Editor’s Note
It’s been quite a week. Alternatives to militarized police are making headlines left and right. Virtual game players have been staging digital Black Lives Matter protests. A group with a biplane is skywriting the word “MapX” above migrant detention centers to reveal their locations across the United States. In the United Kingdom, citizens pulled down a statue of a slave trader and put up a statue of a Black woman protester. In Afghanistan, street muralists are using public art as political protest to spark dialogue and show international solidarity. And that’s just scratching the surface of this week’s Nonviolence News.
Meanwhile, the world’s most creative climate movement is picking up steam again.Extinction Rebellion just reported on 20 actions around the world for climate and planetary protection, including in Sudan, Colombia, Australia, and throughout Europe. They held socially-distanced picnics, die-ins in the streets, civil discobedience flash mobs, semi-nude demonstrations, disruptions in cow costumes, and more.
One interesting article I read this week on the (many) nuances of this thing called nonviolence was: Debunking Myths of “Peaceful” Protesters. A Revolutionary Nonviolence take on US Uprisings. In it, War Resisters League explores the double standards around property destruction for white and non-white activists, the ways the government uses the word “peaceful” to try to suppress movements, and why movements should remember the Black and Brown origins of revolutionary nonviolence.
So, enjoy the stories. There’s a lot of food for thought.
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo Credit: Two Extinction Rebels tie a “no fossil fuels” sign to a pipeline construction site for the new Baltic Pipe. Fifteen rebels were arrested. Find this and other stories in XR’s newsletter here>>
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Community Peacemakers in Chicago Offer a Proven Alternative To Policing: As calls to defund police grow, peacemakers on the front lines of Chicago’s gun violence epidemic have dramatically reduced homicides and shootings. Read more>>
Seattle Votes To Defund Police By 50%: A majority of the city council backed the plans laid out by advocates to defund police and fund other kinds of crisis intervention teams. Read more>>
Washington State Law Puts Limits On Facial Recognition Software: Last week, a Washington state law went into effect that requires a warrant for ongoing and realtime facial recognition surveillance. Read more>>
City of Sydney, Australia Goes 100% Renewable: The city proper (115 buildings in the business district, and surrounding areas) will be powered by two solar farms and a wind farm. The greater metropolitan area has not yet transitioned. Read more>>
Canada’s Largest First Nation Police Force Has Never Killed Anyone: In its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada’s largest Indigenous police force have never shot and killed anyone and no officer has died in the line of duty, despite a grinding lack of resources and an absence of normal accountability mechanisms. The key difference? Relationship. Read more>>
Washington Redskins Sports Team Will Change Its Name: Thanks to Indigenous organizing, sponsor and stadium pressure, and nationwide outcry, the football team has agreed to change its name. Read more>>
Berkeley Replaces Police At Traffic Stops With Unarmed Alternatives: Activists say it’s a step in the right direction in stopping racial profiling, but there is more work to be done, and the alternative department needs to take care not to replicate the disproportionate and unfair treatment of Black and Brown people. Read more>>
Trump Administration Backs Down On International Student Rules: Facing blowback and lawsuits, the Trump administration is rescinding its directive blocking international students from staying in the United States while taking online-only classes. Read more>>
Asheville, North Carolina Agrees To Pay Reparations: The unanimously passed resolution does not mandate direct payments. Instead it will make investments in areas where Black residents face disparities. Read more>>
Bolivia Struggles To Restore Democracy After OAS-Instigated Right-Wing Coup: In June 2020, popular calls were mounting for new elections and the restoration of democracy, despite the ongoing repression. In response to this pressure, on June 22, Áñez signed off on legislation to hold new elections in September. Read more>>
George Floyd Protests Inspire Unexpected Movement In Indonesia: Papuan rights activists found international outcry against racism helped their cause, even lessening sentences for convicted activists. Read more>>
Organizing Against Police Unions Has Invigorated Hollywood’s Labor Movement: The push to expel law enforcement from the movement has grown quickly in the rank-and-file. Read more>>
