Entries For: October 2007

There is something wrong when 38.8 million people stand up in solidarity against poverty across the world in one day, and it's nowhere prominent in the major US press.  It's wrong that of those 38.8 million, yes 38.8 MILLION, North America only contributed 109,828 to that number (see at stand against poverty website).

I don't claim to be a political activist, in fact, far from it.  I have my views, but don't ask me to stand up and be able to eloquently and convincingly debate them.  I also don't claim to have the answers...did I contact the press and try to get the word out?  No. (to my defense, I had only heard about the Stand Up world-wide event less than 2 weeks before it was to happen, and did, on short notice organize a small 14 person event in my community.)  That again, to me means something is wrong.  How come I hadn't heard about it?  Moreover, how did I not hear that last year 23.5 Million people stood up for this same cause and broke a world record?  I watch the news, read the newspaper every day.  I may not be an "activist" but I do consider myself pretty well informed on world events, and a strong advocate of social justice.

I probably sound like a broken record you've all heard before, but if something's broken, shouldn't it be fixed?  All too often we hear on the nightly news and in the newspaper of the casualties of war, the killings of kids, by kids, in our own towns.   It leads a person to want to turn off their television and tune it all out.  There is too much violence, too much hurt, too many crooked politicians.  The list could go on and on.  But you know what?  There are also a hell of a lot of people out there combating every one of those issues and trying in their own way to make this world just a little better.  And the more we hear these stories, the more hope there is that one day we'll overcome these issues.

So why is it, when 38.8 MILLION people Stand Up and Speak Out for something as important as extreme poverty - something 189 world leaders pledged to eradicate by 2015, including our very own United States, it's not a MAJOR story? 

The point of Stand Up and Speak Out was to show how many people DO care, and hold the governments responsible for the promises they made.  But if 38.8 MILLION people stand up, and it's not deemed newsworthy, then something is wrong.  Something is wrong when you go to "Google News" and type in "stand up against poverty" and you have to dig 4 pages deep before you come to an article published by a US new source. 

I don't believe in the "ugly American" any more than I believe in the "Islamic terrorist" or the "lazy illegal immigrant."  Individuals are terrorists, individuals are lazy, and yes, some individual American's behave very ugly.  What I DO believe, is that humans are generally good people.  38.8 MILLION of them proved that yesterday.  But unfortunately, millions more don't know that, because apparently it's not newsworthy.

Sincerely,

Jill Allison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
ghosthair@gmail.com

This letter was sent last week to several local and national news agencies in the US.

On October 17th more than 40 million people spoke out against poverty. This is remarkable global call to action and one that will become louder and stronger in coming years, and more and more difficult for political leaders to ignore.

This week I have had the privilege of leading a fantastic team on behalf of GCAP working on bringing the voices of so many people to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund whose annual meetings are taking place now in Washington DC. The team has been working together for the last few weeks to put on a series of events and meetings to bring the global call directly to these two institutions whose policies and loan conditions often have horrendous consequences for the poorest people in the world.

It has been an incredible week. We have got to know the several blocks between the office we have based in and the World Bank extremely well but barely seen any other part of the city. Now, on Sunday night we are all foot sore and weary but looking back on a very successful few days.

On Thursday the team put out a press release highlighting the incredible coordinated political movement that took place the previous day and the delegations in more than 30 countries that lobbied senior ministers and heads of state.

On Friday a small GCAP delegation met the Dutch World Bank board member – Herman Wijffels, and put our demands to him on behalf of GCAP friends around the world. There was an interesting discussion around how civil society organisations lobby the Bank and Fund and a feeling from the Bank that CSOs are too broad in their demands for more transparency and good governance without really specifying there demands.

On Saturday the GCAP team joined a march organised by a number of organisations that ended in Murrow Park right outside the World Bank. There were well over a thousand people on what was a lively and colourful march although I am not convinced there was a clear enough point to the march for it to really have any impact. GCAP spokespeople were interviewed on the march by, amongst others, SABC and the Washington Post, and we used the opportunity to highlight the plight of our GCAP friends Daniel and Netsanet who have been prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia for two years.

Today, Sunday, has been the biggest day of action. A press conference was held at 10:30 this morning with Sylvia Borren, Andrew Kumbatira, Dian Kartika Sari and Christophe Zoungrana all representing on the panel.

This was followed by an audio-visual highlight in the form of a performance of the poverty requiem and display of global ‘avatars’ right in front of the World Bank main entrance. Thanks to tremendous hard work by a great team, by 1:00 pm a choir of 150 were joined by more than 50 dancers in a powerful and emotive performance of the Poverty Requiem (http://www.povertyrequiem.org). This team had also done a great job of promoting the performance and  drew a good crowd of onlookers including the Dutch Finance and Development Ministers and several media outlets. The performance was also watched over by 140 life-size cut-outs – known as Avatars -  representing all the countries with GCAP coalitions plus a number of individuals. Each Avatar also stood for 340,000 people who stood up against poverty on Wednesday.

