Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
The streets of London are facing the colorful, disruptive direct actions of Extinction Rebellion’s Insure Our Survival Campaign (pictured above). Focused on the insurance companies backing fossil fuels, the sit-ins, die-ins, marches, rallies, and other acts of civil disobedience happening this week are pressuring insurers to stop providing oil, gas, and coal with financial security at the expense of humanity’s survival. It’s a smart strategy: all new fossil fuel projects need to have insurance. If they can’t get it, pipelines, mines, refineries, etc. simply don’t get built. If the campaign succeeds, it’s a fast way to dry up one of the key resources that fossil fuels need.
You’ll notice some common themes between the stories in this week’s round-up. Nurses in Honolulu and New Orleans each held a 1-day strike only to find that the management had locked the doors on them when they returned to work the next day. In Hawai’i, the nurses stayed out on strike and ultimately won. Will the Louisiana nurses do the same? Another shared theme is resistance to housing gentrification: Spain’s collectives are occupying vacant bank-owned buildings and stopping 3 evictions per week. Meanwhile, an Egyptian river island community is defying government eviction orders in order to resist an upscale development in the Nile. In the United States, residents could learn a lot from these struggles, as a new report indicates that we are now in an era of ‘hyper-gentrification’ in which ordinary renters and would-be homebuyers have to compete with the inflated prices driven up by large housing corporations.
And, of course, elections are another major theme in this week’s Nonviolence News. In 2024, 60% of the global population is going through an election cycle. Many of these are happening amidst mass protests, counterprotests, crackdowns by governments, and other unrest. You’ll find stories about Mozambique’s post-election turmoil, quiet campaigns to prevent elections-related violence in the US, a mini-course on how to rebuild trust in the wake of polarized election cycles, insights on how to vote through the lens of a movement mindset, and more.
The article to read in-depth is a fascinating story about how British Columbia is in treaty negotiations with 200 First Nations in a process intended to lead to joint decision-making on issues like forestry, mining, construction, land management, ecosystem restoration, and more. As they make strides toward decolonization, they’re also challenging the political system that protects corporate profits above all else. This has far-reaching implications … and potential.
As you read this week’s Nonviolence News, keep your eyes out for clever tactics to borrow from other campaigns. Nonviolence News is full of them. For example: Just Stop Oil has been turning iconic statues of the Beatles, Nelson Mandela, and Emmeline Pankhurst into climate demonstrators carrying speech bubbles calling for climate action. We all have a statue or two nearby … why not have icons of history past put in a good word for a liveable future?
Fed up? Some of my favorite stories this week had to do with individuals who ‘snapped’ into nonviolent action. In Louisiana, a woman scaled a neighborhood tree with her lawn chair and jugs of water, launching a tree-sit to stop the city from cutting it down. In Brazil, an exhausted pharmacy worker let out a 1.5 minute TikTok tirade against the 6-day workweek. It went viral, launched a movement, and led to him getting elected as a city councillor. Interesting things happen when we get fed up with injustice. As Rosa Parks said about her historic civil disobedience on segregated buses, “the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, consider how you could move into action. At the very least, be sick and tired in front of a decision-maker’s office holding a sign. Or up in a tree. Or by an iconic statue.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Nurses in Honolulu, HI, held a one-day strike to protest for better staffing policies. When they came in to work the next day, the doors were locked against them. The hospital management was sending a warning: accept our demands – or else. The nurses called their bluff and stayed on strike. After elders got arrested in a solidarity protest, the management agreed to new nurse-to-patient ratio language in the contract. Read more>>
Iceland gave the 4-day work week a try. People loved it. So did the economy. This is a great example of a nonviolent solution, a policy that alleviates the harms of stress, overwork, and the struggle to balance personal and work life. Read more>>
A nonprofit in Maine raised $12,000 and used it to abolish $1.9 million in medical debt for 1,500 low-income people. “We can’t turn back the clock for these people, but we had to do something,” Evan LeBrun, the nonprofit’s executive director, said in a statement. Debt abolition has been a rising tactic of economic justice since Occupy Debt launched amidst the 2011 Occupy Protests. Read more>>
