EarthAction

UPDATE ON KHIMKI: Protestors filing lawsuit against builders of highway that would destroy Khimki Forest

Here's an update from our friends at Movement to Defend Khimki Forest. Lawmakers have proposed narrowing the planned highway through the Khimki Forest from four lanes to two lanes, but that simply wouldn't be enough to save the rich wildlife, endangered species, and beloved birch trees from deforestation. The Movement to Defend Khimki Forest is now filling a lawsuit against the highway builders, PO 'DorInzhStroyProyect' LLC in an effort to save the threatened ecosystem. Please read more below.

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Lawsuit against PO 'DorInzhStroyProyect' LLC

November 3, 2011 
Press release 

Due to Khimki Forest defenders’ struggle, the width of the road on the main sections of Moscow – St. Petersburg toll motorway has been cut from 8 to 4 traffic lanes and now is 26 meters (http://princip1.livejour nal.com/17998.html). However, it can’t help solve the problem of destruction of Khimki Forest as an ecosystem.

The main task of forest defenders remains the revision of construction project and the change of the motorway’s route to spare Khimki Forest. The independent expertise has shown the existence of over 10 alternative variants for the route of Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway, which can solve the existing transport crisis on the territory of Khimki town district.

Our suit must show the total uselessness of road construction across Khimki Forest.

The builders have themselves accepted the absurd nature of the road, when they have got permission for construction of the motorway with 4 traffic lanes. It proves once more that the road isn’t destined for solution of transport problem, but rather for theft of budget funds.

PO ‘DorInzhStroyProyect’ LLC during preparation works for road construction has used budget funds, while the income from the toll motorway will go to private NWCC LLC, partly belonging to oligarch Arkady Rotenberg (http://www.ecmo.ru/data/Jul2011/Vinci_a_cover_for_oligarchs_ru.pdf).

The contractor in violation of permission fo r construction has felled the opening more than 100 meters wide, that is 4 times more than written in the project.

This violation became possible due to belated receipt of permission for construction and the lack of state construction supervision. The developer in violation of acting town planning legislation didn’t inform authorized organs on the beginning of construction works and was fined for that on 100000 ruble (http://princip1.livejournal.com/18829.html).

At the moment of the cutting the developer lacked (besides permission for construction) an order for fulfillment of ground works and a cutting ticket.

Most transport problems arise due to the lack of unified town planning policy. For example, there is no acting general plan today in Khimki (http://princip1.livejournal.com/22224.html).

The old general plan, which acted in town Khimki until 2009, didn’t include the toll motorway Moscow – St. Petersburg on the route, where the opening was later cut. We believe that the lack of the general plan in Khimki is among the causes, why the developers cut 4 times more forest area, than they should have done according to the project.

We intend to suit PO ‘DorInzhStroyProyect’ LLC in the court. 

For more information, visit:

Movement to Defend Khimki Forest
www.khimkiforest.org
www.ecmo.ru

Map Photo by OpenStreetMap Contributors
Protester Photo by Daniel Beilinson/Coalition "For the Forests of Moscow Region!"

Featured Issue: Human Trafficking

“A 15-year-old Vietnamese boy found during a police raid on a house in Doncaster [United Kingdom], along with £85,000-worth of cannabis, had been working since he was 12, trafficked via France with the promise of a factory job. Having been beaten, he was too scared to leave.”

(Emily Dugan, “Think slavery is a thing of the past? Think again,” The Independent UK 17 October 2010).

This is just one of the millions of stories about human trafficking victims. Despite international attention and awareness to the problem of human trafficking over the last decade, this modern day slave trade has grown to be the second largest criminal industry in the world (after the drug trade). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates conservatively that approximately 2.5 million people are victims of trafficking at any given time.

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of persons through force, fraud, coercion, or violence for purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, and other slavery-like practices. Most victims are women and children that are kidnapped or seduced through fraud to seek financial opportunities outside of their hometowns or countries; however, any person of any age and gender can be a victim. Upon arrival at their destination, they are forced into labor and/or prostitution. “Bonded labor” or “debt bondage”, when a worker is exploited to pay off a debt, like their travel costs, is one prevalent type of slavery into which people are trafficked. The trafficking and enslavement of children is often linked to war where children are used as combatants, porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers or spies. In these situations, boys and girls are also forced to marry or have sex with male combatants. Children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial trade although it is prohibited by legislation in countries around the world. 

Continue Reading Here...

The Dignity Movement: Ending Rankism

Check out this fascinating talk by Robert Fuller, former president of Oberlin College and author of Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, at this TEDx event in Berkeley California.

 

Here's the Dignity Movement's mission from their Facebook page:

We believe that rankism, the exploitation or humiliation of those with less power or lower status, is an indefensible affront to human dignity. Treating people with dignity, no matter where they fall on the corporate, social, familial, or political ladder, is the key to overcoming rankism in all its manifestations.

Find out more about the Dignity Movement at their Facebook page here.

This report summarizes the campaigns and projects that EarthAction supported and carried out in 2010. Read about our work to protect a forest in Moscow, indigenous peoples' rights in Colombia, elephants in Africa, endangered languages in Siberia, and much, much, more. It's all part of our goal to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

One of EarthAction's supporters over the years has been ODTmaps, the alternative world map publisher responsible distributing the Peters Map in North America. The Peters Equal Area Map is the social justice map representing each country at its true size and proportion. The new 11"x17" desktop map comes with an explanation printed on the back of the color map. ODT is offering a two-for-one special on all desktop Peters Maps until December 5, 2009. And if you tell them you read about the map on EarthAction's web site, they will include a free set of map postcards with your order!

Order on-line at www.ODTmaps.com.

One of EarthAction's past campaigns was for the United Nations' Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty to protect the rights of children around the world. Sadly, the United States is one out of merely two countries (the other being Somalia, which has no central government) that has failed to become State Parties to the Convention.

What does this mean? One example out of too many is the depressing fact that children in the United States can be sentenced to life without parole. A thirteen-year-old who cannot drive, vote, or join the military can - and has been - sentenced to a life in prison, with absolutely no second chance.

A recent fascinating Guardian article puts you in the shoes of these children (over 300 in the state of Michigan alone):

Dupure got life without parole, with no forensic evidence tying her to the crime and entirely on the strength of Blevins' testimony.

Dupure has just turned 21 but she still looks 17. She was told about life without parole for the first time when she entered prison - "You never go home." She spent much of her first year crying, she says. The prison doctor put her on Prozac but she stopped taking it; as she puts it, "I'm depressed because I'm in this place, not because I'm depressed." Instead, she sees the prison therapist once a month. She finds talking to the therapist helpful - she can't be open with other prisoners about her fears and despair, as it would be taken as a sign of weakness. In prison, "you have to pretend to be strong". Continue reading...

The ACLU of Michigan, in conjunction with Columbia University Human Rights Clinic, has filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, alleging violations of the human rights of juveniles sentenced to life without parole in the USA. That petition is still pending. Read the petition.

There are also movements in individual states to give children a second chance. Do a search to find out what your state is doing about this grave issue. You can also join the Facebook group and keep up with the latest events and news.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Bewdlerian, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Last week, House passed a bill that grants telecoms immunity for the warrantless wiretapping they did in the past - and allows them to continue doing so in the future! From the Wired blog:

"The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation," said Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, the only senator who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001. "The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home."

The bill grants amnesty to the nation's telecoms that are being sued for allegedly breaking federal wiretapping laws by turning over billions of Americans' call records to government data-mining programs and giving the government access to internet and phone infrastructure inside the country. The bill strips the right of a federal district court to decide whether the companies violated federal laws prohibiting wiretapping without a court order.

Within the next few days, Senate will vote on this piece of legislation. If last week's vote in the House is any evidence, this vote will also be in favor of this gross piece of legislation that takes away our right to privacy - unless you do something about it. CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY - the Electronic Frontier Foundation makes it easy for you to find your senator and make sure your voice is heard. This five-minute phone call could make the difference for our nation - we need to protect our rights to privacy, and ensure that the Executive Branch of our government cannot flagrantly disregard the law.

