Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun
Today is a good day for some uplifting news. Therefore, I direct your attention to the 12 success stories. Worker strikes are winning some change. People continue to step up to take care of one another. Anonymous took down child porn dark web sites. The KXL pipeline was handed a setback by a federal judge. 200 prisoners were released in Philadelphia after car protests pressured officials.
And ceasefires have broken out in eleven countries.
Remember to care for your heart and spirit in these times. There’s so much to mourn, and more to organize. We need each other strong and grounded. Pay attention to the stories of how people are taking action. Borrow ideas and tactics from them. Some South American countries, for example, have numerous kinds of nightly protests. They clap for caregivers. They bang pots-and-pans in protest against cruel officials. They wave red flags for food security and to call upon neighbors for help. “Action is the antidote to despair,” said Joan Baez. That is especially true right now.
Co-heartedly,
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo Credit: Wuhan shop owners protest for rent reductions.
THANK YOU! Many of you donated last week. I’m grateful.
Donations large and small are kind and welcome.
Kenyan Factory Transforms To Making Surgical Masks Overnight: The sewing plant made gardening wear. Now, it’s striving to make 30,000 masks each day. This is just one of Kenya’s mass actions for health amidst the pandemic. Read more >>
Wars Have Paused in Yemen, the Philippines, Colombia, and Cameroon; Global Ceasefire Inches Forward: Several dozen nations have expressed support, and several have ceased firing. Read more >>
200 Prisoners Released in Philadelphia After Weeks of Protest Calling for Decarceration: In Philadelphia, over 200 nonviolent prisoners were released from jails in the first week of judges holding emergency hearings aimed at reducing the prison population amid the coronavirus outbreak. Protesters have been calling for prisoners to be freed since the lockdowns started. On Friday, hundreds of cars rallied outside Philadelphia jails for a #FreeOurPeople rally. Read more >>
Pope Francis Praises Social Movements: “If the fight against the coronavirus is a war, you are a true invisible army that fights in the most dangerous trenches … an army with no other weapon than solidarity, hope and the sense of community that grows green these days when no one is saved alone. You are to me, as I told you in our meetings, true social poets, who from the forgotten peripheries create worthy solutions for the most pressing problems of the excluded.” Read more >>
New Zealand Prime Minister and Ministers Take 20% Pay Cut in Solidarity With People During COVID-19: Jacinda Ardern said it was important the government’s most highly paid politicians show “leadership and solidarity” with workers on the frontline and those who had lost their livelihoods. Ardern, government ministers and public service chief executives will take the cut for six months, effective immediately. Read more >>
Land O Lakes Butter Drops “Indian Maiden” After Years Of Indigenous Pressure: The logo had been objected to because it sexualized, objectified, and stereotyped Indigenous women. Read more >>
States Step Up To Share Ventilators: With supplies running low, states across the country are lending their ventilators and medical equipment to hospitals and health workers in need. Read more >>
Giving Back, Communities and Organizations Mobilize to Feed and House Health Care Workers: Around the country, donations are flooding in to provide meals and other services to essential workers. Read more >>
Amazon Makes Concessions, Finally: After employees went on strike, Amazon finally began taking the necessary measures to protect their workers. Read more >>
Thanks to Union Organizers, Nearly Half a Million Grocery Workers Received Pay Raises & Health Benefits: The union pushed Kroger’s Grocery to rise to the challenges of these times. Read more >>
Federal Judge Invalidates Important KXL Pipeline Permits (Again): The much-resisted pipeline loses another court battle. Read more >>
Anonymous Takes Down 10K Child Porn Dark Web Sites: Hacking for a cause, an unidentified hacker associated with Anonymous targeted a dark web server that hosted child porn sites. Read more >>
Red Rags Signal For Help & Protest Hunger: In Colombia, people are waving red rags in protest of hunger and food shortages, and to ask for aid and food. Read more >>
New York Nurses Hold Vigil For Colleagues: Health workers march outside hospital in the Bronx to demand essential protective equipment. Read more >>
Fast Food Workers Strike Across 30 Restaurant Chains in California: Hundreds of workers from McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Domino’s, and more chains walked off the job to demand coronavirus protections. Read more >>
Wuhan Businesses Demand Rent Cuts: Dozens of small shop owners protested outside one of Wuhan’s biggest shopping malls to demand a cut in rent, in one of the first signs of unrest since authorities lifted a lockdown at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Read more >>
Police With Batons Charged Pakistani Doctors Holding Protest For Personal Protective Equipment: 150 medical workers were arrested after police attacked a protest held to demand higher safety standards and better protections. Read more >>
Peruvian Unions Decry the “Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing” Big Business Bailouts That Undercut Workers: Although Peru’s recent bailout legislation is touted as relief for the workers, unions called upon people to take protest action out their windows against shady deals that benefit the rich. Read more >>
