Last week, Design Action sent out a letter to the Oakland City Council, some local businesses, and to local newspapers, in support of Occupy Oakland.

The Oakland Tribune published the Op-Ed today (11.15.11) with the headline:

“Banks cost Oakland more than protesters”

We are a downtown local, cooperatively-owned and managed small business, and residents of Oakland. We are in support of the movement of the 99% and of Occupy Oakland. We believe the Occupy movement is democracy in its highest form.

We believe that Oakland should lead the way in supporting a local, economically-sustainable business community, one that challenges the power of large multinational corporations who strip money out of our local communities for their own coffers.

The city of Oakland should offer services to the Occupiers to keep it clean and safe for all people - which in turn will prevent violence - instead of just spending all the money on the police.

We love Oakland! Oakland can lead the way in this country by setting an example that this wonderful city is progressive and believes in supporting local business entrepreneurship, cooperative and collective managements, community banks, and small businesses which keep the money reinvested back into our community.

Last year the Oakland deficit was $58 million. Oakland exempts banks from paying a real estate transfer tax for foreclosures – any time any of the rest of us buy a home or transfer it in anyway, we have to pay this tax. But the banks don’t for foreclosures. Last year, this exemption alone cost the city $51 million. That’s all but $7 million of the deficit!

The banks have other exemptions to account for that last $7million. Like not paying their vacant property fees, the $5million interest rate swap the city of Oakland is still paying each year, not to mention their property taxes that haven’t been reassessed.

In the end who costs more? Occupy Oakland or the banks?

By halting such exemptions and proactively investing in public safety through education, after-school programs, healthcare, community safety services, the arts, and other services, Oakland will chart a course of economic resilience that other cities will surely follow.

Sincerely,
Design Action Collective

Further Information on what are the true costs: www.makebankspaycalifornia.com

and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment reports on foreclosures: http://www.calorganize.org/wreckingball

Design Action has voted to be closed for business on Wednesday, November 2nd, in recognition of the General Strike and Day of Action call approved by Occupy Oakland. We realize worker coops are in a unique position, where withholding our labor to show the bosses who really has the power is not necessary. However, we believe it is important to honor this historical moment and join with everyone else, in the streets, turning the tide.

Worker coops represent the high ideal of worker control over our labor and the means of production. We are the antithesis of the 1% that makes money off of everyone else’s work. This is our chance to stand up and say, this is the solution for the 99%!  Join us!

After the events of September 11, 2001, Arab, African, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian (AAMEMSA) immigrant communities have been scapegoated and surrounded by suspicion as a heightened climate of Islamophobia grew. These communities are ethnically and culturally diverse but have all been similarly targeted — experiencing severe racial profiling, government surveillance, and hate crimes.

Ten years later, this oppression and violence against  AAMEMSA people in America has continued at an alarming rate. The national  discourse is plagued by racist, Islamophobic rhetoric that perpetuates a culture of fear in which public opinion is manipulated for political gain. With our civil liberties constantly under threat, AAMEMSA immigrant communities have been amongst the most vulnerable and marginalized.

Deportation threats, government monitoring, workplace discrimination, and other forms of institutional oppression have kept AAMEMSA communities isolated and divided. But there is a growing movement amongst Arab, African, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian people to stand together and unite in the face of these racist attacks.

Design Action Collective created this poster to celebrate the solidarity of AAMEMSA communities. As a design shop dedicated to social justice work, we see our struggles as intrinsically linked and we recognize our collective power to dismantle these oppressive systems.  The ten year anniversary of 9/11 is upon us — this unique political moment is an opportunity to bring our strong, united voices to the national immigrant rights movement.

Download a print-ready PDF of the poster

To learn more:

Unheard Voices of 911
Fear Inc.

Turnstyle news interviewed use for their radio show and created a photo montage video to accompany the interview. Watch it here.

We received many fantastic applications this year highlighting the inspiring work of many activists and communities. It was a difficult decision, and after much discussion we have decided to donate the poster design and printing to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network for the campaign against the anti-immigrant program Secure Communities. We are also excited to donate a poster design to Birthright Unplugged in support of the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel’s illegal apartheid wall.

About National Day Labor Organizing Network

NDLON improves the lives of day laborers in the United States. To this end, NDLON works to unify and strengthens is member organizations to be more strategic and effective in their efforts to develop leadership, mobilize, and organize day laborers in order to protect and expand their civil, labor and human rights. NDLON fosters safer more humane environments for day laborer, both men and women, to earn a living, contribute to society, and integrate into the community.

More on NDLON: www.ndlon.org
More on the Secure Communities Act

About Birthright Unplugged and the BDS Movement

Birthright Unplugged offers opportunities for people to gain knowledge through first-hand experiences and to use that knowledge to make positive change in the world.  The organization began, in part, as a response to fully-funded, Jewish-only trips to Israel and as a rejection of the notion of a “birthright” for Jewish people to the land of Israel/Palestine.  Israel has denied Palestinians the internationally recognized right of return for refugees, instead creating a “Law of Return” that extends citizenship benefits to any person of Jewish heritage, thereby excluding millions of Palestinians from living in the land in which they were born.

Over the past several years, Birthright Unplugged has focused their work on supporting Palestinian led non-violent campaigns of all kinds that seek to pressure Israel to comply with international law. They support participants’ involvement in human rights-based and justice-oriented efforts, including contributing to the international  Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. This movement is a direct response to the 2005 call from Palestinian civil society and is modeled after the ultimately successful boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against South African apartheid.

More on Birthright Unplugged: www.birthrightunplugged.org
More on the BDS Movement: www.bdsmovement.net

Thank you all for your applications. Making this year’s decision is proving to be even more difficult than last year due to the exceptional work of all the applicants. We will postpone our announcement till 1/12/11 when members of Design Action Collective and Inkworks Press are able to make the final decision.

We will contact all the applicants with the results (and post them to our website).

Thanks for your patience!