On July 8th Italian Avaaz volunteers and members of the Avaaz European climate action factory -- a rapid response group of youth climate activists supported by Avaaz to raise the level of ambition for climate action in Europe -- organised a "strip mob" in front of the iconic Spanish stairs in Rome, Italy. The stunt's message was for bold climate action from the g8 leaders who were assembling in Italy for 2009 G8 Summit.

The team danced around to chants of "it's getting hot in here" whilst stripping down to reveal green underwear. They kept green underwear on, but threw their clothes at a dancer dressed as Berlusconi, who has been embroiled in public rows over his friendship with a young model. A large crowd of journalists and tourists cheered them on.

Photos and video below. For more information on the Action Factory projects in Europe and Washington DC, click here.

Thank you for participating in the Swine Flu campaign!


We stopped traffic in Geneva on May 27th as we descended on the World Health Organization (WHO) with a herd of cardboard pigs to deliver our petition! The 225 cardboard pigs represented the 225,000 Avaaz members that had signed the petition.

We certainly got our message across -- our campaign delivery went out around the world on ABC news, EFE TV, the Wall Street Journal, France 24, Kuwait News Agency, and Intellasia - as well as many other major news outlets.

When we handed over our petition, it became apparent how important our campaigning was and how valid our concerns were. Initially, the World Health Organization's Food Safety and Zoonoses director, Dr. Jørgen Schlundt, told us that the WHO and the FAO had not found a definitive link between the H1N1 virus and a factory farm and that the source was still under investigation. But he then admitted:
1) scientists have seen more disease breeding and mutating between animals and humans with the massive increase in industrial meat production;
2) he agreed that certain company's farming practices (Smithfields in this case) were dangerous;
3) he warned that new operations propagating in developing countries could make 'mistakes' in food safety that could be seriously risky to human health; and most importantly
4) he indicated that the political processes that determine the research and rules on factory farm biosafety are dominated by the industrial meat lobby. He said strong global regulations were essential, but, to date, unless there is a huge scare like BSE and people die, scientists are unable to push through the laws needed to prevent animal borne pandemics.

The message was clear - our public campaigning for investigation and regulation of factory farms is vital to ensure our food safety and counter the powerful meat industry. Our action showed the WHO that the world does not want to wait for another disaster - we want funding for scientists to investigate factory farms and we want preventive measures put in place that ensure public heath standards.

Click below to see the interview with Avaaz campaign director Alice Jay on Efe:

Dear friends,

During the Summit of the Americas, Avaaz sailed into the harbour at Port of Spain, Trinidad and delivered a message to President Obama to lift the Cuban embargo. The call came from more than 50,000 Avaaz members from the Americas.

Despite tight security, Avaaz Campaigner Paula Brufman and Trinidadian Avaaz members sailed by the site where the regional Presidents were meeting and hoisted a 'End the Cuba Embargo' banner up the mast. Public protest was closed down on the island, but an extraoridnary group of Trinidadian members and volunteers made this peaceful action happen with the consent of the coast guard. Great work!

The delivery of our message was quickly picked up by key news agencies and was reported around Latin America. See below for a video of the sailboat delivery and click here to see the media coverage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZPVMmOH6MY

At the Americas Summit President Obama announced a shift in US policy on Cuba and since then small steps toward dialogue have been taken. It is exciting to be a part of this vital change in regional policy. We will continue to campaign for constructive engagement and for the US to end the almost 50 year failed policy.

Today, Coldy 3000 took one step closer towards existence.

In just 4 days, over 123,000 Avaaz members from around the world answered Coldy's call and signed a petition urging the European Union to adopt strong efficiency standards for energy-using products. Today, Avaaz Campaign Director, Luis Morago, along with partners from Friends of the Earth Europe, Natuur en Milieu and some penguins delivered the petition straight to European decision makers -- specifically the Head of Unit of Transparency and Relations with Stakeholders, Gerard Legris, on behalf of President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso. The delivery was a great success with plenty of interest from the press and many bystanders stayed, charmed by the penguins' music and dance. In the coming days, we will also be delivering the petition to high representatives of the Czech Presidency of the EU in Brussels.

