2% own HALF the World's Wealth

In a report released today by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at the UN University, it stated that half of the world's wealth is in the hands of the wealthiest 2% of the adult population. Furthermore, the report states that the poorer second half of the world population owns less than 1% of the world's household wealth.

Is this just?

1 billion people in this world continue to live in extreme poverty, struggling to meet the basic needs for survival. When it is widely accepted that only a marginal redistribution of the world's wealth is needed to eradicate extreme poverty, and thereby give all individuals the most fundamental universal right, when will our consciousness awaken and be compelled to act?

I am very encouraged by the likes of Gates, Buffet, and Clinton; individuals who are surely nestled comfortably in the top 2% of the world's wealthiest (including the coveted #1 spot I might add). Their actions are reflective of a growing global philosophy that the world's privileged have a responsibility to the world's most desperate. I then ask you this: when will the governments of our nations follow suit?

As citizens of democratic societies we all have a voice, if in nothing else then our votes. If you are concerned about the growing disparity between our world's 'haves' and 'have-nots', call and write your government officials and voice your concern. Ask them why your government has not lived up to its commitment to contributing 0.7% of its GNP, as official development assistance to the world's poorest, as promised by all the world's rich nations. And most importantly, let them know that your vote is inextricably linked to your country's ability to reflect and represent your own values both domestically and on the world stage.

And finally, if you believe that something should be done to eradicate extreme poverty check out the Point Seven Campaign to 'put your money where your mouth is' and rally the Canadian government to do the right thing.

Tell your friends.

Tell your family.

Tell strangers.

This movement need voices. Add your voice to the momentum.

www.pointsevencampaign.org

And we are live!

www.pointsevencampaign.org


Our site has launched! We have been very busy over the last few months getting everything in order and now we are ready.

Through our site you can direct your 0.7% contribution to 5 great organizations:

CARE Canada
Engineers Without Borders
Fight Hunger
Oxfam Canada
Stephen Lewis Foundation

It has begun...let's see what 'millions of people in rich and poor communities alike' are capable of!

Coming soon....

We have been busy getting organized for the launch of our website and it is coming soon. Soon we will begin. Soon we will be able to do help Make Poverty History.

Please check back frequently to see when our website is launched.

Bookmark it now:

www.pointsevencampaign.org

An Unprecedented Opportunity - 2006 Pre-Budget Consultation

Prior to the release of the federal government, for the FIRST TIME IN CANADIAN HISTORY, the federal government if providing Canadians from coast to coast with the opportunity to participate in a Pre-Budget Consultation. What does this mean? It means for the first time ever, we as Canadians have the opportunity to provide input on three key areas:

1. What would you like to see in Budget 2006 and future budgets?
2. If you propose further tax cuts - or spending increases - where should the government spend less?
3. How can the government deliver programs more efficiently and effectively?

Question #1 provides an unprecedented opportunity to send a loud and clear message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister James Flaherty that we expect Canada to uphold its commitment to contribute 0.7% of our GNP by 2015 and we expect a concrete plan in the 2006 budget and future budgets, on how Canada will do so.

There is a catch. The consultation period ends April 19th, 2006.

So please send your email today to James Flaherty, he is expecting it!

email him at: budget2006consult@fin.gc.ca

Oxfam UK "I'm In" Pledge

Tony Blair, among other influential world leaders, are at risk of not upholding their commitments and promises made to the Make Poverty History mandate and the Millennium Development Goals. It is our responsibility to remind our leaders that this is absolutely unacceptable; Oxfam UK has initiated the "I'm In" pledge for this very purpose.

Please take the time to add your voice to this cause and sign on to the pledge.

As Oxfam UK states, 'when millions of people speak loudly enough, politicians have to act.'


You can sign the pledge at:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_you_can_do/imin/action/tonyblair02.htm?ito=2376&itc=0

A New Approach to Development

The Millennium Villages are based on a single powerful idea: impoverished villages can transform themselves and meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 if they are empowered with proven, powerful, practical technologies. It is simply a "bottom up" approach to lifting villages in developing countries out of the poverty trap that confines more than one billion people worldwide.

Please see www.millenniumpromise.org for more information.

Question of the Week

Would you help lead the way to 0.7% and sign on to this campaign? Please comment below and tell us why.

Globe and Mail Article

Exerpt from "Millenium Man", The Globe and Mail, Saturday March 11


But Prof. Sachs said the real onus is on donor countries. He heaps scorn on Canada, for the failure to meet 0.7, and on the Group of Eight industrial countries in general, which he said outright lie about their commitments to ending poverty, making huge pledges at summits and refusing to pony up any of the money.

...

"There's no such thing as a culture that doesn't care about their children and want them to be healthy. The idea that somehow the poor have themselves to blame and there's nothing we can do. . . . We got on the wrong track actually, and we never understood that there were things we could do with a little confidence in each other."

There is something that we can do as Canadians; Lead the way to 0.7%, with a 'little confidence' that our government will do the same.

For the full article please read:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060311.wxnolen0311/BNStory/Front/home

I met this boy in his village home in Wakiso, Uganda. He lives with his mother, who tries to provide for them to the best of her ability by managing a small plot of land. The mother has been abandoned by both her husband's and her own family. Both mother and child are HIV positive.

~Paul

Thought of the week.

This campaign is a conversation. A conversation between Canadians, a conversation between Canadians and our government, a conversation between “our world” and “their world”, and most importantly, a conversation between our children’s world and their children’s world. It is cliché to say that we are only as strong as our weakest link but many would argue that this holds true of humanity and of our planet, and the respective future of each. It is both bull-headed and blinded to think that we any longer live in an insular world. What happens in Timbuktu can and will affect us where we are. If the disparity within humanity continues, or worse, continues to grow, what impact will that have on our future? Do you think you are immune? Who is to say that if left impoverished and weakened, this world will not serve as an easy breeding ground for the next pandemic; a fertile petrie dish for the demise of humanity?

And let’s not forget the ultimate question; are we not all human? Do we all not share the most basic right for existence and the opportunity for survival? Please join us and let’s help Make Poverty History. We are all in this together.

This girl attended an informal school where I volunteered, which serviced the HIV/AIDs affected community in one of the biggest slums in Kampala, Uganda. She attends this informal school because her parents or guardians cannot afford to pay for the school fees for a proper elementary school, about $10 US/month.

~Paul

So it begins....

"When the end of poverty arrives, as it can and should in our own generation, it will be citizens in a million communities in rich and poor countries alike, rather than a handful of political leaders, who will have turned the tide." - Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty