Following its major online petition against World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to step down, Avaaz, the online campaigning group, achieved a huge victory when he announced that he would resign on June 30.

He had faced widespread calls to quit after being accused of a conflict of interest over a pay rise given to ex-bank employee Shaha Riza. Finally after lengthy discussions and attempts to oust him for six weeks Wolfowitz decided to step down.

The White House, which had backed Wolfowitz, said President George W Bush reluctantly accepted his decision. Revelling in its achievement, Avaaz sent an e-mail to all its supporter. This is what it said -

Dear Avaaz supporter,

Last night, Paul Wolfowitz resigned.

The balance of power in the world is changing, and we're part of that - you, me, everyone involved in Avaaz campaigns.

Two years ago, George W Bush was able to install Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank President despite the international outcry. But yesterday, Bush simply could not overpower world opinion. He could no longer ignore you – the many thousands who supported our campaign, and the many millions who felt the same around the world.

We're taking a moment to let this victory sink in. It's a success for accountability, for global democracy, and for the right of the world's people to have a voice in international decisions. But think back to how this story unfolded while the rich world backtracked on its development promises, giving less aid in 2006 than they did in 2005:

The morning the Wolfowitz scandal broke, Avaaz launched a global campaign to remove him from the bank. Soon we hit our target of 50,000 people signing our petition. We used another powerful tool - satire - creating a YouTube video spoof starring Wolfowitz, "The Bank". The video caught the imagination of the international news media in newspapers like USA Today, the Guardian and the Washington Post, and aired on national television in France and Germany. It was even making the rounds inside the World Bank itself.

Last week we hand-delivered the petition in Washington DC. Dozens of folks with banners and flags from around the world showed up to represent the 52,270 people from 181 countries who had signed on. A crowd of reporters turned out, a forest of television cameras from Holland, Germany, and Austria; Al Jazeera; Rupert Murdoch's Fox News; US networks like NBC and ABC; and the big wire services like AP and Reuters. After the protest, the head of the World Bank News Bureau came out to personally accept the printout of the petition, and promised to take it to the World Bank board.

We know we were heard. There's more to do to make global development accountable in future. But amidst the endless negotiations between Wolfowitz, Bush, and the rest of the world's leaders, another story emerged -- of a global public no longer silent about our global institutions.

This victory is just the beginning. In a few short months, over 900,000 citizens around the world have already taken part in different Avaaz.org actions – a network of concerned individuals, connected across borders by the Internet, empowered to have a voice in the world's decision-making. Avaaz means "voice," and your voice is being heard along with others around the world. We are proud to speak up together – and we don't want to take you for granted, you decide which campaigns to support.


Resources:

World Bank head Wolfowitz to quit

Avaaz

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to Resign on June 30

Image Source

Salon