Dear friends,

1 in 6 people worldwide go hungry everyday. With the recent financial crisis, poverty is skyrocketing, but our governments are failing to take significant action.

In a few days, leaders meet at the World Food Summit in Rome to tackle this growing crisis. The best solution is funding to boost sustainable agriculture in poorer countries, but France, Germany, UK, Italy and Japan are backing out on a $20 billion promise made earlier this year.

Millions of lives are on the line and this is our chance to hold them to their word. Sign the petition below and it will be delivered directly to world leaders and through a spectacular stunt at the Roman Colosseum on the eve of the Summit:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/wo..rld_hunger_pledges/45.php

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. Yet the number of people suffering from chronic hunger across the planet has reached the record-high figure of 1 billion this year.

Hundreds of billions are spent by wealthy governments to bail out banks and financial institutions, but the G8 countries are trying to cut a promised $20 billion agriculture fund for the poorest countries to only $3 billion in new money. With literally millions facing life-threatening hunger, this is a scandal.

The Rome summit is our best opportunity to push governments to promote small holder food production -- growing evidence shows that intensive farming models are not effectively countering hunger and have a highly damaging impact on our environment.

We are teaming up with anti-poverty organisation ActionAid and global farmers networks to show our governments that we refuse to accept a world where people die every minute from hunger. Sign the petition to the Rome Summit -- every signature will be represented at a stunning delivery event at Rome's Colloseum:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/wo..rld_hunger_pledges/45.php

The economic crisis and climate change are hitting the poorest hardest and pushing millions to the very brink of survival. It's at times like these when we must stick closer together and show that we care for those whose most basic rights are denied. Sign the petition below:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/wo..rld_hunger_pledges/50.php

With hope,

Luis, Alice, Benjamin, Graziela, Ricken, Pascal, Iain, Paula, Paul, Veronique and the entire Avaaz Team

Sources

Global Hunger worsening, warns UN:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi../europe/8306556.stm

Only 15% of G8 pledge is new money, Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/art..icle/latestCrisis/idUSL342..4540

ActionAid's HungerFREE Scorecard: Small scale farming systems critical in tackling hunger and poverty:
http://www.hungerfreeplane..t.org/what-we-do/world-foo..d-day

More information about ActionAid´s HungerFREE global campaign at:
http://www.hungerfreeplane..t.org/

World Food Day: There is enough food grown in the world for everyone (Op-ed), Oxfam International:
http://www.oxfam.org/en/pr..essroom/pressrelease/2009-..10-16/world-food-day

About the World Food Summit:
http://www.un-ngls.org/spi..p.php?article1399

Dear Friends,

Our community pulled out all the stops to get the EU to act after the massacre of over 150 democracy protesters -- delivering our 125,000 strong petition to the Presidency of the European Union, and publishing opinion pieces citing the public demand in the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times online and other papers.

The day after our petition delivery and opinion pieces ran, the EU agreed to an arms embargo and sanctions! Last week the African Union(AU) followed with travel bans and asset freezing.

This is a victory for our global democracy movement, particularly for those brave African voices who are standing up to brutality and violence. Our small actions together gave European and African leaders a public mandate to do the right thing. EU and AU sanctions are now putting powerful pressure on the military leadership to step aside and allow a democratic process in Guinea.

With thanks,

Alice, Benjamin, Ricken, Graziela, Luis, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team

PS: Sources for this message:

International Herald Tribune opinion by Ricken Patel: http://www.nytimes.com/200..9/10/26/opinion/26iht-edpa..tel.html?scp=1&sq=ricken%2..0patel&st=cse

The original Avaaz petition to ECOWAS, the EU and the AU:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gu..inea_stop_the_crackdown/?c..l=341375048&v=4198

The petition delivery by Campaign Director, Luis Morago to Frank Belfrager, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs for Sweden, (Sweden holds the EU Presidency): http://avaazimages.s3.amaz..onaws.com/GuineaDelivery1...jpg

BBC story, "EU imposes arms embargo on Guinea": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi../africa/8327734.stm.

Al Jazeera, AU imposes sanctions on Guinea http://english.aljazeera.n..et/news/africa/2009/11/200..9117173158992574.html.

PPS Great news -- Avaaz has been named one of the 'Top 10 Ultimate Game-Changers' in politics by the Huffington Post, one of the world's highest-traffic news sites! Avaaz's founder and executive director is named in the prize, but Avaaz's power comes from its members around the world--so this is really a recognition of all of us. There is one day of voting left to make Avaaz the #1 game-changer -- click below and choose "10" from the box on the right: http://www.avaaz.org/huffp..o

Dear friends,

Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe has brutally seized control of his country's diamond fields and is using the profits from our precious wedding rings and jewelry to finance a vicious political militia.

