OneWorld.net (U.S.)

“We spend 900 billion dollars a year on arms, do you think that this small planet could afford 50 billion dollars a year to end poverty and stop hunger? So I think we all, in each country, have to be responsible for our politicians, and make them act.” Michael Douglas, Actor

Many anti-poverty campaigners have made 2005 a pivotal year in their decades-long struggle to help the world’s poorest join in the global prosperity of the modern era. This year, 2005, marks five years since world leaders agreed to a set of time-bound, measurable goals to reduce poverty. Only ten years remain to show results on those promises and a major U.N. conference is set for September to assess progress. To date, the U.K. has already made these Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the centerpiece of its presidencies of the G8 and the European Union, two of the most powerful political bodies in the world.

While these issues have made it onto the agenda of the world’s economic powers, it remains an open question whether these leaders will take meaningful action to address them. Campaigners see their responsibility as holding these leaders to account for the promises they had made. They are calling for these leaders to make real changes in the way they do business—both nationally and globally—to finally begin to “make poverty history.”

Massive Coalitions Are Formed

One important characteristic that has set the MDGs apart from previous anti-poverty efforts has been the coordinated global effort to address them, both at political and grassroots levels. After its official launch in January 2005, a campaign called the “Global Call to Action against Poverty” (G-CAP) has since attracted the commitment of over 900 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all over the world. While the members of this movement represent a vast array of specific interests and carry diverse agendas, they have been united in their call to end poverty by conveying three key messages: make trade fair, cancel the debt owed by poorer countries, and improve both the quantity and quality of aid provided by wealthier countries.

Bringing together individuals, charities, and campaigning organizations from around the world, G-CAP became the umbrella organization for several more regionally focused campaigns. These include the founding “Make Poverty History” campaign in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and other countries; the “ONE Campaign” in the U.S.; “2005: No Excuses” in France; and “Don’t Let it Be: World Poverty” in Japan. Among other common elements, these campaigns have encouraged millions of people worldwide to wear white wrist bands to show their support for the fight against poverty. A global White Band Day was organized for July 1 and a second effort is planned for September 10. Innumerable celebrities—from Brad Pitt to Cameron Diaz—have also lent their support to the initiative in the U.S. and throughout the world.

In the U.K., the “Make Poverty History Campaign,” originally spearheaded by Oxfam in 2003, focused on making 2005 the year to ask politicians and leaders what they were going to do to overcome poverty. Many of the campaigns center on advocacy work, which is meant to show political leaders the breadth of citizen support for combating poverty. (See the action pages in this e-zine for more ways to become involved.)

Assessing the Impact

Organizers of G-CAP point out that the coalition has not only united much of the Western world around a single rallying cry, but has also educated millions about aid, trade, and international policy. They also note that the ten Live 8 concerts that took place in July 2005, which were based on a theme of ending poverty, took these messages to an unprecedented global audience of 3 billion people. Attracting headlines all over the world, the LIVE 8 concerts were one of the biggest ever mass mobilizations against poverty.

© Millennium CampaignVeteran South African civil society leader Kumi Naidoo, chair of G-CAP, has credited important policy changes to citizen pressure: “The progress that was made [at the G8] in terms of aid and debt cancellation, even though it fell far short of the expectations of most of the world’s citizens who were observing these events closely, would probably not have been achieved had it not been for years of civil society mobilization around these issues,” he said. (Although critics are skeptical about promises of “new money” that will be committed, the G8 meeting in Scotland in early July 2005 promised an additional $50 billion in aid to developing countries by 2010, as well as debt cancellation for 18 of the poorest countries.)

While these global campaigns have served a valuable educational role—and mobilized a diverse array of citizens to get involved in combating poverty—there have also been criticisms about both their legitimacy and their long-term value. Some assert, for example, that celebrity endorsements have out-staged the campaign’s message, or, more cynically, that the LIVE 8 concerts were primarily a corporate media event that used poverty as a marketing tool. Others have complained that the campaigns overall are largely run by northern NGOs with not enough input from the global south. Finally, some southern groups are against lobbying the G8, which they feel gives legitimacy to a governing institution not seen to represent the views of most of the planet’s inhabitants.

Generating National Pressure

A separate, but related initiative to the citizen’s campaigns noted above is the U.N.’s Millennium Campaign. It was launched in October 2002 to encourage citizens around the world to hold governments to account for the promises they made at the September 2000 Millennium Summit. To achieve this goal, the Campaign supports advocates working at the local and national level—including policymakers, NGOs, trade unions, youth activists, and faith-based groups.

© Action Against Hunger-USAThe Campaign is different from previous efforts in one fundamental way. It has not created any new organizations, but rather links those already campaigning on health care, education, the environment, peace, trade, aid, and HIV/AIDS under one umbrella. As a largely self-organizing operation, civil society leaders in each country set their own campaigning priorities based on local needs and political realities. In the Philippines, for example, groups are monitoring government budgets to ensure they are in line with MDG commitments, while the campaign in El Salvador is focused on ensuring that local authorities deliver services that meet the education, water, and health care needs of the poor. As of July 2005, the Millennium Campaign is helping to coordinate the work of civil society-led campaigns in 49 countries around the world.

From September 14-16, the focus of the Millennium Campaign—and that of civil society groups worldwide—will turn to New York and the U.N.’s Millennium +5 Summit. At this important General Assembly forum, the world’s political leaders will convene to assess progress and setbacks related to the MDGs. A historic meeting at the U.N. in June—the first ever of its kind—solicited the input of civil society groups on the upcoming Summit. Their direct participation in September will be much more limited, but the massive citizen mobilizations that have developed around the theme of “making poverty history” will undoubtedly ensure that world leaders hear the voices and perspectives of those most directly affected by extreme poverty.

To make a difference in the fight against poverty, see the “Get Involved” page in this issue.