I have spent some of my time this year adding my support to online petitions and writing online to my MP about issues that concern me. I don’t have a lot of money to donate to what I consider to be good causes but I am a strong believer in the power of Social Media to exert pressure on politicians, companies and even whole Governments. We all know that there is a negative side to the internet, it can provide a platform for those who would promote hate and violence, but I believe it can be a dynamic mechanism for good. Let’s face it, how long does it take to click a few links on a computer and how remarkable are the results sometimes?
To try and prove the point, here is a list of some recent success stories from various organisations that I support:
51,288 responded to an appeal get rid of the barren battery cage in Europe. As a result, 27 out of 28 countries are now free of these cruel cages.
172,328 took action against the Gadhimai slaughter festival in Nepal. The Nepalese government stopped official funding for the festival, and the number of animals involved was reduced by at least 75%.
Worldwide support delivered Compassion In World Farming’s biggest ever global investigation into factory farming, An army of voices united in calling for a better, truly progressive food system.
Appeals for funding made this film possible. So far over 10 million people have watched The Secrets of Food Marketing.
Supporters of CIWF have ensured that over 287 million animals are now set to benefit each year from the policies of the Good Farm Animal Welfare Award winners.
At the current time 1,218,981 people have signed the petition to Stop TTIP and CETA
You can sign the petition here
Procter & Gamble agreed to stop trashing the rainforest!
After nearly 400,000 people around the world emailed P&G’s boss and thousands more campaigned in supermarkets, on the streets and on social media – and they listened.
P&G published a jaw-dropping update on their website: “P&G’s new goals call for ensuring no deforestation in its entire palm supply chain.”
Two million people saw the Greenpeace counter-ad against the Arctic oil drillers that appeared in the Metro, Independent and Telegraph newspaper which was crowd-funded by over 2300 supporters.
Nearly 100,000 raised the alarm when they heard a shipment of Amazon timber from illegal loggers was heading for Europe and activists were waiting for it. By the time the timber entered Belgium, the authorities were forced to seize it.
This scandal became a huge story in Brazil – and the crooked sawmill that supplied this timber, Rainbow Trading, came under immense pressure from the Brazilian government. As a result of the Greenpeace investigation, the Brazilian environment agency stopped it from buying or selling any more timber.
Following 60,000 members of 38 Degrees writing to him Ed Miliband confirmed that, if elected, a Labour government would scrap the gagging law.
Here’s what Ed Miliband said in his response to 38 Degrees members:
“To hear from thousands of you was inspiring. It galvanised my belief that when people can stand up like you did and hold politicians to account our democracy is alive and well…I have been clear from the start that I oppose this gag on charities and campaigners, which was introduced with little consultation. If Labour wins the next election, we will remove it from the statute book.”
74,000 joined the call to save Mohammad Asghar, an elderly British man with severe mental health problems who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan.
The Government then wrote to 38degrees to tell them that David Cameron had written a personal letter to Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif and spoken to him directly on the phone. Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministers also said in letters written to 38degreess, that they were “deeply concerned” about Mohammad, and that they have raised his case “at very senior levels.”
The Food Empowerment Project started a petition calling on Clif Bar to reveal the countries of origin for its cocoa (two-thirds of the world’s chocolate comes from West Africa, where some of the worst instances of child labor have been found in the cocoa industry.) 83,000 people signed the petition and, on December 2, Clif Bar disclosed where its cocoa comes from.
Every year, TIME Magazine asks readers to vote in a “words to ban” poll. Besides slang words like “obvi,” this year’s poll included “feminist.” More than 30,000 Care2 members signed a petition telling TIME to apologize and demanding the magazine publish an article about modern feminism. In just a few days, Nancy Gibbs, TIME’s managing editor, issued an apology and TIME published an essay entitled “Feminism is a 21st Century Word” by Robin Morgan, one of the founders of the Women’s Media Center.
A petition to save Raju the indian elephant got 4,402 signatures. After 50 years in shackles, Raju was rescued by wildlife experts and veterinarians this past July. He had been sold to as many as 27 different people and endured beatings and starvation. Raju’s former owners sued to get him back; Wildlife SOS, the British charity that had saved him, fought back. On December 1, an Indian court ruled that Raju must remain with his rescuers.
I don’t want to labour the point. Suffice to say this is just a small selection from very many successes achieved in no small part by us “armchair activists”
I hope that it may encourage people to get involved and get clicking!
