Gender Discrimination

In support of the lad I read about in the Independent the other day.  Apparently he was doing fairly well at school until his class mates saw his lunchbox.  Since then he has been suffering routine discrimination and humiliation.  The reason for this - his lunchbox is a My Little Pony lunch box and apparently My Little Pony is only for 'sissys'.

What is worse, as far as I am concerned, is when he tried to enlist the help of the teachers to combat the bullying he was told to change his lunch box.  Instead of trying to deal with the root cause of the bullying, the teachers' answer is to take the easy route of forcing a child into a mould he does not wish to be in.

I was under the impression that school was about being enable to find your strengths and abilities as well as being taught to value yourself and others for who they are, not for the stereotype that society has forced them into.

I'm a girl and I was never that interested in My Little Pony.  Neither was my sister.  Indeed my sister was more into Star Wars, normally thought of as a 'boys' interest.  And before anyone says it, my sister has a long term boyfriend to whom she is engaged.

If equality between the genders means that girls are allowed to be interested in things like Star Wars and Beyblade, which where put on the market for boys, then, to be truly equal, boys must be allowed to be interested in things such as My Little Pony.

And as for the accusation that boys that are interested in My Little Pony are 'sissys', I can think of no better reply than the poem I saw on the wall of a nursery group some years ago:

"You say that you don't like your son playing with dolls

You don't want him playing in such as 'sissy' way,

But that doll is teaching him how to hold a baby,

He'll be a father, one of these days!"

Greenwash - It's Not a Good Thing

It seems that even the companies that pressure groups think they can relie on can be tempted to do the dirty and whore themselves out for money.  Unilever is supporting a dirty industry attempt to continue the destruction of Southeast Asia's rainforests.  If it gets its way, orangutans could keep dying in the name of "sustainable" palm oil.

 

The consumer giant is attempting to ignore scientists' work and rewrite the rules on what counts as forest that should be spared from destruction, backed by the worst palm oil producers. It's a direct challenge to the strong scientific standards that groups from SumOfUs to Kellogg's to Mars have aligned behind. If we don't stop it, this could amount to a license for deforestation in the name of conservation, and undermine the huge progress we've made to save the orangutans.

 

Unilever is the world's largest palm oil user, and it's done the right thing in the past to support rainforest protection. It can do the right thing again, and we know that it's sensitive to consumer pressure.  Right now Unilever thinks it can push this greenwash behind closed doors. But if we can put this into the public light, it won't be worth the risk for Unilever to continue.

 

It doesn't have to be this way. We’ve made tremendous progress in getting big palm oil companies and a dozen of the world’s biggest consumer companies, including giants like Kellogg and Mars, to commit to end deforestation in their supply chains. Every week, more companies are joining up and pledging to do the right thing. Up until now, even Unilever has played a key role in promoting strict criteria for responsible palm oil production.

 

Crucial to the rainforests' protection is the scientific work that's been done to define what counts as a forest that should be spared from the bulldozers when companies go deforestation free. Specifically, companies have pledged to protect "High Conservation Value" or "High Carbon Stock" forest - based on a common understanding of what this means. The combined pressure from groups like SumOfUs and other NGOs has worked. Companies from Kellogg's to Mars to Wilmar - the world's largest palm oil trader - have accepted this common, strict approach and definition to ensure deforestation-free palm oil.

 

But now Unilever is participating in an industry attempt to redefine what counts as "High Carbon Stock" forest. Only the worst industry players are participating actively in this greenwash - companies like IOI and Cargill. If they get their way, companies could keep pushing bulldozers into some of the world's most important rainforests even while claiming to be deforestation free. Even worse, they are refusing to stop any deforestation until the "study" is complete. And now Unilever is joining them.

 

It's clear that industry will use this exercise to loosen the definition what forest they will spare from the bulldozers. If they do, it could open the door for continued destruction for what they want to call "sustainable" palm oil. It's a desperate attempt to continue business as usual and avoid growing consumer demands for deforestation-free palm oil.

 

Unilever doesn't have to be a part of this. We need to show Unilever that we won't tolerate this greenwash.  The company has bowed to consumer pressure before so we can make it do so again.  Together people have power.

 

Tell Unilever not to greenwash rainforest destruction and withdraw from the "study" now.

Retailers Against Corporations

This could be huge: a global retailer might be about to pull bee-killing pesticides from its shelves. If others join, this could be a decisive victory for the bees.

 

Bees are dying off in their millions around the world, including 37 million (!) on a single North American farm last season. After years of research, scientists finally know the cause. "Neonics" -- deadly pesticides produced by Bayer and other chemical giants. But while the bees are dying, corporations around the world are still selling these bee-killing pesticides.

 

That's why a global retailer breaking ranks could be a game changer. If they stop carrying the pesticides, it could start a snowball effect and stop bee-killing pesticides for good. But we know the big corporations that profit from these deadly pesticides are fighting back. Bayer is already spending a pile of cash on a huge "bee care tour" designed to buy the trust of retailers and small businesses with false information.

 

We can't allow the pesticide industry to be the only voice in the room when retailers decide whether to stop selling bee-killers. Many of the largest companies are just weeks or months away from their annual shareholder meetings -- and we need to make sure they hear our message there. That's why we want to fund activist beekeepers who've been watching their bees die for years to take their message directly to the shareholders, and raise a storm outside the meetings too.

 

Only recently, the giant US retailers Home Deport and Lowe’s were found to be selling so-called ‘bee-friendly’ plants that were actually laced with neonics! It’s almost unbelievable. But as long as retailers like Home Depot in the US and Canada, or Bunnings in Australia won’t remove neonics from their shelves, then the world’s bee population is still at risk.

 

We know that consumer pressure on retailers works. Before Europe’s partial ban on neonics, there was a huge movement that pushed some of the biggest retailers on the continent to voluntarily remove neonics from their shelves. If we can make sure that other retailers in Canada, the US, Australia and elsewhere pledge to stop selling neonics then we can halt the sale of these deadly pesticides.

 

The voices of the beekeepers is powerful -- and that's why these companies and their shareholders need to hear from the beekeepers. Last year, after thousands of SumOfUs members chipped in, our activist beekeepers travelled to Chicago and took their message directly to independent garden store owners at the world's largest gardening convention -- singing up dozens to our campaign.

Can you chip in $50 to help us fund beekeepers to speak out and to push companies to remove bee-killing pesticides from their shelves?

The fight to save our bees has made some big steps. But Bayer and other pesticide giants aren’t taking this lying down. Now, we need to take the battle to those retailers that are still selling neonics. If we can stop the flow of cash, then we’re one step closer to protecting our bees.  Because bottom line that's the best way to stop these pesticides - don't buy them!

TTIP - Corporate Power Grab

Right now, Europe and the USA are negotiating a huge corporate power grab affecting literally millions of European and American citizens.

The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (or TTIP) is called a "trade treaty". But if agreed, the TTIP would actually hand corporations the power to overturn democratically decided laws, on everything from environmental protections to food safety, through a system of secret courts that only corporations would have access to.

European leaders are already nervous about how the public might react, and are not sure what to do. Under pressure, the EU is about to launch a big public consultation about the proposed system of secret corporate courts -- but there’s a real danger that the loudest voices will be the giant corporations that stand to benefit. I'm guessing we don't have long to power that once again people power can trump corporate power.

The trade deal between Europe and the US wouldn’t be the first one with these sorts of rules. We’re already seeing what this means in practise:

• In Australia, tobacco giant Phillip Morris is suing the government for its tough anti-smoking laws.
• The German government is being sued by Vattenfall, a Swedish energy giant, for phasing out nuclear power.
• The pesticide giant, Dow Chemical, were able to sue the Canadian government when it tried to stop Dow selling a controversial pesticide.

The rules about corporations suing government aren’t the only problem with the trade deal that the EU is negotiating with the US. There are real worries that it could make life-saving drugs much more expensive, hand the music industry the power to cut off your Internet supply, and mean an end to rules forcing global airlines to pay up for their pollution through the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme.
The very fact that Europe has been forced to open up parts of the deal to public consultation shows that pressure is building, and that this deal might not pass. The consultation only deals with "investor-state dispute settlement" -- but these are the rules that allow corporations to sue governments, and are some of the most worrying parts of the proposed TTIP. We now have a real chance to get some of the worst aspects struck out of the deal for good -- and we should grab it, and keep fighting to end this threat to democracy.  Cause personally I don't want to hear democracy dying to thunderous applause.

Can you tell European leaders to reject the TTIP and stop the corporate power grab?

Sea World Busted

SeaWorld just got busted by a US government agency for violating the Animal Abuse Act -- and we may have a rare chance to end its animal cruelty for good.

SeaWorld imprisons orca whales in tiny, cage-like tanks -- and the USDA citation reveals conditions at the park are dangerous to the animals' health. SeaWorld is still defending its barbaric practises, but pressure is building on the company.

In a surprise move yesterday, a Californian congressmen introduced a law to make it illegal to keep orcas in captivity. This could change everything -- but SeaWorld is already mounting a vicious campaign to defeat this congressman's brave move.

SeaWorld's actions are no surprise to anyone who has watched Blackfish, the documentary exposing showing how SeaWorld tortures these intelligent animals as they force them to perform tricks for the sake of entertainment and profits. But the Orca Welfare and Safety Act could change all that. The Act makes it illegal to “hold in captivity, or use, a wild-caught or captive-bred orca for performance or entertainment purposes.”

