The ad below ran, full-page black and white, in today's Financial Times newspaper (9 July, 2008). Click here to download a print-ready PDF file.

This ad ran in glorious full-page colour in all editions of today's Financial Times -- sponsored and endorsed by Avaaz members in 166 countries. (Click here for a print-ready huge PDF.)

This ad ran, full-page in black and white, in all editions of the Financial Times today (Monday, July 7, 2008). A print-ready, 3.8MB PDF file can be accessed at this link. The press release is online here.

More ads will follow on Tuesday and Wednesday.

*Rome Summit Petition Delivery *

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BAN KI-MOON WELCOMES MASSIVE GLOBAL PETITION CHALLENGING RICH COUNTRIES ON FOOD CRISIS

"This petition is very helpful to show that people are pushing for this, and to help build the political will for governments to act," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, receiving the petition before his press conference at the summit.

"The food crisis is a planetary emergency - you can't put a band-aid on it," said Avaaz's Executive Director Ricken Patel. "Rich countries need to stop obstructing and start investing massively in developing nations' food production."

The campaign was launched with a YouTube appeal for help from Sierra Leone's foreign minister Zainab Bangura. "My appeal is for you to talk to your governments and please, please support the campaign," says Bangura, "I am speaking on behalf of the voiceless millions of Africans who cannot speak for themselves."

Launched just one month ago, the petition has already been signed by over 330,000 citizens of every country in the world. Addressed to leaders attending the Rome summit, it says:

"We call on you to take immediate action to address the world food crisis by mobilizing emergency funding to prevent starvation, removing perverse incentives to turn food into biofuels and managing financial speculation, and to tackle the underlying causes by ending harmful trade policies and investing massively in sustainable agricultural productivity in developing nations."

To book interviews or for more information in Rome contact: media@avaaz.org

About Avaaz



Avaaz, meaning "voice" in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages, was launched in January 2007 with a mission to harness new technologies to help ensure that the views and values of the world's peoples better shape global decision-making. It has since grown to more than 3 million members from every country on earth.

The Economist wrote last year of Avaaz's power to "give the world leaders a deafening wake-up call", while the Indian Express heralded "the biggest web campaigner across the world, rooting for crucial global issues." David Miliband, the UK foreign secretary who asked Avaaz to co-host his first major speech, calls the organization "the best of the new in foreign policy."



In the days following the Burmese cyclone, while governments and aid organisations waited for the junta to let them in, Avaaz members raised over $2 million in emergency funds, channelled immediately to the monks and other relief networks already operating inside Burma. http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_aid_report

Avaaz's 'Stop the Clash of Civilizations' video recently won the YouTube political video of the year award, gaining more votes than other videos centered on the US Presidential race. www.youtube.com/ytawards07winners

Wakey-wakey

Feb 15th 2007
From The Economist print edition
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.

Read the entire article here