Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Economic injustice is one of the major drivers of mass movements. This weekend, thousands of poor people and allies gathered in Washington, DC, as part of the Poor People’s Campaign’s March To The Polls, an effort to mobilize some of the 140 million poor and low-income US citizens into a political force. It’s the kind of shift that many populaces around the world are making, though not all exercise power through the polls. Most do it in the streets.
For example, in Ladakh, India, a series of protest campaigns over jobs, autonomy, and the climate crisis led to a political flip away from the right-wing. The United Kingdom made a historic shift to a left-wing government for similar reasons. Meanwhile, in Kenya, the youth-mobilized mass protests succeeded in forcing President Ruto to do an about-face on a controversial finance bill, and the demonstrations continue to exert pressure while calling for parliament to dissolve and hold new elections.
In other Nonviolence News, Barcelona, Spain, banned short-term rentals to protect renters. The island of Vanuatu is seeing good results from its plastic ban. A rewilding success on the English coast is inspiring the surrounding area to also take measures help endangered species rebound.
Another wave of climate activists have been arrested during the Summer of Heat On Wall Street, bringing the total arrests to 259. In the United Kingdom, a trio of climate-activism stories caught headlines. In one, a group of activists raised a ruckus for throwing washable paint on Stonehenge. In another, climate leader Roger Hallam filibustered for hours on the witness stand about the reality of the crisis. In the third, the government arrested supporters of Just Stop Oil for nothing more than sharing food at a community event or in their homes.
Wars in multiple parts of the world are being resisted in a range of ways. Some efforts aim for survival and humanitarian relief, such as the communal kitchens in Khartoum, Sudan, that are trying to stave off the famine caused by the civil war. Others are refusing to actively fight, like the Ukrainian men who are fleeing the country to avoid conscription into the army, or the Israeli reservists refusing to serve in Gaza. Still more anti-war actions are continuing to push for divestment from weapons makers and for a ceasefire in Gaza. In one bold action in the United States, rock climbers hung a giant banner off the iconic cliffs in Yosemite National Park. Three thousand feet in the air, it read “Stop the Genocide”.
The stories in Nonviolence News this week are a reminder that people are courageous, visionary, and determined. The world is changed by ordinary people doing extraordinary things. People like you.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Photo Credit: Thousands gather for the Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington, D.C. and to the Polls on June 29, 2024. (Photo: Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO/X)
‘Give Nature Space and it Will Come Back’ – Rewilding Returns Endangered Species to UK Coast: A broad coalition of natural trusts, farmers and businessmen, and conservationists are looking to turn the southern English coastline and the lands beyond into a biodiversity hotspot—and success can be seen and felt in the numbers of aquatic species that are returning to the Sussex coast. Read more>>
California Communities Celebrate ‘Massive’ Victory as Oil Industry Drops Unpopular Referendum: The oil industry withdrew its $40 million campaign to kill a historic law to protect neighborhoods from oil drilling’s toxic effects, but is threatening to challenge the measure in court. Read more>>
New Labor Department Protections Empower H-2A Agricultural Workers to Organize: Agriculture is rife with labor violations and abuse, but thanks to a new rule that went into effect June 28, the industry’s most vulnerable migrant H-2A workers now have better protections to organize against unfair treatment from American employers. The work of groups like Migrant Justice and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante helped lay the groundwork for the rule. Read more>>
Barcelona Bans Short Term Rentals: Barcelona, Spain, will ban short-term rentals by 2028, prompted by concerns that locals are being pushed out of the housing markets by companies such as Airbnb and Booking.com. city officials have announced. “In Barcelona, we prioritize housing,” Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni said. Read more>>
Vanuatu Banned Plastic Waste – It’s Made An Impressive Difference: Plastic pollution has had a big impact on the small nation of Vanuatu, forming trash islands in once-picturesque turquoise lagoons. In 2018, the government acted decisively: It prohibited the sale and distribution of some kinds of single-use plastics, making Vanuatu one of the first countries anywhere to do so. The results have been impressive. Read more>>
Corporate Social Responsibility Leader Convicted of Funding Death Squads: In a landmark legal case, Chiquita Banana was convicted by a federal court in Florida of funding a paramilitary death squad, the United Self Defense Force of Colombia (AUC in Spanish), in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The AUC murdered thousands of workers and used Chiquita ports and boats to move cocaine and weapons. Listen here>>
