Dear friends,

Burma's democracy leader and Nobel Peace prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been locked up on new trumped up charges, just days before her 13 years of detention was due to expire. She and thousands of fellow monks and students have been imprisoned for bravely challenging the brutal military regime with peaceful calls for democracy.

Risking danger to speak out for their jailed friends, Burmese activists are demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and calling on the world to help. We have just six days to get a flood of petition signatures to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon calling on him to make their release a top priority -- he can make this a condition of any renewed international engagement. Follow the link to sign the petition, and forward this email on to friends to ensure Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners are freed. Burmese activists will present the global petition to the media on May 26th:

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

On May 14th, Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and sent to jail, charged in connection with an American man who allegedly sneaked uninvited into the compound where she is being held in Yangon. The charges are absurd -- it is the Burmese military, now accusing her of breach of house arrest, that are responsible for the security of the compound. It is a pretext to keep her detained until after elections which are set for 2010.

The Burmese regime is renown for its vicious repression of any threat to full military control - thousands are in jail in inhumane conditions and denied any medical care, there are ongoing abuses of human rights, there is violent repression of ethnic groups, and over a million have been forced into refuge across the border.

Aung San Suu Kyi's is the greatest threat to the junta's hold on power. Her moral leadership of the democracy movement and the legacy of her landslide victory in 1990 elections means that she is the only figure who could face down the military in elections next year. She has been detained over and over again since 1988 -- under house arrest and allowed no contact with the outside world. But this scandalous new detention in the notorious Insein Prison without medical care could be very dangerous because she is seriously ill.

Sources say that the military regime is fearful of this unified and massive online call to the UN -- over 160 Burma exile and solidarity groups in 24 countries are participating in the campaign. And the Secretary General and key regional players that are looking to re-engage with the Burmese regime, can influence the fate of these prisoners. Last week Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: 'Aung San Suu Kyi and all those that have a contribution to make to the future of their country must be free'. Let's overwhelm him with a global call to urgently act on his words and stop the arrests and brutality:

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

As with the release of Nelson Mandela from years of prison in South Africa, the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi from years of unjust detention, will bring a new beginning to Burma and hope for democracy. This week could be that historical time for change - let's stand united behind Suu Kyi and these brave men and women and demand their release now!

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

With hope,

the Avaaz team

P.S. Want to support Avaaz's work We're entirely funded by member donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our tiny online team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way. Donate here

For more about Aung San Suu Kyi visit:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/aboutburma/aung_san_suu_kyi.htm

For more about the Global Free Political Prisoners Campaign visit:
http://www.fbppn.net/?page_id=582

A Letter from former Presidents for the release of political prisoners:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/news/Letter-from-112-Former-Presidents-and-Prime-Ministers-to-UN-

For the West and Asian countries reactions to Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8050545.stm

For the full statement from the UN Sectretary General on Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest:
http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=3848

Dear friends,

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will face US President Obama for the first time – in a meeting that could make the difference between war and peace in the Middle East.[1]

Ordinary Israelis and Palestinians still want peace, and polls show they want Obama to lead.[2] Experts agree that only such strong leadership from Obama can forge an agreement now, but powerful extremists in the region and the US stand in his way. Israel’s far-right foreign minister is even boasting that Obama will do as he’s told.[3]

On Monday we’ll find out – Netanyahu will ask Obama to take a back seat in a new flawed process designed to fail. We urgently need to show Obama that ordinary people in the region and around the world will back him to exercise a strong and fair leadership role – click below to watch the new TV ad campaign and help saturate the US airwaves with it in the next 72 hours:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/obama_for_peace/45.php

The situation in the Middle East is dire – the King of Jordan warned yesterday that there are only two choices now – war or peace.[4] Israel’s new governing coalition has extremists in the driving seat and is seeking war with Iran and Hamas, while promoting illegal settlement (a euphemism for colonization) and de facto annexation of Palestinian land – corralling Palestinians into small pockets and subjecting them to constant harassment. Gaza remains under crippling blockade, unable even to get the materials to rebuild from the destruction of the war. Palestinians have flawed and divided leadership and are caught between the corruption of the secular Fatah leadership and extremism among the religious Hamas, and small numbers of rockets continue to be fired at Israel. Ordinary people on both sides are losing hope in a peaceful two-state solution to end the 40 year occupation and conflict.

