Nothing stays fresh forever.  Not food, not news, and not online
campaigns.  

Online campaigns have their own typical life spans.  In the first few
days,
they often succeed in mobilizing large numbers of people to send off
messages
of protest.  After that, support steadily diminishes.  After a few
weeks, only
a trickle of messages -- if even that -- reaches the target employer or
government.  This sends the wrong message, we think.

That's why at LabourStart we tend to suspend campaigns that haven't
reached a
satisfactory end after 90 days.  We don't want employers and
governments to
think that people have forgotten.

But this week, we're making an exception to our rule -- and we have a
very
special request to all of you.

Back in February we launched a campaign in support of six jailed trade
union
leaders in Indonesia.  They were employed by a company called Musim
Mas, the
world's largest manufacturer of palm oil.

As always happens in these cases, the response -- initially quite large
-- has
dropped down considerably.  Now only a trickle of messages are reaching
the
Indonesian government.        Possibly, some bureaucrat there is telling his
boss,
"Don't worry -- we hardly hear any more about those jailed unionists.  
We can
let them rot. The world has already forgotten them."

But we have not forgotten them. The union chairperson, Robin Kimbi, and
the
regional secretary, Masry Sebayang, got two years in prison.  Fourteen
months
terms were given to union leaders Suyahman, Safrudin, Akhen Pane and
Sruhas
Towo.

Their "crime" was to exercise their mandate as union leaders.  They are
prisoners of conscience.

We have not forgotten them, and we will not let this issue drop.

Last week, Amnesty International called on its members around the world
to
raise their voices in protest against the jailing of the Musim Mas
trade
unionists.

And unions around the world are taking up the cause.

The Nestle European Works Council, representing 80,000 company
employees, has
written to the company to express concern over the possible presence of
Musim
Mas palm oil and oleochemicals in Nestle products.

The German Food and Allied Workers NGG and the Dutch FNV Bondgenoten
have
echoed the public call by the Unilever European Works Council for
Unilever to
distance itself from Musim Mas and publicly reveal its sources for the
palm oil
in company products.

And the global union federation representing food workers, the IUF (at
whose
request we launched our campaign) has now begun to raise money for the
struggle
through its International Musim Mas Defense Fund.

Momentum is growing again.  A three-month old campaign, no longer
"fresh", is
attracting attention.  The Indonesian government is going to have to
start
paying attention.

Please do these 3 simple things today:

1. Send off your message of protest:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=76

2. Donate generously to the International Musim Mas Defense Fund:

http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=3231&view_rec
ords=1&ww=1&en=1

3. Spread the word in your workplace and union.  Forward on this email
message!

In the international trade union movement we do not forget those who
languish
in prisons for our cause.  

This campaign continues.

Solidarity forever!

Eric Lee

Labourstart