Showing posts with label avaaz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label avaaz. Show all posts

Friday, September 21, 2012

More Harper Contempt for Transparency and Democracy

This story about Kevin Page's relentless and noble ongoing attempts to extract information about the public service impact of government budget cuts from the secrecy-obsessed Harper regime appeared in today's Star. Consequently, I couldn't resist the impulse to send the story link to the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, the body that recently named Stephen Harper The World Statesman of the Year for his 'stellar' efforts at promoting democracy and human rights.

By the way, it is not too late to sign the Avaaz petition to register your disgust with the foundation's decision.

Friday, September 30, 2011

An Avaaz Asbestos Petition To Premier Charest

Canada's ongoing and unconscionable export of asbestos to developing countries continues to be a source of moral outrage to millions, not just in Canada but throughout much of the world. I have written many posts on the subject, always recognizing that my efforts are puny and will not result in any change in practice by a government that seems guided only by business imperatives that exist in a moral vacuum.

I am therefore heartened to see Avaaz now circulating a petition to try to persuade Quebec Premier Jean Charest to do the right thing on this issue. Please take a moment to read the full text below and consider signing the petition::

Dear friends Across Canada,

In two days, Quebec could give a $58 million loan guarantee to an asbestos mine -- allowing it to continue pumping out poison for export around the world. But our call now to keep public money out of poisonous mines could force Quebec's Premier to back off the deal.

Asbestos kills over 100,000 people every year and is practically banned in Canada, but Quebec Premier Charest continues to finance its extraction and export to countries like India -- poisoning the world's most vulnerable citizens. The cancer corporations who own these mines have run out of funds and banks wont lend to them without the backing of Quebec's government. Charest is on the verge of agreeing to help out, but our public money shouldn't be on the hook for a poisonous mine. By shining a light on this dirty deal, we can force Charest to back off the loan guarantee and close the asbestos mine for good.

Let's make sure cancer-causing asbestos is not a national export. Join in the call to end public finance of this poisonous mine. When we reach 50,000 signers we will deliver the petition directly to Charest. Sign below and forward to everyone:

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

Asbestos reserves in the Jeffrey Mine (located in Asbestos, Quebec) are dwindling and their cancer consortium needs financial backing from the Quebec government to unlock a new massive underground reserve that will let it produce its poison for another 50 years. If the Charest government agrees to help finance this project, over 200 million tonnes of asbestos will be unlocked, mined and exported, causing illness and death in countries like India -- the worlds largest importer of Canadian asbestos.

Asbestos is practically banned for use in Canada. It is so hazardous that it can only be used if no part of the substance is ever exposed to the open air. Federal politicians are currently spending $863 million to renovate and remove asbestos from Parliament’s West Block, yet its extraction and export to developing countries remains legal.Canadians only used 6,000 tonnes of the poisonous material in 2006. Still, we exported 153,000 tonnes of asbestos in 2009.

The asbestos lobby claims that Quebec’s financial support will help create 500 jobs. By signing this petition we can help save hundreds of thousands of lives by cutting off the funding needed to mine this deadly product. Sign this petition and tell Charest that Canadians from all provinces are against the mining and export of cancer-causing asbestos.

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

Avaaz members just won a major victory when we came together and urged the Ontario government to review the Highland Companies' mining application in Ontario that would have poisoned the province's water supply. Today we can stand united again and urge the Quebec government to immediately stop funding the asbestos industry and save millions of lives.

With hope,

Emma, Ari, Alice, Ricken, Shibayan, Morgan, and the entire Avaaz team


Sources:

Meet Quebec's "Mr. Asbestos"


Canada's Breathtaking Hypocrisy on Asbestos


"Yes, we have the $25-million," Quebec firm says of asbestos plan


Asbestos Critics Refuse to be Converted After Meeting With Industry Power House

Support the Avaaz Community!


We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.


Avaaz.org is a 9-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

A New Avaaz Petition

The following is a petition from avaaz.org to try to reduce the usurious fees Western Union charges for money transfers to some of the world's poorest nations:

This holiday season, Josh, a Kenyan student in the Netherlands, scraped together a year's worth of savings and sent it home to support 10 struggling family members. Shockingly, the giant money transfer company Western Union skimmed off 20% of the cash meant for Josh's family in fees.

Josh’s story is painfully retold every day, the world over, on a staggering scale -- an estimated $44.3 billion worldwide was lost in transfer fees last year! The World Bank recommends that transaction costs not exceed 5% of the total, but Western Union has never faced serious pressure to lower its crippling charges. If we unite in a global outcry now, we can expose its predatory practices when its carefully crafted, family-friendly image is most vulnerable: the giving season.

Josh's generosity -- and that of millions of workers around the world -- shouldn't go to waste! Let's call on Western Union to lower its fees to 5% for the poorest countries, and when the petition reaches 250,000 we’ll deliver it to the company’s image-sensitive board of directors. Sign now and then forward this petition to family and friends.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Pitch for Avaaz.org

Because I believe in the good work that they do, I am reproducing below an email I received from Avaaz.org, a world-wide organization that marshals wide-ranging support for numerous causes and issues that, if properly addressed, can make our world a better place. If you like what you see, you might want to consider making a donation to help them continue their good work.

Wow - we've almost reached our fundraising goal of 10,000 sustainers! We have 5 days left until the New Year - if we can find 150 more donors from Canada, we'll hit our goal and massively empower Avaaz in 2011! Here's the email -- 

Dear fellow Avaazers, 

I've had moments in my life when I doubted the strength of goodness and compassion in the world, and myself. 

But being part of Avaaz has been profoundly thrilling. Every day I read the most incredible messages from you (if you write 'dear ricken' at the top it comes through to my personal email) -- messages of hope, courage, and wisdom. I lived and worked in war zones before starting Avaaz. From Sierra Leone to Afghanistan, I saw some of the best and worst in humanity. But at Avaaz I have seen a humanity I didn't know existed. There are millions of us, we all just want to do the right thing, and we're willing to work for it. 

Week after week, we come together for a purpose. At the beginning it was often just to speak out. But as we've grown and our voice has grown, we've begun to create real magic. Time and again, we're winning - actually stopping those things that break your heart when you read about them in the paper. Actually building the world we all dream of. 

If you feel at all like I feel, consider becoming an Avaaz sustainer. It sounds incredible, but all the work of our 6.5 million strong network is made possible by just 4967 "sustainers" who donate a few dollars/euros/etc a week -- the price of a cup of coffee -- to sustain our core operating costs. As the holidays approach, we're looking to double that number, and with it our capacity to serve this incredible community. Click here to double the hope, change, and everything that we can do together.

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 pricy 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 Avaazers would enable our community to expand all our work next year, helping to save lives in humanitarian emergencies, protect the environment and wildlife, fight political corruption and organized crime, 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. 

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
Co-Founder and Executive Director
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 6.5 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 3 years old and growing fast, and the more our members get involved and donate, the more impact we have.

Make a donation here.

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 15 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 3 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: 

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, almost 90% of the Avaaz budget now comes 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 almost $4 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, and $1.3 million to Haitian aid organizations – see this video from the groups that received our donations. 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_16/?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 here