Editor’s Note
Election uprisings are in the air. Mass protests in Belarus are decrying the elections results that claim Lukashenko won his sixth term with 80% of the vote while Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition candidate, was forced into hiding for fear of her safety. With police crackdowns, arrests of journalists, and repression of protests rocking the nation, Belarusian women (pictured above) demonstrated against police brutality and in support of protesters. On the other side of the world, Bolivians are blockading the streets to demand fair elections after an unelected, right-wing president took office last year. And, in the United States, alarm grows as new evidence shows that Trump is undermining the postal service to thwart a mail-in ballot election. Movement organizers are already strategizing against a “November Surprise”, preparing for mass action if Trump refuses to leave office after losing the election.
In this week’s Nonviolence News, you’ll spot some heartening victories (fossil fuel divestments, defunding police). You’ll also find stories of youth climate organizers in the Global South, an inspiring report about how South Africa’s Assembly of the Unemployed is organizing to take care of people, and a great photo of how Polish officials protested a homophobic president with rainbow-powered fashion. Plus, don’t miss the numerous upcoming online events that share practical skills in using nonviolence to make change. We all need these tools!
Take heart from the good stories. Keep resisting. Keep rising.
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo Credit: Belarusian women rally for injured protesters.
Lift your spirits! On Friday, Aug 21, 4-5pm ET, we’ll be gathering online for a conversation about what’s going on in Nonviolence News. Everyone is welcome. We’ll also be joined by people from our collaborating organizations: MK Gandhi Institute, Metta Center for Nonviolence, Backbone Campaign, Nonviolence International, River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding. Find out more>>
University of California Santa Cruz Grad Students Win Strike: The university agreed to reinstate 41 grad students, who had lost their teaching appointments, and give them an additional quarter of funding and an employment guarantee for the upcoming academic year. This comes after withholding grades for 5 months and organizing throughout the entire UC system. Read more>>
Lebanese Prime Minister and His Entire Cabinet Resign Amid Mass Protests Over Deadly Beirut Explosion: Outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab called the devastating blast a “crime” and blamed it on the “chronic corruption” of Lebanon’s political elite. Read more>>
British Petroleum Admits Climate Activists Have Tipped the Scales: British Petroleum has announced plans to cut extraction of fossil fuels to 40% below 2019 rates by the year 2030. This, as Oil Change International notes, is the first commitment “from a Big Oil and Gas company to recognize that significant reductions in oil and gas production must occur within this decade.” Read more>>
Kiwibank Becomes First New Zealand Bank To Go Fossil Free: With a big thanks to people-powered campaigns, Kiwibank is the first bank in New Zealand to commit to being fossil free. And it’s the first bank in the world that has committed to denying coal, oil and gas companies their financial services altogether. How did the campaigns keep up the pressure? Read more>>
Austin, TX, Cut Police Budget By A Third: The Austin City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to cut its police budget by $150 million and reinvest the money in social services days after a similarly sweeping defunding effort in Seattle led to the resignation of Police Chief Carmen Best. Read more>>
Portland State University Disarms Campus Cops: Portland State University said Thursday it will disarm its campus police force, more than two years after officers from the department shot and killed a Black man who was trying to break up a fight close to campus. Read more>>
US Court Protects Migratory Birds: The court tossed out the Trump Administration’s attempt to let polluters wantonly kill bird species. Read more>>
Young People Are Leading the Growing Movement for Police-Free Schools: Youth across the U.S. are organizing for police-free schools and resources that prioritize their well-being. Read more>>
Belarusian Women Rally In Solidarity With Injured Protesters: Nearly 200 women gathered in Belarus’ capital on Wednesday to show solidarity with protesters injured in the latest rallies against the results of the country’s presidential election after police assaulted journalists, fired guns and broke into residential buildings to make arrests. Read more>>
Thousands Protest Belarus Election Results: The opposition claims the election was rigged as Lukashenko looks to extend his 26-year rule. Read more>>
In Bolivia, Blockades Intensify Protests Against Añez: The Bolivian Workers Union has organized mass strikes against the regime, demanding fair elections to replace the unelected president. Read more>>
South Africans Organize “Assembly of the Unemployed”: The Assembly of the Unemployed is a growing movement to “fight unemployment by fighting capitalism.” The Assembly works to build working-class power in South Africa through popular education and organizing for solutions like food sovereignty, a basic income, communal kitchens, and energy cooperatives. Read more>>
Latin America’s Uber Eats Workers Strike For Fair Pay: Across Latin America, thousands of gig workers are going on strike to protest dangerous working conditions and low pay in the midst of the pandemic. Read more>>
