Rivera Sun's Blog: From the Desk of Rivera Sun, page 14

Nonviolence News

March 17-23

This project has grown through the inspiration of Nonviolence Now. Learn more about it here.

Each week, Nonviolence News collects dozens of stories of “nonviolence in action” and re-circulates them to illuminate the scale and scope of how nonviolence is actively shaping our world.These stories reflect nonviolent action and nonviolent practices, including constructive programs, alternative institutions, and policies rooted in structural/systemic nonviolence as opposed to violence. 

Editor’s Note from Rivera Sun: Yet another 50+ story week! That makes close to 200 different uses of nonviolence in the past month. I’ve always had a sense that people are using nonviolent action far more frequently than even nonviolence advocates like us suspect. Keeping track of the stories through Nonviolence News each week proves it. If we can make visible to more people how staggeringly robust the uses of nonviolence are in our world, it would go a long way to building the credible track record of nonviolence in the eyes of the general public.

Victory! Recent Success Stories
It’s easy to overlook the victories, and even easier to forget their connection to the years of organizing that led to these changes. In Nonviolence News, we uplift and reconnect those threads.

Local food movement (a form of constructive program for local economy) made a major breakthrough in challenging corporate control of the food system: “On March 20, Boston, MA, became the first on the East Coast to adopt a city-wide Good Food Purchasing Policy (GFPP) — a groundbreaking policy that helps build an equitable, local, sustainable food system.”  https://popularresistance.org/victory-boston-challenges-corporate-control-of-our-food-system/

1,700 United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) in Erie, Pennsylvania win 90-day agreement after picketing for 9 days in below freezing temperatures, demonstrating a model of the working-class internationalism that can build a more just world. https://popularresistance.org/labor-unions-can-take-on-international-fights-and-win/

KXL Pipeline blocked in court … yet again. The long resistance to KXL has delayed and delayed this pipeline’s construction, pushing it onto shakier ground as the oil and gas industry weakens due to climate justice activism.  https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2019/keystone-xl-pipeline-03-15-2019.php

Oregon House of Representatives approves 10-year moratorium on fracking . . . a significant victory arising from the efforts of both state campaigns and the nationwide anti-fracking movement.   https://www.koin.com/news/environment/oregon-house-approves-10-year-ban-on-fracking-/1858278974

After more than a decade of legal challenges, climate activists win historic “holy grail” of a federal court ruling saying US Government must consider climate change impacts when reviewing oil and gas drilling permit applications. “A judge blocked oil and gas drilling across almost 500 square miles in Wyoming and said the U.S. government must consider climate change impacts more broadly as it leases huge swaths of public land for energy exploration.”  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/citing-climate-change-u-s-judge-blocks-oil-gas-drilling-n985646


Recent News & On-going Campaigns
This week’s news contains numerous examples of nonviolent actions to affirm and support Muslims – and to take a clear stand against White Supremacy and gun violence – in the wake of the Christchurch massacres in New Zealand. Also, this week saw the launch of two new labor strikes and a French unions’ call for a general strike. Four major marches on four different continents challenged everything from labor to Brexit to the right to independence. 

In the wake of Christchurch massacres of 49 Muslims, New Zealand plans to ban semi-automatic assault rifles. 
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm

Man stands outside mosque with sign that reads, “You are my friends. I will stand watch while you pray.” https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/434399-man-goes-viral-after-standing-outside-his-local-mosque-to-keep

Hundreds of New Zealanders form human chain around mosque in Wellington. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-zealand-mosque-prayer-human-chain_n_5c94e9d3e4b01ebeef0e4e5

Akin to NZ’s human chain, allies in Lodi, CA surrounded a mosque with a protective human chain of non-Muslims during Friday prayers, March 15, 2019. Via Haseeb Rana.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2354259707918103&set=a.412366625440764&type=3&theater

New Zealand pulls Murdoch’s Sky News Australia off air over slanted mosque massacres coverage.  https://thinkprogress.org/new-zealand-pulls-murdochs-sky-news-australia-off-the-air-over-mosque-massacre-coverage-353cd22f86a7/

Women in New Zealand wear headscarfs in show of solidarity with Muslims. https://www.thisisinsider.com/new-zealand-women-wear-headscarves-in-display-of-solidarity-2019-3 

Breastfeeding mothers hold a “nurse-in” at Tulsa, OK municipal court to breastfeed in public after another mother was asked to leave the building for nursing her child.  https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/nursing-mothers-rally-at-tulsa-municipal-court-after-woman-asked/article_05e4fa1f-f0a6-54c1-a93b-edc21c39163e.html

A new generation of politicians and movements are challenging inequalities and standing up for human rights under Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency. https://inequality.org/research/hope-brazil-ocupa-politica/?source=newsletter

Haunting red dresses hang from trees outside National Museum of the American Indian as a protest – and memorial – for missing and murdered Indigenous women. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/these-haunting-red-dresses-memorialize-murdered-and-missing-indigenous-women-180971730/

Global activist reflects on contemporary movements throughout Africa: “I have hope for the year ahead of Africa. It began with unions in Sudan and Zimbabwe putting old and new authoritarian regimes respectively to the test. Togo stands on the brink of ending a half-century of family rule, and Algerians continue to flood the streets against their despot, who was just forced to concede his candidacy for a fifth term. Anti-government protests in Ethiopia have pushed a traditionally regressive regime into taking steps toward democracy, which its new leaders are doing.”
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2019/03/prospects-for-revolution-in-africas-54-countries/

Teaching Assistants go on strike at University of Illinois at Chicago.  
https://popularresistance.org/teaching-assistants-go-on-strike-at-university-of-illinois-at-chicago/

UCLA union workers go on strike. Bernie Sanders joins them. “The Independent senator from Vermont spoke at a rally in Los Angeles, standing in solidarity with about 40,000 University of California (UC) workers who staged a one-day statewide strike after months of failed contract negotiations for pay raises and better benefits.”
 https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/21/decrying-war-being-waged-against-working-people-sanders-joins-striking-union-members

French unions call for general strike. Over 100 demonstrations have been planned across the country in favor of better pay, improved purchasing power, retirement protection, gender equality and a fairer education system. https://popularresistance.org/french-unions-call-general-strike-for-better-pay-retirement-education/

Connecting the dots between many levels of Starbuck’s supply chain, United Farm Workers Union protested Darigold at Starbuck’s shareholders meeting. They carried signs that showed the supply chain pyramid from cows to dairy workers to milk to Starbucks cups. The slogans read: sexual harassment, retaliation, wage and hour violations, labor abuse: This Is A Grande Problem. 
https://www.facebook.com/unitedfarmworkers/photos/a.10156187219581547/10156188327471547/

Venezuelans march to celebrate victory over electric sabotage. 
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuelans-March-To-Celebrate-Victory-Over-Electric-Sabotage-20190316-0015.html

Supporters of Catalonia’s Independence hold historic march during the trial of movement leaders, holding banners that read, “Self-determination is not a crime” and “Democracy is about deciding”. 
https://popularresistance.org/independence-trial-protest-organizers-celebrate-a-historic-march-in-madrid/

1 million people marched in London and other cities to demand that #Brexit be put to a People’s Vote. 
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/23/put-it-people-one-million-march-uk-demand-brexit-rethink

After a surge of anti-fascist organizing, Amazon quietly purges dozens of far-right books. https://truthout.org/articles/after-activist-pressure-amazon-purges-dozens-of-far-right-books/

Haunting red dresses hang from trees outside National Museum of the American Indian as a protest – and memorial – for missing and murdered Indigenous women. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/these-haunting-red-dresses-memorialize-murdered-and-missing-indigenous-women-180971730/

Global activist reflects on contemporary movements throughout Africa: “I have hope for the year ahead of Africa. It began with unions in Sudan and Zimbabwe putting old and new authoritarian regimes respectively to the test. Togo stands on the brink of ending a half-century of family rule, and Algerians continue to flood the streets against their despot, who was just forced to concede his candidacy for a fifth term. Anti-government protests in Ethiopia have pushed a traditionally regressive regime into taking steps toward democracy, which its new leaders are doing.”
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2019/03/prospects-for-revolution-in-africas-54-countries/

Teaching Assistants go on strike at University of Illinois at Chicago.  
https://popularresistance.org/teaching-assistants-go-on-strike-at-university-of-illinois-at-chicago/

UCLA union workers go on strike. Bernie Sanders joins them. “The Independent senator from Vermont spoke at a rally in Los Angeles, standing in solidarity with about 40,000 University of California (UC) workers who staged a one-day statewide strike after months of failed contract negotiations for pay raises and better benefits.”
 https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/21/decrying-war-being-waged-against-working-people-sanders-joins-striking-union-members

French unions call for general strike. Over 100 demonstrations have been planned across the country in favor of better pay, improved purchasing power, retirement protection, gender equality and a fairer education system. https://popularresistance.org/french-unions-call-general-strike-for-better-pay-retirement-education/

Connecting the dots between many levels of Starbuck’s supply chain, United Farm Workers Union protested Darigold at Starbuck’s shareholders meeting. They carried signs that showed the supply chain pyramid from cows to dairy workers to milk to Starbucks cups. The slogans read: sexual harassment, retaliation, wage and hour violations, labor abuse: This Is A Grande Problem. 
https://www.facebook.com/unitedfarmworkers/photos/a.10156187219581547/10156188327471547/

Venezuelans march to celebrate victory over electric sabotage. 
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuelans-March-To-Celebrate-Victory-Over-Electric-Sabotage-20190316-0015.html

Supporters of Catalonia’s Independence hold historic march during the trial of movement leaders, holding banners that read, “Self-determination is not a crime” and “Democracy is about deciding”. 
https://popularresistance.org/independence-trial-protest-organizers-celebrate-a-historic-march-in-madrid/

1 million people marched in London and other cities to demand that #Brexit be put to a People’s Vote. 
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/23/put-it-people-one-million-march-uk-demand-brexit-rethink

After a surge of anti-fascist organizing, Amazon quietly purges dozens of far-right books. https://truthout.org/articles/after-activist-pressure-amazon-purges-dozens-of-far-right-books/

Climate News
Living sustainably and protecting our planet are forms of “nonviolence toward the Earth”, which is inseparable from embodying nonviolence toward ourselves and all others. Here are recent stories of nonviolent climate action. 

