WOC - Focus of the Month
April
Newsletter |
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This monthly newsletter gives
you a brief insight into various issues important in March -
and how you can help others with just 2 minutes of your
time!
Instead of being overwhelmed by the world's sufferings, by
focusing your energy and attention on single issues, you can
make more of a difference. Simply by becoming aware, you ar
emaking a difference - as you live by example and spread the
message to others. Want to do more? Download ready-made
letters - All you have to do is sign and send!!!
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Response of the Month - Jean Lambert
(European Member of Parliament) |
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YOUR POWER! MEPs reply to your
letters over conflict in Sri Lanka!
European Members of Parliament have replied
back to you regarding the conflict in Sri Lanka. Read
their responses. See how your simple letters may have
influenced these representatives or at least have the issue
brought up into their conciousness. Remember, these
representatives are the ones who create, change and influence
policies. This is your power to influence domestic and world
affairs!
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What can I do for the Chocolate
Industry?
Write to a chocolate
company asking for a revamp of their practices. Call for
an end to child slavery and a minimum wage for
farmers.
Company details
are included within the letter template, simply choose
your country and relevant chocolate company to write to.
Sign and send!
What else?
Buy
Fair Trade Easter Eggs! Support the
Cause!
Discover more about the chocolate bars
that YOU eat. How ethical are their
practices?
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Warriors of Change
Explore the many various ways in which
you inadvertendly give your power away to corporations,
institutions, political bodies and fear. Read the latest
articles, explore backgrounds and timelines of countries
& wars. Watch the most controversial documentaries,
movies and films - See what's really going on...so you
can Make a Difference!
LATEST NEWS -
sourced from individual countries
Small changes in your life create
waves to add to growing tidal wave of personal power -
helping both yourself and all those around you reclaim
what is rightfully theirs - control over one's life
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Want to write a review for a book
you've read?
Seen a film you think could raise awareness?
Have an issue you'd like raised?
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Industry Focus - Chocolate
Trade |
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What is
the price of
chocolate?
- In 2000, the US
spent $13 billion on
chocolate with the UK topping Europe with a
consumption of £3.3
billion.
- According to the
European Fair Trade Association, farmers get barely
5% of the profit from chocolate, whereas
trading organisations and the chocolate industry receive about
70%.
- In 2001 the
International Labour Organization, US State Department
and others reported that child trafficking in children
is widespread in West Africa, with children between the ages of 9 and
12 forced to work on cocoa
plantations.
- West African economies
are critically dependent on cocoa with cocoa revenues accounting for more than
33% of Ghana's total export earnings
and 40% of the Ivory Coast's total export earnings.
West Africa produces over 67% of the world's crop.
- 90% of the
world's cocoa is grown on small family farms of 12
acres or less.
- The Fair Trade
Certified production criteria guarantee a minimum
price and insure that no child or forced labour is
used.
- For years,
US chocolate manufacturers
have said they are not responsible for
the conditions on cocoa plantations since they don't
own them. But with Hershey's, M&M/Mars, Cadbury's and
Nestlé controlling the majority of the
West's chocolate market, SURELY these global
corporations have the power and the ability to reform
problems in the supply chain.
- See the full criteria for Fair
Trade
Watch Newsnight's Exposé on forced child
labour in the chocolate industry - aired 29th March
2007
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Environmental Focus - My Planetary
Impact |
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| How do you affect the planet? - WWF's One
Planet
If
everyone lived in the world lived like those in the UK,
we would need three planets to support us.
People increasingly recognise that we
need to change our patterns of consumption and our
lifestyles. But do they need to change for the worse, or
could they change for the better?
David Miliband,
Secretary of State for the Environment, told a WWF
conference in London that if Britain and the rest of the
world adopted WWF's One Planet Living ideal, the result
would be a triple dividend - for the environment, for
security, and for economic prosperity.
- Would our lives be better if our homes were well
insulated, if our energy bills were lower, if we spent
less time in traffic jams, and if we ate less
processed food?
- Would our choices be made easier if we knew
companies had ensured their products had the lowest
possible environmental impact? Or if those that didn't
do so were subject to strict legislation and
penalties?
- Would those terrifying headlines seem less
daunting if you knew you were playing your part and
that someone was making sure that our governments and
companies were playing theirs?
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Humanitarian Focus - Domestic
Violence |
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One in four
suffer in silence
Domestic
violence is a pattern of controlling and aggressive
behaviours from one adult towards another within the
context of an intimate relationship. It can be physical,
sexual, psychological or emotional abuse. Financial
abuse and social isolation are also common features.
- Read BBC's informational in-depth
site regarding domestic violence - what to do if you
suffer or signs to watch out in your
friends
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Civil Liberty Focus - Internet
Freedom |
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Are Internet Providers profitting from
repression?
The web is a great tool for sharing
ideas and freedom of expression. However, efforts to try
and control the Internet are growing. Internet
repression is reported in countries like China, Vietnam,
Tunisia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. People are
persecuted and imprisoned simply for criticising their
government, calling for democracy and greater press
freedom, or exposing human rights abuses, online.
But Internet repression is not just about
governments. IT companies have helped build the systems
that enable surveillance and censorship to take place.
Yahoo! have supplied email users'
private data to the Chinese authorities, helping to
facilitate cases of wrongful imprisonment.
Microsoft and Google
have both complied with government demands to actively
censor Chinese users of their services.
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Book of the Month - Freedom Next
Time |
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John Pilger's critical account of the
Empire
"This book is about empire, its
facades and the enduring struggle of people for their
freedom. It offers an antidote to authorised versions of
contemporary history that censor by omission and impose
double standards." Chagossians, Palestinians, Afghans,
South Africans and Indians are the voiceless given a
voice.
Chagossians? The media, especially
TV, has largely failed to report Britain's forced
depopulation of the Chagos islands (including Diego
Garcia, now a US military base), which must count as one
of the great state propaganda triumphs in recent
history. "What upsets you the most?" Pilger asks Olivier
Bancoult, the Chagossians' leader in exile. "The lie
that we didn't exist," he replies. Why, with 24-hour
news coverage and hundreds of channels, have these
people been invisible for so long? Once again John
Pilger gives a voice to the people
living through these momentous times and, in gripping
detail, shows us the lives behind the headlines.
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Film of the Month - Who Killed the
Electric Car? |
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Documentary investigating the
energy industry
A documentary that
investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as
well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable
living in the future.
 With gasoline prices approaching
$4/gallon, fossil fuel shortages, unrest in oil
producing regions around the globe and mainstream
consumer adoption and adoption of the hybrid electric
car (more than 140,000 Prius' sold this year), this
story couldn't be more relevant or important. The
foremost goal in making this movie is to educate and
enlighten audiences with the story of this car, its
place in history and in the larger story of our car
culture and how it enables our continuing addiction to
foreign oil.
This is an important film with an important message
that not only calls to task the officials who squelched
the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but all of the other
accomplices, government, the car companies, Big Oil,
even Eco-darling Hydrogen as well as consumers, who
turned their backs on the car and embrace embracing
instead the SUV. Our documentary investigates the death
and resurrection of the electric car, as well as the
role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our
country's future; issues which affect everyone from
progressive liberals to the neo-conservative
right.
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