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Remembering Brad Cleaveland, Author of the Magna Carta of Student Rebellion

Gar Smith
Saturday October 26, 2019 - 12:19:00 PM
Dick Roman, Brad Cleaveland and Art Goldberg speaking from atop a police car surrounded by students on October 1, 1964 (Photo: Tom Kuykendall—FSM Archives)
Tom Kuykendal
Dick Roman, Brad Cleaveland and Art Goldberg speaking from atop a police car surrounded by students on October 1, 1964 (Photo: Tom Kuykendall—FSM Archives)

Herbert Bradford Cleaveland, one of the founders of the Free Speech Movement

and a longtime resident of Berkeley's Redwood Gardens, passed away on October 21 at the Oakland Health and Wellness Center. Brad had been in fading health for the past few weeks.

Brad's family and friends will be holding a memorial service in the near future. In the meantime, in his memory, the Free Speech Movement Archives (FSM-A.org) has posted a link to the transcript of an interview Cleaveland recorded in 1998. The interview is introduced with the following background note:

Herbert [Brad] Cleaveland had just graduated from Berkeley and had written a thirteen-page “Letter to Undergraduates” in the SLATE Supplement to the General UC Catalog that called for “open, fierce and thoroughgoing rebellion.”

In this interview, Cleavland begins by describing how the FSM leadership crystalized over the 31 hours the police car was surrounded [by UC students in Sproul Plaza] beginning on October 1, 1964 and goes on to discuss his involvement with the FSM Steering Committee, his observations about various leaders with attention to the role of Jews and women, his efforts to continue the momentum of FSM and his later work for educational reform. 

After graduating from UC Berkeley, Brad authored a remarkable essay that appeared in the Autumn 1964 edition of the SLATE Supplement. In his "Letter to Undergraduates," Cleaveland laid out the rationale for questioning the university's claim to being a hallowed center of academic learning. Cleaveland called out the university for being a tool of big business whose purpose was to create students fully trained to be exploited by the entitled masters of corporate America. The essay called for nothing less than a student rebellion. 

Looking back, Cleaveland's "Letter to Undergraduates" appears to stand out as a prophetic Magna Carta—a rising ball of fiery prose that presaged the dawn of student activism. It was only a matter of months before the "undergraduates" at UC Berkeley rose up by surrounding a police squad car sent onto the campus to arrest a former student who was "guilty" of trying to raise funds and awareness regarding civil rights abuses in the American South. 

Among the first remembrances to start pouring in after the public notification of Brad's death came in a phone call from John Sutake who recalled that it was Brad who moved (while he seconded) a motion to adopt the name “Free Speech Movement” at a late-night meeting in Art Goldberg’s living room on College Avenue. As Sutake remembers it, many of the activists had fallen asleep so Brad asked John to second his motion. "They woke up the others, the motion passed, and then everyone went back to sleep." 

Richard Fallenbaum recalls: "Brad was an active member of SLATE. His main political focus was on educational reform. He edited and published an issue of the Cal Reporter devoted to that question." 

New York University History Prof. Robert Cohen (and co-author of The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on the Sixties) writes: 

"Brad’s manifesto came up in one of the early meetings between the FSM 

and the administration and Chancellor Strong used it to charge that the student rebellion had been planned in advance, a kind of 50s-style red-baiting made possible by Brad’s call for campus rebellion (in that SLATE publication came before the free speech conflict erupted). Mario [Savio] publicly refuted Strong on this and denied that there was any connection between the rise of the FSM and Brad’s manifesto. I do assign it for its angry and insightful critique of undergraduate education." 

Referring to Brad's infamous, radical (pre-FSM) 13-page call for a revolution on the UC Berkeley campus, author and cultural critic Greil Marcus wrote: 

"I had never read anything so incendiary, so monolithic in its rage, as Brad Cleaveland's manifesto when someone passed me a copy in the fall of 1964. That the Free Speech Movement broke out so soon after seemed preordained. His words never left me that whole season." 

 

Brad Cleaveland (l) and Art Goldberg speaking from atop a police car surrounded by students on October 1, 1964 (Photo: Tom Kuykendall—FSM Archives) 

A LETTER TO UNDERGRADUATES  

From Brad Cleaveland  

Dear Undergraduates, On May 13, 1963, SLATE published the "Cal Reporter," a newspaper which charged this University with a total failure to educate undergraduates. The paper said that the University pushed the myth that you, as undergraduates, are "training for leadership," when in reality you are training for obedience; that you leave the University with a basic suspicion for intellectuals, and fear of the kinds of thought necessary for you to meet the 20th century world-in-revolution. The theme of a quote from Bertrand Russell ran through the paper: 

"We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles of intelligence and freedom of thought."  

This is not a minor charge. The charges were clearly focused upon your situation as an undergraduate, and not the graduate schools. The response to the newspaper was astonishing. The Daily Cal made the coy comment that SLA TE had again emerged like a "grouchy bear," but that it offered no "constructive solutions." This casual and inappropriate response represented the views of a great many of you, and your professors, and administrators. But those charges were not minor, they were seriously radical, and for the Daily Cal to suggest that we all sit around picking our noses while asking for "constructive solutions" is astonishing!! If the rising waters of a flood threaten to immerse you in death and suffocation, it would be more than ridiculous to reflect on "constructive solutions." Or: 

THERE IS NO BLUEPRINT FOR AN EDUCATIONAL REVOLUTION!!!  

It was like this: on the one hand there was substantial agreement that the University stamps out consciousness like a super-Madison-Avenue machine; on the other, people saying, "So what?" or "Bring me a detailed and exhaustive plan." But there is no plan for kicking twenty thousand people IN THEIR ASSES! No plan will stop excessive greed, timidity, and selling out. At best the University is a pathway to the club of "tough- minded-liberal-realists" in America, who sit in comfortable armchairs talking radical while clutching hysterically at respectability in' a world explosive with revolution. At worst the University destroys your desires to see reality, and to suffer reality with optimism, at the time when you most need to learn that painful art. In between those two poles is mostly garbage: Bus Ad; PhD candidates "on the make"; departmental enclaves of "clever and brilliant" students who will become hack critics; and thousands of trainees for high-class trades which will become obsolete in ten years. 

Dear undergraduate, let me make this crystal clear for you. There is a contrast which exists on this campus between the common (and sometimes beautiful) illusions which we have all had, and what actually happens! . . . . a gap which seems to be reaching catastrophic proportions. I will offer two sets of utterly obvious facts to show you that a violent contrast does exist; and that the University is a grotesque perversion of the conditions necessary for your freedom to learn reality and to suffer it with optimism. The first set of facts is your Charter Day Ceremony, the second, is the essentials of your undergraduate routine--a grotesque perversion of your freedom to learn. 

YOUR UNDERGRADUATE ROUTINE  

The Cal Reporter's charges were that the routine life of the University is destructive of anything we know of educational tradition: especially at the level where we might reasonably expect to see painstaking efforts to give mass education its highest expression—at your level as undergraduate. In the place of such efforts, your routine is comprised of a systematic psychological and spiritual brutality inflicted by a faculty of "well-meaning and nice" men who have decided that your situation is hopeless when it comes to actually participating in serious learning. 

As an undergraduate, you receive a four-year long series of sharp staccatos: eight semesters, forty courses, one hundred twenty or more units, fifteen hundred to two thousand impersonal lectures, and over three hundred oversized "discussion" meetings. Approaching what is normally associated with learning; reading, writing, and exams, your situation becomes absurd. Over a period of four years you receive close to fifty bibliographies, ranging in length from one to eight pages, you are examined on more than one hundred occasions, and you are expected to write forty to seventy-five papers. 

As you well know, reading means "getting into" hundreds of books, many of which are secondary sources, in a superficial manner. You must cheat to keep up. If you don't cheat you are forced to perform without time to think in depth, and consequently you must hand in papers and exams which are almost as shameful as the ones you've cheated on. You repeat to yourselves over and over as an undergraduate that "It doesn't make any difference . . . it's the grade that counts," . . . a threadbare and worn phrase (if you are lucky enough to make it to the third or fourth year); used as commonly as your word "regurgitation" in place of "exam." 

You know the measure of truth in those bits of slang: it is nauseous . . . you almost do "puke up your work" to professors. I personally have known students who have gotten physically sick by merely reflecting upon their routine. In the sciences and technical fields your courses are bluntly and destructively rigorous . . . you become impatient with "that social sciences and humanities crap." How did you get to be such puppets? You perform. But when do you think? Dutifully and obediently you follow, as a herd of grade-worshipping sheep. If you are strong at all, you do this with some sense of shame, or if you are weak, you do it with a studied cynicism . . . as jaded youth with parched imaginations that go no further than oak-paneled rooms at the end of the line . . . BUT WHETHER YOU ARE STRONG OR WEAK YOU PERFORM LIKE TRAINED SEALS, AND LIKE SHEEP YOU FOLLOW . . . WITH THE THOROUGHBRED PHI BETA KAPPA SHEEP LEADING YOU up the golden stairway to the omnipotent A, to the Happy Consciousness, to success, and a very parochial mind. This is the core of your dutiful daily lives, and your homage to respectability. 

Reluctantly, or otherwise, you permit it to be applied by administrators who use computers on you as much because they are afraid of personal contact with you as for the reason that they wish to keep the assembly line moving efficiently. You permit professors to extract your performance by the coercion of grades. Why do you permit this apostasy of learning . . . a process which prevents you from extending your thought beyond a shallow dilettantism? 

IF THE- FACTS OF YOUR UNDERGRADUATE EXISTENCE WERE SOLELY DETERMINED BY THE "COURSE/GRADE/UNIT SYSTEM," YOUR "INCIPIENT REVOLT," TO WHICH PRESIDENT KERR HIMSELF IRRESPONSIBLY ALLUDED IN THE GODKIN LECTURES, WOULD PROBABLY HAVE ALREADY OCCURED." * 

The reason why you permit, dear undergraduate, your minds to be abused, is because you are given a magnificent bread and circus. What a pain reliever! . . . these "extra-curricular" activities. Coming to you from your ASUC student' 'government," other special bureaucracies such as the Committee on Arts and Lectures, and added to by more intellectual offerings from departmental and special grants lecture series, comes a semesterly tidal wave of exciting and highly intense stimuli which dazzles you away from the fact that you are obstructed from learning, or even questioning whether you should be learning while you are here. This bread and circus assures you that the world is really not in the midst of anything so serious as revolution, much less within your own Sacred borders!! 

