Asia's Angry Monk Syndrome. [Via]
posted on Jul 10, 2008 - View this thread

Pete Seeger and Majora Carter sit down together and bridge the generational gap with a discussion on environmentalism, activism, history, and music.
posted on Jun 24, 2008 - View this thread

Today marks the official 8-language launch of 350.org and the start of global action against climate change. But what does this 350 number even mean? As author Bill McKibben and a chorus of scientific voices suggest, it means everything to the planet. If we want an earth at all, we'll need an Earth at 350.
posted on Jun 18, 2008 - View this thread

"The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants." [Via Threat Level.]
posted on Feb 28, 2008 - View this thread

Miss Landmine: We are currently preparing the live Miss Landmine Angola 2008 pageant in close collaboration with the Angolan government (CNIDAH) and supported by the European Union. The crowning of the world's first Miss Landmine will be taking place in Luanda, Angola on April 4th, 2008, the UN International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Stay tuned! The web voting for Miss Landmine Angola is open until April 3, 2008.
posted on Dec 12, 2007 - View this thread

Crackdown: Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma.
posted on Dec 9, 2007 - View this thread

Wael Abbas is an Egyptian blogger and anti-torture activist who recently won a journalism award for his documenting police brutality in Egypt, which led to the conviction of two police officers. In Egypt, blogging can get you arrested, and Abbas has taken enormous risks. But now YouTube has removed his videos and suspended his account after receiving complaints (possibly from the Egyptian government) about their graphic content, and Yahoo has disabled his email account. Evidently YouTube is not the ally human rights advocates had hoped it would be.
posted on Nov 29, 2007 - View this thread

Small 'Panty' Demonstration Held in Rangoon. It seems the Panties for Peace movement (discussed previously) is gaining momentum. And now you too can throw panties at junta leader General Than Shwe at Ready Aim Vote. [Via Lanna Action for Burma.]
posted on Nov 8, 2007 - View this thread

I Am Emily X is "the true-life diary of a frontline Planned Parenthood worker and activist", created in response to the 40 Days for Life Campaign. "*For their safety and protection, Emily X represents a small handful of Planned Parenthood workers and activists, who may or may not be named Emily."
posted on Oct 12, 2007 - View this thread

China Praises Its Progress Toward Olympics. With one year to go before the 2008 Olympics, China still has many challenges ahead, like dealing with Beijing's terrible air pollution. There is still much criticism over China's record on human rights and freedom of the press, and some protests. But perhaps the most embarrassing public relations setback is that one of the official mascots, Yingsel (aka Yingying) the Tibetan Antelope, has defected from China's Olympic team and gone underground to campaign for a free Tibet. [Some links via BB and MoFi.]
posted on Aug 9, 2007 - View this thread

They distort, we reply. Fed up with Fox News? Time to fight back.
posted on Jul 27, 2007 - View this thread

I Infiltrate a Right Wing Protest Group | Cracked columnist Harmon Leon becomes chapter president of the Protest Warrior organization
posted on Jul 13, 2007 - View this thread

"I've said all along, we are in this together." John Simson, executive director of SoundExchange - the royalty collecting arm of the RIAA - extends an olive branch through 2008 that will cap the advance payments internet broadcasters will have to cough up at $2500 per year. This comes in the wake of the Day of Silence, (it was June 26, did anyone notice?) spearheaded by Los Angeles-based terrestrial/online radio station KCRW (home of the brilliant Morning Becomes Eclectic) and SaveNetRadio, during which some of the biggest names in online radio - include Live365, NPR and Pandora - went dark for 24 hours, airing a one-hour broadcast twice during that day on the history of flat fees in public broadcasting. [direct .mp3, 38mb] Under the much-maligned changes made by our government's Copyright Royalty Board, the top six internet radio stations would have had to pay 47 percent of their total revenue (anticipated to be around $37.5 mil.) to the RIAA, starting this July. The Internet Radio Equality Act [summary, in its entire pdf glory] has been introduced to the House of Representatives, seeking to permanently reverse this decision.
posted on Jul 3, 2007 - View this thread

Poor Sean Clifton, age 6, doesn't know the difference between a cartoon and an ad. "They just, um, taste so fruity to me." "They taste fruity, the Fruit Loops? What about real fruit? How do you like real fruit?" "Mm... I don't really like it." Kellogg agrees to major changes in the marketing of foods that are considered of "poor nutritional quality". Executive Director of CSPI Michael Jacobson explains.
posted on Jun 14, 2007 - View this thread

