NORMAN SOLOMON – With rare exceptions, U.S. news media and members of Congress dodge the reality of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Meanwhile, the events in Gaza and the evasions in the United States have been enormously instructive, shattering illusions along the way. Many Americans, especially young people, know much more about their country and its government than they did just two years ago. What has come to light includes mass murder of certain other human beings as de facto policy and functional ideology.
Author: Oregon PeaceWorks
Why we need a solidarity economy now
RICK WILSON – As the US faces historic cuts to the social safety net, local economic alternatives can meet basic needs and provide opportunities to organize for a better future.
Why faith leaders are standing up to the largest pro-Israel Christian lobby
JAISAL NOOR – An interfaith campaign is confronting one of the most powerful groups driving unconditional support for Israel and the genocide in Gaza with spiritual resistance.
This new tool can help movements chart a path to victory
JOE WORTHY – Strategic blunders and tactical approaches that fail to chart a path to victory can lead to public disillusionment and disengagement. This may prompt people to seek less effective means of resistance. As those who understand that strategic nonviolence is, both statistically and morally, the most effective means of resistance, we must take responsibility and exercise great care in its implementation. Perhaps this tool can help us achieve that.
VA Nurses on the Front Lines
ANDREW MOSS – VA nurses are fighting on two fronts for their patients’ safety and well-being: for a restoration of collective bargaining rights and for the needed funding that will keep the VA intact as a health provider. They’re carrying the fight into the courts, into Congress (on behalf of labor-friendly legislation), and onto the National Mall and media recognition.
Is Trump co-governing with the billionaire class?
MARK ENGLER and PAUL ENGLER – Politicians regularly partner with business, when they should collaborate with grassroots movements.
The Rage of Billionaires and the Frenzy to Stop Zohran Mamdani From Becoming New York’s Mayor
NORMAN SOLOMON – The Supreme Court’s first chief justice, John Jay, would have empathized with the billionaires who’ve been freaking out ever since Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York last Tuesday. “Those who own the country ought to govern it,” Jay insisted. But now, oligarchs accustomed to such governance are furious that the nation’s capital of capitalism is in danger of serving people instead of megaprofits.
Great Tactic: The Highway Overpass Is Our Public Square
TAMAR WYSCHOGROD – I’m part of a Visibility Brigade, the rush-hour resistance groups that take to highway overpasses to display protest messages for all to see.
For the Next Steps with Iran, Let’s Work on an International Diplomatic Solution
DR. ALLEN PIETROBON – History has shown us that, in a moment defined by the overwhelming tensions that nuclear weapons create, sometimes the most powerful weapon of all is the strength of international dialogue and agreement.
The Descent of Republicanism into Christian Nationalism and Delusions of Grandeur
BOB TOPPER – A number of major problems began when the Republican Party became theocratic. Democracy requires rational debate guided by facts, and it achieves progress through compromise. But the religious right eschews rational debate for they are guided by belief, the acceptance that things are true when they are not supported by fact. They reject for instance the fact of global warming and accept, without evidence, that Trump won the 2020 election. So, unlike the Republican Party of Eisenhower, Goldwater, Reagan, or George H.W. Bush, today’s theocratic party is unable to find common ground and is thus unable to govern–instead they attempt to rule.
Lessons in courage, care and collective action from the international accompaniment movement
MOIRA BIRSS and ZIA KANDLER – International accompaniment was developed in Central America during the 1980s and ’90s in response to threats against human rights defenders, communities and activists at the height of the civil wars there. Recognizing the global power dynamics and unequal treatment across borders by state actors, international solidarity movements and accompaniment organizations emerged to provide a protective presence, using international volunteers to deter violence and support grassroots struggles for justice.
Real World Effects as Republicans Scuttle International Humanitarian Assistance
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Calling for aid “to help 114 million people facing life-threatening needs across the world,” the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs said that “this isn’t just an appeal for money―it’s a call for global responsibility, for human solidarity, for a commitment to end the suffering.” Thus far, there’s no indication that the Trump administration has that commitment.
