Global Weekly Update March 28, 2011

Continue Pushing Senate and Media Against Deadly Cuts

The Continuing Resolution expires on April 8. At that time we’ll either have a new Continuing Resolution, a budget deal for the rest of 2011, or a government shutdown. We must continue to get the message to our senators and to the public that reducing the deficit should not cost lives. Under the current House plan, people will die. Are we in such dire financial circumstances in that we have to resort to taking away mosquito nets, TB treatment, and AIDS drugs from the world’s poorest people? If budgets are moral documents, we can only be left to question what our values are as a nation.

Here’s what you can do:

• Make Calls: The current Continuing Resolution that keeps the government running through April 8. We must get everyone we know to call their senators and ask them to reverse the House cuts to foreign aid. We have created a special action alert to make the calling easy. Send it to your friends and post it on your social media sites.
• Generate Media: We have a great editorial packet to pitch to your editors, and an excellent Action Sheet for writing letters to the editor. Joanne Carter also has a great piece in the Huffington Post, and another one on the Gates Foundation Blog you can borrow from. Write and get others to write. You can also use these resources to write your own oped. If we can get our messages out in the media it will educate our communities and give our senators courage to speak out. There have already been editorials in Tulsa, OK, and Olympia, WA, two op-eds in North Carolina, and many letters. Be sure to send copies of your media to representatives and senators.

Your actions are critical for the rest of 2011 and all of 2012. If foreign aid cutters get away with cutting in 2011, you know they will be even more aggressive for 2012. We must stop this unconscionable cutting now. The public also needs to know that cutting aid won’t balance the budget — the amount is much too small. Many Americans think we spend 25 percent of our budget on aid, when we spend less than 1 percent on poverty focused development assistance. We much correct these misconceptions. Surely we can do better than taking away basic, inexpensive, life-saving tools from the world’s poorest people.

House Briefing on TB and Other TB Resources

Many RESULTS chapters organized events for World TB Day. There were TB Walks, student events, lectures, concerts, and other activities. Congratulations to Sitka, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Chapel Hill, Austin/El Paso, Omaha, Inland Empire, Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, and Dallas. If your group is not listed here, please let us know. We also heard that the Senate TB briefing was very full, but we do not yet have a list of Senate aides who attended. As soon as we do, we will share it.

There is a House TB briefing today (March 29), and you can remind your House aides that they can attend. Many Representatives, and the information will serve them well. A lot of our World TB Day Resources will also continue to be useful as the spending debate continues.

International Conference Is Getting Exciting! Are You Coming?

The RESULTS/REF 2011 International Conference is less than three months away? Are you coming?

We already have 96 participants already! Are you one of them? If not, register today before rates go up May 3.

Visit the IC website to check out the updated agenda, with new workshops and speakers.

We have an exciting new speaker: Mrs. Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund.

Need a roommate? Visit our discussion forum (under “My RESULTS” — top right corner of the homepage) to communicate with other conference attendees.

New Activist Orientation

So many of you have been hard at work reaching out to your communities and encouraging others to check out RESULTS. Do you have a new person in your midst who might be interested in our upcoming New Activist Orientation? This series is a great primer for folks who have committed to RESULTS but who are really just getting started. Find out more information about the next series on our website.  

We have a new, interactive online grassroots forum. The forum will enable activists to communicate and collaborate more directly. Click on My RESULTS, get your own personalized sign-in name, and start collaborating.

April 9: Global Conference Call, featuring Congresswoman Nita Lowey. 2:00 pm ET. (888) 409-6709

April 13: Beginning of next New Activist Orientation series. 9:00 pm ET. Call (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. RSVP for the next series (April 13 and 27, May 11 and 25) or get more information, by contacting Lisa Marchal.

May 14: Global Conference Call. 2:00 pm ET. (888) 409-6709

June 19–21: RESULTS International Conference