Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
How much work is too much? Two struggles from opposite sides of the world reveal a vast difference in work standards, especially for the old and young. In France, citizens outraged by the president’s unilateral attempt to raise the retirement age from 62 up to 64-70, blocked the streets and set dumpsters on fire. In South Korea, millennials and Gen-Z workers already struggle with a 52-hr per workweek, and when the conservative government tried to raise that to 69-hrs, they rebelled against the notion, mobilizing union opposition until the politicians did a u-turn on the unpopular idea.
Here are a few more success stories: Indian farmers won increased subsidies and loan waivers from the government after a long march reminiscent of Gandhi’s Salt March. Temple University Graduate Workers have gained many important demands after a 6-week strike. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu backed away from several aspects of his judicial overhaul plan after mass protests.
In other Nonviolence News, half a million Mexicans rallied in support of President Obrador and the nationalization of the oil and lithium industries. At least 100 rallies of senior climate activists took place across the United States, as thousands demonstrated outside of fossil fuel financing banks. Italians are racing to protect the rights of same-sex couples to adopt. Kenyan police tear gassed cost-of-living protesters. Tens of thousands of New Zealand teachers are on strike for better pay.
The story that caught my eye? A group has made a Declaration of the Rights of the Moon, citing the ancient connection between Earth and Moon, the life-sustaining tidal connection, and the need for protection as technocrats, billionaires, and militaries eye it.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: South Korean unions rally.
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Indian Farmers’ Long March Triumphs As State Government Accepts Demands: Thousands of farmers took part in a long march in the Indian State of Maharashtra forcing the government to accept their demands, including an increase in subsidies and loan waivers. Read more>>
South Korea U-Turns on 69-Hour Work Week After Youth Revolt: Millennials and Gen Z have lashed a government for a move that would see them working horrendously long hours. South Korea’s conservative government had proposed raising the work week from 52 hours to a whopping 69 hours. Read more>>
Temple’s Graduate Worker Strike Ends With Important Victories: After a six-week-long strike, Temple University graduate workers won important victories, including the reinstatement of healthcare benefits and tuition remission. They also ended the tiered wage structure and gained pay raises, bereavement and parental leave. Read more>>
California Will Overhaul San Quentin Prison, Emphasizing Rehabilitation: Visiting San Quentin, California’s oldest prison once home to a gas chamber used to execute inmates on the nation’s largest death row, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday touted a plan to overhaul the facility in favor of a rehabilitation-centered approach that could become a model for the world. Read more>>
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Signs Free School Meals Bill Into Law: Minnesota is the third state in the nation to require schools to serve free lunch and breakfast to all students, regardless of income. Read more>>
Philadelphia Aims to Start Guaranteed Income Program for New Parents by 2024: The program’s aim is to cut infant mortality rates for low-income neighborhoods in the city. The pilot program, which will be called the Philly Joy Bank, would provide monthly payments to 250 expecting parents and parents of newborns in three areas of the city where infant health is at the lowest rates Read more>>
Netanyahu Backs Off On Judicial Overhaul, But Constitutional Showdown Looms: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a softening of his judicial overhaul plan. The package of reforms sought by Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition have triggered weeks of unprecedented street demonstrations and stirred worries among Western allies who see a threat to the independence of Israel’s justice system. Read more>>
500,000 Mexicans Rally In Defense of Nationalized Oil & Lithium: On Saturday March 18, over 500,000 people took to the streets of the capital Mexico City to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the nationalization of the oil industry in the country, decreed by the then President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. The citizens also mobilized to express their support for the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and its decision to nationalize the country’s lithium. The mobilization was called for by President AMLO. Read more>>
