Archive
Stop censoring of internet
European parliament are about to vote on whether to tighten censoring of internet. Speak out against SOPA now @Avaaz. Sign petition http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet/?vl
Read more on http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/23/if-you-thought-sopa-was-bad-just-wait-until-you-meet-acta/
Amerikansk sensur av internett
Når selv wikipedia har stengt ned i en dag i streik på grunn av at den amerikanske stat vurderer å innføre reglementet SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) som vil gjøre det mulig å drive sensur av internett (inkludert over google, wikipedia, facebook), er det kanskje på tide å ta til motmæle mot udemokratisk sensur.
Underskriftsaksjon fra Avaaz kan anbefales:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?tw57
France: The end of freedom to make ethical grounded choices
The French revolution was inspired by the words Liberté, égalité, fraternité – Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. However, the French government has practically put an end to these words. Through a new legislation requiring that schools serve diets containing meat, it is nearly no freedom for children and youths to make ethical based choices such as not eating meat. There are also no equality for those having ethical or religious reasons to avoid specific food items.
If you too agree that it is problematic to require everyone in school have to eat animals and animal products in school, why not make your voice heard in the following petition:
Ikke-voldelig markering møtes med pepperspray
Ikke-voldelige studenter ved University of California som demonstrerer mot det amerikanske styresettet som fremmer en minoritet på manges bekostning ble angrepet med pepperspray av politiet i California. Selv om demonstrantene ble møtt med kjemisk vold, holdt de seg fredelige. Budskapet til demonstrantene er “we are the 99%” med ønske om å endre på samfunn som gjør de rikeste rikere på bekostning av både resten av befolkningen, verden forøvrig, klimaet og miljøet.
Kanskje er det på tide at vi lytter til en stadig økende andel av verdens befolkning som ber om mer rettferdighet.
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Kilder:
http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/11/19/nyheter/demonstrasjon/pepperspray/19089928/
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/11/19/uc-davis-students-pepper-sprayed-during-protest/
Partier som bruker innvandringsfiendtlig retorikk bør stå ansvarlige for konsekvensene
Det er på tide at partier som bruker innvandringsfiendtlig retorikk tar ansvar for konsekvensene http://vindheim.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/ta-debatten/
Avaaz – making people’s voices heard
Avaaz has made some magnificent achievements during the last months. Not only have they grown with millions of supporters who have put their voices into the mass of people speaking for justice and a better world. They have also turned some of the most important cases from grave injustice to justice by informing, engaging and committing. This has involved implementing laws to stop corruption, freezing the money stolen by Mubarak and fighting for the rights for groups that have been mistreated.Avaaz is on fire. The pace of our activity, our growth, and our victories is intense! Scroll down through this email to see highlights of the last few months — it’s astonishing what we’re building and achieving together.
There are over 8.2 million of us now, growing by 100,000 people per week! Two weeks ago, 650,000 Indians joined our campaign for a powerful new anti-corruption bill, and we won!! We’re racking up major victories every month — fighting political corruption in Italy, media-corruption in the UK and Canada, environmental destruction in Brazil and more. And across the Middle East, brave democracy activists are getting vital equipment and communications support funded by donations from almost 30,000 of us.
From people-powered revolutions in the Middle East to national anti-corruption movements, you can feel it and see it everywhere today — democracy is on the march, and together we are beating the drum. The press is noticing in hundreds of stories, with one 2000 word feature in the Times of London calling us ‘One of the most important new voices on the global stage’. Here’s a quick summary of the last few months in our amazing people-powered community…
| Anti-Corruption Campaign Explodes in India | |
| Two weeks ago, Anna Hazare, a 73 year old Gandhian activist, declared a fast unto death until the government agreed to let civil society draft a powerful new anti-corruption law. In just 36 hours, an unprecedented 500,000 Indians joined Avaaz’s campaign to support Hazare’s call for sweeping reform. In 4 days, the public outcry forced India’s government to sign a written submission to all of Hazare’s demands! We won!! Today, a new India is being born — and just as last year in Brazil with landmark anti-corruption legislation, Avaaz is helping to breathe life into it. | |
| Breaking the Middle East Blackout | |
| Funded by donations from almost 30,000 Avaazers, an Avaaz team is working closely with the leadership of democracy movements in Syria, Yemen, Libya and more to get them high-tech phones and satellite internet modems, connect them to the world’s top media outlets, and provide communications advice. We’ve seen the power of this engagement — where our support to activists has created global media cycles with footage and eyewitness accounts that our team helps distribute to CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and others. The courage of these activists is unbelievable — a skype message from one last week read ‘state security searching the house, my laptop battery dying, if not online tomorrow I’m dead or arrested’. He’s ok, and together we’re helping to get his and many other voices out to the world. | |