Over 200,000 subscribers canceled their subscriptions to the Washington Post after Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos prevented the newspaper from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Columnists and journalists have also resigned from the board in protest. Read more>>
In the past decade, organizers have succeeding in reducing the prison population of the Cook County Jail (Chicago, IL) by a whopping 58%. On top of that, youth incarceration rates across the state have fallen dramatically. Here’s how organizers worked to make that happen. Read more>>
El Paso, Texas, has a powerful approach to keeping teens out of jail: a peer-driven, youth-led program centering the well-being of teens. It stands in sharp contrast to the destructive criminal justice systems. This kind of system is known as an alternative institution (or Gandhian constructive program) and can play a potent role in dismantling injustices like juvenile incarceration. Read more>>
A Swedish climate researcher was arrested and convicted last year after refusing to obey police orders to leave the scene of a climate action. Now, the researcher has been released after a district court appeal found that he had acted out of a sense of emergency. It’s a big win for climate activists. We need the courts to acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis and stop punishing activists for pushing our societies to take it seriously. Read more>>
Scientists did a study to see if skin-to-skin connection between parent and newborn could help save the lives of premature newborns. It was so successful that they halted the trial midway through and implemented the practice with all the babies. they observed a 25% reduction in preterm deaths, 35% reduction in incidence of hypothermia and 18% fewer infections compared to babies in the control group. “We collectively decided we couldn’t deny what had clearly proved to be a life-saving protocol, to the control group babies,” said one of the researchers. Read more>>
In Manresa, Spain, a collective of housing activists has helped citizens and migrants occupy vacant bank-owned buildings. They also halt around 3 evictions each week. (Remember this story as you read about other housing struggles in this week’s Nonviolence News. There are lots of places where this bold set of tactics could be used.) Read more>>
Frustrated by rising prices on basic goods, a fuel shortage, and perceived persecution of popular politician and former president Evo Morales, over 4,000 peasants and workers have set up widespread roadblocks across Bolivia to demand changes. Read more>>
Undeterred by the hundreds of jeering protesters who reacted to their demonstration last spring, a group of students at the University of Mississippi are holding a pro-Palestine vigil to ‘honor the martyrs’. It takes courage to stand up for justice anytime, but especially when you’re not surrounded by thousands of supporters in a mass demonstration. Some of the most important work of change takes place in communities like this one in Mississippi, where your fellow students oppose your views. Read more>>
After Oklahoma passed a mandate requiring public schools to teach the Bible, a coalition of groups are suing the state for violating the state constitution which prohibits the use of state funds to promote a specific religion or sect. Read more>>
Facing the Egyptian government’s plans to turn their Nile-river home into an upscale urban development, Warraq Island residents are resisting. It’s not just about the land; it’s also about their way of life, community, and history. For these residents, defying government orders to leave is an act of civil disobedience. Read more>>
In Mozambique, post-election protesters upset by the announcement of Daniel Chapo as the winner were violently repressed by police, leading to 11 deaths. The run-up to the election was marred by political killings, widespread irregularities, and restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. In a year when 60% of the world’s populace is going through an election, these kinds of protests and struggles for verifiable, fair and safe democratic elections impact billions of people’s lives. Read more>>
In the United States, civil society groups have been quietly working to prevent election-related violence. These groups work outside of government and law enforcement, and say that regular citizens can play an important role in reducing tensions and the likelihood of violence. (On a personal note, this radio interview inspired me to offer my de-escalation skills to my local polling station on election day. It’s a case-in-point about why Nonviolence News is important: it reminds us of how we can take action in our on-the-ground communities.) Read more>>
In Iran, women are leading the resistance against executions, a not-infrequent punishment for dissent. During the Women-Life-Freedom Protests in 2022, they worked hard to stop the executions of men who stood in solidarity with female protesters. Their struggle is inseparable from the global movement to abolish the death penalty. Read more>>
