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Poster with request to formate Orange groups

Letter to the maillist about the Orange groups

Questions and answers about

the Orange supporting groups:

TheColorOrange supporting Groups

TheColorOrange supporting groups are to support the idea about using The Color Orange to criticism of human rights violations in China in connection to the OG2008.

The whole project TheColorOrange is carried by thousands of different ideas and approaches to criticism of China and an organisation of supporting groups is not an attempt to change that at all. It is meant to be seen as a way of getting thousands of new Orange initiatives at the world map.

We have prepared some questions/answers about the groups. We have undoubtedly forgotten a lot of good ideas and questions/answers, so these should just serve for inspiration.

What is TheColorOrange campaign about?

·        To make the Color Orange a symbol of criticism of China’s human rights violations. See the Orange appeal in 18 languages and frequently asked questions about the orange campaign.

How to make a group:

·        A supporting group can consist of just a few persons, colleagues at work or in sports, friends, classmates or other people who want to help spreading the idea. The motto says “rather a small group than no group”. Two friends are enough for a group and will be able to make a huge difference in their city or local area.

·        If you are a member of a sports organisation or an NGO that is already occupied with China, you can make an internal group, using Orange to focus on OG and China’s human rights violations.

·        If you want to be active, but you do not know anyone, who wants to join, then write contact@TheColorOrange.net, telling that you would like to take part in a supporting group, then we will do our best to bring you in contact with groups in your city or local area.

·        Make a temporary group for example in connection with a sports event, music festival or something else, that you are taking part in anyway and give the event an Orange flair.

·        In some cases it will be necessary to make groups secretly. It can be among OG athletes or journalists, who agree on using some kind of Orange symbol during the OG games. It will not be possible to step up in public because of the dress-code, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set. See the restrictions and TheColorOrange’s advice about these.

Which function has a group?

·        A supporting group is to coordinate and start peaceful Orange activities, and be a forum, where you can support and inspire each other to get new great Orange ideas.

·        The group can work (if you want to) as a kind of local contact for the Orange idea.

Which activities can a supporting group make?

·        Put some Orange pieces of clothes on sculptures, car aerials, lamp standards, trees etc. in the public space to make your city more Orange. It has turned out to give a lot of attention from the press, who become wildly curious and afterwards write about China and TheColorOrange.

·        Request people to wear something Orange, stain some clothes orange yourself and use it to draw attention to the Orange idea

·        Make a production of Orange bracelets, flyers or stickers, which can be handed out at education institutions, pedestrian areas, festivals, conferences, sports- or culture events etc. Examples of activities can be seen here.

·        Make Orange arrangements and happenings for instance by wrapping something in Orange, somewhat like the style of “Christo” or make art exhibitions with an Orange flair.

·        Make E-mail or SMS chains, sending for example the appeal or ideas about using Orange, to other people asking them to forward the message.

·        Contact your friends and people you know in other cities or countries and ask them to make a supporting committee in their local area, at school, at work or the like.

·        If you are a band or the like you can maybe write an Orange song or wear Orange clothes to your concerts and tell the spectators why you are doing it.

·        If you are going to a music festival or the like then organise a small group, which will make sure the arrangement gets an orange touch to put focus on China.

·        Contact the OG athletes, politicians and journalists of your country, who are to take part in the OG. Tell them about the Orange idea and request them to (secretly) using the Color to mark their concern for the human rights in China.

·        Contact the press and ask them to write about the Orange idea and participate actively themselves. For example by making the OG logo of the newspaper or website Orange to mark, they are keeping a critical eye on the human rights situation in China.

·        Write debate letters about China and OG, where you at the same time introduce the Orange idea.

·        Contact the political parties and parliamentarians and ask them to use Orange to show they are serious about their concern about the human rights in China. In contrast to journalists and athletes they can state in public, why they are using the Color Orange. We have sent out the Orange appeal to more than 30,000 parliamentarians all over the world, so they might know about it already, they just need a small push by some local citizens.

·        All of the activities above have already started many places, and you can probably find even more creative ways to use the Color Orange. Check the “blog you action” section on our website and see what other people have made. Here you’ll find the metro, the musician band, marathon race in Austria, art exhibition, Mont Blanc flag. Several TV journalists have reported in Orange shirts or ties, athletes, Orange bracelets were handed out at the Danish Championship in handball, orange websites, knitting for Orange.

Do you need a certain opinion to join an Orange supporting group?

·        No. The idea about using Orange is exactly that everybody claiming that China must improve their human rights can use the Color Orange as a kind of peaceful common symbol of the fact, that there is something wrong with the human rights in China.

Do you commit yourself to something by joining a supporting group?

·        No. You can do exactly, what you think, is the best to tell about China and the idea of using Orange. But the campaign is based on creating a peaceful, legal and non-violent dialogue, and this is important to take into consideration while you are making actions.

·        Actually, this is not a campaign in a traditional sense. The event is to work as a catalyst for a kind of wave or automatic emotion that is waving over the world. It is a lot more similar to poetry or art than to usual political activism. It is a global story, telling itself. You can say that we are beginning a fight against the totalitarian Chinese regime about the interpretation of reality.

Where do we get the money to make Orange activities?

Do you get support from TheColorOrange office in Denmark?

·        This whole event is sent out from the workshop of Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, who has launched project together with the Chinese Democracy Movement to support the criticism of the human rights in China. But we will do our best to back the Orange supporting groups and the project. So you are highly welcome to write, if you need any good advice or support for an extraordinary project.

·        We have printed a lot of fine Orange stickers, which we will readily send to you, so you will have something to get started with. The materials to make pieces of clothes, thread for bracelets, flyers and so on, will not be worth to send, as this is more expensive than buying it locally. But we would of course like to send out examples of how to create these things.

·        Economy: if you need money for materials, you can for example sell some bracelets or stickers, so you can afford to make more, which you can hand out for free. It is our impression that people on the street and other places do not mind paying a bit to support the project. TheColorOrange is a non-profit project and any profit must be spent to promote the idea even more.

·        The press: We have some huge press networks all over the world, probably also in your country, so we would like to help arranging contact to the press and send out information about activities. The press contacts us regularly, saying they would like to be in contact with some local Orange activists. For the moment we have contact to a film team, who wants to make a documentary about Orange activists in Australia.

·        The website:  www.TheColorOrange.net is of course available for you. Here you can put information about your activities, photos for the press to download, and a contact address to the local group, if you are interested in getting more people to join. We will try to make it so, that your group will have a page available on the website, where you can put up things yourself.

Back to:

• 10 June: Become active in your local supporting groups