Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
This week’s Nonviolence News is full of stories of how ordinary people are reclaiming their dignity, pride, and rights. Around the world, people are resisting violence and injustice. They’re taking action with creativity, heart, and soul.
Take #ProudBoys, for example. This week, gay men rose up across social media to challenge a white supremacy group over its name “Proud Boys”. The winners? Definitely the LGBTQIA community. Love conquers all … and the LGBTQIA community is masterful at flipping the script and transforming insults into a mark of PRIDE.
Meanwhile, low-income people throughout the United States are organizing like their lives are on the line – because they are. A Nonviolent Medicaid Army is forming to address the healthcare crisis. Successful housing justice occupations in Philadelphia have given rise to nationwide efforts to spread the model. In Chicago, a day of action against unemployment brought many people into the street, chanting: Tax the Rich! Feed the Poor!
In other news, Thai students launched a major campaign against abuse in schools. Chilean, Indonesian, and Norwegian workers are on strike and protesting for their rights. Kyrgyzstan is in upheaval over its recent election-rigging scandal. You’ll find all of this and more in this week’s Nonviolence News.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
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Cambridge University Divests $3.5 Billion Endowment From Fossil Fuels: In what climate activists worldwide called a “massive victory” after a five-year campaign, the University of Cambridge on Thursday committed to removing all direct and indirect investments in the fossil fuel industry from its £3.5 billion endowment fund by 2030 as part of a broader plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2038. Read more>>
Seismic Blasting Halted In Atlantic Ocean, Saving Whales & Marine Life: The federal government and fossil fuel industry announced at a legal hearing Thursday that seismic blasting will not be carried out in the Atlantic Ocean this year—and possibly not in the near future either—a development welcomed by conservation groups who lobbied forcefully against what they said would have been an “unjustified acoustic attack on our oceans.” Read more>>
Princeton Agrees To Equal Pay Settlement: After years of contesting the findings of the federal pay discrimination investigation, Princeton University has agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million — including $925,000 in back pay and at least $250,000 in future salary adjustments — to female professors. Read more>>
Thai “Bad Students” Protest Against Education Minister And Call For His Resignation: The student activist group Bad Student organized a series of protests on October 2 at various high schools in Bangkok to protest against the abuse and mistreatment of students in schools. Afterward, the group went to the Ministry of Education to call for Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan to resign. The protesters rode a truck and unfurled banners at the schools that had reports of teacher abuse and harassment of students. Read more>>
Krygyzstan Unrest After Election-Rigging Scandal Put Prime Minister Position Into Question: Protests erupted as parliament held a hasty vote to appoint the opposition candidate as the new prime minister. Editor’s Note: The reporting on this is varied depending on who the journal is supporting. One journal categorized protests as “mobs” and “riots”. Another called them pro-democracy protesters. A third possibility is that both are present in the streets. I’ll let you decide.
Indonesian Workers Protest Omnibus Labor Law: Critics say it undermines workers rights while eliminating red tape for corporations. Read more>>
Supporting 250,000 NYC Restaurant Workers Laid Off During Pandemic: This support included emergency relief and the launch of a hotline to help Hot Bread Kitchen’s alumni navigate hardship brought on by the pandemic, such as navigating unemployment, benefits, childcare, food resources and anxiety. After seeing overwhelming demand, Hot Bread Kitchen opened up the hotline to all food workers. Read more>>
A New Nonviolent Medicaid Army Is on the March: Led by the poor and dispossessed, this movement is bringing the demand for healthcare rights to corporate profiteers, state houses, prisons, and police stations. Read more>>
Progressive Groups Are Preparing to Thwart a Possible Trump-Led Coup. Here’s How: Sometimes democracy needs to be defended in the streets. These grassroots organizations are getting ready. Read more>>
#CountOnUs: Youth Organizers Have a Plan to Mobilize If Trump Tries to Steal the Election: “Together, we’re going to vote and organize like our communities and planet are at stake, because they are. Read more>>
Chilean Copper Miners Go On Strike: Members of a union at Lundin Mining Corp.’s Chilean copper operation began a strike after a breakdown in wage negotiations that are being tracked by several other mines in the metal’s top-producing nation. Read more>>
“Tax the Rich! Feed the Poor!’: Activists in Chicago Are Raising a Voice for the Unemployed: On the city’s first ‘Unemployment Day,’ the streets tell a tale of a city divided. Read more>>
Data Is How This Activist Counters the Alt-Right: This data scientist survived the attacks in Charlottesville, and then dedicated her work to tracking down hate. She now lives overseas to avoid reprisals from alt-right members, but continues to work at stopping the alt-right. Read more>>
Baltimore Teachers Demand Tests, Masks, and Plexiglass: On Sept. 30, the Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU) held a protest and die-in in front of the Baltimore City Public Schools headquarters in Baltimore City. Read more>>
