media release, for immediate release

Stop pointless ranting! It's time to tole-rant

Gandhi, Redgrave, Armstrong, and UNESCO head join the new movement for constructive ranting

16 November 2009, London. Tole-rants, heartfelt rants about solutions to social problems, launches today, the United Nations International Day of Tolerance.

Gandhi's grandson, Karen Armstrong, Sir Steve Redgrave, Wayne Hemingway, and a champion slam poet are among the tole-ranters featured on the new site,www.tole-rants.com, which invites people around the world to film and upload their own ideas for solutions to our planet's most pressing problems.

As a global deal on climate change appears increasingly unlikely in Copenhagen, social change-makers around the world are taking matters into their own hands. Tole-ranters, young and old, from around the world, are sharing their experiences and constructive ideas in 60 seconds. They tackle a wide range of social problems, including climate change, compassion, public transport, taxes, homophobia, poverty and the Middle East conflict.

The 'heart-bites' are entered into a competition, in which the public votes for their favourite hope-filled tole-rants until October year. The website utilises much of the latest technology, and is optimised for users to vote for and share their favourite tole-rants on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other social media. A unique moving video tag cloud of social problems and an integrated tole-rants google map are among the innovative tools used on the site.

Following the public vote, a high profile judging panel, including UNESCO Assistant Director General Abdul Waheed Khan, and Gandhi's grandson Rajmohan Gandhi, will then choose their favourite tole-rant, which will be announced on the UN International Day of Tolerance next year. Global Tolerance, the international communications organisation behind the initiative, will work with the winning tole-rant to help turn the tole-rant into a reality. Global Tolerance, who have worked with HH Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, HRH The Prince of Wales and many of the world's best known social activists and charities in the world, recently helped turn Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion into a reality, forging hundreds of partnerships, events and compassion commitments around the world.

Simon Cohen, Founder of Global Tolerance and one of the judges, says, 'Many of us are lucky to live in a web 2.0 world, a world of citizen journalism, a world where a single person equipped with a powerful idea really can change everything. In this world, we don't need to just rely on governments and big businesses to find solutions to our social problems - we can find them ourselves. Tole-rants is more than just talking about solutions to social problems, it's about how we communicate them. Tole-ranters recognise that we can only begin to solve problems like climate change, poverty and war, when the people who really care are wiling to open up, speak from the heart about personal feelings and experiences, and point towards practical solutions in a concise and compelling way.'

Media enquiries

Simon Cohen and many of the tole-ranters are available for interview. High res photos and videos are available for free for the media at http://www.tole-rants.com/supporters (copyright global tolerance)

For all media and interview enquiries, please contact:

• Sandra Deeble on +44 (0)7787 578 186, email sandra@globaltolerance.com
• Simon Cohen on +44 (0)845 054 0064, +44 (0)751 538 7314, simon@globaltolerance.com

Notes to editors

• Background information, including a 60 second promo video about the tole-rants movement can be found at http://www.tole-rants.com/about and http://www.tole-rants.com/faq
• Tole-rants.com features new technology, including a searchable moving video tag cloud.
• Climate change tole-rants can be viewed at http://www.tole-rants.com/?issue=Climate%20change
• The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and Search For Common Ground are among the global organisations supporting tole-rants and have committed to securing tole-rants from around the world. All tole-rants remain the property of the tole-ranter, and they are encouraged to use their tole-rants for their own marketing purposes
• More information about global tolerance can be found at www.globaltolerance.com
• For scores of 'T' poses for tole-rants see http://www.flickr.com/photos/tole-rants/