Hong Kong Protests Meet COVID-19 With Surprising Results: With trust in officials at a historic low, Hong Kongers are already used to relying on each other and demanding the politically improbable. Read more >>
How Chile’s Feminist Spring Blooms Amidst the Crisis: After enormous protests, the movement shifted gears dramatically during the pandemic. Here’s how they continue to organize. Read more >>
HIV Prison Activists Are Leading a Freedom Movement During COVID-19: Experienced organizers, used to demanding health justice behind bars, are organizing for pandemic measures for prisoners. Read more >>
Restaurants Organize To Buy Local Food, Feed Laid Off Restaurant Workers: Beyond helping those who are in need of food, the program seeks to help local farms whose production has been affected by the outbreak and subsequent restaurant closures. The funds from the campaign will help pay for farms’ next growing season. Read more >>
After Dumped Milk Made Headlines, These Groups Rose to Redistribute It: The Hunger Task Force is joining forces with several other Wisconsin organizations to help the underfed and the unemployed during the coronavirus pandemic. They are partnering with Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and the Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection to recover and distribute Wisconsin milk across Wisconsin. Read more >>
USPS Buycott – Americans Buy Stamps To Save Post Office: On-going attempts to privatize the United States Postal Service, Trump refuses to give the USPS any bailout money. So, citizens are rushing to buy stamps to support their public delivery system. Read more >>
Government Failure to Provide Adequate Coronavirus Relief Sparks Mutual Aid Revolution: Stepping up to care for one another when the authorities fail to act is revolution in action. Read more >>
75 Actions Demand Worker Health Justice: As the death toll climbs, workers deemed “essential” have staged at least 75 separate job actions in recent weeks. Walkouts, sickouts, sit-ins and, most recently, car and social-distance pickets have involved people from a wide range of occupations. Read more >>
Singapore Climate Activist Takes Action, Faces Questioning: A relatively benign climate action involving a student posing for protest photos against fossil fuels triggered a police crackdown; other young activists report similar experiences. Read more >>
These Deaf Workers Are Weaning Ethiopia Off Plastic Bags: 18 deaf workers at this paper bag company use sign language to persuade clients to choose greener alternatives. And it’s working. They’ve stopped millions of plastic bags from being used. Read more >>
France, Germany, and 10 EU Countries Call For a Green Recovery: Paris and Berlin have added their names to a growing list of EU capitals asking for the European Green Deal to be placed at the heart of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery plan. Read more >>
Stop the Money Pipeline Organizes Online Action for Fossil Fuel Divestment: Refusing to let lockdowns stop them, this campaign is mobilizing to pressure for fossil fuel divestment. Read more >>
Klamath River Dam Removal Inches Closer: The largest dam removal project in U.S. history came one step closer to fruition this week, as California issued permits for breaching the four dams on the Klamath River. Read more >>
Ganges Runs Clear and Drinkable As Industrial Factories and Hotels Shut Down: Joining the Yamuna River in Delhi, the Ganges River sees dramatic decrease in effluents and pollutants during lockdown. Read more >>
Rent Strikes and Beyond: Organizers share strategies that work in the Southern United States. Read more >>
A Third of US Renters Didn’t Pay April Rent: If this was organized, it might be the world’s largest rent strike to date. Read more >>
May Day 2020, Rent Strike, Workplace Strikes: Organizers announce US general strike for May Day 2020. Read more >>
Immigrant Rights Groups Use Creative ‘Drive-by Protests’: The undocumented community is turning to innovative new tactics and mutual aid because they have learned that no one else will come to their rescue. Read more >>
How Immigrants Are Giving Back To Their New Communities: One creative action and economic support network in Oklahoma pivoted immigrant and refugee sewing projects into making masks. Read more >>
Activists Raise Alarm About Human Rights Abuses Toward Asylum Seekers Pushed To Mexico: Immigrant advocates are working to build broad public outrage and opposition to the harmful Remain in Mexico policy. Read more >>
California Begins Providing $500 To Migrants: The effort is funded in part by private philanthropists and the states, and will be dispersed through nonprofits experienced with working with undocumented immigrants. Read more >>
Boycott Turkey’s Turkeys At Trader Joes: After Turkey’s recent bombings, Rojava solidarity groups expanded their boycott of Turkish goods to push Trader Joes to deshelve Turkey’s turkeys. Read more >>
#FightCovidNotVenezuela Mobilizes To Stop US War On Venezuela: Here are actions you can take – post a photo of yourself holding a sign and tag it with #FightCovidNotVenezuela. Read more >>
Truth & Reconciliation Is Not Enough If Elites Manipulate The Process: This case study in Kenya identifies what isn’t working in top-down models. Read more >>
Youth Peacebuilders Could Inspire Foreign Policy: In many violence-torn countries, the majority of the population is under 35. The bulk of these youth are constructive peacebuilders. What can we learn from them? Read more >>
San Marino Is Declared The World’s First Non-Killing Country: In the past five years, there were no murders, suicides, or deadly traffic accidents. Read more >>
Artivist Barbie Is Protesting Sexism In Art Museums: Her tiny signs say things like: “That’s Victorian porn”, and “that’s a pre-Raphaelite wet-teeshirt contest”, proving that even Barbie (especially her) has a right to protest objectification. Read more >>
