Achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals

This blog's purpose is to connect in an every widening and deepening manner with others across the globe in support of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

Let's be the first generation to end poverty by 2015 with the United Nations' Eight Goal Millennium Campaign.
1. End Hunger 2. Universal Education 3. Gender Equity 4. Child Health 5. Maternal Health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases 7. Environmental Sustainability 8. Global Partnership.

Learn more about what this weblog is trying to accomplish at the new PBworks Wiki.

What If - Millennium Development Goals Ending Poverty 2015

Showing posts with label avaaz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label avaaz. Show all posts

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Committment to Global Food Security Sadly Lacking

Sphere: Related Content This post is made up from a number of sources provided by Avaaz, which sometime ago sent a request to join in the call urging world leaders to make good on their promises to tackle the world food crisis by delivering a strong agriculture and food security package for developing countries.

Zunia provided a link to E-Learning: Food Security Information for Action. The link leads to information on the work that the FAO and European Union are doing together on Food Security Information for Decision Making. The goal is the Linking Information and Decision Making to Improve Food Security. The program offers self-paced e-learning, developed by international experts to support capacity building and on-the-job Training and Workshops at national and local food security information systems and networks. You can try a sample lesson "What is Food Security?"

This is one of the times that the effort did not reach its goal either in numbers or in effect. World leaders who met in Rome in November of 2009 for the World Food Summit, backed out on a pledge to fund lifesaving food production. The countries of France, Germany, UK, Italy and Japan all backed out on a $20 billion promise made earlier this year. Only $3 billion or Only 15% of G8 pledge was new money, according to Reuters.

The BBC reports Global Hunger worsening, warns UN's annual report on global food security which confirms that more than one billion people - a sixth of the world's population - are undernourished. This is a scandal with literally millions facing life-threatening hunger especially when the economic crisis has only made the situation wors and billions were found to help out the banks. Although the world produces enough food to feed everyone, according to this report for World Food Day: There is enough food grown in the world for everyone (Op-ed), Oxfam International: chronic hunger across the planet has reached the record-high figure of 1 billion this year.

Change.org, even more recently shifted the focus back to the United States and President Obama with the message: Feed the Hungry Instead of Wall Street

Most of the time, broken promises from politicians barely raise an eyebrow.

But what if a broken promise condemned one sixth of the world's population to chronic hunger?

The world's most powerful leaders, including President Obama, did just that in November when they refused to even show up for the Food Security Summit in Rome.

And just four months after promising $22 billion to fight hunger, the G8 leaders still haven't spelled out how they will fund it.

Don't let world leaders get away with ignoring the problem of global hunger.

Ask President Obama to take the lead and demand world leaders make good on their promise >

- The Change.org Team in partnership with ActionAid

They are working with the anti-poverty organisation ActionAid, which brings over 30 years of knowledge and experience in fighting poverty by applying the following principles:

  • Work together with poor people, local partners and organisations in combating poverty
  • Focus on fighting against the causes of poverty, not just the results.
Their efforts are prioritized into five areas of work to make the most difference:
  1. education,
  2. hiv and aids,
  3. food rights,
  4. emergencies,
  5. women and girls and
  6. governance.
Here is ActionAid's HungerFREE Scorecard which sees small scale farming systems being critical in tackling hunger and poverty:
This is an in-depth investigation into what 50 governments (poor and rich) are doing to tackle the billion hungry. Giving them each scores based on their achievements and policies.

While some of the poorest countries in the world have been able to reduce the number of hungry people, many of the richest countries lag shockingly behind.

More information about ActionAid´s HungerFREE global campaign:
  • # The ActionAid HungerFREE campaign aims to put the issue of hunger to the top of the political agenda. The right to food has been sidelined for too long!
  • # We are a global campaign that lobbies governments to deliver on their commitment to halve world hunger by 2015.
  • # We want to ensure that corporations are held accountable for abuses of the rights to food, water, land and seeds
  • # We believe that low-impact farming by small-holder farmers is the best way to tackle hunger. A UN study found sustainable agriculture increased crop yields in Africa by an astonishing 116%.
  • # We’re teaming up with hungry people and communities, individual farmers, farmers’ groups, supporters, celebrities, artists, influencers and sympathetic politicians – all with one thing in common – we are determined to end hunger.