If all that isn't enough to convince you, BoingBoing just quoted a fascinating piece by Salon's Glenn Greenwald. In part:

It is absolutely false that the only unconstitutional and destructive provision of this "compromise" bill is the telecom amnesty part. It's true that most people working to defeat the Cheney/Rockefeller bill viewed opposition to telecom amnesty as the most politically potent way to defeat the bill, but the bill's expansion of warrantless eavesdropping powers vested in the President, and its evisceration of safeguards against abuses of those powers, is at least as long-lasting and destructive as the telecom amnesty provisions. The bill legalizes many of the warrantless eavesdropping activities George Bush secretly and illegally ordered in 2001. Those warrantless eavesdropping powers violate core Fourth Amendment protections. And Barack Obama now supports all of it, and will vote it into law. Those are just facts.

The ACLU specifically identifies the ways in which this bill destroys meaningful limits on the President's power to spy on our international calls and emails. Sen. Russ Feingold condemned the bill on the ground that it "fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home" because "the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power." Rep. Rush Holt -- who was actually denied time to speak by bill-supporter Silvestre Reyes only to be given time by bill-opponent John Conyers -- condemned the bill because it vests the power to decide who are the "bad guys" in the very people who do the spying.

It's chilling to think that our presidential candidate supports this bill, especially when Barack Obama vowed to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." MoveOn.org may support Obama as a candidate, but is appalled by his lack of commitment to this past promise. They encourage you to call Obama's campaign office and let them know how you feel about this frightening bill. So, after you call your senators, take another minute to call Obama and make sure your voice is heard.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user xirannisx shared under a Creative Commons license.)

In my tenth grade English class, the year’s ongoing theme was freedom versus security. To have more of one, you have to have less of the other. We put laws into place that limit our freedom, but increase our sense of security. However, the perennial question is, where do you draw the line? When do you know the balance has tipped too far in one direction? Tied into the debate is the question of “real” security versus a false sense of security, which further muddies the water.

Reading Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, reminded me of that class, and the way it made me question the world around me. All too often schools fail to encourage curiosity, inquiry, and creative thinking. This book works to engage people of all ages (although it is specifically targeted at young adults) in these kinds of questions.

The novel stars Marcus, a seventeen-year-old boy, who lives in a close-future post-9/11 world that is chillingly believable – after all, we live in a world where Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, air marshals are grounded because they are on the no-fly list, your laptop can be searched just because, tourists taking photos are automatically terrorist suspects, and waterboarding is not torture.

This book is a must-read, whatever your age. Buy a copy for yourself, and then buy copies for your loved ones, nieces, kids, and grandchildren.

Download Little Brother for free, shared under a Creative Commons license, or buy Little Brother from Amazon.

2010 Campaign Report

This report summarizes the campaigns and projects that EarthAction supported and carried out in 2010. Read about our work to protect a forest in Moscow, indigenous peoples' rights in Colombia, elephants in Africa, endangered languages in Siberia, and much, much, more. It's all part of our goal to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

Social Justice Map

One of EarthAction's supporters over the years has been ODTmaps, the alternative world map publisher responsible distributing the Peters Map in North America. The Peters Equal Area Map is the social justice map representing each country at its true size and proportion. The new 11"x17" desktop map comes with an explanation printed on the back of the color map. ODT is offering a two-for-one special on all desktop Peters Maps until December 5, 2009. And if you tell them you read about the map on EarthAction's web site, they will include a free set of map postcards with your order!

Order on-line at www.ODTmaps.com.

Give Children a Second Chance

One of EarthAction's past campaigns was for the United Nations' Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), an international treaty to protect the rights of children around the world. Sadly, the United States is one out of merely two countries (the other being Somalia, which has no central government) that has failed to become State Parties to the Convention.

What does this mean? One example out of too many is the depressing fact that children in the United States can be sentenced to life without parole. A thirteen-year-old who cannot drive, vote, or join the military can - and has been - sentenced to a life in prison, with absolutely no second chance.

A recent fascinating Guardian article puts you in the shoes of these children (over 300 in the state of Michigan alone):

Dupure got life without parole, with no forensic evidence tying her to the crime and entirely on the strength of Blevins' testimony.

Dupure has just turned 21 but she still looks 17. She was told about life without parole for the first time when she entered prison - "You never go home." She spent much of her first year crying, she says. The prison doctor put her on Prozac but she stopped taking it; as she puts it, "I'm depressed because I'm in this place, not because I'm depressed." Instead, she sees the prison therapist once a month. She finds talking to the therapist helpful - she can't be open with other prisoners about her fears and despair, as it would be taken as a sign of weakness. In prison, "you have to pretend to be strong". Continue reading...