But above all else, we're having an impact! Sources tell us that the debate is getting hotter and much more political, thanks largely to increased pressure from campaigning organisations. Stay tuned to the Avaaz blog for more info!

Here is a video of today's event, and check out the photos beneath!

The night before the US Senate hearing, 60,000 Avaaz members had signed the petition in support of a Commission of Inquiry into Bush's War on Terror - all within 48hours of the petition being launched. By the next morning, the number had jumped an extra 40,000.

When 100,000 names from over 180 countries were officially tabled at the Senate hearing, the international message was clear: find out the truth about the War on Terror, and don't let it happen again. Here are some pictures from the day:

A real Commission of Inquiry would provide a powerful stop signal to further human rights abuses being committed by the US Administration. It would suggest a new era in human rights and a shift in how the US government intends to deal with conflict and terrorism.

Witnesses at the hearing in favour of the Commission made it clear that the best way to respond to terrorism is with justice, due process and human rights. Descending to torture, water-boarding, abductions and wire-tapping only fuels extremism.

As Avaaz Executive Director, Ricken Patel, said "Bush's war on terror tactics are both immoral and incompetent. They violate our fundamental values and stoke the anger and hatred that feed terrorism. Torture and disappearances are more of a gift than a threat to Al Qaeda."

The establishment of a Commission of Inquiry should not be about vengeance or a political witch-hunt. A thorough and honest investigation should be established to ensure accountability and an end to impunity for those who have committed wrongdoings -- created as a preventative measure to limit the possibility of recurrence.

Any Commission must be independent, bi-partisan, and able to investigate all the way up the chain of command. It should have the power to refer for prosecution, but not be a substitute for prosecution. It should be able to follow evidence where it may lead, without fear or favour. Ultimately, it should recommend legislative or policy changes that need to be implemented.

We need to move beyond the language of the War on Terror and start talking about a security framework centred on human rights. But there is still a long way to go. Bagram, the US prison in Afghanistan, contains hundreds of prisoners. The Obama Administration recently restated Bush's line that those detained there should not have the legal right to challenge their detention. Similarly, the state secrets privilege is still being used in cases before the US courts.

An end to the war on terror requires a movement, lawyers, policy makers and politicians. The global outcry, evidenced by the Avaaz petition, shows that to repair relations and restore respect for human rights, the truth must first be uncovered and wrongdoing publicly acknowledged.

Leahy and the Judiciary Committee will need all the support it can get, to get this Commission over the line.

With the conflict in Gaza escalating beyond control, Avaaz ran the following ad in the Washington Post and the Congressional Paper, Roll Call. The ad, which was an appeal for strong U.S. leadership to broker a ceasefire, also delivered an Avaaz ceasefire petition signed by 500,000 people. To see the campaign click here.

During the closing days of a two-week critical UN climate change conference in Poland, the world was in danger of losing momentum towards a new global climate treaty. Simultaneous climate discussions at the European Union in Brussels had seen Germany attempt to block progress and seek concessions for its heavily polluting industries -- a move that divided Europe and undermined European leadership at the UN talks.

Former climate hero, German Chancellor Merkel, appeared to have turned climate villain. The reason: a combination of the economic crisis and a 2009 election year meant that Merkel was seriously feeling the pressure to cut spending on environmental programs. With the voice of German industry growing louder in Merkel's ear, it was clear that German public opinion needed as say as well. Avaaz commissioned independent national polls in Germany (as well as in Poland and Italy, two other countries blocking progress). The polls asked a simple question, do voters think there is a compromise between environmental protection and climate action. On the final day of the UN talks in the Poland, Avaaz published the polling results and a message to Merkel as a 3-page series of ads in the official conference newspaper the Gazeta Wyborcza. You can see the ads below, and then click here to read more about our climate campaigning during these December meetings.

Big news out of Germany--last week, 200,000 of us succeeded in shifting the position of Europe's biggest polluter, and helped salvage the climate talks!

It's far from a total victory--the European Union's climate package is still riddled with loopholes, and the UN negotiators put off the biggest decisions to next year. But because of a massive wave of global people power, things are much better than they would have been.

