Join World's Longest Toilet Queue and Ask Alyssa Milano to do the Same

A few days ago, I wrote an Act.ly petition, asking Alyssa Milano to stand against sanitation poverty by joining the World's Longest Toilet Queue. Needless to say, we're still waiting for her to join. Below is a copy of the petition, which describes why the Toilet Queue is important. Please, make sure you join the Queue here: http://www.worldtoiletqueue.org/eng

Also, ask Alyssa to do the same by

• tweeting this: petition @Alyssa_Milano to Stand with Us in World's Longest Toilet Queue http://act.ly/1ph RT 2 sign #actly #WaterWednesday
• Or clicking here: http://act.ly/1ph

Summary

Some 2.5 Billion people around the globe lack access to improved sanitation. This petition asks Alyssa Milano to please stand with us in demanding world leaders to take action against sanitation poverty by standing with us in the World’s Longest Toilet Queue.

If you have not yet joined the Queue, take 5 minutes now and stand with us. Join the Queue! >>> http://www.worldtoiletqueue.org/eng

Petition

Dear Alyssa Milano;

We admire your unwavering commitment to helping people throughout the global find access to clean water. As you are undoubtedly aware, access to clean water and access to proper sanitation are deeply connected development issues. Unimproved sanitation, such as pit latrines, hanging latrines, bucket latrines, and open defecation, often results in the contamination of water supplies vital for washing, bathing, and drinking. As described vividly by the World Health Organization, “Without improved sanitation, people suffer from ill health, lost income, inconvenience and indignity.”

The figures on the breadth and consequences of unimproved sanitation are shocking. According to UNICEF, nearly 50% of the developing world’s population, or 2.5 billion people, lack improved sanitation facilities. According to the World Health Organization, some 18% of the global population practice open defecation. UNICEF reports that globally each week about 42 thousand people die from diseases as a product of low quality drinking water and poor sanitation. UNICEF also reports that 4000 children die every day from diarrhoea caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.

Moved by the hope of ending sanitation poverty, End Water Poverty (EndWaterPoverty.org) is organizing a series of events in the lead up to World Water Day (March 22, 2010) and the High Level Meeting on sanitation and water (April 23, 2010). Those events include The World’s Longest Toilet Queue, a virtual place for folks like us to demand our world leaders to help end unsafe sanitation. Therefore, we kindly ask you Alyssa Milano, to take 5 minutes and join stand with us in the World’s Longest Toilet Queue, because 2.5 billion people can’t wait any longer.

>>>>>Join the Queue!>>>>> http://www.worldtoiletqueue.org/eng

More information, visit www.endwaterpoverty.org

Footage from 22 Bahman

Today marked the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, an event which overthrew the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Over the past 31 years however, rule under an Islamic Republic has revealed patterns of brutality not unknown during the Pahlavi days. This has been especially true since the 2005 election of hardliner conservative Mahmoud Amandinejad. This brutality, along with his rigged re-election in 2009, served as the flash point for the Green Movement and the countless masses of Iranians that rose to the occasion today to protest the regime. This article, entitled Iranian Opposition in Standoff with Regime, provides a nice analysis of what was at stake today.

Personally, I have nothing at stake in these protests. I'm not Iranian, nor do I have family and friends living in Iran. However, I believe that human rights, including the right to protest, the right to vote, the right to speak, and a list of other rights, are universal. In other words, the sanctity of these rights are not halted by state boarders, nor are they to be allocated according to race, religion, or creed. To honor that belief, and to those brave Iranians that put their lives on the line for citizen empowerment, I thought I'd post links to some of the most notable video footage to arise thus far out of Bahman 22, or literally the 22nd day of the 11th month of the Persian calender. Later today, I'll be tweeting each of these videos. While not all of the videos are of great quality, all capture a slice of the atmosphere that transpired today. Please watch and remember that a human rights violation in Iran is a human rights violation against us all.

Please, if there are any videos you think are missing from this list, post a comment or drop DM me on twitter @stunetii.

Vid 1: Tehran Protesters throw rocks
Vid 2: Plain clothes police among Protest
Vid 3: Protesting in Tehran Metro Station
Vid 4: Protesting Inside Tehran Metro
Vid 5: (CNN) Iranian Demonstrator Unafraid
Vid 6: Propaganda Machine-Western Leaders are Stupid
Vid 7: Gas and Copters
Vid 8: Chanting down the Regime
Vid 9: Crowds and Copter
Vid 10: Patrons & Clients-Regime Supporters Getting Food
Vid 11: Ripping down Khamenei/Khomeini
Vid 12: Violence-The Regime's Recipe 4 Rule (good quality)
Vid 13: Riot Police Enter the Sadeghyeh Sq.
Vid 14: Karroubi among Protesters
Vid 15: Security Forces Throwing Tear Gas
Vid 16: Free Political Prisoners