Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
It seems like uprisings are everywhere. We’ve scoured the news to collect these stories for you – and we found a whopping 78 this week! South African gold miners are on strike … and platinum miners are planning to go on strike in solidarity with them. Sri Lankans continue to push for economic justice. Tunisians are protesting against the dissolution of parliament. Myanmar held boycotts and protests instead of New Year’s celebrations. Argentine truckers are striking for better wages. Indian coal workers are resisting a coal expansion that has no justice for workers.
Meanwhile, climate activists continues to shake up the world. Scientists are locking down to just about everything. The Global Water Rebellion used high visibility actions to sound the alarm about the widening water crises around the globe. US grain farmers are resisting pipelines. Portugal’s climate caravan is on the move – and marches in other countries are following suit. South Africans took to the flooded streets to demand relief from a catastrophic, climate crisis-induced flood that has left 300 dead. The clock is ticking and the stakes are getting higher.
Struggles against police brutality stretched from Minnesota to France this week. In Paris, France, thousands of people marched against racism and police brutality. Peace and antiwar efforts for Ukraine are persevering. Grassroots groups in Europe are coordinating to handle the overwhelming influx of humanitarian and relief supplies. Ukrainian men are trying to avoid conscription. Some Russian antiwar activists are helping them.
Be sure to visit the full round-up of Nonviolence News on our website today … the Knowledge section is full of gems, including articles on accessibility and rebuilding culture, Pakistan’s protective accompaniment movement, the power of student movements, how to hold onto radical goals while working for practical reforms, what happens when movement-backed politicians take office, how to recognize workplace retaliation, and more. It’s packed full of insights and wisdom that might serve you well as you work for change.
Question of the week: Who is Glue Girl? Unlike other headline grabbers, she didn’t glue herself to the basketball court for climate action. Find out why she disrupted the sports game in this week’s Nonviolence News.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: South African mineworkers hold placards in Johannesburg.
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The Movement to Defund and Abolish Immigration Jails Is Winning Major Victories: Last month, the national movement to end immigration detention achieved two major campaign victories that invite our attention and signal opportunities ahead. Biden’s budget calls for a 26 percent reduction in immigration detention, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reducing the use of some jails. Read more>>
‘Organizing Works!’ Declare Campaigners After Biden Protects Cameroonian Immigrants: Human rights activists applauded the Biden administration’s decision to allow tens of thousands of immigrants from war-torn Cameroon to temporarily live and work in the United States as a victory won by years of Black-led organizing. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday designated Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), allowing an estimated 11,700 people living in the United States to remain in the country. Read more>>
Harlem Houses To Be Renovated And Sold By Lottery to New Co-op Members – for a Total of $2500 Each: Three run-down West Harlem buildings are set to be renovated and converted to affordable co-op apartments under a deal with the city, according to organizers. Once fixed-up, the 70 combined apartments will be transferred to newly created, tenant-controlled HDFC co-operatives. The 43 existing tenants will then have the ability to purchase their apartments for $2,500 each, while vacant units will be sold through the city’s housing lottery to buyers making 90 percent of the area median income — or about $75,240 for a single person. Read more>>
Hampton University Erases Students’ Outstanding Balances: In order to assist students during the pandemic, Hampton University will erase all outstanding balances for the 2022 spring semester, according to Wavy TV 10. Last year, the school used the Federal Relief Act funds to pay off outstanding balances owed by undergraduate students from the spring semester. Hampton also stated the university will not increase tuition, fees, and room and board for the 2022-2023 school year. Read more>>