On All Saints and Souls Days, Filipino green activists and beauty queens from 10 countries are campaigning to reduce garbage waste in public and private cemeteries. Read more>>
Just Stop Oil transformed the iconic Beatles statue in Liverpool, England, into a climate protest. Placing orange vests on the figures of the famous musicians and speech bubbles above them, the creative action called upon the United Kingdom’s government to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. They also put a vest and speech bubble on statues of Nelson Mandela and suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst (whose speech bubble cleverly said: “Deeds not words: Just Stop Oil”). This is a tactic that people around the world could adapt for their city/town’s iconic statues. Imagine the Wall Street Bull and Bear making a protest statement for the Earth. Or the many Gandhi statues in India. Or Boston Commons’ iconic ducklings (who arguably have a very good reason to stand up for the environment). The possibilities are endless. Read more>>
In 2023, the Dutch climate movement won big with their stunning A24 Highway roadblocks. Thousands of people blockaded the freeways, pressuring the Dutch government to get its act together on climate. Here are three important lessons from that movement for all of us as we work for urgent climate action. Read more>>
Extinction Rebellion flooded the streets of London with colorful, bold climate actions targeting insurance companies that support fossil fuels. Occupying buildings, holding die-ins in the streets, sailing their iconic pink boat through the city, this is just the start of an entire week of action called Insure Our Survival. It’s a smart strategy to put the pressure on insurance companies – why wait for a government regulation to pass a law when these companies could simply say no to offering insurance to oil and gas? It’s poised to be one of the fastest, most effective ways to halt the fossil fuel industry, especially for new projects. Read more>>
In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and beyond, golf courses are being rewilded. Instead of manicured, mowed lawns and daily watering, they’re being turned into nature preserves and parks with increased wildlife activity, plant species and trees. Read more>>
It’s a bittersweet and somewhat ironic. It’s also a hopeful reminder that change is closer than we think. After the floods in North Carolina, emergency power was often delivered by an influx of solar panels that powered food trucks, charging stations, water filtration and generators. Climate-friendly disaster relief should serve as a practical reminder that our entire reliance on fossil fuels is a disaster unfolding. It’s time to make the switch. Read more>>
Two residents of Ohio speak out about the horror of living in an environmental disaster or sacrifice zone. Coming from East Palestine and Toledo, they are still imagining and fighting for a healthier future, free from toxic waste and poisoned water. Read more>>
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief reframes the creeping normalization of superstorms, and pushes back against disaster porn with stories of collective care. “This is about a storm some call Helene and others call Capitalism, Greed, Callous Neglect or the slow and then rapid degradation of the one and only Earth we’ve got. But it is also about a people, and all the ways they (and we) do our best to work miracles of collective care amid a backdrop of loss, devastation, and the history of dehumanization and extraction that animated the Industrial Revolution, and continues to this day.” Read more>>
In the wake of devastating Typhoon Kristine, Filipino artists launched a support effort for a community kitchen serving hot meals to displaced families and artists impacted by the storm. (Organizing around passions, industries, identities, and affiliations can be a powerful way of engaging ever-widening circles of people in direct action on an issue. Beyond relief work, climate groups like Extinction Rebellion have also been successful in mobilizing groups aligned as scientists, mothers, gardeners, artists, students, etc.) Read more>>
High up in the branches of a tree, a Louisiana woman has placed a lawn chair and stocked up on jugs of water. She plans to sit in the tree to stop the department of parks and parkways from cutting it down. It’s a good example of how much power each of us has when we just put our foot down and say no. Or, in this case, climb a tree and refuse to come down. Read more>>
Like the nurses in Hawai’i, University Medical Center nurses in New Orleans, Louisiana, found themselves locked out of the building after they held a one-day strike and picket line outside their hospital. If hospital management are sharing a strike-breaking playbook, then the nurses need to learn pro-tips from one another, too. Can the New Orleans nurses stay out on strike until they win like the Hawai’i nurses? Read more>>
