Help set a Guinness world record by standing up to poverty
Release Date: 01 September 2006
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General
Dear e-CIVICUS Subscribers,
For this weeks column, we want to invite you to take part in a unique and exciting event.
All of the different groups, constituencies and country coalitions in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) have agreed to unite once again in 2006. We want all those who want to see an end to poverty, to unite around the world at the same time and demand action. This October, in the build up to the International Day for Poverty Eradication, we will be inviting as many of our individual and organisational supporters to take part in an attempt to break the world record for the most number of people standing up in protest at the same time.
Last year saw real pressure being placed on world leaders to do more on poverty and they began to act, however slowly, with some 100% debt cancellation and European countries promising to double aid by 2010. We must force all governments to turn this rhetoric into results and go further with immediate action to fight poverty. Developed country governments must act on trade justice, debt cancellation for more countries and releasing aid money in the volume and with the speed that they find money for weapons and wars. Developing country governments must do more on governance, fighting corruption and using their resources to tackle inequality and build universal public services so that all of their citizens have a realisable right to health and education.
We rightly criticise governments for coming out with promises at big summits and then ignoring them for five years until they remake them at the next big summit. However we need to make sure we do not make the same mistake. Having united around the world in 2005, if we sit back and do nothing then we will only have ourselves to blame. Therefore it is vital we keep up the pressure and build on the mobilisations from last year. Over 12 million people have died unnecessarily so far from poverty in 2006. This catastrophic madness must stop and I urge you all to get involved.
You can support our call to action this year by taking part in the Stand Up World Record Attempt on 15th/16th October, as part of the GCAP month of global action.
The Stand Up World record attempt has been chosen as it should fit well with any other events and actions that you may have planned, and because it is really easy for your individual supporters and members to take part wherever they are.
The Stand Up events will take place on Sunday 15th and Monday 16th October with the results announced on Tuesday 17th October, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The exact timings and pledge have now been finalised with Guinness World Records, the official organisation that monitors these things, and we now have seven weeks or so to get as many people as possible involved around the world. Please have a think about how you can get those in your network, constituency and community involved. Any group of people can take part in the record attempt whether in a public square, a school, a workplace, a place of worship or even their home.
We will be posting a simple registration form and downloadable leaflet on the GCAP website (www.whiteband.org) from 10th September which will be easy to download and contains all of the information an individual needs to take part on 1 page of paper. Some of the information is already available on the UN Millennium Campaign website (www.millenniumcampaign.org). This information is being written to make it as easy as possible for you to distribute to your networks and supporter databases.
Please help make history and be part of the world record by taking part in an event yourself and by circulating this information to as many people as you can. The impact this stand up event has will be directly linked to the amount of people that are informed about it and have the option of taking part, so anything you can do to send it out widely is deeply appreciated.
If you have any questions or for more information in the meantime please e-mail my colleague on owain@civicus.org.
Stand Up Against Poverty. Stand Up for Equality. Get Involved.
In Solidarity,
Kumi Naidoo
Below you will find all previous columns published within e-CIVICUS editions.
