The United States of Greed and Bullies

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An Essay of the Man From the North by Rivera Sun A nation built on greed is not a nation; it is just a legal framework for rape and pillage, slavery and exploitation, theft, murder, and genocide. A nation whose primary function is to protect the exclusive right of the rich to engage in those […]

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The Tools of Nonviolent Struggle Should Never Lose Their Edge

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An Essay of the Man From the North by Rivera Sun The tools of nonviolent action and the skills of struggle are as vital to these times as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Training to use them is as essential as learning how to use a computer. The ability to boycott and strike is as important […]

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Constitution 2.0

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An Essay of the Man from the North by Rivera Sun If we, the people, wrote a constitution now, what would go in it? Equal rights for women, men, non-binary, and undefined? Caps on wealth tied to poverty levels? Rights of nature? Reparations for past crimes, wrongs, and thefts? Limits on military spending? A free […]

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I Want To Love This Broken-Hearted Country

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An Essay of the Man From the Northby Rivera Sun I want to love this broken-hearted country, this land of shattered dreams and dashed hopes. I want to place my ear to the drumming cadence of our cities and hear the insistent pulse of life. I want to wander the forgotten highways of stories that […]

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The End of the NRA: Biz Mags Tell Activists “The Strategy Is Working”

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Good news for humanity: the NRA is weakening. The gun-lobbying group is in “deep financial trouble,” Fortune Magazine reported, and warns that the NRA may not be able to keep going. “The group says it is under such financial distress because New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has convinced a number of financial service providers, banks, […]

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Urchins’ Feast – An Excerpt from The Lost Heir

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Urchins’ Feast Note: This chapter is excerpted from The Lost Heir:  An Unruly Royal, An Urchin Queen, and A Quest For Justice by Rivera Sun. You can purchase the book here. And find the eBook version here. “No, absolutely not,” the Great Lady Brinelle spoke as she continued reading a draft bill, not bothering to […]

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Overthrow the Corporate Overlords

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If you like being a peon, a serf, or a slave, by all means, continue on with business-as-usual. Your corporate overlords are delighted to exploit you. They’re thrilled at the prospect of profiting off your descendants for all eternity. But their hourglass is running out of sand. The planet’s ecosystems are collapsing. We will not […]

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8 Awesome Lessons from the Entrepreneurial Feminist Forum

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I recently left the country (for a weekend) and joined an international group of feminists of all genders at the Entrepreneurial Feminist Forum (EFF) in Toronto. I had been invited to offer a workshop on the tools and strategies activists use to make change. When I first heard about this group (not knowing anything about […]

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Rivera Sun’s Murmuration Exercise for Leaderful Organizing

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Murmuration Exercise Adapted for movements and organizations by Rivera Sun Please use and share, but please let participants know where it comes from so a sense of lineage and longevity is built through our movements. Thank you. History: I first learned this exercise as a group improvisational dance structure at Bennington College with Dance Professor […]

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A Revolution of Democracy

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An Essay of the Man from the Northby Rivera Sun What do we do when we finally understand that the elections really are stolen? Or rigged? Or thrust out of our reach by the manipulations of rich and powerful people? Corrupted by corporations? How long does it take before we call the bluff? Another disappointing […]

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Look Inside! The Lost Heir – First Chapter

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The Lost Heir: Chapter One By Rivera Sun Note: This novel is the stand-alone sequel to The Way Between.You can purchase the book here. And find the eBook version here. Ari Ara swung her leg over the window ledge and peered down the high stone wall of the House of Marin. She was about to break a […]

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Alaren and the Brothers Wall – Stories of the Third Brother

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Note: This short story is part of The Adventures of Alaren, the fictional folktales of the world in the Ari Ara Series. You can learn more and find the books here. Alaren and the Brothers Wall In the Stony Pass, north of the East-West Road, the two kings Marin and Shirar were building a wall. Two walls, […]

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After the Vote

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An Essay of the Man From the North (The Writings of the Fictional Character Charlie Rider from The Dandelion Insurrection) by Rivera Sun The Vote – the beloved, abused, scorned, corrupted, stolen, hijacked, pointless, profound, hopeful, depressing, hard-won, cherished vote – is not the only way to take action for meaningful change. Currently, the elections […]

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The Lost Heir is here! Your New Favorite Book Awaits!

