Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Millions of French citizens are marching, protesting, and participating in a general strike to keep the government from undercutting the pension plan, raising the retirement age from 62 to 65. For those of us watching from the United States, it’s impressive to see people in the streets over something we don’t even think is possible – our retirement age is already 65 (and sometimes older) and our politicians are talking about making it 72. Why aren’t we in the streets?
Meanwhile, thousands of Pakistanis flooded the streets for a peace march against BOTH terrorism and the state violence, strongly urging all factions to halt the escalating conflict that is killing citizens. Across the world, Peru is reeling from a brutal massacre of Indigenous protesters who were part of the recent actions against President Boluarte’s seizure of power. Thousands of demonstrators are now descending from the highlands to Lima to denounce the violence. One said, “Our military and police, rather than defending us, are killing us. It hurts so much. How can they kill us for rising up to defend our country? We’ve never robbed our country. We only want to improve our lives to build a better country.”
In more Nonviolence News, Spanish health care workers and patients rallied to demand more support for the public health system. A Miss Kyrgyzstan contestant is in hot water for using the runway to unveil a white cape with a blood-red visual protesting gender-based violence. Israel’s far-right government retaliated against a recent 10,000-strong anti-fascist march by ordering police to tear down Palestinian flags. And, since the United States commemorated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 16th, there’s also a number of excellent articles about him in this week’s news.
Those are just some of the fascinating and important stories we collected for the round-up. Nonviolence News also has a new article up on Waging Nonviolence, highlighting 30 creative protests that can break us out of the same old, same old. These stories are from our 2022 reporting, so they’re fresh, timely, and hopefully inspiring to you in your work for change.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: Tens of thousands march in France against the government‘s cuts to pension plan.
What Guerrilla Urbanism Can Teach Us About Saving Our Own Cities: Tactical Urbanist’s Guide defines guerrilla urbanism as “a city, organizational, and/or citizen-led approach to neighborhood building using short-term, low-cost, and scalable interventions to catalyze long-term change.” Read more>>
Striking Workers From A Homelessness Charity Beat Their Tight-Fisted Bosses: Workers from the homelessness charity Shelter have won their battle against the bosses. Unite the Union, which organizes Shelter workers, said they had won a “vastly improved pay offer” following effective strike action. In addition, a one-off payout was also prized out of the bosses. Read more>>
The DIY MLK Statues That Made Justice Come Faster: Progress on putting up a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial had stalled. So the organizers crept into the park at night and put the statue up themselves. Read more>>
US Federal Government Reports That 25% Of US Energy Will Come From Renewables This Year: From 2023 to 2024, renewables would rise from 24 percent to 26 percent of U.S. electricity generation; coal’s share would drop from 18 percent to 17 percent; gas would remain the leader but drop from 38 percent to 37 percent; and nuclear would be unchanged at 19 percent. It’s not 100%, but it’s progress. Read more>>
New York Nurses Win Safer Staffing, Higher Wages: After three days on strike, the nurses reached tentative deals with their employers, who committed to enforceable safe staffing ratios, new hiring, and an over 19 percent wage increase over three years. “We can return to work with our heads held high,” said nurse union president Nancy Hagans, “knowing that our victory means safer care for our patients and more sustainable jobs for our profession.” Read more>>
Spanish Workers Protest To Protect Public Health: Health workers and patients converge in mass protests as Madrid’s conservative regional government refuses to prioritize the public health system. Read more>>
France Gripped By Strikes & Protests Against Pension Reform: More than a million people marched in France on Thursday to protest against pension reforms, with some demonstrators clashing with police in Paris as strikes disrupted public transport, schools and much of the civil service. Union counts show more than two million people at protests across France, and 400,000 in the capital alone. Read more>>
