Nonviolence News: Inspiring Action

/ by | Leave a comment

Photo credit of opening image: Citizens celebrate in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday after the military council announced an agreement with protest leaders to share power until elections are held in three years. Photo by Marwan Ali/EPA-EFE

July 6th, 2019

Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun:

In this week’s Nonviolence News, you’ll find ten heartening victories! The migrant rescue ship captain in Italy was released this week when a judge ruled that she was not breaking the law. On the heels of that announcement, a second migrant rescue ship challenged the Italian right-wing interior minister by docking a second boatload of rescued migrants. This is a perfect example of why Nonviolence News matters: when we share the true stories of nonviolence, it inspires others to take action, too.

Don’t miss these stories (they’re my top editor’s picks this week): a Yukon First Nation replaced the punitive policing system with an Indigenous alternative. Sudan’s military agreed to meet protesters’ demands to share power with citizens as they prepare for the 2022 elections. Activists stuck fake spears in their backs to protest animal cruelty during Pamplona’s famous “Running of the Bulls”. Americans protested migrant family separation in their Independence Day parades (including yours truly). A Texan teen included a voting registration booth in her quinceañera celebration.

The list goes on. People from Kazakhstan to Hong Kong are using nonviolence in powerful and creative ways. Learn their stories. Share their news. Put their ideas to work for social justice in your own community. The more we use nonviolence, the more we inspire others to try it out, too.

Enjoy and share Nonviolence News!
Rivera Sun, Editor

Sign up here: https://riverasun.com/nonviolence-news/


Here’s what you’ll find in this week’s Nonviolence News:

Victory! Success Stories
Recent Actions & On-Going Campaigns
Nonviolence & Children
Climate Action
Peace Action
Constructive Program
Calls-to-Action

Nonviolence News shares recent success stories so we see and remember that nonviolent action is powerful and effective. 

Celebrations break out in Sudan as military and citizens agree to share power while preparing for elections in 2022. Read more >>

Italian judge orders release of migrant rescue ship captain, says that she was not breaking the law.  Read more >>

Kenyan court revokes the license for the Lamu coal plant. The Lamu community has been fighting since 2015 to stop Kenya’s first coal-fired power plant being built. Watch the video >>

Insurance giant “Chubb”ends support for the coal and tar sands after an activist campaign put pressure on the company. Specifically citing the climate crisis, the company announced it will stop underwriting coal mines and no longer offer new policies to businesses that derive more than 30 percent of their revenues from the mining of coal. Read more >>

Citizen activists force Taiwanese plastic polluter, Formosa Plastics, to stop discharging plastic waste into Texas watershed. Read more >>

After two years of citizen action and legal action, Iraqi resident of Albuquerque, NM, who sought sanctuary from ICE in a church can now go home. Read more >>

After more than 15 years of pressure from frontline communities, advocates, market forces, and regulation, PNM (New Mexico power utility) filed to abandon the San Juan Coal Plant today. Read more >>

DC prosecutors, once skeptics, are starting to believe in restorative justice. Read more >>

Protests and controversy lead former governor of Michigan, Gary Snyder, to turn down Harvard position as a senior research fellow. The backlash raised concerns over Snyder’s support for emergency managers and the Flint water crisis, among other issues.  Read more >>

Joining Illinois, New York bans private prisons. The state also divested its state funds from private prison corporations and passed a law banning state banks from financing private prisons. Read more >>

Around the world, people are launching nonviolent campaigns
and/or using principled nonviolence to transform their communities
and fight injustice. Here are a few recent stories. 

Kazakhstan police detained dozens of protesters who took to the streets of major cities on Saturday to mark the 79th birthday of veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev by demanding he cede power.  Read more >>  Later, police jailed two mothers for harboring and distributing leaflets for protests. Read more >> And if you haven’t been following what’s going on in Kazakhstan, here’s a look inside the movements.  Read more >>

Protests against incinerator plant rattle Chinese city. Read more >>

Hong Kong braces for more protests this weekend.  Read more >>

As migrant rescue ship captain wins court victory, a second boat defies far-right Italian interior minister‘s attempt to stop the migrant rescue ships by closing the ports to them. Read more >>

Protesters take to the streets of Pamplona with fake spears stuck in their backs to protest the animal cruelty of the famous “Running of the Bulls”. Read more >>

Prague mayor refuses to deport a Taiwanese man, defying China (despite heavy Chinese investment in Prague) in “a rare case of a local politician defying the might of a global superpower.”  Read more >>

How one US database is tracking police officers’ racist, homophobic, and sexists posts on social media. Read more >>  This has led to the investigation of 25 Dallas police officers. Read more >>

Wikipedia founder called for #SocialMediaStrike actions slated for July 4 and 5th to highlight call for user-controlled data and a more decentralized system. Read more >>

Editor’s Note: This week, we continue our focus on the campaigns to end migrant family separation and child detention centers in the United States. 

