San Francisco Bay Area Labor Fest 2010

[praxis1966]

All types of cool shit will be going on throughout the month of July in the SF/Bay area. There'll be historical tours, book signings/readings, seminars, and discussion groups every day of the month as far as I know.

Full Schedule (http://www.revleft.com/vb/www.laborfest.net/2010/2010schedule.htm)

[Wolf Larson]

URL not found Are we speaking of this:

http://www.socialismconference.org/oakland

[praxis1966]

Yeah, we are, lulz. Much appreciated.

[Wolf Larson]

Yeah, we are, lulz. Much appreciated.
I'll be there one of the days (in oak)

[Jimmie Higgins]

It's actually 2 different things. There's Labor-fest which is a month-long series of events. Then there is the ISO Socialism 2010 conference which is this weekend in Oak-town.

Wolf, glad to hear you can make it for some of the conference. My girlfriend will be tabling there near the bookstore with her political art group and I'll be running around like a madman trying to help with the conference. I won't be there Saturday for the evening session, but if you are around for one of the other days, let me know we can get a beer or something.

I also recommend Labor-fest for some great things like a tour of the public-funded art from the 1930s that's still around in the bay area... walking tours of the locations important to the SF and Oakland general strikes (def. check this out if you live here because there's nothing like walking to work everyday and realizing that where you buy a burger or wait for the bus is the same place that a major working class struggle took place).

Both are good, but slightly different in approach. While our conference has presenters from a variety of different orgs or traditions, it i still an ISO conference and so we try and prioritize the questions and debates that we think are important right now both for socialists/radicals and our allies in various movements. I think it is also more activist-focused. Laborfest does not have these political/ideological things put up-front as much and tends to take a more historical education approach - at least from the sessions I've been to over the years.

Socialism 2010 (http://www.socialismconference.org/)

Labor Fest (http://www.laborfest.net/2010/2010schedule.htm)

And if anyone is curious... some of the talks from the 2009 and 2010 Chicago conferences can be downloaded as MP3s for free here:

WeAreMany.org (http://wearemany.org/)

[Jimmie Higgins]

If folks are available tomorrow night, Jack Bryson is going to be speaking about the Oscar Grant case (maybe unless the verdict comes out tomorrow - then we all might be a little busy with celebrations or protests or both).


Oscar Grant, Mass Incarceration, and the Death Penalty http://norcalsocialism.org/sites/default/files/images/oscar-grant-portrait.jpg

After kicking all African-Americans off of the jury and a half-hearted effort by the prosecution, officer Johannes Mehserle looks poised to get off lightly for the murder of Oscar Grant. Meanwhile, more than two million people are in prison, the United States continues to use the racist death penalty and police brutality is out of control. Attend this public meeting to discuss the out-of-control criminal injustice system and what we can do to stop it. There will also be updates for actions to be taken in case the jury fails to convict Mehserle. Come and add your voice!

Speakers:
Liliana Segura (http://www.alternet.org/authors/8550/) is an AlterNet staff writer and editor of Rights & Liberties and World Special Coverage. She also writes for CounterPunch (http://counterpunch.org/) and the New Abolitionist, a publication of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty (http://nodeathpenalty.org/).
Jack Bryson's sons were on the BART platform with Oscar Grant the night he was murdered by officer Johannes Mehserle. Jack is also a leading activist in the campaign to win justice for Oscar and charge Mehserle with murder.
Thursday, July 1, 2010 - 7:00pm


Oakland Marriott

Location:
1001 Broadway
Oakland, CA




(Map (http://maps.google.com/?q=1001+broadway+oakland+ca))

[Wolf Larson]

It's actually 2 different things. There's Labor-fest which is a month-long series of events. Then there is the ISO Socialism 2010 conference which is this weekend in Oak-town.

Wolf, glad to hear you can make it for some of the conference. My girlfriend will be tabling there near the bookstore with her political art group and I'll be running around like a madman trying to help with the conference. I won't be there Saturday for the evening session, but if you are around for one of the other days, let me know we can get a beer or something.

I also recommend Labor-fest for some great things like a tour of the public-funded art from the 1930s that's still around in the bay area... walking tours of the locations important to the SF and Oakland general strikes (def. check this out if you live here because there's nothing like walking to work everyday and realizing that where you buy a burger or wait for the bus is the same place that a major working class struggle took place).

Both are good, but slightly different in approach. While our conference has presenters from a variety of different orgs or traditions, it i still an ISO conference and so we try and prioritize the questions and debates that we think are important right now both for socialists/radicals and our allies in various movements. I think it is also more activist-focused. Laborfest does not have these political/ideological things put up-front as much and tends to take a more historical education approach - at least from the sessions I've been to over the years.

Socialism 2010 (http://www.socialismconference.org/)

Labor Fest (http://www.laborfest.net/2010/2010schedule.htm)

And if anyone is curious... some of the talks from the 2009 and 2010 Chicago conferences can be downloaded as MP3s for free here:

WeAreMany.org (http://wearemany.org/)

Look for a guy with a day of the dead skull with huge wings on the entire front of his neck. Great, now the NSA has a tattoo profile of me ;)

[ellipsis]

Laborfest looks fun, i would be interested in the public art tour. although most public toilets in SF parks are WPA projects. Coit tower is def on my list.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Laborfest looks fun, i would be interested in the public art tour. although most public toilets in SF parks are WPA projects. Coit tower is def on my list.They still have public toilets in San Francisco? Oh, they are from the 30s... that makes sense. Even our shit disposal has been privatized now.

[ellipsis]

They still have public toilets in San Francisco? Oh, they are from the 30s... that makes sense. Even our shit disposal has been privatized now.

Well I dunno who disposes of it. But yah there are public bathrooms in parks and also in little sliding door booths on the street, which are mostly used for drug use and prostitution IMO. Up in the Marina(bourgeois area), by the docks the public bathroom has white marble stone work, "My husband chadswerth and I refuse to use concrete facility, excuse me I'm late for yoga".

[Jimmie Higgins]

My worst nightmare is being in San Francisco and needing to find a public toilet and a pay-phone.

[Wolf Larson]

Well I dunno who disposes of it. But yah there are public bathrooms in parks and also in little sliding door booths on the street, which are mostly used for drug use and prostitution IMO. Up in the Marina(bourgeois area), by the docks the public bathroom has white marble stone work, "My husband chadswerth and I refuse to use concrete facility, excuse me I'm late for yoga".
Corner of 15'th and Mission pay toilet is where the action is at LOL. Before the mission was gentrified(1990's) homless people would pull their pants down and shit right on mission st. I think that was why they put those bigger pay toilets in? I'm pretty sure it's city but it may be private?

[praxis1966]

I'll be at Socialism 2010 tabling with the Wobblies on Friday and Sunday if any of you guys want to hit me up. As far as the Labor Fest activities go, I'm not sure yet which ones I'll be going to. If any of you guys plan on going to some of them, PM me and maybe we'll reprezent, RevLeft style.


Before the mission was gentrified(1990's) homless people would pull their pants down and shit right on mission st. I think that was why they put those bigger pay toilets in? I'm pretty sure it's city but it may be private?

And stupid asses from Pacific Heights on Yelp whine about people in Chinatown spitting on the sidewalks. *****, please. Also, this^ is so effin' punk rock, lulz.

[Wolf Larson]

have you lived in the tenderloin? i use to come out to my car and find people living in it (it happened twice). i was at 990 geary st over by the strip club right smack dap next to the methadone clinic. those were interesting times. way more interesting than anything in the bathroom at the corner of 15'th :) i kinda miss SF. oakland is a tad more mello.....as far as strange events go.