Three Years After the First Global School Strike, Signs Of The Youth Climate Movement’s Success Are Everywhere: The youth-led strikes went on to revolutionize and grow the climate movement, helping to popularize concepts like the Green New Deal and grab the attention of policymakers and the media. Three years on, it’s a good time to assess what this flood of activism accomplished and how the youth climate movement has adapted to the challenges of the early 2020s. Read more>>
Sudanese Protesters Mark 3rd Anniversary of Nonviolent Revolution With Protests Against New Coup: Crowds of Sudanese protesters gathered in parts of the capital and other Sudanese cities to mark the anniversary of the nonviolent revolution that ousted 30-year dictator Bashir. The recent protests objected to the power seizure by Bashir’s former military leaders. The coup has plunged the country into economic and political turmoil. Read more>>
South African Platinum Miners Plan Solidarity Strike With Gold Miners: South Africa’s two biggest mineworkers’ unions said on Tuesday that workers at Sibanye Stillwater’s (SSWJ.J) platinum operations plan to go on strike to show their support for gold miners locked in a wage dispute with the company. Read more>>
Protests Continue Over Sri Lanka’s Worsening Economic Crisis: Protesters in Sri Lanka are camping outside the president’s office for a fifth day demanding he resign from office as Sri Lanka faces a growing economic and political crisis. For months Sri Lanka has faced dire shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Sri Lanka is on the verge of bankruptcy and announced Tuesday that it would stop repaying its foreign debt. Read more>>
Social Media Platforms In Sri Lanka Briefly Restricted Amidst Curfew And Protests: Major social media platforms were blocked for around 16 hours. This came after the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on April 1, giving sweeping power to security forces. Sri Lanka is facing its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948, amid depleting foreign currency reserves. Rolling blackouts, shortages of fuel, gas and medicine, and higher prices of food items have sparked widespread protests. Read more>>
Tunisians Protest Dissolution of Parliament: Tunisians protested against President Kais Saied, accusing him of imposing one-man rule in the North African country after he dissolved parliament last month.”We are facing a failed dictatorship that is leading the country to an economic disaster. We will continue to protest in the streets until a coup is forced to reverse its decisions,” Chaima Issa, an activist, said. Read more>>
Protests Held On Third Anniversary of Julian Assange’s Arrest: The third anniversary of the arrest and incarceration of Julian Assange at a maximum-security prison has sparked protests in London and the United States. Tomorrow marks three years since the Wikileaks founder was forcibly dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had sought asylum over the previous seven years. Read more>>
Amazon Workers In France Wage Unprecedented Strike For Wage Increases: Management’s proposal of a wage increase that is less than inflation has provoked an unprecedented strike movement at every Amazon France facility. After contract negotiations saw only paltry wage increases, unions called a new strike — and this time, all eight Amazon worker sites went on strike at the same time. In some places, barricades were erected to slow down trucks from entering and exiting. Read more>>
Myanmar New Year Celebrations Dampened By Protests, Boycotts: Opponents of military rule in Myanmar have urged residents to boycott the country’s traditional New Year celebrations, as activists and Buddhist monks defied security forces by staging small protests against last year’s coup in some areas. Read more>>
Glue Girl Disrupts Sports Team Over Owner’s Animal Rights Abuses: A woman attempted to glue herself to the court during the Tuesday night NBA play-in game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The woman, who was promptly removed from the arena in Minnesota by security officials, was protesting alleged animal rights abuses at an egg farm owned by Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. Taylor’s company killed 5.3 million chickens after an avian flu outbreak. Read more>>
Argentina Officials, Grains Truckers Locked In Talks To Defuse Protests: Argentine grains truck owners and government officials were locked in heated talks to try to defuse protests over fuel prices in the South American country that have delayed the transport of soy and corn to ports in the middle of the harvest season. Read more>>
India’s Coal Workers Protest Coal Expansion Plans: Locals have been protesting at the Kusmunda coalfields for weeks, while similar actions are also being carried out in the Gevra and Dipka areas, according to the officials. Coal India is examining the merits of demands made by the demonstrators, including on employment, the company said in an email. The firm is talking to both the protesters and local government and hopes to soon amicably settle the issue, it said. Read more>>
