Stand Up and Speak Out

At church I am part of a social justice team and today we, along with others, stood up and spoke out the pledge below. This is part of the Micah Challenge. (http://www.micahchallenge.org/) With enough voices raised today, this pledge with make the Guinness World Book of Records. It is quite an exciting thing to be a part of! Here is the pledge:

We are standing now with millions around the world on this symbolic day, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, to show our commitment to the fight against poverty and inequality.

We are standing because God has called us to act with mercy and to love our neighbour and to fight against injustice.

We are standing because we refuse to accept world leaders' excuses for not doing more to make poverty history: we live in a world where 50,000 people die every day as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. We are standing because we want our leaders to honour their promises to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

We join in solidarity with people from over 100 countries to SPEAK OUT and say:

To the leaders of wealthy countries, in particular our Canadian leaders- We urge you to keep your promises on poverty:
-reach the 0.7% of GNI target for international aid that you promised at the United Nations, AND
-cancel the hundreds billions of dollars that poor countries owe to wealthy governments and international institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.

To the leaders of poorer countries - make it your first responsibility to save the lives of your poorest citizens. We ask you to tackle inequality, to be accountable to your people, to govern fairly and justly, to fight corruption, and to fulfil human rights.

Today, and every day, we will stand up and speak out against poverty. We will continue the fight against poverty and inequality and to hold our leaders to their promises.

We are asking not for charity, but for justice. We are millions of voices standing in solidarity to say, no more excuses - MAKE POVERTY HISTORY NOW.