Dear friends,
It's unbelievable -- we're
beating the biggest Goliaths of our time, forces no one
thought it was possible to take down! In just the last weeks
we helped win:
- a u-turn on Brazil's corrupt President's plan to
destroy a swath of Amazon forest the size of Denmark!
- a court order stopping Donald Trump from
destroying internet privacy
- a UN investigation into the atrocities in Yemen
despite vicious Saudi Arabian opposition
- a major government review of climate-change denier
Rupert Murdoch's bid to dominate UK
media
These are fights no one thought were
winnable. More than once they told us not to try, that the
people in charge were too big and powerful. And yet...we've
done it!
Our movement is writing a new David and
Goliath story -- one where millions of Davids, armed with our
faith in the power of people's voices, change the course of
history one campaign at a time...
You've got to hear these stories of what we
are achieving together right now:
Saving an area the size of Denmark in
the Amazon Forest!
When President Temer of Brazil tried to
sell off a rich stretch of forest the size of Denmark to
mining interests,
nearly 2 million Avaazers joined the
appeals of indigenous activists, celebrities and MPs, and
forced the president to reverse his decision. We even took
our call to New York, orchestrating a major media scandal just
before Temer opened a key UN summit. A Brazilian lawmaker
called it “the biggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50
years” -- and we blocked it!
Avaaz staff, indigenous
leaders, and NGOs deliver the massive petition to the
Brazilian Congress. Stopping Trump's internet
takeover
When Trump's administration demanded the personal
details of millions worldwide who’d visited an anti-Trump
site,
Avaaz went to court with other groups to defend our
privacy. First, the government backed off, then the judge
went further, severely limiting the government’s powers, and
setting an important precedent for future cases!
Avaaz Senior
Campaigner Nick Kimbrell outside the courthouse with Avaaz’s
petition and legal brief. Seeking justice for Yemen
Saudi
Arabia has been bombing Yemen with impunity for years, killing
children and destroying the country. When a UN vote to
investigate these crimes was neck and neck,
Avaaz weighed
in fast with members flooding key governments with
messages, showing them people were watching -- and it
worked. France and Canada stood their ground, and Saudi Arabia
caved. Now, finally, justice is possible!
The UN Assembly voting
to investigate human rights abuses in Yemen after a massive
Avaaz campaign. Becoming the “fly in the ointment”
for Murdoch’s bid for Sky!
Rupert
Murdoch thought it
would be smooth sailing to buy Europe’s largest
broadcaster, Sky, and take over the UK’s media. But we proved
him wrong! First, Avaaz brought victims of his US sexual and
racial harassment scandals to the attention of British
regulators, causing a giant media stir. Then, when he got
provisional approval, our lawyers
moved to sue the
regulator for its shoddy investigation declaring the
Murdochs “fit and proper” media owners. Now Murdoch’s bid is
set to undergo another six months (at least) of investigation!
This is no longer a done deal -- and according
to
this incredible Bloomberg piece, our community
is the
“fly in the ointment” that’s spoiling Murdoch’s
party.
Avaaz staff
expose the Fox News sex scandals in front of Parliament
square. $1.6 million for Rohingya rescue
and relief!
When Burma’s military began massacring the
Rohingya people, and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to
Bangladesh,
Avaazers jumped in, raising over $1.6 million
for trusted partners in days! They quickly hired rescue
boats to bring terrified families to safety, delivered 110
tonnes of rice to thousands inside Burma, constructed latrines
and wells for clean water, and right now they are providing
essential shelter and relief.
At the same time over a
million of us demanded our governments end support to the
military, and the
Avaaz team delivered our voices directly
to leaders at the UN in New York. The UK agreed to suspend
ties, and the US withdrew a bill to increase military aid!
An image of
children in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, from Avaaz-funded
aid group Partners for Relief and Development.
Pushing back the far-right in
Germany
After Germany’s extreme right-wing AfD party won
13% of votes in September’s election,
we launched the most
viral open letter in Germany ever, sending a clear message
that the majority of Germans don’t support their agenda.
490,000 people signed in hours telling the AfD "We are the 87
percent who did not vote for you!", and media all over the
country spread the story of our rallying cry!!
Our letter to AfD
got nearly half a million signatures and tons of media
attention! Kicking hate out of the EU
parliament
When MEP Korwin-Mikke said that women should
earn less because they "are weaker, smaller and less
intelligent", we didn't waste a minute calling for his
suspension! Nearly one million Europeans joined the call,
MEPs delivered it into Parliament, and the sexist MEP
received unprecedented sanctions!
Sexist MEP Korwin-Mikke
received unprecedented sanctions after almost 1 million
Avaazers joined the call. Phew! And
that's just what's happened in the last weeks... There's so
much more to come. And it's changing the way I think about the
world.
I often feel small in the face of the crises
facing our people in this moment. I wonder how I'm going to
explain this time to my young daughter, hoping beyond hope for
a beautiful story of the triumph of human spirit over hatred,
division, violence, cholera and climate change. Writing this
report on the victories we've managed in just the past months
I'm starting to believe that kind of story might actually
become true.
For me, my little girl, and the entire
next generation, thank you for everything you're doing to take
on the scariest forces in our world. It's working. We're
winning.
With hope,
Emma and the rest of the
Avaaz team.