Here's what happened. After years of climate leadership, German chancellor Angela Merkel sharply reversed course in recent weeks--threatening to derail the entire European climate plan if German coal plants and heavy industries weren't granted free pollution permits. If Germany, Europe's biggest climate polluter, had had its way, the EU agreement would have been toothless--and European leadership in the global talks would have collapsed.

Avaaz learned about the threat--and swung into action. Look at what we did in ten days:

Photo credits: Robert VanWaarden, David Wargert

• More than 175,000 of us from over 192 countries signed a climate petition to Merkel and other European leaders that was hand-delivered to German and EU diplomats in Brussels, to key Members of the European Parliament in Poznan--and to an Avaaz member in a Merkel costume in front of a sea of German TV cameras in Warsaw as Merkel was discussing climate change behind closed doors a few metres away!
  

• Small donations by more than 450 Avaaz members paid for independent opinion polls in Germany, Italy, and Poland--and uncovered that huge majorities in each country believed their governments should take strong climate action despite the economic downturn. Moreover, far more citizens in each country believed that fighting climate would help the economy than thought it would hurt. The polls were circulated publicly--and privately, in meetings with key German ministers.
  

• Avaaz co-hosted ten daily "Fossil of the Day Award" ceremonies during the UN climate talks, presenting a mock prize to the countries who did the most to obstruct progress. Awarded based on a vote of international green groups--and made possible by a team of local Avaaz volunteers in Poznan, Poland and the international youth delegation--the prize sparked bursts of press coverage in Germany, Italy, and Poland when each country won... not to mention outrage and perhaps some soul-searching from those countries' negotiators.
  

• In the closing days of the EU talks, more than 40,000 Avaaz members sent personal messages about climate change through the public-comment page on Chancellor Merkel's own website, a flood of impassioned appeals from citizens across the planet.
  

• Last Friday, Avaaz took out a four-page advertisement in the Polish newspaper distributed at the UN talks. Facilitated by local Avaaz volunteers and paid for by member donations, the ad used a parody of Star Wars to ask if "Angie Skywalker" was being tempted by the Dark Side to become a climate "Darth Merkel"--and delivered our petition and poll results in a spectacular fashion that was covered on multiple German television networks and around the world.
  
  

We learned that the Darth Merkel ad was waved at the German delegation's morning meeting at the UN talks--and when an Avaaz staffer tried to hand a copy of it to Germany's environment minister, he said he already had one.

The German campaign was an Avaaz-style surge of people-powered political pressure: rapid, targeted, global, and, we now know, effective. Sources close to the Chancellor's office tell us that the German leadership were stunned by the intensity of global reaction to their attempt to backtrack on climate policy. They hadn't anticipated anything close to it. Throughout, Avaaz worked closely with partner groups in Germany, who organized protests and launched ad campaigns throughout Germany--creating a "pressure sandwich" of international and domestic outcry. When the final EU deal was struck, Germany backed down on one of its most damaging demands--the free pollution permits and subsidies for new coal plants.

It wouldn't have happened without us--all of us around the world, whether we waved signs in freezing Warsaw or clicked an online petition from home.

In one sense, it's a small victory in a huge fight. The EU climate package is deeply flawed, and will have to be radically strengthened if Europe is to do its part. And Europe is just one component of the global agreement that will have to be struck in Copenhagen next year--at the end of a process full of pitfalls and obstacles.

But in another sense--as with our climate victories a year ago with Canada and Japan--it's a reminder to all of us that these enormous global problems aren't really so far out of our reach. That political leaders need to be led by regular people. That when enough of us join together, we can change the world.

"Since Monday, Uribe has also been receiving thousands of emails calling on him to engage in "Dialogue, Not Violence!" -- an Internet campaign by Avaaz.org, an international global online advocacy network."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44426

Check out our campaign page: http://www.avaaz.org/en/derechos_indigenas_colombia/

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COLOMBIA: Uribe Agrees to Talks with Indigenous Protesters By Constanza Vieira*

BOGOTA, Oct 23 (IPS) - "The police did fire" on indigenous protesters, said Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who yielded to pressure to meet next Sunday with the leaders of a two-week-long demonstration by native groups.