From the powerfully entertaining to the scholastically intellectual you get films, debates, art exhibits, athletics, drama, "spirit" groups, recreation, seductions of hundreds of social groups; this pyrotechnical explosion of Kultur is something terribly' 'other directed"; happily away from your puppet-like performance in the course/grade/ unit procedural core. Your attention is diverted away from your treadmill to the candied goodness of the bread and circus. 

Hopefully, when you get your bachelor's degree, you will step up to higher plateaus where many kinds of "success" await you. You are blinded to the fact that you are really getting something of terrible importance while you are here: 

TRAINING IN THE CAPACITY FOR UNQUESTIONING OBEDIENCE TO A COMPLEX FLOOD OF TRIVIAL BUREAUCRATIC RULES. IN THE NAME OF HUMAN LEARNING YOU ACQUIRE THE CAPACITY TO BE DOCILE IN THE FACE OF RULES. WHILE YOU ARE TRAINING, THE RULES WHICH TELL YOU HOW TO GO ABOUT YOUR TRAINING ARE DISPLACING YOUR FREEDOM TO THlNK . . . SKILL AND OBEDIENCE ARE WHAT YOU ACQUIRE. 

Aren't you the least bit aware that such a capacity is not only necessary for life in America's giant public and private corporations, but that it is also a first-class ticket to a traditional form of statehood under the designation of tyranny? No matter how well trimmed you keep your grassy lawns in suburbia after you get your bachelor's degree, your moral and spiritual servitude will [missing text] 

There is an incipient revolt of undergraduate students against the faculty; the revolt that used to be against the faculty in loco parentis is now against the faculty in absentia," from page 103 of The Uses of the University, Harvard, 1963 (Godkin Lectures given in 1963 at Harvard.) Kerr's comments throughout the book on higher education are made from the vantage point of a sort of disinterested observer, as though the President was not talking about his own "Multiversity," or as though he was really nothing more than a bureaucrat-employee of the Regents. Or, as Kerr himself puts it, " . . . . he is mostly a mediator," on page 36. hot be reduced. If you have attended a Charter Day ceremony, and can recall the feelings you had, you might feel the temptation to say that it is this indictment which is grotesque, and not the University . . . but—are the University . . . it is your life I have described in its essentials. 

Has it ever occur red to you, dear undergraduate, that human learning is a painful and exhilarating process which comes from asking the kinds of questions which YOU would like to ask: "WHY AM I IN THE UNIVERSITY? WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE? WHAT IS EXTREMISM, AFTERALL, AND HOW DOES POLITICAL EXTREMISM AFFECT ME? 

In your present situation, if you insisted on . . . now listen . . . if you insisted on the freedom to spend large amounts of time in a single- minded devotion to pursuing such questions, you would soon begin to feel rather out of it . . . you would be a kook. Any question of a fundamental, or a general character; or any question, which hits you personally in a deep way, can only be considered naive and stupid. Can you conceive of taking any such question and studying, talking, and reading about it for an entire semester—free of any other requirement—or for an entire year, or even more time? Without interference, but only earnest guidance from' 'teachers?" Or is it that you must always attend to that "other" paper, the "midterm next week," or the "reading in another course?" Or is it that you do this half the time and say to hell with it the rest of the time: go to an art film, or to strawberry Canyon, or to an exciting lecture for a one-night-stand on the topic of Western Civilization? 

Dear undergraduate, you know what really happens to you. You almost don't have to be told. It is as though the BENEFACTORS OF THE FRUITS OF LEARNING said to you, "Here, take this beautiful piece of fruit . . ." and you do, and you try to take a bite, when "STOP!!," you are being offered another piece of fruit, another, and then another. At the same time, before you really begin to taste and speculate about the taste of any one piece of fruit, your FRUIT BENEFACTORS, and FRUIT BENEFACTORS' ASSISTANTS, are demanding that you describe in detail the intricate beauty of each piece; they become impatient if you do not describe the fruit "properly," and they penalize you for thoughtful slowness by calling it stupidity, and by lowering your respectability rating. 

Most of you learn to hate the fruits of learning. But there are a few of you—the "clever and brilliant"—(preferably transfers from the Ivy League), who learn in a terrific quickness, to take quick little bites from the large and beautiful fruits and then furiously hurl them as far away as possible. You clever ones learn to devour the small fruits of skill and training; those fruits are your "security insurance" in life, or perhaps you think they will lead you later to an XKE and sexy-intelligent-wife-in-silk-dress. You perform your tricks well: smiling up at your benefactors and saying "delicious . . . . excellent!" 

CHARTER DAY  

It is the Charter Day ceremony in which your illusions achieve their most refined expression. In this ceremony there are loud pronouncements of University intentions. The University is portrayed as a great champion and advocate of the noble aim of education for all. The ceremony leaves the impression that the University of California not only provides training; that it not only provides. for economic ascent, but that it goes much further by providing something more fundamental and ennobling under the designation of education. 

The University claims to "produce" enlightened citizens with a heightened awareness of the moral, philosophical, and spiritual values of civilized life. All of the accoutrements of glory are present in this statewide celebration: solemn music, processions, colorful robes, and impressive ritual. 

Attended by thousands of students, a well-polished public with many celebrities, and with major national and international press coverage, the ceremony is elevating and beautiful. The speeches are confident gestures of power and rather traditional majesty. 

The overall purpose of the ceremony is a peculiar mixture of exaltation of statesmen, educators, and education. The podium is always shared by President Kerr with figures such as Stevenson, U Thant, and Kennedy. The University is placed proudly in the widest context—the world—unbashfully professing itself as a benefactor of free thought, intelligence, and the search for wisdom. The University is seen as playing a major role in the creation of world centers of learning, as well as continuing the rich tradition of education in the Western world. If you have attended this ceremony, you might easily have been overcome with the feeling that only detractors and scoffers of the worst sort would dare criticize such a "Citadel of Learning." 

But SLATE did criticize; the indictment implied that the Charter Day ceremony is an unmerciful sham; an example of unparalleled demagoguery. And many of you who have been elevated by Charter Day agreed with the Cal Reporter's charges . . . as did the Daily Cal, by implication, when it blandly fretted that no constructive solutions had been offered. Why the confusion; and why did the Daily Cal have such a posture? In order to answer this I will turn to the other of the "two sets of utterly obvious facts" I said I would use to prove that a violent contrast exists on this campus. 

DEAR UNDERGRADUATES!!  

I am no longer interested in cajoling you, arguing with you, or describing, to you something you already know. What I am about to say to you at this point concerns you more directly. I will entreat you to furiously throw your comforting feelings of duty and responsibility for this institution to the winds and act on your situation. This institution, affectionately called "Cal" by many of you, or, as the Daily Cal might put it, "the Big U," does not deserve a response of loyalty and allegiance from you. There is only one proper response to Berkeley from undergraduates: that you organize and split this campus wide open! 

FROM THIS POINT ON, D0 NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME. MY INTENTION IS TO CONVINCE YOU THAT YOU DO NOTHING LESS THAN BEGIN AN OPEN, FIERCE, AND THOROUGHGOING REBELLION ON THIS CAMPUS.  

I would like to briefly explain to you now why such a course of action is necessary, and how, if such a revolt were conducted with unrelenting toughness and courage, it could spread to other campuses across the country and cause a fundamental change in your own futures. I have used the phrase "world-in-revolution" several times to this point. 

I would like to say to you now that most of you are incompetent to deal with that phrase. It is a phrase, which betrays a distinct view of reality . . . a view of reality out of which might grow an effective "opposition" in the present American scene where the only opposition seems to be crystallizing along reactionary llnes. "World-in-revolution" is a phrase . . . a view of reality [that] contains a large measure of truth, one which is certainly debatable. BUT IT IS NOT DEBATED BY YOU. 

The catastrophic gap between the incubator world of your Multiversity and the world of reality is represented by your ignorance of what "world-in-revolution" means. The University teaches you to bury your heads in the sand, trembling in ignorance of the American black revolution for Civil Rights, the impending revolution in Automation, and likewise in ignorance of political revolutions, which, like thunder-clapping salvos; explode the world over. 

The Multiversity is the slickest appeal ever made for you to fortify your organization-man mentalities, for you to lead privatized lives in which it is a virtue for you to go greedily "on the make." 

In urging you to rebellion, I have action in mind, not further understanding. What more is there to understand when you can so easily discover that a Peace-Corpsman who left Cal is now living in Nigeria in a separate small house with the conveniences of suburban America, plus two houseboys, and that a young girl Civil Rights worker from the Bay Area who goes to Mississippi lives in abject poverty with a family of eleven black American citizens, in a shack with no running water, with lice, with rats, and in constant fear for her life? 

In this Multiversity, you will not learn so much as a cursory meaning of what a world-in-revolution means to you. You will not learn the utterly profound fact of what a revolution is: 

THAT A REVOLUTION COMES ABOUT WHEN ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS ARE OPPRESSED TO POINTS FAR BEYOND WHAT WE BLANDLY LABEL AN "INTOLERABLE SET OF CONDITIONS." 

Nor will you learn that to be a counter-revolutionary is to go about the business of slaughtering enormous numbers of human beings whose inflamed spirits and starved stomachs force them to cry out for the freedoms which you spit upon in your apathy. 

AND YOU WILL LEARN MOST OF ALL NOT TO ENTERTAIN SO MUCH AS THE POSSIBILITY THAT AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IN KOREA AND SOUTH VIET NAM ARE PRECISELY COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY . . . THAT THE AMERICAN NATION IS INVOLVED IN DESTROYING POPULAR NATIONAL REVOLUTIONS, AND APPEARS TO BE GETTING ITSELF LOCKED MORE AND MORE IN THAT SUICIDAL AND INHUMANE POLICY. 

You will learn not to entertain such thoughts, even though such statements have been made on the floor of the US Senate (by Wayne Morse, US Senator from Oregon), where nobody seems to have taken these fantastic charges seriously. And you will learn not to react when you hear other Americans say: " After all, God's on our side, we're savin' those illiterate savages from the Commies, even if we gotta mutilate 'em to do it, Goddamit!!" 

