Anti-poverty campaigns
Make Poverty History
were organizations in a number of countries, which focused on issues relating to 8th
Millennium Development Goal
such as aid, trade and justice. They generally formed a coalition of aid and development agencies which worked together to raise awareness of global
poverty
and achieve policy change by governments. The movement has existed in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. The various national campaigns were part of the international
Global Call to Action Against Poverty
campaign.
British and Irish campaign
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The
Make Poverty History
campaign in Great Britain and Ireland is a coalition of charities, religious groups, trade unions, campaigning groups and celebrities who mobilise around Britain's prominence in world politics, as of 2005, to increase awareness and pressure governments into taking actions towards relieving
absolute poverty
. The symbol of the campaign is a white "
awareness bracelet
" made of cotton or silicone. Usually, on the band the words would be written in black, with the "Poverty" word a lighter shade. A "virtual" white band
[2]
was also available to be displayed on websites.
Television advertisements ran for many months, urging people to speak to their representatives about stopping poverty. However, the
Office of Communications
(Ofcom) banned the ads, deciding that the ads were "wholly or mainly political" in nature, since they aimed to "achieve important changes".
[3]
The three demands of the campaign were:
[4]
None of these aims were new (there were many attempts over the preceding decades to promote them), but the scale of the 2005 campaign dwarfed previous efforts.
On January 31, 2006, the majority of the members of the campaign passed a resolution to disband the organisation, arguing that the British coalition had only agreed to come together formally for a limited lifespan, to correspond with Britain holding the presidency of the EU and
G8
. Approximately forty groups argued against the dissolution.
On January 23, 2013, the
Enough Food For Everyone IF
campaign was launched, by a group of over 100 aid organisations and religious groups. Sometimes called
Make Poverty History 2
, or simply the
IF campaign
, the new undertaking is the biggest of its kind since the original
make poverty history
campaign of 2005.
[5]
It coincides with Britain once again assuming presidency of the G8. The central theme of the campaign concerns ending
hunger
, with four strands aimed at tackling the root causes:
- the need for wealthy nations to keep their promises on aid.
- the need to combat
tax avoidance
.
- the need to combat
land grabs
- the need for greater transparency from governments and large corporations, concerning their actions that impact on hunger.
The launch of the campaign was welcomed by Britain's prime minister David Cameron, and supported by international figures such as
Bill Gates
and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
.
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
On June 8, the IF campaign mobilized about 45,000 people to demonstrate in
Hyde Park
, while a hunger summit underway elsewhere in London saw £2.7 billion in new commitments made to tackle hunger.
[10]
Speaking on the eve of the June 2013
G8
summit at
Lough Erne
, the
Archbishop of York
delivered a message on behalf of the
IF campaign
, calling on world leaders to take substantive action to relieve hunger, saying it is a scandal that malnutrition is allowed to lead to the death of a child every ten seconds.
[11]
The IF campaign coalition commissioned an external evaluation of the campaign. The evaluation report assesses progress against objectives and captures learnings for future work.
[12]
Events
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Make Poverty History set out a timescale revolving around the
31st G8 summit
in
Gleneagles
, Scotland on July 6, 2005.
The campaign was given a high-profile launch on British television on New Year's Day 2005 in a special edition of
The Vicar of Dibley
, written by
Richard Curtis
, who pledged support for the campaign during 2005. The same issues were highlighted in Curtis' television drama
The Girl in the Cafe
, in an episode broadcast on June 25 on the
BBC One
channel in the UK on the
HBO
channel in the U.S. and on ABC TV in Australia.
- Britain assumed presidency of the
G8
on January 1, 2005, and hosted the summit with poverty in Africa being, at least nominally, a major topic for discussion.
- The
Commission for Africa
, launched by
Tony Blair
in February 2004, aimed to help create a strong and prosperous Africa. Their report, published in March 2005, was a focal point for the British presidency of the G8.
- In the second half of 2005, Britain held the
EU presidency
.
- July 1, 2005, was the first international "White Band Day", a worldwide day of action.
- July 2 ? Over 225,000 protesters demonstrated in
Edinburgh
to promote the campaign's demands.
[1]
On the same day, the
Live 8
concerts took place before the G8 summit to encourage activism and debate within the G8 member countries, with the aim of increasing political pressure on the leaders.
- July 3 ? boats set off to
Cherbourg
in France to pick up protesters as part of
Sail 8
- July 6 ? The final
Live 8
concert, named
Edinburgh 50,000 ? The Final Push
rocks Edinburgh in the final strike to persuade
G8
Leaders to double aid in Africa. Demonstrators walked overnight up to 20 miles to reach
Gleneagles
as the A8 had been closed.
[
citation needed
]
- The 20th anniversary of
Live Aid
was on July 13, 2005.
- September 10 was the second international "White Band Day".
- The
United Nations General Assembly
Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, September 2005. This summit reviewed the progress since 2000 of the
Millennium Development Goals
, including halving the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015.
- December 10 was the third international "White Band Day".
Member organizations
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The British campaign had over 540 member organisations including many faith groups, trade unions and charities. It was coordinated by
British Overseas NGOs for Development
(Bond).
Whilst the anti-war group
CND
was a member, the
Stop the War Coalition
(StWC) asked to join but was refused. Make Poverty History's governing body, the coordination team, cited the substantial political party affiliations of the governing body of StWC as the primary reason. They also gave the grounds that the issues of economic justice are separate from those of
Iraq War
, and STWC participation in Edinburgh on July 2 would confuse the message. In a highly critical article in
Red Pepper
magazine, Stuart Hodkinson asserted that this was ironic since
Oxfam
a member of the coordination team "is currently leading a worldwide campaign for an international arms treaty on the basis that uncontrolled arms fuels poverty and suffering."
[13]
The movement was characterised by rifts between Oxfam and the other participating organisations, partly over tactics and partly due to concerns that Oxfam was too close to
Tony Blair
and New Labour.
[14]
Canadian campaign
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The Canadian Make Poverty History campaign was launched in February 2005 by a coalition coordinated by
Gerry Barr
, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation. The campaign is supported by a coalition of charities, trade unions, faith groups, students, academics, literary, artistic and sports leaders such as actor
Mary Walsh
, musician
Tom Cochrane
, Olympian
Anna van der Kamp
, actors
Roy Dupuis
and
Pascale Montpetit
, and United Nations special envoy
Stephen Lewis
.
Make Poverty History has four main objectives in Canada:
The French-language version of the Make Poverty History is "Abolissons La Pauvrete". While this literally translates to "let's abolish poverty", neither the English- nor French-language versions of the Canadian campaign should be confused with End Poverty Now. The former represents the Canadian Make Poverty History campaign; the latter is a stand-alone organization that, while remaining affiliated with the campaign, was created independently by a small grouping of MPH Canada's member base.
- See related article,
Poverty in Canada
US "ONE" Campaign
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In April 2005, a commercial began airing in the United States with several celebrities in black and white stating the pledge of the American
ONE Campaign
, their version of Make Poverty History. The commercial featured 33 celebrities and personalities; names as diverse as religious leaders
Pat Robertson
and
Frank Griswold
; singers including
Bono
,
P. Diddy
,
Mos Def
and
Jewel
; and various actors including
Brad Pitt
,
Susan Sarandon
,
Al Pacino
and
Antonio Banderas
. At the end,
Tom Hanks
states, "We're not asking for your money. We're asking for your voice."
The general goals of the ONE campaign in the United States are to end extreme poverty, hunger and AIDS.
The founding sponsors of ONE are
Bread for the World
,
CARE
,
DATA
,
International Medical Corps
,
International Rescue Committee
,
Mercy Corps
,
Oxfam
America,
Plan USA
,
Save the Children
US,
World Concern
, and
World Vision
. They have strong ties with the
NBA
,
MTV
's
Rock the Vote
, and the
United Nations Millennium Campaign
.
Norwegian campaign
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The Norwegian campaign was started by
Norwegian Church Aid
on June 9.
Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway
and
Kjell Magne Bondevik
are some of the celebrities in Norway that wear a white Make Poverty History band.
The three demands of the Norwegian campaign are:
The shops in Norway that sell Make Poverty history bands are Cubus and Dressman, two Norwegian clothing shops.
Nigerian campaign
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The
Nigerian
campaign was started by
Gospel to the Poor Agency
on October 18, 2007, as a public action at their 7th annual anti-poverty rally called
Walk4Jesus
.
Walk4Jesus
is the largest youth anti-poverty rally in Nigeria, where more than 7 million campaigners participated in StandUp Against Extreme Poverty.
Gospel to the Poor Agency
jumpstarted the Make Poverty History campaign in Nigeria which led to the official registration of the Make Poverty History Initiative in Nigeria as an NGO by April 2008. Aligning with the
Global Call to Action against Poverty
(GCAP) and the
United Nations Millennium Campaign
(UNMC), the Make Poverty History Initiative brought more than 350 organizations, faith groups, churches, youths, civil societies and NGOs across Africa that keep the MDGs Campaign and advocacy a formidable coalition in Africa.
The same year, Make Poverty History Nigeria led the largest campaign in Nigeria at the
StandUp Against Poverty Campaign
with a 10,000 man march to the governor's office in Lagos, Alausa to demand the fulfillment of the MDGs.
In 2019, Make Poverty History Initiative Country Director
Joseph O. Peters
initiated remarkable programs and impactful projects that facilitated the MDGs ? most especially Goal 1, 2, 3 and 7 through community-based development programmes, skill and business development training, massive advocacy for human capital development in Africa, and partnerships to sponsor the education of hundreds of impoverished schoolchildren ? known as
Project Eduguide
. Nigeria has 13.5 million children out of school.
