I guess I can't because I'm not at the negotiation table when they present these.
What I do know is they DO attend big meetings, pitch up with the numbers, and DO (well, at least try to) put pressure on the relevant parties. They claim on various places on their site that they have been able to get results based on their petitions. You'd have to examine the evidence yourself, I haven't. I *ALSO* rarely sign or share their links.
I recall signing one a long time ago when the Dalai Lama (or whatever) wanted to come to SA. That one was definitely utterly ineffective.
So I signed one of their recent ones about the Uganda homosexuality "death bill", and they are claiming success on it. Just got this in a feedback mail, aparently the bill has been dropped for now (and they claim they were the impetus):
Frank Mugisha, a courageous leader of the gay community in Uganda sent us this message:
"Brave Ugandan LGBT activists and millions of people around the world have stood together and faced down this horrendous anti-homosexuality bill.The support from the Avaaz global community has tipped the scales to prevent this Bill going forward. Global solidarity has made a huge difference"
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs' Office also wrote to Avaaz:
"Many thanks. As you know, thanks to a very large extent to the intensive lobbying and combined effort of you, other civil society representatives, EU and other governments, plus our delegation and embassies on the ground the Bill was not presented to the Parliament this morning."
Hrmph, a bit hard to cry victory when so many other variables were at play. I think it's a bit of a hit-and-miss affair too, any government can easily ignore this kind of thing at the end of the day. However perhaps pressure from them "helps". I'm willing to live with that.