Anti-fascist Couriers Launch Coop in Brazil: Workers in Rio de Janeiro have launched the Despatronados delivery co-op. The initiative has come out of the Movement of Anti-Fascist Deliverers, an organisation which was formed in the wake of tough conditions around delivery services during the pandemic, calling for the apps which rule their lives to be reformed taking into account the reality of accidents and equipment failure without blocking people from earning entirely. Read more>>
Mapuche Spiritual Leader’s Health Worsens As Hunger Strike Continues: The Mapuche Spiritual Advisor (Machi) Celestino Cordova’s health is in critical condition after reaching 100 days on a hunger strike to pressure President Sebastian Piñera’s administration to allow him to serve his sentence at home. Read more>>
Israel Rocked By Summer of Mass Protests: Anti-Netanyahu activists began arranging protests, including weekly demonstrations on bridges all over Israel. Restaurateurs, entertainers, and event workers staged demonstrations in Tel Aviv. Social workers, protesting for months for improved working conditions, marched through Tel Aviv. Read more>>
First Nation Land Defenders Rebuild Camp Despite Injunction: After several arrests last week and a new court order, land defenders are digging in their heels and rebuilding 1492 Land Back Lane, a name they’ve given McKenzie Meadows, a disputed site of a proposed housing development in Caledonia, Ontario, that borders Six Nations of the Grand River’s eastern border. Read more>>
University of Georgia Grad Students and Faculty “Die-In” Against Unsafe Reopenings: Nearly 50 demonstrators lay scattered 6 feet apart wearing face coverings on the lawn outside the school administration’s building. Some protesters held signs resembling tombstones with phrases like “R.I.P. campus safety,” or “In loving memory.” Read more>>
Stories from the Youth Climate Movement in the Global South: When it comes to the key decisions that will shape human lives in the post-pandemic world, this new generation of activists will continue to pressure decision-makers into giving them a future worth fighting for. Read more>>
Navajo Women Are Bringing Solar Power To Navajo Nation: Along with other Native women in the industry, Wahleah Johns launched Native Renewables, a solar energy provider that aims to electrify every home on the Navajo Nation with off-grid solutions. “We have over 300 days of sunlight throughout the year,” she said. “We’re in a prime area to develop and manage our own power.” Read more>>
Global Climate Strike Launches Youth Storytelling Hub: The stories come from youth climate activists from around the world. Read more>>
Professor Mounts High-Altitude Protest Against Pipeline: Tim Takaro, 63, a university professor, is protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project by camping out in a cluster of trees in Burnaby, B.C. Read more>>
“Until Freedom” Demonstrators Arrive In Louisville For Month-long Stay In Support of Justice For Breonna Taylor: Until Freedom plans to be on the ground in Louisville for at least a month, but members said they could stay “longer, if needed.” Read more>>
Oprah Magazine Puts Up 26 Billboards Demanding Justice For Breonna Taylor: The billboards are already receiving pushback from a pro-police group that put up their own signs. Read more>>
Memorials and Protests Mark 6th Anniversary of Michael Brown’s Murder: People gathered in a Ferguson street Sunday to mark the sixth anniversary of the shooting death of local teenager Michael Brown by a police officer — an event that not only resonated throughout the community but came to ignite a national movement and conversation around racial inequalities and injustice. Read more>>
Nonviolent Peaceforce Increases Support For United States: The unarmed peacekeeping organization is training a cohort of unarmed safety and security specialists to replace the Minneapolis Police in Minneapolis public schools. Read more>>
Hawaiian Peace Organizers Protest Rimpac, The World’s Largest Marine Military War Games: COVID-19 concerns were added to the long list of objection, including appropriation of Indigenous land, pollution, sexual exploitation, and more. Read more>>
Code Pink Launches Feminist Foreign Policy Effort: A collective of activists, academics, and practitioners informed by feminist values of equality, peace, justice and environmental stewardship has launched an effort to insert feminist values into foreign policy. Read more>>
Japanese Peace Mask Project Humanizes The Search for Peace: The project brings together people from opposing sides of war to make plaster mask sculptures for peace. Read more>>
Drafting Women in the Name of Gender Equality Misses the Mark: The US wants to draft women into the military … but peace activists are pushing back, saying drafting people of any gender is wrong. Read more>>
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki By Shutting Down a Nuclear Submarine Base: Peace activists blockaded the road to the naval base and demanded nuclear disarmament. Read more>>
Weapons Makers Can Shift Into New Industries – and They Must: Reversing course is challenging, but for weapons manufacturers, it’s the only way forward. Read more>>
Early Opposition To The Atomic Bomb Came From Black America:
While the Japanese faced widespread, extreme racism during World War II, Black leftists were among the first critics of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan. Read more>>
The ‘Wall of Vets’ Continues Long Legacy Of Veteran Activism: Military veterans have long been resisting war, promoting positive peace, and defending human and civil rights against state violence and other forms of oppression. They have made significant contributions to the antiwar and peace and justice movements over many decades. Their participation in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is no different. Read more>>
