The regional coalition No Coal No Gas has launched a direct-action campaign to shut down New England’s last coal-burning power plant, Merrimack Station in Bow, New Hampshire. In an October civil disobedience, campaign members planted gardens on company property, including a bed hacked out with pickaxes in the middle of an access road. Rail lines to the plant were occupied, while a flotilla of “kayaktivists” on the Merrimack River blocked the plant’s access to the waterfront. Several were arrested by state police troops in full riot gear. But campaigners have also organized an ongoing utility bill payment strike to pressure local utility Granite Shore Power. Arnie Alpert, a longtime nonviolent action trainer in New Hampshire, provides a first-hand account of this uncompromising grassroots response to the global climate crisis for Waging Nonviolence.

Burkina Faso’s Martyred Leader Inspires a New Generation of Activists

by Brian Peterson, Think Africa Press

Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaoré announced his resignation Oct. 31, after protesters continued to mobilize against his rule. He had ruled since 1987, when Compaoré overthrew leftist leader Thomas Sankara—and quickly moved to reverse his legacy. In this Aug. 15 piece for Think Africa Press, writer Brian Peterson accurately predicted that “Sankara’s ghost may be coming back to return the favor.” —World War 4 Report

Thirty years ago, on August 4, 1984, the former French colony of the Upper Volta was re-baptized as “Burkina Faso” amidst a revolutionary process that proved to be one of the most inspiring, yet ultimately tragic, episodes of modern African history.

In 1983, the young Captain Thomas Sankara had come to power in a popularly-supported coup d’état, and—with broad support from leftist political parties, students, women, and peasants—initiated a range of ambitious projects, including the country’s name-change, that aimed to make Burkina Faso more self-reliant and free of corruption. Sankara also sought to decentralize and democratize power in order to facilitate more participatory forms of governance, though elections for national offices were never attempted.

By many measures, this visionary project was enjoying a number of promising successes, but on October 15, 1987, Sankara’s experiment and life were cut short when a group of fellow soldiers, led by his former close ally Blaise Compaoré and backed by foreign powers, murdered him. Compaoré promptly took the reins of government, effectively ending the revolution.