On an ordinary Wednesday morning in the calm, well-to-do Chamberi district of Madrid, a group of about 150 Spaniards stood on the street corner opposite a large cultural center, with riot police watching on intently, and chanted:

“Murderers! Murderers! Shame! Shame!”

I woke up this morning in Malaga with the knowledge that today was an important day in Spain: a day of nationwide demonstrations calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. At a time when European leaders continue to fail to meet their basic moral obligations vis-a-vis the Palestinian people, more than 70 Spanish cities from Alacant and Albacete to Zamora and Zaragoza were scheduled to host actions under the common banner of stopping the genocide, ending arms sales to Israel, and cutting off diplomatic relations with the apartheid state.

On Thursday, November 16, I attended a “huelga estudantil” (student strike) held in Madrid, Spain, in support of Palestine. I was amazed to look out at the crowd and see such a diversity of young faces ranging from middle school students to university-age young adults. It was a truly diverse coalition of young people who were all there for the same reason: to condemn the current Israeli assault on Gaza and call for an end to the Israeli occupation. The fact that such a large group of students left their classrooms vacant to take to the streets in support of Palestine gave a strong sense that Gen Z is fiercely challenging the normalization of Israeli oppression.

As the Israeli military continues to subject Palestinians in Gaza to a brutal siege accompanied by heavy aerial bombardment, citizens around the world are rising up to express their solidarity with Palestinians and to demand that Israel and its international supporters be held accountable. At a march held in the Spanish capital, Madrid, protesters sought to focus attention on the role of the European Union (EU) in enabling Israel’s war crimes.

“De norte al sur, de este al oeste, la lucha sigue, cueste lo que cueste! (From north to south, from east to west, the struggle continues, whatever it takes!)” With this and other slogans ringing in the air, hundreds of activists of all ages filled the streets of downtown Madrid, Spain, on September 15 to demand rapid decarbonization and climate justice. At a time when news reports here are filled with stories of floods, fires, and killer storms throughout the wider Mediterranean region, Madrid’s 15S Climate March provided a much-needed dose of what is usually missing from those reports: a clear-eyed look at the policy steps that must be taken in order to face down our climate crisis.

The Fifth Community Assembly for Water (La Quinta Asamblea Comunitaria por el Agua) was held on Friday, May 5, 2023, in Pacho Viejo, Veracruz, Mexico. Pacho Viejo seems an apt location for a convention on the protection and conservation of la Cuenca la Antigua (the Antigua Watershed). It is in the geographic heart of this river basin, situated between the cities of Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, and Coatepec, often called “the Coffee Capital of Mexico.” This assembly of Sentinelas de rio (River Sentinels) represented a convergence of undercurrents running beneath the region’s rich culture, ongoing political strife, and incredible biodiversity, all flowing toward safeguarding the ultimate source of life: water.

Once a noble countryside estate, Quinta Torre Arias is now a public park in the Spanish capital, Madrid, with gardens that welcome the community. However, current Madrid mayor, José Luiz Martínez-Almeida of the People’s Party, has different plans for the park, and the threat of its return to privatization looms.

Aquí presentamos una entrevista con Carlos Beas Torres de la Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Nortel del Istmo de Tehuantepec (UCIZONI), una organización que ha resistido a CIIT desde su inicio, y que forma parte de la caravana “El Sur Resiste.”

The following is an interview with Carlos Beas Torres, a member of the Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Nortel del Istmo de Tehuantepec (Union of Indigenous Communities from the North of the Isthmus or UCIZONIT), an organization that has resisted the CIIT since its conception and forms part of the “El Sur Resiste” (The South Resists) Caravan.

The color purple took over the main streets of Madrid. Thousands of women and allies holding up signs were waiting for the demonstration to begin. I have never seen so many people gathered together – people from all ages and backgrounds prepared for this rally to begin.

Here’s the thing: Fascists hate solidarity. At a minimum, they want you to laugh at people who embrace the solidarity impulse and who act accordingly. At a maximum, they want you to support the criminalization and violent suppression of this impulse. What this means is that acting out of solidarity is a fundamental part of the larger project of fighting fascism - a project whose global urgency is growing by the day.

This was certainly not the first national strike in Ecuador, nor was it the first time that Ecuadorians have protested against the neoliberal economic policies that have historically disenfranchised the country’s indigenous and impoverished communities. The willingness to shut down Ecuadorian society as an act of protest, despite the subsequent harsh economic repercussions of such mass mobilization, illuminates the fervent desperation of the indigenous communities and other social groups within Ecuador as well as people’s desire for drastic political, social, and economic change.

As the presidential elections and a glimpse of change approach, Colombians keep rising to disclose the numerous human rights violations and other abusive realities that the current administration has caused. In order to make sense of what is happening on the ground at the moment, however, we need to look back at the national strike that shook the country in 2021.

“Jordanians are angry that the country’s economic dependence on the United States would be further compounded by this new dependence on Israel for water. Given that the Jordanian regime’s survival is closely intertwined with the West, any disagreement with either the United States or Israel could be detrimental to the country’s stability. The water-energy deal would exacerbate this relationship, and locals were quick to reject it.”

As ordinary people in Eswatini/Swaziland take to the streets to protest in favor of human rights and democracy, digital activism is playing an important role. Weave News contributor Phiwa T. argues that instead of dismissing such efforts, we should recognize that forms of digital protest can work hand in hand with traditional forms of street-level activism.

As students continue to play a key role in mass protests in Haiti against the current government of Jovenel Moïse, Jesús G. Ruiz argues that it is time we look to Haiti once again, not just for inspiration but also for lessons on how to engage politically and fight for one’s freedoms and rights.

On January 20, 2015, the PUCARL Collective (United Communities of the Antigua Watershed for Free Rivers) blocked the entrance to the Río Pescados (River of Fishes), halting the construction of a dam that was threatening the entire region. The 43 communities along the Rio Pescados are the first to defeat Odebrecht, thus protecting their waterways for the generations to come.

A new gold mine in Veracruz, Mexico, will be the first one in the world to be opened only two miles away from a nuclear reactor and from many pipelines - all in the middle of a densely populated, touristic area that is also the most important migratory route in North America. These are some of the main reasons why local activists are strongly opposing the project.

In the widespread protests against police violence following the murder of George Floyd, Blake Lavia sees evidence of how COVID-19 has brought the problems of a “racist economic system” into sharper view. Can the current uprisings hold the key to addressing both the climate crisis and the need to build a more just economic system? The challenge, Lavia argues, is for white people to look themselves in the mirror, go beyond performative solidarity, and work actively to dismantle oppressive systems.

By Cassandra Kunert

In her first installment for our Weaving the Streets project, Cassandra Kunert reports on what she observed when she went to Beirut, Lebanon, in search of street art - only to find a city whose population was rising up in huge numbers against the existing political and economic order.