A pedophile among us. Jack McClellan told us he's mapping out Southland events where little girls attend then posting them on his website. "Is that part of what drew you here to Los Angeles [...] the number of children?" "Yes." McClellan recently moved here from Washington state, having run a site called Seattle-Tacoma-Everett Girl Love for years, which offered tips on how to track children down and how to avoid getting caught by the police. He has never been arrested for a sex crime, so he is free to attend public events with children present, and live next to a school. It is currently not illegal to post a minor's personal information online. "I can understand the fear," he added. "I hope that what I'm doing is setting myself up as an example that it is possible to have these attractions and not be out of control." His site is hosted by the Canadian ISP Epifora. Here it is. [more inside]
posted on Jun 11, 2007 - View this thread

This morning in Vancouver, volunteers handed out hundreds of disposable cameras, available free to any low-income resident of the city's Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood. Pictures in the returned cameras will be entered in this year's "Hope in Shadows" competition, with winners getting prizes and one of 12 spots in next year's calendar. (It will be sold by specially-trained low-income folks, who keep half their profits.) Run by Pivot, a local legal activism group, "Hope in Shadows" is a succesful and "innovative empowerment through art" project and a chance for the residents of the DTES to define their community -- one most often defined by its poverty, addictions, violence and disease.
Previous winners: 2004, 2005 [1] [2], 2006
posted on Jun 9, 2007 - View this thread

John Doerr: Seeking salvation and profit in greentech. This is a grim talk from a man who is well-connected with the tech industries best and brightest. He spent a year talking with scientists, experts, and politicians the world 'round about industry and the atmosphere. And as a result he has put a few hundred million dollars toward disruptive technologies... because he is scared -- scared shitless -- about what lies ahead. He also calls us to action.
posted on Jun 2, 2007 - View this thread

The Green Scare: Rod Coronado gave a talk in San Diego and the feds called his words ‘terrorism.’ How new laws are equating environmentalists with Al Qaeda. [Via Gristmill.]
posted on May 14, 2007 - View this thread

Pregnant in America. A trailer from a documentary ("coming 2007") about contemporary US birth practices, which may not be best practices. The politics make for interesting reading. See also: Monty Python's The Miracle of Birth.
posted on May 4, 2007 - View this thread

NYPD Intelligence Op Targets Dot-Matrix Graffiti Bike. More details on the premeditated arrest of Joshua Kinberg by the NYPD just before the 2004 Republican National Convention. Kinberg, now the CEO of FireAnt, was targeted by the "R.N.C. Intelligence Squad" for his Bikes Against Bush project. The police lost his Xtracycle. [Via BB.]
posted on Apr 10, 2007 - View this thread

Youtube user davebones goes to London demos, protests and gatherings. His videos demonstrate the complexity of issues, calling into question the credibility of television news which tends to portray the same events in black and white terms. While his blog sets a clear agenda, his commentary-free videos are accessible to people regardless of their viewpoint.
posted on Mar 31, 2007 - View this thread

"Guantanamo Unclassified." Adel Hamad, a 48-year-old Sudanese elementary-school teacher, has been held at Guantanamo for five years without charge or evidence of a crime. His lawyers have been unable to convince a federal court to review his case, so they started started Project Hamad and posted a short movie about him online. This is an example of how human rights activists can use YouTube to bring their cases to the public.
posted on Mar 29, 2007 - View this thread

INTERVOICE (International Network for Training, Education and Research into Hearing Voices) "offers information, publications, research, and good practice on hearing voices and other key issues." Voice hearing is surprisingly common, even normal. Many people find it a pleasurable and positive experience. Find everything from stencil graffiti to a recent New York Times magazine article on the work of the Hearing Voices Movement. (w i k i s)
posted on Mar 29, 2007 - View this thread

Are You Generic? "Giving Brand-America the finger since 2001." The folks at Are You Generic have a few basic demands: "natural, unprocessed foods; ad-free space; trustworthy news sources; a healthy body image; promotion of the independents; and the spread of knowledge." They're getting their message across by means of "culture jams." Their first target was Starbucks in 2002. Some more recent actions are listed here, including Confessions of a Generic Magazine. But they have stuff for sale, so some might argue that they're not that much different than those they mock. Either way, their site does have a great collection of international street art.
posted on Mar 20, 2007 - View this thread

Chiquita will plead guilty to a count of doing business with a paramilitary group in Colombia. Mefites might remember Chiquita from here. In Colombia they are not the only brand to have been on "Trial". Chiquita is not new to controversy. If you are choking on your banana co-op america might interest you.
posted on Mar 15, 2007 - View this thread

