Make Poverty History

Quotes from politicians on Make Poverty History in 2005

"As the year draws to a close I want to take this opportunity to thank Make Poverty History for all the work you have done this year. Without your efforts I would never have been able to persuade all the G8 countries to do so much. You allowed me to keep the bar high to the very end and achieve so many of the objectives we both wanted. It showed people can make a difference.

The millions of people who support Make Poverty History should feel very proud of what they have achieved. I know we need to do more, particularly on trade, but I believe 2005 will be seen as a turning point in the fight against poverty, and Make Poverty History will be seen as a decisive force for change. I hope we can work together in 2006 to turn the promises into action."

"Make Poverty History was a truly inspirational campaign. I congratulate everyone involved. The fight against world poverty is the great cause of our time. Live 8, the march in Edinburgh, the white wristband - these are things which have come to define the spirit of 2005.

The challenge now - for politicians, for campaigners, and for concerned people around the world - is to take the momentum forward into 2006. It will take real political will to end the scandal of protectionist tariffs and subsidies which hurt the poorest people on the planet, to secure proper funding for the fight against killer diseases, and to robustly tackle bad governance in poor countries.

And we need to push the agenda forward, searching out inventive ways of encouraging governments in poor countries to pursue policies that encourage growth and lift people out of poverty: stable, accountable, transparent governance, respect for property rights, economic freedom, and openness to trade."

"If Make Poverty History was solely about raising public awareness and support then it was a phenomenal success.

It's just a pity that there wasn't a Make Political Spin History campaign too. Because that was where the success of Make Poverty History and the euphoria created by the post-Gleneagles press conference ultimately fall down.

Yes, significant announcements and promises were made but no doubt to the disappointment of Make Poverty History and others like myself, African countries will still pay the UK more in debt repayment than they receive in aid and the WTO talks failed to deliver the fair trade which developing countries desperately need."

"Make Poverty History was the highlight of 2005. White was THE colour.
People all over Wales of all ages and all backgrounds were wearing white bands. A white sea of thousands of people in Edinburgh demanded that world leaders act against poverty. The fence in Princes Street was covered in so many white ribbons carrying messages it looked like a snowdrift.

The strength of the movement was that it was rooted in local communities. People talked about ending world poverty in their local schools. clubs, churches and societies. The complexities of international trade were expressed in simple, straightforward language. The need to end injustice was summed up in those three words which will echo in the minds of the G8 leaders for a very long time.

I ended my 2005 in Hong Kong, lobbying at the WTO meeting. Disappointment again. But the campaign goes on. And there are millions of us working together."

"Make Poverty History was a shining beacon of hope for millions of people in the world, clearly showing the magnitude of public support there is for international development.

As a relatively new arrival to the post of the Scottish National Party's Westminster spokesperson on International Development, Make Poverty History greatly facilitated my work. Pushing international development to the centre of the political agenda became a very sure of that: the hundreds of thousands of campaigners on the streets of Edinburgh in July last year made sure nobody could ignore the issue. It was a special honour for me to be asked to speak at the Parliamentarians' meeting in Edinburgh, and it was an unforgettable thrill to march among the masses!

Make Poverty History has been instrumental to me and to many of my parliamentary colleagues across the political divide. It has helped us dissect, identify and better understand such issues as those thrown up by the G8 summit and the WTO negotiations. It continues to concentrate all of our minds on the core issues, so keep campaigning!"

"Make Poverty History successfully galvanized millions of supporters and raised poverty, especially in Africa, to the heart of the political landscape during the UK presidency of the G8, and ahead of the WTO talks in Hong Kong in December. This remarkable public wave of attention forced political leaders to respond, with a range of promises to increase aid and drop debt.

But whilst some of the aid may have trickled down to the poorest, much has been withdrawn, squandered - or had already been pledged and wasn't 'new' money at all. And poverty remains - deep, absolute poverty, right across the world. Western governments did just enough, it seems, to bask in some of the reflected glory of a well-orchestrated mass public campaign, but little more.

Make Poverty History made a difference to many lives, granted, but it certainly didn't make poverty history. The task now must be to change the priorities of a corporate-driven economic globalisation which is making poverty inevitable. If we are to really pull the millions who struggle on less than $2 a day out of destitution, we must replace the free-trade orthodoxy of the WTO with a system for world trade designed to promote the economic, social and environmental protection of local markets worldwide. As long as unfair trade and aggressive privatisation are transferring wealth and political control from South to North it will never be possible to make poverty history."

16th May : World Debt Day

To mark World Debt Day a new report is launched - In the Balance

May : Penguin Book launched

The Make Poverty History coalition and Penguin joined together in the fight against world poverty to create a brilliantly simple, but life saving book - 'How You Can Help Defeat Extreme Poverty, in Seven Easy Steps'.

Buy the book

24th April : World Poverty Day

Leaders of all the main political parties spent the day focusing on development issues ahead of the election.

Voters Demand Action

10th April : Global Week of Action on Trade

Over 25,000 people descended on Whitehall as part of the Trade Justice Vigil. Campaigners took to the street all night and the event culminated in a hand in of whote band cards to Downing Street at dawn.

Wake Up to Trade Justice

31st March : Click Ad road block

The Make Poverty History Click Film was shown simultaneously on all commercial TV stations. The first time this has ever happened. Stars from stage and screen tok part in the click film to raise awareness of the fact that a child dies every 3 seconds due to extreme poverty.

Click Film

11th March : Special Films played on Red Nose Day

On Red Nose Day 2005 3 films were shown featuring Lenny Henry, Bono and Nelson Mandela to demonstrate the importance of Make Poverty History this year.

Films

8th March : Majority of MPs sign Make Poverty History EDM

The Early Day Motion tabled by Julia Drown receives backing from over half of all MPs.

Majority Sign EDM

10th February : Send My Friend to School launched

Schoolchildren across the world were asked to make a cutout representation of their 'buddy', who represents one of the 100 million children not able to attend school because they are too poor. Each "buddy" carries the simple request to please 'Send My Friend to School'.

www.sendmyfriend.org

3rd February : Mandela speaks in Trafalgar Square

'Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You could be that generation'

Nelson Mandela came and addressed over 22,000 people in Trafalgar Square on behalf of the Make Poverty History coalition. He handed a group of school children his white band which was delivered with thousands of others to the leaders of the G8.

Nelson Mandela's Speech in Full

13th January : Vicars March to Downing Street

After the success of The Vicar of Dibley's New Year special, 600 female clergy joined forces with Dawn French to deliver a Make Poverty History white band card to Tony Blair.

Read More

In September more world leaders than ever before met at the United Nations world summit. The world's anti-poverty goals - known as the Millennium Development Goals - were supposed to be on the agenda, but in the end it took a huge campaigning effort to even have them mentioned.

Find out what MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY thought of what came out of the Summit

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaigners took part in the biggest mass lobby of Parliament on November 2nd.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Trade Justice Movement announced that the mass lobby of parliament was the largest in the history of modern British democracy with trade justice campaigners lobbying 375 MPs in a single day.

Over 8,000 campaigners joined the lobby with a demand that the UK Government and its European Union (EU) partners stop pushing poor countries to open their markets in approaching world trade talks. They warned the Prime Minister that generations of people will continue to live in poverty if his manifesto promise to allow poor countries to protect their markets is broken.