Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Argentines faced police repression that injured hundreds as they protested their governor’s overhaul of the provincial constitution. Though they have succeeded in getting the discriminatory clauses that undermined Indigenous Rights dropped, many continue to push to get the entire document subject to review by tribal groups – as is required by international law.
In other Nonviolence News, an El Salvadoran water protection movement is combining grassroots community organizing, large demonstrations, popular education, and hip hop music production – all led by peasant communities with strong women’s participation. Azerbaijans are weathering a crackdown on a protest movement against a gold mine that’s making them sick. Dutch activists held a large action targeting a steel company that is their worst polluter.
In Los Angeles, low-wage hospitality workers flexed their nonviolent power, shutting down the major road to the airport in advance of a 5-hotel chain contract negotiation that will impact hundreds of hotels and 15,000 workers across the city. Almost 200 people were arrested in the action, which was intended to show the dedication of the strike-ready workers. They’re not the only workers taking action: 1,400 locomotive builders are on strike, 2,000 nurses are holding one-day strikes, and across the ocean in Spain, retail workers walked out on one of the biggest stores in the country.
This week’s Nonviolence News also includes some articles that are worth slowing down to read (maybe with a cup of coffee or tea), including a piece about a women-led campaign for peace in Somaliland, the silencing of Afghan women in the peace process, and how narrative struggle is rising across Latin America. I also enjoyed the articles on the role of mutual aid in resistance movements and how Aretha Franklin’s social activism is inspiring a new generation.
Did festival goers at Glastonbury succeed in creating the world’s largest human peace sign? The jury is still out, but to break the previous record set in 2017, they would need 15,001 participants. That’s a lot of people for peace … and we need them.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: Argentines demonstrate against discriminatory overhaul of regional constitution.
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More Indigenous And Local Communities Are Getting Land Back: Between 2015 and 2020, Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, along with small, local communities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, gained legal recognition to more than 247 million acres of land — an 85 percent increase. Multiple studies have shown that Indigenous peoples are some of the best managers and protectors of the environment and that rights-based approaches could be critical to curbing the effects of climate change. Read more>>
Thai Election Victories Show Potential For Movement-Political Party Connections: On May 14, 2023, Thai democracy made history. Two opposition parties—Move Forward and Pheu Thai—gained the most and second-most votes in the national election, defeating all pro-establishment parties. This electoral blow has major implications on a possible pushback against growing autocratization in Thailand and other countries. It also showcases a pathway of collaboration between pro-democracy nonviolent movements and opposition parties. Read more>>
The Upstate New York Town That Took Back Its Power: Massena residents fought the local utility to bring their electric grid under public control. Forty years later, they say it’s still paying off. It was May 1974 and the Massena Observer’s printing press was running overtime. Splashed across the front page were the results of a groundbreaking referendum. A columnist wrote that “no other news story has stirred the imagination” like this one: public power. Read more>>
Putting Clinics in Schools Is Boosting Students’ Mental Health: These clinics — sometimes the only care option for vulnerable students — are getting increasing attention as mental health challenges mount. As more children have received care and counseling on site, discipline problems have plummeted. Read more>>
Writers Guild of America (WGA) Aims to Flex Industry Muscle With March At Pivotal Moment for Hollywood Labor Talks: Boots Riley brought the fire. Lindsay Dougherty brought the Teamsters. And top leaders of SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, American Federation of Musicians and other area unions gathered by the hundreds Wednesday to show solidarity with striking writers at the WGA Strong March and Rally for a Fair Contract held at the La Brea Tar Pits. Read more>>
500 March on White House To Demand Biden End Blockade of Cuba: Culminating a week of activism in Washington DC in support of the Cuban people, 500 people gathered here today in the plaza that holds the statue of the Argentinian liberator General José de San Martín, that ironically is located next to the US State Department where offices work overtime to come up with ways and methods to punish Cuba for insisting on its sovereignty. The activities were called by the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), an organization that has been in existence since 1991 and is made up of 57 groups advocating for an end to Washington’s hostility towards Cuba. Read more>>
Protesting Jail Expansion: Members of the Care First Community Coalition rallied last week to oppose a plan to expand Santa Rita Jail, a facility in Alameda, California with a history of negligence and abuse. “The $27 million that the County will use to front the cost of construction would be better spent on building permanent supportive housing.” Read more>>
Free Press Advocates Slam ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’ Conviction of North Carolina Reporters: “Reporters shouldn’t be arrested for doing their jobs,” said one First Amendment advocacy group. Press freedom and civil liberties defenders on Friday condemned what legal experts called the unconstitutional conviction of two Asheville, North Carolina journalists for violating a public park curfew while covering the police eviction of unhoused people on Christmas night 2021. Read more>>
Teamsters Rank And File Hold Speakout Against UPS Contact Proposals: On June 24, rank-and-file Teamsters stood out in front of the gate of the Commerce City UPS hub outside Denver to speak out against the economic proposals UPS submitted during negotiations. These proposals include wildly unpopular ideas, such as the creation of a two-tier wage system for preloaders and a $17 per hour starting wage. As people were walking out of the gate, many workers flocked to the table, insulted by these proposals and ready for further action. Read more>>
Argentina: Amnesty International Demands Immediate End To State Repression In Jujuy: The government of Jujuy Province in Argentina must immediately cease the excessive use of force against those exercising their right to peaceful protest, which has resulted in hundreds of people being injured in recent days, Amnesty International said today. “The government of Jujuy Province is turning its back on those who are exercising their right to protest against the constitutional reform, sending in the forces of law and order to use repression to fix a problem that should be resolved through dialogue. Read more>>
“If a Drop is Constant, It Can Break Stone” – Defending Water Rights in El Salvador: A powerful movement for the defense and protection of water has been brewing in El Salvador for decades. Based in Suchitoto, in the department of Cuscatlán, this nonviolent struggle has many components: grassroots community organizing, large demonstrations, popular education, and hip hop music production—all typically led by peasant communities with strong women’s participation. The message of the struggle is that water is not for sale. Read more>>
Crackdown On Environmental Protest In Azerbaijan Sparks Outrage: Demonstrators in rural western Azerbaijan protested against plans for a new storage facility for waste from a nearby gold mine that they say is making them sick. Police broke up the rally with gratuitous violence and placed the village under tight control. Read more>>
Azerbaijan Begins Building First Major Solar Power Plant: Azerbaijan has started installing solar panels at its 230 MW Garadagh facility. The project, developed by a UAE-based company, is the first tangible progress made toward realizing Baku’s ambitious renewable energy development plans. Read more>>
Just Stop Oil Students Paint Total Energies HQ In Resistance To Ugandan Pipeline Atrocities: Just Stop Oil supporters, acting in solidarity with ‘Students Against EACOP’ have painted the UK headquarters of Total Energies orange and black, in resistance to the companies’ continued participation in human rights violations, in the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Read more>>
Japan’s Plan To Dump Radioactive Fukushima Waste Meets Protests Across The Pacific: As Pacific communities protest the Japanese government’s plan to dump more than a million tonnes of radioactive waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, Australian anti-nuclear activists are highlighting the complicity of Australian uranium exporting companies. Read more>>
Ocean Rebellion Targets UN Maritime Agency With Demand for 50% Emissions Cut by 2030: The International Maritime Organization is currently aiming a 50% reduction only by 2050. Saying the International Maritime Organization is “unfit for purpose” due to its refusal to take far-reaching action to drastically draw down emissions from the shipping sector, the global campaign group Ocean Rebellion on Monday greeted delegates at the body’s four-day summit with a visual representation of the shipping pollution that harms both marine and human life. Read more>>
Workers Organize for Better Conditions After Air Quality Plummets: As smoke from Canadian wildfires blanketed much of the East Coast last week and air quality worsened, some workers organized to try and stay safe. Read more>>
Dutch Activists Target Steel Polluter: Hundreds of activists took to the filthy grounds of Tata Steel in the Netherlands. The steel factory is one of the most polluting in Europe. Obsolete parts regularly emit clouds of poison, which are harmful to human health. In the environment, the risk of lung cancer is up to 50% higher. We are demonstrating with the demand that the government close the most sickening parts of Tata Steel. Read more>>
Looking To Join a Climate Community? Try Your Workplace. The labor movement and the environmental justice movement have a shared history — and today, workers in all kinds of sectors are banding together to call for climate action. Read more>>
