Close Guantanamo!!

Hello again travellers,

Now we are on the second stage of our trip, I would like to remember the reasons we have embarked on this journey, and why Guantánamo must be closed.

Can you imagine how it feels to be held at Guantánamo? Or how it would feel if your father, brother or husband was locked up, thousands of miles away, with little hope of access to a proper court, amid all the reports of torture and ill-treatment of the men held there?

You don’t need to guess, you can learn about how this feels directly from those affected.

Thanks everyone, together we can end this outrage.

Sarah Burton
Campaigns Programme Director

Ps. Keep checking www.amnesty.org/guantanamoflotilla and keep your eyes out for new opportunities to act to close Guantánamo.

Stop Europe's Unfair Trade Deals

The European Union (EU) is pushing hard for 76 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to sign unfair trade deals before the end of this year.

From July, the new man in charge at the European Union is Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Sócrates. We want to tell him that trade could lift millions of people out of poverty if the rules were fair.

The EU promised that the interests of poor countries would be at the heart of their trade deals. But current proposals put the EU’s own economic interests above those of millions of the world’s poorest people and their environment.

The negotiations are at a critical stage. Now is the time to tell the EU that these trade deals must focus on reducing poverty. Your voice can make a difference.

Please ask Prime Minister Socrates to use his influence to make these trade agreements fair.

http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.php?file=email_socrates.htm

جمهوری اسلامی ايران Islamic Republic of Iran

Dozens of pre-historic sites across the Iranian plateau point to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia.^[18]

Iran, (Persian: ايران, Īrān; pronounced [iːˈɾɒn]), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ايران, transliteration: Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Īrān), formerly known internationally as Persia, is a Southwest Asian country located in the geographical territories of the Middle East, Southern Asia,^[4], Central Asia and the Caucasus. Shi'a Islam is the state religion and Persian the official language.^[5]

Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq

Armed violence is the greatest threat facing Iraqis, but the population is also experiencing another kind of crisis of an alarming scale and severity. Eight million people are in urgent need of emergency aid; that figure includes over two million who are displaced within the country, and more than two million refugees. Many more are living in poverty, without basic services, and increasingly threatened by disease and malnutrition. Despite the constraints imposed by violence, the government of Iraq, the United Nations, and international donors can do more to deliver humanitarian assistance to reduce unnecessary suffering. If people’s basic needs are left unattended, this will only serve to further destabilize the country.

Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq (pdf 339.1 kb)

The founder of Cirque du Soleil Guy Laliberté launches a global foundation to deal with access to water issues

Distribution Source : Canada NewsWire

Date: Monday - October 29, 2007

 

MONTREAL, Oct. 29 /CNW Telbec/ - Guy Laliberté announced today, in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam International, and Gordon Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer of RBC, the official launch of the ONE DROP Foundation to fight poverty in the world by giving everyone access to water.

"No one can remain indifferent when we know that at least every eight seconds, a child dies from a disease caused by drinking contaminated water," said Guy Laliberté. "With the creation of ONE DROP, we want to mobilize people everywhere in the world to find sustainable solutions to the problem of access to water, and to adopt better practices for the use of this precious resource."

Access to water is one of the planet's most pressing issues. Over a billion people do not have access to water in sufficient quantity or adequate quality. Almost half of the world's population drinks untreated water.

What’s the secret? How do you do it?

Pilger is a strong critic of the institutions and economic forces that structure 'mainstream' journalism. He said in an address at Columbia University on 14 April 2006:

“During the Cold War, a group of Russian journalists toured the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by their hosts for their impressions. 'I have to tell you,' said their spokesman, 'that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV, that all the opinions on all the vital issues were by and large, the same. To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don’t have that. What’s the secret? How do you do it?”

John Pilger, Speech at Columbia University, 14 April 2006