Tag Archives: Indonesia

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

what happened after I signed the petition?

10/07/2013 Nativegrl77

Dear amazing community,

I often get asked by Avaazers, “what happens after I sign a petition?” And the truth is, a HECK of a lot! Every Avaaz campaign springs from a massive global mandate, and then zeroes in on the best way for our voices to win. Here’s just two of our victories from the last few weeks:

Remember when 2 million of us came together to stop the flogging of a 15-year old rape victim in the Maldives? Her sentence has been quashed! Here’s what our team did to win:

Our ads threatened the profits of officials who owned parts of the tourism industry

Spoke for hours with the Maldivian Attorney-General and Ministers and emailed the President at his personal account.
Commissioned opinion polls showing massive support for reforms to protect girls. And wrote an Op-Ed in a major national paper.
Persuaded a top Islamic scholar to speak out against flogging.
Threatened to run an ad (right) in tourism publications, affecting the country’s major industry.
Visited the Maldives and the location where the girl was held, pressing officials directly.

Ahmed Shaheed, former Foreign Minister of the Maldives said “The Avaaz contribution was the spearhead of the campaign to overturn the flogging sentence; a petition signed by millions, a country visit, a public opinion survey, and persistent follow-up all proved irresistible.”

Another example: Remember how almost 2 million of us rallied to stop the Maasai tribe in Tanzania from being kicked off their land for a hunting reserve? Last week, the Prime Minister announced they could stay! The petition provided a powerful basis for what the team did next:

Maasai women gather to protest the eviction. Photo by Jason Patinkin

Got CNN and the Guardian to visit the Maasai and break the wider story to the world.
Advised Maasai elders on their campaigning strategy.
Flooded Ministers and the President with messages — forcing a debate in cabinet and Parliament.
Ran a hard hitting newspaper ad in an influential paper which publicly shamed the government.
Persuaded diplomats worldwide to raise the issue — embarrassing the government.
Financially supported Maasai elders to travel to the capital where they gathered to ‘occupy’ land outside of the Prime Minister’s office for weeks, refusing to leave until he met them.

Gordon Brown said: “A million dollars has been raised via the brilliant Avaaz.org, in just a few days.” Brazil Open Vote

Key Brazilian Senator joins Avaaz “open vote” naked protest sending a clear message: “we have nothing to hide”

The victory belongs to the Maasai people, but our community helped them win by making this a global issue the government could no longer ignore. This hopefully ends a 20 year land battle!!

Of course, our community does a LOT more than petitions. Last week, we raised a $1 million challenge grant in a few days to donor governments to put Syrian refugee kids in school. At a UN meeting, I was able to put a cheque on the table and issue the challenge on behalf of over 40,000 Avaaz donors. UN Education Envoy Gordon Brown, who chaired the meeting, called our community’s effort a “magnificent and impactful intervention” in getting other governments to give!

And often it’s not the Avaaz team but our community that does the direct lobbying. For example in Brazil, we’re inches away from winning a massive fight to end the shady practice of ‘secret voting’ in the Congress. Our huge push helped win the vote in the lower house and right now, Senators’ telephones are ringing off the hook as Avaaz members across Brazil use our online calling tool to directly tell them to stop this corruption — experts say a win is likely in days!

It’s this unique magic mix between a gigantic and spirited community of citizens able to speak out, donate, and lobby, and a small team of top notch advocates able to take smart, strategic actions at the highest level with democratic legitimacy, that makes our campaigns increasingly unstoppable.

If we keep believing in each other, and growing in size and in commitment, there’s no limit to the good we can do in the world. Thank you so much for the honour and the joy to be part of and serve this community. It’s something truly precious we have here — let’s keep building Avaaz.

With love and appreciation,

Ricken and the team

PS — You might not know that Avaaz is different from just about every other global organization in that we are 100% funded and guided by our community. Every campaign we run is first polled and tested to a random sample (you might think of it as a jury) of our community, that tells us exactly how the whole the community will react. I may be the CEO, but you’re my boss. If you don’t like something (and I don’t mean 51% like it, but 81% like it) then our team go back to the drawing board and come up with a better option for you. We have never, ever, broken this rule. So at the end of the day, it is your wisdom, the collective wisdom of our community, matched with the smartest suggestions the team hears from you and come up with ourselves and from our partners and experts, that determines what we do every single day.

When you add to that the fact that 100% of our funding comes from small online donations (we strictly refuse any donations from corporations, governments, foundations, and even individual donations over 5000 Euros), I think Avaaz may be one of the purest organisational expressions of people-powered change in the world today. Make that an organisation served by a beautiful team of wonderfully talented and deeply committed people that I wish I could introduce you all to, and we’ve got a kind of magic that can build the world we dream of.