French Protesters Set Rubbish Aflame Over Pension Reform: Protesters set piles of rubbish on fire in central Paris on Monday after President Emmanuel Macron’s government narrowly survived a no-confidence motion in parliament on Monday over a deeply unpopular pension reform. Read more>>
Garbage Strike Blights Paris: Garbage. Heaps, mounds and piles of it are growing daily — and in some places standing higher than a human being. A strike by Paris garbage collectors, which begins its 16th day on Tuesday, is taking a toll on the renowned aesthetics of the French capital, a veritable blight on the City of Light. Read more>>
Tens of Thousands of LA Teachers to Strike in Solidarity With Support Workers: Demanding “respect and dignity” for tens of thousands of school support workers who help the Los Angeles Unified School District run, the union that represents 35,000 teachers in the city has called on its members to join a three-day strike starting Tuesday as school support staffers fight for a living wage. Read more>>
Kenyan Police Tear Gas Cost-Of-Living Protesters: Kenyan police tear gassed the leader of the opposition on Monday and arrested senior lawmakers in his parliamentary faction, as protesters took to the streets to march against President William Ruto and the high cost of living. Read more>>
Starbucks Workers At Over 100 US Stores Walk Out Ahead Of Shareholder Meeting: Workers hold protest in Seattle outside of Starbucks’ headquarters in response to the company’s aggressive anti-union efforts. Read more>>
National Health Services Union Members Step Up Campaign To Reject ‘Paltry’ Pay Deal: Members of Britain’s biggest health unions are organizing a campaign to reject the pay agreement being recommended by union leaders, in a move that threatens to destroy the tentative truce between the government and NHS staff. A cross-union group called NHS Workers Say No has sent out thousands of leaflets, held online calls and started WhatsApp networks in an effort to persuade members to vote against the 5% increase hammered out during months of talks. Read more>>
LA Union Troublemakers Plan More Trouble for the Bosses: 450 labor and union activists participated in the LA Labor Notes Troublemakers school, preparing for major campaigns nationwide. Read more>>
School Cleaners Protest Mammoth Workload On Perrottet’s Doorstep: A crowd gathered on the doorstep of the Australian Premier’s office holding disgusting images of the sights they are forced to face at work every day. Read more>>
Tens of Thousands of New Zealand Teachers Strike to Protest Shortages, Low Pay: “Investing in teachers is investing in our kids,” said one educator. “Investing in our kids is investing in New Zealand’s future.” Read more>>
Thousands March In Atlanta To Stop Cop City: A crowd of thousands peacefully marched a mile to the headquarters of the Atlanta Police Foundation – the organization behind the $90m police and fire department training center known as “Cop City”. “[Atlanta] Mayor Andre Dickens – is this enough Black folks for you?” he began, addressing recent claims of outside agitation driving the protests. Read more>>
Philadelphia Will Pay $9M to Settle George Floyd Protesters’ Suit Over Brutality: Plaintiffs said that the settlement is just one step toward accountability for police violence. Read more>>
Bronx Residents Push For Community Control of Historic Building: After almost 30 years of organizing for community-driven development at the Armory, the Bronx has an unprecedented opportunity to transform it into a place where our people get to work, play and learn—but also into a community asset that residents co-own and share in the wealth it creates. Read more>>
The Radical Legacy of Black Eco-Musicians: As eco-conscious music has reentered the mainstream in the last few years—with artists like Lana Del Rey, The 1975, and Gorillaz making music about the climate crisis—let the Earthbound origins of Black music serve as a reminder not to whitewash the history of environmentalism in music. Read more>>
Citing ‘Racial Cleansing,’ Louisiana ‘Cancer Alley’ Residents Sue Over Zoning: Legal experts describe a new environmental justice lawsuit as significant, timely and ambitious. But will conservative judges agree? Read more>>
Senior Climate Activists Rally Across US to ‘Stop Dirty Banks’: “We will not go to our graves quietly knowing that the financial institutions in our own communities continue to fund the climate crisis,” said longtime environmentalist Bill McKibben. Read more>>