Growing US Teachers Movement Gears Up To Stop Unsafe School Re-openings: President Trump and his essentially villainous Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos demand schools open in the fall, without any care for the health and safety of educators, students, or the communities in which they reside. Teachers are pushing back, refusing to follow unsafe plans and threatening strikes. We have more on what they’re up against. Read more>>
In France, Protests Mark Bastille Day: Healthcare staff protested in France as the country celebrated Bastille Day, marked by a ceremony celebrating frontline workers during the coronavirus outbreak. Unions called for demonstrations after they said a new deal that gives a pay rise to health and care workers did not go far enough to help the sector. Read more>>
Disability Rights Activists Take on Twin Pandemics of Police Brutality and COVID: According to at least one study, up to one half of people killed by law enforcement in the U.S. have a disability. Read more>>
Nurse Strike Wave Grows: As the United States undergoes a severe surge of COVID cases, many hospitals are still short of PPE. Nurses across the country went on strike this week demanding these vital protections. Read more>>
Thousands of Shipyard Workers Walk Off The Job: Over 4,300 production workers — represented by Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) Local S6 — walked off the job at the Bath Iron Works shipyard June 23 after unsuccessful contract negotiations. Read more>>
Solidarity Protest Held For Ethiopian Activists: In Seattle, Washington, USA, Ethiopian Americans part of the Oromo community marched in solidarity with protesters in Ethiopia who are seeking the release of two Oromo activists, Yusuf Beshir and Redwan Aman. Read more>>
Mexico Rises Up Against Police Brutality & Racism In Policing: The movement sparked by the murder of a young man for not wearing a mask is spreading as other police murders trigger outrage. Read more>>
87 Face Felony Charges for Kentucky Sit-In for Breonna Taylor: If convicted on felony charges, protesters could face up to five years in prison. Read more>>
Trayvon Martin’s Peers Are Leading The Movement For Black Lives: Across the nation, a new cohort of young, Black, often queer-identifying women are at the vanguard of the movement for Black lives. Read more>>
Ford Motors Employees Ask Company To Stop Making Police Vehicles: The CEO declined, saying that he didn’t think making police vehicles was “controversial”. Read more>>
Minnesota Economic Justice Rally Pushes For Reparations: After weeks of intense protests following the murder of George Floyd by police, Minnesota organizers are pushing legislative changes to bring forth justice for the Black community. One of those items is a bill that would distribute reparations for descendants of slaves in Minnesota’s capital city of Saint Paul. Read more>>
White Coats For Black Lives Wants Racial Justice In Medicine: Medical workers have taken a range of actions from videos to photos, to outright statements acknowledging and yet decrying racism that exists within the medical field with statements and pledges to do better and help to alleviate this issue. Read more>>
Rally Protests Anti-Racist Teacher’s Suspension: Hundreds rallied on Juneteenth in Milton, Mass., calling for an end to systemic racism in school curriculum and voicing support for Zakia Jarrett, an African-American sixth-grade English teacher who was suspended for teaching racial justice. Read more>>
Strike For Black Lives on July 20th Wins Union Support: The mass action for racial justice for Black lives is growing in strength and participation. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion Is Back In the Streets All Across the Globe: Latest newsletter shares creative actions from Sudan, Ecuador, Colombia, Hungary, Estonia, Australia, Hong Kong, and beyond. Read more>>
XR Africa Launched a Youtube News Channel: Find out what’s happening across Africa among Extinction Rebels working to protect wildlife preserves, stop desertification, halt fossil fuel extraction, end deforestation and more. Read more>>
Indigenous Women’s Divestment Delegation Pushes for Fossil Fuel Divestment: Amidst pipeline shutdowns, a global pandemic and the climate crisis, this Indigenous women’s delegation insists that the financing of fossil fuels must end. Read more>>
On World Simplicity Day, Vandana Shiva Issues A Call To Join The Simplicity Revolution: Simplicity Revolution is an ecological and ethical imperative to protect life on earth and ensure justice for all beings. Read more>>
Farmers and Animal Rights Activists Come Together To Fight Big Factory Farms: A surprising – and often uneasy – alliance of vegans and mid-sized farmers and ranchers is pushing back against factory farms. Read more>>
Ethiopian Feminists Call For Stand-Alone Movement On Feminism and Labor: “We require a stand-alone feminist campaign that calls for a new vision of job creation that prioritizes dignified work and decent wages for young Ethiopian women as well as men.” Read more>>
