Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
There’s a lot going on in Nonviolence News this week: Myanmar’s allies in the US are pushing to stop jet fuel and weapons sales to the military junta, Serbia and Guatemala are struggling over disputed elections, and First Nations activists broke into Trans Mountain Pipeline offices in Canada to stop pipeline construction.
In Pakistan, grieving mothers, wives, and sisters have organized an ‘unprecedented’ women-led movement to stop forced disappearances. They’re not the only ones taking action against violence. People in Trinidad and Tobago held a march against the high murder rates they are facing. And Nigerians are protesting police brutality after Canadian police murdered a Nigerian living in Canada.
Extinction Rebellion in the Netherlands has launched a bold campaign to ‘reclaim the Port of Rotterdam’ by taking responsibility for its negative impact on the earth and transitioning to green jobs. But nearby Germany is wrestling with a cautionary tale about how to navigate this transition – its streets are filled with tractors as farmers protest the lack of fuel subsidies. As we shift away from fossil fuels, we have to help essential sectors (like food) make the switch. We can’t lose our farms. In 2022, Nonviolence News covered how Sri Lanka’s abrupt switch to organic farming practices was a disaster for farmers (who couldn’t access organic manure and fertilizers), leading to an economic crisis and then a nonviolent revolution that ousted the heads of the government. Humanity needs to learn from these stories and work with industries in good faith to make wise policies to help these good and necessary changes happen.
As Israel is put on trial for genocide, people are shutting down weapons manufacturers, blockading bridges, passing municipal resolutions calling for a ceasefire (San Francisco being the latest – and largest – city in the US to do so), and much more. India’s labor unions took a strong stand against a scheme to send up to a hundred thousand workers to Israel to work for the construction sector. There is also an interesting article on why supporting Israelis who refuse to fight is an important strategy for stopping the violence. (This point was also made about the Russian anti-war movement and the Ukraine War. International solidarity for people who stand up to their country’s warmongering can be critically important.)
A pair of creative actions brought me a bit of good cheer this week. First, someone made a map of independent coffee shops so you can boycott Starbucks in solidarity with the workers. Remember, you have a lot of options for your coffee. It doesn’t have to come with union-busting, low wages, and injustice stirred in. The other story that caught my eye came via a Nonviolence News reader who shared a local action in Duluth, MN. After a snowless Christmas, climate activists took advantage of the first, wet snowfall in 2024 to make a hundred little snowmen in a protest sculpture by city offices. It’s a tactic many of us could use this winter as warm weather and rain make snowmen an endangered species (along with the rest of humanity).
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: Serbians protest against an election they feel was manipulated and stolen.
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The Wider Implications of Serbia’s Disputed Election Results And Mass Protests: Serbia is a flashpoint in the European struggle between democracy and autocratic leaders, with Russia’s war in Ukraine heightening its importance. Now, the Balkan nation is being torn apart by protests accusing the government of authoritarian President Aleksandar Vučić, a strong Putin ally, of widespread election fraud. Read more>>
Why I’m Exercising My Right To Protest In Trinidad & Tobago: Amid high murder rates, some citizens are taking action with public protest. “This particular march is not merely a protest of alarm; it is also a gesture of mourning. Many of our people have died this year as victims of violence.” Read more>>
The Other Guatemala Stands Up For Democracy: Indigenous people are rallying to defend the country’s constitution and uphold the election of Bernardo Arévalo as president. Read more>>
German Farmers Begin Week of Protests: On Monday, German farmers kicked off a week of mobilizations that includes highway blockades to protest against the subsidy cuts by the coalition government. Farmers maintain that in the current situation of falling agricultural product prices, removing the subsidy of 21.48 cents per liter of diesel will result in a one-third reduction in their income. Read more>>
Germany’s Rail Strike Affects 80 Percent Of Long-Distance Trains: Workers demand a reduction in working hours and a salary increase of 555 euros per month. On Thursday, the railway operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced that the 24-hour strike called by the Society of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL) will force the cancellation of 80 percent of long-distance trains. Read more>>