Peruvian Movements Organize Caravan To Lima To Intensify Protests: Indigenous and peasant leaders have called for a ‘March from the Four Corners’ to Lima to intensify ongoing protests against the coup and the de facto government of Dina Boluarte. Read more>>
Azerbaijani Oppositionists Join Hunger Strike: They are supporting Tofig Yagublu, already in frail health from previous stints in prison, who has vowed to go hungry “till the end.” “Tofig Yagublu went on hunger strike in protest against the decision of the Administrative Detention Center not to allow family visits, not to allow food [brought by families] and the court decision,” wrote his daughter, activist Nigar Hazi. Read more>>
Tories Advance ‘Indefensible’ Anti-Worker Bill as Thousands March to Defend Right to Strike: “You’re either with nurses, teachers, firefighters, and frontline workers. Or you’re with the Tory government,” said the Enough Is Enough campaign. “It’s time for everyone to pick a side.” Read more>>
The Surprising Strength of Brazil’s Democracy: Seeming similarities between the attack on the presidential palace in Brasilia and the US Capitol abound. But Brazilian democracy has proved more resilient. Read more>>
Protests In Breakaway Somaliland Call For Reunification With Somalia: Even as the US and UK are increasingly legitimizing secessionist rule in Somaliland, whose sovereignty has no international recognition, a unionist movement seeking a united Somalia threatens to unravel the self-declared republic. Read more>>
HarperCollins Debut Authors Say They Won’t Work With Strikebreaking Editors: As HarperCollins workers extend their strike into the new year, several authors express their support for the union despite potential risks to their debut novels. Read more>>
Virginia Transit Strikers Fight Privatized Race To The Bottom: Around 130 workers who operate, fix, and dispatch buses in Loudoun County, Virginia, went on strike. They’re up against Keolis, a French multinational and one of the largest private operators of public transit systems in the U.S. The company has challenged the union’s right to strike, its right to a contract, and even its existence. The Loudoun County workers join a movement of bus operators, mechanics, dispatchers, and call center operators striking around greater Washington, D.C. Read more>>
Economic Justice Coalition Launches ‘Full Employment for All’ Campaign on MLK Day: “A federal program of subsidized employment would empower workers, strengthen communities, and move us toward a more equitable economy for everyone.” Read more>>
Students Are Making Moves To Ditch Their Profiteering Landlords: As student housing reaches crisis point in the UK, one organization is determined to break the mould – and the grip of rogue landlords – by creating co-operatives to run accommodation. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion’s Global Newsletter: Stopping toxic plants, fighting forever chemicals, protesting COP15, demonstrating in Indonesia’s floodwaters, holding a flashmob in Nigeria, painting messages on frackers in Argentina, and more from Extinction Rebellion. Read more>>
700,000 Sign ‘Cease and Desist’ Letter to Fossil Fuel CEOs at Davos: The letter, spearheaded by a group of climate leaders including Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thunberg, demands that oil giants stop sabotaging the “clean energy transition we all so urgently need.” Read more>>
Greta Thunberg Arrested Protesting Coal Mine That Will Destroy German Village: The Swedish climate campaigner had called out the “outrageous” police violence in the region as well as the governments and corporations “destroying the environment, putting countless people at risk.” Read more>>
Why The Climate Justice March In South Korea Could Be A Game Changer: In September 24, 2022, more than 30,000 people occupied the main roads of downtown Seoul, South Korea, for the nation’s largest climate justice march. The sheer turnout of people from all walks of life and the participation by a wide range of advocacy groups were a testament to the impact of climate change on every aspect of life: human rights, women’s rights, religion, food insecurity, and labor rights. For many of these advocacy movements in Seoul, recent crises like COVID-19 have brought home the urgent need to address the climate crisis. Read more>>
In Washington, Students Learn About Climate Change Like Nowhere Else: Food justice classes and mock G7 summits are on the curriculum in the first US state to fund “climate change education” in public schools. Read more>>
Resident-Owned Communities Are a Step Toward Housing and Climate Justice: Manufactured homes are most susceptible to climate change, but housing cooperatives can give power back to residents. Read more>>
