Image: Remix by Nonviolence News from photo by Pablo Valerio on Pixabay
Editor’s Note by Rivera Sun
Nonviolence offers an almost inexhaustible toolbox of versatile tactics. It makes nonviolent action versatile, creative, surprising, and wildly adaptable to a diversity of situations. At the same time, it can be immensely articulate in expressing people’s concerns, hopes, and fears. For example, after Hungary passed its anti-LGBTQ Pride law, 10,000 people marched in a ‘Gray Pride’ event in Budapest wearing gray clothes. Stripping the iconic rainbow from sight, they demonstrated the dullness of a world without freedom to love.
In mourning, in warning, and in celebration, these creative tactics touch our hearts. In New Zealand, Maori broke out in song as the legislature struck down an anti-Maori bill that galvanized 10,000 people into the streets last November and led the youngest Maori legislator to tear the bill in two while performing a fierce traditional haka. In Florida, a simple yet powerful action I loved was a sandwriting action by a photographer. Writing out giant words on the beach: Gulf of Mexico with an arrow pointing at the waves, he took a photo that has now gone viral. Across Africa and Europe, a ‘herd’ of life-size cardboard puppet animals is journeying through major cities, raising awareness of biodiversity loss, endangered species, and the need for climate justice.
Here are a few heartening stories of success in Nonviolence News this week: More than 100 nations reached a historic maritime shipping agreement, pledging to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 in an effort that applies to 85% of the industry’s total emissions. Australia has reduced plastic pollution by 39% along its immense coastlines over the last decade. Chevron was ordered to pay more than $740 million for failing to protect Louisiana’s coastline as required by law. In three years, New Mexico has lifted 120,000 people – over 5% of its population – out of poverty with its free childcare program.
Looking at the ongoing US political crisis, the tensions are heightening, the lines in the sand are being drawn – and crossed – and resistance is spreading. We’re seeing certain sectors of society renew their courage this week. Green groups like Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists are suing the Trump administration over climate webpage removals and stifling of climate data access and research. K-12 school districts and state governments in Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Pennsylvania are defying the federal government’s ultimatum to comply with anti-DEI directives or lose funding; they join California, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Michigan, Vermont, and Massachusetts, bringing the total number to 16 states refusing to comply.
Trump has kicked the student hornet’s nest by revoking visas of foreign students and threatening to deport pro-Palestinian student organizers. Protests erupted at Virginia Commonwealth University, San Jose State University, University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Duke University, and more. The crackdown on students’ free speech and revocation of visas were major rallying points for the National Day of Action for Higher Education that took place at 150 locations and also raised other issues like funding cuts and anti-DEI policies. After the targeting of Columbia University, the Trump administration turned its ire on Harvard University – and the Crimson pushed back at the bullying threats to cut off their federal funding and revoke their nonprofit status. The Ivy League school’s incensed defiance is poised to set off similar reactions in other universities and colleges, shifting away from the subdued compliance we’ve seen from many academic institutions. Student activism is surging, mobilizing students in support of the fellow classmates threatened with deportation or persecuted for exercising their 1st Amendment Rights as they demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
Immigration is now a central flashpoint for the resistance to Trump. Other actions were held for detained Columbia student Mahmoud Kahlil where he is being held in New Orleans and at ICE headquarters in NYC, while thousands more marched in Seattle. Activists also held a large demonstration at a Vermont detention center where a second Columbia student, Mohsen Madawi, is being detained. After the Trump administration refused to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador, a federal judge found probable cause for holding the Trump administration in contempt of court and was backed up by a second set of judges who called the White House’s willful disregard of the law “shocking”. US Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to try to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia and had to defy two authoritarian regimes to even sit down with Garcia for a meeting. Ten national unions representing 3 million people have issued a call for resistance to Trump’s immigration raids, calling upon employers, university administrators, and local governments to refuse to cooperate—and demanding that elected officials “find their spines.” Boycotts have also been launched targeting products made in El Salvador and also Avelo Airlines (which is flying the deportees to the prison).
Another noteworthy (and under-recognized) aspect of what’s happening is the frequency of smaller-scale protests taking place. Rather than just the big rallies on the weekend, we’re seeing groups bring out dozens to hundreds of people in countless regional, local, or state-level actions. These include the pop-up protests taking place daily in Taos, NM; continued Tesla Takedown actions all over the country, multiple demonstrations per week at state capitals like the Tax Day Rally and Tractor Protest by farmers in Augusta, Maine; or issue-focused actions like the union-led rallies against National Health Institute cuts. It shows that while the movement against Trump isn’t centralized – and isn’t even particularly coordinated – it is widespread, persistent, and energized.
