By Rivera Sun
Amidst a period of unparalleled nonviolent resistance in the United States, the editors of The Nation nominated the City of Minneapolis and its people for the Nobel Peace Prize. “Through countless acts of courage and solidarity, the people of Minneapolis have challenged the culture of fear, hate, and brutality that has gripped the United States and too many other countries. Their nonviolent resistance has captured the imagination of the nation and the world.”
Certainly, the United States is rising in solidarity with Minneapolis. One week after the statewide shutdown in Minnesota, a National Shutdown erupted with unprecedented participation. Called by Somali and Black student organizations in Minneapolis, the action struck a resonate chord and swiftly drew in participating organizations, businesses, and students. Hundreds of thousands of people refused to work, shop, or attend school. Students from hundreds of high schools walked out of class. In Arizona and Colorado, schools preemptively closed in anticipation of mass walkouts. Another immense march took place in downtown Minneapolis and a long list of businesses either shut down or participated in other ways, such as support services for community or protesters, and donating proceeds to immigrant rights groups. Over 1,000 people rallied in Portland, ME, another city facing intensified immigration raids this past week.
All of this is having a noticeable impact. ICE backed out of conducting raids at the Super Bowl. Intensified ICE raids have reportedly been called off in Maine, though activists are skeptical and will remain vigilant. Morale is plummeting among the rank-and-file ICE agents. The Senate voted downa funding bill with more money for ICE, though they just passed a continuing resolution for two weeks of ICE funding at current levels. Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander in charge, was recalled from Minneapolis in a clear censure of the brutal tactics and lawlessness which Bovino has fomented from California to Chicago, and beyond. While Bovino’s replacement, Tom Homan, is an immigration hardliner who still refuses to remove ICE agents from Minneapolis, reining in the escalating curve of lawless violence ultimately aids the resistance to the immigration crackdown. It also has long-term implications for the rest of the anti-authoritarian struggle.
Fractures, fissures in Trump’s loyalists are erupting. Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke out against current immigration policies. After the shooting of Alex Pretti, the NRA and Gun Owners of America called for a full investigation and pushed back on the federal government’s claim that they can shoot anyone who approaches federal agents with a gun. A conservative candidate for the Minnesota governor’s race who provided legal council to Renee Good’s shooter has dropped out of the race, saying that, “I cannot support the national Republican stated ‘retribution’ on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.” These splits are forming over the key fault lines between a constitutional nation and a lawless authoritarian regime. These will widen and deepen as resistance continues, pressure grows, and the administration (inevitably) continues its appalling behaviors.
The struggle is far from over. ICE agents remain in Minneapolis and the Trump administration continues to (outrageously) demand that the state hand over their voter rolls if they want federal agents to leave. Meanwhile, organizers are mobilizing to counter an immigration crackdown in Springfield, Ohio, where the Trump administration stripped Haitian immigrants of their visas (and where Trump and right-wingers spread racist lies about the Haitian community during the 2024 election.) But, like Springfield, the rest of the United States is preparing resistance strategies. A flurry of city councils, counties, and local governments are passing restrictive ordinances banning masks, keeping ICE off city property, and prohibiting local law enforcement from assisting immigration agents. The Helena, Montana, police department pulled out of a drug enforcement effort due to Border Patrol’s involvement. Protests also broke out at the Texas detention center where 5-year-old Liam Ramos (the boy in the blue hat) is being held. The largest union of federal workers, representing 820,000 employees, demanded that Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller either resign or be fired.
Amidst all the immigration news, many of us missed an important victory this week, despite its deep significance. The GOP Trump administration’s Education Department finally dropped its attempt to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) teaching in U.S. public schools. This is a major win with long-reaching repercussions on an entire generation of schoolchildren, as well as ending the federal government’s threats of cutting off funding if schools upheld DEI education. It came about because of state and teachers union-led lawsuits against the federal government.
There are more success stories in global news this week: Spanish workers at Amazon held two strikes at peak holiday hours and won a 14% wage increase, improved Sunday and nightshift pay, and expanded paid time off. The European Union will reinstate a seasonal fishing ban that saved dolphins lives at peak times of year. Finland phased out coal four years earlier than expected, and a historic coal decline is happening in India and China. Uruguay runs on 90-98% renewable electricity. In North Carolina, 2.5 million people had their medical debts erased and all 99 hospitals in the state agreed to stop collecting debt for certain treatments going back to 2014. London’s homicide rate has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade. Spain granted 500,000 immigrants legal status. Rwanda’s capitol city is restoring thousands of acres of wetlands to boost their flood resiliency amidst the extreme weather events of the climate crisis. Amsterdam banned fossil fuel advertisements.
In more news around the world, thousands of Serbian students are blowing whistles in the streets in opposition to their authoritarian President Vucic’s crackdown on universities. The peaceful gathering, dubbed “Knowledge is power,” was in support of scores of professors and teachers who have lost their jobs or positions for taking part in the anti-government demonstrations. India’s farmers are embarking on a long march to Mumbai to secure long unfulfilled promises made in the wake of a similar march in 2018. Indigenous protesters are blockading a Cargill facility in Brazil over a decree by President Lula that puts management of dredging and waterways into the hands of private corporations. 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare professionals strike in California and Hawaii, affecting two dozen hospitals and hundreds of clinics. Over 1,000 Starbucks employees are on strike in Louisiana against unfair labor practices.
There’s so much going on that I encourage you to take a moment to scan the 95 stories in our Nonviolence News Research Archive. You’ll find stories and social posts about Minneapolis’ Singing Resistance, how to diffuse a smoke bomb with a traffic cone, satirical stunts and videos, resistance songs by Bruce Springsteen and musical protests by Neil Young and Lady Gaga, childcare as mutual aid amidst climate disasters, the United Kingdom’s boycott and South Africa’s ban of the Melania film, and much more.
Explore 95 stories in our Nonviolence News Research Archive>>
In these frantic times, it can be hard to slow down and go in-depth with anything. But there are a number of articles in this week’s headlines that I encourage you to take a closer look at. A researcher of nonviolent movements in war zones identified six similarities between those case studies and US resistance to ICE. Another author explains why a general strike in the United States isn’t quite so impossible to imagine (or pull off) as it once seemed. Mel Duncan, the founder of Nonviolent Peaceforce, joined Nonviolence Radio to unravel the dynamics of nonviolent resistance and community care from Minneapolis to the West Bank. A piece explores how 2025 was a year of powerful boycotts from Tesla to Target to Disney, and we can learn how to build on them. And theres’ a very interesting examination of why hotels should exercise their 3rd Amendment right to refuse to billet soldiers (or occupying ICE agents).
My top recommendation, however, is a recent article published in one of Sri Lanka’s major newspapers by Dr. Nadee Dissanayake which carefully examines the notion of a nonviolent government step-by-step. Sri Lanka has a profound history of nonviolent struggle, including one of the largest and most sustained constructive program movements in the world, the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement. The article looks at how to respond to protest movements, how government workers should reply to constituents’ irate emails, the role of civil discourse over political issues, and even an approach to international policy. It’s a world apart from politics-as-usual … but it’s a world worth envisioning and building.
Activist/Author Rivera Sun has written numerous books and novels, including The Dandelion Insurrection and The Way Between. Her study guide to nonviolent action is used by activist groups and university courses. She is a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements. Her essays on nonviolence and social justice issues have appeared in hundreds of journals. www.riverasun.com
This article was sent to The PeaceWorker on January 31, 2026, by Rivera Sun. It was published on January 31, 2026, at nonviolence news.