All hope is not lost: Progressive wins and moments of resistance in 2025
Here are several highlights from the year to inspire hope as we move into the new year.
In 2025, there were many moments when progressive power and resistance continued to grow despite persistent horrors. Here are several highlights from the year to inspire hope as we move into the new year.
Zohran Mamdani won the New York City Mayoral election.
Mamdani defeated former disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to become the city’s first South Asian and Muslim mayor, and the youngest in more than a century.
Mamdani mobilized a grassroots campaign of more than 100,000 volunteers across the city who collectively knocked on 3 million doors and made over 4.4 million phone calls by the end of the campaign.
BDS wins:
Somerville, Massachusetts became the first U.S. city where voters approved a municipal divestment initiative from “Israel.”
Alameda County, California became the first U.S. county to adopt an Ethical Investment Policy which effectively prohibits investment of public funds in companies with substantial ties to the occupation and genocide in Gaza.
Cuyahoga County, Ohio froze $3 million in investments in Israeli bonds following persistent advocacy from grassroots organizations in the area.
The Iowa City Council unanimously voted to boycott and divest from Israeli bonds and all companies complicit in the Gaza genocide and occupation of Palestine.
No Music For Genocide launched with hundreds of musicians withdrawing their music from streaming platforms in “Israel” as part of boycott pressure.
Film Workers for Palestine, comprised of more than 4,500 film workers, signed a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions and festivals that are complicit in genocide and apartheid in Palestine.
Norwegian Sovereign Fund, the largest in the world, divested from 5 Israeli banks and from Caterpillar, where the fund’s major individual share was almost $2 billion.
Norwegian pension company KLP divested from weapons manufactures Oshkosh Corporation and ThyssenKrupp over their complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Danish pension fund AkademikerPension announced the complete exclusion of “Israel” from its investments citing the occupation’s grave human rights violations in Palestine.
Colombia became the first state to impose a total energy embargo against “Israel.”
Danish shipping giant Maersk cut ties with companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank.
Activists pushed to stop the Irish Central Bank‘s role in approving Israeli bonds.
Oxford City Council voted unanimously to cut ties with companies enabling “Israel’s” genocide, military occupation and apartheid in Palestine.
Protests against inequality, corruption, and genocide erupted across the globe.
Nepal saw mass protests over political corruption, ultimately leading to the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
In the Philippines, tens of thousands of people protested against government corruption.
Protests in Bulgaria against economic policies and corruption led to Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov’s government resigning.
Mass protests over government corruption, economic inequality, and police brutality erupted in Jakarta and other major cities across Indonesia.
Protests led by young people in Madagascar forced President Andry Rajoelina out of power and out of the country.
Protests over the state of the economy, corruption and police brutality spread throughout Kenya.
Young people led protests in Morocco demanding better healthcare, education, jobs, and an end to corruption.
Sustained protests led by young people calling themselves the Generation Z Collective swept across Peru.
Protests erupted in the U.K. over the government’s proscription of the group Palestine Action, with protesters being arrested for dissent under the Terrorism Act.
Globally, protests against the genocide in Gaza saw an uptick this year, with an increase of 43 percent between May and September compared to the five months prior.
Protests against ICE took place in every state across the U.S.
Since August, protests have been taking place every Sunday outside of the “Alligator Alcatraz” ICE detention center in Florida.
Students in high schools and colleges across the U.S. staged walkouts and protests against the Trump administration’s regressive, inhumane agenda throughout the year.
Activists brought protests directly to the faces of Trump and other politicians by disrupting dinners, events, town halls, and hearings.
Students staged a sit-in at Barnard College in NYC to protest the expulsions of their classmates for their pro-Palestine activism.
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ activists came together in D.C. to protest the Supreme Court’s ruling in Skrmetti.
Socialist Catherine Connolly won Ireland’s presidential election by a landslide.
Socialist and left‑wing independent Catherine Connolly won Ireland’s 2025 presidential election in a historic landslide, securing roughly 63 percent of first‑preference votes (the largest margin in the nation’s presidential history).
Connolly’s campaign centered on economic justice, affordable housing, workers’ rights, disability inclusion, and stronger social support systems. Connolly is also a principled and outspoken supporter of Palestine.
Activists and courts continued to fight for environmental rights.
In a landmark ruling, a court in Finland sided with activists who blocked tree felling in Laajasalo, Helsinki’s largest island, during the fall of 2023, finding that the protection of nature is “necessary, defensible, and justified.”
An environmental organization successfully halted construction of a Google AI data center in Chile over concerns that the site could exacerbate regional water scarcity.
After decades of one of the most sustained grassroots fights against industrial pollution in the United States, residents of Louisiana’s so‑called “Cancer Alley” in St. Parish won an appeal in their case to place a moratorium on new petrochemical plant construction and expansion.
In a landmark environmental justice ruling, the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa overturned the authorization of a massive gas-fired power plant proposed in Richards Bay.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), Latin America’s top court on human rights, ruled that states and corporations have a legal obligation to address the climate crisis as a human rights emergency.
The Freedom Flotilla set sail twice, bringing International attention to “Israel’s” illegal blockade on Gaza.
The Freedom Flotilla set sail twice in an attempt to break “Israel’s” illegal blockade on Gaza. Activists, journalists, and aid workers attempted to deliver humanitarian aid supplies while highlighting the occupation’s illegal restrictions on people, food, and medicine.
Both June and July missions were illegally intercepted by Israeli occupation forces in international waters.
The flotilla missions inspired worldwide solidarity, with protests and demonstrations across Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East calling for an end to the illegal blockade and genocide in Gaza.
Human rights groups have emphasized the flotilla’s role in exposing Gaza’s suffering, forcing governments and media to confront the genocide and the urgent need for humanitarian access.
More wins and moments of resistance from 2025:
Heretic Coffee in Portland, Oregon raised over $300,000 to help feed community members who were set to lose SNAP benefits.
University of Illinois student activism led to a statewide law requiring public universities to offer contraceptives and medication abortion.
After a decade of union member advocacy, South Korea enacted historic labor law reforms.
The Long Beach Unified School District in California announced that it is expanding mental health support, addressing educational disparities, and creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals in defiance of the Trump administration’s regressive policies.
Leonard Peltier was released from prison after 50 years of incarceration as a political prisoner: “They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit.”
For Lady’s Sake, a nonprofit in Louisville, Kentucky, launched “Period Pods,” providing free menstrual products to those in need.
The Blue Note, a pub in Galway, Ireland, raised over €3,000 for Palestine Children's Relief Fund with a screening of Kneecap’s Glastonbury set.
A note from So Informed:
As we exit a year that was ripe with near-daily atrocious actions committed by those who gain from us feeling defeated, it’s important that we remember the moments of resistance and times when progress defeated regression.
Remember that at any moment, all around the world, there are people fighting for our collective liberation. You may never know their names or see their faces; many move in silence. But they are there. And they are fighting.
Allow that to bring you comfort and inspire you to do the same.
All hope is not lost.