A Community Leader On Why Aid Work Is Necessary To Build Climate Resilience: The Smile Trust’s Valencia Gunder explains why she sees her relief work as climate work, and why climate work cannot happen without direct aid. Read more>>
Climate Defiance Shuts Down Schumer’s Fundraiser: Climate Defiance tweets: We just fully shut down a fundraiser headlined by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer took $283,200 from NextEra. In exchange, he greenlit the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This is a death sentence for us. So we shut down his event. And we did not apologize. Read more>>
Last Generation Climate Activists Target Germany’s “Super-Rich” Island of Sylt: German climate activists from the Last Generation (‘Letzte Generation’) group are turning their attention to the “super-rich” with a number of actions on the North Sea island of Sylt. Read more>>
LA Hospitality Workers Take the Cause of Economic Justice to the Streets: How do you dramatize an intolerable living situation facing thousands of low-wage hospitality workers? You take it to the streets – nonviolently. That’s what the workers of UNITE HERE Local 11 did on Thursday, June 22, shutting down a major artery leading in and out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the Sixth Busiest in the world, and using that boulevard to rally and to launch a Sit-Down protest that led to the arrest of almost 200. Read more>>
1,400 Locomotive Workers Strike: Over 1,400 UE members went on strike at Wabtec’s locomotive plant in Erie. The strike comes as workers push for the full renewal of the “right to strike” over grievances. During contract talks, Wabtec repeatedly threatened to cut 275 jobs from the Erie plant if UE went on strike over the right to renew “right to strike” over grievances fully. Undeterred by the threat, the UE decided to strike anyhow. Read more>>
Spanish H&M Workers Strike for Better Wages and Conditions: Hundreds of workers at the Swedish retail giant H&M Group joined a one-day strike in Spain on Monday to demand better working conditions and higher wages as living costs increase. Monday’s walkout is the second full-day strike against H&M Group this month as part of a series of labor actions called by the unions UGT and CCOO to coincide with summer sales. Read more>>
Starbucks Union Says Pride Weekend Strikes Closed 21 US Stores: The union organizing Starbucks workers said Monday that a strike timed to Pride month closed 21 stores over the weekend, including the company’s flagship Reserve Roastery in Seattle. The strike will continue through this week and is expected to disrupt operations at more than 150 stores, Starbucks Workers United said. The Seattle Roastery was closed all day Friday and was open for just five hours on Sunday instead of its usual 15, the union said. Read more>>
Texas and Kansas Nurses Move Forward With Historic Strikes: 2,000 registered nurses in Texas and Kansas at three Ascension hospitals are moving forward with historic one-day strikes to protest management’s resistance to bargain in good faith with RNs for union contracts that would help correct the endemic staffing crisis. Read more>>
Death From Overwork – Young Koreans Rebel Against Culture of Long Hours: Hard graft is ingrained in South Korean society, but when the state proposed a 69-hour week, it was forced to back down as millennials and Gen-Zers reject traditional working practices. Read more>>
Australian Hospital Workers Strike Over Wages: Hundreds of Health Services Union (HSU) members at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA) in New South Wales, Australia, walked off the job on June 22 in support of their claim for a fair pay rise, 100% salary packaging, reform of the 20-year-old award and a royal commission into federal health funding. Allied health staff joined HSU members taking strike action at Westmead, Royal North Shore Hospital, Prince of Wales and in Tamworth and Lismore. Read more>>
‘Scathing’ Report From UN Expert’s Historic Visit Revives Calls to Close Guantánamo: “It is well past time to demand the closure of the prison, accountability from U.S. officials, and reparations for the torture and other ill-treatment that the detainees have suffered at the hands of the U.S. government,” said one campaigner. Read more>>
Black History Museum Opens At Former Slave Port: At International African American Museum opening, a reclaiming of sacred ground for enslaved kin. The city of Charleston celebrated the opening of the International African American Museum with a grand opening ceremony filled with performances and guest speakers. It serves as a new site of homecoming and pilgrimage for descendants of enslaved Africans whose arrival in the Western Hemisphere began on the docks of the low country coast. Overlooking the old wharf in Charleston at which nearly half of the enslaved population first entered North America, the 150,000-square-foot (14,000-square-meter) museum houses exhibits and artifacts exploring how African Americans’ labor, perseverance, resistance and cultures shaped the Carolinas, the nation and the world. Read more>>
Faced With a Violent Killing, a Family Chooses Forgiveness Over Prison: Donald Fields Jr faced a life sentence after he was charged with his father’s murder. Instead, his case became a pioneering instance of restorative justice. Read more>>
Pride in Pictures: A Rainbow Breaks Out Over Small-Town Nebraska: The colors were bright in Hastings that day. Over 650 people gathered at Hastings Pride on June 3, 2023, and 500 of them marched a 2-mile route down the main drag of town. The featured speaker was Machaela Cavanaugh, the Nebraska senator who had recently completed the longest filibuster in U.S. history to stop a bill restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth. She inspired the crowd with a message of hope and love and received three standing ovations. Read more>>
Currys To Offer Trans Employees Paid Leave For Gender-Affirming Care: The UK tech retailer Currys has introduced new policies to boost inclusion, including paid leave for gender-affirming care. Currys is set to offer trans employees an additional six weeks of paid leave to cover appointments, surgeries and recovery time. The UK’s largest tech retailer is the latest company to offer benefits for gender-affirming care as part of new policies to bolster diversity and inclusion at the company. Many other benefits are offered. Read more>>
Small-Town Mayor Defies Hecklers To Declare Pride Month: Small-town mayor bravely stands up to hecklers & conservative Christians to declare June Pride Month. People shouted “Lord have mercy” and “bulls**t” as the mayor declared the town’s opposition to “hate, abuse, discrimination.” Read more>>
Hundreds Detained At Banned Pride Marches In Turkey: ‘They are aware of our strength’. The Istanbul Pride march went ahead despite a ban by the government. In a statement on Twitter, Istanbul’s governor Davut Gül described the event as one which would “weaken the family institution”. Despite the ban, hundreds of people marched in both cities and, in response, local police shut down public transport and blocked access to certain roads. Learn more>>
From Illinois to Tennessee, Drag Performers are Resisting Anti-Trans Legislation: An explosion of bans on drag performance and gender-affirming care have surged nationwide. The community is fighting back. Read more>>
Recovering Nonviolent History: The Women-Led Nonviolent Struggle for Peace in Somaliland: Women were the protagonists of a civil resistance movement for peace that turned out to be key for consolidation of Somaliland as a separate state from Somalia (1991-1996). As we approach the next presidential Somaliland elections in July (originally scheduled for last November), we are reminded of the delicate nature of transitions to peace and democracy—and the important role of women’s power in consolidating those dynamic processes. Read more>>
Surf‘s Up! The 24-Hr Peace Wave 2023 Launches: Register here for free to get the Zoom link to watch the peace wave. 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. Read more>>
Glastonbury 2023: Thousands of Fans Attempt World’s Largest Human Peace Sign: Thousands of Glastonbury-goers gathered today to attempt to break the world record for the largest human world peace sign. Announced earlier this month, the stunt followed the last attempt in 2017 when around 15,000 people met at the festival to break the previous record, set by a crowd of 5,814 in New York in 2009. Read more>>
The Silencing of Afghan Women in the Peace and Reintegration Process: Despite international calls for women’s inclusion, Afghan women have played a very limited role in the peace process—highlighting the lack of importance assigned to women’s experiences by both Afghan society and the international community. Read more>>
Fostering Peace And Understanding in South Africa and Zimbabwe: Migrants from Zimbabwe have faced xenophobia, violence, and even killings. AFSC has worked in Zimbabwe with people who have been displaced from their communities. We have helped them heal from trauma, develop conflict resolution skills, and learn trades to support themselves and their families. Read more>>
A Vision for Tomorrow: Narrative Resistance in Struggles for Justice and Rights in Latin America: Between chants, green bandanas, graffiti and flags saying “Sí a la vida, no a la minería”, (yes to life, no to mining), narrative resistance is built. Nonviolent movements in Latin America have a long history of using narrative resistance to mobilize people, influence public narratives and, ultimately, change policy development. Read more>>
Saved By Seaweed: Nuns and Native Women Heal Polluted New York Waters Using Kelp: The sisters and a group of women from a local Indigenous tribe started a kelp farm in the hopes of cleaning up the pollution in their shared backyard. Read more>>
A Farmer’s Almanac for the End of This World: The Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac offers a place for sharing stories, experiments and strategies for food autonomy in our age of ecological devastation. Read more>>
If Language is Power, then Writing is Revolution: New Research-Action Collaboration Launches: What is your relationship to writing and how is that related to your activism? This group of creative activists are engaged in nonviolent movements for diverse causes, but they all have one thing in common: A relationship to writing that transcends the personal and ventures well into the domain of collective power. Read more>>
Mutual Aid Sustains Human Rights Movements Around The World: In both Latin America and in North America mutual aid movements swelled in response to the collective trauma and collective learning of the pandemic. Read more>>
How Aretha’s Commitment to Social Justice Changed Hearts and Minds: Five decades after the civil rights struggles, Franklin’s music and message resonate today among a new generation of fans and activists. Read more>>
