Category Archives: Act Now On The Web

Games That Give

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Got a serious Sodoku habit? Addicted to Bejeweled or Mafia Wars? Here’s a chance to enjoy some guiltless gaming:  GamesThatGive turns online gaming into dollars for charity. You play games for free, Games That Give sells advertising, and 70% of the ad proceeds go to charity. It’s that simple. Currently, there are 13 games including Bubble Burst, Smashteroids, Gems and Solitaire. Charities include Unicef, the Wilderness Society, the Ronald McDonald House,  the Breast Cancer Network, and many others. Ch0ose your charity, choose your game, and start giving. Have fun, do good. What could be better than that?

Mother’s Day for Peace

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I’d like to wish all of you mothers out there a happy Mother’s Day, and inspire you with a little bit of history about the original meaning of Mother’s Day.

In 1872, Julia Ward Howe led the first Mother’s Day event, an anti-war observance in New York City. In honor of that event, Howe wrote her Mother’s Day Proclamation. Here’s an excerpt:

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…

It was Howe’s hope to convene a permanent annual gathering of women united to advocate peace, and under her leadership, there were annual Mother’s Day gatherings in Boston for several years. But Howe’s attempts to win formal recognition for a national Mother’s Day for Peace failed. Her idea, however, lived on.

Howe had been influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who worked to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers’ Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to create better sanitary conditions for both sides, and after the war she worked to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors. When Jarvis died, her daughter, Anna, continued to champion the idea of Mothers’ Day by campaigning for a national memorial day for women.

The first such Mother’s Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908. From there, the custom caught on, spreading eventually to 45 states, until, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Sadly, nine years after the first official Mother’s Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday was so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother’s Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. holidays, and it’s original meaning is all but lost in popular culture.

This year, in honor of the original founders of Mother’s Day and and to revive the spirit of their intent in today’s celebrations, here are a 21st century reading of Julia Ward Howe’s proclamation and some opportunities to honor the original meaning of the day.

  • If you’re in or around Washington, D.C., Code Pink has organized a 24-hour vigil in front of the White House, to honor all mothers and women who live where war is happening, to call for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, and to send a message of sorrow, friendship and peace directly to women war victims and their families.
  • Through Code Pink’s website you can also send a Mother’s Day e-card, and donate to help provide school supplies or a playground to children in Gaza who have been effected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
  • Sponsor a war survivor through Women for Women International, an organization that promotes the recovery and rehabilitation of women war victims. Through participation in programs in eight countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Rwanda and Sudan, Women for Women’s graduates become active leaders in the reconstruction of their communities. They start businesses, train other women, build civil society and serve as role models. For $27 a month (or, you know, 9 trips to Starbucks), you can give a woman leadership education, job skills training, and seed money to start a sustainable business.
  • Even if you can’t afford a sponsorship right now, there are plenty of other ways to participate with Women for Women, from hosting events, to sending messages of support, to purchasing from Women for Women graduates’ businesses.
  • Recycle your old cell phone with HopeLine. It’ll help fight violence against women and help Mother Earth at the same time. HopeLine is a program at Verizon stores nationwide that collects and recycles used wireless phones, batteries and accessories from any wireless provider. The proceeds go towards providing cell phones to survivors of domestic violence or cash grants to local shelters and non-profit organizations that focus on domestic violence prevention and awareness.

I hope this Mother’s Day you’ll enjoy the blessings of your families. I hope you’ll also take a moment to honor the original spirit of Mother’s Day and, in empathy with all mothers suffering through war, violence, poverty, and hunger, reflect on how we might come together, in Howe’s words, to “take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace…”

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Ready To Do Your Part?

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With so many problems in the world today, and so much crisis in the news, doing our parts to make things better can seem overwhelming. It’s hard to know what to do, where to begin, and what matters most. Sometimes, adding one more task, like recycling or packing our own lunch, to our overfilled lives seems like one task too many. And when it comes to making our communities better, with our busy schedules and the multitude of causes requesting our time and resources, it’s hard to imagine how and where we should contribute. The choices are confusing and change is hard. Often we begin with good intentions, but find ourselves giving up.

If this is how you feel, then a neat little website I just discovered might be just right for you. It’s called I’m Doing My Part and it’s simple, helpful, encouraging and full of doable ideas and a strategy for incorporating them into your life that just might work.

I’m Doing My Part allows you to take action in four different areas: water, energy, waste, and, interestingly, happiness. Each action area is introduced with some simple and inspirational “facts”, then opens into a list of actions you can take in that area. Actions are divided into “first steps” and “moderate” actions. Click on an action and you’ll see a brief explanation of that action’s impact, details about how to do it, further reading, videos and other resources to help you succeed.

The strategy of I’m Doing My Part is to add one or two simple tasks at a time and do them until they becomes part of your routine. Once you’re doing those tasks, add them to your profile and I’m Doing My Part gives you positive feedback and an opportunity to share your actions on Facebook or Twitter. So not only does it help and encourage you to do good but it helps you spread the goodness!

I’m Doing My Part also includes a cool real-time Social Actions map that tracks volunteer social action activities and opportunities around the world and a blog aggregator that will connect you with news from sources like Change.org, InvisiblePeople.tv, and Refugees International.

Ready to do your part? Click here, and I’m Doing My Part will help you get started.

10 Things You Can Do To Help Roxana Saberi

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Roxana Saberi

Roxana Saberi

By now you’ve surely heard about Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American reporter imprisoned in Tehran. Despite an outcry from governments, press organizations, human rights groups and individuals all around the world, Saberi remains in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, weakened in the seventh day of a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment.

If you don’t know the story, here’s the capsule version: Saberi is a U.S. citizen of Iranian and Japanese descent. She was born in New Jersey,  grew up in Fargo, is a former Miss North Dakota, and has a masters in journalism from Northwestern. She’s been living in Iran for six years, studying for a masters degree in Iranian studies, and reporting for NPR, the BBC, ABC News and other international news organizations. She planned to return to the U.S. this year, after finishing a book about Iranian culture.

Saberi was arrested at the end of January and has been held in Evin prison ever since. Ten days after she was arrested, she was allowed a brief phone call to her parents. She told her father she had been detained for purchasing a bottle of wine. Subsequently, Iranian officials accused her of illegal reporting activities, saying she continued her work as a reporter after her press credentials were revoked in 2006.

On March 9, after her parents had not heard from her for nearly a month, Saberi’s family attorney was finally allowed to visit her in Evin prison. In early March, the U.S. State Department took the unusual step, through Swiss intermediaries, of asking the Iranian government to clarify Saberi’s status. The U. S. has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980 when Iranian students occupied the U.S. Embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Despite U.S. government inquiries, the Iranian government continued to hold Saberi without any clarification of her status and without formal charges for another month. Because Saberi’s father is Iranian, Iran’s government, which doesn’t acknowledge dual citizenship, considers Saberi an Iranian citizen and has stated that the United States must not seek to interfere with it’s internal affairs.

Finally, on April 5, after being imprisoned for more than two months, Saberi was charged by Iran’s judiciary. The Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Saberi had been charged with espionage and quoted Iranian officials as saying that she had “accepted” the charges. “She had been carrying out espionage activities … under the cover of a journalist … and she has accepted the accusations,” ISNA quoted judge Haddad as saying.

On April 18, after a closed, one-day trial, Saberi was convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison.

By all accounts of people who have known and worked with her, Roxana Saberi is a journalist, not a spy. President Obama has stated that he is concerned for Saberi’s safety, urges the Iranian government to free her and is confident that Saberi is not a spy. The U.S. State Department has confirmed that the espionage charges against Saberi are baseless and continues its diplomatic efforts to gain her release through the intervention of the Swiss and Japanese governments. Meanwhile, American and international news agencies and organizations have joined to assert her innocence, protest her detention, and petition for her release. Among the organizations advocating for Saberi are Amnesty International, The International Press Institute,  the Overseas Press Club of America, the Society of Professional Journalists, the International Women’s Media Foundation, and Reporters Without Borders. Mirek Topolanek, the President of the European Union has also petitioned Iran to release Saberi.  And Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to receive the  Nobel Peace Prize, has joined Saberi’s defense for an appeal which will be presented before an Iranian appeals court.

