[wordup] Avaaz and e-Activism

[Adam Shand]

The bit that caught my attention was the last paragraph:

> But the founders of Avaaz do have at least one argument on their  
> side. Voters' faith in old-fashioned parties is at a low ebb in  
> many democracies. One of the proudest boasts by GetUp, the  
> Australian movement, is that it has more members than any of the  
> country's parties have signed-up members.

Wow ...

Adam.

Source: http://www.economist.com/world/international/ 
PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8703047

Electronic activism is stirring a lot of citizens into life, whatever  
leaders think

WHATEVER might unite or divide them, George Bush, Vladimir Putin and  
the other leaders of the G8 nations will have a fresh topic for small  
talk, and perhaps serious talk, when they meet in Germany this summer.

They and their underlings will all have been bombarded with e-mails  
from every country in the world urging them to take faster action  
over climate change—in a campaign mounted by Avaaz.org, a new web- 
based protest movement which aspires to be the biggest and broadest  
such organisation in a crowded field.

The newly founded movement claims to have nearly 1m members already,  
after pooling resources from three of the world's most successful  
mobilisers of e-protest: America's Moveon.org (which gave important  
help to some Democrats in last year's congressional election), Res  
Publica (an American-based, but globally-minded advocacy movement  
which often reflects the “religious left”) and Australia's  
GetUp.org.au, which has used billboards and sky-writing as well as e- 
mails to campaign for things like refugee rights and the release of  
an Aussie (arrested in Afghanistan in 2001) from Guantánamo Bay.

As television viewers in Berlin, Delhi, Paris and Washington, DC will  
have noticed in recent days, Avaaz.org has chosen global warming as  
the focus of its first big campaign. It has paid for TV  
advertisements which show George Bush, Vladimir Putin and Jacques  
Chirac lying fast asleep while evidence of climate change swirls all  
around them. Viewers are invited to visit the Avaaz site and push the  
necessary button to give the world leaders a deafening wake-up call.

Ricken Patel, the Canadian-British director of Avaaz—a name which  
means “voice” in several languages—says one of the intentions is to  
act as a lightning rod during “moments of global consciousness” such  
as the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the 2004 tsunami.  
He cites the battle against AIDS, curbs on landmines and poor-world  
debt forgiveness as issues on which the thinking of the powerful has  
already been swayed by grass-roots activism, much of it  
electronically co-ordinated.

But there are catches, aren't there? As the e-protest movement grows  
broader, its focus will surely become less sharp. After all, everyone  
can agree that governments should “do more” about climate change, but  
when it comes to choosing between specific responses it may be harder  
to teach the world to click in perfect harmony.

And there is no reason to assume that global e-campaigns will always  
be mounted in “progressive” causes: what about e-movements for the  
death penalty, or for more curbs on immigration? But the founders of  
Avaaz do have at least one argument on their side. Voters' faith in  
old-fashioned parties is at a low ebb in many democracies. One of the  
proudest boasts by GetUp, the Australian movement, is that it has  
more members than any of the country's parties have signed-up  
members. E-protest may or may not disrupt the sleep patterns of world  
leaders; but it has already made life more interesting for hundreds  
of thousands of jaded citizens.