If fear is the goal, then solidarity is the antidote
DANIEL HUNTER – We would do well to take refuge in each other. We can focus on the fear or we can focus on the acts of courage around us. We would do well to steel our wills and gird ourselves — for these times require great courage. And courage is contagious. So let this be our mantra: It outlaws me, and I outlaw it.
Activate climate’s ‘silent majority’ to supercharge action, experts say
DAMIAN CARRINGTON – “People deeply understand we are in a climate emergency,” said Cassie Flynn, at the UN Development Programme, whose People’s Climate Vote in 2024 found 80% of people wanted stronger climate action from their countries. “They want world leaders to be bold, because they are living it day to day. World leaders should look at this data as a resounding call for them to rise to the challenge.”
How Some Independent Radio Stations Avoid Sounding Like Corporate Drones
DAMON ORION – Local radio stations and digital networks of independents are keeping “human-driven, anti-algorithm expression” alive.
How Sanctuary Cities Protect All of Us
ROBERT KOEHLER – As George Cassidy Payne writes, “Sanctuary cities offer more than a geographical claim. They challenge us to look past a person’s nationality and recognize their humanity.”
What We Are Losing Through Trump’s Policies
MELINDA BURRELL – A problem with many of the policies made in this administration is thst they create massive change for the sake of disruption, without considering the consequences. The U.S. will be poorer without international students. We lose their perspectives enriching campus conversations. We lose the financial benefits of their tuition and other spending. We lose the edge they bring us in science, business, and the arts.
Is Nuclear Winter a Climate Issue?
NORMAN SOLOMON – With adversaries in common, the climate movement and activists for nuclear disarmament have an unexplored potential to work together. In profound ways, they could become effective allies in helping to save the world from unimaginable disasters.
The MAGA Command Center Progressive Philanthropy Still Doesn’t Understand
WALEED SHAHID – If progressives are serious about governing in an era defined by authoritarian threat—not just mobilizing in bursts—they need an institution built for the crisis we’re actually in, not the one our current infrastructure was designed for. Most of our organizations were built for a different strategic landscape: the post-Obama world of base-building, mass mobilization, and piecemeal policy advocacy. But that’s only one dimension of the current fight.
Union Members Hold the Keys to a Restored Democracy
ANDREW MOSS – If coalition members are serious about protecting democracy as a whole – not just their own institutional turf – they’ll be willing to leave their familiar silos. If, for example, an M.L. King or a U.S. President can walk a picket line, so can the president of your alma mater, or the head of that prominent law firm in your town. Or, for that matter, so can the rest of us.
This campaign against deportation flights shows how to target companies enabling Trump
ANDREW WILLIS GARCES and CHRISTI CLARK – Winning high-stakes fights against powerful opponents like Avelo, an airline working with ICE, requires undermining their key pillars of support.
Why Trump, the “Peacemaker,” Can’t Secure Peace
LAWRENCE WITTNER – The people of the world have a great deal to gain by strengthening international organizations that are genuinely committed to fostering peace.
How Bad Does It Have to Get Before the DNC Declares an Emergency?
NORMAN SOLOMON – Right now, the Democratic Party appears to be stuck in a never-ending logjam. The only real possibilities for major improvement will come from progressives who make demands and organize to back them up with grassroots power.
Touching Insight into the Reality of the Gaza War
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – The slaughter goes on, usually in the name of war, which reduces human life to, at best, a strategic abstraction. Dead civilians – dead children – are collateral damage, which means they’re nothing at all.
In Trump’s America, Which Side Are You On?
BRAD WOLF – In 1958, legendary peace activist Philip Berrigan asked a youth retreat group the following question: “What’s it going to be with you? Are you going to go through life playing both ends against the middle, playing cozy, not committing yourself, sitting on the fence?” That question is as potent, and as dangerous, today as it was then. For us, and for the victims in the breach.