On Sunday, Saberi turned 32. The previous Tuesday, she started a hunger strike which is now in it’s seventh day. And while even Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wrote a letter to Tehran’s top prosecutor urging him to ensure that Saberi’s right to defend herself is not violated, Saberi’s attorneys have continued to be denied access to see her. With Iran’s Foreign Ministry pressing the U.S. to release five Iranians arrested by U.S. forces in Kurdistan in 2007, and with Iranian elections coming up in June, it appears more and more that Saberi is a pawn in a very intense game of international political maneuvering.

So with all of these forces at work in her case, what can you do to help Roxana Saberi?

  1. You can let Saberi know that she is not alone and promise her that she won’t be forgotten. As Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, explained to the editors of the New York Times, political prisoners experience profound feelings of isolation and helplessness. “Roxana Saberi has now been in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons for nearly three months… In order to withstand her ordeal, she needs to know that there are thousands of people, journalists and average citizens, who are aware of her fate, who are concerned for her welfare and who will stand with her and her family.” You can help Roxana Saberi survive her prison ordeal by writing to her here or here.
  2. Now to make good on your promise that Saberi won’t be forgotten, make sure that people in important places don’t forget about her either. Start by sending a letter to Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. asking the Iranian government to release Saberi.
  3. Next, send a letter or email to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei.
  4. Send an email expressing your concern about Saberi’s case to Iran’s judiciary at info@dadiran.ir .
  5. Sign this petition urging Iranian authorities to release Saberi.
  6. Sign this one, too.
  7. Join the Free Roxana Saberi Facebook group to stay up-to-date with new ways that take action to help Saberi. Invite your friends to join, too.
  8. Follow @freeroxana on Twitter to get the latest updates and re-tweet them to all of your friends.
  9. Visit the Committe to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the International Press Institute to find out more about how you can join their work to safeguard press freedom. All three of these organizations are working to secure Roxana Saberi’s release.
  10. Finally, spend a little bit of time each day bringing attention to Saberi’s case. Send this post and other links to your friends and family and networks, Tweet about Saberi, blog about her, send letters to your local newspapers, and do whatever else you can to create noise about Saberi’s case. The more attention, the more pressure on Iran, the sooner Roxana Saberi will be released.
(Photo credit: Eustacio Humphrey / ZUMA Press)

Hey, You! You’re A Lobbyist!

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My new favorite people at takepart˚ think it’s about time that the people who are supposed to have a voice in Washington start to have a voice in Washington. They mean you. And they need your help. Specifically, they’re trying to build an online toolkit that puts power in your hands to “navigate the legislative process, investigate money in politics, advocate for issues [you] care about, and hold [your] representatives accountable.” In other words, they want you to be a citizen lobbyist. They seem to think that you’re the expert and they want you to tell them what tools and information you want to include in the tookit. Go ahead. Tell them what you think. You’re the expert.


Express Yourself… Digital Bread Art: It’s Fun and For A Good Cause

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This is fun for a very good cause. Visit the Bread Art Project’s ingenious website to create digital bread art and generate donations for Feeding America at the same time.

From the Bread Art Project website:

The Grain Foods Foundation and Food Network host Ted Allen have teamed up with Feeding America to help fight hunger — one slice of bread at a time. Consumers can take part in the Bread Art Project at gowiththegrain.org, where they can create a personalized piece of bread art by uploading a favorite drawing or photo, or create a new one using a slice of bread as the canvas.

For each piece of bread art created, the Grain Foods Foundation will donate $1 to Feeding America, up to $50,000. One dollar provides seven meals or four bags of groceries to the 25 million people served by food banks annually. The more bread art consumers create, the more meals Feeding America can put on the table for families across the country. Consumers can also view bread art from around the country and check out some of Allen’s own designs as they take a virtual tour of the online gallery of giving.

In the Bread Art workshops you can also create bread art animations. Or stroll the bread art galleries. And don’t forget to visit the bread art library to learn more about nutrition and hunger in America.