| Huge Win on Hilton Hotels vs the Rape Trade | |
| 24 hours after 317,000 Avaazers called on the Hilton CEO to sign a code of conduct on the rape trade or face hard-hitting ads in his hometown, we got a frantic call from his vice-president. ‘You’re going to WHAT?’, she asked. Hilton had dragged its feet for months. We gave them four days, and they signed. Now 180,000 hotel employees will be trained to spot and prevent the horror of of sex slavery of women and girls. | |
| UK — The People vs Murdoch’s Media Monopoly | |
| Global media kingpin Rupert Murdoch’s bid to tighten his stranglehold over the UK press faces a relentless challenge from Avaaz members, who’ve run adverts, staged public stunts, delivered massive petitions, and organised phone-ins week upon week in an effort to safeguard public debate. An Avaaz-commissioned independent poll found that only 5% of Brits take Murdoch’s side — and new criminal charges for hacking politicians’ phones are further eroding the momentum of the Murdoch media machine. The government has been forced to extract concessions from Murdoch, and has now delayed a decision on the deal — costing Murdoch billions and giving us more time to stop him for good. | |
| Libyan Massacre Prevented — one million messages to the Security Council | |
| Our messages called for sanctions, asset freezes, and an internationally enforced no-fly zone to protect civilians in Libya. Our voices got through: the UN Ambassador from the US, one of the last hold-outs to back the motion, publicly thanked us for our messages. International action began just as Qaddafi’s tanks encircled the rebel-held city of Benghazi — and is widely credited with preventing a likely massacre of large numbers of civilians. | |
| Berlusconi’s Censorship Bill, Defeated | |
| Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, facing souring political winds and a trial for statutory rape expected to coincide with general elections, tried to force a censorship law through parliament that would have silenced his critics on independent TV shows. But Italian Avaaz members fought back — powering a 70,000-strong petition and thousands of phone calls to parliament at the crucial moment that helped swing the final vote. The law was blocked, in a huge victory for Avaaz members and for the future of Italian democracy and free speech. | |
| The ‘Angel’ Tackling Corruption in Spain | |
| This week a Spanish newspaper trumpeted Avaaz as its ‘Angel of the Day’ for battling corruption — one highlight of a nationwide torrent of media coverage of Avaaz’s 100,000-Spaniard petition and theatrical stunts calling for Spanish politicians with records of corruption to be barred from upcoming elections. The rising pressure is fuelling a national debate on corruption, and political parties are feeling the heat. | |
| Brazil: Blocking an Amazon-Destroying Mega-Dam | |
| The proposed Belo Monte dam complex, an environmental catastrophe in the making, has been delayed — thanks in part to thespectacular delivery led by indigenous tribes-people of more than 600,000 petition signatures from Avaazers in Brazil and around the world. The Organization of American States has now joined the opposition to the dam, saying it violates human rights — and the momentum is building to cancel it and focus on clean renewable energy sources instead. | |
| A Million-Strong Swarm to Save the Bees | |
| Over a million people, including 200,000 in France, signed an explosive petition to ban pesticides that are mass-killing bees the world over — and, standing with a team of French beekeepers, delivered the petition to the French Agriculture Minister at a major conference. The campaign continues, building pressure for action in France, the EU, and around the globe. | |
| Victory Over ‘False and Misleading’ News in Canada | |
| Conservative officials in Canada have been working to launch a Murdoch-style propagandistic TV network — but in February, when they moved to strike national journalism standards against false or misleading broadcasts, they brought down a firestorm of opposition. 100,000 Canadian Avaazers signed in opposition, and the outrageous proposal to undermine balanced reporting was withdrawn. | |
| Worldwide Solidarity for Egypt | |
| In the darkest hours of their struggle for liberation from Mubarak, Egyptians told the world they needed solidarity — and Avaaz members answered the call. 600,000 of us around the world signed messages of support carried by Al Jazeera broadcasts straight into Tahrir Square — helping to sustain a movement fueled by hope through some of it’s darkest and most uncertain hours. | |
| Mubarak’s Billions, Frozen | |
| When Mubarak left power in Egypt, he tried to take his stolen fortune with him — but within days, more than half a million of us petitioned the G20’s Finance Ministers to immediately freeze his billions, delivering the message with a ‘protest pyramid’ built opposite the Eiffel Tower during the ministers’ meeting. In the weeks following, the EU and countries around the world agreed to freeze the assets of Mubarak and his top aides. | |
| Under Pressure, South Africa Begins to Confront ‘Corrective Rape’ | |
| When a local group in South Africa launched a petition demanding that their government address ‘corrective rape’ — the sickening epidemic of rapes of lesbian women to ‘turn them straight’ — they were, at first, ignored. But when their petition reached 170,000 signatures, the government noticed — and now, with nearly a million of us signed on and massive media attention, the pressure for meaningful action is becoming unstoppable. | |
| Delivering 1 million voices for food safety | |