It has been a very busy and difficult week at the culmination of months of planning and organising. Walking round the Bank and speaking to both staff, delegations and CSOs, everyone knows about and is talking about GCAP, the Requiem and the Avatars – it has been seen as a unique and powerful lobbying method. Our objective in coming here was to represent the voices of millions of people round the world. Through song, symbolism, hand-outs of the declaration, direct lobbies and media relations I believe and hope we have achieved our goal.  We asked to be heard so lets now see if those in power at the institutions were listening.

Here are some pictures.

By Ben Margolis

Twenty-four hours later, the numbers are out.  Twenty-four hours after scores of Stand Up and Speak Out events were held across the globe to mark World Poverty Day, which saw multitudes of people stand up on streets, paved and unpaved, posh hotel ballrooms, sports coliseums and town squares, schools and offices, marketplaces and hill tops, the final numbers were revealed. Over 38.7 million people in 111 countries have stood up and spoken against poverty. We have broken the Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to “stand up against poverty in 24 hours,” which we ourselves set last year at 23.5 million.

Yet, twenty-four hours after this triumphant announcement, new numbers were coming in: 11 dead and more than a hundred wounded in an explosion that ripped through the Glorietta 2 shopping mall in Makati City in Manila, Philippines early Friday afternoon; 126 dead and 248 wounded in Karachi Friday evening after a suicide bombing believed to be the deadliest bomb attack in Pakistan's history.

I hear the news and I bite my left thumb nail reflexively, numbers running through my head. More than 38.7 million people around the world. 111 countries. 24 hours.  27.6 million in Asia. The highest number delivered by a region. That’s nearly three-fourths of the total number. Of these, the Philippines total was 7.1 million, which is 18% of the total. And if my math is correct, that’s one Filipino for every five individuals that stood up on Oct 17. Pakistan, which held an unprecedented Stand Up and Speak Out event that unfurled a 10-km long banner, the longest in the world, signed by one million people, delivered a total of 2.3 million.  

I bite my nail some more and, for some reason, I remember that Friday morning’s featured cab music: a Nickelback song that goes, “something's gotta go wrong, coz I'm feelin' way too damn good.”  There’s no way this is a presentiment, of course.  Sometimes some things just don’t make sense. Sometimes things happen and you find yourself unable to react or think of something. Your mind is just vacant of any thought and you fumble about for something to say or think amid the apparent senselessness. Because there was one day when dense crowds materialized in public spaces, dense crowds of people from all walks of life that stood together, shoulder to shoulder, basking in shared aims and camaraderie. Because the next day, hard explosives ripped through dense crowds of people who were having lunch on an ordinary Friday or hanging out with friends and family or standing shoulder to shoulder during a slow, celebratory procession to welcome a leader who was back after eight years in exile.  

On my way home that Friday night, numbers were still running through my head, numbers I couldn’t count: the number of people who feels outrage at these latest brutalities, the number of families who have lost a son, daughter, father, mother, friend, the number of times I left my son in a book shop at the mall to browse for an hour or two while I went to get a haircut or pay the bills or shop.  “One-two-four,” the cab driver barks.  I realize he was pointing at the gate of my house.  Then he adds, “Seventy.” I give him a hundred pesos. He gives me a change of twenty. Fine, I tell myself.  Christmas is more or less ten weeks away. # 

lani villanueva

On my two recent visits to the UK and in London specifically, over the last two months and both admittedly combined, not longer than 1 working week, I was astounded by the conditions facing working people particularly those working in supermarkets, bookshops and pharmacies. Here my experience was with Marks and Spencer’s, Boots, and Borders Bookshops.

The cashiers were all standing. I was astounded. I asked the one Ghanaian origin new slave, at Marks and Spencer’s: hey bro, why don’t you sit?” He laughed and said that he sits after work. All the working time – 7 hours I believe – Standing. I further asked, if they had union representation, he laughed off, my question.

At another time as we were seeking Ha-Joon Chang’s Kicking Away the Ladder, as we have on an earlier visit bought his latest Book Bad Samaritans, and bookshop after big bookstore. They were standing. When visiting the Boots for cosmetics I asked an Asian worker there: “someone stole your chair!” he was cool, and replied that “we never had chairs, it was like
this when I began working here.” Thus, it was clear that this was a condition of employment and was I thought underwritten by a belief by the bosses that commercial and catering workers are more productive when they are standing.

I was concerned that the strong union movement, led by the Trade Union Congress that I had known over the decades may be fading, but I was equally concerned that this was not an issue for the National Union of Students, Oxfam, and Action Aid are seemingly silent on this basic violation of worker and human rights. I was aware of the irony that whilst we are campaigning for the world community to “stand up and speak out against poverty in terms of the Global Call to Action and supported by the United Nations and other UN agencies – here workers were standing all day whilst their rights were being trampled. Most of the workers were either old or new immigrant communities and almost all I saw wore my skin – dozed with a lot of healthy melanin.

The highlight of the Stand UP campaign is the 16 and 17 October – the latter being the UN recognized international day for the eradication of poverty. Last year over 23 million people stood up and broke the Guinness Book of record for the most number of people standing for such a progressive cause. In part the stand up is aimed at creating awareness of the Millennium Development Goals and to create awareness on the powers that be – corporates and governments to do more to create a justice based society.

I wondered whether the unions could not take this as a dispute to the International Labour Organisation or whether civil society should not join with the union and the TUC. A labour lawyer in South Africa volunteered to do a class case for UK workers – wont that be a good case of solidarity!

Hassen Lorgat

my last visit was returning from london 23 September 2007 not reluctantly ...

By Irfan Mufti, GCAP Campaign Manager

Globalisation has become a dominant form of pursuing goals of human development in the new world order. Some of the more euphoric admirers of globalisation describe it as a unique phenomenon, which has decoupled space and time and made cultural, economic and social barriers almost redundant. Others consider globalisation as primarily an economic occurrence, which implies the increasing interaction, or integration, of national economic systems through the growth in international trade, investment and capital flows. The process also implies a much broader process of restructuring political economies and diverse cultures into a monolithic entity.

Among many traits of globalisation there is a form of increasing consumerism and the growing power of capital to exert control over production processes. As capital has become more mobile, governments around the developing world are being compelled towards austerity in order to provide a low inflation investment climate to attract investors. It is increasingly difficult to use fiscal and monetary policies to combat higher unemployment or engage in public spending. Subsequently one sees reductions in taxes on capital gains and profits, a movement away from progressive taxes and a steady removal of financial regulations across much of the developing world.

The increasing flexibility of production processes has enabled multinationals to shift the most burdensome and least rewarding of these processes to developing countries. Trade has not really increased the incomes of the people in the world's 50 least developed countries - many of whom are surviving on less than $1 a day, half the level of subsidy given to European Union cows. A pessimistic forecast predicts that the number of people in the least developed countries living in absolute poverty, or less than $1 a day, would rise to 471 million in 2015 from the current figure of 334 million. UNDP estimates that the world's 225 billionaires have a combined wealth equal to the annual income of 47 of the poorest countries, with a combined population of 2.5 billion people.  IMF and World Bank studies provide other statistics linking liberalisation with increasing global growth. It is differing value judgments in measuring inequality underlying conflicting factual claims about how much poor people have shared the economic gains of globalisation. Though there are differeing views to which they care about relative inequality versus absolute inequality, vertical inequalities versus horizontal inequalities. The two sides in this debate do not share similar values about what constitutes a just distribution of gains from the corporate globalisation.

The economic legacies of two decades of market-driven adjustment packages are a weak investment climate, premature de-industrialisation and erratic growth, in many cases at or below population growth. Many developing countries have experienced slippages in their human development indicators in their efforts to embrace globalisation. Poor economics has had its most damaging impact on Africa, which has experienced a drop in the share of world exports from 6% in 1980 to 2% in 2002.  But far from resisting globalisation, Africa has posted the highest trade to GDP ratio of any region outside East Asia. The problem here is that Africa's growth depends on one or two primary commodities whose prices have seen a persistent decline.

The World Bank estimates medium-term welfare gains from liberalising all trade, as between $250 billion to $550 billion; one-third to two-third of these gains would accrue to the developing countries. However, such an estimate also encounters a great deal of scepticism. Luis Fernando Jaramillo, former Chairman of the Group of 77, estimates that the developing countries with more than a two-third majority in the WTO would have only 30% of the additional income to share among themselves, and they are the countries conceding the most during the Uruguay Round negotiations.  Particularly in the case of agriculture, production subsidies in developed countries depress international prices thus reducing the export revenues for developing countries. As a result of trade liberalisation in the agriculture sector, out of the total welfare gains of $122 billion only $11.6 billion will go to the developing countries, which comprise two-third of the WTO members, while $110 billion would go to the developed countries themselves.  Hence, market access has emerged as a major concern for developing countries.    Analysts and development thinkers fear that as tariffs are reduced under the WTO regime, it will lead to the inflow of cheaper products and local products in developing countries; with higher costs of unit production in agriculture and industrial sectors will be unable to compete with cheaper imports.

The poverty today has a woman’s face. Of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty, 70 percent are women. Women produce a staggering 60% of all food, run 70% of small-scale businesses and make up a third of the official labour force – in addition to caring for families and homes.  We are witnessing today that poverty is more deep-rooted for women. Exclusion are actively produced and reproduced by specific processes of production and market engagement make it an imperative for us all to address the processes of impoverishment in general and, feminized impoverishment, in particular. Feminization of poverty is a dynamic process of social exclusion and marginalization that operates differentially among women and men, involving discrimination, denial, and violation of human rights leading to deprivation and vulnerability to risks and difficulties for women.

There is considerable consensus across the world that globalisation in the form of trade liberalisation is systematically reducing women’s participation in economic activities as well as their control over resources and decision making at the community and family level. This trend is said to have particularly grave consequences in developing countries with traditional social structures.

For more information on GCAP, see wwwwhiteband.org.

From Wahyu Susilo

Poverty statistical figures' debate

Although there are two parties debating over the similar issue of poverty rate figure, but both parties positioned their analysis on similar measure, i.e. quantitative statistical analysis. The growth of economics science indeed escalated leaving the other branches of social sciences behind when mathematical analysis (econometrics) became the backbone of economics science. Nevertheless, the economics science also leaves its aspect of "humanity" when the basic needs of human life and death are only actualized in "numbers".

Quite regretfully when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that became the global commitment for poverty eradication in the early twentieth century millennium, there were more people using quantitative indicators in the elaboration of their objectives and targets. This is one of the MDGs' weaknesses when they are used as advocacy tools in demanding the promise and commitment of countries signing the global pact. In the two presentations of MDGs' progress report in Indonesia in 2004 and 2005, the progress reports were also full with cold and rigid statistical figures, without any qualitative explanations which were able to talk more.

In such situation, the NGO's activists develop social analysis to identify the core problems of poverty through participatory poverty assessment (PPA) method. The method intends to bring back the nature of poverty analysis which actually is based on the real needs of the poor people. Thus the output of the analysis is qualitative narrations which are uncommonly used by our techno-economist dominating the macro-economy policy planning.

The qualitative narrations can be the guidelines in formulating poverty eradication policy. The only poverty eradication policy ever formulated using the method was the National Strategy for Poverty Eradication which was adopted as Chapter 16 of the Peraturan Presiden (Presidential Regulations) No.7/2005 on Medium Term National Development Plan/Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Nasional year 2004-2009. Unfortunately, the document was not used as road map in poverty eradication. The document became meaningless when the country (in this case, conspiracy between the executive and legislative) produced macro-economy policy legislation that was oriented to the market and investment, in accordance to the recommendations of multilateral institutions and donors who were the sources for development funding debts.

Insensitive Policy

When poverty is being debated solely in statistical figures, tables or graphics, there will not be any full and total comprehension on poverty that has been genuinely felt and experienced by the people of Indonesia. And the debate would only produce insensitive policy for it was formulated without any total and full comprehension and direct involvement on the reality of poverty. The Regional Regulation on Public Order that is put in effect in DKI Jakarta is the actual example of policy that was made without any feelings and full and total comprehension.

Almost always there were denials from the reigning authorities when the media or NGOs launched the reality of poverty (for instance death caused by malnourishment /malnutrition) experienced by the poor community in a region. The denials could be done by minimizing/shrinking the data by stating the numbers of the dead/famine victims/malnutrition case was still in small percentage. Other form of denial was by ignoring the data, often even warded off by stating that the people experiencing death/malnutrition/hunger were not the people of that area (the immigrants). Those various denials indicate there was indeed an understanding that the poor was needed to be sacrificed by those wealthy people.

The poor as "criminals"

Apart from merely being "numbers", the poor people often are considered and treated as "criminals". Still in the atmosphere of the Idul Fitri, the time when all people (including the officials) should actually open their inner heart, the regional government has dispersed terror and threatened the poor people trying to find better luck in the capital city.

The high officials in the capital city stated that there will be deporting new hundreds of thousand immigrants (majority are poor people) who always come to Jakarta during the coming home period after Idul Fitri. Is the capital city only for the prosperous people?

If the threat is really implemented and the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta mobilizes Satpol PP (Civil Service Police) for Operasi Yustisi (operation to seek for illegal immigrants), the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta is doing exactly like the Government of Malaysia who mobilized Rela "capturing" the Indonesians in Malaysia.

Affirming the commitment

Regarding the commitment on poverty eradication, not only Indonesia has become the part of the global pact of MDGs, but also has become the country ratifying the ICESCR (by the Act No 11/2005). The covenant even is more operational and juridically binding because it mandated the existence harmonization the legislation at national level. Nevertheless, until the present day the government's political intention/will has not shown any signs of harmonizing the acts on the sectors of economy, social and cultural. The conservativeness of budgetary politic which is reflected in the State Budget is the evidence of ignorance of main covenant ratification implementation.

Until now, our State Budget only functions as the conservation of high cost bureaucracy, the door of corruption, but it remains to far to facilitate the effort to make the citizen smarter and healthier, let alone free them from the chain of poverty.

Kompas, Indonesia 17 October 2007

The second half of the month of October coincides with several “Calls for Action” all related to the quest for the alleviation of the status quo of people in the developing world.  October 15 is the anniversary of the death of former Burkinabe president Thomas Sankara who called for a cancellation of debt, on the 16 of October, the world celebrates World Food Day. The United Nations has since 1992 recognised October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and on this day last year over 23 million people in 87 countries “stood up” against poverty. October 20 is World Youth Day and on October 20-22, Washington will host the Annual Ministerial Meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. All these significant dates and actions that would be taken by citizens around the world to commemorate the days relate to one crucial issue that affects the lives of people in the south, poverty.

Africa South of the Sahara in particular experienced an increase in its debt burden, from approximately $ 60 billion in 1980 to about 230 billion in 2001. During this period, approximately $300 billion was repaid, but there continues to be a geometric increase in the debt, as a result of what Patrick Bond (Director of the Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) considers to be high rates of interest imposed on the amounts owed. A great proportion of the debt owed by the south is “illegitimate” and “odious,” because to start with, the funds did not trickle down to the very people who need them most. Given that developing countries owe more than $ 500 billion to International Financial Institutions (IFS) and other western governments, I find it important to pose the question: Will some of these countries ever be able to pay these debts?  Some countries in Africa pay as much as $ 100 million a day as interests on loans. The debt question is closely associated with the inhibition of poverty especially when one takes into cognisance the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). If developing countries are to achieve MDG 1 of halving poverty by 2015, the international community needs to seriously implement most of the promises made, related to debt relief and reduction, as several countries in Africa actually spend more money servicing debts than they do for health and education. According to OXFARM New Zealand, a country like Zambia spends $150 million more on debt servicing than they do on education and Ghana spends more on debt, than for example, on health.  According to EURODAD, a European Network on Debt and Development “because the International Financial Institutions enjoy ‘preferred creditor status,’ even extremely impoverished countries face strong pressure to divert resources to pay multilateral debts.”

As a result of much pressure on the west and IFS following the realisation that some countries will never be able to pay their debts, the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) was initiated in 1996 and in 2005 the HIPC initiative was enhanced by the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) that called for a principled 100% relief of debts by countries that meet the conditions of the HIPC Initiative and for only a handful of the international financial institutions-the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Development Association of the World Bank, the African Development Bank and later on the Inter-American Development Bank as well as the Asian Development Bank.  The HIPC Initiative called for the cancellation of about 50% of debts of countries deemed to be very poor and highly indebted and these countries were selected based on a select economic criteria and had to proceed with the implementation of strict conditionalities in order to qualify for debt relief. These initiatives have not been able to resolve the debt crisis because: firstly, they are accompanied by certain economic conditions which sometimes include privatization of certain state corporations/enterprises and services, retrenchments in key sectors and the liberalization of trade as well. Secondly, some countries that desperately need to have their debt cancelled so as to be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by the target date are excluded from these initiatives.  Thirdly, the European Network on Debt and Development notes that the initiatives do not include the complete cancellation debts owed by the selected countries. And lastly, the institutions directly involved are just four in number- the IMF, the Development Association of the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, these excludes other western countries and organisations.

The resolutions undertaken during the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit on debt, not to mention trade and aid were just a fraction of the many other unfulfilled promises made to the developing world. The G8 leaders agreed in principle to cancel about $ 40 billion of debt for highly indebted countries in Africa as part of their “renewed commitment to Africa,” but two years after Gleneagles, the debt crisis is being aggravated by what EURODAD terms “vulture funds.” The total amount of debt owed by countries in sub-Saharan Africa is above  $300 billion while about 2.4 trillion is owed by the entire developing world. The G8 leaders have not been completely able to practice the democracy they preach in terms of promises made to the South, this comes at a time when it is becoming increasingly evident that some world leaders have misplaced priorities, especially when one takes into consideration the fact that the United States spends over $4 billion a month on military operations in Iraq, not to mention the over $ 400 billion -a-year military budget, while there is the persistence of  extreme poverty, the HIVAIDS virus , malaria and tuberculosis affecting the lives of millions of men women and children in the developing world.     

Civil society organisations around the world as well as member countries in the developing world, together with citizens in the west are therefore standing up to say Pacta sunt servanda, promises which have been made by the international community should be fulfilled before more commitments are made.

The imposition of economic conditionalities should be reviewed because they do not take into account the domestic priorities of states and some have adverse repercussions on the very poor. Instead, developing states should have the flexibility of charting their own development priorities.

The 100% debt relief promises advanced by G8 leaders in Gleneagles is not at all reflective of the status quo because the debt relief package does not include total debt relief and just 18 countries are to date included in the package, while those clamouring for the cancellation of debts say the actual number of countries should be no less than 60. 100% debt relief should include all countries which are heavily indebted, total debt relief for all the countries and debt owed to the international community as a whole and not just to the four International Finance Institutes that are part of the HIPC Initiative.  

The international community must take full responsibility for the cumbersome nature of the international financial system as we all rise up on October 17 to say “we stand up against poverty” and the time to act is long overdue.

References

• EURODAD, “Debt Overview,”  www.eurodad.org/debt/?d=110
• EURODAD, “Week of Global Action Against Debt and IFIs 2007-10-05” www.eurodad.org/debt/article.aspx?id=1148&item=01702
• EURODAD, “Multilateral Debt,” www.eurodad.org/debt/?id+112

• EURODAD, “Illegitimate Debt,”  www.eurodad.org/debt/?id=14

• Patrick Bond, “A Review of Progression and Regression in Debt, Aid, Trade Relations, Global Governance and the MDGs,” AFRODAD Occasional Papers, Issue No 3 February 2006, p.4.  

“Where will you stand up tomorrow?” I asked a friend of mine today in an e-mail.  I’ll be in Delhi, he e-mailed back. “What about you?” Well, I’ll be in the office, I replied. I’ll be waiting for updates from national coalitions, writing breaking news reports, updating the web site and sending links to the media and to all who would care to know about how the various Stand Up and Speak Out events across Asia are turning out.

Up until I wrote this e-mail, I have not given any thought as to how I will be able to stand up or if I will be able to stand up at all given that I have work to do that requires me to stay inside the office. I simply did not think about it. I did not have a plan. What I thought about are the items in my ‘to do’ list. What I have is a media plan. And I was only being flippant when I tossed the where-will-you-stand-up question to my friend. 

I got lost in the rush of preparations for this historic mobilization and found myself all at sea, floating among the flotsam and jetsam of email exchanges, urgent meetings and multitasking. It dawned on me that tomorrow millions of people will make history, even break a Guinness world record, while I hunch over my laptop.

I decided standing up does not become immaterial when one is part of the preparations. I decided standing up on October 17 is a decision one has to make for reasons political as well as personal.

I have my reasons. One of them is the boy who tried to sell me a candle and a prayer while I was visiting a cathedral during a trip in Cebu City. He was small, maybe about three years old, when his grubby fingers tugged at my shirt. Our eyes met but only for a split second. He was pushed aside when a throng of older children and grand mothers, all wielding candles, swooped down on me. I heard him wail before I saw him, hugging a nearby lamp post, inconsolable.  I have never felt so ashamed. I felt shame for feeling sorry for him, and shame for appearing stupid in front of people whose eyes closed in on me and who must have thought I should know better than to be ambushed by a bunch of hustlers.      

One of them is the emaciated, half-blind woman who knocked on my office one day asking if she can have one mattress for her family. We were distributing old, dirty mattresses, hand-me-down from a university, to people whose homes were buried under volcanic debris. The lot was intended for a group of beneficiaries when she walked in that day.  I was to tell her that but before I could open my mouth, she knelt in front of me, begging. They have nothing, she said, her six children are huddled inside a makeshift hut, all of them sick with diarrhea, and her husband, a fisher, has been missing at sea.

Tomorrow I will slip out of the office for a few minutes to stand up and be counted. I will stand up side by side with others to demand that change come soon to the sleeping bodies that crowd sidewalks in many parts of Asia, to the millions of families living with hunger and the stench of garbage and decay, to the women and children whose lives hang precariously on a balance that for them tomorrow is another lifetime. 

But I will stand up especially for the boy who learned to walk on a cathedral’s grounds, amid the stench of burning candles and the hum produced by people praying in concert, and who, as soon as he was able to walk, got into the urgent business of trying to survive. I will stand up especially for the half-blind woman whose six children, starving and ill, waited for her at home one day and all she brought home was an old mattress.#   lani villanueva

 “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”                                      

Martin Luther King jnr

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) decided in Beirut in March 2006 to continue its work. Policy demands contained in the Johannesburg statement were confirmed in Beirut, with an emphasis on national accountability. Indeed, the issue of governance was brought to the fore and campaigners from the South and the North mentioned the importance of dealing with governance in their countries while also tackling global issues of debt, trade and aid. The decision was taken to keep our global policy messages at a broad and inclusive level in order to incorporate diverse sections of civil society at the global level. However, at the regional, national and local levels, more clearly focused and detailed policy constructions and messages targeting national governments and national change agendas are necessary.

We see now GCAP coalitions developing their demands and messages, based on the broad policy framework of the Beirut Declaration.

National platforms have increased from only 15 in January 2005 to approximately 115 in September 2006.  The formation of autonomous national platforms was part of the plan, building at the national level on existing organizations and networks, based on their own national concerns and contexts. The process of building a global campaign based on national coalitions and networks is very much a process in the making. The potential for building on existing coalitions, networks and organizations, of mobilization, varies by region and country depending on the political environment, the existence or strength of NGOs and existing coalitions and networks.

New partners are coming on board every week. Since there were less global events this year, coalitions focused on their own calendar, and respond to social and economic justice needs. The G20 was meeting in Australia, and Make Poverty History (MPH) Australia has been acting and supporting the involvement of other coalitions concerned, such as the South-African coalition. Hopefully, the actions promoted by MPH Australia will inspire follow up in South Africa in 2007. Equally, the Japanese coalition was involved in the civil society preparations for the G8 in Germany, as Japan will host the 2008 G8.

The way the campaign operates is therefore changing. GCAP 2006 is less driven by global events. The emphasis is on national demands and activities. GCAP campaigners support each other and national coalitions by sharing experiences, best practices, knowledge, analysis, materials and tools.  As a consequence, the 2005 International Facilitation Group became the International Facilitation Team (IFT), in which all regions are represented.  It took time to establish this international steering committee, but it is now fully operational; its members voice concerns, actions, from all parts of the world. The IFT represents national coalitions, international organisations, youth and children, workers and religious constituencies. Similar structures were established at the regional level, with the Asian, African and Latin American Facilitation Teams.

Where Are We Coming From?

GCAP was initiated as an international alliance of organizations, networks and national campaigns to pressure world leaders to act on poverty and hold them accountable for commitments they have made regarding debt, trade and aid.  It was conceived as a direct response to the opportunity (and challenge) presented by the congruence of three major international events to take place in one year, 2005. GCAP’s demands set forth in the Johannesburg Statement, adopted by consensus of 60-70 diverse organizations called broadly for eradication of poverty, trade justice, debt cancellation, significant increase in the quantity and quality of aid, and national efforts to eliminate poverty, with achievement of the MDGs as a first step.  GCAP’s goals were and are by necessity broad, to accommodate the very wide spectrum of viewpoints expressed by those present. Given accountability of representatives to their own organizational constituencies, the construction of a statement broad enough to encompass the whole, yet sharp enough to present an effective policy and lobbying platform meant that the consensus was a fragile one, and its maintenance a key challenge.

