CitizenGo

CitizenGO
Motto defend and promote life, family, and liberty
Founded 2013 in Madrid, Spain
Area served
Worldwide
Method Internet activism, online petitions
Members
Since it is a foundation, it has no members but the ones of the board of trustees
Website http://citizengo.org/

CitizenGO is an internet activism platform that promotes Christian causes.[1] Founded in Madrid in 2013, the platform promotes petitions in 50 countries, including petitions opposing same-sex marriage,[2][3] abortion,[1][4][5] and euthanasia.[6] The organization's board of directors includes Brian S. Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage.[7]

History

CitizenGO was founded in Madrid, Spain, in September 2013 to advance the use of online petitions as a form of Internet activism to increase public participation in the democratic process.[8] CitizenGO says that they have "team members located in fifteen cities on three continents" who facilitate users signing petitions in 50 countries,[8] in 8 languages with plans to add more.[2] The CEO of CitizenGO is Álvaro Zulueta. The CitizenGO Foundation Board of Trustees is composed of Ignacio Arsuaga, Walter Hintz, Blanca Escobar, Luca Volonte, and Brian S. Brown.

The CitizenGO Foundation is financially supported by online donations made by their members, which journalist J. Lester Feder estimated at tens of thousands of euros per month.[2]

Notable petitions

Blasphemy laws

CitizenGO board members advocate for Christian prisoners of conscience, including Mariam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who refused to convert to Islam; Saeed Abedini, an Iranian American pastor convicted of holding private religious gatherings in Christian homes, and Asia Bibi, a Pakistani women convicted of blasphemy.[9][10] Ignacio Arsuaga, the president of the CitizenGO foundation, has organised public rallies in support of Bibi[11] and travelled to Pakistan to meet her family.[12]

Petitions on the platform have also called for governments to ban artistic works that are claimed to be critical of Christianity.[13][14]

LBGT rights

In has supported the Russian LGBT propaganda law, in a statement that reads "marriage of a man and a woman is the foundation of any human society"[15][16][17][18] CitizenGo has promoted the Croatian ban on same-sex marriage and the Slovak referendum on banning same-sex marriage, LGBT adoption and limiting sex education.[19] The activist network has praised Hungary for hosting the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.[20]

CitizenGO has hosted a petition in support of Scott Lively,[21] a conservative evangelical activist who co-authored The Pink Swastika arguing "homosexuals [are] the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities."[22]

Abortion and euthanasia

CitizenGO promotes campaigns opposing abortion and euthanasia. CitizenGo has opposed the introduction of the "Estrela report" into the European parliament, which requires member states to provide comprehensive sex education in schools and ensure access to safe abortions, among other things.[2] A range of socially conservative movements across the EU mobilized supporters against the resolution, some getting 50,000 people to sign petitions against it on CitizenGO, others sending MEPs tens of thousands of emails,[23] leading to the resolution failing by a narrow margin.

In 2014, CitizenGO raised 200,000 signatures in opposition to the introduction of Belgium extending its euthanasia law to terminally-ill children[24] CitizenGO has joined a campaign by the European Centre for Law and Justice to petition to the Council of Europe against neonatal infanticide.[25]

Other issues

On March 3, 2014 CitizenGO launched a campaign calling on world leaders to find a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian crisis.[26]

On September 26, 2014, 43 students from a college in Ayotzinapa went missing in Iguala, Mexico. Authorities claimed Iguala's mayor masterminded the abduction.[27] On November 7, 2014 the organization "Security and Justice" started a petition on CitizenGO demanding justice and clarification of the disappearance of 43 students. In a few days, more than 17,800 people signed the petition.[28]

On Jan 18, 2015 Natalio Alberto Nisman, an Argentine federal prosecutor who accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was found shot dead at his home in Buenos Aires.[29] Alberto Nisman had been investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. A few days later, CitizenGO launched a petition to call on Argentine justice to clarify the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.[30]

