Tag Archives: change.org

Postcard to Putin

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A friend of mine, artist and author Stephen Mead brought to my attention this important campaign.

Postcard collage by Stephen Mead

Postcard collage by Stephen Mead

You are probably aware of the vulnerable status of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Russia due in great part by the government enacting a law prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality. With the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Russian officials even went so far as to warn international athletes that they will be banned from the games if there is evidence that they are spreading “gay propaganda.”

Some human rights activists have demanded that fair-minded countries pull out of the Sochi Olympics. Others have organized boycotts of Russian products like vodka. I think both of these strategies have their merits and their limitations, e.g. who really suffers from a boycott in a global economy?

Mead’s Postcard to Putin, which ties in with Change.org’s Love Letters to Russia campaign, is a straight forward approach to raising awareness of the government’s wrong-mindedness while putting pressure on Russia’s leaders. Whether or not the messages penetrate the hearts and minds of politicians, they give global visibility to the outrage so many of us feel. They’re also a great example of how anyone can be an activist.

Here’s Stephen’s page from the International Society and Assemblage of Collage Artists with information on how you can get involved.

Sign This Amazon Petition

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Some fellow authors brought to my attention this campaign for fairness in e-book seller policies.

Currently, Amazon’s return policy for e-books leaves a gaping hole for fraud:

“Books you purchase from the Kindle Store are eligible for return and refund if we receive your request within seven days of the date of purchase. Once a refund is issued, you’ll no longer have access to the book.”

Here are the problems with that:

1. While physical products from Amazon must be returned unopened or packaged or at the very least undamaged, those conditions don’t apply to electronic property; thus customers quite easily could “use” the e-books they buy and return them just to receive a refund.

2. Seven days is loads of time for customers to read most e-books. These include short stories, novelettes, novellas and novels. Customers can return these products like returning a book to the library.

3. Customers already have a mechanism for evaluating e-books at no cost. Through Amazon’s ‘Preview’ feature, they can read the first few pages of a book on-line (sometimes more) to decide whether they want to buy the story; so the seven day “trial” period is unnecessary.

3. The end result is that authors and publishers get screwed because they have to buy back e-book returns, many of which are fraudulent purchases.

Here’s the link to the petition at change.org. Sign it! Thank you very much. 🙂