Rivera Sun, editor of Nonviolence News, the author of The Dandelion Insurrection and other novels, and a nationwide trainer in strategy for nonviolent movements. www.riverasun.com

This story was produced by Metta Center for Nonviolence

And posted on Waging Nonviolence

There’s a secret to success for nonviolent movements for change: solidarity. Instead of “going it alone,” movements can amplify their message, leverage collective power, and build strength by seeking solidarity from aligned organizations and groups. Movements can also mobilize thousands of people into tangible, game-changing strategies by consciously designing solidarity actions to support their primary campaign.

Look at Oakland’s Solidarity Schools. During the 2019 Oakland Teachers Strike, a team of volunteers got involved in a much-needed solidarity action: delivering lunches to school children. In Oakland, California, 75 percent of the district’s 37,000 students relied on school lunch. Not wanting the kids to go hungry; the food bank, parents, teachers, and students worked together to organize and distribute lunches for the duration of the strike. This helped the teachers maintain their refusal to work without dividing the community over hunger issues. Solidarity efforts also included alternative schooling and child care. After several weeks, the teachers won their radical demands that ultimately benefited the entire community.

Solidarity strategies can increase the chance of success for your campaign by widening the impact of your actions. Recently in Nonviolence News, I reported on a story from Finland. Postal workers went on strike for two weeks, but their victory wasn’t won by the massive backlog of undelivered holiday packages. The clincher on their struggle occurred when the airline and transport industry workers held a solidarity (or sympathy) strike, grounding over three hundred planes and causing chaos in the capital. As the strike impacted businesses and people across the country, the head of the postal service came under fire for mishandling the postal workers’ strike. The workers won their demands, thanks to the solidarity of other transport workers.

Nonviolent struggle succeeds or fails by the rate of participation in actions that tangibly impact the ability of the power holders to conduct business-as-usual. In fact, studies show that any movement that successfully mobilizes 3.5 percent of the populace into acts of noncooperation (boycotts, strikes, walk-outs) and intervention (blockades, sit-ins, occupations) always wins their campaign. And, sometimes, success comes with even fewer people. So, scheming up those solidarity strategies makes a lot of sense for your movement.

Take Standing Rock, for example. Not everyone could leave their jobs and families, pitch a tent in freezing weather, and take a physical stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL, in North Dakota. But all of us could support the legal fund, organize supply caravans, and (perhaps most importantly) take action against the 17-plus banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline. Across the country and around the world, the protests outside of bank branches gave those of us horrified by the scenes of police repression at Standing Rock a way to turn outrage into action. We held signs. We delivered petitions and confronted bank managers. We organized our friends and colleagues to move our money and close our accounts. This put powerful pressure on the banks, forcing some to pull out of the DAPL project. While the pipeline at Standing Rock moved forward, a cascade of other fossil fuel projects lost their funding both in the United States and around the world. Also, the efforts during the Standing Rock campaign gave a boost to other fossil fuel divestment campaigns, leading to a ripple effect of institutional divestment. With greater mobilization around the solidarity strategy of moving our money out of the banks, we might have been able to defeat that pipeline project entirely.

The successes of the early U.S. labor movement relied heavily on solidarity and their solidarity actions were breath-taking in scope and generosity. To use just one of hundreds of examples, during the 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Bill Haywood and others organized massive support for the striking women. The solidarity efforts included relief committees, soup kitchens, food distribution stations, volunteer doctors, and weekly benefits for strikers. The list of demands was translated into over 50 languages for the multi-national immigrant workers. The most dramatic of solidarity actions was arranging for several hundred children of striking workers to go to supporters’ homes in New York City. This kept the children safe, housed, and fed while their mothers faced arrests, evictions, reduced income, and beatings for participating in the strike.

These tangible forms of solidarity can mean the difference between success and failure. Showing support for the cause with demonstrations can also boost morale and determination. Just this past week, cacerolazos (pots-and-pans banging protests) erupted in twelve Latin and South American countries, including Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador. The united demonstration was organized to acknowledge the shared struggles of the people against widespread economic inequality, corrupt governments, and violence against Indigenous populations. Organizers even distributed a cacerolazo app – in case you weren’t by your kitchen, you could join in with a cellphone simulation.

Occasionally, solidarity actions up the ante on issues, and connect immediate crises to the underlying causes. In the wake of the massive Australian bushfires, citizens chose to do more than send blankets and meals to those who lost their homes. Rejecting the “sending thoughts and prayers” rhetoric of the politicians, Australians organized solidarity sit-downs to demand disaster relief and climate action. In this way, they went beyond simply calling for relief while ignoring the root cause: they connected the fires to global warming, and the human-made climate crisis.

For movement organizers, thinking about solidarity strategies ahead of time can improve your organizing. Who are the people who can stand up for your cause? What allies can’t be arrested, but would love to help organize relief efforts for those who can? What sectors of society could engage in solidarity strikes or walk-outs to broaden your impact? Who can demonstrate to boost the morale of those taking direct action? What groups align with your cause and could have a direct impact on your power holders? What could those groups do to pressure them?

These are important questions for all of us to ask. Get creative with the answers. Solidarity comes in a million shapes and sizes, and it can be the secret to success.

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EVERY LIFE, A UNIVERSE

Every Life, A Universe

End the Suffering: Global Days of Remembrance and Action

October 6, 7, and 8

#EveryLifeAUniverse

Nonviolence International invites you—communities, congregations, institutions, and individuals throughout the world—to commemorate the one-year mark of October 7th in a way that renews our resolve for justice and peace. Let us remember and honor the sacredness of every life, grief for those lost over decades of violence and oppression, and acknowledge those who are in pain today: those who have lost loved ones, are injured, abducted, displaced, whose homes have been destroyed, and who suffer from hunger and illness.