The ACLU of Michigan, in conjunction with Columbia University Human Rights Clinic, has filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, alleging violations of the human rights of juveniles sentenced to life without parole in the USA. That petition is still pending. Read the petition.

There are also movements in individual states to give children a second chance. Do a search to find out what your state is doing about this grave issue. You can also join the Facebook group and keep up with the latest events and news.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Bewdlerian, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Stop the Spying

Last week, House passed a bill that grants telecoms immunity for the warrantless wiretapping they did in the past - and allows them to continue doing so in the future! From the Wired blog:

"The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation," said Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, the only senator who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001. "The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home."

The bill grants amnesty to the nation's telecoms that are being sued for allegedly breaking federal wiretapping laws by turning over billions of Americans' call records to government data-mining programs and giving the government access to internet and phone infrastructure inside the country. The bill strips the right of a federal district court to decide whether the companies violated federal laws prohibiting wiretapping without a court order.

Within the next few days, Senate will vote on this piece of legislation. If last week's vote in the House is any evidence, this vote will also be in favor of this gross piece of legislation that takes away our right to privacy - unless you do something about it. CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY - the Electronic Frontier Foundation makes it easy for you to find your senator and make sure your voice is heard. This five-minute phone call could make the difference for our nation - we need to protect our rights to privacy, and ensure that the Executive Branch of our government cannot flagrantly disregard the law.

If all that isn't enough to convince you, BoingBoing just quoted a fascinating piece by Salon's Glenn Greenwald. In part:

It is absolutely false that the only unconstitutional and destructive provision of this "compromise" bill is the telecom amnesty part. It's true that most people working to defeat the Cheney/Rockefeller bill viewed opposition to telecom amnesty as the most politically potent way to defeat the bill, but the bill's expansion of warrantless eavesdropping powers vested in the President, and its evisceration of safeguards against abuses of those powers, is at least as long-lasting and destructive as the telecom amnesty provisions. The bill legalizes many of the warrantless eavesdropping activities George Bush secretly and illegally ordered in 2001. Those warrantless eavesdropping powers violate core Fourth Amendment protections. And Barack Obama now supports all of it, and will vote it into law. Those are just facts.

The ACLU specifically identifies the ways in which this bill destroys meaningful limits on the President's power to spy on our international calls and emails. Sen. Russ Feingold condemned the bill on the ground that it "fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home" because "the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power." Rep. Rush Holt -- who was actually denied time to speak by bill-supporter Silvestre Reyes only to be given time by bill-opponent John Conyers -- condemned the bill because it vests the power to decide who are the "bad guys" in the very people who do the spying.

It's chilling to think that our presidential candidate supports this bill, especially when Barack Obama vowed to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." MoveOn.org may support Obama as a candidate, but is appalled by his lack of commitment to this past promise. They encourage you to call Obama's campaign office and let them know how you feel about this frightening bill. So, after you call your senators, take another minute to call Obama and make sure your voice is heard.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user xirannisx shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Have you read Little Brother?

In my tenth grade English class, the year’s ongoing theme was freedom versus security. To have more of one, you have to have less of the other. We put laws into place that limit our freedom, but increase our sense of security. However, the perennial question is, where do you draw the line? When do you know the balance has tipped too far in one direction? Tied into the debate is the question of “real” security versus a false sense of security, which further muddies the water.

Reading Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, reminded me of that class, and the way it made me question the world around me. All too often schools fail to encourage curiosity, inquiry, and creative thinking. This book works to engage people of all ages (although it is specifically targeted at young adults) in these kinds of questions.

The novel stars Marcus, a seventeen-year-old boy, who lives in a close-future post-9/11 world that is chillingly believable – after all, we live in a world where Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, air marshals are grounded because they are on the no-fly list, your laptop can be searched just because, tourists taking photos are automatically terrorist suspects, and waterboarding is not torture.

This book is a must-read, whatever your age. Buy a copy for yourself, and then buy copies for your loved ones, nieces, kids, and grandchildren.

Download Little Brother for free, shared under a Creative Commons license, or buy Little Brother from Amazon.