Nonviolence News: South Africans Mourn Coal Mines, France’s Water Village, UK Imam Counters Hate With Empathy
South Africans Mourn Coal Mines, France’s Water Village, UK Imam Counters Hate With Empathy
Editor's Note From Rivera Sun
One of the powers of nonviolence action is its ability to embody the full range of human emotion. Beyond the expression of justifiable outrage, activists can express worry, fear, compassion, vision, sorrow, hope, and even humor. In South Africa, climate activists mourned the plans to build two new coal mines in an already heavily polluted region. Their somber procession through Johannesburg led to the company’s chief executive coming out to meet with them, and being handed their list of demands sourced from nearby residents.
In Minneapolis, community members held a block party after they successfully shut down a polluting foundry, reminding us that joy and celebration are essential nourishments for groups that often need to rise again to meet other challenges. In India, couples are crossing caste lines and using love as resistance to centuries-old discriminatory social views and practices. In the United Kingdom, an imam met anti-Muslim protesters with food and empathy to try to stop the hate-filled violence of recent weeks.
What depths of emotions could be powerful in the change you’re seeking in the world?
In more Nonviolence News, 10,000 protesters in France formed a Water Village to oppose plastic-lined reservoirs for big agribusiness, pro-Palestinian protests demanded an arms embargo on Israel, 17,000 communications workers went on strike in the Southeast region of the United States, West Papuans are sounding the alarm about deforestation, Indian doctors held a nationwide strike as thousands protested against the rape and murder of a female doctor, and Indonesia’s unions are trying to reclaim their public power utility.
Find these stories and more in Nonviolence News>>
One article that especially caught my interest was an interview on the “Housework of the Movements”, part of a series on the often-unseen and unaccounted for domestic, childcare, spiritual, and healing work that allows activists to engage in direct action, go to protests, or do the time-consuming work of organizing. It’s all part of our movements and deserves to be seen, recognized, and honored.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun