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Sunday, June 21, 2009 Everyone has the right... "Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association....The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections..." --Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Farsi/Persian Translation)
Friday, June 19, 2009 To Our Brothers and Sisters in Iran I've heard that there may be some university students in Tehran and others in Iran reading this blog. No one from so far away and in great safety can say to another that they should risk their lives, even in a just cause like yours. It is up to you to decide what is best for you, your families, and your country. There is no certainty as to what will happen tomorrow and in the coming days, or whether the risks you may take will bring the liberation and rights that you seek in the short run. A year ago, many people doubted that it would be possible for America to elect a black president. But, it was accomplished. Now, you are the voices of hope and of change. Whatever happens, know that we are watching very closely, and there will be public demonstrations for you here as well. What so many of us in America and around the world want you to know is that our hearts are with you, and we are with you in spirit. You are the face of history today.
Thursday, June 18, 2009 The Whole World is Watching Iran: Calls to Action As Iranian pro-democracy demonstrations continue, calls from within and outside the country are being made for global support for the peaceful protests. Iranian Artists in Exile's "Open Letter to the People of the World" (see YouTube below) is particularly powerful.
A couple of simple actions you can take: (1) Click here or on Amnesty International (AI) USA logo below to sign an AI-sponsored email to Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's "Supreme Leader," urging him to "ensure that security agents will exercise restraint in the use of lethal force to respond to protests, and to refrain from beating people for exercising their right to freedom of expression and association."
(2) Click here or on Center for the Study of Strategic Nonviolent Defense logo below to sign a petition calling on the United Nations to demand that Iran:
If you know of a website or wiki that is coordinating protests in support of Iranian democracy, please email me at joel@topia.net, and I will post them here.
Monday, June 15, 2009 In Solidarity with Iranian Democracy As American-world victims of Bush v. Gore 2000, it's easy for us all to identify with those on the streets of Iran today, protesting what certainly looks like a stolen election (see Juan Cole's June 13 blog for a concise analysis of the election results).
According to some estimates (see video below), Iran has the third largest number of bloggers of any nation, many of them young people speaking out anonymously for greater freedoms and human rights in their country. These blogs and tweets, like the demonstrations these past days in the streets, tell the world that a different Iran than the ruling regime imposes is impatiently beginning to emerge.
The Twitter feed for Iranian opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has some of the best up-to-the-minute English-language information on the events unfolding directly from Iran. Nico Pitney's Huffington Post blog and Andrew Sullivan's blog are also focused almost exclusively at the moment on the events in Iran, with many links to other sources.
Friday, May 29, 2009 64 For Suu: International Campaign to Free Imprisoned Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is "in desperate need of proper medical treatment," according to Burma's National League for Democracy. The international campaign to release the democratically elected leader of Burma, a champion of nonviolence, has kicked into high gear over the past weeks, since her new arrest and trial by the Burmese military government. A new organization, 64forsuu.com, has been formed to coordinate appeals for her release from around the world.
Below is a video of Aung San Suu Kyi, explaining the Burmese pro-democracy movement's commitment to nonviolence:
Monday, May 26, 2009 California Court: Marriage is a Right, Just Not Significant Enough to Uphold for Everyone One of the basic reasons we have a constitution and the rule of law is to protect the rights of the minority against the unfair prejudices of the majority. This the California Supreme Court failed to do today, in ruling that the majority has the right to deny equal marriage rights to same-sex couples. As California Supreme Court Justice Carolos Moreno wrote in dissent to today's decision to uphold Proposition 8, this "is not just a defeat for same-sex couples, but for any minority group that seeks the protection of the equal-protection clause of the California Constitution." The California court had a precedent they could have followed to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional, a 1996 US Supreme Court decision, Romer v. Evans, involving a constitutional amendment, Amendment 2, passed by a majority in Colorado, and intended to deny state and local government protection of "homosexuals, lesbians or bisexuals" from discrimination. As Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority in that decision, striking down Colorado Proposition 2: "A state cannot...deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws." That eloquent phrasing captured the essential meaning of equal protection under the law, and applied it to same-sex discrimination.
