Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Coronavirus concerns revive labor organizing

    Employees at 7 Yakima Valley fruit packing plants, who are predominately Latinx, went on strike to protest inadequate protection and pay during the Covid-19 pandemic. Agricultural workers accounted for nearly one-fifth of the county’s positive cases. The worker initiated strikes and picket lines were supported by community members, union representatives, and non-profit legal centers. Workers returned to work after gaining concessions on better pay, safety protections, and the formation of worker advocacy committees. The state also issued new workplace safety standards for agricultural workers after protests.

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  • Meet the people sharing their homes with injured and orphaned wildlife

    For some Mainers, in their spare time, they treat and care for wild animals and return them to the wild. These small-scale wildlife rehabilitators care for animals like flying squirrels and black bears by opening up their homes and wallets for these creatures. Rachel Ann Parsons of R&R Wildlife Rehabilitation cares for more than 80 wild animals annually in her home. While their services are often in high-demand during spring and summer months, these licensed professionals provide a public service for those who find a wild animal in need.

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  • For Indigenous Zapotec Families, Spinning Becomes a Lifeline

    Mark Brown has brought Ghandian economic principles of economic justice and local autonomy to the Mexican countryside to form a farm-to-garment textile business that employs villagers who once made woolen textiles until the industrial clothing era started producing cheap synthetic clothing and rendered their craft unprofitable. Khadi Oaxaca aims to regenerate the village way of life in a sustainable way and employs several hundred villagers who grow the cotton, spin the thread, design the clothing and bring it to market for tourists - bringing a previously economically depressed village out of poverty.

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  • ‘I just need a connection': the refugees teaching languages across borders

    NaTakallam offers classes in Arabic, Spanish, Persian and French that are taught by refugees. The 64 teachers conduct classes with 770 students entirely online, allowing people from all over the world to learn from native speakers. It also circumvents work restrictions for refugees in their new homes, which means they can earn money. The group’s teachers also speak in university classes, offer translation services, and some now work on New York University’s Arabic-language program. Deep friendships that help combat the isolation experienced by many refugees have also emerged from the online classes.

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  • This Hermon company's work dried up when coronavirus hit. Now it's making masks for the long run.

    A tension fabric structures manufacturing company in Maine has repurposed their facility and transformed their local workforce to create grade-one medical masks for the local hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because the company uses only U.S.-made materials, they have been able to avoid supply chain interruptions and now plans to continue making masks as part of their standard business model even after the pandemic passes.

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  • This Seattle protest zone is police-free. So volunteers are stepping up to provide security.

    In Seattle's police-free street encampment that sprang up during protests over policing abuses, a mostly unarmed group of volunteer "sentinels" has defused a number of potential problems while largely avoiding the use of force. Trained in de-escalation and mediation tactics, the sentinels have used listening techniques to understand people's anger or mental state. Among the incidents they have addressed: fights, attempted vandalism of storefronts, visits from armed people who wanted to confront a supposed leftist threat, and the attempted arson of a police precinct building.

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  • American Indian patrol in Minneapolis credited with saving buildings during protests

    Volunteer street patrols organized by the American Indian Movement, the national civil rights group, saved the heart of the Twin Cities’ native American community from damage during the looting and arson that broke out during protests over police brutality in Minneapolis. AIM street patrols that had been created in 1968 were revived for the June 2020 unrest. Local businesses praised the effort for protecting their buildings, often by standing guard overnight armed with walkie-talkies and sometimes with guns.

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  • Community groups have consistently failed to improve policing. These advocates are pushing a new way.

    Civilian oversight panels serving as watchdogs and disciplinary enforcers for police departments have a generally poor record of effectiveness, thanks to multiple structural flaws. But examples of successful oversight are multiplying, and thanks to protests of police violence many more cities are working to establish bodies with real power to investigate wrongdoing in specific cases and effect change throughout an agency. One city getting high marks for its program is Denver, where the Office of Independent Monitor succeeded in pressing for new use-of-force rules, which cut incidents by 21% in a year.

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  • How Puerto Rican Scientists Hacked The COVID-19 Response

    In Puerto Rico, scientists, students, and educators from different organizations created a consortium to help develop a way to expand the territory's testing capacity for COVID-19 after the government continuously struggled to obtain test kits and was only conducting 150 tests per day. After developing a molecular test and partnering with a swab manufacturer in Italy, their efforts culminated in the distribution of 3,000 tests per day.

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  • Out Of The Ruins

    Protests against severe “austerity measures” that were passed after the 2011 economic recession resulted in worker and housing cooperatives to address labor and housing inequities. Citizens protested by gathering in public squares and holding rallies where speakers were randomly selected from the crowd. This is based on an ancient democratic process where citizens are selected at random to speak their mind in regards to politics and public affairs. The organizations that emerged practiced participatory democracy through horizontal leadership, though many were eventually shut down by the government.

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