UPCOMING EVENTS
01/13/14 MOVE TO AMEND BUNCOMBE COUNTY MEETING
Meeting is at 7 PM at the North Asheville Library. We’ll
view the 30 minute MTA video, “Legalize Democracy” and hear what’s being
planned by our Events Planning Committee and our Outreach Committee. Open to
the public, all are welcome.
01/13/14 DINNER WITH PROGRESSIVES
There is a lot of work to do this year to move forward in NC
so Dinner with Progressives is going to begin the New Year with speakers that
will help us do just that. Robert Dawkins, the field organizer for
Operation Jumpstart based out of Charlotte
will be our speaker. Operation Jumpstart is a project of Democracy North
Carolina and is a coordinated, statewide campaign to counter new voting
restrictions with hundreds of local projects that help citizens register, get
photo IDs, and understand the big changes in North Carolina’s election law. Democracy
North Carolina
will connect people, provide a variety of materials, and help groups create a
program with practical goals that advance voter education, voter registration
and/or voting protection. From 6 to7 PM, we will enjoy a meal together, then
the speaker will present at 7 PM. Location is the Green Sage Restaurant in South Asheville, at 1800 Hendersonville Road. Please let
Cheryl know if you will be able to join us next Monday, so they know how many
to expect. Cheryl can be reached at ctorengo@gmail.com or call 258-3327.
01/14/14 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING
Time is 6:30 PM and location is VFP HQ at the Phil Mechanic
Studios: 109 Roberts Street
in Asheville.
VFP Chapter 099: http://vfpchapter099wnc.blogspot.com/.
01/14/14 ASHEVILLE
TRANSIT COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING
The Asheville Transit Committee monthly meeting, regularly
scheduled on Tuesday, 1/7/14 has been rescheduled to Tuesday, 1/14/14 from 3:30
PM - 5:30 PM. Location is the 4th Floor Police/Fire Training Room in the
Metropolitan Building, 100 Court Plaza.
01/14/14 RALLY FOR TRANSPORTATION REFORM
This is at 3 PM at City/County Plaza, Asheville, and was developed by the People’s
Voice on Transportation Equality. A group of concerned Asheville area residents, emerging from Just
Economics’ Voices for Economic Justice Leadership Training Program, worked on
the development of a 19 point agenda for Transportation Reform. We will
publicly release the People’s Agenda for Transportation Reform at 3pm at a
public launch event and then several campaign members will attend the City of Asheville Transportation Committee
at 3:30. Contact Amy with questions at 505-7466 or amy@justeconomicswnc.org.
01/15/14 SIERRA CLUB MEETING
Chuck Pickering is the President of Agriculture and Land
Planning at Biltmore Estate. He will discuss sustainability initiatives at
Biltmore and their corporate goals of environmental preservation. Time is 7 PM
(program starts at 7:15) at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of
Asheville (corner of Charlotte & Edwin). Contact: judymattox@sbcglobal.net,
or 828-683-2176 for more information.
01/15/14 ASHEVILLE
GREEN DRINKS MEETING
This week’s topic is “Biltmore Estate’s Sustainability and
Environmental Preservation. Location is the Unitarian Universalist Congregation
of Asheville at Edwin and Charlotte
Street. Start time is 7 PM. This event is also the
Sierra Club Meeting.
01/16/14 PRESS CONFERENCE IN WINSTON SALEM
Join Ray McGovern at a press conference and vigil to promote
the full Release of the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture. Time
is noon, and this will happen outside the office of Senator Burr at 2000 West First Street, Winston-Salem, NC.
Anyone interested in carpooling, pleace contact Jim at jim@p-e-a-c-e.org. See the end of this
email for more information on the Intelligence Report and Senator Burr’s role
in releasing it.
01/16/14 INFO SESSION ON MORAL MONDAY IN RALEIGH
Time is 7 PM and location is Unitarian Universalist Church in
Asheville. We
packed Asheville for Moral Mountain
Monday. Now it's time to head down to Raleigh
for the Moral March on Saturday, February 8th, better known as the H K on J
March. Join us on January 16 at the UU Church (1 Edwin Place, Asheville)
for an info session about the Moral March. Executive committee members from the
Western NC People's Assembly group will be on hand to talk and answer questions
about logistics, bus travel to the march and much more.