A Brazilian pharmacy worker, Rick Azevedo, got off work one day. Exhausted, he turned his cellphone camera on and made a TikTok video about the outrage he felt about his grueling work schedule. In Brazil, workers often work for eight hours a day, six days a week, only getting one day off. His video gained 1 million views, ignited a movement for “Life Beyond Work”, and led to him being elected as city councillor. Read more>>
The Chicago Teachers Union has been on a roll in recent years. Now, with the mayor as an ally, they’re campaigning for a historic contract that includes its groundbreaking “common good” demands that benefit the community and the holistic wellbeing of the students. Representing the third-largest public school district in the United States, they’re pushing to make it a model of exemplary education in our times. Read more>>
Brace yourself, Greece. In November, workers in hospitality, metalwork, transport, and education are raising the stakes of their strike wave: a general strike against austerity is coming. Read more>>
The United States has entered a state of ‘hyper-gentrification’, according to a new report, Billionaire Blowback on Housing: How concentrated wealth disrupts housing markets and worsens the housing affordability crisis. The report shows that the average person now has to compete with a large corporation when it comes to buying or renting a home. It also highlights that there are currently 28 vacant homes for every homeless person. Listen to an interview about it here>>
Frustrated by the upward spiral of prices on basic foods like tomatoes and onions, Indian women gathered at the foot of a Gandhi statue and burnt an effigy of the demon Narakasura at a protest against blackmarkets and futures trading. Traditionally, the demon is burned on Diwali (Oct 31) to symbolize victory of good over evil. Invoking goddesses/gods, demons, spirits, and magical beings can enliven a nonviolent protest. In other Nonviolence News issues, we’ve reported on Japanese groups invoking deities for protection during the pandemic, mermaids protesting sewage in UK rivers, moss-covered creatures slowly moving through New York City, Kazakhstan activists conjuring up spirits to save a rare ecosystem in their capitol city, and more. Read more>>
After an African man living in India was murdered during what started as a minor altercation, a second man, Kenyan living in India, decided to ride his bicycle through 7 states in India to tackle racism. Read more>>
British Columbia is undertaking a profound experiment in decolonization. In 2019, the westernmost province of Canada signed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into law. This meant that the regional government would share decision-making with over 200 First Nations, impacting everything from forestry to mining to construction to land management and ecology. The implications are astonishing and far-reaching. Read more>>
Black Lives Matter’s new podcast takes a look at the power of reimagining education as a tool of racial liberation. From the Black Panthers’ Oakland School to today, reclaiming schools is crucial to dismantling and healing from racism. Listen here>>
Bay Area art activists in the US demonstrated for the protection of journalists in Gaza. The group has also been active in calling for a ceasefire, an arms embargo, and humanitarian relief. Read more>>
With teach-ins, concerts, film screenings, rallies, demonstrations and more, the Congo Week events in multiple cities around the globe sought to raise awareness of the deadly conflicts that have wracked the area, often driven by US-backed foreign interventions trying to secure mineral wealth for corporations. Read more>>
The Arsenal Football Club in the United Kingdom is sponsored by Emirates Airlines, the national airline company for the United Arab Emirates. Fans staged a protest demanding that the stadium cut ties with the company, due to the UAE’s documented backing of the violent militia group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. The RSF is responsible for massacres, genocide, civil war, widespread rape, and the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Sudan. Read more>>
Barclays Bank bragged about its staggering profits (which soared to over £2billion). Activists didn’t applaud, however. Instead, they protested outside the headquarters over the bank’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Read more>>
Over 2,000 Israelis signed an open letter published in 11 languages calling upon the world to use ‘every possible sanction’ to ‘save us from ourselves’ and push for an immediate ceasefire. Read more>>
In the largest cultural boycott of Israel ever declared, over a thousand authors vowed to boycott Israeli literary institutions. Read more>>