“Where’s Waldo?” Does Social Distancing: Showing the iconic red and white striped shirt figure in empty beaches, parks, and streets, these creatives sent out a humorous, but important message about social distancing. Read more >>
Artist Relief Fund Will Give $5000 to 100 Artists Each Week Thru September: The unprecedented effort fundraised $10 million dollars in under two weeks. Now, they’ll be helping hundreds of the most vulnerable in the artist community. Read more >>
Czech #Masks4All Shows How One Person Can Catalyze Change: After seeing his fellow citizens weren’t wearing masks, this Czech author launched a video that started a movement to change Czech culture to wear masks and flatten the curve. Read more >>
RIP Medical Debt Is Abolishing Medical Workers’ Debts: The Occupy-inspired fund has bought up and retired millions of dollars of debt and is now organizing to retire the debt of frontline medical workers risking their lives during the COVID-19 Crisis. Read more >>
LA Librarians 3D Print Face Shields for Healthcare Workers: The face shields resemble welders’ masks, and serve as a protective barrier. Read more >>
Albert Camus’ Protest Novel, The Plague, Is A Frighteningly Perfect Read: The 73 year old book is eerily familiar, but it’s take-home message urges love, connection, and caring. Read more >>
US Department of Arts & Culture Shares “Art Became the Oxygen” Guide to Artistic Responses to Crisis: Art Became the Oxygen is a concrete how-to guide for artists and communities to respond to social, environmental, and civic crises. Take a moment and read through the guide for examples of artistic responses to crises, ways to build connection, amplify protest, and build resilience. Read more >>
DIY Imaginings Toolkit: We know the world will be a different place on the other side of this pandemic. What we don’t know is what steps we’ll take to shape that world into one rooted in empathy, equity and justice. The DIY Imaginings Toolkit is a practical guide to arts-based community dialogue, full of ideas for how to support communities in envisioning a more just and equitable future—many of which can be adapted to an online forum. Read more >>
Open Source Medical Supplies Are Saving Lives: While health authorities focus on top-down measures to get COVID-19 supplies to hospitals in need, home-grown initiatives are enlisting regular people to create open-source equipment. Rather than wait for the impact of government efforts to persuade manufacturers to move into emergency production of ventilators and protective equipment, the sharing economy is already saving lives with home-made masks and 3D-printed ventilators. Read more >>
Means TV, The Worker-Owned, Movement-Inspired, Left-Leaning Channel: To give you a taste of what it’s all about, the kids program features a cat show about direct action and solidarity. Read more >>
“We Need A Riot of Empathy”, An Activist Playwright Speaks Up For Emotion: “We need collective grief as a rebellion against the normalization of mass death because what we are fighting for is our value and our collective understanding of that value.” Read more >>
Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies In the Effort To End Coronavirus: In the effort against the novel coronavirus, cryptocurrencies are emerging as a much-needed tool for charity and fundraising projects. Read more >>
A 10-Point Plan To Shift to a Gandhian “Needs-Based” Economy After the Pandemic: Rebuilding the economy might mean downsizing and rearranging and valuing the production of need, not greed. Read more >>
Unplug From Corporate Media; Tap Into Nonviolence: We have an unfailing “library” of experiences to learn from — that is, once we know what to look for. Read more >>
Gig Economy Workers Organize: “We don’t want to deliver COVID-19 with your groceries.” Listen to the podcast interview here >>
20 Lessons On How Communities Are Changed By Disasters: What effect do natural and other disasters have on the underlying culture of a community? This was the driving question that led to the development of Shareable’s The Response project three years ago. Read more >>
Strategy 4 Action! Webinar with Rivera Sun April 19th, 5pm ET: In this 2-hr webinar with Rivera Sun, learn the guiding principles of how to make change with nonviolent action.
Learn more >>
Nonviolence Online Community Course – 6 Week Course with Rivera Sun, Wednesdays starting April 29th: Co-facilitated with Pace e Bene’s Veronica Pelicaric, this online course is intended to provide an opportunity to build community while studying nonviolence. Read more >>
Code Pink 5-Part Divest From the War Machine Webinar, Starts April 23: This webinar series explores how to organize to divest your town or school from its war, militarism, and weapons investments. Read more >>
Global Degrowth Day 2020: Celebrate the second annual Global Degrowth Day on June 6. Be part of a diverse movement for global justice, sustainability and well-being. As the coronavirus pandemic may still prohibit gatherings in June, they offer support for creating virtual events. Read more >>
Donate to the NYC Black Mutual Aid Fund: This is a fund that supports an important mutual aid network in severely impacted Black communities in the NYC area. Read more >>
Building A Direct Action Campaign – 4 Week Online Course: Learn how to organize with nonviolent action to make meaningful change. Learn more >>
March For Science #EarthDay Virtual Teach-Ins: In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, March for Science will convene a virtual international civic forum with curated panels and interactive participation, in the spirit of the first Earth Day teach-ins. Learn more >>