You will not learn that, at home, here in the good ol' USA, in the Civil Rights Revolution which is now going on, the phrase "white backlash" is the simplest way to say "the bigotry of the majority;" that "white backlash" is a counter-revolutionary phrase, used by "scholars," so-called liberals, advocated by conservatives, or used by anyone else who adopts the hideous posture of "studying," or analyzing the "problem" of the black man in America. 

Nor will you learn that the real meaning of "white backlash" is "Don't bug me, nigger . . . You're buggin' me with that civil disobedience . . . now stop that or we'll show you who has the tear gas, cattle prods, and shotguns!!" 

Is it really necessary for 30,000 black and white Americans to march up Telegraph Avenue to Bancroft Way, many of them fellow students, chanting for the rights of black Americans, before you see the contrast between your world of Oskie Dolls, fraternity boys on drunken weekend blasts (where alcohol is transformed from joy into arrogance), and cute Daily Cal stories on Ludwig? [Note: Ludwig was a beloved canine who amused students by frequenting the public fountain in Sproul Plaza—GS] How long will it take you to see the meaning of a casual remark I heard recently: "The fraternity system is to education as the South is to the United States"? 

Is this too simplistic a view of your lot as undergraduates? You might say in protest that only a few students are in the ASUC "government" of political castrates, who think they are training for leadership; that the Daily Cal is merely a handful of sell-outs "going on the make" in that jaded commercial enterprise called the press, which is owned in large part by the Regents of this University. You might say that many students scorn the old "Saturday virtues" of beer cans and Bermudas, along with the peculiar fraternity brand of the little-Marlboro-Man complex. 

"It's all on the way out," you might say, "we're growin' up . . . our answers are 'blowin' on the wind.''' Really? Will you say that? Then I say to you, what about the dormitory undergraduates? 

Last year, the Regents arrogantly denied some dorm students permission to set up a small campus radio station. No pretenses . . . the Regents simply said that dorm "boys" were incapable of responsibility in the matter and incompetent to use the airways. Kerr's whimpering protest to the Regents took the disgusting form of publicly saying that the boys were merely "engineering types," who only wished to express their tinkering mentality. 

Two SLATE students came to the side of the engineers in a Daily Cal letter. Do you recall how those virile young American engineering students responded to the whole affair? THEY AGREED WITH THE REGENTS AND KERR!! 

Proceed. You might say that there are many students who do not live in organized living groups; that the independents are more mature. I will concede this point, but only if you agree that you are judging by mere appearances. For it is true that in the realm of what may only be called social "style," the independent who has broken ties with organized living has taken a slight step forward. After all, some of them even look European! The Jean-Paul Belmondo coolness, the stylized life of the terribly cosmopolitan Terrace, and all the rest. Of course, the majority of independents have little or no politics, and where it really counts—that puppet-like performance for grades, that scramble after grades and respectability—they do the same as the rest of you. 

Regarding the radicals, those who are now going to jail in the Civil Rights Revolution: they are beginning to learn what the world-in-revolution means. I would make only one irreverent comment to them. They shouldn't bitch because the whole campus doesn't go to jail with them: because they are the real leaders on the campus, and yet while—the campus they too become sheep. They take the flunkings of professors who penalize them for attending a San Francisco court, rather than a Berkeley class; the same professors who donate money to the Civil Rights fight as long as it stays three thousand miles away in the South. 

The only large group of students I personally respect, other than the Freedom Fighters, are the drop-outs. Ignominious lot! What a fate . . . that one would be forced to give up that little registration card with respectability written all over it! This "Hidden Community" of unseemly hangers-on in Berkeley now numbers in the thousands. Those most bugged by this "element" are the ASUC types. They screech, "You can't even tell them from students sometimes (although some are very dirty) . . . and they're using our student union!" If they have flunked out (or dropped out) of the University how can they deserve respect? 

Well . . . if I thought it was a virtue to perform like sheep I wouldn't be urging revolt. The fact is that these students are the real ones. Many have had the guts to cut their social umbilical cords, become genuinely free, and to begin coughing up their own mistakes. They don't take the fatal step which the Cowell Psychiatric Clinic calls "regressive": which means to go back to Mama, or, God forbid, to a Junior College. They face life in its own terms, and many do something rather shocking around Berkeley: they learn to read a book. And I might add that many of them are also Freedom Fighters. (Incidentally, do you know the latest figures? According to Cowell, close to fifty percent of those of you who are graced with the mantle of "Freshman at Cal," are eliminated by the end of the third year). 

Are you aware that the most salient characteristic of' the "Multiversity" is massive production of specialized excellence? SPECIALIZED EXCELLENCE. It will be some time before machines will displace the super-trades; thus massive training centers are necessary. But why do we insist upon calling them educational centers rather than training centers? 

THE MULTIVERSITY IS NOT AN EDUCATIONAL CENTER, BUT A HIGHLY EFFICIENT INDUSTRY: IT PRODUCES BOMBS, OTHER WAR MACHINES, A FEW TOKEN "PEACEFUL" MACHINES, AND ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF SAFE, HIGHLY SKILLED, AND RESPECTABLE AUTOMATONS TO MEET THE IMMEDIATE NEEDS OF BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT. 

We all know that this is necessary to some extent for the maintenance of "American know-how;" otherwise the system would collapse and anarchy would reign, etc. But the forbidden fruit is to ask the devastating question WHY? WHY ONLY KNOW-HOW? Or is it that we wish to produce the largest population ever known to man of highly skilled idiots? We may safely say that graduate schools should perform the function of training for specialized excellence . . . but even then not exclusively. And if you will recall, we are discussing the matter of undergraduate freedom to learn. What has occurred when undergraduate education is erradicated; whether it be for the excuse of "too many students," or "exploding knowledge," or in the name of political expedience during the "Cold War?" 

WHEN THIS OCCURS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, THE RESULT IS ABANDONMENT OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENT IN WHICH THE RADICAL PROPOSITION OF EDUCATION-FOR-ALL IS THE CENTRAL AXIOM. 

Dear undergraduate, your "learning" has come to an impasse. Below the level of formal responsibility (the Regents, President, and Chancellors), the Academic Senate (the faculty) itself is guilty of a massive and disastrous default. It is said that the Regents have given to the faculty the power and responsibility to deal with your learning. To put it mildly, the Academic Senate has turned that power and responsibility into a sham, an unused fiction. 

If this be true, then who is responsible for seeing to it that the faculty do something? We can cancel out President Kerr: he has already admitted publicly that he is incompetent to attend to the matter of undergraduate learning. That takes us back up the bureaucratic ladder again . . . do you know what the phrase "The Regents of the University of California" means? Following is the meaning of that phrase: 

 

  • Edward CARTER: Chairman of the Board of Regents, Director, Broadway Hale Retail Stores, Northrup Aircraft, Pacific Tel & Tel, and First Western Bank;
  • Dorothy CHANDLER: Director, L.A. Times, and wife of Norman CHANDLER of the Southern California News Publishing empire;
  • William COBLENTZ: Corporation Lawyer, San Francisco;
  • Frederick DUTTON: US Assistant Secretary of State;
  • Mrs. William Randolph HEARST: ("Housewife"), of the Hearst national newspaper empire;
  • Mrs. Edward HELLER: ("Housewife"), widow and heir to Edward HELLER, Director, Permanente Cement, Wells Fargo Bank, Schwabacher & Fry partner, and Pacific Intermountain Express;
  • William E. FORBES: Southern California Music Company;
  • Lawrence KENNEDY: Attorney, Redding, California, (just prior to Mr. Kennedy's appointment as a Regent, it was strongly urged that it might be appropriate to appoint an educator to the Board of Regents);
  • Donald H, MC LAUGHLIN: ("Mining Geologist"), Director, Homestake Mining Company, one of the largest gold-mining operations in the world, recent interests in Uranium mining, Director, Western Airlines, American Trust, and a Peruvian copper mining operation;
  • Samuel MOSHER: Director, Signal Gas & Oil, and Long Beach Oil Development Company, which was accused publicly a few months ago, by Lt. Governor Glenn Anderson, of trying to wrest public control of a recently discovered state-owned oilfield off Long Beach with a projected worth of over $3 billion . . . enough to shake up the world market and give California Petroleum men a virtual monopoly;
  • Edwin PAULEY: Director, Pauley Oil, Western Airlines;
  • William Matson ROTH: US Special Deputy for Trade Relations, Director, National Life Insurance, Matson Shipping, Honolulu Oil, Pacific Intermountain Express;
  • Norton SIMON: Director, Hunt Foods, Mc Calls, Wesson Oil & Snowdrift, and also "Land Developer";
  • Phillip BOYD: former mayor of Palm Springs, Director, Deep Canyon Properties, Security National Bank;
  • John CANADAY: Vice President, Lockheed Aircraft, Director, Corporate Public Relations, Lockheed Aircraft; and Regent number sixteen on our list is the one-and-only representative of organized labor (the most reactionary element in labor at that);
  • Cornelius HAGGERTY: President, Construction and Building Trades Council, AFL-CIO.
In these men you find substantial ownership and control of the vital raw materials and service industries in the West: Communications, the Press, Television, Air and Surface Transportation, Fuel, and Finance; virtually enough power to make or break five governors and ten university presidents. The Board members are appointed for terms of sixteen years by the Governor. There are also ex-officio members, ONE OF WHOM IS AN EDUCATOR: Clark Kerr. 

 

I would like to ask you to think for a moment about the "public" character of these men. In the first place, who even knows them? . . . except a few of us who are aware that they are "famous" or "very wealthy men." What do they do? AND WHY? FOR WHOSE INTEREST? 

Dear undergraduate, there is perhaps no other set of questions, in the political realm, of greater importance for you. Let us return for a moment to the matter of who is responsible for your freedom to learn. As I said a moment ago, the Regents have delegated power and responsibility to the Academic Senates of the eight campuses. 

Let us just call the Academic Senate the "Faculty," which is the automatic membership of the Senate. At any rate, there is something terribly wrong here. If we assume that the faculty is incompetent to effect the necessary changes, then it would seem of the greatest urgency that the Regents themselves do something to correct the situation. 

If the Regents do not act, then we must conclude that they are (1) satisfied; or (2) incompetent; or (3) both. Two things are certain: (1) as corporate men of power, the Regents are getting precisely what they most desire—enormous numbers of highly skilled graduates to fill the corporate structure and to keep it running smoothly; (2) IT IS DEBATABLE, from their own point of view, whether the Regents would find it practical to "educate" these skilled people as well as to train them. 

