Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
It’s been a big week. 3,500 climate actions happened in 150 countries. Amid continuing pandemic restrictions and concerns, children sent their shoes to stand in protest in their place. In addition, another 4,000 actions and events took place for a culture of peace and active nonviolence, free from war, poverty, racism, and the climate crisis (more on that next week) and 150,000 US citizens participated in car caravans and phone marches as part of the Poor People’s Campaign. Citizens in the US are also mobilizing to prevent a potential coup or stolen election. Meanwhile, in the Ukraine, a group of miners who are banned from going on strike are holding a month-long underground “protest” that includes stopping all work in the mines. In Zimbabwe, organizers are holding daily “lunch hour” protests that are designed to be accessible to workers.
At our recent Nonviolence News Happy Hour, where people gather online to discuss the stories, a participant asked, “What should I be looking for as I read Nonviolence News?” Great question! Scan the headlines, for starters. It’ll lift your spirits. Then, keep your eye out for these aspects of the stories:
- Who is rising up? (Often not the “usual suspects”)
- What types of nonviolent action are they using?
- Can you use these tactics in your efforts for change?
- How are they meeting the challenges of pushing for justice?
- What issues are they working on? Do those issues affect your community?
- How are people advancing systemic and structural nonviolent solutions?
- Where can you find hope and inspiration in someone else’s story?
In these times, that last question is vitally important. It’s how we stay focused. It helps lift the despair. It gives us practical ideas for how to move forward. Nonviolence News exists to answer this question for all of us. There is always far more happening, in far more interesting and exciting ways that the corporate news shows. It is a wellspring of hope in challenging times. Thanks for being a part of it.
Rivera Sun, Editor
Photo Credit: Demonstrators hold placards take part in a protest against climate change outside Ministry of Environment, to demand Climate Action during the Global Climate strike protest march on September 25, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Fridays for Future, the global youth movement that coalesced after Greta Thunberg’s pioneering strike, said demonstrations were planned in at least 150 countries across the world. (Photo by Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Mayors of 12 Major Global Cities Home to 36 Million People Make Unified Fossil Fuel Divestment Pledge: The announcement from C40 Cities—a global network of communities dedicated to tackling the climate emergency—came on day two of Climate Week NYC, some of which is being held online because of the Covid-19 crisis. Read more>>
California Bans Sales Of Gas-Powered Cars By 2035: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday issued an executive order that would phase out sales of new gas-powered passenger cars by 2035, a move that he said would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. Read more>>
Congress Finally Passes Bill To Address Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women: The bill boosts coordination and data collection between tribal, local, state and federal law enforcement in cases involving missing and murdered Native women. It requires federal agencies to get recommendations from tribes on how to enhance the safety of Native women, and requires new guidelines for responding to these cases, in consultation with tribes. Read more>>
Social Media Giants Agree To Content Reforms After Ad Boycott and Celebrity Blackout: Facebook and Twitter were thrown into turmoil in June when leading UK and US businesses pulled advertising from their social networks, saying the time had come for the companies to clean up hate speech and fake news. The technology groups have now agreed adopt a common set of definitions and reporting standards for hate speech and other harmful content, and open themselves to external audits of their systems. Read more>>
10 Things You Need To Know To Stop A Coup: While keeping people focused on a strong, robust election process is a must, we also need to prepare for a coup. Read more>>
Barbados To Vote On Decolonization & Full Independence: Barbados put some hot-button issues on the ballot, including same-sex marriages and whether or not it’s time to leave the British Commonwealth. Read more>>
West Philly Outshines Proud Boys: The gathering of white supremacists, which had residents on edge over fears that the event could spark violence, never materialized. Those who showed up in one of the most progressive, racially diverse neighborhoods in the city turned out to be largely locals, with up to 500 people assembling to oppose a rally that wasn’t. Read more>>
150,000 Participate in Poor People’s Campaign’s Caravans and Massive Phone March: More than 150,000 people participated in the sixth Moral Monday March on McConnell, in caravans that circled Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s six offices in Kentucky and his home in Washington, D.C. or tuning in online for live reports and flooding his phone lines until every office’s voice mails were full. Read more>>
Pandemic Has Slowed Treatment For Palestinian Activists Injured By Israelis: Palestinians injured during Great March of Return protests have suffered treatment delays and cancellations. Read more>>
Zimbabwe Trade Congress Organize Lunch Hour Protests: The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has mobilized its members to embark on lunch-hour protests starting Monday to push for United States dollar-based salaries in light of the free-falling economy and a battered local currency. Read more>>
Nationwide Protests Erupt After Breonna Taylor Verdict Ignores Her Murder: In Louisville, Denver, New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and other cities, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in an outpouring of grief and anger after the grand jury examining Taylor’s case indicted one former detective on three counts of “wanton endangerment” for recklessly firing shots into the young woman’s apartment building—a decision that lets the two officers who shot Taylor six times off the hook. The three officers fired a total of 32 shots in Taylor’s apartment, according to investigators. Read more>>
Withstanding Police Repression, Rochester, NY, Continues To Demand Justice For Daniel Prude: Free the People Roc, which grew out of the Black Lives Matter movement in Rochester, has led daily protests for justice for Prude since September 2. Made up of community activists, the group is demanding that the officers involved be prosecuted and that Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren resign. The overarching goal, however, is to “defund the police.” Read more>>
Police Operation Arrests Anti-Racist Organizers: Police agencies in the Denver area arrested anti-racist organizers in a coordinated assault today. Read more>>
Black Farmers Organize John Deere Boycott: The 116,000 members of the National Black Farmers Association are boycotting John Deere agricultural equipment over long-standing issues of racism and discrimination. Read more>>
Mutual Aid Response During Fires Shows Black Lives Matter Is Building Community: Organizers protesting police in Portland quickly mobilized to provide services for those impacted by wildfires. Read more>>
The Breathe Act Aims To Defund Police: This transformative piece of legislation from the Movement 4 Black Lives that lays the groundwork for widespread defunding of the police and reinvestment in local communities. Read more>>
Italy’s Youth Organize Anti-Racism Efforts On Instagram: Amid Italy’s flourishing Black Lives Matter movement, young people of color are making waves and demanding change. Read more>>
3,500 Worldwide Climate Protests Renew Struggle For Climate Justice: More than 3,500 global protests led by young people including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg took place in 150 countries across the world on Friday to demand scaled-up action to tackle a worsening climate crisis. Read more>>
The Power of Inclusive, Intergenerational Climate Activism: The energy and intersectionality of youth along with the experience and engagement of elders are putting climate issues at the forefront of the 2020 elections. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion Is Showing Britain What Real Democracy Could Look Like: The protest movement’s call for meaningful participation highlights the failings of dysfunctional traditional politics. Read more>>
The New Faces Of British Columbia’s Old-Growth Activism: People have gathered here to defend the area from logging many times over the last 30 years. Now, they’re working on decolonizing as they use direct action to protect old growth trees. Read more>>
18-Year-Old Indigenous Climate Activist Fights to Save Arctic Wildlife Refuge: Quannah Chasinghorse is trying to protect the wilderness that the Trump administration opened to oil drilling. Read more>>
Pacific Northwest First Nations Restore Clam Gardens & Bring Beaches Back To Life: This spot was once a clam garden, an ancient indigenous form of mariculture that coastal First Nations people have used for millennia. It is estimated that they once numbered in the thousands along the Pacific north-western coast, though ruins are all that’s left of most. In collaboration with the W̱SÁNEĆ and Hul’q’umi’num nations, a First Nations organizer has spearheaded the first formal clam garden rehabilitations at two sites in the Gulf Islands, in British Columbia, with dozens more to follow. Read more>>
Toronto Protesters Prevent Eviction: Toronto protesters engaged in a tense standoff with police outside the apartment building and successfully prevented a resident from being evicted. Read more>>
Community Owned Cooperatives For Trailer Park Residents: There’s a boom in conversion of ownership going on, from private ownership to cooperative. It comes just in time to stall the big property-management firms from exploiting trailer parks for profit. Read more>>
Longtime Philadelphia Housing Activist Cheri Honkala Finally Gets A House of Her Own: Thanks to the support of other housing justice advocates, this tireless campaigner is now a homeowner. Editor’s Note: Cheri Honkala, true to form, is requesting housewarming gifts – help her raise $1500 (here) to move another family into a house, too. Read more>>
Toronto Neighborhood Resists Gentrification: During the pandemic, members of Parkdale’s People’s Economy have been active in the fight against evictions in their neighborhood as they continue their long-term work to build a local solidarity economy ecosystem with participatory planning, community land trusts, community food distribution, local currencies, and more. Read more>>
Indigenous Activists Arrested During Border Wall Protest: Two O’odham women arrested at the border were taken to a private prison where they were denied access to the outside world. Read more>>
Protest At ICE Headquarters Over Forced Hysterectomies: A security guard brandished her gun at demonstrators who forced their way into ICE headquarters in New York City to protest claims of ‘mass hysterectomies’ being performed on immigrant women. Read more>>
1,200 Indians Send Shoes To Climate “Shoe Strike”: The Hyderabad Shoe Strike, initiated in solidarity with the Global Shoe Strike, has received 1,200 entries in the form of footwear with messages. In view of the inability to participate in good numbers in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the protest allows the participants to send their pairs of shoes tagged with messages to represent them. The shoe strike is being observed at over 1,400 locations across 130 countries, with more than seven million participants. Read more>>
#LOVEPLANET Participative Collage Campaign Wants You To Make Street Art: A collaboration between Street Art Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion, the #loveplanet action wants to allow any individual to address, via street art, a message on the walls of our cities and towns. #loveplanet’s purpose is to raise awareness about the necessity to act fast against natural disasters and the extinction of the planet’s biodiversity. Follow #LovePlanet on Instagram and watch the video here. Watch A Video Here>>
It’s Lit! One Book One Bronx Empowers BIPOC Communities Through Literature:
Colorlines speaks with literary activist Ron Kavanaugh on building community—and curricula—around Black and Brown authors. Read more>>
Ukraine Miners Hold 20 Days Of Underground “Protest”: Forbidden to go on strike, the miners say they’re just “protesting” as they shut down the mine’s operations. Read more>>
Going Beyond Protest Politics: There is an opportunity within the pandemic and our political crisis if we move beyond “protest politics”. The pandemic is both a threat to marginalized communities and an opportunity for radical social change, if we carefully plan for it. Read more>>
Conspiracy Theory Memes Cause Harm. Should They Be Held Accountable For The Violence They Unleash? Nonviolence Radio explores the role social media posts play in causing harm. How might the internet galvanize individuals to commit violence against “others” in a way that traditional media did not? Read more>>
How To Set Up a Mutual Aid Fund: Mutual Aid is our contemporary version on Gandhi’s constructive program, countering the pandemic’s economic impacts, and the on-going inequalities inherent in our economy. Read more>>
How to Cover the Trans Community Respectfully: More than 200 journalists launched the Trans Journalists Association to support fellow reporters, confirm correct term usage and offer employers resources to build workplace equity. Read more>>
Ableism And Our Movements: Join disabled organizers and movement leaders for a discussion about what Covid-19 has revealed to us all and what this means toward creating movements where all are welcomed, all are supported, and no one is left behind. (Oct 8) Read more>>
#JusticeForBreonna – Support the Bail Fund: As Louisville Black organizers face the failure of justice, here’s how to contribute in a tangible way. Read more>>
Just Transition–Transformative Strategies on the Frontlines of Struggle: This panel from Labor Network For Sustainability represents some of the most visionary leaders from Black, Brown and Indigenous communities across North America (Turtle Island)—organizing at the intersection of environmental justice in communities that have historically been the first and most impacted by both the storms, floods, fires and droughts associated with climate change, as well as people who have borne the most disproportionate burdens of pollution, poverty, police violence and pandemic perpetuated by the extractive economy driving climate change. (October 7 – Online) Read more>>
Confronting Challenges of Medical Debt: RIP Medical Debt will be hosting a virtual summit on the contemporary challenges of medical debt in America. The summit is free and will be made accessible through a public livestream. (Oct 6) Read more>>
Debunking the Myths of World War II Course: World BEYOND War is launching a new online course that explores why WWII was not fought to rescue anyone from persecution, was not necessary for defense, was the most damaging and destructive event yet to occur, and could have been prevented by avoiding any of several bad decisions. (Starts Oct 5) 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. This course back by popular demand! Participants rave about its usefulness in these times of change and challenge. (Oct 6) Read More>>
Engaging Nonviolence 6-Week Course: Study nonviolence with Veronica Pelicaric, Director of Eduction for Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service, and Rivera Sun, Editor of Nonviolence News. New to nonviolence? This course is for you! Explore what nonviolence is, the principles, philosophies, approaches, and actions. Everyone is welcome. (Online, starts Oct 8) Learn more>>
Black People’s March On White House: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People’s March On White House.” Registration is required. (Nov 7-8) Read more>>
Kingian Nonviolence Mini-Workshop: Join Kazu Haga to discuss the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King and their relevancy for these times. (Nov 14) Read more>>