Tag Archives: Avaaz

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Where should Avaaz go in 2012?

01/05/2012 Nativegrl77

Happy New Year!! It’s going to be a big one.

Democracy is on the march across the world, and our community is at the heart of the struggle, but to win we’re going to need to choose our course wisely. Click below to take the annual Avaaz all-member poll, and let’s decide together where to focus our energies in 2012.

The poll takes a few minutes to complete, but the more of us take it, the wiser our course will be:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012/?vl

And if you don’t have time to take the poll right now, we can all see the results as they come in here:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/january_poll_2012_people_power/?bv11891

Last year we ran hundreds of campaigns and played a key role in dozens of victories, including:

• Putting a wrench in Media-Mogul Rupert Murdoch’s march to world domination
• Breaking the Syria media blackout and supporting courageous democracy movements across the Middle East
• Taking on Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi at every turn until his corrupt regime fell
• Blocking the Gay Death Penalty Bill in Uganda
• Stopping a mega highway that sliced right through indigenous protected lands in Bolivia
• Building a massive anti corruption movement in India that has repeatedly forced the government to back down
• Building a global movement for Palestinian independence
• Saving the Kyoto Protocol and UN climate process from polluting powers determined to wreck it
..and much, much more.

With the world undergoing profound change, and our community twice the size it was last January, imagine what this year’s list could look like. The challenges may be coming thick and fast, but when we stick together, we can transform them into opportunities to build the world we all dream of. Here’s to building dreams in 2012.

With hope,

Ricken, Alice, Benjamin, Diego, Emma, and the whole Avaaz team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Alex Wilks – Avaaz.org

11/11/2011 Nativegrl77

Ahmad picked up a bright metal object in a park where he was celebrating his 5th birthday in Lebanon. It was an unexploded cluster bomblet, which blew up in his face, killing him slowly in front of his family.

Three years ago, public pressure pushed through a ban of these cruel bombs. But now the US is lobbying nations to quietly sign a new law that allows their use — signing the death warrant for thousands of other children. Most countries are still on the fence on how to vote. Only if we raise the alarm across the world can we shame our governments to block this deadly decision.

Positions are being drawn up now. We only have days until countries meet to send our leaders a clear message: stand up for the cluster bombs ban and keep our children safe. Click below to sign the petition — it will be delivered directly to delegates at the Geneva conference:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/cluster_bombs_ii_b/?vl

Thousands of people — many of them children — have been maimed or killed by these bombs. When they are fired, they spray small “bomblets” over a wide area, many of which fail to explode. Years later, people disturb them in their fields or school playgrounds not knowing what they are, and they explode.

In 2008, over half of the world’s governments outlawed these weapons by signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions. But now, shockingly, countries like France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK, who all signed the Convention, are under pressure from the US, China and Russia to run rings round the ban by signing a separate agreement that would allow them to use cluster munitions. Only Norway, Mexico, Austria and a few others are fighting this horror.

Negotiators at the Convention on Conventional Weapons meet in Geneva next week. Most governments don’t really want this protocol and have not said which way they will vote, but they are under severe pressure from the US to comply and will only object if the global public persuades them.

There’s no time to lose — the conference starts on Monday. Let’s call on our governments to reject this deadly and cynical US campaign to legalize cluster killing. Click below to sign the petition and forward this email widely — we’ve done it before, let’s do it again:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/cluster_bombs_ii_b/?vl

Cluster bombs and land mines were banned because citizens raised the alarm across the world — with victims and survivors leading the way. For their sakes and to ensure no more lives are lost, let’s not allow these cruel weapons back and join together now to demand a more peaceful world.

With hope,

Alex, Stephanie, Alice, Ricken, Laura, Nicholas, Wissam, and the whole Avaaz team

More information:

Fourth Review Conference of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Weapons:
http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/%28httpPages%29/43FD798E7707CE5AC12578B20032B630?OpenDocument

UK backs bid to overturn ban on cluster bombs (The Independent):
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/uk-backs-bid-to-overturn-ban-on-cluster-bombs-6259139.html

CCW – the potential to cause more humanitarian harm than good (Stop Cluster Munitions.org):
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/ccw/

The Past and Future of the CCW (Arms Control.org):
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2011_03/LookingBack

No backsliding on cluster bombs (The Indepedent):
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-no-backsliding-on-cluster-bombs-6259009.html

Raed Mokaled and the story of Ahmad (Handicap International):
http://www.handicapinternational.be/en/raed-mokaled

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Something big is happening … Ricken Patel – Avaaz.org

10/21/2011 Nativegrl77

Dear fellow Avaazers,

It is wonderful to finally be able to unite with other people on this planet, to stand up, to be heard. I am so happy and so proud to be part of Avaaz. Sometimes I can’t believe this is really happening! THANK YOU…from the bottom of my heart to all the people who are part of this movement, united in a common spirit.
— Alexandra, Avaaz member from Germany.

Something big is happening. From Tahrir Square to Wall St., from staggeringly brave Avaaz citizen journalists in Syria to millions of citizens winning campaign after campaign online, democracy is stirring. Not the media-circus, corrupt, vote-every-4-years democracy of the past. Something much, much deeper. Deep within ourselves, we are realizing our own power to build the world we all dream of.

We don’t have a lot of time to do it. Our planet is threatened by multiple crises – a climate crisis, food crisis, financial crisis, proliferation crisis… These crises could split us apart like never before, or bring us together like never before. It’s the challenge of our time, and the outcome will determine whether our children face a darker world or one thriving in greater human harmony.

This is our challenge to meet. With 10 million hopeful citizens and rising, Avaaz is the largest global online community in history. There is no other massive, high-tech, people-powered, multi-issue, genuinely global advocacy organization that can mobilize coordinated democratic pressure in hundreds of countries within 24 hours. Our potential is unique, and so is our responsibility.

It’s amazing, but just 10,000 of us make our entire community possible with a small weekly donation of $3 or $5, the price of a cup of coffee, that funds all of Avaaz’s core expenses. But to rise to this moment and win it, we need to accelerate — by doubling our number of weekly ‘sustainers’ to 20,000, and doubling our capacity to do everything we do. Click below to make it happen and buy the world a cup of coffee:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/sustain_avaaz_b/?vl

Making a small but steady weekly contribution enables Avaaz to plan responsibly around long term costs like our tiny but awesome staff team, our website and technology, and the security of our systems (this can get pricey when our campaigns are taking on shady characters!). It also means we have the ability to respond immediately to crises as they occur and jump on opportunities for action without delay.

A very small donation of $3 or $5 per week from 10,000 more sustainers would enable our community to expand all our work next year, helping to save lives in humanitarian emergencies, protect the environment and wildlife, support democracy and fight corruption, push for peace and reduce poverty.

Donating to Avaaz has a double-impact — because our donations not only make change now by empowering particular campaigns, every contribution builds our community that will be making change for decades to come. It’s an investment with both immediate and long term results for our children’s and our planet’s future. Click here to contribute:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/sustain_avaaz_b/?vl

Fundraising is often a problem for social change organizations. Government or corporate funding would profoundly threaten our mission. Funding from large donors also often comes with strings attached. And high-pressure tactics like telemarketing, postal mail, or direct on-the-street programmes often cost nearly as much as they raise! That’s why the Avaaz model – online, people-powered donations – is the best way in the world to power an engine of social change, and a huge part of our community’s promise.

If we can multiply the number of sustainers we have, it will take our community, and our impact, to a whole new level. I can’t wait.

I know that donating is an act of hope, and of trust. I feel a huge and serious sense of responsibility to be a steward of that hope, and my team and I are deeply committed to respecting the trust you place in us with your hope, time, and resources. It’s a special thing we’re building here, and if we can keep believing in each other, anything is possible.

With hope and gratitude for this amazing community,

Ricken Patel
Avaaz

PS – In case you’re mulling it over, here’s 11 more reasons to donate to Avaaz 🙂

Reason 1 – What we do Works

With 10 million members in every nation of the world, able to mobilize at a moment’s notice to pressing needs and opportunities, Avaaz works –- together we’ve saved lives in Haiti and Burma, reversed government policies from Brazil to Japan, and won victories on international treaties from banning cluster bombs to preserving oceans. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says of Avaaz “You have driven forward the idealism of the world… do not underestimate your impact on leaders” while the Economist says Avaaz is “poised to deliver a deafening wake up call to world leaders” and Al Gore says “Avaaz is inspiring, and has already made a difference”. We’re only 5 years old and growing fast, and the more our members get involved and donate, the more impact we have.

Make a donation here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/sustain_avaaz_b/?vl

Reason 2 – An Avaaz donation is an investment with permanent social change returns

With Avaaz, our donations fund high impact campaigns that also recruit more people. More people means more donations, and more impact. So you’re not only achieving a particular change with your donation, you’re helping grow a community with new members that will multiply your donation many times over, and be a permanent and ever-increasing source of change. It’s a tremendous philanthropic value to have this kind of double and permanent impact.

Reason 3 – We have no bureaucracy

Avaaz is a massive network of citizens, but our organization is absolutely tiny – just 20 full time campaigners with operational and technology support. Most large global NGOs have hundreds or even thousands of staff. Our small size means we have no time for red tape, layers of management, or being focused on anything but getting results.

Reason 4 – We’re regularly audited, and fiscally responsible

There’s a lot of fear out there about misuse of donated money. Most of the fear is misplaced – most organizations are filled with good people trying to do good things. With Avaaz you can be sure – partly because we’re required by law to be audited every 12 months. This audit thoroughly checks every aspect of our books and financial practices. We’ve been audited 4 times since we launched and every time been given a squeaky clean bill of health (for details, click here).

Reason 5 – We have a world-class team that does outstanding work

Campaigning, advocacy and social change are a serious and demanding business – the more competent the team, the more impact our donations have. Avaaz attracts some of the best campaigners and advocates in the world. Many of our campaign directors joined us after being CEOs of successful multi-million dollar advocacy organizations, and most have degrees from the top universities in the world.

Donate now: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/sustain_avaaz_b/?vl

Reason 6 – We’re 100% Independent

Avaaz takes absolutely no money from governments or corporations. This is hugely important to ensuring that our voice is exclusively determined by the values of our members, and not by any large funder or agenda. While we received initial seed grants from partner organizations and charitable organizations, 100% of the Avaaz budget now comes from small online donations. This means that the only agenda we have to follow is the people’s agenda.

Reason 7 – We pass the money on when it makes sense, and give to the best efforts

Avaaz has donated more than $5 million to other organizations, because we saw them as better placed than us to have impact on a particular issue. For example, we’ve granted $1.6 million to Burmese monks and aid groups, $1.3 million to Haitian aid organizations (see this video from the groups that received our donations), and more than $1million to relief organisations in Pakistan. The way we support organizations is important too. Most foundations have endless process and constraints that make them slow, bureaucratic and risk averse in supporting advocacy. Avaaz finds the best people and organizations and doesn’t micromanage them – we just empower them to do what they know best.

Reason 8 – We’re political (this really matters)

Most charities offer tax deductibility for donations. But this means that they are, in a way, partially tax-payer funded, and governments use that to place a very thick set of rules on what they can and can’t do. Chief among them is restricting what they can say to criticize, support, or oppose a politician. Avaaz is very rare in that our donations are not tax deductible, leaving us 100% free to say and do whatever we need to to get leaders to listen to people. Since so many important issues are won and lost in the political realm, this makes us much more effective than advocacy groups that shy away from speaking out politically.

Reason 9 – We go where the greatest needs and opportunities are

Most organizations focus on a single issue over a long period of time. This is very important to do, but that can mean that when desperate needs or amazing opportunities for social change arise, they get ignored because everyone is working on their own issue. Avaaz campaigns target the most urgent needs and opportunities, showing up just when a powerful burst of citizens’ attention is needed most. We work continuously with top quality partners in the areas we campaign on, and all describe Avaaz as an amazing added value to their work.

Click to donate: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/sustain_avaaz_b/?vl

Reason 10 – Democratic accountability is hard-wired into our model

The Avaaz model of campaigning is people-powered. Our priorities are set at annual and weekly levels by polls of our membership and every campaign we run is first polled with members. Click here for results from our 2010 annual poll. No matter how much work we put into developing a campaign, if it fails to get the greenlight from members, we don’t run it. So on a day to day basis, how we spend the donations we receive is determined directly by members.

Reason 11 – There’s no other organization like us

Avaaz is the world’s first and only massive, high-tech, people-powered, multi-issue, genuinely global advocacy organization. In a world where the problems we face are consistently global, and the solutions to them increasingly require global democratic action, Avaaz is uniquely placed to effect change. No other organization can rapidly mobilize large-scale, coordinated democratic pressure in over 150 countries within 24 hours. A new model of internet-based, people-powered politics has changed politics in several countries, and Avaaz is taking that proven model global. The result is already the largest global online movement in history, and we’re just getting started.

Make a secure donation to Avaaz: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/sustain_avaaz_b/?vl

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Save the saddest dolphins …Ricken Patel – Avaaz.org

06/09/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

The pod was swimming peacefully in Samoa when nets closed in from behind — trapping 25 wild dolphins for a luxury resort’s latest exhibit. They are now locked in tiny pens, starved of food — but we can free them.

For wild dolphins captivity is torture, their powerful sonar bounces off the walls back at them — as if they are trapped in an endless house of mirrors. Most die young from stress induced illness, but some even commit suicide. If the wealthy Resorts World Sentosa succeeds in keeping them captive then half the dolphins will die in the first 2 years — and it will legitimise the widely banned practice of capturing dolphins in the wild. We can’t let that happen — let’s use our voices to set them free.

Resorts World was forced to abandon plans for a whale shark exhibit two years ago because of the huge outcry that threatened their reputation. Let’s build a massive call now to free these intelligent, beautiful creatures — and make this a turning point in the fight to end the global wild-dolphin trade. When we reach 500,000 our petition will be delivered to Resorts World and the media. Sign now and forward this to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/saddest_dolphins/?vl

The appallingly cruel wild-dolphin industry has been banned in nations from the UK to Costa Rica. The terrifying capture process involves driving the dolphins to shallow water, where up to half drown or die of their injuries before they are even caught. If we force Resorts World to free these wild dolphins now it will send a powerful message to all other resorts, and help break the back of the capture industry. We can also give these dolphins a second chance in life — renowned dolphin expert Ric O’Barry has offered to rehabilitate them back into the wild.

Resorts World argues that their “interactive spa program” will help heal sick and disabled children – but there is no scientific evidence to support this technique, which sees desperate parents pay thousands in pursuit of an imaginary cure. They also claim their programs aid conservation – but dolphin capture drives are also hunting expeditions. The “display-worthy” dolphins are spared, while the others are butchered. By ordering wild-caught dolphins, Resorts World is driving up demand for these barbaric hunts.

The trade of wild-captured dolphins must end. The world is moving slowly but surely in this direction, and our intervention could set a valuable precedent. Resorts World has buckled under pressure before, and it can’t afford another hit to its image. Let’s join our voices urgently to free the world’s saddest dolphins, and win a crucial battle in the fight to save all wild dolphins from short, miserable lives in captivity. Sign now and send this to family and friends:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/saddest_dolphins/?vl

Wild dolphins are incredibly playful, social and caring, as well as extremely intelligent — they are utterly captivating creatures. In the world we all wish for, dolphins are not hunted, trapped and broken — they are treated with the respect that all life deserves. Today, as we work for their freedom, we are taking a small but important step towards making that world a reality.

With hope,

Ricken, Ben, Morgan, Alice, Shibayan and the whole Avaaz team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Seeing Red …Alex Wilks – Avaaz.org

06/01/2011 Nativegrl77

Dear Friends,

Red Bull must decide whether to lend its name to clean the image of the blood-soaked Bahraini government, or pull out of the Formula 1 race that’s due to be held there. Let’s stand with the students, nurses and other innocent protesters who’ve been killed and tortured and call on Red Bull and the other teams to stay away from Bahrain. We’ll use hard-hitting ads to turbo charge our message. The decision is in 48 hours —

Red Bull has built a reputation as a sporty, fun drink — but by this Friday, it and other leading F1 teams may become better known for endorsing government torture and murder. Formula One has 48 hours to decide whether to hold its already-delayed race in Bahrain, site of one of the most brutal crackdowns in the Middle East.

If Red Bull refuses to race in Bahrain, other teams will pull back as well — and the Formula One race could be taken off the schedule, sending shock waves through Bahrain’s brutal government and sending an unmistakeable message that the world will not ignore state brutality. Sports boycotts have piled pressure on other regimes such as apartheid South Africa — we can do it again.

Red Bull will only act if enough of us join together to make clear that its brand, its very reputation, is on the line. Let’s raise a cry that Bahrain’s government thugs can’t silence, and call on Red Bull to pull out of the Formula One race slated for Bahrain. If 300,000 of us sign the petition, Avaaz will run hard-hitting adverts carrying our messages to Red Bull executives. Just two days remain — sign now and pass this message along:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_f1_in_brutal_bahrain/?vl

The Bahraini government has booted out the world’s media — even torturing a female journalist working for a French TV channel. Under cover of this blackout it is claiming that all is calm and orderly. That’s a blatant lie. Early one morning last week teargas bombs were shot through a window of a leading human rights activist. He only just rescued his brother, wife and daughter who were close to suffocation. He now appeals to Avaaz “to do whatever you can to stop the government from attacking me and my family”.

Bahrain has even sacked and abused a quarter of the workers at its F1 race track. One badly bruised track worker says that policeman “put my head between his legs, flipped me on to the floor – and then the beatings really began”. Many people are still missing — such as a student who was injured during attack on university of Bahrain. Doctors, journalists and others have given harrowing accounts of torture and abuse at the hands of the police.

Earlier this year – before other uprisings pushed Bahrain off our front pages – the Bahrain race was postponed. But now Formula 1’s boss wants to go ahead with it. He says it isn’t his business to play politics, but knows that racing in Bahrain in front of the world’s cameras would play into the the bload-soaked government’s hands. Let’s stand up for the Bahraini nurses, students and others who’ve been felled and injured by telling Red Bull, which prides itself on a young, fun image, to say no to F1 in brutal Bahrain. Sign the petition now and send to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_f1_in_brutal_bahrain/?vl

The sports we play and watch can uplift us, but can also be used as pawns in political games. Together we can show that people standing for human rights everywhere, trump money and brutality anywhere.

With hope and determination,

Alex, Sam, Ricken, Mia, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION

Bahrain doctors to be tried for helping protesters
http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article380678.ece

boss hopes to reinstate Bahrain
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/26052011/66/ecclestone-hopes-fia-reinstates-bahrain.html

Bahraini

female doctors recount detention ‘horror’
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jojcZ8GM-0J_0gTLt5KsY12IiiJQ?docId=CNG.ccc3b0204b5da8e7cce5b8854b144bdf.611

France

24 correspondent tortured for covering pro-democracy demonstrations
http://en.rsf.org/bahrain-france-24-correspondent-tortured-30-05-2011,40374.html

Letter

to Federation Internationale de l’Automobile and Formula One Teams Association Regarding Bahrain Event
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/05/26/letter-federation-internationale-de-lautomobile-and-formula-one-teams-association-re

Citizens’