To Help Kuy People Save Unique Forest in Cambodia ~ @CSORG #indigenous

Kuy People of Cambodia Help us Save Prey Lang ("Our Forest")!        At a demonstration in Phnom Penh, Kuy activist Mao Chanthoeun painted her body like the "avatars" of the James Cameron film. The Kuy people are defending their forest against mining and other destructive practices. Photo by Samrang Pring, Reuters. This week, while protesters in cities around the world are symbolically occupying Wall Street, Indigenous Kuy people in Cambodia are "occupying" the forest that means life itself to them - Prey Lang ("Our Forest").   Right now, Kuy men, women, and children are holding vigils at sites throughout Prey Lang where bulldozers are slashing the forest to build new roads, rubber plantations, and mines. They are beseeching the invaders to stop their destructive activities and preserve this unique primary forest -- one of the last of its kind remaining on the Indochina peninsula.   For generations, the Kuy people and their neighbors in the villages surrounding Prey Lang have protected the forest with its sacred areas where spirits dwell and its places for gathering fruits, medicinal plants, housing materials, and resin. Their use of forest resources is sustainable, but now their Prey Lang forest (top). The forest is clearcut for a rubber plantation (bottom). Photos by Allan Michaud. livelihoods and the life of the forest itself are under attack. The government has issued a dizzying patchwork of concessions to road builders, mining companies, and agro-industries. Bulldozers are slicing huge swaths through the forest, clear-cutting enormous blocks of land for rubber and other plantations and mines. Right now the companies are gearing up for the dry season, their season of forest destruction.  The Kuy people are desperately trying to persuade the government to stop the destruction and allow them to protect and manage Prey Lang, before it is too late. We can amplify the Kuy people's voices by sending letters to Cambodian authorities. As Thai Bunleang, a Kuy elder and Prey Lang Network activist told us, "Prey Lang is our forest, but it is your forest, too.  You can help save it."    HOW YOU CAN HELP   Read our Action Alert Background information Write a letter Send an email from our website Youth Action Alert Maps Thank you for participating in this campaign!  To support this and other Cultural Survival/Global Response campaigns, please send a donation today. With each letter you write and each dollar you give, you help us win campaigns that protect Indigenous Peoples' lands and resources and defend their rights.  Thank you.   Sincerely,    Paula Palmer, Director Global Response Program As always, we welcome your comments. Please send your feedback and suggestions to agnes@cs.org.   Cultural Survival is a global leader in the fight to protect Indigenous lands, languages, and cultures around the world. In partnership with Indigenous Peoples, we advocate for Native communities whose rights, cultures, and dignity are under threat. For more information go to www.cs.org

Abolish Corporate Personhood and Defend Democracy ~ @MoveToAmend

The national campaign to Abolish Corporate Personhood and Defend Democracy.
Sign the Petition: http://MoveToAmend.org/motion-to-amend
* * *
Impose democracy on the courts!


Since the Supreme Court handed down its infamous “Citizens United v. FEC”
decision on January 21, 2010, Americans everywhere are waking up to what
we at Move to Amend have been saying all along: large multi-national corporations,
with their insatiable thirst for profits, dominate every aspect of our political and
social life. They have crashed our economy, raped our environment, and taken
ownership of our ballot boxes in an attempt to turn our democracy into a corporatocracy.
Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark this
notorious date — Occupy the Courts — a one day occupation
on Friday January 20, 2012, of the Federal Courts, including
the Supreme Court of the United States and as many of the
89 U.S. District Court Buildings as we can. Inspired by Dr. Cornell
West, who was arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court last
month, Move to Amend will lead the charge on the judiciary which
created — and continues to expand — corporate personhood rights.

Colorado Move To Amend co-chair Steve Justino conceived this idea and has agreed to
coordinate the effort. There are lots of details to attend to: permits need to be requested,
guest speakers and local celebrities need to be invited, and promotional activities need to be
started — to name just a few.

We’re depending on you to help make this a success! For more information or to get started planning your Occupy the Courts event, contact us.Americans across the country are on the march, and they are marching OUR way. They carry signs that say, “Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” And they are chanting those truths at the top of their lungs! The time has come to make thesetruths evident to the courts.
We'll be adding tools and resources to our website at
http://movetoamend.org/OccupyTheCourts very soon. Check back later today and tomorrow.

Please get involved and help us make this action the huge success that — for the
sake of our country — it needs to be, please contact us, and get started right away!