[praxis1966]

have you lived in the tenderloin? i use to come out to my car and find people living in it (it happened twice). i was at 990 geary st over by the strip club right smack dap next to the methadone clinic. those were interesting times. way more interesting than anything in the bathroom at the corner of 15'th :) i kinda miss SF. oakland is a tad more mello.....as far as strange events go.

Nah, never lived in "The City." I've only been here about a year and a half, all of it in East Bay. I did, however, work at the de Young for a while, which meant that in my escapades on public transit that I'd travel through it twice daily. Especially in the evening, when the bus I took back to Powell station was on shortened runs and its last stop was right in the middle of the TL, forcing me to walk at 9 and 10 at night to either the Civic Center or Powell station. I actually served as a de facto bodyguard for two women I worked with every night on that walk, one who lived in San Leandro, the other in San Jose. So yeah, I've had my fair share of experiences with the neighborhood.

Personally, most of what I saw was pretty amusing. Like the drunk woman who dropped trow right in front of everybody on Market and just started pissing. As I walked past her, she looks at me and says, "It's cool. I'm almost done." Couldn't help but laugh my ass off.:) Most of the time, I'd turn the following on my MP3 player when I got down there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd1PPEHXP00

[praxis1966]

It's actually 2 different things. There's Labor-fest which is a month-long series of events. Then there is the ISO Socialism 2010 conference which is this weekend in Oak-town.

Shit, I just realized that I fucked up in my second post in this thread as well. I posted the info on Labor Fest and Socialism 2010 in two seperate threads and I got which one was which mixed up.

[ellipsis]

have you lived in the tenderloin? i use to come out to my car and find people living in it (it happened twice). i was at 990 geary st over by the strip club right smack dap next to the methadone clinic. those were interesting times. way more interesting than anything in the bathroom at the corner of 15'th :) i kinda miss SF. oakland is a tad more mello.....as far as strange events go.

I live like less than two blocks from that address (are you listening NSA?) and love the neighborhood; it has a rich history, is one of the few places I can afford to live and one of the last working class neighborhoods in the city. Shit I'm white and I walk around the TL at like 3 am sometimes and never have any problems. My GF walks through the TL towards union square at 11:15 pm and back at 7:30 AM and she never encounters problems, despite being a rather attractive young woman. Peoples perceptions of the TL are based largely on ignorance and intolerance/racism, Yelp is a prime example.

That said I do see crazy and gross shit ALL THE TIME. But when I look around I realize that THIS is the working/under-class, THESE are the people who need liberation, THESE are the people for whom I fight.



Also.... OFFTOPIC! but bay area FTW!

[Wolf Larson]

My girlfriend has overridden our trip to socialism 2010 in favor of a house party for 4'th of July. She controls me so I can't argue with her :) and I'm not big on the pay to get in thing. I may walk over after a few thousand beers and free food. It would be much more patriotic of me to attend socialism 2010. She's just not into politics. An English major...litirature is her thing. Blah.

[praxis1966]

Shit I'm white and I walk around the TL at like 3 am sometimes and never have any problems. My GF walks through the TL towards union square at 11:15 pm and back at 7:30 AM and she never encounters problems, despite being a rather attractive young woman. Peoples perceptions of the TL are based largely on ignorance and intolerance/racism, Yelp is a prime example.

No doubt. I've never had a problem there. Like I said, the two women that I was walking around with down there weren't from The City so I think that had a lot to do with their trepidation.



Also.... OFFTOPIC! but bay area FTW!

Go on, my son!

[Jimmie Higgins]

My girlfriend has overridden our trip to socialism 2010 in favor of a house party for 4'th of July. She controls me so I can't argue with her :) and I'm not big on the pay to get in thing. I may walk over after a few thousand beers and free food. It would be much more patriotic of me to attend socialism 2010. She's just not into politics. An English major...litirature is her thing. Blah.Don't worry about it. When I didn't run into you, I was just worried that were in there somewhere and Praxis and I had totally snubbed you.

Many of the talks will be available free online at wearemany.org pretty soon - you can't debate any of what the speakers said or talk with people in an mp3, but at least you get to save the ticket cost:).