The California court today responded to the elegant truth of the Romer decision with the convoluted logic that the definition of marriage may be a right (which they had asserted in an earlier decision), but it could be made an exception to equal protection because it is not an substantive or fundamental right: "Proposition 8 does not by any means “repeal” or “strip” gay individuals or same-sex couples of the very significant substantive protections afforded by the state equal protection clause either with regard to the fundamental rights of privacy and due process or in any other area, again with the sole exception of access to the designation of “marriage” to describe their relationship." Not a substantive or fundamental right? Tell that to the people on both sides of the Proposition 8 fight who spent tens of millions of dollars and uncounted hours of election campaigning. So, now there will be protest, community organizing and a new statewide vote, likely in 2010. Eventually, same sex marriage will be an unquestioned right, as obvious to the fair-minded as interracial marriage. But, in the meantime, we protest. Protests Click here to find protests of the California Supreme Court decision in your area, or click here to read about how have a text message about local protests sent directly to your phone. Background On Tuesday, May 26, the California Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which bans same sex marriage in California.
The People Affected: "Please Don't Divorce Us" The Universal Civil Rights Implications NAACP President Julian Bond spoke recently about the parallels between the struggles for GLBT civil rights and those for African Americans. Source: Human Rights Campaign Prop 8: The Musical
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
Friday, May 15, 2009 "Gross National Happiness"--How Bhutan Has Formulated an Alternative to GNP/GDP Today's New York Times carries a fascinating story about how the country of Bhutan has formulated an alternative to GNP/GDP for calculating its national wealth and well-being. It is called "gross national happiness (GNH)." Unlike GDP, GNH takes into account non-economic factors in its calculation of societal health, including "psychological well-being, ecology, health, education, culture, living standards, time use, community vitality and good governance." The Center for Bhutan Studies' website provides fuller background and a description of the measures. Wednesday, April 1, 2009 As G20 Leaders Meet to Address Global Economic Crisis, Public Offers Policy Alternatives to "Put People FIrst"
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 Obama and the Dawn of Transformational Politics There’s a healing ritual in Bali where people who have been wounded, either physically or spiritually, go back to the place where they were wounded, and bring back into themselves the spirits that left them when the wound occurred. A lot of us, myself included, have felt a particular kind of wound over the last the last eight years, especially since September 11 and everything that followed it: the war in Iraq, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, rendition, torture, domestic spying. Those policies collectively changed both the perception and the reality of what America is, and what the world can be. So, the inauguration of Barack Obama is not only a chance for us to celebrate a change in all those policies, but also a chance to heal a deep wound about what it means to be an American citizen, and a citizen of the world.
But, even more than that, I think that what Barack Obama represents is a shift from progressive, liberal politics to "transformational politics," a phrase that has now entered our political vocabulary. Transformational politics is different from liberal or progressive politics in that it assumes a progressive direction, but it adds one more element: an engaged citizenry. It was Obama’s campaign strategy and his intention for his presidency to transform the way people understand their role in a democracy. More than 280,000 people created accounts on barackobama.com; they created 6,500 grassroots volunteer groups; and they submitted 15,000 policy ideas. His official technology policy says that he will “involve the public in the work of (government), not simply by soliciting opinions, but by tapping into the vast and distributed expertise of the American citizenry to help government make more informed decisions.” So, we need to see this moment not as an external event in history that we are witnesses to, but history that we are participants in. That will be the healing that we need, and that will be change worth hoping for. Saturday, January 3, 2009 A Song Around the World: "Stand by Me" "Playing for Change" is a documentary film and social movement aimed at connecting people through music. "Stand by Me," below, is the first individual release of one of the film's "songs around the world," featuring an ensemble of musicians from Africa, Europe, Asia,, and the Americas, adding their parts as the music video unfolds. For more, check out the Playing for Change website.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008 40th Anniversary of an Image that Illuminates the World In 1948, thirteen years before the first human cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth, Sir Fred Hoyle wrote prophetically of one of the as-yet unforeseen impacts of space exploration: "[O]nce a photograph of the Earth, taken from the outside, is available...a new idea as powerful as any in history will let loose." On December 24, 1968, that dream was realized, when Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, in orbit around the moon, took the photograph now widely known as "Earthrise."
Here, finally, was undeniable proof of the assertion of seers, sages, and prophets throughout the ages, that humanity is one family whose home is this planet. Many credit the image for inspiring the rise of the environmental movement, and the first Earth Day in 1970. But, the wider enduring impact of the image will be that it serves as a counterpoint to all social, religious, political, cultural, and economic worldviews that are based on dividing humanity, and all living beings on Earth. It is an image that tells us that those who would divide the world are the naive ones, and that those who are often called utopian or unreasonably idealistic for reaching out for world peace and social justice are in fact advancing the most realistic and practical social and political vision. Friday, December 5, 2008 Prop 8--The Musical This is pretty amazing: a three-minute musical that sums up everything about Proposition 8 in the aftermath of the Obama election--and even solves the economic crisis. Conceived by Marc Shalman, and starring Jack Black (as Jesus), John C. Reilly, Margaret Cho, Kathy Najimy, Neil Patrick Harris, and a cast of thousands.
