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Luis Morago – Avaaz.org

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Dear friends,

We said never again


Most people didn’t know who the Rwandans were until 800,000 had been killed. Now, the fate of the Rohingya people of Burma is hanging by a thread as mobs attack them while the police look on. The Burmese President could stop the violence – all he has to do is approve a plan to protect them and ensure it is enforced, while granting them citizenship. Let’s appeal to European leaders to press him when he visits them in days, and stop the next Rwanda:

Sign the Petition

Most people didn’t know who the Rwandans were until it was too late, and 800,000 of them were dead. Right now, the fate of Burma’s Rohingya people is hanging by a thread. Racist thugs have distributed leaflets threatening to wipe out this small Burmese minority. Already children have been hacked to death and unspeakable murders committed. All signs are pointing to a coming horror, unless we act.
Genocides happen because we don’t get concerned enough until the crime is committed. The Rohingya are a peaceful and very poor people. They’re hated because their skin is darker and the majority fear they’re ‘taking jobs away’. There are 800,000 of them, and they could be gone if we don’t act. We’ve failed too many peoples, let’s not fail the Rohingya.
Burmese President Thein Sein has the power, personnel and resources to protect the Rohingya, all he has to do is give the word to make it happen. In days, he’ll arrive in Europe to sell his country’s new openness to trade. If EU leaders greet him with a strong request to protect the Rohingya, he’s likely to do it. Let’s get 1 million voices and plaster images of what’s happening in Burma outside his meetings with key EU heads of state:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/we_said_never_again/?biEWLbb&v=26500
Torture, gang rape, execution style killings — human rights groups are using the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe the brutality in Burma. Already more than 120,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee, many to makeshift camps near the border, while others have fled in boats only to drown, starve, or be shot at by coastguards from neighboring countries. Reports show that violence is escalating — earlier this year President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency after another round of deadly attacks, and it’s just a matter of time until there is a large scale massacre.
Genocides don’t happen when governments oppose them, but the Burmese regime has been leaning the wrong way. Recently, a government spokesperson admitted that authorities were enforcing a rule that limits the Rohingya population to having only two children and forces couples seeking to get married to obtain special permission. And experts report that government authorities have stood by or even participated in acts of “ethnic cleansing.” President Sein has finally been forced to acknowledge what’s happening to the Rohingya, but he has so far refused to implement plans to stop the violence and protect those at risk.
Until he does, the risk of genocide hovers like a dark cloud over not just Burma, but the world.  Through their trade relations, UK PM Cameron and French President Hollande have massive leverage with Sein — if they press him to act when he meets with them this month, it could save lives.  Let’s make sure they do. We’ve failed too many peoples, let’s not fail the Rohingya. Join the call now and share this with everyone:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/we_said_never_again/?biEWLbb&v=26500
Time and again, the Avaaz community has stood with the people of Burma in their fight for democracy. When the regime brutally cracked down on Buddhist monks in 2007, Avaazers donated hundreds of thousands of dollars/euros/pounds to provide technical support and training to activists to fight a communications blackout. In 2008, when a devastating cyclone killed at least 100,000 Burmese, but the venal military regime stopped all official international aid from coming in, our community donated millions directly to monks on the front line of the aid effort.
Our community didn’t exist when genocide was committed in Rwanda, 20 years ago. Would we have done enough to stop it? Let’s show the Rohingya our answer to that question.
With hope and determination,
Luis, Jeremy, Aldine, Oliver, Marie, Jooyea and the whole Avaaz team
PS –  Many Avaaz campaigns are started by members of our community! Start yours now and win on any issue – local, national or global: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?bgMYedb&v=23917
MORE INFORMATION
Burma riots: Video shows police failing to stop attack (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22243676
Burma: End ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Rohingya Muslims (Human Rights Watch) http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/22/burma-end-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims
Video shows Burmese police standing by as Buddhists attack Muslims (The Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/22/burmese-police-buddhists-attack-muslims
The unending plight of Burma’s unwanted Rohingyas (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23077537
Dalai Lama Pleads for Myanmar Monks to End Violence Amid Damning Rights Report (ABC News) http://abcnews.go.com/International/dalai-lama-pleads-myanmar-monks-end-violence-amid/story?id=19013148#.UXV3vCt4a5w
Thein Sein to visit Britain, France in July (AFP) http://www.dvb.no/news/thein-sein-to-visit-britain-france-in-july/28815

