Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Turkey’s Akbelen Forest has been razed relentless by loggers, but women and community members are mobilizing to halt deforestation. They face arrests, tear gas, and intimidation, but they won’t back down in their protection of this dwindling ecosystem. It’s the kind of courage and determination that we all need to have in defense of the Earth right now.
In other Nonviolence News, Australian Aboriginals succeeded in halting a nuclear waste dump. Tunisian protesters won’t let politicians – or citizens – forget that the current president got there through a power grab. An interesting international initiative is delivering psychological first aid from Ukraine to Sudan. Bulgarian women held rare protests against gender-based violence after a horrific story came to light about a teen who had been cut hundreds of times by her ex-boyfriend. And, though Netayahu passed the first part of his judicial overhaul, participants in the mass protests remain undaunted and resolved to stop this.
Water is on humanity’s mind this week – and rightly so. With climate change, this always-precious life-giving resource is vital for our existence. The Last Generation, a climate group, halted freeway traffic in Italy to raise awareness of the country’s desertification. In France, water protectors are taking action to preserve the dwindling water table of the southern region. In the United States, the traditional Indigenous water walks emphasize reverence for water and the need to protect it. Meanwhile, groups in Texas held a ‘thirst strike’ in protest of the lack of breaks and protections for workers facing extreme heat.
Winner of the Worst Idea This Week? Houston. The superintendent of schools has decided to convert dozens of libraries into detention centers. Political and spiritual leaders are not happy. Neither are the communities of color that will be disproportionately impacted by this move.
Winner of the Best Idea This Week? Japan. After WWII, automobile deaths spiked, especially among children. So, handmade “Darting Boy” signs popped up at every intersection to remind motorists to slow down and watch for children. It worked. It’s an example of creative nonviolent action that saved lives.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: Turkish women protest the Akbelen Forest, risking arrest to stop logging.
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Aboriginal Australians Defeat Nuclear Dump: Historic win as South Australian Aboriginal traditional owners defeat nuclear dump plan. Bipartisan efforts by successive federal governments to impose a national nuclear waste dump on the land of Barngarla Aboriginal traditional owners in South Australia (SA) have been upended by a federal court decision in favour of the Barngarla people. Read more>>
Not Guilty: Volunteer Who Fed Homeless Wins Court Case: A volunteer who was ticketed by Houston Police for feeding the homeless outside the public library back in March was found not guilty in a criminal court trial earlier this week. Phillip Picone is with the group Food Not Bombs, which has been operating since 1995, but because of a city ordinance, they have been asked to move their operations to a different location. Read more>>
‘Will Literally Change Lives’: Massachusetts Legislature Approves Universal Free School Meals: The Massachusetts Legislature on Monday approved a budget proposal that requires the state’s public schools to provide all K-12 students with free meals, making permanent a highly successful pandemic-era program. “We would not be where we are today without the voices and activism of thousands of advocates and organizations, who made it clear that feeding our kids must be a statewide priority,” Erin McAleer, president and CEO of the Massachusetts anti-hunger group Project Bread, said in a statement Monday. Read more>>
Henrietta Lacks’ Cells Contributed to Breakthrough Medical Advancements. Now, Her Family Will Finally be Compensated: The news comes after two years of litigation in federal court—on what would have been Lacks’ 103rd birthday. Henrietta Lacks’ living relatives gathered Tuesday morning in a sunny Baltimore waterfront park to herald the settlement they reached with a multibillion-dollar biotechnology company that for years has profited off its free use of regenerative cells taken from her decades ago without her consent. Read more>>
Delivering Psychological First Aid — From Ukraine To Sudan: When nonviolent protectors in North Darfur needed help with stress and trauma in their community, they drew on the experience of their Ukrainian colleagues. Read more>>
Tunisia Protest Marks Two Years Since President’s Power Grab: Opposition has kept up its demonstrations against what it calls a ‘coup’ against Tunisia’s democracy. About 300 protesters have rallied in Tunis to mark the second anniversary of President Kais Saied’s adoption of sweeping powers and to demand the release of 20 detained opposition figures. “Down with the coup. Freedom for all the prisoners,” the protesters chanted as they gathered in the heart of the capital on Tuesday, braving temperatures that topped 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Read more>>
