Red Cross: "never seen such massive destruction"

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Published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 12:00

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Action & Analysis

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A new 72-hour ceasefire has begun in Gaza. But what comes next? We need to keep learning - and taking action - for justice.

JVP-Philly members arrested asking Jewish Federation to stand for justice in Gaza.

Help us pressure Jewish leaders to stand for justice

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At 12:01 this morning (local time), another 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began. As negotiations move haltingly ahead, what we do know is that Gaza is in a state of ruin. Even if the IDF doesn't fire another single shot, this attack already stands as the most destructive to life and property that we have witnessed. Israel has killed over 1,900 Palestinians, including 415 children, and injured more than 10,000. It's hard to imagine, much less make sense of.

Here are four critical points to understand and push out into public debate - with links to some of the articles we think are most helpful looking forward over the coming days.

Gaza has been decimated

“I’ve never seen such massive destruction ever before,” is how Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, described Gaza last week. Over 10,000 homes have been destroyed, with another 30,000 damaged. Gaza’s lone power plant that was hit by Israeli missiles July 29th, affecting sewage treatment, communications, refrigeration, healthcare, and almost every aspect of daily life . Hundreds of schools, mosques, factories, and farms have also been destroyed or damaged. And even before this attack, Gaza was still rebuilding from the Cast Lead offensive in 2009 and Pillar of Cloud in 2012.

A Major Health Crisis is Unfolding

Before this crisis, Gaza had just 2,047 hospital beds. That's roughly one for every 5 injured Palestinians. People are being discharged far earlier than they should be as even more critical patients come in. Medical supplies - including pain medication - are in extremely short supply. And of course those returning home to recover often have no home to go to, and almost all of them, certainly, face the same water and power crisis as they try to heal.

The key Palestinian “demand” is a basic right.

Read more: Red Cross: "never seen such massive destruction"

Krispy Kreme Kills Tigers

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Published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 12:00

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Krispy Kreme is buying palm oil from companies which destroy rainforests and exploit local communities in Indonesia. We're heading into a meeting with the U.S. doughnut giant, and we want to show them that customers care about this.

Make the call. Ask Krispy Kreme to use responsible palm oil that doesn't destroy rainforests or peatlands and doesn't harm people.

Make a call

There are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, and their paradise forest is being destroyed to make palm oil plantations for Krispy Kreme's suppliers. Palm oil is a natural ingredient in doughnuts and other yummy foods, but producers in Indonesia are wrecking the environment and exploiting local communities to make it.

Krispy Kreme is responding with PR spin to a damning report about its palm oil suppliers -- but we're not going to let them get away with it. Just a couple of weeks ago activists from Forest Heroes and SumOfUs went to grand openings in three different cities in the US and got the company's attention. We have a meeting with Krispy Kreme on Wednesday afternoon and we we want your voice to be loudest one in the room.

We know that palm oil suppliers respond to pressure from their big brand customers, and brands respond to us when we come at them from all sides.

Phone Krispy Kreme HQ now, before campaigners meet with company representatives on Wednesday afternoon.

The palm oil industry has had a devastating impact on the forests of Southeast Asia, wiping out millions of hectares of forest and releasing hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Consumers shouldn’t have to choose between treats like doughnuts and the survival of the Sumatran Tiger. Even Wilmar, the world’s largest palm oil trader, which just last year was named the world’s least sustainable corporation for its role in deforestation, has agreed to stop doing business with producers that destroy the rainforest.

Read more: Krispy Kreme Kills Tigers

Act now: Safer fields, safer families

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Published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 11:20

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Send to a Friend | DONATE

Healthier workplace for farmworkers is overdue

Stand with farmworkers

EPA's new rules to protect farmworkers from pesticides are better, but not good enough!

Tell them to get it right.

New workplace protections for farmworkers are long overdue — but we're close! We have just a few more weeks to press EPA to do right by the nation's two million farmworkers and their families. Can you sign on today?

Take a stand » Tell EPA to strengthen their "Worker Protection Standard" rules, today! It’s time to create a safer, healthier workplace for farmworkers — and a healthier food system for all.

Among the many challenges farmworkers face is exposure to health-harming pesticides on the job. Creating a field-to-fork food system that relies less on these chemicals is an urgent priority for all of us. Strong, immediate protections for farmworkers and their families is an important step along the way.

The revised rules make some good improvements, like increased buffer zones for work crews and better safety training. But there are many ways the rules must be strengthened, including:

• Protecting young workers: Children under 18 should not be allowed to mix or apply pesticides — two of the most hazardous on-farm jobs.
• Ensuring the right to know: Farmworkers need easy access to basic information about what, where and when pesticides are applied, when it’s safe to re-enter treated fields, and what do in case of a medical emergency.

Speak up » EPA's proposal is open for public comment right now, and we need to press the agency to make it stronger. Our food system depends on the labor of farmworkers across the country, and these workers deserve a safe and healthy workplace.

Thank you for standing with farmworkers!

Read more: Act now: Safer fields, safer families

State of student unemployment this summer

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Published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 10:40

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The CCPA has added their voice to growing concerns over the problem of youth unemployment in Canada, as students can't find work this summer.

Here is our write-up. Share if you can:
http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/460581-canadian-students-are-looking-cant-find-job-summer
Enjoy the holiday weekend,
Sarah

Prizes for our Declaration Signers Contest

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Published on Wednesday, 13 August 2014 09:20

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• About
• What You Can Do
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Help us Hit 100,000 Signers on our Declaration of Voters' Rights - We're Looking for Contest Prizes!

The 2015 federal election is just around the corner, and Fair Vote Canada has set an ambitious goal - to reach 100,000 signers on our Declaration of Voters’ Rights!

The Declaration of Voters’ Rights is our petition for proportional representation. It is the main tool we have to build our Make Every Vote Count 2015 campaign.

100,000 signers before the 2015 federal election would send a powerful message to the party leaders and candidates that Canadians want a fair voting system, and are willing to make a commitment to it an election issue. We are looking forward to delivering this petition to the party leaders and the media!

Thanks to your efforts - and the work of our social media team, individuals and Fair Vote Canada action teams in local communities - 35,500 Canadians have now signed the Declaration of Voters’ Rights.

This year’s Democracy Week - September 15-Sept 21 - is a great time to make our next big push to grow our 2015 campaign to make every vote count.

To encourage people to sign and share the Declaration, we would like to run a contest this fall. To do this, we need prizes! Do you know a business which would be willing to donate a prize?

Since it needs to be something many people would find appealing, and an item someone who lives anywhere in Canada could redeem, a gift certificate would be the most appropriate option (but of course other things that can be mailed or redeemed across Canada are welcome!) We will be promoting the contest widely on social media - to our 15,000 Facebook fans, almost 4000 Twitter followers and possibly doing other types of advertising.

Thank you again for your support of proportional representation and the Make Every Vote Count 2015 campaign. Together, we can do this!

Read more: Prizes for our Declaration Signers Contest

The Fraser Institute does it again

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Published on Tuesday, 12 August 2014 15:20

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In its ongoing effort to undermine government and public service, the Fraser Institute released its annual tax index report.
Here's a fact-check on the bogus study. Please share on social streams.
http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/4-ways-refute-fraser-institutes-bogus-tax-index

World Indigenous Day!

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Published on Monday, 11 August 2014 10:40

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Survival Tribes News Act Now Donate

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples!

Show your support with five simple actions...

Stop uncontacted tribes being annihilated: send an email

A massacre caused a group of uncontacted Amazon Indians to emerge from the rainforest last month. Help us persuade Brazil and Peru to take action.

Download & share a tribal quote

Give tribal peoples a platform to speak to the world. Share this quote with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Set up a monthly $5 gift to Survival

Regular giving is the best way to support Survival. It involves less administration, allows us to plan our work, confident in the knowledge of your regular support.

Watch & share our short film
The things they said

The extinction or assimilation of tribal people has been predicted for over 500 years. Wrong then, wrong now.

Read more: World Indigenous Day!

What they aren't saying...