Australian campaign
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The Australian campaign is coordinated by the
Australian Council for International Development
(ACFID) and is a coalition of more than 60 member organisations, drawn mainly from the Non Government Aid and development sector, including
World Vision
,
Oxfam
,
Caritas
,
The Oaktree Foundation
and
Engineers Without Borders
.
In November 2006,
Melbourne
hosted the
Make Poverty History Concert
to align with the
G20 Summit
. Since then, the Make Poverty History campaign has continued to create awareness for the need for increased overseas aid and greater measures of effectiveness, through the yearly Stand Up Against Poverty campaign, as well as major campaigns for the federal elections in 2007 and 2010, including Make Poverty History Roadtrips.
They also continue to incite social mobilisation among people in Australia, often being present at social and music events such as
Falls Festival
and
Big Day Out
, as well as having a great range of opportunities to organise their own campaigning events.
Criticisms
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Some critics, such as
Theodore Dalrymple
, allege that debt relief and aid are used to fund lavish lifestyles for the ruling class
[15]
(although efforts are made to exclude these countries from the G8 debt relief).
Other critics were Marieme Jamme of Africa gathering and Dambisa Moyo.
[16]
Moyo argues that a campaign to reduce poverty in Africa should be undertaken by Africans, and the Make Poverty History was not, thereby undermining the leadership of African rulers.
Others were critical of the ending of the Make Poverty History coalition; the academic
Alex Callinicos
wrote in the
Socialist Worker
newspaper that "disbanding of MPH has a lot to do with the interests of the big NGOs that dominated it" and that "scrapping MPH was an utterly shameful decision. It can only promote the belief that those who currently dominate the world are benevolent figures who will, with a few pushes from below, continue to take 'small steady steps forwards'".
[17]
Some criticism also emerged from the campaign's wristbands, specifically from the fact that some of these were proven to have been produced by forced labourers in Chinese sweatshops.
[18]
See also
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References
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- 6. Ref. Note: This is a dead link.
- ^
a
b
"Thousands flock to poverty march"
. BBC News. July 2, 2005.
- ^
"Make Poverty History Campaign ? Get Involved"
. Makepovertyhistory.org. June 26, 2005. Archived from
the original
on May 18, 2005
. Retrieved
May 15,
2013
.
- ^
Gibson, Owen (September 13, 2005).
"Broadcast ban on Make Poverty History ad campaign"
.
The Guardian
. London
. Retrieved
February 2,
2010
.
- ^
"Campaign bids to end poverty trap"
. BBC News. February 4, 2005.
- ^
"Frontmatter",
How Terrorism Ends
, Princeton University Press, pp. i?vi, December 31, 2009,
doi
:
10.1515/9781400831142-fm
,
ISBN
978-1-4008-3114-2
- ^
David Loyn (January 23, 2013).
"Campaign to 'end hunger for ever' launched by UK aid organisations"
. BBC
. Retrieved
May 7,
2013
.
- ^
Liz Ford (January 23, 2013).
"Anti-hunger campaign 'If' launches with call for G8 to act"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
May 7,
2013
.
- ^
David Cameron
(January 23, 2013).
"David Cameron's message to anti-hunger IF campaign"
.
10 Downing Street
. Retrieved
May 7,
2013
.
- ^
"Enoughfoodif.org"
. IF campaign. Archived from
the original
on May 4, 2013
. Retrieved
May 7,
2013
.
- ^
Luke Cross (June 8, 2013).
"Hunger Summit secures £2.7bn as thousands rally at Hyde Park"
.
Metro
. Retrieved
June 9,
2013
.
- ^
Mamie Smyth (June 16, 2013).
"Archbishop of York calls on G8 leaders to tackle hunger"
.
Financial Times
. Retrieved
June 17,
2013
.
- ^
See here for the evaluation report
http://www.bond.org.uk/campaigning
- ^
Hodkinson, Stuart (July 2005). "Make the G8 history".
Red Pepper
.
- ^
Quarmby , Katherine "How Oxfam is Failing Africa",
New Statesman
, May 2005
- ^
Dalrymple, Theodore (2010).
Spoilt Rotten: The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality
. Gibson Square Books Ltd. p. 225.
ISBN
978-1-906142-61-2
.
- ^
Dambisa Moyo.
"Dambisa Moyo"
. Dambisa Moyo. Archived from
the original
on May 11, 2013
. Retrieved
May 15,
2013
.
- ^
"Winding up Make Poverty History"
.
socialistworker.co.uk
. Archived from
the original
on March 21, 2006.
- ^
Mccormack, Helen (May 30, 2005).
"Anti-poverty bands made with forced labour, Oxfam says"
.
The Independent
. London
. Retrieved
March 27,
2010
.
External links
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