Malaka is editor of the ONE Blog and writes about a variety of topics on ONE's core issues. Before joining ONE, she was a producer at Al Jazeera English and contributed to the network’s coverage of the 2008 US presidential election and the War on Gaza. She was also a social media strategist at Virilion, a digital media agency, and a daily blogger for political humor website Wonkette.
There was a bit of a media firestorm around comments Governor Mitt Romney made during a CNN interview last week, in which he claimed “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” Regardless of your political affiliation or opinions about Governor Romney’s comments, Mark Moore, founder and CEO of MANA Nutrition, an organization that helps provide solutions for global malnutrition, has a unique take I wanted to share with you….
To be honest, I don’t have any personal feelings about Governor Romney or about any of the prospective candidates. But I think our attitudes toward the poor need some examining. And while I’m sure Mitt was speaking about the poor here at home, the issue of poverty is really a global problem and the poor here in the U.S. are just a small part of it.
He also explains why it’s important to pay attention to the world’s poor, because they hurt the overall growth of their countries’ economies, including our own:
But the cost of poverty goes beyond the direct costs of feeding the poor. To be cold and calculating about it, people who are too poor and too hungry to work represent a major drain on global productivity. And with no money in their pockets, they’re too poor to buy the goods and services produced by the industrialized world. As every capitalist should appreciate, though many apparently don’t, the poor are bad for business.
Action: 28. Time: 30 minutes. Level of difficulty: Difficult. For the results of last week’s action, click here.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, Women Deliver is calling on international development advocates (like you!) to submit nominations for their Women Deliver 50 List, a collection of the top 50 inspiring ideas and solutions that deliver for girls and women.
According to their guidelines, “these advancements could have been made by an individual, governments, the private sector, or civil society, but they must have helped to improve the condition of girls and women around the world, in one or more of the following 5 categories:
Technologies and Innovations
Educational Initiatives
Health Modernization
Advocacy and Awareness Campaigns
Leadership and Empowerment Programs
Nominations must be submitted by February 10. The winners will be announced on International Women’s Day and at the Women Deliver 2013 conference in Kuala Lumpur.
OK, I’ll admit it: Last week’s ONE Act was a little crazy. We asked our ONE members to create “I Can Has Cheezburger“-style graphics to persuade people to take action against global poverty. Usually these kinds of things are made to get some laughs and share on the Internet, but we thought it might be cool to use them for something a little more useful. Here are some of our favorites from this week:
If you think you can do better, make your own graphic here, and share the link with us in the comments below.
Although President Obama did not mention our issues during the State of the Union last Tuesday, he did discuss and defend foreign aidduring his Google+ Hangout session this week, which aimed to give Americans a chance to personally ask him about his policies and administration through social media.
A homeless veteran in Boston asked President Obama why the US should be spending so much on foreign aid when so many Americans are hurting at home. Obama responded, “We only spend about 1 percent of our budget on foreign aid. But it pays off in a lot of ways.” It goes toward helping countries improve their economies and prevent famine, avoiding “some military crisis somewhere down the road that could be even more expensive.”
He goes on to say, “So, aside from it being the right thing to do, as a very wealthy country… it’s also important to make sure that people understand this is part of our overall security strategy.”
Listen to his quote here:
ONE members were asked last week to vote on a question on the beginning of the end of AIDS from ONE member and University of Florida student Liz, but it was not chosen for Obama’s Google+ event. We will continue to keep HIV/AIDS on the president’s radar at events like this one and beyond.
Here’s a great movie to add to your Netflix queue: “OKA!” It follows the story of Larry, a young American ethnomusicologist who spends much of his career documenting the music of the Bayaka pygmies of Yandombe, deep in the lush rainforests of the Central African Republic. On a fund raising trip to the States, Larry discovers that he is ill and cannot go back to Yandombe. Despite the doctor’s orders, he decides to go back — he has a feeling that the Bayaka people need him.
And they do. When Larry arrives, he finds out that a timber corporation is threatening to drive out the Bayaka people from their homes, changing their traditional way of life. Despite Larry’s illness, he helps the Bayaka figure out a way to keep their culture, music and dignity — and learns a lot about life along the way.
With its colorful visuals, powerful soundtrack and moving storyline, “OKA!” offers a rare glimpse into the daily life of one of the most remote peoples on the planet. Read more about the film here.
Action: 27. Time: 10 minutes. Level of difficulty: Moderate.
This week, we thought it would be fun to ask our ONE members to create their own Internet meme based on our issues. In case you don’t know what a meme is, it’s a concept that spreads swiftly via the Internet. It’s the funny cat pictures you’ve been sharing. It’s the “S%@! Girls Say” offshoot videos you’ve been watching. It’s Rebecca Black’s “Friday” song you’ve been listening to.
Most Internet memes are funny, crazy and let’s be honest — pointless. So, what if we could create Internet memes that pushed us to do something important, like take action against poverty, break a stereotype or change our thinking about an issue?
The new media team came up with a couple of examples to help illustrate this point:
Now it’s your turn to come up with something. Create your own anti-poverty meme using the I Can Has Cheezburger Internet Meme builder, then submit the URL of your meme to us using the form below. Next Friday (Friday, Friday!), we’ll post up our favorites on an album on the ONE Facebook page.
Remember, poverty is a sensitive issue, so please try to be positive, uplifting and considerate when creating your meme!
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
