One April morning in 2021, I snapped a cell phone picture of a peony that was growing outside my mom’s house in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. It was toward the end of the COVID pandemic. The term “new normal” was all the rage. I didn’t know it, then, but I was searching for love, and I had found it. This morning, the sun was beaming; the flowers were stretching for sunlight; and I was falling head over heels for the flowers of Buffalo.

Weave News is pleased to present this short documentary by Taline Norsigian, a young artist and filmmaker who has previously worked as an intern with our organization. The film was produced in 2022-2023 as part of an independent study project at St. Lawrence University under the supervision of Dr. John Collins. It was released by Hay Hokee Films in 2023.

“You wouldn’t believe the things people have screamed at me in this room.” Our tour guide for the Democratic Skylight/El Tragaluz Democrático exhibition in Madrid’s La Arqueria didn’t mince words when she brought us into the room containing materials related to Spain’s 1921-1926 colonial war in Morocco. I had previously read about this vicious war (generally known as the Rif War), in which Spain deployed a range of chemical weapons against civilian populations, but I had naively assumed that this aspect of the country’s history was relatively well known.

On the evening of an otherwise warm and comfortable June day in 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark, experienced a rare but intense natural disaster that would forever change its approach to climate resilience.

In my first article from Spain, I set the stage for the country’s upcoming national elections on July 23, focusing on the threat posed by resurgent fascist movements. Now it’s time to dig deeper into the complex political dynamics animating the campaign as well as some of the social forces shaping how the campaign is being waged and covered in the media.

In just over two weeks, Spanish voters will go to the polls for national elections, and the implications - both within and beyond the country - couldn’t be more far-reaching. I just arrived in Madrid and will be spending the next 12 months here, and I hope to provide Weave News readers with a critical, justice-oriented perspective that might be missing from much of the mainstream media coverage of Spanish politics. So, why are these elections so important?

Recently, wildfire smoke darkened our skies in northern New York, making being outside unpleasant to downright unhealthy. We experienced what it’s like when something fundamental that we take for granted, such as clean air, isn’t available. Here in the North Country, far from big cities, we expect clean air; yet we were powerless to do anything about the air pollution we were suddenly suffering. Clean water is also fundamental to our well-being. We expect our waterways to be clean and healthy, but clean water is under threat from pollution.

To know Cirio Ruiz is to know the history of CORECAFECO. He has been part of this council for approximately 40 years. What is CORECAFECO? It is the Coatepec Regional Coffee Council. It is an organization that strives for dignified and fair treatment for coffee workers accomplished through community organization and clean processes, the production of coffee free of agrochemicals. They fight for fairer prices, valuing human and environmental life, taking care of biodiversity and ensuring that the land and water remain healthy.

The Fifth Community Assembly for Water (La Quinta Asamblea Comunitaria por el Agua) was held on Friday, May 5, 2023, in Pacho Viejo, Veracruz, Mexico. Pacho Viejo seems an apt location for a convention on the protection and conservation of la Cuenca la Antigua (the Antigua Watershed). It is in the geographic heart of this river basin, situated between the cities of Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz, and Coatepec, often called “the Coffee Capital of Mexico.” This assembly of Sentinelas de rio (River Sentinels) represented a convergence of undercurrents running beneath the region’s rich culture, ongoing political strife, and incredible biodiversity, all flowing toward safeguarding the ultimate source of life: water.

Once a noble countryside estate, Quinta Torre Arias is now a public park in the Spanish capital, Madrid, with gardens that welcome the community. However, current Madrid mayor, José Luiz Martínez-Almeida of the People’s Party, has different plans for the park, and the threat of its return to privatization looms.

While much of the world uses the energy crisis as an excuse to invest more in fossil fuels, the small country of Denmark has taken an alternative route. Through direct government action and promoting the adoption of renewable energy, Denmark is accelerating the achievement of its climate goals while breaking its dependence on Russian fossil fuel supplies.

Aquí presentamos una entrevista con Carlos Beas Torres de la Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Nortel del Istmo de Tehuantepec (UCIZONI), una organización que ha resistido a CIIT desde su inicio, y que forma parte de la caravana “El Sur Resiste.”

The following is an interview with Carlos Beas Torres, a member of the Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Zona Nortel del Istmo de Tehuantepec (Union of Indigenous Communities from the North of the Isthmus or UCIZONIT), an organization that has resisted the CIIT since its conception and forms part of the “El Sur Resiste” (The South Resists) Caravan.

The color purple took over the main streets of Madrid. Thousands of women and allies holding up signs were waiting for the demonstration to begin. I have never seen so many people gathered together – people from all ages and backgrounds prepared for this rally to begin.

Translation of a statement issued on April 28 by the National and International Caravan “El Sur Resiste” (The South Resists) regarding the repression and eviction of the "Tierra y Libertad" (Land and Liberty) protest camp, which was located in the Mogoñe Viejo community, Huichicovi, Oaxaca. Mexico. Read the original Spanish statement.

A fiery tradition in Valencia, Spain, called Las Fallas is held annually from March 1 to 19. Festivities happen throughout the day and night, including firework shows like the grandiose and explosive Nit del Foc on March 18, which uses between two to 4.5 tons of gunpowder, and parades such as La Ofrenda and Mascleta. On March 19, the burning of freestanding doll-like figures called ninots, La Cremà, makes the city a chaotic playground that reflects upon social and political realities of the day.

“Rivers keep us alive and keep so many other living beings alive.” With those words, Blake Lavia, the President of Talking Rivers, welcomed more than 30 North Country community members to a wide-ranging discussion on a revolutionary idea: the Rights of Rivers. Held at Clarkson University on Earth Day (April 22), the event showcased the local and global momentum behind the idea as well as some of the key challenges facing those who would like the Rights of Rivers to become law across the St. Lawrence River / Kaniatarowanénhne and Adirondack Watersheds.

I was excited to learn more about this neighborhood and explore it myself. I come from a multicultural neighborhood in New York City, where my community is home to hundreds of immigrants. I was raised by immigrants myself, so I wondered if Lavapiés would remind me of home. However, the professor explained that there is a major problem occurring in Lavapiés: gentrification.

Recently Kenya has come into the global spotlight following the murder of fashion designer, model, and LGBTQIA+ activist Edwin Chiloba in a suspected hate crime in January 2023. However, there are LGBTQIA+ people in Kenya who rarely make it into the global and even national media spotlight - people like Wayne, a monitor with the Center for Minority Rights, who is working to protect and support LGBTQIA+ people in the coastal region of Kenya.

The Australian government has incorporated marine life into its Threatened Species Action Plan for the first time ever, but experts warn that the government's failure to address marine species and aquatic predators, such as rays and sharks, could threaten the entire ecosystem.