Avaaz.org

Avaaz.org is an international civic organization that promotes activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, and religious conflicts. [ [http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php Avaaz mission statement] ] , 17 October 2007] Its stated mission is to "ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making." The organization operates in thirteen languages, and claims more than three million members from every country in the world. [ [http://avaaz.org/en/report_back_1 AVAAZ.org] ]

Etymology and origin

Avaaz means "noise" or "voice" in Urdu, Hindi, Dari, Persian, and other languages.Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a global civic advocacy group and non-profit organization, and MoveOn, an online community that has pioneered internet advocacy in the United States. The organization is also supported by Service Employees International Union, a founding partner, and GetUp.org.au. Avaaz's individual co-founders include Executive Director Ricken Patel, Virginia congressional candidate Tom Perriello, Australian progressive entrepreneur David Madden, Jeremy Heimans, Andrea Woodhouse, Tom Pravda, and MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser. [ [http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php Avaaz.org - The World in Action ] ]

Activities

Avaaz is managed by a team of campaigners working from Switzerland, Brazil, the United States, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. They communicate with members via email, and employ campaigning tactics including online public petitions, videos, and email-your-leader tools.

At the 2007 G8 conference, 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. [ [http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrorism/Briefing/2007/06/14/bush_faces_global_warming_protest_wave/8094/ Global petition] ] [ [http://avaaz.org/en/bali_report_back/ Avaaz climate campaigning] ] 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". [ [http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/ Burma Petition] ] Avaaz delivered this petition to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on October 15, 2007. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6997370,00.html Press Association article on Burma petition delivery] ]

In March 2008, Avaaz launched a global petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tibet, calling "restraint and respect for human rights" and the opening of "meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama." [ [http://avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence Tibet petition] ] 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. [ [http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_action/ Tibet day of action] ]

The Avaaz video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFago Stop the Clash of Civilizations] , created with [http://www.agit-pop.com/ 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. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFago YouTube] ] [ [http://www.youtube.com/browse?t=a&p=1&s=md&c=25&l= YouTube] ] The video was also the winner of the 1st Annual DoGooderTV Non-Profit Video Awards [ [http://www.nten.org/node/3800 2nd Annual DoGooderTV Nonprofit Video Awards at the NTC Announced | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network ] ] and the Popular Winner for Best Awareness-Raising Video in the 2007 Progressive Source Awards [ [http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/stop_the_clash/ English Blog: Stop the Clash Archives ] ]

See also

* 2007 Burmese anti-government protests
* MoveOn
* Res Publica
* Tom Perriello
* Eli Pariser
* David Madden (Australia)

References

External links

* [http://www.avaaz.org/en/ AVAAZ home page]
* [http://www.avaaz.org/en/campaigns.php AVAAZ campaigns]
* [http://www.therespublica.org/ Res Publica]
* [http://www.moveon.org MoveOn.org (MoveOn)]
* [http://www.economist.com/world/international/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8703047 "The Economist" on Avaaz]
* [http://www.vimeo.com/369614 Avaaz Executive Director Ricken Patel on BBC's HardTalk]
* [http://www.myspace.com/avaazorg Avaaz's Profile on MySpace]
* [http://www.youtube.com/avaazorg Avaaz channel on YouTube]