- A plain clothes California Highway Patrol officer who drew his gun and pointed it at protesters in Oakland on Wednesday is still on active duty and his supervisor said today there is no indication that he did anything wrong. -more-

A demonstration that started in Berkeley ended abruptly in Oakland Wednesday night when an undercover law enforcement officer pulled out a gun and pointed it at the crowd.

Only a few dozen protesters remained from a mass of between 150 and 200 people. Two officers, both dressed as civilians and wearing bandanas over their faces, were walking with the group when the demonstrators started pointing at them yelling, "Hey, they're undercover, they're cops!"

Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton wrote on Twitter this morning that the officer was not an Oakland police officer. Bolton said Oakland police were the first to respond to the scene on a report from another agency.

Bolton wrote, "That outside agency has been notified to provide details and address concerns" regarding the officers' behavior at the protest.

[Update: Bolton indicated on Twitter this morning that the two undercover officers involved in this incident were from the CHP:

"Last night #OaklandPolice responded to a request for help during a California Highway Patrol arrest at Bay & Harrison St. (1/2)— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014"]

One Berkeley resident, Dylan, who declined to give his last name, said he pulled off the officer's bandana.

The two policemen started to walk away, but the protesters persisted, screaming at the two undercover cops. One of the officers pushed a protester aside. The man responded by pushing back and then the officer tackled him to the ground, handcuffing him.

The crowd, incensed, began to gather around them. The second officer pulled out his gun and pointed it at the crowd. More officers quickly arrived and dispersed the crowd.

"I'm a white man, and I pulled off (the [African-American] officer's) mask, but they punched a black man," Dylan said. "He got arrested." -more-

I came across El Sonar de las Mujeres de la Tierra y el Mar in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, in a store featuring memorabilia of the Zapatista rebellion: tee-shirts, posters, cards but also books, among them this one, pointed out to me by the man behind the counter, Tim Russo. -more-

Next week's Berkeley City Council meeting has been relocated to a larger venue after the mayor canceled Tuesday's meeting due to large anticipated crowds. -more-

NAM Editor’s Note: In Richmond, Calif., a city long equated with high rates of crime and poverty, the local police have taken steps in recent years to improve relations with the communities they serve. Highlighting those efforts, Richmond Chief of Police Chris Magnus turned out at a recent local rally against police brutality. The rally was one of many protests being staged in cities across the country in the wake of grand jury acquittals of white police officers in the killings of unarmed black men. He was interviewed by Richmond Pulse editor Malcolm Marshall.

It’s interesting to see a police chief in the middle of a protest against police brutality. What is your reason for being here today?

The police and the community share a common goal. We want peaceful protests to be something that people feel comfortable participating in and to understand that the police are guardians, because we should be protecting people’s constitutional rights.

But we also want to send a message that we care about everyone in the community. This needs to be a partnership between police and persons of color, black, brown, whatever. We need to be working together. -more-

The proposed ordinance, called the Building Energy Saving Ordinance, is unconstitutional

I would like to suggest and argue that the Building Energy Saving Ordinance (#7,387 – NS) is unconstitutional on three grounds. It is a violation of due process. It levies a tax mistakenly named a fee in the ordinance. And it subjects each property owner to a requirement that is too general and overly broad. -more-

It seems the whole city is under attack by the likes of Bates and his team of developers. As I walk around town I notice more and more businesses gone like the smog place on Addison I used to use—one day there—next day just a large empty space as well as several other businesses that used to call that area home. Then the corner of Shattuck and Dwight Way—one day a furniture store on the corner—next time I looked half the block demolished. Slow Restaurant on University near Milvia—great food, gone—as well as other shops, service centers and on and on. And I have not even addressed the possible loss of our 10 Landmark Shattuck theaters upon whom we depend for our fix of films that feed our minds, hearts and souls as well as being accessible to all kinds of people like me and others. We are losing what we called Berkeley for the likes of rotten tall expensive structures for the upper classes all at the expense of our commons and our sense of place. Wake up folks—it will all be gone before you know it. Plutocracy in all its ugliness. -more-

You, in your skinny black jeans, designer black hoodie and face hidden behind a fashionably folded scarf probably thought it's real cool to drag those construction barricades from the 39th street BART project into Telegraph avenue with your little clique and STICK IT TO THE MAN.

Me, I thought you were fucking with the purpose of the marching, so I blocked your path with my bicycle. You sucker punched me in the face. WTF?

I know you're tough guy, dressed for anarchy, testosterone streaming, girls watching and all that, your black bloc fashion show allows you to sucker punch an old guy, a veteran of the struggle. But if you really have some cajones, go assault a cop one on one and see how you come out of that. -more-

There is a popular set of expectations regarding protest that goes something like this:

1. Protesters must share a common political aim.

2. The political aim must be reducible to a few simple "talking points".

3. The purpose of the protest must be to build popular support for the political aim.

4. Achieving popular support requires that protests must respect property and not be significantly disruptive.

5. Protests must have leaders and organizers who plot the conduct of the protest.

Public discussion in the Berkeley Daily Planet and on Berkeleyside has largely concerned the ways in which recent protests in Berkeley fail to live up to these expectations. Many Berkeleyans have expressed anger, rhetorically stamping their feet over violations of these expectations of protest.

Others try to minimize the thwarted expectations by attributing transgressions to "splinter groups" and "small minorities" who supposedly "hijack" otherwise legitimate protests.

Such self-congratulatory expressions of indignation and anger are as powerless as they are detached from reality.

Let's examine protest without such preconceptions: -more-

A new replacement energy saving ordinance is about to be enacted in our city of Berkeley, Building Energy Saving Ordinance (BESO). The current system requires upgrades only when buildings are remodeled or resold. If passed, all homeowners and building owners in Berkeley will be mandated to have an outside auditor inspect their home or building every 5 to 10 years. The law would require all building owners to hire a private firm from a city approved list to conduct the assessments. Audits will cost from $200 to $600 for a single family home, up to $10,000 for a large commercial building. A filing fee of $79 -$240, depending on building size will go to the city of Berkeley. -more-

Rage in Jerusalem -more-

Three good reads on recent events:

Ali Winston summarizes in the East Bay Express.

Richard Brenneman dissects a financier on his blog.

Winston's Diary continues to analyse the semiotics and politics of looting. -more-

Because so much happened this week, we've started the new issue a day early. But if you'd like to follow the action from earlier in the week, just click the "Previous Issue" button above to see it all. There will be a new editorial eventually--just keep checking. -more-

It’s convenient to blame Democratic leaders for the Party’s disastrous 2014 midterm elections. But which leaders? Who runs the Democratic Party? -more-

A trap that some psychiatrists might get us into, really an unintentional error, is to try to relieve our suffering from side effects by reducing our dosage of antipsychotic or other medication. I call it a trap because it can be a "slippery slope," to reduce medication, one in which the slippage could cause a relapse. -more-

Opens December 12 at the Landmark in Berkeley

On Sunday, December 7, I attended a concert at Zellerbach Hall by the Takács Quartet, a Hungarian-English-American string quartet. This concert was mistakenly listed in the Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle as taking place in Zellerbach Playhouse, which struck me as an appropriately intimate venue for a concert of chamber music t. However, when Cal Performances Press Information office confirmed my request for a press ticket, they informed me that this event would take place in Zellerbach Hall. This was my first disappointment with this concert. -more-