Donate

September Freedom Friday: Education & Liberation

Freedom Fridays: Education and Liberation

Critical Resistance (CR) and Quetzal Education invite you to Freedom Fridays!

When: 3-7pm on Friday September 24th, 2021

Where: 4400 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA

RSVP on Facebook here:  https://fb.me/e/19H1mzFLC

* FREE * BRING YOUR KIDS * YOUTH FRIENDLY *


Calling all educators, families and allies to join us for a “Back to School” Freedom Friday!

Please join us for an afternoon of Freedom Dreaming hosted by Quetzal Education, in conjunction with the launch of “Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators”, a collaboration of CR and Education For Liberation! Together we’ll celebrate our youth, our school-staff, and neighbors who keep us informed, nurture our imaginations, and co-create safety for all. You can pre-order your toolkit here.

* Please share this event with your communities.


Featuring…Bandung Books 

  • Critical Resistance Oakland 
  • DJ Edel – Youth Radio
  • North Oakland Mutual Aid Free Store
  • Oakland Roots Soccer Club
  • Palestinian Food from Mama Lamees
  • Quetzal Education
  • Soccer Without Borders
  • Town Fridge


Lineup:

  • 3pm – DJ kick off and Soccer Circles
  • 4pm – Art Activities for CA Prison Closure hosted by Critical Resistance
  • 5pm – Freedom Dreaming with Quetzal Coalition


*Toolkits are currently being mailed to Oakland, CA. If toolkits arrive in time, we will sell them at the event.

Pre-order your toolkit and get a 25% discount here from AK Press. Also learn about the “Lessons in Liberation” fall webinar series here.


September Call to Action:

Let’s organize for our youth! Help us and Oakland Roots Soccer Club amplify Soccer Without Borders’ (SWB) campaign to help gather resources for new families arriving to Oakland.

 SWB is serving as one of several groups helping collect and distribute donations for new Afghan families that the International Rescue Committee is resettling. SWB is collecting:

  1. Family toiletry kits: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, floss, washcloths.
  2. Household Items: white flour, salt, sugar, black and green teas, crackers, snack bars, dish soap, dish sponge, kitchen towels, laundry detergent, all purpose cleaners.
  3. Gift Cards: Target or Walmart ($100)

Bring these items (or any other resources) on Friday to the Soccer Without Borders and Oakland Roots Soccer Club tables at 4400 Telegraph!


MORE ABOUT FREEDOM FRIDAY:

Accessibility: Masks required. Space is outdoors and ADA accessible. Sanitation stations will be provided. Community support is requested for maintaining collective safety.


On the theme of Education and Liberation: As we organize toward liberation, education is both a tool and a site of freedom dreaming and struggle. Political education and building unity are essential practices for CR. We value political study, education tools, research, and learning from our movement elders, youth and partners.
In our campaigns and projects to dismantle cages, policing and systems of control, we engage in regular political education with people inside prisons; we create political education tools and fact sheets for our campaigns, coalitions, and communities; we organize alongside educators, youth and families to end racist policing policies and get cops out of schools; we support educators bringing organizers into youth spaces and creating relevant political education, and more.


As educators, youth, and learners of all ages head “Back to School,” we invite you to engage in some Freedom study! 

  • We also want to point towards a new political education project, “99 Books” by the Freedom Archives, inspired by George Jackson: “To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, we feel inspired to elevate the breadth of his intellectual curiosity and the way in which he understood and engaged the world.”
  • Sign up to receive The Abolitionist newspaper and sponsor 3+ imprisoned organizers in their political education. *add link plz*
  • We must truly know the world if we want to change it! 

Campaign updates from CR Oakland chapter:

Decarcerate Alameda County:

Decarcerate Alameda County Coalition is making sure the Care First Resolution, passed in May, is implemented in the most community-centered way possible to ensure resources go to mental health care outside of the jail and sheriff. On a related note: a settlement, three years in the making, targeting the deadly conditions in Santa Rita Jail was concluded last week. Unfortunately the settlement mandates a huge expansion of resources to the sheriff and jail to “overhaul” its mental health system. We know that throwing more money and staff will not “improve conditions” for the most deadliest jail in the region. And DAC is mobilizing to fight against these recommendations at every turn in the critical coming weeks.


#CloseCAPrisons:

We are working across the state to amplify the demands for prison closure and ensure that closed prisons STAY closed. Deuel Vocational Institute (DVI) in Tracy is slated for closure at the end of the month – take a look at this powerful article and video interview by Graham Finochio going into why we must permanently close these facilities.  The closure of California Correctional Center (CCC) in Susanville is temporarily halted, but we are working to make sure the closure is back on track – check out Richie Reseda’s article on why prison closure is necessary – especially in Susanville. We are also continuing to build with folks in these towns and across the state. If you or your loved ones are in Susanville, Tracy, or in an area with a prison nearby please email us at croakland@criticalresistance.org or fill out our contact form. We won’t stop until they’re all closed for good!


Defund OPD:

We are continuing to prepare for this year’s upcoming budget cycle. If you or your organization want to get involved with the  Defund OPD Campaign let us know! Follow the campaign on social media to stay tuned for more!

August Freedom Friday:

At last month’s Freedom Friday, we put abolitionist and anti-imperialist work into practice with CURB’s close prisons campaign & a primer on PYM’s anti-militarization campaign. For folks who missed the session: