RAY BAILEY – By melding theory and practice, Philadelphia’s Vanguard S.O.S. are building skills and collective power.
Category: What’s Happening In the Movement
The Move Toward a Four-Day Workweek Obscures Low Pay
SONALI KOLHATKAR – Of course Americans deserve to work fewer hours. But unless the move to a four-day workweek is accompanied by a massive pay raise, it merely frees up time to work more.
The Power of Humor in Indigenous Activism
CATY BORUM – Humor in Native culture has never been simply about entertainment. Comedy is also used to fight cultural invisibility and structural oppression.
Banning Books to be Banned in Illinois
JUDD LEGUM – Across the country, right-wing activists are seeking to ban thousands of books from schools and other public libraries. Those promoting the bans often claim they are acting to protect children from pornography. But the bans frequently target books “by and about people of color and LGBTQ individuals.” Many of the books deemed pornography by activities are actually highly acclaimed novels. Now, one state is fighting back.
Oregon Nonprofit Returns Wallowa Land to Nez Perce Tribe
LAUREN PATERSON – Kathleen Ackley is the executive director of the Wallowa Land Trust. As more Northwest lake communities are being developed with vacation homes and Airbnbs, she says her organization’s focus is protecting natural areas, open spaces and farms in Northeast Oregon. The nonprofit recently gifted 30 acres of undeveloped land near the lake to the Nez Perce Tribe.
How Workers in the South Are Defying History
TOM CONWAY – Workers at Blue Bird Corporation in Fort Valley, Georgia, launched a union drive to secure better wages, work-life balance, and a voice on the job. The company resisted them. History defied them. Geography worked against them. But they stood together, believed in themselves, and achieved a historic victory that’s reverberating throughout the South.
Tell the Three Presidents to Stop the War
PETER BERGEL – A coalition of dozens of peace and justice organizations (https://bit.ly/StopWarOrgs) is collecting signers on a statement to Presidents Biden, Zelensky and Putin telling them that the time has come to end the war in Ukraine.
How a Tribal Rights Lawyer Is Winning Back the Rights of Nature
ARIC SLEEPER – Attorney Frank Bibeau found a way to legally protect nature by suing the state of Minnesota in the name of manoomin, or wild rice, sacred to the Ojibwe people.
Dan Ellsberg – A Profound Voice Against the Doomsday Machine
DANIEL ELLSBERG – Can we simply ignore the reality of the world’s largest nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert — amid escalation of a new cold war with heightened nuclear dangers? We ignore this impending disaster and its impassioned opponent, Daniel Ellsberg, at our own peril.Indeed, the U.S. just enacted its biggest military budget in history, with unprecedented investment in weapons of mass destruction and their deployment.
How Union Workers Are Fighting to Save Veterans
TOM CONWAY – New York enacted its version of the workplace poster law, written with USW members’ input, on January 1, 2023. Union members continue working to advance similar legislation in Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and other states.
The Nord Stream-Andromeda Cover Up
SCOTT RITTER – The German government’s crude effort to manufacture an alternative narrative regarding who attacked the Nord Stream pipeline fails the smell test — in short, it stinks. The holes in this story are such that even the most gifted screenwriters could not turn this Andromeda tale of changing history into something remotely believable. In short, Gene Roddenberry would not be impressed.
Agrivoltaics: The Farm-to-Solar Trend That Can Help Accelerate the Renewable Energy Transition
TINA CASEY – Using the same land for the production of both agriculture and solar energy is a win-win for the climate and farmers.
How Indigenous Land Management Practices Are a Blueprint for Climate-Resilient Agriculture
DANIEL ROSS – If aggressive commercial agriculture exacerbates the climate crisis, are there key lessons to be learned from Indigenous land management practices that can help to restore environmental balance?
How to build a progressive movement in a polarized country
GEORGE LAKEY – Many assume that polarization is a barrier to making change, but history shows otherwise. By learning what worked in previous periods of polarization, we can observe a clear roadmap to transformation.
Trouble in town? Send in the Maroon People Instead of the Police
MELINDA BURRELL – The Mediation Response Unit (MRU) of Dayton, Ohio, is helping people understand, among other benefits, that they don’t need to use violence in a dispute, or call the police, or threaten attorneys. Another way is frequently a far better response. Often police are called for a disturbance but cannot do anything because it is a civil, rather than criminal, complaint.
Unions Buoyant as 1.27 Million French Protest Pension Reform
ELAINE GANLEY, JADE LE DELEY and JOHN LEICESTER – An estimated 1.27 million people took to the streets of French cities, towns and villages on January 31, according to the Interior Ministry, in new massive protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age by two years.
A Victory for Abolitionists: ICE-Run Immigration Prison Shuts Down Today
ADRIANNA TORRES-GARCIA and JASMINE RIVERA – It took nearly a decade of exposing the patterns of abuse and neglect at the facility in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
What Determines the Success of Movements Today?
