Natural Heroes: Activist Ricken Patel
by Tom Citrano
“I wanted to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people want,” explains Patel, who
notes that Avaaz means ‘voice’ in many Asian, Middle Eastern and East European languages.
What motivated you to create Avaaz?
I had a previous life in advocacy of policy work…Mostly in countries in conflict: Sierra Leone, Sudan, Liberia
and Afghanistan. And in 2003, when I came back to the United States from Afghanistan, I was shocked by the political direction at that time. Moveon.org was one of the few voices speaking out and mobilizing at that time, so I joined, donated and volunteered. I was inspired by the model and I thought, “Why not take this global?” Avaaz was a great coming together of social entrepreneurs and organizations in the field. It was a great coming together of people and politics at the global level.
How does Avaaz choose causes to support?
Avaaz is a member-driven organization. We do tracking polls every week and ask our members what they’re thinking about and what they think we should be working on.
Democratic accountability is hardwired into our model. Avaaz is only as strong as the response we get from our members. We’re like a sailboat, not a motorboat. We can put up the sail, but only if the popular wind is behind us do we move forward.
How is the organization funded?
Avaaz is now nearing 100 percent public funding. Initially, we had some seed funding from our co-founding organizations. But in the last six months, we’ve raised $3 million from public donations, mostly small online donations from all over the world. Our average donation is $40. We’ve grown tremendously in the last 18 months. We currently have 3.4 million members. Avaaz is the largest activist organization in the world.
What are the biggest global challenges we face in 2009?
Stop climate change…Repair relations between the United States, Russia, China and Europe…Fight global poverty.
What are the biggest challenges New Yorkers face locally?
Affordable housing and greening the city.
Besides the economy, what issues do you hope to see President Obama address in his first 100 days in office?
Climate change…And a firm recommitment to fight global poverty. And I hope our new president reaches out to countries with which the United States has had tension and is able to replace confrontation with diplomacy.
What can each of us do to help?
Continue to vote. Democracy is a process, not an event. We need to continually engage in it and ensure our leaders are accountable and held to a high standard of humanity. Beyond that, we need to be active, and inform ourselves. And give what time and money we can.
Ultimately, we must all be agents of change in our families, communities, schools and workplaces.
What is your wish for 2009?
There are a lot of choices. Sometimes it’s painful to focus on one thing. I think it’s got to be that people and leaders of government and business will wake up to the threat of catastrophic climate change and commit to a binding global agreement that caps CO2 emissions.
For more information about Ricken Patel and Avaaz, visit Avaaz.org or nugreencity.com.
by Tom Citrano
Do you have a Natural Hero in your life? Do you know someone who is doing something to make this a better and safer planet?
Nominate that special person for a possible appearance in these pages at heroes@nugreencity.com. Each month, Natural Awakenings NYC will celebrate New Yorkers who help make this city, and the world, a better place.
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