Nonviolence News: #EvictTheLords Light Projection, Coal Protests In Australia, Tunisia Rallies & Youth In Resistance
#EvictTheLords Light Projection, Coal Protests In Australia, Tunisia Rallies & Youth In Resistance
Editor's Note From Rivera Sun
Why are politicians so fixated on driving humanity into apocalypse? Australian’s government campaigned on climate action, but then approved three new coal mines that will lock-in carbon emissions until 2066 – long past the deadline for stopping the climate crisis. The only good news about this is that Australians protested the decision in cities and towns across the country. The Aussies have a long history of resisting mining, including some notable successes. Will they be able to rollback this devastating decision?
In Nonviolence News, there are more stories about nonviolent action being used to uphold, defend, or expand democracy. Tunisians are holding mass protests in the run-up to their election, demanding the release of political prisoners and journalists, and an end to the repression of opposition candidates and organizers. Meanwhile, Colombians are rallying against a right-wing ‘institutional’ coup that is using accusations of excessive campaign spending to oust the president. In the United Kingdom, the citizen democracy group Assemble projected a massive EVICT THE LORDS message onto the British Parliament Building, saying that the unelected aristocrats and the careerists politicians are failing to meet critical needs. There’s also an interview from an organizer with the 2017 campaign #GambiaHasDecided that gives us lots to learn from in terms of countering tyrants and ensuring democracy.
Thousands of US students walked out of over a dozen schools in Georgia after yet another school shooting. Hundreds of thousands more students in over 50 cities went on school strike on Friday as the climate movement kicked off a global reparations campaign. Other stories show examples of how society can improve the physical and mental well-being of children, including encouraging walking to school (a surprising by-product of a car pollution law in London) and creating device-free zones with people of all ages. There is also very intriguing story about a global campaign, Children’s Voting Colloquium, that has organized adults in 12 countries to pledge to vote on behalf of a child, calling attention to the fact that today’s politics determines the future of those who have no say in the decisions currently.
Find these stories and more in Nonviolence News>>
As usual, these are just a few of the many stories that we’ve found. Even just scanning the round-up will give you a sense of the power and potential of nonviolent action in our world. But I encourage you to click through to the original source articles and read more – there’s lots to learn from each story.
In solidarity,
Rivera Sun