The Nonviolent Cities Project Picks Up Steam: The Nonviolent Cities Project connects local communities who want to end violence and promote nonviolent solutions in their towns and cities. In 2022, local organizers are working on a wide range of projects. Community gardens to address hunger and food deserts. Efforts to divest city funds from weapons and fossil fuels. Youth-led peace projects. Setting up a forge to beat weapons into garden tools. Anti-bullying programs in schools. Community-led nonviolent “patrols” to stop gun violence. These are just some of the ways the Nonviolent Cities Project organizers are actively building the big vision of a nonviolent community. Read more>>
Inside Just Stop Oil, The Youth Climate Group Blocking UK Refineries: A band of 20-year-olds have made headlines disrupting football games, the Baftas and now oil facilities across the UK. But what do they want? Read more>>
Great Plains Farmers Push Back Against CO2 Pipelines Encroaching on Their Land: Farmers, ranchers, and other rural community members across five Great Plains states and Illinois — many of whom were previously sued by developers of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines wanting to build through their land — are finding their property, safety and livelihoods encroached upon yet again by corporations. This time, they’re coming up against developers, many with fossil fuel ties, who are seeking to cash in on climate solutions tax credits to build a massive network of carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines across the United States. Read more>>
Climate Activists March Against Investment Firm’s Fossil Fuel Policy: One of the biggest asset managers in the world, Vanguard’s business strategy makes it a major driver of climate destruction and environmental racism. It is one of the largest global investors in coal, oil, and gas and it’s also a top investor in polluting industries close to home. From April 18-22, people from all over southeastern Pennsylvania and beyond will be coming together powerfully to take action. Read more>>
West Virginians Gear Up for “Coal Baron Blockade” at Joe Manchin’s Coal Plant: West Virginians are capping off a week of climate action by demanding a clean energy transition at Manchin’s coal plant. Read more>>
The Right Pushes Back On Fossil Fuel Divestment: Conservative lobbyists are seeking to protect fossil fuel companies from divestment campaigns. Texas recently passed a law to protect oil companies from divestment campaigns. It blacklists companies that have divested from fossil fuels because of what its sponsor, Republican state Senator Brian Birdwell, has called the “burgeoning fossil fuel discrimination movement.” Read more>>
Activists Tell Eversource “Cancel The Springfield-Longmeadow Gas Pipeline”: Under stormy skies, 200 residents from Springfield, Longmeadow and across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts demanded that Eversource cancel the Proposed Springfield-Longmeadow gas pipeline. “Local opposition to this toxic pipeline has been fierce. Arguments against the pipeline include its negative impact on public health, its risk of sparking fires and explosions, its high cost to ratepayers, and its acceleration of climate change.” Read more>>
How UK Newspapers Changed Their Minds About Climate Change: Drawing from a database of more than 1,300 editorials, which are the formal “voice” of a newspaper, this work examines how the language used to describe human-caused climate change, as well as renewables, fracking and nuclear power, has shifted since 2011. Read more>>
South African Police Disperse Crowd Calling For Aid After Flooding: Police in South Africa have used stun grenades to disperse a crowd calling for more and better official aid for victims of the lethal floods earlier this week. The demonstration on Thursday briefly blocked a major highway in the eastern city of Durban, where more than 300 people have died in flooding in recent days. Read more>>
Nature-Based Agroecology Is Gaining Momentum as a Key Climate Solution: Responsible for roughly one-third of the world’s carbon emissions, the global food system is one of the key places for transformative action. Defined in the report as a “holistic approach” to farming, agroecology as a practice includes techniques such as intercropping and planting cover crops, integrating livestock and trees into landscapes, and deploying organic farming methods to enhance biodiversity and soil health while eliminating dependence on external inputs like pesticides and synthetic fertilizer. It’s a nature-based solution that can “contribute to both climate mitigation and adaptation.” Read more>>
