Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
What’s up with those giant rubber ducks? Thai pro-democracy protesters brought them to a rally as a joke … but when the police broke out the water cannons, those giant inflatables came in handy as water shields.
From railroad blockades to Rosie the Riveter feminist revolts, this week’s Nonviolence News contains an impressive 56 stories of people-power around the world. Just reading the headlines will knock your socks off (nonviolently, of course). India broke their 2019 world record for largest strike in human history. Tens of thousands of Greeks held a 24-hr general strike. West Papuans have launched a provisional government in their long struggle for sovereignty. Activists in Washington occupied a vacant school for emergency pandemic housing. The Shinnecock people are occupying ancestral lands in the Hamptons to assert Indigenous sovereignty. And that’s just a glimpse of this week’s news.
As we approach the end of this crazy year, I’ll be rolling out several “Nonviolence News Year In Review” articles. We’ll look at the Success Stories (there’s been so many!), the most creative tactics, and the best take-aways from 2020. Nonviolence News exists to help us all learn to see nonviolence in action in new ways. As always, nonviolence is mind-blowing! It’s happening at a scale, creativity, and volume we can hardly imagine . . . until now.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun, Editor
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Solomon Islands Residents Block Massive Open-Pit Mine: A remote community in the Solomon Islands has scored a huge victory against a mining company, which had planned to dig an open-pit mine on their tiny island. Read more>>
Louisville Metro Council Votes To Put Police Dept. Under Watch Of Civilian Review Board: The newly established board will consist of 11 members who will work alongside the inspector general. Through a majority vote, the board can authorize the inspector general to investigate police complaints. Additionally, the board will be able to look over police reports for quality and accuracy, as well as completed internal affairs investigations into police killings. Read more>>
Scotland Becomes First Country To Provide Free Period Products: In an achievement for gender equity, Scotland has become the first country in the world to provide free products for women’s (and gender-fluid individuals’) menses. Read more>>
Pebble Mine Denied Permit: Remember the “Pebble Tapes” that revealed corner-cutting and massive corruption in an Alaska mining project? Well, they had an impact. The Army Corp of Engineers denied a critical permit to the project, likely terminating it. Read more>>
New Zealand Shifts Policing Priorities and Approaches: Nimble, culturally nuanced and collaborative, this Māori-led response gets to the roots of family violence. Read more>>
India Breaks World Record For Largest General Strike (Again): Last year, India set the world record for the largest general strike in human history. On Nov 26, they did it again. Over 250 million workers and farmers, along with their allies among students, feminists and civil society groups participated in the nationwide strike. Despite police repression, massive rallies occurred across the country, along with railroad blockades and other actions. Read more>>
Guatemalans Continue Anti-Government Protests: Guatemala’s Congress annulled a contentious budget this week, but protesters are still calling for the president and legislators to resign. Read more>>
In Uganda, Youth Supporters of Opposition Candidate Protest Dictatorship: More than 45 demonstrators have been killed by police as they protest the prolonged dictatorship and show support for the 38-year-old opposition candidate. Read more>>
West Papua Announces Formation of Provisional Government: Remember the US Declaration of Independence? West Papua has issued those every few years since 1963. Now, they’re forming an autonomous government and a constitution in their on-going struggle to maintain their sovereignty from Indonesia. Read more>>
In Kyrgyzstan, Hundreds Rally Against Constitutional Tinkering: Changes to the constitution are widely perceived as another power grab by the man who recently seized all levers of government. Read more>>
Greeks Hold General Strike: Tens of thousands of public sector workers and employees in Greece also went on a nationwide 24-hour general strike. They were protesting against the devastating coronavirus policies and demanded better protective measures, the confiscation of private hospitals, mass hiring of health workers and salary increases. Read more>>
Warehouse Workers Strike in North Dakota: About 70 employees of a Fargo food distribution business went on strike Wednesday, Nov. 18, calling for resumption of union contract talks and drawing attention to what a union spokesman described as “lackadaisical” COVID-19 precautions at the site. Read more>>
235+ Organizations Call Upon Biden/Harris To Cancel Student Debt: Over 235 organizations sent a letter to President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris, calling on them to use executive authority to cancel federal student debt on day one of their administration. Read more>>
Tacoma Activists Occupy Pandemic-Closed School For Emergency Shelter: In Washington state, the housing rights group Tacoma Housing Now has turned a former middle school building into emergency pandemic accommodations for unhoused people and is demanding the formation of a community land trust in response to the housing crisis. Read more>>
Progressive Organizations Hold “Make Amazon Pay” Protests On Black Friday: The corporation is trying to pacify workers with holiday bonuses of $150 to $300, even though “Jeff Bezos could pay a $105,000 bonus to every Amazon worker and still be as rich as he was at the start of the pandemic.” Read more>>