PPS — If you want to chip in to help keep it all going, click here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/october_reportback_a/?biEWLbb&v=29788

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Gemma Tillack, Rainforest Action Network

09/16/2013 Nativegrl77

Call out companies using “Conflict Palm Oil”

Today, I’m excited to announce Rainforest Action Network‘s ambitious new campaign to save some of the world’s most important rainforests and the last remaining wild orangutans from “Conflict Palm Oil.”
It’s called The Last Stand of the Orangutan, and it’s one of the biggest campaigns we’ve ever launched. We’re going after not one, not two, but 20 of the companies most responsible for putting Conflict Palm Oil into our food. We’ve dubbed these companies The Snack Food 20. They are the makers of some of the top name brands in the world, companies like PepsiCo, The Hershey Company and Kraft Foods Group, and they are using Conflict Palm Oil in their products. (See full list of companies below.)
We need your help right now to make sure this campaign starts with a bang that the Snack Food 20 can’t ignore.
Tell the Snack Food 20 that you demand they remove Conflict Palm Oil from our food.
Our campaign launched this morning in grand RAN style at the Chicago Board of Trade, the primary trading center for agricultural commodities, including palm oil. We publicly named the 20 snack food companies that RAN’s campaign will focus on and unfurled a 15-foot banner reading, “Cut Conflict Palm Oil, Not Rainforests.” Several RAN supporters wore orangutan masks and held signs displaying the logos of the Snack Food 20 companies.

Today’s demonstration was accompanied by the release of our new report, entitled Conflict Palm Oil: How US Snack Food Brands are Contributing to Orangutan Extinction, Climate Change and Human Rights Violations, which exposes the increasingly severe environmental and human rights problems caused by industrial palm oil production in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The demand for palm oil is skyrocketing—its use in the United States has grown nearly 500 percent in the past decade. And no wonder, since palm oil is in roughly half of all products on grocery store shelves. But this gives us, as consumers, incredible power to make change, too. If you speak up loudly enough, the Snack Food 20 will have to change the way they do business. The power is in your palm.  
This really is the last stand for the world’s remaining wild orangutans. Only 60,600 orangutans remain in Sumatra and Borneo. Will you stand up with them?
After we convince the Snack Food 20 to cut Conflict Palm Oil from their products, it will have a cascade effect: The Snack Food 20 will have to demand truly responsible palm oil from their suppliers, and, in turn, palm oil suppliers like Cargill will have to demand that palm oil producers in Indonesia stop destroying rainforests, stop driving the orangutan to extinction, and stop trampling on human rights.
In the weeks ahead you can expect to hear a lot more from us about the ways you can plug in to The Last Stand of the Orangutan campaign both online and in the real world. We’re traveling across the US with our The Power Is In Your Palm Tour, visiting the hometowns of many of the Snack Food 20 companies and spreading the word about the critical problems with Conflict Palm Oil. We’re building a movement too loud to ignore.
Together, we will change the way palm oil is made and make sure no more orangutans are killed for snack foods. We have reached The Last Stand of the Orangutan, but it’s not too late. Stand with orangutans now by telling the Snack Food 20 to get Conflict Palm Oil out of their products.

		For the great red ape,
		Gemma Tillack Senior Agribusiness Campaigner @ProbWithPalmOil

Introducing the Snack Food 20:

Campbell Soup Company
ConAgra Foods Inc.
Dunkin Brands
General Mills, Inc.
Grupo Bimbo
H.J. Heinz Company
Hillshire Brands Company
Hormel Foods Corp.
Kellogg Company
Kraft Foods Group
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
Mars, Inc.
Mondelez International, Inc.
Nestlé
Nissin Food Holdings
PepsiCo
The Hershey Company
The JM Smucker Company
Unilever

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Slave labor linked to palm oil

07/25/2013 Nativegrl77

Tell Cargill CEO Gregory Page you’re outraged his company is importing palm oil made with child and slave labor

