Copenhagen – the pressure is working

To follow up on my previous post: yesterday, the media was calling the crucial Copenhagen climate summit dead on arrival.

But 24 hours later, after millions of petition signatures, hundreds of thousands of phone calls, and a massive outcry across the planet, a deal could be back on.

Leaders are frantically doing in hours what they've failed to do for years, but the talks could still collapse. Building up on the massive success on its global petition campaign, Avaaz is now circulating this message:

“We know our pressure is working, let's use these crucial final hours to ramp it up, and get a real deal, not a dressed-up weak agreement. Sign the staggering 13 million person petition if you haven't yet, and forward this email to everyone:

The petition has become the centre of the global revolt against failure in Copenhagen. The names of petition signers are being read out by young people who have taken over spaces in the Copenhagen summit and in governments round the world, including the US State Department and the Canadian Prime Minister's office.

Amazingly, leaders themselves are appealing to the public for action. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an impassioned appeal to 3000 Avaaz members on a global conference call on Wednesday, calling for an historic 48 hour internet based campaign from citizens around the world, calling our impact crucial.

History is being made in Copenhagen, but so far, it's not being made by leaders, but by us, millions of people round the world who are directly engaging, hour by hour, like never before, in the fight to save our planet. The pressure is working, let's ramp it up.

Please, sign the petition."

Iran - petition against the execution of five protesters

The media’s attention has moved away from the aftermath of the post-election unrest in Iran, but hundreds of protesters remain in prison, some have been sentenced to death, and for at least five, execution is imminent.

Those sentenced to death have been forced to confess their involvement in the unrest, yet some of them were already in prison during the election and the subsequent riots, according to a group of ex-political prisoners.

The group is circulating a petition urging Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations to intervene and put pressure on the Iranian authorities to prevent the execution of the condemned five.

They fear that these executions might herald mass massacres of political prisoners as it was in the case in the summer of 1988.

The petition is being circulated in Farsi, English, German, French and Spanish. To sign it, click here

Petition for Northern Ireland journalist facing jail

Northern Ireland journalist Suzanne Breen could face imprisonment for standing up for a basic principle of journalism. The Northern Ireland editor of the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune is facing the prospect of a court order to surrender confidential source information relating to articles about the Real IRA.

If an order is granted, she faces the prospect of six months to five years in jail. She told a recent London meeting of the National Union of Journalists (UK), she won’t reveal her sources on two grounds: “The first is selfish. My life would be in danger from the Real IRA. I would have a sledgehammer through the door. The alternative is to be hidden in a witness protection scheme. The second reason is that people who speak to journalists confidentially deserve protection. If I breach their confidence just once no one would trust me again - including the officers who talk to me on the quiet.”

Counter-terrorism legislation is being used to allow the police to make their application in private, meaning even Suzanne's own legal team has been excluded from most of the proceedings so far.

The NUJ has taken on her cause and asks fellow journalists and everyone else to support their campaign by taking action below:

Sign our petition
The Police Service of Northern Ireland, which is pushing for Suzanne Breen to reveal her source material, falls under the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Shaun Woodward MP. We need you to send him a message by signing our petition.

Sign our petition.

Please also send the link on to colleagues or circulate a hard copy around your newsroom.