Pakistani Beauty Salon Hires Victims Of Acid-Attacks: The women were attacked for defying gender norms. This business employees them. Read more>>
Georgia Takes On Male-dominated Parliament With Gender Quotas: The measure will break up the good-old-boys network, but some doubt it will do much to empower women more broadly. Read more>>
13 Years Without Trial at Guantanamo, A Hunger Strike Is All This Prisoner Has Left: Asadullah Haroon writes, “I am prepared to die, if it comes to it. I look ahead, and all I see is suffering. But what is the point of good health in life, if I cannot be home?” Read more>>
Decolonising Peace Journalism – And Putting It to Work in East Africa: Conflict resolution is a recurrent theme in East Africa. This has prompted the need for innovative ways to create lasting consensus in the region as well as across the continent. One of these innovative ways is peace journalism. It can stimulate peaceful resolution of conflict by voicing different conflicting parties and issues in a balanced and objective manner. Read more>>
Understanding Peace and Nonviolence As Global Ethics: What are the possibilities and shortcomings of nonviolence as a core component of global ethics? These researchers survey they field and explore what works – and what doesn’t. Read more>>
Inside the Sudden, Rising Wave Of US Military And Veteran Dissent: A new generation of antiwar veterans is beginning to set itself apart in its opposition to America’s wars abroad and at home. Read more>>
Dear IRS: We Cannot In Conscience Pay For War: David and Jan Hartsough write, “Instead of paying for war and killing, we are joining together with others to build what Martin Luther King called the “Beloved Community.” Read more>>
When The State Cannot Protect Its Citizens, People Have a Duty To Intervene: People can be trained to nonviolently intervene when they witness police brutality. It is but one tool in a new approach for real community safety and protection. Read more>>
Unarmed Peacekeeping Field Notes From Tanzania To South Sudan: Nonviolent Peaceforce shares stories from their front line work. Read more>>
In Chile, Women Stitch Political Tapestries To Resist State Violence And Systemic Inequalities: These culturally significant, stitched artworks have a long legacy of maintain political momentum during times of repression. Now they’re being used to keep the movement going during the COVID-19 lockdown. Read more>>
Kabul’s Street Artists Are Artlords, Not Warloards: From the killing of George Floyd in the US and the drowning of Afghan refugees in Iran, to the signing of the US-Taliban agreement towards peace and brutal murder of a Japanese aid worker, a group of Afghan artists have taken paintbrushes to adorn Kabul’s grey blast walls with vivid imagery. The barriers have been transformed into politically inspired murals, which the artists hope will create “visual dialogue” and raise awareness of corruption and injustices. Read more>>
Players Stage BLM Protest On Popular “Animal Crossing” Video Game: Players are turning a game that’s usually about customizing a personal island into a site of resistance. They create customized signs and clothing for their game characters that say “BLM” and depict symbols of “No justice, no peace.” Read more>>
Black Activists Use Stimulus Checks To Paint Murals Supporting Mask Wearing: Noticing that people weren’t wearing masks, these artists put their checks into public health and safety in a creative way. Read more>>
In Bristol, UK, Statue of Slave Trader Replaced With Black Lives Matter Protester: Artist activists put up a statue of a defiant, female Black protester after protesters pulled down the statue of Edward Colston and threw it in the river. Read more>>
Protest Messages Fill The Sky: Above 80 different locations around the US, planes were writing messages in the sky appended with a simple hashtag: #XMap. Each of the mysterious messages—every one 5 miles long with letters as tall as the Empire State Building—was visible from 20 miles away and floated above locations ranging from Ellis Island and former Japanese internment camps to sites of no immediately discernible importance. The hashtag led viewers to a website with a straightforward query: “Are immigrants being detained in your community?” Read more>>
Can Robot Dolphins Free SeaWorld Captives? The price tag is high, but can robotic animals replace captives in theme parks and zoos? Read more>>
Fridges of Free Food Pop Up Around Oakland: Bursting with fresh produce and advertising “comida gratis,” a refrigerator in Oakland sitting in a front lawn states two simple, handwritten rules on a cardboard sign: “Take what you want, leave what you don’t. This fridge is for the community, by the community.” The fridges, which are popping up in the Downtown, West Oakland, and Northgate areas of the city are part of the Town Fridge network, a grassroots-led organization combating food insecurity in Oakland through mutual aid efforts. Read more>>
