On July 8th Italian Avaaz volunteers and members of the Avaaz European climate action factory -- a rapid response group of youth climate activists supported by Avaaz to raise the level of ambition for climate action in Europe -- organised a "strip mob" in front of the iconic Spanish stairs in Rome, Italy. The stunt's message was for bold climate action from the g8 leaders who were assembling in Italy for 2009 G8 Summit.
The team danced around to chants of "it's getting hot in here" whilst stripping down to reveal green underwear. They kept green underwear on, but threw their clothes at a dancer dressed as Berlusconi, who has been embroiled in public rows over his friendship with a young model. A large crowd of journalists and tourists cheered them on.
Photos and video below. For more information on the Action Factory projects in Europe and Washington DC, click here.
Due to popular demand we're pleased to announce Avaaz members can now buy our "Give peace a hand" T-shirts. We're selling them through Zazzle.com which gives you the chance to customise your shirt's colour and style. To get your shirt now, click on the image below!
We have been really overwhelmed by the positive responses to our Burma campaign in support of the Burmese monks and people! Once again it is incredible to realize how many people out there care about the world and are ready to take action.
A number of members around the world volunteered to translate our alert in different languages, including our friend Jittrawadee in Thailand. (Thai translation is below).
Thank you so much all of you who are really dedicating yourselves to help our message get to every corner of the world!
Yael
Mexico City, Mexico
I joined Avaaz because I believe globalization can be more just and democratic. Avaaz.org can be the catalyst that allows people around the world to go from just caring to actually taking action to solve some of the world's biggest problems.
Do you want to be an Avaaz Member of the Week? Email your photo, name, location, and a short paragraph about what Avaaz means to you to volunteers@avaaz.org.
^ YouTube guest editor MADDOGZA (Trevor) - from Ithaca, New York
"I lived in South Africa for 4 years. This was where my dad ran Habitat for Humanity's human resource efforts for Africa and the Middle-East, and also where my mother was born. This has shaped who I am. I really just stumbled upon Avaaz, but it is exactly what I am about. TAKING ACTION. Taking action on global issues is so important to me. When I have the time, grassroots campaigns are totally my thing. One day I would like to make a difference, on a much grander scale, like Avaaz is doing currently. Let us all join together, forget our differences, and make some positive change!"
Trevor would like to quote some lyrics from "Union," by the Black Eyed Peas:
"
It takes one, just one
And then one follows the other one
And then another follows another one
Next thing you know you got a billion
People doing some wonderful things
People doing some powerful things
Let's change and do some powerful things
then you could be a wonderful thing.
"
Trevor has a video channel on YouTube, just like Avaaz does, and he was selected to be guest editor of the YT front page. This meant that he had the power to feature videos on the front page of one of the most popular websites in the world - he selected what millions of global viewers would see.
He found Avaaz's "Stop the Clash of Civilizations" video, which he loved. That video was then featured by him on the homepage, and received about 700,000 new views due to this.
*UPDATE ON THE "STOP THE CLASH" VIDEO*
Avaaz's vid has now become a YouTube viral! Here are some of the honors rolling in:
#2 Most discussed News and Politics video on YouTube, all time
#20 Most discussed video on YouTube, all time
#26 Top favorite News and Politics video on YouTube, all time
#59 Most responded video on YouTube, all time
#100 Most viewed News and Politics video on YouTube, all time
Please check out Trevor's "maddogza" channel on YouTube - you can watch his guest editor video above, or subscribe to his channel > http://www.youtube.com/maddogza
Nicholas - Arizona, USA
"I got involved so that the relatively limited amount of time I can spend on crucial issues could be amplified by Avaaz' ability to aggregate political will on a global scale. The small efforts of thousands, unified in purpose, make a big difference"
Iyad, Palestine
"I always wanted to do something about all the wrong and injustice that's been happening around the world. With Avaaz.org I can be active and start changing the world to be a better place to live in."
Do you want to be featured as an Avaaz member of the week? Send your picture and a few words about why you are an Avaaz member to volunteers@avaaz.org
We received a wonderfully encouraging email today from the Akashi Project
The Akashi projects works with people from different cultural and fiath communities here in the UK to explore what climate change means to us- linking 'green issues' to culture and faith.
As a child, I came across a quote, ''The only thing necessary for evil to continue is for good men to do nothing.'' As a South African, apartheid was my parents' struggle. World justice is mine. I don't have a right to live in a state of oblivion, cocooned in comfort, while others lack the basic right of freedom. I want to belong to a group that cares enough to take action.
Sarah
Munich, Germany
"I joined Avaaz to give people a voice and to show that we can change the world."
Send us your name, city, country, and a why you want to join Avaaz to volunteers@avaaz.org, and you can be featured as one of our next "Members of the Week"!
"With each passing day I grow more hopeful that I as an individual can have an impact on the issues that are important to me and my generation. Having an international forum like AVAAZ.org gives me a sense of community and inspiration as I see that change can indeed come from the ground up."
Do you want to be featured as an Avaaz member of the week? Send your picture and a few words about why you are an Avaaz member to volunteers@avaaz.org
Things are really heating up on the Stop the Clash campaign - over 40,000 Avaaz members have now signed the petition. But it's critical that we get the number of signers as high as possible before we take it to world leaders. We need to get over
60,000 - another 20,000 - and we need to use internet tools to help reach the millions of people who agree with us, but don't know about the campaign yet.
Are you registered on Digg.com? If you're already a user then please
digg the Middle East petition page here.
If you haven't heard about Digg, it's an online chart of the best stories, sites and videos on the web. After you sign up (don't worry, you can tell them not to send you unwanted e-mails), you can then "digg" pages you like, either when someone else has added them, or because you add them yourself. You can also find out which pages are the most popular with other Diggers at the moment. So, register as a digg user and then don't forget to digg our Stop the Clash campaign!!
Thanks to our wonderful volunteer translator, Elizabeth, we now have a Danish translations of our climate campaign, Middle East talks campaign, and Roll Call update. Mange tak Elizabeth!
KLIMA KLOKKEN RINGER - VÅGN OP TIL DÅD: DET HASTER
Klima forandring er en virkelighed, og vi må handle nu. Lederne af verdens mest forurenende lande planlægger at mødes i Tyskland i juni. Prioriteterne for dette topmøde besluttes lige nu.
Vi vil sende denne TV reklame i betydningsfulde hovedstader verden over.
Vi har brug for din hjælp for at blive hørt verdens ledere; skriv under på denne appel og fortæl verdens ledere at vi har brug for deres handlekraft NU.
Appel til verdens ledere:
Klima forandring er idag den største trussel mod veres verden - og der er næsten ikke tid tilbage at stoppe den.
I må tackle dette problem nu; samlet, og med beslutsomhed. Start arbejdet for en ny global aftale i år. Sæt bindende globale mål op for at forhindre katastrofa klima forandring. Gør noget nu - og vi vil slutte vores anstrengelser til jeres.
Forlang reelle fredforhandlinger nu - verden tåler ikke flere forsinkelser.
Top israelske, palestinensiske og internationale ledere mødes i Jerusalem på mandag, for at forhandle fred for første gang i næsten 7 år. Vi må vise dem at verden ser på, og at vi ønsker at de begynder på reelle fredsforhandlinger i Mellemøsten.
Skriv under på appellen nedenfor, og vi udgiver den i israelske og palestinensiske aviser på mandag, sammen med antallet af underskrifter, og afleverer det derefter til topledere.
Til israelske, palestinensiske og internationale ledere:
Palestina-Israel konflikten ligger ved kernen af en global kamp som truer med at dele os alle. Mennesker fra alle verdenshjørner ønsker en retfærdig og vedvarende fred i Mellemøsten - og det internationale samfund kan og må hjælpe med at bringe alle parter til forhandlingsbordet. Start Reelle Forhandlinger i Mellemøsten Nu, og bliv ved forhandlingsbordet indtil vi får fred.
"Selv han trækker sig" - folk fra hele verden beder USAs nye kongres om at stoppe eskalationen i Irak
I midten af januar bad Avaaz.orgs første kampagne USAs nye kongress om at blokke Bushs eskalation i Irak. Over 45 000 mennesker, verden over, skrev under, og vores reklame kom i "Roll Call", en inflydelsesrig politisk avis, som blev sendt til samtlige kongressets medlemmer.
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.
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