Gender: Female
Status: Single
Age: 35
Sign: Capricorn
City: NEW YORK
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
Signup Date: 1/11/2007
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
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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
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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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
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Monday, November 09, 2009
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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
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Friday, July 17, 2009
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Please let us know by commenting back! We're just curious!
Thanks!
With hope,
the Avaaz team
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Friday, July 17, 2009
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Dear friends,
Here's a quick report back on recent campaigning at Avaaz. Our
community has grown like wildfire and is becoming really extraordinary
-- the pace and impact of our advocacy is intense. In just the last 8
weeks, we've run 9 major national and global campaigns on issues
ranging from climate change to Iran to Guantanamo. Much more remains to
be done on all these issues -- but together we're contributing in
powerful ways. Here are some highlights from the last 8 weeks:
Brazilian rainforest - Brazilian Avaaz members made 14000 phone calls
and sent 30,000 online messages to President Lula's office in two
days(!) and in the 11th hour successfully reversed a law that would
hand over much of the Amazon rainforest to agrobusiness for
exploitation - this was a major victory on climate change since the
Amazon consumes enormous amounts of the greenhouse gasses that are
warming the earth.
G8 Summit - last week 130,000 Avaaz members signed a petition in 48
hours calling for the G8 industrial countries to limit global warming
to 2 degrees celsius - focusing on shaming 3 countries who were
blocking progress. The petition was delivered at the summit to UK Prime
Minister Gordon Brown (see image), along with giant personalized
postcards.
Outside the summit, Avaaz members stripped down to green underwear in a
humorous theatrical delivery of the campaign's message that generated
substantial media coverage (pictured). As Avaaz and partners built
pressure in Italy and around the world, the blocking countries
relented, and the G8 leaders agreed to the 2 degree goal! However, they
failed to agree on specific actions to make the goal a reality -- our
challenge now is to make sure leaders live up to their rhetorical
commitments with a binding global treaty at the UN summit in Copenhagen
this December.
Iran Protests - our community rapidly responded to the election crisis
in Iran with an opinion poll to gauge the views of ordinary Iranians, a
petition to world leaders to withhold recognition of the new President
until the crackdown on protests ceased, and a fundraiser to support
technology that would allow Iranians to freely access the internet. The
rapidly deteriorating security situation has made it difficult to
conduct the poll (final word on that coming this week), but the
technology fundraiser has raised over a hundred thousand dollars to
support the best tools for Iranians to access the internet and
communicate freely. The situation in Iran remains uncertain, and we
will continue to both support freedom of expression and oppose those
who would exploit this crisis to justify military action against Iran.
Japan climate targets - In Japan, we raised the alarm as the Prime
Minister Taro Aso was about to choose a damagingly weak climate
targets. Funded by small online donations, Avaaz ran a national opinion
poll that showed that 63% of Japanese people wanted strong targets,
publicized it in the press, in a full page ad in the country's largest
business newspaper, and one in the Aso's favourite comic book (see
image). Internationally, Avaaz ran a front page ad in the Financial
Times, and Avaaz members demonstrated and met with Japanese climate
negotiators at summits in Paris and Bonn.
At last, the Prime Minister announced a target stronger than polluting
industries had urged -- but far from strong enough to stop catastrophic
climate change. So we redoubled the pressure with a widely-covered
international press conference dubbing the Japanese leader "George W.
Aso" -- comparing him to Bush for holding back progress on climate
change.
Free Burma's political prisoners - Over 400,000 of us signed a major
petition to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon asking him to make the
release of Nobel prize winning political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi and
other political prisoners his top priority. The petition was delivered
in an extended meeting with Moon's office and in a press conference at
the UN in New York. The UN chief issued a strong statement backing the
release of Suu Kyi and traveled to Burma to attempt to meet with her,
but was rebuffed by Burma's military junta. International pressure did
cause the junta to delay a new show trial to extend Aung San Suu Kyi's
prison sentence, but it will take much more pressure to secure her
release.
United States and Torture - A global fundraiser and petition on
stopping torture and closing Guantanamo prison allowed Avaaz to secure
a giant, 9 story billboard just blocks from the White House in the
heart of Washington DC to deliver our message -- but at the last minute
the company selling the ad space refused, despite members of the US
congress offering to help unveil the billboard in a press conference.
Avaaz has now secured an alternative option for delivering our edgy
message that will have Washington DC buzzing with our call for justice.
UN Climate Summit - At a major summit on climate change in Bonn, Avaaz
recruited among members in Germany to help our partners organize a
massive 500 person aerial photo spelling out 'Yes You Can' as a message
to leaders discussing climate targets (see photo). It helped raise the
profile and urgency of these faltering but urgent talks. Avaaz also
sent a 16-person lobbying/activist team to the summit negotiations and
members in 10 key countries joined "negotiator tracking teams" that are
following and responding to urgent needs to press individual country
negotiators at these summits.
Peru - Avaaz arranged with local indigenous and top political allies to
deliver a global petition against new laws that would cause massive
devastation to the Peruvian rainforest and its people, taking out an ad
in the national newspaper (see image).
The ad and campaign generated much attention, and the domestic and
international pressure worked, for now -- the Peruvian congress has
revoked the controversial laws!
Israel - As Prime Minister Netanyahu prepared to make a speech
responding to Obama's historic Cairo address and demand that Israel
stop illegal settlements of Palestinian land, Avaaz took out a front
page ad in a major newspaper - Haaretz - delivering a joint petition
from global and Israeli Avaaz members edgily asking Netanyahu to 'be
more like Obama' and stop the settlements. Netanyahu has so far
refused, but we're helping to build an unprecedented wave of Israeli
and global pressure and attention on this issue.
The petitions, fundraisers, rallies, and lobbying campaigns our
community is doing are having an incredible impact. Avaaz has grown by
50,000 people a week and is now almost 3.6 million engaged citizens in
every country of the world -- and we're truly global - operating in 14
languages our community has 25,000 members in Singapore, 35,000 in
South Africa, 130,000 in Italy, 50,000 in Mexico... There hasn't really
been a community like ours before, able to rapidly and effectively
mobilize people power all over the world to the greatest needs and
concerns of all human beings -- it's a reason for hope.
It's also an exciting journey -- looking forward to taking on the next 8 weeks, and 8 months, and 8 years together!
With hope,
Ricken, Alice, Pascal, Ben, Veronique, Paul, Graziela, Brett, Raluca,
Luis, Raj, Milena, Paula, Iain, Taren, Margaret and the whole Avaaz
team.
PS - To see some of the highlights of Avaaz campaigning in 2007 and 2008 and leave a comment, click here:
https://secure.avaaz.org/e..n/report_back_2/
And to check out other recent Avaaz campaigning highlights like our
climate victory in Germany, our messages to Obama wall in DC, the
delivery of our Swine Flu petition to the WHO, our Green Recovery march
at G20 Summit in London, or our support to Tibetan organizations to
break the blackout on their communications -- visit the Avaaz blog: http://www.avaaz.org/blog/..en/.
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Monday, June 29, 2009
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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
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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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
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
 |
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
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Friday, June 12, 2009
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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
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Saturday, June 06, 2009
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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
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