On Sunday, July 28, 2024, Burning Books bookstore hosted their third annual community block party at 420 Connecticut Street on the West Side of Buffalo, NY, raising awareness for local social justice campaigns and providing family recreation for West Side residents. Over 100 Buffalo residents braved the scorching 90-degree late July heat to enjoy the various attractions, including a giant bouncy house obstacle course, dunk tank, and community tables and booths hosted by progressive community organizations like PUSH-Buffalo, Democratic Socialists of America, and Urban Roots.

Sara E. Jablonski is a 4-H Team Educator in the Cornell Cooperative Extension Erie County. She develops 4-H Youth Development clubs in the Buffalo, NY, and Amherst, NY, areas. She helps young people find their spark! She is one of my colleagues at Cornell in Buffalo, and she was kind enough to share with Weave News the work she does in the community and the flowers that she admires in Buffalo.

When Zinedine Zidane “chestbutted” an Italian opponent during the 2006 men’s World Cup final, he struck a blow for all footballers who have been victims of racism. Joe Simeone explores how Zidane’s action exposed the dominant French idea of “universalism” and the racism it is designed to hide.

Professional athletes are great examples illustrating how change comes from the bottom-up: they do not just have to be reflectors of the society they live in; rather, they can lead it if they use their platforms to do so. Athletes can be viewed as the workers in the large corporations that are their respective leagues, and they have always been the ones a step ahead of the establishment.

As the United States shifts to the Biden Administration, after four turbulent years of Donald Trump, the North Country Poor People’s Campaign offers its vision of a movement that can provide a viable alternative to Trumpism: a movement led by the poor and dispossessed.

By Nicole Roché

“I think there’s something really compelling about living and researching in the same place. To feel more grounded, quite literally, by going into the ground. I think there’s a power to that. Of staying and learning more about where you live.” Nicole Roché introduces us to Dr. Hadley Kruczek-Aaron, who does archaeological research at the intersection of local history and social justice.

By John Collins

Weave News is pleased to announce that it will be co-sponsoring the 2018 Media Freedom Summit 2.0, to be held on Oct. 26-27 on the campus of the College of Marin. Organized by Project Censored, the conference will be "an opportunity for journalists, students, faculty, activists, and community members to identify and address crucial threats to media freedom, to learn about and share effective strategies for advancing media freedom, and to promote critical media literacy education in service of social justice, civic engagement, and positive, meaningful change in local communities and larger society."  

By Wyatt Adams

At 10:00 a.m. on March 14th, St. Lawrence students and faculty gathered on the university’s Quad as part of the national school walkout against gun violence in schools. More than 200 students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered despite heavy snowfall in a show of solidarity with students across the nation standing up against the epidemic of shootings in America’s schools.

By Chloe McElligott

Weave News correspondent Chloe McElligott speaks with Jack Gilroy, a Veterans for Peace member whose lifelong journey of social justice activism has taken him from military service to self-imposed exile in Australia to campaigns against militarism throughout the United States. Situating himself within the tradition of radical Catholic antiwar organizing, Jack finds hope in the "search for young people who are individuals with a sense of true justice, have a sense of morality, who are not on an ego-trip, who are not on a power trip, but are more concerned with reaching out with compassion and generosity to the world."

By Steve Peraza

In the latest installment of our ongoing Interweaving series of in-depth conversations, Weave News reporter Steve Peraza speaks with Dr. Gene Grabiner, a SUNY distinguished service professor emeritus whose work addresses issues of social justice and social class. Their discussion focused on policing and the possibilities for meaningful police reform, particularly in Buffalo, NY.

By John Collins

This past August the city of Montreal hosted the 2016 World Social Forum, a major international gathering of activists, NGOs, and other concerned citizens who are committed to building a better world through grassroots action. With assistance from Jacques Brodeur, a media activist and board member of the Action Coalition for Media Education, Weave News was able to interview one of the most prominent featured speakers at the event: Riccardo Petrella, the Italian scholar and activist who for more than two decades has been at the forefront of efforts to recognize water as a human right. Following his lecture on Petrella was gracious enough to sit down with John Collins of Weave News and Shane Rogers, an environmental engineer from Clarkson University, to answer some of our Big Questions. In each case his answer was precise, thoughtful, and provocative.