Thousands In Tel Aviv Show No Sign of Fatigue After 1st Bill Passed: Protesters rally outside local court building in show of support for judiciary before demonstrating on Kaplan Street, the site of the main weekly rallies against the shakeup. Thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags rallied against the judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, with the protest movement offering no indication that it plans to fold after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government passed the first piece of legislation from its judicial overhaul last week. “You have ruined the country and we will fix it. Democracy! Democracy!” Read more>>
Japan’s Fishermen Are Concerned About Nuke Wastewater Discharge: “Our stance of opposing the water release plan has not changed,” said the the Miyagi prefectural fisheries cooperative association. Japanese fishermen have expressed growing concern over the government’s plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea. “The ocean is our workplace, and no one has the right to pollute it,” said Haruo Ono, a fisherman from Fukushima prefecture. Read more>>
Questa, NM, Marches for Gun Safety: Nearly 100 residents of a small village in New Mexico marched through their village Tuesday evening (Aug. 1) to spread awareness of gun safety and commemorate the loss of Amber Archuleta, a 13-year-old who was recently shot and killed by a 14-year-old while at a friend’s home Read more>>
Amazon, Alphabet Workers Protest Companies’ Complicity in Israeli Apartheid: “As an Amazon employee, I do not want my work to support apartheid and war crimes,” said one protesting worker. Under the rallying cry of #NoTechForApartheid, a group of Amazon and Alphabet workers rallied Wednesday with allied activists outside the tech titan’s annual Amazon Web Services Summit today to demand that the company and Google cancel a billion-dollar cloud computing services contract with Israel’s government and military. Read more>>
APEC Forum Draws Protests Against Potential Free Trade Pacts: On July 29 and 30, around 500 people gathered in Seattle to protest a series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings of senior government officials held in Seattle this August. APEC is an annual economic forum for diplomats and government leaders from 21 countries around the Pacific Ocean, including the United States, China, Russia and Japan. One sign held by a protester at the APEC summit simply reads “No to APEC.” Read more>>
New Law Gives Mobile Home Residents A Chance To Buy Their Parks: A mobile home park in Moses Lake is up for sale and a new state law assures residents a shot at buying the property. In the past they might’ve never known it was on the market until after it was sold. Read more>>
A Third Wave of Strikes Crests at Los Angeles Hotels: Shouts of “No contract, No peace,” pounding drums, and a raucous band pierced the usually quiet, tony city of Beverly Hills, California, as 250 hotel workers picketed the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria on July 26. The Beverly Hills action was part of the third wave of strikes against 62 hotels in southern California after contracts expired June 30. The rolling strikes strategy targets segments of the city instead of all workers walking off the job at once. The first wave targeted downtown hotels starting July 2; the second wave hit hotels near the Los Angeles airport. After a week’s pause for negotiations that eventually stalled, the third wave targeted hotels in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, West Hollywood, nearby Pasadena and Glendale, and Orange County to the south. Read more>>
Palmdale Amazon Drivers on Unfair Labor Practice Strike Demand Amazon Bargain Over Low Pay, Dangerous Working Conditions: Striking Amazon delivery drivers and dispatchers from Palmdale, Calif., extended their picket line to a Bay Area warehouse (OAK5/OAK7) today, to demand the e-commerce giant stop its unfair labor practices. The growing strike will continue until Amazon reinstates the unlawfully terminated Palmdale employees, recognizes the Teamsters, respects the contract negotiated by the workers, and bargains with the Teamsters Union to address low pay and dangerous working conditions. Read more>>
Long Island Starbucks Workers March On Boss Who Fired Employee: Yesterday, baristas from Farmingville Starbucks in Long Island and their union allies marched on the Starbucks regional corporate headquarters in Manhattan to demand the reinstatement of a shift leader who they say was fired for his union activity — and to confront their former boss who sacked him. Read more>>
Ultima Generazione Activist: ‘Italy Is Heading Toward Desertification’: On Tuesday morning, activists from Ultima Generazione once again organized a protest on the A1 highway between Rome and Florence, blocking traffic near Fiano Romano. “Extreme phenomena are happening and people are dying from heat while on the job, but President Meloni is lining up behind the climate denialist parties in Europe,” they denounced in a statement. Read more>>
