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Dear John, Can you imagine being 16, a refugee from war-torn Syria, bullied and beaten at school and then a far-right celebrity starts posting lies about you, harassing you through his million-plus followers, using you to push his racist agenda? That was Jamal's life. But you all stepped in, helped raise enough money for Jamal to hire top lawyers, take his harasser to court and win enough money to establish a charity to help others.
This is the story of SumOfUs, this is the story of us, together. It's been repeated dozens of times this year: standing with Indigenous people in Brazil as they successfully fought a government campaign to evict them from their ancestral lands, supporting brave whistleblowers as they take on Big Tech corporations in the halls of government, forcing governments to support lifting the Covid vaccine patent so everyone can have access to life-saving medicine... Just, wow -- I hope you're proud, John. This has been a historic year in many of the most tragic ways, but it's also been a historic year for hope, for the power of collective action, for all of us who are part of the 19 million-strong SumOfUs community. Check out these amazing stories about what we achieved together this year.
We stood with Indigenous communities in Brazil when they were under attack. Brazilian President Bolsonaro's allies in Congress tried to rush through a new law to displace Indigenous communities from their ancestral lands. The greedy government wanted to sell pristine areas of the Amazon rainforest to make way for devastating industrial projects, but 236,958 SumOfUs members around the world united to support the Indigenous people and stop the government's plans. The SumOfUs community raised tens of thousands of dollars to fund an international email system and newsletter so grassroots partners in Brazil can communicate and organize globally, including paying for transportation, food and logistics support for Indigenous leaders who travelled to the capital Brasilia for the "International Indigenous Mobilization" where they camped in front of Congress to protest against the genocidal bills targeting their communities and homes. The bill has been stopped for now, but we'll keep our eyes wide-open to ensure this and other genocidal bills are scrapped forever.
SumOfUs supported Big Tech whistleblowers like Frances Haugen as they entered government hearings. 90,000 people around the world signed a petition to show support for Big Tech whistleblowers and thousands sent messages of gratitude for their courage. We delivered our petition to Frances Haugen, Facebook whistleblower, in Brussels, minutes before she testified in the EU Parliament -- and several Members of the European Parliament came to support our action too! The SumOfUs community also took to social media to pressure the EU for strong legislation to regulate Big Tech. Together with partners we hosted a panel featuring more key Big Tech whistleblowers to listen to and amplify the voices of women and women of color who are taking on Big Tech. We heard about the challenges faced by Pinterest whistleblower Ifeoma Ozoma and former Facebook employee Yael Eisenstat. We delivered our Big Tech whistleblowers petition to them as well as your messages of support. Many who attended were moved and thrilled by our community support, and our solidarity will help inspire others to join the fight against Big Tech.
We made the Australian Government stand up to Big Pharma and support the suspension of patents for Covid vaccines. The TRIPS vaccine waiver will force pharmaceutical corporations to share their life-saving Covid patents with more countries. But in order for this to become a reality, the waiver needs the support of all World Trade Organisation member countries. Australia was one of the last countries standing in the way of the proposed waiver. We still need more countries to support the waiver, but we’re now one step closer to forcing Big Pharma to put people’s health before profits.
And that’s not all… And just last week we heard that our campaign was successful to block the French Government from sinking 700 million Euros into a massive gas project in the Arctic!
We are fighting hard to protect our privacy in Brazil. Facebook wanted to steal WhatsApp user's data and information with a vile new mandatory policy. If users rejected it, they would be blocked out of the app that connects over 2 billion people worldwide. Corporate abuse 101!
We were told that our strategy was pivotal for authorities to issue an immediate ban of the policy rollout, positively affecting the over 2 billion global WhatsApp users. Together, we helped get Big Tech's harm to children on the agenda. With our allies, we forced Instagram to shelve its terrible plan to build a special site that targeted the most vulnerable children with ads and content that research says causes eating disorders, bullying and suicidal thoughts. Over 125,000 SumOfUs members signed a petition calling for an end to Instagram's plan and this was followed up with hard-hitting stunts that garnered hundreds of global media hits. Research by SumOfUs on the risks of Instagram to children was cited in several articles and delivered to U.S. politicians before key hearings. We will keep on fighting until this awful idea is scrapped entirely.
This is just a tiny fraction of everything we’ve done together this year, with many more wins to come. From protecting our internet to protecting our planet to standing with the most vulnerable among us, our community keeps showing up, keeps bringing hope and heart to the fight, and keeps making me so darn proud.
 Thanks for all that you do P.S. Click here to check out all the amazing videos from our 10-year anniversary celebration! There are so many more moments to celebrate there. |
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