Amazon Center Workers Walk-Out: About two dozen Amazon employees in Shakopee walked off their jobs Thursday night to support a colleague whom they said was unjustly fired earlier this week. The former employee, Farhiyo Warsame, also showed up at the walkout as her colleagues chanted her name. The employees chanted, clapped, and confronted a manager about Farhiyo’s termination for two hours, through chilly temperatures and darkness. Read more>>
Norwegian Oil Workers Strike: The strike could cause oil and gas production to drop by a quarter, but a resolution is being sought. Read more>>
800 Nurses Strike At California Hospital: Roughly 800 registered nurses are picketing San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp on Oct. 8, 2020 amid a five-day strike, saying county leaders aren’t addressing their concerns over patient care, staffing and protections against the COVID-19. Read more>>
Calgary Students Peacefully Protest Systemic Racism During Walkout: A city-wide school walkout took place in Calgary on Thursday. Angered by the use of the n-word by teachers, and the lack of education on Black history, students left their classrooms in a peaceful demonstration against systemic racism in the education system. Read more>>
Black Women Have A Long History Of Protesting In Sports: Too often ignored in the media, Black women athletes have continuously protested injustice. Read more>>
Tribes Defend Themselves Against COVID-19: As COVID-19 numbers soared across the country this spring, tribal nations began closing their reservation boundaries to non-residents. The Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux erected checkpoints on roads entering their reservations in order to protect their citizens, even as the state of South Dakota refused to require masks or mandate social distance. Read more>>
Latinx Coop Power: Latinx people have long been an influential and integral part of the U.S. cooperative movement. This summer, the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives conducted the first national compilation of U.S. Latinx cooperatives of all co-op types and sectors. Research for this report was conducted in collaboration with renowned scholar Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, professor and author of Collective Courage. In celebration of both Latinx Heritage Month and Co-op Month, check out the research and support Latinx co-ops in your community. Read more>>
Kansas City Protests Over Arrest of Black Pregnant Woman Continue: Demonstrators have camped out in front of City Hall after videos circulated showing a white Kansas City police officer kneeling on the back of a Black pregnant woman during her arrest last week. The protesters are demanding for Police Chief Richard Smith to resign and the officer involved to be fired. They are also calling for the city to redistribute 50 percent of the department’s budget to social services to help the Black community. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion’s Newsletter Shows How Global Protests Are Intensifying: Weathering pepper spray, rising seas, arrests, and ridicule, XR activists in Finland, South Africa, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond share their daring and creative action reports. Don’t miss concerts as protest, hexagonal lockdowns in the street, and more. Read more>>
Indigenous Activists Target Tar Sands Financing: Indigenous Environmental Network and partners delivered a petition to Liberty Mutual’s Boston headquarters, in solidarity with the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association (GPTCA). On September 2, the GPTCA, which represents 16 sovereign Tribal nations in the Dakotas and Nebraska, called on Liberty to stop insuring Keystone XL and to meet with Indigenous leaders to discuss Liberty’s relationship with the tar sands industry. Read more>>
Wild Food For All: People of color and low-income communities have long gathered ingredients for meals, and foraging can help fill in the gaps in places where historic redlining has had lasting effects on supermarket options. In fact, some wild and feral foods can provide greater nutritional benefits than produce bought in stores. Read more>>
Poor People Launch #TakeoverMonth: Drawing on 30 years of experience securing housing with direct action, the Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign is training others to do the same. Read more>>
Tenant Buy-Back Campaign Counters Eviction Crisis In A Historical And Radical Way: One of the measures of a new proposed bill draws from 1970s organizing for housing justice. It doesn’t just call for rent cancellation and eviction moratoriums; it demands measures to help renters buy their apartments. Read more>>
People-Powered Housing: While COVID’s economic impacts have accelerated a nation-wide housing crisis, communities are mobilizing to meet the moment and utilizing creative tactics to win back their housing rights. From the Bay Area to Philadelphia, organizers are occupying homes and winning their transfer to community land trusts. In states like New York and Massachusetts, Tenant Opportunity to Purchase legislation is being reintroduced, which would create a legal mandate for landlords to give first right of purchase to existing tenants. Get policy tools to advance strategies like these and create permanent, affordable housing in your community. Read more>>
Shut Down AFRICOM:Black Alliance For Peace held an international day of action to end US imperialism across Africa, drawing connections between police brutality, racism, militarized police, imperialism and more. Read more>>
Caucus Youth Organize For Peace As Armenia and Azerbaijan Dive Into War: A flare-up of violence had the two countries sliding into war. Youth from the entire region are calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks. Read their statement here>>