These Women Are Fighting Back On The Continued Destruction of Turkey’s Akbelen Forest: Some 300 organizations have rallied behind the residents’ call to stop any mining activities in the area in a statement issued on July 28. Media reports indicate that local police have used force, tear gas, and water canons against them, while some 40 people have been arrested over the past week. Read more>>
Protecting Water In Southern France: As protests erupt around France, Extinction Rebellion and other water protectors take nonviolent action to protect the water table in Southern France. Read more>>
Climate Group Confronts Biden Over Gas Pipeline: Climate Defiance took over a fundraiser for Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. The billionaires bolted. The President just approved a 2,000,000,000 cubic-foot-per-day fracked gas pipeline in the midst of a climate emergency. This was not a compromise. This was a crime. Watch the short video>>
On Earth Overshoot Day, Campaigners Say ‘Move the Date’ by Fixing Broken Economic System: “We still have a chance to change the broken economic system that puts profit and overconsumption before people and nature,” said Greenpeace International. Campaigners and researchers who calculate “Earth Overshoot Day” each year called on policymakers to help “move the date” on Tuesday as they announced the planet has already reached the date when humanity has used more natural resources than the Earth can regenerate in a year. August 2 marks 2023’s Earth Overshoot Day—coming five days later than it did last year but months earlier than in 1971, when the day was first recorded by experts. Read more>>
Confronting US Politicians On Oil & Gas Ties: Climate Defiance shuts down YET ANOTHER speech by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, whose bank recently insured a $400,000,000 gas plan. Last time we confronted her she had us arrested & jailed. But we were not deterred. We came back. We always will. Respect us or expect us. Watch the video>>
UN Chief Proclaims ‘Era of Global Boiling’ as July Set to Be Hottest Month Ever Recorded: “We can still stop the worst,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres insisted. “But to do so we must turn a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition.” Read more>>
Greenpeace Covers UK Prime Minister’s Mansion In Black: Four activists have climbed onto the roof of the Prime Minister’s £2m North Yorkshire mansion today in protest at his backing for a major expansion of North Sea oil and gas drilling. After reaching the top of the building using ladders and climbing ropes, the Greenpeace campaigners unfolded 200 sq metres of oil-black fabric to cover a whole side of Rishi Sunak’s manor house, near Northallerton. Read more>>
The Climate Movement Has a Recruiting And Retention Problem – Here’s How We Fix It: Bringing more people into the climate struggle starts with transforming movement culture and opening diverse paths to entry. Read more>>
Leaders Denounce Houston Plan To Turn Libraries Into Discipline Centers: Prominent Houston political and faith leaders on Monday denounced Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles’ plan to convert some 28 libraries into discipline centers, adding to the growing chorus of parents, teachers and other critics opposing the change. Members of Congress, Houston City Council and high-profile religious institutions joined Mayor Sylvester Turner — already on record opposing the move — in describing the state-appointed superintendent’s plan as an attack on lower-income communities of color. Read more>>
Protestors Bring Calls For Landfill Search To World Police and Fire Games: A group of protestors demanding a search for the remains of two murdered Indigenous women brought their calls to the World Police and Fire Games. “We’re here for a peaceful protest to be able to educate our visitors from all around the world as to what’s happening in friendly Manitoba,” said Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. “We have our own women in our landfill, so the best thing our province can do regardless of which leadership is going to be there is search those landfills for our loved ones.” Read more>>
White Minority Locks Out First Black Mayor of Newbern, Alabama: If you live in a mini-dictatorship, running for mayor is an act of rebellion. Newbern, a small town in Alabama’s Black Belt region, has never had an elected mayor or city council. But the mostly-Black town has been run by a series of self-appointed white people since its inception. Patrick Braxton, the Black man who ran as the first elected mayor (and won the race), has now filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging the white former mayor and city council members violated the Constitution when they locked him out of the Town Hall and barred him from office. Read more>>