There is growing evidence, like this article from Greenpeace, showing that intensive farming models are not only ineffectual in countering hunger, they have a highly damaging affect on our environment. However, as strange as it may sound to some, an argument could be made that it makes more sense to work with businesses than governments. UN meets with food businesses to discuss food security Reuters(11/12)

Private sector, governments, non-government organisations should work together to solve long-term problems in developing countries and eradicate hunger in the world, said Ertharin Cousin, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. food agencies in Rome.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Help Free Aung San Suu Kyi - Late Better Than Never - Small Better Than None

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In my last post I wrote about not participating in the Amnesty International letter writing campaign and provided some excuses for not doing so. The undone and unsent posts remained in my drafts and one in particular gnawed at me.

Amnesty International had reminded me that the military rulers of Myanmar have jailed thousands in their efforts to crush all dissent – including prisoner of conscience and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. But the pressure on Myanmar's leaders is building, and Suu Kyi's release is not only possible today, but could happen very soon.

The more letters we send, the better chance we have at setting Aung San Suu Kyi free.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been a source of inspiration for both this blog and for My Pathways to New Paradigms, which helped define this journey. There have been times when I have been skeptical of these efforts but this time I am putting those thoughts aside.

So even if it is the end of the campaign and its is only one letter, I fulfilled a pledge to write a letter on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi: Yes, I will write a letter!

Senior General Than Shwe
Chairman State Peace and Development Council c/o Ministry of Defense Naypyitaw UNION OF MYANMAR (Burma)

Dear Senior General:

I am deeply concerned that Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced in August 2009 to 18 months of house arrest after already spending 14 of the past 20 years under detention or restriction because of her work to protect human rights in Myanmar. She is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners detained in Myanmar, including student leaders Htay Kywe, Mie Mie, and Zaw Htet Ko Ko, Buddhist monk U Gambira, and political activist U Win Htein.

The sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to 18 months of detention is an affront to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which your government is obliged to uphold as a member of the United Nations.


Our President Obama urged Myanmar's Prime Minister, Thein Sein, to release democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in Myanmar when he met with the leaders of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
.

I urge you to demonstrate Myanmar’s commitment to human rights by ordering the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.


Sincerely,


Brian Dowling


copy to:
U Myint Lwin Minister-Counselor,
Charge d’Affaires Ad
Interim
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S Street NW Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 332 4351 Email: info@mewashingtondc.com


It is a very minor effort in this year's Amnesty International Global Write-a-thon which has as this year's goal 10,000 activists sending 250,000 letters compared to last year's of 7,000 people in the U.S. who wrote 200,000 letters in support. Still, it will add one more straw to the junta's back. Even though the effort seems meager and last minute, I keep in mind what else Amnesty International reminded me about.

P.S. – We've seen prisoners freed and lives spared when letters flood into government offices! Just last year, Ma Khin Khin Leh, a school teacher in Myanmar and Hana Abdi, a women's rights advocate in Iran, were both released from prison after Write-a-thon letters overwhelmed their respective government offices.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Avaaz Wake Up Call WOW

Sphere: Related Content Here is the Avaaz take on the efforts for climate change across the globe last Monday. Some may question how much impact these efforts actually had, but one means of enhancing that impact is to reblog and mash these features into other outlets. I threw in the Gordon Brown interview from No 10.
Wow. Monday's Wake Up call was unbelievable - 2632 events in 134 countries, tens of thousands of phone calls crashing government lines, unbelievable creativity and diversity of events, directly reaching heads of state and cabinet ministers from Australia to Europe. Words can't describe it -- this video gets close:

Click here to learn more about the video.
The Wake Up call was covered by hundreds of major news outlets and made the evening news everywhere from Germany to New Zealand. Europe's environment chief praised "the mobilisation of so many people by Avaaz.org", the UK Prime Minister became the first major world leader to agree to our demand to go to Copenhagen and said that with "the pressure that can brought by organizations like yours...what people think is impossible can become possible".

Friday, September 18, 2009

Two Pathways For Having Your Say on Climate Control

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Two different pathways for getting involved with influencing the United Nations led conference on Climate Control. The first for the more extroverted and the second for the less so. This were dealt with before at the Taking Global Action to protect the environment sooner better than later post.

A staggering Avaaz announces 1000 events in 88 countries for next Monday's great global climate wake up call!



Check out this incredible list and map of over 1500 events for the great global climate wake-up call on Monday. Brazil has 153 events, France 95, New Zealand 26 --

Let's make sure leaders at the UN climate summit wake up on Tuesday morning to news that 1559 rallies, marches, meetings and "flashmobs" across the planet have flooded the airwaves and their phone lines with an irresistible call for action...

