Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun Myanmar’s anti-coup campaign is spectacular in its persistence, size, scope, and ingenuity. Banned from protesting, citizens have started blocking roads by “accidentally” dropping bags of onions and rice, or pausing to tie their shoelaces in crosswalks. People’s cars are mysteriously breaking down all over the country, backing up traffic for…
Tag: racism
Love & Respect For Humanity: Myanmar Coup Resistance And Children vs. Tech Giants
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun It’s impossible to read this week’s Nonviolence News and not feel a surge of love and respect for ordinary humans around the world. Low-income schoolchildren took on an Internet giant and won. Myanmar is rising up against (yet another) military coup. Japanese cosmetic customers are boycotting a racist company. Fifty…
Not My President. No Es Mi Presidente.
Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun Dictators, despots, power-grabbers, presidents-for-life . . . autocrats around the world are being challenged by nonviolent movements. This week’s edition shares the many tales of presidents and protests. In Peru, mass protests forced the interim president to resign after a shady parliamentary coup shoved the previous president out of power….
Bat Signals, Trump’s 20K Lies, Pancakes Against Fascism, and Dancing In The Streets
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun Ever wonder what 20,000 lies look like? Artists in New York put Trump’s 20,000 false and misleading statements up across a 100-ft wall, helpfully color-categorized by topic. It’s a visual reminder that this is a president who lies through his teeth – just like he has since Election Night, claiming…
Whale Rescues, Housing Occupations, & Dismantling and Rebuilding Police Stations
Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun Is property destruction “nonviolent”? This is a frequent question that comes up around nonviolence. The short answer is that it’s complicated. It’s situational. Gene Sharp, a nonviolent struggle researcher, categorized destruction of one’s own property as nonviolent, but not destruction of others’ property. Many acts of property destruction are viewed…
3,500 Climate Strikes, Underground Protests, & 150K Poor People Flooding Phones
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun It’s been a big week. 3,500 climate actions happened in 150 countries. Amid continuing pandemic restrictions and concerns, children sent their shoes to stand in protest in their place. In addition, another 4,000 actions and events took place for a culture of peace and active nonviolence, free from war, poverty,…
1,000 Strikes … And Those Pesky Media Spins
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun Media can be a problem. A big one. Extinction Rebellion just blockaded newspapers over their failure to report on the climate crisis. Meanwhile, a new report dispels the media narrative about the “violent” Black Lives Matter protests. The report finds that in 93% of the thousands of protests involving nearly…
#CancelRent, Bad Jazz, and Something Fishy About Nonviolence
Editor’s Note From Rivera Sun #CancelRent. Fifteen cities in the United States recently had uprisings for housing justice. People are occupying vacant homes, holding sit-ins at public offices, setting up encampments, and organizing anti-eviction blockades. Recently, the National Eviction Moratorium delayed evictions in federal housing until January … when tenants will be forced to pay…
Honduras’ Giant Murals, Miami’s Mangrove Swamps, and Defiant Postal Workers
Editor’s Note Follow the money is a popular activist slogan. In this week’s Nonviolence News, you’ll find that people take that advice literally – and creatively. To protest corruption, Hondurans have painted dozens of giant murals on highways asking “Where’s the money?” (¿Donde está el dinero?) Meanwhile, cities around the world are countering the pandemic…
Safe Schools, Healthy Kids, Ending Racism: Public Health As Nonviolence
Editor’s Note Public health is nonviolence in action. It’s a collection of policies and practices rooted in systemic and structural nonviolence as opposed to “systemic and structural violence“. For example, in a bid to stop obesity and diabetes, Oaxaca, Mexico, just banned the sale of junk food and sugary drinks to minors. It’s a stunning…