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News in RSSThere is no "bailout" for the world’s poorest. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being found to bail out wealthy bankers and financial institutions, but the emergency summit on the MDGs held at the UN in September was only able to generate $16 billion in commitments to ending poverty, says the latest GCAP campaign.

With this year’s "Stand Up and Take Action" campaign, GCAP, a global alliance of trade unions, community groups, faith groups, women and youth organizations is calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. In particular, GCAP demands solutions to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Sixteen years after the UN General Assembly designated October 17 as the International Day for Eradication of Poverty, the global imbalances that cause it remain daunting challenges, and international institutions continue to renege on their promises to eradicate the problem.

What has increased in strength and numbers is civil society and citizen action in the fight to eradicate poverty. GCAP was launched in 2005 at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, and rapidly became the world's largest anti-poverty movement, with organisations representing about 150 million people in over 110 countries.

In 2006 23 million people stood up, in 2007 it was 43.7 million. This year, the main focus of Stand Up is Take Action: activities, initiatives around the globe, political or personal, from tree-planting to government lobbying, from donating blood to marching in the streets.

BetterAid.Org
Banners Against Poverty
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STAND UP Against Poverty
Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)
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DEVELOPMENT: Now Sit Up and Listen
Analysis by Sanjay Suri
LONDON - For every one in 50 people around the world to make a point of standing up somewhere on the planet to say the same kind of thing adds up to a lot of people. More than any mass mobilisation on any issue ever before.
MORE >>
 

POVERTY-AFRICA: Leaders Cannot Close Their Ears
By Terna Gyuse & IPS correspondents
CAPE TOWN - Eight years ago, the leaders of 189 countries pledged to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, eliminating extreme poverty by 2015. The Stand Up, Take Action Campaign mobilises millions of people around the world to press for action to make this a reality.
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SPAIN: Only Banks Get Aid, Anti-Poverty Protesters Complain
By José Antonio Gurriarán
MADRID - "We think it’s disgraceful that billions of dollars are available to bail out banks, and there is no money to eradicate poverty in the world," said Marina Navarro, the spokeswoman for some 1,000 social organisations in Spain taking part in demonstrations against poverty between Friday and Sunday.
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DEVELOPMENT: South America Fights Poverty Its Own Way
By Daniela Estrada*
SANTIAGO - This year, only a few South American nations have responded to the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and its campaign slogan, "Stand Up and Take Action". The social organisations grouped in the global network point to a variety of reasons to explain the apparent apathy.
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AUSTRALIA: Poverty on the Rise Down Under
By Stephen de Tarczynski
MELBOURNE - Australian cities rank high among the world’s most liveable in ‘quality of life’ surveys and car bumper stickers proclaim the nation as ‘young and free’. But an increasing number of people are living in grinding poverty, a situation that will likely be exacerbated by the ongoing global financial crisis.
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Q&A: Marathon Struggle To End Poverty
Zahira Kharsany interviews KUMI NAIDOO*
JOHANNESBURG - Since 2005, the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) has mobilised millions of unionists, activists, and ordinary people to demand an end to poverty and inequality.
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ZIMBABWE: Time To Do The Right Thing
By Ephraim Nsingo
HARARE - At least 5,000 people are expected to gather in Chitungwiza today to demand improved access to water, sanitation and health services as part of the Stand Up, Take Action Against Poverty campaign.
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DEVELOPMENT: Poverty - Time to Act
By Antonio Marafioti and Miren Gutiérrez
ROME - "Our voices must reach the ears of the leaders who govern us," says Marina Ponti, describing this year’s campaign by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP).
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HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Activists Say Cholera Due to Failed Leadership
By Ephraim Nsingo
HARARE - "In my nine years as a nurse, I have never been so devastated. You know how discouraging it is to see people dying before your eyes. And you know very well there is nothing you can do to help them."
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DEVELOPMENT: Crisis Both a Distraction and an Opportunity
By Wolfgang Kerler
NEW YORK - 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.
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TRADE-EAST AFRICA: Going Bananas to Fight Poverty and Hunger
By Busani Bafana
MOMBASA - Arguably one of the world’s most popular fruits, bananas are poorly marketed as a value-added commercial crop in Africa. But that is about to change as a plan is being conceptualised to transform the way Africa produces and sells bananas.
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POLITICS: Unchecked Arms Trade Fuelling Conflict, Poverty
By Ida Karlsson
UNITED NATIONS - With 1.3 trillion dollars spent every year on the world's militaries, countries enmeshed in conflict are often flooded by weapons which are then turned against helpless civilian populations, say human rights organisations pushing for an international treaty to closely regulate arms sales.
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ECONOMY-US: Shelters and Soup Kitchens Hold Crisis Front Lines
By Heike Barkawitz
NEW YORK - Wall Street may be in the throes of agony, but business is booming at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen a bit farther north in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea.
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RIGHTS: EU Parliament Acts Against Child Trafficking
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS - The European Union needs to develop a programme against child trafficking, the bloc's only directly elected institution has declared.
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FINANCE-US: Helping People One Paycheque From Disaster
By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California - A decade ago, few could envision that making a charitable donation would be as simple as a mouse click.
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EGYPT: Anger Approaches Boiling Point
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
CAIRO - Public disaffection with the government appears to have reached an all-time high.
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LATIN AMERICA: Once Again, Govts Promise to Tackle Violent Crime
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY - Violent crime in Latin America claims more than 100,000 lives a year -- more than any single disease -- and the average homicide rate is 27 per 100,000 population, making this one of the most violent regions in the world.
MORE >>
 

 

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STAND UP -- Take Action

Between Friday, Oct. 17 and Sunday, Oct. 19, do your part to STAND UP and TAKE ACTION. The final goal is not to beat another Guinness World Record, but to show the true impact of collective mobilisation over growing citizen's awareness and involvement.


Archbishop Tutu Stand Up Video
Towards Doha
DEVELOPMENT
 
Q&A: Can Save the MDGs Yet
Interview with Glenys Kinnock, Member of the European Parliament
White banners were draped across public buildings in much of Europe during 2005 as an unlikely coalition of celebrities, church groups and trade unionists took part in the Make Poverty History campaign. The Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised countries and the European Union responded by promising to double their aid to Africa by 2010 at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

 
DEVELOPMENT: Millions Stood Up, Will World Leaders Follow?
By Haider Rizvi
Millions of people across the world took part in meetings and rallies calling for economic and social justice for the marginalised and downtrodden in a way that perhaps the world had never witnessed before.

 
Q&A: 'GCAP Is About Political Engagement'
Interview with Irfan Mufti, GCAP campaign manager
Rights activist Irfan Mufti, currently working as campaign manager for the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), is confident that this year will see the movement influencing national budgets as well as the policies of institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

 
DEVELOPMENT: The Missing Piece of the Poverty Puzzle
By Anita Petry
Women are seen as the key for ending global poverty and the issue of gender equality is receiving special attention at events marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Wednesday.

 
DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Monster Banner Against Poverty Coming Up
By Aoun Abbas
When Shareefan Bibi, who works as a labourer at a brick kiln in this town 70 km from Lahore city, heard of the monster banner against poverty being put together she wanted to sign on it.