The press is reporting that urgent negotiations on a global deal to stop a climate catastrophe are in shambles - our leaders just aren't making the hard choices needed -- they're feeling more pressure from oil and coal companies than they are from ordinary people concerned about reversing the climate crisis and unleashing a new green economy. Sept. 21st is the moment to change all that.

Not all events are the same -- many Wake-Up Call events are thrilling in their variety -- monks will chant prayers, churches will ring bells, some will show the new cool climate film "Age of Stupid". Click to find an event nearby, RSVP, and tell friends about it:

Images and videos from the Global Wake-Up Call events will be combined and shown in 700 satellite-linked cinemas at the Age of Stupid's global premiere!

Here is the second pathway

UN Foundation
You've heard about the drastic global effects of climate change -- severe heat waves, intense droughts, and rising sea levels. Many of us picture these impacts happening in far-off lands in arid deserts or on polar ice caps. But climate change hits closer to home than that: your home.

In our last e-mail
, you read about how our world leaders will address climate change on a high level at Copenhagen. But now is our time to act -- when more than six billion of us can tell our leaders how climate change will forever alter our everyday lives.

Tell us what you'll miss most if we don't act soon. Visit the "It's Getting Personal" Climate Board, and share your quotes, videos, and pictures describing what's about to disappear from your life due to climate change.

It can be a person, place, or thing … written, taped, or photographed … whatever best captures the impact of climate change on YOU.

It's getting personal. Submit your story to the Climate Board and make your voice heard!

Together, we can bring this issue to the forefront. Thank you!

Best,

The UN Foundation Climate and Energy Team
(Reid, Ryan, Jana, Kurt, and John)


P.S. Want to learn more about climate change? You can browse our site and check out the climate glossary for more info.

Take action to save what you love!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Taking Global Actions to Protect the Global Climate

Sphere: Related Content

Besides the Stand Up Take Action Against Poverty event in October, the next important event that this blog will be tracking is the World Climate Forum in Copenhagen in December of this year. Here are two pathways to learn from and help with this important goal below.

Millennium Development Goal 7. Environmental Sustainability is necessary to the long term viability of Millennium Goal 1. End Hunger as it will be developing countries that will suffer the worst impact on food producing industries.

Over 100,000 participants from 182 countries voted in the Avaaz global poll - 96% of people said, YES, let's go all out on climate this month and commit to a "global wake-up call" to world leaders on September 21st by donating $25.00 or whatever you can afford.

The goal of our wake-up call is a big one: to convince the world's leaders to meet at the final climate talks in Copenhagen this December and sign an ambitious, fair and binding treaty to stop catastrophic climate change.

Talks on the treaty have been building for years. Now, less than 100 days from Copenhagen, we're nearing a tipping point -- and a huge global roar could make the difference.

If we take this on, we won't be alone. Avaaz has been working closely with a new, massive coalition of global civil society groups, from Oxfam to WWF to Greenpeace, to multiply the world's voices for climate action. The joint campaign's name is Tck Tck Tck -- the sound of a ticking clock, as time runs short. Every group involved shares the vision of success in Copenhagen, and we can't succeed without everyone. The question is -- should Avaaz make this climate wake-up call its #1 priority through September 21?

From the United Nations Foundation on Climate Change and Copenhagen:


UN Foundation

Dear Brian,

Climate ImpactDisappearing land. Displaced communities. The end of indigenous cultures. These aren't consequences of war -- they're the disastrous effects of climate change.

For years we've associated climate change with polar bears and rising sea levels -- things that few of us come in contact with. But the truth is that climate change is just as much about people -- our decisions, our homes, our lives. Unless we act with urgency to reduce global warming, it is our lives and the things we enjoy that will be changing.

The UN is already hard at work to address this crisis. Since 2007, world leaders have been working on a comprehensive global agreement to combat climate change, with talks set to culminate this December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

But for change to really take root, we need people to help people. You have the power to pull together and influence the future of climate change, while we can connect you and your ideas to the global UN family.

Leading this campaign is UN Foundation president Timothy E. Wirth, formerly a U.S. Senator and Undersecretary of State. Senator Wirth has helped shape climate change policy for over 20 years, from chairing the historic Hansen hearings that first brought the dangers of climate change to a broad audience, to today's efforts to adopt meaningful climate action both in the U.S. and internationally.