Why? To put the answer very crudely: the Regents, who run private corporations, just as the politicians who run public corporations, desire highly skilled, but politically and economically dumb "personnel." The politicians have, of course, even made laws to that effect . . . in the form of such legislation as the Hatch Act, which forbids partisan politics in government bureaucracies. Consequently, if the faculty refuses to face the problem of educating undergraduates, but instead is encouraged, and agrees, to make only piecemeal reform which only slightly lessens pressures in some areas while making them more severe in other areas, the Regents might be said to be very happy with such a course of action . . . in fact that is what they are doing. 

The course/ grade/ unit system will probably be "adjusted," and the bread-and-circus will become more intense and dazzling: note the priority in the University building program . . . . first you build the Student Union Complex, then an auditorium which will be the "largest this side of the Mississippi," and "sometime in the future" will come an undergraduate library. But why do private and public corporate men act this way? 

FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, MEN OF POWER HAVE CONSIDERED IT WISE TO KEEP THEIR CONSTITUENTS AT A LEVEL OF IGNORANCE WHEREBY THE PROCESS OF RULING THEM IS MOST EASILY ACCOMPLISHED. 

Or are we to entertain the possibility that the Regents have upset the applecart of history? Have they become revolutionaries? It is true that they recently removed the ban on Communist speakers on campus. Of course, they resisted for fifteen years . . . since the McCarthy era. And during the McCarthy era they were able to force the Academic Senate into adopting a loyalty oath. 

If you can forgive the faculty of a university for that you can forgive them for anything. Many professors did not forgive the Senate, however, and resigned. The spine of this faculty, close to forty professors, left in disgust; left scars behind which will never heal. Moreover, what the hell difference does it make whether you hear a communist every year or so. Most of you would laugh at him . . . like laughing at a movement which involves the entire world! 

If anyone of you wisely decided to study a communist speakers' proposals, to think about them, to read about them seriously, you not only would find it impossible from the standpoint—time, but you would also be considered a heretic by your fellow "students." It is probably accurate to say that the removal of the speaker ban on Communists was a great contribution on the symbolic level . . . like a Charter Day ceremony. Politically, it was very wise. 

Speaking of politics, what relation exists between the University and the US Government? Aside from providing trained personnel for public corporations (agencies, bureaus, etc.) as in private ones, is there as direct a relation between the University and Government as between the University and the Regents? Yes, it seems that the University, or shall we call a spade a spade—the Regents—it seems that the Regents are snuggled up pretty tightly to the seats of power in Washington (though it is difficult to tell who-hugs-who the hardest in Washington): 

Item—from the Cal Reporter, May 13, 1963: 

"According to the Financial Report of 1961-62, the US Government spent about 227 millions on Special Projects. These included 150 millions for Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (U.C.), 76 millions for Los Alamos Radiation Lab (UC). The income for the entire University (eight campuses) excluding these special projects was 250 millions."  

Let us summarize for a moment. Your learning opportunities are limited to "getting ahead," or acquiring a skill to do so. You are obstructed from the realities of the twentieth century world-in-revolution. You are left with the conclusion that the Regents are conducting a major love affair with the US Government, both of whom are not particularly anxious to see you "get smart'; for fear that you might become radical student politicos. 

In conducting this love affair with the Government, the Regents have left the matter of "educating" the infant-undergraduate to the adolescent faculty, knowing that they cannot do the job properly. The major implication in all of this is that if you wish to remain infants then you can . . . but if you wish to deny your infantile character then you must realize that you can't talk to your adolescent baby-sitters, the faculty, about your corrupt daddies, the Regents. 

The reason is simple: the babysitters are afraid of their daddies. No . . . if you really want to do something then you must stand up straight, like the young men and women you really are, and begin to SPEAK what you feel, to speak loudly, strongly, and to say your highest ideals, your deepest dreams, to pull out all of the stops, to let go and to tell the world . . . SPEAK TO THE WORLD AND TELL THEM THAT YOU WANT TO LlVE!!! 

Have I sufficiently taken care of your objections? If not, chances are that what remains is fear, and that is your problem. If I have taken care of your objections, then you might be asking HOW DO YOU START A REBELLION ON THE CAMPUS? That's a tough one and you might have to get tough in order to be heard. You also know that you will need legitimate demands behind your slogans of FREEDOM NOW! THE FREEDOM TO KNOW AND TO LEARN!! 

DEMANDS?  

1. IMMEDIATE COMMITMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY TO THE TOTAL ELlMINATION OF THE COURSE/GRADE/UNIT SYSTEM OF UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING: IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES. 

2. IMMEDIATE DISBANDING OF ALL UNIVERSITY DORM AND LlVING GROUP RULES WHICH PRESCRIBE HOURS AND WHICH PROVIDE FOR A SYSTEM OF STUDENT IMPOSED DISCIPLlNE, THEREBY DIVIDING STUDENTS AGAINST THEMSELVES. 

3. IMMEDIATE NEGOTIATIONS ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PERMANENT STUDENT VOICE WHICH IS EFFECTIVE (THAT IS, INDEPENDENT) IN RUNNING UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS. 

4. IMMEDIATE EFFORTS TO BEGIN RECRUITMENT OF AN UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING FACULTY TO HANDLE UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES. 

5. IMMEDIATE NEGOTIATIONS REGARDING TWO METHODS OF UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING WHICH PROVIDE FOR THE BASIC FREEDOM REQUIRED IN LEARNING: 

a. A TERMINAL EXAMINATION SYSTEM WHICH WILLBE VOLUNTARY AND AN OPTION WITH "b." 

b. IMMEDIATE CREATION OF UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS OF A WIDE VARIETY IN WHICH THE STUDENT WILL BE GIVEN CAREFUL, BUT MINIMAL GUIDANCE, WITHOUT COURSES, GRADES, AND UNITS. 

6. IMMEDIATE ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE TO DEAL WITH THESE DEMANDS ON THE BERKELEY CAMPUS. 

Go to the top. Make your demands to the Regents. If they refuse to give you an audience: start a program of agitation, petitioning, rallies, etc., in which the final resort will be CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. In the long run, there is the possibility that you will find it necessary to perform civil disobedience at a couple of major University public ceremonies. Depending on the resistance, you might consider adding the following two demands: 

7. RESIGNATION OF CLARK KERR. RESIGNATION OF TOP ADMINISTRATORS WHO MIGHT EMPLOY SLICK DIVERTING TACTICS. 

8. RECONSTITUTION OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS, EITHER THROUGH FIRING OR EXPANSION, PERHAPS BOTH. 

If you find such additional demands necessary, you are likely to find it necessary to take your demands to Sacramento, where you will get to know such people such as Hale Champion, state Director of Finance, who seems to have a slight distaste for knowledge and sees education in terms of the dollar sign. 

Or you might get to know Don Moskovitz, an Assistant Press Secretary to [Gov. Edmund G. "Pat"] Brown and educational advisor . . . You will find few allies there, with the exception of Thomas Braden. Max Rafferty, of course, is out of the question . . . would have you all in knickers made of old American flags if he could. 

If it is necessary to go this far beyond formal "channels"—and if you have the guts to get there, you will begin to learn how tough it is to effect radical change. If the Daily Cal decides to support you at various times along the way (very unlikely), they will be duly chastised by the so-called "Publications Board" and then the students' editors might have the guts to walk-out (doubly unlikely). If such a walk-out occurs again, as it did a couple of years ago, it might be wise to consider an effective picket to try to keep out the same types of fraternity scabs who took over last time in an action which was traitorous to the undergraduates. 

And if you get this far, you will also have witnessed nation-wide publicity which will have exposed Berkeley for the undergraduate sham that it is. Not to say that the public in general will feel that way, what with the press "red-baiting" you, but that students all over the country will read between the lines. By this time you may also be able to call for a mass student strike . . . something which seems unthinkable at present. If a miracle occurs, or two, you might even get to say that you were the seeds of an educational revolution unlike anything which has ever occurred. Remember one thing: 

"The task of genius, and man is nothing if not genius, is to keep the miracle alive, to live always in the miracle, to make the miracle more and more miraculous, to swear allegiance to nothing, but live only miraculously, think miraculously, to die miraculously." — Henry Miller 


¡Patrick Hallinan, Presente!

Gar Smith
Saturday October 26, 2019 - 12:14:00 PM
A young Patrick Hallinan
A young Patrick Hallinan

Celebrated lawyer, activist, leftist, and labor-and-civil-rights sparkplug Patrick Hallinan died on October 8. In fond remembrance, here are some excerpts from his official biography, followed by a testimonial from Bay Area author David Talbot.

"Patrick Sarsfield Hallinan graduated from Hastings College of the Law (J.D. 1962) and the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 1959, M.A. 1971).

Patrick Hallinan was active in high profile legal and political issues involving the conflict between the exercise of governmental power and individual liberty throughout his life, as were his late father, trial lawyer Vincent Hallinan, his political activist mother, Vivian, his Irish rebel grandfather Black Mick, his cousin Eamon DeValera, president of Ireland, his mother’s cousin Giuseppi Garibaldi, liberator of Italy, and his brother Terence Hallinan, the recent reform-minded District Attorney of San Francisco. . . ."

"Patrick began his social activism at age six by selling stamps in support of refugees of the Spanish Civil War. He delivered his father’s acceptance speech for the Progressive Party Presidential nomination in 1952 while his father was in jail on a contempt of court charge arising from his defense of labor leader Harry Bridges. During his father’s incarceration, Patrick traveled the country with Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Dubois in support of his father’s candidacy and the progressive movement. He was a leader in the Free Speech Moment at Berkeley, directed the West Coast Mobilization against the War in Viet Nam and, along with his entire family, was arrested in the San Francisco Auto Row sit-ins. 

"Patrick S. Hallinan is a trial attorney specializing in the litigation of complex criminal cases in state and federal court. He has practiced law in San Francisco for 38 years and, throughout his career, has been active in high-profile legal and political issues involving the conflict between the exercise of governmental power and individual liberty. He has been named the leading criminal defense lawyer in the Bay Area Surveys by the San Francisco Examiner and Attorney of the Year by California Attorneys for Criminal Justice as well as by the Drug Policy Commission of Washington, D.C. 

"He has also been a frequent speaker at various bar and legal functions. Mr. Hallinan has represented author Ken Kesey, San Francisco District Attorney Joe Freitas, California Court of Appeal Justice William Newsom, Congressman John Burton, Black Panther author Eldridge Cleaver, the Soledad Seven, San Francisco Sheriff Richard Hongisto, Federal District Court Judge Robert Aguilar, and former California Schools Superintendant William Honig. 

