Nonviolence News: Bangladesh Quota Reform, Gazolinazo Protests & Wedding Dress Library
Bangladesh Quota Reform, Gazolinazo Protests & Wedding Dress Library
Editor's Note From Rivera Sun
It's been a week of political violence - and not just the assassination attempt at a Trump rally that left 2 dead and several injured. In Bangladesh, six people have been killed and hundreds injured as police violently repress the students holding mass protests for Quota Reform. They're demanding that the government end the rule that 30% of government jobs must go to descendants of military members during their war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
It prompted me to reflect (and write) about the radical idea of political nonviolence as a standard for both individuals and governments. Upholding and expanding the right to protest (and engage in other forms of nonviolent action) are critically important for global movements. If we don't, we see situations like what's happening in the most politically-active city in Kazakhstan, where officials are trying to reduce the number of permitted protest areas from three to two.
They are not alone in trying to squelch protests and nonviolent action. In the United Kingdom, 5 climate protesters with Just Stop Oil - including Extinction Rebellion cofounder Roger Hallam - were sentenced to record jail time for planning the 2022 blockade of the M25 highway. This ruling was designed to make other climate activists hesitate to use direct action. The authorities know how powerful it is - and Just Stop Oil's bold and disruptive tactics seem to be working. The campaign just won the first of their original demands: that the government commit to ending all new licenses and consents for fossil fuel exploration and extraction.
In some good news for nonviolent activists, a US court just ruled that protest organizers are not responsible for the violence of attendees. While nonviolent activists can - and should - do everything they can to prevent violence from taking place, this court decision is an important protection against the damages wrought by agents provocateurs. It also prevents the chilling effect that million-dollar damages would have for your average citizen hoping to organize a rally, demonstration, or march. The ruling was made on a case from 2016 during the protests over the police murder of Alton Sterling, but it could have an impact on similar lawsuits facing organizers for the Stop Cop City campaign in Atlanta, GA.
In more Nonviolence News, Ecuadorians borrowed a tactic from Mexico's Gazolinazo Protests as they also took action against high fuel prices, thousands of South Korean Samsung workers are on strike, Sudan's trade unions are calling for an end to the civil war, large numbers of First Nation peoples and allies marched in Australia, and schoolgirls in India held a sit-in protest against their principal and caretaker's drunken harassment. Mexico won a huge victory when Bayer-Monsanto dropped their lawsuit against Mexico's historic ban on GMO corn. And, following a mediation process, charges have been dropped against a group of villagers in Kazakhstan who used direct action against a gold mine that threatened their water and health.
Find this week's Nonviolence News here>>
This is a good week to at least scan the headlines of the full round-up. (It's always a good week to do that, but it's a particularly impressive collection of stories. Too many to mention here!) You don't want to miss the report on Mexico City's luxurious 'utopias' for low income residents, Hungary's lessons in resisting authoritarianism, the librarian lending out wedding dresses, and much more.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun