WCC News: Serbia’s student movement holds lessons for churches, WCC conversation hears

Students and scholars who took part in Serbia’s nonviolent, student-led movement told World Council of Churches (WCC) staff on 11 November that it was rooted in justice, love and solidarity, values at the heart of the Christian faith. Novi Sad in Serbia, where the student movement began after the canopy of the renovated railway station collapsed on 1 November 2024, killing 16 people. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 12 November 2026 The movement began after the canopy of the renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed on 1 November 2024, killing 16 people. Students blockaded their faculties, organised through open assemblies called plenums, and brought an estimated 325,000 people onto the streets of Belgrade on 15 March 2025. On 25 October 2026, the Student List won 140 of 250 parliamentary seats, ending 14 years of rule by the Serbian Progressive Party. Marija Tupanjanin, a master’s student at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade, described organising the March protest. Students wrote lawyers’ phone numbers and their blood types on their arms, “in case of emergency,” she said. Residents near the protest offered students their homes for shelter. “There was something way more powerful than our own efforts that led us,” she said. Dr Gazela Pudar Draško, director of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, said the decentralised plenums were key to the movement’s success. With no single face to target, the movement could not be broken by smear campaigns. “When they make decisions, they actually stick to it,” she said. Prof. Dr Rastko Jović, a theologian and newly elected member of the National Assembly for the Student List, described the marches as “living ascesis.” He pointed to Orthodox Christians and Muslims marching side by side, including on a 400-kilometre march from Novi Pazar. The movement’s values are “all the things that we actually preach in our churches,” he said. He regretted that the church leadership had listened mainly to the government while critical voices were silenced. Asked what churches elsewhere can learn, Jović said: “Not to lose prophetic voice. And even when everything is hopeless, they should have a hope.” Staff from Asia and Africa, joining in person and online, asked how churches in minority contexts can accompany young people who challenge corruption and broken systems. Co-moderator Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, WCC programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace said the movement offers hope at a time when people power was being written off. “We are experiencing here a renewal of democracy,” he said. “To see people organize themselves and confront a very entrenched autocracy was really, really inspiring for many people.” WCC member churches in Serbia See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland

Help Shape the Faith-Led Climate Justice Conversation

GreenFaith is recruiting volunteers for our National Communications Committee! Across the country, people of faith are speaking out for climate justice, organizing in their communities, and putting their values into action. We want more people to hear and see these stories — and we’d love your help. We’re looking for communications professionals, hobbyists, writers, social media enthusiasts, and creative storytellers who want to use their skills to strengthen our movement. Whether you have years of professional experience or simply love creating content and connecting with people online, there’s a place for you. As a volunteer, you’ll help us amplify local faith leaders, engage new audiences, and build a stronger digital and media presence for climate justice. With a commitment of just five hours per month, you can help make a meaningful difference. You can view the volunteer role description here. Yes, I am interested in the Communications Committee! Our movement is powered by people who believe their voices, talents, and communities can help create change. We’d love for you to be part of what’s next. In solidarity, The GreenFaith US Team Building a Worldwide, Multi-faith Climate and Environmental Movement. 1216 Broadway Floor 2 PMB 1005 New York, NY 10001 +1-917-997-8783 Copyright © 2022 GreenFaith - All rights reserved.

