Stop the Clash of civilizations... Avaaz.org

And here's our new campaign: Stop The Clash at AVAAZ.org.

Does it chime with you? If so, please add your voice to the campaign. We're going to deliver the message in some big and surprising ways over the coming months.............

(and if it isn't playing for you, shout now!)

Avaaz.org is what I've been wrapped up in since the New Year as campaign director, focusing so far on the Middle East - and already we've launched a Global Peace March to end the war in Iraq that had over 90,000 participants, in solidarity with a half-million US citizens on the Washington streets:

a climate change campaign with TV ads on three continents:

and ads on the frontpage of the FT and in big Palestinian and Arabic papers.

Finally found people I wanted to work with on the global campaigning front - combining burning spirit with sharp judgment and effective delivery. Avaaz.org could just have the people, the links and the resources to make it happen (and I'd been issuing cries in the wilderness in this direction for too long, from openDemocracy.net to Personal Democracy to the Fabian Review...!)

The forerunners include MoveOn.org and the Ceasefire Campaign during the 2006 Lebanon war, which raised over 300,000 signatures in 5 days that were delivered to the Security Council. Avaaz.org will be our own creation, of as many of us round the world as join in - almost a million so far in different ways, from over 200 countries, in 11 languages. The mission is a simple one - to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decisions.

I agree with Micah Sifry's diagnosis that more interactive elements would help make Avaaz fly, and am keen that we rapidly boost our participation and engagement frameworks - seeds of social networking soon... so watch this space! (Actually, that space.)

Comments

[Thaddeus Stone]

Shalom friends of peace

Will you help with friend of peace?

To: Government of Bangladesh

Mr. Choudhury's trial has begun. Current information can be found at http://www.freechoudhury.com/
We, the undersigned scholars and other individuals of good will, petition the Government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Muslim journalist Salah Choudhury. We understand that he faces charges under the Bangladesh Penal Code of "sedition, treason, blasphemy and espionage," which are punishable by death.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is editor of the Bangladeshi tabloid The Weekly Blitz.
A practicing Muslim , Choudhury wrote about the rise of Islamist extremists in Bangladesh and has written articles against anti-Israeli and Judeophobic attitudes in Muslim-majority countries. He also urged Bangladesh-Israel relations and real interaith understanding based on religious equality.
PEN USA gave him their Freedom to Write Award in 2005 in recognition of his commitment towards courageous journalism and confronting extreme adversities

The American Jewish Committee presented its Moral Courage Award to him in May 2006, but the Bangladesh government prevented him from visiting the United States to receive the honor.

Choudhury is facing these charges for taking strong public and professional stands against the radical Islamists who are quietly taking over the world's third largest Muslim-majority country, against the oppression of religious minorities and others there, and for positive relations between Muslims and Jews. His one formal violation of Bangladesh regulations was his attempt to visit Israel in 2003 to attend a conference of the Hebrew Writers' Association. The applicable act allows Bangladeshis to travel to all countries in the world except Israel. The penalty for such violation is a 500 Taka (less than $8). On November 29, he was taken into police custody and, as he tells it, blindfolded, beaten and interrogated for 10 days in an attempt to extract a confession that he was spying for Israel. He spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement, and was denied medical treatment for his glaucoma . Only after an international campaign and the personal intervention of U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk did the Bangladesh govenment release Choudhury on bail. At the same time, the Bangladesh government promised to drop all charges against him after admitting that there was no substance to them.

In July, a mob stormed the premises of Choudhury's tabloid and beat him, fracturing his ankle.When Choudhury lodged a complaint with the police, the government responded by issuing a warrant for his arrest. That summer, a bomb was also set off Weekly Blitz offices and although government officials admitted knowing the perpetrators led by Mufti Noor Hussain Noorani, self-proclaimed bigot and head of the radical Khatmey Nabuat Movement, no arrests were ever made.

In September, a judge affiliated with a radical faction ordered the case continued, in spite of the government's reluctance to prosecute, proclaiming that "by praising Christians and Jews," Choudhury had "hurt the sentiments of Muslims." The United States, European Union, and other democratic nations have sent observer to his trial. Government witnesses have refused to show in court, the court has violated Bangaldeshi legal procedure, and the prosecution has yet to provide a scintilla of credible evidence to support the capital charge. The new government in Dhaka has promised several American officials and others that they will have the case dropped. Yet, on February 28, 2007, the radical judge brazenly ordered the trial to proceed.

Resolutions in support of Choudhury and demands that the charges be dropped have been passed in the European and Australian Parliaments. A similar resolution passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs unanimously and is scheduled to come before the full House this month where it is expected to pass without opposition.

Noted international Human Rights attorney, Irwin Cotler, whose clients have included Nelson Mandela and Andrei Sakharov, has identified eight violations on Bangladesh's own law in Choudhury's prosecution. The only way to restore the integrity of Bangladesh is to end this persecution now. In the name of justice, freedom of speech, freedom of passage and of human rights, we join with governments, human rights advocates and other scholars worldwide and ask that this injustice be immediately halted and that all charges against Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury be dropped.

We urge each of you who sign this petition and even those of you who don't to circulate it amongst your colleagues and friends to help us reach 10,000 names by September 1, 2008. Thank you from Scholars for Peace in the Middle East www.spme.net

Other things you can do:

1) Please also click here to sign the IFLAC petition to Save Choudhury. Thank you.

2) Relevant articles:

Must He Die? Meet A Muslim Dissident Who Loves Jews, Christians And Free Speech
Efforts towards a genuine interfaith dialogue
Muslims Who Admire Israel: What Significance?

Sincerely,

The Undersigned