Avaaz: "Save the Whale"

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Whales are hardly "cuddly creatures" but people care, quite rightly. Last night I got an alarmist email from an attractive Polish lady journalist from the leading national paper here who once interviewed me about something-or-other. Now she's urging me to help save the whale. The accompanying link went to a lively petition already with some 500 000 signatures on it. It is organized by a group called Avaaz:

Avaaz.org is a new global online advocacy community that brings people-powered politics to global decision-making. Avaaz—meaning "voice" in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages—was launched in January 2007 with a simple democratic mission: organize citizens everywhere to help close the gap between the world we have and the world most people want. In 3 years, Avaaz has grown to 5.5 million members from every country on earth, becoming the largest global web movement in history. The Economist writes of Avaaz' power to "give world leaders a deafening wake-up call"; the Indian Express heralds "the biggest web campaigner across the world, rooting for crucial global issues.” and Suddeutsche Zeitung calls Avaaz "a transnational community that is more democratic, and could be more e ffective than the United Nations.” Run by a virtual team on 3 continents, Avaaz operates in 14 languages.

Now how can we get their members interested making 'wakeup calls' about the issues of the illicit trade in ancient artefacts and no-questions-asked market and collecting?

Oh, and while you are at it, add your voice to the whale petition please.