Image: Remix from a photo by David Geitgey Sierralupe. Used with permission.
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun
It’s been an astonishing week. In Serbia, Hungary, Turkey, Argentina and the United States, immense protests against authoritarians, corruption, privatization, and other economic issues are taking place. In Serbia, the anti-corruption movement mobilized 100,000 people to converge on Belgrade, leading to the resignation of the government (though not President Vučić). Tens of thousands demonstrated in Hungary against corruption, inflation, and right-wing authoritarian Prime Minister Orban; another set of protests opposed his recent ban on LGBTQ+ Pride marches. In Turkey, thousands of people defied the ban on protests to demonstrate against the undemocratic detention of the mayor of Istanbul who is the leading opposition candidate to President Erdogan. Argentina’s retirees and soccer/football players faced brutal repression from right-wing Milei’s government while demonstrating for their social rights for health and retirement issues.
In the United States, judges continue to reverse and rule against Trump edicts, including reinstating 1,000 National Parks employees in a decision that will also impact many other probationary workers who have been fired. The administration is also being forced by the courts to rehire nearly 25,000 federal workers that were unlawfully fired. Another judge ordered USAID reopened and stated that Musk ‘likely violated the constitution’ in terminating its funding. The ban on transgender persons serving in the US military service was overturned. In addition, public backlash forced the Trump-controlled Department of Defense to reinstate content on Black baseball legend Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the Navajo Code Talkers after they were removed from DOD websites and military trainings in an anti-DEI purge. A U.S. District Judge also ruled against Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act and ordered immigrant deportation planes to be turned around. And the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Trump administration must pay USAID funds to projects that have already completed the work.
However, the Trump administration is ignoring parts – and sometimes all – of the conditions of these legal rulings. They put thousands of rehired federal workers on administrative leave and refused to obey the order to stop planes and immigrant deportations to El Salvador. It seems that a showdown between this administration’s lawlessness and the courts is heightening. The fate of things like rule of law and the separation of powers might depend on what the rest of civil society is willing to do to make sure Trump complies with the courts – or what people will do if he continues to flout their orders. Stay tuned.
Other nonviolent actions against Trump, Musk and this administration’s policies happened around the world: Greenland peacefully surrounded the US embassy. The Danes have joined international boycotts of US products. A French politician eloquently explained his provocative – and symbolic – demand that Trump return the Statue of Liberty if he won’t uphold the values of freedom and democracy. Vancouver banned Tesla from their International Auto Show. Venezuelans rallied for the Venezuelan immigrants being detained in El Salvadoran prisons. A UK church rang out We Shall Overcome to give people hope. Canadians made a hilarious parody of the I Will Survive song (you know, the one that starts with “first I was afraid, I was petrified …”) that now has over a million views. A former Tesla owner in Wales made a sandwriting message big enough to be seen from space (especially by SpaceX).
Across the United States, nurses, educators, veterans, postal service workers, and many more marched against cuts to federal agencies and threats of privatization. Thousands of people also took action in New York City, Boston, Portland, OR; Portland, ME, Fayetteville, Washington, DC; Chiricahua National Monument, AZ, and many other places. Everywhere, creative actions abound. Musician Victoria Canal pulled on an anti-Trump tee-shirt at the end of her performance at the Kennedy Center. In response to Trump calling #TeslaTakedown an ‘illegal boycott’, people are sticking post-its that read “i buy junk cars’ on Teslas. A clever art installation at a bus stop feeds an image of Trump into a paper shredder.
Economic resistance is having noticeable impacts. Target – under pressure from the 40-day Target Fast against anti-DEI policies – saw its stock price tumble, losing $12 billion in market value. Tesla Takedown has led to a 40% drop in Tesla stock prices and are preparing for their biggest day of action ever on March 29. Amidst acts of arson, vandalism, and destruction of Tesla cars and showrooms, the Tesla Takedown campaign put out clear statements against violence and property destruction. Distancing themselves from the acts of vandalism happening at other times/places than their protest actions may help the growing movement survive Trump’s accusations of domestic terrorism and threats to send Tesla vandals to El Salvadoran prison camps. (An utterly illegal suggestion, btw.)