How Campaigners Are Using Deep Canvassing to Build a Just Future: “Beliefs are not fixed,” said Eboni Taggart, training manager at the Deep Canvass Institute. “We don’t want to write people off as unreachable. I think there’s a real danger in that.” Read more>>
Moving from Crisis to Opportunity: A Theory of Change for Supporting Civil Resistance: Humanity confronts multiple existential crises, with climate change and rising global authoritarianism both at the top of the list. Democratic governments and NGOs have made some headway in addressing these challenges, but unfortunately they have also proven inadequate or insufficient to handle the scale of adversity we face. Yet opportunity remains. Read more>>
Argentine Dictatorship’s ‘Death Flight’ Plane Returned Home For a Historical Reckoning: Argentina’s government will add the plane to the Museum of Memory, which is in what was the junta’s most infamous secret detention center. Known as the ESMA, it housed many of the detainees who were later tossed alive from the “death flights” into the ocean or river. One of the victims linked to the returned plane was Azucena Villaflor, whose son Néstor disappeared and presumably was murdered early in the dictatorship. After he went missing, she founded the group Mothers of Plaza de Mayo to demand information about disappeared children, and then was herself detained and killed. Read more>>
Sustaining Civil Resistance: The field of civil resistance has developed significantly in recent decades. Building from humble beginnings, it now receives national and international attention, and has numerous institutions, trainers, programs, and networks dedicated to it. Obscured by this growth, however, is a troubling trend—unlike other sectors, the field still has an unacceptable rate of attrition. Read more>>
March To End Fossil Fuels: People are taking action building up to the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York on September 17th. On that date, the United Nations Secretary-General is hosting a first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit to demand that nations stop the fossil fuel expansion that is driving the climate emergency. Thousands of us will march to demand President Biden take bold action to End Fossil Fuels. (Sept 17 – NYC) Learn more>>
No Killer Cops On Stolen Land – Hold Rapid City Police Accountable: Systemic racism continues to perpetuate the justification of police killing our relatives. Rapid City Police violence has continued to plague our community. Most recently, 18 Indigenous Peoples have been murdered by police with ZERO convictions. We must hold the police state accountable now! Sign the petition here>>
2-hr Intro To Kingian Nonviolence: Join this overview of Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT on July 18, 2023. Kingian Nonviolence is an approach to conflict and community leadership that offers values and methods useful for anyone who wants to use conflict constructively in your personal life, in group settings, or in community issues and building a reconciled world. (July 18) Learn more>>
Leaving World War II Behind: The purpose of the course is to inform the participant and enable them to inform others of why World War II is not a good justification for military spending and war planning, both because WWII happened in a very different world from today’s, and because common beliefs about the nature of and justifications for WWII are false. By debunking myths about WWII having been necessary, justifiable, and beneficial, we can strengthen arguments for moving to a world beyond war. (July 3 – August 13) Learn more>>
Gender Justice & Nonviolence: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. held that nonviolence is “a way of life for courageous people.” This “way of life” includes all of who we are and who we are becoming, including our beautiful and diverse gender identities and expressions. As more and more people are targeted in our society because of their gender, faithful and strategic nonviolence is needed. Our trainers, Rev. Lauren Grubaugh-Thomas and Rev. Jerry Monroe Maynard, will lead us in exploring nonviolence as a powerful lens for gender justice in our churches, social circles, and global human family. You’ll come away with practical tools rooted in proven strategies and informed by lived experiences. (July 27) Learn more>>
A World of Change: Summer Film & Discussion Series: Films. Friends. Fantastic stories. Fascinating conversations. Join Pace e Bene’s six-week summer film series featuring A Force More Powerful on the power of nonviolent action in South Africa, Poland, Chile, India, Denmark, and the US. In each of these six sessions, we will watch and discuss one of the incredible 30-minute documentary video segments on a classic nonviolent struggle for change. (July 27-Aug 31) Learn more>>
Meditation & Nonviolence Affinity Group: At the Metta Center for Nonviolence we sometimes define nonviolence as the bridge between spiritual practice and peacemaking actions. In another classical formula, meditation is like breathing in, selfless action is like breathing out. Both are necessary! We welcome anyone who has (or would like) a daily practice of meditation (as defined above) and would like to share ideas, inspiration, and support. Virtual meetings the first Wednesday of each month, starting July, 2023. Learn more>>
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