

One Death Too Many at East Bay Hospital

By Terry Messman on
Features   News
Marc Kiefer was found dead in a locked isolation unit at East Bay Hospital after enduring nearly 18 torturous hours of physical shackles and shocking medical negligence. Kiefer was left dead in restraints for hours while East Bay Hospital’s negligent staff ignored him in death as they had in life.