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Join in the fun of the magical celebration of the Community Publishing Campaign for The Lost Heir, Rivera Sun’s newest, unforgettable, and heart-warming novel. Today’s the Day! Hooray for The Lost Heir! Your new favorite book is here! The adventure begins. You can get The Lost Heir here and help send this book into the world. In our Community Publishing Campaign, you’ll find the early-release, […]

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What’s the Title? Ari Ara’s Newest Adventure Blends Action, Fantasy, and Fun with a Dash of Social Justice Thrown in for Good Measure

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The Lost Heir: Ari Ara Is Back! An Unruly Royal. An Urchin Queen. A Quest for Justice. Are you ready for an adventure? The Lost Heir, sequel to The Way Between is almost here! In less than one month, the next part of our remarkable shero’s journey from mountain shepherdess to warrior’s apprentice to royal heir will be […]

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The Stories We Tell: Rivera Sun On Hit Movies, Feminist Classics, and New Novels

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“The Universe is made of stories, not atoms,” said Muriel Rukeyser in The Speed of Darkness. View this email in your browse What Do Hit Movies, Feminist Classics, & Rivera Sun’s Newest Novel Have In Common? They all weave the story of the world, for better or for worse. Confession: I watch movies. I check out amazing […]

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Think Outside the Protest Box

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Protest. Petition. Call your senators. Nothing changes, right? No matter how large our demonstrations get, no matter how many millions of people write and petition politicians, no matter how many people get arrested in front of the White House or at our state capitols, it seems that our (supposedly) elected officials keep turning a blind […]

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Shifting Systems with Nonviolent Strategy

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The secret to successful nonviolent struggle lies in understanding strategy and systems. All systems require participation and resources to survive. Deny those things, and the system will wither away . . . or concede to meet your demands. Strategy can be that simple. Cut off the water and the plants will die. Block all other […]

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We are the Legends of Tomorrow

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An Essay of the Man from the North by Rivera Sun The clock is ticking. Tick. Tick. Tick. Can you hear it? We have only  . . . One minute, 48 seconds until United States poverty claims another life. Two minutes until midnight, with nuclear annihilation looming. 25 hours and 21 minutes until the next […]

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Stopping Mass Shootings: Less Finger Pointing, More Action

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In the wake of yet another school shooting, everyone from ordinary citizens to pundits to politicians seem to be engaged in one of our favorite and least effective responses: finger pointing and passing blame. It’s like a toxic and deadly game of hot potato. The NRA shrieks and throws the blame onto mental health. Mental […]

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The Occupied Territory of the United States of America

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An Essay of the Man From the North by Rivera Sun It happened so subtly, we missed the corporate coup. Like shadows, corporations surrounded our country and slowly strangled it. They crept into Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, the FDA, the military, the Department of the Interior: everywhere you look, a corporation controls […]

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Bring On Solutionary Rail!

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It’s not every day that you run across an idea so elegant, so eminently practical that your jaw literally drops as you stagger beneath the shock of your huge “aha” moment. Solutionary Rail did that for me. Rail experts and long-time activists from Backbone Campaign have struck gold with their well-researched proposal to electrify America’s […]

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Here Be Monsters

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An Essay of the Man From the North by Rivera Sun In ancient times, the unknown edges of maps held the words, Here be dragons. We’ve journeyed into those unexplored territories, and found not dragons, but monsters of our own creation, behemoths of the corporate state, which, like golems, rise to strength and power, undead […]

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The Laboratory of Democracy

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The United States is a laboratory for democracy – a centuries-long experiment in what does and does not work for people making decisions together. Moments of abject failure and soaring success punctuate long periods of disruption, shut-downs, and the regular ransacking of our laboratory. Our experimental efforts have often been thwarted by undemocratic interests. The […]

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