Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Sometimes, you hear a demand so impactful in its strategy that you can’t help but cheer the campaign on. In the United States, tenants are demanding that President Biden implement rent control on all government-backed housing projects. This move could impact up to 1/3 of all renters in the United States. It’s a good example of how our movements can dream big (and act boldly) for demands that go a long way toward helping people.
In other Nonviolence News, Peruvians are back in the streets, defying police repression to protest the right-wing Boluarte government. Haitians are trying to stop a military intervention by the US and the United Nations in the wake of unrest and “gang violence”. (While the nation struggles with kidnappings and hostage-taking, their rates of gang violence are lower than Jamaica’s, which is not facing a proposed foreign military intervention.)
Women’s justice campaigns are highlighting both the courage of women and the dire need for gender-based justice across the world. In Canada, #SearchTheLandfill is a campaign to demand that the government do their due diligence in searching a landfill where locals suspect the remains of two Indigenous women have been hidden. Meanwhile, in Iran, women are renewing their struggle as morality police enforce hijab laws in advance of the one-year anniversary of the murder of Mahsa Amini that sparked immense protests. In India, outrage and sit-in protests have erupted after a group of men forced women to strip naked and paraded them down the street before assaulting them. These horrifying stories show why action is necessary to protect the rights of half the world.
Israel’s mass protests have not relented, with some protesters even setting tent encampments. Around 11,000 military reservists are saying they won’t serve if Netanyahu continues plans for the judicial overhaul. At the same time, this week marked an international mobilization for the rights of pro-Palestinian activists. Portugal’s parliament also officially recognized Nakba Day which commemorates the day when Israel was formed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes.
It’s not all hard news this week. Striking United Airlines pilots have a preliminary agreement for 40% wage increases. A federal judge blocked the Biden Administrations migrant ban. The Azerbaijan gold mine we mentioned last week has now been shut down pending investigation. 340,000 UPS Teamsters have a historic deal on the table – though some are wondering about the fate of the 140,000 part time workers left out of many of its provisions.
And here’s a creative action that made me smile – and want to emulate it. Faced with difficult conditions for protesting the Ukraine War, a Russian artist has come up with a clever tactic: he makes tiny figures out of plasticine, gives them tiny anti-war signs, and takes photos of them demonstrating. Inviting others to join in, it’s a way for Russians to continue to make the anti-war sentiment heard.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Stories like these embolden humanity.
Keep us courageous. Keep the stories coming.
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United Airlines Pilots Reach Preliminary Labor Deal With Up To 40% Raises: United Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, reached a deal in principle with the airline, giving the pilots up to a 40% raise, the union confirmed to CNN Saturday. The deal has about $10 billion in value over the life of the contract, the union said, with improvements to “quality of work-life, compensation, job security, work rules, retirement, benefits.” Read more>>
Federal Judge Blocks Biden Asylum Ban That Puts Migrants in “Grave Danger”: The Biden administration’s asylum ban went into effect in May after the expiration of Title 42. The Biden administration ban was widely condemned by human rights advocates. On July 25, a federal judge blocked the ban, which largely barred migrants who passed through another country on their way to the U.S.’s southern border from seeking asylum in the U.S. Read more>>
Wesleyan University Becomes Latest School To End Legacy Admissions: In recent years, several schools, including Amherst College in Massachusetts, Carnegie Melon University in Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University in Maryland have also eliminated legacy admissions. Read more>>
Azerbaijan Temporarily Closes Gold Mine Run By UK-Registered Company: Soyudlu residents’ protest last month appears to have borne fruit, but the village is still under lockdown. And more people have been arrested for showing solidarity. Villagers have for years complained that seepage of cyanide and other forms of toxic waste from a reservoir at the mine (known as a tailings dam) is causing health problems among locals, including cancer, as well as damaging crops. Editor’s Note: Last week, we reported on how the president conceded that the protesters had a point. This week, he’s taking action. Read more>>
“We’ve Changed The Game: Teamsters Win Historic UPS Contract: Today, the Teamsters reached the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide. The overwhelmingly lucrative contract raises wages for all workers, creates more full-time jobs, and includes dozens of workplace protections and improvements. The UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee unanimously endorsed the five-year tentative agreement. Editor’s Note: Critics of the agreement point out that it falls short on issues that affect 140,000 part-time workers. Read more>>
Portuguese Parliament Recognizes Palestinian Nakba Day: The Portuguese parliament has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution recognizing Nakba Day or “Day of Catastrophe,” when Israel was created at the expense of the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland. The parliament also praised the Palestinian struggle to obtain the right to self-determination. Read more>>
Massive Crowds Rally In Israel As Vote On Judicial Overhaul Looms: Tens of thousands of Israelis have marched into Jerusalem and more protesters took to the streets in Tel Aviv in a last-ditch show of force aimed at blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul plan. Protests have intensified in the days leading up to the debate that began Sunday ahead of a parliamentary vote on Monday which could see a key part of the proposals passed into law. Protesters have also set up camp outside Israeli parliament. Read more>>
Another 10,000 IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) Reservists Announce They Won’t Serve Anymore: These reservists are joining more than 1,000 Air Force reservists who made the same announcement in a letter on Friday. “This is one of the most difficult evenings for the State of Israel, but it’s also one of the most important in the state’s history,” said Brothers in Arms leader Eyal Neve. Read more>>
International Day of Protest For Palestine And Its Supporters: As six UK-based, pro-Palestine activists languish in British prisons, people around the world showed solidarity – as well as support for Palestine. People have taken action in the UK, Canada, and France over the imprisonment of UK pro-Palestine activists. It came after high-profile campaigners, including Roger Waters, issued a joint statement condemning the British state’s persecution of the six people over their activism against the state of Israel. Read more>>
Digital Rights Groups Launch Week of Action Against ‘Bad Internet Bills’: The coalition is “demanding that Congress focus on passing badly needed comprehensive privacy legislation to actually protect us from the harms of Big Tech companies and data brokers.” Read more>>
People’s Summit in Brussels Calls For Respect of Democracy And Self-Determination: Over 1,000 people participated in the People’s Summit that brought together the people of Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe. Panel discussions were held during the two days of the Summit on the topics of Latin America as a zone of peace, strengthening the movement in solidarity with Cuba and against the blockade, ecological transition, decolonization and depatriarchalization, migration and exile, new forms of dirty war, and more. Read more>>
In Peru, Thousands Defy Police Violence To Protest Boluarte Coup Regime: Tens of thousands of Peruvians took to the streets across the country on July 19 to protest the Dina Boluarte coup government. Boluarte assumed the presidency in December following a legislative coup against leftist President Pedro Castillo — who remains in “preventative detention” — after making an alliance with right-wing parties in Congress. Read more>>
Reddit Protests Intensify: Tensions are rising once more at Reddit with fresh protests against the company’s management, and the company expelling rebel moderators. Reddit has been subject to weeks of protests over its recently implemented API price hikes, which have resulted in the closure of popular third-party apps such as Apollo. Earlier protests have seen many of the site’s communities—or subreddits—turned private for extended periods by volunteer moderators, effectively taking those communities offline. Others have amended rules to mock the site’s management. Read more>>
Congolese Students Are Taking on Big Oil: A new campaign is mobilizing communities across the Democratic Republic of Congo to stop the fossil fuel industry’s expansion with creative nonviolent action. Student activists are traveling thousands of miles across the Democratic Republic of Congo to mobilize communities against the expansion of Big Oil. Read more>>
Barbies Stopped Work On the Mountain Valley Pipeline! On Monday, July 24, around 20 demonstrators, many wearing bright pink and holding banners that read, “No Patriarchy, No Pipelines” and “Even Barbies Hate Pipelines” walked onto a work site beside Cove Hollow Road and Highway 460 in Elliston, VA. Today’s disruption is the second work stoppage in three days, and the fourth action since MVP resumed construction activities this July. No matter what the supreme court or any politicians decide, this fracked gas pipeline won’t be completed without a fight. Read more>>
“This Is Rigged” Climate Protesters Block Gates To Scottish Oil Site: Activists from the This is Rigged group held demonstrations at the Ineos refinery in Grangemouth, Fife, and the Nustar Clydebank oil terminal in West Dunbartonshire on Wednesday. Eleven people have been arrested in climate protests which targeted two oil sites in Scotland. Read more>>
Greta Thunberg Forcibly Removed From Climate Protest After Fine: Climate activist carried away by police for blocking traffic at protest near the harbour in Malmo, Sweden. Climate activist Greta Thunberg has been forcibly removed by police from a protest in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, hours after a local court fined her for disobeying a police order during a similar protest last month. Read more>>
Removing Dams From Klamath River – A Step To Justice For Native Americans: Recognizing this harm, state, federal and tribal agencies now are removing four of the Klamath’s six dams to let fish migrate farther upstream to historical habitats. The target completion date is 2024. This US$450 million project is the largest dam removal in the world. Read more>>
Groups, Lawmakers Demand FERC Deny Mountain Valley Pipeline Extension for North Carolina: “North Carolinians refuse to be led on by greedy energy corporations, and time and again our state’s residents have told legislators and regulators this pipeline and its extension are not needed,” said one campaigner. Read more>>
Third Wave Of Hotel Strikes Hollywood: Hundreds of hotel workers in Hollywood and Pasadena walked out this morning, kicking off a third wave of rolling strikes to hit Southern California this summer. Workers from 1 Hotel West Hollywood, the Andaz West Hollywood, the W Hollywood, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel San Pedro, Hilton Glendale, Hyatt Place Pasadena and the Sky Terrace Restaurant walked out starting at 5 a.m. Workers are picketing for higher wages and better benefits and working conditions. Unite Here Local 11 says hotel employees are forced into long commutes because their pay hasn’t kept pace with soaring housing costs. Read more>>
Tenants Push Biden For Rent Control On All Government-Backed Housing: A nationwide network of tenant organizations says that tax dollars provide huge benefits to landlords without requiring them to protect the rights of tenants. The People’s Action Center’s Homes Guarantee campaign is pushing for the Biden administration to require these federally-backed landlords to limit their rent hikes, keep the housing in good condition and agree not to evict or not renew tenant leases except for good cause. Greater tenant protection in federally-backed housing would have a huge impact: It could apply to over 12 million rental units, nearly one in three renting households in the country. Read more>>
McDonald’s Workers Stage Walkout, Citing Extreme Heat Inside: They say AC hasn’t worked properly for three years, creating miserable conditions in the kitchen. They staged a lunchtime rally outside the restaurant and said they don’t plan to return until management addresses the problem. Read more>>
Union Workers Take Strike To Trucking Business: As the strike between Wabtec and union workers from UE 506 and 618 continues, picketing members continue to take their signs on the road. On Friday, they were outside of Barnhart Transportation. About a dozen of the 1,400 union members on strike were there when Erie News Now pulled up. Union members say the trucking company is regularly driving across the picket lines in Lawrence Park during the union work stoppage. Read more>>
Haitians Protest Oligarchic Rule, UN Occupation, And Foreign Military “Intervention”: The US and Canada have been arguing for a multilateral military intervention in Haiti led by the army of a third country, possibly even Rwanda, to support the puppet regime that they installed. They are using “gang violence” as the racist excuse, but there are actually more gang killings in Jamaica. In fact, the people of Haiti have been protesting in the streets to get the UN and the Core Group out of Haiti and get the US to stop supporting the illegitimate, unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry. Read more>>
Navajo Chapters Oppose Huge Pumped Storage Projects: A total of 18 chapters and agencies have passed resolutions opposing pumped storage projects that would move water uphill and send it through electric generators to make energy. They cite the projects’ potential harm to water resources, traditional land uses and wildlife, and the developer’s failure to obtain consent from local communities before seeking federal approval. Read more>>
