On 20 November, Huang Qingnan of the Dagongzhe (DGZ) Migrant Worker Centre in Shenzhen, China was seriously injured after being stabbed by two unidentified men. The assault follows on the heels of two other violent attacks on the DGZ Centre in October and November. The Centre provides a free library, labour law education and free legal consultation to migrant workers in Shenzhen. It is suspected that the Centre is being targeted for its recent efforts to raise awareness about the new Labour Contract Law, which requires better employment conditions for workers and is scheduled to take effect in January.

Take action now at the Clean Clothes Campaign website 

Thanks to the IWW (Insdustrial Workers of the World) for the alert. 

The U.S. has slashed federal funding for human needs while spending more than $1 trillion on the Iraq war. Now President Bush wants even more money for the war after vetoing funding for children's health care, and threatening to veto a bill that would increase funding
for Head Start, Nutrition for Elders, Home Heating Assistance (LIHEAP), and dozens of other vital programs.

Please use AFSC's toll-free number to call Congress and ask your representatives to save these and other programs .

For more information, check the AFSC website . (The link will open in a new window.) 

URGE SENATORS BOXER & FEINSTEIN TO REJECT SENATOR JOE LIEBERMAN'S ATTACK IRAN AMENDMENT TO THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL.

 from the text of the bill:

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments  of nited States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, ntelligence, and military instruments,  ...

Poverty wages, brutal conditions, crippling injuries--5,500 workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina face this every day at the world's largest hog processing plant. Cited by Human Rights Watch for violating international human rights standards, Smithfield Packing has created an environment of intimidation, racial tension, and sometimes violence for workers who want a voice on the job.

On August 29, Jobs with Justice will join hundreds of supporters at the Smithfield Foods Annual Shareholder's Meeting to show oursupport for Smithfield workers. We will present this petition to Smithfield executives to demonstrate America's support forworkers at Smithfield's Tar Heel, North Carolina plant.

Sign the petition 

Update provided by Union Voice, http://www.unionvoice.org/

Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail in Georgia. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's nine non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.

Amnesty International USA email to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles 

Read and sign the petition
Thanks to USLAW for alerting Charleston Peace to this issue.