Massive US demonstrations against child detention being held in 75 locations on July 12th.  Read more >>

20 ways you can support immigrant rights and help end child detention and family separation.  Read more >>

170 actions nationwide take place to #CloseTheCamps and end migrant family separation. Read more >>

Jewish Americans shut down an ICE detention center in New Jersey chanting, “Never again means never again.” Read more >>

Bishop walks children across border in protest of Trump Administration’s immigrants policy. Read more >> 

Wayfair workers walk-out raises rumors of a consumer boycott. Read more >>

Bristol, VT activists march in 4th of July Parade to protest migrant detention.  Read more >>

Editor’s Note: My local activists and I also crashed our 4th of July Parade, marching down the street with a cage with cardboard children cut-outs. Dressed as Lady Liberty, I invited everyone to the upcoming July 12th “Lights for Liberty” vigil. See photos here >>

Activists protest outside Homestead Detention Center in Florida where migrant children, separated from their families, are being held. Read more >>

In an act of civil disobedience to anti-media rules, journalist Joaquin Castro photographs and videos the inside of a migrant detention center and releases the horrific, heartbreaking truth to the American public.  Read more >>

Boston traffic halts as hundreds of protesters block the road for migrant justice.  Read more >>

Living sustainably and protecting our planet are forms of “nonviolence toward the Earth”, which is inseparable from embodying nonviolence toward ourselves and all others. Here are recent stories of nonviolent climate action.

 World’s largest solar farm starts operation in Abu Dhabi. Read more >>

Greta Thunberg and student climate strikers announce, “the climate crisis doesn’t go on summer holiday, and neither will we.” Read more >>

Barcelona mayor promises to restrict the number of cruise ships allowed to dock in the port and also oppose the airport expansion to stop pollution. Read more >>

Thousands march in Madrid to protest the revoking of a popular low-emissions zone law. Read more >>

Australian Indigenous activists drilled parliament lawns to show politicians what it feels like to be fracked. Read more >>

French activists protest at three Amazon corporate warehouses and offices in France over climate change impacts. Read more >>

10 ways farmers can fight climate change.  Read more >>

Ohio plants roadside habitats for bees and butterflies.  Read more >>

Peace and nonviolence go hand-in-hand. Gandhi said, “means are ends in the making” and nonviolence offers us many ways to wage peace.

Youth-led progressive US Jewish advocacy group #IfNotNow has launched a new campaign arm with the goal of bringing Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine “to the forefront of the 2020 elections. Read more >>

Could a George Soros and Charles Koch think tank end “endless war”?  Read more >>

Meta Peace Team shares their field report from unarmed peacekeeping efforts at the US-Mexico Border. Read more >>

Editor’s Note: Last week we shared a podcast interview with Patrick Hiller. For those who enjoy written formats, here is an article by him on the same theme. How creative citizen diplomacy can stop a US war with Iran. Read more >>

Constructive Programs and alternative institutions build the strength and resilience of the community while weakening reliance on systems of oppression.

Yukon First Nation dumps colonialism-style policing and replaces it with new method: no weapons, no charges. Find out why this system is making people sit up and pay attention. Read more >>

How Puerto Rican farmers are reclaiming Puerto Rico’s agricultural history by restoring a historic botanical garden to serve as an example of local and sustainable farming.  Read more >>

8 principles to guide essential steps for transforming the economy to a life-sustaining economy. Read more >>

This effort brings oral history and personal narratives of those impacted by injustice into the classroom to tell their stories first hand. Read more >>

Texas teen’s quinceañera included a voter registration booth. Read more >>

Man builds Little Free Food Pantry outside his house to feed the hungry. Read more >>

Here are a few actions and events requesting your participation.

 Rage Against the War Machine will hold a protest outside the White House on Monday, July 8th to remember the Gulf of Tonkin and call for an end to war. Learn more >>

United States: July 12th is a National Day of Action to Close the Concentration Camps of child detention centers.  Read more >>

Fellowships available for designing a civil resistance curriculum for high schoolers. Read more >>

Meta Peace Team calls for members for unarmed peacekeeping in the West Bank and at US-Mexico Border work. Learn more >>

Oct 5th is a Day of Action Against Domestic Violence. Hold or join a 2-min die-in protest. Learn more >>

Campaign Nonviolence Week of Actions September 14-22, 2019, Everywhere. Host or join a march, rally, protest, or other event or action for a culture of peace and active nonviolence. Learn more >>

Thanks for your kind support! We are currently setting up an independent website for Nonviolence News, but if you would like to make a donation to support this project, you can do so through Rivera Sun’s website. Thanks for understanding and loving us as we grow.  Here’s where to make a donation.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To top