We´re back October 16th
The TellusBlog.com team are working hard to build the new blog for the reopening on October 16. We´re going to cover the largest action against poverty in history. Stand Up and Speak Out, that will gather millions of people around the world for 24 hours of action.
After the Stand Up and Speak Out activities we will continue to post daily blogs on the issue of the Millennium Development Goals. Please sign in for updates here.
We´re opening our new blog on October 16.
Jonas Eriksson
Editor
jonas@tellusblog.com
Some highlights on October 16-17.
In India the NGO NACDOR is planning a march of 20,000 Dalits. They will all Stand Up and Speak out on issues focusing on land rights and the achievement of MDGs for Dalits in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Across Africa thousands of events are planned. In Kenya, the Ministry of Education has given permission to mobilise 25,000 schools and the Kenyan Commissioner of Prisons will host Stand up and Speak out moments in the prison service across the country (93 prisons holding approximately 60,000 prisoners), attending an event himself at the country’s biggest remand prison, holding 3,000 inmates. This is also the first male prison in Kenya to be headed by a woman. Elsewhere on Lamu Island a human chain will be formed from Lamu to Shela Island, after the finals of an anti-poverty football match.
Leaving from Japan the floating community on Peace Boat’s 59th voyage will once again gather again on the top deck to call for an end to poverty.
In Ramallah, a choir from the University will speak out through music and perform a new musical work “The Poverty Requiem” as one of a unique global chain of 20 performances taking place on every continent. Elsewhere in Palestine, one million Palestinian children throughout the Occupied West Bank and Gaza speak out raising banners, releasing white balloons and shouting slogans to say no to poverty. The children’s activities have been organized jointly with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and are taking place for the first time in both public and private schools, as well as UNWRA schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In Afghanistan campaigners will take to the streets with government ministry staff, private sector representatives and others in Kabul, Harat and Mazar e Sharif to demand greater public accountability, transparency in how foreign aid is spent and tackle corruption in how contracts are awarded.
In Bangladesh, despite the serious flooding earlier this year, civil society groups are mobilizing to demand more and better aid is spent on direct services and employment-generating projects. The Dhaka City Corporation will hold a rally in front of the Nagar Bhaban on the 17th led by the Mayor and later a People’s Concert for youth is expected to draw at least 20,000 people. Outside the capital 40,000 women’s groups and children from 35,000 learning centers are all going to stand up and speak out against poverty and inequality.
Somalia is one of 25 countries where delegations of civil society representatives will present policy demands to the Head of the Transitional Federal Government pushing for changes in world trade in favour of their agro-pastoral economy.
Across Europe, in Germany, the Euro 2008 Qualifier football game against Czech Republic will see fans start the match with a massive stand up and speak out moment. In The Hague, the national anti poverty campaign will display 200 uniquely created life-size ‘Avatars’ representing members of the public from across the Netherlands, whilst in the UK, as well as several political activities in Scotland, in London, trade union representatives, students and the UN Deputy Secretary General will use the white band symbol of the global anti-poverty campaign to call for renewed commitments from rich countries.
Pakistani campaigners have arranged an unprecedented Stand Up and Speak Out event to unfurl a 10km–long banner along the main canal in Lahore, ending with a political rally at the door of Parliament. This is one of 25 countries across the world using giant banners to form a white band, the symbol of the global anti-poverty movement.
Youth Stand Up and Speak Out - The world’s largest youth organizations, including the World Organization of the Scout Movement, the International YMCA, AIESEC, IMCS and the Global Youth Action Network support the action. In Rwanda youth groups are organizing a Stand Up soccer tournament with 20 primary schools. A youth network in Ghana has appointed Stand Up ambassadors to lead events all over the country, including an MDG youth declaration and in Bangladesh, an umbrella organization of youth movements will mobilize 10,000 young people to block a busy crossroads with a human chain.
Faith leaders Stand Up and Speak Out - His holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will mobilize 40,000 people at his ashram in Bangalore and millions more across the globe to raise their voices through the Art of Living Foundation that aims to relieve disease and violence at a societal level. In India and worldwide, renowned yoga guru Swami Ramdev, has also agreed to encourage millions to participate in the action. Micah Challenge, the global Christian campaign aims to engage support for impoverished and marginalized communities and will also be taking part. In the US, Canada and Europe Episcopal and Lutheran churches have made the MDGs their top social justice priority and have appointed an MDG-focused organizer in every diocese.
Women and Poverty highlighted –women make up the majority of the world’s poor (70%) due to unequal access to resources and opportunities, discriminatory land and inheritance laws and unequal distribution of household resources. World Food Programme reports that 7 out of 10 of the world’s hungry are women and girls. On October 17, women will join the Stand Up and Speak Out Campaign to call on world leaders to empower the women that power the global economy. International Women’s Tribunals on Poverty will be held in New York, Malta, Cairo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lima, and India highlighting the feminization of poverty highlighting racism, violence against women and discrimination among other factors leading to women’s poverty. UNIFEM the women’s fund at the United Nations and the Women’s Funding Network will also join together to launch a digital Stand Up moment online for their networks.
