Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun
This week’s news is marked by music! From an operatic soprano breaking Chile’s silence curfew to the Chilean orchestra joining the mass protests to perform, “The People United Shall Never Be Defeated”, to the US-Mexico cross-border sing-a-long, music is capturing hearts and minds as it lifts peoples courage and determination to make change.
Nonviolent action is happening all over the world. 85,000 US workers were on strike in 13 different strikes. Autoworkers, coal miners, teachers and insurance industry workers all won major victories. New York City banned foie gras on grounds of animal cruelty. Check out the Victory Section for more heartening news, including that Lebanon’s revolution won the resignation of the prime minister and that Great Britain halted fracking.
What’s my favorite story this week? When a middle school principal refused to put a tampon dispenser in the girls room, the students held a “cookie protest” and baked him a plate of realistic-looking tampon cookies. To my knowledge, this is a new type of nonviolent action that hasn’t made it onto any databases: the cookie protest. Imagine what you could do with that!
Nonviolence is a field with 300+ tactics, and scores of practices, approaches, and applications. Give yourself a challenge: see how many “beyond protest” stories you can spot in this week’s news.
Let’s put them all to good use,
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo Credit: Protesters in Santiago singing Víctor Jara’s “The Right to Live in Peace” (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty Images)
Aw, you rock. Thank you to last week’s donors. You literally keep me going!
Here’s how to donate: https://nonviolencenews.org/donate/
Here’s what you’ll find in
this week’s Nonviolence News:
Victory! Success Stories
Actions & Campaigns
Climate Action
Peace Action
Constructive Program
Creative Action
Knowledge & Reflection
Calls-to-Action
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hariri resigns after weeks of protests. Read more >>
England halts all fracking and declares it will not support future fracking projects. Read more >>
More than 140,000 US citizens submit comments and protect the right to protest in DC. Read more >>
The longest United Auto Workers national strike against General Motors since 1970 came to an end on Friday, with workers voting to ratify a controversial contract with a yes vote of 57 percent. Read more >>
Direct action gets results: bankrupt Blackjewel corporation agrees to pay over $5 million to laid off coal miners who blocked train tracks. Read more >>
United Academics of the University of New Mexico won the right to establish a union, overcoming the entrenched opposition of the administration. Read more >>
Historic Chicago teacher strike won what months of bargaining could not. Read more >>
St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese taps restorative justice to heal impact of sex abuse. The archdiocese is a national leader in using the techniques to address the lingering repercussions of clergy abuse. Read more >>
New York City bans foie gras – made through force-feeding ducks – on the grounds of undue animal suffering. Read more >>
84,000 Kaiser Permanente workers who threatened to walk-out and go on strike win major gains in new 4-year labor agreement. Read more >>
Protesters in Lebanon form human chain across entire country; tens of thousands participate. Read more >>
Last week, 85,000 workers participated in 13 different strikes across the United States. Read more >>
In Gaza on Friday, 95 Palestinian civilians, including 43 children, a woman, 2 paramedics and a journalist, were shot and injured by Israeli forces, who fired live rounds against peaceful Palestinian protesters at the 80th Great March of Return. Read more >>
Prolonged protests in Panama object to the undermining of the Constitution and the negative impacts on higher education. Read more >>
Tens of thousands of Iraqi protesters pack Baghdad square as anti-government movement gains momentum. Read more >>
Iraqi Kurds boycott Turkish goods after Syria assault. Read more >>
Prisoners at Santa Rita Jail in the United States on hunger strike and work stoppage over rights violations, price spiking, and poor conditions. Read more >>
Tajikistan begins emptying its prisons. The country says it will free 20,000 people in a mass amnesty. Political prisoners are not eligible for release, but some 500 people imprisoned for liking the wrong kind of social media posts are. Read more >>
Thousands of Algerians protest election plans, fearing they will be manipulated by the old power structure. Read more >>
Metro Vancouver transit workers begin strike, aiming to end overcrowding, gain reasonable break times and fewer overtime shifts, and improve conditions for passengers. Read more >>
Demonstrators hit the Brooklyn streets to protest subway police brutality. Read more >>
Protesters disrupt JP Morgan Chase CEO during panel discussion at UCLA. Read more >>
Trump leaves baseball game early after crowd boos and chants “lock him up”. Read more >>
Twitter puts an end to paid political advertising. “We believe political messaging should be earned, not bought.” Read more >>
1,000 Swiss citizens protest against 5G rollout. Read more >>
Diabetes patients lead new access to medicine movement. Read more >>
Black musicians join boycott of awards ceremony after conservative Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network censors Black musician’s remarks on police brutality. Read more >>
27 Canadian youth arrested during parliament sit-in for Green New Deal. Read more >>
Upset about a proposed bike trail through a last remaining wild space, nature advocate Sutu Forte sets up tree-sit in oak tree. Read more >>
With California engulfed in flames, youth climate activists occupy Senator Pelosi’s office and say, “step up or step aside”. Read more >>
New York City funds 250 new bike lanes to take-on car culture and move toward more sustainable practices. Read more >>
Appalachians release new report, A New Horizon: Innovative Reclamation for a Just Transition, that profiles 19 successful climate transition projects which can be adapted and replicated. Read more >>
The pushback: Dutch construction workers, following the farmers’ footsteps, protest new environmental laws. Read more >>
What if government abolished the military and abdicated “defense” responsibilities to the people? A new book explores the viable – and surprising – alternatives. Read more >>
Convicted anti-nuke activists speak out against how the Pentagon has brainwashed people. Read more >>
“Trident (nuclear missile fleet) is the crime,” says peace activist Kathy Kelly, objecting to the recent conviction of anti-nuke activists. Read more >>
Modern cities drive loneliness and isolation. Here’s how creative urbanists around the world are challenging and changing the situation. Read more >>
In Zambia, a People’s Budget Campaign demands a budget that works for women. Read more >>
Mental health team responds to emergencies in Oregon instead of the police. Read more >>
Affordable housing organizers in the United States use land trusts and “justice easements” to push back on the housing crisis. Read more >>
Kingston, NY prepares for the collapse in unexpected, inclusive, and visionary ways. Read more >>
Soul food restaurant packs to-go lunches in Black history shoebox lunches packaging. Read more >>
Soprano Ayleen Jovita Romero defies the silence curfew, imposed under martial law by the government of Sebastián Piñera in Chile and sings the song “El derecho de vivir en paz”, (The right to live in peace) by Victor Jara. Read more >>
Watch thousands of Chileans sing folksinger Victor Jara’s song, “The Right to Live in Peace”. Read more >>
Chilean orchestra and protesters perform mass open-air performance of “The People United Shall Never Be Defeated”. Read more >>
Hundreds of choir members hold sing-a-long on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Read more >>
“We speak English” racist and xenophobic graffiti appears in neighborhood … so residents start adding other languages to the list, modifying the graffiti to say, “We speak English, Punjabi, Urdu, Turkish (and others). Read more >>
Principal refuses to put tampon dispenser in middle school girl’s bathroom … so the 7th graders held a “cookie protest” and baked him a batch of cookies that look like tampons. Read more >>
Why it’s time to stop calling climate activists hypocrites. Read more >>
What’s driving Lebanon’s revolution? Rania Khalek reports. Read more >>
Beyond #FireDrillFridays, learn about Jane Fonda’s 50 years of activism. Read more >>
The revolution(s) that are not being televised: why the corporate media isn’t reporting on the massive protest movements rising up around the globe. Read more >>
Here’s why teacher activism is on the rise in the United States. Read more >>
How soldiers helped stop the Vietnam War using a range of actions including wearing anti-war buttons while in uniform, petitions and demonstrations, guerrilla theater, staging hearings about war crimes, and throwing away the medals they earned in Vietnam. Read more >>
Call-out culture: the good, the bad, the ugly. Here’s one writer’s thoughts on how to make more change (and less destruction) while calling-out someone over an injustice. Read more >>
Nov 7th 8-9pm EST, Free Webinar on Civilian-Based Defense with Rivera Sun and Philippe Duhamel. Learn more >>
Join #FireDrillFridays with Jane Fonda in Washington, DC, to oppose militarism and the climate crisis. Read more >>
Flight Free Movement expands to the United States. Find out how to participate in large and small ways. Read more >>
Boycott PUMA sportsware! Over 200 Palestinian teams and athletes are calling for a boycott of PUMA because the sportsware company is the largest sponsor of the Israeli Football Association (IFA). The IFA is in breach of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) regulations which prohibit member associations from holding competitions on occupied territory without permission. Find out more and sign up for action here.
Sunrise Movement offers chance to get skills to make your next strike, rally, or sit-in visually stunning and ready to capture attention in the media. Apply to join the Sunrise Action Art Skills Training, December 13-15 in Kansas City, Missouri. Read more >>
Feb 3-7, 2020, Black Lives Matter At School Week – engage your local school in participating! Read more >>
What happens when you support Nonviolence News? I find more of it! Thanks! https://nonviolencenews.org/donate/
Nonviolence News is a sister project to Nonviolence Now. The Nonviolence Now campaign is intended to introduce and share stories of nonviolence, and to ignite the potential of principled nonviolence globally.
Author/Activist Rivera Sun has written many books and novels, including The Dandelion Insurrection and The Way Between. She is a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements and her essays are published in journals across the country and around the world. www.riverasun.com