Stand up and speak out against poverty and inequality

STAND UP TAKE ACTION

OCTOBER 17-19, 2008

 
The core global slogan is “Stand Up and Take Action”

Against Poverty and Inequality
For the Millennium Development Goals

National GCAP coalitions determine their precise political messaging according to national priorities, based on the demands of the Beirut Declaration and reaffirmed in the Montevideo Declaration. The overarching messages are

 

Also FOR

Public accountability, just governance and the fulfilment of human rights

Trade Justice

A major increase in the quantity and quality of aid and financing for development

Debt cancellation

Gender equality and women’s rights

Human Rights- Freedom from poverty

Government Accountability

 

Link to Current Financial Crisis

If billions can be found now to bail out banks so quickly then we want to know why the same is not found to bail out the poor - money promised in the past should be delivered on target and aid levels are in fact dropping.

If the money and focus applied to the top of the ‘pyramid’ now was used for those at the bottom, you would see far greater lasting effects for the world.

Women bear the greatest burden of poverty and in times of economic instability this
increases considerably.  Women and youth must be prioritised in protection schemes for dealing with this crisis.

This is time for a re-think of the global financial system, which has never worked in favour of poor people, and contributes directly to growing inequality and exclusion.
Irresponsible banking practice, which has been allowed to continue without regulation for a long time, is being protected in this situation.  The traders and bankers are being guaranteed their bonuses while the rest of their populations face unemployment and recession.  This is not just. 

Questions & Answers

Q. What is October 17th?

It is officially International day for the Eradication of Poverty – launched in 1987 by ATD
Fourth world and adopted by the UN in 1992. It’s traditionally a day of engagement by the public to put pressure on decision makers, and build momentum for further campaigning on global poverty and injustice. This year, around 100 countries and GCAP national coalitions around the world will be joining with others taking action under the unifying theme of “Stand Up and Take Action”. 

Q. What is the Global Call To Action Against Poverty?

The Global Call to Action against Poverty and Inequality is a worldwide alliance of over 100 national coalitions/platforms made of social movements, women’s organizations, faith groups, trade unions, community groups, youth organizations and individuals working to tackle poverty and inequality in their countries and around the world.  GCAP was launched at the World Social Forum in 2005 and has grown into the largest ever anti-poverty movement: millions of people, in rich and poor countries, now support the alliance.

The first of the GCAP-led events, the Make Poverty History (MPH) campaign, was held before the July 2005 summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations in Gleneagles, Scotland. GCAP supporters are united by their use of the white band – a symbol that people, towns and cities all over the world can adopt to highlight the injustice of global poverty and inequality. 

Q What does GCAP want?

We want to hold governments accountable for taking the steps necessary to end poverty, reduce inequality and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, as they promised in 2000.

GCAP demands that any solutions must address the issues of:

·   Just governance, be accountable to the general public, and towards the fulfillment of human rights

·   Trade justice  - offering real solutions to a trade system that they are now largely excluded from

·   A substantial increase in the quantity and quality of aid, and financing for development

·   Debt cancellation

·   That gender equality and women’s rights be recognized as a central issue for poverty eradication.

Human rights

The rights of every human being must be respected. Women must have equal rights with men,  everywhere; the rights of children, youth and indigenous and other excluded groups must be  upheld – and their equal participation in society must be seen as critical in fighting poverty.

GCAP is a partner of the Every Human Has Rights Campaign in 2008 to mark the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  In October, we draw particular attention to the Right to Freedom from Poverty as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and invite people to take the action of reading and signing the UDHR online on our website or at their events.

Q.  Global Poverty – what is the problem?

Poverty continues to claim 50,000 lives a day. Every single day, 30,000 children die because they are poor. Five people die from HIV/AIDS every minute. More than 100 million children around the world are denied the chance to go to school.

Billions of people are living in poverty, not through chance or by nature, but because of
 human decisions - particularly economic decisions around unjust global trade rules, the huge  burden of debt, insufficient and ineffective aid and inappropriate economic policies imposed  by rich countries which serve to create and sustain poverty in developing countries. Poor country governments should also play their part in tacking corruption and reducing the  inequality gaps in a way that is sustainable, democratic, transparent, and accountable to their citizens.

As Nelson Mandela said in 2005, “poverty is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings”.

Q. How exactly is GCAP taking action from October 17-19th?

The weekend starts with International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and offers people the following two days to mobilise their communities and on faith days.  The main action will be done under the banner of Stand Up and Take Action which is a countable coordinated action.

It is also the culmination of 50 days of action on poverty that began at the Accra Aid
Effectiveness Summit in Ghana on September 1st, this was followed by an intense lobby
of world leaders attending the UN Summit and High Level Event on the Millennium Goals
in New York in September.  That was followed by World Day for Decent Work, Rural
Women’s Day and World Food Day.  Earlier in 2008, GCAP mobilized around
International Women’s Day in March, at the World Food Summit in Rome in June and the
Japanese G8 Summit in July. 

Q. What do you think you’ll achieve?

Firstly, we will keep a focus on poverty at a time when so many people are worried about the financial crisis.Secondly, we will maintain pressure on leaders just less than a month after they met in New York and reaffirmed their commitment to the MDGs.
Thirdly, we will hand over specific and measurable demands that policymakers can adopt and which will have an effect of reducing poverty.Fourthly, we will show that anti-poverty campaigners are still here, that we are a growing movement and that we want to be heard.

In 2005, the G8 responded to unprecedented international campaigning on debt by promising  'historic' debt cancellation at their Gleneagles summit. This promise has become the 'Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative'. Bolivia and Mauritania both directed funds from debt relief towards improving healthcare. Before debt relief, only around 40% of births in each country were attended by a health professional – now it is nearly 60% in Mauritania and 70% in Bolivia.

This year again we know that we can make things change!

Q. Isn’t this type of campaigning a waste of time because of corruption in developing
countries?

If we are to eradicate poverty then corruption has to be tackled, whether that is corruption  in rich or poor countries, in governments, international institutions or businesses. In the end it is the poorest people who are most affected by corruption and who suffer as a result of it.   That’s why GCAP is not just tackling aid, debt and trade, but also calling for "public accountability" and "just governance". Across the developing world, GCAP is demanding national efforts to eliminate poverty that are sustainable and implemented in a way that is democratic, transparent, and accountable to citizens.   You will see this October 17-19th many millions of people in poor countries in particular holding their own leaders to account for how aid money is spent…they will make sure the pressure is kept at their end too.

Q. What is Stand Up and what’s the world record?

In collaboration with the UN Millennium Campaign, GCAP is has focused for the past two
 years on one action that people anywhere can take that is both simple and symbolic.  That is taking a stand, literally, against poverty.

In 2006 we set a new Guinness record of 23 million people when we took this Stand up.

Last year we broke it when over 43 million people were recorded participating.  By linking  the stand up to the political demands in each country the record offers a great and verifiable  statistic that GCAP can use throughout the year to support lobbying efforts and other mobilization moments.

Q. Why do we need to count the numbers?

We want to show decision makers the massive scale of the movement of people against poverty. We all estimate numbers of supporters at events for reporting and media purposes. The difference this time is that we are adding the numbers from events all over the world together. The Guinness record allows us simply to verify those numbers through an independent source.

Q. How does “Standing Up” help fight poverty and inequality?

Standing up is a symbolic action to show your support of a speech, person or idea. It is not just an action but a display of solidarity. When millions of people around the world stand up together, it is a demonstration of the power of civil society to organise around a common goal. It shows the strength in our united struggle against poverty and inequality.  In history we remember the people who stood up and spoke out “against” or “for” something. Nelson Mandela stood up and spoke out against apartheid. William Wilberforce stood up and spoke out for the abolition of slavery, Martin Luther Kind took a stand against racism in the USA. The Women suffragettes women stood up and spoke out for women to be enfranchised and since then millions of women have stood up and continue to fight for gender equality. We are asking people to stand up and speak out to end extreme poverty and inequality now in 2008.

Q. What’s different about it this year?

In 2006 we called on people around the world to simply Stand up. The response was
unprecedented and showed that people did understand the Millennium Goals and what
meeting them might mean for their lives.
In 2007, we called on people to not only Stand up but to “Speak Out” against poverty
and its root causes.   They spoke out in a variety of ways, some through a new musical piece called The Poverty Requiem, some through delegations to Heads of State in their country, some through debates and conferences.  There were some really successful Women’s Tribunals where women spoke out about the root causes of poverty in their daily lives and made demands on their governments.

In 2008, it moves to concrete actions that individuals, their communities, organisations, companies, friends and families can take that will take us a step closer to meeting and maybe exceeding the Millennium Goals.

The actions range from

-          Signing the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in this the 60th anniversary of the Declaration www.everyhumanhasrights.org

-          planting a tree – over ..trees will be planted by …

-          wearing the white band and encouraging others to do so

-          presenting policy demands and petitions to governments

-          holding poverty tribunals to hear the voices of people living in poverty

-          Actions / Activities aimed at Development / Welfare/ Hunger / Poverty Related

* Organise a free lunch/food distribution

* Distribute free improved seeds, fertilisers

 

Child / Education Related

     * Donate used-books / stationeries

* Build / Reconstruct/retrofit community schools

Health / Public Sanitation Related

* Blood donation Camp

* Improve basic sanitation facilities

     * Mosquito nets distribution

     * Free medical check-up camps

 

Environmental Related

* Tree plantation campaign

* Mobilise community to protect trees

* Mobilise community to build / clean / maintenance of public parks/ponds

* Car-pool/Car-free day

* Waste recycle / No plastic bag campaign

* Setting up appropriate technology fares in the 3 days

 

Actions / Activities aimed at petitions and communications / popular education/ Formal
Statements

* Public speech

* Letters of opposition or support

* Signed public declarations and petition

* Slogans, caricatures, and symbols / displays / caravans

* Sky-writing and earth-writing

* MDG quiz, debates, poster and essay competition

     * Web online / SMS actions 

Actions / Activities aimed at mass action / popular mobilization/dissent

Public speech as part of mobilisation activity

    * Displays of flags and symbolic colours

    * Wearing of symbols – e.g. White bands

    * Prayer and worship

    * Performances of plays and music

    * Singing / Requieming

    * Public concerts

    * Marches

   * Religious processions

    * Teach-ins on MDGs

    * Deputations / Delegations to Government

    * Group lobbying

    * Overloading of facilities by emails / faxes / letters

    * Sit-in to Stand Up

    * Stand-in to Take Action

    * Mill-in to Stand Up

    * Pray-in 

Q. This has the feel of a real publicity stunt. What does the fact that you got people to attend a rally or attend a movie have to do with reducing global poverty?

International days on social issues like Poverty, Food or Aids Day in December have been hugely important moment for lobbyists and campaigners to focus attention and drive policy change.

Stand up is just a unifying way of giving voice to people who want to change the way the world distributes wealth.  Stand Up has been particularly important for empowering people in developing countries where millions literally take to the streets and express their demands in a range of ways but feel they have support from millions more worldwide.

History has shown us that coordinated action, be it huge marches, protests, letter -writing actions or petitions, do bring about change. The anti-apartheid movement, women's rights, anti- war movement, women suffragettes and other historical actions used this technique to bring about shifts in thinking and practice.

Stand up is not about turning up, its about changing attitudes and beliefs, people the world over recognising they have the power to change things by joining force and these events, however big or small.

Q. Isn't there something unseemly about equating number of people focused on poverty
with the world's tallest man or elephant with the longest trunk?

We can’t equate any of these things as each is a fact in its own right but they are records that have a certain novelty factor.  Not all records are like this. We are talking about the largest mobilisation of people in history around a single issue, which happens to be ending poverty and it is important we record this.  And while we know that millions of people take action and have abundant photographic and video proof, many might discredit us in lobby actions unless the number is verified by a globally-recognized entity, and this happens to be Guinness World  Records.

Q. Other than Stand Up, what is the evidence that there is really a growing movement of people who want to see a change in the way wealth is distributed in our world?

When GCAP started 2005 there were 30 national platforms, there are now more than 110.  Coalitions vary in size and constituency but some, like Spain for example, represent a growing alliance of over 500 organisations from the most local and provincial to national. The one thing they have to agree to is the GCAP guiding principles agreed most recently in Montevideo in 2007 and which cover all policy related areas and is the basis for all our work.

Other moments during the calendar year support what we see in numbers during Stand up. Cyber actions to lobby leaders at key moments like the G8 and the Food Summits have shown unequivocally that there are more people willing to speak out on this issue and share a set of principals.

We also are very clear from both Stand Up and other mobilizations, that this is a growing movement in the Global South, as more people have access to technology and understanding of the causes of poverty, there is a sense that more want to be part of  actions like these which are empowering, build solidarity and ensure  they can be heard.