So we have world governments, policy-makers, and environmental groups involved -- the only piece missing is you. Will you join us and help take action against climate change?

We'll be sending out information soon about Copenhagen and your stake in it, plus details about what you can do to pitch in. So look to your inbox for more on the most important part of the climate change discussion -- people.

With best wishes,


Reid Detchon


Reid Detchon
Vice President, Energy and Climate Program

UN Foundation
Donate | Tell-a-friend | View in browser

1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036
© United Nations Foundation

Related Posts:

Monday, August 17, 2009

Aung San Suu Kyi Support gets thanks but not results

Sphere: Related Content I have written both on the seemingly vast potential of Web 2.0 to help us in our efforts in bettering the world and my own status as a slacktivist, recognizing that while this blog hopefully has some minimal impact it is certainly not at the level of resources and programs featured in this blog.

There is one cause, unfortunately, for which the promise of the web has not been realized and that slacktivist efforts and those far more in earnest have fallen short. That is the effort calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. It was through my first blog My Pathways to New Paradigms that I started learning more about Burma (now Myanmar under the current oppressive regime). This blog has also posted on the topic.

It continues to be an inspiring, but tragic story. It provided in part the inspiration to create this blog, and more importantly to see the world from a different perspective.

Avaaz asks help Free Aung San Suu Kyi

It is not the first time we have been called to help out, and I do not mean in anyway that we should not, but past actions have fallen short by a large margin. This even with the fact that the United Nations has condemned the actions of the government as illegal and activist organizations around the globe spoke up in protest. I understand the geo-political reasons for this, but that understanding is pointless here.

Avaaz was responsible for one such action. Back in March when I wrote the post they were at 143,838 participants supporting the Burmese. Now they are at 406,865. Their goal, because of the importance of the number 8 in Asian societies, is 888,888. Now I am not blaming Avaaz or anybody else or even myself. There doesn't seem to be any action that one could take to change this situation except keep pushing our leaders to push their leaders. Just realizing that there is no magic solution even on the Web.

Despite my current pessimism, I am providing this link so that more voices can be add to the call for freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi. http://bit.ly/16gzG9. This particular action is being put forward by Amnesty International USA.
Myanmar's military junta extended Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment by 18 months today after finding her guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest.

Critics of Myanmar's military regime condemned the outcome of the 3-month sham trial, calling it a pretext to keep Suu Kyi out of the running during next year's presidential elections.

The junta commuted Suu Kyi's sentence from three years hard labor in prison to an 18-month extension to her house arrest in the hopes that the international community will view the reduced sentence as an act of leniency.

But Suu Kyi should have never been imprisoned in the first place.

Suu Kyi's deplorable imprisonment has been denounced by everyone from heads of state worldwide to nine of Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel laureates. Join the court of world opinion in condemning Daw Ang San Suu Kyi's sham trial. Tell the leader of Myanmar's military junta that Suu Kyi shouldn't serve another minute of her sentence.

We know that the odds of success may seem stacked against us any time we appeal to authoritarian rulers. But the recent release of two U.S. journalists from North Korea is proof that even totalitarian regimes cave to relentless international pressure.

The fact that Myanmar's government reduced Suu Kyi's sentence is also a sign that the military regime is susceptible to the world community's criticisms.

We've proven time after time that even military dictatorships and other repressive regimes are no match for Amnesty's millions-strong global movement. Just last year, Ma Khin Khin Leh, another prisoner of conscience in Myanmar, obtained her release after Amnesty activists sent tens of thousands of letters to Myanmar's leaders on her behalf.

Join us today in calling for Daw Ang San Suu Kyi's immediate release. Go to: http://bit.ly/16gzG9

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Once Again Help Free Aung San Suu Kyi

Sphere: Related Content

Hi, I have written about this before. So have others though too many seem to be from Burma or Burma-related according to Sphere-it. For me, it was in support of an Avaaz action. Most of these words though modified are also taken from Avaaz, though the links are mine.

You remember the monks marching for democracy in Burma a couple of years ago who were brutally attacked by the military regime? Many of them are still locked away and have been languishing since in brutal Burmese prisons.

But now brave ex prisoners and activists are pushing for the release of all political prisoners, including Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Ex Presidents are supporting their campaign and the UN is finally beginning to get some out of jail.