Someone Created An Incredible Map To Help Americans Boycott Starbucks: Starbucks has been under fire from its union workers for months with accusations of poor working conditions and resistance to negotiation from the union — and this has prompted some members of the public to boycott the brand. One anti-Starbucks activist named Sacha Fournier took the boycott a step further by creating a map that would help other activists who still want their morning coffee, but want to avoid Starbucks. Read more>>
Indigenous-Led Coalition Calls For Moratorium On Terrestrial Carbon Trade: The Pathways Alliance for Change and Transformation (PACT), a coalition of Indigenous, community and nonprofit organizations, says a pause in selling carbon credits is needed until protections for the land rights of these communities are laid out “explicitly, proactively, and comprehensively. Read more>>
Champions of El Salvador’s Historic Mining Ban Face Legal Persecution: El Salvador made history in 2017 when lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to ban mining for gold and other metals after coming under intense pressure from international mining interests. Now five activists known as Water Defenders who were instrumental in the anti-mining campaign are facing serious but unrelated criminal charges dating back to the 1980s and remain on house arrest. An international coalition is demanding dubious charges against Water Defenders known as the “Santa Marta 5” be dropped. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion Wants To Reclaim the Port of Rotterdam: XR Rotterdam’s Reclaim the Harbor campaign launched on World Harbor Day in September 2023 with four demands: Increase actions to decarbonize the port, provide green jobs to ensure a just transition for port workers, cut pollution and take responsibility for its harms, and work with the people of Rotterdam to make decisions about the port’s future. The activists made national news when they strung a banner across Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge reading “Herover de haven”—“Reclaim the harbor.” Read more>>
Snowmen Protest Climate Change: With fresh snow falling in many northern states, local climate groups are holding snowman protests. One group built more than 100 little snowmen — complete with tiny protest signs — on the steps of a monument at their City Hall, earning coverage in the Duluth News Tribune. The snowmen were protesting the climate crisis, which has turned them into endangered species in the area. Read more>>
Grassroots Groups Are Doing Small-Scale Reparations in Absence of Federal Action: One reparations group in Portland, Oregon, is working to redistribute wealth and enable Black residents to own homes. The Project works to redistribute housing-related wealth and privilege, with the aim of changing how racial disparities play out in homeownership. Read more>>
Nigerians Rally Online To Protest The Murder of a Nigerian Student By Canadian Police: On New Year’s Eve, police in the Canadian city of Winnipeg fatally shot a 19-year-old man, Afolabi Stephen Opaso (known as “Zigi”), who was claimed to have been acting “erratically” at an apartment building. Over 9,000 people signed a petition for justice, and social media hashtags like #JusticeforZigi have been created. Read more>>
Writers of Color Are Redefining Nature Writing: A new generation of poets, essayists, memoirists, and novelists is narrating stories of severed connections and exploitation—both their own and the Earth’s. Read more>>
Navajo Nation Protests Plans For Moon Burial: The Navajo Nation is trying to ground the first commercial burials in space, insisting that the plan to memorialize humans on the moon will turn a place sacred to native religions into a “waste site.” Read more>>
Breaking Into TMX, Secwepemc Allies Try To Stop Construction of Canada’s Pipeline: While the pipeline expansion’s final sections tear through a sacred site in Secwepemcúl’ecw, a last-ditch effort is made to defend Pípsell. The constant banging and shrieking of machinery echoing in the foreground, along with the unnatural pollution of industrial flood lights, is an abrupt juxtaposition. This is where some of the last of Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX) project is being stitched together. Read more>>
Advocates Vow To Fight US Border Policy Standoff: Asylum rights groups warn against kowtowing to Republican effort to condition Ukraine aid on greater restrictions. On Tuesday, demonstrators from dozens of advocacy groups gathered near the US Capitol for a “Save Asylum” campaign, where they appealed to lawmakers not to sacrifice asylum protections as part of any spending deal. Read more>>