The Portuguese Climate Justice Caravan: A caravan with dozens of climate justice activists is traveling on foot and by train over 400km across Portugal to talk to the people on the frontlines of the climate crisis and discuss on the doorstep of some of the country’s largest greenhouse gas emitters what should happen there. On April 9th caravans for climate justice also started in Ireland and Turkey. Read more>>
Denied Bail, Scientist Emma Smart Goes on Hunger Strike After Arrest at Climate Protest: “What kind of world do we live in when scientists are forced to put themselves into positions of arrest and hunger strike to be heard?” asked Smart’s husband. Read more>>
Scientists & Water Protectors – Extinction Rebellion Newsletter: In the last month, XR groups have organized two Global Rebellions that have brought together thousands of rebels in hundreds of actions across more than 35 countries. The Global Scientist Rebellion and the World Water Rebellion represent amazing feats of rebel bravery, creativity, and coordination. Both feature an unprecedented balance of actions across the Global North and Global South, with every continent of this planet represented. Read more>>
Senate Cafeteria Workers Gains Strike Support From Senators: Last year, Anthony Thomas and many of his cafeteria colleagues in the US Capitol Building lived through the January 6 assault. They helped keep the building safe and operating. But despite this essential work, Thomas and over 80 other Senate cafeteria workers found themselves at risk of being laid off by their employer, a federal contractor named Restaurant Associates. Together with UNITE HERE Local 23, these workers leveraged their personal relationships with U.S. senators to strike a deal to avoid layoffs. Read more>>
Poor People’s Campaign Marches on Wall Street Against ‘Lies of Neoliberalism’: Demanding a new political discourse in which the poor are no longer blamed for their poverty in the wealthiest nation in history, hundreds of impoverished and low-income activists on Monday rallied in New York City and marched on Wall Street to take their demands directly to the center of U.S. wealth. “We are here to tell the stock exchange and Wall Street to stop trading our lives, that we want living wages and healthcare and clean air and voting rights.” Read more>>
Organizing Against Precarity In Higher Education: As faculty positions become more like gig work, the future of higher education will depend on unionized workers. Read more>>
Etsy Sellers Strike Against Fee Raises: Thousands of Etsy sellers put their shops on vacation mode to protest a number of the commerce company’s policies, effectively going on strike until April 18 with the goal of forming a union to negotiate with management. Read more>>
2,500 Indiana Graduate Employees Strike: At Indiana University, 2,500 recently unionized graduate employees, members of the United Electrical Workers (UE), went on their first-ever strike against the university. The workers demanded higher wages and better treatment from the Republican-appointed administration. Read more>>
Over 600 Kansas Painters Union Strike: In Olathe, a city in the Kansas City area, over 600 painters are on strike after the local Builder’s Association offered them a paltry 1% pay raise. Read more>>
Defying Schultz’s Union-Busting, Starbucks Workers Rack Up Win After Win: Starbucks workers at four U.S. locations voted unanimously to form a union this week, scoring the latest in a string of victories for a burgeoning organizing movement that has spread to coffee shops in dozens of states nationwide even as management ramps up its anti-union activity. “Starbucks should be embarrassed and should accept reality: Starbucks workers overwhelmingly want a union.” Read more>>
Thousands Protest Racism And Police Brutality In French Cities: Thousands of people in several French cities marched Saturday to protest racism and police brutality. In Paris, protesters paraded through the city centre behind a banner condemning “state crimes”. Other demonstrators carried “Black Lives Matter” banners. Several people spoke at the rally to tell the stories of members of their families who had died at the hands of the police. Read more>>
Hundreds Protest After Video Shows Michigan Cop Fatally Shooting Black Man Patrick Lyoya: Hundreds of protesters gathered outside a Michigan police station Wednesday after officials released footage of a black man being shot in the back of the head in a struggle during a traffic stop on April 4. Patrick Lyoya, 26, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was killed by a white officer who had stopped him for driving a car with a license plate that wasn’t registered to the vehicle. Read more>>
A Year After Police Killed Daunte Wright, Minneapolis Is Still Resisting: About 100 people gathered in the Brooklyn Center neighborhood north of Minneapolis on Monday to honor Daunte Wright one year after the young Black man was shot and killed by local police officer Kim Potter on April 11, 2021. The level of trauma suffered by the people of Minneapolis and its Black community in particular is palpable around the corner from George Floyd Square, where dozens of mock gravestones with the names of Black people killed by police across the country fill a large green space. Read more>>
Officer Involved Shooting Video Released After Wanted Posters Pop Up Bearing Deputy’s Name and Picture: The Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office is releasing bodycam footage of an officer-involved shooting last month after wanted posters with the deputy’s name and picture began circulating, accusing him of attempted murder. Read more>>
Concordia University Chicago Students Protest ‘Unwelcoming’ Culture For LGBTQ, Minority Students: The students called out what they say is a culture of racism and homophobia on campus. “Everybody has a story about the university and that’s alarming,” he said. Students of color and LGBTQ students say they’ve long felt the environment at Concordia is unwelcoming, but were moved to organize the rally after a professor was banned from campus last week. Read more>>
Why Racism Should Be Seen As A Global Issue: There is often discussion about racism in the U.S., and rightfully so. But research supports that racism is not only an issue in America. It is a malignancy that exists worldwide and should be treated as such. Last month, several videos of Africans being treated inhumanely in Ukraine were another sobering reminder about why racism must be addressed as a global issue and not only a domestic concern. Read more>>
Leadership, Victories, Future Directions of the Global Indigenous Women’s Movement: The emergence of a global Indigenous women’s movement was made possible by the presence of strong women organizing on the ground in numerous countries worldwide. Their movements were direly seeking representation for their cause. Read more>>
The American Fighting for the Future of Women’s Rights in China: Kim Lee became a feminist icon in China after publicly accusing her celebrity husband of domestic violence. Now, she’s locked in a legal battle to protect other women’s right to call out abusers online. Read more>>
Meet the Teens Fighting Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill: Organizing rallies, handing out Pride Flags, coordinating walkouts, here are four teens who are resisting Florida’s stifling anti-gay bill. Read more>>
Thousands of LGBT+ People Protest For Inclusive Conversion Therapy Ban: ‘We must stand together.’ 3,000 LGBT+ people took to the streets of central London in a striking show of pent-up anger against the government’s threadbare conversion therapy ban. Read more>>
Russian Dissenters Are Helping Ukrainians Escape Putin’s War: As Putin’s war on Ukraine drags on, dissenters within Russia and self-exiled Russians are working to save lives. Dissent looks different in Russia. It has to. Protesters are arrested for criticizing Vladimir Putin’s government. Under certain conditions like mass protests and arrests, prisons may enact fortress protocols to isolate prisoners from the outside world. Here’s what’s happening. Read more>>
Grassroots Groups Are Making Aid Supply Chains To Help Ukrainians Fleeing War: There is generally an outpouring of international support when crises emerge, with piles of aid accumulating at border crossings. On-the-ground organizations can quickly become overwhelmed unless they have proper places to store items. To solve this problem, an informal, loosely connected grassroots aid network of about a dozen groups is working on establishing supply chains and long-term warehouse aid hubs in Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, and hope to set up hubs at halfway points in places like the Netherlands and Germany. Read more>>
Defending Ukrainian Draft Dodgers: In Ukraine men of all ages between 18 and 60 are required to take up arms and defend their country from a Russian invasion. Some may say that it is a struggle for the independence of Ukraine, but the issues are more complex than that. Regardless of the causes of this current war in Ukraine, many people simply do not believe war is the answer. As one young draft dodger who fled Kiev and slipped out of war-torn Ukraine making his way to the UK told the New York Times, “Violence is not my weapon.” Read more>>