Oldest Black Fraternity Pulls 2025 Convention Out of Florida, Citing ‘Hostile’ Policies: The event was expected to generate $4.6 million, according to Alpha Phi Alpha. The oldest intercollegiate Black fraternity in the country is moving its 2025 conference from Florida, calling the state “hostile” to the Black community. Read more>>
The Culture Wars Are Wars of White Supremacy: The coded language against “wokeness” is doing what it has always done: trying to protect the fragile body of hate. Read more>>
How Prisoner-Led Organizing Saved My Life: Joining the Black Prisoners Caucus helped me find direction and the opportunity to serve my community amidst a life-without-parole sentence. Read more>>
Protests Erupt In Bulgaria After Attacks On Woman By Ex-Partner Called ‘Mild’: Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets to protest against violence against women after a harrowing case of a teen cut hundreds of times shocked the Balkan nation. Approximately 5,000 people demonstrated in Sofia, while protests also took place in other cities across the country, where rallies over violence against women are rare. Read more>>
Equal Rights Amendment ERA Centennial Convention in Seneca Falls – Intergenerational, Diverse and Determined: On July 21, 1923, the National Women’s Party unveiled the Equal Rights Amendment at the First Presbyterian Church of Seneca Falls in New York. Precisely 100 years later, contemporary ERA advocates gathered to mark this important historic milestone and plan for the final push for recognition of the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. At the exact same podium where ERA co-author Alice Paul first introduced the sex equality amendment, Nevada state Senator Pat Spearman led hundreds of attendees in chanting, “Watch us get it done. We’re not gonna quit until it’s done o’clock!” Read more>>
‘I’m Not Wanted’: Florida Universities Hit By Brain Drain As Academics Flee: Ron DeSantis’s slew of laws attacking teaching of race and gender issues sees state’s colleges struggle to fill faculty posts. With the start of the 2023-24 academic year only six weeks away, senior officials at New College of Florida (NCF) made a startling announcement in mid-July: 36 of the small honors college’s approximately 100 full-time teaching positions were vacant. The provost, Bradley Thiessen, described the number of faculty openings as “ridiculously high”, and the disclosure was the latest evidence of a brain drain afflicting colleges and universities throughout the Sunshine state. Read more>>
Australian Peace Conference Focuses On Massive War Maneuvers: Over a week of seminars, webcasts and demonstrations to end militarism and the USA/Australian cooperation in Asia. The Brisbane conference “Calling for a Peaceful Pacific” featured leaders from across the Asia Pacific in solidarity and activism against the escalating militarization of the region. Read more>>
Korean Activists Demand Formal End To 70-Year War: Peace activists gathered in Washington, D.C., for a national mobilization to call on President Biden and Congress to officially end the Korean War, 70 years after the signing of the July 27, 1953, Korean Armistice that ended active military conflict. Read more>>
Stopping Arms Sales, Winning CO Status: A leading South Korean peace activist sets out some of World Without War’s successes – and the value of international peace gatherings. Read more>>
Anti-Nuclear Groups Welcome Oppenheimer Film But Say It Fails To Depict True Horror: UK campaigners hope movie will draw attention to ‘real and present danger’ posed by atomic weapons. The film explores Oppenheimer’s moral quandary over his role in creating the most destructive weapon ever made, but nuclear disarmament campaigners fear its power to persuade people of the existential threat posed by nuclear arms may be diminished by its focus on scientific achievement. Read more>>
Top Medical Journals Publish Unprecedented Joint Call for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons: “The nuclear-armed states must eliminate their nuclear arsenals before they eliminate us.” Leading medical journals published a joint editorial late Tuesday calling on world leaders to take urgent steps to reduce the risk of nuclear war—and eliminate atomic weapons altogether—as the threat of a potentially civilization-ending conflict continues to grow. The call was first issued in The Lancet, The BMJ, JAMA, International Nursing Review, and other top journals. Dozens of other journals are expected to publish the editorial in the coming days ahead of the 78th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Read more>>
Texas Activists Hold a ‘Thirst Strike’ Demanding Heat Protections For Workers: They are calling for federal standards for rest and water breaks to prevent occupational heat illness and death. Read more>>
Barbie Spoofs Re-envision An Icon: Multiple videos, interviews, documents and Hollywood star endorsements spoof Mattel’s Barbie frenzied world into believing the dolls have gone eco-conscious, nonviolent, activist and have even quit fossil fuel plastic. Read more>>
