Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun
Women’s rights are a hot topic around the world – as the stories in Nonviolence News show. Keep a close eye on this week’s stories and you’ll see a pattern of women-led movements and movements for women’s rights. Everywhere we look, women are at the forefront of the millions of people standing up to protect people and planet. From the Women’s March 2020 to Oakland Moms4Justice to Chile’s creative street blockades and the viral anti-rape flash mob; the stories of these women are heartening and awe-inspiring . The photo above is from an article about Armenia’s struggle to end domestic violence amidst kick back from “family values” conservative factions.
Speaking of incredible women: special thanks goes out to Jamie Rudd and Bianca Pointner for their creative work on redesigning the Nonviolence News enewsletter. These two amazing women collaborate with me through our sister project Nonviolence Now at the M.K. Gandhi Institute. I am deeply grateful for their brilliance and persistence. How do you like our new look? Send me a reply email and I’ll share kind words with them, too.
I’m personally thrilled to be able to include more photos of nonviolence in action. They say an picture is worth a thousand words . . . and seeing the images of our fellow humans using nonviolence stirs something powerful in my heart. It makes the headlines real, approachable, and exquisitely human. It turns the jaw-dropping courage of people into something we can all see ourselves doing, in one way or another.
Share the power. Circulate the stories. Spread nonviolence.
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo Credit: Armenian woman leading a demonstration. Photo by Zara Hovhannisyan
Oakland Mom4Justice: A group of Oakland mothers who occupied a vacant house as a direct action against homelessness, gentrification, and high rents gained the support of the governor and the option to buy the house. Read more >>
Spain’s Climate Emergency: After declaring an official emergency, ambitious legislation is slated to move forward within the next 100 days—heartening the campaigners who called for “concrete and immediate” action plans. Read more >>
China Bans Plastic Bags: In a victory for the effort to end plastics consumption, the world’s largest country passed a ban on plastic bags. Read more >>
Virginia Ditches Confederate Holiday: The state scrapped Lee-Jackson Day and decided to make Election Day a holiday instead. Read more >>
Church Members Settle Nearly $13 Million in Medical Debt for Over 11,000 Families: United Christ Church wiped out $12.9 million in medical debt for 11,108 families in St. Louis and St. Louis County. Debt abolition is a very old – and biblical – form of nonviolent action for economic justice. Read more >>
Yet Another Star Studded Event Goes Vegan: Joining other media awards dinners, the Oscar’s Pre-party goes vegan, in part to honor “Joker” star and animal rights activist, Joaquin Phoenix. Read more >>
French Railway Workers Shut Down the Louvre: On strike for the second month in a row, workers across industries continue work stoppages against the plans to cut the pension system. Read more >>
Protests Continue In Colombia
Popular sectors and Indigenous Peoples took to the streets to denounce the assassination of social leaders, abuses by the police and neoliberal policies. Read more >>
Puerto Ricans Demand Resignation of Governor: Demonstrators gathered Monday in front of the governor’s mansion in Puerto Rico’s capital to demand the resignation of the U.S. territory’s governor and protest the recent discovery of apparently forgotten disaster supplies amid ongoing earthquakes. Read more >>
Iraq Protests Escalate: More than three months after they began, protests in Iraq have escalated and taken a new turn this week. Anti-government demonstrators are attempting to force drastic change in a country whose government is in turmoil and grappling with a crisis between Iran and the United States. Read more >>
Hong Kong’s Protesters Finally Have (Some) Power: Newly elected representatives are among those trying to turn the demonstrations into a permanent pro-democracy movement. Read more >>
French Workers Cut Power to World’s Largest Food Market: French energy workers protesting against pension cuts shut off power to the world’s largest wholesale fresh food market. Read more >>
Arrests Made During Protests Against Las Vegas Homeless Ordinances: A new law allowing Las Vegas to designate sidewalk cleaning periods and criminalizing camping in those areas during cleaning time takes effect Sunday, allowing police to arrest anyone sitting, sleeping, or camping in those public spaces. Read more >>
Community Fights County To Show Black Ancestors’ Lives Matter: Dr. Marsha Coleman Adebayo of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition speaks on Clearing the Fog Radio about the struggle in her community to reclaim an African cemetery currently buried under a parking lot. Read more >>
Earth Defenders March on Davos Summit: Youth and other climate justice activists targeted the Davos Summit to pressure the global rich to stop funding climate crisis causing industries, such as fossil fuels. Read more >>
India Makes Giant Human Chain:
Tens of millions of people have reportedly formed an 18,000km/11,000mi long human chain in the northern Indian state of Bihar to raise awareness about the environment and social justice. Read more >>
Indigenous Youth Occupy Minister’s Office: Demanding that Canada honor treaties with the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Indigenous youth have occupied the office of the Minister of Energy, Mines, And Petroleum Resources. Over 45 international actions in support of the Wet’suwet’en Nation – which is fighting a tar sands pipeline through unceded territory – have taken place so far in 2020. Read more >>
All-Female, Indigenous Firefighters Battle Australian Bushfires: This crew of mostly mothers and grandmothers from the self-governing Kurnai community have helped fight some of the worst bushfires. Read more >>
Despite Lawsuit, Activists Find Evidence That Texas Plant Is Still Polluting: Even after Formosa Plastics Corp paid a $50 million settlement, its plant is still polluting the water. Activist and organizer Diane Wilson kayaked to the fence line of Formosa’s Point Comfort plant to check for newly discharged toxins from the plant on January 15, 2020. She found them. Read more >>
New Anti-Pipeline Pressure Campaign Launches: A coalition of national and state environmental groups have launched a new grassroots campaign to pressure US political candidates to speak out against the proposed Line 3 oil pipeline in Northern Minnesota. Read more >>
Protests Target “Carbon Bomb” Gas Facility Outside Boston: After endless public hearings, drawn-out government appeals and fruitless legal proceedings, a band of community and climate activists is now sitting in the path of concrete trucks and other equipment at the site where a large natural gas compressor is being built outside Boston. Read more >>
Women’s March 2020 Recap: Hundreds of thousands of women in 23 countries marched for a wide set of demands and asserted the message “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights”. Here is the overview of some of the many events. Read more >>
Native Runners Honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Arrive on Hopiland: The run draws from traditional practices to call for justice and honor those killed. Here is a photo journalism story on the run. See more >>
Native Inmates Fundraise For Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women: Inmates make earrings and other jewelry, and hold fundraising events to aid the campaign to win justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, and to stop the abuses of gender-based, racism-driven violence. Read more >>
New Zealand Decriminalizes Sex Work To Offer Protections to Sex Workers: New Zealand leads the world in the effort to decriminalize sex work in order to protect the sex workers’ rights, and ensure occupational safety, health, and wellbeing. Unlike most places in the world, these rights are explicitly recognized in New Zealand law and sex workers no longer have to fear entrapment by the police. Read more >>
Inside Armenia’s Struggle to Stop Domestic Violence: “Pass a law, even if it’s a bad one,” said some as the country struggled to protect human rights in the face of conservative “family values”. Read more >>
200,000 Iraqis March Against US Presence: New protests erupted alongside the months-long movement for a government overhaul, early elections and more accountability. Read more >>
Nearly Half of Afghans Want US Troops Out After Peace Deal: Once a peace deal to end the country’s 18-year war is signed with the Taliban, Afghans want US and NATO gone. Read more >>
Southern Peace Activists Help Soldiers Become Conscientious Objectors: With the United States’ forever wars in the Middle East threatening to expand to Iran, peace activists in North Carolina, near the world’s largest U.S. military base, are reporting a spike in interest from service members interested in learning how to get out. Read more >>
Listen to Dr. King. We Must Reject Militarism: Dr. King predicted endless marches and rallies until we reject militarism. Millions of Americans hope for peace with Iran. But we’re not going to get there without a radical revolution of values here at home in the United States. Read more >>
Black Lives As Magic Embodied: Sparkling, UV light photography captures the beauty of Black people in a whole new way. “Within the visible spectrum we have racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia,” Owunna explains. “But if I look in the UV spectrum, which is beyond the comprehension of the human eye, the black body is a site of magic.” Read more >>
