BRIAN TERREL – On Thursday, January 11, the sixteenth anniversary of the opening of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was marked by a coalition of 15 human rights organizations gathered in Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House in Washington, DC.
Category: What’s Happening In the Movement
Why the Moral Argument for Non-Violence Matters
KAZU HAGA – We find ourselves in an urgent moment in history. From climate change to the Trump agenda, we do not have the luxury to wait until tomorrow. We need a movement today. So maybe trying to make the moral argument is not the most strategic thing. But King taught us that it is never the wrong time to do the right thing. And so, I believe the time is right to make the argument that violence itself is our biggest enemy.
Memories of Leading Peace Scholar/Activist Marcus Raskin
DAVID CORTRIGHT – Marcus Raskin died [in late December, 2017] in Washington DC. He was the founder and long-time director of the Institute for Policy Studies, the influential left-liberal think tank that was at the heart of the Vietnam antiwar movement and many progressive projects over the decades.
How Internet Co-ops Can Protect Us From Net Neutrality Rollbacks
SAMMI-JO LEE – “The FCC is basically taking the regulations off of big companies, but local companies can still offer high-quality internet access at good prices,†Christopher Mitchell says. Without net neutrality, broadband providers will be able to charge more for better access and faster speeds, or be able to restrict traffic to preferred business partners over competitors. More independent ISPs can offer consumers a wider variety of choices.
Why We are Suing the Norwegian Government
TRULS GULOWSEN – For the first time ever, a government is being brought to justice for opening new areas for oil and gas extraction after signing and ratifying the Paris Agreement. This historic court case is set to begin in Oslo, Norway, on November 14. Greenpeace and Norwegian environmental organisation Nature and Youth are challenging the Norwegian government in court for allowing oil companies to drill for new oil in the Arctic.
Dear Baby Boomers, Your Children Need You
LISA FULLER – Dear Baby Boomers: Your children and your grandchildren need you right now- their lives may depend on it. I know, because I am one of them.
Necessity As the Mother of Prevention
TOM H. HASTINGS – This essay is meant to help those who are especially interested in the court proceedings of nonviolent resisters[1] to anthropogenic climate change. The intended readers would include nonviolent resisters, their lawyers, and those experts in strategic nonviolent civil resistance who may be asked to provide expert testimony validating the use of the necessity defense for resisters. In general, the necessity defense is known as an affirmative defense, a narrative that contextualizes and validates the otherwise apparently illegal actions of the nonviolent resisters.
“Heartbreaking” Trial Convicts Heroic Climate Change Activist
TOM H. HASTINGS – Michael Foster was born and raised in Texas, in an oil family. His crime in North Dakota was turning off the Keystone pipeline in a symbolic but real call to all of us to do what we can to stop global climate chaos.
Needed: A “Men Against Gun Violence†Campaign
ROB OKUN – Okay, guys, white guys—all guys—this is our moment to say, “Enough!†This is the moment to start a national “Men Against Gun Violence†campaign. Right after Newtown, women launched “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense†the day after the murder of 20 six and seven year-olds, and six staff at Sandy Hook elementary school. The day after!
The OFF Act: A Necessary Next Step in Addressing the Climate Change Crisis
MARK SCHLOSBERG – Recently Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act (OFF Act), the strongest, most aggressive climate change legislation we’ve got. But it’s up to us to build the pressure to help make the OFF Act a reality. And we must.
Communities Prepare to Fight Fracked Gas Pipeline
PRESS RELEASE FROM ROGUE CLIMATE – Landowners, Tribes, and community groups are ready to stop the proposed Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline and Jordan Cove LNG export terminal terminal for the third time in 12 years, following yesterday’s announcement by Veresen Inc. that it has filed its permit application for the project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Anti-Pipeline Activists across the Country Unite to #StopETP
BRANDON JORDAN – The company behind the Dakota Access pipeline and many other damaging fossil fuel projects — Energy Transfer Partners — was the focus of nearly 20 actions spanning 10 U.S. states last week. The #StopETP protests, which took place on Friday and Saturday, included a flotilla on a Louisiana bayou, a blockade of pipeline construction equipment in Pennsylvania and a demonstration outside the Texas home of CEO Kelcy Warren.
10 Ways Shame & Blame Hurts Social Justice Efforts
VANISSAR TARAKALI – We have all experienced it. We have inflicted it on ourselves or others. Subtle and not-so-subtle shaming, blaming and self-righteous ostracizing undermine social justice work. But let’s say our community or social justice group decides to take these habitual shame and blame pitfalls seriously. Changing old habits is possible when we are focused and persistent. With that in mind, what can we do?
