Skip to content

Resist!

resist-iconStrategic direct action and civil disobedience such as strikes, sit-ins and occupations can expose injustice, slow down or stop harmful practices and win specific demands. Below is an archive of articles covering resistance groups in the United States and internationally. If you are inspired by a campaign, perhaps you will join or support it. If you like the tactics being used, you can adapt them for your own struggle. Check out our Resources Page for links to tools that may be helpful in your resistance.

Bloodshed, Tear Gas Bombs And Mudslides: 100 Days Of Dictatorship

Perú has plunged into chaos since the December 7th congressional coup that ousted President Pedro Castillo. This past Friday the 17th of March marked 100 days of terror from the Peruvian coup regime, with deaths topping 80 , severely injured over 1000 and political prisoners also over 1000 taken. Protesters from the various provinces and Lima marked the day with vigils to honor the 3 months of the massacre in Ayacucho on March 15th, a march to Barbadillo where President Castillo is held as a political prisoner and demonstrations throughout the capital city and country. We caught up with a delegation from Asillo, Puno to hear why they traveled to the capital city of Lima.

Renewed Peace Movement Lauded As Protesters Marched In Washington

Washington, D.C.—An estimated couple of thousand of people to “several thousand” marched on March 18 in downtown Washington D.C., calling for an end to the U.S. imperialist project that they hold responsible for 20 years of a “War on Terror” on millions of people. The weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. U.S. interference in the form of military invasions and other types of activities since 2001 have caused the global displacement of 38 million people and the death of at least 900,000 people, according to the Costs of War Project. Those are conservative estimates.

65,000 Los Angeles Education Workers Are On A Historic Three-Day Strike

Los Angeles, California - 65,000 workers from Service Employees International Union Local 99 and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) began a three-day strike on Tuesday, March 21. SEIU Local 99 workers are striking amidst contract negotiations around higher salaries, more full-time work schedules, better treatment, and more staffing. The SEIU workers represent a broad cross section of school staff, such as bus drivers, custodians, campus aides, and cafeteria workers. The union claims that apart from refusing to budge on key workers’ demands such as a 30% raise and more full time hours, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is also harassing and threatening workers for participating in union activity.

‘Black Thursday’ Strikes In France Over Macron’s Pension Reform

French workers angry that the pension age is being increased blocked access to a terminal at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on a day of nationwide protests. The demonstrations on Thursday forced some travellers to get there on foot. Train services were also disrupted and some schools shut while garbage piled up on the streets, and electricity output was cut, as unions pressured the government to withdraw the law that delays retirement by two years, changing it from age 62 to age 64. Plumes of smoke were seen rising from burning piles of debris blocking traffic on a highway near Toulouse, in southwestern France, and wildcat strikes briefly blocked roads in other cities as well.

Starbucks Workers Walk Out Ahead Of Shareholder Meeting

Starbucks workers at over 100 US stores walk out ahead of shareholder meeting Workers hold protest in Seattle outside of Starbucks’ headquarters in response to the company’s aggressive anti-union efforts Michael Sainato @msainat1 Wed 22 Mar 2023 10.27 EDT Starbucks workers at over 100 stores around the US walked out on Wednesday ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting and held a protest in Seattle outside Starbucks’ headquarters. The actions were launched in response to Starbucks’ aggressive anti-union efforts against worker organizing, which have included allegations of firing dozens of workers in retaliation for union organizing, intimidation, store closures, withholding benefits, schedule cuts and delays in bargaining a first union contract. Starbucks has denied or rejected all allegations and charges of labor law violations.

Iraq Invasion, AUKUS Blasted In Rousing Sydney Rally

A week after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed in a meeting in San Diego with President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to spend A$368 billion to buy nuclear submarines from the two countries, anti-war activists met in a sweltering Sydney town hall on Sunday on the 20th anniversary of the start of the war against Iraq to hear why the submarine deal is a disaster for Australia that must be stopped.  Greens Party Senator David Shoebridge, former foreign minister Bob Carr, retired diplomat Alison Broinowski and Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkinson (via video hook-up from Virginia), told the rally that an aggressive United States was dragging Australia into an unnecessary conflict with its main trading partner, China, a country which posed no threat. 

Black Residents Of Cancer Alley Sue Local Government

A discrimination lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Louisiana alleges that the St. James Parish Council steered polluting facilities into Black neighborhoods along the Mississippi River. As a result, Black residents there are forced to breathe in more pollution and face a higher risk of related health problems, according to the suit filed by Inclusive Louisiana, Mount Triumph Baptist Church, and RISE St. James. “We’re being ignored and we have to do whatever we have to do to stop it,” said Myrtle Felton, a lifelong resident of St. James Parish and co-founder of Inclusive Louisiana, a community group focused on environmental injustices.

AMLO Condemns Invasion Threats, Celebrates Nationalization Of Oil, Lithium

Mexico’s leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) organized a massive rally in the heart of the capital, honoring the anniversary of the country’s nationalization of its oil reserves and expropriation of foreign corporations. AMLO also used the demonstration as an opportunity to publicly condemn US politicians who have proposed militarily invading Mexico to combat drug trafficking. “We remind those hypocritical and irresponsible politicians that Mexico is an independent and free country, not a colony or a protectorate of the United States!” López Obrador declared. “They can threaten us with committing some kind of abuse, but we will never, ever allow them to violate our sovereignty and trample on the dignity of our homeland!” he asserted.

Black Educators Are Reimagining A Better School System

Woodbridge, VA - The plastic sign displayed prominently on De’Ana Forbes’ classroom door is especially fitting this week. In big bold letters: ​“Warning! History Teacher Zone. Your understanding of the past may be corrected at any time.”  It’s early in this sleepy suburb 45 minutes outside Washington, D.C., and the sun is still rising over Freedom High School as students jog inside from late-arriving buses, backpacks half-hung over shoulders with winter coats swinging. They push through crowded hallways and hurry to first period.  Forbes, 28, who teaches U.S. history and social studies, is one of many teachers across the country participating in the annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, held this year February 6 – 10.

Hostile Takeover Of Houston School District By Texas Education Agency

The Network for Public Education strongly objects to the takeover of the Houston Independent Public School District (HISD) by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). We believe this is a cynical political move to disenfranchise the residents of Houston by yanking control of the governance of their schools from their elected board and giving governing power to political appointees. Network for Public Education Executive Director Carol Burris states, “This decision is clearly a calculated move to put Houston schools under the Governor’s thumb. In the past few years, the elected Board, Superintendent, educators, and students of HISD have made great strides in school improvement.

Third Act: Elders Occupy Chase Bank

This morning, ten members of Beyond Extreme Energy and 3Third Act occupied a Chase Bank in Washington D.C.  The activists sat down in the middle of the bank lobby, singing songs and reading a full indictment of Chase Bank for climate crimes.  This action was done as a direct follow up to yesterday’s Rocking Chair Rebellion in which elders blockaded the doors of the same Chase Bank and a Wells Fargo with rocking chairs.  The occupation lasted an hour and all ten activists were arrested.  “Today we return to indict Chase Bank and its head Jamie Dimon for their role as the number one financier of fossil fuels globally. 

‘If They Strike, We Won’t Cross The Picket Line’

Los Angeles, California - Following weeks of uncharacteristically gloomy days, the weather broke late in the afternoon on Wednesday, March 15, seemingly in preparation for the 4:30 PM Unite for Los Angeles Schools rally in Grand Park outside City Hall. The gathered crowd buzzed with excitement and righteous indignation. Drums and horns sounded, signs and t-shirts were given out and street vendors peddled everything from cotton candy to tacos, making the event feel more like a music festival than a rally. Our headliners? Leaders from two of the largest unions in Los Angeles County.

Phone Zap For Ohio State Penitentiary Hunger Strikers

Ohio - People incarcerated at the Ohio State Penitentiary began a protest in mid-March and need our support to be successful in getting their demands met. Recently, guards at OSP have been forcing prisoners to stand in the showers for hours on end as a form of retaliation for speaking out. The protest seeks to end this form of punishment, as well as several other injustices inside the prison. Without outside support and attention, protests like this one are much easier for the prison administration to sweep under the rug. It’s imperative that the administration hear from as many people as possible, so that they know we are paying attention to how they respond to this action.

How To Provide Direct Support To Earthquake Victims In Syria

The U.S. Peace Council (USPC) and the World Peace Council (WPC) have started a joint international fundraising campaign in support of the victims of the recent catastrophic earthquake in Syria, who are facing the consequences of a destructive earthquake without the much needed supplies of food, medicine and shelter as a result of debilitating economic sanctions. The purpose of this fund drive is to raise the necessary funds for the purchase and shipment of medical supplies and equipment to the victims of earthquake in Syria, in direct coordination and cooperation with the Syrian Red Crescent, in accordance with the General License No. 23 of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Authorizing Transactions Related to Earthquake Relief Efforts to Syria.”

Inside The Underground Network Supporting Asylum Seekers In Scotland

Every Sunday for the past six weeks, far-right protesters have been gathering in the small Scottish town of Erskine to complain about plans to house some 200 asylum seekers in a local hotel. However, they are not alone. Asylum seekers in Scotland and their local allies have also been protesting the use of these hotels, and for a much longer time. Scotland takes in thousands of asylum seekers each year: 4,000 in 2019. Normally Scotland is not the first stop for asylum seekers. The Home Office — the arm of the U.K. government that deals with immigration — processes most asylum seekers in England, and spreads people out around the U.K.
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.