Avaaz.org
Encyclopedia
Avaaz.org is a global civic organization launched in January 2007 that promotes activism on issues such as climate change
, human rights
, corruption, poverty, and conflict. Its stated mission is to "close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want." The organization operates in 14 languages, and states that it has over ten million members in 193 countries.
: آواز) was derived from the Persian word for 'voice' (also 'sound' or 'song'), which has also been borrowed
into Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi
, Marathi
and Turkish
.
Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a "community of public sector professionals dedicated to promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative democracy", and MoveOn.org, an American non-profit progressive public policy advocacy group. Avaaz's founding President and Executive Director is the Canadian-British Ricken Patel.
The organization was also supported by Service Employees International Union
, a founding partner, and GetUp!, an Australian non-profit campaigning organization. Avaaz's individual co-founders include Ricken Patel, Tom Pravda, former Virginia congressman Tom Perriello
, MoveOn
Executive Director Eli Pariser
, Australian progressive entrepreneur David Madden
, Jeremy Heimans (co-founders of Purpose.com), and Andrea Woodhouse
The board consists of Ricken Patel (president), Tom Pravda (secretary), Eli Pariser
(board chairman), and Ben Brandzel (treasurer).
Avaaz is managed by a team of campaigners working from over 30 countries, including offices in New York, Rio, Delhi, Madrid, and Sydney. They communicate with members via email, and employ campaigning tactics including online public petition
s, videos, and email-your-leader tools. In some cases Avaaz also uses advertisements and commissions legal advice to clarify how best to take a campaign forward, and stages "sit-ins, rallies, phone-ins and media friendly stunts". Examples of stunts include "taking a herd of cardboard pigs to the doors of the World Health Organisation to demand an investigation into the link between swine flu and giant pig farms and creating a three-mile human chain handshake from the Dalai Lama to the doors of the Chinese Embassy in London to request dialogue between the parties."
Suggestions for campaigns come from members, supplemented by guidance from teams of specialists. Once a suggestion has been taken up as having potential, tester emails are sent to 10,000 Avaaz members; if the emails receive a sufficient response, the campaign is opened up to all Avaaz members. Director Ricken Patel said in 2011 "We have no ideology per se. Our mission is to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want. Idealists of the world unite!" In 2010 The Economist
suggested that "the way Avaaz bunches unlikely causes together may be an asset in a world where campaigns, like race and class, can still segregate people, not reconcile them."
, Avaaz.org protested against the "U.S. administration [for its] 'wrecking tactics' and failure to agree to specific, binding global goals" when it came to the mitigation of global warming
. At the event, Avaaz.org presented a petition signed by 355,000 people from 193 countries that supported its position. Avaaz is also a co-organizer of the Global Day of Action for Burma
along with Burma Campaign UK
and Amnesty International
. It has registered more than 750,000 signatures to a petition to the Chinese President Hu Jintao
and the UN Security Council
, urging them to "oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators" and "support genuine reconciliation and democracy". Avaaz delivered this petition to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
on October 15, 2007.
In March 2008, Avaaz launched a global petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao
on Tibet
, calling for "restraint and respect for human rights" and the opening of "meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama." This petition passed 1 million signatures in seven days, and has now reached more than 1.4 million signatures, making it among the largest and fastest-growing online petitions in history. The petition was delivered in protests and events at Chinese consulates and embassies around the world on March 31, 2008.
The Avaaz video Stop the Clash of Civilizations, created with Agit-Pop Communications, won the YouTube 2007 Award in the "Political" category. It was, at one time, the all-time second most discussed video in the YouTube
"News and Politics" section. The video was also the winner of the 1st Annual DoGooderTV Non-Profit Video Awards and the Popular Winner for Best Awareness-Raising Video in the 2007 Progressive Source Awards.
As listed on the Avaaz.org website, some past and current campaigns include:
On 12 December 2009, Avaaz.org organized 3241 candle-lit vigils in 139 countries, again to press those attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 to reach a "Real Deal".
In January 2009, Avaaz.org was also running the following campaigns:
is a Spanish
judge
).
In May 2010 Avaaz.org joined with 38 Degrees
and Take Back Parliament
to launch a campaign to reform the first-past-the-post electoral system.
In June 2010, Avaaz.org launched a petition calling for an investigation into the Israeli interception of a Gaza aid flotilla
and the end of the Gaza blockade. It initially aimed to receive 200,000 signatories but this was met within 24 hours; a new target of 300,000 was again met within 24 hours, and a third was set at 500,000 signatories.
Avaaz.org is active in campaigning to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
from imminent execution in Iran.
Avaaz has also created an online petition to block the creation of Sun TV News Channel
in Canada, which it fears will be like its equivalent south of the border, Fox News. The petition has tens of thousands of signatures, including prominent Canadian activists such as Margaret Atwood
.
In September 2010 Avaaz launched an online petition against "a draconian and unconstitutional new secrecy Bill" and a Media Tribunal proposed by the African National Congress
in South Africa
that would muzzle the media and let security agencies operate without accountability. It added that the secrecy measures in the "Protection of Information" Bill and the "Media Appeals Tribunal" proposal threaten press freedom enshrined in the South African Constitution and will block the media from acting in the public interest to expose corruption and abuse of power.
On December 8, 2010, Avaaz launched a gigantic petition supporting WikiLeaks
. The primary aim was to stop the crackdown.
s manufactured by Bayer
which are highly toxic
to honey bees.
Stop conflict chocolate: a campaign to prevent civil war
in the Ivory Coast by sending emails to 'leading companies' of the cocoa industry
, asking them to stop dealing with Laurent Gbagbo
.
Solidarity with the people of Egypt: an online petition launched in January 2011 to express solidarity with the people of Egypt during the 2011 Egyptian protests, in which the Egyptian people sought to peacefully remove the dictatorial regime of President Hosni Mubarak
, in order to establish democracy.
Appeal to United Nations Security Council
delegates, European Foreign Ministers, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
to impose specific actions to stop and prosecute the violence against civilians in the 2011 Libyan uprising and appeal to United Nations Security Council to create a no-fly zone over Libya .
Petition to stop Rupert Murdoch gaining control over BSkyB or any more of the United Kingdom mass media.
Appeal to Prime Minister of Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
and the Turkish government to help release Iman al-Obeidi
and investigate her case.
Campaign on behalf of the US army private, Bradley Manning, who is accused of leaking confidential material to Wikileaks
. Avaaz describes Manning as subject to "brutal torture" in a US military prison.
Petition to Prime Minister of India
, in support of Anna Hazare
, who started fasting to urge the government for strict law against corruption
.
"End the War on Drugs!" Petition to end the War on Drugs
, May 26, 2011.
Campaign to end discrimination in Bahrain: successful campaign to cancel the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix
.
Appeal to the leaders of France, Spain, Germany, the UK and the High Representative of the EU and all UN member states, to endorse the bid for recognition
of the State of Palestine
and the reaffirmation of the rights of the Palestinian people
, July 22, 2011. As of September 22, 2011, over one million people have signed this petition.
labeled Avaaz a "shadowy foreign organization" tied to billionaire activist George Soros
. Other conservative Canadians, such as Ezra Levant
, have identified Soros as an indirect supporter through MoveOn. Avaaz states the campaign in question was "exclusively run and funded by Canadians, and has been fully reviewed and registered as a legitimate third party by Elections Canada."
About the Avaaz focus on online petitions and email campaigns, claims that they encourage previously tenacious activists to become lazy and complacent; then observers question whether it will work as a powerful new form of protest, or a lazy option, transforming the potential activism
into 'clicktivism'.,
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, corruption, poverty, and conflict. Its stated mission is to "close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want." The organization operates in 14 languages, and states that it has over ten million members in 193 countries.
Etymology and origin
The name Avaaz (PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: آواز) was derived from the Persian word for 'voice' (also 'sound' or 'song'), which has also been borrowed
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
into Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
, Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
.
Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a "community of public sector professionals dedicated to promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative democracy", and MoveOn.org, an American non-profit progressive public policy advocacy group. Avaaz's founding President and Executive Director is the Canadian-British Ricken Patel.
The organization was also supported by Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
, a founding partner, and GetUp!, an Australian non-profit campaigning organization. Avaaz's individual co-founders include Ricken Patel, Tom Pravda, former Virginia congressman Tom Perriello
Tom Perriello
Thomas Stuart Price "Tom" Perriello is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes much of Southside Virginia and stretches north to Charlottesville....
, MoveOn
MoveOn
MoveOn is an American non-profit, progressive or liberal public policy advocacy group and political action committee, which has raised millions of dollars for candidates it identifies as "moderates" or "progressives" in the United States. It was formed in 1998 in response to the impeachment of...
Executive Director Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser is the former Executive Director of MoveOn.org, and the organization's current Board President....
, Australian progressive entrepreneur David Madden
David Madden (Australia)
David Madden is an Australian entrepreneur associated with progressive causes. He is a co-founder of GetUp! a web-based political movement, and Avaaz.org, a global advocacy movement....
, Jeremy Heimans (co-founders of Purpose.com), and Andrea Woodhouse
The board consists of Ricken Patel (president), Tom Pravda (secretary), Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser is the former Executive Director of MoveOn.org, and the organization's current Board President....
(board chairman), and Ben Brandzel (treasurer).
Funding and organization
"Since 2009, Avaaz has not taken donations from foundations or corporations, nor has it accepted payments of more than $5,000 (£3,100). Instead, it relies simply on the generosity of individual members, who have now raised over $20m (£12.4m)." In 2011 it had around 50 staff.Avaaz is managed by a team of campaigners working from over 30 countries, including offices in New York, Rio, Delhi, Madrid, and Sydney. They communicate with members via email, and employ campaigning tactics including online public petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
s, videos, and email-your-leader tools. In some cases Avaaz also uses advertisements and commissions legal advice to clarify how best to take a campaign forward, and stages "sit-ins, rallies, phone-ins and media friendly stunts". Examples of stunts include "taking a herd of cardboard pigs to the doors of the World Health Organisation to demand an investigation into the link between swine flu and giant pig farms and creating a three-mile human chain handshake from the Dalai Lama to the doors of the Chinese Embassy in London to request dialogue between the parties."
Suggestions for campaigns come from members, supplemented by guidance from teams of specialists. Once a suggestion has been taken up as having potential, tester emails are sent to 10,000 Avaaz members; if the emails receive a sufficient response, the campaign is opened up to all Avaaz members. Director Ricken Patel said in 2011 "We have no ideology per se. Our mission is to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want. Idealists of the world unite!" In 2010 The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
suggested that "the way Avaaz bunches unlikely causes together may be an asset in a world where campaigns, like race and class, can still segregate people, not reconcile them."
Campaigns
At the 2007 G8 conference33rd G8 summit
The 33rd G8 summit took place at Kempinski Grand Hotel in Heiligendamm in the old Duchy of Mecklenburg in the Northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the Baltic Coast. The group of eight leaders met together from 6 June to 8 June 2007...
, Avaaz.org protested against the "U.S. administration [for its] 'wrecking tactics' and failure to agree to specific, binding global goals" when it came to the mitigation of global warming
Mitigation of global warming
Climate change mitigation is action to decrease the intensity of radiative forcing in order to reduce the potential effects of global warming. Mitigation is distinguished from adaptation to global warming, which involves acting to tolerate the effects of global warming...
. At the event, Avaaz.org presented a petition signed by 355,000 people from 193 countries that supported its position. Avaaz is also a co-organizer of the Global Day of Action for Burma
Global Day of Action for Burma
Global Day of Action for Burma was an initiative by Burma Campaign UK and The Support The Monks Protest In Burma group on Facebook.com who called, during the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests, for October 6, 2007 to be designated a "Global Day of Action for Burma" beginning at 12:00 noon...
along with Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK founded in 1991 is a London based Non Governmental Organisation that aims to achieve the 'restoration of human rights and democracy in Burma . BCUK campaigns on behalf of the Burmese pro-democracy movement and is the largest campaigning organisation for Burma in Europe...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
. It has registered more than 750,000 signatures to a petition to the Chinese President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
and the UN Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
, urging them to "oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators" and "support genuine reconciliation and democracy". Avaaz delivered this petition to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
on October 15, 2007.
In March 2008, Avaaz launched a global petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
on Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, calling for "restraint and respect for human rights" and the opening of "meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama." This petition passed 1 million signatures in seven days, and has now reached more than 1.4 million signatures, making it among the largest and fastest-growing online petitions in history. The petition was delivered in protests and events at Chinese consulates and embassies around the world on March 31, 2008.
The Avaaz video Stop the Clash of Civilizations, created with Agit-Pop Communications, won the YouTube 2007 Award in the "Political" category. It was, at one time, the all-time second most discussed video in the YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
"News and Politics" section. The video was also the winner of the 1st Annual DoGooderTV Non-Profit Video Awards and the Popular Winner for Best Awareness-Raising Video in the 2007 Progressive Source Awards.
As listed on the Avaaz.org website, some past and current campaigns include:
2009
On 21 September 2009, Avaaz.org staged a 'global wake-up call' to press world leaders to take action on climate.On 12 December 2009, Avaaz.org organized 3241 candle-lit vigils in 139 countries, again to press those attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 to reach a "Real Deal".
In January 2009, Avaaz.org was also running the following campaigns:
- online petition against the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflictThe Gaza War, known as Operation Cast Lead in Israel and as the Gaza Massacre in the Arab world, was a three-week bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and hundreds of rocket attacks on south of Israel which...
- online petition against violence, disease and hunger in ZimbabweZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
- ad campaign calling for a European peacekeeping force in war-torn CongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
- online petition against the 2008 Mumbai attacks2008 Mumbai attacksThe 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
- online petition against the Anti-Homosexual BillUganda Anti-Homosexuality BillUganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a legislative proposal that would broaden the criminalisation of same-sex relations by dividing homosexual behavior into two categories: "aggravated homosexuality", in which an offender would receive the death penalty, or "the offense of homosexuality" in which...
in Uganda
2010
In March 2010, Avaaz.org launched the petition Stand Up for Democracy! - stand with Baltasar Garzon (Baltasar GarzonBaltasar Garzón
Baltasar Garzón Real is a Spanish jurist who served on Spain's central criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional. He was the examining magistrate of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No...
is a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
).
In May 2010 Avaaz.org joined with 38 Degrees
38 Degrees
38 Degrees is a UK non-profit, progressive, political activism organisation that campaigns on a diverse range of issues, such as protecting the environment and tackling climate change, democratic media ownership, child poverty and political reform...
and Take Back Parliament
Take Back Parliament
Take Back Parliament is an organisation campaigning for democratic reform in the United Kingdom.The group has a strong network of autonomous local branches but no paying membership...
to launch a campaign to reform the first-past-the-post electoral system.
In June 2010, Avaaz.org launched a petition calling for an investigation into the Israeli interception of a Gaza aid flotilla
Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the end of the Gaza blockade. It initially aimed to receive 200,000 signatories but this was met within 24 hours; a new target of 300,000 was again met within 24 hours, and a third was set at 500,000 signatories.
Avaaz.org is active in campaigning to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani , is an Iranian woman who has gained the attention of human rights groups and people throughout the world for a conviction of adultery and accompanying sentence of death by stoning. Since 2006, she has been imprisoned and under a death sentence in Tabriz, Iran after being...
from imminent execution in Iran.
Avaaz has also created an online petition to block the creation of Sun TV News Channel
Sun TV News Channel
Sun News Network is an English language Category C news and opinion channel owned and operated by Quebecor Media through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group Inc. and Sun Media Corporation...
in Canada, which it fears will be like its equivalent south of the border, Fox News. The petition has tens of thousands of signatures, including prominent Canadian activists such as Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
.
In September 2010 Avaaz launched an online petition against "a draconian and unconstitutional new secrecy Bill" and a Media Tribunal proposed by the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
that would muzzle the media and let security agencies operate without accountability. It added that the secrecy measures in the "Protection of Information" Bill and the "Media Appeals Tribunal" proposal threaten press freedom enshrined in the South African Constitution and will block the media from acting in the public interest to expose corruption and abuse of power.
On December 8, 2010, Avaaz launched a gigantic petition supporting WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
. The primary aim was to stop the crackdown.
2011
Save the bees: an online petition launched in January 2011 to push the US and EU to join the ban of the neonicotinoid pesticidePesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s manufactured by Bayer
Bayer
Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...
which are highly toxic
Imidacloprid effects on bee population
Imidacloprid is a systemic neonicotinoid insecticide produced by the German chemical firm Bayer CropScience and sold under such trade names as Gaucho, Admire, Merit, Advantage, Confidor, Provado, and Winner. It acts as a neurotoxin and interferes with the transmission of nerve impulses in insects...
to honey bees.
Stop conflict chocolate: a campaign to prevent civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
in the Ivory Coast by sending emails to 'leading companies' of the cocoa industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
, asking them to stop dealing with Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Koudou Gbagbo served as the fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 until his arrest in April 2011. A historian by profession, he is also an amateur chemist and physicist....
.
Solidarity with the people of Egypt: an online petition launched in January 2011 to express solidarity with the people of Egypt during the 2011 Egyptian protests, in which the Egyptian people sought to peacefully remove the dictatorial regime of President Hosni Mubarak
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak is a former Egyptian politician and military commander. He served as the fourth President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011....
, in order to establish democracy.
Appeal to United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
delegates, European Foreign Ministers, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the main co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union...
to impose specific actions to stop and prosecute the violence against civilians in the 2011 Libyan uprising and appeal to United Nations Security Council to create a no-fly zone over Libya .
Petition to stop Rupert Murdoch gaining control over BSkyB or any more of the United Kingdom mass media.
Appeal to Prime Minister of Turkey
Prime Minister of Turkey
The Prime Minister of the Turkey is the head of government in Turkish politics. The prime minister is the leader of a political coalition in the Turkish parliament and the leader of the cabinet....
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...
and the Turkish government to help release Iman al-Obeidi
Iman al-Obeidi
Iman al-Obeidi is a Libyan postgraduate law student. She first received worldwide media attention during the 2011 Libyan civil war, when she burst into the restaurant of the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli and told the international press corps there that Libyan troops had beaten and gang-raped her...
and investigate her case.
Campaign on behalf of the US army private, Bradley Manning, who is accused of leaking confidential material to Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
. Avaaz describes Manning as subject to "brutal torture" in a US military prison.
Petition to Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
, in support of Anna Hazare
Anna Hazare
Kisan Baburao Hazare , popularly known as Anna Hazare is an Indian social activist and a prominent leader in the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi...
, who started fasting to urge the government for strict law against corruption
Corruption
Corruption usually refers to spiritual or moral impurity.Corruption may also refer to:* Corruption , an American crime film* Corruption , a British horror film...
.
"End the War on Drugs!" Petition to end the War on Drugs
War on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
, May 26, 2011.
Campaign to end discrimination in Bahrain: successful campaign to cancel the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix
The Bahrain Grand Prix is a Formula One Championship race which first took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on 4 April 2004.The Bahrain Grand Prix, sponsored by Gulf Air, made history as the first Formula One Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East...
.
Appeal to the leaders of France, Spain, Germany, the UK and the High Representative of the EU and all UN member states, to endorse the bid for recognition
International recognition of the State of Palestine
The State of Palestine was proclaimed on 15 November 1988 in Algiers at an extraordinary session in exile of the Palestine National Council. Legal justification for this act was based on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 of 29 November 1947, which provided for the termination and...
of the State of Palestine
State of Palestine
Palestine , officially declared as the State of Palestine , is a state that was proclaimed in exile in Algiers on 15 November 1988, when the Palestine Liberation Organization's National Council adopted the unilateral Palestinian Declaration of Independence...
and the reaffirmation of the rights of the Palestinian people
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
, July 22, 2011. As of September 22, 2011, over one million people have signed this petition.
Criticism
In 2008, Canadian minister John BairdJohn Baird (Canadian politician)
John Russell Baird, PC, MP is a Canadian politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper....
labeled Avaaz a "shadowy foreign organization" tied to billionaire activist George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
. Other conservative Canadians, such as Ezra Levant
Ezra Levant
Ezra Isaac Levant is a Canadian lawyer, conservative political activist and media figure. He is the founder and former publisher of the Western Standard, hosts The Source daily on Sun News Network, and has written several books on politics....
, have identified Soros as an indirect supporter through MoveOn. Avaaz states the campaign in question was "exclusively run and funded by Canadians, and has been fully reviewed and registered as a legitimate third party by Elections Canada."
About the Avaaz focus on online petitions and email campaigns, claims that they encourage previously tenacious activists to become lazy and complacent; then observers question whether it will work as a powerful new form of protest, or a lazy option, transforming the potential activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
into 'clicktivism'.,