On Wednesday night, the rightwing president acknowledged an incident that was videotaped by protesters in the La María indigenous reservation in the southwestern province of Cauca and broadcast by the U.S. cable news network CNN. The video shows a masked, uniformed police officer shooting in the direction of the demonstrators.

But with respect to the three indigenous people killed since the protests began on Oct. 12 -- one on Oct. 14 and two on Oct. 21 -- Uribe maintained that they weren't shot by the security forces, but were killed by explosives used by "the terrorists," as he refers to the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, who he accuses of infiltrating the peaceful demonstration.

National police chief General Óscar Naranjo, meanwhile, said that "up to 700 police" have been deployed against the protesters, although last week he said the police numbered 1,000.

Naranjo identified the police sniper by name, and said he opened fire because "250 indigenous people" were throwing explosives from a nearby ditch.

The indigenous movement roundly rejects allegations that participants in the demonstration have used explosives.

On Thursday evening, Uribe personally called the cell-phone of one of the leaders of the demonstration, named the National Minga of Indigenous and Popular Resistance ("minga" is a traditional indigenous meeting for the collective good), Daniel Piñacué, to inform the organisers that he would meet with them Sunday in Cali.

Although the thousands of demonstrators have already made half of the 98-km trek northwards from La María to Cali, the capital of the province of Valle del Cauca, Uribe had originally scheduled his Sunday meeting with the leaders at 9:00 AM in Popayán, the capital of the neighbouring province of Cauca, 130 km south of Cali.

The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) had responded earlier Thursday to Uribe's initial agreement to talks by protesting in an open letter that the meeting with the indigenous community leaders should not take place far away from the rest of the people participating in the Minga.

The leaders are also insisting that the talks take the form of a public debate, and that the agenda include the questions of human rights, an end to attacks on indigenous communities and occupation of their territory, the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a repeal of laws that threaten indigenous reservations and thus the very survival of native groups, and compliance with previous agreements signed with social organisations and movements.

ALONG THE WAY

An assembly of 115 traditional indigenous leaders, presided over by local Guambiana council member Ayda Quilcué, was held Wednesday in Santander de Quilichao in Cauca province, 60 km from Cali, to organise food and water supplies for the roughly 30,000 men and women now taking part in the Minga.

The protesters took the assembly's advice to rest up and regain their strength, under improvised tents in the midday heat, and amidst smoke from cooking fires and the aroma of food.

They were also waiting for the arrival of another 6,000 to 7,000 members of the Awá, Pasto, Pijao, Embera-Katío, Embera-Dovida, Embera-Chamí, Zenú, Kankuamo, Wayúu, U'wa, Barí, Mokaza, Quillacinga, Kamentzá, Tule, Muisca, Sikuani, Coreguaje, Sáliba and Inga native ethnic groups from 20 of Colombia's 32 departments (provinces).

Although entire family groups are taking part -- grandparents, parents, siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins -- children, who did participate in a similar Minga march to Cali four years ago, are noticeably absent this time around.

"The harsh clashes with the security forces that occurred over the last two weeks in La María led to our decision that they should not take part, so they have returned home," one father told IPS.

Welcomed by applause from local residents, the Minga participants filed into the town of Villa Rica at noon Thursday. In the afternoon, the march was joined by sugar cane cutters who have been on strike since Sept. 15 demanding basic rights like stable job contracts, a living wage, and sick days.

Four leaders of the cane harvesters' strike have been arrested, as well as two well-known advisers of leftwing Senator Alexander López, who is chairman of the Senate human rights commission.

In June, López called a public hearing in the Senate on the harsh working and living conditions of the sugar cane workers. A month earlier, Uribe had suggested that he be arrested for "inciting class struggle." The president made his suggestion to a general whose alleged ties to a local drug trafficker emerged in September.

A column of indigenous women taking part in the Minga was joined before reaching Villa Rica by two women's peace groups, the Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres (Women's Peace Route) and the Organización Femenina Popular (Popular Women's Organisation, OFP).