I can't make any great claims to advocacy but my online persona has grown since 2007. I have signed a petition calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to prioritise their release. The more of us that sign, the more we make clear that the release of all prisoners is important to citizens across the world. So I am asking once again that you sign here and tell your friends!

This effort seems to have minimal impact in the main stream media. From Sphere-It, I found two recent articles.

  1. UN says Burma detention 'illegal'
    12 days ago from BBC
  2. Suu Kyi detention breaks Myanmar law: U.N. body - Boston.com
    12 days ago from Boston.com
The BBC report quoted Jared Genser, the Washington-based legal counsel to Ms Suu Kyi, who admitted that Burma's ruling military junta was unlikely to bow to UN advice on its own law.
No illusions

"I'm under no illusion that Aung San Suu Kyi will be immediately released because of this judgment. But at the same time I do think it is an important small step forward," he said.

We can all take a small step, we can all speak with a small voice. Here are others speaking about this issue.

  1. Burma news update San Oo Aungs Weblog
    3 days ago from San Oo Aung’s Weblog
  2. The sky is not blue in Burma
    4 days ago from Burma Newscasts
  3. Suu Kyi news on Chinese TV | ABITSU - All Burma I.T Students Union
  4. Seventeen US lawmakers have expressed deep concern over reports that the Obama administration is considering lifting economic sanctions against Burma and urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appoint a special coordinator for Burma.
    1 day ago from democracy for burma
    “We are greatly concerned about reports that during a recent visit by a senior US diplomat to Burma, this official ...
  5. Too many nations have forgotten that the Burmese military brutally crushed unarmed monks and civilians showing their support, resulting in the death of hundreds of protestors and detention of thousands more.
    5 days ago from democracy for burma
  6. Burma
  7. US Disappointed by Suu Kyi’s Detention
    6 days ago from The Sail
  8. Suu Kyi Climbs Higher in Time Magazine Poll
    4 days ago from ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS
  9. Article by Kyi May Kaung -- "Out of Burma" originally in Foreign Policy in Focus -- about state of Burmese literature and literature about Burma --
    4 days ago from KyiMayKaung
  10. Aung San Suu Kyi
    4 days ago from Annalisa's Blog
    Aung San Suu Kyi är en kvinna som ofta beskrivs som Burmas Ghandi, en kämpe mot det rådande förtrycket i Burma. I år är ...

Friday, March 20, 2009

Avaaz asks Help Free Aung San Suu Kyi

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The following is taken directly from the Avaaz email that was sent to me. I have also posted this at my other blog at which the topic of Burma has been a inspiration for new pathways . Many times though it is just a matter of helping to get the word out. I am only going to reach a small number of people, but if everyone kept passing this along awareness would increase exponentially. They were at 143,838 participants supporting the Burmese when I signed up. Help them get to 888,888.


Free Burma's Political Prisoners Now! from FBPPN on Vimeo.


Dear friends,
Burma's peaceful pro democracy activists are calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon to secure the release of political prisoners. Stand with them -

Burmese pro democracy leader and Nobel peace prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, has spent 13 years detained by the Burmese military junta. 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. Follow the link to sign the petition, and forward this email on to make sure she and her fellow prisoners are freed:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/free_burma_political_prisoners

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.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the international face of the struggle for democracy in Burma. She has been detained over and over again since 1988. She is now under house arrest and is allowed no contact with the outside world.

But growing international pressure is working -- In December, 112 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 50 countries sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to press for the release of all political prisoners, and 20 political prisoners were released in February after a United Nations envoy visited the country.

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/free_burma_political_prisoners

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.

In hope and solidarity,

Alice, Ricken, Pascal, Graziela, Veronique, Iain, Paul, Luis, Paula, Brett and the whole Avaaz team

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

For more about Burmese political prisoners visit:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46118

Article on torture in Burmese jails:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010201865.html

Some prisoners release after UN envoy visit February 2009:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/22/AR2009022201188.html

Letter from former presidents:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/news/Letter-from-112-Former-Presidents-and-Prime-Ministers-to-UN-Secretary-Gener

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

--------------

ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Buenos Aires, and Geneva. Call us at: +1 888 922 8229 or +55 21 2509 0368 Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns. Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Tear up the Myanmar junta's insurance

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This blog's latest online action was with the Bloggers Unite campaign in support of refugees. Another group that has had a number of worthwhile campaigns has been Avaaz. Here are some past campaigns supported by this blog Using the Web to take action is Change, Adding your voice to a cause is Change and What the world including me is saying to Obama. Burma has also been a topic for this blog with Refugees Across the Globe - A Millennium Problem, Open Architecture Network - Making a difference with the Web and Triangular Scale and with my other blog, Pathways to New Paradigms Even In A Digital World It Takes Real Heart To Make Change, Revisiting The Past Creating the Future and Burma Burning. Below is the latest action from Avaaz concerning Burma.