Q. Are people starting to see any changes coming about on specific policies that encourage them to continue to mark October 17th with Standing Up?

Yes, among the many examples we have from a community to national level are;

Philippines: GCAP Philippines began 2006 campaigning activities with a declaration: Poverty Red Alert, which warranted an immediate response from the government and citizens. As such, GCAP Philippines led by Social Watch Philippines together with Freedom from Debt Coalition, among others, engaged legislators and together crafted an alternative budget grounded on the MDGs. This resulted in an increase in health and education spending. In response to the low poverty threshold, GCAP Philippines launched the "PhP 36 is Not Enough" campaign, which mobilised more than 10,000 Filipinos on October 16 2006 (this was the first Stand up)

Malawi: Last year, Malawi mobilised over one million people (nearly 8 percent of the total population) against poverty and inequality on October 17. That sent a clear message to the government that the voice of civil society needed to be a part of the political decision making process. Since then, GCAP has contributed to policy making in several notable ways. The coalition established a consultation process with civil society in the creation of the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy. Furthermore, when civil society questioned the current land policy's compliance with human rights principles, the government invited CSOs to draft a new bill that is currently making its way through Parliament. When 90% of Malawi's debt was cancelled last year, the GCAP coalition has been on the forefront in lobbying efforts for the proper use of funds. All of these examples demonstrate that the GCAP campaign in Malawi has become a strong voice for civil society, and has become a force for policy change in the country.
 

India

Efforts by Indian anti poverty campaigners over the past few years have led to a local policy agenda for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. A campaign focused around the National Development Goals & National Common Minimum Programme, and the reinforcement of the same through Annual Civil Society Reviews, has been developed. They also secured the involvement of 200,000 children in petitioning the Prime Minister and 80 Members of Parliament to ensure 9% of the GDP for the universalization of Health & Education between Nov 2005 to January 2006. Following this, the Prime Minister stated that "Health & Education are the focus of the National Budget 2007-08". The two sectors saw maximum increases within the budget for the same year & the 9% of GDP promise' has since been integrated in the public discourse on government performance.

Q. Right now, there is an international economic meltdown and we're four weeks away from the US Presidential elections, how is this record news?

The fact that in tough times more people are prepared to get out of their comfort zones and, in some cases travel for miles, to take part in a moment that calls to end poverty, says that millions care how these global priorities are set by our leaders.

Never is it more important to keep a focus on poverty than at a time when leaders are under pressure to preserve the economic and financial status quo.  This is a way of giving voice to the people who disagree with bailout proposals for irresponsible bankers and massive bonues for traders who did not do their jobs well.

This financial crisis, and its preceding food price crisis, is particularly devastating to people already affected by poverty and so  never has there been a more important time for people in rich and poor countries to stand together to call for  poverty to be kept a priority of governments and lending institutions.

Just $18 billion annually is needed to ensure the MDGs are met.  When you see that $700 billion found in the US and $87 billion in the UK, you get a sense of what a relatively small amount we are talking about.

Q. Does Aid work?

Make no mistake, when the money is spent in a strategic way, it does make a difference. The first seven years of the Goals have seen some important successes at the aggregate level, including in India - 40 million more children are in school, hundreds of millions of people have come out of extreme poverty, some deadly diseases like tuberculosis and measles have been contained, and fewer people are  dying from HIV/AIDS. But, as the U.N. Secretary-General warned that if the world has to meet the MDGs by 2015, the speed of  implementation needs to be substantially accelerated. Paradoxically, foreign aid levels have actually fallen in the last two years and some of the richest countries are cutting back even further.

Q. What will happen after Stand up?  HOW will we sue the total number

GCAP will announce the total verified number of people who took part in Stand up on
October 22nd 2008.  Thereafter people will be invited to respond to the fact that this
number of people is calling for the MDGs to be met. The outcome will be related in lobby
letters to politicians and presented personally by GCAP coalitions and at major political
events throughout the year.

How has the food crisis impacted on global poverty? What can we do about it?

Millions of people around the world are affected by the food crisis, and it is no surprise that the poor are hardest hit.  Staple food prices in many countries has more than doubled since last year, and for the poorest of the poor, who often spend over 80% of their income on food, are further marginalised.  Rising oil prices, production for biofuels rather than food, distortion of local agricultural markets by unfair trade practices, climate change, and a lack of infrastructure and services available to farmers in developing countries have all combined to exacerbate the rising price of food.