Five Ways to Help the People of Egypt

Today, millions of Egyptians took to the streets in the biggest day of protests yet. Their dictator’s response? “I’m not going anywhere.” The people of Egypt are surging towards political freedom, but with the internet blocked and the mobile networks deliberately throttled, they need us to stand with them more than ever. Almost 50,000 of us have taken an action in the last few hours. Here are 5 ways you can help wherever you are in the world:

1) HELP GET THE INTERNET BACK ON BY SIGNING THIS PETITION TO VODAFONE

The Egyptian government shut down of the Internet and mobile phone networks is an attempt to plunge the country into an information blackout. Sign this petition calling on the ISPs (including Vodafone) to open the internet and to the mobile operators (including Orange/France Telecom) to break the blackout and restore mobile service.
Sign here: https://www.accessnow.org/getegyptbackonline

2) TELL OBAMA TO MAKE AID CONDITIONAL

Sign Access’ petition calling on President Obama to make U.S. aid to Egypt conditional on Egyptian authorities reopening the channels of communication and honoring the Egyptian people’s demands for true democracy.
Sign here: https://www.accessnow.org/Democracy-NOT-Dictatorship

3) DONATE

In preparation for Egypt coming back online (and to help those who still have access), we’re setting up Tor-enabled servers that will help people reach blocked sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail. The more money we have, the more people we can help to anonymously jump the firewall.
Donate here: https://www.accessnow.org/page/contribute/Help-Egypt-With-Tor

4) JOIN THE CLOUD BY ADDING YOUR COMPUTER TO THE TOR NETWORK

If you’re a little more technically minded, join the Global Proxy Cloud by downloading Tor, a free anti-censorship program developed by the Tor Project. The more people that donate their extra bandwidth to Tor, the easier and faster it will be for people to access blocked sites.
Download here: https://www.accessnow.org/proxy-cloud/page/join-the-cloud

5) WATCH ACCESS’ LIVE STREAMED SYMPOSIUM (this Thursday at 12PM EST at www.accessnow.org/live)

With so much going on across the region, many questions are being asked about the internet, revolution, and the Middle East. We'd like to you invite you to an online symposium that we’ll be live streaming on Thursday at noon EST featuring: Frank La Rue (UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression); Tarek Amr (Egyptian Blogger), Jillian York (from Harvard's Berkman Centre), Marietje Schaake (Member European Parliament), and others.
Watch here on Thursday: https://www.accessnow.org/live

With hope,
Brett, Jochai, Daniel, Joe, Aasil, and the Access Team

You can learn more about the Access global movement for digital freedom at https://www.accessnow.org/about

Action Alert: India's Dongria Kondh Sacred Mountain and Tribal Way of Life Threatened by Unwanted British Vedanta Mining

Forests.org
July 13, 2010

Vedanta Resources, a British (or dubious origins) mining company, is set to destroy the forests, wildlife and way of life of the Dongria Kondh people. The Dongria Kondh have been struggling with all their might to protect their mountain but are being overpowered by the financial and political might of this multi-billion dollar company. They have been protesting locally for years, and have appealed for international support for their campaign to keep their sacred Niyamgiri Mountain ecologically and culturally intact...

Click Title to take Action

Naked Insecurity

Posted by nimda in In the Public Interest
Nader.org
June 24, 2010

If you are planning to fly over the 4th of July holiday, be aware of your rights at airport security checkpoints...

Click Title for full article

There's No Time Like Now to Be an Activist

Saturday 15 May 2010
by: Mickey Z., t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

...When else in all of human history has there been a time when we were in better position to shape the future? Ecosystems are screaming for mercy and our land base is practically an endangered species. What we do (or don't do) in the next few years could quite possibly tilt us all toward either the point of no return or a far more sane form of society. In other words, each and every one of us can take part - right now - in creating the most important social changes ever imagined. Here's how:

Click Title for full article

How to turn Congress Inc. back to just Congress

By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Washington Post
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

What is the biggest scandal of 2010 so far?

Allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation from Goldman Sachs? An oil spill that poses a threat to our environment and economy for generations? Mining operators freely ignoring safety violations and treating workers as disposable?...

click Title for full article

Actress Q’orianka Kilcher on Climate Change Activism: Public Figures and Celebrities “Have a Responsibility to Help Give a Voice to the Voiceless”

DemocracyNow!
April 20, 2010

Thousands of indigenous groups, grassroots activists and environmentalists began streaming into the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth in Tiquipaya, Bolivia on Monday. Among them was the award-winning young Hollywood actress, Q’orianka Kilcher. “I really believe, and love, the saying ‘there comes a time when silence is betrayal,’” Kilcher says. “As public figures and as celebrities, we have a responsibility to be able to help give a voice to the voiceless.”

Click on Title to continue

On Languages of Power and Powerlessness

Sunday 07 March 2010
by: Zygmunt Bauman,
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Zygmunt Bauman is arguably the most important living sociologist in the world. And yet his work has not been given the recognition it deserves in North America. Bauman is one of those rare intellectuals who not only addresses many of the major theoretical insights and paradigms of our time, but also uses them as a resource to examine, critically engage and respond to many of the social problems facing the globe today.

Click Title to read article

by Jeff Severns Guntzel
Utne
January 28, 2010

How you can use the open-source software TOR to volunteer your computer for global privacy....

How to Stop Complaining and Start Improving Government

Utne

...In the next three months, the Technology for Transparency Network will produce 32 case studies of different good-governance projects and 16 blog posts highlighting other projects...The network plans to challenge project leaders to figure out how their work could create concrete, offline change...