You’re Richer Than You Think

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I bet you’re richer than you think you are. Or, that’s what the people who created the Global Rich List think. They built their website to challenge people’s perception of their own personal wealth and to encourage the idea that most of us have something we can spare for a good cause. According to the website’s creators,

We are obsessed with wealth. But we gauge how rich we are by looking upwards at those who have more than us. This makes us feel poor.

We wanted to do something which would help people understand, in real terms, where they stand globally. And make us realise that in fact most of us (who are able to view this web page) are in the privileged minority.

We want people to feel rich. And give some of their extra money to a worthwhile charity.

The Rich List is based on annual income figures from the World Bank Development Research Group, and most recently directed it’s fundraising efforts to Care.

Go ahead and find out how rich you are, and then once you’re feeling flush, send some of your excess cash to a charity of your choice. Network for Good or JustGive.org can help you find one.

Easy Action to Help Fight Malaria

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The World Malaria Day Petition is collecting signatures to persuade Google to customize it’s search engine page to promote World Malaria Day 2009 on April 25th. According to the petition,

[Malaria] is a highly preventable and treatable disease which kills up to 3 million people and affects up to 500 million people every year. Children under 5 years old and pregnant women are most vulnerable. Not only does malaria exact a devastating human toll, but it also costs the world economy approximately $40 billion each year due to lost productivity and health care costs. Malaria causes poverty and poverty causes malaria. The World Health Organization states that long lasting insecticide treated bed nets are the most cost efficient and effective way in which to prevent malaria. Mosquitoes bite primarily at night while people sleep. Bed nets stop the bite and stop malaria.

Established by the World Health Organization in March 2007, World Malaria Day, April 25th annually, helps raise awareness and understanding of malaria. It is hoped that the establishment of World Malaria Day will mobilize communities across the world to get involved in fighting the disease and saving lives.

With a couple of clicks and your name, you can encourage Google to join the fight against malaria. Google’s help would leverage the efforts of the international anti-malaria community by bringing World Malaria Day 2009 to the attention of it’s millions of daily visitors. With your signature and Google’s help, the world community might meet it’s Millenium Development target of delivering effective and affordable protection and treatment to all people at risk of malaria by 2010.

The Trickle-Down for Migrant Workers

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Nicholas Kristof’s column in today’s New York Times touches on another effect of the global recession: as unemployment rates in the developed world rise, jobless migrant workers are unable to send money to their families back home. The result is growing poverty, homelessness and hunger in the the third world, and enormous strain on organizations trying to meet basic human needs. The Wall Street Journal reports that migrant workers’ remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean are down for the first time since 2000. In the Philippines economists expect the flow of remittances from migrant workers to contract by as much as $100 million this year. And, amid fears of massive social instability caused by loss of remissions from migrant workers, the government of Bangladesh is urging the Malaysian government to reverse it’s decision to revoke 55,000 Bangladeshi migrants’ visas.

In fact, the economic crisis is hitting migrants and their families especially hard. Within China, where rural Chinese migrants have fueled the development of major Chinese cities, more than 23 million Chinese migrants are now unemployed. Meanwhile, unemployed migrant workers are facing tough choices: return home, move to other areas to wait out the recession, or remain in foreign countries where they are more and more unwelcome and where conditions are becoming increasingly hostile. And even those choices are more limited now: the global recession is leading some counties to restrict immigration, there are fewer and fewer even relatively healthy economies to migrate to, and returning migrant workers are swelling the numbers of poor and unemployed at home.

Arguing that migrants are “likely to be especially vulnerable to abuse and attacks when jobs become more scarce”, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is urging governments to include provisions to protect migrant workers in their economic stimulus packages. According to Pillay, a former High Court judge from South Africa, where more than 60 people were killed in a blacklash against foreign workers triggered by high unemployment, “Protection of the rights of migrants in terms of their working and living conditions, and in the event of loss of employment, should be integrated in responses to the crises. Crucially, no efforts should be spared to protect migrants from discrimination and xenophobia.”

Wondering how to help?

  • For the next three days, you can be part of drafting a communique telling the G20 nations what you think their most important priorities for economic recovery should be. Make sure that dignity and safety for migrant workers is part of the program by adding your ideas here.
  • Finally, don’t forget about Free Rice. It’s free, it’ll make you smarter and it helps feed hungry people all at the same time.