Oil and gas stocks decline in the wake of Norway’s trillion-dollar divestment. The sovereign wealth fund — a state-owned investment fund — recently announced it was divesting from oil and gas exploration companies around the world, trigging a wave of stock declines for fracking, tar sands, and global oil exploration. 
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-03-20/what-norways-big-divestment-decision-means-for-fracking-tar-sands-and-global-oil-exploration/

Why Students of Color are stepping up to lead climate justice efforts:  “Students have stepped up to lead climate strikes everywhere from Anchorage, Alaska, to Houston. The group represents Native, Black, island, immigrant, and refugee communities. For many of them, climate change isn’t the first environmental threat they’ve faced.”  https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/climate-strikes-led-by-students-of-color-20190313

Global Student Climate Strikes … 1.4 million students in 130 countries.  https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/15/global-climate-strike-pictures-millions-students-walk-out-demand-planetary

Protesters demand an end to Mariner East Pipeline cutting through Pennsylvania.  https://www.wgal.com/article/protesters-demand-end-to-natural-gas-pipelines-through-pennsylvania/26873618

Farmers are suing to remove Lake Eerie’s recently won Rights of Nature. Now, Lake Eerie – the actual body of water – has asked to be let into the lawsuit as a defendant.
https://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/2019/03/lake-erie-yes-the-body-of-water-asks-to-be-let-into-lawsuit-over-bill-of-rights.html

Taking a progressive stance on climate action, all mosques in the city of Jordan are 100% solar-powered and the imams preach on the need for environmental protection. They generate so much power, they sell it back to the national grid.  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/with-green-mosques-and-schools-amman-pushes-for-zero-emissions

Thanks to Food and Water Watch Europe activists, EU considers banning Exxon lobbying due to the oil company’s climate deception. https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2019/03/21/eu-parliament-exxon-climate-deception/

Peace Action
Nonviolence News lifts up peace action stories to show how people are waging peace, challenging war hawks, and resisting militarism around the world.

10,000 Okinawans rally to urge the Japanese and U.S. governments to scrap a plan to relocate a controversial U.S. air base within the southern prefecture.  https://popularresistance.org/okinawa-rally-urges-japan-us-govts-to-scrap-base-relocation-plan/

Veterans call on US Troops to refuse orders to invade Venezuela.  
https://popularresistance.org/veterans-call-on-u-s-troops-to-resist-illegal-orders-to-invade-venezuela-in-response-to-trump/

Supporters around the world rally for Venezuela, crying #HandsOffVenezuela https://popularresistance.org/supporters-around-the-world-rally-crying-hands-off-venezuela/

Peace advocates in Washington, DC occupy the Venezuelan Embassy to the prevent the illegitimate opposition from taking it over. #HandsOffVenezuela   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1222405947928570&set=a.113314402171069&type=3&theater

US Veterans For Peace, arrested in Ireland for peace action, are refused bail. The two US veterans were arrested at Shannon Airport on 17 March for entering the airfield to inspect and investigate an OMNI Air International plane on contract to the U.S. military. 
https://popularresistance.org/two-u-s-veterans-for-peace-refused-bail-in-ireland/

Veterans demand Congress end “Forever Wars”. “Antiwar activists gathered on March 19, 2019, outside 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan for a rally on the 16th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The rally was followed by a march on several military recruiting offices along Chambers Street and to Borough of Manhattan Community College to oppose the United States’s endless cycle of war and militarism.” https://truthout.org/articles/veterans-demand-congress-end-the-forever-wars/

Creative Action
Nonviolence unleashes humanity’s abundant and evocative creativity. While war and violence repeat the same-old, same-old horrifying stories of death and destruction, nonviolence engages art, expression, creativity. Here are some examples.

Afghan women weave horrors of modern warfare into ancient tradition of rug-making, Artsy.net reports. The war’s “effects impacted everyday life so deeply that women in Afghanistan and those living as refugees in Pakistan and Iran began to incorporate icons of war into their carpets.”
 https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-lessons-afghan-women-weave-modern-war-ancient-tradition

Same Planet, Different Worlds video highlights contrasts between war zones and places of relative peace, illuminating the humanity of those struggling in the dangers of war.  
https://www.facebook.com/sivilfarkindalik/posts/2159934140756921

3-D Printers can print guns … so the Non-violence Project Sweden and a Stockholm agency called Animal are trying to flood the torrent sites (download sites) with blueprints of the famous knotted gun statue.   https://youtu.be/Pfp1Uoi838E

How technology is shaping creative activism in the 21st Century: 
 https://wagingnonviolence.org/2019/03/how-technology-is-shaping-creative-activism-in-the-21st-century/

Sidewalk Talk offers free listening stations on the street, providing empathy and space for people to feel heard while countering what’s becoming known as the “Loneliness Epidemic”, which is leading to depression and suicide.  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/these-volunteers-are-fighting-the-loneliness-epidemic-with-street-listening

John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City displays 51 prayer rugs on its steps to honor the 51 lives lost at Christchurch massacre.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=139120390468675&set=a.105178410529540&type=3&theater

Constructive Programs & Solutionary Actions
Constructive Programs and alternative institutions build the strength and resilience of the community while weakening reliance on systems of oppression. Here are a few examples that recently came up in the news. 

In Rochester, NY, alleged vandals of a Frederick Douglass statue met with creators of statue in a restorative justice program called for by statue creators. https://13wham.com/news/local/group-behind-douglass-statues-alleged-vandals-meet-through-restorative-justice-program

In Detroit, MI, the first urban “agrihood” feeds 2000 households for free.  https://wisemindhealthybody.com/trueactivist/first-urban-agrihood-america-feeds-2000-households-free/

Monsanto losses millions of dollars as Indian farmers’ movement switches to indigenous seeds.  https://www.nationofchange.org/2017/03/09/monsanto-loses-millions-dollars-indian-farmers-switch-indigenous-seed/

Elkin, North Carolina, shows how to reinvent a rural economy in just and sustainable ways.https://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/how-to-reinvent-a-rural-economy-100-at-a-time-2019030

Standing Rock medical bus is now a traveling decolonized herbalist pharmacy. https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/standing-rock-medic-bus-is-now-a-traveling-decolonized-pharmacy-20180727

Berkeley, CA sets the bar for cooperative standards. “Last month, Berkeley City Council unanimously adopted a set of recommendations provided by the Sustainable Economies Law Center (Law Center) and a coalition of worker coop members and advocates. In doing so, Berkeley became a national leader in supporting worker cooperative businesses.” 
https://popularresistance.org/berkeley-sets-the-bar-for-municipal-support-of-worker-cooperatives/

Calls-to-Action & Upcoming Events:
This week’s collection of ways to get involved includes internet actions, constructive programs, learning opportunities, strikes, and creative action. 

Fight for the Future plans massive #NetNeutrality protest to livestream Congress’ decision. https://popularresistance.org/the-whole-internet-is-watching-internet-protest-planned-ahead-of-key-net-neutrality-vote-next-week/  Sign up and join in here:  https://www.battleforthenet.com/#watch 

May Day 2019 launches national day of action by Immigrant Solidarity. “We are calling a national day of multi-ethnic unity with youth, labor, peace and justice communities in solidarity with immigrant workers and building new immigrant rights & civil rights movement”. 
https://popularresistance.org/may-day-2019-national-mobilization-for-immigrant-workers-rights/

Likhts’amisyu Spring Construction Camp constructs new resistance camp buildings in the pathway of oil and gas pipelines being put in unceeded Wet’suwet’en land. APRIL 28, 2019 – MAY 18, 2019 “The Likhts’amisyu Clan is about to embark on a Spring Construction Camp. We will be building permanent buildings on our territory in an effort to assert our precolonial rights and jurisdiction on our lands. We will be asking for help from volunteers to assist in fundraising, building a cabin, a kitchen dining and a bunk house, and also the associated outbuildings.”  https://itsgoingdown.org/help-build-new-resistance-camp-wetsuweten/

May 5th is a day of action for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls campaign. They ask for people to wear red or a red dress, or to hang a red dress outside their home or workplace.   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2088173261301391&set=a.107384822713588&type=3&theater

Campaign Nonviolence announces dates of 2019 Week of Actions:    www.paceebene.org/action-week

Fellowship of Reconciliation Northwest announces dates and themes of June 28-July 1, 2019 Seabeck Conference on “Fierce Vulnerability”:   
http://www.seabeck.org

Nonviolent History
Know your history … when we better understand the length and breadth of how/where/when nonviolence has been used, we better understand how to use it in our current times.