Businessweek has released a groundbreaking article connecting Indonesia‘s palm oil industry to widespread cases of forced and child labor. The stories are truly terrifying, including workers, many of whom are children, being defrauded, abused, and held captive on palm plantations. All to grow a plant and extract its oil for use in junk food, lipsticks and other household items in our supermarkets.
As the Businessweek piece put it: “…[B]ecause palm oil companies face little pressure from consumers to change, they continue to rely on largely unregulated contractors, who often use unscrupulous practices.” The power is ours to change this story. TODAY. It’s time to tell Cargill, the leading supplier of palm oil in the country, that we will not stand for child and slave labor in our food.
The Businessweek piece was instigated by a nine-month investigation of the palm oil industry by the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism. The investigation focused on one of the world’s most significant palm oil suppliers, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), a major Cargill supplier. KLK workers—men, women and children—were lured thousand of miles away from their homes with promises of good work. What they found was that they wouldn’t be paid for two years, but only loaned up to $16 a month for health care and company-owned food. Many workers were locked into “stifling, windowless barracks” at night, and their national identity cards and school certificates were confiscated to prevent them from escaping.
So what did Cargill have to say about the practices of its corporate partner KLK? According to Businessweek: “Cargill defended its supplier. ‘At this time, KLK is not in violation of any labor laws where they operate nor are we aware of any investigation of KLK’s labor practices,’ says Cargill spokeswoman Susan Eich in an e-mail.”
This makes me furious. Let’s make sure Cargill doesn’t get away with using a PR flack to dodge its huge role in subjecting laborers and children to horrifying working conditions.
Please take the time today to tell Cargill to get conflict palm oil and slave and child labor out of our food.
Let’s face it, news breaks every day and then disappears into the background. In fact, companies like Cargill count on it. But we’ve all seen stories that break through and facilitate epic changes. The internet really does make it possible for our communities to amplify the news we care about—news that would otherwise go unseen. Today we have the opportunity to make sure palm oil plantation workers are not alone.
In too many ways, Cargill is right at the center of palm oil’s controversial web. Cargill must adopt comprehensive safeguards to prevent palm oil connected to slave and child labor, human rights abuses and rainforest destruction from tainting the world’s food supply.
Please tell Cargill today that you demand the company have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to slave and child labor.
You’ve told us that together we need to do everything in our power to get conflict palm oil off our grocery store shelves. This article needs to become our ammunition for educating our communities and going after the companies most responsible. When you’re done writing to Cargill today please take the time to encourage your friends to do the same. Let’s not let this issue fade from the front page.

		Thanks for all that you do,
		Robin Averbeck Senior Forests Campaigner

More info: Bloomberg Businessweek: “Indonesia’s Palm Oil Industry Rife With Human-Rights Abuses” Understory: “BREAKING: Despite New Evidence, Cargill Denies Its Palm Oil Is Being Made By Slave Laborers”

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Demand the snack food industry remove rainforest destruction from its products.

07/03/2013 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

www.ran.org

I stand with RAN in calling on the US snack food industry to help stop the destruction of Indonesia‘s rainforests for palm oil.

The rainforests of Indonesia are some of the most biodiverse forests in the world and home to a number of endangered species, like Sumatran orangutans, Sumatran tigers, pygmy elephants and rhinoceros. These rainforests continue to be destroyed to produce palm oil so it can be used in the manufacturing of food products, including in snack foods and sweets that are some of America’s favorite brand name products.

I would prefer my crackers, chocolate, cookies, peanut butter, and ice cream not to come with orangutan extinction. That is why I am standing with RAN in calling on snack food companies to protect Indonesia’s rainforests and all of the people and wildlife who depend on them by cutting palm oil tied to rainforest destruction and social conflict out of their supply chains.

We have reached the last stand for Sumatran orangutans, but it’s not too late to save them.

Many Americans are being made into unwitting accomplices in the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests—which provide crucial habitat for a number of endangered species like the Sumatran orangutan—because palm oil is in half of all the products on their neighborhood grocery store‘s shelves. In the months ahead, we’re going to tackle this problem at its source.

RAN has just sent letters to 20 snack food companies—makers of some of the most popular brand name products in America—alerting them to the rainforest destruction and orangutan extinction in their supply chains.

Stand with us: Sign our petition and demand the snack food industry remove rainforest destruction from its products.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Get the facts. Then share them

05/23/2013 Nativegrl77

Gemma Tillack, Rainforest Action Network

Help spread the word about palm oil’s destructive impact on Indonesia’s rainforests—and how we can stop it!

We’ve been writing to you about the deforestation in Indonesia caused by palm oil production for years now. But you might still be connected to the problem and not even know it.
Palm oil is in roughly half of all the products on your grocery store shelves, including many of the most popular snack foods. Cookies, crackers, ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate bars… You get the point. Palm oil is difficult to avoid, especially if you don’t even know what to look for.
How can you find out if palm oil is an ingredient in your favorite snack? Why are rainforests being cut down for palm oil in the first place? And what can you do about it? Everything you need to know is in this blog post, which you can easily share with your friends and family!
To stop a problem as large as the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests for palm oil, though, it’s not enough to arm ourselves with the facts. We need to spread the word as far and wide as possible. Everyone needs to know their connection to rainforest destruction and how they can be part of the solution.
Is your favorite snack food contributing to rainforest destruction? Get the facts. Then share them.
If you look for “palm oil” in the ingredients list of your favorite snack food, you may not find it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Palm oil often gets listed as something seemingly harmless (though generally with more syllables than real food), like Ascorbyl Palmitate or Palm Kernel Stearin .
We put together all the information you need about palm oil’s destructive impact on the rainforests of Indonesia, and outlined ways you can take action to break the link between America‘s favorite snack foods and rainforest destruction. Arm yourself—and your friends and family—with the facts now.