Knowledge is Power: Study Nonviolence
How much can you learn from this week’s news?
Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun:
This week’s Nonviolence News includes a robust “Knowledge and Reflection” section. These stories reflect the booming field of study around nonviolence. Scholars, activists, journalists, researchers, and movement trainers have been churning out articles that help us understand how and where nonviolence is being used. These kind of articles help us learn from the millions of people experimenting with nonviolence all over the world. They give us ideas for actions. They help us avoid disaster. And, they build a sense of connection between us and our fellow human beings as we apply nonviolence in our lives, communities, and world.
In this week’s news, you can learn about how Fearless Cities are transforming municipal governments to improve the agency and well-being of the citizens. You can learn from the 2015-16 Macedonian Revolution. You can peruse reflections on the turning point of the 1979 Shoreham anti-nuclear protest that mobilized 15,000 people. An article on Japanese protest debunks Western stereotypes about their culture. A book review of a new resistance book offer insights into how principled and strategic nonviolence are more alike than different.
In this and other ways, Nonviolence News is aimed at increasing our literacy around the many dimensions of nonviolence. There’s a lot to learn from the past . . . and from the present campaigns, projects, and movements using nonviolence. Each story in Nonviolence News offers ideas for how best to apply these lessons in our own lives and communities. It’s up to us to study, learn, and put them to good use.
Enjoy! And thank you for sharing this enewsletter with a friend this week. That’s how we build a culture of nonviolence, together.
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo credit of opening image: Activists run towards the Garzweiler open-cast mine. The protests for more climate protection in the Rhineland continue. (Photo: David Young/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s Nonviolence News:
Victory! Success Stories
Recent Actions & On-Going Campaigns
Climate Action
Creative Action
Knowledge & Reflection
Learn & Study
Ecuador legalizes same-sex marriage. Read more >>
Mass outcry and continuous picket line protests force Russian authorities to release arrested journalist. Read more >>
Court affirms that “Yellowstone is more valuable than gold” and blocks exploratory mining permit. Read more >>
Six smokestacks of a coal-fired Kentucky power plant came tumbling down in a cloud of dust. It was a controlled demolition, and a reminder that the days of coal power are ending. Read more >>
North Carolina denies water permit for Mountain Valley Southgate Pipeline, stalling the massive pipeline. Read more >>
Church works together to clear debt of members. Read more >>
Editor’s Note: Although the article does not mention the role of activists, citizens and employees have long pressured the Bay Area tech giants to be a part of solving the housing crisis in the region. Recently, Google committed one billion dollars to a variety of strategies aimed at resolving the lack of affordable housing. Read more >>
and/or using principled nonviolence to transform their communities
and fight injustice. Here are a few recent stories.
In Brazil, millions strike against Bolsonaro’s pension cuts. Read more >>
USA soccer star Megan Rapinoe refuses to sing national anthem before World Cup match. Read more >>
At White House gates, hundreds of religious leaders in the US demand Trump and his enablers “repent of their sins”. Read more >>
11,000 airport food service workers consider strike.Read more >>
Swamp creatures appear outside hotel where the governors of US western states met with US Secretary of Interior. The costumes protested the Secretary of the Interior’s support for polluting and extractive industries. Read more >>
#NoKidsInCages Movement demands an end to migrant family separation and immigration reform. Read more >>
Rainbow Ridge blockade activists arrested for trying to protect old growth redwoods. Read more >>
End Mass Incarceration Conference brings activists and celebrities to Atlanta. Read more >>
Christians surprise Pride Parade marchers with signs that apologize for anti-LGBTQ views. Read more >>
95-year old woman US veteran is on hunger strike for the people and children of Yemen, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela. Read more >>
In the United States, police are still murdering unarmed Black people. The #HandsUpAct seeks to make shooting a person with their hands up a crime … even for police. Read more >>
Hundreds storm an open pit coal mine in Germany, occupying it and shutting it down for climate justice. Read more >>
Pope Francis declares climate emergency in meeting with Big Oil execs. Read more >>
Indigenous and Canadian climate leaders tell Prime Minister Trudeau, “this pipeline will not be built.”Read more >>
Editor’s Note: This photo was taken in 2016, but is recirculating on social media. Protester returns tear gas canister with tennis racket. Read more >>
Artist puts giant, 10-foot long heroin spoon sculpture in front of Oxycotin maker Purdue Pharma’s headquarters. Read more >>
UK activists disrupt “British Petroleum Portrait Awards” at the National Portrait Gallery in London, UK, with mock awards depicting activists around the world who are fighting the oil company’s extraction, pollution, corruption, and climate destruction. Read more >>
Fearless Cities guide offers advice on rooting out corruption and empowering people, protecting the vulnerable, and implementing participatory budgeting in local municipal government. Read more >>
Reflecting on the Macedonian Colorful Revolution of 2015-2016, and assessing what’s next. Read more >>
Editor’s note: This is a story from 2014, and the image is worth a thousand words. It’s a powerful example of nonviolence. This one woman on the Cheyenne reservation – in a wheelchair, no less – found the courage to halt a megaload truck carrying thousands of pounds of extractive mining equipment. Read more >>
The 1979 Shoreham anti-nuclear protest provided a turning point in the movement to stop major nuclear power plant expansion. Here’s what we can learn from the 15,000-person action. Read more >>
How faith and spiritual leaders shape movements for change. Read more >>
Resistance Studies professor Stellan Vingathagen’s book bridges principled and strategic nonviolence and expands its definition. Read more >>
The revolutionary concept of unity in diversity. Read more >>
Understanding Japanese protest and how it dispels popular Western conceptions of Japanese culture. Read more >>
Digging into the US strike wave: private sector worker strikes are still low. Read more >>
Black Momentum, movement-building training August 22-25 in Durham, NC. Apply by June 28th. Learn more >>
Metta Center announces new online course on Nonviolence and the New Story. Learn more >>
Training in Restorative Justice by the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, Gainesville, Florida, June 24-25. Learn more >>
Fierce Vulnerability Seabeck Conference, June 28-July 1st, Washington State. Learn more >>
New Delhi to host international conference on nonviolence education and training, December 2019. Read more >>
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About Nonviolence Now
Our sister project, Nonviolence Now, collects and shares true, inspiring stories of nonviolence in action. They place ads in unusual places – like in Newsweek Magazine, online websites promoting violence, and public transit buses – to promote the effectiveness and versatility of nonviolence. Find out more about them at NonviolenceNow.org
About Rivera Sun, Editor Activist/Author Rivera Sun is a nationwide speaker and trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements. She is the author of nine books and novels focusing on nonviolence, including The Dandelion Insurrection, The Roots of Resistance, and The Way Between. For four years, she cohosted nationally-syndicated radio programs on nonviolent struggle. Rivera Sun has worked for Campaign Nonviolence, Metta Center for Nonviolence, and Nonviolence Now, among other groups. Find out more about her work at: www.riverasun.com