| Before the ink even dried on an exciting new tool for direct democracy in Europe, over one million people from every country in the EU took part in the first-ever European Citizens’ Initiative — a process where people can lodge official petitions that require a response. Avaaz members called for an immediate freeze on genetically modified crops entering the EU until objective studies free from industry influence could show they were safe. The initiative had a spectacular delivery directly to the EUCommission that flooded the media with coverage and sent a clear message to officials. | |
| … And All of This is 100% Funded by Avaaz Members Worldwide! | |
| All of these campaigns are demonstrations of the promise of people power — of what’s possible when we come together to do what’s right. And all of them were funded entirely by small donations from Avaaz members, including almost 250,000 of us who have donated to Avaaz campaigns and 10,000 of us who have become ‘sustainers’ and donated a few dollars or euros a week or month to cover all of Avaaz’s core costs — click here to join in giving
. Because of these small donations, Avaaz doesn’t have to answer to corporate sponsors, large individual donors, or government grantmakers. Instead, Avaaz is accountable only to its members, and all our dreams of a better world for all. With hope and enormous appreciation for the service of every person in this amazing community, Ricken, Ben, Saloni, Alice, Graziela, David, Shibayan, Morgan, Tihomir, Emma, Giulia, Rewan, Kien, Luis, Alex, Mia, Stephanie, Milena, Heather, Veronique, Iain, Pascal, Benjamin, Yura, Laura, Saravanan, JC, Alma, Dominick, Brianna, Sam, Mohammad, Tricia, Janet, Laryn, Aleksandr, Maksim, Denis and all the volunteers, translators, and all the members of the Avaaz team. |
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SOURCES:
Avaaz feature article, Times of London
http://avaaz.org/times_of_london_feature
India corruption campaign coverage, The Hindu
http://avaaz.org/the_hindu_hazare_launch
Hilton joins anti-trafficking agreement, ECPAT-USA
http://avaaz.org/ecpat_release
Murdoch poll coverage, The Guardian
http://avaaz.org/murdoch_poll_guardian
‘Angel of the Day’ article, La Republica (in Spanish)
http://avaaz.org/republica_angel_of_the_day
European Citizens’ Initiative lauded, Le Monde (in French)
http://avaaz.org/le_monde_eci
See more Avaaz media hits here:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/media.php
Avaaz also partially funded and housed a project which conducted the first-ever public opinion survey of refugees from the brutal conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Here’s the poll result:
http://avaaz.org/darfur_report
Support the Avaaz community! We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way — donate here
.
Stopp grov amerikansk tortur av Bradley Manning
Bradley Manning tortures nå på det groveste i amerikansk militærfengsel. Skriv under på oppropet fra Avaaz til den amerikanske regjeringen mot det som bryter mot menneskerettigheten:
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Dear friends,
Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning is being subjected to brutal torture in a US military prison, part of a broader effort to silence and intimidate those behind any further leaks. The government is split on Manning’s abuse. President Obama cares about the US global reputation — a massive global outcry can push him to stop the torture: |
Right now, Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning is being tortured in a US military prison. Manning is subjected to utter isolation that can drive many people insane, with short periods each day where he is stripped naked and abused by jeering inmates.
Manning is awaiting trial for releasing secret military documents to Wikileaks – including a video of US soldiers massacring Iraqi civilians. And his brutal treatment appears to be part of an intimidation campaign to silence whistleblowers and crack down on Wikileaks. The US government is split on this issue, with diplomats publicly criticizing the military for Manning’s treatment, but President Obama has stood aside so far.
Obama cares about the US’s global reputation – we need to show him that it’s at stake here. Let’s build a massive global call to the US government to stop torturing Manning and uphold the law. Sign the petition below — our message will be delivered through hard-hitting ads and actions in Washington DC as soon as we reach 250,000 signatures:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/bradley_manning_1/?vl
On paper, the United States opposes torture. The US Constitution forbids “cruel and unusual punishment”. And, along with almost a hundred other countries, the US has signed an international convention promising to treat all prisoners “with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”. But today, Bradley Manning is utterly isolated in a cell without sheets, not allowed to exercise and is being subjected to brutal humiliation that is causing serious mental harm. This violates US and international law.
Bradley is being held under ‘prevention of injury’ status despite 16 reports from military mental health professionals that he should be removed from these severe conditions. His lawyers are trying to enforce his basic constitutional and international human rights in court, but so far the military tribunal responsible for Bradley’s fate has ignored his suffering.
There has been a crack down on Wikileaks since the explosive revelations of US military crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many speculate that this brutal pressure on Bradley is intended to force him to implicate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. But Obama promised Americans and the world that he would protect, not persecute, whistleblowers:
“Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled.”
