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Political Violence

Participation Is Our Biggest Advantage In The Fight Against Authoritarianism

August 9, 2024 Alessandra Bergamin, Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
For more than 40 years, Scot Nakagawa has served as an organizer, political strategist and social movement analyst in the struggle against authoritarianism. A movement veteran, Nakagawa got his start in Oregon in the late 1980s, where he worked on anti-racist and LGBTQ+ organizing, drawing not only parallels between the threats communities were facing but also the potential organizing solutions. In the decades since, Nakagawa has worked with many organizations, including the Coalition for Human Dignity, the National Anti-Klan Network, the National LGBTQ Task Force and ChangeLab. He currently serves as co-director of the 22nd Century Initiative, a national strategy and action center he co-founded to help build widespread opposition to authoritarian movements and ideas.

Chavistas Take To The Streets Of Venezuela To Ensure Peace

July 30, 2024 Kleybergel Gonzalez, Orinoco Tribune. , , , ,
The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, called on supporters of the Chavista revolutionary movement to mobilize this Tuesday in the streets of Caracas to ensure the peace of the country and the electoral victory of President Nicolás Maduro and to reject the violence unleashed by the extremist opposition that refuses to recognize the results of the National Electoral Council and the will of the Venezuelans. “We call on all our people to march tomorrow at two in the afternoon from Petare to Miraflores, also from Catia, La Vega, and El Valle to celebrate our victory, but above all, to defend the peace of the republic,” Rodríguez said during a speech on Monday, July 29, from the Federal Legislative Palace in Caracas.

Assassination Attempt On Donald Trump And Political Violence By The US

July 20, 2024 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , , , , , , ,
On January 3, 2020, Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and nine other people were killed by a United States drone strike under the orders of President Donald Trump . Soleimani was in Baghdad, Iraq to meet with Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in order to broker a peace initiative between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two nations which had been antagonists for many years. At the time Joe Biden was a presidential candidate and he issued a “Statement from Vice President Joe Biden on the Killing of Qassem Soleimani .” Biden said, “No American will mourn Qassem Soleimani’s passing. He deserved to be brought to justice for his crimes against American troops and thousands of innocents throughout the region. He supported terror and sowed chaos.”

The Solution To Political Violence In The US: Transfer Power To The People

July 18, 2024 Lucas Estanislao, Resumen English. , , , ,
Violence has always been at the heart of how the United States makes policy, whether internally or externally, from the massacres of original populations and minorities to the two-party system that favors economic power and alienates the people. The way out of this vicious cycle is the empowerment of the working class, both politically and economically. This is one of the thoughts that the minority candidate for the presidency of the United States, Claudia De la Cruz of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), expressed in an interview with Brasil de Fato, after the shots fired at the rally of Republican Donald Trump on Saturday. If the far-right candidate came out practically unscathed, his electoral chances could have increased for the November elections.

The Intersection Of Vulnerability And Power: The Case Of Francia Márquez

June 21, 2024 Janvieve Williams Comrie and Mauri Balanta Jaramillo, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
On June 16, during Father’s Day celebrations, Sigifredo Márquez, father of Colombia's Vice President Francia Márquez Mina, was attacked, also affecting a 6-year-old minor. This incident underscores the precarious position and constant threats that endanger the lives of Black leaders and communities in Latin America, where systemic oppression persists despite advances toward equality. Francia Márquez's political ascent has represented hope for social justice in ethnic communities, peasantry, and popular sectors. However, it has also been an affront to political and economic elites, serving as a catalyst for intensified violence not only against her but also against her community in Northern Cauca and other Afro-descendant communities in the country and region.

How Communities Are Making Political Violence Backfire

June 19, 2024 Maria J. Stephan, Just Security. , , , ,
The new dystopian Hollywood film, Civil War, has raised the specter of devastating violent conflict once again engulfing America. While the film has been criticized by some for normalizing political violence, others have embraced it as a learning opportunity, and a way to highlight the necessity of working together to prevent the terrible outcomes envisaged in the film. Although the film doesn’t really address how the United States devolves into civil war, in fact research has documented how that happens, and the United States is seeing the signs now – including the mainstreaming of dehumanizing rhetoric, and politically motivated threats, harassment, and acts of physical violence that are inspiring fear and undermining the practice of democracy.

We Can Safeguard Democracy Without Giving In To Fear And More Policing


June 5, 2024 Claire Guinta and Kalaya'an Mendoza , Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
Elections are flashpoints for political violence. Across the country, voter intimidation and related threats have spiked in recent cycles. In one particularly extreme case — in the battleground state of Arizona — one voter was reportedly approached and followed by armed “vigilantes” dressed in tactical gear outside a drop box during the 2023 midterms. Not surprisingly, voter intimidation has become a rising fear among many voters as the U.S. heads toward elections in November. In an effort to dissolve the misinformation that drives threats and violence, some state officials have actually urged election deniers to become poll workers or official observers.

