<incom> avaaz: global online protest

[Geert Lovink]

(global civil society goes global online petitioning: 
http://www.avaaz.org. founded four months ago avaaz claims to have one 
million members. /geert)

Our mission

As major new challenges like climate change and escalating religious 
conflict threaten our common future, people from around the world are 
coming together to take global politics into their own hands. Avaaz.org 
(Our name means "Voice" or "Song" in several languages including Hindi, 
Urdu, Farsi, Nepalese, Dari, Turkish, and Bosnian) is a community of 
global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world 
today. Our aim is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s 
people -- and not just political elites and unaccountable corporations 
-- shape global decisions. Avaaz.org members are taking action for a 
more just and peaceful world and a vision of globalization with a human 
face.

In our inter-connected world, the actions of political leaders and 
corporations are having a profound impact on all of us. To match the 
power and reach of global leaders and borderless corporations, 
Avaaz.org members are building a powerful movement of citizens without 
borders. As citizens without borders, we might not have the resources 
of governments, corporations or the media, but working together we can 
bring together millions of people around the world and make global 
public opinion really count on major global issues like poverty, 
climate change, human rights and global security.

Using the latest technology, Avaaz.org empowers ordinary people from 
every corner of the globe to directly contact key global 
decision-makers, corporations and the media. By signing up to receive 
updates from Avaaz.org, members receive emails and text messages 
alerting them to new campaigns and opportunities to act online and 
offline, and to make a real difference on pressing global issues.

Our team

Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a global civic advocacy group, 
and MoveOn.org, an online community that has pioneered internet 
advocacy in the United States.

Avaaz.org was developed and established by a group of social 
entrepeneurs who have worked at the intersection of global justice 
issues and new online organizing techniques. Avaaz.org’s individual 
co-founders are Executive Director Ricken Patel, Jeremy Heimans, David 
Madden, Eli Pariser, Tom Perriello, Tom Pravda and Andrea Woodhouse.

Avaaz.org is managed by a small team of campaigners on four continents. 
The Avaaz team conducts research on campaigns, prepares rapid-response 
Avaaz action alerts and notifies the media of Avaaz.org campaigns. Our 
campaign team consults with Avaaz.org members to develop campaigns and 
uses their feedback to set the priorities of the organisation. 
Avaaz.org also enjoys the partnership and support of leading activist 
organizations from around the world, including the Service Employees 
International Union, a founding partner of Avaaz, GetUp.org.au, and 
many others.

Let's become unstoppable

365,000 of us stood together at the G8 summit to save our planet. 
200,000 of us added our voices to the global chorus in the last 10 days 
alone.

  Gazing out on the Baltic, amazed, tired and humbled, taking a deep 
breath. You're here too.

  Overhead, the police helicopters still circle. Down on the beach, the 
media are getting massages. Beyond the fence, clowns and water cannons. 
It's a circus, but the power is only too real.

  We can't stop now. The coming weeks and months are crucial. In the 
summit chambers, the G8+5 polluters have agreed on the global climate 
talks we demanded - but the kind of deal is still up for grabs. Will it 
be enough, fast enough?

  Just in the last few days, Europe, Japan and Canada started to 
converge on a global goal of 50% or greater emissions cuts by 2050. In 
the end the US was the only G7 dissenter, Russia standing on the 
sidelines. So the summit's tortured language speaks of "substantial 
emissions cuts" and goals without numbers. But the process we demanded 
- UN talks in Bali this December - looks strengthened.

  President Bush only conceded global warming might be real in January. 
But this week his government felt compelled to shift, even if it's 
trying wrecking tactics too.

That sabotage can't succeed if we the people stand up for the right 
path, all around the globe. Bush is increasingly isolated even in his 
own country - the American public and the US Congress are coming behind 
bold action on climate change.

  And he's isolated in the world - he can't rely on other big polluters 
like China and Brazil, now moving faster than expected toward the 
climate savers' camp. The "plus 5" big developing countries said they 
wanted a stronger statement from the G8. A big international poll just 
showed 65% of Chinese people and 62% of Indians support requiring their 
governments to act as well.

It's more than watch this space. Let's fill this space. To stop climate 
catastrophe, we need a massive global effort from every corner of the 
world over the coming weeks, months and years.

  Let's become unstoppable. We won't stop now - let's grow our petition 
even further before December's summit.

  365,000 and counting...

  You can hear Ricken Patel talking about Avaaz's G8 climate campaign on 
the global affairs magazine openDemocracy's podcast here.

Next climate stop: Live Earth. 7th July, 2007.

(it was lovely to meet face-to-face Avaaz members who made it to 
Rostock from Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, France, China, New Zealand, 
the UK and the US! I can't wait to meet more of us...)