group Avaaz petition vote of its 17 million members to redefine their priorities under great exercise of global democracy. But their brand of online activism really works?

How to run an organization with 17 million heads? Avaaz campaigns online giants who have taken on a Palestinian state, and phone hacking News International, as well as pre-trial detention of Bradley Manning, among other things, makes its annual effort to find an answer to this question this week.

2012

Avaaz campaigns included a petition with the signatures of nearly 1 m calls for universal education in Pakistan after the killing of 15-year-old student activist Malala Yousafzai. It was delivered by a UN envoy to the President of Pakistan - who signed. Avaaz has also accumulated 1.8 million signatures for a Palestinian state, and was part of the efforts of all laws against internet censorship in January.

But now to decide what to do next activism organization, five years, holds a staff member described as a "world congress party" to allow its members seek to establish order day for the next year.

Where

usually such an effort to gather a group of people outside a city hotel disjointed, it is virtual: a single chip by checking boxes in the polls, others engage son long online discussion and suggest some face to face with local action groups. 80 of Avaaz staff scattered around the world, have their own ideas and plans, but in a way similar to the Arab Spring movements or occupied, claiming that runs from bottom to top.

Suggestions

are flooding in. Among the hundreds of pages of comments and tens of thousands of voting responses, many priorities identified are: "How can we stop radical Islamist groups in Syria to stop the regime Assad at the same time, "asks Omar, Syria. Shanti, Nepal asks:" Please campaign against the slaughter of innocent Shiites in Pakistan, more than 100 people died in the blast in Quetta two days ago. ". Australia Peter said:" The right to secular education for all children is essential for the future of humanity. "

When Occupy movement has declined since the dissolution of their camps around the world, and the Arab Spring have been mixed fortunes emergency laws re-hated and elites in Egypt open civil war in Syria, the movement of online activism is apparently flourishing Avaaz members had six million two years, 10 million in January 2012, and today more than 17 million euros. Similar groups such as 38 Degrees and grew even Change.org action profile of scale and quality. But with change comes challenges which groups have really been achieved? Who is really responsible - or paid based fuzzy? Today, governments are beginning to take seriously the digital democracy - with the official websites of the application, open policy and more - what is the point in the long term

Avaaz launched its annual consultation with half a million e-mails sent last Thursday, imploring its members - those who have signed previous petitions or participating in other activities - to meet a thorough investigation of what should done in 2013. The result of the vote is probably one of the biggest exercises ever: direct democracy through million members and 14 languages, more than one hundred countries

Aa> Questions range from what the general priorities should be (at the time of writing, "The human rights, torture, genocide, human trafficking" is the top, while "The food and health" is the lowest priority) specific proposals of the campaign, the seriousness with Avaaz staff should participate in the survey: currently, 86% of the staff seem happy to use only as a guide, while only 6% think it should be an imperative

one of the first to look at the results as they begin to leak - and someone who helped establish the year - is Alice Jay, campaign director of Avaaz. He joined the organization in a career working for charities in the United Nations and more than four years, when membership was just over one million.

She says that exercise is essential, and severe. "We are like a sailboat or a motorboat," she said. "Whether in our strategy or our countryside is as hard as the wind of public ideas behind them. So, if we could believe that A, B or C test campaigns are great, and the probe, and if the membership is not for them, does not work. We really see that inform the decisions we make. "

course, it is easy to say - but a cynic might note that there is much that can be done to push this type of exercise in a particular direction: on the one hand, people are disappointed by Avaaz less likely to spend time filling out a survey about what needs to be done, then there are many things that the wording of the survey questions could be taken to encourage a response that may be preferred by staff.

Jay has a simple counter this type of freight: If Avaaz was not what its members want, not survive. But, he said, the members are a little courage "leadership" of the staff. "We are an organization that is 100% supported by its members ? 5 ? 20 here and there. As such, our heads are our members are not just words, it is a very real thing, "she said.

"What we have seen repeatedly is the number of Avaaz members deeply value of leadership, they want intelligent suggestions and ideas for the causes that support user-generated activism often do not work, and what we have seen is that. direction of movement and sound values, there is a relationship between staff appreciated that the directors and members and leaders. "

cash and leadership, activism in the world can be difficult subjects. Naomi Colvin, an activist who has been active in the Occupy movement and the Bradley Manning Support Network, said he admires what sites like Avaaz can do, but he says he is not as democratic as they like to think.