CATHY ROGERS – Building on the recommendations of other movement strategists, new research from the Social Change Lab offers key insights into the factors that lead to protest wins.
Movement to stop Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ calls for support after police kill forest defender
ZANE MCNEILL – “The struggle that is playing out in Atlanta is a contest for the future. It will determine whether those who come after us inherit an inhabitable Earth or a police state nightmare … The forest defenders are trying to create a better world for all of us. We owe it to the people of Atlanta and to future generations everywhere to support them.”
Celebrate the 2nd Anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
KARY LOVE – We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Such a time is now. Become part of human progress. Call, write, use this time creatively to end the threat to creation.
Become a “Vehicle” for the Shift to Nonviolence
SUSAN BEAVER THOMPSON – Let us each become a “vehicle” for a monumental shift toward a more evolved way to manage our conflicts. Though a challenging endeavor, Peace on Earth is possible… and it’s coming. Since Susan Thompson’s first peace journalism trek in 2013, much has changed. People are waking up, becoming engaged and taking action for what they believe. The soil is ripe for pioneering peace activists and peace journalists to rock the world.
Why I’m Going to Jail In Germany Instead of Paying Fines
JOHN LAFORGE – Refusing to pay fines for nonviolent resistance to nuclear war preparations is, from John LaForge’s position of privilege, also an act of solidarity with the poor, the undocumented, and the outcasts who often don’t have resources or connections enough to purchase their way out of pre-trial detention or incarceration for minor offenses.
As we confront the climate crisis, is bigger and faster always better?
CHARLIE WOOD – By prioritizing large-scale climate responses we might be missing out on the kind of bottom-up solutions most aligned with bringing the world back within its limits.
Unity in the community, or, how I learned to get along with my enemies
TOM H. HASTINGS – Hate only feeds more hate, more destruction, more violence, more useless continuation of wreckage. Unless some people simply stop, however unilaterally that might be, the hate will never vanish. It may go under some rock when social norms force it there, but it is like a peat bog fire just waiting under the surface, for years sometimes, before conditions allow it to erupt into a raging wildfire. How? How to drop the hate?
Bike Libraries Are Boosting Access To Bikes Across The US
CINNAMON JANZER – Campuses And Libraries Across The Country Are Increasingly Adding Bikes To Their Inventory, Increasing Access To Cycling Along The Way.
CODEPINK’s Statement on Congress Passing $858 Billion Military Budget
MELISSA GARRIGA – Budgets like the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) are moral documents. What this $858 billion “defense” budget (includes $50 billion for nuclear weapons; $25 billion for missile defense) is saying to every person in this country is that the people in power do not care about us. Bought by the war industry, they ONLY care about their own profits. They would rather give almost a trillion dollars to death, destruction, and war profiteers than meet the needs of the people.
These Cities’ Car-Free Streets Are Here to Stay
MAYLIN TU – Cars? In this economy? Here’s how four cities kept miles of pavement traffic-free, turning a popular pandemic solution into a permanent fixture.
In Barcelona, Kids Bike to School in Large, Choreographed Herds
CINNAMON JANZER – “The boys and girls who use bicibús establish new relationships with [other kids] from their neighborhood and of different ages … creating new opportunities to share space in the same neighborhood where they live,” Vilardell says. “If, in Catalonia, there are already more than a thousand people pedaling to school, [others] can do it too. [They can] fill their schools with bicycles for our health, the health of the children, and that of the earth.”
‘Powerful Victory’ as Judge Dismisses Charges Against Line 3 Water Protectors
JESSICA CORBETT – Opponents of Line 3 on Tuesday welcomed a Minnesota judge’s dismissal of all charges against five water protectors arrested last year for protesting plans to have the tar sands pipeline cross the Shell River in several places.
Why grassroots activists are turning to the wonky world of monetary policy to fight for economic justice
PAMELA HAINES – Determined to challenge the all-encompassing threat of private banks, a small group in Ohio is leading a campaign to put monetary reform on the national agenda
Your Brain on Elections: Democracy Means Listening to the Other Side
BELINDA BURRELL – I’m afraid what Thanksgiving will be like, no matter how the election turns out,” a friend commented. She’s not wrong to be worried. Elections bring up all sorts of emotions and behaviors that create division. Understanding our “brains on elections” can help.
Gun Store Closes to Avoid Assault Rifle Controversy in Portland, Oregon — Activists Claim Minor Victory
PETER BERGEL – “They didn’t sell any assault rifles today. That’s a start.”
The Fossil Free Research Movement is Taking Universities by Storm
NICK ENGELFRIED – A student-led effort to get fossil fuel money out of university research is building on the divestment movement’s biggest successes.
The Rights of Nature Movement Cannot be Stopped
PAMELA HAINES – From the Navajo Nation to a small town in Pennsylvania to Ecuador, then across the world, the idea of enshrining the rights of nature is only growing.
