Chapter 1 The campaign scene

Modern Campaigns

CAMPAIGN 1 of 6

Make Poverty History No more poor

To say that Make Poverty History was ambitious would be something of an understatement. As the name suggests, their aim was nothing less than getting rid of poverty once and for all, and finally closing the yawning chasm between the rich developed world and poor developing world.

The A-Team

The campaign was a real whopper: a juggernaut of a coalition comprised of charities, trade unions and campaigning groups, and topped off with a sprinkling of A-List celebrities. They got together to coincide with the UK’s presidency of the EU and G8 in 2005. Their plan was to make international trading fairer, wipe out the third world debt, and drastically increase the amount of aid to the third world coughed up by the G8 countries.

Friends in high places

They had some pretty high-profile chums: the campaign was launched in a special episode of The Vicar of Dibley - written by Richard Curtis of Love Actually and Bridget Jones fame – and with a ceremony in Trafalgar Square, hosted by Nelson Mandela. The symbol of the campaign was a simple white wristband, which was spotted adorning the knobbly areas of people like Kate Moss, Rhys Ifans, and iconic fashionista Gordon Brown.

Bob’s your embarrassing uncle

Bob Geldof got up to his old tricks again, this time organising the Live 8 concerts, 20 years on from Live Aid. This one had over 1000 artists performing at ten concerts across the world. Including Bob Geldof, although he claims this was ‘spontaneous’. Pull the other one, Bob. Pink Floyd reformed for the first time since 1981, Bono and Paul McCartney sang a duet, and Pete Doherty made a drunken spectacle of himself. Again.

A powerful performance

Did it work? On 7 July, the day after the final concert, the G8 leaders pledged to double the amount of aid they gave to poor nations from US$25 to US$50 billion by the year 2010, half of which is to go to Africa. Not bad going.