"I think Avaaz inward are probably the most similar," she said. "I never felt that Avaaz is managed by its members, the staff has a lot to say what they will do to be a little more transparent about how things are chosen is certainly a step in the right direction., and can help to create a user base that feels involved, but it will never be as direct as something to occupy. "
The . Growl another level, notes Mr. Colvin is a difficult question, and is derived from an interest group Several governments have established sites petition directly with some type of response has promised, if you collect 100,000 signatures in the United Kingdom, the Parliament backbench committee would discuss the matter with a view to the creation of many debates. In the United States, 25,000 signatures deserve a response from the White House -. Whatever the topic
(see box)

This was the aim of a group of activists NHS up to the opposition to reform Andrew Lansley, and worked to get enough signatures to reach the target of 100,000. But activists 38 degrees had different ideas. "38 Degrees, I think, had some knowledge insiderish, and decided to have a debate on this point may not be the best course of action," said Colvin. "And that ended up as a real shit storm. People covered their Facebook wall asking why they do not support existing applications. Is simply not very good. "
Sites
These conflicts are almost inevitable, Colvin muses, because the funding base, large as it seems (and often is) to be funded by the people who join your campaign, you create a great motivation for getting involved with any problem gathering some momentum. The risk is you end up with campaign groups compete against each other, rather than to make a difference.

Apart from these things, recognizes Colvin, and Avaaz is like having your place, remembering first hand. "An Avaaz petition at the right time to tip the balance in a large number of problems - what happened with the provision of Quantico thing at a very critical person usually Though Avaaz appeared to be in contact with anyone in the country., and there was no problem with the report, a petition to get 500,000 signatures in 48 hours was very important. they have this kind of range that nobody else has. "

These discussions ignore perhaps the most obvious question these organizations requests for something? Are they enough? Or "clicktivism" - by simply clicking on a petition, then sit back and feel that they have made a difference - the replacement of actual interventions? Avaaz is a matter of Alice Jay has little time for.
"I think the debate is clicktivism idiot. Do not think anyone doubts that iTunes has changed the music trade or eBay has changed. Nobody asks clicktivism" she said. "Nobody called 'walkavist a Gandhi or Rosa Parks a" sitavist "The Internet is really where this change occurs Think locally, act locally, think, national act, think globally, act globally .. - I think this is what gives Avaaz. "

some experience in actual operations within the government, however, have more reserves. Zacharzewski Anthony, a former official of Whitehall, who is now executive director of Demsoc, an organization that seeks new ways to run the government, has a somewhat damning verdict on the effectiveness of petitions. "They are definitely junk democracy - that you feel good for the moment, but not necessarily move forward," he said. "Like everything, the easier it is for people in positions of power to discredit this you do as only the usual suspects, or simply people who have signed a petition, then it will be discredited. "
Zacharzewski supports the idea of ??more interventionist, participatory democracy, but ask for more subtle interventions, online and offline: compilation of "citizens' juries" to discuss in detail specific issues or opening policy beyond traditional lobbyists and officials. Some are already underway within the Cabinet Office, ongoing trials.
is also fair to say that Avaaz and his henchmen are increasingly sophisticated. Although we collected over one million signatures in his campaign for the updated state of Palestine to the United Nations, Avaaz had an extra tip: there was a quick targeted funding to finance National surveys three countries at the UN (at the time) future of voice - a measure intended to show the government the power of public support on the issue, but also to help provide political cover for the vote

His next plan is to expand its site "daily report" news, reports have come together to combine global call to action - a change of staff were willing to apply for months and until finding time for members (65% had as one of its three main orientations for 2013).
If such questions based agile and sophisticated campaign continues to dominate - and, given the current campaigns for or against gay marriage, the war in India on women, drones and monitoring, there is every reason to believe it will - could mark a fundamental change in policy. And, in all likelihood, Zacharzewski said, the losers will be the political parties, people focus directly on each issue is support rather than signing the package is a manifesto commitment of the traditional party.

"I think the parties have a huge structural problem," he said. "One of my guards testified that the parties are dead and will not return. I think this is a bit much, but I think the concept of the party as a vehicle for engaging mass shipwreck on the fact that people are not willing to commit more mass.

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