Mr. Hallinan was also featured in the PBS series Frontline: Snitch, a documentary about the harmful effects of the government's use of paid informants in the federal criminal justice system." 

Remembering Patrick Hallinan 

By David Talbot on Facebook  

(October 12, 2019) — I was sad to hear of the passing of Patrick Hallinan, on October 8—the eldest son of Vincent and Vivian Hallinan, whose brawling brood created our rebellious San Francisco's values, nearly all by themselves. 

Patriarch Vincent, "the lion of the courtroom," fought power all his life—City Hall, corporate titans, the Catholic Church, the federal government. 

His legendary fights for labor justice and civil rights got him thrown into federal prison during the Cold War. But with his equally tough, shrewd (and beautiful) wife Vivian, they created a family dynasty of six (!) boys—anointing them all with boxers' nicknames and teaching them how to fight because they knew the "Red Hallinans" were going to be embattled from birth. [For the record, the Hallinan kids went by the nicknames "Butch," "Kayo," "Toughy," "Dynamite," "Ringo," and "Dangerous"—GS] 

Vincent imbued his sons early with an important lesson: Don't just question authority, sneer at it whenever appropriate. 

"I'll always give you the best advice I can, but make up your own minds," he counseled his boys. "No matter how firmly I believe something, it might be 100% false; everything I know may be wrong." 

Patrick (Butch) Hallinan followed his old man into the family law firm, and was thrown immediately into the fray. He's pictured below as a young man (with dark hair, no glasses), defending protesters who were arrested during raucous civil rights demonstrations in the early 1960s at San Francisco's Auto Row, the Sheraton Palace Hotel and other city businesses that practiced racial discrimination. These protests introduced a new wave of youthful militancy, leading to San Francisco becoming a center of the 1960s-'70s revolution. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing Patrick for my book "Season of the Witch." Like the fellow "wild Irish rogues" in his family, he was a splendid storyteller and made his clan's tale—and the entire era—come vividly to life. The Hallinan story kicks off my book, with young Vince and Viv's early capers reading like Nick and Nora's from Dashiell Hammett's "Thin Man" series. 

With Patrick now joining his mother and father in the great beyond, I'll quote from the late Mayor Joe Alioto's eulogy for Vincent, because it rings true for Butch too. "If his duels and tilts were with God, at least he was picking on someone his own size." 

The Hallinans were the "social conscience of San Francisco," Alioto continued, "... in many respects the heart of San Francisco." 

Amen... and since they were not a pious family, right on, too. 

 

 


Opinion

Public Comment

Mattis Fires Back, with Grace & Humor

Jagjit Singh
Friday October 25, 2019 - 04:53:00 PM

Donald Trump has a long history using the bully pulpit to silence his critics. At the Golden Globes award he insulted movie super star Meryl Streep as one of “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood after she rebuked him. He mocked “a Hillary flunky who lost big.” He then mocked a disabled New York Times reporter. More recently, he insulted General Mattis as an overrated general.  

But Mattis fired back, reminding Trump that he “earned his his spurs at the battlefield, while Trump “earned his spurs from a letter from the doctor – a jab at his former boss who escaped the Vietnam draft from “a friendly doctor’s” letter. He further ridiculed the president’s adoration of Colonel Sanders,” the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food restaurant chain.  

General Mattis resigned with dignity and grace after he cited irreconcilable policy differences with the president’s erratic foreign policy blunders. The former defense secretary’s comments Thursday night come as Trump faces bipartisan criticism over his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.  

Last Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing Trump’s troop withdrawal. Earlier in the day, retired four-star Admiral William McRaven, the architect of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said Trump was working to “destroy” the country from “within” and “without.”  

We are all waiting with bated breath for the next barrage of nasty tweets.


A Gift of Treason

Bruce Joffe
Friday October 25, 2019 - 03:29:00 PM

Trump's withholding of military assistance to Ukraine until they manufacture false investigations against his political opponents is illegal, unconstitutional, and weakened Ukraine's resistance to invading Russian forces. But, his impulsive withdrawal of our troops from Kurdish Syria is a far worse calamity. 

The Traitor-in-Chief has now given a big chunk of the Middle East to Russia, for no good reason. Our warriors were rushed out as if defeated in battle. Russian soldiers now stroll inside our military bases. Our stalwart allies against ISIS abandoned, Kurds now face "ethnic cleansing." Our solemn commitments betrayed, our reputation has been desecrated, permanently. Russia now controls Kurdish oil fields. 

Days later, Putin visited his new best friend in ... not Turkey ... not Syria ... but ... Saudi Arabia! He told MbS that Russia is replacing USA. Soon, Putin may control the world's oil supply. 

Trump's gift to Putin is treason, pure and putrid. 

Sincerely,


Where Do We Go Now?

Barbara Brust
Friday October 25, 2019 - 04:13:00 PM

About 4 years ago, a movement started in Berkeley, originally targeting the HUB but soon it evolved into THE POOR TOUR. 

In only a couple of months, this band of warriors were targeted and raided by BPD over 17 times, most often at the ungodly hour of 4AM

For the most part, they were able to protect their gear to bravely move to the next spot they would occupy. 

Many housed people with trucks were willing to show up and get their gear...It was a clean & sober encampment. It was truly a family in every way. Dysfunctional for sure, and clearly, at times Deranged, and ALWAYS steadfast in their commitment. 

Then the arrests started, and some were permanently injured.
And still it continued! 

There were TV and radio coverage, as well as the press. There was incredible artwork created adorning the encampments. Hell, they even made City Hall BLEED one night.
 

See slideshow of The Poor Tour
https://youtu.be/ihYq_fas3IM 

Today, there is a new movement, WHERE DO WE GO BERKELEY? 

The very same problems have yet to be resolved. The very same police actions happen. Pretty much the only difference is now there are a lot more tents on the streets of Berkeley and they wait until 8AM to begin the harassment. 

The SeaBreeze Encampment at W.Frontage Road and University will most likely be "Swept" by CHP & CAL TRANS and MANY plan to refuse to continue being subjected to what is frighteningly similar to "death marches." 

NOTHING is achieved by these actions, often, if not always, they do not even take the garbage that has been neatly bagged... 

There are NO portable toilets, NO dumpsters, NO storage, and NO shelter for them. Two people were KILLED by an Amtrak train as a direct result of the exhaustion and sun stroke resulting from one of these "Sweeps" 

SWEEPS KILL! 

BE A WITNESS to this action. Help protect them from further harm. DEMAND AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION HEARD ALL AROUND THE BAY AREA... 

WHERE DO WE GO?? 

DO NOT BELIEVE without seeing for yourselves!
 

 

Follow them on Twitter @WhereDoWeGoBerk 

 

Follow them on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/WhereDoWeGoBerkeley/ 


“Get over it Mulvaney”

Tejinder Uberoi
Saturday October 26, 2019 - 12:59:00 PM

After weeks of prevarication, bobbing, weaving and stonewalling White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney finally nailed it, admitting there was a quid pro quo in dealings with Ukraine. 

Diving into the black hole he just dug Mulvaney stated unequivocally, “We do that all the time with foreign policy, adding: "I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Compounding Trump’s cruel policies, Mulvaney admitted that aid was withheld to the Northern Triangle countries in Central America to stem the tide of immigrants.  

“This is the ordinary course of foreign policy,” he added with great pride. 

“Get over it Mulvaney” – you just sank the presidency. If you are looking for another job after you leave the White House in disgrace, I suggest you contact a Rudy Giuliani who has many shady contacts in faraway places.


Columns

THE PUBLIC EYE:Impeachment and the Supreme Court

Bob Burnett
Friday October 25, 2019 - 03:25:00 PM

As the House of Representatives' Impeachment Inquiry rolls along, it continuously runs into non-cooperation from the Trump Administration. Dems could chose to ignore this but if they did they would deprive the investigation of potentially vital information. On the other hand, fighting this non-cooperation means going through the legal system -- and likely appearing before the Supreme court -- and that takes time. The longer the inquiry takes, the more likely that the public will lose interest and the more likely that support for impeachment will diminish. The House Democratic leadership is engaged in a balancing act between keeping the public informed and wrenching vital information out of the Trump Administration. 

It's unlikely that Trump will ever voluntarily cooperate with the House investigation. Trump has had a checkered business career and, in the process, engaged in more than four thousand lawsuits. (In 2016, USA Today (https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/trump-lawsuits/) counted 4095 lawsuits.) Since entering the White House Trump has been as litigious, and over the past 34 months, he has precipitated dozens of additional legal actions. Some of these -- such as those involving sexual misconduct -- do not bear directly on the impeachment proceedings. Many of the others -- such as those involving alleged violations of the Constitution -- are related. 

In all the legal cases, the Trump pattern is the same: Trump unapologetically pushes limits and, when challenged, defies his adversary to prove their case in court. (Typical is the legal case regarding Trump University that took four years to reach a $25 million settlement in 2017 -- Trump's response was, "The ONLY bad thing about winning the Presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U. Too bad!") Trump never acknowledges that he did anything wrong. 

The House Impeachment Inquiry alleges three basic offenses, detailed in Speaker Pelosi's October 20th memorandum (https://www.speaker.gov/sites/speaker.house.gov/files/Trump%20Shakedown%20and%20Coverup.pdf ) "The Shakedown. The Pressure Campaign. The Coverup." 

1.The Shakedown: The key transaction took place on July 25th during a telephone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian President ("Unclassified Memorandum of Telephone Conversation" between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/25/trump-ukraine-phone-call-transcript-text-pdf-1510770 ).) In return for the promise of U.S. assistance, Trump requested, "I would like you do us a favor," and asked Zelensky to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. 

Many constitutional lawyers have stated that Trump's action is a violation of U.S. Government Code title 18 Section 201(b) ( https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/201), which states that any public official who “corruptly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally or for any other person or entity, in return for… being influenced in the performance of any official act” is breaking the law. 

From the Whistleblower complaint ("Unclassified Whistleblower memo to Senator Richard Burr and Congressman Adam Schiff." (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/26/us/politics/whistle-blower-complaint.htm )) we know that “Senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call... the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system... used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature.” 

Therefore, it is reasonable for the impeachment inquiry to insist upon the "official word-for-word transcript of the call." It is also reasonable for the Impeachment Inquiry to subpoena Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who was present during this call -- and anyone else in the room. 

2. The Pressure Campaign: During the past several weeks, we've learned that the Trump Administration used a variety of means to pressure Ukraine to deliver dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden. The key person in the effort is Rudy Giuliani -- Trump asked Zelensky to work with Giuliani. Also involved in this pressure campaign were Vice President Pence, Attorney General Barr, acting White House Chief-of-Staff Mulvaney, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. 

It is reasonable for the impeachment inquiry to command the testimony of all these individuals -- and to demand that they deliver related materials such as texts, emails, transcripts and notes. 

3. The Cover Up: During the past several weeks, we've learned that the Trump Administration used the power of the White House "to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election." They then took extreme steps to hide these actions, such as hiding the official transcript on a highly classified electronic system, or forbidding witnesses to appear before Congress. This is an abuse of presidential power. 

It is reasonable for the impeachment inquiry to command the testimony of the applicable Trump Administration officials -- and related materials. If they fail to do this, that would constitute an additional offense. 

Summary: We're in the middle of the first of three phases of the impeachment process: investigation. During this phase there will be multiple hearings, some public, some not. 

At the conclusion of this phase, Democrats will initiate the second phase and construct the articles of impeachment. (These will be voted on by the house and, if passed by a majority, the process will move into the third phase: an impeachment trial in the Senate.) 

It's clear there is enough evidence to construct three article of impeachment: bribery, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. It would be helpful if some the related lawsuits were settled by the Supreme Court before the trial in the Senate. (For example, the Supreme Court could rule that Secretary Pompeo must testify and must turnover his related notes and texts.) However, this is not necessary for construction of the articles of impeachment. 

However, there is enough evidence to start the impeachment trial and Trump's non-cooperation can be litigated during the trial -- after all, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts will preside over the Senate trial. In this sense, the Supreme Court will be involved in the final phase of the three-phase process. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net 


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Anxiety Disorders

Jack Bragen
Friday October 25, 2019 - 03:21:00 PM

There are some survivor recipients of mental health care who have said they have "a little bit of everything." This means they may have psychosis, mood problems, and other difficulties. I could easily fit into this category.

My documented diagnosis is schizophrenia with paranoid delusions. This is accurate about me so far as I can tell. I am very high functioning for someone with this diagnosis, e.g., able to write for publication, able to manage my own finances and other responsibilities, able to be in a relationship, and possibly able to work at some jobs or gigs.

The paranoid delusions really interfere with my life. Additionally, I sometimes have panic attacks. These can be very uncomfortable, but I would not say unbearable. I can withstand the discomfort because of the amount of mindfulness I have done. Yet, because the panic takes over my body and large parts of my mind, the episodes of anxiousness are debilitating.

Benzodiazepines are a habit-forming class of controlled substances, sometimes prescribed for severe anxiety attacks. Their use is not recommended for long-term anxiety management. The patient can become dependent on these substances. Benzodiazepines must not be taken before driving a car.

For me, what seems to work, in addition to prescribed medications, is to do a mental exercise to shut down the panic. I can do this because I have been a practitioner of mindfulness for three decades. I've practiced mindfulness to deal with difficult life situations, and as a way of feeling better. I do not need to always be comfortable. 

When you are anxious about something, it may or may not mean that there is a good reason behind it. You could have a nagging worry about a thing that should be addressed. Or, you could be worrying without a good reason, because symptoms or some other error in thought leads to a false worry. 

A possible first step is to identify the thoughts that trigger the anxiety or panic. In most instances, these do exist. It may seem as though you have "free floating anxiety" with no reason for it. Yet, somewhere in your mind, and it may not be obvious, you may have thoughts or other mental content that has led to the anxiety and/or panic. You could have dozens of little worries that add up to a massive amount of anxiety. Or, there may be one item that you have buried beneath denial or some other form of repression. A rule of thumb in identifying the anxiety producing thought, is that the thought brings up emotional discomfort when you acknowledge it.  

I am sure that some people's panic disorders are caused strictly by a brain malfunction, and there is no actual "issue" behind it. Yet, this may be a small percentage of afflicted people. I do not have the expertise to give you hard facts about this. I am sure that opinions vary. No one can really tell you for certain exactly what happens in your gray matter. Psychiatry is not advanced enough to do that. 

Psychiatry is partly an art, partly a science, and partly an effort of trial and error. Doctors will try a patient on a medication that they think will work, based on an informed guess, and if it doesn't work, they'll try something else. Sometimes people are inpatients for periods of months, if the case is severe enough. This gives the practitioner time to try various medications and find a combination of meds that can help the patient. 

Anxiety can sometimes be resolved through desensitization. There are varying forms of this. Yet, there are certain situations in which you should not put yourself, either for the purpose of resolving anxiety, or for any reason. Another strategy is to do what within your power to resolve a possible problem that seems to give you the anxiety. 

Still another strategy is to look at your insides and tell yourself, "This is the content of my mind." And you can look at your surroundings and tell yourself, "This is the content of my surroundings as I perceive it." Doing this can, in effect, put your emotions in perspective. 

Fighting against anxiety doesn't work. Yet, it may sometimes work to block anxiety with a mental wall. A strategy for blocking anxiety could be to focus on the present minute, hour or day, and disallow thoughts and emotions about the future. This strategy actually got me through public school. 

In public school I was miserable. However, when I was home, I wouldn't think about the next day. Even when I rode my bicycle to school, I was focused on riding the bicycle and not on the upcoming day of school. 

It doesn't work to accept things on a hypothetical basis. If something is completely unacceptable, you should not try to imagine that it is acceptable. My current anxiousness that I'm dealing with is about my lack of adequate income. This leads me to seek work. 

(In the current job market, many jobs exist that people can get and do, that do not involve much. The only things needed in these jobs are transportation to work, and basic competence to do a few simple tasks. Being disabled doesn't have to prevent people from doing such jobs.) 

There is no single solution to feelings of anxiety. You could address it with more and more drugs. The human body often develops a tolerance to certain meds, and you must periodically up the dosages. 

You could deal with anxiety strictly through meditation. This will work for some people but not for everyone. In some instances, the brain is too tired (such as at the end of a day) to focus on a meditation technique. Or, you could deal with anxiety through action. One hopes it is the correct action that addresses your problem and does not worsen the problem. Anxiety is different for each person, and each instance of anxiety is different. 

*** 

Jack Bragen writes books, such as "Instructions for Dealing with Schizophrenia: A Self-Help Manual," and, "Schizophrenia: My 35 Year Battle," available on Amazon and elsewhere.


ECLECTIC RANT:Roy Cohn, a Trump Mentor

Ralph E. Stone
Friday October 25, 2019 - 03:53:00 PM

President Donald Trump once asked, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” He was, of course, referring to his former personal lawyer and fixer, who had been Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s top aide during the investigations into communist activity in the 1950s, a lawyer for mob bosses, who died in 1986 five weeks after being disbarred. By all accounts, Roy Cohn was a despicable human being and an unscrupulous but effective lawyer. 

His relationship with Trump began when he defended him and his father for violation of the Fair Housing Act. The Trumps systematically discriminated against African Americans in the renting of their units. The Trumps were about to admit defeat, when they hired Cohn, who filed a countersuit. In 1975, the Trumps settled out of court without having to make an admission of guilt. 

What did Trump learn from Cohn? Never admit guilt, and when caught in a lie, just tell another lie, and to keep changing your story but never admit that you changed your story. Trump was a good student; according to WAPO, Trump has told 13,435 lies and counting while in office and to my knowledge never admitted to telling a lie. 

I’m dating myself, but I remember coming home from high school and turning on the Army-McCarthy hearings. McCarthy constantly interrupted with irrelevant questions and asides; yelled “point of order” whenever testimony was not to his liking. I remember, “point of order” became a familiar joke. Point of Order was also the title of a 1964 documentary consisting of a compilation of TV footage of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings. And, of course, who can forget the Hollywood blacklist

Trump did stock his cabinet, advisers, family members and personal attorneys with assorted swamp-like creatures, but alas no Roy Cohn was available. Maybe Attorney General William Barr is the new Roy Cohn. 

In June 1954, Army counsel Joseph Welch famously told McCarthy after McCarthy brought up the details of a young lawyer’s past membership in a left-wing professional association accused of communism, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” Will we soon have such a moment in this disastrous Trump presidency? 

A new documentary, Where’s My Roy Cohn recently opened. While the documentary is getting favorable reviews, I will pass. There are already enough living examples of morally and ethically challenged low-lifes on view every time I turn on the TV or read the daily news.


SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces

Gar Smith
Friday October 25, 2019 - 04:54:00 PM

The World's Real Superheroes

Step aside, Avengers. Stand down, X-Men. Time out, Guardians of the Galaxy. I've recently seen an array of films that reveal these Hollywood fantasies are no match for the real heroes of our actual modern world. And who might these awesome and redoubtable people be? Answer: the planet's growing population of refugees and migrants.

Think about it. Hollywood excels at (and profits by) inundating us with the sensory overload of blockbuster films that push a singular, disquieting message—i.e., that the majority of the human population is powerless and surrounded by threats that can only be addressed by the intervention of all-powerful super-human saviors.

These saviors don't just have Big Screen names like Superman and Wolverine: they also populate our TV screens in the persona of police investigators, SWAT cops, firefighters, FBI agents, SEAL team members, intelligence operatives, and big-city doctors. Again, the messaging is always the same: (1) You are surrounded by concealed weapons, public threats, deranged sociopaths, foreign-and-local terrorists, and plagues and (2) Only specially trained, physically endowed, shrewd-and-woke, badge-wearing Soldiers of the State can protect you.

You want to honor a real superhero? Focus your attention on any one of the tens of thousands of refugees who stagger out of Africa to risk their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean on ramshackle boats. 

Consider the men and women driven from their homes in Central and South America by violence, climate crisis, and the impact of US sanctions—forced to embark on a journey measured in months and unknown miles, carrying children in their arms and their meager possessions stuffed into bags on their backs. 

These women, men, and children are some of the world's real superheroes. 

Watching Real Superheroes on the Screen 

A new image of what it takes to be a superhero is already being communicated around the world—in documentary film festivals that fill their screens with images of real people forced to deal with adversity and the threat of obliteration—all without the intervention of all-powerful outside forces. 

