Activism
Censorship

Break the █████ on Avaaz

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Gmail Peter Burgess
Break the █████ on Avaaz
1 message
Alice Jay - Avaaz Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 9:39 AM
To: 'peterbnyc@gmail.com'

Dear friends,

It's chilling -- suddenly our website is being blocked across the world -- from Egypt to China, Indonesia to Saudi Arabia. That’s 1.8 billion people!

These regimes want to silence us and cut us off from one another. It’s an attack on our whole connected global movement. But we have a plan.

The key is that Avaaz isn't really a website. We're a movement of over 45 million people reached mainly through email. If we build thousands of simple webpages on different sites, we can constantly change the page and site that each email links to within minutes of any one site being blocked! The censors won't be able to keep up. We'll break the blackout.

And it’s cheaper than you might think. With the right setup, it could cost us just $40 to switch between sites! So if enough of us chip in now we can set up thousands of sites and be constantly ahead of the censors. Governments think they can silence and divide us, let's prove them wrong, and break the blackout on Avaaz:

$12 to purchase a domain $24 to pay for two domains $40 to fund one site switch $80 to fund two site switches $120 to fund three sites switches OTHER AMOUNT

Regimes are using sophisticated censorship software and blocking orders to suppress democracy. But courageous Avaazers are risking jail to break the bans, and connect to others. If we build a blackout-proof system, we can make sure the over half a million Avaazers in Egypt, and tens of thousands in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia’s voices are heard, and defend our powerful, united community.

And as hundreds of independent media and human rights sites are being banned -- we can help lift everybody with us. In some cases we can use simple online encryption tools called TOR and VPN that poke holes in the blackout, and then if we blanket advertise those tools in the countries we are censored -- Boom! Avaaz pages and the whole internet will light up on people’s screens.

That’s not all, these regimes are sensitive to reputational pressure, and our movement has power -- we got one ban lifted after Avaaz senior staff lobbied the government right up to the President's office! If we raise enough together now we can unleash our best advocates to contest the bans.

The countries blocking us are big and powerful. Let's set up this system and ensure regimes can't cut us off from our brothers and sisters behind these firewalls. Chip in to blackout-proof our Avaaz movement:

$12 to purchase a domain $24 to pay for two domains $40 to fund one site switch $80 to fund two site switches $120 to fund three sites switches OTHER AMOUNT

In essence this is a battle between connection and division. And it’s crucial that our force -- the force of unity -- wins. All the biggest global threats from climate change to security require us to work together. Let’s show those that try to segregate and isolate us, that their attempts will only make us undivided and stronger.

With hope,

Alice, Oli, Ben, Marigona, Allison, Spyro and the rest of the Avaaz team

MORE INFORMATION:

Indonesia tightens its censorship grip on the Internet (Digital News Asia) https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/indonesia-tightens-its-censorship-grip-internet

Egypt has blocked Avaaz campaigning site in the latest clampdown on websites by Cairo authorities (The New Arab) https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/6/14/avaaz-joins-over-60-websites-blocked-by-egypt

Fighting censorship online: 'It's an ongoing race' (Deutsche Welle) http://www.dw.com/en/fighting-censorship-online-its-an-ongoing-race/a-39393189

Cracking the 'Great Firewall' of China's Web censorship (ABC News) http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4707107&page=1

Avaaz is a 44-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ('Avaaz' means 'voice' or 'song' in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

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