Unarmed Peacekeeping Saves Lives In Philippines: In the middle of a long-standing conflict in Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines, Abe Salipada and his community were forced to flee. But when food supplies at the evacuation center started running low, displaced families were left with no choice but to return to their homes to gather crops. Unaware that combatants were still present in the area, they were caught in the crossfire. Through the skills of unarmed peacekeeping, Abe was able to help his neighbors out of the conflict area safely. Read more>>
What Russian Students Being Sentenced For Their Activism Want You To Know:
Editors from the student news site DOXA are in the dock for publishing a video about protests. Before being sentenced, they made these statements. Read more>>
How Communities Are Cultivating Peace In Africa: American Friends Service Committee started working in Africa in 1958, providing aid to refugees from the Algerian War. Today AFSC has active programs in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Learn more about how communities are healing from trauma, building economic resilience, and creating conditions for peace. Read more>>
Are the Fashion Industry’s Runway Protests Enough? While fashion is hardly the only industry tapping into this, with brands from Ben & Jerry’s to Pepsi attempting — sometimes unsuccessfully in the latter’s case — to embed protest culture into their advertising, it’s often one of the most vocal. Yet for all the ways designers have tried to capture the zeitgeist of protest in their work, the industry remains a popular target for activists who are troubled by fashion’s contributions to animal cruelty, climate change, and mistreatment of garment workers. Read more>>
Lithuanians Phone Russians For Peace: A group of Lithuanians took advantage of the fact that Russia publicly lists citizens’ phone numbers. The group is asking Russian-speakers outside of Russia to call people inside Russia and counter disinformation about Ukraine. Read more>>
Art Installation Grows Honey-Sweet Connection To Bees: By involving a wide range of participants, The Bee Project urges viewers to protect fragile ecosystems and to help ensure the future of pollinators. Using reclaimed objects and recycled plastics, Elena highlights the problem of overproduction and overconsumption and encourages her audience to make a global impact through everyday actions. Read more>>
This Radical Artist Has Been Pissing Off the Powerful For Over 50 Years: Working People interviews longtime artist, activist, and registered nurse Susan Simensky Bietila in Milwaukee. This extended conversation traces the incredible, winding path that Simensky Bietila has taken in life, from growing up in the projects in New York to drawing and collaging for The Guardian, the radical US newsweekly, during the height of the Vietnam War, to protesting at the Wisconsin State Capitol in 2011 during the Wisconsin Uprising. Listen here>>
How Workers Used Amazon’s Captive Audience Meetings Against the Company: Workers flipped the script on the e-commerce giant by turning anti-union tactics into organizing opportunities. Read more>>
Food Powers Change – This Café Shows Inclusivity Has “No Limits”: In England, only 6% of adults receiving longterm care for learning disabilities are employed. No Limits Community Café & Hub is working to change that by teaching employability skills in a safe, inclusive and supportive space. Read more>>
This Library Is Sharing Books With Teens in Book Ban States: Book bans — while not a new trend — have been making headlines across the country in the past year. At least 26 states put in place book bans in schools between July 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022. These bans disproportionately weigh against marginalized experiences. But Brooklyn Library has a plan. The Books UnBanned campaign (organized by youth, for youth) provides youth ages 13 to 21 with online access to banned books. Read more>>
Labor History Belongs To All Of Us – Exploring The Forgotten Heroes: The book chronicles the working-class heroes who were pushed to the margins or simply left out of American labor history. Kelly shows how many of the labor protections we take for granted now were born from the blood, sweat and tears of thousands of Black workers, immigrant workers, queer workers, disabled and incarcerated workers, and working women who fought, sometimes outside of the traditional bounds of labor organizing, for their right to make a living for themselves and generations to come. Read more>>
Accessibility And Resilience – Rebuilding a Society For All Bodies And Needs: By joining the forces of the disability rights movement and environmental activism and using the hard learned lessons of both we can strive to dismantle existing systems of oppression and build a new society where accessibility, resilience, and sustainability are fundamental values, rather than afterthoughts. Read more>>