[praxis1966]

My girlfriend has overridden our trip to socialism 2010 in favor of a house party for 4'th of July. She controls me so I can't argue with her :) and I'm not big on the pay to get in thing. I may walk over after a few thousand beers and free food. It would be much more patriotic of me to attend socialism 2010. She's just not into politics. An English major...litirature is her thing. Blah.

Given that 99% of what you're made to study as an English major is a bunch of shit written by dead white men that seems to be a pretty political major... On the other hand, I'm about the closest thing a man can be to being a housewife complete with a girlfriend who says things like 'I think it's very important for you to have a life outside of this relationship' in response to requests for permission to hang out with left wing loonies like you and JH, so what the fuck would I know?!:lol:

[Jimmie Higgins]

Given that 99% of what you're made to study as an English major is a bunch of shit written by dead white men that seems to be a pretty political major... On the other hand, I'm about the closest thing a man can be to being a housewife complete with a girlfriend who says things like 'I think it's very important for you to have a life outside of this relationship' in response to requests for permission to hang out with left wing loonies like you and JH, so what the fuck would I know?!:lol:Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you - English Lit was my major too. I wish I had been a radical back then because it would have given me a good basis to understand the historical/social context and also a framework to take on some of the BS our instructors were pushing.

[praxis1966]

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you - English Lit was my major too. I wish I had been a radical back then because it would have given me a good basis to understand the historical/social context and also a framework to take on some of the BS our instructors were pushing.

Yeah, I have another friend who was an English Lit major at Berkeley, but she's Chicana so she wasn't predisposed to buying into the bullshit like us honkeys sometimes are.

I used to be a good liberal, too, though. That is, until I was 17 and took to walking around my Deep South high school campus with a copy of The Communist Manifesto under my arm, taking care to make sure the front cover was facing out so people could see the big fuckin' hammer and sickle on the cover. The funny part was that despite the crap I took from faculty and students alike for reading it, I don't really think any of the people there gave much thought to the fact that I had procured my copy from the school library.:lol:

[Wolf Larson]

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you - English Lit was my major too. I wish I had been a radical back then because it would have given me a good basis to understand the historical/social context and also a framework to take on some of the BS our instructors were pushing.
About the only African American lit I've seen her bring home is Langston Hughes. Not sure if I spelled his name correctly? Slave on the block was the book. Good read. Educational and depressing. I think most lit professors use him as the token....there's much more African American literature to read.

Right now all I see is a bunch of Lord Byron, TS Elliot, Yeats etc. I like TS Elliot Though. The Love Song of J Alfred Prooffcock? I forgot how to spell that as well LOL
I'm obviously not a lit major. I'm more of a Bukowski fan :)

[Jimmie Higgins]

About the only African American lit I've seen her bring home is Langston Hughes. Not sure if I spelled his name correctly? Slave on the block was the book. Good read. Educational and depressing. I think most lit professors use him as the token....there's much more African American literature to read.

Right now all I see is a bunch of Lord Byron, TS Elliot, Yeats etc. I like TS Elliot Though. The Love Song of J Alfred Prooffcock? I forgot how to spell that as well LOL
I'm obviously not a lit major. I'm more of a Bukowski fan :)I'm the worst speller you can imagine - I think I might be borderline dyslexic. I actually had a teacher accuse me of plagiarism because my spelling level didn't match the level of the argument I was making in a paper.

The joke's on them now: it's called spellcheck, ya shits! It's the calculator for words.

When I went to school we didn't read much black lit, only British lit and even then only until about WWII. I would have loved reading a wider range of things and more modern things. I still enjoyed it for the most part and now I can use Dickens to expose capitalism and pre-capitalist literature to show how assumptions about human nature and behavior were totally different under a different system: women were lusty and couldn't get enough in feudal lit while men had little interest in sex. So it all has uses. Except for "Wuthering Heights" I can't stand that shit.:lol: