“Ethical Markets Media salutes all the dedicated young people of AVAAZ. Thank you all for your leadership!”
~Hazel Henderson, Editor
There’s no other way to put it: Avaaz is on fire in America.
“Their events have a way of grabbing attention,” is how one CBS reporter just described us.
Scroll through some of the best stories from just the last few weeks below — (this is the stuff I can’t stop bragging to my parents about):
Tackling Gun Control
The morning of the horrific Parkland shooting, Dalia from our team said: “there is no way we can sit here today and do nothing.” Within 24 hours Avaaz had three billboards driving around Senator Marco Rubio’s headquarters in Florida demanding action. The media exploded – we were even on Colbert! – and Rubio had to react on national TV.
With the fierce inspiration of the Parkland students and the billboard success at our backs, we didn’t stop there.
On March 13, before daylight, Avaaz members spread across the Capitol lawn in DC to place 7000 pairs of shoes on Congress’ doorstep to honor every child killed by guns since Sandy Hook. The shoes were donated from people across DC, and as we unpacked them we found little notes tucked inside, like: “not all children can run” and “it could have been me.”
When the shoes were laid out, we watched with media and members of Congress as parents who have lost their children to guns placed their kids’ shoes on the lawn. It was gut-wrenching — a vast field of heartbreak, of rows and rows of empty soles where children should have been standing.
But it did what it was supposed to do:
- It brought members of Congress to tears when they saw it.
- It went massively viral — covered in CNN, The Washington Post, Reuters, USA Today, Teen Vogue, and hundreds of other outlets.
- And the next day, Senator Feinstein brought the image of the shoes onto the Senate floor, for every one of our Senators to see!
Teaming up with Senators – On Both Sides of the Aisle! – to Save Yemen’s Children
At the same that we were fighting for kids in the US, our movement was demanding an end to the war on children in Yemen. Ahead of a historic vote in the Senate to pull US support for this awful war, we partnered with Senators Bernie Sanders and Mike Lee to bring the voices of Yemen’s children to DC.
We launched a viral video that got over 6 million views, had a constant stream of members calling Senators, and installed a powerful photo exhibit inside the halls of the Senate. The images were so impactful that Sanders and Lee brought them on to the Senate floor before the vote.
We lost the vote this time, but as part of an inspiring right-left alliance, we pushed dozens of Senators from the left and right to call for an end to the US’s role in this horror. And it’s not over — with the Saudi Crown Prince touring the US right now, we’re cooking up the next act guaranteed to “grab attention.”
And all that is just the tip of the iceberg! On top of that, in the last few weeks:
- Avaaz US members donated massively to fund our battle against a Monsanto subpoena in a New York court.
- We also donated to run powerful ads questioning holding the World Cup in Russia while Syrian kids are bombed by Russian planes.
- Our team held meetings with officials overseas pushing them to investigate the Trump organization’s alleged money laundering!
- Avaazers in the US donated to our ivory testing partnership with Oxford to help expose illegal ivory in the EU and put a ban in place.
- And so much more!
The far-right in America has a dark vision of humanity divided. Avaaz is the largest movement in history for human unity in facing our challenges together. In response to unprecedented darkness in America, we are also seeing unprecedented light. And more and more, it’s shining through Avaaz.
For our movement in America, this is just the beginning!
With so much pride for what we do together,
Nell, with Joseph, Dalia, Nataliya, Andrew, Sobaika, Chelsea, Oscar, Mia, Nick, Emma, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team