Bolivia: Far-Right Protesters Attack Ambulances And Health Workers

November 28, 2022 Kawsachun News. , , ,
Santa Cruz, Bolivia - Far-right opposition groups in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, are violating international law by attacking health workers and hindering the passage of ambulances. The city’s police have registered more than 20 cases of physical attacks against health workers and ambulances, many of them resulting in patients being unable to reach a medical center. Protesters say they want the national census to be brought forward six months, and their preferred tactic is to block roads and demand payment from anyone who wants to pass through. Those who fail to comply are assaulted by young men armed with sticks and baseball bats. The secretary of the Health Workers union at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, Ulises Guzmán, said, “I don’t know what they are waiting for, maybe for someone from our sector to die so that they just give us guarantees?”

Violence Continues In Bolivia’s Santa Cruz Department

November 27, 2022 People's Dispatch. , , ,
Santa Cruz, Bolivia - On November 23, 33 days after the start of a violent indefinite strike in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, a key agreement was reached between far-right sectors in the department and the national government on the date of the Population and Housing Census. Luis Fernando Camacho, the far-right opposition leader, governor of Santa Cruz and one of the organizers of the strike, accepted that the census would be held in March 2024 and called on the legislators of Creemos and Citizens Community parties to accept this agreement as well. Nevertheless, the strike, sparked by the census disagreement, persists and the climate of violence and insecurity continues to intensify.

Haitian Women Mobilize On November 25 Against Political Violence

November 25, 2022 Jackson Jean, People's Dispatch. , , ,
On the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, peasant women, political activists, social activists, feminists, from across Haitian territory, will unite their voices on the streets. In their mobilizations to be held on November 25, they seek to publicly and internationally denounce the political violence against them, the repression and silencing of women of the working class sectors by paramilitary forces and instruments of the Haitian government. Following in the footsteps of the three Dominican Mirabal sisters, whose brutal assassination in 1960 inspired the commemoration on the November 25, they will denounce the racist, anti-Haitian and xenophobic violence against Haitian refugee women by the Dominican government and its public policies so similar to those of the former dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina.

The Political Violence Of National Oppression

February 18, 2022 Joshua Parks, Fight Back News. , , ,
Jacksonville, FL - Throughout the months of January and February, there were over 20 bomb threats directed towards historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Black churches, most of which were in the South. These concentrated actions over the last few months are a microcosm of the extensive history of racism and national oppression that Black people have faced within the United States, particularly its southern region. In general, all Black communities within the United States face systemic racism. The evidence is in the economically depressed ghettos of every city (big and small), riddled with deprived schools and social organizations, and lacking any significant political power. But racism alone cannot explain the particular violence that Black people face within the United States.

Violence And Intimidation Leave Bloody Imprint On Honduran Elections

November 24, 2021 Zoe Alexandra, People's Dispatch. , , ,
On Sunday, November 28, 5.5 million Hondurans will participate in the general elections to elect the president, 128 deputies to the National Congress, 298 mayors, and 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament. The electoral process has been strongly criticized by members of the opposition and human rights organizations inside and outside Honduras due to the serious violation of the basic rights of the political opposition and the right of the people to a peaceful and legal electoral process.

The Sound Of His Approaching Step Wakes Me And I See My Land’s Deprivation

September 17, 2021 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
On Wednesday, 8 September, party workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling political party, attacked three buildings in the Melarmath area of Agartala (Tripura). These attacks targeted the offices of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the communist newspaper Daily Deshar Katha, and two private media houses Pratibadi Kalam and PN-24. The violence took place in broad daylight as the police stood by and watched. Across Tripura, fifty-four other offices of the communists were attacked. The Communist Party – CPI(M) – and the media houses had been critical of the BJP-led state government. The CPI(M) and other organisations took to the streets to protest a range of policies; these protests have drawn considerable support from the population.

Report: How Many Environmental Activists Were Killed Last Year

July 30, 2020 Amanda Schupak, Huff Post. , , ,
The year 2019 was the most dangerous on record for environmental activists, a new report says. Every day around the world, people stand up to companies exploiting land for profit, felling trees, damming and polluting waterways, displacing ancestral homes and destroying wildlife habitats. Every week, an average of four of these defenders are killed.  The Global Witness Defending Tomorrow report, released Tuesday, counted 212 people killed last year for their efforts to protect the Earth from the destructive effects of development for oil and gas, mineral extraction, agriculture, logging and other practices.

Andy Lopez Settlement Reached, After Five Years

January 9, 2019 Carole Hyams-Howard, Indybay.org , , ,
On Oct 22, 2013, two days after Big Man’s 47th Black Panther Party Anniversary Celebration, held in Santa Rosa, ended, a beautiful child,13-year-old Andy Lopez, was gunned down and shot to death by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus. On Oct 22, 2013, two days after Big Man’s 47th Black Panther Party Anniversary Celebration, held in Santa Rosa, ended, a beautiful child,13-year-old Andy Lopez, was gunned down and shot to death by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus. On Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018, five years later, the Board of Supervisors for the county reached a settlement with Lopez’ parents for $3 million. This settlement does not mean Erick Gelhaus is clear of any civil liability.
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