Making noise for the MDGs!

Did you join the rest of the world to Stand Up against poverty this year? From September 17-19, people all over the world shouted out a single message: “We will not stay silent in the face of poverty!”

Youthink! joined the stand ups for the Millennium Development Goals in Washington and London.

The crowd in Washington made noise for the MDGs with a lot of music. Two amazing bands played, and the crowd settled into circles from time to time, drumming away for the MDGs.

People went up to the podium and shouted out which MDG they were standing up for, and why. “I stand up today because I have seen what hunger and extreme poverty has done to children in Nicaragua,” said a Jubilee USA representative.

“Poverty Sucks” added Jerry H, lead singer of the local Color School band.

The most sobering moment was when the crowd read the Stand Up pledge in unison, telling leaders: “We expect you to deliver concrete plans of action to meet and exceed the MDGs.”

Did you join the rest of the world to Stand Up against poverty this year? From September 17-19, people all over the world shouted out a single message: “We will not stay silent in the face of poverty!”

Youthink! joined the stand ups for the Millennium Development Goals in Washington and London.

The crowd in Washington made noise for the MDGs with a lot of music. Two amazing bands played, and the crowd settled into circles from time to time, drumming away for the MDGs.

People went up to the podium and shouted out which MDG they were standing up for, and why. “I stand up today because I have seen what hunger and extreme poverty has done to children in Nicaragua,” said a Jubilee USA representative.

“Poverty Sucks” added Jerry H, lead singer of the local Color School band.

The most sobering moment was when the crowd read the Stand Up pledge in unison, telling leaders: “We expect you to deliver concrete plans of action to meet and exceed the MDGs.”

In London, the crowd was diverse and loud. Old people, young people, children, random passers-by, and passionate poverty-fighters joined together with t-shirts and headscarves, dreadlocks and drums, to make a powerful hullabaloo in the name of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Anyone who wished could get up on the soap-box and read a message to be shown to leaders at the upcoming MDG summit in New York.

Gemma Tumelty, of the Trades Union Congress was one of them. “We are here today,” she announced, “to demand our world leaders keep their promise to the world’s poor. We must secure global justice and equality!”

A representative of Made in Europe, too, made a powerful statement, reminding the crowd that “to save one life is to save all of humanity.”

Sarah Atkinson, also of Made in Europe was happy about the turnout, but not so optimistic about the MDGs actually being achieved. “It’s unlikely, now, in the face of the recession and governments not making commitments,” she said. “And the thing is, they could be achieved with the right efforts and commitments. For example, 80% of maternal deaths are preventable.”

What about you? Do you think the MDGs can be achieved by 2015? And if you weren’t able to join a Stand Up event, shout your message out here—what do you wish to say to world leaders before the summit?

Photo: Saadia Iqbal