RootsAction.org
| Available in | English |
|---|---|
| Owner | David Swanson[1] |
| Slogan(s) | Connect. Act. Grow. |
| Website |
rootsaction |
| Alexa rank |
 178,542 (Global, January–March 2014) |
| Launched | 2011 |
RootsAction.org[2] is a U.S.-based nonprofit progressive online activist group that pushes for policy changes through online petitions and email action pages that generate emails to government officials and other targets. Claiming to eschew partisanship, RootsAction has a decidedly leftist bent, although it has pressured Democrats and Republicans alike, and engaged in very little advocacy for electoral candidates.[3] RootsAction was founded in 2011 by Norman Solomon[4] and Jeff Cohen. It had a half-million members by the end of 2014.
Structure
RootsAction is the sole project of a 501c4 named Action for a Progressive Future. A related 501c3 is called RootsAction Education Fund. RootsAction is funded through the donations of its members but appears to have had start-up funding. RootsAction's board includes Norman Solomon, Jeff Cohen, Deborah Thomas, and Board Chair Pia Gallegos. David Swanson[5] is RootsAction's Campaign Coordinator. RootsAction used trades and collaborations with other organizations, media coverage, online advertising, offline events, and sharing on social media to grow from zero to a half-million members in its first four years. In 2014 RootsAction created a do-it-yourself petition site called DIY RootsAction.
Activities
RootsAction claims that its priorities are "economic fairness, equal rights, civil liberties, environmental protection, and defunding endless wars."[6]
- In 2012 RootsAction formed a coalition of poets against a life sentence for a poet in Qatar (punishment for reading a poem). His sentence was reduced to 15 years.[7]
- RootsAction has organized dozens of organizations to support the complete banning of weaponized drones.[8]
- In 2012, RootsAction was the first to protest NBC's reality show "Stars Earn Stripes," which was canceled.[9]
- RootsAction has opposed attempts to eliminate Saturday mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
- RootsAction opposed Susan Rice's unsuccessful nomination for Secretary of State over her investments in corporations backing the Keystone tar sands pipeline.[10]
- RootsAction has opposed increased interest rates on student debt and supported canceling all student debt.
- In 2013, RootsAction supported urging President Obama to seek Congressional authorization before attacking Syria, and pressuring Congress to reject that request. In September 2013 both houses of Congress made clear that they would reject an authorization of war on Syria.[11]
- In 2013, 2014, and 2015 RootsAction has opposed new sanctions for Iran.[12]
- In 2015 RootsAction hosted a coalition site urging Congress Members to "Skip The Speech" prior to a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Approximately 50 Congress members committed to skipping the speech and did so.
- RootsAction supported net neutrality for years prior to the Federal Communications Commission's decision in February 2015 to uphold it.[13]
- In 2014-2015, RootsAction was part of stopping the creation of what would have been the largest trash incinerator in the United States, in Baltimore.
Whistleblowers
RootsAction has taken a particular interest in whistleblowers. In 2012, RootsAction asked Ecuador to grant asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. RootsAction made news with a petition urging that Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning receive the Nobel Peace Prize. RootsAction has supported Edward Snowden from soon after he became known. RootsAction petitioned the U.S. and Yemeni governments to free journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, who was freed in 2013. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped a threat to imprison author and journalist James Risen if he refused to reveal his source for the reporting he'd done on Operation Merlin, in which the CIA had given flawed blueprints for nuclear weapons to Iran. RootsAction had organized a coalition to demand that outcome and had collected over 100,000 signatures on a petition to the President and the Attorney General. RootsAction continued to defend Risen's alleged, and now convicted, source Jeffrey Sterling urging unsuccessfully that the Department of Justice drop the charges against him.[14]
References
- ↑ https://who.is/whois/rootsaction.org
- ↑ http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/RootsAction.org
- ↑ http://www.prwatch.org/spin/2011/01/9886/rootsactionorg-taps-discontented-left
- ↑ Norman Solomon
- ↑ David Swanson
- ↑ http://www.newsmedianews.com/diarch.php?archive=1408144489&tag=RootsAction&id=148
- ↑ Mohammed al-Ajami
- ↑ http://www.occupy.com/article/50-organizations-call-ban-armed-drones
- ↑ http://yubanet.com/life/Veterans-Military-Families-Peace-Groups-Protest-New-NBC-Show-Stars-Earn-Stripes_printer.php
- ↑ http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/672198221/m/4530099792001
- ↑ http://lg-la.com/of-interest/next-step-for-peace-in-syria-stop-the-lethal-aid/
- ↑ http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=1125
- ↑ https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sid-l/l-STm25X3-A
- ↑ https://www.popularresistance.org/beyond-snowden-new-group-to-clear-a-path-for-more-whistleblowers/