Get Mad About Nuclear Madness
DAVID SWANSON – But right now there’s not a single U.S. Congress Member seriously sticking their neck out for peace, much less a caucus or a party. Lesser evil voting will always have the strength of logic it has, but none of the choices on any of the ballots includes human survival — which merely means that — just as throughout history — we need to do more than voting. What we can’t do is allow our madness to become meanness, or our awareness to become fatalism, or our frustration to become a shifting of responsibility. This is all of our responsibility, whether we like it or not. But if we do our very best, working in community, with a vision of a peaceful and nuclear free world before us, I think we just might find the experience likable. If we can form pro-peace communities everywhere like the one we’ve been part of this morning, we can make peace.
Activist Shareholders for Smith & Wesson Embrace the Long View in Struggle to Curb Gun Violence
ARNIE ALPERT – Despite failing to pass a human rights resolution, one group of investors will continue the fight to hold the world’s biggest firearms manufacturer accountable.
We have a violence problem – Campaign Nonviolence strives to solve it
RIVERA SUN – Violence may be everywhere, but so are we. Tens of thousands of people will move into action between Sept 21-Oct 2 to bring a nonviolent world one step closer to reality. Will you?
There’s No Place for Burnout in a Burning World
CHARLIE WOOD – Climate activists can start to build a stronger culture of care by taking burnout seriously and understanding its root causes.
Marine Life Defenders Say UN Talks ‘Last Chance’ for Global Ocean Treaty
JESSICA CORBETT – Because the high seas “don’t ‘belong’ to anyone, they have been treated recklessly with impunity,” said one campaigner, arguing that “nobody’s waters” must become “everyone’s responsibility.”
Veterans Send Letter to President Biden: “Read Our Nuclear Posture Review Before Releasing Yours”
VETERANS FOR PEACE – In an Open Letter to President Biden, Veterans for Peace is requesting that he take a look at their Nuclear Posture Review before issuing his own. The letter is prompted by the escalating war in Ukraine and the growing possibility of nuclear war.
Why Is There More Media Talk About Using Nuclear Weapons Than About Banning Them?
KARL GROSSMAN – It’s of critical importance—indeed, existential importance—to the world: the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. And a coalition of peace organizations in the United States is charging that media are acting like the treaty “does not exist.” The Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative is waging a campaign to encourage press coverage of the treaty, which, it argues, “provides the only pathway to a safe, secure future free of the nuclear threat” (Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance Newsletter, 6/22).
Practicing Safe Protest: Just Say No to Violence
DR.TOM H. HASTINGS – Our peace team is one of many across the US and we hope more and more folks seek training in more and more towns so we can return to protest that is very assertive, but not aggressive, not alienating to the public, and everyone stays safe.
Climate Change: If you want to know who changed Manchin’s mind–you did
BILL MCKIBBEN – For decades now, when asked about the point of one climate protest or another, I’ve usually said something to the effect of: we fight to change the zeitgeist, people’s sense of what is normal and natural and obvious. Yes, we fight to block this pipeline or divest that pension fund, and each of those is important: but they add up to something more, a slowly moving weight that eventually shifts from one side to the other. That’s what happened last night when Joe Manchin caved. Now the Senate finally—for the first time in more than three decades—seems set to pass actual serious climate legislation.
Financial Sector Addresses Meeting on Nuclear Ban Treaty
ICAN: INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS – For the first time ever investors were directly represented at a conference of parties to a humanitarian disarmament treaty. The Italian asset manager Etica Funds, on behalf of a group of 37 investors presented a group statement to the first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Organizers are reeling yet determined following Supreme Court’s dangerous expansion of gun rights
ZANE MCNEILL – After celebrating the Senate’s gun control legislation, advocates are planning new actions in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on concealed carry.
KXL is Officially Dead
JOYCE BRAUN – KXL Official Termination “marks the end of one heck of a fight!”
Is our democracy at risk? Actions we all can take to protect it
MELINDA BURRELL – The January 6th Committee is showing us how fragile our democracy is. Our trust in each other and in our institutions is waning – in both parties. Norms of peaceful, inclusive democratic activity are being eroded, as we see from reports about professional election officials being intimidated.
Time to launch “Dads Demand Action to Raise Healthy Boys”
ROB OKUN – This Father’s Day, if you like, sure, fire up the grill and give Dad a new fishing rod. But also, let’s encourage men—fathers, sons, grandfathers, brothers, uncles, nephews—to move off the sidelines as bystanders and onto a field of dreams as change agents cultivating a disease-resistant crop of healthy boys.
Organizers Are Demanding a Green New Deal for the Gulf South
C.J. POLUCHRONIOU – The Green New Deal project proposed by progressive activists and lawmakers carries special weight for sustainability in the Gulf Coast.
Protesters Take On NRA Convention After Texas Shooting
CHARLIE SCUDDER – Hundreds rally for gun control outside the NRA’s Houston meeting, calling on Americans to ‘protect kids, not guns.’