International White Band Day by Global Call To Action Against Poverty 12:36pm 29th Jun, 2005   Nelson Mandela to leaders of the G8: "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. I say to all those leaders (of the G8): do not look the other way; do not hesitate. Recognize that the world is hungry for action, not words."    July 1 will see people around the world wearing their white bands and wrapping public buildings in white to send a message to the G8 world leaders that they demand action on trade justice, debt cancellation, and more and better aid. International White Band Day will prove to be one of the largest global actions ever taken.    Below are just some of the White Band events planned. More will be announced soon. For more information or to get in touch with national coalitions, please visit the GCAP Country Coalitions section.    Massive white bands will be wrapped around buildings across the world, including:    * The Soweto township of Johannesburg, South Africa, a group of shacks will be wrapped in a white band, to symbolise perpetuating poverty in Africa.    * In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the famous cotton tree, planted by freed slaves when the nation was founded, will be draped in a white band.    * In Senegal, the slavery archway will be wrapped in a white band.    * From June 30 to July 14 the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in Australia, will be wrapped in a white band, with the Australian coalition's slogan "Make Poverty History" across it.    * The Coliseum in Italy.    * The Brandenburger Tor in Germany.    * In Paris, France, the Trocadero's buildings which sit either side of the Eiffel Tower, will be wrapped with two white bands.    * In Spain, bridges will be wrapping on the main highways of Spain.    * In Georgia all the trees along the Central Avenue of the capital, Tbilisi, will be wrapped in white bands.    Marches, rallies, concerts and G8 Embassy actions are also planned around the world:    * In South Africa the GCAP African regional coalition is planning a concert on July 2 to coincide with the planned Live 8 concerts. While in Zambia and Uganda concerts are planned for July 1 and July 2, respectively, to coincide with the White Band Day actions.    * In the Philippines, a People's Summit and concert, will be followed by a rally of 10,000 people.    * In Zambia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Bangladesh huge marches to G8 Embassies will be taking place on July 1.    * In Brazil, there are plans for simultaneous demonstrations to be carried out in Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro.    * In Ghana, a beach party with farmers groups is planned to highlight the plight of rice farmers, caused by unfair trade rules.    * In India, a South Asian caravan will be launched, on July 1, which will be travelling across South Asia between now and the UN MDG Heads of State Summit in September 2005.    GCAP Chair Kumi Naidoo said that G8 leaders could not ignore the worldwide call for action when they meet in Gleneagles, Scotland, from 6-8 July.    “Turning a blind eye to the plight of the world’s poorest is an approach that the G8 has routinely taken. This time around, people in rich and poor countries are standing up to say that they will not accept inaction, indifference and timidity – it’s crime against humanity”, said Kumi Naidoo.    “We will be saying to G8 leaders do not look the other way and do not fail millions of people across the world – the lives of 50,000 people who die of poverty daily depend on it” said Guy Ryder, a spokesperson for GCAP. ”We are stepping up pressure on G8 leaders to mark July’s summit with a commitment to increase aid annually by USD 50 billion – necessary if the Millennium Development Goals and more are to be reached by 2015.”    “We recognise that aid alone will not eradicate poverty but 35 years ago, rich nations of the world committed 0.7% of their gross national income (GNI) to international development. Today only 5 OECD countries have met this obligation - not a single G8 country has managed to achieve this goal. 35 years is a long time to wait for less than 1%” said Kumi Naidoo.    Ahead of next week’s Summit, GCAP will be calling on G8 leaders to extend the scope of June’s debt deal. Whilst a small step in the right direction, the package announced by Finance Ministers, failed to grant debt cancellation to some of the world’s poorest countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Haiti. “We want to see the same political will which led to Iraq’s debt mountain being written off virtually overnight applied to the world’s poorest countries. When compared to the Iraq debt deal, the deal offered by the G8 Finance Ministers is timid and lacking in courage, to put it politely. Gleneagles is the perfect occasion to redress this”, said Coumba Toure, speaking on behalf of the campaign.    June 23 2005    Update on G8 mobilisation in Edinburgh.    As the leaders of the world's richest countries gather in Scotland for the G8 Summit, tens of thousands in Edinburgh on 2 July will be demanding trade justice, debt cancellation, and more and better aid for the world's poorest countries.    The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is the world’s largest ever anti-poverty coalition which is committed to pushing world leaders to live up to their promises, and to make a breakthrough on poverty in 2005. The campaign, which includes the UK’s Make Poverty History and France’s 2005: Plus d’Excuses, is calling on world leaders to fulfil their commitments on trade justice, more and better aid and full debt cancellation. It is also demanding transparency and accountability from all governments in their plans to eliminate poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals.    The alliance includes charities, trade unions, faith groups, grassroots movements active in over 70 countries in every continent. Together the GCAP members represent over 150 million people. Hundreds of thousands of people across the world will join massive demonstrations in July, September and December 2005 to voice their demands on governments to honour promises on poverty.    GCAP’s first international white band day will be on 1st July, only days before the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.    Remember to wear your white band on July 1, the first Global White Band Day.    9 May 2005    "You can make a difference on ‘Whiteband Day’ - 1 July 2005", by Kumi Naidoo.    I am writing this at the end of the final planning meeting of the International Facilitation Group of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) in the run up to the first “Whiteband Day” on 1 July 2005. GCAP’s objectives are to push for trade justice, debt cancellation for poor countries, and more and better quality of aid. A fourth set of policy demands is aimed at developing country governments to improve governance, gender equality and development effectiveness.    The symbol of the Global Call - a simple white band (which can be used as a headband, arm band or wrist band) - was chosen since we wanted a symbol that poor people could access without needing to purchase a mass manufactured item, even though in many countries this is also available.    Much of the focus at the planning meeting was on the first Whiteband Day which has been timed in the run-up to the meeting of the G8 countries (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, USA, Japan and Russia). Unfortunately, the nature of global economic, military and political power means that this small number of governments, often without the consent of their own citizens, are able to either block progress towards eradicating poverty or to enable progress. In the main, notwithstanding several statements from representatives of these governments about how concerned they are about deepening poverty and inequality, the reality of their practice suggests that they are primarily committed to advancing their own national interests without having any real commitment, courage or vision to move the world in the direction of greater equality and solidarity.    As a colleague from Africa pointed out to me recently, if all the statements of concern for Africa, and the various promises made by rich country governments to address the historical injustices against the African continent, were made reality, Africa would be the richest continent in the world. Needless to say, this double-talk is the reality facing all developing country governments and their people in the world at the moment.    In 2005, the GCAP aims to hold governments accountable to their citizens, both in developing and developed countries. The Tsunami tragedy taught us that citizens are way ahead of their governments in terms of a commitment to global citizenship and global solidarity and, in fact, believe that particularly rich country governments are doing much more than they are actually doing because of the spin, lies and half truths articulated by their governments.    Peaceful demonstrations are scheduled to take place around the world on 1 July, to make a clear statement to our political leaders that we will no longer accept their excuses and their failure to even deliver on there minimalist and often uninspiring commitments. Of course, we want to push them even further than they are prepared to go, but getting them, in the first instance, to be accountable for what they have committed to in terms of trade justice, debt cancellation and improved quality of aid and quantity of aid is the focus of this effort. For example, some 35 years ago, rich country governments agreed to commit 0.7% of their GDP to support the poor countries of the world. Thirty-five years is a long time to wait for less than 1%! Poor farmers in the developing world are prevented from receiving support from their governments but rich country governments blatantly provide huge subsidies to various business sectors making it impossible for poor countries to compete. The European Union, for example, subsidises every European cow to the tune of two Euros per day – and almost half of humanity has to survive on less than that every day!    The time really has come for the broadest section of citizens to come together around the world to say that enough is enough. The future of this planet depends on achieving a fair, just, equitable and sustainable way of managing the scarce and finite resources on this planet. If part of humanity lives in abject poverty, the bottom line is that all of humanity is poor.    Through this column, I want to appeal to you to visit www.whiteband.org to look at how you can become involved. The important thing about GCAP, as it continues to grow rapidly, is that its supporters include the largest religious networks, trade unions, NGOs and various organisations that would normally work in isolation from each other. This is a time for unity, a time for putting aside our differences and focusing on so much that civil society organisations agree on.    However, central to the success of this peaceful mobilisation of human solidarity is every citizen who wants to be part of the solution. We have now come to the point where we must recognize that every one of us is either part of the problem or part of the solution. GCAP is not an organisation, it is a Global Call to Action, a call to the conscience of every citizen we can reach around the world. This is a Global Call that does not have leaders, offices, bureaucracy or dedicated funding. It draws on the goodwill of those that support the call. We want to create a framework for action where every citizen sees himself or herself as a leader in their own right, who should feel free to organise people to stand together. On 1 July, in the run up to the G8 meeting, you can do several things to make this a reality:    1. Visit www.whiteband.org to find out what events are planned and how you can get involved.    2. Wear the whiteband everyday if you can and get others to do likewise so that people are constantly reminded that almost half of the population of this planet lives in either abject or relative poverty. In particular, please consider wearing the whiteband on 1 July.    3. If you have a cellphone, send a text message to every one on your cellphone list asking them to visit www.whiteband.org and to explore organising activities on 1 July, and to find out what national platforms in your country are planning. In many countries around the world, people will be marching to the G8 embassies to put their demands peacefully to those governments representatives around the world. Please feel free to organise teach-ins on these issues, candle night vigils, prayer services and whatever other activities make sense in your context.    4. Please send an email to people on your email list and encourage them to get involved; and encourage organisations to put a link from their websites to www.whiteband.org.    I also encourage you to download free of charge from the www.civicus.org website a handbook on campaigning, which has many useful tips.    Let’s send a strong and clear message to governments around the world on 1 July that says that we are not prepared to be divided any longer on the lines of north and south, or east and west. Let’s tell them that we realize that unless all human beings on this planet can live with decency and are able to have their basic needs met, all of humanity is impoverished. But most of all, let’s tell our political leaders that they do have the power to make a difference and that we refuse to accept their excuses any longer. We refuse to accept that every three seconds a child dies needlessly because of their inaction and indifference!    Should you want more information on what is being planned or if you want to get involved, please write to my colleague henri@civicus.org. We need your creativity, your contribution and your commitment. In whatever work you are doing to make this world more just and fair, we encourage you in your efforts and simply ask that in the course of your work you consider linking your efforts to the broad demands for justice that form the basis of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty.    (Kumi Naidoo, is CIVICUS Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer). Visit the related web page
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