The many-stranded ‘movement of movements’ approach has versatility, accessibility and diversity, making it feel like resistance is everywhere (which is true), happening nonstop (also true), and widespread among the populace (again, true). While the lack of coordination is driving some crazy, there is some strategic wisdom in this approach. It’s harder to stop and more accessible to a wide range of people. It keeps the pressure on power holders and decision makers like state legislators, universities, and businesses while dispersing the burden of organizing across many groups. In addition, it allows for divergences of focus, strategy, and opinion among the US’ robust – and often fractious – social change groups. And many of these dispersed strands are making headway. Tesla Takedown has hit the electric car company’s stock hard, making billionaires of all kinds take notice. Thanks to the efforts of the Black-led boycott Target Fast, Target’s decision to repeal its DEI policies has led to its 10th straight week of dropping foot traffic. Costco, on the other hand, has seen an increase in foot traffic and sales due to its bold affirmation of DEI policies.
In Nonviolence News around the world, Peruvian transport workers are on strike over the government’s failure to prevent violent extortion of bus drivers and other transit workers. Hundreds of Serbian students surrounded the public television station in protest of its pro-Vucic stance; this is part of the weeks-long mass protest movement demanding government accountability and an end to the corruption that led to a deadly building collapse. Hong Kong has imprisoned a social worker for trying to mediate between protesters and the government during the 2019 protests. Nigerian women in Rivers State marched en masse against post-election chaos, prompting the president of Nigeria to declare a state of emergency and suspend the controversial Governor Fubara and his close political allies. (The move, however, has now sparked a constitutional struggle pitting governors against the federal government.) In Haiti, pro-democracy grassroots organizations are pushing for a social and ecological transformation. In Europe and beyond, international actions took place against the European Union Immigration Pact, speaking out for the rights of migrants, immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
Here’s some interesting news from Israel – their reservists are refusing to fight. Around 100,000 reservists have stopped showing up for duty. This is for a range of reasons, but 1,000 of them made their grievances clear by signing a statement against the war; they were promptly dismissed from service. Leaked data has now revealed what social media users have been saying for over a year: Meta (Facebook and Instagram) cooperated with the massive take-down request campaign coordinated directly by the Israeli government that targeted pro-Palestinian posts. Meanwhile, 30,000 Canadians marched in the streets calling for an arms embargo on Israel. Canadian teachers are also trying to divest the Canada Teachers Union’s pension plan from Israeli and Israel-supporting companies. The People’s Arms Embargo held a blockade action at Travis Air Force Base in California, opposing US weapons support for Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza. In Australia, numerous Palm Sunday rallies were held in support of Palestinians.
In this week’s Nonviolence News Research Archive, you’ll find a few gems you won’t want to miss. Civil resistance researcher Erica Chenoweth sits down with another Harvard professor to talk about authoritarianism and where we’re at in the United States. Kazu Haga and colleagues discuss the pros and cons of cancel culture in a 4-part series. Paul and Mark Engler (This Is An Uprising) examine how close we are to a ‘movement moment’ where a critical mass of people and protests erupt into an unstoppable force. You’ll also find articles and podcasts on queer art as resistance, trans organizers building housing solutions, and how queer video games build awareness. Mental health workers are on hunger strike, frustrated that their six month strike hasn’t brought Kaiser Permanente closer to paying them equal wages to other health care professionals. Hunger strikes can be powerful – and are sometimes one of the only tools available, as incarcerated men in solitary confinement learned when they organized one of the most effective prison strikes in history. Find all these and many more here>>
My favorite action? As an author and book lover, I cheered at an expression of mutual aid that took place when a Michigan town’s local bookstore needed help moving around the block to a new location. Hundreds of community members turned up to form a human chain, passing 9,100 books from hand to hand to empty the old shelves and restock the new in order. My fellow book store lovers will also appreciate this look at the role of Black bookstores from the Civil Rights Era to today’s Black Lives Matter.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun
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Have you ever gone on an auditory tour of queer resistance art? Neither had I. But Alisha Foster takes us on an extraordinary journey in this week’s episode of Nonviolence Now Podcast. It evokes images, awakens your appreciation of history and art, and may even move you to tears (like it did for me). Tune in to Episode 6: LGBTQ+ Art As Resistance here>>