Climate Assembly Members Think And Act Differently Two Years On: Climate assemblies are increasingly being used across the world to help decide how we tackle the climate crisis. As they have become more common, so has interest in their impact. Read more>>
Students Protest Fossil Fuel Involvement In Campus Career Center: University of Washington students are protesting on campus to demand that the UW Career and Internship Center amend their employer user policy to prohibit companies in the Fossil Fuel industry from recruiting on campus or using the center’s services in any capacity to engage with students. The requested change would deny members of the Fossil Fuel industry a space to recruit students through university networking platforms and career fair events, and also leverage the UW’s agenda-setting power by encouraging similar institutions to follow suit. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion Paints Government Office Black Over UK’s First Deep Coal Mine in 30 Years: Climate activists with Extinction Rebellion on Wednesday gathered in canary costumes and doused a U.K. government building with black paint to protest the recent approval of the country’s first new deep coal mine in three decades. Read more>>
Students Need Emotional and Community Support, Not Cops in Schools: Some schools that removed police on campus following the 2020 uprisings are now asking for them to be reinstated. Read more>>
Record Police Killings in 2022 Show Need to Continue Organizing for Abolition: One of the lessons of 2020 is that it is important to plant the seeds for revolutionary situations to bloom. We should continue to use all the tools of struggle — transformative justice work, community organizing, constant agitation, troublemaking and disruptive protest — and see them as mutually reinforcing strategies as we navigate this in-between moment. Read more>>
Following in MLK’s Footsteps Means Resisting Christian Nationalism: King’s life gives us a blueprint to fight the religious right. MLK Jr. endured attacks from racist evangelicals, using redemptive suffering and taking the moral high ground to unite a multiracial coalition, the Poor People’s Campaign. What worked for him then can work for us today. Read more>>
In ‘Act of Fascism and Supremacy,’ Israel Bans Palestinian Flags in Public Spaces: After protests in which tens of thousands of Israelis marched “together against fascism and apartheid,” Israel’s far-right security minister on Sunday ordered police to tear down Palestinian flags wherever they are found in public. Read more>>
Kyrgyzstan’s Miss Universe Contestant Pressured Into Apology For Highlighting Gender-Based Violence: Altynai Botoyarova wore a cape focusing attention on the problem of violence against women in her home country. Social media users complained that her gesture had discredited Kyrgyzstan’s standing in the world. Read more>>
Trans Flag: Everything You Need to Know About the Colors and Its History: There’s a lot of meaning woven into this three-color flag. Flags are a simple way to celebrate a community, acting as a fantastic unifier—and the assortment of LGBTQ+ flags are no exception. While the rainbow-adorned flag is the most common Pride flag you’ll see, there are symbols for every facet of the identity spectrum. The pink, blue, and white trans flag is an icon that’s gaining popularity as more and more people speak openly about their gender journeys and experiences. Read more>>
Poetry Pushes Back At Anti-Drag Rumors: Two power substations were recently attacked in rural North Carolina, leaving thousands without power for days. Because of the timing and proximity to right-wing protests of a local drag performance, rumors quickly spread that hate was the motive for turning out the lights. But the show went on (even in the dark, even as it was picketed by fanatics), as the drag artists calmly led patrons in a sing-a-long. This act of defiance and perseverance provided the inspiration for this poem. Read more>>
Thousands Take To The Streets In Pakistan’s South Waziristan To Demand Peace: Thousands of people in Pakistan protested against recent incidents of terrorism and state violence. Holding white flags and placards, the participants chanted slogans in favor of peace and against the fresh wave of violence in the region. Protesters included political workers, social activists, traders, and the youth. Read more>>
New Migration Rules To Hit Russians Fleeing The Draft: The changes make a long-term stay in Kazakhstan unviable for tens of thousands of Russian citizens who have fled the war. Read more>>