The Minga participants are listening to local residents at every village and town along the way, and explaining what they are demanding of the Uribe administration, such as respect for the "territorial integrity and collective and human rights of indigenous people," which they say are violated because their natural resource-rich lands are coveted by transnational corporations, landowners and other economic interests, and are fought over by the armed groups in the country's decades-long civil war.

They are also calling for the repeal of constitutional reforms and laws that they say infringe on their rights, like the rural statute, the mining code, water laws and the forestry law.

The Minga has now added to its demands a public clearing of their name by the president, who has called them "terrorists" and has urged that their leaders be arrested and brought to trial.

The police have accused the Quilcué Council of ties to the guerrillas, and Uribe ordered the trial of Nasa leader Piñacué, indigenous governor of the Calderas reservation and director of the Nasa de Belalcázar radio station in Cauca.

"It's obvious that President Uribe has it out for our people, and is vociferating against us in the media, offering rewards, militarising our territories, and accusing our leaders," said a statement issued by the CRIC.

UNDER PRESSURE

Uribe's acknowledgement that the police had opened fire on the demonstrators was prompted by the video broadcast around the world. But why did he agree to the protesters' demand for talks?

On Thursday, public employees and other sectors took part in a 24-hour strike called by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) central workers union. And truckers, whose work stoppage in August caused severe economic problems, joined the Minga Wednesday and announced that they would also take part in Thursday's strike.

Since Monday, Uribe has also been receiving thousands of emails calling on him to engage in "Dialogue, Not Violence!" -- an Internet campaign by Avaaz.org, an international global online advocacy network.

He also received strongly-worded letters Wednesday from Argentine Nobel Peace Prize-winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and 32 members of the European Parliament (MEPs), at a time when the Colombian government is hoping for a free trade agreement with the European Union.

The signatories included the vice president of that body, Italian lawmaker Luisa Morgantini, and members of the DAND Delegation, which is handling relations with the Andean Community trade bloc, made up of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The MEPs from 13 different countries expressed "deep indignation about these serious violations of indigenous and trade unionists' rights that should not go unpunished.

"We consider as legitimate the claims of the indigenous people for the respect of their land and autonomy, for the survival of their 102 different peoples, of which 18 are in constant danger of disappearance, and for the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources. Likewise we recognise the legitimate claims of the sugar cane workers for decent work," they added.

"We urge the Colombian government to order the police and army to immediately stop the repression against the indigenous peoples' and workers' movement," said the MEPs, who also condemned "the permanent use of the pretext of fighting against terrorism to repress the social movement in Colombia."

For his part, Pérez Esquivel said the police crackdown on the Minga was "brutal and inconceivable," and criticised Uribe's "lack of propensity to engage in dialogue."

"To say there are infiltrators in the demonstrations and that they are attacking the police is of a naïvete that is hard to believe," he added in his letter.

"In these demonstrations, indigenous people are merely demanding respect for their right to their land, respect for the autonomy of their communities, and fulfillment of agreements signed with the government," said Pérez Esquivel. * With additional on-site reporting by Judith Henríquez Acuña. (END/2008)

The Global Peace March was a total success! More than 87,000 of us sent a clear message to the overwhelming majority of US citizens who oppose Bush's escalation in Iraq--"The world is with you. "

We'll keep uploading pictures from the March throughout the weekend (this first batch you're seeing come straight from Tom's cell phone!) as well as more comments and feedback from Avaaz members.

The response has been phenomenal. US marchers got incredibly fired up about the idea of the rest of the world supporting them and cheered loudly as the colorful Avaaz flag cloud floated by. As Avaaz members holding the banner reading "Citizens from 165 nations march with you" walked past the Supreme Court, the crowd spontaneously started screaming "Close Guantanamo."

There where some really touching it's-a-small-world-after-all moments. Marchers in the crowd--from places as far as China, Pakistan or Australia--saw their flag and came up to ask if they could hold it. This is the kind of globalization we're talking about.

We did this together in less than a week! Let's keep this momentum going, guys.

More to come soon...

Galit