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 17:00

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Action Alert

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s23,

As I write this, I am hoping the temporary truce between Hamas and Israel will become permanent, but I know that either way, our work is just beginning. The first delivery of our Open Letter to Jewish leaders will be Friday, so I hope you will sign and pass this on.

Gratefully,
Rabbi Alissa Wise

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If you listened to some leaders, you'd think Gaza was occupying Israel

Help fight these lies with the truth - and an open letter to Jewish leaders

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As a rabbi who was inspired by my many Jewish teachers to a life dedicated to social change, I am just heartbroken and outraged by the ways American Jewish leadership has failed to live up to the moral standards they set for themselves, and the rest of us.

To put it bluntly--their response to Israel's assault on the people of Gaza has been downright disgraceful.

That’s why I am asking you to join me and the 25,000 others who have signed our Open Letter to ask the leaders of three major US Jewish organization to take a stand for justice.

Click here to sign the petition: http://bit.ly/1ocdeYL

Starting this Friday, we will be hand-delivering this open letter to Jewish leaders in cities across America.

Below we have just a sampling of some of the false claims some of these leaders are helping to spread throughout American Jewish communities—and we’ve provided some context to help you respond to them. Their spread illustrates exactly why we have written this Open Letter.

Is it not too much to expect American Jewish leaders to say unequivocally, as thousands of Jews worldwide are doing, that the disproportionate violence, killing and destruction that the Israeli government is inflicting on the people of Gaza is immoral and intolerable?

Is it not too much to expect them to hold Israel accountable for ongoing occupation and blockade?

We must demand that these leaders take a courageous position affirming the equal humanity of all people.

Please join me in signing the Open Letter insisting they decry the killing of innocents, rather than justify it. That they oppose a policy of collective punishment, rather than funding it.

Join us in demanding that they challenge Israel's cynical hasbara (propaganda) below, rather than parroting it.

Read more: What they aren't saying...

No Consent: Indigenous Nations Condemn Imperial Metals' Mount Polley Mine Disaster

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 17:00

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7 Aug

The Imperial Metals Mount Polley tailings pond breach and it’s unleashing of millions of cubic meters of toxic waste and slurry out into the pristine waterways of the Secwepemc and surrounding territories is the largest disaster of it’s kind in the so called province’s history. Radio-BED reaches out to communities affected by Imperial Metals to ask about sovereignty, resistance and the unfolding of the catastrophe. This report includes interviews with members of the Secwepemc Warrior Women’s Society, Arthur Manuel, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the UBCIC and the spokesperson of the Klabona Keepers from Tahltan territory.

Radio-BED’s Special Report profiles critical issues and powerful individuals challenging the oppression and destruction of modern day colonial capitalist societies. With in depth interviews and on the ground coverage of resistance and struggle, Special Report brings you the narratives main stream, corporate media silences. So turn on, tune in and drop out, this is Special Report. 

For more episodes of Special Report - Click Here

What youve done = amazing

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 16:20

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We need your brains--but not in a zombie way. To continue to succeed we need you to help guide our strategic priorities going forward. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us about how we’re doing and where we’re going together. Take part in our supporter input tool today!

OpenMedia is based on shared values of collaborative decision-making, openness, and community-driven positive change. Some of our best ideas come from our incredible community members. So let’s talk about you!

So far in 2014 you’ve:

• Thrown a massive wrench into the TPP’s Internet censorship plan1
• Actually managed to stall the government’s reckless online spying bill C-132
• Helped put Big Telecom’s slippery schemes to make the Internet more restricted and expensive under review by regulators3

Now we want to learn what you care most about to help guide our work going forward:

You can be proud to know that our OpenMedia community has never been bigger or more powerful than it is today.

But with power comes responsibility. So it’s more important than ever that we let your input guide this growing movement.

Today, your OpenMedia team is letting you get under the hood of crucial work, and provide special direction for our future together.