21 Years Later, Guantánamo Is Still Open — And We Are Still Protesting To Shut It Down: Witness Against Torture continues to serve as a visible reminder to a forgetful U.S. public that Guantánamo is still a crime and an affront to humanity. Read more>>
US Activists Honor The Anti-War Legacy Of Martin Luther King Jr.: A crowd of hundreds gathered in Times Square, NYC, in front of the US Army Recruiting Station, on January 14. “We are here to reclaim his legacy and say: no to war.” The organizers and workers mobilized to demand an end to NATO and a peaceful resolution to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The rally and march was organized by the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, a US anti-war organization, and the People’s Forum. Read more>>
There Is No Canadian ‘Climate Leadership’ Without Canceling The F-35: On Friday January 6th 2023 people gathered in front of Minister of the Environment Steven Guilbeault’s office to speak out against the F-35 deal that was announced by the Canadian government. Although it may have been unclear why we were protesting at Guilbeault’s office for a peace protest, there were many reasons for us to be there. Read more>>
How Creative Protests Stole The Show In 2022: Editor Rivera Sun writes about 30 innovative actions from 2022 that show how, when people think outside the box, they can do something unforgettable and impossible to ignore. Read more>>
US Labor Strikes Rose By 50% Between 2021-22: As more strikes succeed, Kate Bahn, chief economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, says workers are more likely to organize them at their own workplaces. Read more>>
Martin Luther King’s Multiple Lanes To Multiracial Democracy: King understood that no single approach would be sufficient to combat the interconnected evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism. Read more>>
4 Surprising Reads On MLK: Here are four stories that delve into often-overlooked—or long hidden—aspects of the civil rights movement, from King’s dedication to another cause to the people who supported his efforts and the government agents who surveilled them. Read more>>
How a Novelist Can Contribute To Social Justice: Barbara Kingsolver is one of the best living writers of the socially engaged novel. She is a feminist, an ecologist, and very critical of big business and the military-industrial complex. Unlike many novelists writing today, she tells the lives of working people in an empathetic and political way. She follows in the footsteps of writers like Charles Dickens, Emile Zola, Elizabeth Gaskell, John Steinbeck, and Toni Morrison. Read more>>
CODEPINK Asks You To Join Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Week: Fourteen years ago Israel sentenced Ahmad Sa’adat to thirty years in prison. CODEPINK is joining Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in their week of action (Jan 14-24) to call for his release. Sign our letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken telling him to call for Ahmad’s release! Learn more>>
Mark The 2nd Anniversary of the Nuclear Ban Treaty: This Sunday, take a picture or a video of yourself ringing a bell for peace and post/tweet it on social media. Add it to the IFOR Day of Action to Ban Nuclear Weapons event page on Facebook and use the hashtags #nuclearban #IFORDayAction #JustReparation on Twitter and Instagram. (Jan 22) Learn more>>
Start A World BEYOND War Chapter: We’re kicking off the new year with an online info session on January 28 on how to start a World BEYOND War chapter! This is your opportunity to hear directly from our staff and chapter coordinators about what our chapters do and how to get a chapter going in your community. (Jan 28) Learn more>>
Anti-Militarist Organizing Training 101: Join Dissenters on Sunday, January 29th at 4:30 PM ET for our first Anti-Militarist Organizing Training of the year! Learn more about Dissenters’ work, what we are about, and how you can effectively organize against endless war. This will be a great opportunity to not only learn more about how you can get involved in Dissenters, but why we do this work. Register here to attend this virtual training! (Jan 29) Learn more>>
Black Lives Matter At School Week Feb 6-10: Black Lives Matter at School is a national coalition organizing for racial justice in education. We encourage all educators, students, parents, unions, and community organizations to join our annual week of action during the first week of February each year. (Feb 6-10) Learn more>>
Study Nonviolence With Rev. James Lawson: Join nonviolent strategist and organizer Rev. James Lawson for a virtual session exploring the power and potential of nonviolence. (Jan 28) Learn more>>
