By Kathie Malley-Morrison and Anthony J. Marsella
There is a new spirit of encounter (e.g., Black Lives Matter; Me Too) in our times, a new spirit of protest against oppression and abuse, evidenced by national and local gatherings among and for women and minority groups!
There is a new spirit of communication and connection among free media critical of government, military, and wealth controls! There is a new spirit of protest against war and militarism, against the wasting of a nation’s wealth on weaponry and endless war!
There is a new spirit of concern for life and land, a concern especially regarding anthropogenic climate changes! Activists are protesting destructive developments and supporting climate change policies to limit Co2 release.
There is a new spirit of determination to expose abuses of privilege and position by select government officials who have politicized and weaponized laws for personal use (e.g., FISA Court).
These changes signal and sustain hope. Hope is the life blood of progressive change. Hope can be suppressed and oppressed, but it cannot be defeated. Hope endures because it is the very essence of life. Regardless of life form and species, hope is the evolutionary impulse to pursue survival, adaptation, and adjustment, free of oppression.
And hope is sustained and enlarged through the work of the brave activists being honored in our fourth list of living peace and social justice activists.
- Erakat: Noura Erakat, human rights attorney, writer, activist, specialist in Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Fisk: Robert Fisk, war zone Guardian correspondent
- Flanders: Laura Flanders, author, journalist,
- Frompovich: Catherine Frompovich, health rights advocate, journalist
- Gaynor: Maureen Gaynor, disability activist, supporter of civil disobedience
- Gattinger: Malvin Gattinger, Transcend Media Services staff
- Gold: Ariel Gold, Jewish mother, BDS activist, pro-Palestinian, Code Pink leader.
- Gonzalez: Naomi Emma Gonzalez, leader in youth-led gun control student movement.
- Haque: Umair Haque, inspirational writer
- Hightower: Jim Hightower, progressive political activist, supporter of sustainable agriculture
- Huerta: Delores Huerta, labor leader and civil rights activist. Worked with Caesar Chavez in founding United Farm Workers Union
- Jackson: Richard Jackson, Director of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.
- Johnson: Jake Johnson ,Common Dreams writer
- Jones: Preston Jones, professor, peace activist on American Empire
- Kent: George Kent, Teaches human rights, on the Board of Directors of the International Peace Research Association Foundation.
- Klare: Michael T. Klare, Five College Professor of Peace & World Security Studies
- Kolhatkar: Sonali Kolhatkar, columnist for Truthdig, co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission
- Kunstler: Barton Kunstler, Author, Nation of change.
- Laurison: Hannah Burton Laurison, human rights activist.
- Lillard: Kwame Leo Lillard, Nashville civil rights leader
- Loladze : Irakli Loladze, professor, Environment of Food Supply
- McKay: Donna McKay, active with Physicians for Human Rights.
- McKibben: Bill McKibben, leading environmentalist in USA
- Melamed: Barbara G. Melamed, psychologist, promotes women’s peacebuilding, mediation
- Milton-Lightening: Heather Milton-Lightening, international Indigenous Peoples advocate, activist for ending Gaza blockade.
- Mingo: Erika Mingo, Past President, PSYSR; Racial Justice Action Group
- Munayyer: Yousef Munayyer, US Campaign for Palestinian
- RightsMutaka: Christophe Nyambatsi Mutaka key figure at the Groupe Martin Luther King; promotes active nonviolence, human rights, and peace, focuses on reducing sexual and other violence against women.
- Nair: Keshavan Nair, Gandhi scholar
- Neville: Helen A. Neville, Professor, African-American Studies/Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Please support their efforts and ours. And vote in November!