Stand up and Speak Out against poverty

Stand Up event in Cornmarket this Saturday

This weekend, as part of the BOND coalition, Oxfam supporters around the country will be standing up against poverty! This in turn is part of a moment around the world, when millions of people will simultaneously stand up to symbolise their support for our call for a world without degrading, man-made and totally avoidable poverty.

In Oxford, we will be part of this global moment! Come to St Michael's of Northgate on Cornmarket Street just before noon, when we, together with campaigners from the local Christain Aid group and others, will film ourselves taking part. We are calling on world leaders to meet their promises on the Millennium Development Goals to end poverty, and to take action on climate change which will affect the world's poorest people the worst. We are running a stall from 10 until 2, so if you can help at any point in the day, please get in touch, or just show up! We also want to publicise The Wave, a massive national demo in London on December 5th, in advance of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. You can arrange your transport to The Wave via Oxfam if you like.

Oh, if it's an added incentive, we will have polar bears campaigning with us.

The Great Persuasion, this Friday

The Stand Up event is hard on the heels of The Great Persuasion, a co-ordinated lobby of MPs and Prospective Parliamentary candidaites across the UK. In Oxford, we are lobbying in both constituencies this Friday afternoon, 16th October. Thanks to all OOG members who have offered to take part - we now have a good crowd involved in each. If you want to add your voice to the mix, get in touch! We will be calling for the candidates' commitments on the same issues that the Stand Up event is raising: the BOND Manifesto sets these out.

Clearly, whoever is in power after the next General Election (which has to happen by June 2010), they need to ensure that the UK has progressive policies which tackle poverty effectively.