The group of countries that regulate the global diamond trade are right now meeting in Namibia to decide whether to suspend Mugabe and stop him selling his blood diamonds on the world market.

We have just 24 hours to persuade these countries to act - let's get a flood of signatures on a petition and deliver it directly to the meeting in Namibia. Sign at the link below and forward this email to anyone who doesn't want our gifts of love to finance hate:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/di..amonds_for_love_not_hate/45.php

All diamond producing countries know that their profits are dependent on the brand reputation of diamonds, and that increasing awareness of "blood diamonds" threatens that brand. A massive global petition will show them that the diamond-buying public is demanding action.

Zimbabwe's diamonds used to be mined by local people. But in the last several months, Mugabe's thugs have brutally taken over, murdering up to 200 civilians. An international investigation in July found "horrific violence against civilians".

The profits from these blood diamonds are being used to finance a political militia that has already killed thousands of Zimbabweans, and threatens the fragile unity government in the country. Letting Mugabe keep these diamonds could finance a whole new war.

All of us are learning the ways in which our decisions about what we buy and do can affect the lives of our fellow human beings half a world away. An engagement ring should be something given and worn out of love, let's tell diamond regulators to keep it that way:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/di..amonds_for_love_not_hate/45.php

With hope,

Ricken, Alice, Benjamin, Graziela, Luis, Milena, Paul, Ben, Paula, Pascal and the whole of the Avaaz team

Sources:

A Human Rights Watch report on the Zimbabwe mines:
http://www.hrw.org/en/repo..rts/2009/06/26/diamonds-ro..ugh-0

The Kimberley process report:
http://www.zimonline.co.za../Article.aspx?ArticleId=53..03

Articles on the possible ban this week:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi../africa/8337385.stm

http://www.mg.co.za/articl..e/2009-11-02-zim-faces-pos..sible-suspension-from-glob..al-diamond-trade

More from Global Witness, a member of the Kimberley Process:
http://www.globalwitness.o..rg/media_library_detail.ph..p/861/en/campaigners_call_..for_urgent_action_on_zimba..bwe_blo

More on Zimbabwe's political crisis:
http://www.timesonline.co...uk/tol/news/world/africa/a..rticle6896171.ece

Please let us know by commenting back! We're just curious!

Thanks!

With hope,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

The brutal crackdown on Iran’s streets is succeeding. Lethal shooting, beatings and mass arrests have driven millions off the streets, and a communications blackout is preventing them from communicating with each other and the world.(1)

Ruling clerics are in crisis talks -- many are criticizing the crackdown and calling for reform.(2)

We urgently need to help Iranians get back on the internet to have their voices heard in Iran and the world. Secure and anonymous "proxy services" are helping people to bypass regime controls and get online -- but they're overloaded and running out of funds.(3) A small donation of just $10 can provide bandwidth for hundreds of secure emails - if 10,000 of us donate in the next 72 hours, we can help break the blackout:

http://lnk.ms/0ldVK

Proxy services provide people with a single link at which they can freely access the internet. The link is changed every time the regime blocks access to it. With 10,000 donors, we can scale up the proxy services massively -- providing more servers, bandwidth and advanced technical support.

The next two weeks are crucial. As Iran’s secret policemen cast their net far and wide, secure channels of communication are also critical to avoiding the crackdown. Scores have been killed and hundreds of human rights advocates, journalists, bloggers and peaceful protesters imprisoned. Although many more remain free, without safe ways to communicate they will face terrible risks.

After the crackdowns in Tibet and Burma, Avaaz members donated in our thousands to preserve the people’s basic human right to free communication and information. Overcoming censorship to make contact with each other and the world is crucial at these moments. Sharing information about the protests still flaring up around the provinces of Iran from Kurdish areas to the holy city of Qom, or uploading YouTube videos and first-hand reports of bravery and brutality to Iran’s million-plus weblogs and networks like Twitter, could make a huge difference.(4) If the regime believe they can silence such reports, the crackdown will only worsen.

Legitimacy matters in Iran. From inspirational videos of million-strong marches to shocking evidence of militia violence, the truth will come out only if Iranians can communicate freely with each other.(5) The clerical councils engaged in closed-door crisis talks are paying great attention to the voices being raised in their society. Let’s make sure Iran’s voices are not silenced – help break the blackout before it’s too late:

http://lnk.ms/0ldVK

With hope and determination,

the Avaaz team

Sources:

1. Updates on the crackdown:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm../20090625/ts_nm/us_iran_el..ection_210
http://www.guardian.co.uk/..news/blog/2009/jun/25/iran..-crisis

2. On the debate in the regime, Majlis Speaker Larijani criticises Guardian Council, IRIB, calls for open debate:
http://www.presstv.com/det..ail/98645.htm?sectionid=35..1020101
Conservative Tehran mayor Qalibaf calls for legalization of rallies:
http://www.presstv.ir/deta..il.aspx?id=98941§ionid..=351020101
Assembly of Experts considers forcing a run-off election:
http://www.thedailybeast.c..om/blogs-and-stories/2009-..06-25/a-deal-to-save-iran/

3. Many of our contacts in Iran are reporting that they have been using these services but that they are running out of bandwidth fast. Also see:
http://edition.cnn.com/200..9/TECH/06/18/iran.dodging...crackdown/
http://www.internetfreedom...org/Use_of_Censorship_Cir..cumvention_Services_Soars_..in_Iran

4. See for example:
http://www.qlineorientalis..t.com/IranRises/general-st..rike-in-kurdistan/
http://www.youtube.com/use..r/citizentube
https://twitter.com/#search?q=%23iranelection

5. Regardless of the actual result of the election, the importance of basic rights to assembly and open debate, which could also help shine a light on what occurred, has been emphasized in an open letter of support to the demonstrators. Its signatories include the anti-imperialist writer Noam Chomsky:
http://www.ireport.com/doc..s/DOC-277500

Dear friends,

Today, the hearts and hopes of people around the world are with protesters facing awful risks on the streets of Iran. Regardless of who won the election, the question now is one of fundamental human rights.

Top Iranian leaders are divided, so every bit of pressure matters. With massive new protests imminent, Iranian activists are urgently appealing for a united international response to oppose the violent crackdown.

Sign the petition below calling on ALL governments to condemn the crackdown and withhold recognition of any Iranian government until election concerns are peacefully addressed. Then forward this message to friends and family -- let's build a massive global outcry of 1 million voices against the crackdown:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/iran_stop_the_crackdown/40.php

We'll deliver the petition directly to the leaders of Iran's largest trading partners and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the UN, and other international groups respected in Iran. A united international response will puncture the regime's spin that the US and UK alone are behind global criticism.

People power is sweeping global politics. But where leaders respond violently to nonviolent protest, from Burma to Zimbabwe to Iran, global solidarity is needed to show governments that repression weakens their rule, rather than strengthening it.

Avaaz means "voice" in Farsi, the Iranian language. Let's show the people of Iran that, whoever they voted for, we support their right to have their voices heard. Click below to sign the petition, and spread the word by forwarding this message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/iran_stop_the_crackdown/40.php

With hope and determination,

the Avaaz team

PS - For more information on the Iranian elections and protests see these news sources:

BBC -- "Iran silences protesters": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8112036.stm

Associated Press -- "Struggle amongst Iran's clerics bursts into the open": http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGSJEAPs_r2T2wxsL5G3t4z-jajQD98VC5T81

Al Jazeera -- "Iran's Mousavi urges defiance" : http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/06/2009621191831403557.html

The Huffington Post -- Iran Live blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/13/iran-demonstrations-viole_n_215189.html

Dear friends,

Iran is on a knife-edge, with millions of voters taking to the streets in outrage as evidence mounts that the government may have massively rigged and stolen Thursday's election. The regime has cracked down brutally on the protesters and is imposing a blackout on Iranian society -- shutting down domestic and international media, the internet and even text-messaging.

The voice of Iranians may have been silenced at the polling booth, now the regime is attempting to silence them everywhere else. Facing beatings and gunfire, the opposition is organising mass demonstrations and a general strike. We can’t afford to let the regime dismiss the voice of the people -- the truth must be heard.

Avaaz is urgently organising a rigorous “exit poll” of Iranian voters and a media effort to publicise it -- working with an international polling firm to do a telephone survey of Iranian citizens to ask how they voted. We urgently need 20,000 Avaaz members to pitch in a small amount each to raise $200,000 in the next 24 hours and give Iranians a powerful new way to be heard -- follow this link to view video from the streets of Tehran and support this exit poll to find out the truth:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/40.php

Public polling in Iran is heavily restricted, and no-one else is mobilizing fast enough to fund an international exit poll. It's urgent that we pitch in. A telephone poll won't be 100% accurate, but the difference between opposition and government claims is massive -- a rigorous poll can show which claim is remotely near the truth.

Unlike Western organizations, Avaaz's global network has a strong membership in Iran and across the Middle East. Backed by a respected polling firm, our effort will be harder to dismiss by Iranian conservatives. We'll send the poll results to the media and help our members in Iran to rapidly and virally spread the news despite the regime's blackout.

Messages have been flooding in from our Iranian members -- from Fariba: “20.000.000 people have lost their votes for peace and human rights. The government wants to use this votes for every thing but PEACE. Avaaz is a Persian word too and means voice -- hear our ‘avaaz’”. From Mahmoud: “The government has stolen the vote the people. The people in the street are beaten badly by the police. Now now now do not lose the time”. Stand with Iranians now and help their voices be heard:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/40.php

This election matters to us all. Iran is a major regional power, and the international community is seeking diplomatic engagement that holds a key to peace in the Middle East. But hawks and extremists on all sides want war instead: a conservative coup in Iran could destroy all our hopes.

The conservative Guardian Council, headed by a key Ahmadinejad ally, is reviewing the vote over the next 9 days -- our poll can be ready before they give their verdict, to counter any further rigging and the violent purge that could follow.

There is a real possibility that democracy will prevail. Ultimate power in Iran lies with Ayatollah Khamenei, who may have backed the rigging -- but he is hired and fired by the Assembly of Experts, chaired by ex-President Rafsanjani who has condemned vote-fixing. If Rafsanjani and allies can get enough votes on the Assembly this week, they can press to re-open the results, even to remove Khamenei from power. A scientific opinion poll could be a powerful piece of evidence.

In the next 72 hours, the Iranian people will try once again to be heard. Let’s help make sure their voices are not silenced -- follow this link to see their courage and donate now to help fund the exit poll:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/40.php

With hope,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

The Peruvian government has pushed through legislation that could allow extractive and large-scale farming companies to rapidly destroy their Amazon rainforest.

Indigenous peoples have peacefully protested for two months demanding their lawful say in decrees that will contribute to the devastation of the Amazon's ecology and peoples, and be disastrous for the global climate. But last weekend President Garcia responded: sending in special forces to suppress protests in violent clashes, and labelling the protesters as terrorists.

These indigenous groups are on the frontline of the struggle to protect our earth -- Let's stand with them and call on President Alan Garcia (who is widely known to be sensitive to his international reputation) to immediately stop the violence and open up dialogue. Click below to sign the urgent global petition and a prominent and well-respected Latin-American politician will deliver it to the government on our behalf.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/peru_stop_violence/45.php

More than 70 per cent of the Peruvian Amazon is now up for grabs. Giant oil and gas companies, like the Anglo-French Perenco and the North Americans ConocoPhillips and Talisman Energy, have already pledged multi-billionaire investments in the region. These extractive industries have a very poor record of bringing benefits to local people and preserving the environment in developing countries - which is why indigenous groups are asking for internationally-recognized rights to consultation on the new laws.

For decades the world and indigenous peoples have watched as extractive industries devastated the rainforest that is home to some and a vital treasure to us all (some climate scientists call the Amazon the "lungs of the planet" - breathing in the carbon emissions that cause global warming and producing oxygen).

The protests in Peru are the biggest yet and the most desperate, we can't afford to let them fail. Sign the petition, and encourage your friends and family to join us, so we can help bring justice to the indigenous peoples of Peru and prevent further acts of violence from all parties.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/peru_stop_violence/45.php

In solidarity,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

President Obama just made a remarkable speech in Egypt, committing personally to building peace in the Middle East. Unexpectedly, his first move is to directly challenge the new right-wing government of America's ally Israel -- pressing them to stop their self-destructive policy of settlements (illegal colonies set up on territory recognised by the US and the world as Palestinian).

This is a moment of rare crisis and opportunity. Obama’s bold strategy is facing powerful opposition, so he’s going to need help around the world in the coming days and weeks to strengthen his resolve. Let’s start right now -- by raising a massive global chorus behind Obama’s statement that the settlements in occupied territory must stop.

We’ll advertise the number of signatures in key newspapers in Israel, as well as in Washington DC (where some are trying to undermine Obama in the US Congress). Read Obama’s words now and add your signature to them at the link below, then forward this email to friends and family so they can do the same:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements/45.php

There is broad agreement that the settlements are a significant barrier to peace, a view also shared by a silent majority of the Israeli public. Combined with a network of roadblocks and barriers, these colonies now blanket the West Bank, seizing territory and forcing Palestinians to live effectively as prisoners in smaller and smaller pockets (see map at right).

Until this problem is tackled, it seems impossible to build a viable Palestinian state or any kind of lasting peace. For Arab states deciding what more they themselves can do for peace, stopping the settlements has become a crucial test of Israel’s seriousness.

We’ll need to urge the other parties to take bold steps too. If we can help Obama to stay the course on settlements, shift Israeli policy and encourage the Palestinians and key Arab states also to stretch out their hands, a new beginning for the Middle East is possible.

But none of this will happen without a growing global movement of citizens taking action to support it. Read Obama’s words, add your signature and spread the word today:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_stop_settlements/45.php

With hope and determination,

the Avaaz team