See also

External links

References

  1. 1 2 MATEUSZ WYRWICH. "IN DEFENCE OF OUR VALUES". Sunday Catholic Weekly (Poland). defence of Christian values
  2. 1 2 3 4 J. Lester Feder (29 July 2014). "The Rise Of Europe's Religious Right". Buzzfeed.
    As quoted byMiranda Blue (28 August 2014). "The Religious Right Makes Friends Across The Atlantic". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way.
  3. ↑ "The war for Families in Europe continues, says CitizenGo". Christian Concern. 5 Feb 2014.
  4. ↑ Lester Feder (2 Jul 2014). "The Fight For Marriage Equality In The Pope's Backyard". Buzzfeed. Volontè is also on the board of CitizenGo, a globalizing online mobilizing platform that grew out of the Spanish organization instrumental in promoting a bill to restrict abortion enacted in 2010.
  5. ↑ "El Salvador's Right-Wing Media Begins Sustained Campaign Against Releasing 17 Women Imprisoned on Abortion-Related Charges". RH Reality Check. 11 Aug 2014. CitizenGO, a Madrid-based Christian foundation whose principles include the belief that life begins at conception.
  6. ↑ "'Don't euthanize kids': Spaniards tell Belgium". TheLocal.es. 27 Feb 2014.
  7. ↑ Miranda Blue (2 Feb 2015). "NOM Praises Roy Moore For Standing Against 'Judicial Tyranny' On Marriage". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way.
  8. 1 2 "What is CitizenGO?". CitizenGo.
  9. ↑ Andrea Gagliarducci (20 Oct 2014). "200,000 activists tell Europe: stand up for persecuted Christians". Catholic News Agency.
  10. ↑ "Freedom for Asia Bibi. #ChristianPersecution". 1 Mar 2014. Archived from the original on 11 Nov 2014.
    See also "Fredom for Asia Bibi". Citizen GO Youtube. Nov 2014.
  11. ↑ "Antiabortistas, en el pueblo de Aído: 'Bibi: vive y deja vivir'". ElMundo.es. 16 May 2009.
  12. ↑ "La Justicia paquistaní revisará la condena a muerte de Asia Bibi el próximo 27 de mayo". ABC.es. 21 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "Thousands Sign Online Petition to Stop 'Black Mass'". Good Morning America. 16 Sep 2014. The petition calls the event "offensive and blasphemous,” and "designed as a mockery of the Catholic Mass.”
  14. ↑ "Brazilian congressman sues site for satirical video, accuses it of hurting religious freedom". Journalism in the Americas blog. University of Texas Knight Center. A petition by religious activist group CitizenGo
  15. ↑ "Statement by worldwide organizations in support of the Russian Federal Law On Protection of Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development" (PDF).
    As quoted by Miranda Blue (3 Sep 2013). "Six US Conservative Groups Sign Statement Supporting Russian 'Gay Propaganda' Ban". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way.
  16. ↑ Magdalena Korzekwa (25 Sep 2013). "Tolerance and non-discrimination (Equality of opportunity for women and men; including: Implementation of the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality)".
  17. ↑ "Globalizing Homophobia: How the American Right Supports and Defends Russia's Anti-Gay Crackdown". People for the American Way.
  18. ↑ Cole Parke (16 July 2014). "WHOSE FAMILY? RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S "FAMILY VALUES" AGENDA ADVANCES INTERNATIONALLY".
  19. ↑ Miranda Blue (28 Jan 2015). "Brian Brown's CitizenGo Promoting Anti-LGBT Referendum In Slovakia". Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way.
  20. ↑ Peter Montgomery (2 Jan 2015). "GLOBAL PRECAP: 5 RELIGION AND LGBT STORIES TO LOOK FOR IN 2015". Religion Dispatches. USC Arnnenberg. CitizenGo, a conservative social media operation, is gathering signatures cheering Hungary’s role in the summit.
  21. ↑ Committee to Elect Scott Lively (28 Oct 2013). "Massachusetts Republican Party: No More RINOs! Run a True Conservative for Governor". Archived from the original on 3 Feb 2014. defend conservative and biblical values...run a Pro-Family and Pro-Life candidate for Governor
    As quoted by Jeremy Hooper (14 Jan 2014). "Brian Brown extends his anti-LGBT activism across the globe". Glaad blog.
  22. ↑ Barry, Stephanie (August 19, 2013). "Crimes against humanity lawsuit against anti-gay evangelist Pastor Scott Lively, of Springfield, advances in federal court". The Republican/MassLive.com.
  23. ↑ NIKOLAJ NIELSEN (4 Feb 2014). "MEP receives 41,000 emails against gay rights". EU Observer.
  24. ↑ http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/spanish-petition-asks-belgian-king-to-stop-euthanasia-law-1.1296778
  25. ↑ http://www.genethique.org/en/infanticide-must-be-condemned-petition-council-europe-reaches-100000-signatures-62566.html
  26. ↑ http://citizengo.org/en/5090-peace-ukraine
  27. ↑ http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/04/world/americas/mexico-missing-students/
  28. ↑ http://citizengo.org/es/13360-acuerdo-mexico-por-justicia-y-paz
  29. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30877296
  30. ↑ http://citizengo.org/es/16473-justicia-para-nisman-y-40-millones-argentinos
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