EarthBeat Weekly: Catholic groups to COP31: Refocus attention on climate change

Catholic groups to COP31: Refocus attention on climate change   EarthBeat Weekly Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change November 13, 2026   Environmental activists lead a protest outside the main hall at the COP31 United Nations climate change conference in Antalya, Turkey, on Nov. 9, 2026. (Courtesy of UN Climate Change/Kubilay Ciftci) COP31, the United Nations climate change conference, began Monday in Antalya, Turkey.  The annual summit comes on the heels of the hottest summers on record in the U.S. and Europe and following a devastating flash flood in Nepal triggered partly by a collapsing glacier that killed at least 1,400 people and left 5,200 more missing.  It is also the first climate gathering since scientists acknowledged in August that it is "inevitable" that the world will reach and surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) — the central temperature limit goal under the Paris Agreement — by 2030, and with it amplifying tremendously the risk of destruction from severe weather on societies and ecosystems. With that backdrop, as I reported this week at EarthBeat, climate change has taken somewhat of a backseat to other geopolitical developments, whether wars in Ukraine and Russia that have disrupted global oil markets or the hypersonic rise of artificial intelligence and its extensive energy demands via data centers.  Catholic officials attending COP31 insist, though, that countries must refocus attention on climate change in this moment, including redoubling efforts to deliver on past financing pledges and to garner support for a just transition from fossil fuels.  Those aims were cited by numerous Catholic organizations in the lead-up and early days of COP31. Among them, Caritas Internationalis, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Network of Catholic Climate and Environment Actors (a coalition of Caritas and other development groups that collaborates with the Vatican delegation at U.N. summits), CIDSE, the Laudato Si' Movement and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. A phaseout of fossil fuels is a central target for many Catholic groups, who are looking for COP31 to build off momentum from a separate international meeting of nearly 60 countries in April on the subject.  "The transition is not simply about changing how economies produce energy or manage resources. It is about changing the way societies value people, share resources and relate to the natural world," Caritas said earlier this month after it issued a report on principles for an integral and just transition from fossil fuels. How, and if, COP31 advances that transition will play out in the coming days. The summit is set to conclude Nov. 20. Read more: Nations must advance climate funding, fossil fuel phaseout at COP31, Catholic groups say What else is new on EarthBeat:   Ahead of COP31, climate disruptions in Africa force children out of school by Doreen Ajiambo In drought-stricken northern Kenya and flood-prone areas around Lake Victoria, climate shocks are forcing children out of school. Ahead of COP31, Sr. Maamalifar M. Poreku said, "We have to measure what children lose, not only what buildings lose." Read more here »   Uruguay shows the way on renewable energy by Thomas Reese, Religion News Service When the pope visited Uruguay, the media noted it is the most secular country in Latin America, with the lowest percentage of Catholics. What was not noted is that Uruguay is powered almost entirely by renewable energy: wind, solar and hydro. Read more here »   Catholic groups say Russian missile attacks endanger aid to Ukrainians by Jonathan Luxmoore, OSV News Aid organizations warn that increasing attacks by Russian missiles are preventing supply access to Ukraine, after strike in Dnipro killed 44 civilians and after a Catholic volunteer lost a leg delivering food in Bakhmut. Read more here » What's happening in other climate news: Global warming remains unchecked, experts warn at UN's COP31 climate summit —Bob Berwyn for Inside Climate News Democrats won big. Does that mean climate is back on the agenda? —Sarah Kaplan, Jake Spring and Jeremy B. Merrill for the Washington Post Democrats plan investigation into climate and science cuts under Trump —Evan Halper for The New York Times Trump admin will offload federal public lands, Interior says —Roque Planas and Chris D'Angelo for Public Domain As Texas embraces carbon storage, a Black community questions the risks —Emily Foxhall for The Texas Tribune Trump official who wants data centers on public lands has tens of millions invested in AI industry —Mark Olalde for ProPublica Can the transition to clean energy survive the war in Iran? —Lisa Friedman for The New York Times In Nigeria, solar panels are the new wedding gift —Yinka Ibukun for Bloomberg Final Beat: If you like what you read here, support our reporting by becoming a NCR Forward member.  Members get first access to special events, updates from our publisher and newsroom and opportunities to give feedback through surveys and polls. You can also forward this newsletter to a friend and ask them to subscribe. As always, thanks for reading EarthBeat.     Brian Roewe Environment Correspondent National Catholic Reporter broewe@ncronline.org     Featured Advertisers   Looking to Hire? Offering Retreats? Selling Books? Place an Ad in NCR's Online Classified Section for Only $75 per Month!   Advertisement

