The Mexican town of Cherán in Michoacán kicked out its police, politicians and its drug cartels and then had one of the lowest crime rates in the country.
The majority Indigenous Purhépecha community rose up in 2011, created armed militias to fight off illegal logging and drug cartels and eventually kicked out the local government and dismantled the police apparatus which was accused of ties to the drug cartels.
The community collected the weapons, vehicles, and uniforms and established their own “ronda comunitaria” or community guard. They then set up their own system of direct governance based on Indigenous traditions and neighborhood assemblies.
Michoacán is one of Mexico’s most violent regions, but local officials said that not a single kidnapping or extortion attempt had been reported since the uprising.
“Cherán’s main achievement has been peace. It has the lowest homicide rate in all of Michoacán – and maybe all of Mexico outside of [the south-eastern state of] Yucatán", said a sociologist who has been researching the town.

(Photos via El Enemigo Comun)

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More from @redfishstream

13 Apr
[TW: police brutality, violent imagery]

His name was Daunte Wright. He was 20 years old when police shot and killed him during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on Sunday April 11—only 10 miles away from where George Floyd was killed last year.
Daunte was the father of a 2-year old and has been described by friends and family as a loving and devoted friend and father who worked several jobs to support his son. Daunte’s father also added that Daunte dropped out of high school because of a learning disability.
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13 Apr
Ramadan Kareem! This Ramadan, we pay tribute to Muslim women all around the world who have been on the frontlines fighting for their right to freedom of religious expression and against Islamophobia and the oppression of Muslims worldwide.

(Photos via Reuters and Getty)
First Tweet Clockwise:

Photo 1: March in Paris Against Islamophobia (2019)

Photo 2: Muslim Students Protest in Brussels Against Hijab Ban (2020)

Photo 3: Protest Outside the French Embassy in London (2003)

Photo 4: Anti-Islamophobia Rally in Seattle, Washington (2015)
Photo 5: Kashmiri Students Protest Over the Rape and Murder of Two Muslim Women in Srinagar (2009)

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12 Apr
60 years ago today, the Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first person to ever venture into space and orbit the Earth. Gagarin’s mission was a historic achievement for the Soviet Union, which beat the US in the race to launch the first human into space. Image
Gagarin was born into a family of peasant farmers in Smolensk. During the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union in WWII, the Germans took over his family home, deported his siblings to labor camps, and burned down the village school.
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11 Apr
Today we remember when the Venezuelan people came together to defend the Bolivarian revolution, rejecting and overthrowing the right-wing US-backed coup perpetrated against Hugo Chavez in 2002. In 47 hours, the people put Chavez back in power after a coup ousted him.
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10 Apr
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9 Apr
Prince Philip has passed away at the age of 99. While world leaders mourn him, we recall his racist, classist, misogynistic and ableist legacy with some quotes from the past: Image
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“So who's on drugs here?... He looks as if he's on drugs” (To a group of boys at a Bangladeshi youth club) Image
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