“Carpe Diem Politicsâ€: How to Do More Than Just Resist
ROMAN KRZNARIC – Here’s something that might surprise you: One of the most powerful weapons we can use against far-right authoritarians like President Donald Trump has its roots in ancient philosophy. In particular, we can draw on the idea of carpe diem, or “seize the day,†a maxim penned by the Roman poet Horace. Let me explain.
Mass Civil Disobedience Campaign Obstructs One of Europe’s Largest Polluters
SARA FREEMAN-WOOLPERT – Red and yellow circus tents rose over the Rhineland farmland of western Germany last weekend, as over 6,000 climate justice activists converged for a series of action days to protest coal mining in the region. This included a mass civil disobedience campaign called Ende Gelände (or Here and No Further), in which 3,000 participants illegally obstructed the coal mining infrastructure on Friday and Saturday.
‘There must be another way’: Israeli 19-year-old Jailed for Refusing Military Service
BETHAN MCKERNAN – ‘I do not believe in building walls but building bridges,’ pacifist Noa Gur Golan says in rare case of IDF draft refusal. “When I was little, I dreamt of being an IDF war pilot,†says 19-year-old Noa Gur Golan. Now, however, the teenager is sitting in Military Prison 396 near Haifa. She’s been branded a traitor and a coward. It’s not clear when she is going to be released, because she’s being detained for refusing to do her military service with the Israel Defence Force (IDF).
Mayors for Peace Call for Early Adoption of Nuclear Abolition Treaty
MAYORS FOR PEACE – “We call on the cities around the world to unite in cross-border cooperation to pave the way towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.†This call made by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the establishment of “Mayors for Peace.†Since then, we have appealed for the establishment of a legal framework to prohibit nuclear weapons as we believed it to be essential in achieving their abolition.
Ann Wright Wins 2017 Peace Prize
U.S. PEACE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION – We are pleased to announce that the US Peace Memorial Foundation has awarded its 2017 Peace Prize to The Honorable Ann Wright “for courageous antiwar activism, inspirational peace leadership, and selfless citizen diplomacy.â€
Don’t Feed the Trolls – How to Combat the Alt-Right
KAZU HAGA – Nazism and white supremacy are forms of violence. Let’s start there. The constitution does not protect violence, and I’m happy to see that the California chapter of the ACLU has taken a stand against protecting the “free speech†of hate groups. But with or without marching permits, it is clear that public displays of hatred are a growing trend in the United States. And as much as I don’t want to give these groups more attention, it is also clear that simply ignoring them is not going to make them go away. So what do we do?
Should I Go to That Neo-Nazi Rally to Fight Back?
STEPHANIE VAN HOOK and MICHAEL NAGLER – When we hear that the Neo-Nazi movement is coming to our town, most of us naturally feel called—or pushed– to some kind of action. But not every action is going to be effective, especially if we are walking into a situation where the level of dehumanization is extreme—where people are prepared to harm or kill others. How then can we draw from the power of nonviolence in a situation of escalating violence?
What Did MLK Mean by “Love”?
JOSE-ANTONIO OROSCO – As someone who regularly teaches about the political philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr., I often spend time discussing with students the ways in which King’s ideas are taken out of context and turned into sound bites in order to support positions he would not himself have taken.
Chemical Industry’s Years of Deadly Malfeasance Revealed in “Poison Papers”
SHARON LERNER – For decades, some of the dirtiest, darkest secrets of the chemical industry have been kept in Carol Van Strum’s barn. Creaky, damp, and prowled by the occasional black bear, the listing, 80-year-old structure in rural Oregon housed more than 100,000 pages of documents obtained through legal discovery in lawsuits against Dow, Monsanto, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the Air Force, and pulp and paper companies, among others. As of today, those documents and others that have been collected by environmental activists will be publicly available through a project called the Poison Papers.
Why and How to Bring Environmental and Peace Movements Together
DAVID SWANSON – If war were moral, legal, defensive, beneficial to the spread of freedom, and inexpensive, we would be obliged to make abolishing it our top priority solely because of the destruction that war and preparations for war do as the leading polluters of our natural environment.