High In The Himalayas, Resistance To Modi is On The Rise: In India’s Ladakh region, a growing movement for autonomy, statehood, land, jobs and climate justice is readying for its next phase of direct action. Read more>>
Generation Z Is at the Forefront of a Powerful Uprising in Kenya: In response to an attempt by Kenya’s government to tax basic goods, a youth uprising has emerged that shows no signs of ending soon. Anti-imperialist youth internationally can strengthen the movement by showing solidarity with the protests and putting forward demands against the IMF and U.S. imperialism. Read more>>
Journalists’ Unions Organize to Provide Internet and First Aid to Press in Gaza: Reporting in Gaza has become nearly impossible with limited access to power, internet, and basics like food and water. The nearly nine-month Israeli assault has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 children. At least 135 of the dead were journalists or media workers. Read more>>
Campaign Collects 730,000+ Signatures for Ohio Amendment to End Rigged Maps: The campaign for an Ohio ballot measure for a state constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering has collected more than 730,000 signatures, according to the initiative’s organizers. “Our chance to finally achieve fair maps in Ohio is just around the corner,” said one supporter of the proposed constitutional amendment. Read more>>
UK Judge Orders Police To Arrest 11 People For Holding Signs Outside Court: On Tuesday 2 July police arrested a group of 11 people for holding signs outside Southwark Crown Court which said “Juries deserve to hear the whole truth” and “Juries have the absolute right to acquit a defendant on their conscience.” Read more>>
Kenyan Protesters Call to Dissolve Parliament and Hold New Elections: Anti-government protests in Kenya are continuing after President William Ruto made a dramatic reversal Wednesday, announcing he would not sign the finance bill that sparked a nationwide uprising, and would instead send the bill back to Parliament. Read more>>
UK Dept of Work and Pensions Failings Are Responsible For Violence Against Staff, As Workers Go On Strike: On Monday 1 June 1,400 security guards working in DWP Jobcentres have walked out in a week of industrial action. They are demanding fair pay from G4S – a British multinational private security company – who currently hold the contract to run security at Jobcentres across the country. Read more>>
‘We Are a Resurrection’: Poor People’s Campaign Rallies for Low-Wage Voters in DC: “There will be no democracy worth saving if it doesn’t lift the lives of poor and low-wage people all over this world,” one speaker said. Thousands of poor and low-wage workers and their supporters from religious, labor, and social justice organizations rallied in Washington, D.C. on Saturday and pledged to “break the silence about poverty” and mobilize 15 million poor and low-income voters ahead of the November 2024 election. Read more>>
Striking Nurses Say ‘Patients Over Profits’: Over 3,000 nurses from six Providence Corporation hospitals across Oregon completed a three-day strike on June 20, carrying signs saying, “Patients over profits.” Since December, the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) has been in negotiations with Providence for a contract that ensures safe staffing ratios, better hours, higher pay and improved health care benefits. The striking nurses shouted: “Heroes treated like zeros!” Read more>>
Oil Field Workers Protest For Unpaid Wages & Restrooms: Low wages and working conditions that truck drivers describe as degrading have sparked an organized labor movement in the Permian Basin, a historic first for the nation’s busiest oil field. Read more>>
68 ‘Summer of Heat’ Activists Arrested in NYC Protesting Citgroup’s Fossil Fuel Financing: “Citi’s business model is frying our planet,” said one campaigner. The group said a total of 259 activists have been arrested during ongoing Summer of Heat on Wall Street protests, which it organized along with Stop the Money Pipeline, Climate Defenders, and Planet Over Profit. Read more>>
UK Detained Just Stop Oil Supporters For Sharing Food: Over the last 12 hours the British state has acted unlawfully in detaining a total of at least 13 ordinary people sharing food at a community event and at their homes. Their only crime? They are Just Stop Oil supporters. Read more>>
Climate Protesters Disrupt Fundraiser Over Party’s Relationship With Climate Polluters: Five protesters interrupted a hustings (fundraising/discussion) in St Mary’s Church, Saffron Walden, to challenge government minister Kemi Badenoch over her and her party’s relationship with climate deniers and big polluters. It happened just hours before the polls opened for the general election. Read more>>
Climate Protester Defies Judge To Give Hours-Long Speech In Court: Jury sent out three times during address by Roger Hallam, who is on trial for alleged role in organizing M25 blockade. A climate protester ignored a judge’s instructions and refused to leave the witness box, instead delivering an hours-long speech telling jurors that his alleged role in a conspiracy to block the M25 was justified by the risk of human extinction. Read more>>
