Jan 20, 2025 9 min read

there's still good news today

to be honest, i don't have much to say about the united states' president that either hasn't been said before by me in this newsletter and elsewhere by very smart people. to be even more honest, most of what i could say would apply to all the US presidents of my lifetime.

the horrors will continue to abound, perhaps in new and even more terrible ways. we will continue to organize, perhaps in new and even more beautiful ways.

i know this because i live in a Black city in the South surrounded by a legacy of collective victory, because i am an out queer woman happily married to a non-binary person, because i am a history teacher who has studied how the tide turns and turns again. i take comfort in the fact that we are a part of a legacy of people who have always found a way to resist and build pockets of the world we dream.

i think often of a quote that has been going around since the fires in LA made it to Octavia E. Butler's hometown. A student asked Butler what the answer was to ending the suffering in the world. She replied, “…there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers–at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

each of the stories below represents something that was done by groups of people working locally and/or internationally without the support of the US's federal government to build the world they want to see and interrupt the systems that get in the way.

there are people in our world changing things for the better. there are people in your town changing things for the better. find them.

no empire lasts forever

in many ways the audacity of the current US president will only strengthen the growing movement to create economic alternatives to US hegemony. BRICS continues to build momentum.

The admission of new partners, including Cuba and Bolivia, was approved by BRICS at the bloc's summit in October 2024 in Russia’s Kazan with the aim of strengthening economic and political cooperation and the integration of Southern Hemisphere countries...BRICS brings great hope to countries in the Southern Hemisphere in the fight for a more just and democratic international order... BRICS currently comprises nine member countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia. Its nine partner countries are Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia and Uzbekistan...BRICS represents more than 35% of the world's GDP, 45% of the world's population and 30% of global land area.

landback victories continue

every acre of land given back makes the world more liveable for us all. almost every monday good news i send includes some land returned to indigenous stewardship. we do not have to wait for the federal government as this example shows. the land trust model is available to us all.

The Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation today announced the reclaiming of nearly 40 acres of historic land in Tiverton, Rhode Island, bringing the total amount of recovered tribal land to over 50 acres...PPLT intends to open the land to other historic indigenous clans of all Pocasset villages as a site of traditional native rituals, including hunting, fishing, foraging, harvesting, and ceremonial practices...“This land is more than soil and trees—it is the spirit of our ancestors and the promise of our future. To have it returned to us is to reclaim a piece of our identity, a place where our stories, ceremonies, and way of life can thrive again. We honor this gift with gratitude and a commitment to steward it as our forebears did, with respect for all living things.”This particular parcel contains a portion of a large Atlantic White Cedar swamp, a globally imperiled forest type with an extensive history of commercial harvesting. The DEM Open Space Grant Program provides funding assistance for meaningful land conservation projects at the local level, prioritizing land with high natural resource value and placing an emphasis on preserving the natural heritage of Rhode Island. As a result of the remediation of this property, the swamp and surrounding land will be held in conservation in perpetuity.

harming people and planet is no longer a good investment

resistance works and the economics of investing in harmful plants are starting not to work. as the impacts of industry on our plant become more and more undeniable the impact of our resistance becomes more powerful.

Environmental groups are claiming victory after Mitsubishi Chemical Group dropped plans for a $1.3 billion plant in the heart of Louisiana’s industrial corridor. In the works for more than a decade, the chemical manufacturing complex would have been the largest of its kind in the world, stretching across 77 acres in Geismar, a small community about 60 miles west of New Orleans. Tokyo-based Mitsubishi cited only economic factors when announcing the cancellation last week, but a recent report on the plant’s feasibility noted that growing community concern about air pollution could also hamper the project’s success...“The frontline communities are fighting back, causing delays, and that amounts to money being lost,” said Gail LeBoeuf with Inclusive Louisiana, an environmental group focused on the industrial corridor along the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley.

international opposition to genocide intensifies

from accountability for those committing war crimes, to divestment and boycott pressure, to worker-led resistance to shipping weapons, the zionist entity is imperiled. in light of the agreed upon cease-fire, continued action remains crucial and the next three stories show us the way.

The Israeli army has warned its personnel that they risk arrest if they travel abroad after one of its soldiers fled Brazil while being investigated for possible war crimes in Gaza, local media reported yesterday according to Anadolu...Human rights organisations have been tracking soldiers and filing legal cases against them for taking part in the ongoing war on the Palestinian enclave, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper...Lawsuits have reportedly been filed in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Belgium, France and Brazil.

The Yale College Council announced today that the student body has passed the divestment referendum by a large margin...The referendum, proposed and written by the pro-Palestine Sumud Coalition, asked three questions. The first two ask whether Yale should disclose and divest from its holdings in military weapons manufacturers, “including those arming Israel,” and the third asks whether Yale should “act on its commitment to education by investing in Palestinian scholars and students.” ...The first question received 83.1 percent “yes” votes, the second 76.6 and the third 79.5...For all three questions, the total number of respondents who voted “yes” also amounted to over one third of the student body. All three referendum questions therefore met the requirements set by the YCC constitution to officially pass.

Recently, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Progressive International (PI) published a report outlining the role of U.S.-flagged Maersk ships in transporting military cargo from the U.S. to Israel, as part of the “Mask off Maersk” campaign. These Maersk ships were found to be carrying Israeli military cargo from the U.S. to Spain, after which this cargo was transshipped (transferred from one ship to another to its final destination) on to Spain, despite the Spanish government having a clear position as of May 2024 that their ports could not be used for the transport of Israeli military cargo. Following this report and subsequent confirmation by Maersk of Israeli military cargo on these ships, the Spanish government has since turned away four U.S.-flagged ships carrying military cargo from the US to Israel. These ships were able to unload cargo in Morocco instead of Spain, but were met with massive protests, including ten workers at the Tangier Med Port who refused to unload military cargo destined for Israel. As a result of these protests and the critical nature of this port in the logistics chain, one ship, the Maersk Denver, was unable to unload all of its Israeli military cargo, delaying this shipment from the U.S. to Israel by almost two months. This delay in Israeli military cargo, through concerted action in the form of anti-war research in the US by PYM and PI, political action in Spain spearheaded by the Communist Party of Spain, and worker action in Morocco, represents the most significant disruption in the transport of military cargo from the U.S. to Israel since Biden delayed shipments of 2000 lb MK-84 bombs to Israel in May.

if there is any way this newsletter could serve you better, let me know. if you know of good news, let me know.

as always, i hope this was useful.

with hope,

katie wills evans

the horrors will continue to abound, perhaps in new and even more terrible ways. we will continue to organize, perhaps in new and even more beautiful ways.

no empire lasts forever

landback victories continue

harming people and planet is no longer a good investment

international opposition to genocide intensifies

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