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Launches Initiative Opposing Multi-Billion Dollar Nickel Mine: The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe wants the public to know about the risks that a foreign-owned, multi-billion dollar nickel mine in central Minnesota poses to region’s people, water, fish and Manoomin (wild rice). Read more>>
Declaration of the Rights of the Moon: Conscious that wealthy nations and corporations are developing technologies that may make it possible to return to, live on, mine and otherwise alter the Moon … this group has made a Declaration of the Rights of the Moon. Read more>>
Court Rules Greta Thunberg, Others Can Sue Sweden for ‘Insufficient Climate Policy’: A Swedish court on Tuesday ruled that hundreds of youth climate activists including Greta Thunberg can collectively sue Sweden for the government’s “insufficient climate policy.” More than 600 people under age 26, including 20-year-old Thunberg, signed the 87-page document that is the basis for the lawsuit, which was filed in Stockholm in November and coincided with a march through the city. The country’s climate action “constitutes a violation of human rights,” argues one Swedish group. Read more>>
Turkey’s Eternal Tree vs. Coal Plants: Milas is accepted as the capital of olives and olive oil in Turkey. “The eternal tree” is a part of Anatolia’s culture; it is a heritage that should be preserved and passed on to future generations. Despite this, two power plants have been poisoning Milas and coal mining activities have been destroying the livelihoods of the people for the last 40 years.Today, defenders of this ancient tree (notably İkizköy villagers) are resisting the coal expansion to protect the past, the present, and the future of Milas. Read more>>
Uproar in Italy as Fascist Government Attacks Right of Same-Sex Parents to Adopt: “It is an obvious step backwards from a political and social point of view,” said the mayor of Milan. “I put myself in the shoes of those parents who thought they could count on this possibility.” Read more>>
San Diego March For Black Womxn 2023: The rally speakers addressed a multitude of issues related to racism, women and incarceration, medical neglect, police brutality, and domestic violence, with an emphasis on Trans Womxn and racist migrant detention centers that house Womxn and separate children from their families. Read more>>
Keeping The Spirit Of Iran’s Protests Alive: Iranian graduate student Sarah Eskandari wants you to know what is happening inside of Iran despite the personal risks involved. The interview explores the possibility of nurturing a strong, foundational commitment to nonviolence amongst the Iranian people. Sarah also speaks about the long history of nonviolent resistance in Iran. Read here>>
Thousands Demonstrate In Front Of White House To Demand End To The US War Machine: On March 18, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, over 2,500 people representing over 200 organizations gathered in front of the White House to protest the latest war drive: the escalation and prolongation of the war in Ukraine. Read more>>
Flash Protest Opposes Nuclear-Powered Submarine Deal: A snap protest was held in Sydney on March 14 in response to the official announcement of the $368 billion AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal by Australian PM Anthony Albanese, United States President Joe Biden and British PM Rishi Sunak in San Diego. Watch here>>
On Burma’s Revolution Day Worldwide Protests Are Planned: Maung Maung Than, the Secretary of the Australian Coalition for Democracy in Burma and veteran of the 1988 student uprising, says that the Burma Revolution Day on March 27 will be marked by actions around the world in support of the people’s resistance to the military coup regime of Myanmar/Burma. Watch here>>
A Highway to Peace … Or To Hell? In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the US to “beware the military-industrial complex”. The latest US war budget shows how uncannily prescient he was. Here’s why only citizens can stop this ever-ballooning spending on militarism and war. Read more>>
‘I’m Finding My Voice’ – The Opera Sung By Formerly-Homeless People: Each show will contain nine micro-operas, co-written by local people who have formerly been homeless. The initiative, introduced by Streetwise Opera, aims to inspire and empower formerly homeless people as they rebuild their lives and to change how homelessness is perceived in society. Read more>>
Indigenous Artist Raises Awareness of Canada’s Dark History: For centuries, Metis were targets of systematic discrimination and oppression together with First Nations and Inuit people in Canada. A drama depicting the spiritual journey of an Indigenous woman to reconnect with her cultural origin is on stage in Vancouver. Playwright and actress Jani Lauzon wrote and performed Prophecy Fog in hopes that her art could raise the public’s awareness of the systematic persecutions of Indigenous people. Read more>>