Sunday, November 15, 2008 International Protest Against California Proposition 8 Marks New Phase in American Civil Rights Movement According to the New York Times, protests against California Proposition 8 and for marriage equality took place today in eight countries, 50 states and 300 cities. At the San Francisco protest, Dr. Amos Brown, President of the San Francisco NAACP, spoke about black-gay solidarity in the civil rights movement, and encouraged those seeking marriage equality to learn from the experiences of the African-American civil rights struggle: "Don't let anyone turn you around. Keep the faith. You will win." Below are some pictures from today's San Francisco rally, a video of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragoisa, speaking at the gathering in his city, and a video compilation of recent protests by IntheMo.com. The protest organizing website, Join the Impact, has photos and videos from other rallies around the world, and information about future events.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 National Protest This Saturday Against Proposition 8
Sunday, November 2, 2008 No on 8: "Discrimination"
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 In One Week "In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history." --Barack Obama
Saturday, October 18, 2008 No on Prop 8 The struggle for marriage equality in California has become nationalized, with groups on both sides of the issue recognizing the huge stakes in Proposition 8, a ballot measure that would overturn a recent California State Supreme Court decision declaring an end to discrimination in marriage. Opponents of marriage equality nationally, led by the Mormon and Catholic churches, have outraised equal rights activists by millions of dollars to date.
The argument for marriage equality is a simple one: affirming equal rights and justice under the law, and basic fairness. Opponents of equality know that the only way to win their case is to change the California Constitution, and override its fundamental "equal protection of the laws" guarantee. That is exactly what Prop 8 would do. If you are in favor of the principle of fairness and equality under the law, please find a way to support the No on Prop 8 campaign. The electoral result on this issue in California will be a turning point in the quest for civil rights in America, one way or another.
For some history on the equal marriage issue in California, see "Marriage as Human Rite." Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Global Priorities: Feeding Markets, Starving the Hungry Editor's Note: The following article by Devinda Sharma of Share the World's Resources, reprinted whole here from Common Dreams, provides a crucial perceptual antidote to mainstream media's coverage of the $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry currently under consideration by the US Congress. The article helps us understand the bailout in terms of its global implications and from a much needed global social justice perspective. What the article doesn't cover, from a US perspective, are fundamental social, political, and economic equity questions concerning why the government is focusing on bailing out financial institutions rather than homeowner borrowers. The priorities of this bailout are fundamentally flawed on every level, and the profound impact on the American government's future ability to address longstanding social needs, like healthcare, education, and poverty, can hardly be overestimated. The prospect of precipitously wasting enormous resources that could be used to create a more just, peaceful, sustainable world makes this the transcendent political issue of the moment.
by Devinder Sharma The world's private-sector giants have stepped on a financial minefield. In the past six months, three of America's top five investment banks have disappeared. The remaining two - Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs - are gasping for breath. While Morgan Stanley is considering merger options, the stocks of Goldman have slumped. Strong tremors were felt all over the world. In what appears to be a classic example of ‘public-private' partnership, the US government stepped in to bail out AIG by agreeing to lend US $85 billion in emergency funds in return for a 79.9 percent stake, which means effectively taking control of the world's largest insurance company. In the week following the mayhem in Wall Street, central banks in Britain, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Russia and India have pumped in US $600 billion in multiple rescue acts. Ironical isn't it? The private-sector giants are ultimately rescued by the government's treasury. In the past year, the US treasury has already spent US $900 billion in bailouts. With the IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn warning that the worst is yet to come, taxpayers all over the world will eventually have to shell out more to cover up the huge losses being incurred by the private giants. It reminds me of the old saying: heads you win, tails I lose. Sure, the markets won. The US President George Bush could not remain a silent spectator. "Government intervention is not only warranted, but essential," he said urgently before offering the mother of all bailouts - a US $1 trillion package. Sure, within hours the world's markets began to smile again. The political urgency with which the US government (and governments elsewhere) came to the rescue of the financial system also exposed their double standards. The US $600 billion coughed out in just one week could have completely eradicated hunger (the 854 million people estimated by the FAO to go to bed hungry each night) from the face of the planet. The additional US $900 billion that the US has spent in the past one year could have lifted the world's estimated 2 billion poor people from poverty, and that too on a long-term sustainable basis. The one trillion dollar bailout package that George Bush is promising could have wiped out the last traces of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and squalor from the face of the Earth. Only if global leadership was honest enough could the same amount of urgency be demonstrated in tackling world poverty and hunger. There would have been no need for the United Nations to provide a cover-up for their collective guilt in the form of Millennium Development Goals. Poverty would have been confined to history. Hunger would have already been banished. Coming back to the collapse, this is in essence the market mantra. When the going is good, the government must step back and allow the bull a mad run. Profit becomes the sole motive, and investors lap it up. We have been repeatedly told that ‘The markets will correct itself'. The investment banks have always reassured governments, regulators and investors that they have the expertise to manage asset risks. Profits are raked in by capitalist corporate marauders. A few corporate houses make billions, present fake numbers and arguments, and walk away with the cake. Credit ranking industries provide them with the highest honours. And when the collapse comes, the losses are invariably picked up by the average taxpayer on whose savings the governments provide the bailouts. The trillion dollar question that arises is: Why should the governments intervene? Aren't the markets supposed to be self-regulatory and self-contained? And more importantly, why should the governments try to keep the markets alive? Before we investigate the matter any further, let me assure you of one thing. These firms were no ordinary business houses. As others have said, they represented the pride of the American financial system. They had the best of talent, attracting the highest achievers from business schools. They advised foreign governments and provided expert opinions. They have rewritten economic and monetary policies for the World Bank/IMF and the World Trade Organisation. Such has been the power of the markets that the mainline economic thinking the world over has become its mute disciple. Privatisation has been the economic buzzword of our times, forcing the governments to open up their markets to foreign direct investment. Markets became the ultimate economic nirvana. In India, pressure is on to disinvest the remaining public sector companies, and now pressure is also building up to privatise the nationalised banks. The arguments are the same as we have heard before, and every mainstream economist worthy of his title will argue in favour of privatising the nationalised banks. But when the private sector goes bust or the markets explode, it is invariably the governments that are expected to nationalise them. India managed to escape the heavy shocks thanks to the left parties, but the tremors still forced the Reserve Bank of India to pump US $18 billion into the domestic banking system through the liquidity adjustment facility. Let us not forget that the UPA government was keen to open up the financial sector, to bring in a legislation to allow dilution of government equity in public sector banks, and to reform the insurance sector. Further privatisation of banks and opening up of the insurance sector will now be on hold following the global meltdown. Reviewing the impact of the financial crisis, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked his ministers to "stay alert on the global turmoil." Without drawing any lessons from the collapse, Finance Minister P Chidambaram however remains bullish on financial reforms. If the left parties had allowed him to have his way, India would have been in the throes of a terrible economic and political crisis. The US $85 billion bailout for AIG by the US government is the biggest nationalisation in history. Rescuing AIG was crucial because its failure posed a much bigger threat to the entire financial system. The one trillion dollar bailout package, equivalent to the size of India's GDP, is in reality what will keep the markets alive. If nationalisation is now justified and it is the government which actually keeps the markets thriving, I fail to understand how the government was considered ‘bad' in the first place. Why was it ever branded as a remnant of the bygone socialist era? In the days to come we will see more and more of such bailouts - meaning more companies and firms being nationalised. It is no wonder that Prof Nouriel Roubini of New York University's Stern School of Business once called it the "privatisation of profit and socialisation of losses." We come down heavily on the police intelligence when the terrorist strikes do not stop, to the point that even the Home Minister becomes a target of ridicule. But when the financial intelligence fails us, and that too with the brightest of the money managers from the best of the business schools in control, we refrain from even pointing a finger. We don't ridicule the chiefs of the corporate world, nor do we mock what the so-called prestigious business schools produce. The reason why is very simple. We are all implicated in a system of greed, which in one word defines the reason behind the financial meltdown. Let us accept, in other words, that we are all beneficiaries of a corrupt financial system - forcing us to refrain from standing up and calling a spade a spade. However hard we may try to reform a financial system based on greed, let me assure you that it cannot ever be unclogged and truly regulated. The hypocrisy shrouding the success of the market economy must therefore come to an end. Let the market operate freely and survive on its fundamentals. Let the market learn to manage its own risks, without the government coming to its rescue. Let capitalism sustain itself, without lifesaving intravenous injections from government treasuries. Then let us see for how long the markets will survive. Until then, we don't need to shed any tears for the estimated 24,000 hungry people who perish with each passing day in an endless wait for their next morsel of food. They have been told bluntly time and again that the governments have no money to feed them. Their legitimate right to food has in reality been snatched by the markets to fill our pockets - a small price that the poor must pay to sustain our dreams. Sunday, August 10, 2008 The Liberation of Tibet as the Web 2.0 Version of the Fall of Apartheid The Olympic spirit has descended on Beijing, but not exactly in the form China's rulers had planned. The protests for the liberation of Tibet that followed the Olympic torch around the world have arrived in Beijing along with the torch. Hours before the Olympic opening ceremony, a "Tibet Will Be Free" banner was raised just outside the Olympic Stadium.
