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G8 cannot ignore the voices of the people

‘TANABATA’ WISHES DELIVERED AROUND THE WORLD AHEAD OF G8

A unique petition (www.whiteband.org/actionnow) now carrying over one million names from around the world is today being handed over to G8 governments before leaders leave for the Japanese Summit next week. 

People in G8 countries and elsewhere, have strongly supported demands on education, health and HIV/AIDS, climate change and international aid, in the form of thousands of online and offline Tanabata ‘wishes’.The action is based on the traditional Japanese Festival of Tanabata (meaning star), which will this year take place on the first day of the Summit, July 7th.  In keeping with the tradition, people tie their wishes for the year ahead to a bamboo tree.

“Seeing how many people across the globe, from both rich and poor nations, have interacted with this campaign in the past few weeks is really inspiring.  We know that pressure to hold the eight richest governments to account for their promises to end poverty needs this scale of support and we promise to bring the message loud and clear to the Summit next week.” said Kumi Naidoo, Co-Chair of GCAP who will be in Japan throughout the G8.

GCAP Demands the G8 must

• increase Overseas Development Aid (ODA) levels by an extra $50 billion by 2010, with $25 billion of this for Africa, and each G8 nation provides a detailed timetable for their budget increases to achieve this in the next two years.
• make binding agreements to keep global warming at less than 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, which requires stabilisation at 450 ppm CO2 equivalent or below, in line with present EU policy and scientific projections.
• spend $50 billion annually for climate adaptation in addition to the UN target of 0.7% of GNI, in grants not loans and agree 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020.
• agree full debt cancellation for all IDA-only countries, and all other countries whose debt levels currently prevent them from meeting their people’s basic needs, without economic policy conditions.
• spend $15-16 billion per annum minimum in aid for education for adult literacy, early childhood care and education, targeting the hardest-to-reach children and expansion of lower secondary education.
• reverse the growing food crisis through a combination of; aid from grants not loans, stopping market speculation, removing incentives to turn food into bio-fuel, ending trade-distorting agricultural policies, investing in sustainable small-scale agricultural production in developing nations; stop debt payments from flowing out of countries.
• transform the International Health Partnership into a fully endorsed G8 initiative to help countries design and implement clear, long-term plans for assisting, expanding and strengthening public health systems to ensure the 2010 HIV/AIDS targets are met.
• provide $60bn for AIDS, TB and malaria increased or delivered at a rate that is sufficient to meet UNAIDS’s estimates of resources needed to achieve Universal Access by 2010.
• endorse a Global Water and Sanitation Action Plan recognizing the integral role of water and sanitation in the achievement of the MDGs and articulating a roadmap for ensuring progress in the sector.

In Japan , over 200 organizations working on poverty, human rights and the environment have come together to take action for G8.  Already on June 18th representatives met the Prime Minister and delivered their 600000 Tanzaku messages from all over the world. GCAP Korea Representative Kyekung Kim put a white band on Japanese Prime Minister's to let the G8 leaders know there is no corner in the world in which they can hide. The Japanese NGO Forum will send the final total petition to the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo before he leaves for Hokkaido.

JULY 3RD  - WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD?

GCAP UK will be doing a hand-in to Prime Minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street in London on July 3rd with a decorated bamboo Tanabata tree.  Oxfam, World Vision and CAFOD are amongst the groups involved as well as BOND and partner networks promoting the action including trade unions.

In Berlin a press conference organized by the Deine Stimme gegen Armut campaign will be followed on July 3rd by a rally in front of the Chancellory during which dozens of bamboo trees, will be tied with strips of paper/wishes, accompanied by Japanese 'taiko' drummers. In the afternoon a delegation of NGO reps will hand over a bamboo tree with "wishes" and demands by development NGOs to G8 sherpa Bernd Pfaffenbach.

In Ottawa, Canada, the send-off action on July 3 in front of the Prime Minister’s office will deliver a Tanabata tree decorated with people’s wishes.

In Russia hand-in popular mobilization events will happen in several cities, Tyumen', Tolyatti, Nizhnij Novgorod, Vladimir and St. Petersburg.

In Azerbaijan, GCAP coalitions held an international cartoon web competition to demonstrate solidarity with the GCAP movement. Cartoonists in more than 25 countries have already joined to this call and a virtual catalogue will be set up at the beginning of July.  The Azerbaijan GCAP coalition also plans to meet the Japanese Ambassador on July 7th.

“This Summit is not about politicians paying lip service to the issues on their agenda, it is about the people I live with in my town, my family, my community.  Like millions across the developing world we are being further marginalized by growing poverty and inequality and now the cost of food is rising we see no hope without G8 action.” said Nur Amalia from GCAP Indonesia who will be present in Japan.

The Tanabata Action Now petition will continue to collect wishes online and offline right up to the G8. See details and links below.

For more information on GCAP’s G8 actions go to www.whiteband.org

Ciara O’Sullivan, GCAP Media Coordinator, ciara.osullivan@civicus.org, +34 679 594 809 (Japan mobile will be available from July 5th) or Kel Currah, GCAP G8 Working Group, kel@g8project.org

Notes to Editors:
The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is the world’s largest civil society alliance of social movements, International NGOs, trade unions, community groups, women’s organizations, faith and youth groups, local associations and campaigners working together across more than 100 national coalitions/platforms.   GCAP is calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. In particular, GCAP demands solutions that address the issues of; public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights; trade justice; more and better aid; debt cancellation and gender equality and women’s rights.  www.whiteband.org

Total as of July 3rd – 1,003,469

Taken from a  combination of
www.whiteband.org/actionnow
www.deine-stimme-gegen-armut.de
www.g8ngoforum.org/tanzaku
www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis
www.avaaz.org/en/g8_climate_wakeup
www.one.org/international/g8
And the Drop the Debt off-line petition

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