What It’s Like To Walk For The Water: “In 2003, I joined Josephine Mandamin for several days carrying the water around Lake Superior. Josephine began these contemporary water walks to save our waterways. She believed water has to move to be healthy. She wanted the water to know there were still human beings who loved and respected it. This month I will carry the water again.” Read more>>
Grenfell Tower Play Reveals Agony Of Survivors: Trust the theatre: it has shown us the true outrage of Grenfell in a way the inquiry can’t. A verbatim play based on interviews with survivors shows us the agony of justice delayed, and why charges must be brought. There’s a quiet rage simmering at the National Theatre. Perhaps too quiet. At the end of Gillian Slovo’s new Grenfell Tower play, Grenfell: in the Words of Survivors, actors playing survivors silently lead the audience out of the playhouse and into the night. Read more>>
Courage Animation by Ela Gandhi: In this short animation for children, Ela Gandhi shares an episode between her grandfather, Gandhi, and a snake that changed her life and attitude toward fear. “Every time I felt fear creeping into me I thought of this story and the fear would melt away. Even to this day, it is this story that gives me the courage to face any adverse situations,” says Ela Gandhi. Read more>>
Raffi Feghali Defies Censorship Through Improvisational Theatre In Lebanon: Presenting the art of improvised theatre within the Arab world continues to be a challenge, as it contends with censorship and restrictions that may cause fear of unresolved narratives. Read more>>
Sinéad O’Connor Was Always a Protest Singer: Having survived a childhood marked by abuse at the hands of her mother, Sinéad O’Connor found her voice at a Catholic girls’ reform school, where a nun bought her a guitar and a book of Bob Dylan songs. She wanted to become a protest singer in the vein of Dylan, John Lennon, and Bob Marley, but there was no lane for that in an industry that prized young women for their looks more than their music. After signing her first recording contract at 18, O’Connor shaved her head and wore ripped jeans and combat boots, an act of protest that foreshadowed many more to come. Read more>>
How Japan’s Darting Boy Saved Lives & Ended The Motorist-Pedestrian War: As cars grew popular in Japan, traffic fatalities sometimes caused more casualties than war. Colorful, handmade signs of small children leaping out of (or toward) the roadways launched a campaign to save lives. Read more>>
Strikes Are a Tool To Claw Back Control Over Our Lives: This summer, Hollywood writers and actors are out on strike together for the first time in decades. Their demands go beyond wages and benefits—they’re challenging bosses’ authority to unilaterally decide what work looks like. Read more>>
Digital Security For Activists: Do you know how to protect yourself and your movement from these common threats activists face under authoritarian regimes? This training covers the key measures activists should take before and if any of these happen to reduce their risk and be able to continue their work. Read more>>
How To Blow Up A Movement: Andreas Malm’s book ‘How to blow up a pipeline’ – and the film it inspired – are both asking the wrong question, argues Milan Rai. Read more>>
Lessons From Gramsci For Social Movements Today: From Antonio Gramsci’s political thinking and practical strategizing come a set of ideas that arguably have only grown more salient with time. Read more>>
Barbara Deming: A Brief Account Of The Life of An Inspiring Nonviolent Revolutionary: Barbara Deming (1917 – 1984) was one of the most dearly loved civil rights and feminist activists of her time. Deming began her career as a poet, professional writer, and film critic, and turned to political writing and human rights activism in the middle of her life. After a trip to India in 1959 sparked her interest in Gandhi, she embraced the pacificism of her Quaker background and aligned with nonviolent justice movements, arguing for a strictly secular approach to nonviolent resistance. Read more>>
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko: Yurii Sheliazhenko has been formally charged by the Ukrainian government with the crime of justifying Russian aggression. The evidence is this statement which explicitly condemns Russian aggression. Sign the petition to get the Ukrainian government to drop the prosecution. Learn more>>
Tell Your Representative: Co-Sponsor and Pass the OLIGARCH Act: There is a point when extreme wealth is, by definition, extreme power. We have reached that point. Concentrated wealth is suffocating our democracy, threatening our economic system, and undermining our social cohesion. A government that works only for billionaires while ordinary Americans suffer cannot withstand authoritarian forces and extremists. Learn more>>
350.org Power Up! Day of Action: Fossil fuel profits could electrify millions of households with renewable power. Join 350.org in November to campaign to make it happen. Learn more>>
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