Working in Concert: Remedy for Flawed Democracy
ROBERT J. GOULD – Last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit dropped its score for the U.S. from 8.05 to 7.98 (Above 8 is a full democracy; below 8 is a flawed democracy). Not much of a change, and according to the report, no fault of the current President, as the rating has been “teetering on the brink of becoming a flawed democracy for several years.†Like other flawed democracies (France, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and India), we have “weak governance, an underdeveloped political culture, and low levels of political participation, according to the EIU.â€
C’mon Millennials, Woodstock is Over and Our Seniors Deserve a Break
CHLOE MEYERE – On Jan. 21, I took a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue with a million like-minded ‘friends.’ I swore it was the beginning of an epic uprising, the first one where millennials could be the leaders. I was so certain that my generation would be responsible for the president’s downfall that I wrote about it. It even landed me a few death threats, kindly mailed to my office. But I didn’t care. I was ready to fight the good fight.
In Our America: Community Building 101
ALI KING – As the night of Tuesday, November 8, began to go downhill, like many Americans, I felt stunned and sickened. I hadn’t actually allowed myself to imagine things going the way they did and the unthinkable had happened. Just a few months earlier, everyone was scoffing at the idea of Trump becoming the president and, inexplicably, he had just won. When I woke up from my restless sleep the next morning, I could barely function. Over the next two days, I went through the usual stages of grief – disbelief, anger, sadness, but with so much on the line, I just couldn’t get myself to the acceptance stage. I knew sitting around and watching things crumble was not an option.
KAICIID, United Nations Join Forces to Prevent Incitement to Violence
PETER KAISER – The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) Secretary General Faisal Bin Muaammar represented the Centre at the launch of the first ever action plan specifically designed to enable religious leaders to prevent and counter incitement to violence.
An Open Letter To Rep. Barbara Lee: ‘Think Through The Implications Of Our Actions’
NORMAN SOLOMON – More than a decade and a half ago, your eloquent words and courageous vote set a high bar as you stood up against a war frenzy on the House floor. Three days after 9/11, you implemented the kind of brave wisdom that we desperately need in a world beset by the massive violence of warfare and the overarching dangers of nuclear holocaust. Since then, like many other people opposed to perpetual war, I’ve deeply appreciated your leadership in advocating for diplomacy instead of reckless confrontation in international relations. Year after year, following your lone vote against a blank check for war on Sept. 14, 2001, you’ve been a steadfast voice for the necessity of diplomatic initiatives. Until now.
Salem Unitarians Vote to Become a Sanctuary Congregation
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION OF SALEM (UUCS) PRESS RELEASE – With many Salem and Mid-Willamette Valley families living amid suspicion and fears of deportation, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem (UUCS) voted to become a sanctuary congregation.
What Does it Mean to Vote With Your Dollar?
GREENAMERICA – Want to create a greener world that works for all people? One of the most important things you can do is vote with your dollars. Where you spend and invest your money is a powerful way of voting each day to support local communities, fair wages, and a healthy planet.
A Call to Mobilize the Nation over the Next 18 Months
REV. JOHN DEAR – While the media and the nation sit transfixed over the Trump scandals and attacks on democracy, those of us who work for justice and peace know that we have to keep working, resisting, and mobilizing people across the country if we are going to have the social, economic and political transformation we need for our survival.
Swim for Peace: Reaching Out in Peace to Russia
ELIZABETH MURRAY – The mainstream U.S. media bristles with hostility toward Russia – fueling a New McCarthyism – but the press finds no space for grassroots American gestures of peace.
Portland, Ore., Becomes First Major U.S. City to End All New Investment in Corporations
MELISSA HELLMANN – To avoid doing business with socially irresponsible corporations, the city is willing to lose investment income—about $4.5 million a year.
Hunger Strike Begins in Rural Oregon
PRESS RELEASE – ICE’s attempt to break strike greeted with resistance in Oregon.
Trump Quadruples Obama’s Rate of Drone Strikes
JOSEPH GIBSON – “Trump has taken Obama’s massive and limitless drone war and quadrupled strikes—more than one a day now,†said Courage to Resist’s Jeff Paterson. “My hope is that because it’s now The Donald lawlessly murdering people with flying robots, folks will begin to realize how insane this ‘less interventionist’ policy is. Aside from being a terrorist recruiting tool, it’s morally unjustifiable. We need to resist, and support those with the courage to do so.â€
Civil Rights Advocates Renew Efforts to Oust Bannon
NEWS RELEASE – As news outlets continue to report on whether embattled White House chief strategist and white nationalist Stephen Bannon will continue serving in the administration, 23 diverse civil rights groups are reminding the Trump Administration that governing through Bannon’s divisive and hateful campaign style is out of step with the country.