SeaWorld would have you believe that the captivity of whales is about education, but we know better -- it’s about profits. Through the years many groups, including SeaWorld's own trainers and staff, have called for the end of the imprisonment of whales.

But with recent scrutiny, the company is under more pressure than ever. After CNN aired the groundbreaking Blackfish documentary, the world now knows that Seaworld still keeps orcas like Tillkum in captivity, taken from the wild at two years old. This is dangerous not just for Tillkum's own health, but for his trainers -- the mental effects of being locked in a 20-by-30 foot dark metal container has seen him implicated in the deaths of three people.  Is it me or didn't anybody learn anything from watching the film 'Free Willie'?  That film was an outright campaign against the capture of wild orcas and the exploitation of orcas in captivity.  Did nobody listen?

This latest bust by the USDA for violating the Animal Abuse Act is just sign that SeaWorld needs to stop this. Attendance is dwindling at SeaWorld as the world wises up about the cruelty of the business of capturing animals for entertainment. Parents and kids are understanding that forcing intelligent, sensitive animals to live in cages is a cruel, unethical practise. If this law passes, we can stop this practise in California for good.

Sign on to stop SeaWorld from imprisoning whales for profit.

Hoping and Praying

O.K After yet another trip into hospital my mother is back at home and the doctors know think they know what is causing this recurrent infection.

The general consensus of opinion is that when they put the stents in to help out her kidneys she still had the tale end of a kidney infections.  This infection managed to track into the stents where the antibiotics couldn't reach it.  It is now sitting in the stents and when it has built up enough numbers it is invading either her kidneys or her bladder or sometimes both.  That results in these unplanned trips into hospital but the problem is all the antibiotics in the world cannot reach the inside of the stents because the stents are non organic material.  This means that alone the antibiotics cannot permanently destroy the infection.

Therefore the plan of action is that she will be on massive high dose antibiotics for two weeks, she will then go into hospital and they will remove the old stents, flush her system with an antibiotic wash and put new sterile stents in.

Now we are just hoping and praying that they have it right and that this will work.  If it does then I'm about ready to fall on my face and polish their shoes with my nose.  I think the relief will have me crying for a week.  So here's to hoping.

Ahhhh that's... awful? That's Tetley

How's this for sick - workers on plantations in northern India, including children, are paid less than $3 a day to pick our tea.

They toil from dawn until dusk, often spraying industrial pesticides with little protection, and going back to run-down homes that are open to rain and wind -- their only option. Researchers say that overflowing latrines have created “a network of cesspools” within the living area for employees and their families.

But the massive corporation that owns Tetley, Tata Global Beverages, is refusing to take serious action. Instead, it’s only committed to a weak, 15 year plan to boost the industry’s “sustainability” -- failing to acknowledge how bad conditions really are.

In response to reports, the World Bank is launching a full investigation into what it calls the “potentially significant adverse” environmental and social impacts on plantations owned by Tata, an Indian conglomerate that also owns Jaguar Land Rover, operating in more than 80 countries across six continents. Isn't this neat?  A bank has more morals than a corporation! Makes me wonder if we need to have another look at the banking crisis. Was it really the banks behind the foul up or, if we looked behind a closed door, would we find a corporation or two snuggling up with their corruption?

The World Bank’s announcement was followed by the publication of a damning report by the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, which visited 17 of 24 Tata plantations during two years of its own investigation. Senior plantation managers told the researchers not to listen to the workers because they had “low IQs” and were “like cattle.”

These comments reflect the caste system at work on the plantations in Assam. The tea workers come from two marginalised communities -- Adivasis (indigenous people) and Dalits (the so-called “untouchable” caste). They remain trapped in the lowest employment positions on the plantation, where they are routinely treated as social inferiors, even though discrimination against lower castes is illegal in India.  Looks like Britain isn't the only place where hypocrisy takes place.  Discrimination against disables is meant to be illegal here but it still takes place.  I should know, I sent my childhood being an Asperger Autistic Pariah.

If you find the treatment of the Indian Tea Workers sticks in your craw then you can add your name to the petition being draw up against it by SumOfUs.  Together, we've had major success before against big multinational companies exploiting workers. After months of pressure from SumOfUs members, both Australian brand Woolworths and UK chain River Island signed onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, after the Tazreen and Rana Plaza garment factory collapses -- a huge win for Bangladeshi garment workers. We can take on Tetley.  Our target for this petition is 100,000 and we already have over 95,000.  A few more and we'll be ready to tell Tetley to clean up its act.

And while we are waiting for Tetley to get its finger out, I'm going to invest in a different brand of tea.