Hundreds of Nursing Home Workers Are on Strike: The workers are demanding higher wages, hazard pay and better staffing. Read more>>
Thai LGBTQ+ Activists And Pro-Democracy Protesters March Together For Equality: They also demand reforms of the Thai monarchy. Read more>>
Tenants Take On City’s Worst Landlord With Rent Strike: Months ago, an earlier rent strike brought the landlord to the negotiating table – but he flaked. So, the tenants are on strike again. Read more>>
Brazil Erupts With Demonstrations After Black Man Killed By Security Officers: Demonstrators took the streets across Brazil this weekend to protest the killing of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, a Black man and father of four, by security officers. Read more>>
Dozens of Racial Justice Protesters Held by Feds for Months Pretrial: Several who took part in the uprisings after George Floyd’s murder have faced prolonged incarceration despite the pandemic. Read more>>
Shinnecock People Struggle For Sovereignty Amidst America’s Wealthiest: While the uber wealthy flock to their multi-million homes in the Hamptons and continue their leisure practices on the sacred grounds of Shinnecock Hills, the original peoples of the land struggle to raise themselves out of poverty every year. This is not for lack of effort, knowledge and collective will. Read more>>
Decolonizing Thanksgiving: This week, as some people in the United States celebrated the mythical ‘Thanksgiving’ dinner, Indigenous Peoples held a National Day of Mourning and continued their resistance to defend the land and water. Read more>>
US Women’s Soccer Team Kneels For Black Lives Before Netherlands Game: The U.S. women’s national soccer team (USWNT) showed their support for racial justice by donning Black Lives Matter jackets and kneeling on the field ahead of their 2-0 winning game against the Netherlands on Friday. Read more>>
DC’s Black Lives Matter Movement Demonstrates For Black Lives Nationally and Locally: The demonstrations have taken place against the backdrop of a pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Black and Latino Americans, including in D.C. The city had huge racial disparities even before the coronavirus — on average, Black residents have less household income and worse health outcomes than white residents, and are more likely to be stopped and frisked or arrested for marijuana by D.C. police. Read more>>
Photography Campaign Shows The Grim Aftermath Of Logging In Canada’s Fragile Forests: Ancient Forest Alliance’s project underscores the preventions that are needed to protect old-growth trees in areas such as the Caycuse watershed. Read more>>
“As Gwich’in, We Will Never Stop Fighting For Our Land”: Indigenous mothers and grandmothers resist Arctic oil and gas exploitation. Read more>>
Protecting Indigenous Languages Is Protecting Biodiversity: With Indigenous languages, we can turn from a narrative of apocalypse—toward multispecies kinship, care, stewardship, protection, and love for the living Earth. Read more>>
Activists Resist Frantic Pipeline Development in Trump’s Final Weeks: As the latest round of construction begins on long-disputed lines, hundreds of activists are continuing to resist. Read more>>
Rallies Around the World Against Violence Toward Women: The rallies were held as experts reiterated warnings that were first issued when economic shutdowns began in many countries around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic: As many families have been largely confined to their homes this year to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, reports of violence by men against women have skyrocketed. Read more>>
International Day of Feminism Kicks Off 16-Days of Action: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which will see the start of 16 days of activism against gender violence globally. Read more>>
Kyrgyz Singer Launches New Plea For Women’s Rights: Zere Asylbek, who achieved fame with her 2018 feminist anthem Kyz (Girl), has returned to the theme of women’s rights with a new song called Apam Aitkan (Mom Said). Asylbek’s activism has earned her the very kind of aggressive behavior that she is campaigning against. Read more>>
Lightning Bolts, Abortion Bans, and Women’s Strikes: Polish women draw on their own history and global women’s rights movements as they campaign for reproductive rights. Editor’s Note: While many do not consider abortion to be “nonviolent”, denying women control over their own bodies is considered a form of structural oppression and violence. Our policy is to share stories of women using nonviolent action to gain the right to make their own reproductive choices. Read more>>
How Poland’s Women’s Rights Movement Is Maintaining Momentum: Coronavirus restrictions have forced anti-abortion law protests to become more low key, but no less creative. Read more>>
Like a Rocket in the Garden – The Unending War in Afghanistan: Kathy Kelly reports, “Mujib’s father cultivated a vegetable garden outside their home. One day, a rocket hit the garden, cutting an apple tree in half and burrowing deep into the ground. But it didn’t explode. Mujib remembers how his father watered the area where the rocket hit, for years, hoping the bomb would eventually rust and never explode. Now he worries that Afghanistan is headed toward an explosion of violence.” Read more>>
Ending the War on Afghanistan: The war in Afghanistan has entered its 19th year. Enough is enough. This group of activists discuss what it will take to end the war. Ann Wright is the moderator. Panelists are Kathy Kelly, Matthew Hoh, Rory Fanning, Danny Sjursen, and Arash Azizzada. Read more>>
Azerbaijan’s Peace Activists Face Harassment, And A Reckoning: In Azerbaijan, “when it comes to Armenia and Karabakh, the moment you bring a different opinion, you become a traitor.” Read more>>
