Jul 18 2012

25,000 signatures for Alexander Aan

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You can do it! There’s a petition asking President Obama to speak out on behalf of jailed Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan. It needs 25,000 signatures by mid-August to get a response from the White House. Easy, right?

So go sign it already.

Tags: blasphemy, make Obama jump, trivial effort for significant gain

18 comments

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1

crocswsocks

18 July 2012 at 11:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Er… Alexander Aas is a Norwegian soccer player. “Aan” is the right one.
2

ChasCPeterson

18 July 2012 at 12:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Important issue aside for a second (sorry):

To guarantee a response from the Obama administration, this petition must receive at least 25,000 signatures within 30 days.

What?
Who made up this New Rule?
3

Paul

18 July 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

What?
Who made up this New Rule?

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/how-why/terms-participation

The White House reserves the right to change the time limits and signature thresholds and apply them to petitions created after the change has been published to this “Current thresholds” section:

AS OF OCTOBER 3, 2011:

To cross the first threshold and be searchable within WhiteHouse.gov, a petition must reach 150 signatures within 30 days.

To cross the second threshold and require a response, a petition must reach 25,000 signatures within 30 days.

Of course, CFI doesn’t appear to have read the previous paragraph:

To avoid the appearance of improper influence, the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government in its response to a petition.

This could easily be ignored on grounds that this case is being handled properly within the jurisdiction of Indonesia.

Still, worth signing.
4

simonsays

18 July 2012 at 12:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Signed.
5

robro

18 July 2012 at 1:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I’m trying to sign but they’re making me jump through the email hoop again. Their message is completely bogus…”Too many failed log ins.” What!? I just set up this password yesterday when I tried to sign a petition, and I only entered it once. Jeez…

Ok, done. Over 23k have already signed, so mid-August should be a snap.
6

Paul

18 July 2012 at 1:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ok, done. Over 23k have already signed, so mid-August should be a snap.

Actually, no, that’s a terrible UI fail (and was my first impression before I read closer).

1,777 have signed. They still need 23,223 signatures to hit their goal.

It still seems likely that it should get to that threshold easily enough, but it’s hardly at “it’s a snap” yet. Perhaps within a couple days, if momentum doesn’t die.
7

Louis

18 July 2012 at 2:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Amnesty International are also doing a write in/petition campaign, so give them a look too please.

Louis
8

skeptifem

18 July 2012 at 2:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Don’t they kill people in indonesia for drug offenses?
9

emptybook

18 July 2012 at 2:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

A worthy cause, and I hope Mr Obama consents to speak on this. It is great when America uses its clout for Good.

However, this website is awful :(
The pop-up mouseover link for why you need an account doesn’t actually explain the reasons, just again that you do and in more detail. Furthermore, it contains links that you can’t click because the pop-up doesn’t persist after you take your mouse away from ‘why’. Argh!
Some IT type needs a sharp jab in the ribs for that.
10

'Tis Himself

18 July 2012 at 2:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It wasn’t easy creating the login but I finally got the petition signed.
11

MHiggo

18 July 2012 at 3:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Paul #3

This could easily be ignored on grounds that this case is being handled properly within the jurisdiction of Indonesia.

That’s debatable. Indonesia’s state philosophy (Pancasila) requires belief in one and only one God through one of six state-sanctioned religions, but it also “guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief.” Does that freeze out the atheists or the many animist tribes in this country? There’s also the question of whether Pancasila conflicts with the myriad international human rights charters Indonesia has signed.

@skeptifem #8

Don’t they kill people in indonesia for drug offenses?

Yes, drug smugglers can receive the death penalty here, but application of the country’s laws is nebulous at best. Alexander got three and a half out of a possible six years for admitting to being an atheist and causing “outrage” among the local populace, but you can spend as little as three months in jail for murder as long as you kill the right person (i.e. an Ahmadiyah Muslim).
12

Draken

18 July 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I have this feeling neither Obama, nor any other western leading politician, is going to say anything much about Alexander Aan. Indonesia’s got cheap labour, and possibly oil reserves.
13

chakolate

18 July 2012 at 4:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Seriously? What’s the point? We’ve actually made enough signatures before on other petitions, and all we got was ‘The Administration feels it’s not worth looking at, but thanks for your input.’

They only promise to answer, not to do what you are asking. So far, the answer has always been, ‘No’.
14

Paul

18 July 2012 at 4:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That’s debatable. Indonesia’s state philosophy (Pancasila) requires belief in one and only one God through one of six state-sanctioned religions, but it also “guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief.” Does that freeze out the atheists or the many animist tribes in this country?

My point wasn’t that it was Just, my point was that Obama or his handlers in the Executive could decide that this is an issue the Indonesian Justice System has proper juristiction over and needs to deal with themselves, thus nulling the “required response” to the poll. I still encourage people to sign, and if needed raise hell if it gets ignored (which I think would be an easy thing for them to “justify”, if they wanted to, as it is not within their jurisdiction by any stretch to demand Indonesia remedy contradictions in their judicial code). I just don’t expect much from Obama.
15

Thomas Lawson

18 July 2012 at 5:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

#1508, y’all.
16

crocswsocks

18 July 2012 at 7:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Heh, now that PZ fixed it, my first comment makes no sense. Hindsight…
17

truthspeaker

19 July 2012 at 1:03 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I just noticed something else on the site. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are both listed as members of the “Administration”. WTF?
18

satanaugustine

19 July 2012 at 4:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

chakolate@13 said:

Seriously? What’s the point? We’ve actually made enough signatures before on other petitions, and all we got was ‘The Administration feels it’s not worth looking at, but thanks for your input.’

The point is that we don’t give up on any issue, no matter how many ‘no’s we get. A man has been jailed for coming out as an atheist. Just sign the petition. It causes you no harm and may very well lessen the harm done to another human being. Imagine you’re Alexander Aan and some privileged American can’t be bothered to sign a simple petition because “What’s the point?”