Image Credit: Remix from photo by Petra Kassun-Mutch, used with permission
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
Just because Trump wants to do something horrible doesn’t mean he’ll get away with it. That’s the takeaway lesson from the win of the week: a federal judge ordered the government to reinstate thousands of terminated federal workers. (And pay back wages, btw.)
In more good news: the US no longer detains migrants at Guantanamo. The on-again, off-again 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico went through another round of threats and withdrawals this week. The secretive DOGE is now subject to the Open Records Act and facing a deluge of Freedom of Information Act requests from journalists, lawmakers and advocacy groups. A National Labor Relations Board member was reinstated after Trump illegally fired her. Tesla sales are falling off a cliff globally and Canada’s vacation boycott has slowed border crossings to a crawl in some places. As Trump ramps up his Drill, Baby, Drill policy, South Dakota also made a potent move to thwart fossil fuel extraction by banning eminent domain from being used to seize land for oil and gas pipelines.
Activists across the US and around the world are ramping up resistance. The hacktivist group Anonymous gleefully crashed X for a day. Stand Up For Science held 150 actions across the US and abroad. In Milwaukee, 500 people protested to halt cuts to Veterans Affairs, one of several such protests nationwide. In a sign of the times, Chicago was ‘taken over‘ by protests with 6 demonstrations happening in one week for Women’s Day, Stand Up For Science, a rally for Ukraine, Indivisible protest against Trump/Musk, a rally for trans rights, and more.
Meanwhile, Trump called arson, vandalism, and property destruction at Tesla dealerships ‘domestic terrorism‘. He also accused “radical left lunatics” of an “illegal and collusive” boycott. (It’s not illegal.) This was not the only alarming sign of repression. The administration’s attempt to illegally deport Columbia University student Mahmoud Kahlil was halted by a court. The Syrian-born, US permanent resident is still being detained and persecuted for exercising his First Amendment rights to speech, protest, and assembly. A court case is scheduled for Monday. A sit-in was held by Jewish activists in Trump Tower and a rally was held at Columbia University. A staggering 3.2 million people signed a petition calling for his release.
This kind of repression is an indicator that the resistance is growing large enough to have an impact. We know from civil resistance scholars Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan that every campaign that approaches success is met with some kind of repression, often violent. How we respond to this repression is the second-largest determinate of movement success. If we retaliate with violence (or property destruction in some cases), we’re more likely to fail. If we respond with creative and courageous nonviolence, we often make the repression backfire on our opponents, weakening their stance. For example, Tesla Takedown participants could look at alternate escalation strategies – like scaling up creativity with music, theater, giant puppets; or by growing the size of the protests with new groups like clergy, seniors, students, families, or veterans. This might help the campaign avoid a crack down over property destruction and continue to achieve their main goal of preventing Tesla sales. The more they can disprove Trump’s claim that they’re ‘domestic terrorists’ (especially with humor, joy, and creativity), the stronger their campaign will be.
In other Nonviolence News around the world, Filipino semiconductor workers are celebrating a labor strike win. The monarch butterfly population is rebounding in Mexico. Filipino ex-president Duterte was arrested by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Angola and Mozambique are seeing related protests and frustration over lack of democracy, corruption and the economic crisis. Meanwhile, the African Union has dubbed 2025 “The Year of Reparations” – but what does that mean for the average African? Serbia’s Generation Z is driving unrelenting protests against government corruption. Georgia just marked its 100th day of protests against the government’s about-face on European Union membership. Mexican women are defying drug dealers and waste dumpers to protect the environment and build a thriving sustainable shellfish business. Women’s Day protests were held across the US and millions participated worldwide including with large demonstrations of thousands in Mexico City, Brussels, Rome, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, La Paz, Bolivia; Madrid, Spain. In Toronto (pictured above), more than 3,000 people came out and called for cross-border solidarity in one of the longest-running Women’s Day marches in the world.
Here are some good articles to savor with a second cup of coffee. Take a look at the history of women of the Civil Rights Movement, Gandhi’s faith in humanity, how Indigenous women defied police blockades in Ecuador, and the role small town courage in the age of Trump. You may also appreciate how six thousand people gathered to cross Selma Bridge, 60 years after the infamous “Bloody Sunday” turned back civil rights marchers. At a time when attacks on racial diversity and protest are rising, the symbolic march was a moving testimony to the importance of nonviolent struggle in history and today.
There’s much more! In the Nonviolence News Research Archive, you’ll find all of the 115+ stories we collected this week as we were creating this article. From humorous subway signs about Elon’s Musk – Parfume de 1939 to direct actions by Palestine Action, you’ll find lots more to inspire you. Explore the stories here>>
There’s nothing like a creative action to lift our spirits, so here are some of the best stories in this week’s Nonviolence News. A 200-ft rainbow banner was unfurled at the Utah State Capitol in defiance of the conservative ban on Pride Flags; the mayor of Salt Lake City also lit up a city building with rainbow lights. A fascinating campaign in Quito, Ecuador, is using cyberactivism to push for better bicycling programs in the city. In Pakistan, soap operas are building cultural understanding and peacebuilding between Indians and Pakistanis. The Little Free Library Project has just put up its 200,000th book box. Bogota, Colombia, reduced traffic accidents, road rage, and violence toward pedestrians with an unusual approach: mimes who silently pointed out better behavior.
A favorite story this week? Well, I’ve got a trio of related stories. In Teen Vogue, you can read about the rebellious youth protests against Nazi conformism in the 1940s that used music, dance, and fashion as forms of defiance. Those WWII-era youth would find resonance with their modern feminist counterparts in Paris, France, who put together a topless protest brigade for Women’s Day, painting Nazi symbols on US flags across their bare chests in a stunning demonstration against American Fascism. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about French women … in Quebec thousands of them formed a miles-long human chain of Canadian solidarity against US imperialism during the multiple-city demonstrations for Women’s Day. They were decidedly not topless, given the freezing temperatures and expanses of snow. Instead, they sensibly wore striking red coats that evoked the colors of the red-and-white maple leaf in the Canadian flag and the red cloaks of the dystopian Handmaid’s Tale (written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood).
Here’s a piece to share far and wide: Resistance To Trump Is Everywhere. Thanks to our weekly Nonviolence News reporting, our colleagues at Waging Nonviolence asked me to write a ‘mega-piece’ on ALL the resistance that has happened in the first 50 days of mass protest against the Trump administration. With 135+ stories covering more than a million people taking action, it’s a powerful glimpse of the breadth and range of nonviolent actions standing up to this administration. Read and share widely – it shows that there’s hope, successes, and reasons why everyone should move into action.
As I wrote in the piece, “Emerging from stifling fear into widespread protest in a few short weeks, resisters have already achieved important steps. They’ve mobilized tens of thousands repeatedly. They’ve put significant economic pressure on Trump and Musk on multiple fronts. They’ve rolled back and halted a long list of the administration’s policies. In the next six weeks, or six months, the resistance can build on these successes and dare to achieve the impossible. Trump may be attacking everyone, but remember: He’s surrounded on all sides.”
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
Nonviolence News brings something special to these times. Thanks to our efforts to collect resistance stories each week, we were asked to write a ‘mega-piece’ on mass protest to Trump that’s now being shared with tens of thousands of people. Read it, pass it on, and make a donation to Nonviolence News.