Volume II, Issue 1 (Whole Number 4)

It’s been over a year since our last issue.  We’ve been so busy making news that we have not found time to report the news!

But this moment is so crucial to our collective future that we felt we had to return to the media frontier of the social justice movement.

Of course everyone in Berkeley knows how important it is to prevent Trump from returning to the White House.  We’ll all be watching national news closely. Depending on the outcome, whenever that is finally known, we’ll have a lot to talk about in the new year.

But since this newspaper is focused on Berkeley and its struggles to achieve social justice, we’re concentrating on local elections, including our representation in the county and state government.  However, we’re going to take a somewhat different tack than other publications.  We’ll share information about candidates, but we’ll also delve into the underlying issues that the city is facing.  That’s because an election like this is not just a referendum on individual leaders, but on the future direction of the city as a whole.

So one focus of this special election edition is a set of key Issue Studies. We’ll start with some aspects of housing and homelessness, public safety, climate, and the war in Gaza. Over the next couple weeks, please check back as we expand into additional topics.

Regarding the candidates and the ballot initiatives (local and state), we are not making endorsements this time. Instead we are posting Profiles of certain candidates who are very interesting, in some cases because they are new on the Berkeley political landscape.

For our 2024 Guide to Local Candidates and Measures, see https://berkeleyspeaks.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=1204&action=edit

For Profiles of the campaigns, see https://berkeleyspeaks.org/category/candidates-and-measures/

Please see this edition’s Editorial, “Our Berkeley is Slipping Away.“

Get Involved with Berkeley Speaks! 

We’ve said it in every edition:  Berkeley Speaks is YOUR community newspaper. It will only succeed with your engagement.

This special election issue is a big step forward in reader contribution, from articles by Nico Calavita on “middle housing” and Micky Duxbury on why to care about the Board of Supervisors election, John Lindsay Poland on militarized policing, Tracy Rosenberg on state laws passed this year; help from Andrea Henson on the impact of the Grants Pass decision on sweeps of the unhoused in Berkeley, and Berkeley Copwatch on the BPD texting scandal; interviews and thought-pieces from candidates including Margot Smith, Chip Moore, and Kate Harrison, Jovanka Beckles, Jenny Guarino, and others.

If we keep up this level of reader contribution, we may be able to resume quarterly publication.  What’s more important, we will have a diversity of voices, voices who are vital to the many campaigns for social justice in Berkeley.

Please contact us at BerkSpeak@gmail.com to talk about how you can contribute.  As always, we also need photographers, web and graphic designers, researchers, donors, and (free!) subscribers.  

And please, send us your feedback! We love letters to the editor. Write us at BerkSpeak@gmail.com.