Dear friends, Myanmar

Burma is far from the headlines - but we've found a real pressure point, the insurers who prop up the junta's economic interests. Read the email and take action now!

A year after their crackdown, Burma's military dictators remain entrenched, propped up by dealings with Western companies. But the Burmese democracy movement has found a powerful pressure point -- many of the Generals' West-linked business ventures depend on one insurer: Lloyd's of London.[1]

Lloyd's is the world's oldest, most respected insurer, and cares a great deal about its global reputation -- by pointing out Lloyd's blameworthiness as key insurance deals come up for renewal, we can shift their cost-benefit calculations on support to the Burmese regime.

If enough of us email and call key decision-makers at Lloyd's this week, we could shame them into pulling out of this dirty trade, undermining the hardliners and creating pressure for human rights and the release of political prisoners like democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Follow this link to lend a hand to the Burmese people.

Lloyd's of London is the umbrella and overseer for hundreds of specialist insurance syndicates, and it can stop their dirty trade if it so chooses. Already many big global insurers have stopped insuring junta-linked businesses – after Lloyd's, the generals will start to run out of options. We'll ramp up the pressure by alerting the media to our campaign, specialist insurance publications included. Even the British government has begun to ask Lloyd's to cease its business with the Burmese military junta.[2]

If we win, the regime will be thrown onto the back foot, Burma's people will be immensely heartened, and the UN Secretary-General will have a greater chance of securing the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners this December.[3] Together, our individual small acts are becoming irresistible. We can't forget Burma.

With hope and determination,

Paul, Alice, Iain, Graziela, Ricken, Pascal, Paula, Brett, Veronique, Milena -- the entire Avaaz team

Sources:

1. The Observer: "The baron who holds Burma's purse strings", 2 November 2008

Reinsurance Magazine: Big insurers including Marsh, Swiss Re, AON pull out:

Arab Insurance Group and XL also pull out

2. "Foreign Office warns Lloyd's over Burma"

3. As Ban Ki-Moon prepares to visit, Asia-Europe summit in Beijing calls for release of political prisoners:


ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva.

Click here to learn more about Avaaz's largest campaigns.


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What the world including me is saying to Obama

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Hi, I have sent a message to new US president Barack Obama which is going up on the Avaaz's Global Message-to-Obama Wall in Washington DC-- people all over the world are sending messages and photos.

Dear President Obama:

As citizens across the world, we congratulate you on your election, and celebrate your campaign commitments to sign a strong new global treaty on climate change, close Guantanamo prison and end torture, withdraw carefully from Iraq, and double aid to fight poverty. No one country or leader can meet the world's most pressing challenges alone, but working together as one world in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation, yes we can bring real and lasting change.

In just the first 24 hours, over 150,000 people (make that now over 220,000) from 189 countries (make that now 224 countries) have signed and sent a message for Barack Obama to our huge global wall in the centre of Washington DC, and it has been covered on CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and in the US on front pages of two of the biggest newspapers and on the evening news!

If you haven't already, follow the link to see the Wall and send your message to friends and family who might want to join in:

With hope,

Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Brett, Paul, Alice, Milena, Paula, Ben, the whole Avaaz Team and tagging along with millions of others Brian Dowling.

Here are some key campaign promises made by Barack Obama:
  • - Reduce the US's carbon emissions 80 by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol
  • - Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country
  • - Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
  • - Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
  • - Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
  • - Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
  • - De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
  • - Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
  • - Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015

Saturday, October 25, 2008

The U.S. Election and Science and Hope

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The next event of major importance to the United States, and arguably to the world, is the American Presidential Election. My political leanings put me squarely in the Barack Obama camp and have from the beginning of the primaries. The question for us in the States is how will President Obama govern? Here is one possible paradigm.


success Lynn Sweet Predicts the Senate Outcome if Obama Wins
Sweet recognizes Obama's allies in the Senate as a strength, but also asserts Obama goes by the numbers and may initially cater to Republican Senators.