In Algeria, novelists are writing in the Amazigh language as a form of cultural resistance. Algerian literature is published in Arabic, French, and the Amazigh language. This article explores why high-profile literary figures are choosing to write in their mother tongue versus the other languages. As you read, think about the many other cultural resistance struggles that have centered Indigenous languages as a way of preserving identity, tradition, and even existence. Read more>>
Here’s how a South African activist group chat on WhatsApp helped block a shipment of military explosives headed to Israel. (We shared an article about this shipment halted in Malta last week. This is a very interesting inside look at how that campaign received knowledge on tracking cargo ships from a solar panel company halfway across the world. Global solidarity is powerful.) Read more>>
Dolly Parton won this year’s PEACE Through Music Award and accepted with a song and some words about the importance of peace. This is an award for #MusicDiplomacy that bridges divides. It is awarded by the State Department and Recording Academy. Read more>>
A short documentary film is raising awareness of a chilling piece of US history that warns people that fascism and Nazism can, indeed, happen here. The documentary is made almost entirely of archival footage of a 1939 pro-Nazi rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden with 20,000 Americans in attendance. Read more>>
New research is aiding anti-genocide activists in finding corporations profiting from the war in Gaza, and organizing Boycott, Divest, Sanction campaigns against them. Read more>>
A key lesson in upholding and expanding democracy is engaging a broad cross section of society, including politicians, business leaders, religious organizations, trade unions, popular sports figures, and other core groups. Here are some examples from campaigns that defeated far-right autocrats in Brazil, Poland, and France. Read more>>
As calls for violent resistance start to rise in a range of situations, this author reminds us of the solid science that proves that nonviolent resistance is worth using. Read more>>
Are you angsting over the 2024 US election? Two activists offer 5 insights from the perspective of social movement organizing to consider as you try to decide how to cast your vote. Read more>>
A new mini-course from a group called Moral Courage shows how we can rebuild trust in our polarized world. Read more>>
Tell Universities To Stop The Growing Crackdown On Students Protesting Genocide: Can you help this cmapaign get to 200,000 letters? Throughout history, students have been at the forefront of movements that changed the world, from ending the Vietnam War to dismantling apartheid in South Africa. Today, they are again making history — and facing repression for their courage. Tell 20 university presidents and chancellors to stop the escalating crackdown on students protesting genocide. Learn more>>
Hold Your Own Teach-In. This Network Will Help You: The Teach-In Network has access to dozens of experts available now by request to speak at your teach-in at absolutely no charge. Two toolboxes with expert speakers are currently available: “Gaza” and “How to Protest.” Use the forms in the toolboxes to request speakers. Additional toolboxes and speakers will be available soon. Learn more>>
Tell President Biden NO Private Contractors in Gaza: Alarming reports have come out in the past few weeks revealing that the Biden administration is supporting a joint U.S.-Israeli plan to use private contractors, including CIA-trained operatives, to control aid distribution in Gaza. This plan will establish internment camps for Palestinians and will directly involve the U.S. in human rights abuses while corporatizing the suffering and oppression of Palestinians. Learn more>>
Media & Communications For Peace Course: This 6-week course explores how and why media and communications — operating within the wider MICIMATT (Military Industrial Congressional Intelligence Media Academia Think Tank) Complex — shape so much of modern life, from public opinion, politics, international relations, culture, social movements, economics, and education, to more, in both times of peace and war. (Starts Nov 4) Learn more>>
Unarmed Peacekeeping Efforts In Palestine & Western Sahara: Hosted by Sami Awad, Co-Director of Nonviolence International, please join this historic webinar with experts directly involved in unarmed protection in the occupied territories. Are you interested in learning and maybe even being part of the historic and ongoing efforts of unarmed solidarity and civilian protection in Palestine and Western Sahara? (Nov 21) Learn more>>
Integrity: A Retreat on Principled Nonviolence: Principled nonviolence is the heart of change. In this special retreat, join others to reflect, study, and apply the depth of principles that have guided nonviolent change agents throughout history. We will explore the examples of M.K. Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thich Nhat Hanh, Cesar Chavez, Jesus, Buddha, and many more. (Dec 8) Learn more>>