While the eyes of the world are on Haiti's illegitimate elections and the return of the deposed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, about 1.5 million displaced earthquake survivors continue to live in sub-human conditions. In the absence of large-scale or systemic responses by the government, international community, or aid organizations, progressive civil society organizations are evolving strategies to win the right to housing. "We're supporting earthquake victims who are organizing themselves to form a social movement to claim their rights, first, for quality housing and, second, against being evicted," said human rights lawyer Patrice Florvilus.

Overall conditions in the camps have not improved since their spontaneous creation a year ago. New research by Professor Mark Schuller shows almost no progress in providing basic services in camps, even in the midst of a cholera epidemic which has claimed more than 4,000 lives and infected more than 209,000 others. Schuller's team of researchers found that the number of camp residents with access to water today is only 40.5 percent, while only 30.3 percent of camps have toilets. In a second report just released by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and the LAMP for Haiti Foundation, 60 percent of the camp residents surveyed live on less than $1 a day, and have only marginal access to food and clean water. One-half said they had been unable to feed their children for at least one entire day during the preceding week.

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I was nervous about going to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu this past Sunday at All-Saints Church. I was nervous because, despite his remarkable life story, which of course includes fighting and winning the battle against apartheid in his homeland, South Africa, he has made comments in the past about Israel and the Palestinians that have made him unwelcome in the mainstream Jewish community. So, in choosing to attend the service, sit in the VIP section up front, alongside other dignitaries, interfaith leaders and Hollywood actors, among others, rather than stand outside with a picket sign, as I imagine some in our community would have rather me do, I was nervous about what I might hear from this renowned voice for civil and human rights, especially in light of the fact that just two days earlier, the United States had chosen to veto a U.N. resolution calling the Israeli settlements illegal, even though our stated foreign policy agrees with that resolution, not to mention all of the unrest and turmoil in the greater Middle East. I sat anxiously, surrounded by Muslims and Christians, and because it is an Episcopal Church, a few Jews as well, and waited for Bishop Tutu to preach.

He is about to turn 80, but he has a presence and fortitude that belies his age. Not much more than 5'4" tall, a higher pitched and sweet sounding voice emanates from his throat, overlaid with an accent that sometimes makes him hard to understand. He rose to speak, looking out over the capacity filled church, including hundreds watching on video monitors outside, and gave us the following message: God is holy, therefore we are all holy; we are God carriers, God's stand-ins, God's viceroys. He told us that each human being, no matter what color of skin they have, is created in God's image, therefore is a piece of God, therefore is holy, therefore deserves respect, dignity, compassion and love. It was a message of deep spiritual depth, one that he brought around for just a moment, at the very end, to today's reality. More on that to come.

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When we signed on to help with the social media for Gasland (pro bono), it was not a documentary that was nearly as well known as it is now. Fresh out of Sundance, they had just started to create grassroots buzz. There was no Twitter profile, and a small Facebook fan page. Now they sit at a cumulative 42,000+ fans. The buzz created has been successful in two parts: the first is that it is true and people echo this honesty. The second is that it truly is the little movie that could, by that we mean it did really start off with Josh, his camera, his beat up car (that he still owns) and the story that is the reality. There is something gut wrenching about the fact that it is happening everywhere, it is very real, yet it took this movie to bring a mass consciousness together.

We signed on to work closely with Josh Fox and his team to help disseminate this message because it needs to go as far reaching as possible to create the change in policies that are direly needed. This wouldn't work if it was a one sided mission for entertainment purposes. This works because people that see this movie and are touched. They are touched because they have been directly affected by hydraulic fracturing or they want to be a voice for those that have been and don't want to become a silent statistic as well. The citizens of affected areas began participating in the conversation, many posting photos of their polluted water, or personal health horror stories on the Facebook wall. Others use it as a place to get petitions signed when their homes are considered hot beds for drilling, and they need to take preliminary action.

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To people down here in the U.S., Thompson, Canada and its fight with the Brazilian mining giant Vale may seem very far away.

It's not.

(Don't be embarrassed if you need a map to find Thompson, though -- blame the U.S. media, which will only tell you about Canadians if they have some connection to Justin Bieber.)

Right now Thompson is fighting a frontline battle in a war that's been raging for the past 30 years -- the global war of the world's rich on the middle class. It's a war the people of Flint and all of Michigan know much too well. It's a war going on right now in Wisconsin. And it's a war where the middle class just won a round in Egypt. (You probably didn't know -- because the U.S. media was too busy telling you about Justin Bieber -- that Gamal Mubarak, son of Egypt's dictator and his chosen successor, worked for years for Bank of America.)

Here's what's happening in Thompson, and why it matters so much:

Canada isn't like the United States -- it's still a first world country, where corporations are supposed to exist to benefit people, not the other way around. They don't just have universal health care -- they even have something called the Investment Canada Act, which says multinationals like Vale can only invest in Canadian industries if it will benefit all of Canada. I know, crazy!

The mine in Thompson used to be run by Inco, a Canadian corporation that made peace with unions and shared the wealth. When Vale bought Inco in 2006, they signed a contract with the government setting out what they would do to benefit Canadians.

Immediately afterward, Vale violated the contract and went on the attack -- forcing miners in Sudbury, Ontario out on the longest strike in their history. And now in Thompson they're trying to shut down the smelting and refining operations that have made the city a major economic hub of the province. Meanwhile, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper -- think of George W. Bush with a Canadian accent -- is actually helping Vale do this to their fellow citizens, with a giant $1 billion government loan which Vale is using to move jobs out of Thompson. Moreover, the largest institutional investor in Vale is Blackrock, an investment firm which in turn is owned by several of America's bailed-out banks ... including Bank of America.

So this is about one thing and one thing only: killing the social contract of Canada. Vale and the Harper government don't want a future where Brazil gradually becomes more like Canada. Instead, they want a future where Canada becomes Brazil. And not just Canada: the corporations' plan is that the Third World will become the Only World.

That's why people everywhere need to support Thompson. As Niki Ashton -- the MP who represents Thompson and the second-youngest woman ever elected to the Canadian Parliament -- says: "It Was Flint Yesterday, It's Us and Wisconsin Today, and Tomorrow It's Going to Be Everyone."

And that's why I'm proud to feature Ashton and voices of the people of Thompson on my website. And it's why I'm asking you to watch their powerful video, hear their stories, and share them with everyone you know.  

Regular people across the world are standing up right now and saying "No!" to the future they have planned for us. We won in Egypt. We're waking up and fighting back across the U.S. Let's all stand with Thompson and make it the place where we turn the tide in this awful war. As Kamal Abbas, one of Egypt's most important union leaders, said in a video message to Wisconsin: "We stand with you, as you stood with us."

(Confidential to people of Thompson: we're not saying Americans will only help if you promise to introduce us to Justin Bieber. We're just saying, you know, it couldn't hurt.)
      

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