Chile’s Uprising Shifts Tactics: In response to repression by Chilean police, creative performances are replacing traditional street blockades. The first “scenic barricade” was led by 92-year-old Olga Echeverría Monarde who blocked the streets and calmly had a cup of tea as a denunciation of the miserable conditions of many elderly people. Read more >>
“Just Mercy” Film Captures Start of Civil Rights Lawyer’s Career: The acclaimed film portrays Bryan Stevenson’s successful battle to prove a death row convict’s innocence – a case that launched his life’s work of confronting America’s racism. Read more >>
“Imagine” Illustrated Peace: John Lennon’s “Imagine” was turned into an illustrated graphic novel. It’s beautiful and deeply moving. Read more >>
Chicago TV Station Airs Primetime Special on Dr. King’s 6 Principles of Nonviolence: On MLK Day, this urban television station aired a special featuring local leaders in ending violence, promoting an important message of nonviolence to the city. Read more >>
How We #ShutDownDC in September 2019 – and How We Can Do It Again: An organizer shares pro-tips on rapid organizing with a Pledge of Resistance, spokescouncils, and open source strategy and tactical designs. Read more >>
Remembering, and Learning, from the Velvet Revolution: A Czech-American draws lessons from the overthrow of communism and warns that the US’ big corporations are not dissimilar to state-run economies. Read more >>
A World Without Police and Prisons Is Possible – It’s Already On Its Way: Longtime anti-violence organizers Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explore strategies and tactics for building individual and community safety through transformative justice in their new book. Read more >>
Letters From King to Chavez Show How Nonviolence Spreads Through Community: African-American civil rights organizers had a long and deep connection with Gandhi and Indian organizers. In turn, Dr. King had meaningful connections with Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers, as well as with Thich Nhat Hanh and the effort to end the Vietnam War. Dr. King’s letters to Chavez illuminate how nonviolence spreads through community. Read more >>
Can Listening To Abused Women Prevent Gun Violence? Ignoring, denying, and belittling women’s experiences of abusive men is a widespread problem in the US – one with deadly consequences. When it comes to gun violence, researchers warn that the first signs of a potential shooter may be how they treat women. Read more >>
End the US Military Draft! A bill has been introduced into US Congress to end draft registration for all genders and halt the plan to expand the draft to everyone. Here’s how to support it >>
How To Shut Down A Military Base: On January 27 at 6:00pm Eastern, join this free webinar from World Beyond War to hear from former U.S. Navy Commander Leah Bolger, and activists Robert Rabin & Tom Hastings about the social and environmental impact of military bases, and the strategies and tactics that have been used to successfully shut them down. Learn more >>
How To Replace War with an Alternative Global Security System: Join this free webinar from World Beyond War on February 19 at 4:00pm EST about the alternative global security system laid out in World BEYOND War’s book. Presenters will explain the frameworks, processes, tools, and institutions necessary for dismantling the war machine and replacing it with a peace system based on common security. Learn more >>
Transit Equity Day on February 4th: Labor Network For Sustainability has offered this toolkit in preparation for February 4th’s Transit Equity Day, a collaborative effort of several organizations and unions to promote public transit as a civil right and a strategy to combat climate change. (Feb 4 – Global) Learn more >>
Black Lives Matter At School Week: Feb 3-7, 2020, engage your local school in participating in Black Lives Matter and racial justice in schools. Read more >>
Embassy Protectors on Tour: The four Embassy Protectors who are facing federal charges are going on tour in the lead up to their jury trial on February 11. They’ll be in NJ, NY, PA, and CT from Jan. 24 to 28, in Amherst, MA on February 1 and in Washington, DC on Feb. 10. Learn more >>
Stop Deadly Sanctions: The new Sanctions Kill campaign is organizing to educate and mobilize to stop the sanctions. The first set of actions is March 13 to 15. Learn more >>
Solidarity With Palestine: Palestinians are calling for a global week of solidarity actions March 24 to 30. Find information on how to participate >>
Author/Activist Rivera Sun has written many books and novels, including The Dandelion Insurrectionand 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. You can find out more about her at: www.riverasun.com
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Nonviolence News is a sister project to Nonviolence Now. Nonviolence Now is a campaign that is intended to introduce and share stories of nonviolence, and to ignite the potential of principled nonviolence globally. They place thought-provoking nonviolence images in unlikely spaces and connect people who might be leaning toward violence with an alterantive.