01/16/14 BEYOND THE MEDICAL MODEL FILM
On Friday, January 17th at 4:45pm - 6:45 PM, The Asheville
Radical Mental Health Collective is hosting a free movie event featuring the
film Beyond the Medical Model, by the Western Mass. Recovery Learning
Community. "Beyond the Medical Model examines the impact of a one-model
system that has been written so inextricably into our law and language that it
has become difficult for many to even hear the evidence supporting a much
broader take on what we so often label ‘mental illness.’ Through the expertise
of people sharing a range of worldviews and parts of their own stories,
information is offered on how we have sometimes harmed ourselves and our
communities through our own rigidity. The film encourages us to explore how we
might begin to understand our experiences through a variety of lenses and
without limiting ourselves to any one box or framework. Dr. Daniel Dorman,
author of ‘Dante’s Cure,’ was once quoted as saying, “If even one apple fell
up, wouldn’t we need to at least begin to question the laws of physics?” This
is the story of some of those apples." Location is Eagle Street Coffee
Emporium at 39B Market Street
in Asheville.
01/17/14 PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING
Meeting starts at 12:00 PM and goes to 02:00 PM. Physicians,
health personnel and everyone; all are welcomed at our monthly meetings! Bring
a brown bag lunch around noon. The meeting will officially start at 12:30 and
end about 2:00 PM. DIRECTIONS: (Location is in vicinity of Veterans Hospital)
Proceed east on Tunnel Rd./US 70 (away from downtown Asheville) to one short block prior to the Blue Ridge Pky.
overpass. Turn right (south) on Pleasant Ridge Dr., then turn right on the
second street, Wagon Rd.,
then immediate left on Birchwood
Lane to #18. For more information contact Dr. Terry
Clark, Chair, 633-0892 or Dr. Lew Patrie, 299-1242.
01/17/14 MLK WEEK AT UNCA – FILM SCREENING
UNC Asheville will celebrate the life and work of Martin
Luther King, Jr. with a series of special events January 17-24, 2014. Dawn
Porter, keynote speaker of the
Martin Luther King Jr. prayer breakfast at the Grove Park Inn, will screen
her film, Gideon’s Army, at 7 PM on Friday, January 17 at Lipinsky Auditorium
on campus. Porter, an attorney, produced this film to document the work of
three public defenders in the South and the state of our criminal justice
system as it deals with 12 million annual arrests. Travis Williams, one of the
public defenders featured in Gideon’s Army, will join Porter in discussing the
film after its showing. This free event is hosted by UNC Asheville in
cooperation with the Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville
and Buncombe County. For more information, contact
Lamar Hylton, director of UNC Asheville’s Intercultural Center
and Multicultural Student Programs, at 828- 251-6585
01/18/14 MLK ANNUAL PRAYER BREAKFAST
The upcoming 33rd Annual Prayer Breakfast will be on Saturday
January 18, 2014. This is hosted by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville & Buncombe County. The breakfast will be at the
Omni Grove Park Inn at 8:30 AM. Keynote speakers for the gathering will be a
remarkable pair of activists: attorney and filmmaker Dawn Porter, director and
producer of the award-winning film Gideon’s Army; and one of the dedicated
public defenders featured in her documentary, attorney Travis Williams of
Gainesville, GA. The film follows three public defenders in the Deep South during their daily mission to counsel hundreds
of defendants through the strained criminal justice system. Through their work
every day, Ms. Porter and Mr. Williams help bring our society ever closer to
fulfilling the ideals and philosophy espoused by Dr. King. Through a
collaboration with UNC Asheville, Gideon’s Army will be screened in a free
public showing the evening before the breakfast. The screening, followed by a
question-and-answer session with Ms. Porter and Mr. Williams, will be held Friday,
Jan. 17 at 7:00 p.m. at Lipinsky Auditorium on the university campus. Tickets,
details, and other information are available at www.mlkasheville.org or by calling
828-335-6896. Tickets are $30. Please do not hesitate to call Oralene Simmons
at 828-281-1624 if you have any questions or would like more details about the
breakfast or the Association.
01/18/14 RESCHEDULED: HARD TO RECYCLE EVENT
This Hard-to-Recycle collection will take place at Aaron’s (Park Terrace
Center) at 1298 Patton Avenue in west Asheville. Time is 11 AM
to 3 PM. For questions call 828-669-5459.
01/19/14 FILM AT FIRESTORM CAFÉ
The film to be shown is “The House I Live In”. The Asheville
Buncombe Community Relations Council is pleased to kick off its movie series
with this film discussing the disproportionate effect of the War on Drugs on
African Americans and the impact it has had on maintaining poverty among
African Americans. ‘Why We Fight’ director Eugene Jarecki shifts his focus from
the military industrial complex to the War on Drugs in this documentary
exploring the risks that prohibition poses to freedom, and the tragedy of
addicts being treated as criminals. In the four decades since the War on Drugs
commenced, over 45 millions of addicts have been arrested - and for each one
jailed, another family is destroyed. Meanwhile, the prisons in America are
growing overcrowded with non-violent criminals, and illegal drugs are still
being sold in schoolyards. By examining just where it all went wrong, Jarecki
reveals that a solution is possible if we can just find it in ourselves to be
compassionate, and see past the decades of paranoia and propaganda. Time is 6
PM and location is Firestorm Café and Books.
01/19/14 ETHICAL SOCIETY OF ASHEVILLE MEETING
“Fulfilling Dr. King’s Dream Through Education” will be the
subject of this meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville, 2:00-3:30 PM at
the Friends Meeting House, 227
Edgewood Road in North
Asheville (off Merrimon
Avenue near UNCA). Two programs will be
highlighted in the panel presentation: Read To Succeed, and the MacNolia Cox
Spelling Bee sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Marjorie Locke will
discuss the range of after-school enrichment programs offered by Delta House,
highlighting the spelling bee, which is named in honor of the first black child
to become a finalist in the national spelling bee in 1936; in an apparent
attempt to keep her from winning, the judges assigned her a word that had not
been among those studied by all participants. Read To Succeed (R2S) will be
presented by three speakers: Isaac Coleman, focusing on the origin and founding
of the program; Catherine Alter, discussing the current program’s goals,
objects, and methods; and Pat Bastian, who will describe her experiences as an
R2S tutor. There will be a discussion period after the presentation, followed
by informal conversation. All are welcome! For more information contact asheville@aeu.org
or ethicalsocietyasheville@gmail.com or 828 687-7759.
01/20/14 ANNUAL MLK PEACE MARCH AND RALLY
The Annual Peace March and Rally will begin at noon at St.
James A.M.E. Church on the corner of Martin
Luther King Boulevard and Hildebrand Street. Marchers will meet at
the church at 11:30 AM for a brief program before marching to City-County Plaza
for a rally program of songs and speeches. Please bring a nonperishable food
item for Manna Food Bank.
01/20/14 ANNUAL CANDLE- LIGHT CEREMONY FOR REMEMBRANCE
The annual candle-lighting ceremony in remembrance of the
less fortunate and as a reminder of the need to continue working to combat
injustice. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Adult award will be presented to an
adult for their outstanding work in the community. Guest speaker: Rev. Brian
Combs, Haywood Street Congregation and the Welcome Table. This will be held at
the Nazareth First Baptist
Church at 6 PM. For more
information, contact Karen at 828-768-8599 or karen@brandinichole.org. This is
part of the MLK events in Asheville.
01/20/14 MLK DAY OF SERVICE
Find a volunteer project, join the march, do something to
support your community...THEN... Join us in the Burton Street Community for
some great food, fires in the fire pits, and friendship (old & new). We're
firing up the wood-fired pizza oven and the grill to help feed those of you
serving the community on the 2014 MLK Day of Service. If you'd like to
contribute, feel free to bring a hearty side dish...or something light.
Everything is welcome! Bring your own beverages! This will be at Burton Street
Community Peace
Garden at 47 Bryant Street in Asheville. Time is 3 PM. This is in honor and
loving memory of Fred Simms, tireless volunteer and servant to the Asheville
Community.
01/21/14 MLK WEEK AT UNCA – LUNCH AND LEARN
UNC Asheville also offers the following event, free and open
to the public, as part of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Week. Social
Justice: What Does It Mean to You? A lunch and learn workshop will be held at
12:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 21, in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University
Union Intercultural
Center. For more
information, contact Lamar Hylton, director of UNC Asheville’s Intercultural Center and Multicultural Student
Programs, at 828- 251-6585.
01/21/14 MLK WEEK AT UNCA – DOCUMENTARY SCREENING
“American Promise” documentary screening. A documentary
chronicling the lives of two young boys making their separate ways through one
of the nation’s most prestigious private schools will screen at 7 PM on
Tuesday, January 21, in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union, Alumni
Hall. This intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s
struggle with issues of race, class, and opportunity. For more information,
contact Lamar Hylton, director of UNC Asheville’s Intercultural Center
and Multicultural Student Programs, at 828- 251-6585
1/22/14 REV. BARBER IN BREVARD
Here is the latest information on Rev Barber's trip to
Brevard. We learned last Friday that Rev. William Barber, President of the NC
NAACP, is coming here. The fact that we were able to mobilize (in one short
month and during the holidays) over 190 citizens to join a blooming chapter of
the Transylvania County NAACP is likely why we were able to attract Rev.
Barber’s attention and include us on his state-wide tour. We are not a chapter
yet….but what a start! We hope every one of you will be able to join us on
Wednesday, January 22, at 6:30 pm at the Porter Center
for a powerful message from Rev. Barber.
01/23/14 TRANSITION ASHEVILLE
DISCUSSION COURSE
Transition Asheville
will hold a “Choices for Sustainable Living” discussion course. This course
goes until March 6, 2014. Join WNCA for a seven-session discussion course based
on the book “Choices for Sustainable Living” from the Northwest Earth
Institute. In the discussion course participants will explore ways to live more
sustainably and have the opportunity to explore sustainability in a deeper
sense while reflecting on sustainably in different aspects of their lives. Time
is 6 PM to 7:30 PM and this will be held at Battery Park Book Exchange &
Champagne Bar in Asheville.
Cost is $45 for WNCA members, $60 for non-members (includes 1 year WNCA
membership). For more details and instructions on how to register, please call
course leader, Isabelle Rios, at 828-258-8737 ext. 201 or email
Isabelle@WNCA.org by Jan. 17.
01/23/14 MLK WEEK AT UNCA – KEYNOTE ADDRESS
UNC Asheville’s on-campus keynote address will be delivered
by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, creator of Youth Speaks and co-founder of Life is
Living. His talk is free and open to the public and will take place at 7 PM
Thursday, January 23 in Lipinsky Auditorium. Named one of America's Top
Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences, Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a National
Poetry Slam champion, Broadway veteran and was a featured artist on Russell
Simmons' Def Poetry on HBO. Joseph created Youth Speaks, where he mentored 13-
to 19-year-old writers, and he co-founded Life is Living, a series of festivals
designed to activate underresourced parks and affirm peaceful urban life through
hip-hop arts and environmental action. Free and open to the public. For more
information, contact Lamar Hylton, director of UNC Asheville’s Intercultural Center and Multicultural Student
Programs, at 828- 251-6585.
01/24/14 WESTERN CAROLINIANS
FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THE MIDDLE EAST MEETING
This meeting of the Western Carolinians for Peace and
Justice in the Middle East will be held at
3:15 PM at Brooks Howell House. Contact Beth at elizakeiser@aol.com for more
information.
01/24/14 MLK WEEK AT UNCA – POETRY SLAM
Spoken Word and Poetry. The week concludes with a poetry
slam at 8 PM on Friday, January 24, in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University
Union, Grotto. For more information, contact Lamar Hylton, director of UNC
Asheville’s Intercultural
Center and Multicultural
Student Programs, at 828- 251-6585.
01/26/14 CLEAN WATER FOR NC FILM SHOWING AND POTLUCK
Clean Water for NC will host a showing of the film Bidder 70
on Sunday January 26th. More info here for the film: http://www.bidder70film.com/. Time is
5:30 PM, and location is Asheville Friends Meeting House at 227 Edgewood Avenue in Asheville. Discussion afterwards, donations
accepted. Contact Autumn for more information at autumnwoodward@hotmail.com. Bring
a potluck dish.
02/08/14 MORAL MARCH ON RALEIGH - H K on J PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY
All Roads Lead to Raleigh
for H K on J 8 on February 8, 2014. In 2014, Raleigh will host the largest people's
assembly yet. Thousands of people from across North
Carolina, and across the United States, will assemble on Jones Street, to
protest the immoral, unconstitutional, mean spirit that has taken over the
Peoples House. Organized by the NC NAACP. On February 8 people from across NC
will gather at Shaw University on South St. between Wilmington St. and Blount St. at 9:30 AM in downtown Raleigh. The march to Jones Street will
begin at 10:30 AM after which we will begin the mass people's assembly on the
doorstep of the People's House, the NC General Assembly.
02/10/14 ASHEVILLE-BUNCOMBE FOOD POLICY COUNCIL MEETING
Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council Meeting of the Whole
will be held at Sherrill Center & Kimmel Arena at UNCA. Join us in celebrating
the hard work and progress made over the past year in supporting a “healthy
food friendly” Asheville and Buncombe County.
Learn more about our work and help us set our priorities for the next year. We
want YOUR input. Time is 4:30 to 6:30 PM. New member orientation at 4 PM.
Email us with questions and to find out how to register at info@abfoodpolicy.com.
02/15/14 ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THE WORLD SAID NO TO WAR
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day
of protests across the world in which more than 10 million people in more than
600 cities expressing opposition to the imminent Iraq War. In remembrance
of this important date, we can reflect on the purpose of protest, and how we
can make our voices heard in the upcoming year.
03/27/14 TO 3/30/14 LAKE JUNALUSKA
PEACE CONFERENCE
More information at http://www.lakejunaluska.com/peace/.
Early registration is $95.
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ONGOING EVENTS
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TUESDAY
Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument
WEDNESDAY
Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at
Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville
THURSDAY
Asheville Homeless Network meeting at 2 PM at Firestorm Cafe
FRIDAY
Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the City Hall
in Hendersonville
Women in Black have a monthly vigil at 5 PM at Vance Monument
in Asheville
(first Friday only)
SATURDAY
Transylvanians for Peace and WNC Physicians for Social
Responsibility have a weekly vigil at noon in front of the courthouse in
Brevard
Third Saturdays – Asheville’s
Green Grannies invites the public to “sing for the climate” at Vance Monument.
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ACTIONS AND READINGS
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On January 28, 2014, three nonviolent protesters against
nuclear weapons, Sr. Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Gregory Boertje-Obed, are
scheduled to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tennessee,
for the supposed crime of sabotage. They risked their lives, but threatened no
one else, when they entered the free-fire zone of a supposedly top-security
nuclear weapons facility called Y-2 in Tennessee.
They spray painted messages of peace and exposed the lack of security.
Click here to tell the judge how such courageous activists
should be sentenced:
And if you would like to go to the Federal Court in Knoxville on January 28
to witness the sentencing and support these activists (known as the Oak Ridge
Three) in a van, please contact Jim Brown at Jim@p-e-a-c-e.org
ASAP. The van will leave at 6:05 AM from Harris Teeter on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville, and will return on Tueday evening.
Cost is $11. There is limited space on the van, so contact Jim right away.
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From Lillian’s List of NC (affiliated with Emily’s List):
We are excited to share a free training opportunity for
progressive women candidates in North
Carolina with Emily's List! Emily's List will be
offering their one day Political Opportunity Program Training that provides
candidates with skills for running effective and winning campaigns on February
7th in Raleigh, NC. The Political Opportunity Program at
Emily's List recruits and trains women to run for office at the state and local
level. Whether you are currently serving on the school board, or in the General
Assembly, or if you are just beginning to think about running for elective
office, we are certain this training will provide you with the skills and
inspiration you need.
Date: Friday, February 7, 2014
Time: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
******************
Senator Burr, please vote to release the Senate Intelligence
report on torture!
Senator Burr sits on the Senate Intelligence committee.
Join us and ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern for a vigil and press conference
outside Sen. Burr’s office at noon on Jan. 16.
2000 West First
Street, Winston-Salem
Senate Asks CIA to Share Its Report on Interrogations (New
York Times article, 12/17/13):
“The Senate report, totaling more than 6,000 pages, was
completed last December but has yet to be declassified. According to people who
have read the study, it is unsparing in its criticism of the now-defunct interrogation
program and presents a chronicle of C.I.A. officials’ repeatedly misleading the
White House, Congress and the public about the value of brutal methods that, in
the end, produced little valuable intelligence.”
Release the Torture Reports (New York Times editorial, 12/19/13)
The Senate Intelligence Committee may vote in January on
whether to make this report public: www.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/opinion/release-the-torture-reports.html?emc=eta1&_r=0
How will Senator Burr vote?