Community Investors Are Doing What Big Dollar Retail Investors Won’t: New advancements in crowdfunding are changing the game for small businesses and commercial real estate projects. And minority entrepreneurs are taking advantage. Lyneir Richardson has been helping Black people buy the block since 1991 or 1992. Read more>>
Search Demanded In Winnipeg-Area Landfill; Government Apathy Condemned: You may have noticed #SearchTheLandfill has been trending over the past two weeks. Since the province of Manitoba’s refusal to commit to a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women, a grassroots protest movement has increased pressure against the provincial government – and it’s gaining attention. Read more>>
Tijuana Groups Protest Border Wall Construction At Friendship Park: Amidst chants of “Parque sí, muros no!” (“Parks, yes, walls, no!”), the group marched about a hundred yards from the garden to a small plaza overlooking the beach and barbed wire-topped border wall stretching out into the Pacific. Carrying handmade cardboard signs reading “Abre el Parque!” (“Open the Park!”) and “No Muros en Nuestro Parque” (“No Walls in Our Park”), the group peered out over the 18-foot-tall border wall at friends gathering on the San Diego beach to join the protest from another country. “Hola amigos!” they shouted into the megaphone. Read more>>
‘Immensely Invisible:’ Women Fighting ICE’s Inaction on Sexual Abuses: A broad pattern of sexual abuse in ICE detention. Official records and testimonies obtained by Futuro Investigates – not reported previously — show disturbing details of 308 sexual assault and sexual abuse complaints filed by immigrants detained in ICE facilities nationwide between 2015 and 2021. Probably most incidents are never recorded. Read more>>
Rainbow Activists Call For Community Solidarity To Defend Trans Rights: The Rainbow Community Angels (RCA), a grassroots, community-led, safety initiative, formed in May after transphobe Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull’s (Posie Parker) tour. “We didn’t need a mass mobilization every time; we just need to make sure the event is safe for the families and people showing up.” Read more>>
‘There’s No Other Option but To Fight’: Iranian Women Defiant As ‘Morality Police’ Return: Activists speak of their dismay at renewed patrols to enforce wearing of the hijab, but insist protests will continue ahead of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death. Read more>>
Ohioans to Vote on Abortion Rights Amendment in November: The news is “a potential game-changer for reproductive rights in Ohio,” said one journalist, but the pro-choice movement must still clear another electoral hurdle in an August special election. Read more>>
Outrage In India Over Sexual Assault of Women: A viral video from the Indian state of Manipur, showing dozens of men parading and assaulting two women who had been stripped naked, has triggered outrage in the country. The incident happened on May 4, a day after deadly riots broke out between the Hindu Meitei and Christian Kuki-Zo tribes in the remote Indian state. At least 130 people – most of them Kuki-Zo – have been killed and more than 50,000 displaced since clashes between the two communities broke out over a proposal to extend reservation in government jobs and education to the Meiteis. Read more>>
Music Festival In Malaysia Cancelled After Singers Share Kiss To Challenge Anti-LGBT Laws: A festival in Malaysia has been cancelled after British singer Matty Healy attacked the country’s anti-LGBT laws. During the performance by his band The 1975 at the Good Vibes Festival, Healy addressed the audience in a profanity-laden speech before kissing bass player Ross MacDonald. The band then ended their set, claiming officials ordered them off stage. Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia and punishable by 20 years in prison. Read more>>
Stop the War, Stop NATO! Protests Across Canada Oppose the 2023 NATO Summit: As NATO gathered for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, antiwar activists across Canada united with pro-peace and anti-war actions occurring around the world at the same time to demand a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Read more>>
Tajikistan Resists Military Enlistment: Enlistment-dodging pushes recruiters to use ever-more devious methods. Kidnapping, intimidation, and blackmail are just some of the means used to hit enlistment quotas. Read more>>
Billboards Honoring Bertha von Suttner Go Up in Munich: Billboards by Wolfram P. Kastner have gone up in Munich, Germany, honoring Bertha von Suttner, author of Die Waffen nieder! (Down with Weapons!) or Lay Down Your Arms! The 16-foot billboards will be up through August 15th. Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) was a pacifist, peace researcher, and writer. In 1905 she was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Read more>>
#BarbieHeimer CodePink Recruits At Barbie/Oppenheimer Double Header: Crowds wearing pink, viewers learning about nuclear weapons – this weekend’s movie releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer were made for the peace group CodePink. Protesting nukes in their signature pink, they recruited 400 movie-goers to their membership. Read more>>
