Mumia Abu-Jamal is being held in Administrative Custody at SCI Mahanoy, Frackville, PA until he is cleared to enter general population. Mumia’s death sentence has been dropped and he will begin serving his life sentence (with no parole opportunity).
We need phone calls to the institution to let them know that the WORLD is watching Mumia’s movements and ask general questions so that they know that nothing they are doing is happening under cover of darkness.
Please also send cards and letters to Mumia at the new address so that he begins receiving mail immediately and it is known to all of the people there that we are with him!
Dear friends,
The Amazon rainforest is facing its biggest threat ever. Damaging changes to Brazil’s Forest Code – the main laws protecting the rainforest – were just approved by Brazil’s Senate. These changes open up the Amazon to rampant deforestation and we now stand to lose more of this amazing ecosystem to destruction. Soon the only thing standing between the Amazon and the chainsaws will be Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who can veto these changes. We all have a stake in protecting this irreplacable resource.
You can urge President Dilma to protect the Amazon and veto the new Forest Code. clic HERE http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/forests/amazon
We are edging closer to an “ecological calamity” in the Amazon rainforest and a vote in the Brazilian Senate has pushed us closer to the brink. It voted to approve destructive changes to the laws governing forest protection – called the Forest Code – that would open up the Amazon rainforest to rampant destruction. But it is not too late. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will have the opportunity to veto the changes – you can ask her to protect the Amazon and veto the new Forest Code.
Losing the Amazon rainforest to further deforestation would be an unimaginable loss for our planet and life on it, and the approval of this new Forest Code in Brazil would bring us one step closer to this terrible reality.
Not only is the Amazon home to one out of every ten species on the planet and important to the livelihoods of local communities, but it also functions as a carbon storage system, which can help us avoid some of the worst consequences of climate change. If deforestation and degradation of the Amazon continues increasing at the current pace the damage could actually transform the Amazon into part of the problem instead of part of the solution. The emissions from Amazon destruction contribute to a feedback cycle that will not only make climate change worse, by increasing warming trends, but cause further damage to the remaining forest, as forest fires in the region would intensify. The new Forest Code would bring us closer to this vicious cycle. Some scientists are already discussing the potential of losing the Amazon completely – imagine a world with no Amazon rainforest.
It won’t happen, because we will all keep demanding real protection for the rainforest until we get it. We know that a future free from destruction is possible, and we’ll condemn any attempts to destroy that future for the short-term profit of a few – the new Forest Code is one such attempt.
This past year the agricultural lobby pushed hard inside Brazil to weaken forest protection, many of the people pushing for these changes have been fined themselves for illegal deforestation. The result is the new Forest Code – it reduces the size of areas under protection, pardons people who deforested illegally and weakens enforcement of protection laws.
The text that has now been approved by the Senate is really bad; after the vote, Greenpeace Amazon campaign director Paulo Adario reemphasized that it opens up the rainforest to further deforestation. He also pointed out that scientists and the public prosecutors office have already said that the new Forest Code is not good for the environment and will be challenged.
There is still time to turn this situation around. You can send President Dilma an email right now and make it clear that she has a duty to protect the Amazon rainforest and veto the new Forest Code. All of us, including President Dilma, have a stake in the survival of this amazing ecosystem.
We’d like to keep you updated on this situation as it develops, so please keep in touch and make sure you are following us on Facebook and Twitter.
Llamamiento a un día de Acción Global en el Día de los Derechos Humanos, el ENGLISH CLICK HERE..:http://dec10.takethesquare.net/
El éxito del 15 de Octubre ha generado un impulso sin precedentes para la acción global. La humanidad se ha unido a través de las fronteras en la lucha por la democracia real y los derechos individuales. Es esencial en esta lucha el respeto por la vida humana y las condiciones de vida, incluido el medio ambiente.
La sociedad civil global está siendo amenazada por un sistema basado en el poder y no en los valores humanos. Día tras día reprime libertades básicas y favorece sistemáticamente la avaricia de unos pocos en detrimento de las necesidades de la mayoría. El poder financia guerras, monopolios alimentarios y farmacéuticos, apoya regímenes dictatoriales en todo el mundo, destruye el medio ambiente, manipula y censura los flujos de información e impide la transparencia.
Convocatoria de Ágorabcn
Desde la asamblea permanente de AgoraBcn, en Plaça Catalunya, convocamos a toda la ciudadanía a una concentración por los Derechos Humanos.
Con todos estos ataques que sufre la ciudadanía lamentablemente, lo único que hacen es pisotear cada vez más unos Derechos que son irrenunciables. Cada vez más gente lo pasa muy mal a costa de la felicidad de una clase que de derechos tiene muchos pero de humanos poco.
Convocamos para que el día de los Derechos Humanos sea de reivindicación por lo que nos corresponde.
After visiting 94 offices on Capitol Hill Tuesday, unemployed demonstrators targeted a Newt Gingrich fundraising event on Wednesday night. The hotel, like many of the representatives’ offices, locked its doors to the demonstrators, who are in D.C. with a group called “Take Back the Capitol.” Wednesday night the demonstrators called for Gingrich to discuss his jobs plans with the “99% outside” protesting, rather than the “1% who are contributing thousands to his campaign,” according to a press release sent out by organizers. Gingrich never came out.
“Take Back the Capitol” is made up of “unemployed and underemployed people from every state, students, community activists, union members, healthcare advocates, and travelers from Occupy sites from coast to coast,” according to the group’s website. Organized labor has helped coordinate three days’ worth of Capitol Hill protests under that banner.