In a previous column, I described Midnight Traveler, a hand-made documentary that covered one Syrian family's three-year, 3,500-mile exodus to find safety outside a war-zone. 

Recently, the New Parkway Cinema in Oakland, screened We Are Not Princesses, one of the many powerful documentaries in the Arab Film Festival, "the longest running independent festival of its kind in North America." 

The film recounts the survival tales of several women forced to flee from Syria to refugee camps in Lebanon. Some lost relatives. Some lost children. All had lost their homes. 

One woman had walked ten-miles in a single day, desperately trudging to reach a border. She had to endure the march in the shoes she was wearing when she was forced to flee—six-inch, stiletto-healed boots. 

Another survivor recalled her bed-ridden child (diagnosed with leukemia), beginning to bleed from nose and mouth as dozens of bombs exploded around her apartment. She wound up carrying her child to a hospital, in the middle of the night, down rubble-strewn streets lit only by the flash of exploding bombs and mortars (an experience captured in a harrowing animated re-enactment that you briefly glimpse at minute 1:42 in the trailer below.) 

Displaced in Beirut, the women find solace and support preparing to stage a performance of Sophocles' Antigone—the tale of another woman who risked her life to honor a family lost to the chaos of a civil war. 

 

Mosul 980 

A few weeks ago, UC Berkeley's Arab Studies Center screened a number of selections from the Arab Film Festival. One of them was director Ali Mohammed Saeed's Mosul 980, a short film about a young Yazidi woman, one of 3,000 Yazidis kidnapped by the Islamic State in 2014 and sold as sex slaves. In the film, this solitary female fighter—armed and frightened— struggles to survive as she darts over the rubble of buildings and dead bodies. Her plight is made even more stark by the setting—the scenes filmed inside the devastated city are nothing short of apocalyptic. Here is a brief sample from this disturbing film: 

 

After the on-campus screenings, I approached one of the Festival organizers to express my amazement that a film crew was able to shoot this film in what appeared to be an active war zone. I asked how long ago Mosul 980 was filmed, expecting to hear that it had been filmed between 2015-17. His answer shocked me. "The film was shot in 2018." 

It turns out that large sections of war-torn Mosul have never been rebuilt. More examples of the war's lasting devastation (which claimed scores of mosques and irreplaceable ancient buildings) can be glimpsed in this short behind-the-scenes video. 

 

Billboard Breeds Discontent 

Ellen Lee Zhou, a pro-Trump conservative running an underdog race for SF mayor, has been called out for a campaign billboard targeting SF Mayor London Breed. Zhou's billboard (now removed) had been condemned for being "racist" but I don't think that's accurate. 

 

The billboard famously portrayed the mayor as a corrupt, laid-back powerbroker profiting off homelessness and human-trafficking. But where's the racist stereotype here? Is it a stereotype that African-Americans are rich and powerful cigar-smoking manipulators of public policy? Nope. Are African-Americans profiting off "slavery and human-trafficking"? Au contraire. African-Americans have been the victims of slavery and human trafficking. (Footnote: In a Trump-like error, the word "trafficking" was misspelled on Zhou's billboard.) 

Despite the controversy, neither the media nor Zhou have managed to explain the suggestion that the major's office is somehow personally profiting off homelessness and "sex trafficking." Instead, Mayor Breed soon will be overseeing a $9.3 million state grant to provide housing and social services to survivors of sex trafficking. 

So, while the billboard wasn't racist, it was offensive, sexist, and libelous. 

In her defense, Zhou replied: “When people say I am racist, how can I be racist? I’m Chinese." 

To which one might respond: "Tell that to the Uighurs currently confined in re-education camps in Xinjiang." 

Counting the Trillion Dollar Costs of Nuclear Weapons 

 

On October 24, a team of anti-nuclear activists gathered outside the United Nations building in New York where the General Assembly is holding a week-long meeting on nuclear disarmament. The activists hope to draw attention to the staggering trillion-dollar cost of the continuing nuclear arms race—by counting out the cost in symbolic million-dollar bills, one bill at a time. The accounting is expected to continue uninterrupted for seven long days and seven long nights. 

Similar "countings" are taking place at four locations in New Mexico (the "nuclear nexus" of Washington's atomic weapons industry) with the largest demonstration converging outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory, America's nuclear bomb lab. 

According to the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money International Campaign, $280 billion of the money designated to create a new generation of world-ending weapons could, instead, feed all of our planet's 780 million malnourished people for the next ten years while $200 billion could build as many as 100 million houses for the homeless. For more information, contact the Basel Peace Office, Beyond Nuclear International, and Divest from the War Machine

Racist Language 

Racism seems to be embedded in our language as well as our history. Take the word "denigrate." It stems from the Latin verb denigrare, which means to "blacken" someone's reputation. Other definitions include: to treat or represent someone or something as lacking in value or importance, to belittle, disparage, sully, or defame. 

The word first entered the English language in the 16th century, a period corresponding to the introduction and expansion of Europe's African slave trade. Each year, the Oxford English Dictionary announces new words that have been added to the English vocabulary. Maybe it's time to consider retiring a word or two. 

The Extinction Rebellion Sees Red 

 

What a concept! The London contingent of the Extinction Rebellion—a feisty international save-the-climate movement—recently rented a fire truck and used it to spray a sidewalk and a government building with blood-red liquid. 

In a moment of online reflection, I noted that "looking at that ruddy photo of the Blood Protest, I'm thinking CODEPINK must be green with envy." 

This prompted the following response from Michael Dietrick, MD: "Extending [this] colorful metaphor: Thanks to green-lighting this purple prose action, I think it’s a black day for the non-greens, especially around the White Cliffs of Dover." 

The Lunacy of NATO 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently complained that NATO does not support his regime and must make a choice between Ankara and the Kurdish people. As Erdogan put it: 

“We are members of NATO, and the charter of the bloc has Article 5 (urging the response of all members of the alliance when one of them is under attack). We are under the threat of a terrorist organisation. And in accordance with Article 5, NATO should be with us. Are you with us or with terrorists? There has been no exact answer.” 

Ironically, Turkey already has The Bomb, thanks to the US, which has entrusted Ankara to store 50 US B-61 nuclear bombs at its Incirlic Air Base (a base that briefly slipped from Erdogan's control during an attempted military coup in 2016). 

Now that Erdogan has now found common cause with Russia (NATO's putative arch-enemy) Turkey may be on the verge of building its own nuclear arsenal. As Erdogan puts it: "Some countries have nuclear missiles but the West insists we cannot have them. This is unacceptable." 

What's really unacceptable is the fact that any country still possesses nuclear arms. 

Balancing the Books on Balance of Nature 

Over the years, KCBS Radio has hosted a number of quirky advertisers. (One of my favorite ads began with a woman complaining: "I'm a child psychologist but my son just slammed the door in my face and I don't know what to do." She then recommends a service guaranteed to solve the problem "within minutes." But she never explains what's involved. This left me to speculate a service involving a 300-pound guy named "Vinny" who shows up on your doorstep after a phone call and threatens to "slap some sense" into the young delinquent.) 

Recently, I've been listening to KCBS ads for Balance of Nature Fruits™. 

People are being asked to shell out $70 a month to chew on shipments of "fruit and veggie treats" delivered by mail. Instead of buying fresh, organic produce in local stores, listeners are being told these mail-sourced munchies can cure a variety of disabilities and diseases. 

The radio testimonials include voices of elderly people claiming the product has improved their physical stamina, brainpower, and sexual performance. One elderly lady tells KCBS listeners that she's returned to riding her horses after using the product "and my husband has his wife back!" In another broadcast testimonial, an elderly lady tearfully declares: "I feel like you are my family! You really care about us!" 

Balance of Nature claims "these specific fruits were carefully selected for their combined effectiveness with each other and the Balance of Nature Veggies." Ingredients include: Aloe Vera, Apple, Banana, Blueberry, Cherry, Cranberry, Grape, Grapefruit, Lemon, Mango, Orange, Papaya, Pineapple, Raspberry, Strawberry, Tomato; Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Cayenne Pepper, Celery Stalk, Garlic, Kale, Onion, Shiitake Mushroom, Soy Bean, Spinach, Wheat Grass, Yam, and Zucchini. 

The company's webpage assures potential customers: "You could snack on them all day and not be concerned with overdosage because it is 100% produce." Need another reason to sign up? How about this one: "You can also swallow them with water." 

Unfortunately, according to Truth in Advertising, " Balance of Nature has an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau." 

A visit to the BBB website reveals a long list of complaints against the product and its billing department. Here's one sample. 

Having received no noticeable benefits from this product, and feeling like I have been duped, I cancelled further deliveries and asked for a refund of my last payment, which was for my "free" month. I offered to return the shipment unopened at my expense. They refused to authorize a return or a refund. I disputed the payment to my credit card company. 

At my age I should have known better. Their advertisements offering "testimonials" from people who claim fantastical results should have been the obvious clue. If this product was half as good as what they claim, they would not have to advertise at all . . . . Before buying this product, ask yourself why don't they offer a money-back guarantee if it is so good? 

How to Save 20% on Metered Parking 

Here's a tip for major savings on a minor expense. 

The next time you reach into your pocket for coins to feed into a parking meter, avoid the quarters. In the Downtown area, a quarter only gets you 4 minutes of parking. Meanwhile, a nickel gets you a full minute while a single dime buys you two. Instead of paying a quarter for four minutes of curb time, you can get the same coverage with four nickels or two dimes. 


Arts & Events

East Bay Media Center Hosts Two Weekends of Annual Film and Video Festival, October 25-27 and November 1-3, Including Free Admission Sundays

Ken Bullock
Friday October 25, 2019 - 03:17:00 PM

For years, the East Bay Film Center in downtown Berkeley, founded in 1980, has produced the annual Berkeley Video and Film Festival, every year growing and diversifying. 

This year, the Festival not only features 60 videos and films of different genres, nonfiction and fiction, in their Indie Film Festival Marathon, including many in their Film School Frenzy series from the famed University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts--many of the screenings featuring the filmmakers for Q&A sessions with the audience--but this year the Center has announced the two Sundays of the Festival will have free admission, due to a grant from the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission. (Donations are encouraged.) 