Why you should commemorate St. Patrick’s Day with boycott’s not beer.http://www.riverasun.com/celebrating-boycotts-on-st-patricks-day/

The Irish Revolution’s overlooked history of nonviolent resistance.  https://wagingnonviolence.org/2019/01/irish-revolution-overlooked-history-nonviolent-resistance/

Teaching for Change releases curriculum based on Black NBA player’s refusal to stand for the US national anthem in 1996. “This lesson, drawing on the story of NBA basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf who refused to stand for the U.S. national anthem in 1996, gives participants the opportunity to hear diverse Muslim perspectives within a U.S. context.”  https://www.teachingforchange.org/black-athlete-protest-mahmoud-abdul-rauf

History Theater features the four Minnesota sisters who all became nuns and “made a habit” of organizing for peace and justice together. “They chained themselves to Honeywell in Minneapolis during the Vietnam War to protest the company’s involvement in making weapons. They spent time in jail. They were regulars at the weekly peace protest on the Lake Street Bridge.” Learn more here: https://www.twincities.com/2019/03/21/minnesota-sisters-who-became-sisters-made-a-habit-of-fighting-for-peace-and-justice/

Resources:
The movement for active nonviolence and creative resistance offers numerous resources for learning more about how to use nonviolence in action. Here are a few recommendations.

Metta Center for Nonviolence’s bi-weekly radio program offers the Nonviolence Report (News and Analysis) and an interview with two artists and conflict resolution specialists. Zann and Craig Jacobrown are the authors of the workbook, “The Ancient Art of Conflict Resolution,” which draws inspiration from activities/practices/belief systems of the indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest’s conflict resolution teachings. https://mettacenter.org/ppr/nonviolence-radio-march-15-2019/

Campaign Nonviolence’s Veronica Pelicaric writes on civil disobedience.   https://wagingnonviolence.org/cnv/2019/01/civil-disobedience/

Metta Center for Nonviolence launches Peacemaker Family program. “The more families can practice nonviolence, the greater potential we all have for experiencing lasting peace as a global human family.”  https://learn.mettacenter.org/p/peacemaker-family

Activist/Author Rivera Sun has written numerous novels featuring nonviolent struggle, including The Dandelion Insurrection. She is a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent change and has written hundreds of articles on movements for journals across the country. www.riverasun.com

Nonviolence News: March 9-16

This project has grown through the inspiration of Nonviolence Now. Learn more about it here.

Every week, I collect true stories of nonviolence in action. Once again, this week’s round-up is full of inspiration. Once again, I’ve collected 50+ stories. My highlights include the student climate strikes (look at the photos – wow) and the creative action section. Inequality.org reports that Marie Antoinette has apparently resurrected and is moving to Capitol Hill (of course). As always, even this round-up is not an exhaustive list. “The world is made of stories,” said Muriel Ruskeyer. And our world is full of nonviolence in action.

About Rivera Sun’s Nonviolence News: These stories reflect nonviolent action and nonviolent practices, including constructive programs, alternative institutions, and policies rooted in structural/systemic nonviolence as opposed to violence. 

Victory! Recent Success Stories!
When we organize, we win. Here are a few small and large (and sometimes temporary) successes in a variety of social justice campaigns.

Water Protecters win victory against water privatization and bottling plant in Hilo, HI. http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2019/03/07/video-permit-for-hilo-water-bottling-plant-denied/

After many protests and direct action, a North Carolina Confederate statue outside a courthouse was removed. It will go to storage and then likely to the cemetery to stand on the grave of the person it represents.  https://www.apnews.com/87dfba779c3e4d60a617a0afd108d11b

Coastal California Tribe gets ancestral land returned … and shares the story of how it happened. “When we danced on that property for the first time, it was probably the most powerful moment that our tribe has experienced in the last 100 years—to have the sound of our clappers and our whistles, and hear the wind through the feathers of our dancers.”   https://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/decolonize/how-this-tribe-got-their-coastal-california-lands-returned-20180402

California Governor Gavin Newsom halts the death penalty. https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-governor-gavin-newsom-death-penalty-moratorium-20190312-story.html

San Quentin Prison execution room – a gas chamber – is being dismantled.  https://www.facebook.com/joe.vazquez.3557/posts/10155864209190919

The Ilhan Omar Affair was a victory for Social Movements and Palestinian Rights: https://www.thenation.com/article/ilhan-omar-aipac-israel-lobby-congress/

Students of Color use Nonviolent Tactics to negotiate a 20-point policy shift to end racism. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/students-of-color-matter-are-protesting-at-ethical-culture-fieldston-school



Climate Action
Well, those #ClimateKids shook the world. Here are reports on those amazing student strikes and some other recent news.

Student climate strikes around the world draw millions of students into the streets, sending a clear message to grown-up authorities: Our future is in your hands. Adults, use your power.   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2019/mar/15/climate-strikes-2019-live-latest-climate-change-global-warming

US Businesses and Local Government defy Federal Gov. to work toward Paris Agreement climate goals. https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/03/u-s-businesses-work-toward-paris-goals/

Norway set to divest $1 Trillion from oil and gas exploration companies. The “Norwegian govt (an oil state) is recommending that the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund fully divest from all fossil fuel. Financial Times: “this will send shockwaves through the energy sector.”  https://www.ft.com/content/d32142a8-418f-11e9-b896-fe36ec32aece

40,000 People in Amsterdam Demonstrate for Climate Justice  https://www.facebook.com/Redfishstream/photos/a.371605656616605/654918871618614/

Lakota Elder shares what Climate Organizers can learn from Indigenous Resistance: https://theintercept.com/2019/03/07/nick-estes-our-history-is-the-future-indigenous-resistance/

#Trashtag makes cleaning up the neighborhood a trend. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/trash-tag-challenge-plastic-waste/

Greta Thunberg nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for launching student climate strikes. https://www.ecowatch.com/greta-thunberg-nobel-peace-prize-2631637803.html

Mi’kmaw matriarchs serve eviction notice to Alton Gas for continuing pipeline construction work on unceeded territory.   https://globalnews.ca/news/5044088/mikmaw-matriarchs-eviction-alton-gas/

Longtime activist Frida Berrigan writes on parenting the climate change generation. https://popularresistance.org/parenting-the-climate-change-generation/

Taos, New Mexico Water Protector scales drilling rig to protest deep aquifer water wells. The community sets up a peaceful prayer action at base as Buck Johnston straps into the top of the tower for four days.  https://www.taosnews.com/stories/water-protectors,55722



Recent News and On-Going Campaigns
New stories of nonviolent resistance emerge every day. Here are a few recent events, and new surges for on-going campaigns. 

For the first time ever, 40+ Jewish groups say that equating anti-semitism with criticism of Israel is wrong. https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/30jewishgroupsbds/

After signing Stephen Hawkings and Elon Musk’s Pledge against building AI Military Robots, tech industry worker quit her job to protest Clarifai’s killer robot program. https://popularresistance.org/i-quit-my-job-to-protest-my-companys-work-on-building-killer-robots/

After Black mother and lawmaker refuses to back down in opposing “Stand Your Ground” bill, the measure was defeated in Arkansas. “I’m the only person here of color, OK. I am a mother, too, and I have a son, and I care as much for my son as y’all care for y’alls, but my son doesn’t walk the same path as yours does,” state Sen. Stephanie Flowers, a Democrat, said Wednesday during debate in the GOP-controlled Judiciary Committee. “So, this debate deserves more time.” 
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/09/us/arkansas-stand-your-ground-senator/index.html

1,600-member Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas has set up a resistance camp to protect a sacred site at a 154-year-old cemetery in San Juan, Texas, threatened by the president’s proposed border wall. https://truthout.org/articles/a-tribal-camp-in-south-texas-is-vowing-to-resist-trumps-wall/

On 50 year anniversary of historic student occupation, Sarah Lawrence Diaspora Coalition occupied the President’s Office in protest of “50 Years of Shame” and lack of racial justice. https://popularresistance.org/50yearsofshame-student-activists-occupy-the-presidents-office-at-sarah-lawrence-college/

To stop meth dealing, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe announces it will banish dealers from the tribe. https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-to-banish-meth-dealers-from-tribe/

8500 Walmart workers threaten to go on strike in 10 states on March 20 if the company doesn’t meet their demands for a 20% pay increase as well as other benefits and better conditions. https://popularresistance.org/winds-of-change-are-blowing-8500-walmart-employees-threaten-to-strike/

Inspired by recent teacher strikes, a new Tennessee Teacher Coalition prepares for struggle. https://popularresistance.org/teachers-are-ready-to-fight-says-new-tennessee-coalition-inspired-by-strikes-in-other-states/



Around the World
Stories of nonviolent struggle are erupting around the world. In addition to the global climate movement, here are a few other movements, campaigns, and actions from across the globe.

Algerians launch mass protests against same-old, same-old politics. Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to run for a fifth presidential term – despite his poor health and advanced age – is a non-starter for many Algerians. https://popularresistance.org/algeria-whats-fuelling-the-countrys-mass-protest-movement/

French Police threaten to join Yellow Jackets after government refuses to pay them for policing protests. https://popularresistance.org/french-police-to-join-yellow-vests-after-realizing-government-is-extorting-them-too/

Hundreds of people rallied in Sydney, Australia, in support of political prisoner Julian Assange. https://popularresistance.org/the-political-lessons-of-the-march-3-free-assange-rally/

400-person Matamoros Strike against Coca-cola and other corporations continues in Mexico. https://youtu.be/gVp8Q7LXRvwGroup marches in London for “Tibetan Uprising Day”.  https://www.facebook.com/FreeTibetOrg/videos/2483839304965018/

“If we stop, the world stops.” Hundreds of thousands of women take to the streets in Spain for feminist strike on International Women’s Day.  https://popularresistance.org/if-we-stop-the-world-stops-hundreds-of-thousands-of-spanish-women-take-to-streets-for-feminist-strike/

Colombia’s indigenous block road to Ecuador in anti-government protest.https://nvcnews.org/content/colombia%E2s-indigenous-block-road-ecuador-anti-government-protest

Cambodia: Garment factory records $1M loss since workers began protesting.https://nvcnews.org/content/cambodia-garment-factory-records-1m-loss-workers-began-protesting


Nonviolence in History
Know your history … when we better understand the length and breadth of how/where/when nonviolence has been used, we better understand how to use it in our current times.

Act Up was founded 32 years ago. “They changed more than the face of queer activism; they changed queer representation, the framing of the AIDS crisis, health activism, access to treatment in other countries as well as the USA,” says Rebecca Solnit https://hornet.com/stories/act-up-history/

PBS Special focuses on women, war, and peace, correcting the narrative and putting women back into the central roles they play in real life.  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/


Peace Action
Means are ends in the making, said Gandhi. As we work for peace, nonviolence is the best means of striving for that end goal.The Afghan Peace Volunteers’  Dr. Hakim’s message on the important distinction between violent and nonviolent peace is an excellent example of this. 

Love Letter from Smoky Kabul:Nonviolent vs Violent Peace in Afghanistan and the World by Dr. Hakim  https://paceebene.org/blog/2019/3/16/love-letter-from-smoky-kabul

US Peace Delegation to Iran was welcomed by Foreign Minister . . . and met by the FBI upon their return. https://therealnews.com/stories/u-s-peace-delegation-to-iran-welcomed-by-foreign-minister-met-by-fbi-agents-on-return

Bus Stop counter-recruitment sign urges people not to join the military. https://www.facebook.com/RevNews/photos/a.125035117650059/1275525869267639/?type=3&theater

A global coalition of employees of the Microsoft Corporation is demanding that a contract for work with the U.S. Army be dropped.   https://www.euronews.com/2019/02/23/microsoft-employees-demand-military-contract-be-dropped

Nonviolent Peaceforce shares best practices from South Sudan and Iraq in their latest field notes. https://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/images/Field_Notes_Q1_2019_final.pdf

US Senate passes War Powers Resolution Act to cut off American military support for the Saudi-led coalition’s assault on Yemen. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/13/historic-us-senate-passes-war-powers-resolution-end-complicity-worlds-worst

Connecticut court rules that Sandy Hook gunmakers could be liable for shootings.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/nyregion/sandy-hook-supreme-court.html


Creative Action 
Nonviolence is brimming with humor and creativity. Here’s a couple of examples that will make you chuckle and smile. 

Giant Boobs floated in Amsterdam Canal in honor of Women’s Day.  https://nltimes.nl/2019/03/08/giant-boobs-floating-amsterdam-canals-celebrate-womens-day

Border Wall trumped by Art and Community. “The main goal is to have a different perspective about the wall, like it’s not there, like we don’t have a wall in between us. You can come [to Agua Prieta] to see the art, then you can see the rest.”   https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/border-wall-trumped-by-art-community-20190228

Inequality.org holds interview with Marie Antoinette impersonator to raise awareness about inequality. The bewigged queen seems to be moving to Capital Hill, USA. #LetThemEatCake https://inequality.org/research/marie-antoinette-stages-comeback-capitol-hill/


Constructive Program and Alternative Institutions
Constructive Programs and alternative institutions build the strength and resilience of the community while weakening reliance on systems of oppression. Here are a few examples that recently came up in the news. 

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Network offers workshops in 21 cities to build community capacity to aid in disaster relief.  https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/madr-tour-recap-fall-2018/

Town adopts a trauma informed care approach and sees decrease in crime and suspensions. https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/this-town-adopted-trauma-informed-care-and-saw-a-decrease-in-crime-and-suspension-rates-20170222

Nonviolent Schools Summer Institute for Teachers and Educational Professionals offers training in integrating nonviolent practices and approaches into all aspects of publics – or other – schools. Enrollment in the Summer Institute is now open. Find out more here: https://nonviolentschoolsri.org/


Resources 
The movement for active nonviolence and creative resistance offers numerous resources for learning more about how to use nonviolence in action. Here are a few recommendations. 

USDAC releases community organizing tool called Imaginings: A DIY Guide to Arts-Based Community Dialogue. Learn how to host a vibrant, creative, equitable, and powerful community dialogue. Download your free copy here. https://usdac.us/diy-imaginings

How Movements can bounce back from harmful media narratives: https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/blog_post/can-movements-bounce-back-harmful-media-narrative

Author/Activist Rivera Sun has written many novels including The Dandelion Insurrection and its sequel, The Roots of Resistance. She also is a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements. www.riverasun.com

Nonviolence News

Rivera Sun’s Nonviolence News Round-Up; March 3-9th

These stories reflect nonviolent action and nonviolent practices, including constructive programs, alternative institutions, and policies rooted in structural/systemic nonviolence as opposed to violence. 

This list is compiled by Author/Activist Rivera Sun and shared with Nonviolence Now and Metta Center’s Nonviolence Radio + Nonviolence News Segment. This weekly round-up illuminates how often nonviolence is used in large and small ways by ordinary, extraordinary people all around the world . . . and in our own communities. It can be reposted with a link back to the original posting. Thank you.

Recent Victories!

When we organize, we win. Here are a few small and large (and sometimes temporary) successes in a variety of social justice campaigns.

Customer petition convinces Trader Joes chain to phase out plastics. https://www.ecowatch.com/trader-joes-plastic-waste-2630818452.html

After 100 Students stage die-in and give speeches, NM Governor passes tighter Gun Violence Prevention Laws:  https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/governor-signs-law-expanding-checks-on-gun-sales/article_7b06213f-5753-5d1f-9034-3f24e75e9f09.html

Mobilized Idaho Citizens stop “Guns At School” bill: https://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/proposed-guns-schools-bill-dead-idaho-house

After months of Indigenous Blockade, Unistoten Resistance Camp wins 6-Month cease work order on Coastal GasLink Pipeline.  https://popularresistance.org/coastal-gaslink-ordered-to-cease-work-on-unistoten-trapline/

Citing protests and social risk management, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo stop/reduce rnvestments in Private Prisons.  https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2019-03-05/jpmorgan-backs-away-from-private-prison-finance

After years of tribal and community organizing, Skowhegan, Maine School Board Drops “Indians” Mascot. 

Around the World:
Stories of creative resistance emerge around the world. Here are a few movements, campaigns, and actions from across the globe.

Cote de Ivoire Disability Rights Movement uses Nonviolent Action to gain diplomas, public transit rights, and more. When asked why nonviolent action is effective for pushing for change, one trainer said: “Because it doesn’t break things! It only builds.”  https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/blog_post/interview-cote-divoires-nonviolent-struggle-disability-rights/

Solidarity Uganda shares some tips for crafting movement-friendly organizations:  https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/blog_post/five-tips-building-organization-supports-movements/

Anti-Corruption campaigns learn from Nigeria and Romania: protests alone are not enough. Movements that have combined several different civil resistance tactics have been more productive in curbing corruption than those relying simply on street protest. https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/blog_post/protest-not-enough-nonviolent-struggles-corruption-nigeria-romania/

Protest held over slain Honduran Activist Berta Caceres, demanding justice: The daughter of slain land and water rights activist, Berta Caceres says her mother’s murder must be brought to justice, including indicting the European banks that financed the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam that Caceres fought against until her death three years ago. https://popularresistance.org/berta-caceres-daughter-demands-justice-for-mothers-murder-on-death-anniversary/

Tosepan Network in Mexico resists globalization and corporate extraction for 40 years and sees new surge of activities:  https://popularresistance.org/tosepan-resistance-and-renewal-in-mexico/

In a country with almost no antiwar movement, 19-year-old Israeli war resister Hilel Garmi is creating openings for others to take action against the occupation. https://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/israel-war-resister-hilel-garmi/

Overworked and underpaid: the revival of strikes in New Zealand. https://theconversation.com/overworked-and-underpaid-the-revival-of-strikes-in-new-zealand-111728

Pakistani Women send message of peace to Indian Women, urging them to say: No War! https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/pakistani-women-are-sending-a-message-of-peace-to-indian-women-and-urging-to-say-no-to-war-362910.html

Australia Surfers “blow up” the Internet w/ master class in protesting as they oppose would-be oil driller Equinor. https://nvcnews.org/content/australian-surfers-give-master-class-protesting

Rare Myanmar protest takes aim at army’s authority:  https://nvcnews.org/content/rare-myanmar-protest-takes-aim-armys-authority

Covered with flowers, Brazil Beach becomes symbol of protest against gender violence.  https://nvcnews.org/content/brazil-beach-becomes-symbol-protest-against-gender-violence

Tibet’s Nangchen Vegetable Boycott offers strategies for change. From February 2011 to July 2012, Tibetans in Nangchen boycotted Chinese vegetable sellers because of their exorbitant prices, and created an alternative source for vegetables. Now, this success is pointing a way forward for local economy and the anti-occupation struggle.  https://nvcnews.org/content/tibet-success-nangchen-vegetable-boycott-and-potential-change

International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day on March 8th was marked with a surge of celebrations, protests, and reports on on-going campaigns. 

International Women’s Day kicks off with celebrations and protests:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2019/mar/08/international-womens-day-2019-celebrations-and-protests-kick-off-around-the-globe-live

New curriculum shares powerful stories of women & Nonviolent Resistance in Columbia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya: https://pulitzercenter.org/builder/lesson/women-and-nonviolent-resistance-25771

8 photos of courageous women facing down hate with nonviolence, love, creativity, and determination: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/saffiyah-khan-protest-photos-gender-equality/

Garment Workers organize 100+ years of strikes as they pay the human cost of fashion: https://nvcnews.org/content/garment-workers-have-organized-strikes-over-100-years-they-pay-human-cost-fashion

Feminist Knitting Circle in India upends patriarchal norms:  https://nvcnews.org/content/feminist-knitting-circle-india-upending-patriarchal-norms

Women take to streets in Pakistan to rewrite their place in history:  https://nvcnews.org/content/women-take-streets-pakistan-rewrite-their-place-history

French Women protest unequal pay:  https://nvcnews.org/content/french-women-protest-unequal-pay-international-women%E2s-day

China’s Women’s Movement survives intense crackdown . . . and grows: https://nvcnews.org/content/chinas-womens-movement-has-not-only-survived-intense-crackdown-its-grown

#VivasNosQueremos (We Want Our Selves Alive) Mexican Women protest Femicides and Violence: https://nvcnews.org/content/vivasnosqueremos-mexican-women-take-streets-protests-femicides-and-violence

New York Times reports on why International Women’s Day isn’t going away. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/world/international-women-day-2019.html

Climate Actions Grow:
We’re seeing a surge of climate action (yay!). Here are a few examples and upcoming events. 

On March 15th, the Climate Kids are coming: https://www.thenation.com/article/greta-thunberg-climate-change-strike/

In Belgium, where climate strikes have been large, organizers start asking, what next? https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-03-05/after-mass-mobilizations-what-direction-for-the-belgian-climate-movement/

Climate Journalist Dahr Jamail challenges activists to respond in multi-pronged approaches to “Fix the Problem, Mitigate the Problem, and Adapt to the Collapse” to cover all the bases.  https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-03-05/rethink-activism-in-the-face-of-catastrophic-biological-collapse/

To fight a pipeline, this man lived in a tree. For almost five months, Phillip Flagg has been living in a chestnut oak tree 50 feet above the ground. He’s blockading a natural gas pipeline construction near Elliston, VA.  https://popularresistance.org/to-fight-a-pipeline-live-in-a-tree/

Catching Energy Transfer Partners in a lie, Bayou Bride Pipeline Resisters sound the alarm on securities fraud, telling investors: the pipeline will not be operation at the end of the month, it is indefinitely postponed. https://lastrealindians.com/bayou-bridge-pipeline-construction-delayed-indefinitely-energy-transfer-lied-to-shareholders-according-to-louisiana-residents/

New Zealand asks tourists to sign pledge to protect the environment. https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum/videos/357758491723458/

Miami bans Glypsophate use in effort to improve water quality. https://popularresistance.org/miami-bans-the-use-of-glyphosate-in-a-step-to-improve-water-quality/

Michael Bloomberg eschews presidential glory in favor of shutting down coal plants by 2030.  The story, one reporter argues, is not that he’s dropping out of the presidential race, but rather that, “A man worth $55 billion and a track record of helping to shut down half the country’s coal plants has just committed to shutting down the rest by 2030, and then taking the country off fossil fuels entirely.” https://thinkprogress.org/bloomberg-president-coal-oil-gas-97d24a5a9fe1/

Lessons from Sunrise’s Movements Acceleration of the Green New Deal:  https://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/green-new-deal-sunrise-movement-climate-action/

Nonviolence + Children
“If we would have real peace, we must start with the children.” – Gandhi 
Here are some stories of nonviolence and social justice around children. 

Washington Post reports on 7 ways parents can teach girls to build each other up instead of tearing each other down:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/on-parenting/7-ways-parents-can-teach-girls-to-build-each-other-up-instead-of-tearing-each-other-down/2018/10/29/92550976-c016-11e8-9005-5104e9616c21_story.html

Teaching For Change’s #StepUpScholastic Campaign mobilizes to stop colonial whitewashing in picture books and other children’s literature. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/scholastic-dont-whitewash-colonial-history

Singer Dolly Parton’s literacy campaign “Imagination Library” reaches 100 Million donated books:  https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/03/01/589912466/dolly-parton-gives-the-gift-of-literacy-a-library-of-100-million-books

Constructive Programs & Creative Action
Nonviolence includes building up alternatives as well as stopping problems. Here are some stories of constructive programs, cultural resistance, creative action, and more. 

Black Farmers are on the rise … and they’re integrating trauma healing, social justice, and collective values into their growing power.  https://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/after-a-century-in-decline-black-farmers-are-back-and-on-the-rise-20160505

Dance is integral to culture … and to creative Indigenous resistance to pipelines, treaty rights violations, and many other injustices.  https://www.clydefitchreport.com/2019/02/indigenous-dance-activism/

A pair of progressive moles with a sense of humor were apparently responsible for a grand — although short-lived — prank at the Conservative Political Action Conference that had 1000 members proudly waving tiny banners emblazoned with the name “Trump” that were actually Russian flags.  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cpac-russian-flags-trump_us_58b0ca06e4b060480e0827ab

Cooperatives = Constructive Programs; Fifty by Fifty Reports on Chicagoland Cooperative Ecosystem Coalition. CCEC is educating the community and building capacity to scale up worker-owned businesses. For a city where wealth inequality is stark, worker cooperatives could improve the quality of jobs, mitigate discrimination, and build shared prosperity through businesses anchored in the local community. https://medium.com/fifty-by-fifty/chicago-turns-to-cooperatives-to-improve-opportunity-bc9eca21dc04

Post-Occupy, cooperatives counter Disaster Capitalism, popping up after Hurricane Sandy like mushrooms after the rain: https://truthout.org/articles/after-superstorm-sandys-rain-cooperatives-sprang-up-like-mushrooms/

Emerging + Ongoing Resistance
New stories of nonviolent resistance emerge every day. Here are a few recent events, and new surges for on-going campaigns. 

More than 80 people arrested during protest over police killing of Stephon Clark in Sacramento, CA https://popularresistance.org/more-than-80-people-arrested-during-stephon-clark-protest-in-sacramento/

After legal complaints were riled, ICE releases 15 mothers & infants from immigration “Baby Jail”.  https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/5/headlines/ice_releases_15_babies_from_texas_immigration_jail

Port Workers rally to save Washington-Alaska Ferry: https://www.kiro7.com/video?videoId=926708221&videoVersion=1.0&fbclid=IwAR1vWDimabTNoOGu9tr3MoQaOBeB4vhnRKWUStUGq9qpvNqhJxHA6UBgy_I

Nurses and Veterans rally to protect Veterans’ Healthcare:  https://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2019/03/01/rns-and-veterans-rally-protect-veterans-health-care-va

Vogue reports on how women are responding to the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico Border. https://www.vogue.com/projects/13549020/arizona-borderlands-aid-workers-women-crisis/

Carrying on a tradition of resistance, Chelsea Manning defies Wikileaks Grand Jury and goes to jail. https://shadowproof.com/2019/03/08/defying-wikileaks-grand-jury-chelsea-manning-carries-on-tradition-of-resistance-and-goes-to-jail/

US Methodist Churches openly and publicly rebel against their leadership’s Anti-LGBTQ vote at national convention.  https://thegailygrind.com/2019/03/07/methodist-churches-across-u-s-are-publicly-rebelling-against-their-leaderships-anti-lgbtq-stance/

US Kentucky Teachers stage “Sick-Out” in protest of changes to retirement benefits. https://nvcnews.org/content/us-kentucky-teachers-stage-sick-out-protest-changes-retirement-benefits

The Way Between: Harry Potter With Contemporary Message

By Gayle Morrow

I am not a devoted fan of the fantasy genre so did
not expect to care for this first in a series work by Rivera Sun. Instead I was
captivated almost immediately.

The premise is a “lost heir” of a dead queen
turning out to be a pixie, fairy-like young girl; fairly common type set-up in
fantasy, a genre that allows women to receive their kudos. However, the
underlining universal theme is the pull between violence and peace—how do we
choose who represents violence, who represents non-violence, and who stands
away avoiding the choice altogether? Is a world with no war even possible? Why
do we revere the warriors and only give pittance to the peace makers?

The protagonist, Ari Ara, [translates to “not this
not that”] who thinks herself an orphan, found and reared by the Fanten, is not
allowed to be a part of their culture by Fanten Grandmother, who is of course
harboring a secret.

