[First published January 2005 by Ecumenical News International. Copyright Pulford Media Ltd. This article may not be reprinted or distributed either electronically or on hard copy without permission]

Anti-poverty campaigners have adopted a white arm-band as the symbol of their determination that emerging countries shall get a square deal at last from the world’s rich countries. CEDRIC PULFORD reports

Organizers of a campaign against global poverty hope wearers of their signature white arm-bands will become as common a sight as those with pink ribbons to support breast cancer research and red ribbons to help HIV/AIDS victims.

The campaign, which was launched on 28 December, received a boost when the internationally popular British Broadcasting Corporation television comedy, "The Vicar of Dibley" - screened in Britain on New Year's Day - showed star Dawn French, who plays the female vicar, and other main characters, wearing white arm-bands.

Called Make Poverty History, the campaign brings together aid organizations, campaigns, trade unions and faith groups, including Christian Aid, CAFOD (the Roman Catholic development agency), Oxfam, Tearfund and the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

Make Poverty History plans to take advantage of an unusual set of circumstances in 2005 when Britain, for a time, will hold the presidencies of both the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial nations and the 25-nation European Union.

"It is totally unacceptable that 1.2 billion people live on one US dollar a day or less. It's time that we stood united to call for change," Alison Fenney, CAFOD's head of advocacy, told
Ecumenical News International. "Britain has done a lot for debt relief. Now we want it to persuade other countries to follow its lead."

Britain has cancelled 100 per cent of the debt owed directly to it by many of the world's poorest countries, and will cover part of the debt service charges paid to the World Bank and African Development Bank by some countries.

Despite successes by the church-led Jubilee 2000 campaign, debt is "the unfinished business of the 20th century", according to Make Poverty History. It points out that many countries continue to spend more on repaying debts than they spend on health or education.

A series of meetings and actions are planned around the G8 finance ministers' meetings in London in February and June, and the G8 leaders' July summit in Scotland.

http://www.makepovertyhistory.org

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