It was four in the morning and I was walking in a zombie-like state inside the Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. The State Assembly was voting on the Budget Repair Bill at the time, and it was being blasted out through giant loud speakers into the Rotunda, echoing off the cold marbled floors and walls. My earplugs weren’t helping block out the noise one bit, and the lights that surrounded us, which were dimly lit earlier that evening, were brighter than ever before. Some of us questioned if this was being purposely done to make things as uncomfortable as possible. But we knew once you left, you could be locked out in the cold until the next morning.

The few of us that were still awake wandered down the circling hallways, quietly passing the sleeping protesters and their possessions strewn across the floor. I was rereading all of the handmade signs that were taped to the walls that towered over me. They conveyed messages of peace, unity, solidarity and political statements. One read “These Signs Are Our Voices And You Can’t Take Them Away!”

Eventually, I made my way back to the center of the Rotunda, looking down at the empty drum circle below. It was here that the Wisconsin protesters unleashed their frustration and struggles to people they had never met before. This was their most democratic space in the building. Four hours prior, this had been a place where music and protest were married together and people danced to the beat. Everyone was allowed to give a speech on the megaphone or play an instrument if they wanted. One protester told me that a man gave an anti-union rant before, but they didn’t stop him. Instead they let him speak without it ending in a confrontation.

The building has become another home to the Wisconsin people, a makeshift village within a city which not too long ago was used to conduct business as usual among the politicians. But now the community of protesters, mostly young people, occupies the building, the heart of the city, utilizing every section that’s accessible. “This is what this place was meant for. This is why it was built,” said one of the protesters while she talked and mopped the floor in front of me.

The significance of what has been accomplished can not be overstated. In one end of the gallery there was a medic section and around the corner from there was an area called the “child care/family space,” where families could bring their children to do activities or just to get away from the bustling crowds in the Capitol building. Food station tables were located everywhere, covered with donated supplies from around the country. “Charging Stations” were set up for people to plug-in to the internet and send messages to the outside world. There was a Lending Library where political Zines and books could be borrowed and returned after reading. I walked past Lost and Found boxes full of mittens, gloves and hats. It was literally a grassroots movement that had started these.

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With the Egyptian uprising now in its thirteenth day, neighboring Israel has been in a state of unease. After Egypt closed the Rafah crossing, there were concerns that traffic, especially medical vehicles, wouldn’t be able to pass for a while. Gazans have also started to worry that there will be fuel shortages due to difficulties for Egyptian smugglers getting through, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after allowing Egypt to send 800 troops to the Sinai Peninsula in fear that things could spillover, watches in disbelief as an old ally is delivered a revolution at his doorstep.

In front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, a week after the uprising had started, David Sheen at Mondoweiss videotaped two organized anti-Mubarak protests while he interviewed bystanders who watched from a distance. Alienated and angered, they listened to the Palestinian-Israeli crowd chant “Raise your voices, Arab people are not afraid!” It was the beginning of what was yet to come.

In the following days in the Gaza Strip, Hamas police forces arrested protesters affiliated with Gaza Youth Break Out who were organizing an anti-Mubarak rally at Gaza City’s Jundi al-Majhoul (Unknown Soldier) square. But then possibly realizing their folly, Hamas gave permission for people to gather in solidarity with the Egyptians, bringing roughly 1,000 Gazans in attendance chanting “Mubarak, you must leave.”

Despite Hamas repositioning with anti-Mubarak rallies, a Facebook group calling themselves “The Revolution of Honor—Gaza,” which grew to 12,000 “likes” in a matter of days after its launch, asked Palestinians to join them in “a day of rage” in protest to Hamas. But its motives are questionable since it has close ties with Fatah, an adversary to Hamas.

Elsewhere in the region, fears of protests continued to spread, including in Jerusalem, where police forces were warning people not to protest and only allowing Israeli men over the age of 50 or older and women of all ages to attend Friday prayer, while barring all Palestinians from Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On Wednesday, in response to pro-Mubarak demonstrations at Ramallah, which were reported to have been orchestrated by the Palestinian Authority (PA), more than 100 anti-Mubarak protesters showed up at Manara Square only to be beaten and arrested by PA policemen in plainclothes.

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After the recent Tunisia uprising and the Lebanon government collapsing, men and women throughout Egypt have taken to the streets, protesting for Hosni Mubarak to leave and bring to an end his decades of oppressive ruling. These nonviolent, direct actions speak poignantly of what the people in Egypt think of the U.S. and its pro-Western regime: They no longer fear them.

The Egyptian authorities, accompanied by soldiers, have desperately tried to restore order by banning public protests, jamming electronic communications, blocking off streets, canceling transportation services and imposing curfews while arrests and beatings became mandatory.

But this has not stopped demonstrators from covering the city, with the noise of their anti-government chants growing louder. And after the death toll of more than 200 Egyptians, army officials promised to let the marches continue saying they “would not use force against Egyptians staging [peaceful] protests,” even though The Guardian reported of hearing the military firing off rounds near Heliopolis. It’d be more reassuring if the soldiers would lay down their weapons and join the activists.

Meanwhile in the U.S., where most administration officials remain silent about the violent dictatorship they’ve been supporting with its $1.3 billion in annual “aid” to the military, Hillary Clinton advises Egyptians to “engage in peaceful protests” and Robert Gibbs adds “violence is not going to solve this.” For the most part, the Egyptian people seem to understand these morals; it’s the U.S. government that needs to practice what it preaches and curb it’s supply of rifles, teargas canisters, M1 tanks and those lovely F-16 aircrafts that are used to intimidate, injure or kill people.

If it’s not weapons intimidating people, it’s Hosni Mubarak telling the world to fear the shadowy figures that would take his place if he’s ousted. If you look to Israel, you’ll get more of this irony when listening to bigger doozies, like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worrying that Mubarak will be replaced by radicals who would “crush human rights and will not allow democracy or freedom, and will constitute a threat to peace.”

It’s painfully obvious that the Israeli and U.S. governments give the false impressions that their hearts beat for “peace” “democracy” and “human rights”. But now the Egyptian people’s blood has boiled over from years of suffering, leaving the government staring on blankly at the widespread, nonviolent opposition.

But for now, Mubarak is playing the waiting game for things to calm down. But how long can he cling to his so-called presidency when millions of defiant people are yelling for his departure with the whole world watching their every move unfold on Al Jazeera’s cameras. This could possibly be all that it takes to push out Mubarak, and maybe the beginning of many more nonviolent uprisings to take hold and ruthless dictators to fall beneath them.

On December 10^th 2009, in a small village of Bil’in, north of Ramallah in the West Bank, the home of 39-year-old school teacher Abdallah Abu Rahmah was raided by Israeli military forces who blindfolded and tightly fastened his hands together with zip tie cuffs. Frightened and confused, his wife and three children could only watch as he was hauled out of his home into the cold winter night and taken away in one of the seven military jeeps.

Almost nine-months later, having been imprisoned in weather-beaten tents at the Ofer military detention camp, prosecutors (failing to provide a single piece of documentary evidence) convinced a military courtroom to convict Abdallah Abu Rahmah for his involvement in coordinating “illegal” weekly marches and “incitement” with the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. These charges, although unreasonable, are not as ridiculous as the ones he was acquitted on, which were taking Israeli tear gas grenades and canisters (weapons that recently killed activist Basem Abu Rahma and have injured others) to create an artistic peace sign.

Protests against the conviction have already begun with large gatherings outside Bil’in where many waved Palestinian flags and yelled out the injustice in Arabic and Hebrew. Israeli soldiers hiding behind clouds of suffocating smoke and ballistic shields regrouped to drive off the demonstrators.

Since 2004, Abdallah Abu Rahmah has organized and led Bil’in demonstrations with the grassroots movement Bil’in Popular Committee that pushes for nonviolent resistance against the illegal fence/wall and the Israeli occupation. These nonviolent movements have become inviolable and more widespread in the West Bank over the years. Despite human rights violations, Israeli soldiers continue to arrest, kidnap, torture, threaten with deportation or even kill those who demonstrate for self-determination.

Within a country that speaks to Palestinians with firearms, bulldozers, and land encroaching, Abdallah Abu Rahmah has been lauded by many as the “Palestinian Gandhi” for his devotion to maintaining a nonviolent stance as he leads the movement. But now Abdallah Abu Rahmah is facing up to 10 years imprisonment for “legitimately exercising [his] right to freedom of expression in opposing the Israeli fence/wall,” according to Amnesty International.

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Twenty-one-year-old art student Emily Henochowiz sounds to be at ease with herself while giving an interview to the Village Voice as she says half-jokingly:

“I guess I can be grateful to the IDF for giving me the chance to see the world in a new way.”

Donning a pair of black rimmed glasses, the self-designed art on the left lens intentionally obscures what was once her eye before she lost it after being hit by an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) tear-gas canister.

Emily was born a grandchild of Holocaust survivors and from an Israeli father that emigrated to the U.S. raising her in Potomac, Maryland. Emily became a creative artist and eventually attended Cooper Union Art Program in Lower Manhattan. She then went over to Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem as an exchange student. Her main focus was to make art, study history, and improve her Hebrew.

During her stay, though, she witnessed how Palestinians were being treated by Israeli settlers. This slowly started to show through her drawings. In one case a group of settler’s taunted Palestinian children with prayers.

This experience ultimately drew her in to political action with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-based organization of volunteers (one having been the late Rachel Corrie) who push for nonviolent demonstrations against the IDF. As the Village Voice reports:

Emily says her ISM protest activities were about the Palestinians, to prove to them that ‘it’s not all of our people’ who are against them. ‘It was important for me to tell them, “I’m Jewish, and I support you,’’ she says. “We’re a people like any other, which is part of the reason we’re in the situation we’re in!” Not the self-serious type, she laughs and adds, “Just because we went through the Holocaust doesn’t mean we aren’t racist, too!”

Among her work is some creative graffiti against the Israeli construction of The Wall that separates Palestinians from their land. Emily took part in a dozen demonstrations throughout her semester, but it was the day after the massacre on the Mavi Marmara that brought her face-to-face with IDF soldiers firing tear-gas grenades.

On that day, she was waving an Austrian and Turkish flag at the Qalandiyah checkpoint near the West Bank in protest against the flotilla attack. A few boys from a distance started throwing rocks at the soldiers. Even though the rock throwers were not in close proximity to her, IDF soldiers fired tear-gas at close range directly at Emily. Two canisters hit on either side of her feet, but the third smashed directly into her left eye. Blood began running down her face, covering her Nakba T-shirt.

As Emily collapsed a Palestinian woman instantly ran over, caught her, and wrapped her arms around Emily’s body while simultaneously applying gauze to her injured eye and dragging her off to the side.

Emily was then rushed to Hadassah University Hospital only to find out after examination that she’d have to undergo surgery to remove the eye. Upon her fathers arrival from the States, he discovered that the room next to hers was holding an injured prisoner from the Mavi Marmara flotilla. At one point one of the doctors approached her father and asked:

“Are you Jewish? Because, then, how could your daughter be involved in such an activity?”

Emily however is not alone. There are many other Jewish Americans who have been outspoken against the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestinians. She has made her drawings a plea for others to take notice of the injustices visited upon Palestinians. Even though she has lost her eye in the process she remains upbeat:

After all, her political activism, she adds, “was a real change from who I was before—an experiment, in a way. And it ended in me losing my eye. But it’s OK.”

Emily continues to write and draw at her blogspot Thirsty Pixels and has no plans on giving up as an artist.

Last month, on the streets of Otavolo, Ecuador, around three thousand peaceful marchers participated with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) in protest of the Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA). With eight presidents of the countries involved at ALBA, CONAIE tried to deliver a communiqué asking why they weren’t invited to participate on behalf of the indigenous tribes.

More importantly, CONAIE’s demonstration was to focus on the government’s approach to neoliberal policies that only enriches themselves and foreign companies while impoverishing others. The CONAIE, like many other indigenous tribes protecting their lives and Pachamama (Mother Earth), protest against one of their most difficult opponents—global production.

To counter the Ecuadorian government’s unfriendly policies, CONAIE demands to be recognized as a sixth level of government. They want the ability to debate and veto the neoliberal business decisions that are aimed at damaging their territory.

These damages are done by the government’s allowance of Canadian mining companies coming into indigenous areas to exploit minerals on a large-scale (a gigantic open-pit copper mine), privatize water (forty-five percent of Ecuador’s water is under private control) and oil extraction in the Amazon. This would further displace communities, bring about deforestation, dry up or contaminate rivers, destroy the pristine landbase they’re dependent on and deteriorate the health of those living in the area.

In ongoing attempts to demonize CONAIE, the group and its members have been falsely marked as “terrorists” by Ecuador’s four-year President Rafael Correa on suspicion of trying to overthrow the government. A recent case of this supposed “terrorist” activity involved people breaking “through a police line” while marching at the ALBA summit and “allegedly” taking “a pair of handcuffs.” Somehow the theft and destruction of land and killings of indigenous people by the government doesn’t make it into this reality.

CONAIE resistance has consisted of hunger strikes, demonstrations, roadblocks and open negotiations with Ecuadorian government officials. Despite president Correa’s so-called progressive stance, his government tries to divide and dismantle the indigenous movement. In a Reuters interview, Correa dismissed those who resist as “‘infantile’ leftists, environmentalists and indigenous groups unwilling to modernize,” and says “The ecologists who say ‘no mines, don’t use non-renewable resources [petroleum].’ That’s like being a beggar while sitting on a sack of gold.”

Last year, while speaking to hundreds of Ecuadorians, President Correa clearly stated that he would not tolerate roadblocks: “With this law in hand, we will not allow these abuses, we will not allow uprisings, roadblocks, attacks on private property, or obstacles to an activity (mining) that is legal and that is being regulated.”

His concern over the roadblocks effectiveness has been demonstrated. In 2006, paramilitaries deployed by Falericorp (a communication equipment company) hired by Copper Mesa Mining (formerly known as Ascendant Copper Corporation) and possibly with the support of the Ecuadorian and Canadian government, invaded the Intag valley in Ecuador seeking concessions. During their entry into Intag, the hired guns were met by a peaceful blockade of villagers and a single-linked chain on the narrow Junin dirt road. A sign posted on a nearby tree read: “Mining companies are prohibited here. We don’t sell our land, we defend it.”

Without warning and unprovoked, the gunmen used pepper spray and then fired their weapons at the defenseless villagers. Although villagers were injured, they did not back down from the violent attacks. The thugs, stunned by the villager’s defiance, instead retreated themselves. Afterwards, 56 of the gunmen were held under citizen’s arrest until local authorities arrived. This eventually led to a peaceful takeover of the paramilitary’s camp in Chalguayacu Bajo and permanently stopped Copper Mesa Mining concessions.

However, events like this have altered how President Correa politically and strategically approaches the CONAIE and the indigenous tribes that are aligned with them. Correa excludes CONAIE and indigenous communities from constitutional state rights (contrary to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Correa doesn’t acknowledge CONAIE demands), and recently approved the New Ecuadorian Mining Law that lifted a ban on mining and labeled members from CONAIE as terrorist. This not only gives the government more excuses to arrest and prosecute, but to employ the use of lethal force.

In response to Correa’s tactics Marlon Santi who heads CONAIE remains optimistic and says that the movement will not become violent. CONAIE continues collective leadership instead of caudillismo (big man leadership), garners media attention to support their progressive protests and involves indigenous people, teachers, students, leftist and socialist movements. While only making up twenty percent of the population, indigenous people are the ones that President Correa should be representing, not the business elite who are the source of their corruption and deterioration. The structure that traditional indigenous tribes march for will help save Ecuador from becoming another country that cannibalizes itself in the name of economic prestige.

After September 11, 2001 our government played a dominant role in justifying retaliation. It exploited the tragedy of that day to further rationalize its political and military agendas. With the attacks still fresh in people’s minds, grief-stricken Americans turned toward fear driven interminable violence, thinking that would protect them. While many Americans still cling to this delusion, a group called Peaceful Tomorrows, is proving that not all surviving victims of 9/11 think vengeanace is the answer.

Peaceful Tomorrows, derived from the Martin Luther King statement “Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows,” has 220 9/11 family members in the United States, including others in seven foreign countries. Their first gatherings were in response to the bombings of Afghanistan, when they began to notice their loved ones’ deaths were being used to stoke nationalism, support wars and normalize abusive behavior. They insisted that our government needed to act in accordance with the US and international law while promoting foreign-policies that seek peaceful alternatives. They have 7 main goals and say that:

“By developing and advocating nonviolent options and actions in the pursuit of justice, we hope to break the cycles of violence engendered by war and terrorism. Acknowledging our common experience with all people affected by violence throughout the world, we work to create a safer and more peaceful world for everyone”

In 2002, Peaceful Tomorrows attended a United Nations headquarters conference against the bombings of Afghanistan. Their responses increased with the Iraq war, Patriot Act, warrant-less wiretapping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, the renditions to CIA “black sites” and many other injustices. They have organized with other antiwar groups like Voices for Creative Nonviolence and LaOnf (an Iraqi Nonviolence Group which means “No Violence” in Arabic).

This form of restorative nonviolence has taken those in Peaceful Tomorrows and many others past the false division of an us-verses-them type world propagated by the US government. Many of the members continue to visit and participate with others in Iraq and Afghanistan who have suffered under the US occupations. Early on, before the media even took notice, Peaceful Tomorrows’ testimonies gave a face and voice for the countless number of innocent civilians that were watching their family and friends being wiped out in US bombing campaigns and other military actions.

They’ve shown that Afghan and Iraqi civilians are not our enemies but our friends, having much in common with us. It is one of many steps they’ve taken to try and repair the damage our country has caused. But they cannot do it alone. We must all share the responsibility of the destruction and violence our government and military has inflicted on others.