Offer your valuable input now by choosing what matters most to you:

Read more: What youve done = amazing

Weekly Indigenous news on rabble.ca

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 16:20

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rabble.ca weekly e-news for August 8th, 2014

This is your daily dose of our Editor top picks! For more new rabble content, visit www.rabble.ca-->

Indigenous This week's top news and analysis about the struggles of indigenous peoples for rights and sovereignty. For more on indigenous issues visit our topic page: r13

Indigenous This week's top news and analysis about the struggles of indigenous peoples for rights and sovereignty. For more on indigenous issues visit our topic page: http://rabble.ca/indigenous

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Dam Line 9! Interview on the Enbridge worksite blockade August 8, 2014 | By Dan Kellar, | By Rachel Avery From the #DailyGRRR!, an interview with Lana, a blockader at the Dam Line 9 occupation in Innerkip. Lana talks about why blockaders are concerned about Line 9 as well as what is happening on site. Faux transparency and the First Nations Financial Transparency Act August 8, 2014 | By Nora Loreto What does the FNFTA mean for transparency? In effect since March 2013, the Act forces financial statements of band councils to be made public, ostensibly to be more transparent. Groundwire August 4, 2014: Immigration detention, Prisoners' Justice Day August 7, 2014 | By GroundWire This week's episode of Groundwire National Community Radio News covers immigration detention, Prisoners' Justice Day, a copper-breaking ceremony and more. #PSF2014: The launch of a partnership for the 21st century August 7, 2014 | By Clayton Thomas-Muller Are you ready to do what it takes to stop the Harper government's aggressive neoliberal agenda? If so, the Peoples' Social Forum is for you. River Run 2014: Public forum with Grassy Narrows August 6, 2014 | By rabble staff A group of people from Grassy Narrows spoke at a public forum about the current conditions on their reserve and demanded action on mercury pollution. Book review: Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition August 5, 2014 | By Daniel Tseghay Primitive accumulation, through violent dispossession, has since given way to quieter, less visible, structures of constant displacement. Simcoe Day: How should we celebrate a myopic vision of Canada? August 4, 2014 | By Rick Salutin John Graves Simcoe, whose "day" we're celebrating in Toronto, was the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. You could say he saw a lot but didn't notice much.

Forward this email to a friend. You're receiving this newsletter because you subscribed at rabble.ca, are a supporter or forum member.

rabble.ca • Suite 400, 215 Spadina Avenue • Toronto, ON M5T 2C7 • Canada

This week @ rabble.ca: Canadian responses to the attack on Gaza

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 16:20

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s17 r18.

08 Aug 2014

Hey rabble readers,

This week, a group of mothers and families occupied NDP MP Don Davies' Vancouver office to advocate for Palestinian children who have died as a result of Israel's actions in Gaza. Human rights activists across the country are asking the NDP to denounce Israeli aggression and call for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. You can find analysis of Canadian responses to the situation in Gaza in our continuing coverage.

The world is watching in horror as military conflicts rage, from Gaza, to Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Never far from the victims of war, nuclear-armed missiles stand by at the alert -- a grim reminder on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. Learn more about the elimination of nuclear weapons in articles from Amy Goodman...

Read more: This week @ rabble.ca: Canadian responses to the attack on Gaza

[CFSC-E-News] August e-news - CFSC letter on Israel/Palestine

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 16:20

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Hi Friends,

In some years August is a slow month, but there is a great deal going on at CFSC these days as we prepare for Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) in Winnipeg next week. In the August edition of the e-news you'll find:

• CFSC's letter on Palestine/Israel, where you can donate in support of relief work in Gaza, and where you can find news from a Palestinian perspective;
• A jointly signed letter expressing concern for religious minorities in northern Iraq;
• Various ways individuals and Meetings can participate in upcoming climate actions;
• Bail and the revolving door of pre-trial detention; and
• Inclusive leadership training in BC.

We look forward to spending time with many of you in Winnipeg and will be posting to our Facebook, so check there for updates and photos!

Read more: [CFSC-E-News] August e-news - CFSC letter on Israel/Palestine

New job numbers

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Published on Friday, 08 August 2014 12:00

Written by editor

They're out and they're bad.
Please share on FB and Twitter:
http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/just-how-bad-are-canadas-new-job-numbers
Sarah