In this world there are two “ways” a person can be born
into:  Attar is the Way of Blazing Fire that
encompasses the warriors and protectors of the royal families. Anar is the Way
of Shadows and its people stand away from war, but do nothing to stop it. Then
there is the third way, a choice that very few in the history of the land have
had the courage to follow—The Way Between, Azar, teaches peace and
reconciliation. 

This book begins with Ari Ara as an orphan and ends
at the point that she learns her true story and fate. The characters are
believable; even bullies, outsiders, and the physically impaired are
represented. The story is well developed and, although easy to follow,
certainly never becomes boring. There is a very helpful map at the beginning of
Chapter One that I [visual person] referred to over and over to get a picture
of the lay of the land, which is important to the development. The names of the
physical features and places are not only delightful but plant a picture in
your mind…Monk’s Hand Monastery, Forefinger Ridge, Monk’s Tears River…

I thoroughly enjoyed this opening story and look
forward to the next in the series tackling more of humankind’s ancient yet
still urgent questions regarding war and peace. I just Skyped with my
12-year-old grandson, total Harry Potter and series fan, who mentioned he was
out of reading material, so sending this on to him. Thinking of it as Harry
Potter with a contemporary message, and recommending it for twelve years, or
precocious pre-teens, through adult. Five stars.

You can find The Way Between here. And, don’t miss the sequel, The Lost Heir.

Strategy Is For Everyone – And So Is The Path Of Most Resistance

A Review by Rivera Sun

“When everyone knows how to plan, you start to get
strategic behavior.”

These words from Ivan Marovic serve as my mantra as I
facilitate trainings in strategy for nonviolent campaigns. When I met Marovic
at the James Lawson Institute in
2014, he impressed upon me that everyone should
understand strategy, not just a handful of campaign organizers or hardcore
activists. His experience in the leaderless movement of Serbia’s Otpor! showed him that when the
populace has a widespread working knowledge of basic strategic principles for
civil resistance, the chances of successful – and strategically sound –
campaigns increased.

Today in the United States, we are facing so many pressing
issues that the movement of movements could quadruple in size and we’d still be
scrambling to address them all.  What we
need isn’t just more hands-on-deck; it’s better strategy.

Fortunately, Marovic’s new book provides an excellent resource
for improving the strategic wisdom of our campaigns. I’ve been a resistance
manual junkie since before I wrote The Dandelion Insurrectionand its accompanying study
guide to making change. As a trainer,
I read everything that comes out on the market, for better or for worse. I
despise handbooks that limit citizen action to the song-and-dance routines of
calling senators, signing petitions, and donating to electoral campaigns. I
tear my hair out reading the innumerable books that talk only about protest
actions. I’m always on the lookout for manuals with a rigorous understanding of
the disruptive, non-cooperative, and visionary potentials of civil resistance.

Marovic’s highly pragmatic, exquisitely useful book, The
Path of Most Resistance: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Nonviolent Campaigns,
was published by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) this year. (A
downloadable pdf version has been made available
here.) As an activist and a trainer, I highly recommend this resource. It
is perfect for all of us who are working for change, designing a civil
resistance campaign, or training people to think strategically.

I have spent the past four years teaching people from all walks
of life two things: what is nonviolent struggle and how can we make it work for
our causes? Ivan Marovic’s new book guides the reader through a step-by-step
approach to figuring out the nuts-and-bolts of making change. He combines old
classics (like Spectrum of Allies and SWOT charts) with new understandings. He
offers new tools in integrated ways, showing you precisely how to take your
analysis work and plug it into a comprehensive framework for campaign design.

And he does it with a lot of humor and wisdom. 

“I identified a need in the field for a step-by-step guide
allowing individuals to break down a complex nonviolent resistance campaign
into a series of manageable steps. A comprehensive guide which would include
resources, lesson plans, tools, etc.” – Ivan Marovic said in a recent webinar
talk about the book.

As an appetizer to reading his book, I also recommend
watching the webinar
from his book launch. His introductory remarks include many gems of strategic
wisdom and several of the highly-illuminating slides are not in his book. In
addition to being an engaging speaker, one of Ivan Marovic’s gifts is boiling
down complex ideas in understandable – but not oversimplified – ways. He
compares strategy for nonviolent campaigns to cooking: if you’re a master chef
who knows your ingredients and the nuances of cooking, you can improvise. If
you’re like the rest of us, you might want to get to know the fine art of
cooking before you try to cater a 100-person dinner. Nonviolent struggle is an
equally complex field – with high stakes and a lot of risks – and when it comes
to planning campaigns, a lot of us don’t have much experience. Ivan Marovic’s
book is to activism what America’s Test Kitchen is to cooking: he distills
knowledge from thousands of tests and case studies into basic principles for us
to cook up change. And then he goes a step further and puts it into nuggets of
chapters that we can use as strategic planning exercise with our friends and
fellow change-makers.

Check it out. Try it out. Put this step-by-step guide into
practice. If you’re tired of going to the same old boring protests, this book
is for you. If you’re up against impossible odds, this book is for you. If you
have passion and no idea what you’re doing, this book is for you. Strategy is
for everyone . . . and so is The Path of
Most Resistance.

_________________

Author/Activist Rivera
Sun syndicated by PeaceVoice, is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection and
the sequel, The Roots of Resistance.
Website: http://www.riverasun.com

Throw Off the Yoke of Indoctrination

We say we want change.
So, every few years, we elect new officials, and they continue to churn out
more of the same policies, legislation, and rhetoric. The rich continue to get
richer. The poor slide deeper into poverty. Corporations and the wealthy see
pet projects and sweet deals passed through Congress. The People receive yet
another bitter slap in the face.

This is because the
foundation of our populace is poisoned. The soil from which our people, elected
officials, and politicians grow is toxic. Every generation is fed the same
destructive falsehoods. By the time human beings become politicians they are
massively propagandized to believe the purpose of public office is to make
deals for big businesses … and from top to bottom we all continue to repeat the
false slogan: what’s good for business is good for the nation.

The wealthy and the
corporations own the media, the entertainment industry, educational and
cultural institutions, think tanks, research facilities, and, in short, every
vehicle that defines our thoughts, beliefs, culture, perspectives and
worldviews. They churn out mass propaganda that reinforces their power and
control. And we ingest it, absorb it, and ultimately believe it.

Through this
totalitarian control, the sicknesses that ail our country – lack of compassion,
the valuing of profit and wealth above all else, justified cruelty, hatred and
oppression – creep into the crevasses of our beliefs and worldviews and take up
toxic residence in our marrow. Layered and complex, this is the poisonous
legacy of centuries of violence, conquest, bigotry, greed, supremacy and
domination. Many of us spew this garbage out of our words, thoughts, and
actions … unless we consciously rebel against such mental indoctrination.

The path toward
cultural and mental liberation is three-fold. We must first disconnect from the
propaganda. We must unplug from corporate media: television, movies, books,
entertainment, news, and magazines that are owned by the wealthy and promote
-in subtle or blatant ways – the agendas of the wealthy. We must deny them
access to our minds and fast from the programming that is otherwise pounded
into our skulls on a daily basis.

Secondly, we must
clear out the programming as it resurfaces in our minds. We must become aware
of our thoughts and beliefs. We must learn to question them, critique them,
dissect and analyze where they came from and whom they serve. Every craving for
material goods must be examined to see if it originates in advertisements.
Every inclination toward hatred, discrimination or fear must be interrogated to
see if it serves the desire of the wealthy to use us to oppress others, or to
wage wars for their profits. Every thought that lauds the wealthy should be
questioned deeply. We have absorbed their propaganda from fairy tales to
rags-to-riches stories all the way up through economic theories in business
schools. Everything we think we know must be critiqued if wish to free our
minds, and if we hope to see real change in our world.

Thirdly, we must
rebuild the framework of our worldviews and perspectives. To truly rebel
against the programming and propaganda of an oppressor is not merely to kick
out their agenda, but to replace it with principles, beliefs, and
understandings of our own.

However, if it is true
liberation we seek, then a word of caution must be spoken here. Fleeing one
form of mental slavery into dogmatic subservience to another is still enslaving
your mind. Liberation is about freedom. It entails exploration, examination,
reflection, openness, adaptability, and flexibility. The most truly radical and
revolutionary people are the ones who dance through the tangled webs of
perspectives and beliefs, engaging with ideas, but not clinging to them. These
are the kinds of people that all tyrants fear. They are uncontrollable by
others, yet responsible to their compassion and the demands of accountability
set in place by the heart.

When such free
thinkers become not lone individuals, but thousands and millions of citizens,
empires tremble in their boots. Tyrants and bullies know their days are numbered.
Pedagogues and warmongers fail to gain traction for their domination games.

If we wish to see
deep, profound change in our politics, society, and culture, this is the mental
liberation we must cultivate in our selves and our communities. Only then will
our elected officials have the necessary freedom of thought to throw off the
yoke of indoctrination. Only then will we ourselves have the capacity to form
and shape our society in a way that cares for and nurtures everyone, not just a
privileged few. Only then will we become truly free human beings, the kind of
people we were always meant to be.

