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Nuns on the Bus for Immigration May 31st, 2013
The Nuns on the Bus have kicked off a 40-city tour to promote immigration reform. Nuns on the Bus is a project by NETWORK, a catholic social justice lobby group.
The nuns are visiting cities across America to advocate for humane immigration policies that protect family unity, workers’ rights and provide a pathway to citizenship for those already in the U.S.
Visit the website for the Nuns on the Bus to know when they might visit your city. Follow the nuns on twitter and facebook to support the advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform!
Setback for Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Prior Consultation in Peru May 29th, 2013
The Peruvian government is refusing to publish a database on indigenous peoples and has excluded from the consultation process, coastal and mountain communities, where mining activity is concentrated.
The implementation of the Law of Prior Consultation of Indigenous Peoples over legislative or administrative measures that directly affect them — in effect for a little over a year — is facing huge setbacks in Peru. In late April, in the context of falling metals prices and slowing economic growth in China and Europe, the government temporarily waived prior consultation on 14 mining projects located on the coast and in the mountains and that are currently in exploratory phase.
2012 International Religious Freedom Report Available May 22nd, 2013
The International Religious Freedom Act is a law passed by the US Congress that mandates the preparation of the International Religious Freedom Report. Produced by the US State Department, this report shines light on the challenges that people face as they seek the right to worship as they wish.
Read the 2012 International Religious Freedom Report
Oblate Shareholder Activism Appreciated May 22nd, 2013
Oblate shareholder activism was recognized recently by Richard Eskow*, blogging on Huffington Post about the morality (or lack thereof) of our financial system. Here is an excerpt from his blog:
“Unethical or lawbreaking bankers are morally responsible for their actions. We didn’t break the law or throw people out of their homes. They did.
But even if we don’t share in the guilt, we share the responsibility. Did we do everything we could to stop them? They’re too powerful, people will say, and that’s true. But we have a responsibility to try, and to keep on trying, no matter what. We have a responsibility to engage in the great effort, which is a struggle for better regulation and a more humane economy. It’s also a struggle for hearts and minds – Dimon’s, the media’s, and our own. We should be demanding more – of the banks that serve us, of the media that entertain (if not inform) us, of the government agencies that work for us.
Futures
And we should be demanding more of us. These union pension funds, institutional investors at JPMorgan Chase, took action today to change the way business is done there. So did Father Seamus Finn of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, who introduced one of the resolutions on behalf of a family trust with JPM shares.
More of us need to join them in concerted, constructive economic activism. We can also work to reduce our dependence on the kinds of loans that lead to financial servitude, to the extent that’s possible in this harsh economic climate.”
Read the Huffington Post blog by Richard Eskow on JP Morgan Chase
*Richard Eskow is a writer, and host of ‘The Breakdown’, as well as a Senior Fellow at Campaign for America’s Future
MidWest Aquifers Drying Up May 21st, 2013
The High Plains Aquifer, a once-bountiful water source that covers broad swaths of the Midwestern United States, has been drained to dangerously low levels, especially in the south. The aquifer, according to the The New York Times, no longer supports irrigation on hundreds of miles of farmland in Texas and Kansas.
Learn more about the growing crisis of water in America…