But there is hope. New polls show clear majorities of support for Obama to lead a new peace effort, and a recent extensive consultation by the Avaaz team in the region confirmed that on all sides people want Obama to rescue the situation with a fair peace proposal and pressure on both sides to agree to it. Powerful extremists in Israel and the US are determined to block this last chance at peace. Their new strategy: avoid directly opposing Obama, but feign a new interest in peace and bog him down in endless talks that are designed to fail.

We can’t let that happen. There has never been a powerful worldwide movement for peace in Israel-Palestine that can challenge the extremists and back leaders like Obama to do the right thing. Let’s get this ad on the air, and let Obama and everyone else know that this movement is coming:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/obama_for_peace/45.php

With hope and determination,

the Avaaz team

1. Bloomberg, “Obama to Confront Israeli Settlement Surge in Netanyahu Meeting”:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=abPE7AMWQTWQ&refer=home

2. Avaaz’s own polls on this are about to be released – also see e.g. Yediot Aharonot poll, May 2009:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3715759,00.html

Hebrew University of Jerusalem polls:
http://www.forward.com/articles/105046/

3. Lieberman’s statement that the US will follow Israel’s lead was made to Russia’s Moskovskiy Komsomolets – see The Forward, 22 April 2009:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/Middle_East_Obama_Plan

4. “King Abdullah of Jordan's ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next year", The Times of London, 11 May 2009:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6262080.ece

Dear friends,

A modern day bloodbath is unfolding on the small island of Sri Lanka, where a thousand civilians were reported killed over the weekend and literally tens of thousands of innocent people are at risk of being killed this week, as government and rebel forces battle it out over the last small patch of rebel-held territory. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which rarely makes public comment, called this conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil rebels, 'nothing short of catastrophic'.

Now that the US has begun to increase its pressure, the solution to stopping this humanitarian disaster lies with Sri Lanka’s key donor and closest partner in the region -- Japan. It has powerful political and economic influence over the Sri Lankan government and a swing vote at the UN Security Council, which up until now has turned a blind eye to this mounting catastrophe.

Send a message to the Japanese Foreign Minister, who is deciding his government's next steps. Japan cares about its international reputation and a flood of messages from abroad would encourage them to act. If Japan moves then the Sri Lankan government will be forced to immediately respond to protect civilians:

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

Asia's longest-running civil war is entering its final stage – the only question is how many will die before it ends. As other donor nations increase the pressure behind the scenes this week, a truly global citizens' outcry can further turn the heat on the Japanese government to use its leverage and push for a robust and concerted international action that stops the bloodshed and protect the Sri Lankan civilian population at risk. Japan's political and economic weight means that they cannot be ignored:

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

With hope,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

H1N1, more commonly known as swine flu, continues to dominate global dialogue -- Mexico has been nearly paralysed and across the world leaders discouraged air travel, banned pork imports and initiated drastic controls to mitigate the spreading virus. As the threat shows signs of subsiding, the question becomes where it came from and how we stop another outbreak.

Smithfield Corporation, the largest pig producer in the world whose farm is being blamed as the source of the H1N1 outbreak, denies any connection between their pigs and the flu. Big agribusiness worldwide pays huge sums of money for research to argue that biosafety is ensured in industrial hog production. But the World Health Organization has been saying for years that 'a new pandemic is inevitable' and experts from the European Commission and the Fod and Agriculture Organization have cautioned that the rapid move from small holdings to industrial pig production is in fact increasing the risk of development and transmission of epidemics. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that scientists still do not know the extent that infectious compounds produced in factory farms affect human health.

Studies abound of the horrific conditions endured by pigs in concentrated large-scale operations, and the devastating economic impact on small farmer communities of bloated large-scale operations. Smithfield itself has already been fined $12.6 million and is currently under another federal investigation in the US for toxic environmental damage from pig excrement lakes.

But even with all of this damaging evidence, a combination of increased global meat consumption and a powerful industry motivated by profit at the cost of human health, means that instead of being shut down - these sickening factory farm operations are propagating around the world and we are subsidising them. In the wake of this swine flu threat, let's hold industrial pig producers to account. Sign the petition for investigation and regulation:

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

If we resolve this global health crisis boldly by reassessing our food consumption and production, and urgently calling for an inquiry into the impact of factory farms on human health, we could put in place tough farm practice rules that will save the global population from future animal-borne lethal pandemics.

