Freedom Forward

Freedom Forward is creating people-powered change, and they need your help. Please read below to learn more about the issues they're working on and how you can get involved. Thank you!

Campaigns

  • Support the People’s Vaccine!
    Coronavirus is wreaking havoc across the entire world. Hundreds of thousands of people have already died (nearly 100,000 Americans alone), and the disease is spreading by the day. As long as vaccines and treatments remain unattainable, people will continue to get sick and die. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Oxfam has called on world leaders to come together, and take concrete steps to ensure that we find a vaccine for Coronavirus as quickly as possible. The leaders of South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, and Pakistan have already pledged their support to a People’s Vaccine, as has the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown. We are now calling on the White House and U.S. Congress to sign on and pledge full support for a People’s Vaccine. As per Oxfam’s People’s Vaccine campaign, the commitments include the following: ***A mandatory worldwide pooling of patents and sharing of all COVID-19-related knowledge, data and technologies in order to ensure that any nation can produce or buy affordable doses of vaccines, treatments and tests. ***The rapid establishment of an equitable global manufacturing and distribution plan for all vaccines, treatments and tests that is fully funded by rich nations and which guarantees transparent “at true cost prices” and supplies in accordance with need rather than the ability to pay. This would include urgent action to massively increase manufacturing capacity to produce the vaccines in sufficient quantities and train and recruit millions of health workers to distribute them. ***A guarantee that COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests are provided free of charge to everyone, everywhere, with priority given to frontline workers, vulnerable people, and poor countries with the least capacity to save lives. If U.S. leaders signed onto this agreement, the impact would be felt worldwide: It would open the door for more leaders of Western countries to support this agreement, as well. We will undoubtedly quicken the process of finding treatment for Coronavirus by all coming together and pooling together resources and knowledge -- hundreds of thousands of lives (and possibly more) would be saved, and immeasurable pain and suffering will have been prevented. More information: "World leaders unite in call for a people’s vaccine against COVID-19,” May 14, 2020. https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/world-leaders-unite-call-peoples-vaccine-against-covid-19 "OPEN LETTER: Uniting Behind A People’s Vaccine Against COVID-19," Oxfam International, Medium, May 13, 2020. https://medium.com/@Oxfam/uniting-behind-a-peoples-vaccine-against-covid-19-87eec640976
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  • Restore full funding to the World Health Organization now!
    On April 14th, the Trump administration announced that it would cut funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). This is a horrible move: The WHO coordinates initiatives to improve the health of communities around the world. President Trump is criticizing the WHO in order to distract the U.S. public from his own profound failure to address the Coronavirus pandemic. President Trump has repeatedly disregarded the advice and counsel of public health experts. The United States now has more infections and deaths than any other country on the planet. Tens of thousands of people in the U.S. have died. By cutting funding to the WHO, we're putting millions of people worldwide at risk to contract this deadly disease. And as long as health resources are underfunded, this Coronavirus will continue to spread, and our country and its people will remain in grave danger. Instead of spending vast amounts of money on wars and weapons for dictators, we should invest in the WHO and ensure our national security by protecting the health of all people. Tell the Trump administration and leaders in the US Congress: Restore full funding to the WHO now!
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  • We are not Saudi Arabia's army.
    This is insane. After Saudi Arabia's oil facilities were attacked, Trump tweeted that the U.S. military is "locked and loaded" and "waiting to hear from the Kingdom ... under what terms we would proceed!" Sorry Trump, but we are not Saudi Arabia's army. No U.S. soldier—nor anyone else in the region—should die in a dumb and disastrous war to defend Saudi Arabia's dictatorship. ---------- Source: @realDonaldTrump tweet, Sep 15, 2019, 6:50 PM: "Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1173368423381962752
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  • Release Trump's Dictator Transcripts!
