The Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) is one of the largest small-farmer associations in Haiti with 70,000 members, of whom close to half are women. Here, Kettly Alexandre of the MPP Women's Committee speaks to advances made over 40 years for women's rights, equity, and an end to violence.
For years, Palestinian factions have strived for unity, and for years unity has evaded them. But is it possible that following several failed attempts, Fatah and Hamas have finally found that elusive middle ground? And if they have done so, why, to what end, and at what cost?
Source: Waging Nonviolence
Nearly 100,000 people have pledged to risk arrest if the Obama administration appears poised to give approval to the Keystone XL pipeline. While it would be difficult to prove, it seems likely that the specter of tens of thousands of Americans committing civil disobedience around the country may have influenced the Obama administration to further delay its decision on the pipeline last week. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell attributed news of the delay to the “weight” of “radical activists.” Still, with the pipeline not yet rejected, the KXL Pledge of Resistance will have to be kept trimmed and burning.
Source: In These Times
Ranchers, tribal communities, allies and activists camp out in Washington to protect their land.
Cliven Bundy wasn’t the only rancher to air his grievances against the federal government last week.
In Washington, D.C., a more inclusive, environmentally conscious and politically progressive pack of ranchers and farmers joined up with tribal communities and activist allies to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. This disparate coalition set up an encampment on the National Mall.
Citizens living along the route of the proposed pipeline formed the “Cowboy Indian Alliance” to both strengthen their own ties and to build solidarity nationwide. Dubbed “Reject & Protect,” the protest culminated in a several-thousand-person march on Saturday, April 26, afternoon and interfaith prayer ceremony on the following Sunday.
Source: In These Times
In Panama, the Ngäbe-Buglé fight to save their river and their land.
Walking along the stone and dirt road that follows the Tabasará River to the construction site of Panama’s controversial Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam is a bit like stepping into a Gabriel García Márquez novel, one titled Chronicle of a Battle Foretold. The road is blocked by huge felled trees and seemingly endless piles of rocks and boulders. You know the battle’s coming, but you don’t know when, or how violent it will be.
Space weapons are lurking beneath a small town near you. Though this statement sounds like a sci-fi nightmare only the Pentagon could conjure up, an on-going environmental impact study may find states such as Ohio and New York a great place for shooting down Russian or Chinese satellites as they orbit the planet.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019