History Shows That Sustained, Disruptive Protests Work: In case after case, a radical minority disrupted the functioning of businesses and state institutions, which sought to restore stability by granting concessions and ordering politicians to do the same. Read more>>
Africa Has Hard-Won Lessons To Offer America’s Racial Justice Struggles: Americans aren’t used to looking to the rest of the world for lessons … but African liberation struggles have many to offer, including heroic efforts in Uganda, The Gambia, and South Africa. Read more>>
Long Before COVID-19, Muslim Communities in India Built Solidarity Through Mutual Aid: For many marginalized communities in the Global South, cooperation and care are deeply embedded in everyday life. Read more>>
How Black And Brown Workers Are Redefining Strikes: In the era of COVID and digital movements, these strikes look radically different from traditional labor strikes, leading many to worry that the labor movement will again dismiss something that the older generation of primarily white leaders of organized labor fail to understand. Read more>>
Today’s Revolution Includes Kale, Medical Care, and Help With Rent: Combining mutual aid and direct action might seem like common sense, but in today’s corporatized and professionalized nonprofit world, this model had disappeared almost completely. Read more>>
The Displacement of Traditional Policing Through Community-Based Anti-Violence Initiatives: Are the police necessary, or are they—might they be made—obsolete? If grounded in abolition democracy, these anti-violence efforts can be part of a broader struggle empowering communities to create change that addresses the root causes of violence. Read more>>
There Are Many Leaders In The Movement For Black Lives; Just As There Were In The Civil Rights Movement: Commentators frequently depict the charismatic leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in sharp contrast with the decentralized and seemingly leaderless nature of the current movement. Despite the efforts of activists and historians to correct this “leaderless” image, the notion persists. Such comparisons reflect the cultural memory – not the actual history – of the struggle for Black equality. Read more>>
US Nurses Have Long Been Radicals: Nurses understand that sick bodies are political, and that the body politic impacts public health. Read more>>
30 Years of Teach For America Show How Movements Can Become Coopted: The controversial teaching program faces criticisms of inadequacy, racism, and failure to make structural changes on the issues it espouses to help fix. Read more>>
The Importance of Decolonizing the Mind: Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset speaks about the long history of colonization and conquest—upon which our legal, religious, and educational structures continue to be based—and how the coronavirus pandemic and the growing recognition of white privilege present a unique opportunity to decolonize our society, minds, and hearts. Read more>>
How Protest Occupations Can Succeed: There are examples of where occupying a piece of land has resulted in success. It involves taking control of real property and that property is not critical to the needs of another community. Read more>>
Strike For Black Lives on July 20: JULY 20TH is a day of reckoning. Across the country, workers will rise up to strike for Black lives. Together, we will withhold our most valuable asset — our labor — in support of dismantling racism and white supremacy to bring about fundamental changes in our society, economy and workplaces. Join us in walking out for justice. Read more>>
Campaign Nonviolence National Conference ONLINE: Join nonviolence visionaries, scholars and practitioners as they share their expertise from a wide variety of fields. They will offer concrete pathways to build the transformed world our hearts long for, a world free from the violence of racism, poverty, war and the environmental crisis. Join us in embracing the nonviolent shift, connecting with each other and committing to creating a just, healthy and sustainable world for all. (Aug 6-8) Learn more>>
Hibakusha Remembrance Webinar: In the hour-long session, with time for Q&A, these experts will address the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the public health impact of nuclear war, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the state of international law and other matters to help us all make meaningful the vow: “Never Again.” (August 6th) Read more>>
Kateri Peace Conference: Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace, Justice in an Age of Endless War: The 22nd annual peace and justice conference will be held online this year. (August 21-22) Learn more>>
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