Last year, I talked about reacquainting myself with Environmental Education and the reasons why I initially became involved in teaching and learning. In that post, I talked about Oxfam and the Land Grab campaign. For further information, click here.
Today gave me the opportunity to find out more about current global issues with the #BigIF event at Hyde Park. The stage was adorned with the phrase, ‘Demand G8 Action to End Hunger’.
The #BigIF event was remarkably well organised, with friendly, effervescent supporters and campaigners throughout the park.
The installation was awesome, though the photos struggle to do justice to its scale. However, the best image I have found can be viewed here.
The hosts for the event, Gethin Jones (@GethincJones) and Myleene Klass (@KlassMyleene) set the scene for the day, before introducing Danny Boyle to the participants. Danny talked about ‘People and Parks’ in his own inimitable way, before urging us to strive for our own Gold Medal for 2013…’the eradication of hunger’.
This sentiment was echoed by Bill Gates, who stated:
Ask yourself what you can do…then go out and do it.
The actor, David Harewood reminded us to visit www.enoughfoodif.org and tweet using the hashtag, #BigIF
Many in the crowd were seen to both tweet David Cameron and text him on 6777.
The speakers reminded us that world hunger is not a natural disaster, but a human one, with 3 million children dying every year, i.e. 25, 000 every day.
- Tax dodging denies resources to those who need them most.
- There must be no more empty promises…we need to close the loop holes.
- Injustice will not be tolerated; it triumphs when people do nothing.
- What we are attempting is an act of justice rather than charity.
We must:
Say no to hunger…it must not happen on our watch.
Encourage governments to do more.
Make our voices heard.
Be relentless in our demands for a just and fair world.
Show both solidarity and dignity.
Rather cliched maybe, but need to remind ourselves that we do not inherit the world from our ancestors. Rather, we borrow the world from our children.
Some of the banners that abounded, proclaimed the injustices of Multi National Corporations and Land Grabbing.
‘Food not Fuel’ was just one recommendation.
On the tube journey back, one fellow traveller stated that the highlight for him was the humble Satish Kumar, who had walked the 8000 miles from India to London in order to put the spotlight on the plight of the farmers, as well as global warming.
Another highlighted the performance of Lucy Rose (@lucyrosemusic).
On a personal note, the day made me consider again the quote:
‘What’ and ‘if’ are two words as non-threatening as words come. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life:
‘What if…?’
For further information about the #BigIF campaign and it’s associated partners, please click here, where you will find links to:
