This just in from Eric Lee:

This morning I received news that jailed Iranian teacher union activist Farzad Kamangar may be hanged within the next few hours.
According to the Education International, he has been taken from his cell in Tehran’s Evin prison in preparation for execution. The guards have told him he is about to be executed and they are making fun of him, calling him a martyr.
We need your help and we need it right now.
Send off your message to the Iranian president:
http://www.labourstart.org/farzad
Pass on the this message to everyone you know who might support this campaign. We may only have a few hours left.
I know that I can count on your help.  Thank you.

Eric Lee

You can read more & send an e-message to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at:

http://www.ei-ie.org/en/urgentactionappeal/show.php?id=12&country=iran

Eric Lee has applied for $80,000 from Knight News Challenge to upgrade LabourStart. LabourStart is

An online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which aims to serve the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information — and by assisting unions in campaigning and other ways.

Its features include daily labour news links in more than 20 languages and a news syndication service used by more than over 700 trade union websites. News is collected from mainstream, trade union, and alternative news sources by a network of over 500 volunteer correspondents based on every continent.

Eric has been running it on a shoestring, and he thinks its time to take it to the next level. I think he deserves your vote.

Finally. Someone says it out loud. Its not about the platform, the flash, the wiz, the bang. Its about getting unions – or any action group for that matter – to own their site. Owning it just like they own their placards and paint.
SO if they want a blog, give them a blog. If they want a FB page (yuck) let them have it, as long as they make it themselves.

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