Paraguay's Students, Pothole Sit-in Makes Splash, and Water Protests From India to Kazakhstan

Editor's Note From Rivera Sun

While student encampments protesting for a ceasefire in Gaza have dominated the headlines, a different student encampment in Paraguay has been mobilizing to protect their access to free higher education. Facing a right-wing plan to implement university fees and strip away anti-hunger programs, students set up a protest encampment for a month, took control of their campus, went on strike for classes, and suspended the main university's operations. Recently shifting from the encampment and occupation into other kinds of actions, the students are continuing to organize to protect the right to free education.

The question of how to shift tactics and continue to move forward is on everyone's minds as the encampments for Gaza face evictions across the United States. How will the movement sustain its pressure in a different way? They have many options. As graduation season begins, we're seeing protest actions - like turning backs, refusing to attend, holding up signs or banners - begin during the ceremonies. It's a critical moment. The prosecutors at the ICC asked for arrest warrants for President Netanyahu and Hamas leaders, citing concerns over a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where not only the war but the humanitarian crisis continues to cause deep alarm.

In more Nonviolence News, Tunisia is facing a double-pronged crackdown on migrant rights and people who criticize the government. Nigerian women are protesting police brutality in the oil-producing Imo State of Nigeria while Lagos-based environmentalists are demanding that Shell's plan to sell their company's holdings in Nigeria must include ecosystem restoration clauses. In Portugal, campaigners opposing an airport expansion gained a temporary reprieve, but are already working to keep officials from simply switching locations. Along the US-Mexico border, 1,000 botanists documented the biodiversity splintered by the border wall. Students in Montreal, Canada, held a walkout over sexist dress code policies.

Water is a growing issue from India to Kazakhstan to the United States. In each place, the demands are different. In India, a group of women halted a train in protest over the lack of consistent water supply in their community for over four months. In the United States, residents of Dekalb County, Georgia, and organizing against exorbitant water bills. In Kazakhstan, a weeklong protest encampment has now disbanded after seeking more equitable compensation for the widespread flood damages. With Brazil facing catastrophic flooding, other areas confronting threats of drought, and many places resisting privatization, pollution, and price gouging, water issues will continue to be a source of protests this year.

Find these stories and more in Nonviolence News>>

A favorite story? A woman in Hyderabad, India, protested horrible potholes by sitting down in the puddle while police and authorities tried to get her to move. The simple action went viral on social media, raising awareness of the widespread frustration among motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians over the state of the roads. Sometimes, we all just feel that plunking down in frustration, right? Remember, where and how we choose to sit can make a splash.

In solidarity,
Rivera Sun