Do not use change.org petitions
Hey, just a reminder: Most governments cannot legally respond to change.org petitions. If you want to do activism to get a specific government to do or not do something, do not use a change.org petition. It will not work. They do not have to respond to those because they can’t check that the people signing it really are their constituents (the only people whose opinions they care about). Instead, use the official petition service of that government, because then it will have to be debated/acted on if it gets a certain number of signatures.
For the UK: https://petition.parliament.uk/
For Australia: https://www.aph.gov.au/petition_list
For the US: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/
For the EU parliament: https://petiport.secure.europarl.europa.eu/petitions/en/home
There are literally hundreds of different petition systems - at least one for every government. You can also just literally google your country of residence + petition.
These petitions legally have to be acted on if they reach a certain number of signatures. Change.org petitions do not, because there’s no way to verify where the signatories come from or how seriously members of parliament should take these signatures. Change.org (in addition to being an “unofficial” petition channel) is also a for-profit company that only uses your money to boost petitions within its own website.
“(Change) is a multimillion dollar for-profit private company, not a nonprofit public charity as many falsely assume. The company began as a nonprofit that connected charities to donors, but has transitioned into a for-profit company that makes money by selling advertised petitions on its website, Change.org.” -Activist Facts
It is additionally misleading - the number of signatures you actually need to have a petition debated/acted on/reviewed by the government will vary from place to place and the population size of the country you’re petitioning. Change.org does not have that information. Have you ever noticed how the number of signatures keeps getting extended? That’s because none of the goals actually do anything actionable. They are not legally binding.
Anyone can sign a change.org petition. Usually with petitions you need to at least be a resident of the country you’re petitioning. The reason for that is that the democratically-elected representatives should act on their constituents’ desires. It is very easy to not act on a change.org petition from their perspective because they have no way of verifying if you’re actually a constituent and could vote them out. Having a petition that anyone can sign is a very easy way for the entire petition to be discredited.
Please, I am begging you. I am thrilled by your enthusiasm for activism, but I am exhausted from having to jump onto every post that tries to petition a government through this fraudulent website. This matters because if faced with the option of signing a real petition or a change.org one, the change.org one is going to be more popular because fewer people know how this works, but we really need to boost through channels that work right now.
Examples for what not to do under the cut.
Keep reading
for canada: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Home/Index
gonna tag @allthecanadianpolitics
Change.org petitions aren’t useless but government specific petitions will always be taken more seriously.
A number of unofficial petitions have lead to government changes. One of those petitions removed the tax on menstruation products in Canada while the Conservatives were in power.