Russians Stage Plasticine Figure Protest of Ukraine War: On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Yevgeny went to an anti-war rally in St Petersburg. There he watched as demonstrators were brutally beaten and arrested, and knew that overt dissent was all but impossible. As the war intensified, the artist found another way to make his objections heard: a project he called “malenkiy piket”, or “little picket”. He made miniature figures out of plasticine, placed banners in their hands, took pictures of them “protesting” in locations around the city, and posted the results to Instagram with an invite for others to join the movement. Read more>>
“This Is Rigged” Activists Spraypaint Portrait of King Charles III: Two activists from climate action group This is Rigged have sprayed “the people are mightier than the lord” onto a portrait of King Charles III. One person held a stencil on the glass covering the painting, while the other sprayed it in pink paint. Both wore t-shirts with This is Rigged printed on them. The slogan is from the Highland Land League which fought for the rights of crofters following the Highland Clearances. Read more>>
Finally, An Antiwar Video Game: Tired of Pentagon-funded murder-glorifying violence-normalizing video games? Here’s something different from World BEYOND War Board Member in Ukraine Yurii Sheliazhenko: No To War: The Game. Evade the meat grinder of war profiteers! Your mission: quit the corruption game and survive! Read more>>
Climate Clock Drops Below Six Years: As much of the Northern Hemisphere faces extreme heat, time is running out to restrict global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Climate Clocks are appearing all over the world. Read more>>
Israel’s Crisis Is Just Beginning: With skunk water cannons turned on peaceful protesters, army reservists resigning and global banks and credit ratings agencies downgrading Israel — Israel’s seven-month crisis is past and chaos has taken over. It feels as if the country’s DNA has been transformed. As always, it’s been a long time coming, but the change feels brutal and shocking. The air feels different. On the ground in Jerusalem, the fallout from Netanyahu’s power-grab is growing. Read more>>
In Photos: Why 23 Strikes Are Happening: This photo-essay uses images and short text to highlight the demands and diverse industries that are striking – from hotel workers to actors to delivery drivers. Read more>>
Join the March To End Fossil Fuels in NYC: This September, the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York will gather world leaders to commit to phasing out fossil fuels. Thousands of us will take to the streets of New York to demand President Biden take bold action to #End Fossil Fuels. (Sept 17) Learn more>>
Sign the No Nukes Pledge: Human beings have prohibited the use, development, production, and possession of biological and chemical weapons by treaties and protocols. Why do we hesitate to prohibit nuclear weapons, which are far more destructive than these weapons? Sign on in support of their appeal to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Learn more>>
Show Up For Victims of Radiation Exposure – Urge Congress To Expand RECA Now! The invisible damage from radiation has caused myriad severe health problems, leaving generations of families struggling under the weight of medical bills, fear, and suffering. Updates to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), now before Congress, seek to address this issue. Tell Congress to expand the bill to include even deeper justice. Learn more>>
Sign Now To Tell President Biden To Declare a Climate Emergency: President Biden can declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act. That would give us the ability to reinstate the crude oil export ban, end new fossil fuel projects and drilling, redirect disaster relief funds toward distributed renewable energy construction in frontline communities, and marshal companies to fast-track renewable transportation and clean power generation. All while creating millions of high-quality union jobs. Learn more>>
Halt $20 Million Loan To Cop City: By the end of the month, Cadence Bank has to decide on whether or not to issue a $20 million loan for the construction of the murderous Cop City project. Cadence Bank has previously financed Cop City, but rumor has it that they are hesitating on a new deal because they are not sure if the project is still viable. They know that when Cop City is stopped, the Atlanta Police Foundation will likely go bankrupt and default on all of their loans. It’s time to go all out to demand that Cadence Bank cancel the loan deal – and let them know that Cop City Will Never Be Built. Protest at a branch, make a social post, pledge to close your bank accounts (at Cadence and other funders).
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