Greenpeace doesn't know it has a new ad campaign that asks "Who's f***ing Mother Earth," but their logo is on it. The copywriter admits he hasn't told the organization yet about the ads he's designed in their name. "It's probably not legal, but there's too much paperwork, meetings and phone calls involved to get the campaign approved in time for Earth Day," he explains. "I figure Greenpeace is too busy getting sued by conglomerates to bother suing a few people who are trying to promote the cause. They can always officially deny the vulgarity."
posted on Feb 20, 2007 - View this thread

Cowboys & Indians. Literally.
posted on Feb 7, 2007 - View this thread

On inspiration, and more from Ragged Edge, the disability rights rag. See also: The Bancroft Disability Rights Collection, ADAPT, and Disabled in Action.
posted on Jan 29, 2007 - View this thread

The grinning mugs of students at Tarleton State University in Texas and the University of Connecticut School of Law are gracing the pages of The Smoking Gun, where they stand accused of racial insensitivity. Is this passive-aggressive racial stereotyping? Simple stupidity? Or can we call this parody and laugh it off?
posted on Jan 25, 2007 - View this thread

Vegetarian is the New Prius : following a report from the UN indicating that the billions of livestock raised for meat are wreaking more havoc on the environment than fossil fuels, environmental activists are linking vegetarianism with fighting global warming.
posted on Jan 19, 2007 - View this thread

Al Gore trains 1,000 people from around the world to share the message he presented in "An Inconvenient Truth". "The goal had been to train 1,000 "presenters" to show slides of melting glaciers and charts of climbing temperatures, but many more have wanted in. Those selected to gather at the Hilton Nashville Downtown last week included teachers, doctors, a meteorologist, ministers, Wal-Mart employees, actress Cameron Diaz, architects, retirees, veterans and financiers."
posted on Jan 8, 2007 - View this thread

One-billion slum dwellers. An interview with Jockin Arputham who helped set-up Shack/Slum Dwellers International.
posted on Dec 14, 2006 - View this thread

The Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) / the Fund for Public Interest Research (the Fund) / Grassroots Campaigns Inc (GCI) = the WalMart/Enron/Exxon of the progressive/liberal activist industry. [much more and much better linkage inside]
posted on Dec 4, 2006 - View this thread

Emergency Kindness -- a new network dedicated to providing emergency contraception for women in need. Members ("Janes") promise to have some Plan B on hand to immediately send to women in need, whether they were denied by their local doctor or pharmacy or couldn't get to one.
posted on Oct 22, 2006 - View this thread

the new urban jungle . . . is a growing movement led by cities like San Francisco, New York, and Leiden to restore active and vibrant natural systems in urban areas. Far from the eden-like depictions of nature of yesteryear, i.e. the garden of earthly delights (nonetheless, still attracting some dynamic new christian converts), the movement has morphed into today's backyard and grassroots environmental movement which is more and more a picture of hybridity, compromise, mixed-use, and ultimately, taking nature out of the walled islands of zoos, aquaria, national parks and other thick-walled institutions and offering a different kind of everyday "unmediated" community experience with the new urban wilderness. VIDEO LINK
posted on Jul 6, 2006 - View this thread

1000 Angry Monkeys, Blogging About Politics... The partisan political blogosphere has been humming along nicely for the last several years. But where the progressive and conservative ideologies intersect, at technology, they can possibly be best categorized as libertarian, particularly if limited to the development, growth, corporatization, regulation, and taxation of the internet. As such, there's much news worthy of our attention. More inside...
posted on May 4, 2006 - View this thread

Mission Accomplished? Then why is there even more outrage? Last year, celebration and theatre dominated the day.. This year it's different. This is also the 120th anniversary of the Haymarket Riots resulting in four anarchists being hanged. Interestingly enough, the riots happened because of workers rights being unfair. Is this a case of history repeating itself?
posted on May 1, 2006 - View this thread

Dark Age Ahead. Jane Jacobs passes on.
posted on Apr 25, 2006 - View this thread

Bill McKibben reviews Armstrong and Moulitsas's book Crashing the Gate in the New York Review of Books. More importantly, Kos gets his own David Levine caricature.
posted on Apr 10, 2006 - View this thread