Through our grief and remembrance, let us renew our commitment to never give up on justice and peace between Palestinians and Israelis

We invite you for three days of remembrance and action by doing the following:

Wear a black ribbon or armband during these days. We want to see people all around the world, in our cities and towns, workplaces, and educational institutions, wear black ribbons or armbands in order to create the collective consciousness of grief for lives that haven been lost. You are also welcomed to write "Every life, a Universe" on your ribbons or armbands.
Organizing community vigils, sit-ins, sharing circles, walks, events, fundraisers, days of fasting, and humanitarian efforts for each of the days;

On October 6th, you are invited to remember the decades of the past and decry the mistreatment and suffering of Palestinians caused by Israeli policies of expulsion, imprisonment, apartheid, siege, and occupation.

On October 7th, you are invited to remember and decry the violent attacks by Hamas and others, including the hostage-taking, and the death of over 1,000 Israelis in a single day.

On October 8th, you are invited to remember and decry the launch and continuation of Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the killing of over 40,000 individuals, the injury of over 80,000, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the abduction of thousands from their homes and families.
Use the hashtag: #EveryLifeAUniverse on your social media and share your activities on the following Facebook page so others can join you and for all of us to know what you are doing Facebook Page.

Join us in your own way to say that violence, whether in defense or for liberation, is not the answer. Only nonviolence, which dismantles systems of oppression and violence and calls for collective justice and equality, will ensure that Israelis and Palestinians can live together in safety, peace, and justice.

Goals:

To create global momentum that transcends the dichotomy of right versus wrong and unites us in a collective call to end all suffering. Our aim is to move forward toward achieving peace and justice for everyone.
We seek to establish a unified ritual space where we can come together to acknowledge and process the past. This includes confronting grief, grievances, and the structures and systems of oppression that have perpetuated suffering across decades.
Our objective is to reframe the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in a way that fosters a shared vision of equality, justice, and reconciliation. By doing so, we hope to encourage and mobilize collective actions to end the suffering.
We want to remind everyone that we are the change-makers we have been waiting for. If we don't act now, the suffering will continue and intensify.

Explore our Tool Kit on how to participate in the Global Days of Remembrance and Action, filled with actionable steps and resources: Tool Kit

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." —Rumi

UNARMED CIVILIAN PROTECTION: LATEST UPDATES AND DEVELOPMENTS FROM PALESTINE

The Flotilla ships currently being prevented from leaving port by the Turkish Port Authorities

on September 12 Freedom Flotilla has announced that the demonstration to release the Flotilla ships currently being prevented from leaving port by the Turkish Port Authorities, continues in Istanbul. and they are calling for help;

We need your help in getting international media to cover this historic protest and help put pressure on the government to release the ships, ensuring we can sail towards Gaza.

HOW TO HELP:

1. Call, email and/or demonstrate at Turkish embassies and consulates and demand that the Freedom Flotilla ships be released and allowed to deliver aid to Gaza immediately.

2. Tag mainstream accounts in this post or when you share our photos to your stories.

3. Message the social media page of the Ministry of Transport and Foreign Affairs @tcdisisleri & @uabakanligi on IG and on X

4. Share our videos using the hashtags #WeWillSail and #LetThemSail tagging @tcdisisleri and @uabakanligi

#WeWillSail #LetThemSail #TheFreedomFlotilla #FFC #Istanbul #Turkiye #Turkey #mavimarmara

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi Killed While Peacefully Protecting Palestinians

Nonviolence International has long supported third-party nonviolent action around the world and in Palestine/Israel through training, research, fiscal sponsorship, and advocacy. NVI strongly encourages well-meaning visitors, delegations, and organized solidarity accompaniment and co-resistance to go to Palestine/Israel. This page highlights some of the many activities by courageous international people and groups in Palestine/Israel who seek to protect civilians and human rights.

On September 3, 2024, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi traveled to the occupied West Bank to join the unarmed civilian protection (UCP) group, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)/Faz3a. According to her family, she felt a deep responsibility to stand with Palestinian civilians facing ongoing repression and violence, particularly from settlers. On September 6, 2024, while attending a peaceful protest in Beita, Eygi was tragically shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. Source.

A photo of Aysenur Eygi during her graduation.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was born on July 27, 1998, in Turkey and raised in Seattle, Washington. She graduated from Seattle Central College in 2022 with an Associate’s degree in Art and completed her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Washington in June 2024. She was actively involved in pro-Palestinian activism and was considering pursuing graduate studies in Near Eastern archaeology.

Nonviolence International, an organization dedicated to promoting nonviolent resistance and human rights, strongly condemns the killing of Eygi. We express deep outrage at the violent suppression of peaceful protests towards both Palestinians and internationals. This tragic incident underscores the dangers faced by activists advocating for basic human and civil rights in the occupied territories. Nonviolence International reaffirms its commitment to supporting peaceful activism and standing in solidarity with those resisting oppression.

Please call on the United Nations, Turkey, and the United States of America to launch independent investigations and to take measures to protect everyone.

To support our partners involved in UCP in Palestine, please visit the following:

https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/ucpnp_partner

https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/ffc_freedom_flotilla_coalition

https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/cjnv_partner

ISM Palestine

Faz3a