“Why We Focus On Africa” – Black Alliance For Peace Connects Domestic Racism and International Imperialism: With reports each week of yet another Black victim of police violence, there is for many an ever-growing desperation. As activists search for a way forward, Africa’s plight does not find its way on to the movement agenda. But there is good reason to be concerned about what goes on in Africa. The problems there and the problems here are related. Read more>>
Peace Groups Blockade Creech Air Force Base to Protest ‘Illegal and Inhumane Remote Killing’ by US Drones: One CodePink protester said she hopes the week-long protest “will teach the soldiers that they must take control of and understand the consequences of their actions.” Read more>>
Nuclear Weapons Are Still A Problem. We’re Still Resisting Them: September 26th was the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. In Chicago, where Voices for Creative Nonviolence is based, activists held the third of three COVID-era “Car Caravans” for nuclear disarmament, travelling through the city from Voices’ own rapidly gentrifying Uptown neighborhood to the statue on Chicago’s South Side which marks the fateful site of Earth’s first sustained nuclear chain reaction. Cars bore banners reading “End U.S. Nukes Before They End Us,” “Still Here? Dumb Luck”. Read more>>
11 Ways To #ReclaimArmisticeDay For Peace: As Oct 11th has become another pro-military memorial day, Veterans For Peace is reclaiming the original meaning of the day – a celebration of peace. Read more>>
#ProudBoys – Gay Men Take Back The Slogan “Proud Boys” From White Supremacists: Using social media and photos of men kissing, gay men reclaimed the #ProudBoys after a white supremacist group by the same name started making national headlines. Read more>>
Migrant Community Creates “Undocu-Learning Pod”: Immigrants have launched a learning center to support undocumented families under COVID-19. Read more>>
#WePaidMore – US Citizens Post If They Paid More In Taxes Than Trump: The campaign, dubbed We Paid More, is led by Tax March with partners including Public Citizen, Patriotic Millionaires, and Indivisible. Read more>>
COVID-19 Memorial Commemorates 200,000 Killed Outside White House: Using 20,000 chairs, this demonstration solemnly reminded the nation of the price of the pandemic. Read more>>
What Activists Who Fought The AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About Organizing During A Pandemic: More than 30 years after ACT UP was founded, their bold activism in response to the AIDS crisis offers critical lessons for those mobilizing around COVID-19. Read more>>
When Celebrating Gandhi Let’s Celebrate What We Share In Common With Him: Gandhi represents the capacity that all of us have to examine ourselves in relation to others and the world around us. Read more>>
A Year After The October Uprising, Iraqis Have More Reasons To Protest: Iraq’s October uprising was a wake-up call for desperate generations caught in an endless cycle of poverty, marginalization and injustice. How does the struggle continue today? Read more>>
How Restaurant Workers Are Organizing Amid the Pandemic: “We’ve seen a significant uptick in workers contacting us about organizing from the restaurant industry, and in the food service [and] hospitality sector more broadly,” UE organizer Mark Meinster says. “Workers are very concerned about the lack of safety protections regarding Covid, the lack of paid sick leave and the drop in income many anticipate as a result of serving fewer customers.” Read more>>
How Rural Residents Rallied To Get Their Post Office Back: For the residents of Munds Park, losing their post office basically meant losing their pharmacy, bank, grocery store and social center, too. It radically changed their way of life. The ability to mail something across the country for 55 cents is a modern-day miracle, one that we take for granted — until it disappears. Read more>>
La Via Campesina’s International Day of Action for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty: Take action for food sovereignty and against transnational corporations. (Oct 16) Learn more>>
Before We March – Strategies For Powerful Social Change: It’s back! This popular webinar with Rivera Sun is being offered again. Building on strategies used to create effective campaigns here in the US and globally, trainer Rivera Sun will walk participants through creating power analyses, and planning campaigns and strategies that fit specific goals, and adapting to changing circumstances, opportunities and opposition, and more. (Oct 17) Learn more>>
Taking Back Our Economy: Reversing Inequality & Rebuilding Local Economies Post-Pandemic: The pandemic has sped up unsustainable and unjust trends in our economy. Join Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chuck Collins, and Stacy Mitchell for a reality check on these challenges and concrete actions we can all take to build vibrant, just, and sustainable local economies even now. (Oct 15 – Online) Learn more>>
Rooted In Spirit For Right Action – Social Change & Nonviolence: Through exercises and examples, this virtual workshop will give you an overview of different aspects of how nonviolent practices specifically speak to the times we are living in. Participants will explore the principles, strategy, and spirit of nonviolence – essential skills for navigating the election crisis and beyond. (Oct 25) Learn more>>
Preparing Together: East Point Peace Academy Trains For November: This series of online trainings prepares citizens for challenges around the US November elections. (Oct-Nov) Learn more>>
Choose Democracy Announces New Trainings In Anti-Coup: Worried about what might happen if Trump loses and refuses to leave office? Choose Democracy is training thousands in how to use nonviolent struggle to stop a potential coup. 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>>