Thanks to constant pressure from social media accountability activists, Facebook employees, corporations that participated in the #StopHateforProfit boycott, and Fed-up Facebook users like you:

  • Facebook will now hold politicians accountable to the same community standards others are held to.
  • Facebook will keep Donald Trump off the platform for two years for using the platform to endanger public safety and undermine democracy.

Yes, Facebook left itself loopholes that need to be closed. Yes, Trump should be banned from Facebook permanently. So, we need to keep fighting.

But we also need to acknowledge that what we’re doing is working and take a moment to recognize our success!

What’s next?

We need to keep the pressure on! Facebook should create a “circuit breaker” to help prevent dangerous disinformation and incitements to violence from ever reaching a mass audience.

Circuit breakers are used in the stock exchange when there’s a dramatic drop, to pause trading and allow traders to assimilate new information and make better-informed choices. Social media circuit breaking would work the same way, pausing the most high-volume posts for fact-checking before they reach millions of people.

Learn more here and sign the petition if you haven’t already: Turn off hate and lies!

We believe that together users can demand, and win, significant changes to make Facebook less toxic and dangerous. Because there’s no Facebook without Facebook users.

Vigils for Global Access to COVID Vaccines & Treatments
Part of the Worldwide Call for a Fast & Comprehensive TRIPS Waiver Agreement to Help End the Pandemic

Current vaccine production will cover just 25% of the world’s population. While the world’s wealthiest nations are being vaccinated at increasing rates, developing countries are being left  without access to vaccines until possibly as long as 2024. The WHO has called this the global vaccine inequity a Vaccine Apartheid.

This must change!

An emergency waiver of “Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights” (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization is a critical first step to enabling vaccines and treatments to be produced in as many places as possible, as quickly as possible.

The WTO will be making life-or-death decisions about ending patent protections for critical Covid vaccines – via a TRIPS waiver –  at their upcoming meeting on June 8.

Join a Vigil or Action and Make Your Voice Heard in Support of Global Access to Covid Vaccines and Treatments.

SAN FRANCISCO VIGIL
Wednesday, June 2 • 11:30am
Outside the Consulate General of Japan
275 Battery Street • San Francisco, CA
Contact: will@citizenstrade.org
RSVP FOR SAN FRANCISCO VIGIL HERE

ALBANY VIGIL
Thursday, June 3 • 5:00pm
Outside the Leo W. O’Brien Federal Building
1 Clinton Square • Albany, NY
Contact: george@citizenstrade.org
RSVP FOR ALBANY VIGIL HERE

CHICAGO VIGIL FOR GLOBAL ACCESS TO COVID VACCINES
Wednesday, June 2 • 8:00pm
Federal Plaza
230 S. Dearborn Street • Chicago, IL
Contact: blevenson@justiceisglobal.org

DALLAS VIGIL
Sunday, June 6 • 6:00pm
Outside the Consulate of Germany’s Dallas Office
17130 Dallas Parkway • Dallas, TX
Contact: bobcash@citizenstrade.org
RSVP FOR DALLAS VIGIL HERE

HOUSTON RALLY
Friday, June 4 • 11:00am
Outside the Consulate of Germany’s Dallas Office
1330 Post Oak Blvd • Houston, TX
Contact: ginnysmcdavid@gmail.com
RSVP FOR HOUSTON RALLY HERE

NEW YORK VIGIL
Thursday, June 3 • 5:30pm
Outside Pfizer’s Headquarters
235 E. 42nd Street • New York, NY
Contact: george@citizenstrade.org
RSVP FOR NEW YORK VIGIL HERE

SEATTLE VIGIL
Friday, June 4 • 8:30pm
Westlake Center
401 Pine Street • Seattle, WA
Contact: hillary@washingtonfairtrade.org
RSVP FOR SEATTLE VIGIL HERE

Have you lost a loved one to COVID-19?  If you’d like the name of someone you’ve lost to COVID read at vigils happening across the country, please share their name here.

 

On May 13 we hosted a webcast to talk with Colombian activists and community members about the causes and demands of the recent mobilizations in Colombia, the reasons for the unprecedented violent response from the Duque government, and the ways we can support the demands from the Colombian people.

Watch the webcast in English or Spanish below.

View the English version here


View the Spanish version here

On February 23rd, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon introduced the Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act in the U.S. Senate. The bill will:

  • Suspend U.S. assistance to the Honduran military and police, including U.S. military/police training and equipment, until the Honduran military and police cease committing human rights violations and those responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice.
  • Prohibit exports of U.S. munitions, including semiautomatic firearms, tear gas, tasers, and more, to the Honduran military and police.
  • Direct President Biden to sanction and stop supporting Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who has been named as a co-conspirator by U.S. federal prosecutors in drug trafficking cases (yet is considered a U.S. ally and is still in power due to U.S. backing).
  • Support the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Office in Honduras and the creation of a United Nations anti-corruption mission in Honduras with the ability to prosecute corruption cases against high-ranking government officials (a long-time demand of Honduran civil society).

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) joined Senator Merkley (D-OR) as initial co-sponsors of the bill, which you can read here.

Call and email your Senators today and ask them to join as a co-sponsor on the Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021! Unless of course, your Senator(s) is/are the co-sponsors listed above, in which case, you can call to thank them.

1. Call your Senators (to find your Senators and their office phone numbers, click here). Identify yourself as a constituent and ask to speak to the foreign policy aide:

“I am calling from (town/city, state) to ask Senator _____ to co-sponsor the Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021. The bill would suspend U.S. support for the Honduran government until systemic corruption, impunity, and human rights violations cease and their perpetrators are brought to justice. It is time for the U.S. to stop supporting a regime where environmental and Indigenous defenders, journalists, and demonstrators are murdered regularly. Please co-sponsor the Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021 and let me know when you do so.”

2. E-mail your Senators to ask them to co-sponsor the Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act by clicking here!

For far too long, the U.S. has been training and equiping the Honduran military and police, who murder and repress with impunity. For far too long, the U.S. has been propping up President Hernandez — who has been named by U.S. federal prosecutors as a co-conspirator in drug trafficking cases — while simultaneously sending millions to his government under the guise of stopping drug trafficking. For far too long, the U.S. has been financing and backing a regime that regularly commits human rights violations and plunders the country, causing thousands upon thousands to flee Honduras for the U.S.  It is far past time for the U.S. to stop supporting the Hernandez regime and cease training and equipping its military and police. This bill is a significant step forward because while the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act has been introduced in the House in recent years, this is the first time there is such a bill introduced in the Senate.

Call and e-mail your Senators today to ask them to co-sponsor the Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2021.

 

Since 1988 our Reality Tours have provided a way for people to travel and build people-to-people ties that enhance understanding and unity around the world. Tens-of-thousands have safely traveled with Global Exchange to destinations near and far (Cuba, Cambodia, Oaxaca-Mexico, the Ecuadorian-Amazon, Iran, South Africa and more) before the coronavirus pandemic forced us to close last March, the first-time-ever in our 30 years of operations.

We are dreaming of traveling again. And we bet you are too! We invite you to take our short survey and tell us where you hope to go once travel opens. 

We are hard at work designing new, safe, and community-centered Reality Tours programs. Upcoming Reality Tours programs will examine critical issues like the climate crisis and community resilience, coronavirus impacts and response, protection of land defenders, and more. All our Reality Tours delegations will be designed to keep participants and communities healthy and safe, and we will follow strict Covid-19 safety protocols.

Take a moment and tell us where you want to go; help us design the Reality Tours program of your dreams.

In the coming weeks, and with your valuable input, we will be posting our new 2021 trips — designed with our COVID-19 measures in place and offering our new flexible cancellation policy.

We look forward to traveling with you!

For Immediate Release
February 12, 2021

Thousands urge Facebook Oversight Board to permanently ban Donald Trump
As the Oversight Board’s public comment period closes today, groups submit public comments from tens of thousands of people around the globe.