______________________________

Read more from
The Man From The North in Rise and Resist: Essays on Love,
Courage, Resistance, Politics, and Democracy from The Dandelion Insurrection

The Man From The North is a fictional writer in
Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of Resistance. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that
looms around the corner of today”, when a rising police state controlled by the
corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden
dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the
North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on
resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution. This article is one of a series
written by The Man From the North, which are not included in the novel, but have
been collected in a book of essays Rise
and Resist which can be  read here

Author/Activist Rivera Sun has written twelve inspirational
and hope-filled books that celebrate our human ability to create change for the
better. Rivera’s writing is syndicated nationally and her articles have appeared
in over one hundred journals. She speaks and teaches strategic nonviolent civil
resistance inter-nationally. She was co-host for five years of several popular
radio shows and can be reached through her website:  www.riverasun.com

Wonderful, Magical Series!

Review of The Way Between by Liz Fox

The Way Between is a thoughtful story which infuses rich fantasy
and nonviolent action principals, together. This combination not only draws you
into the storyline to learn more about the characters and how they intertwine
with both their shared and individual history, but also allows you to reflect
on the act of nonviolent advocacy in an illuminating way. The imagery
throughout the book is vivid and telling, which lends an exceptional integrity
to the painting of the landscape, as it were, in words.

Many children and young adults will find themselves relating to
Ari Ara, and most certainly will enjoy being pulled into her story as it does
deeper. I am thankful that this book can sit alongside the likes of Lord of the
Rings and The Hobbit- with a similar feel, but exhibiting an intricate message
of nonviolent action, and how it can overcome hostility.

I commend Rivera Sun for giving such a strong and resonant voice
to this movement, and for including young readers with her message! The
character development and interpersonal relationships which were outlined in
the story definitely made you think about how the series will continue to
develop. You get a sense of anticipation in watching these developments ripple
out in positive ways within the bigger storylines as the lessons for our lives
unfold.

The message of the Middle Way is an important one, one which
should be taught to our young generation as a viable alternative to aggression
and violence. This book is written in such a way as to bring up thought-
provoking discussions around the material it presents, and would be perfect for
a class or discussion group. In this way, the readers can delve deeper into
what it means to live a life committed to nonviolence in a very practical
sense.

The United States of Greed and Bullies

An Essay of the Man From the North

by Rivera Sun

Image via Creative Commons (CCO).

A nation built on greed is not a nation; it is just a legal
framework for rape and pillage, slavery and exploitation, theft, murder, and
genocide. A nation whose primary function is to protect the exclusive right of
the rich to engage in those behaviors under other names has no more moral
legitimacy than the lawless state that allows common criminals to run wild.
Greed by any other name smells just as foul. Greed cloaked in terms of
“national security” or “for the good of the economy” is
just as detestable as the greed that steals toys from children and purses from
old women.

Greed is not a founding principle for a long-lasting
society. It is the calling card of tyrants. It heralds the end stages of
empires. It is the character flaw of villains. It is the symptom of sociopaths.
The greed of the rich and powerful, particularly the corporate elites, has
reached such magnitude that it outstrips our ability to describe it. We have no
word for a theft so massive that it robs the ecological savings of eons,
enslaves seven billion people to the machinery of profit-production, and steals
the future existence of millions of species, including our own. It is genocide,
ecocide, and slavery all rolled into one. It steals not just resources and
lives, but thoughts, dreams, hopes, happiness, freedoms, and possibilities. All
of these are chained to the production of profit for a small elite.

Every aspect of our human existence is mined for profit. Our
thoughts. Our insecurities. Our longings. Our desires. Our sensuality and
sexuality. Our health. Our sickness. Our fear, communications, visions,
charity, and all other qualities. We are mined for any shred of human existence
that could generate the smallest percentage of profit for the rich and
powerful. They mine our personal histories. They mine our present data. They
mine our future through debt.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

This greed has no name. There are no limits to its
pathology. The economic system constructed by the unbridled greed of the elites
trains us to replicate its values. It is like being held under water until we
learn to fight for a single breath of air. Greed is not “normal” for
humanity. We are not born with a hoarding instinct. If we were born with
unbridled greed we would never stop sucking at our mother’s breast until her
entire lifeblood is drained into our engorged bellies. Greed is not an
evolutionary sound principle. Instead, something makes most infants stop at
satiation point. That something makes us human. The greed of contemporary
civilization is inhumane. It makes us into monsters.

We have a name for children who behave in this way: bullies.
A bully invades another child’s yard and takes all their toys. A bully patrols
the playground forcing other children to pay lunchbox tolls to enter. A bully
uses violence to get what they want. A bully terrorizes and intimidates to maintain
their power and position. A bully refuses to share and play with others.

When bullies are lauded as the great leaders of a nation,
that nation has lost all worth. When bullies are celebrated as icons, that
nation’s culture has lost its soul. When bullies are empowered by law rather
than constrained by law, that nation’s legal system has become the tool of
tyranny.

Our nation is a land of psychotic greed and bullies. It is
up to us to change it. Every moment of every day, we must draw lines in the sand
– the sand of the heart, the sand of our minds, the sand of our streets and
workplaces. We must push back against the behaviors that this greed-and-bully
culture has violently pounded into us. We must free ourselves from these mental
chains, recognizing them as the enslavements that they are. We must call a
spade, a spade. We must call a bully, a bully. We must reject our culture’s
hero worship of the rich and powerful. Instead, we must see these people for
the depraved criminals that they are.

Every fortune is millions of hungry children. Every mansion
is thousands of homeless people sleeping in the street. Every sports car is hundreds
of families stretching to make ends meet. Until we see excessive wealth as a
cruelty when others cannot even survive, we will be a hollow nation, vacuous of
any real meaning or worth. Until we love our country enough to care for it –
each and every single citizen, tree, river, animal, and plant of it; the past,
present, and future of it; the heart, spirit, and soul of it – until we love
our country enough to topple greed from its enshrinement in our nation’s
policies and practices, we will never be able to lift our heads with honest
pride. Until we stop our leaders from bullying and our bullies from becoming
leaders, we will never become the nation that we are meant to be.

We will never be great. We will never be strong. We will
never even be human until we have left the ways of greed and bullies behind.

_______________

Note: This essay was originally published by Dandelion Salad. It can be reposted with attribution.

Rivera Sun , syndicated by  PeaceVoice , is the author of
The Dandelion Insurrection, The Roots of Resistance, and other books,
including a  study guide  to making change
with nonviolent action.

The Man
From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The
Dandelion Insurrectionand the sequel, The Roots of
Resistance. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time
that looms around the corner of today”, when a rising police state controlled
by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a
hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man
From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace,
reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution. This article is
one of a series written by The Man From the North, which are not included in
the novel, but can be read here.

The Tools of Nonviolent Struggle Should Never Lose Their Edge

An Essay of the Man From the North

by Rivera Sun

Image by bones64 via Creative Commons (CCO).

The tools of nonviolent action and the skills of struggle
are as vital to these times as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Training to
use them is as essential as learning how to use a computer. The ability to boycott
and strike is as important as the ability to drive a car. Every citizen who
knows how to use email should also know how to protest, walk-out, shut-down,
occupy, blockade, and more. This is the only way the power of the people can
hold the power of oligarchs in check.

Before the oligarchs concluded that the study of civics was
detrimental to the longevity of their rule, every elementary student learned
about checks-and-balances. Theoretically, the legislative, executive, and
judicial branches of government were supposed to hold each other in balance. It
was a reassuring fairy tale for the average citizen, but it never served the average
citizen. This system of checks-and-balances merely held one oligarchic faction
in check with the other. Nothing in the arrangement guaranteed that the
government would be responsive to the ordinary peoples’ needs.

When oligarchs are the only ones who sit in Congress, occupy
the Oval Office, and wield the judge’s gavel, then it is a government of, by,
and for the oligarchs, responsive only to their elite interests . . . not to
ours. This has been the case since the earliest days of the formation of the
United States. The Founding Fathers must have suspected that the slogan,
“a government of, by, and for rich, white men” wouldn’t produce the
revolutionary fervor they needed to overthrow King George’s colonial rule. The
phrase “of, by, and for the people” sounded far more inspiring to the
thousands who waged struggle with mass acts of noncooperation, importation
boycotts, civil disobedience of unjust British laws, and collective refusal to
pay the Stamp Tax. Many more fought and died for an illusion of inclusion in
the definition of “We, the People”. The history of the United States
has been one long struggle for inclusion that continues to this very day.

If we learn nothing else from our history, we should know
this: the tools of nonviolent struggle should never lose their edge, gather
dust, or fall from active use among the people. To gain – and maintain – a true
government of, by, and for the people, all 100% of us must grasp the considerable
power of collective non-cooperation, disruption, and intervention. We must do
so with regularity and with ferocity. Our own history of social justice
illuminates this truth: women’s suffrage was only gained through the direct
action of women, African-Americans gained functional rights and equality only
when they organized; workers achieved wage increases only when unions and
movements went on strike.

Maintaining the common use of the tools of nonviolent
struggle can be aided by adding the legal right to use them to our laws. We
need a second Bill of Rights that preserves not just the right to Speech,
Assembly, and Petition, but also the right to organize, to strike, to form
unions, to boycott unjust businesses, to engage in collective disobedience of
unjust laws, and more. Such a Bill of Rights would make evident that the
demonstrated “will of the People” is respected and viewed as a legitimate
political force.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen. Oligarchs
are unlikely to enshrine anything that limits their power. However, the lack of
such laws should not stop the populace from using nonviolent struggle. Indeed,
in the history of global movements for change, the banning or prohibition of
movement activity and dissident organizing has not stopped people from rising
up for justice. Many movements have circumvented the laws in order to mobilize
for change. Even in places where the knowledge
of nonviolent struggle is banned, people have circulated important
literature and workshops on how to wage struggle. In Chile, citizens met in
small groups to train to overthrow the Pinochet regime. In the Philippines, the
Catholic Church hosted the trainings. In other places, banned pamphlets were
shared at great personal risk. In Soviet Bloc nations, hidden presses printed
literature about nonviolent struggle clandestinely. As long as knowledge of
nonviolent struggle is essential to social, political, and human rights, people
will find ways to access it.

