Information for Social Change

News : Statements and Petitions

In Support of Cuba

Worldwide call to artists and intellectuals

Our country is facing a dramatic situation. We have suffered the wrath of
two powerful hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, in just eight days. These natural
disasters have seriously affected food production and essential sectors of
the economy throughout the country. Although very few human lives were
lost, a massive amount of houses, schools and cultural institutions were
damaged or completely destroyed.

In view of this tragedy, a debate about the restrictions imposed by the US
on Cuban residents to visit and send supplies and money to their families in
Cuba has begun. Cuba has requested authorization to buy materials from
the US to repair homes and power lines. In addition, Cuba has requested
that US companies receive authorization to extend commercial credits to
the island to buy food. The Bush Administration's reply has been a
ridiculous offer of aid while ratifying their policy of political and economic
blockade, even more cruel and immoral under the present circumstances.

We are sending an appeal to artists and intellectuals around the world to
demand an immediate end to the criminal US blockade and to promote
solidarity and support of our country.

To Sign up: http://www.concubahoy.cult.cu

Email:
concubahoy@uneac.co.cu
concubahoy@cubarte.cult.cu

Petition

Open Letter in Support of Gene Sharp and Strategic Nonviolent Action

http://www.stephenzunes.org/petition/index.cfm

ISC Calls for the decision to make the Aerospace and Defence Librarians Group (ADLG) a Special Interest Group within CILIP (the Chartered Institute of library & Information Professionals) to be rescinded

In December of 2007 the Aerospace and Defence Librarians Group (ADLG) became a
Special Interest Group with CILIP .

ISC calls for this decision to be rescinded, & will be putting the following
motion to the next CILIP agm:-

This agm affirms it commitment to the most fundamental of human rights - the
right to life.

This body condemns the arms trade, & all its relate industries as being
responsible for the negation of this most fundamental human right.

We view the recent inclusion of The Aerospace and Defence Librarians Group
(ADLG) as a Special Interest Group with CILIP to be in opposition to this most
fundamental of human rights.

We therefore call for the withdrawal of The Aerospace and Defence Librarians
Group (ADLG) as a special Interest Group within CILIP.

&

Directs that CILIP should affiliate itself with the
Campaign Against The Arms Trade ( CAAT ).

A motion to this effect will be presented to the next CILIP AGM.

ALA and SRRT Resolutions on the Crisis in Kenya

MLA proposals prompt concern for freedom of information and expression in public libraries

Article by John Pateman

International Demonstrations on Climate Change

Saturday 8th December 2007

Coinciding with the UN Climate Talks (MOP 3, COP 13) in Bali,
Indonesia, from the 3rd to the 14th December 2007

See:

http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org/

Petition on UK Government Web site for librarian 'key worker' status

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/librarians/

ISC opposes recent CILIP job adverts for City Academies

ISC is unhappy to see recent CILIP job adverts for city academies, these are the non-local authority run secondary schools set up with private companies, charities and religious groups, diverting millions of pounds out of the state system, they have faced significant opposition from parents:

http://www.lisjobnet.com/LisJobNet/Jobs/jobA0711-21.htm

Statement upon the 25th anniversary of the Malvinas/Falklands war.

We condemn the current militarist celebrations which mark the 25th anniversary of the Falkland/Malvinas war.

We remember the many victims of the two regimes which went to war over these small islands.

We celebrate the efforts of all those who worked to prevent or end that pointless war.

We call for the people of both nations which were involved in this pointless conflict to work together so that such a pointless tragedy might never be repeated.

Edgardo Civallero - Argentina
Martyn Lowe - London

Versión Española

Petition for Union members under threat / imprisonment

See the following petitions on LabourStart

In Mexico, Santiago Rafael Cruz, a 29-year-old union organizer from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC, AFL-CIO) was brutally tortured and murdered.  Santiago was a successful organizer in the USA who had moved down to Mexico to run the union's office there.  His activities aroused the hostility of those who fear the growth of trade unionism among farm workers, and generated attacks in the media, threats of deportation, robberies and intimidation, culminating in this terrible crime.

Santiago has a family in Mexico, a mother, father, sisters and brothers.  But his family is much larger than that; it includes all of us.  We must grieve together with his family, and we must fight together with them as one large family to ensure that the Mexican government investigates the murder, arrests and prosecutes those responsible, and ensures the safety of union activists in that country.

Please take a moment to send off your message today:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=232

About the same time that union-hating murderers were ending the life of this courageous young man in Mexico, on the other side of the world Iranian security forces lured union activist Mahmoud Salehi into the local prosecutor's office on the pretext of discussing plans for this year's May Day celebrations.  Salehi, a former president of the bakery workers' union in the city of Saqez, was then arrested and put in jail for a year with a three year suspended sentence on top of that.  His crime was that in 2004 he organized a May Day demonstration.

Tell the Iranian authorities to release Mahmoud Salehi now, and to drop all charges.  Send off your message by clicking here:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=231

Reed Elsevier Petition

Reed Elsevier's main business is academic and medical publishing [note; they also publish "Library Journalsl"], but, through a subsidiary company, they help run international arms fairs. These include DSEi, one of the world's largest arms fairs. Reed Elsevier don't see any contradiction between facilitating the sale of arms and either their medical publishing or the corporate social responsibility commitments they've made. We do.

Read More

PETITION FOR HIGH-QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES, ACCESSIBLE TO ALL

Public services are essential for social, economic and regional cohesion in Europe. Such services must be of high quality and accessible to everyone. Until now, the only options put forward for developing public services have been privatisation or liberalisation (namely in sectors such as Energy, the Post and Telecommunications). Read More

Luis Posada Carriles Petition

Luis Posada Carriles was accused and brought to trial in Venezuela for the 1976 attack against a commercial aircraft in which 73 persons died. After escaping from Venezuelan prisons in 1982 - leaving his trial unconcluded - he served the CIA as part of what was known as the "Irancontras" operation and also in the implementation of the genocidal Plan Condor. In 1997 he prepared a series of terrorist acts against hotels in Havana... Read More

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