Nonviolence News: Heat Waves, Orcas Protest, Flight Attendant Picket Lines & Striking Out Fossil Fuels
Heat Waves, Orcas Protest, Flight Attendant Picket Lines & Striking Out Fossil Fuels
Editor's Note From Rivera Sun
High temperatures struck the globe this week, causing 1,000 to die of heat stroke on pilgrimage to Mecca, and hundreds more in cities across the globe. It is the earliest heat wave on record - and a sign of the deadly urgency of the climate crisis.
Amidst this, climate activists are turning up the heat on power holders to take immediate and dramatic action. Spain concluded a week of nationwide direct actions with a march in Madrid. In London, 9 Pan-African movements and allies protested the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline outside the African Energies Summit. In the United States, dozens of activists dressed as orcas protested Citibank for financing fossil fuels. They also stormed the field at a baseball game to tell elected leaders to 'stop playing games'. Wall Street felt the heat of a week of direct actions to stop fossil fuel investments - and that's just the start of the pressure that the activists' "Summer of Heat" campaign hopes to bring.
In other Nonviolence News, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian Country with equal marriage for same sex couples. Hundreds of flight attendants participated in a worldwide day of action, picketing across multiple airports for higher wages. Thousands of people in Brussels, Belgium, marched against the far-right for the second time this month. Juneteenth celebrations across the United States recognized the day when the last enslaved African-Americans were liberated. And a Pacific Islander Festival rallied people to oppose climate issues, nuclear weapons, colonization and more.
Find this week's Nonviolence News here>>
A recent poll of 15,000 consumers across 15 countries revealed that 1 out of 3 people are boycotting a brand over the company's involvement in Israel's war on Gaza. In the US, active duty military members became the latest to tell Congress to stop funding genocide. Healthcare workers also protested at the American Medical Association's conference, decrying the organization's silence on Gaza.
The one to read this week? Nonviolent Peaceforce has shared a highly useful toolkit on how to use nonviolent, unarmed peace team skills to keep our civic spaces safe. I recommend exploring it and working with local organizations to implement some of these ideas and approaches. This is nonviolence in action!
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun