In Sudan, widely attended protests were held in order to bring about the end of the 30-year Omar Al-Bashir dictatorship and the transition to civilian rule. University student Alaa Salah, who became known as the “Woman in White,” stood on top of a car and played a decisive role in the protests, especially for women.
In England, the ‘Extinction Rebellion’ group carried out acts of civil disobedience in order to draw attention to climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the risk of ecological collapse, and called upon the government to take concrete steps toward combating climate change. The peaceful protests, which drew widespread participation from many sections of society, put forth an urgent call for government administrations to reduce carbon output to zero by the year 2030.
Construction workers at the new İstanbul Airport staged a walkout in response to problems such as fatal workplace accidents poor working conditions and unpaid wages. Despite violent intervention by the police and gendarmes as well as hundreds of arrests, the workers became the voice of all construction workers on the building site where 52 workers died over a five-year period.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Espace Masolo Center brought art to children and young people who had lost their families and suffered abuse because of war. Through education in music and puppet theatre, the Center taught the children local customs and beliefs in order to raise awareness of social problems.
The Tamzarayan family of Armenia were living undocumented in The Netherlands. When their request for political asylum was denied, they took refuge in a church. In order to help their neighbours, hundreds of pastors and volunteers took advantage of a law prohibiting police entering places of worship during services, and held an 800-hour service in the church where the family had taken refuge. The action resulted in a statement from the government that changes would be made in immigration law.
A decision to construct a coal-burning electric plant in an oak forest near the village of Pınarca in Tekirdağ Province, met with object from a group led by five women from the village. Holding meetings for two years, the women organized the villagers against the project, which would impede the employment of women and lead to pollution of the environment. Their powerful struggle was successful; in light of the Environmental Impact Statement, the project was cancelled.
When Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has headed the oppressive rule for years, announced his candidacy for a fifth term, the people began staging protests. Expressed in a peaceful, inclusive and humorous manner, the demands for political change gained the participation of citizens from many all classes, genders and ages. Bouteflika withdrew his candidacy and resigned. This “Smile Revolution” demonstrated once again that the language of peace can bring about powerful political change.
Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello of the United States built seesaws in the Mexican border wall that President Donald Trump wants to reinforce. The design draws attention to the fact that an act on one side of the border affects the other side despite the wall. After its installation, the pink seesaw has drawn an enthusiastic response from citizens of both countries, using play as a vehicle for resistance.
The Village Schools Change Network works with the goal of raising the quality of education in Turkey’s village schools. The village teachers received training in areas such as child psychology, classroom management and sustainable education models. The Network creates a solidarity platform that makes it easier for teachers to meet and share their experiences. Striving to make innovative, child-focused practices in children’s education more widespread, it also holds a variety of child-oriented workshops.
The Sabarimala Hindu temple in India did not allow women who had begun to have their periods to enter, because it considered them “unclean.” Those who defended this ban despite the Supreme Court decision to abolish this practice, prevented women from entering the temple. Five million women of various social groups and faiths formed a 620-kilometer human chain in order to support allowing entrance to women and call for equality of the sexes.
Carola Rackete, a captain working with Sea Watch in order to rescue refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean in boats to reach Europe, took 53 stranded refugees into his boat. When Italy refused his request to provide a safe port to these refugees, he was forced to head without permission to the island of Lampedusa. Taken into custody for a time and then released, Rackete continues to defend the idea that saving human lives is more important than any political games.
When several civil society organizations in Diyarbakır were closed, the Colourful Hopes Association worked with the dream of a children’s world where children can live their childhood freely, as children.” Association activists held drama, music, photography and game workshops in the city’s heavily-damaged neighbourhoods in order to ameliorate the effects of forced migration, loss and poverty upon children.
In Sweden, Greta Thunberg demanded that politicians pay attention to the climate crisis by organizing a sit-in in front of the Parliament building with a banner reading “School boycott for the climate.” Organized every Friday, Thunberg’s sit-in received support from children around the world. Launching a global resistance with the action, called “Fridays for the Future,” the children inspire humankind to take responsibility for the world they live in, and their future.
In Syria, Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel took on the job of caring for street cats in war-torn Aleppo. Working with the help of donations coming through a social media account opened by journalist Alessandra Abidin, he built a shelter for the cats, and a space dubbed the “Garden of Hope,” where children affected by the war could play with the cats.
Female workers employed by the Municipality of Glasgow, Scotland, went on strike after demanding -unsuccessfully- equal pay with men for twelve years. Standing behind the statement “equal pay is not a gift to be given”, 8,000 women leading the country’s two largest unions brought the city to a standstill for two days. After years of being ignored, this powerful act of resistance ended with the women’s demands being met.
Working against the establishment of a gold mine in the Kaz/Ida Mountains, which contains Çanakkale is only source of potable water, a large group of people from the immediate area and around Turkey sprang into action to defend the rights of people, animals and the environment. Tens of thousands of activists of every age and social group entered the mining company’s work area and, after setting up camp in the area where trees were being cut, began a “Vigil or Water and Conscience.”
