Michael Karadjis
2014-10-21 13:20:33 UTC
https://diary.thesyriacampaign.org/eu-aviation-fuel-ban/
We won!
Europe bans the sale of aviation fuel to Syria
We did it! Big thank you to the 3,655 people who sent an email to the
Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini.
In just one day we shifted Italy?s position and now Europe has agreed to
ban the sale of aviation fuel to Syria. The same fuel used to drop rusty
barrel bombs on schools, hospitals and homes by the regime. It?s an epic
win, and it happened in record time. This is proof that this works ?
please please we need you on future campaigns.
So how did we manage to turn Europe?s fourth richest country in a day?
Well here?s what happened:
Last Thursday we got an email from a friend with diplomatic contacts
inside the European negotiations, saying that Italy was blocking this
key proposal to ban aviation fuel as part of the Syrian sanctions
We called contacts in Brussels and they spoke to other diplomatic
sources who confirmed that Italy was indeed blocking the ban
We knew that these negotiations would be continuing through the
weekend and that the buck stopped with the Italian Foreign Minister ?
Federica Mogherini ? a rising star in Europe who would not want to be
associated with a policy backing the killing of civilians
After scrambling an email together to the 48,132 people on The Syria
Campaign email list, thousands of you emailed Mogherini and contacted
her on Twitter asking her to drop opposition to the ban
Bloomberg and European Voice (the biggest EU weekly) picked up the
story ? adding to the pressure
Within three hours Ms Mogherini had responded on Twitter saying ?I?ve
checked and stopped a technical input? ? her way of saying the decision
was made below her and she?s overruled it. But we still weren?t sure she
was talking about the aviation fuel. We knew Italy supported the wider
sanctions, but this was about the fuel behind the bombs. We asked Ms
Mogherini for clarity but she didn?t give it. So the campaign kept on
rolling?.
As it grew, larger names started picking it up and Mia Farrow
tweeted to her half-a-million followers: mia farrow
By this time the emails and tweets were really flooding into
Mogherini?s inbox and she snapped a little bit:mogherini
We then got confirmation from our diplomatic contacts that ?the
member state who once had problems is now ready to move forward?.
Bloomberg confirmed the Italian change and a few moments ago we heard
that the European meeting agreed the ban.
Victory took 26 hours from start to finish. Astonishing.
A Brussels insider confirmed to us on email that ?your campaign has had
a big impact? and one of the journalists commented to us saying
?interesting what a bit of publicity can do?. So huge thank you again
for making that a successful couple of days. Making it harder to refuel
these helicopters and planes that are terrorising ordinary Syrians far
from the front lines is a great achievement. But there is so much more
that needs to be done to stop the violence from all sides, so let?s keep
going.
? Anna, The Syria Campaign
We won!
Europe bans the sale of aviation fuel to Syria
We did it! Big thank you to the 3,655 people who sent an email to the
Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini.
In just one day we shifted Italy?s position and now Europe has agreed to
ban the sale of aviation fuel to Syria. The same fuel used to drop rusty
barrel bombs on schools, hospitals and homes by the regime. It?s an epic
win, and it happened in record time. This is proof that this works ?
please please we need you on future campaigns.
So how did we manage to turn Europe?s fourth richest country in a day?
Well here?s what happened:
Last Thursday we got an email from a friend with diplomatic contacts
inside the European negotiations, saying that Italy was blocking this
key proposal to ban aviation fuel as part of the Syrian sanctions
We called contacts in Brussels and they spoke to other diplomatic
sources who confirmed that Italy was indeed blocking the ban
We knew that these negotiations would be continuing through the
weekend and that the buck stopped with the Italian Foreign Minister ?
Federica Mogherini ? a rising star in Europe who would not want to be
associated with a policy backing the killing of civilians
After scrambling an email together to the 48,132 people on The Syria
Campaign email list, thousands of you emailed Mogherini and contacted
her on Twitter asking her to drop opposition to the ban
Bloomberg and European Voice (the biggest EU weekly) picked up the
story ? adding to the pressure
Within three hours Ms Mogherini had responded on Twitter saying ?I?ve
checked and stopped a technical input? ? her way of saying the decision
was made below her and she?s overruled it. But we still weren?t sure she
was talking about the aviation fuel. We knew Italy supported the wider
sanctions, but this was about the fuel behind the bombs. We asked Ms
Mogherini for clarity but she didn?t give it. So the campaign kept on
rolling?.
As it grew, larger names started picking it up and Mia Farrow
tweeted to her half-a-million followers: mia farrow
By this time the emails and tweets were really flooding into
Mogherini?s inbox and she snapped a little bit:mogherini
We then got confirmation from our diplomatic contacts that ?the
member state who once had problems is now ready to move forward?.
Bloomberg confirmed the Italian change and a few moments ago we heard
that the European meeting agreed the ban.
Victory took 26 hours from start to finish. Astonishing.
A Brussels insider confirmed to us on email that ?your campaign has had
a big impact? and one of the journalists commented to us saying
?interesting what a bit of publicity can do?. So huge thank you again
for making that a successful couple of days. Making it harder to refuel
these helicopters and planes that are terrorising ordinary Syrians far
from the front lines is a great achievement. But there is so much more
that needs to be done to stop the violence from all sides, so let?s keep
going.
? Anna, The Syria Campaign