Bradley’s cruel treatment does the opposite and sends a chilling message to others who may want to expose important information. Let’s act quickly to put massive international pressure on the United States government to honor its commitment to human rights, the protection of whistleblowers and end the shockingly cruel treatment of their own citizen. Sign the petition below:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/bradley_manning_1/?vl
Bradley Manning claims he is a patriot and has admitted to releasing information that he felt the world had a right to know. While reasonable people can disagree about the approach of Wikileaks and the the rights or wrongs of those who delivered information to them, the illegal torture of Bradley Manning, who has yet to receive a fair trial or be convicted of any crime, is a shameful violation of human rights and human dignity.
With hope and determination,
Emma, Ricken, Pascal, Janet and the rest of the Avaaz team
Sources:
Check out Obama’s statement on the importance of whistleblowing released on his official website http://change.gov/agenda/ethics_agenda/
PJ Crowley resigns over Bradley Manning remarks, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/pj-crowley-resigns-bradley-manning-remarks
Soldier’s inhumane imprisonment, LA Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/10/opinion/la-ed-manning-20110110
US: Explain Conditions of Bradley Manning’s Confinement, Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/16/us-explain-conditions-bradley-manning-s-confinement
Stripped naked every night, Bradley Manning tells of prison ordeal, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/stripped-naked-bradley-manning-prison
WikiLeakers and Whistle-Blowers: Obama’s Hard Line, Time
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058340,00.html
The Implications of the Inhumane Treatment of Bradley Manning, Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-kane/bradley-manning-obama_b_832933.html
U.S. Pledges Rights Improvements, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/19briefs-ART-Nations.html
Bradley Manning: charge sheet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/interactive/2011/mar/04/bradley-manning-charge-sheet
Support the Avaaz community! We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way — donate here.
Murdoch er en trussel mot demokratiet
Rupert Murdoch anses av mange som en av de største truslene mot demokratiene. I løpet av de siste årene har han brukt sin mediakontroll til å påvirke til at USA har gått til krig mot Irak, å få valgt George W Bush til amerikansk president, i tillegg til at han har motarbeidet informasjon om klimaendringer. Media framstilles ofte som den fjerde statsmakt, og denne makten brukes på ulikt vis. I Fox News er det blitt kjent at nyhetsredaktørene har fått klare instrukser om å ikke nevne global oppvarming i noen nyhetsreportasjer. Murdoch holder allerede en klam hånd over ulike media i USA, Storbrittania og Australia.
Nå ser Murdoch seg om etter flere beitemarker. Den britiske BSkyB er sett ut som neste offer der han ønsker totalkontroll. Det undersøkes nå hvorvidt dette strider med ulike regler inkludert regler om konkurranse. Mange vil også hevde at Murdoch både er mektigere og farligere for demokratiene i verden enn Berlusconi, til tross for at sistnevnte formelt sitter som statsminister. Med bakgrunn i dette er det nå startet en underskriftskampanje for å hindre at han får fullstendig mediakontroll, og for å stoppe overtakelsen av BSkyb. Kanskje blir Norge også neste.
Du kan også bidra til å hindre at Murdoch skaper et enda farligere, kontrollerende og mer undertrykkende mediaimperium ved å sette din underskrift på:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_rupert_murdoch_3/?vl
Kilder:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/27/rupert-murdoch-bskyb-monopolies
Den skjulte sannheten om krigføringa i Irak
For de som vil se litt av den skjulte sannheten om den amerikanske krigføringa i Irak, gir følgende youtube klipp fra WikiLeaks en skremmende beskrivelse. Klippet viser også litt av bakgrunnen til WikiLeaks:
Tyranniets krampetrekninger
Gaddafi har sittet ved makten i Libya siden 1969 og er nå den lengstsittende statsleder i verden. Det rapporteres nå at han har kommandert jagerfly til å bombe eget folk, og at rundt 400 mennesker har blitt drept bare i løpet av det siste døgnet.
Midt i grusomhetene er det også helter. Dette inkluderer obserster som har blitt kommandert til å bombe sitt eget folk, men i steden har desertert og gått i eksil til Malta.
Noe som gjør forholdene spesielt vanskelige for demonstrantene er at både internett og telefonforbindelser har blitt kuttet, slik at det er vanskelig å kommunisere. Avaaz har i denne sammenheng en innsamlingskampanje for å få satt opp “blackout” sikre kommunikasjonskanaler. Ønsker du å støtte dette, kan du klikke deg inn på denne linken.
Kilder:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/21/libya-protests-bloodiest-yet-gaddafi
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/libya-gunshots-screams-revolution?CMP=twt_fd
http://www.nettavisen.no/nyheter/article3096264.ece
green ubuntu 