How to Fight Trump Without Caving to Corporatists
RICHARD (RJ) ESKOW and NORMAN SOLOMON – The DNC should provide leadership at times like these. But there’s still no leadership, several months into a second Trump regime that’s much worse than the first. There’s energy to oppose, but it’s uncoordinated. James Hightower charts the way: the agitator gets the dirt out in the washing machine; and there’s nothing in the middle of the road except yellow lines and dead armadillos.
Trump is Trying to Reverse the New Deal
RICHARD D wOLFF – The class politics of Trump carry forward the actions of his predecessors across the last century. The details, not the goals, vary with the circumstances. It is worth remembering that in all empires, when their rise inevitably turns into decline, those who accumulated the greatest wealth and power use these resources to retain their position. They thereby offload the costs of decline onto the middle and lower classes. The latter suffer more and face the consequences first. Trump’s first budget proposals starkly exhibit this offloading. For most empires, such offloading proves socially divisive and ends very badly.
Greenpeace remains determined to fight the corporate silencing of dissent
NICK ENGELFRIED – As Greenpeace prepares to appeal a devastating verdict in a lawsuit brought by a pipeline company, the environmental group is not only defending itself — but the very right to protest.
Close the Digital Gap Before It Becomes a Ballot Gap
DAKOTA HALL – Why the right’s “always-on” media machine wins, and how we catch up before 2026.
Stop Avelo Movement is Taking Off
COALITION TO STOP AVELO – TWO HUNDRED Anti-Avelo grassroots organizations in nearly ALL of the Avelo destination cities have joined our Coalition. Together, we will force Avelo to stop operating illegal, inhumane and unconstitutional deportation flights for ICE. Please help the Coalition continue to grow. We want to connect with activists everywhere, but especially in Detroit, Dallas, Chicago, Wilmington, DE, Mesa, AZ, and Palm Springs.
Please forward this newsletter to your network of allies – both in your own city and across the country.
How the Pacific Northwest’s Dream of Green Energy Fell Apart
TONY SCHICK and MONICA SAMAYOA – Oregon and Washington passed aggressive goals to decarbonize their power supply but left it to the Bonneville Power Administration to build the transmission lines needed for wind and solar. The agency hasn’t delivered.
The Extinction Order: Trump’s Executive Order 14270 Doesn’t Deregulate; It Dismantles
JOHN MARKS – On April 9, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14270, blandly titled “Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy.” Behind that bureaucratic name is a sweeping directive: Dismantle a century of environmental protections.
Do we Americans have the maturity to deal with the important issues of our time?
BOB TOPPER – The nation is hungry for leadership by decent and honorable men and women, who will respect their oath to the Constitution and dedicate themselves to the common good. An autocracy cannot be the solution, for all of the problems in American society, our liberal democracy is far more successful than any autocracy or theocracy. We must repair the one we have by putting competent people in government not showmen and pretty faces.
Defending Democracy Is My Retirement Plan
DAVID J. SMITH – It’s time for us to do our part. We need to get out and defend democracy, not only for us but for others unable or fearful to act including immigrants (documented and undocumented), government workers, young people, and many others feeling vulnerable right now. Those of us retired are best positioned to act. We must make fighting for democracy our generation’s retirement plan.It’s time for us to do our part. We need to get out and defend democracy, not only for us but for others unable or fearful to act including immigrants (documented and undocumented), government workers, young people, and many others feeling vulnerable right now. Those of us retired are best positioned to act. We must make fighting for democracy our generation’s retirement plan.
Support, Challenges Grow for Unions
JOHN P. RUEHL – The United Steel Workers must navigate factionalism while championing labor rights amid rising anti-union pressures and global trade fragmentation.
The Limitations of Military Might
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Rather than continuing to pour the wealth of nations into the failing system of national military power, how about bolstering other global instruments for attaining international security and peace?
1300 May Day Protests Are Just Part of Resistance to Trump’s Agenda
RIVERA SUN – May Day is the International Labor Day and people across the world took action.
The Vietnam and Gaza Wars Shattered Young Illusions About U.S. Leaders
NORMAN SOLOMON – Many young eyes recognized the war policy positions of Hubert Humphrey and Kamala Harris as immoral. Their decisions to stay on a war train clashed with youthful idealism. And while hardboiled political strategists opted to discount such idealism as beside the electoral point, the consequences have been truly tragic – and largely foreseeable.
