Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Protesters across the United States are once again in the streets, demanding an end to police terror. The demonstrations have erupted in response to the police’s brutal and fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, TN. They also come on the heels of the murder of Tortuguita, a protester who was shot during a heavily-armed police raid of a protest encampment set up to stop “Cop City”, a planned tactical urban warfare training facility in Atlanta, GA. Police violence and brutality has been on the rise in the United States, accompanying a rising trend in militarization of the police. From Standing Rock, Ferguson, the George Floyd Protest, and now at the proposed Cop City, Black and Indigenous organizers have been spent decades alerting the public to the dangers of how the police are increasingly trained in military tactics and accumulated military gear.
The militarization of the police is a toxic, global spiderweb of a problem with links to US police training with Israeli forces, who in turn receive billions of dollars of US funding and engage in continuous colonial repression of Palestinians. This week, Palestinians held a 1-day general strike in mourning and outrage after 9 people were killed in a horrific army raid in occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, protesters in Peru, already grieving and decrying their government’s massacre of close to 60 people, took their outrage to the US Embassy where they denounced the US government’s backing of President Boluarte’s ‘coup’ even after her regime’s human rights violations. In these cases, and many more, police violence and militarized repression are serious threats to nonviolent movements across the world.
In other news, hundreds of organizations rallied for the release of El Salvadoran water protectors, UK ambulance drivers and German postal workers are on strike, and anti-oil pipeline activists in Uganda are facing repression and targeting. You’ll also find interesting stories such as the articles on how Solar XL blocked the KXL pipeline with solar arrays, how abandoned bicycles wind up in Madagascar, and how women’s situation rooms across Africa monitor elections to prevent violence. Don’t miss the intriguing pieces on what Twitter’s collapse means for activists, the role of spiritual activism, how we can all end toxic polarization, and the importance of teaching media literacy to youth.
The movements to end police violence have broad implications for everyone standing up for justice. In mourning and outrage, everyone should support them. In our Calls-to-Action section, you’ll find several ways to do so.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
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