You can make difference on ‘Whiteband Day’ - 1 July 2005
Release Date: 9 May 2005
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General
I am writing this at the end of the final planning meeting of the International Facilitation Group of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) in the run up to the first “Whiteband Day” on 1 July 2005. GCAP’s objectives are to push for trade justice, debt cancellation for poor countries, and more and better quality of aid. A fourth set of policy demands is aimed at developing country governments to improve governance, gender equality and development effectiveness.
The symbol of the Global Call - a simple white band (which can be used as a headband, arm band or wrist band) - was chosen since we wanted a symbol that poor people could access without needing to purchase a mass manufactured item, even though in many countries this is also available.
Much of the focus at the planning meeting was on the first Whiteband Day which has been timed in the run-up to the meeting of the G8 countries (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, USA, Japan and Russia). Unfortunately, the nature of global economic, military and political power means that this small number of governments, often without the consent of their own citizens, are able to either block progress towards eradicating poverty or to enable progress. In the main, notwithstanding several statements from representatives of these governments about how concerned they are about deepening poverty and inequality, the reality of their practice suggests that they are primarily committed to advancing their own national interests without having any real commitment, courage or vision to move the world in the direction of greater equality and solidarity.
As a colleague from Africa pointed out to me recently, if all the statements of concern for Africa, and the various promises made by rich country governments to address the historical injustices against the African continent, were made reality, Africa would be the richest continent in the world. Needless to say, this double-talk is the reality facing all developing country governments and their people in the world at the moment.
In 2005, the GCAP aims to hold governments accountable to their citizens, both in developing and developed countries. The Tsunami tragedy taught us that citizens are way ahead of their governments in terms of a commitment to global citizenship and global solidarity and, in fact, believe that particularly rich country governments are doing much more than they are actually doing because of the spin, lies and half truths articulated by their governments.
Peaceful demonstrations are scheduled to take place around the world on 1 July, to make a clear statement to our political leaders that we will no longer accept their excuses and their failure to even deliver on there minimalist and often uninspiring commitments. Of course, we want to push them even further than they are prepared to go, but getting them, in the first instance, to be accountable for what they have committed to in terms of trade justice, debt cancellation and improved quality of aid and quantity of aid is the focus of this effort. For example, some 35 years ago, rich country governments agreed to commit 0.7% of their GDP to support the poor countries of the world. Thirty-five years is a long time to wait for less than 1%! Poor farmers in the developing world are prevented from receiving support from their governments but rich country governments blatantly provide huge subsidies to various business sectors making it impossible for poor countries to compete. The European Union, for example, subsidises every European cow to the tune of two Euros per day – and almost half of humanity has to survive on less than that every day!
The time really has come for the broadest section of citizens to come together around the world to say that enough is enough. The future of this planet depends on achieving a fair, just, equitable and sustainable way of managing the scarce and finite resources on this planet. If part of humanity lives in abject poverty, the bottom line is that all of humanity is poor.
Through this column, I want to appeal to you to visit www.whiteband.org to look at how you can become involved. The important thing about GCAP, as it continues to grow rapidly, is that its supporters include the largest religious networks, trade unions, NGOs and various organisations that would normally work in isolation from each other. This is a time for unity, a time for putting aside our differences and focusing on so much that civil society organisations agree on.
However, central to the success of this peaceful mobilisation of human solidarity is every citizen who wants to be part of the solution. We have now come to the point where we must recognize that every one of us is either part of the problem or part of the solution. GCAP is not an organisation, it is a Global Call to Action, a call to the conscience of every citizen we can reach around the world. This is a Global Call that does not have leaders, offices, bureaucracy or dedicated funding. It draws on the goodwill of those that support the call. We want to create a framework for action where every citizen sees himself or herself as a leader in their own right, who should feel free to organise people to stand together. On 1 July, in the run up to the G8 meeting, you can do several things to make this a reality:
1. Visit www.whiteband.org to find out what events are planned and how you can get involved.
2. Wear the whiteband everyday if you can and get others to do likewise so that people are constantly reminded that almost half of the population of this planet lives in either abject or relative poverty. In particular, please consider wearing the whiteband on 1 July.
3. If you have a cellphone, send a text message to every one on your cellphone list asking them to visit www.whiteband.org and to explore organising activities on 1 July, and to find out what national platforms in your country are planning. In many countries around the world, people will be marching to the G8 embassies to put their demands peacefully to those governments representatives around the world. Please feel free to organise teach-ins on these issues, candle night vigils, prayer services and whatever other activities make sense in your context.
4. Please send an email to people on your email list and encourage them to get involved; and encourage organisations to put a link from their websites to www.whiteband.org.
I also encourage you to download free of charge from the www.civicus.org website a handbook on campaigning, which has many useful tips.
Let’s send a strong and clear message to governments around the world on 1 July that says that we are not prepared to be divided any longer on the lines of north and south, or east and west. Let’s tell them that we realize that unless all human beings on this planet can live with decency and are able to have their basic needs met, all of humanity is impoverished. But most of all, let’s tell our political leaders that they do have the power to make a difference and that we refuse to accept their excuses any longer. We refuse to accept that every three seconds a child dies needlessly because of their inaction and indifference!
Should you want more information on what is being planned or if you want to get involved, please write to my colleague henri@civicus.org. We need your creativity, your contribution and your commitment. In whatever work you are doing to make this world more just and fair, we encourage you in your efforts and simply ask that in the course of your work you consider linking your efforts to the broad demands for justice that form the basis of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty.
Warmest regards,
Kumi Naidoo
Please send your comments and suggestions to e-mail kumi@civicus.org.
