The numbers are phenomenal – 6.6 million members in a total of 193 countries, nearly 30 million online actions taken and over 10,000 events held in just the last four years. Avaaz is an incredible success story – an online community which, according to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, ‘is more democratic, and could be more effective, than the United Nations’.
In 1997 Avaaz was founded by Res Publica, a global civic advocacy group, and moveon.org, an online community that had pioneered internet advocacy in the US. The aim was simple – to empower people across the world to take action on global, national and regional issues of concern to them. According to its executive director, Ricken Patel, ‘Avaaz’s online community can act like a megaphone to call attention to new issues; a lightning rod to channel broad public concern into a specific, targeted campaign; a fire truck to rush an effective response to a sudden emergency; and a stem cell that grows whatever form of advocacy or work is best suited to meet an urgent need.’
