Make Poverty History

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY

Australians speaking out

http://www.makepovertyhistory.com.au


Dear

With two weeks to go till the UN Millennium Summit your support is more crucial than ever. Your efforts are bearing fruit with signs that the Prime Minister will be attending.

This is yet to be confirmed - so if you haven't emailed him and asked him to go then please do so now.

Australia is increasingly looking the odd one out with no plans to increase aid or better target the Millennium Development Goals it agreed to support in 2000.

But you are helping to put the pressure on. In an amazing effort, tens of thousands have signed postcards which we delivered last week to the Government, courtesy of Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretary Bruce Bilson. Along with the thousands of emails and the more than 350,000 people wearing white bands, we are starting a rumble.

But it's still only just beginning to be heard.

The UN Summit in New York from 14 - 16 September will focus on progress made towards achieving the Millenium Development Goals, providing a platform for world leaders to take action to improve the lives of more than a billion people living in poverty.

Before they get to that platform we want to have ten days to shake the world.

Here are five things you can do in the next couple of weeks to help make the shake:

1. Wear your white band
2. White band your dog, home, workplace, church.....
3. Join in on, or organise, an event
4. Send flowers to your Coalition MP
5. See Further Actions for more or if you are a Canberran, join in on the "flash mobs"

You'll have even more impact if your friends and family are involved - forward them this email and ask them to subscribe to further updates.

New research (PDF: 235KB) from the campaign has shown that increasing Australian Overseas Aid to an interim 0.5% of Gross National Income, just an extra 1% of our Federal Budget, could bring new opportunities for up to 32 million people in South East Asia alone, including:

40,000 less child deaths per year
Safe drinking water for almost 11 million people
Basic education for 60,000 more children
18,000 less deaths each year from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis
1,200 less women dying during childbirth each year
Thanks once again for helping to make poverty history.

STOP PRESS: Whitebands can now be bought from your HMV Music store as well as at Oxfam stores or on the web.