We can't do it without you,
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, David Cobb, Nancy Price, Lisa Graves, Laura Bonham, 

Ben Manski, Jerome Scott and George Friday
Move to Amend Executive Committee

PS - Next week on November 9 we're holding house parties across the country.
Find a house party near you. The purpose of these parties is to plan our local actions for the
anniversary of Citizens United. There are federal court houses in every state. Attend a
house party and suggest the local action of your community be to join Move to Amend in
Occupying the Courts on January 20!


Move to Amend

P.O. Box 260217
Madison, WI 53726-0217
United States

End Corporate Rule. Legalize Democracy. Move to Amend.
We're on Facebook & Twitter!

The law lets kids do what? ~ @UFWupdates

The law lets kids do what? Comment period ends December 1st. That’s right, in the US, children as young as twelve can legally work in the fields. They can pick your berries and even drive a tractor. According to a US Department of Labor (DOL) report, tractor-related accidents are the leading cause of death for young farm workers. Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about the children of growers, but children employed as farm workers. Much to the dismay of many in agriculture, the DOL has proposed new rules that would begin improving safety for children in the fields--including a ban on children younger than 16 driving tractors. I.e.: Capitol Press (grower newspaper): Tighter child labor regs alarm ag. TAKE ACTION TODAY! Submit your comment in support of the Department of Labor's proposed changes. There’s a lot to be done to bring justice to our food production system. The report “Farmworker Inventory,” that UFW co-issued with Bon Appetit Management Company, documents many of the inequities in our current production system. The DOL’s proposed rules are a step in the right direction. Please join us in supporting these improvements and send your comment TODAY. http://action.ufw.org/childlabor After you take action please share this campaign with your friends and family.  You can send them an e-mail, post this campaign on your Facebook and/or Twitter page by clicking here or going to http://action.ufw.org/page/share/childlabor

Check out our website at: www.ufw.org and keep up with the latest news. Check out the UFW's Social Networking pages. Click to visit our Facebook Fan Page, Facebook Cause, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace,and Care2 pages. Please link to us and become our "Friend" and follow us on Twitter too! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for the UFW List Serve. If you want to receive our alerts at a different e-mail address, send an e-mail to ufwofamer@aol.com Please add us to your safelist: Please add ufwofamer@aol.com to your address book so that our messages don’t get trapped in your spam filter. If you have questions about how to do this, drop us an e-mail. Privacy Policy United Farm Workers,  P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA 93531, http://www.ufw.org

Urgent: American workers are under attack in Ohio

Almost 25 million people are unemployed, underemployed or have stopped looking for work—and wages are essentially flat. The middle class is shrinking. Working people—the 99%—are told to sacrifice more while the rich keep getting richer. And now Ohio workers—including nurses, firefighters and teachers—have lost some of their most basic rights under Ohio’s Senate Bill 5, which many say is even worse than what Gov. Scott Walker pulled in Wisconsin. SB 5 is part of Wall Street’s strategy to chip away at collective bargaining rights, piece by piece, law by law, until unions and collective bargaining rights are destroyed. It must not stand. Can you help make sure Ohio voters remember to make their voices heard by calling 10 of them now? You can help make sure they show up at the polls on Nov. 8 and repeal SB 5 by voting NO on Issue 2. Click here to get started. It seems like workers can’t get a break these days. But we can beat back this attack on working people if we make these calls. Here’s why we know we can win this election with your help: There is enormous grassroots opposition from across the political spectrum. And the good news is, Ohio voters have the power to overturn SB 5 by voting NO on Issue 2. They just need to show up and vote.   And public opinion in Ohio is on our side. Fifty-seven percent of Ohio voters say this attack on workers—which is listed on the Ohio ballot as Issue 2—should be repealed, compared with 32 percent who are in favor of keeping the law. But this is an off-year election. We can’t win on public opinion alone. We need you to help make sure Ohio voters turn out to the polls and make their voices heard on Nov. 8. Get a list of Ohio voters and their phone numbers right now. Give them a call and make sure they vote on Nov. 8 to repeal SB 5 by voting NO on Issue 2. The fate of working families and SB 5 will be decided not by politicians but by Ohioans, as they cast their vote on Ballot Issue 2 on or before Nov. 8. And all of us can help folks who don’t remember there’s an off-year election to get to the polls. Early voting is going on in Ohio right now. Don’t wait until Election Day to call voters. Call now. You don’t want to wait until the last minute to make a difference with so much on the line. Grab your phone now. It takes 10 minutes to ask 10 Ohio voters to show up at the polls and repeal SB 5 by voting NO on 2. In Solidarity, Manny Herrmann Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO To find out more about the AFL-CIO, please visit our website at www.aflcio.org.