The protesters are in D.C. as Congress is expected to vote on extending unemployment insurance to 2.2 million unemployed workers who face losing their benefits if the legislation is not passed.
Today, Senate Republicans blocked a vote on President Obama’s nomination to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Congress created the bureau, which was the brain child of Massachussets Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, during last year’s financial reforms. But Republicans have worked to strip its authority ever since, and have vowed not to confirm a director for it. Obama is weighing a recess appointment, which would circumvent the Senate vote.
Meanwhile, many of the demonstrators are using cameras on their mobile phones to upload images of members of Congress ignoring them. In the video below, Congressman Joe Walsh, who represents Illinois’ 8th District, was caught on video fleeing from his constituents. “We’ve been waiting a few hours to speak with you congressman,” a woman is heard saying as Walsh races down a set of stair. “You can at least acknowledge us,” the woman says once she realizes the congressman is fleeing.
California Rep. Elton Gallegly, a Republican who represents most of Ventura County and inland Santa Barbara Couny, at least acknowledged the demonstrators with a “Merry Christmas,” but he then ran quickly behind locked doors.
“Even when one of his constituents presented herself and tried to talk to him, he just kept saying ‘Merry Christmas,’” Esperanza Arrizon, a youth leader with Good Jobs LA, wrote about the event. According to her, before the congressman ran behind closed doors he did have one question for demonstrators, “I just donated 750 gifts to needy children, how many of you can say you did that?”
The event is being organized by several community groups by the American Dream Movement, a partnership between several groups including MoveOn.org, SEIU and other progressive, labor, and faith-based organizations.
‘Occupy’ protesters reclaiming foreclosed homes in 20 cities
#OccupyOurHomes, By David Edwards. The 99 percent movement, which has been evicted from many of their encampments across the country, is finding common cause with thousands of homeowners who are also being evicted from their homes.
Even though the movement has often been criticized for a lack of defined goals, Tuesday’s “Occupy Our Homes” action in at least 20 cities makes it clear that they are standing up to banks to reverse foreclosures.
“We’re in the neighborhood in New York City that had the highest number of foreclosure filings in 2010 to send a message that the economy is failing the 99 percent,” Vocal New York organizer Sean Barry told Raw Story from a Brooklyn neighborhood as about 200 protesters chanted in the background.
“We’re here because [there are] a lot of empty buildings owned by Wall Street banks and we’re going to liberate them.”
Tasha Glasgow, the single mother of a 9-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son, was expected to be one of the first occupants of a reclaimed home. Barry said that Glasgow, who had been in and out of the shelter system in New York City, had been slated to get a Section 8 voucher before budget cuts by Mayor Michael Bloomberg put an end to that promise.
“We’ve gained access to the home, and we’ve got the support of the neighbors,” Barry explained. “They’re going to start occupying it. … And then, there’s going to be 24/7 eviction defense by Occupy Wall Street.”
There were over 40 events planned in more than 20 cities Tuesday, but that is just the beginning.
“When it comes to Wall Street’s control over our economy, our democracy and our lives, there’s few better examples than the housing crisis,” Barry noted. “Occupy Wall Street is going to continue to support this national Occupy Our Homes campaign, and both defend homeowners who are being threatened with eviction due to foreclosure, and to move families that need homes into vacant buildings that banks are just sitting on.”
David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.
Related: Occupy protesters take over foreclosed homes
Today is the Occupy Our Homes National Day of Action to Stop and Reverse Foreclosures. Actions are taking place in over twenty-five cities around America, as the Occupy movement joins with homeowners and people fighting for a place to live. Our system has been serving Wall Street, big banks, and the one percent. Clearly this has not worked. We are the 99% and we are reclaiming our homes.
Follow this post for updates from around the country today. Go below to see videos from the day of action.
4:49 PM: Report on Twitter says Occupy action in Alameda shut down a foreclosure auction at the court. Picture from the action.
4:17 PM: Dozens of Portlanders vow not to leave foreclosed neighbors’ homes.
4:00 PM: VIDEO: Debbie Henry talks about why she and her husband are occupying their home.
3:43 PM: Volunteer cleaning crew from Occupy Wall Street arrives at reclaimed and reoccupied home in East New York Brooklyn to begin cleaning and renovating the home for Tasha Glasgow and her two children.
Editor’s note: Over the past week various elements both in Washington DC and Tel Aviv have been promoting a renewed rhetoric of an Iranian threat. Back in July of this year, Professor Chomsky wrote the following commentary on the issue that resonates even louder today.
Cambridge, Ma – The dire threat of Iran is widely recognised to be the most serious foreign policy crisis facing the Obama administration. General Petraeus informed the Senate Committee on Armed Services in March 2010 that “the Iranian regime is the primary state-level threat to stability” in the US Central Command area of responsibility, the Middle East and Central Asia, the primary region of US global concerns. The term “stability” here has its usual technical meaning: firmly under US control. In June 2010 Congress strengthened the sanctions against Iran, with even more severe penalties against foreign companies. The Obama administration has been rapidly expanding US offensive capacity in the African island of Diego Garcia, claimed by Britain, which had expelled the population so that the US could build the massive base it uses for attacks in the Central Command area. The Navy reports sending a submarine tender to the island to service nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines with Tomahawk missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads. Each submarine is reported to have the striking power of a typical carrier battle group. According to a US Navy cargo manifest obtained by
Mumia Has Been Transferred to SCI Mahanoy!
The Free 
