World Aids Day - FeatureClip

A global disease needs a global/local response

http://worldaidsday.com.au/

http://www.joinred.com/

http://www.vicaids.asn.au/content/default.asp

vic aids council link list  here

http://www.straightarrows.org.au/

positive living - http://napwa.org.au/pl

People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria http://www.plwhavictoria.org.au/default.htm

the plwha links page is also full of links for more info here

Iranian trade unionist to be hanged today

Urgent request from Labour Start

This morning I received news that jailed Iranian teacher union activist
Farzad Kamangar may be hanged within the next few hours.

According to the Education International, he has been taken from his
cell in Tehran’s Evin prison in preparation for execution. The guards
have told him he is about to be executed and they are making fun of him,
calling him a martyr.

We need your help and we need it right now.

Send off your message to the Iranian president:

http://www.labourstart.org/farzad

http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=917&theme=rights&country=iran

http://www.labourstart.org/

(Something funny was happening with the link - Added 2 more-Age)

Pass on the this message to everyone you know who might support this
campaign.

We may only have a few hours left.

I know that I can count on your help.  Thank you.

Eric Lee

morepraxis - one month view

I showed you one week of googleanalytics dots of our network so now we have one month

Top Ten countries

1.    Australia – 859
2.    United States - 122
3.    United Kingdom - 28
4.    Canada - 19
5.    Philippines - 18
6.    India - 17
7.    Not set (I guess this is pine gap) - 9
8.    New Zealand - 5
9.    France - 5
10.  Italy – 4

Top 10 cities

1.    Melbourne - 594
2.    Sydney - 110
3.    Perth - 41
4.    Brisbane - 35
5.    Adelaide - 31
6.    Not Set  - 20
7.    Canberra - 19
8.    London - 10
9.    New York - 9
10.  Rosario - 8

Feature Clip - Starbucks Church??

Used this clip on Sunday at Cafe church in Ringwood.

Take action for the Word - Holy Hardware

Word Bookstores Pty Ltd is a high-profile and successful Christian retailer involved in the selling of a range of products made in China where there are documented cases of gross disregard for the fundamental human dignity of working people.

The Justice & International Mission Unit of the Uniting Church in Australia has repeatedly tried to contact this company to start a dialogue about these issues; but there has been no response. In contrast, UniChurch Books and the Central Catholic Bookstore (both in Melbourne) have responded favourably.

Just because an item is made in China does not mean it is made under gross exploitation; however, without independent verification everyone is in the dark. We would just like to talk.

So we need your help. Could you send an email via our handy Just Holy Hardware website?

Much appreciated!

JustAct - Just act for young Victorian workers

The Victorian Government can legislate to specifically protect young people (15-17) in Victorian workplaces. The Government is currently reviewing laws in this area and the Justice & International Mission Unit of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania has been positively liaising with the Government and other community groups about this issue. The Victorian Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Rob Hulls has congratulated the church and community groups for their feedback so far. We are very hopeful for a good outcome.

Ensuring decent conditions for young workers should be a priority for Governments, employers and all others involved in the employment area. Many young people do not feel confident about negotiating their terms and conditions of employment.

There should be a set of standards for Victorian workplaces that are stronger than Commonwealth protections for workers 18 or above.

JUST TAKE ACTION NOW

UpperRoom - Update - David Karoly

As of this morning Prof David Karoly will be attending the UpperRoom project on this Monday Night.

“There aren’t many people on the planet that know more about climate change than Australian climatologist Professor David Karoly.

His work with the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change brought him international recognition. Now, as a Federation Fellow at the University of Melbourne, his expertise is back in Australia … and he’s determined to make a difference.” ABC-Catalyst

The inconvenient truth will be playing as we advertised earlier but now we can confirm that during the show we will be having a conversation and live commentary with David.

This is the night to bring your questions and friends who are interested in climate change and the environment.

more links

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change

The University of Melbourne, Earth Sciences

National Snow and Ice Data Centre

Feature clip - Zoriah - In Harms Way

People may remember the Advent and Aids art series we did with Zoriah or been clicking on his rss feed down the side of morepraxis.

This is an excerpt from the Warner Brothers and CBS documentary television show called “In Harms Way.”  It features Zoriah documenting the Israeli Palestinian conflict from the Gaza Strip and provides insight and motivations into why he became a war photographer.

You may be able to view the full documentary in this post.

avvaz action - shame lloyds on burma

A year after their crackdown, Burma’s military dictators remain entrenched, propped up by dealings with Western companies. But the Burmese democracy movement has found a powerful pressure point — many of the Generals’ West-linked business ventures depend on one insurer: Lloyd’s of London.[1]

Lloyd’s is the world’s oldest, most respected insurer, and cares a great deal about its global reputation — by pointing out Lloyd’s blameworthiness as key insurance deals come up for renewal, we can shift their cost-benefit calculations on support to the Burmese regime.

If enough of us email and call key decision-makers at Lloyd’s this week, we could shame them into pulling out of this dirty trade, undermining the hardliners and creating pressure for human rights and the release of political prisoners like democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Follow the link below to lend a hand to the Burmese people:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/shame_lloyds_on_burma

The Burmese people’s struggle is long and tough. But as in South Africa, international pressure on the regime’s exploitative ventures could tip the balance. Because it’s hard or impossible for them to continue without insurance, this is an effective and wide-reaching approach for citizens everywhere to have a real impact. Burma’s democracy movement decided on this strategy because the benefit of these ventures flows overwhelmingly to the generals, while the Burmese people have grown ever poorer.

Lloyd’s of London is the umbrella and overseer for hundreds of specialist insurance syndicates, and it can stop their dirty trade if it so chooses. Already many big global insurers have stopped insuring junta-linked businesses – after Lloyd’s, the generals will start to run out of options. We’ll ramp up the pressure by alerting the media to our campaign, specialist insurance publications included. Even the British government has begun to ask Lloyd’s to cease its business with the Burmese military junta.[2]

We can win this campaign, so let’s flood Lloyd’s with emails and phone calls all this week — on the campaign page we provide key numbers, email addresses and suggestions for what to say — just follow the link below now to take action:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/shame_lloyds_on_burma

If we win, the regime will be thrown onto the back foot, Burma’s people will be immensely heartened, and the UN Secretary-General will have a greater chance of securing the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners this December.[3] Together, our individual small acts are becoming irresistible. We can’t forget Burma.

With hope and determination,

Paul, Alice, Iain, Graziela, Ricken, Pascal, Paula, Brett, Veronique, Milena — the entire Avaaz team

Sources:

1. The Observer: “The baron who holds Burma’s purse strings”, 2 November 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/02/oil-total-burma-lloyds-levene1

Reinsurance Magazine: Big insurers including Marsh, Swiss Re, AON pull out: http://www.reinsurancemagazine.com/public/showPage.html?page=787739

Arab Insurance Group and XL also pull out:
http://www.mizzima.com/news/world/962-campaigners-hail-arigs-decision-to-pull-out-of-burma.html

2. “Foreign Office warns Lloyd’s over Burma”:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/28/insurance.foreignpolicy

3. As Ban Ki-Moon prepares to visit, Asia-Europe summit in Beijing calls for release of political prisoners:
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/independent/2008/10/release-aung-sa.html