Dancing Revolution – ’90s Protests Used Rave Culture To Reclaim The Streets: Orchestrated as part of Reclaim the Streets (RTS), an arm of the international anti-globalization movement, the 1998 Global Street Parties were the height of the RTS’ impact. In just a few years from its launch in the UK, Reclaim the Streets grew to become a highly organized yet disruptive platform to globally fuse politics and revolution with love and parties. Read more>>
Asian Culinary Comics: The last decade has seen a flurry of illustrated Korean cookbooks, one-panel satirical comics about South Asian chai, and graphic novels about Japanese-American culinary history. And these food cartoons do more than visually stun—they can also fight stereotypes, share memories, and tell forgotten histories. Read more>>
6 Reasons Why Movements Should Sing To The Choir: Making change is about reaching people who don’t agree with us. To do that, we have to rally the choir to sing at the top of their lungs. Read more>>
Union of Southern Service Workers Is Organizing Low-Wage Workers Across Industries: If you truly want to understand the history of organized labor in this country, you must look to the South — specifically, to what Black workers and other workers of color have accomplished there despite every conceivable obstacle. Read more>>
A World Without Bosses: In 2011, workers at the Vio.Me factory in Greece voted to take management into their own hands after owners stopped paying them and abandoned the facility. Ten years later, they’re still cooperatively managing the factory, and setting an example for workers of the world: “our message to the worldwide proletariat is clear. We are shouting, ‘workers, you can do without bosses.’” Read more>>
From the Women’s March To Stopping Amazon’s Price-Gouging: Organizers with the 2020 Women’s March launched a campaign to keep Amazon from jacking up prices on essential goods during the pandemic. That’s just one of the efforts that people drawn to the high-profile march have moved into. Read more>>
Peaceworkers Shares 52 Minutes Of MLK Excerpts From His Powerful Sermons & Talks: A gem of a resource that highlights some of the best video, audio, and excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s talks and sermons on racial justice, peace, nonviolence, and social change. Read more>>
Day 569 And The Sacred Fire Continues To Burn Opposite Adani’s Coal Mine At Waddananggu: Waddananggu started because the protection of the land, air, animals and sacred springs are more important than the Adani Coal Mine’s s destruction of the environment and cultural heritage for coal mining. Learn more and support>>
Protect the Right To Strike! Starbucks workers and supporters are demanding Starbucks end its unprecedented union-busting campaign, and respect workers’ right to organize. Add your name to the letter going to shareholders. If we want a culture of active nonviolence, we need to protect everyone’s right to strike, organize, and take action for justice. Learn more>>
Support the Environmental Justice for All Act! Hip Hop Caucus has officially endorsed the Environmental Justice for All Act, because communities on the frontlines of climate change have had their voices silenced for far too long. Write a letter to your member of Congress, talking about the importance of additional environmental regulations, environmental justice for those wronged by inaction, and a future where our communities have clean air to breathe, and clean water to drink. Read more>>
Tell Banks Shame On You: Yesterday, while thousands of people were in the streets at over 100 #StopDirtyBanks actions – Sempra Energy secured financing for a billion-dollar Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Port Arthur, Texas, which is our friend John Beard’s backyard. 55,000 people call Port Arthur home, 43% of whom are Black or African American and 32% of whom are Latinx. Guess who is financing the project. None other than Citibank and JP Morgan Chase, among others. Send an email to Citibank and JP Morgan Chase NOW denouncing them for financing environmental racism. Read more>>
Principled Struggle – What Does it Mean, and Why it Matters: Margaret Kimberley, Gloria Mattera, and David Cobb to explore how we can engage in principled political struggle that builds deeper unity while encouraging each of us to take responsibility for our own feelings and actions. We need to learn to ask questions before making a counter argument, and to consider whether a particular meeting or conversation is the proper venue for what we want to discuss. (April 4) Learn more>>