Reimagining U.S. Priorities: How Canada’s Costed Platforms Could Shift Spending from Military to Human Services
MICHAEL MORRILL – “Costed platforms” refer to election platforms where the proposed policies and promises have been analyzed for their financial impact, usually including detailed budget estimates. When a party proposes universal childcare or climate reform, they are required to submit their plans to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Independent economists test each promise: How much will it cost? Who pays? What is saved? It isn’t perfect system, but it’s a compass. It points away from fantasy, toward responsibility.
The power and pitfalls of protest: how to speak out without falling victim to Trump’s playbook
JONATHAN SMUCKER – As mass protest surges against Trump and Musk, how can we show up as effectively as possible?
Mr. “Peace President,” Where is the Peace?
KELSEY COOLIDGE – We cannot build peace without the voices for peace in government. We also need strong voices outside of the government to advocate for pro-peace policies. Peace movements, non-profit or non-governmental organizations, and the charitable foundations that support them are all involved in this work. These civil society organizations do more to represent a war-weary American public than a government that cuts all funding for peace.
Analyzing Four Disgraceful Trump Actions
By Mel Gurtov Act 1: US and El Salvador Won’t Return Wrongly Deported Man No disgraceful act of the Trump administration is more dangerous than its denial of due process of law, judicial decisions, and unquestionable facts in the deportation…
Florida Shooting Leads to “Worst Day of My Life”
LAURA FINLEY – I got one of the worst text messages a parent can receive at 12:05 p.m. on April 17. “Active shooter.”
Straight Talk to Democrats (and the Rest of Us)
DR. PRU LEE – Dear Democratic Party: I need more from you. You keep sending emails begging for $15, while we’re watching fascism consolidate power in real time. This administration is not simply “a different ideology.” It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine — with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control. And you? You’re still asking for decorum and donations. That won’t save us. I want strategy. I want fire. I want action so bold it shifts the damn news cycle — not fits inside one.
Guide to Becoming an Environmental Leader and Inspiring the Next Generation of Eco-Defenders
SAM DAVIS – Your community needs leaders who care about the environment. As climate change, pollution, and loss of biodiversity threaten our planet’s health, we can’t afford to wait for governments or corporations to solve these problems. We need individuals who are willing to take action, inspire others, and make a difference. And those differences need to happen right in our backyards.
What would a general strike in the US actually look like?
Calls for a general strike in the US are growing. It’s important to understand how to organize one, given their key role in overcoming tyrants around the world. By Jeremy Brecher Something is in the air: A perception that American…
Oregon scores 9th in the nation for energy efficiency
ISABEL CHARLE – Oregon ranked ninth this year on The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research organization, ranked states based on their latest policy developments and efforts to save energy.
What to do if the Insurrection Act is invoked
DANIEL HUNTER – With the Insurrection Act looming, now is the time to learn how it might unfold and the strategic ways to respond.
Will America’s Golden Age End in Rage and Frenzy?
BOB TOPPER – In 1258, illiterate and misguided Mongols sacked Baghdad, destroying libraries, hospitals, and other cultural institutions. That marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age. The Trump-Musk administration is destroying America’s great institutions and is on a mission to end America’s golden age. But the Trump regime is built on deception and seems fundamentally unstable. It may implode. We the people are waking up to his madness as the price of eggs continues to rise and retirement accounts shrink.
Once seen as a symbolic protest, the nuclear ban treaty is growing teeth
OLAMIDE SAMUEL – In just four years, the TPNW has evolved beyond the caricature of a “protest treaty.” It offers something the traditional forums often cannot: a willingness to confront the uncomfortable truths about nuclear weapons, from their humanitarian consequences to the fragility of deterrence itself. The TPNW is not about dismantling the system overnight; it’s about ensuring we have the courage and the foresight to imagine a future where nuclear arsenals—and the assumption that we need them—no longer exist.