The protest was preceded and followed by actions in London, Brussels, Berlin, Rome, Amsterdam, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Hong Kong, New Delhi, San Francisco, and Washington, among others. As the world's attention focuses primarily on the Olympics themselves, and as mainstream media reports give pro-Tibet demonstrations a footnote status, some perspective is gained by listening to the words of South African Archibishop and Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu. Speaking in San Francisco on April 8, as the Olympic torch was about to pass through the city like a fugitive on the run, Tutu reminded us that just as apartheid fell after decades of global pressure on the then seemingly invincible South African regime, so too can the liberation of Tibet come through similar persistent global pressure on China.
The global human rights movement is beta testing the Web 2.0 version of the fall of apartheid, aiming toward the liberation of Tibet, with coordinated demonstrations in Beijing and around the world, communicated and supported through alternative media channels like Google News, the blogoshere, and websites like FreeTibet.org, sponsored by Students for a Free Tibet.
The foundation for a Tibetan transformational moment, such as the return of the Dalai Lama to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, which would be a tipping point comparable to Nelson Mandela's release from Robbin Prison, is being prepared through the efforts, large and small, of activists around the world. For hour-by-hour updates on the actions around the world, go to FreeTibet2008.org,'s Global Action blog or their Global Action Map. For more focused updates on actions within Beijing itself, go to Lhadon Tethong's blog, Beijing Wide Open. To find an action near you, click on the FreeTibet.org button below:
Friday, July 18, 2008 Happy 90th Birthday, Nelson Mandela
The Fierce Urgency of Now Within the last few weeks, we have seen the nomination by a major political party of the first African--or biracial--American for the presidency of the United States and the legalization of gay marriage in the most populous state in the country. Each of these, by themselves, but more powerfully together, represent the renewal of the promise in the idea of America. In a sweeping moment, the "we" that includes everyone took a step forward, and the forces that divide us by categories faded a little away. It's a moment only, and there will inevitably be setbacks on the road to come. But, "we" are certainly justified in raising a toast to the moment.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Today in San Francisco, a "Freedom Torch" will be lit along with other demonstrations and vigils. On Wednesday, the Olympic Torch will pass through the city. The protests follow Olympic Torch demonstrations in London and Paris against China's internal human rights policies and treatment of Tibet. Archives of June 9, 2007-February 21, 2008 November 8, 2006-May 12, 2007 September 25, 2005-August 3, 2006 |
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Links to Another World:
The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,698 groups with 6,506,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer. Membership is free. Global Day of Action: International Demonstrations on Climate Change The Global Climate Campaign website has been set up to publicize and promote plans for demonstrations on climate change, to coincide with the annual United Nations Climate Talks which are taking place this year in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 7th to 18th 2009.
Synchronized demonstrations are planned around the world on Saturday, December 12, 2009 - in as many places as possible - to call on world leaders to take urgent action on climate change.The Copenhagen Climate Talks are the world's last chance to secure an emissions reductions agreement that willl replace the Kyoto Protocol before it expires. Global Zero: A Step Toward Global Disarmament
The Resist Network: Resist is a documentary film-in-the-making about economic and social injustice around the world and the people who are challenging it. Director Marc Silver, who has produced documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 in Britain, has enlisted actor Gael Garcia Bernal to interview global change activists, including Noam Chomsky (see below), Naomi Klein and John Berger.
One of the most innovative aspects of the project is that Silver has created an online forum, the Resist Network, that will inform the production itself. Participation in the Resist Network is an opportunity to help shape both the documentary and the movement it describes.
Nonviolent Regime Change Computer Game DarfurGenocide.org Your
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