The Goal Is To Attack A Movement: The Georgia Attorney General’s office appears to have made a major blunder in the ongoing prosecution of 61 Stop Cop City activists—one that could potentially cost the state its case altogether. Read more>>
Eric Garner, 10 Years Later: A cell phone video of Eric Garner being choked to death by NYPD police, seen by millions, helped ignite calls for sweeping changes in policing. Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, is trying to sustain the national momentum for police reform. Read more>>
National Black Farmers Association Tells Tractor Supply Execs To Step Down: The National Black Farmers Association called on Tractor Supply’s president and CEO Tuesday to step down after the rural retailer announced that it would drop most of its corporate diversity and climate advocacy efforts. Read more>>
Crackdown On Stop Cop City Movement Is a Warning Sign: Stop Cop City protesters are being charged with domestic terrorism. What began as a fight to stop a new police training facility from being built is now also a fight against the state’s attempt to choke a social movement and stifle dissent — which, in a democracy, is as important as breathing. Read more>>
Sydney City Council Takes First Steps Towards BDS: The City of Sydney Council decided at its June 24 meeting to start investigating its ties to companies that are complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine, including the illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian Territories. Read more>>
The Student Intifada Has Reached The UK: At the School of Oriental and African Studies, students set up an encampment in solidarity with Gaza, taking particular aim at the university’s investments in companies that produce white phosphorus. Watch here>>
‘I Am Not Made For War’: The Men Fleeing Ukraine To Evade Conscription: As a new recruitment drive looms, some are turning to online handlers and forgers to escape the horror of war. Read more>>
Three Israeli Army Reservists Explain Why They Refuse to Continue Serving in Gaza: Yuval was required to torch two residential buildings; Michael realized how many civilians were likely to be killed during every bombing he observed; and Tal broke down when Israel entered Rafah. They are willing to suffer the price for their refusal to serve in Gaza. Read more>>
Ultra-Orthodox Protest Against Order To Enlist In Israeli Military Turns Violent In Jerusalem: Thousands of Jewish ultra-Orthodox men clashed with Israeli police in central Jerusalem on Sunday during a protest against a Supreme Court order for them to begin enlisting for military service. Read more>>
Anti-War Organizers On Pacific Coast Protest US Military Exercises: Cancel RIMPAC and Resist NATO coalitions denounce US-led military exercises taking place in Hawai’i. Read more>>
Why Sending Unarmed Protection To Gaza Isn’t a Radical Idea: Nonviolence Radio speaks with Nonviolent Peaceforce founder Mel Duncan discusses his reasonable proposal to increase the number of unarmed civilian protection teams in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. Read more>>
Aid Workers Try To Treat Trauma Under Worst Possible Conditions: AFSC’s team in Gaza has provided life-saving aid to hundreds of thousands of people. Like many humanitarian workers in Gaza, they have carried out this work despite losing loved ones as well as their homes. They have also been displaced multiple times. Today, they are urging people around the world to keep up the call for a cease-fire and humanitarian access for Gaza. Read more>>
Messages From Divided Families From North Korea: It’s been over 70 years since an armistice suspended active fighting on the Korean Peninsula. But today, many Korean Americans remain separated from family members in North Korea because of enduring conflicts. With support from AFSC, a video project is documenting the stories of these Korean Americans. Watch this interview with Hyo Sun Yang, whose father was captured by the North Korean army at the height of the war. Watch here>>
Movement Lessons From Climbers With Palestine: A group of seasoned rock climbers calling themselves “Climbers With Palestine” scaled the 3,000-foot wall of the iconic El Capitan granite monolith in Yosemite National Park (on the ancestral lands of the Mewuk people) to unfurl a massive banner reading “Stop the Genocide.” Read more>>
Activists Serve Up the Truth On Barclays’ Wimbledon Sportswashing: The bank’s brand gets a more accurate makeover. Protesters have called out Barclays’ sportswashing – and asked Wimbledon why it’s batting for the fossil fuel and arms financier. Read more>>
Climate Crisis Leads To More Wonky Vegetables In Netherlands: Crowdfunding scheme salvages ‘imperfect’ fruit and veg following the country’s wettest autumn, winter and spring on record. Read more>>
‘We Survive Together’: The Communal Kitchens Fighting Famine In Khartoum: ‘Everybody should be able to eat and not feel shame.’ Communal kitchens are assisting hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan’s embattled capital, Khartoum, providing regular meals as well as social and emotional support amid a deepening famine that international aid groups are failing to tackle. Read more>>
Highlighting WNBA Off-Court Player Activism: With viewership for women’s basketball at an all-time high, “Power of the Dream” — Amazon’s new documentary offers a candid look into the off-court activism of WNBAers during the COVID-ravaged 2020 season as players mourn the loss of Black lives due to police violence and get involved in the Georgia senatorial race. Read more>>
Just Stop Oil Drew Needed Attention To Climate-Threatened Stonehenge: Two Just Stop Oil activists recently sprayed powder paint on parts of Stonehenge, the 5,000 year old monuments in southern England. The paints will wash away with the rain, the campaigners claimed. But at least one archaeologist thinks the stones will have a harder time surviving the longer droughts and more intense rains of the near future. Read more>>
States Are Restricting Protests and Criminalizing Dissent: Since 2017, 21 states across the country have passed new laws that restrict protests — nearly 50 in total — with dozens more being introduced annually. Most of these new laws increase criminal penalties for conduct, like interfering with traffic, involved in some kinds of protests. Under laws passed in states such as Arkansas, Iowa, and Tennessee, protesters can spend up to a year in jail for “obstructing” public streets or sidewalks, even though these are traditional venues for First Amendment-related activities. Read more>>
6 Times the US Government Suppressed Protests in Recent History: While protesting in the United States should in theory be a completely secure act, it has often proven not to be. Just think of historical protests from the 1960s and 1970s that became violent, like the Bloody Sunday civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama, where protesters were beaten by state troopers and local police with billy clubs and whips, or the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations at Kent State University. From Occupy Wall Street to the J20 protests, here are some examples from recent history that follow these same patterns. Read more>>
On Losing ‘The Greatest Teacher of Nonviolence In America’: Rev. James Lawson was my teacher, mentor and friend. We must commit to honoring his legacy. An iconic leader of the civil rights movement who changed the course of U.S. history and made extraordinary contributions to advance the theory and practice of nonviolence, Lawson passed away on June 9. He was 95. Read more>>
Why Protests Are Exploding In Every Major Urban Center In Kenya: What seems different about the current wave of protests is that they are predominantly led by young people who are urban-based and multi-ethnic. The protests were also not confined to the capital, Nairobi. Street protests were witnessed in 35 of Kenya’s 47 counties. Read more>>
Black Economic Boycotts Of The Civil Rights Era Still Offer Lessons On How To Achieve a Just Society: The Civil Rights Act of 1964’s most important lesson for today’s movements is not its content but rather how it was achieved. As firsthand accounts from the era make clear, the movement won because it directly hurt the interests of white business owners. The 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, the 1963 boycott of Birmingham businesses and many lesser-known local boycotts inflicted major costs on local business owners and forced them to support integration. Read more>>
The Future of Palestine: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going? Jonathan and Daoud Kuttab for a lively discussion on the current circumstances of Palestine and where they think the future will take us. Watch here>>
Elders Rise Up: Beat the heat and join Elders in the street as we disrupt business as usual at Citibank––home of the world’s #1 biggest funder of fossil fuel expansion––to demand that Wall Street banks and financiers stop using our hard-earned retirement savings to fund the climate crisis. (July 8) Learn more>>
East African Crude Oil Pipeline Fight Escalating: The fight against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline is escalating as climate activists in East Africa are facing an extreme escalation in harassment. In the past few weeks, multiple Tanzanian and Ugandan activists and community members have been bullied, arrested, and interrogated for trying to stop this carbon bomb. Add your name to stand with climate activists in East Africa, stop EACOP, and take down the fossil fuel industry. Learn more>>
Summer Course with Michael Nagler: The Science of Nonviolence: In this course, we will look into the contribution of ‘science’ as understood in the modern world to the theory and practice of nonviolence. In addition, we will study nonviolence itself as a science. The sessions will include both lecture and discussion components. Topics will range from quantum physics to human nature, and we will cover materials from ancient spiritual texts to current scientific breakthroughs. (Starts July 19) Learn more>>
Tell Congress: Act Now To Stop The War In Sudan: The war in Sudan has displaced more than 9 million people and famine is spreading. U.N. experts have warned that more than 220,000 children could die of starvation in the coming months without intervention. The United States must act now to ensure vital humanitarian aid for Sudan—and push for long-term, sustainable peace. Send a message to Congress today! Learn more>>