Truth and Action Roundup 11.13.26

View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it. As we close out the first full week since the midterm elections, I find myself celebrating that the election was largely free, fair, and safe, and the seismic change the results have made possible. The results were a victory for “we the people,” and they were the byproduct of the faithful and hard work of election officials, volunteers, poll chaplains, peacekeepers, lawyers, and everyone else who helped ensure that the process of voting was as smooth as it was and the turnout was so high. While it is important to ensure that every vote is counted and certified, I’m deeply thankful and relieved that the level of threat during this post-election period has declined significantly, because the results were so decisive that they aren’t being seriously contested. We’ve seen in other nations that one of the most effective ways to reverse a slide toward greater authoritarianism is to have decisive and unambiguous election results that repudiate it.  At the same time, we must remain vigilant to prevent future threats to voting and our elections in the near, medium, and long term.  With the election and the immediate threats to the election in the rearview mirror for now, this is a time to focus on what we can do together to mitigate further harm in the lame-duck Congress and to prepare for the opportunity for greater accountability, civic renewal, and real results that improve people’s freedoms and lives in the next Congress and beyond. It’s time to transform our democracy, to transform our economy, to end the war in Iran, to end the mass deportation crisis, and so much more. As we do this faith-inspired work together, the Truth and Action Roundup will be there each week to provide the latest trustworthy information, opportunities to take action together, and vital spiritual inspiration to sustain us.  The road ahead of us remains long, but we can also look at the road we’ve just traveled together to get through this midterm election and celebrate how far we’ve come.  And as we face new challenges or adversity in the days ahead, let’s always remember Paul’s words from Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  –– Rev. Adam Taylor, Sojourners In the News We’re continuing to see fallout from last week’s midterm elections. Democratic-led committees in the new Congress are expected to launch several investigations into the Trump administration starting in January. The investigations will reportedly focus on issues like corruption, handling of the Epstein files, DHS and ICE, boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Iran war and its cost, and others.   A key procedural vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth failed Tuesday night after eleven Democrats missed the vote—the measure fell short by just seven votes. Absent lawmakers gave a variety of reasons for missing the vote, including traffic and conflicting events. Some blamed House Speaker Mike Johnson for closing the vote before they could arrive on the floor.   Some key races in the House and Senate remain uncalled as the final votes continue to be counted. On Wednesday, Scott Colom won election to the U.S. Senate, unseating incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and becoming the first Black senator the state has elected since Reconstruction. Democratic candidate Mary Peltola holds a small lead in the Alaska Senate race. In the House, 13 races remain uncalled, with Democrats leading in 5 of the pending races. Democrats have already won 255 seats, far more than the 218 needed for a majority.  We continue to see signs of the Trump administration abusing its power. Federal prosecutors indicted a former bodyguard to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) earlier this year in an effort to get him to provide incriminating information about Rep. Omar. Prosecutors spent months unsuccessfully trying to turn the bodyguard into an informant. According to the former bodyguard’s lawyer, the prosecutors repeatedly told him the investigation into Rep. Omar was “100 percent being run by 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” a reference to the White House. The Trump White House warned Democrats that their planned investigations of the Trump administration in the new Congress may constitute “blatant criminality.” Rep. Robert Garcia, the recipient of the letter and the likely chair of the House Oversight Committee next year, responded by saying “the truth is that [Trump] needs to understand that Congress is a coequal branch of government.” Marco Rubio has reportedly spent more than 1.2 million dollars of taxpayer money on 15 separate trips to Gainesville, Florida that were personal in nature. Rubio’s son plays football for the University of Florida and many of these trips were evidently to attend games. As the Secretary of State, Rubio is required to travel via military aircraft, but his use of such aircraft for personal trips seems to be more frequent than his predecessors. The Trump administration’s deportation regime continued its cruel work. David Brouillette, the ICE agent who shot and killed Colombian migrant Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in July, has a history of anti-immigrant hostility, as well as past complaints of domestic violence and abuse. Mr. Brouillette was hired despite these concerns as ICE relaxed its vetting process and added thousands of new officers. Private prison and immigration center operator CoreCivic is urging