Click on Title above for full article

25 Intelligent Optimists

Jurriaan Kamp | Jan/Feb 2010 issue
Ode Magazine

Ode asked 25 famous people–Hollywood actors, prominent politicians, scientists, authors–to nominate their favorite Intelligent Optimist, a person who isn't famous but should be for his or her work to create a better world. The result: 25 inspiring profiles of changemakers you've never heard of–yet...

Click on Title above for Full Story

Prosecutors Target Northwestern Journalism Students Working on Exonerating Wrongfully Convicted Prisoners

DemocracyNow!
January 12, 2009

Prosecutors in Chicago are targeting a group of Northwestern University journalism students who have helped exonerate eleven wrongfully convicted prisoners, including five on death row. Cook County prosecutors have subpoenaed Northwestern and the Medill Innocence Project to hand over student grades, grading criteria, class syllabi, expense reports and email messages. Prosecutors are focusing on the students who conducted a three-year investigation into Anthony McKinney, who was convicted of fatally shooting a security guard in 1978. A judge is now reviewing McKinney’s case...

Click on Title above to continue

Jews raise voices for brutalised Gaza

By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal
January 6, 2009

...All those who stepped out of their comfort zones during the holidays to support the people of Gaza should be commended. But Epstein, Benjamin, Kasrils and Gottlieb, along with the other Jews who joined the march, have exemplified humanity’s best; people willing to prove the courage of their convictions even if this means encountering hostility from their own communities...

Click on Title above for full article

Egypt Denies Gaza Freedom March Access to Border, Hundreds Protest in Cairo

DemocracyNow!
December 29, 2009

In Egypt, hundreds of solidarity activists from around the world are being prevented by the Egyptian government from entering Gaza. Dubbed the Gaza Freedom March, organizers were planning to cross the border last Sunday to commemorate the first anniversary of Israel’s assault on Gaza that killed 1,400 Palestinians and thirteen Israelis. We get a report...

Click on Title above to continue

Rich-Poor, North-South Divide Marks COP15’s Opening Week

DemocracyNow!
December 11, 2009

As debates between rich and poor nations over emission cuts and funding continue on this fifth day of the COP15 climate summit here in Copenhagen, we begin with an overview of the week’s developments. The rich countries have proposed a climate fund of $10 billion a year from 2010 to 2012 to help developing countries adapt to climate change. Poor countries say that is too little. We hear from the climate negotiators from India, China, and Association of Small Island States, and get analysis from Kate Horner of Friends of the Earth.

Click on Title above to continue

On 20th Anniversary of Killings of 6 Jesuit Priests by US-Backed Salvadoran Forces, Thousands to Protest “School of the Assassins” at Ft. Benning

DemocracyNow!
November 20, 2009

Thousands are gathering at Fort Benning in Georgia this weekend for the annual protest to shut down the US Army training center dubbed by critics as the “School of the Assassins” for having trained some of the worst human rights violators in Latin America. This year’s protest will mark the twentieth anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador by the US-backed Salvadoran military. It comes days after the priests were posthumously bestowed El Salvador’s highest civilian award, marking the first time the Salvadoran government has honored the priests since their deaths. To talk about the priests and the overall state of Latin American affairs, we’re joined by Blase Bonpane, director of the Office of the Americas. A former Maryknoll priest, he has worked for more than four decades to promote human rights in Latin America...

Click on Title above to continue

What Have We Done to Democracy?

by Arundhati Roy
Web Exclusive, October 2009
Utne Reader

Of Nearsighted Progress, Feral Howls, Consensus, Chaos, and a New Cold War in Kashmir...

Click on Title above to continue

Tell Your Senators You Want Patriot Act Reform

American Civil Liberties Union
September 23, 2009

After eight years of the Patriot Act and the expansion of the government’s power to spy on Americans, we have an opportunity to bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution.

Our best chance of reforming the Patriot Act is making sure the Senate stongly supports the Feingold JUSTICE Act. Action on this critical issue could take place at any moment. Please contact your senator now and ask them to become a co-sponsor of the JUSTICE Act.

Click on Title above to take action!

Part II: Tim Robbins on Activism in Hollywood from the 1930s to the Present

DemocracyNow!
August 27, 2009

Tim Robbins is the artistic director of the Actor’s Gang and an Academy-award winning actor, director, producer, and writer.
He won an Oscar for his role in “Mystic River” and is well-known for his roles in numerous films over the past two decades including “The Shawshank Redemption”, “The Player”, “Bull Durham”, and “Bob Roberts.” His best known directorial ventures include the award-winning “Cradle Will Rock” and “Dead Man Walking.”

Click on Title above to continue

Meet dogs and young men saved from dogfighting

Humane Society of the United States

There is so much that tears at our hearts in this bloody realm of dogfighting. But we must look forward and reach these kids before they step into the quicksand of street fighting. When we see the positive effects of our program, it is magical. A few of these moments are captured in our slideshow. None of us wanted to imagine that fate that awaited so many of these dogs. But then our experts and community organizers stepped in and ushered in a dramatically different outcome.

If you care about ending dogfighting, this is the program to get us there.

Click title above to continue...

Greenpeace: Getting in People’s Faces and Getting Results

by Keith Goetzman
August 6, 2009
Utne

The environmental group Greenpeace often publicly shames corporations for their environmentally destructive ways, but it also works with them to improve if they have a change of heart as it has done with Kleenex, Nike, and Timberland.

Click on Title above to continue