EDINBURGH,
July 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - More than 100,000
people marched Saturday, July 2, through the streets of Edinburgh,
Scotland, in a mass demonstration calling for action on African
poverty at next week's Group of Eight summit in nearby Gleneagles.
The
Make Poverty History rally is timed to coincide with the Live 8 series
of global rock concerts in nine nations around the world, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
massive, good-natured crowd gathered in central Edinburgh, the
majority wearing white in an agreed color scheme, and many noisily
banging drums or blowing whistles.
“We
want to make a statement for the summit next week,” said Deborah
Slater, a demonstrator who left her home in Tonbridge, southern
England, to take part in the march, one of Scotland’s biggest ever.
Demonstrators
carried white balloons and sported large white paper ears bearing the
slogan “G8 are you listening?”
Also
at the front were eight suit-clad demonstrators wearing oversized
papier mache masks depicting the faces of the G8 leaders who will
gather in Gleneagles.
The
rally received strong support from Vatican Pope Benedict XVI, who
called in a message on the world's richest nations to bring an end
global to poverty.
“People
from the world's richest countries should be prepared to accept the
burden of debt reduction for heavily indebted poor countries, and
should urge their leaders to fulfill the pledges made to reduce world
poverty, especially in Africa, by the year 2015,” said the pontiff
in a message read out by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of
Scotland's Roman Catholics.
Three
Demands
Make
Poverty History has three core demands: debt relief for Africa's
poorest countries, significantly more and better aid from the West,
and trade justice to enable Africa to sell more exports to rich
countries.
“We
need more support and better support to agriculture so that we can
produce food and feed ourselves,” Mubanga Kasakula, a farmers'
leader from Zambia, told a news conference.
The
campaigners maintain that the G8 leaders have a unique chance to help
30,000 children dying every day due to extreme poverty.
“This
is a very historic moment. It's the start of a process,” said Kumi
Naidoo, a South African activist who heads the Global Call to Action
Against Poverty, a coalition which includes the British anti-poverty
movement.
The
campaigners' message has won wide support in Britain, this year's
president of the G8, and is largely endorsed by Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
Blair,
along with his ally Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, wants to
see fresh action on global poverty and climate change to come out of
the G8 summit.
On
June 11, the G8 leaders hammered out a historic deal to immediately
write off 40 billions of dollars owed by the world’s poorest
countries to multilateral lenders.
The
White House, however, said that the debt-relief plan would be linked
to “improving governance, reducing corruption and completing a
program with the International Monetary Fund that demonstrates a
commitment to sound economic policies.”
Global
Concerts
 |
|
Workers
install a Live 8 banner on stage in front of the Chateau de
Versailles, near Paris. (Reuters)
(Click
for more photos)
|
In
a related development, Live 8, the biggest and most ambitious series
of rock concerts ever staged, kicked off Saturday in a worldwide music
relay aimed at pressuring the industrialized world's politicians to
eradicate African poverty.
Live
8, the brainchild of Bob Geldof -- the Irish pop star-turned aid
activist who championed the 1985 Live Aid concerts to raise money for
Africa -- will see 10 concerts take place successively in nine
countries around the globe.
The
first Live 8 concert began in Tokyo at 2:00 pm local time (0500 GMT),
as the lights dimmed in a crowded concert hall on the outskirts of the
city and video screens showed footage of African street children.
Around
six hours later, the next concert began in Johannesburg, a bill
featuring mainly South African acts.
The
centerpiece was in London's Hyde Park, where music legends including
Paul McCartney, U2, Elton John, REM, Madonna and a re-formed Pink
Floyd are due to perform before more than 200,000 people.
The
US leg is held in Philadelphia, the venue for the 1985 Live Aid
spectacular.
The
10th concert, in front of just 4,200 people, takes place in Cornwall,
southwest England.
Apart
from South Africa, all the nations hosting Live 8 concerts are members
of the G8, which groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and the US.
Live
8 is not a charity event, and no donations are being sought from a
global television audience, which could run to the billions.
Instead,
Geldof's stated intent is that the concerts will focus global
attention on African poverty ahead of G8 summit.
