Activism PulseFriday, March 27, 2026

Anti-War and Anti-Repression Activism Is Shifting Into Infrastructure

The big picture: In the last two weeks, war on Iran, airport ICE sweeps, and FCC wartime censorship have forced movements to stop performing and start building. The loudest actions now pair moral testimony, legal leverage, and practical defense inside institutions and systems.

From Marches to Refusal Networks Across Iran, the US, and the UK

Across the last fortnight, movements are meeting the war machine where it actually lives: in logistics, in censorship, and in border infrastructure. On Mar 25, anti-ICE organizers were already circulating tactics like “keep ICE agents out of your phone” as ICE deployment expanded across US airports. On Mar 27, Sunrise’s push in Denver backed Melat Kiros, explicitly targeting how lawmakers funded by defense contractors and AIPAC manage war consent.

Why it matters: This is how protest stops being absorbed. The old script expects streets to do the work that supply chains, communications chokepoints, and border procedures keep doing for power. Infrastructure-minded dissent forces a different tempo, where legitimacy is reproduced through culture, and resistance becomes operational for ordinary people.

-
Mar 26 (Democracy Now): With the US-Israeli war on Iran entering its 27th day, Iran largely blocks the Strait of Hormuz, driving spikes in oil, natural gas, and fertilizer while Abu Dhabi oil chief Sultan Al Jaber frames the blockade as “economic terrorism,” underscoring that the anti-war fight is about system disruption.
-
Mar 26 (Truthout): FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened broadcasters with license loss over coverage of the Iran war, revealing wartime censorship as a live institutional tactic, not a side issue.
-
Mar 25 (The Intercept): ICE was deployed to more than a dozen US airports, and reporting on phone searches makes “digital preparedness” part of anti-deportation strategy rather than afterthought safety tips.
-
Mar 27 (Guardian): London’s Together Alliance march recruited cultural mass appeal, with music and screen figures included (Brian Eno, Self Esteem, Maxine Peake, Christopher Eccleston), showing how culture is being used to renew legitimacy at scale.
-
Mar 27 (Guardian): “No Kings” protests plan for Saturday Mar 28, with more than 3,000 events after October 2025 drew an estimated 7 million, indicating street action is being treated as repeated sovereignty-building amid escalating enforcement violence.
-
Mar 26 (Truthout + Democracy Now): A UN resolution condemning the transatlantic slave trade passed 123-3 with the US and Israel voting against, while Israel closed an investigation into the death of 17-year-old Palestinian prisoner Walid Ahmad, fusing moral memory with anti-war delegitimation across jurisdictions.

What to watch: Watch for whether these refusal networks harden into durable clinics, documentation and legal pipelines, and visible within-the-state dissent before repression locks in the “predictable protest” category. What tactic in your coalition is already running on autopilot, and what operational replacement would make power relearn you?

From Marches to Refusal Networks Across Iran, the US, and the UK

Mar 26 (Democracy Now): With the US-Israeli war on Iran entering its 27th day, Iran largely blocks the Strait of Hormuz, driving spikes in oil, natural gas, and fertilizer while Abu Dhabi oil chief Sultan Al Jaber frames the blockade as “economic terrorism,” underscoring that the anti-war fight is about system disruption.

Mar 26 (Truthout): FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened broadcasters with license loss over coverage of the Iran war, revealing wartime censorship as a live institutional tactic, not a side issue.

Mar 25 (The Intercept): ICE was deployed to more than a dozen US airports, and reporting on phone searches makes “digital preparedness” part of anti-deportation strategy rather than afterthought safety tips.

Mar 27 (Guardian): London’s Together Alliance march recruited cultural mass appeal, with music and screen figures included (Brian Eno, Self Esteem, Maxine Peake, Christopher Eccleston), showing how culture is being used to renew legitimacy at scale.

Mar 27 (Guardian): “No Kings” protests plan for Saturday Mar 28, with more than 3,000 events after October 2025 drew an estimated 7 million, indicating street action is being treated as repeated sovereignty-building amid escalating enforcement violence.

Mar 26 (Truthout + Democracy Now): A UN resolution condemning the transatlantic slave trade passed 123-3 with the US and Israel voting against, while Israel closed an investigation into the death of 17-year-old Palestinian prisoner Walid Ahmad, fusing moral memory with anti-war delegitimation across jurisdictions.