Archive for April, 2008
The Millennium Campus Network held a conference this past weekend to discuss global poverty and health. ONE’s former intern, Sam Vaghar, helped create this new network of Boston area colleges and universities, and their conference hosted over 700 students and included top global health experts like Ira Magaziner, Dr. Paul Farmer, as well as an event with musician John Legend and Dr. Jeff Sachs.
I attended the first day of the event at MIT and immediately noticed a few ONE shirts and many, many ONE bands. After opening statements and a very good speech by Sam, the keynote address was given by former presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards. In his speech, Sen. Edwards spoke about his travels to Uganda and the extreme poverty he witnessed in Africa. He spoke about the need to fight AIDS and malaria to help bring stability to poor nations and citied America’s moral standing in the world.
After his speech, I was able to briefly speak with Sen. Edwards and thanked him for raising the issues of global poverty while on the campaign trail. We even talked about the global poverty speech he gave in New Hampshire.
From the campaign trail to the colleges campuses, people everywhere are organizing and realizing that in today’s world, that we have the resources to fight global disease and end extreme – less than a dollar a day – poverty.
-Matthew Bartlett
Yesterday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged to set up a task force to address the world hunger crisis.
“One thing is certain, the world has consumed more than it has produced” over the last three years, he said.
Ban blamed a host of causes for the soaring cost of food, including rising oil prices, the fall of the U.S. dollar and natural disasters.
He said he would put together a special task force to help deal with the problem and called on the international community to help. He said the U.N. World Food Program plans to raise $750 million per year to help feed 73 million people in 80 countries.
“We need a real world and not the world of economic theories,” Ban said. “I will work on this right now with a sense of urgency.”
Read the full AP story here.
A striking piece in the New York Times today about the hunger crisis in Haiti and across the globe:
“Haiti’s hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples like beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.
Saint Louis Meriska’s children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal recently and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said forlornly, “They look at me and say, ‘Papa, I’m hungry,’ and I have to look away. It’s humiliating and it makes you angry.”
That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis is not only being felt among the poor but is also eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on fragile governments.”
I’d quote the whole thing if I could. Read the full article here and take action against the hunger crisis here.
-Virginia Simmons
Our Wednesday world food crisis email talked a bit about the situation in Haiti. More from a Reuters piece is below.
“PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 12 (Reuters) – Haiti’s Senate on Saturday voted to fire Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, an ally of President Rene Preval, 10 days after violent protests over skyrocketing food prices hit the poor Caribbean nation.”
Read the full piece here.
And of right now, 59,189 ONE members have signed our petition to President Bush about the world hunger crisis. If you haven’t signed already, help us get 60k signers by adding your name today.
-Virginia Simmons
Apr 18th, 2008 9:49 AM UTC
By Field
Wednesday night Senators Clinton and Obama engaged in their first debate in weeks. While they were inside the National Constitution Center discussing their plans for the country, ONE was outside making sure someone was speaking up for all those suffering from extreme poverty around the world. We were out there handing out literature, speaking with Clinton and Obama supporters, giving a voice to those who so often lack one. It was an amazing sight, being part of a crowd of hundreds of supporters, protesters, and activists. The campaign trail is hot here in Pennsylvania and we’re keeping the heat on the candidates about their commitments to fight global poverty.
-Tyler Bond, ONE Vote ’08 organizer, Philadelphia, PA
Last Wednesday, AIDS orphans were in the national spotlight as millions tuned in to watch Idol Gives Back. Â We need to ensure they remain in the spotlight, leading up to World AIDS Orphans Day on May 7th.
World AIDS Orphans Day is a grassroots campaign to draw attention and advocate on behalf of the more than 15 million children who have been orphaned by AIDS.
To date, the needs of AIDS orphans have been largely ignored by policy makers.
Fewer than 1 in 10 AIDS orphans receives any external support. Millions of children are growing up deprived of education, basic needs such as food, water and shelter; and are at high risk of HIV infection, discrimination, exploitation and violence in the form of forced labor, prostitution and drug trafficking. Learn more.
The campaign is calling upon all G8 members and other donor countries to commit at least 10% of HIV and AIDS funding to address the needs of orphans (a policy which has been adopted in the US, UK and Ireland).
We are at a critical juncture in AIDS funding as the Senate debates the reauthorization of PEPFAR. If passed and fully funded, the bill will generate the necessary resources to care for more than 5 million children orphans and made vulnerable by AIDS. We need you to speak up.
A few easy ways you can help:
1. Sign the One Campaign Petition: Ask your Senator to join us in supporting AIDS orphans and fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Sign the petition.
2. Put Your Face on the Map: Check out the flikr photo map. Show your support by adding your picture.
3. Spread the Word: This is about you… and all your friends. Get your classmates friends, family and colleagues to join the movement. Send a message via our website.
On May 7th, thousands of organizations and everyday citizens will speak with one voice in urging government leaders to make children a priority in the fight against AIDS. Join us.
Thanks
-Simon Isaacs, World AIDS Orphans Day
The shocking headlines have had our attention all week. The price of basic food staples have increased 45% in just the last nine months – and they’ve doubled in the last three years.
As we all must know – these rising prices deal a crushing blow to the world’s poorest people – people who already spend more than half of their income on food.
This weekend, World Bank President Zoellick said that this hunger crisis could “push 100 million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty” and that the effects would be equivalent of “seven lost years in the fight against worldwide poverty.”
The shortage is fueling social unrest in some of the most fragile nations around the globe. Haiti, Egypt, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mozambique, Bolivia and Uzbekistan discontent has already erupted. “For countries where food comprises from half to three-quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival.”(Zoellick)
We have to do something. Please sign our petition to President Bush urging world leaders to take action.
-Virginia Simmons