ICE to act quickly to lock in contracts for new detention centers after Democrats won control over both chambers of Congress. Democratic candidates across the country ran on reining in ICE and have pledged scrutiny, investigations, and accountability for ICE’s tactics, and concerns have already been raised about conditions in CoreCivic detention centers. A deportation flight of Iranian nationals that was headed for Iran via Pakistan was abruptly canceled without explanation on Sunday. A civil lawsuit filed by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund alleges that the Trump administration illegally shared confidential information about Iranians seeking asylum in the U.S. with Iranian officials. Trump’s elevation of immigration hardliner Stephen Miller to be his next Chief of Staff is sending a defiant and combative message after midterm elections in which Trump’s party was punished, in part, for the administration’s ruthless immigration enforcement tactics. A hardline faction within the GOP believes the reason the party fared poorly in the midterms is that its immigration tactics didn’t go far enough, demoralizing supporters by adopting less visible tactics in the wake of the protests in Minneapolis. Take Action SojoAction is calling for an end to the war in Iran and the blockade of Cuba. We’re also hosting Bridging Divides on November 19th with Amy Juan of the Arizona Tribal and Community Liaison for the International Indian Treaty Council. What We’re Reading “Talarico Isn’t Preaching A Blue Jesus” | “Liberal Christianity is not just a left-wing version of the Christian Right.” (by Erin Vanderhoof) “Rev. Lillian Daniel’s Memoir Treats Accountability as Exile” |‘Defrocked’ is witty, moving, and beautifully written. It’s also reckless.” (by Kenji Kuramitsu) Deep Breaths Mississippi! Mississippi is near and dear to my heart. I have been watching the updates on the Senate race with bated breath. People often overlook Black Mississippi or talk about the state only in negative terms. The history is painful. Nina Simone wrote "Mississippi Goddam" in a rush after she "suddenly realized what it was to be Black in America in 1963." Consider the murders of young Emmett Till, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, and civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. Consider James Meredith, who integrated the University of Mississippi in 1962 and was shot four years later while marching across the state. These were among the most publicized acts of racial violence in Mississippi during the 1950s and 1960s. Mississippi recorded more lynchings than any other state, and it stood at the epicenter of the Jim Crow South. What often gets missed is what Black Mississippians have given this country. The blues rose out of the Mississippi Delta and became the root of so much American music. Richard Wright wrote the truth of Black life onto the national page, and Fannie Lou Hamer and Ida B. Wells-Barnett called the nation to account for its sins. When Frank Williams gathered singers from church choirs across the state to form the Mississippi Mass Choir, their voices carried the faith of Black Mississippi to stages around the world. From what is called the nation's poorest state, generations of Black Mississippians have shaped the sound and the conscience of America. Countless everyday people have quietly made a difference in their own communities. A post by historian Jemar Tisby says exactly how I feel. He wrote: Black Mississippi is usually discussed as a victim of democracy's failures. In reality, it should be studied as a source of democratic expertise. Scott Colom said it plainly during his campaign: "Mississippi has never been a lost cause, we've been a betrayed cause." The organizers who built this win had no promise it would come. The Black church and ordinary voters worked for political dignity in their own time anyway. He closes the post: "I lived in Jackson and became a historian in Mississippi, and it changed the way I understood America." Tisby says the historic election of Scott Colom as Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction deserves more than admiration. The rest of America, and perhaps the world, should learn from Black Mississippi. The brilliance and beauty of Mississippi must not be overlooked. I have met grassroots organizers who built relationship after relationship in Mississippi when no one was paying attention. These everyday people built power while being overlooked and ignored by so many. I say all of this to lift up how important it is to stay faithful to the work, even when the world thinks you are crazy for believing you can make a difference. What looks impossible to the human eye is possible with God and with persistence. Mississippi is showing us how to work with the long game in view. The South still has something to say, and the rest of the nation would do well to listen. Take a moment to listen to Frank Williams and the Mississippi Mass Choir sing 'Your Grace and Mercy.’ – Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Director of Programs, Sojourners The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff: President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps Political Director: Chad V. Stanton Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris Education and Engagement Program Manager: Cortnie Brooks Mobilizing & Policy Fellows: Alyssa Parker & Aleah LaForce Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2026 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842