    According to CNN, Trump has wrongly hidden or classified his records of conversations with dictators. This would help Trump hide his corruption from the American public. Congress must investigate Trump's corrupt conversations with dictators and publicly release all wrongly classified notes and transcripts. Source: "White House restricted access to Trump's calls with Putin and Saudi crown prince," CNN, September 28, 2019, https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/27/politics/white-house-restricted-trump-calls-putin-saudi/index.html
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  • Saudi Arabia: Stop Torturing Women's Rights Activists! @RBAlSaud
    I can't believe that Saudi Arabia's brutal monarchy is STILL one of America's biggest allies. When will we cut the cord? The Saudi family dictatorship has imprisoned and tortured multiple women's rights activists. Male supporters of women's rights have also been jailed. Free these women and men NOW. Sources: 1. "'What they did to me was so horrific': brutal silencing of a Saudi feminist," Ruth Michaelson, May 24, 2019, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/may/24/what-they-did-to-me-was-so-horrific-brutal-silencing-of-a-saudi-feminist-loujain-al-hathloul 2. "Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Briefing: Women’s Human Rights Defenders in Saudi Arabia," Testimony of Human Rights Watch, May 23, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/23/tom-lantos-human-rights-commission-briefing-womens-human-rights-defenders-saudi
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  • Boycott the Saudi Dictator's #G20
    The G20 is the annual gathering of representatives of the world's largest economies. It is shocking that the Saudi dictatorship is hosting the G20 summit this year. Saudi Arabia is using this year's G20 to hide its horrible record of war, repression, and climate destruction. No one should participate in the Saudi G20 or any other Saudi-led event until the Saudi dictatorship fully embraces the following demands: 1. Freedom at home: Saudi Arabia must free women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, end all internal repression, and release all prisoners of conscience. 2. End the Yemen war: Saudi Arabia must stop killing Yemeni civilians, lift the blockade on Yemen, and endorse a full ceasefire. 3. Cease its global repression: Saudi Arabia must stop targeting global dissidents and allow a full investigation of Saudi crimes, including the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. 4. Stop creating Middle East instability: Saudi Arabia must stop pushing for war with Iran, end its war in Yemen, and stop opposing democracy movements in the Middle East. 5. Climate crisis: Saudi Arabia must stop driving the global climate crisis through its destructive fossil fuel exports. No one should participate in the Saudi G20 or any other Saudi-led event until the Saudi dictatorship endorses and implements these demands.
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  • #USOpen: Reject Dictator Dollars! @USOpen
    It upsets me deeply that the UAE monarchy abuses and kills thousands while sponsoring glamorous sporting events like the US Open. The United Arab Emirates is a brutal monarchy that has killed thousands of civilians in Yemen. The monarchy also imprisons human rights activists, opposes labor rights, and discriminates against women. 11 organizations are calling on the US Open and US Tennis Association to drop the UAE and reject the sponsorship dollars of the UAE-owned Emirates airline. Read our letter: https://freedomforward.org/2019/07/23/usopen-uae/
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  • Massachusetts: Stop Profiting From the Yemen War
    The state of Massachusetts is profiting from Saudi Arabia's brutal war in Yemen. How? The Massachusetts pension fund invests in companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. Four of the biggest companies selling arms to the Saudi dictatorship are Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin. And Saudi Arabia has used these weapons to kill thousands of civilians in Yemen. Right now, the Massachusetts state legislature is considering a bill that would divest the state of Massachusetts pension fund from arms companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. That legislation is Massachusetts House Bill 2349, introduced by MA State Rep. Denise Provost. The bill already has 20 sponsors. There are many ways to grow the Massachusetts state pension fund. We don't need to profit off of industries of death and destruction in order to take care of retired state employees who have devoted their careers to public service. FULL TEXT OF BILL H.2349: "Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, within 60 days of the effective date of this act, the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board established in section 23 of chapter 32 of the General Laws shall divest from the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund all stocks, securities and other obligations of any company selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, unless the company announces, within 30 days of the effective date of this act that it will not renew or enter into contracts for weapon sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." SOURCE: "Bill H.2349, An Act relative to pension divestment from companies selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Viewed Nov. 11, 2019, https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/H2349
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  • Saudi Arabia: Stop blocking fuel to Yemen!
    In Yemen’s brutal civil war, Saudi Arabia’s dictatorship has used U.S. weapons to bomb and kill thousands of civilians. The Yemeni faction backed by the Saudi dictatorship is now blocking fuel transport ships from delivering their cargo to Yemeni society. As a result, new fuel shortages are threatening even more Yemeni lives. The Saudi-backed faction in Yemen is requiring exorbitant amounts of money as taxes before this fuel can be delivered. As a result, the cost of fuel in Yemen has doubled since September 2019. Multiple ships have been blocked from delivering their fuel. Without fuel, life is now even more miserable for Yemeni civilians. The problems now include: - New food and medicine shortages. - Fuel shortages for hospital generators. - Unprocessed sewage amidst a cholera epidemic. - Garbage that isn’t taken to landfills. - More unemployment for people desperate to work. The Saudi dictatorship and its allies in Yemen must stop blocking the delivery of fuel and end their exorbitant taxes on fuel imports to Yemen. The rival Houthi faction has also contributed to the humanitarian crisis, but this fuel tax was specifically created by the Saudi-backed government in Yemen. Yemeni people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-backed faction in Yemen must cancel the new fuel tax. Saudi Arabia and its military allies must end their horrible attacks on civilians in Yemen. Let the Yemeni people live. -- SOURCES -- “Cabinet Decree No. 49 of 2019 was successfully implemented,” Economic Committee of Yemen, September 13, 2019. https://ecyemen.com/announcements/1830/ “Lines as far as the eye can see: new fuel shortage hits Yemen,” Reuters, September 29, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-economy-fuel/lines-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see-new-fuel-shortage-hits-yemen-idUSKBN1WE0BF “Yemen fuel shortage: health concerns rise as rubbish piles up,” Al Jazeera, October 9, 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/yemen-fuel-shortage-health-concerns-rise-rubbish-piles-191009061650943.html "Fuel Shortages Deepen Crisis in Yemen,” Save the Children, October 9, 2019. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/media-and-news/2019-press-releases/fuel-shortages-deepen-crisis-in-yemen-save-the-children
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  • Hey @Uber: Kick the Saudi Dictator Off Your Board of Directors
    Saudi Arabia is ruled by a brutal dictatorship that is destroying the planet with its massive oil exports. This dictatorship has invested $3.5 billion in Uber, and a representative of the dictator sits on the Uber board of directors. In a new interview with "Axios on HBO," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi called the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi "a mistake" and compared it to Uber mistakes with self-driving cars. Khashoggi's death wasn't a "mistake" -- it was a murder. The person responsible for that murder is Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman, one of Uber's biggest shareholders through his Saudi Public Investment Fund. In his interview, Uber's CEO suggested that he did not know that the CIA had concluded that Saudi Arabia's dictator was directly involved in Khashoggi's murder. Facing public backlash, the Uber CEO later backtracked from his comments to Axios, issuing a written statement: "I said something in the moment that I do not believe. When it comes to Jamal Khashoggi, his murder was reprehensible and should not be forgotten or excused." But Uber's ties to the Saudi dictatorship go beyond the Uber CEO's on-air defense of the murder of Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia's dictatorship has placed Yasir Al-Rumayyan on the Uber board of directors. Al-Rumayyan is the managing director of the Saudi dictatorship's Public Investment Fund. Uber must remove the Saudi dictatorship from the Uber board and end the dictatorship's investments in the company. In addition to murdering Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dictatorship has slaughtered thousands of civilians in Yemen, imprisoned women's rights activists, and jailed countless nonviolent human rights reformers. 1. "Governance, Uber Board of Directors," https://investor.uber.com/governance/default.aspx#bod 2. "Uber CEO calls Saudi murder of Khashoggi 'a mistake,' scrambles to backtrack," Axios, November 11, 2019, https://www.axios.com/uber-ceo-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-mistake-92865f2a-d97c-4d6a-b171-5e7c0a69e77a.html 3. "Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5 Billion Cash Infusion," Mike Isaac and Michael J. de la Merced, The New York Times, June 1, 2016, https://www. nytimes.com/2016/06/02/technology/uber-investment-saudi-arabia.html
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