Feminism Not Militarism: Medea Benjamin On The Movement To Oppose Michèle Flournoy As Pentagon Chief: Biden has yet to announce his defense secretary, but progressives are already raising alarm over reports that he intends to nominate Michèle Flournoy, a hawkish Pentagon veteran with close ties to the defense industry. If nominated, Flournoy would become the first woman to lead the Department of Defense. “She represents the epitome of what is worst about the Washington blob, the military-industrial complex’s revolving door,” says CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin. Read more>>
Would You Serve If The Uniform Was Pink? They Asked. Her Answer Was ‘No’: This Israeli conscientious resistor sees not joining the Israeli Forces as her small act of making change. All Israeli youth are expected to serve for several years, but this young woman refuses to be complicit in war, occupation, and genocide. Read more>>
80+ Organizations Call For End To US Involvement In Yemen War: Over 80 organizations representing millions of people across the United States sent a joint letter to President-elect Joe Biden with an urgent request that he prioritize ending U.S. support for the disastrous Saudi-led war in Yemen. The letter, from groups ranging from foreign policy organizations to faith-based groups, outlines the specific measures Biden should take. Read more>>
Rubber Ducks Protest in Thailand: Thai pro-democracy protesters faced police blockades and water cannons. Amid the chaos, a collection of giant ducks, initially brought to the protest as a joke, were promptly repurposed as shields. They have since been celebrated as heroes of the movement. Read more>>
“Refuse Fascism Philly” Dumped (Faux) Body Bags In Front of Trump Properties: At Trump National Golf Club in Pine Hill NJ, activists mark the horrific milestone of 250,000 #COVID19 deaths with protest, faux body bags, and renaming the site the “Trump National Mass Grave”. Watch a video here>>
How Cultural Rituals And Healing Ceremonies Can Strengthen Our Movements: Traditional dances, songs and prayers create space for healing traumatic experiences and building solidarity between Black and Brown communities. Read more>>
Colombia’s National Strike Shows What People-Power Can Achieve: A year after Colombia held a national strike against President Duque, popular opinion for him has plummeted. He’s no longer just an annoying fraud – he’s being accused of terrorism as his right-wing party crumbles. Read more>>
What Is Gentrification? And How Do We Resist It? Teen Vogue takes on the scourge of cities, everywhere: gentrification. Covering history, impact, problems, and resistance, this is a one-stop show for “Everything You Need To Know About Gentrification”. Read more>>
The Real Threat To Democracy Isn’t Julian Assange — It’s The Espionage Case Against Him: “As the Yes Men, we have complicated feelings about Assange. But prosecuting him under the Espionage Act would be a disaster for journalism and democracy.” Read more>>
To Push Biden Left, We Must Build Movements to Challenge His Corporate Backers: Social movements are most powerful when they threaten profits, as the victories of the 1930s and 1960s demonstrate. Read more>>
Does Shopping Ethically Really Make A Difference? Basically, yes, it can. Every little bit adds up over time. But, with organizing, you can make a bigger impact, quicker. Read more>>
What Can We Do About Amazon, Inc.? Despite 300 days of strike action in Germany, the global megacorporation has been able to resist German workers’ demands for fair labor practices. How can we resist the abuses of a company that has gotten astronomically large? Editor’s Note: I use “Inc.” after the company name to stop allowing a megacorporation to occupy the name of the Earth’s largest rainforest. It’s a small act of resistance to this giant problem. Read more>>
How US Postal Workers Saved The Election: USPS workers went to extraordinary lengths to stand up for the democratic process as Trump and Postmaster LeJoy sabotaged the institution. Here’s why we should all thank our postal workers. Read more>>
Last Nonviolence News Happy Hour of 2020! Join us for our final conversation about the news, the headlines, and the take-away lessons. (Dec 18) Learn more>>
Indigenous Environmental Action Network Asks You To Take Action To Stop Line 3: Enbridge’s oil pipeline (Line 3) is a disaster waiting to happen. Within a matter of weeks, Enbridge Energy is planning to start construction in rural Minnesota, bringing hundreds of out-of-state workers to the area. This is despite the fact that COVID cases are surging, and the healthcare systems of many Native and non-Native communities in the region are already being stretched to breaking point. Here’s what you can do>>
The Anti-Eviction Action: This group mobilizing for housing justice would like you to sign the pledge to keep people in their homes. Learn more>>
Condemn Israel’s Assassination of Iran’s Nuclear Scientist: Sign the statement to condemn the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist by Israeli forces. Learn more>>
How People Fight and Win with Humor: An online webinar on lessons of creative resistance from Belarus, other tyrannies and failing democracies. (Dec 8) Learn more>>
Soul Force Retreat w/ Rivera Sun, Veronica Pelicaric, and Robert Ferrell: Restore. Nourish. Replenish. Nurture. Heal. It’s been a crazy year. Let’s take time together to look inward and look forward. This retreat is a place where we can return to our hearts, restore our spirits, and gather our energies for new beginnings. (Dec 12) Learn more>>
Peace Through Permaculture & Farming: How do we tackle something as large as the twin threats of war and climate change? This unique webinar will explore the intersections between permaculture, farming, simple living, and anti-war activism. World BEYOND War’s Organizing Director Greta Zarro, who is also a co-founder of Unadilla Community Farm, a non-profit organic farm and permaculture education center, will moderate this interesting discussion. (Dec 16) Learn more>>
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