Speaking of illegal deportation threats, Jewish Voice For Peace occupied Trump Tower with sit-ins opposing the detainment of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. Kahlil’s statement from a detention center evoked parallels to Dr. King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail. Colombia students workers rallied against expulsions, arrests, funding threats, and the revocation of student visas for pro-Palestinian activists. Other large demonstrations filled Times Square in New York City and called for an #ArmsEmbargoNow in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pro-Palestinian actions also took place in Hollywood, multiple sites in Bristol, UK; and Harvard University. Around 2,500 Jewish academics denounced Trump for using antisemitism as a ‘shield’ as he erodes protest rights and cracks down on pro-Palestinian organizing against the genocide in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israelis protested against their government’s violation of the ceasefire and renewed attacks on Gaza, calling for a new ceasefire.
Standing up for the right to protest, organize, boycott and engage in nonviolent action is critically important right now. From the detainment of Mahmoud Khalil to Trump calling the Tesla boycott illegal, the erosion of the right to protest is rising fast. This week, a biased jury in Mandan, North Dakota (the heart of oil and gas country) decided that Greenpeace must pay Energy Transfer Partners $660 million over the #NoDAPL resistance in 2016. This SLAAP lawsuit seeks to intimidate movements and is similar to the intimidation tactic of leveling RICO charges at Cop City organizers (who have now filed multiple civil rights lawsuits against the city of Atlanta and Atlanta Police Department). While the Greenpeace ruling will undoubtedly be appealed, both in the US and in international courts, it stands as a chilling example of the serious challenges movements face in the United States.
In more Nonviolence News, Filipino families of the victims of ex-president Duterte’s murders demanded justice, Japanese climate activists are still searching for their breakthrough moment, animal rights campaigners took action at 11 KFCs, and UK citizens showered the House of Lords with 1,000 fliers demanding a House of the People. In Romania, a campaign for the Right To Housing is gaining supporters from every side of politics. Belarus labor activists in exile are continuing the struggle for rights and democracy after the right-wing government eliminated democratic unions and workplace organizing. Canadian Long Covid survivors wrote their testimonies on pillowcases and plastered the steps of an art museum with them.
What should you spend a little time with over your coffee? There are many fascinating stories to choose from, such as the lessons from Serbia on resisting authoritarians, a webinar recording on noncooperation tactics in history and today, how social movements constrained Trump‘s first administration, and what we can learn from the courage of the US Civil Rights Movement. If you’re looking for actions to join, you can find them at the BLOP – Big List of Protests – or No Voice Unheard.
But one article I recommend reading closely is a new report from civil resistance researcher Erica Chenoweth and her team. In it, they show that twice as many protests are happening right now as there were in 2017. (This explains why I’ve felt completely overwhelmed trying to keep up with everything!) Chenoweth and team write, “In February 2025 alone, we have already tallied over 2,085 protests, which included major protests in support of federal workers, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, Palestinian self-determination, Ukraine, and demonstrations against Tesla and Trump’s agenda more generally. This is compared with 937 protests in the United States in February 2017, which included major protests against the so-called Muslim ban along with other pro-immigrant and pro-choice protests.”
I have a sense that everything is picking up steam, too, and that the coming months will see even more nonviolent actions. That’s far more than we can squeeze into these newsletters, but you can find them in our Nonviolence News Research Archive. I recommend the stories about how drag queens improve local economies in systemic ways, a look at the history of nonviolent tactics in the Irish Independence struggle, the impacts of 30,000 feminists gathering in China in 1995, and a musical protest song by disabled activists.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
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A picture is worth a thousand words. This is why I’ve been so swamped with stories!
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