Activism
An developer is planning to build a new housing and entertainment development just 10 miles from the Grand Canyon, but an activist’s viral tweet urged opponents to contact a local town council to stop the plan from going forward.
In a rebuke to the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policies and rhetoric, world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma gave a performance at the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday, where he praised culture’s ability to “build bridges, not walls.” #buildbridgesnotwalls
“We are unstoppable. Another world is possible.” That was the message of the youth-led School Strike for Climate movement on Friday as hundreds of thousands of students across the globe walked out of class and flooded the streets to demand immediate action against the ecological crisis, which threatens to render the planet uninhabitable for future generations. #ClimateStrike #SchoolsStrike4Climate
If you want to get involved in the fight to end homelessness, there is volunteer work, financial or material contributions, advocacy efforts, and continued self-education programs in which you can get involved that make sense for your budget and schedule. #endhomelessness
After spending several hours at the U.S.-Mexico border with attorneys and immigrant rights advocates on Saturday, 29 parents separated from their children then deported under President Donald Trump’s so-called “zero tolerance” policy were allowed to take a crucial step toward applying for asylum and reuniting with their kids. #ReunifyFamilies
Youth climate leaders from across the globe penned an open letter on Friday condemning the inaction of world leaders in the face of planetary catastrophe and vowing to “make change happen by ourselves.” #climatechange
Many if not all climate activists share my motivation: We want to save the planet for our children, and our children’s children, and all future generations. But here’s the thing: The children might just end up saving us all. #savetheplanet
Declaring to chief executives that they refuse “to become war profiteers,” a group of Microsoft workers on Friday demanded the company cancel a contract with the U.S. Army that they say would “help people kill” and turn warfare into a “video game.” #stopwar
Sixteen-year-old climate action leader Greta Thunberg stood alongside European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker Thursday in Brussels as he indicated—after weeks of climate strikes around the world inspired by the Swedish teenager—that the European Union has heard the demands of young people and pledged more than $1 trillion over the next seven years to address the crisis of a rapidly heating planet.
In situations of growing desperation, it’s natural to want to blame someone or some group of people, especially when our loudest leaders are constantly presenting us with an enemy to focus on. We’ve been inundated with messages in the last three years inciting us to blame immigrants for all our troubles, whether it’s lack of jobs or the cost of health care. Baloney. We all know that our system of unchecked capitalism is to blame. #istandwithimmigrants
As students across the United Kingdom prepare to join the global “climate strike” movement later this week by walking out of class, the nation’s union of headteachers—representing principals, headmasters, and other school leaders—has endorsed the coordinated actions as a demonstration to be “applauded.” #climatestrike #climatecrises
“I am just a messenger, and yet I get all this hate,” writes Thunberg. “I am not saying anything new, I am just saying what scientists have repeatedly said for decades. And I agree with you, I’m too young to do this. We children shouldn’t have to do this. But since almost no one is doing anything, and our very future is at risk, we feel like we have to continue.” #gretathunberg #climatecrisis
35,000 people participated in a march in Berlin to protest against the current system of disbursement of EU farm subsidies in Germany. Activists complained that large-scale farms receive too much and that the system needs to better fund farmers pursuing environment and climate-friendly farming methods. The protest also featured a procession of 170 farmers driving tractors. #farming
Hundreds of women marched on Sunday in Paris to reclaim France’s “Yellow Vest” movement from violent activists, a day after protesters smashed their way into a government ministry. #yellowvests
The French #yellowvest protesters could carry a liberating lesson for us: To achieve real democracy and basic fairness requires that we, too, claim our dignity. We can reject any notion that there is shame in announcing that we are struggling to get by in America’s brutal form of capitalism. Why should we feel shame when the scales of our economy are so titled? Within a market driven by corporate America’s one-rule obsession (i.e. do what brings highest return to existing wealth), sadly we end up with more extreme inequality than in roughly 120 countries, including—believe it or not—India and Mali.