Today marks the last day when members of the public can submit comments to the Facebook Oversight Board about its impending decision on whether the social media platform will continue to ban Donald Trump. Tens of thousands of comments are being submitted by supporters of grassroots groups who emphasize that Trump is a threat to the safety of the American people and democracy.

The Facebook Oversight Board, a non-elected body that was created by Facebook’s leadership, will issue its decision on the Trump ban soon after the comment period closes. Trump was banned indefinitely from the platform for posts in which he condoned the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, but Facebook’s leaders had second thoughts and asked the Oversight Board to review their decision.

“As a human rights organization, we’re extremely concerned that, if allowed back on Facebook, Donald Trump will again use the platform to promote violence and hatred that will translate into real-world harms,” said Ted Lewis, co-director of San Francisco-based Global Exchange. Global Exchange and Media Alliance, a San Francisco Bay Area media accountability organization, joined with fed-up Facebook users to form a new Facebook Users Union.

“Today we will submit more than 40,000 signatures to the Facebook Oversight Board from people around the world who are urging the board to take a stand against all world leaders—from Myanmar to India to the United States—who have violated Facebook’s community standards and used the platform to foment hate and incite violence,” said Tracy Rosenberg, the executive director of Media Alliance.

The national pro-democracy organization Common Cause will submit over 23,000 signatures today from its members who are demanding Donald Trump be permanently banned from Facebook. “Donald Trump repeatedly abused his wide reach on social media to spread baseless — and as we saw on January 6th, dangerous — lies about our election. He flagrantly violated Facebook’s civic integrity rules,” Common Cause’s members say in their public comments to the board.

Common Cause, Global Exchange, and Media Alliance, in collaboration with Free Press, Ultraviolet, and other organizations that are concerned about the impact of Big Tech on democracy and civil society organized a tweetstorm on Wednesday directed at the Oversight Board and its members. “How many times does Donald Trump get to incite violence and stoke hatred on Facebook before you decide he’s a threat to the safety of the American people? Do we need to suffer through another attack like the one on January 6th? #BanTrumpOnFacebook,” read one of the tweets posted by Voto Latino.

“Facebook has repeatedly refused to hold Trump to any standard, allowing him to exploit its platform to spread disinformation, amplify hate speech, and incite violence,” said Yosef Getachew, director of media and democracy program at Common Cause. “Rather than enforce its community standards, Facebook is irresponsibly hiding behind an Oversight Board to make a decision that has serious implications on our democracy. Our members have spoken loud and clear – Facebook must consistently enforce and strengthen its policies to hold violators accountable.”

Immediately after the January 6th mob attack on the US Capitol. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told numerous media outlets that the attack had not been organized on Facebook. But, since then, both the Tech Transparency Project and a Forbes analysis of US Department of Justice files have found otherwise.

CONTACTS:
Andrea Buffa, 510-325-3653, andreabuffa2006@gmail.com


Watch here on Facebook.  Or here on Twitter.

The Biden Administration has moved quickly on immigration matters — issuing new executive orders on asylum and family separations just last night.  

It is time to take stock.

On February 3rd we hosted a webcast looking at these policies from the point of view of recent deportees and asylum seekers and advocates on both sides of the border — from Washington to Guadalajara.

Panelists Include:

  • Professor Bill Hing, Law professor at the University of San Francisco and founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
  • Jill Anderson, Co-founder and Co-Director of Otros Dreams en Acción (ODA), a Mexico City-based NGO which works with returning and deported young people in Mexico.
  • Tran Dang, former law firm attorney who has represented victims of persecution in regional human rights forums and systems, UNHCR, and the UN special procedures. Executive Director and founder of the Rhizome Center for Migrants, a Mexico based non-profit organization working to support and defend forcibly displaced persons and uprooted people at risk around the world.
  • Cesar Vega, returnee and advocacy fellow at the Rhizome Center for Migrants.
  • Daniella Burgi-Palomino, Co-director of Latin America Working Group. She has worked on the protection of migrant rights in the U.S.-Mexico-Central America corridor with a variety of civil society organizations and foundations for over twelve years.