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DEVELOPMENT: Crisis Both a Distraction and an Opportunity

Wolfgang Kerler

NEW YORK, Oct 14 2008 (IPS) - Despite intense media focus on the U.S. presidential campaign and the ongoing economic turmoil, organisers of “Stand Up and Take Action” events this weekend are confident that hundreds of thousands of citizens in this country will not forget the world’s poorest.

“Now is the right time to highlight the link between global poverty and the economic crisis within the United States,” Irfan Mufti, international campaign manager of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), told IPS.

Salil Shetty, director of the U.N. Millennium Campaign, said in an interview with IPS that “in rich countries like the U.S., the demands of the people will be very much debt, and trade and development assistance issues.”

He concedes it would be difficult to shift attention away from the looming Nov. 4 election. “But we are not pushing very hard, because we think the election is a good thing,” Shetty added.

Whoever wins – Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain – “there will be an improvement”, Shetty asserted, as both candidates have made clear commitments to increase U.S. development assistance.

Nevertheless, Mufti is “quite disappointed” with the little notice the candidates have paid to global development issues in their campaigns so far – an opinion that is shared by Brian Swarts, director of Micah Challenge USA.

“I think it is going to be harder now to get people’s attention for global poverty,” Swarts told IPS. His organisation is a movement of Christian churches, schools, families and individuals that advocates for impoverished and marginalised communities.

For Swarts, the economic crisis is “an opportunity to remind Americans that many people around the world are facing a greater crisis.”

“Here, people are certainly suffering and losing money, but there are places where people are losing their life or their children’s lives because of extreme poverty,” Swarts said.

Like many other civil society groups, Micah Challenge USA is preparing activities for this year’s “Stand Up and Take Action” weekend, which runs from Oct. 17-19. The campaign was launched by the U.N. Millennium Campaign and GCAP in 2006.

“Oct. 19 is our international day of worship and education on poverty,” Swarts said. He is expecting close to 2,000 participants this year – significantly more than last year when around 1,500 people supported Micah Challenge’s Stand Up events in the United States.

By symbolically standing up, people will challenge their governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by 189 U.N. member states in 2000.

Recent reports have shown that neither developing nor developed countries are fully meeting their commitments, and the main goal – to halve extreme poverty by 2015 – may not be achieved in many countries.

Over 23 million people from all continents took part in the first “Stand Up” campaign in 2006. One year later, the number rose to 43 million, breaking the preceding year’s world record.

But support was not found equally in all regions. While over 32 million people in Asia, over seven million in Africa and more than 2.5 million in Arab states stood up in 2007, only around 200,000 and 100,000 respectively did so in Europe and the United States – a sharp decline from 2006.

Shetty explained that one reason for the weak participation in richer countries is the absence of mass mobilisation in the streets – something that can be found in many developing countries. Also, “people in the U.S. and Europe are discussing somebody else’s problems,” Shetty said.

Mufti regretted that “many U.S. citizens are very much unaware about global problems.” But as U.S. civil society groups are more and more coming forward, he is expecting a much higher participation rate this year. Some programmatic changes may also contribute to this.

The event will take place over three days instead of one and it will not consist solely of physically “standing up” anymore. People are also asked to take action themselves – for example writing letters to politicians, donating blood or distributing free food to the hungry.

Unusual support for the Millennium Campaign and GCAP is also coming from the growing blogger community on the internet.

On Oct. 15, all weblog creators are invited to join the second “Blog Action Day” and to give their viewpoints and opinions on the topic of poverty. Last year, more than 20,000 weblogs participated and many publicised coverage of environmental issues.

“Blog Action Day asks bloggers to research how they can make a difference in their specific niche and pass that information on to their audiences,” event co-founder Cyan Ta’eed told IPS. “It is also perfect timing for our bloggers to get their readers involved and organise Stand Up groups a few days later.”

While she was initially concerned that the U.S. election would diminish participation, Ta’eed is now looking forward to at least the same amount of support as last year.

“So far we have been met with incredible enthusiasm not only from bloggers but from the corporate, non-profit and government sectors. This is a great time to make your voice heard, and I think people realise that,” Ta’eed said.

Worldwide over 67 million people – more than one percent of the population – are expected to stand up and take action against poverty and for the MDGs during the 72 hours starting on Oct. 17.

“But nobody can predict exactly what is going to happen,” Shetty said.

Information about the Blog Action Day is available at www.blogactionday.org. A list of “Stand Up and Take Action” events all around the world can be found at www.standagainstpoverty.org.