LaborFest

Schedule:

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Public Workers, Privatization, Nonprofits and Union Busting

(Panel discussion)
Public workers are under attack in San Francisco, the US and the world. The privatization of all public services are at epidemic proportions and in San Francisco, so called "non-profit" workers are cleaning so called business districts and maintaining and doing public work.

Speakers will look at the attack on public services and how "non-profits" are being used to undermine the public sector while destroying the conditions of these workers.

Speakers:
Cheryl Thornton – SF SEIU 1021 Community Healthcare V. Chair
Cristine Guiterrez – RUF
Monique Flambures – SEIU 2015 non-profit worker
Brad Weidmaier – SEIU 2015

Location: 474 Valencia St. San Francisco

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: The Fight to Save People's Park

(Zoom event)

The ongoing battle to prevent the development by UC of People's Park in Berkeley continues. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and an important Court of Appeal victory was won. However, UC appealed the court decision to the State Supreme Court and simultaneously subverted the court victory by getting the legislature to pass a bill to undermine it. Construction is halted until the court issues its decision. Organizing strategies are still being pursued to protect the park from destruction by a huge student housing project and the paving over with hardscape, despite the need for open space in the densest part of Berkeley. This Zoom panel will also talk about how privatization is pushing the monetization of the public assets of the University and how this process has become a national trend.

Speakers:
Harvey Smith – People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group
Charles Wollenberg – former Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of History, Berkeley City College
Joe Liesner – Food Not Bombs

Location: Online

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Book Reading – "Postcards to Hitler"

Book reading of "Postcards to Hitler" by Bruce Neuburger

An intimate and dramatic narrative history of Munich residents Benno and Anna Neuburger and their circle of relatives and friends drawn from family stories, interviews, and archival documents, including those from the Gestapo and the Nazi People's Court.

Postcards to Hitler follows the arc of history, from a "Golden age" of Jewish accomplishment in Germany to the depth of mass murder: A portrayal of the rise of racist antisemitism and fascism in the years that encompassed two world wars. It is the story of resistance that contradicts the myth of German Jewish passivity to Nazi oppression.

Discussion following the author's presentation might open up topics that bear on what we see unfolding in the U.S. and the world today as genocide and fascism once again become loathsome features of our world!

"If Benno's story has any broader importance, it is that the desire, means, and courage to resist oppression exists even in the most repressive societies. And such resistance is never futile."

Location: Bird and Beckett Books and Records