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Eye on the Amazon: Investors Balking on Ecuador’s Amazonian Oil Auction


Amazon Watch
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Investors Balking on Ecuador’s Amazonian Oil Auction

The Sarayaku forest at dawnLast month Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa issued an apology for the oil spill that wreaked havoc on communities and ecosystems throughout the Amazon Basin. The 420,000-gallon spill flowed downstream to Peru and has impacted at least 32 indigenous communities in the Amazonian province of Loreto, prompting the Peruvian government to threaten legal action. Brazil, worried that the spill will reach its border, has alerted its navy, and Ecuador has hired U.S. company Oil Spill Response to test for contamination in Brazil and Colombia.

What the media narrative has largely missed is that there is an oil spill nearly every week in Ecuador. Just between 2000 and 2010 there were 539 oil spills. So why is this spill gathering international media attention while hundreds of others go unreported?

Read the rest on Eye on the Amazon »
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On This Day

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Amelia Earhart

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Amelia Earhart – Mini Biography watch more videos (6)

Synopsis

Aviator Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. In 1923, Earhart, fondly known as “Lady Lindy,” became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot’s license. She had several notable flights, becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, as well as the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific. In 1937, she mysteriously disappeared while trying to circumnavigate the globe from the equator. Since then,

Quotes

“The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.”

– Amelia Earhart

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

– Amelia Earhart
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several theories have formed regarding Earhart’s last days, many of which have been connected to various artifacts that have been found on Pacific islands—including clothing, tools and, more recently, freckle cream. Earhart was legally declared dead in 1939.

Early Life

Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, in America’s heartland. She spent much of her early childhood in the upper-middle class household of her maternal grandparents. Amelia’s mother, Amelia “Amy” Otis, married a man who showed much promise, but had never been able to break the bonds of alcohol. Edwin Earhart was on a constant search to establish his career and put the family on a firm financial foundation. When the situation got bad, Amy would shuttle Amelia and her sister Muriel to their grandparents’ home. There they sought out adventures, exploring the neighborhood, climbing trees, hunting for rats, and taking breathtaking rides on Amelia’s sled.
Even after the family was reunited when Amelia was 10, Edwin constantly struggled to find and maintain gainful employment. This caused the family to move around, and Amelia attended several different schools. She showed early aptitude in school for science and sports, though it was difficult to do well academically and make friends. In 1915, Amy separated once again from her husband, and moved Amelia and her sister to Chicago to live with friends. While there, Amelia attended Hyde Park High School, where she excelled in chemistry. Her father’s inability to be the provider for the family led Amelia to become independent and not rely on someone else to “take care” of her.
After graduation, Amelia Earhart spent a Christmas vacation visiting her sister in Toronto, Canada. After seeing wounded soldiers returning from World War I, she volunteered as a nurse’s aide for the Red Cross. Earhart came to know many of the wounded who were pilots. She developed a strong admiration for aviators, spending much of her free time watching the Royal Flying Corps practicing at the airfield nearby. In 1919, Earhart enrolled in medical studies at Columbia University. She quit a year later to be with her parents, who had reunited in California.

Early Career

At a Long Beach air show in 1920, Amelia Earhart took a plane ride that transformed her life. It was only 10 minutes, but when she landed she knew she had to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, from photographer to truck driver, she earned enough money to take flying lessons from pioneer female aviator Anita “Neta” Snook.

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Protect our kids! Make default settings private and disable geotagging for 13-17 year olds.


 

Instagram (Facebook): Make default settings PRIVATE and geolocation DISABLED for 13-17 year olds.
                                                By Kristin Geiser, Mary Hofstedt, & Robin Connell P.

 

Protect our kids! Make default settings private and disable geotagging for 13-17 year olds.

Unbelievable. That was my first thought when I clicked on the Instagram site belonging to one of my daughter’s friends and found more than a dozen pictures, some of which included my daughter, that were “public” – meaning that anyone in the world could view them at any time. Not only that, but the images were “geotagged” – associating each photograph with the exact location where it was taken. As a stranger to this site, I found my daughter’s picture, her full name, school name, grade level, and then, with one click on the map icon, I was able to view the exact location of her school, our home, and her primary after school location. All without our knowledge or permission. This absolutely should not be happening – especially not for minors.

Currently, Instagram accounts default to “public,” meaning that all photos are able to be viewed by anyone in the world at any time – and that they will show up in various internet searches (e.g., Google images). Geotagging, or identifying the exact location where a photograph was taken, appears to be optional, but it’s often “clicked” by mistake by young users – or activated unknowingly by young users who upload photos to their Instagram site that already carry geolocation data.

The result is that the public can view the exact location where a child’s photos were taken, usually clustering at the child’s home, school, and primary after school location (e.g., specific soccer field), which means that the child’s daily path or routine is easily identified and mapped. If the child’s account is private and geo tagged, photos are easily captured in a screen shot, then the geo tag follows the picture and is now associated with the image wherever it is pasted/posted (e.g., public accounts). This not only places the user at tremendous risk, but it places the children who are in the images OR even linked to the user at risk also – and they have absolutely no control over this.

Because Instagram’s default setting is public and geo-tagged, most young users end up with public accounts – even when their parents are involved in the creation of the account – but especially when parents are not involved. Most parents I have spoken to were not aware that there was a public/private distinction on Instagram.

Even worse – when a child upgrades his/her operating software (which happens when the child is prompted to upgrade by her smart device), any settings previously set at private or geo-location disabled revert to public and geo-location enabled. In other words, children and parents who are trying to ensure some degree of privacy for their account are not even aware that their settings have changed to public by default with the software upgrade. No notice is sent. The child’s account silently becomes public.

As parents, we are trying to walk alongside our children and their friends as they learn to navigate social media. This takes courage and intention. While we do this, we absolutely expect that those companies shaping the social media landscape would take basic precautions to protect the identity and location of minors.

We respectfully and urgently request that Facebook/Instagram ensure that the default settings are private and NOT geotag/geolocation enabled for users who are 13-17 years old.

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Richard Page, Greenpeace International



Emperor penguins, blue whales, fur seals and 10,000 other species of wildlife live together in the near pristine waters around Antarctica.
In less than two weeks, world leaders will be meeting in Germany to decide whether to stop industrial fishing vessels from encroaching on two of the most important areas in the icy Southern Ocean.
Send a message to the members of the meeting: We want you to make history. 

         Greenpeace, in a coalition of environmental groups, has been working for several years to help the participants of this meeting (they are called the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources or CCAMLR) understand the value and importance of officially creating the largest protected ocean sanctuaries in the world. Some of the members of the meeting still aren’t convinced this is important, so they need to hear from us.
Say “yes” to creating the two largest protected ocean sanctuaries in the world.
What’s at stake are key areas in the Ross Sea and East Antarctica, covering more than 3.5 million square kilometres of waters around Antarctica that are teaming with life and as yet, still largely untouched. Let’s keep them that way.
The meeting starts on July 11th. Between now and then we will collect petition signatures and keep the dialogue going with CCAMLR members, but we need more. We need to keep the spotlight on this meeting. Please forward this message, sign the petition, share the petition everywhere and help us keep cheering for the CCAMLR members, so they will do what is right.
Sincerely,
Richard Page          Greenpeace International          Oceans Campaigner

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