Women Are Leading an Unprecedented Protest Movement in Balochistan, Pakistan: Baloch women have launched a march toward Pakistan’s capital to protest rights abuses and forced disappearances in Balochistan. The current movement began following the killing of a 24-year-old youth in Turbat Tehsil, leading to a week-long protest in Turbat, where the deceased’s family and a massive crowd placed his body on the road and protested. Read more>>
Police Immediately Raid LGBTQ+ Clubs In Moscow After Russia Bans ‘International LGBTQ+ Movement’: LGBTQ+ people in Russia say that they are afraid that anyone identifying as LGBTQ+ could now be announced as “extremist” and criminally punished. Read more>>
Taliban Using ‘Bad Hijab’ Law To Arrest Women Protesting Education Ban: Activists in Kabul say the Taliban is rounding up and detaining women and girls under the pretext of a draconian law on improperly worn headscarves. In the past week, women’s rights activist Farida Mohib said she had witnessed arrests of women on “an excessive scale” in the Afghan capital, in a crackdown which she said was designed to quash any last vestiges of protest in the country over a ban on women’s and girls’ education. Read more>>
Facing High Rates of Sexual Violence, Colombia Turns To Salsa As Therapy: The popular dance is being used along with other treatments to address trauma in Cali, the world capital of salsa. An experimental therapy project run by the local nonprofit, Mi Cuerpo Es Mi Historia, a name that translates to “My body is my story”. The project combines salsa dancing and psychotherapy to help survivors of sexual violence express their emotions and process their trauma over the course of several months. Read more>>
Why Israeli Army Refusers Are Crucial To Ending The Cycle Of Violence: Nineteen-year-old Israeli army refuser Ariel Davidov discusses the importance — and dangers — of taking an open stance against war, occupation and apartheid. Read more>>
Pro-Ceasefire Protesters are Shutting Down Weapons Manufacturers: “We as everyday people have an enormous amount of collective power and we have the ability to disrupt business as usual.” “We support mobilizing for mass rallies, boycotts, and education around Palestine,” says Calla Walsh, a 19-year-old organizer and founding member of Palestine Action US. “But if there are hundreds of people who are willing to put their bodies on the line and get arrested, we think those people should be doing that at weapons companies. Read more>>
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San Francisco Becomes Largest US City to Back Gaza Ceasefire: The city’s resolution calls on the Biden administration and Congress to follow suit. Read more>>
We Can End Mass Atrocities In Gaza And Beyond: Ordinary people can fix the broken postwar international system and deliver global justice to Palestinians and oppressed people worldwide. Read more>>
330 People Arrested At Pro-Palestine Bridge Shut-Downs: Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed three bridges and the Holland Tunnel in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning, blocking off traffic and creating chaos. Demonstrators from the “Shut it Down for Palestine” rally marched through City Hall Park before groups of them descended on the bridges and tunnel, police said. Read more>>
‘Never Again’ Projected On Walls Of US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Supporters of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum projected photographs and slides on the exterior walls calling on the world to “Never Again” tolerate genocide for anyone. The photographs showed scenes of atrocities in Gaza with words saying “Stop the Genocide in Gaza” “Ceasefire Now” and “Silence=Death.” Read more>>
Labor Calls For a Permanent Ceasefire: The Coalition of Labor Union Women president Elise told the crowd in front of the White House, “When armed conflict erupts, it is women and girls who pay the highest price.” “We join the global labor movement and the International Trade Union Confederation in calling for a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Middle East. APALA calls for an immediate permanent ceasefire and an end to the bombing of civilian infrastructure, the release of all hostages, and unimpeded humanitarian aid to all families affected by the violence.” Read more>>
Indian Construction Workers Reject Labor Export Deal To Israel As “Sinister Ploy”, Reaffirm Solidarity With Palestine: The Construction Workers Federation of India has denounced government recruitment drives to send Indians to work in Israel’s construction sector. Reports emerged towards the end of last year that Israel was seeking to hire up to 100,000 workers from India to replace Palestinian workers in its construction sector. After the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation began on October 7, Israel revoked the work permits given to all Palestinian workers from Gaza, where unemployment and poverty rates are rampant due to the ongoing 17-year-long siege imposed by the Zionist occupation. Read more>>
Russians Are Singing Anti-War Songs – Are Their Comrades Listening? Music is a powerful tool of resistance, and has been used this way for centuries. In the late years of USSR music played a big role in supporting dissent and new ideas. More recently, in Russia, which is waging a full-scale war on Ukraine since February 24 2022, some musicians sided with the Russian pro-war authoritarian government, but some others became vocal in their anti-war statements. Unfortunately, thoughtful anti-war songs in Russian get less attention than the warmongering tunes. Read more>>
Understanding The Interaction Between Youth And Autocratic Regimes In Africa: Why aren’t youth in Africa resisting autocratic regimes? The role of youth in popular protest – such as in Sudan in 2019 – has created high expectations about their role in countering autocratic governments and contributing to democracy. Political scientists and sociologists are interested in understanding the interaction between youth and autocratic regimes – especially as elected autocracies are taking hold in Africa. Read more>>
Bayard Rustin Showed The Promise And Pitfalls Of Coalition Politics: At the height of a calamitous war presided over by a Democratic president, the brilliant socialist organizer Bayard Rustin tried to forge a mass coalition to deliver progressive change. His failure to do so in the 1960s tells us much about building one today. Read more>>
In the Teamsters and UAW, Historic Victories Were Due to Decades of Union Reform Efforts: Last year the Teamsters and the UAW both won historic contract victories. Those wins were made possible by government anti-corruption efforts and, more importantly, by decades of organizing by members to make their unions more militant and democratic. Read more>>
Protest Movements Could Be More Effective Than The Best Charities: Protest movements are surprisingly effective at large, widespread social change – far more so than charitable groups. A recent study shows protest movements are six to twelve times more cost effective at making change than traditional organizations. Despite this, they are chronically underfunded and under-resourced. Should more philanthropists fund movements? Read more>>
Long-Term Movement Organization Reflects On Lessons To Learn: As part of the process of closing down Rhize, we developed a report that shares our successes and lessons through that experience. This report aims to celebrate Rhize’s legacy and document its many impacts, while also distilling challenges and learnings on diverse themes relevant to nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, working in social change worldwide. Read more>>
March On Washington For Gaza: Join CODEPINK and the American Muslim Task Force for Palestine on Saturday, January 13th, 2024, as we march in DC demanding a #CeaseFireNow and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestine! (Jan 13) Learn more>>
Online Forum—Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative: Pax Christi Massachusetts is planning an online forum on January 27, 2024, 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm ET, entitled Building a World Without Nuclear Weapons: An Urgent Imperative, to examine the existential threat and moral implications of nuclear weapons, to enter into dialogue about solutions, and to urge prayer and action from individuals and groups. Learn more>>
Appalachians Against Pipelines Week of Action: AAP is calling for people all around the country to join the fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the solidarity Days of Action, January 29-31. If you know you want to organize an action please let them know about it! Learn more>>
Free! Movement Ecology Workshop: This free workshop on Movement Ecology is about a framework to understand and analyze the 5 distinct strategies that arise when attempting to make social change. We can only have ecological thinking/action in social change if we know what makes the parts of the movement different in relation to one another. (Feb 20) Learn more>>
Read For Peace! All-Ages Book Group on The Crown of Light: Build a culture of peace through peace literature and readers of all ages! Bring your kids, grandparents, and friends of all ages to this lively, 4-week discussion group that explores an exciting fantasy novel about waging peace. Author Rivera Sun and youth facilitator Savanna Holden are co-facilitating a special intergenerational book club on The Crown of Light. (Feb 6-27) Learn more>>
Engaging Nonviolence II: Inner Skills & Outer Practices For Interpersonal and Social Conflict: In this new 6-week online course, you will explore the power of nonviolence in our relationships, communities, and daily lives. Engaging Nonviolence II explores skills for interpersonal conflicts, builds our inner awareness, and fosters our capacity to engage nonviolence in wider settings, such as interrupting harassment on the subway, or participating in nonviolent actions. (March 2024) Learn more>>
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