Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Longevity. Persistence. Determination. All of these matter to the short and long term success of movements for change. In this week’s Nonviolence News, we’re tracking several campaigns that have stretched across years. In Sudan, the Resistance Committees continue to organize for the full vision of a corruption and military-free, civilian-led democracy. Wet’suwet’en land defenders are dealing with harassment and raids from the Canadian police over a pipeline project that has faced years of direct action. French unions are issuing a call for the 11+ day of mass protests against the raising of the retirement age. Indigenous and allied efforts to repeal the Doctrine of Discovery made a step forward when the Vatican officially repudiated the 500-year-old policy of conquest and colonization. Memphis, Tennessee, organizers are on the pivot point of turning the tide against environmental racism. Endurance matters to nonviolent struggle.
In more news, protests occurred across the United States, where LGBTQ groups are holding rallies against anti-trans legislation and students walking out of class against mass shootings. Guatemalan migrants held a memorial for the people killed in a detention center fire at the US-Mexico border. Thousands of people took to the streets across Portugal to oppose high rents and prices. Canadians marked the 8th year of the war in Yemen with actions calling for its end. And Australians are pressuring their town to just say no to nuclear submarines.
You’ve heard of beating swords into plowshares, right? Well, in Cambodia, a goldsmith put a spin on the old adage and is turning bullet shell casings into peace jewelry. Speaking of art, an interesting action against gender imbalances in digital art occurred when Sotheby’s paused their high-end auction of NFTs (digital art) when one of the ten artists refused to participate due to the all-male line-up.
I’ve long thought that we need to incorporate nonviolent history more deeply into our culture. The Japanese American Museum has done just that by moving a jail cell into its exhibits in order to tell the story of Minoru Yasui, who was incarcerated in 1942 for civil disobedience of discriminatory WWII curfew laws. By telling these stories, we share the courage, skills, and strategies of the past with generations of resisters in our communities. Other ways to build a culture of nonviolent resistance include the recent Cesar Chavez Day celebrations and the new historian-built database on LGBTQ direct actions – you will find these stories and dozens more in this week’s round-up.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: Lisbon residents rally against high rents in Portugal.
Every time someone donates, I do a little happy dance.
Make an editor shimmy. Donate here>>
‘A Great Start’: Peace Advocates Cheer US Senate Repeal of Iraq War Authorization: “A larger and far more consequential challenge remains: repealing the 2001 AUMF which authorized the global war on terror,” said one activist. Read more>>
Vatican Formally Repudiates ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ Used To Justify Colonization: The Vatican on March 30 formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,” officially declaring that an historic policy used to justify colonial exploitation is “not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church.” Read more>>
EPA Approves California Rules Phasing Out Diesel Trucks: The decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows California — which has some of the nation’s worst air pollution — to require truck manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks over the next couple of decades. Read more>>
In New Jersey, Plastic Bans Work: After New Jersey banned plastic bags, 37% fewer ended up on beaches. Read more>>
Nashville Students Rally For Tougher Gun Laws: More than a thousand Nashville-area students walked out of their schools Monday and converged outside the Tennessee State Capitol to demand stronger gun laws after last week’s mass shooting at a small private school in the city. Meanwhile, the governor is trying to put more armed guards in schools. Read more>>
Inside The Prisoner-Led Struggle To Win Education For All: Prisoners in Washington State are renewing their fight to democratize education amid new restrictions threatening their decade-old program. Read more>>
Sudan’s Democratic Revolution: The current struggle against dictatorship and for a transition to civilian rule began in late 2018, with the overthrow of the Omar al Bashir regime. From the very beginning, said Abbas, the transition of power has not occurred in accordance with the constitution. But the Resistance Committees continue to push for meaningful change. Read more>>
Restrict Act Critics Call the Far-Reaching “TikTok Ban” Bill a “Patriot Act 2.0”: The supposed “TikTok ban” bill does not actually ban TikTok. The word “TikTok” does not appear once in the bill’s 55 pages. But critics of the Restrict Act on the left and right are now sounding the alarm in rare alignment — calling the measure a Patriot Act 2.0 which opens the door to unprecedented digital surveillance of Americans, and gives an appointed executive panel unchecked power to censor the internet in the U.S. Read more>>
Activist Deported By Germany Gets Seven Years In Tajikistan Prison: A political activist who was deported to Tajikistan by Germany in January has been sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of sedition. Abdullo Shamsiddin’s supporters have said his apparent crime was to “like” a post on social media. It is unclear what the content of the post was. Read more>>
Majority-Black Town Fights To Stop Land Being Seized For Gravel Quarry Rail Link: A majority-Black rural community in Georgia is battling to stop a railroad company from seizing private land for a new train line they say will cause environmental and economic harms. Read more>>
Activists in Memphis Are Finally Turning the Tide On Environmental Racism: Black women, particularly mothers, are leading efforts to treat people currently harmed by toxic neighborhoods and prevent future damage. Read more>>
Largest Holder of Native American Human Remains is Preparing to Return Thousands of Indigenous Ancestors: The single-largest holder of Native American human remains—a federally-owned power company in Tennessee—is taking steps to complete the decades-long repatriation of more than 14,000 Native American ancestors who were unearthed in dam construction projects across the Tennessee valley from the 1930s through the 1970s. Read more>>
West Papuan Rally In Bali Targeted By Nationalists: The Australian West Papua Association (AWPA) reports that the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) held a rally in Bali City, on April 1, calling on the Indonesian government to hold a referendum on self-determination for the Papuan people. However, as the rally started it was blocked by members of the Indonesian nationalist organization, the Patriot Garuda Nusantara (PGN). Read more>>
Swedish Seniors & Migrants Bridge Divides: At an apartment building in Sweden, where tenants are a mix of elderly Swedes and young adults — many of them migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan — a shared-living project is bridging generational and cultural divides while combating the isolation commonly faced by older people and refugees. Before moving in, residents of the 51 apartments commit to socializing with each other at least two hours a week, often meeting up in shared kitchens and common rooms to bake, share meals, work on puzzles and watch movies. Read more>>
Land Defenders March On Royal Bank of Canada To Demand End To Fossil Fuel Financing: A few blocks in downtown Saskatoon were closed Wednesday while protesters called on the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to stop bankrolling fossil fuel projects. The protest coincided with RBC’s annual shareholders meeting, held this year in Saskatoon at the Delta Bessborough Hotel. Holding up signs with slogans like “Royal Bank of Contaminators” and “Stop banking on pipelines,” protesters chanted, “How do you spell racist? RBC,” and “What do we want? Climate justice. Read more>>
Montana Repeals State Energy Policy As Climate Trial Nears: Sixteen Montana children and teens have sued the state, saying Montana’s promotion of oil, coal, and gas despite the climate emergency violates their state constitutional rights. As the trial approaches, Montana lawmakers are covering their tracks, including repealing a 2011 bill that prioritizing fossil fuel extraction. Read more>>
‘I Speak For The Animals’ – The Ugandan Judge Who Strikes Fear Into Poachers: Having tried more than 1,000 wildlife crime cases, Gladys Kamasanyu is changing attitudes to animal rights and the ‘cruel’ trade in rhino horns, pangolins and ivory. Read more>>
The Amphibian Guardians of Spring’s ‘Big Night’: Once a year, as millions of frogs and salamanders scramble across darkened roads, an army of volunteers shepherds them pond-ward unscathed. Read more>>
Wet’suwet’en First Nation Blockade Raided (Again) By Canadian Police: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police unit C-IRG (who are currently under investigation for harassment and intimidation) raided Gidimt’en Checkpoint with a questionable search warrant. Five Land Defenders were arrested, and have since been released. “This harassment and intimidation is exactly the kind of violence designed to drive us from our homelands,” said Wet’suwet’en spokesperson Sleydo’. Read more>>
Why Intergenerational Thinking Is Essential to Heal the Planet: As humankind grapples with climate change, communities around the world show what’s possible by planning hundreds of years ahead. Read more>>
‘This Is a Social Emergency’: Thousands Protest In Portugal Over Housing Crisis: Thousands of people took to the streets of Lisbon and other cities across Portugal on Saturday in protest against soaring rents and house prices at a time when high inflation is making it even tougher for people to make ends meet. Read more>>
French Crisis Will Only End After Pension Reform Ban: French trade unions urged citizens to participate in the 11th day of mass protests against the pension reform on Thursday. According to polls, two out of three French people oppose such a reform. Read more>>
In Times of Increasing Uncertainty, We Already Have What We Need: Mutual aid and alternative community-based systems have been a core component to every major movement in our country’s history, and the limits to what we can do to take care of each other and the future of our communities is only in our imagination. Read more>>
Migrants Honor People Killed By Fire In Juarez City Facility: About 100 Latin American migrants marched along the Bravo river, which marks the border with the U.S., to pay tribute to the 39 migrants who died after a fire broke out at a migrant holding center in Juarez City. Mayorga urged Mexican authorities to destroy the migrant holding center in Juarez City and create a memorial to honor the victims, 18 of whom are Guatemalans. Read more>>
Farm Workers Join Students for Cesar Chavez Day Rally in Seattle: Hundreds of people will be gathering to hear worker testimonies and solidarity statements from student groups and supporting organizations. This will be followed by a brief march around the UW Hub, a location of historical significance for the UFW, given the history of students organizing to support the grape boycott here in the late 60s. Read more>>
After Fleeing Burma‘s Military Regime, Anti–Coup Activists Face Uncertainties As Migrants: Considered neither refugees nor economic migrants, Burmese workers – many of whom left the country in the wake of the military coup’s crackdown on protesters – in Thailand eke out a living in the shadows. With prison or death waiting them back home, they have no choice but to accept unfair work conditions. Read more>>
Trans Organizers Forced to Cancel DC Protest Following Violent Far Right Threats: Transgender organizers were forced to cancel a rally for trans liberation in Washington, D.C. this weekend due to far right threats of gun violence. Incendiary lies about the protest were spread by far right figures like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Read more>>
Florida Democratic Leaders Arrested While Protesting 6-Week Abortion Ban: In addition to attacking bodily autonomy, Republicans are trampling on free speech and assembly rights, one group said. Read more>>
‘Working Till We Drop’ – Why Women Are On The Front Line Of French Pension Protests: With childcare and more part-time jobs, France’s women have to work longer for smaller pensions than their male colleagues, and their anger is rising. Read more>>
New Orleans March Condemns Anti-LGBTQ Bills: On Friday, March 31, hundreds marched from Washington Square Park to Jackson Square to celebrate Trans Day of Visibility. The marchers also gathered in response to nine anti-LGBTQ bills being considered by the Louisiana legislature. These bills reflect a growing crisis of targeted attacks against LGBTQ youth. Read more>>
Historian Launches Database on LGBTQ Direct Actions: Highly creative, emotionally powerful, and politically inspiring, LGBT direct action protests challenged anti-LGBT policies and practices while also breaching boundaries between the private and public, the invisible and visible, and the silent and spoken. Read more>>
Protests in Canada Mark 8 Years of Saudi-Led War in Yemen, Demand #CanadaStopArmingSaudi: From March 25-27, peace groups and Yemeni community members marked 8 years of the brutal Saudi-led intervention in the war in Yemen by holding coordinated actions across Canada. Rallies, marches and solidarity actions in six cities across the country demanded Canada stop profiting off of war in Yemen by selling billions in arms to Saudi Arabia and instead take decisive action for peace. Read more>>
Port Kembla, Australia, Rejects Nuclear Submarine Base: “Acquiring nuclear submarines is taking a step towards war,” Port Kembla resident and WAWAN member Alexander Brown said. “These submarines are offensive weapons, not defensive, and they signal an intent to act in a hostile manner beyond the waters surrounding Australia. We totally reject this plan and will fight it every step of the way. Read more>>
On the 20th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq, Peace Activist Asks Listeners To Remember the Horrors of War: The twentieth anniversary of the US/NATO invasion and occupation of Iraq was March 19th. The day before that, thousands of people in the United States rallied and marched against the current wars/occupations and funding for militarism instead of people’s needs. Clearing the FOG spoke to Kathy Kelly, who is currently the board president of World Beyond War. Kelly was in Iraq during the ‘Shock and Awe Campaign’ and has worked tirelessly with people in Iraq and Afghanistan to raise awareness of the horrors of war and to provide direct support to them. Read more>>
What the G-7 Summit In Hiroshima Means to ‘Hiroshima’ Anti-Nuke Activists: As the G-7 Hiroshima summit approaches, the deep divide between the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with its supporters and those who have fought to eliminate nuclear weapons together with the hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) has become more than visible. Read more>>
Sotheby’s Has Paused Its Latest NFT Auction Following Protests From Artists of the All-Male Line-Up: The sale was supposed to be the latest lucrative edition of Sotheby’s NFT outgrowth, Natively Digital, instead it’s drawing renewed attention to the lack of inclusivity in the crypto art space. Then artist Patrick Amadon announced on Twitter that he was withdrawing his work, citing the sale’s lack of female-identifying artists. His tweet followed discussions among artists included in the sale, who voiced similar concerns. Within hours, the auction house had paused “Glitch-ism,” promising to rethink and relaunch. Read more>>
‘How Do You Laugh About Death?’ The Comedians Tackling Climate Change: Comedians and comedy programs have started to find ways to speak to the climate crisis in their work, but how can something so heavy create laughter? Read more>>
From War To Peace, Cambodian Goldsmith Turns Bullet Casings Into Jewelry: Every week, Cambodian goldsmith Thoeun Chantha turns about five kg of brass casings of AK-47 and M-16 bullets into jewelry. For more than two decades, the 42-year-old, whose father was killed during Cambodia’s years of war, has run a workshop to turn symbols of violence into what he calls wearable pieces of art. Read more>>
Jail Cell of Civil Rights Pioneer Minoru Yasui Put In Museum: The tiny cell that once held Oregon civil rights pioneer Minoru Yasui in solitary confinement high above downtown Portland’s streets in the old Multnomah County Jail moved to the Japanese American Museum. Yasui was a 26-year-old law school graduate in March 1942 when he decided to step out into the streets of Portland after dark in defiance of a curfew imposed on people of Japanese descent after the United States entered World War II. Read more>>
The Transformative Power Of Supporting Each Other Through Conflict: In this episode of Nonviolence Radio, Gwen Olton, co-director of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, talks to Stephanie and Michael about her effort to shift the way we understand and engage in conflict. Gwen encourages us to see conflict as normal in her new book “From Conflict to Community.” Read more>>
Police Use “Less Lethal” Weapons To Crush Social Movements Across The World: A new report finds that more than 121,000 people globally were injured or killed by crowd-control weapons since 2015. Injuries from crowd-control weapons are increasing and widespread both in authoritarian nations such as Iran and China as well as “democratic” countries that supposedly tolerate dissent and public assemblies. Read more>>
Who Was Cesar Chavez?: Cesar Estrada Chavez died on April 29, 1993. He was honored in death by those he led during life. More than 50,000 mourners came to honor Chavez. For the last time, they came to march by the side of the man who taught them to stand up for their rights through nonviolent protests and collective bargaining. Read more>>
Martin Luther King, Jr. Was Assassinated 55 Years Ago. Why Do We Still Allow Gun Violence? Violence was part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s world, but he might not recognize the America of today, with its schools, workplaces and neighborhoods littered with bodies and bullet casings. Read more>>
Campaigning Against a “Done Deal” In Philadelphia: Casino-Free Philadelphia wanted to stop or at least scale down the proposed casino developments to minimize their harm on working-class neighborhoods. They launched a grassroots direct action campaign combined with a legal strategy to make the development process so costly that developers would be forced to scale back their plans. Read more>>
Pilgrimage And Revolution – How Cesar Chavez Married Faith And Ideology In Landmark Farmworkers’ March: On March 31, 1966, labor rights pioneer Cesar Chavez wasn’t celebrating his birthday in any usual manner. Rather, he was 14 days into a 25-day pilgrimage in California from Delano to Sacramento. Read more>>
You Can Stand Up for Trans Youth. Here’s How. Resistance abounds. Nonprofits like the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal are leading the fight against anti-trans bills in state legislatures and the courts while grassroots organizers and local mutual-aid networks are ensuring that trans people get what they need — by any means necessary. History confirms that trans people will outlast this crisis. But if we are to blunt the worst immediate effects of these bills, we’re going to need collective action. Now is the time to speak out and make clear: An attack on trans youth is an attack on us all. Read more>>
#Don’t Ban TikTok: #DontBanTiktok, a campaign launched by Fight for the Future in February, garnered support from creators who would lose revenue streams and platforms they have built over the course of years. Since then, outrage has grown in response to the RESTRICT Act introduced in March and President Biden confirming he would sign the legislation, if it landed on his desk. Learn more>>
War and the Environment Course: Grounded in research on peace and ecological security, this course focuses on the relationship between two existential threats: war and environmental catastrophe. (Starts April 10) Learn more>>
Nurturing Nonviolence At Home: Take a deep dive into nonviolence at home—a home-revolution, where we learn to place needs at the center of the family system. This workshop is intended for parents or caregivers for children. (April 10) Learn more>>
Prison Hunger Strikes – How Prisoners Weaponize Their Lives to Win Dignity: How do prison hunger strikers achieve demands? How do they stay connected with the outside world in a space that is designed to cut them off from that world? And why would a prisoner put their lives at risk by refusing to eat or, at times, drink? This research shows that sometimes prisoners’ need for dignity and freedom trump their hunger and thirst. (April 11) Learn more>>
Swarms & Flocks, Phase Shifts & Tipping Points—Living Systems For Changing Systems: By tapping into the wisdom of living systems, we can find ways to work with the patterns of change. From the grace of swarming bees to the strategy of flocks of birds, we can glean knowledge that can help us work with our communities to unleash powerful, transformative change. (April 19) Learn more>>
Stop Cop City Insurers: A certificate of insurance covering the Atlanta Police Foundation shows that a critical piece of material support is from three little known corporate entities: Correll Insurance Group, Scottsdale Insurance Co. (a subsidiary of Nationwide insurance) and Accident Fund General Insurance Company. Email the companies insuring Cop City today and demand they rule out the project immediately! Learn more>>
XR UK’s The Big One: The climate, nature and humanity face disaster. We know it’s time to act. Do you trust politicians to do the right thing for us? For the planet? Join 100,000 people holding them to account. The Big One. Learn more>>
Art For Climate Justice: Between April 15th and 25th, Stop the Money Pipeline and People vs. Fossil Fuels will use art to demand climate justice and urge Wall Street and the federal government to end fossil fuel expansion. Activists will organize pop-up art shows at bank branches, use art in direct actions, and organize mass wheat pasting actions that paper entire cities in climate movement art. (April 15-25) Learn more>>
Saving the World From Nuclear War: Vincent Intondi’s new book examines how the June 12, 1982, rally for nuclear disarmament paved the way for a new generation of activists. Join the webinar and reading. (May 13) Learn more>>
How To Hold A Nonviolence Teach-In: Get skills and tools for holding a nonviolence teach-in. This session will cover what to teach, how to facilitate a lively discussion, where to hold your teach-in, and how to reach out to partner groups to make it happen. We will share creative ideas for your teach-in and help you feel comfortable in asking your faith center, local school, youth group, or even your workplace to hold an event. (May 13) Learn more>>
Writing Nonviolence II: Personal Stories & Memoir With Rivera Sun: From saving spiders to eating a vegetarian diet to protesting against nuclear weapons, we all have nonviolence stories to share. This 6-week course will explore how you can express your experiences in writing. We will look at personal stories, creative essays, and memoir for people of all ages. (Starts May 16) Learn more>>
24-Hr Peacewave: International Peace Bureau and World BEYOND War are planning a second-annual 24-hour peacewave on July 8-9, 2023. This is a 24-hour-long Zoom featuring live peace actions in the streets and squares of the world, moving around the globe with the sun. (July 8-9) Learn more>>