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

With hope,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

Thanks to thousands of Avaaz members, together we were able to make an ExxonMobil spoof ad. The team spent all weekend in post-production ahead of this week's global climate meetings hosted by President Obama.

The good news is that we have managed to make preliminary bookings to get the advertisement on high rotation on CNN and other stations during the entire climate negotiations in Washington -- but as you can imagine, to counter the power of the coal and oil industry, it doesn't come cheap! Can you contribute to help urgently get the ad on the air while the talks are still on?

A binding global climate treaty should be a no-brainer: The climate science is clear, and the economic and human rights implications of significant global warming are almost too horrifying to contemplate. But world leaders who want to take serious action face the world’s most determined and richest obstructionists – the fossil fuel lobby, who stand to lose billions of dollars in profits in the face of serious climate action. That's why we need to get this ad on the air.

We can’t match the polluting industry's spend, but we have two things going for us. First, we have the truth on our side, and second, we are an unstoppable global grassroots movement for climate action. Let's turn the polluting sector's hundreds of millions of dollars to our advantage.
Watch the spoof of Exxon’s ad campaign and consider donating to remind the world’s 17 largest economies whose interests the lobbyists really serve:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/climate_stop_corporate_spin/45.php

With hope,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,



On Monday, Barack Obama announced a welcome and long-overdue shift in
US policy on Cuba, lifting restrictions on family members visiting and
sending financial support to relatives on the island.



This week, the U.S. administration is watching for the world's
reactions -- as it decides whether to move further. A strong
international response now can send a signal to American politicians
that we welcome these first steps -- but that much more is needed. It
is time to bring an end to the failed and divisive US policy that has
punished ordinary Cubans for almost five decades.



We have a unique chance to let be heard at the Summit of the Americas
in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend, where Obama will for the first
time discuss Cuba with all of his counterparts from throughout the
region. Sign the petition calling for US-Cuba engagement now -- Avaaz
members will sail a boat in the harbor near the summit and the number
of petition signatures will be painted on the boat's sail, for
reporters and leaders from across the Americas to see:



http://www.avaaz.org/en/li..ft_cuba_embargo/45.php



When the United States put its first embargo on Cuba in 1960, the
policy's supporters claimed it would accelerate democracy and human
rights. A half-century later, the claim has proven hollow, and has
caused immeasurable economic harm to ordinary Cubans, blocking
agricultural and medical supplies, new technology, information and
ideas.



Some argue that as long as the embargo exists, the Cuban government can
blame it instead of being forced to address its own systemic failures
and serious breaches of freedom of speech, association and dissension.



Today there is more hope than ever that Cuban - US relations can
change, with implications for the whole region. Across Latin America
leaders are calling on President Obama to initiate a new beginning. In
the US, recent surveys find that three quarters of US citizens want
their government to shift away from the policy of isolation, and even
previously hard-line Cuban exile groups are calling for change.



At this moment, as the United States and the region responds to Obama's
tentative first steps, our voices have a critical role to play. If we
remain silent, we risk ceding the debate to polarizing forces in the US
and in Latin America who fear a reconciliation.



Sign the petition now, send this message to friends, and watch for the Avaaz sailboat in Trinidad on Saturday:



http://www.avaaz.org/en/li..ft_cuba_embargo/45.php



Let's send a massive message to President Obama and all the regional
leaders gathered in Trinidad that a new beginning in relations is
possible -- if they are ready to move past the failed policies of the
past and embrace the opportunities of the present.



With hope,



the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

Burmese pro democracy leader and Nobel peace prize
winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent 13 years detained by the Burmese
military junta, under house arrest and without contact with the outside
world. She and thousands of fellow monks and students have been
imprisoned for bravely challenging their brutal regime with calls for
democracy. This week a glimmer of hope has risen for their release, and
it's time for us to stand with them.

Risking danger to speak out
for their jailed friends, Burmese activists this week demanded the
release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and called on
the world to help. As the global economic crisis makes aid flows more
essential, Burma's generals are becoming more vulnerable to
international pressure, but we need a flood of petition signatures to
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to make this a top priority.

