 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
Tag Archives: Reusable shopping bag
Emma Ruby-Sachs – Avaaz
Dear friends,
Our movement is under threat.
Governments worldwide are passing gag laws, prohibiting protest and closing down organisations in the biggest crackdown on civil society in a generation.
Avaaz staff have been kicked out of Egypt. And in India, the biggest democracy in the world, Avaaz has been vilified and harassed by the government.
Avaaz’s power is our voices together. If governments outlaw us or sabotage our strategies, we are done. It’s time to fight back! And we’ve got a new killer plan to protect our democracies — a global legal defense team.
The truth is, in the fight between people and power, the people rarely get a good lawyer, because it’s too expensive. That’s where we come in. Avaaz already has a tiny world-class legal team. But, if we build the biggest, baddest crowdsourced pro-democracy legal group in the world, we’ll challenge repressive laws when they are drafted, and then destroy the worst attacks in court.
Click to donate just the cost of a meal out and help Avaaz march into court across the world to protect our freedoms. Let’s meet those demonising our work with fearlessness and resolve:
In the last three years, over 60 countries have passed laws that inhibit non-governmental groups. In Spain Avaazers could be fined up to 600,000 euros just for organising a peaceful protest. In Israel a draft law threatens to label brave human rights organisations as “foreign agents”, and cut off their international funds. And in Uganda a government body could soon dissolve any group it doesn’t like!
But we already know Avaaz legal action works. When the South African government tried to censor our campaign against the lion bone trade, we took them to court and won a landmark free speech case that set a standard for the whole country. And with enough support, we can together:
- Expand the Avaaz legal team to have top class representation where Avaaz is under attack.
- Build a database of the world’s best civil rights lawyers and bring them together to form a pro-democracy law group.
- Develop legal challenges, lawsuits and campaigns to take on the rogues whenever they come after us.
These new regressive laws show politicians fear our emerging strength. We can’t let them now crush an informed and organised citizenship, it is a crucial pillar of democracy.
Click to donate to create a global people-powered legal team to complement our political might:
To donate another amount, click here.
There are moments where risking everything is necessary to preserve the very core of our democratic freedoms. That’s what we did when taking on powerful media barons in the UK and government cronies in Canada. If we raise the funds now, we can take on those that try to silence us, everywhere.
With hope and determination,
Emma, Alice, Ricken, Alex, Bert, Laila and the whole Avaaz team
P.S. If you are a lawyer who wants to be in the database of this global legal defense team click here.
SOURCES:
Human rights groups face global crackdown ‘not seen in a generation’ (Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/aug/26/ngos-face-restrictions-laws-human-rights-generation
Spain gag law: protesters rally (International Business Times)
http://www.ibtimes.com/spain-gag-law-protesters-rally-against-new-public-demonstration-laws-1991816
India cracks down on Greenpeace, other environmental groups (Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-india-crackdown-greenpeace-20150113-story.html
Why are threats to civil society growing around the world (IPS News Agency)
http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/06/opinion-why-are-threats-to-civil-society-growing-around-the-world/
Israel: Foreign Agents Act for NGOs (The Jewish Press)
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/mk-proposes-israeli-foreign-agents-registration-act-for-ngos/2015/06/23/
Avaaz takes on the lion bone trade (Wired)
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/17/lion-bone-clicktivism
Closing space. Democracy and human rights support under fire (Carnegie Endowment)
http://carnegieendowment.org/files/closing_space.pdf
Share this:
Kassie Rohrbach, Greenpeace … Ban Fracking
| Keep our public land safe from pollution and destruction.
Tell Congress to protect communities and our climate by banning fracking on public land. |
Oil and gas companies already have the rights to frack on some 30 million acres of public land in the United States. Now they want even more.
More than 200 million additional acres of public lands are being targeted for fracking, including areas that surround America’s National Parks and monuments. In the last year alone, 177,000 acres of the George Washington National Forest — the country’s largest national forest and home to ten different threatened and endangered species — have been opened to fracking.
It’s insane. But now we have a chance to do something about it.
Congress is currently debating a bill that would put a stop to all future fracking on public land. It’s essential that they hear from their constituents — people like you — about how important this issue is before voting next month.
Tell Congress: save our public lands from the destruction of fracking.
Fracking is more expensive, more polluting and more dangerous than renewable energy. In a world where we can have clean, affordable energy from the wind and the sun, why would we even pursue fracking in the first place?
Not only is it wrong for the climate, but fracking has been linked to major air pollution and water contamination. Communities near some fracking sites have even reported being able to light the water coming out of their kitchen sinks on fire due to gas contamination.
This is not the energy future we need.
Make sure Congress protects communities, the environment and our climate. Sign the petition today.
Instead of investing billions of dollars in dirty, polluting energy, it’s time to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Like Arctic oil drilling or coal mining, fracking is the wrong call for our health and our climate.
We’re partnering with other progressive organizations to make sure our elected representatives get the message loud and clear. We’re using a shared site to collect signatures for a petition we’ll deliver to Congress next month.
This bill is a huge opportunity, but we know Congress won’t pass it unless they hear from people like you.
Together, we can protect our most precious natural treasures for future generations to enjoy and realize a clean energy future. In a week where Shell has announced it is ending its Arctic drilling project, Congress should take the hint. It’s time to keep all fossil fuels in the ground.
Thanks for all you do,
Kassie Rohrbach
Senior Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace USA
Share this:
Lions EXTINCT … saveanimalsfacingextinction.org
White man jaywalks with a gun… guess what happens?
Log in or sign up for Daily Kos, the nation’s largest progressive community.
Sign up to receive the Daily Kos Recommended email by clicking here.
Thanks for all you do,
The Daily Kos team
Be a Seed for Change 
You must be logged in to post a comment.