Sponsors: NC Council of Churches, NC Stop Torture Now,
Quaker House, Veterans for Peace
For more information: Christina Cowger, 919-637-7678
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BUILDING BRIDGES SPRING SESSION
Seminars and Registration - Next Session is Spring 2014
This seminar is an introduction to the dynamics of racism
and is an opportunity to explore how race has impacted our relationships,
communities and institutions. Past participants are welcome.
When: Contact Building Bridges for the New
Date and Location
Cost: $30.00
Registration is required and is limited to 90 people.
Encourage and recommend individuals as well as organizations
that you know to participate in Building Bridges. If you are an alumni of the
Building Bridges Seminars, you may apply to become a Co-Facilitator. To apply
for a Co-Facilitator position, send an email to
info@buildingbridges-ashevillenc.org for more information about Co-Facilitator
Trainings. A celebratory pot luck supper will be held for all participants at
the ninth meeting. You may call (828) 777-4585 for more
information.
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5 overlooked activist victories in 2013
From Waging NonViolence
Activists experienced some big wins in 2013 — from the
overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act to the ruling against stop-and-frisk
in New York City to the revelations uncovered by
NSA whisteblower Edward Snowden to an averted U.S.
war with Syria.
It’s not hard to find mention of these big stories on most year-end news lists.
So rather than re-hash them here, we present you with a list of overlooked
activist victories from the past year.
People power continues to win in the Philippines
In February, Filipino President Benigno Aquino III — whose
father was assassinated by the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1983 —
signed a law that will take more than $220 million from Marcos-controlled Swiss
bank accounts to compensate people who were tortured, raped and jailed under
the U.S.-backed dictatorship. Although the sum represents only a tiny fraction
of the billions believed to have been stolen and then hidden by Marcos in
international banks,
Waging Nonviolence columnist Ken Butigan described the law as “a
significant step toward healing and restorative justice,” as well as “a
reminder that nonviolent action doesn’t end when the last demonstrator goes
home. ”
A big win against Big Coal in the Pacific
Northwest
Grassroots climate and anti-extraction activists in the
Pacific Northwest scored a victory over the coal industry back in May when
plans for a large coal export terminal on the Columbia River were scrapped by
energy giant Kinder Morgan.
Waging Nonviolence contributor Nick Engelfried called the victory “a good
case study for how communities have been able to beat back the coal industry.”
It was the third of six proposed coal export terminals to have been cancelled
or indefinitely stalled, as part of a larger plan to offset lagging U.S. coal consumption with growing energy
markets in China and South Korea.
Nevertheless, activists won’t stop until all six have been defeated.
A sleeping giant wakes up in Brazil
Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets in June to
protest a hike in public transportation fares in São Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro.
As the protests quickly spread across the country, the government responded by
cancelling the hikes. Calls for other reforms then followed, but as
Waging Nonviolence contributor Vanessa Zettler noted, “the question remains
of how the breadth of discontent in Brazil will be channeled by those
in the streets and those with access to the media.” Nevertheless, many saw the
fare hike protests as as a beginning of a new era in Brazil, saying, “The giant woke
up.”
A victory for millions of indigenous people in Mexico
Mexican political prisoner Alberto Patishtan Gomez was set
free after 13 years of unjust imprisonment on October 31 by decree of a special
pardon passed in the Mexican senate. Supporters from across Mexico and from
around the world had been organizing for his release ever since he was arrested
and convicted of murdering police officers in a trial that was filled with
flaws and corruption. Patishtan made the most of his time behind bars, however,
becoming one of the country’s leading voices protesting the unjust imprisonment
of indigenous people and organizing for their liberation. Waging
Nonviolence correspondent Marta Molina called Patishtan’s release “a
victory for the millions of indigenous people in Mexico, who continue to face
discrimination in the media and the judicial system.”
Online activists gain political clout in China
In September, a court in Beijing sentenced Li Tianyi — the son of two
Chinese celebrities — to 10 years in prison for his leading role in the gang
rape of a woman. Typically such an elite member of Chinese society would have
received a far lesser sentence. But the outrage expressed on social media was
believed to have pressured the court into levying the maximum sentence in order
to uphold its image. This is just one of several cases that
Waging Nonviolence contributor Michael Caster described as “a surge of
cyber activism [in China] aimed at exposing and protesting [corruption and
elite impunity] in the digital sphere — often producing, as in the case of
Tianyi’s trial, surprisingly powerful results.”
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