On May 22, 2024, the air outside Berlin’s Humboldt University was thick with tension. Over a hundred people had peacefully gathered at Universitätsstraße in solidarity with a group of students. The students had occupied the nearby Institute for Social Sciences and renamed it Jabalia Institute after one of the largest refugee camps in Gaza—known as a historic stronghold of resistance. Their voices rose together in steady, rhythmic chants, demanding peace and justice for people facing genocide and violence in Palestine and Lebanon.

Haiti faces immense challenges, including political instability, gang violence, and barriers to healthcare, especially for expectant mothers. These issues are vividly portrayed in N'AP Boule, a short film featuring a young couple navigating protests and dangerous streets in a bid to reach a hospital before the birth of their first child. In this interview, filmmaker Alexandrine Benjamin shares the inspiration behind N'AP Boule and her mission to shed light on the maternal health crisis in Haiti. The film’s powerful message aims to move viewers to support Haitians’ struggles and push for change.

I live in Salt Lake City, which lies between the Wasatch Mountains and Great Salt Lake, on the ancestral lands of the Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone peoples. My ancestors are Mormon settlers who colonized the Salt Lake Valley in the 1800s. Like many here, I became concerned in the last few years about the drying of Great Salt Lake.

It is clear that Donald Trump's broad victory in the US elections will have – and already has, in fact – important economic, social and political consequences, both in the United States and on a global scale. And, of course, it also affects Europe.

During this year’s annual Carnival festival in Trinidad and Tobago’s capital city of Port of Spain, a Moko Jumbi – a traditional stilt walker and spirit dancer – paraded the streets representing Palestine and demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In Trinbagonian culture, the Moko Jumbie represents a spirit walking over and protecting the souls of all those who were massacred and lost during the transatlantic slave trade. This year, its mission was extended to solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The rise of AI in journalism comes at a time when traditional media outlets are grappling with dwindling resources, financial instability, and a crisis of public trust. For grassroots journalism, which has historically operated outside these institutional frameworks, the integration of AI presents distinctive opportunities and challenges. As AI becomes more prevalent in content creation, information sourcing, and analysis, we must ask: How does AI influence the identity of grassroots journalism, and what impact does this have on its mission of amplifying marginalized voices?

Steve Peraza speaks with James J. Coughlin, a public historian and author of the 2023 zine, City of Distant Neighbors: The Proliferation and Entrenchment of Residential Segregation in Buffalo, New York (1934 to 1961).

In a historic statement on October 22, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander announced support for a plan to divest the city’s pension funds from downstream and midstream fossil fuel infrastructure. Paired with previous divestments in upstream infrastructure and public holdings in fossil fuels, this plan would make NYC the first major U.S. city to fully divest major public pension funds from fossil fuel infrastructure. Lander has been showered with praise for this decision. But where is the praise for the activists who helped make it happen through direct action?

At 7:00 a.m. on September 14, 2024, dozens of people in colorful skirts and dress pants begin gathering around a small brick duplex at the Michigan/Wisconsin state line in the westernmost Upper Peninsula, just down the road from a series of budget strip clubs and adult video stores. This may seem like a strange place for a Native American ceremony, but not so: just beneath the bridge flows the Montreal River, and anywhere with Nibi is sacred.

It’s a hot summer night in Trieste, Italy. The air is still, with not a breeze stirring as the city slumbers. But in the shadows of its central piazza, there’s no rest. Underneath the trees of Piazza Libertà, where weary people on the move gather, volunteers from local humanitarian organizations arrive with supplies in hand. Their mission tonight, like many others, is simple but crucial: offer a moment of solace in the midst of chaos.

On August 19, 2024, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul delivered a spirited speech in support of the presidential hopeful Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Quite surprisingly, Governor Hochul raised the specter of runaway child care costs as a common issue facing middle class Americans, which, in turn, raised questions about what the governor of New York will do to lower these costs here in the Empire State.

On Sunday, August 5, 2024, Fitz Books and Waffles in Buffalo hosted the Vintage and Vinyl Pop Up, where community members enjoyed free music from local DJs and connected with a wide range of vendors selling vintage clothing and vinyl records.

It’s August now, and all the flower fans who visited Buffalo’s 30th annual Garden Walk Buffalo festivities are somewhere enjoying the hundreds of pictures they undoubtedly took walking in neighborhoods like mine. I live in the Bryant neighborhood, where the founders of Garden Walk live on the appropriately named “Garden Walk Way.”

The Aurat March’s expressions of solidarity, and the deliberate centering of womxn who are left most vulnerable in the current system, has led to a radical reimagining of what third world feminist politics can look like and what it can, and should, lead to: emancipation.

On Sunday, July 28, 2024, Burning Books bookstore hosted their third annual community block party at 420 Connecticut Street on the West Side of Buffalo, NY, raising awareness for local social justice campaigns and providing family recreation for West Side residents. Over 100 Buffalo residents braved the scorching 90-degree late July heat to enjoy the various attractions, including a giant bouncy house obstacle course, dunk tank, and community tables and booths hosted by progressive community organizations like PUSH-Buffalo, Democratic Socialists of America, and Urban Roots.

My family’s journey through war-ravaged Gaza started last October, the very day after our Gaza City home was bombed — with us inside — killing my oldest cousin, Mohammed. We knew we had to move. Leaflets fell from the sky, urging us to flee southwest. So began a journey that took us through the Jabaliya refugee camp, Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis, Al-Nusirat, Al-Qarara, and Rafah. Each stop marked a milestone in a trip punctuated by evacuation orders and displacements. I’ve lost count of the number of times we were told to move, but it’s at least a dozen.

One of the great joys of being an academic is watching people go from beginner to trailblazer in a field of study. As a writer for Weave News, not only do I get to watch emerging rock stars like Ms. Song Lee ‘do their thing’, but I get to share their voices with the world. In this Interweaving conversation, I am pleased to introduce you to Ms. Song Lee, High Road Fellow and Child Care Community Advocate.

Journalists are credited with writing the first draft of history. As a professionally trained historian and budding journalist, I take pride in documenting people, places, things, events and ideas. Just as honorable, to me, is highlighting the primary sources that will help students of the moment and students of the past understand the complexities of right now. Primary sources are data for historians – they are artifacts produced in the time period one is studying that bear direct relation to the topic under investigation.

The province of North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is home to a vibrant tapestry of mountain rain forests and savannas, woven together by the rivers that feed Lake Edwards and Lake Kivu. It is also a region that is torn apart by war. The interests of neighboring countries and international economic forces have fueled the violence that has displaced more than 2.8 million people and is devastating the local ecosystems. Amidst the ongoing chaos, however, water and earth guardians continue to work to create a better future for their communities and their more-than-human neighbors. One of these brave humans is Justin Lumoo Paluku, who works with the Initiative pour le Progrès et la Protection de l'Environnement (IPPE), or the Initiative for Environmental Progress and Protection.

At 6pm on July 18, 2024, Western New York Child Care Action Team (WNYCCAT) hosted a community celebration for the child care industry’s rank and file. WYNCCAT is an activist organization whose mission is “to educate, investigate, plan, strategize, advocate and provide swift actions that lead to productive, long term, results and solutions that positively impact the child care community across all modalities.”