Videos and films will include documentaries like 'Women of the Gulag,' 'Hippie Family Values,' 'Alternative Facts: Lies of Executive Order 9066,' 'Trees in Trouble: Saving America's Urban Forests'--and among the fictional films, a rarity: from the Library of Congress, the three minute "lost" 1910 silent film "of Berkeley provenance," "Samuel of Posen," starring M. B. Curtis, with Berkeley film historian Richard Schwartz in attendance. 

For scheduling and ticket information go to www.berkeleyvideoandfilmfest.org

Day passes are $15, $10 for students and elders.
All screenings are at the Center's Performing Space, 1939 Addison, between Milvia and MLK. Phone: (510) 843-3699.


The Berkeley Activist's Calendar, October 27-November 3

Kelly Hammargren, Sustainable Berkeley Coalition
Saturday October 26, 2019 - 12:10:00 PM

Worth Noting:

Holiday Food Drive – November 1 – 29, daily from 8:30 a – 6 p, for more information https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=16299

Tuesday – City Council

Wednesday – Presentation on Traffic Circles and threats to Trees at Le Conte Neighborhood meeting – (City Council will be holding a special meeting on Traffic Circles on November 12 at 4 pm).

Saturday – Repair Café for broken household items, one item per person,

Sunday – End of Daylight Savings Time



Sunday, October 27, 2019

No City meetings or events found

Monday, October 28, 2019 

City Council Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee, 10 am – 12 pm at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor Redwood Room, Agenda: 2. a. Code Enforcement and fact finding Leonard Powell, b. Recommendations to bring justice to Leonard Powell and change of policies, c. Plan for public meeting on receivership, 3. Establishing Outdoor Emergency Shelter (sanctioned homeless encampment in Berkeley) 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Health,_Life_Enrichment,_Equity___Community.aspx 

Agenda and Rules Committee, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor Redwood Room, Agenda planning for November 12, CONSENT: 4. Contract $392,778 with BUSD for providing Mental Health Services in school programs, 6. Ordinance - Adopting more stringent building standards, 7. Contracts $600,000 in total for On-call Environmental Services, 8. Approval to make 2747 San Pablo a 42 unit condo project. 9. Bird safe construction, 10. Stop Sign Warrant Policy, 11. Support SB 378 PG&E shutoffs, (12. – 16. Nov. Mid-year budget referrals) 12. $250,000 environmental review and zoning planning for Ashby and North Berkeley BART, 13. $210,000 renovation Drop-In Center, 14. $10,582 Community Gardening Collaborative, 15. $75,000 pedestrian and bike safety Oxford St, 16. $550,000 Wildfire Mitigation, ACTION: 17. Local Fire Code Amendments, 18. Public Hearing Approval of Bond for (affordable housing) 1601 Oxford (SAHA or affiliate), 19. ZAB appeal 2701 Shattuck, 20. 1281 University interim site to host RV dwellers, 21. a.&b. Recommendations for Fossil Free Berkeley, 22. Support impeachment actions, 23. Healthy Checkout Ordinance, 24. Request for Information: Police Dispatch, 25. Budget Referral: Transportation to support Mobility Impaired Homeless who are engaged in rehousing or other services, 26. Budget Referral Expansion Homeless Navigation facilities and programs, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/Policy_Committee__Agenda___Rules.aspx 

Children, Youth and Recreation Commission, 7 – 9 pm at 2800 Park St, Frances Albrier Community Center at San Pablo Park, no agenda posted, check before going 

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Children_Youth_and_Recreation_Commission/ 

Commission on the Status of Women, 6:45 – 9 pm at 2180 Milvia, Cypress Room, Agenda: 5. Presentation Domestic Violence Report, 6. Presentation HR Director, 8. Update on Equal Pay Independent Audit 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Commission_on_the_Status_of_Women_Homepage.aspx 

Zero Waste Commission, 7 – 9 pm at 1326 Allston Way, Willow Room, City of Berkeley Corporation Yard, Agenda: 1. Action Skip the Slip – Goldman School of Public Policy Analysis, Annual Reports: 2. Urban Ore, 3. Community Conservation Centers, 4. Ecology Center 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Zero_Waste_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Tax the Rich Rally, cancelled for Oct 28, to resume November 4 at 4 – 5 pm 

Tuesday, October 29, 2019 

Rent Stabilization Board, Housing Counselors, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm at 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center to answer questions and provide counseling about rental housing in Berkeley 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Rent_Stabilization_Board/Home/Rent_Board_Staff_attendance_at_local_events.aspx 

Berkeley City Council, at 1231 Addison Street, BUSD Board Room, 

Closed Session, 5 pm – Pending Litigation, Grievance Pregarding Emergency Call Back IT employee, SEIU 1021 Community Services & Part-time Recreation Leaders Association 

Regular Session, 6 – 11 pm, Agenda: CONSENT: 4. Council Rules of Procedure revisions, 5. Conflict of Interest Code, 6. Contract $7,966,000 Berkeley Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, d.b.a. Visit Berkeley, 7. $160,000 total, $85,000 Crisis System Evaluation, $75,000 2020 Ballot Initiatives Survey, 8. Contract Nov 2019 – July 31, 2021 for $45,000 with Management Partners to evaluate City Manager, 9. Add $300,000 to contract with First Alarm Security & Patrol, Inc for Citywide unarmed security total $3,084,798, 10. Add $150,000 to contract total $225,400 with Street Level Advisors for Zoning and Development Fee Feasibility Analyses, 11. Add $200,000 to contract total $250,000 with Redwood Toxicology Services for Drug and Alcohol Testing, 13. City Auditor Recommendation – City needs Domestic Violence Policy. 16. Add $200,000 to budget for lighting, camera, and signs to deter illegal dumping. 17. Referral to Civic Arts Commission to develop grant program for retaining creative spaces for artists, 18. Request for Presentation on City Code Enforcement Practices for Residential Properties, 21. Budget Referral $27,000 Landmarks Preservation Grants, 22. Referral to Disaster and Fire Safety Commission to consider amending Gas Shut-Off Valve Requirements, 23. Oversize vehicle restriction to prohibit commercial trucks exceeding 3 tons gross weight on streets impacting bicycle blvd networks, 24. Cameras at Ohlone Park Mural, ACTION: 27. Add North Shattuck Metered Parking to goBerkeley Program,28. Lava Mae Mobile Shower, 29. Wage Theft Prevention, 30. Referral: Telegraph Shared Street, 31. Develop Bicycle Lane and Pedestrian Street Improvements Policy, 32. Reserving General Funds for Housing trust Fund $500,000 SAHA 2527 San Pablo, $1,200,000 RCD 2001 Ashby, $50,000 NCLT 2321-2323 10th Street, 33. a.& b. Modify Enforcement Policies of Berkeley Smoke Free Multi-Unity Housing Ordinance, 34. Proposed Formula Retail (Chain Store) Regulations, 35. Referrals to address Traffic Enforcement and Bicycle Safety, INFORMATION REPORTS: 36. Referral Process, 37. City Property for Affordable Housing and Modular Micro-Unit Buildings. 41. goBerkeley Parking Rate and Time Limit Adjustments for North Shattuck Area for Dec 1, 2019. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Wednesday, October 30, 2019 

Le Conte Neighborhood Association, 7:30 – 9 pm at 2905 Shattuck, Art House Gallery, Agenda: Do Trees in Berkeley Have a Future – Traffic Circle Report and Slide Show, Adeline Corridor Proposal to redesign Shattuck and Adeline 

Thursday, October 31, 2019 

Halloween - House of Screams, 6 – 9:30 pm at 1730 Oregon, Martin Luther King Jr Youth Center, all ages 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=16298

Halloween Community Parade, 3 – 6 pm at 2800 Park, Frances Albrier Community Center 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=16297 

Friday, November 1, 2019 

No City meetings or events found 

350 Bay Area - World Vegan Day, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm, at 48 Shattuck Square, Veggie Grill, lunch with 33% going to 350 Bay Area, https://350bayarea.org/events-alt 

Saturday, November 2, 2019 

Transition Berkeley & Cal Zero Waste Repair Café, 1 – 4 pm, at 2701 MLK Jr Way, Berkeley Technology Academy, this is free repair service (not drop-off). RSVP requested 

https://www.transitionberkeley.org 

Sunday, November 3, 2019 

End of Daylight Savings Time – “fall back” 1hour. 

 

_____________________ 

 

 

 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

0 Euclid – Berryman Reservoir TBD 

2701 Shattuck 11-12-2019 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC With 90-Day Deadline 

1155-73 Hearst (develop 2 parcels) – referred back to City Council – to be scheduled 

Notice of Decision (NOD) With End of Appeal Period 

2909 Acton 10-30-2019 

2410 Blake 11-11-2019 

2422 Fifth 10-30-2019 

2200-2220 Fourth 10-30-2019 

888 Indian Rock 11-18-2019 

1923 Ninth 10-30-2019 

1226 Parker 10-28-2019 

2451 Shattuck 10-30-2019 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/planning_and_development/land_use_division/current_zoning_applications_in_appeal_period.aspx 

1440 Hawthorne Terrace 

1450 Hawthorne Terrace 

2018-2036 University for UC Theater 

 

 

WORKSHOPS 

Oct 22 – Berkeley’s 2020 Vision Update, Census 2020 Update, Short term Rentals 

Nov 5 - Transfer Station Feasibility Study, Vision Zero Action Plan, 

Jan 14 – Civic Center Visioning, Systems Realignment 

Feb 4 – Discussion of Community Poll (Ballot Measures), Adeline Corridor Plan 

March 17 –CIP Update (PRW and Public Works), Measure T1 Update 

May 5 – Budget Update, Crime Report 

June 23 – Climate Action Plan/Resiliency Update, Digital Strategic Plan/ERMA/Website Update 

July 21 – no workshops scheduled “yet” 

Unscheduled – Cannabis Health Considerations 

 

Unscheduled PRESENTATIONS 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Vision 2050 

Update goBerkeley (RPP) 

BMASP/Berkeley Pier-WETA Ferry (November 2020) 

 

_____________________ 

 

To Check For Regional Meetings with Berkeley Council Appointees go to 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Committee_and_Regional_Body_Appointees.aspx 

 

To check for Berkeley Unified School District Board Meetings go to 

https://www.berkeleyschools.net/schoolboard/board-meeting-information/ 

 

_____________________ 

 

This meeting list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet under activist’s calendar http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

 

When notices of meetings are found that are posted after Friday 5:00 pm they are added to the website schedule https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and preceded by LATE ENTRY