Make Poverty History Campaign

Link to this article

On Monday May 16 in the Scottish Parliament, Bob Geldof condemned the world's wealthiest nations as a "complete and utter disgrace" for going back on their promises. The Make Poverty History campaign is gathering pace ahead of the G8 summit.

The statistics tell a shocking story. Nearly half the world's population lives in poverty. Thirty thousand children die every day because they are poor and average life expectancy in Africa is getting shorter, not longer. Clearly the G8 has a lot of work to do.

At the Gleneagles summit in July, the leaders of the world's richest countries will promise to reduce poverty, debt and disease. But there are many who are saying we have heard it all before. They are part of a growing campaign to put pressure on the politicians to do more than just talk.

Make Poverty History has brought together over 400 organisations and enlisted the help of an array of celebrities who've made trade justice and debt relief ultra hip. The campaign will culminate in a mass rally in Edinburgh just before the summit.

Mary Cullen from Make Poverty History said: "Poverty is in a sense man made, and so we make these rule, we can unmake the rules, we can change it so we do believe it is possible as Nelson Mandela said to make poverty history along with apartheid and along with slavery."

But will celebrities and demos really make a difference? Charlotte Ebba is an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast living in Glasgow. She does not think the campaign will change the way the West treats Africa.

She said: "If they want to make poverty history, they can do it by giving the resources, doing fair trades, let African people decide about how and where to send the resources."

Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter was initially sceptical too but he now believes the campaign could succeed. He said: "All it needs is the will. If this was happening in Scotland, you know, 30,000 people a day - it's half of Ayr today, half of Kilmarnock tomorrow. If these things were happening in our backyard, our politicians would do something about it today."

The campaign's white wristbands have become a bit of a fashion statement for young people, but the serious message does seem to have got through. The organisers expect upwards of 100,000 people will go on the march, many of them won't have demonstrated before. They hope the strength of feeling will make the politicians take notice.