Justice delayed is justice denied

“First, was the realisation that there is a huge gap between the rhetoric of working to make the world a just place and the reality of implementation, particularly from those that wield immense power. So while we acknowledge the progress made every day in the lives of ordinary people around the world as a result of action taken by ordinary citizens for the public good, we must also acknowledge that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’’

An assessment of achievements reached in the course of 2005/2006 in relationship to the goals of the Johannesburg Statement would need a close monitoring. Multilateral debt write off, commitment to the largest single ODA increase ever, reduction of export subsidies by 1 billion/euros/year by 2013, and other gains made at the three international fora must be limited by the conditions attached to them. Above all these include forced expansion of liberalization and privatization, leading to erosion of public services and greater impoverishment.

Some gains were made in the area of gender equality through extensive collaboration among women’s groups.  The GCAP Feminist Task Force contributes to a growing recognition of the interrelationship of issues, help reconsidering the Johannesburg Statement, making stronger connections between issues of debt, aid and trades and the complex web of other human rights and social development issues.

While it is difficult to measure the policy impact of GCAP, there were some notable achievements in terms of constituency building.  The value of the various planned activities, concerts, stunts, demonstrations, lobbying, etc. was thought to be in their combination, rather than one or another singled out.  Some of the achievements were the increased mobilization with synergy created by the combination of high profile activities: concerts, stunts, demonstrations, march, etc., and the extensive global recognition of the white band, to symbolize a growing global social movement around issues of poverty. The political influence with elected political officials and leaders made possible by the mass mobilization, and the recognition and respect for GCAP in international fora, with space created for civil society input, e.g. the GA Informal Interactive Hearings. Finally, GCAP supporters wrote valuable MDG shadow reports, produced useful tool kits and information materials and established new and productive working relationships

A Global Call and a Modern Campaign

Some associations and partnerships have influenced the way in which GCAP is perceived, both to its benefit and its detriment.  Some saw GCAP as focusing on high visibility to the detriment of grass-roots mobilisation. At the same time, building on existing coalitions is central to GCAP’s strategy.  All our efforts this year were directed to dovetail with existing mobilizations and movements in order to gain support and achieve widespread mobilization. The need to create effective ties to national entities of such international bodies as the ITUC, and faith-based organizations operating at the local level has begun, with emphasis shifting from global fora and events to the regions and national platforms. 

Is this Global Call a Modern Campaign? Definitely, as the emblem of the campaign –the white band- and its national variations are in itself very appealing to the youth constituencies. GCAP uses a combination of actions: lobby work at the UN, the EU the AU and at government levels; evidence based advocacy with the public presentations of MDG shadow reports; media work and celebrity support, stunts, concerts; traditional marches, vigils and pickets; but also online campaigning, e-action using email, sms, faxes.

2006 Month of Mobilisation

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) Month of Mobilisation 2006 was launched on September 16.  Coinciding with the World Bank (WB) / International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings, the launch aimed to highlight the harmful impact of World Bank and IMF policies on poor countries. Under the slogan of ‘We Must Have a Voice’,  GCAP highlighted the role the IMF and World Bank play in restricting the ‘voice’ of poor countries in determining their own economic policies, as well as highlighting the lack of ‘voice’ that poor countries have in the way the two institutions are governed. 

The Month of mobilisation culminated with the Stand Up against poverty event: between 11am on Sunday 15 October and 11am on Monday 16 October, 23,5 millions  people from all over the world stood up against poverty. They rose from sitting or kneeling to a standing position for one minute, while someone read a STAND UP pledge.

Will GCAP Make History?

GCAP did not make poverty history in 2005, but GCAP is truly based on the amazing efforts done by all the existing anti-poverty campaigns of the world. GCAP might make history by connecting CSOs and supporting their engagement with decision-makers at all level. If one should recognize that GCAP remains a fragile alliance, we see CSOs getting together and developing common actions and demands, based on the Beirut Platform. Some are using GCAP outreach to showcase their specific and unique experience and knowledge. Most of us know that CSOs are essential in the difficult exercise of “localising the MDGs” and of the promotion of the UN agreed goals.

There is an emergency. The crisis of poverty and inequality has reached an unbelievable scale. Over thirty thousand children are dying every single day just because they don’t have clean water, enough food or the most basic of medicines. More people have died from extreme poverty in the last ten years, than all of the wars of the 20^th century put together. And the most tragic thing about all of these deaths is that we can afford to stop them. The world has never been richer, yet we have never left so many to die. For all civil society and members of the public, GCAP is your call to get involved and show the world that we are a strong voice that cannot be ignored.

IFT Support team at CIVICUS - January 2007

CIVICUS provides support to the GCAP International Facilitation Team, with a small team, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. One of CIVICUS’ overall goals is to work towards breaking down barriers to effective collaboration within civil society. The MDGs initiative allows for the possibility to achieve this goal. Engaging around the MDG campaign will boost civil society’s capacity to engage national governments and intergovernmental bodies, while increasing their collective experiential knowledge of the politics and operational dynamics of engagement with governing institutions.

The activity was very well attended. Participants were very interested in the presentations and in the activities of the FTF.

The launch of the plan started with a video clip prepared by the support team of GCAP. It's about the mobilisation of women in 2007 around the GCAP demands.

Pam Rajput made the presentation of the tribunal in India. Previously we showed a video that you can all access following the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyy1tMi2-k

Lysa John, though not present at the CSW, was very present through her voice in the video and the hard work she did for the tribunal.

Martha Rico presented the tribunal in Peru explaining how cases were selected and the whole process that led to the verdict. And Josephine Kamel introduced the plans for the tribunal in Egypt that will take place on 14 March.

All presentations generated great interest. And it became clear that we need to share with the list and beyond the process of the tribunals as this was particularly appreciated by participants as a way to organise their own tribunals back home.

We then launched the mobilisation plan for 8 March and distributed all documents with the demands resulting from the tribunals and others, like the ones related to the Gender Equality Architecture Reform and the financing for gender equality.

We also distributed post cards for sending to the UN General Secretary and others that can be sent to the policy makers or others that women believe should receive them as they are in a position to act. These cards are available for download from the internet and we will also be sending you copies by e-mail.

As I write this I cannot but remember the participation of a Masai woman from Kenya who, during the debate, said that poverty tends to be defined in terms of having one or two dollars a day, but that lacked all significance for her culture, as what is important for the Masai is having cattle, not dollars. She went on saying that she knew that at the end of the meeting, like in all meetings, it would be said that more information could be download from www and that she and so many other women in the world had no way to get to that www wherever it was! Hers was a strong statement reminding us about the diversity of cultures, of realities, of world views, of possibilities, and of ways to construct wealth and happiness. It is certainly part of what we, at the FTF want to send as a message in terms of unveiling different ways women have to confront poverty and build livelihoods.

Ana Agostino, GCAP IFT Co-Chair

Bali is beautiful. This small tropical island, part of the Indonesian archipelago and perched off the East coast of Java is, for the next two weeks, playing host to a major UN climate change conference.

I am here for the first week of the conference with colleagues from the Global Call to Action Against Poverty – the world’s largest anti-poverty movement, with national platforms in more than 100 countries. I will try to send updates from the conference looking at both what is being discussed – but also to give a flavour of the conference itself.

There is no longer serious debate that humans are causing significant climatic changes, and that the poorest nations and people in the world are being hit first and hardest by these changes. So can Bali be the moment when negotiations truly begin on a crucial follow up to the Kyoto Protocol as well as on other vital areas including adaptation and deforestation.

My initial impression is, perhaps unhelpfully, maybe. Let me explain.

First the conference itself. Planes carrying delegates (the irony is last on few) come down low over the narrow strip of water that separates the island from Java, and land at Denpasar on the South tip of Bali. Those delegates are whisked away in gas-guzzling people carriers to the exclusive resort of Nusa Dua, home to countless five star hotels and to the main convention centre where the meeting will take place.
 
In luxurious surroundings, and under the hot Balinese sun, delegates waft from hotel to conference centre in taxis, bell boys carry suitcases into air-conditioned rooms, talk is of clause 4 of this and article 15 of that, Balinese security guards and police patrol the boundaries, and locals are kept firmly out. In such surroundings I fear the emergency of climate change is lost. Radical action suppressed by freshly fluffed pillows.
 
And yet, around 12,000 government officials, civil society activists, UN staff, private sector representatives and others are arriving over the weekend for the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and there are, perhaps, a few important features that distinguish this meeting from its predecessors and give hope that decisions can be made. 

The unity of dialogue, the role of civil society, and the timing of the conference are all playing a role to ensure that this conference is definitive in shaping global decisions. 
 
Having recently been at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings, it is already clear that civil society is far more integrated into the process here than at the Bank and Fund. Here the negotiation halls are open to all accredited delegates, the civil society forum is running parallel to the main conference and dialogue is free and open between all sides.  This is highly significant as it means that decisions reached will have been done so in a relatively transparent manner and are therefore more likely to have the support of all key actors.
 
Not unrelated is the fact that this conference is historic in the unity role players are facing in the debate.  While in many areas of economics and politics, different interest groups are brought to the discussion table largely to protect their own interests in a largely zero sum game, with climate change, business, government, and civil society stand to lose, and lose in a drastic way, if there is not unified, quick action.
 
Finally, the timing of this conference is working in its favour.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has become a widely accepted body for scientific evidence on climate change allowing a vital agreed basis for dialogue on agreements and future treaties. It’s fourth assessment report released this year highlights the need for drastic action in the most startling terms yet.
The ravages of climate change are already being felt, from Bangladesh to New Orleans. There is now widespread public awareness about climate change, and the more it is affecting the lives of citizens, the more they are demanding action from decision makers.  With a political incentive to act together against climate change, Bali could just be the place where promises are finally turned into action.

For the sake of all of us, let’s hope so.