In the end, it is the people’s willingness to learn and use nonviolent struggle that ultimately
liberates them. The absence of our willingness to use nonviolent struggle is
what keeps us disenfranchised, disempowered, chained to the corrupt system,
floundering for savior figures, and failing to achieve most of our social
justice goals.

Currently, the US populace views nonviolent action as
something unusual and out-of-the-ordinary. “Activists” are distinct
from citizens. But if boycotts, strikes, walk-outs, and shut-downs became as
common as calling your senator or signing a petition, we would rapidly and
effectively win major social justice advances. Nonviolent struggle is not about
pleading with politicians to do “the right thing”. It is not about
voting the “right” people into power to do the right thing. It is
about grasping the ability to noncooperate, disrupt, and intervene in the
activity of a society in pursuit of tangible changes for social justice.

Nonviolent struggle empowers the people to hold all aspects
of their society accountable. Nonviolent action’s capacity to withdraw support,
or disrupt systems of oppression, and intervene in injustice can target any institution,
business, social practice or group, political party or policy, and cultural
behaviors and beliefs.

Every meaningful advance for equality and justice in our
nation’s history, beginning with our struggle for independence, has won because
it mobilized mass numbers of people to cease their participation in
life-as-usual. If we wish to see meaningful changes in our lifetime, we, too,
must find the willingness to pick up the tools of nonviolent struggle and
construct the world of our dreams.

___________

Author/Activist Rivera Sun syndicated
by PeaceVoice,
is the author of The
Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of
Resistance. Website: http://www.riverasun.com

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of Resistance. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today”, when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution. This article is one of a series written by The Man From the North, which are not included in the novel, but can be read here. This essay was originally published in Dandelion Salad.

Constitution 2.0

An Essay of the Man from the North

by Rivera Sun

Image from Creative Commons (CCO). Support the Commons!

If we, the people, wrote a constitution now, what would go
in it? Equal rights for women, men, non-binary, and undefined? Caps on wealth
tied to poverty levels? Rights of nature? Reparations for past crimes, wrongs,
and thefts? Limits on military spending? A free and open Internet? Abolition of
mass incarceration, or the entire prison system; replaced with restorative and
community justice? Free healthcare for all? Living wages or universal basic
income? Would we keep corporate personhood or the electoral college?

The possibilities are endless; they include a million ideas
over which to agree or vehemently oppose. We can envision things (like
airplanes, climate change, and the Internet) beyond the Founding Fathers’
wildest dreams . . . and that is exactly the point of even raising the question
of a Constitution 2.0. Our first constitution was written by propertied white
men to the exclusion of all others, centuries ago when messages traveled by
horseback and 94% of the population was excluded from all political process.
Like an aging computer program, we’ve patched in updates over the years, but
perhaps its time to overhaul the operating system and redesign it to reflect
the dreams, needs, interests, and ideas of 100% of us.

The US Constitution was designed to empower and serve
property and wealth. It is unresponsive to the demands and plights of ordinary
people. It often fails to incorporate concerns beyond those of commerce,
wealth, and property. The Bill of Rights was added as a protest by constitutional
delegates who were alarmed by the earlier drafts. Small protections like the EPA,
the Clean Air & Water Act, the FDA are vulnerable to corruption and
dismantlement by hostile administrations. The Declaration of Independence’s
revolutionary proclamation of the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and
pursuit of happiness” was shifted in the Constitution to preserving the
rights of an elite to “life, liberty, and protection of property”.
Ever since then, we have struggled to update the US Constitution to reflect the
needs of its people. Perhaps it’s time for a Constitution 2.0.

I am not recommending that we completely throw out the old
and rush a new political operating system into existence. (No software designer
would advise that approach.) This creates power vacuums that are inevitably
exploited by the most depraved, opportunistic, piratical and tyrannical
bullies. No, I am instead recommending that we allow the potential of a
nationwide re-imagining of our governing documents to throw open the doors of
civic conversation . . . and let our dreams break free of the corsets that bind
our imagination and suffocate our political aspirations.

We risk our lives for mere crumbs, waging struggle for the
chance to glean the leftovers from the plutocrats’ feasts, or lick the floors
under their groaning tables. We deserve to dream larger. We should organize to
build, seize, and run the bakeries, kitchens, farms, delivery systems,
groceries and warehouses by which the daily bread of our lives are given shape
and form. We have been trained to petition for scraps like pleading beggars
rather than seizing the means of destiny, existence, and self-governance.

I dare you to lift your eyes and dream like the magnificent
human being that you are: one among many, each equal to the other, none above
or below the next.

I call for a Constitution 2.0 because the old document – and
all of its revisions right up until today – was written by a narrow elite with
only partial enfranchisement of our citizenry. We have never imagined what all
320 million of us might craft as a governing structure. Would mother and
fathers demand veto power over the wars their children are sent to fight in?
Would students demand referendum rights on whether our budget should be spent
on education or military? Would seniors insist on basic incomes and affordable
healthcare so they can live their elder years in ease, contributing their
skills and wisdom to our communities? We cannot answer these questions in and
through our current political system. What would a Constitution 2.0 look like
if it was designed to empower (not limit) widespread political
participation? 

Never in the history of the United States, have we
recognized the shared humanity of one another and cultivated the respect and
trust that we would need to write a Constitution 2.0. Nor am I foolish enough
to assume that we have those skills now. A constitutional convention (as
imagined by the Founding Fathers) would most likely devolve into a brawl, a
civil war, an oligarchic coup, or worse.

Democracy of, by, and for the people can not be crafted
overnight. It is a mass endeavor, one that spans the scope of years, and is
designed to engage our citizenry in a multitude of ways. Creativity, visioning,
education, knowledge-sharing, communication, dialog, exploration would all be
needed. Healing, truth-telling, and connection are all necessary for a populace
as deeply wounded and divided as ours. When I call for a Constitution 2.0, I am
asking not just for a final document, but a collection of processes by which
we, in pursuit of shared ideals, forge a more perfect union than the original
framers of the US Constitution could ever envision. We have no chattel slavery
any more, though racism continues to plague our land. Women are no longer
property, though neither are they treated as men’s equals. The child is no
longer a creature “to be seen and not heard”, but a treasure
unfolding over time, offering insights and gifts of their own. The LGBTQ
community is coming out of closets and shadows and the margins of society where
centuries of persecution has pushed them for too long. The Earth is demanding
that we listen and treat the living systems with respect. So much has shifted
since the late 1700s. We must update our operating system to keep pace.

While it is foolhardy to imagine that our populace could
enter a room without dealing with the harms of the past, present, and future;
it is also inaccurate to assume that we are incapable of undergoing a
transformative process in pursuit of a Constitution 2.0. Such a goal requires a
realistic assessment of the resources we need, the pitfalls and sabotages of
the processes, and the depth of understanding, truth-telling, growth,
knowledge-sharing, and healing that would facilitate an effective redesign of
our governing structure. We need to call upon our institutions to paly a
supportive role instead of a destructive, dominating, or manipulative role.

We must ask ourselves: what might we do to prepare the
entire populace for such a revolutionary, inspiring, and terrifying endeavor?
After centuries of abuse, oppression, injustice, inequality, and suffering, how
would we heal enough of our wounds to even discuss the crafting of a new
constitution with each other? Backloads of lies and propaganda need to be
cleared out. Truth-tellings could be held (perhaps everyday in every town for
the next decade). Story circles could be facilitated to help us learn to look
into the eyes of our fellow citizens and start to hear and know each other
beyond the stereotypes perpetuated in the fear-mongering and power-hoarding
media apparatus of elites. The information bubble that hovers unseen over the
United States needs to be burst so the bright ideas and best practices from
around the world can be seen and shared. Knowledge must be spread of
participatory, direct, wise, and real democracy; horizontal organizing,
sociocracy, the commons, collective processes, and so much more. Lessons and
training on how to hold a discourse (rather than a shouting match) need to
become as common as driver’s education courses.

To even raise these ideas is undoubtedly considered
treasonous under a Constitution designed to preserve the power of the rich
under the guise of “democracy”. 
The true revolutionary is always a traitor to the established system.
The revolutionary, however, always shows steadfast dedication to the well-being
of the people. They never rest on laurels nor suffer the laurel wreathe to be
placed upon their heads. They leap down off of pedestals and wade into the muck
of life. They describe the horizon of possibility long before others dare to
look in the direction of the rising sun.

They dare to call for change when the time for change has
come: It is time for a Constitution 2.0 and all the transformations we must
undergo to stride in the direction of such a vision.

____________

Author/Activist Rivera Sun syndicated
by PeaceVoice,
is the author of The
Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of
Resistance. Website: http://www.riverasun.com

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of Resistance. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today”, when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution. This article is one of a series written by The Man From the North, which are not included in the novel, but can be read here. This essay was first published on Dandelion Salad.