(Knock, knock) "Candygram!" We don't know if ZDF has shown early SNL skits (nostalgic photo here), but German Greenpeace made a dramatic delivery to the Japanese Embassy in Berlin: a 55-foot-long fin whale that had been stranded in the Baltic. The dramatic gesture underscored the organization's contention that Japan's whaling, long defended as research, is in fact unnecessary: sufficient numbers of beached whales are available for research. The leviathan — 20 tonnes of blubber — was craned onto a truck and driven 150 miles from Rostock-Warnemünde to Berlin, and was due to be returned to the coast for study. (German-language stories on Greenpeace.de website here, here, and here, including logistical details for those curious about arranging their own special deliveries.)
posted on Jan 22, 2006 - View this thread

The (Broken) Triangle: Progressive Bloggers in the Wilderness. The Huffington Post's Peter Daou, whose dour forecast of how Bush and lazy media would spin away the NSA scandal proved prescient, on why "netroots activists" can't get traction: "It's slow-motion-car-wreck painful, and most certainly NOT where the left's triangle should be a half decade into the new millennium, as the Bush-propping machine hums and whirrs, poll numbers rise and fall, Iraq bleeds, scandal dissolves into scandal, terror speech blends into terror speech. The landscape is there for everyone to see, to analyze. Enough time has elapsed to make the system transparent. It is dismaying for netroots activists to see the same mistakes repeated..."
posted on Jan 13, 2006 - View this thread

Newsfilter: Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Paul Hewson named by Time Magazine as their persons of the year in recognition of their efforts against HIV-1, malaria and debt in Africa. "For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are Time's Persons of the Year." said the mag's editor-in-chief.
posted on Dec 18, 2005 - View this thread

Wal-Mart urges Congress to raise minimum wage and "unveiled a series of initiatives designed to present a kinder, gentler face for the world's biggest retailer... exploring ways to use the company's heft and resources to have a more positive impact on society." In its bid to turn over a new leaf, Wal-Mart also announced it's going green and lowering health care costs for its workers. Is this a new sign of rethinking the social responsibility of business where the kind of growth matters as much as the amount? Or is it right to be skeptical of it as a ploy to help open more stores like its critics charge?
posted on Oct 25, 2005 - View this thread

"We believe everything should be free!" Oolsi is a new zine about free tools, self-learning and living free. Won't somebody just make a new Whole Earth Catalog already?
posted on Oct 25, 2005 - View this thread

Since Sliced Bread: A union-sponsored contest to find and develop ideas to improve the U.S. economy - the winner will receive $100,000. Entries range from virally-spreading an anti-exploitation shame meme to increasing US world domination. Other greatest ideas since sliced bread include your own personal jesus toast, corporate logos on toast, and Liberty.
posted on Oct 8, 2005 - View this thread

This past Saturday was host to anti-war demonstrations in cities throughout the United States and even internationally. In Washington, DC a march, which was accompanied by a later benefit concert, drew over 100,000 people (estimates vary). Rallies in San Francisco, London and Los Angeles drew thousands more. Though there was some mainstream coverage, it was largely overshadowed by hurricane news. [more inside]
posted on Sep 27, 2005 - View this thread

Marc Emery speaks out about his activism, recent arrest and possible extradition to the US. A follow up to this post.
posted on Aug 17, 2005 - View this thread

Carbon Planet - aims to reduce Climate Change by empowering individuals to erase their CO2 footprint by purchasing carbon credits. The site enables users to subscribe based on the greenhouse gas usage in their country, with the subscription buying carbon credits in a forestry scheme in Australia. Would you consider subscribing?
posted on Jul 3, 2005 - View this thread

Leave My Child Alone! --a new group teaching parents how to stop the very intrusive recruitment tactics of the military, including getting their kids off the Pentagon's list of 30 million potential recruits,: (...a joint effort of the Defense Department and a private contractor, disclosed last week, to build a database of 30 million 16- to 25-year-olds, complete with Social Security numbers, racial and ethnic identification codes, grade point averages and phone numbers. The database is to be scoured for youngsters that the Pentagon believes can be persuaded to join the military...), and getting your kids off the School district records lists (School districts are required under Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act to release student records to military recruiters or risk losing funding, but they are also required to inform families of their Opt Out rights. Notification varies wildly across districts, and it's a bit of a crapshoot whether families know or not.)
More on this from Bob Herbert here: The Army's Hard Sell
posted on Jun 29, 2005 - View this thread

The aim of Fada'íat No Border Temporary Media Lab is to remain as a permanent public media interface, part of the counter hegemonic cyborg that we imagine at the gate of Mediterranean sea. A bunch of media-activists, members of social organizations, artists, video/film-makers, programmers and architects from Europe and North Africa, establish a WiFi connection across the Straits of Gibraltar and do stuff. And there's a java interface of some sort.
posted on Jun 17, 2005 - View this thread