The
Burmese organizers have set a goal of 888,888 signatures. The number 8
is powerful in Burmese culture, and the ruling junta is extremely
superstitious - such a large and significant number might have a
special influence on them. But this issue isn't in the headlines, so to
build our numbers we need to forward this email and persuade our
friends to help.

Sources now say that the military regime is
fearful of this unified and massive online call to the UN -- over 160
Burma exile and solidarity groups in 24 countries are participating in
the campaign. But it will take all of us and all our friends signing
this petition to get Mr Ban’s attention. Avaaz has done it before for
Burma – we can do it again. Click here to stop the arrests and
brutality:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/fr..ee_burma_political_prisone..rs/45.php

This
is one of those times where if enough of us act we can truly make a
difference. Let’s join the courageous Burmese democracy activists in
jail and in hiding and help end this violent repression.

With hope and solidarity,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

A dark curtain is being pulled across Tibet for the 50-year anniversary
of the 1959 Tibetan uprising -- foreign media detained and expelled,
armed troops patrolling the streets, the coordinated arrests of monks.
Now the Chinese government has even cut phone networks to prevent
communication between Tibetans, closing off vital information channels
to the outside world. It is vital that we keep a multi-channel
communication highway open -- allowing Tibetans to broadcast reports of
arrests, rights violations and protests, and providing vital
information to Tibetans about their community and the world.

As Avaaz members, who experience the power of technology daily, we have
the understanding and the power to help draw the curtain on the
blackout. With new technologies, governments cannot forever control the
flows of information, but if we don’t act quickly, Tibetan isolation
will continue, their plight increasingly forgotten behind an
impenetrable firewall.

Here is what the Dalai Lama says about Voice of Tibet, which your
donation would go towards supporting: "This is the only radio service
in [the] Tibetan language with a Tibetan editorial board in charge
allowing us [Tibetans] to comment on events of Tibetan interest from
our perspective.... I would appreciate [...] if sympathetic
organizations and individuals could help Voice of Tibet continue
functioning for many more years to come." But with shrinking funds,
even this station is considering cutting programs for the year.
Consider donating to show your support for Tibet today:

https://secure.avaaz.org/e..n/tibetan_blackout_video/54...php

Freedom of information is important to the survival of Tibetan culture,
vital to prevent further human rights abuses and a key ingredient in
securing Tibetan autonomy. It is also a key way to reach out to
progressive Chinese in China, many of whom are looking for alternative
perspectives and information. As a global community, we can help ensure
access to reliable information for Tibetans, Chinese and those of us
who are in the world beyond the veil.

With hope,

the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

Europe is one of the biggest sources of the world's climate pollution -- and experts say that half of Europe's emissions come from boilers, fridges, TVs and other energy-using products in homes and other buildings.


Strong energy efficiency standards have been proposed for these products that would massively reduce climate emissions, save money on electricity, and set a strong example of what's possible for the rest of the world. But out of sight of the public, some vested industrial interests are pushing hard to water down the proposals.


It's up to us to make sure EU negotiators hear the clear voice of thousands of citizens across Europe -- and not just the voices of industry lobbyists. Sign the petition below, and it will be delivered this week to EU decision-makers in Brussels:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/refrigerator_revolution_video/45.php

With hope,
the Avaaz team

Dear friends,

This week, the US Senate is taking its tentative
first steps towards establishing an independent commission into Bush’s
War on Terror -- a Commission of Inquiry is essential to unravel the
full extent of eight years of cover-ups, to hold those responsible to
account and to prevent such injustice from happening again. After 8
damaging years, this campaign for justice has a lot to unearth, and
would send a powerful message that the US wants to repair the damage
done to human rights by the Bush years, while strengthening the fight
against terrorism.

But without a massive global and US show of
support, champion US Senators may not rally the numbers needed to have
this commission established. Sign the petition -- which will be
presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee before they make their
decision this week -- and help get an inquiry with real teeth over the
line:

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

The
War on Terror is not over yet - and as long as the wrongdoing of the
Bush years is kept secret and those practices unaccounted for or
allowed to continue, mistrust and violence between nations will
flourish. Let's plant a seed of hope, understanding a shared commitment
by reading this dark page in history before we turn it.

With hope,

the Avaaz team