Pakistan’s Long History Of Nonviolent Resistance Continues With the Pashtun Protection Movement: Qamar Jafri discusses the influence of Pakistan’s nonviolent independence leader Badshah Khan on current struggles against oppression and injustice. Read more>>
How Movements Can Maintain Their Radical Vision While Winning Practical Reforms: Forty years of struggle by Brazil’s landless workers movement offers lessons on engaging the system without being co-opted. Read more>>
Sometimes A Student Movement Can Spark A Revolution: In this interview, author Mark Edelman Boren explains why student protest movements are the key to understanding both our present and our future. Read more>>
Why We Need To Shift From Crisis Mode To Sustainable Organizing: For movements to thrive, we must attune to the reality that they have seasons and live into their changing rhythms with intention and purpose. Read more>>
What Happens After Movement-Backed Politicians Take Office: As the “co-governance” model gains traction, here’s a look into the promises and pitfalls—and how organizers are reimagining electoral politics. Read more>>
The Radical Open Access Collective Is Building Better Access to Research: The general public may not give much thought to how scientists and scholars publish their work, but please know that it matters. Like so much else in the world, corporate markets have colonized this space, which means that turning business profits is the primary goal, not the easy, affordable sharing of knowledge. Read more>>
What Does Workplace Retaliation Look Like? There’s a difference between having a boss who is a jerk and being retaliated against. Read more>>
Learning to Grow Movements Out of Organizations: If activists are resisting an incinerator in one town and the neighboring town is resisting a megadump, how can they get beyond just fighting their own battles in isolation? How can they link up those different struggles and push for environmental justice? And how can they work together with other groups to challenge the underlying economics and incentives that produce waste in the first place? Read more>>
“The French Paradox” – France Needs Greater Recognition of Nonviolent Action as a Political Force: Most French political scientists (and the French public more broadly) share a general misunderstanding of what nonviolent struggle is and how it shapes politics. Some people have started calling “the French paradox”: The French are known world-wide for massive marches in Paris’ République and Bastille plazas; for crippling, weeks-long public transportation strikes; for extremely active and strong teacher unions… yet French academia don’t specifically study why nonviolent struggle is powerful. Read more>>
‘Remember This Night’: Vanderbilt University Celebrates Launch of James Lawson Institute: A collection of scholars and activists have come together at Vanderbilt University to advance a vision of a world without violence. Distinguished guests and performing artists convened Thursday night at Vanderbilt’s Student Life Center to celebrate the launch of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements. Read more>>
Protest Movements Could Be More Effective Than the Best Charities: To do as much good as possible with limited resources, funders should look to woefully underfunded protest movements. Given how even woefully underfunded protest movements have had catalytic impacts in bringing about large-scale positive change, supporting young, upcoming protest movements might be one of the most impactful things philanthropists can do. Read more>>
Building Inclusive Organizations: What does it mean to work for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at an organization? “Transformative DEI work is about relationships,” says American Friends Service Committee’s Raquel Saraswati. “It’s about the real, difficult, and sometimes emotional work of not just seeing the divine complexity in others, but also seeing it in ourselves.” Read more>>
Push For A #FossilFreeFed On Earth Day: On Friday, April 22 (Earth Day), climate activists are hosting a national day of action at Federal Reserve branches across the country with a major action in front of the Fed Board headquarters in D.C. Learn more>>
National Week of Conversation 2022: Join Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs who want to come together to create solutions. During National Week of Conversation, you can choose from over 100 events where you can cross the divide and make a difference. (April 24–30) Learn more>>
Tell Canadian Officials To Stop Logging Old Growth Forests: Stand.earth Research Group just released shocking satellite images that reveal recent logging in the most at-risk old growth forests in B.C. The technical panel that was appointed by the B.C. government itself implored decision-makers to immediately pause logging in these areas months ago, but the government chose instead to leave the majority of these at-risk old growth forests on the chopping block. Tell officials in B.C. that logging is still happening in the most at-risk old growth forests on their watch? Learn more>>
Tell US Congress – War Is Not Green: The war in Ukraine is escalating the climate crisis, taking the planet over a cliff. Energy security and the life of the planet require an immediate transition from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy. Ask President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to create a rapid transition to renewable energy and protect vulnerable communities from the energy disconnections and price swings that are the trademarks of fossil-fuel utilities. Learn more>>
Earth Day To May Day Boycott of Gasoline: Halt the engines of economic, environmental & military destruction with school & work stoppages, rallies, boycotts, pickets, sit ins, teach ins
& peaceful direct action to heal a violent world. The strike will kick off 10 days of action – Earth Day to May Day – supporting local strikes, building community alternatives & unifying our movements. Learn more>>
Nonviolent Peaceforce & Protecting Land Defenders: Climate change, conflict, and the protection of civilians are intimately connected, and Unarmed Civilian Protection practices have long been used to protect environmental defenders. This is critically important now, as land protectors currently face unprecedented violent threats — with more than half of activists killed in 2021 being land and environment defenders. Join this virtual conversation with Nonviolent Peaceforce and land defenders. (April 21) Learn more>>
Join the Coming Global Mobilization to Stop Lockheed Martin! Lockheed Martin is by far the largest weapons producer in the world. From Ukraine to Yemen, from Palestine to Colombia, from Somalia to Syria, from Afghanistan and West Papua to Ethiopia, no one profits more from war and bloodshed than Lockheed Martin. We call on people around the world to join the Global Mobilization to #StopLockheedMartin starting on April 21, the same day that Lockheed Martin holds its Annual General Meeting. (April 21-28) Learn more>>
War Abolition 101: This six week-online course provides an opportunity to learn from, dialogue with, and strategize for change with World BEYOND War experts, peer activists, and changemakers from around the world. Learn more>>
WikiLeaks & War Crimes: What is a war of aggression? What is a war crime? What are crimes against humanity? How is the public to know when they occur and by whom they are perpetrated? What and who censors the press and for what reasons? Why didn’t we listen when Julian Assange exposed US war crimes? With the war in Ukraine raging and the ashes in Iraq still smoldering, these questions need to be clearly defined before they can be answered completely and truthfully. (April 27) Learn more>>
Join Cure Violence Global’s Virtual Gala Celebration! On Thursday, June 2, 2022, at 7 pm EDT/ 6 pm CT, Cure Violence Global will be hosting its second annual virtual gala honoring the extraordinary work being done in communities to break the cycles of violence. Everyone is welcome. Learn more>>
Culture is Our Weapon – Cultural Organizing 101: This is a foundational two-part workshop that covers: what is cultural organizing, how can art & culture be used in service of collective liberation, values of cultural organizing campaigns, and drafting a cultural organizing campaign. (April 27 & 28) Learn more>>
Building a Disability Politic & Access-Centered Cultures: This 2-part workshop is back, hosted by Stefanie & Dustin Gibson! This workshop is for anyone who wants to develop an expansive understanding of disability & ableism that’s rooted in historical context — and have opportunities to share, hone, & rethink their approach to access by working through scenarios. (April 21 & 28) Learn more>>
Intro To Kingian Nonviolence: This 2-Hour Intro webinar covers the 4 pillars of Kingian Nonviolence, an initial introduction to the 6 Principles and 6 Steps – the “Will” and the “Skill” of Kingian Nonviolence – and the Social Dynamics of Kingian Nonviolence. (April 29) Learn more>>
Align Your Investments With Your Values: The Investigate Project can help you find human rights violations hidden in your investments. This database includes over 200 company and industry profiles. Learn how companies profit from and support state violence. Then use this knowledge to create change. Check out the database here>>
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