The question for this blog is how does that relate to the Millennium Development Goals? The answer is significantly. The inquiry though goes beyond specific political choices to understanding how this affects our world and our ability to make beneficial changes in it. One important pathway for change has been science and one favorite source has been Scientific American. They recently had a special issue on the American Election. I am providing links that they sent me below.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE

According to Avaaz, this election will change the globe -- it's as simple as that!It will determine if we see a timed end to the war in Iraq, whether America joins the global community in tackling climate change,how much the nation invests in renewable energy and whether America redoubles its commitment to fighting global poverty.

If you want to see if your views generally match the views espoused by this weblog take the U.S. Presidential Choice Quiz Now.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Using the Web to take action is Change

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The outreach of the web as a tool for change is undeniable. What could be questioned is its effectiveness. What seems to insure effectiveness is, like any other political action, is the number who participate. Worrying if my particular post is going to change the world is not useful, but participating even with a small voice in a greater cause does have efficacy.

Being relatively new to this endeavor, I continue to find new resources for engagement. The latest is Avaaz.
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva.
My first action with them was to sign the petition The Poverty Promise Breakers.

This week world leaders gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Here, all focus is on a multi billion dollar bailouts of financial institutions and the real untold scandal -- global poverty -- risks being forgotten. France, Canada, and Italy are threatening to slash their development aid budgets and break their promise to assign a mere 0.7 % of national income to the world's poorest. If these countries retract on commitments, others may follow --

Petition to President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Berlusconi and Prime Minister Harper:
As concerned global citizens, we urge you to honour your pledge to deliver 0.7% of GDP to development aid. This aid is vital to lift the world’s most vulnerable people out of extreme poverty. Keep your promise so that the potential of the world’s poorest communities can be unleashed and our common future can be built.

They are looking to reach 150,000 signatures. They were at 136,726 when I wrote this. I grabbed to petition off of the Avaaz site under the belief that people are more likely to sign if they see it immediately as opposed to going to another window. I am taking it for granted that Avaaz won't mind.

clipped from www.avaaz.org
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Second action with Avaaz.



Adding your voice to a cause is Change

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I have added my voice to the campaign for buy-ins and a global public rescue plan, instead of bailouts which benefit reckless financiers most. The petition will be delivered to Finance Ministers of the G7 countries in Washington by the end of the week, and to a Global Crisis Summit including many heads of state in November.

I have never been a Milton Friedman-type freemarketer, but I do believe in the Free Enterprise system as the most effective tool to bringing beneficial change to the world. That is a seemingly tenuous statement to make in these times. There are many who will deride me for having too much or not enough faith in the capitalistic system. My argument is not with the system, but with those who have abused the system and those who have institutionalized the means of abuse.

Yesterday MARK LANDLER of the New York Time BUSINESS reported on Rich Nations Pushing for Joint Financial Rescue

The United States and six other nations agreed to a plan to rescue the financial industry, but fell short of offering concrete steps to backstop bank lending.

My action was signing the petition supporting a "buy-in" rescue package instead of a bail-out. I am not in favor of nationalizing banks, but my action or the collective action, will not lead to that. It will endeavor though, I believe, to put greater controls on those institutions. I signed the Avaaz petition because I believe they made a viable argument for doing so.

Leading economists now agree that citizens and our governments are the only force powerful enough to solve this crisis -- only the public can mobilise the investment and oversight needed to fix the financiers' failings, get the economy moving and revive things on a sounder basis. The Great Depression of the 1930s teaches us that we cannot address this crisis with each acting alone -- only by acting together can countries head off disaster.

According to Calculated Risk, "This would essentially be the plan supported by most economists":


VOX cites 18 leading economists from across the political spectrum and around the world -- "Rescuing our jobs and savings: what G7/G8 leaders can do":

How we respond to this crisis will shape our lives for years to come. We're still a long way from tackling the fundamental problems of the global economy, but the tide is moving in our direction. So let's take control of our future in the interests of people not financiers, and raise a worldwide voice across borders for a global public rescue. 3.4 million of us in every nation of the world will get this email -- that's a start. Click below to sign, forward this email to all your friends and family, and let's raise a voice our leaders can't ignore:
clipped from www.avaaz.org
Sign the Petition
Already Avaaz member? Enter your email address and hit "Send".


First time here? Please fill out the form below.
Name:
Email:
Cell/Mobile (optional):
Country:
Postcode:
Avaaz.org will protect your privacy and keep you posted about this and similar campaigns.
Sent with Clipmarks
































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