Heading to Pittsburgh

Sep 22nd, 2009 2:34 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

I’m at the airport waiting for my flight to Pittsburgh for this year’s second G20 summit and I finally just got to see the clip of ONE’s President and CEO David Lane on MSNBC this morning.

You can check it out too.

David talks about our push to get a G20 meeting in Africa in the near future as well as other relevant topics.

“We’re used to going to these gatherings, we and many other activists going to these gatherings with a case for ‘Don’t forget the poor.” It’s often times a social justice argument. I think what we’re trying to say now is very much in tune with what President Obama and the G20 are saying, it’s that it’s not about charity it really is about self interest. I think the stated, highest goal of this G20 meeting is for accelerated recovery that’s sustainable and includes everyone.
Our point about Africa is that it actually continent of 900 million consumers and producers as well. And in fact most Americans probably don’t know this because they often times see stories of hardship — before this recession 18 African, non-oil producing African countries were growing by 5.5% by year and that had been building. So they are part of the global economy and we need to be sure that when the rich nations gather at the G20 or the G8 that they’re finding ways to address that.”

The show also featured one of the posters ONE has placed all over Pittsburgh. I’ll check in again after I land and let you know how they look from the ground.

-Virginia Simmons

TAGS: 2009 Pittsburgh G20