Intelligence Professionals: Trump Should Rethink Syria Escalation
VETERAN INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS FOR SANITY – More than two dozen ex-U.S. intelligence officials urge President Trump to rethink his claims blaming the Syrian government for the chemical deaths in Idlib and to pull back from his dangerous escalation of tensions with Russia.
First Right to Climate Law Adopted in Colorado
COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND – Lafayette, CO, recently adopted the first law in Colorado recognizing the right to a healthy climate for people and nature, and banned the extraction of oil and gas as a violation of that right. CELDF assisted the community in drafting the measure.
U.S. Out of Korea
DAVID SWANSON – My biggest concern is not the embarrassment of a U.S. public afraid of the tiny impoverished nation of North Korea. If that embarrassed me, how would I survive what U.S. culture makes of ISIS, or — for that matter — the election of Donald Trump? My biggest concern is that U.S. war profiteers may end up using Korea to get us all killed.
Leaked NAFTA Plan Another Gift to Corporations
ARTHUR STAMOULIS – The Trump administration’s leaked plan to “tweak†the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) confirms one of our worst fears: that President Trump is poised to let big corporations dictate how NAFTA is rewritten.
Why ICE Raids Imperil Us All
ANDREW MOSS – When silent complicity prevails, the gates to authoritarianism are opened wide. Yet the choice to speak on behalf of the other can still be exercised if citizens act in time. In such choosing we can see not only the movement of the individual conscience. We can also see how democracy itself – the culture and institutions sustaining human rights – can be kept alive as well.
Trump Responds to ‘Biggest Case on the Planet’ – Kids vs. Climate Change
LAURA PARKER – A pioneering lawsuit against the U.S. government on global warming won the right to a trial. Now Trump wants an appeals court to cancel it.
Protest and Persist: Why Giving Up Hope is Not an Option
REBECCA SOLNIT – I began talking about hope in 2003, in the bleak days after the war in Iraq was launched. Fourteen years later, I use the term hope because it navigates a way forward between the false certainties of optimism and of pessimism, and the complacency or passivity that goes with both. Optimism assumes that all will go well without our effort; pessimism assumes it’s all irredeemable; both let us stay home and do nothing. Hope for me has meant a sense that the future is unpredictable, and that we don’t actually know what will happen, but know we may be able write it ourselves.
Veterans For Peace Endorses Gabbard’s Stop Arming Terrorists Act
TULSI GABBARD – “Those who have seen and experienced war firsthand share a unique appreciation for the need for peace. From Iraq to Libya and now in Syria, the U.S. has and continues to wage wars of regime change, each resulting in unimaginable suffering, devastating loss of life, and the strengthening of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. I am grateful to have the support of Veterans for Peace for the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, and for their work to prevent the United States from continuing to pursue counterproductive, interventionist wars,†said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
Do These 10 Things, and Trump Will Be Toast
MICHAEL MOORE – Friends, I welcome you to “The Michael Moore Easy-to-Follow 10-Point Plan to Stop Trump.” First, let’s acknowledge what we all know to be true: Trump is in deep, deep trouble — in the pocket of Russians, surrounded by alt.right idiots, alone in his bathrobe in a mostly-empty White House — and caught inside a disgusting “shit-sandwich”, so said his supporter who turned down the NSA job.
A 10-point Plan to Stop Trump and Make Gains in Justice and Equality
GEORGE LAKEY – I was among the 100,000 who marched in San Francisco’s Women’s March the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration. While enthusiasm for the struggle seemed high, an important question was looming: What’s the strategic plan, as we head into the Trump era? Although there’s no simple answer, I offer this 10-point plan — fully open for discussion and debate.
Your Guide to the Sprawling New Anti-Trump Resistance Movement
JOSHUA HOLLAND – An explosion of new activism offers a ray of hope in these dark political times.
Activists Call for National General Strike in the US to Bring Down Donald Trump
ANDREW GRIFFIN – Activists are calling for people to stop working and buying things for a day to bring down Donald Trump.
An Inside\Outside Strategy for Defending the US Republic
MARIA STEPHAN – Both the administrative pillar of resistance and the ‘Indivisible’ legislative pillar will be bolstered if linked to a grassroots strategy of cross-issue mobilizing and direct action – the core strategy.
Breaking Badlands: National Park Service Goes Yugely Rogue, Insists On Pesky Facts
ABBY ZIMET – Well this is cool: Trumpian efforts to block information on climate change – ’cause who needs science and/or a planet? – have sparked fierce, creative, heart-stirring resistance by the National Park Service and its many friends, suggesting the Revolution may yet be tweeted.