Monthly Archives: February, 2012

FEB 15, 2012 - A young girl, Avalanna Routh, who has been battling an aggressive and rare form of cancer known as ATRT got a "dream date" with Justin Bieber. The young musician has been recently getting more involved with activism and speaking out about issues such as working with PETA to promote animal lovers to adopt pets from shelters, to raising awareness and funds for clean water for developing nations. The family put up a Facebook Page hoping to get the two together, and with help from the non-profit  The Jimmy Fund that has been supporting the fight against cancer since 1948, and a local news report featuring young Avalanna that Justin Bieber was watching, the encounter came to fruition. Watch a Today video report about the event below.

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FEB 13, 2012 - Bruce Springsteen, long known for his activism, opened up with a song at the Grammy Awards Show last night called, "We Take Care of Our Own", a new song from his upcoming album, "Wrecking Ball". He was met with a standing ovation and cheers, and chants of "Bruuuce!". The song has lines such as, "From the shotgun shack to the Superdome, We yelled help but the cavalry stayed home", and "Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea, We take care of our own". Many are taking this song to be a statement on the government's response to Katrina, jobs being outsourced, and the American dream being threatened by recent actions such as attacks on unions and teachers and government entitlement programs. There is another version of the video Bruce released, which contains images of working people, a group Bruce has long supported and fought for over the years. Watch Bruce singing "We Take Care of Our Own" when he opened up the Grammys last night, and then a black & white "studio version" below.
(Photo credit: Thomas Uhlemann/Wiki)

CORRECTION: Willie Nelson is NOT part of the lawsuit filed against Monsanto. We apologize for any confusion.

FEB 13, 2012 - 300,000 activists who support small family farms and a healthy and fair food system, sued food giant Monsanto in Federal Court in Manhattan on January 31, 2012. Musician activist Willie Nelson and his Occupy The Food System which consists of many small groups such as Food Democracy Now are not part of the suit but have voiced their support and rallied in support outside the federal courthouses for the farmers who are filing the suit. The suit seeks to protect the harassment and threatening manner agribusiness giant Monsanto has exhibited, with threatening to go after any small farms that contain any trace of what they claim to be their property, genetically modified seeds. All the activists are also fighting against Monsanto's spraying of "Roundup herbicides", which harm the soil, water and the farms around them. Willie states that the corporate takeover of small farms by large corporations has "led to the loss of millions of family farmers, destruction of our soil, pollution of our water and health epidemics of epic obesity and diabetes". Read more about the lawsuit on NationofChange.org here, and check out Occupy The Food System Facebook Page here.

Also, an ad aired on the Grammy's last night of Willie Nelson performing the haunting Coldplay classic, "The Scientists" (watch below) to help The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, an organization that is "Dedicated to creating a sustainable, healthful and equitable future". You can purchase the song on iTunes here, where proceeds will benefit the foundation and help them in their work to protect small family farms. Check out their website here.

FEB 11, 2012 - Activists who own and use Apple products alarmed by the horrible working conditions in China where all the devices are manufactured, delivered a petition to Apple calling for labor reforms. Reports of cramped dormitories, forced labor, severe carpal tunnel syndrome, and severe stress on the workers who have no labor law protections whatsoever. Many workers, especially at a large manufacturer Foxconn, have even committed suicide. CIO has a article detailing the working conditions in an article here.

Activist Mark Shields who started the petition on Change.org told reporters outside Apple's New York offices, "Apple's a leader in the world. They've set themselves apart from other companies and other industries. And they've changed how we listen to music and how we see movies and use technology. I believe that they have the creativity and the capital to make a change and stop this terrible suffering."

He and others are part of a movement to try and better the working conditions for workers overseas and other issues called SumOfUs.org, on their website they say that "SumOfUs is a movement of consumers, workers and shareholders speaking with one voice to counterbalance the growing power of large corporations. Join us on our journey as we seek to make the world a better place for ourselves, our children and all who share our planet." Check out the SumOfUs.org website here.

FEB 8, 2012 - Musician activist Boots Riley from the "radical" hip-hop group Coup, has been out in front with the Occupy Oakland movement. RS has a article out about him, here is an excerpt:

“Riley has been an activist since high school, when he spent a summer helping to organize migrant farm workers in central California. He says he was used to seeing twenty-five people show up at demonstrations, and in he past, he’s weighed his activism against what he might accomplish with his music, and generally chosen the music – so many more people could hear the message that way. "But with Occupy, I can’t use that same equation," Riley admits. "What we’re doing here gets a different message out, a stronger message out, to many more people than my music.””

Check out Boots Riley performing at Occupy Oakland below and read 
the full article on Rolling Stone here. (Photo credit: Bankrobber1/Wiki)