Daily Archives: 05/26/2017

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Amazon Watch: Brazil’s Political Chaos

Brazil’s Political Chaos Paves the Way for Environmental Plunder

As Brazil’s President Michel Temer weathers a new storm of corruption allegations that threaten to topple his administration, the rightwing ruralista (elite agribusiness) congressional bloc is cynically leveraging this political chaos to ram through its regressive and malicious agenda. From slashing forest protections to dismantling Brazil’s indigenous agency to undoing the the country’s environmental licensing standards, ruralista lawmakers and their industry backers are waging an all-out war on hard-fought and fundamental environmental and human rights safeguards enshrined in Brazil’s Constitution and legislation.

While an illegitimate president with a 4% approval rating battles for political survival before a population weathering economic recession and weary with rampant and ingrained corruption, powerful political actors and their big-business backers are brazenly attempting to rewrite Brazil’s social and environmental contract. And the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Amazon and its peoples, where the impacts of these changes would disproportionately fall.

 
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

how do you mark a four-year anniversary


Four years ago this Monday, fast food workers with Working Washington walked out on strike for $15/hour. A year later we walked into history when the Seattle City Council passed the nation’s first citywide $15 minimum wage law.

From minimum wage and sick days to secure scheduling and paid family leave, when workers organize, speak out, and take action, we can change what’s possible. Invest in the next big breakthrough wins for workers — contribute to Working Washington today.

Working Washington

 

 

Happy almost-anniversary!
Working Washington

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Why aren’t we talking about this? GEO Group … Private Prison and trump


Brave New Films
We’ve got a story to tell you . . .
Once upon a time (August 2016), Obama announced that the Federal Bureau of Prisons would phase out the use of private prisons. GEO Group, a multibillion-dollar for-profit prison company, saw their stock plummet 40 percent.

The very next day, GEO Correction Holding Inc. gave $100,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC. And when Trump won, GEO Group shelled out $250,000 to support his inaugural festivities.
 
Now, guess what? The Trump administration just awarded the GEO Group $110 million of our federal tax dollars and a 10-year contract to develop and operate a new immigrant detention center in Conroe, Texas. What is going on?
 

Your donation of $25 today will help us begin production on this piece.

The private prisons that bankrolled Trump are controlling policy to collect the returns on their investment; anti-immigrant policies mean big payoffs for private detention. It’s sickening. But we will not be silent. We will tell this story.

Earlier this month we launched our immigration campaign with the release of The Call to Sanctuary. We want to continue our immigration campaign with an investigation into immigrant detention, but we need resources to keep telling these stories.

Right now, the Trump administration is serving the interests of private prison pushers over the interests and safety of our communities. We will not be silent as immigrants are rounded up, removed from their communities, forced to detention centers and criminalized for profit.

detention?
 
Thank you for your support.
 
Jim Miller, Executive Director
BRAVE NEW FILMS
 
P.S. Would you like to screen our current films about immigration? To kick-off our immigration campaign we just released a curated collection of shorts and new discussion guide, Home is a Human Right: A Series on Immigration. To sign up to screen this with your friends or in your community click here.
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