On October 16, 17 and 18, millions of people around the world will “Stand Up and Take Action” to demand that world leaders end poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
STAND UP is a three day global mobilization to show our solidarity with anti poverty activists around the world. We want to break a Guinness World Record (again) for the largest coordinated mobilization of people and send the strongest message possible to leaders around the world – “no more excuses: act now to end global poverty”.
Stand Up can be a large event or it can be a short moment on one of these 3 days. Essentially, it is a gathering of people who agree to stand up and read the Stand Up Pledge. Those who stand up are then counted and the number is submitted to the Make Poverty History website. Up moments can be inserted into pre-existing events, like sports games, faith gatherings, conferences, concerts, classrooms etc.
Last year, close to 80 thousand Canadians stood alongside almost 117-million world-wide. This year we hope to have a much larger number of Canadians participate because we want to send a strong message to the government that hundreds of thousands of Canadians want bold action taken to make poverty history both globally and here in Canada.
The Stand Up and Take Action mobilization this year is encouraging those organizing Stand Up events to promote specific actions people can take to help make poverty history.
There are two online actions that we you ask you to take:
- Make us Proud to be Canadians at the G8/G20 Summit in June 2010. As host of the G8/G20 Summit in June of 2010, Canada has an amazing opportunity to provide bold leadership to solve global challenges of extreme poverty and climate change. The Canadian government is deciding now on the agenda of the 2010 G8 and what kind of new initiatives it could propose. Send a strong and clear message now to Prime Minister Harper that Canadians want their government to take initiatives at the G8/G20 in June 2010 to tackle extreme poverty and the impact of climate change on poor countries. Tell him to make us proud to be Canadians again.
- Sign the Dignity for All online petition for a poverty free-Canada.
The Dignity for All Campaign is calling for a federal plan for poverty elimination that compliments provincial and territorial plans. Together, we can eliminate poverty in Canada!
What you can do in your community:
- Attend an event: Check out the website to see if there is an event happening near you.
- Organize an event big or small. Register your event at Make Poverty History
- Download our Stand Up kit
- Hold your event on October 16, 17or 18, read the Stand Up pledge, stand up and then take a picture.
- Count how many stood up and report your numbers to Make Poverty History by midnight on October 18th.
- Provide opportunities during or after the event for people to sign onto the Make Poverty History campaign. If you have a live internet connection, you can sign online
or you can download our sign on sheet - Let us know how your event went! If you took any photos, please send them too! Email
For more information see:
http://list.makepovertyhistory.ca
“If everyone who wants to see an end to poverty, hunger and suffering speaks out at the same time, the noise will be deafening. Politicians will have to listen.” Desmond Tutu