The overlooked area of San Juan Copala in Oaxaca, a poor region in southern Mexico with a mostly indigenous population, has been subjected to continuous government-sponsored violence, leaving the indigenous people suffering for the past few decades. It’s a situation not unlike the one facing the people of Gaza and as such, resistance is brutally repressed.

A case in point occurred on April 27, when an international aid caravan trying to bring humanitarian relief past a roadblock to the besieged Autonomous Triqui Community of San Juan Copala was fired upon by unprovoked gunmen. Many were wounded and two human rights observers, Bety Cariño and Jyri Jaakkola, were killed.

Subsequently, others were detained and disappeared by men claiming to be the pro-government Ubisort-militia (ironically called the Unit for the Social Wellbeing of the Triqui Region) and are affiliated with the corrupt, neoliberal Institutional Revolution Party (PRI). The gunmen enjoyed their impunity backed by the ruthless and repressive governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.

The murderous ambush on the caravan backfired, though, and has jump started a non-violent movement of anti-authoritarians and human rights activists throughout the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala. Unhindered by ongoing state violence, they are attempting to pacify the area. As the communiqué has stated:

“We make clear that this resistance struggle has as its final goal to recuperate our history and culture, with a great respect for our mother earth; to achieve development towards the dignified life that we all desire, where peace and justice reign.”

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Cruising down the busy streets of Buenos Aires, Argentinean artist and peace activist Raul Lemesoff has converted a 1979 green Ford Falcon into a moving library with the title “Arma de Instruccion Masiva” (Weapon of Mass Instruction) painted across it. Clambering out of the vehicle, he greets bystanders with a smile and offers them a book.

The Ford that buses him around used to belong to the Argentinean armed forces during its dictatorship. But now covered with over 900 hardcover books, he makes his cross-country trip handing out free literature for people in the cities of Argentina and in remote areas where schools and books are scant. He also accepts donations in order to supply schools in need.

In a recent interview, Raul explains the purpose of his project :

“The Weapon of Mass Instruction is meant to get people to recognize various aspects of life: sharing, education, and also to have a good time. It’s a contribution to peace through literature.”

By taking what was once a symbol of suppression and violence, Raul has transformed it into a peace campaign of communication through recycled books.

I’m not sure if Raul and his artistic rendered Ford Falcon are still traveling (the sustainability of the project depends on donations that can match-up or surpass the handouts). Despite any of these shortcomings, he plans on building more booktanks that will travel to other parts of the world.

On August 6, the day started off with a vigil outside of Camp Williams Volk Field. An estimated 30 anti-war activists were organized, holding placards calling for, in-short, the ouster our military-industrial complex and the rebuilding of what the U.S. has destroyed. The fenced-in U.S. Army base loomed in the distance while police watched us with cameras in hand. This would set the tone for the next three-day Walk for Peace through Tomah, Camp Douglas and Tunnel City, Wisconsin before ending at Fort McCoy’s main gate.

Hailing from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York, the protesters ranged from war veterans to activists affiliated with Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV) and Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT). By the third day, 50 civil resisters turned out at Ft. McCoy to remind others of the lack of concern the government has shown for the U.S. troops. With 21,000 additional U.S. troops being redeployed to Afghanistan – along with 130,000 still remaining illegally in Iraq – the proof of the military empire’s unwillingness to desist shows with each passing day. There’s also the skewing of Afghani and Iraqi civilian death tolls along with the widening death rate of American troops.

With each step closer to our destination, we faced more opposition. People driving by yelled out, “We’re fighting for a reason!” But none of them told us what those reasons were. Why are American soldiers risking their lives for us? The Public Affairs Officer, Linda Fournier, at the base told reporters “the soldiers that are here training at Ft. McCoy and come through here, they are fighting for the rights of the people to protest.” But were we not already free before we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? So is it for freedom? Safety? Women’s Rights? Democracy? Or is it because if U.S. soldiers were to refuse to follow unjust orders they’d risk being lambasted by their fellow officers and face punishment?

While at a hotel, a woman came up to one of us and said, “My son’s being redeployed into Kandahar, Afghanistan.” When asked if she and her son believed in what he’s doing, she replied: “Initially, we believed in the governments cause, but now we’re not sure what’s going on. He’d rather be home.”

The nine activists who trespassed and were arrested at Ft. McCoy demonstrated how we all felt. The message was clear: We’re no longer afraid. We’re tired of the wars, the lies, the threats against peace. We’re not going to go passively into quietness. You’re going to have to physically deal with us. There will be no white flags in our hands, but just a peace banner lifted above our heads in solidarity.