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My neighbors are good people. Always ready with a polite nod or wave. Helpful if your car breaks down. In this rural region, they’re farmers and loggers, truckers and mechanics. They’re quick to volunteer for the local fire department, show up for spaghetti dinner fundraisers, and plow the seniors’ driveway in a pinch.  Two-thirds of […]

The Dandelion Insurrection is here. (And remember: the people win in the end.) “What’s it like to wake up and find your novel has come to life?” A reader asked me this recently and I answered. “Strange. Wild. Frightening. But remember: I also know the end of the story.”  The Dandelion Insurrection was written as a speculative […]

Image: Trump at Alligator Alcatraz in Florida. Photo by The White House, Public Domain After spending months firing federal workers, slashing public services, gutting healthcare, and raising taxes for everyone but the rich, our country just wasted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a detention center in Florida. Dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, it’s nothing more […]

Portrait Unveiling Celebrated With Art, Music, Theater, Literature and Speeches I often speak about the shift to a culture of nonviolence, a society in which artists, teachers, scientists, political leaders, writers, thinkers, and everyone replaces the typical focus on war and violence with a celebration and affirmation of the power of nonviolent alternatives. In this […]

Created by Rivera Sun, March 15, 2025 You can download, print and use this poster at protests, demonstrations, and other nonviolent actions. Feel free to share it with your friends and networks. Here is a high-resolution version for printing. Remember the vision. The world that we’re standing up for is worth the struggle.

Originally published by PeaceVoice in journals nationwide on Feb 15, 2025 It takes time. That’s what people keep saying in response to concerns about the Trump Administration. It’ll take time before he can get the good stuff done. They say the promised benefits to this chaos are coming soon. Don’t hold your breath. The egg […]

There are popular social posts going around that read: Do not obey in advance or Don’t self censor or Don’t do the fascists’ work for them. In this session, we’ll look at the chilling effect of knowing a repressive regime is coming into power . . . and how we can resist doing its work […]

The Greatest Honor of My Life: Joining the Americans Who Tell The Truth The Americans Who Tell The Truth portrait series by Robert Shetterly is a collection of 275 paintings of the most incredible people in our history. These are the ones who rose up for justice, who spoke out against wrongs, who revealed the truth and […]

Do Not Obey. In Advance or Otherwise.Dandelions are everywhere. If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to live in “the time that looms around the corner of today” where The Dandelion Insurrection begins … well, this is the closest parallel I have ever seen. At the start of the book, a fist thumps down upon the […]

The inauguration of Donald Trump to a second term as president of the United States unleashed a new chapter in resistance. The politics of hate was given the keys to some of the highest positions of power in the world. The situation seems bleak … but the history of nonviolent struggle shows that we have […]

If it launched with a Nazi salute … where do you think it ends?  On Monday, January 20th in the Capitol Rotunda, tech billionaire Elon Musk threw what appeared to be a Nazi salute during the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. In case we missed it (or misinterpreted it), he made the emphatic gesture again.  […]

by Rivera Sun The spirits are speaking to me. Across time. Through history. Ignore the headlines. Go to the heart.How many millions of humans have stood where you stand now? Afraid. Overwhelmed. Despairing. Raging. The globe spins with their haunting cries from Chile under Pinochet, Liberia under Taylor, Estonia under the Soviets, East Timor under […]

This writing came from Rivera Sun’s newsletter on Nov 24, 2024. To enjoy more writings like this, join her email list. You have to stay human. With all your courage, tears, messiness, brilliance, we need to navigate these times as human beings not automatons. What is the point, otherwise? With extinction on one hand and AI […]

by Rivera Sun for Peace Voice On Election Night in my small town, I sat around a folding table with four election clerks, sworn in by the election warden and doing my civic duty to count every vote. The polls had closed. Darkness pressed heavy against the windows, as it does this time of year […]

Originally published on Waging Nonviolence After the shooting at former President Trump’s campaign rally, many people rushed to say that “political violence has no place in our democracy.”  Let’s go even further and boldly say: political nonviolence is essential for democracy.  The ties between nonviolence and democracy run deep. We know from the groundbreaking research of Erica Chenoweth […]

A father stands tall in their child’s eyes. Mine towered. He was a 6’6”, red-headed giant of a man, a farmer who loved rock ‘n roll and corny jokes. He taught me to stand up for the underdogs, fight the good fight, and stick it to the Man.  He also taught me to speak out […]

“Dreams of War, Dreams of Peace” – an excerpt from River Dragon ___________ This is an excerpt from River Dragon, Book 5 in the Ari Ara Series.You can get River Dragon here. Since the official trial would not start until the next morning, the Twins of the Sisterlands and the Abbess led Ari Ara on a tour […]

River Dragon Book Group – Peace Culture Through Peace Literature w/ World BEYOND War and author Rivera Sun Peace literature for abolishing war! Join Author Rivera Sun for a 4-week book discussion about peace literature’s role in abolishing war. Using her latest novel for readers of all ages, River Dragon, as a springboard, you will get to explore […]

It’s four in the morning and my heart is in my throat again. The presidential election in November fills me with nothing but dread and despair.  On the one hand, we’re facing a candidate who spews hatred, advocates violence, and peddles sneakers and bibles while facing astronomical legal costs for his fraud, lies, sexual assaults […]

This is an excerpt from River Dragon, Book 5 in the Ari Ara Series. You can get River Dragon here. Ari Ara rubbed her eyes and stared out the crosshatch windows of the ship. The morning had crawled by while she studied. The dense river ports had given way to smaller villages. Fish weirs dotted the […]

“Heir Apparent” – Chapter One of River Dragon This is an excerpt from River Dragon, Book 5 in the Ari Ara Series. You can get River Dragon here. Gritting her teeth, Ari Ara waved to the crowd, a fixed smile plastered on her face. The horse fidgeted beneath her, sensing her discomfort and distraction. Her fitted […]

By Rivera Sun Love is in the air . . . or at least occupying the airwaves this week, selling chocolates and roses and candlelit dinners for two. But this romantic love is just a thin slice of the feast of love that exists in the human heart. And when Valentine’s Day rolls around, I […]

By Rivera Sun for Peace Voice As the primaries heat up and the nation goes through the throes of another election cycle, cast your vote for something unexpected, something that defies the lies of politicians, something that could save our nation – and most certainly our souls. Make a choice to weather this election year […]

We all have our reasons for getting alarmed about the climate crisis. With bare ground at Christmas and no snow on the horizon, my neighbors just got theirs. This Northern Maine valley nestles against the border of Canada – and winter without snow is unfathomable. Snowmobiling is a big deal around here. While most of […]