Finally, a Little Justice for Haiti

Breaking news: The United States Treasury Department has just announced U.S. government support for complete debt cancellation for Haiti and will work with our international partners to ensure that new assistance comes in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans. It's exactly what more than 200,000 ONE members have been calling for. And this weekend, the U.S. will take this message to G7 finance ministers’ summit, creating strong momentum to get a global deal and guarantee debt cancellation for Haiti.

Read more here:
http://www.one.org/r?r=301&id=1443-4562280-vl39v1x&t=1

and continue to do whatever you can to send support to Haiti; financially, food, medical supplies, prayers, etc. Whatever you can do...

February 11th is an Important day in Iran

A note from Amnesty International....

Last week, two men were hanged after being accused of inciting the post-June 12 election violence that erupted last summer in Iran. The Iranian government failed to answer one key question - how these men could have been responsible for the violence when they were being held in detention long before it even occurred?

As if this injustice wasn't enough, now the lives of 9 more men hang in the balance on similar charges. We fear some of them may be executed before February 11th - a date holding much significance in Iran and one that could signify an end to these abuses.

February 11th is known as Victory of the Revolution Day - equivalent to the Fourth of July in the United States; it is meant to symbolize liberty, independence and freedom. Authorities in Iran fear that February 11th will spark a wave of massive protests and unite Iranians in their calls for change and accountability.

That is why on February 11th we intend to do all we can to stand in solidarity with the Iranian people on this important date, but we need your help.

In the days following the contested Presidential election, Iranian authorities took aggressive measures to stifle dissent and stem the flow of information. No outside reporters were allowed in. Iranians were not allowed to freely report out.

Virtually the only way the Iranian people could expose the horrific treatment being inflicted on them was to share their stories online, using blogs and websites like Twitter and Facebook.

We expect Iranians will once again rely solely on the Internet to carry their messages during next week's expected demonstrations. That is why we are asking everyone to show their solidarity online on February 11th - whether it's on your blog, website, or social networking profile. Help us raise the voices of those calling for freedom and justice inside Iran.
Bloggers Unite: Join our network of blogger's covering Iran and the events on February 11th.
Twitter Followers: The hashtag #iranelection was one of the most widely-used in the post-election aftermath. Since the violence is still unresolved, we'll continue to tweet using this hashtag. Make sure your related tweets include: #iranelection.
Share Online: Help share the message of February 11th by adding our solidarity image to your blog, website or social networking profile.
We will be keeping a close watch over Victory of the Revolution Day events. Our collective voices can help keep high-level Iranian officials in check. If authorities yet again brutally suppress people's right to peacefully express their opinions, we will harness the power of the Internet to push right back!



Thank you for standing with us and the people of Iran,

Elise Auerbach, Christoph Koettl and the rest of the Iran crisis response team



P.S. If you know someone or if you, yourself, expect to be in New York on February 11th, then be sure to wear black and join our coalition of activists as they stand in a silent vigil for the people of Iran.

A Quick Petition and Message

As I've shared in the past, signing online petitions are questionable in that one must ask how effectively they reach their intended parties. However, my feeling is in many cases, it's better than doing nothing at all.

In that spirit here's a petition I received this morning that we should all sign:

http://http://act.truemajorityaction.org/p/7002/bluepetition?petition_KEY=151

The main message here is when a critical eye is put to the amount of money that supports the military industrial complex, it becomes clear how poor, marginalized communities are forced to bear the brunt of lack of social services and resources, in lieu of, another war plane. You want health care for all? Schools for children with adequate resources, accessible healthy food? Then fight against the power structure that continually funnels money to the elites in efforts to keep the poor poor, and the disenfranchised disenfranchised.

This C-17 is just one micro example, but add in the funding given to the insurance industries, investment banks, etc. and all of this interconnects and intersects, to again point to how those with power continually abuse and manipulate "the system" to continue to keep the status quo in tact.

Do some research, educate yourself, and make it be know that the amount of people that could be feed, the greater aid Haitians could be receiving, and the shelters that could be built for houseless folks are worth far more in peace, sustainability and justice then another war plane that acts as a tool to undermine all that is Holistic Sustainability.