Polish MP’s Wear Rainbow Suits To Protest Homophobic President: These Polish politicians made sure to send a clear message in support of LGBTQIA even as a homophobic president was sworn in. Read more>>
Street Artists Rise To The Occasion For Black Lives: The Black Lives Matter movement generated an outpouring of engaging and provocative visual artworks. Open-air installations, murals, posters, “street art” works, and similar efforts abound. Read more>>
Free Fridges Of Food Are Vital Lifelines For Hungry Americans: Amidst the pandemic and the economic depression, street fridges with food sharing are critical to staving off hunger. Read more>>
People’s Budgets on the Rise: From Portland to St. Louis to Nashville, People’s Budget campaigns are on the rise — showing us how we can defund police and democratically redistribute the funds to our communities through participatory budgeting. Read more>>
Community Gardens Are Popping Up At Local Libraries: Community gardens located at public libraries are helping to confront food insecurity by making space for food justice, food access, and food literacy. Best of all, library-based community gardens are accessible, and surprisingly easy to start — if you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves and getting a little dirty. Read more>>
Immigrant-led Worker-Owned Healthcare Co-op Launches in Ireland: Outside Dublin, immigrant women have started the country’s first carers’ co-op. The Great Care Co-op is a registered limited company with 12 women carers – from Uganda, Zimbabwe, the Philippines and South Africa. The worker-owned health care business is challenging the for-profit model of professional care, and workers are hoping to expand the model across Ireland. Read more>>
Inside the Spiritual Resistance That Stopped DAPL and Withstood Police Violence: The recent court ruling that shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline reflects the power of the spiritual resistance of Standing Rock. Read more>>
Prevent Trump’s Coup With Civil Resistance: The field of nonviolent struggle offers insights into how we can effectively counter any coup attempts if Trump refuses to leave. Read more>>
From WTF to Please Tell Me More – Skillful Speech in a Polarized World: This talk by Mushim Ikeda focuses on concrete practices to increase skillful communication as a strategy for deeper connection and skillful activist action. Read more>>
Pandemic Solidarity: Care, Love and Mutual Aid: Colectiva Sembrar share how, through the tangible, day-to-day ways, people survive, have survived and will continue to survive. These acts of caring offer humanity a glimpse of who we really are — open, vulnerable, caring, brave, dedicated, compassionate and socially responsible people acting with, and through our collective fear. Read more>>
A Radical Movement to Take Back Our Cities: Protest encampments across the country are forcing questions about housing, public space, and who our neighborhoods are really for. Read more>>
Nonviolence News Happy Hour: Join with others to explore the stories in Nonviolence News. Share your favorite headlines, your burning questions, the most creative tactics, and ideas for taking action in your own community. (Aug 21) Learn more>>
Nonviolence In Action: Planning & Strategy Webinar: Join Nonviolence News Editor Rivera Sun to learn how to organize effective actions, powerful campaigns, and movements for change. (Aug 18) Read More>>
Right to Narrate: Policy Roundtable on Centering Palestinian Voices: A policy roundtable by Palestinian analysts and organizers about what it means for Palestinians to claim their right to narrate and demand an end to US complicity in Palestinian oppression. Register here. (Aug 19) Learn more>>
Transforming Ourselves, Transforming Our World: Join PeoplesHub for a four part series around exploring a variety of strategies and tools for greater transformation. Explore how slowing down, and trusting our body wisdom helps inform liberation at the personal, interpersonal and systemic level. (Aug 19/26, Sep 2/9 – Online) Learn more>>
How to Prevent Activist Burnout: This webinar explores how to sustain our activism for the long haul and features special guests Ravyn Wngz (Black Lives Matter Toronto), David Hartsough (Co-Founder, World BEYOND War), and Liz Remmerswaal (World BEYOND War New Zealand chapter coordinator) (Aug 20, Online) Learn more>>
The Struggle for Prison Abolition from the U.S. to Palestine: This discussion will bring together activists and scholars to examine movements organizing to dismantle the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) and free political prisoners as part of liberation struggles led by Black people in the U.S. and Palestinian people in occupied Palestine. (Aug 20) Learn more>>
Anger As A Voice For Change Webinar: Anger is a powerful emotion that can sometimes have destructive effects, but anger can also be harnessed to remind us what’s important, and to create change in our interpersonal relationships and communities. Join facilitators Bianca Pointner and Jonathan Jones for this interactive webinar. (August 25 & September 4 / 5:00pm – 6:30pm) Learn more>>
Nonviolence Communication For The Rest of Us: Leonie Smith offers this training in nonviolent communication for People of Color and others who don’t necessarily feel like they “belong” in NVC culture. (Sept 15) Learn more>>
People Power: The Strategic Dynamics of Civil Resistance: The International Center On Nonviolent Conflict has opened registration for their free, moderated online course. (Oct 1-Nov 20) Learn more>>
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