http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cSPCMx08aQ

The new make Poverty History commercial was kindly produced, directed and donated to MPH by Harvey House productions and features Missy Higgins.

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY is thrilled to announce that a number of high profile
Australians have taken a public stand against poverty by supporting Make Poverty
History during its 2008 'Stand Up Against Poverty' campaign.

TV personalities Rove McManus, Zoe Naylor and Brooke Satchwell and musicians
Missy Higgins and Lior have all pledged to 'stand up' against poverty and have
become the first official MAKE POVERTY HISTORY Ambassadors.

Lior will also present a very special musical performance to the invited guests in Sydney
on September 25, at the 'Call to Action' launch event being held to coincide with the United Nations MDG High Level event in New York.

38.7 Million people around the globe stood up and spoke out against poverty, smashing last year's record of 23.5 million.

Of this, 103,000 people were Australians - thanks everyone!

A special big thankyou to the 2154 of you myspacers who participated in our online 'Myspace stands up' pledge - we were all blown away by your participation and kind messages of support. WELL DONE!
thankyou to all who commented on the blog and who reposted our stand up bulletins.

you can see lots of photos from stand ups around the world at:

www.standagainstpoverty.org

We'll also be posting lots of local stand up photos here on myspace and at www.makepovertyhistory.com.au

We look forward to a world where poverty IS history.

thanks again!

STAND UP 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 extreme poverty and inequality.

We are standing because we refuse to accept more excuses 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 – and we ask them to exceed
these goals.
We join in solidarity with people from over 100 countries to say:
To the leaders of the wealthy countries –
We urge you to keep your promises on poverty – debt cancellation, more
and better aid, trade justice and gender equality.
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 t o 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 - end poverty now.

Much respect and many thanks to Mr Raja for posting his "Stand Up' track.
Listen to it now on our profile and if you like it, why not make him a friend.

Are you on Facebook? If you are please join the "Stand Up Against Poverty" group. You can search it in the groups section.

Please also invite all your facebook friends to join the group using the invite button on the left of the stand up against poverty group page, so we can spread the word to everyone about participating in this years stand up and break last years record of 23.5 MILLION people who took a stand against poverty.

What is STAND UP?

On October 17, join millions of people from around the world to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT against poverty and injustice.

Last year over 23.5 million people around the globe took a stand against poverty on the international day for the eradication of poverty by participating in "Stand Up"events in their local communities.

The Guinness World Records called it 'the largest single-coordinated movement of people in the history of Guinness World Records.'



In 2000, world leaders from 190 countries signed up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs ), a global plan to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
In 2007, we are at half time – but the world is falling behind.

This year, you can join this growing movement of people calling on our leaders to take action now.

On October 17, 2007 STAND UP and SPEAK OUT!

STAND UP to bring poverty down
STAND UP and SPEAK OUT for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
STAND UP and SPEAK OUT to demand that governments keep their promises
SPEAK OUT and be heard
STAND UP and be counted!

How can YOU help?

This year, YOU can help us break this record.

You can come along to a public stand up event in your local city or
Hold your own stand up event in your school, community group or workplace

To find out more visit
www.makepovertyhistory.com.au


If you live outside of the Oceania region you can find a local event or register to hold your own event at www.standagainstpoverty.org

Inspired by my passion for Make Poverty History I performed this speech for the Sydney Morning Herald Plain Speaking competition this year.

Make Poverty History Speech

"So, what did you do this morning? You probably woke up and struggled to get out of a warm, cosy bed, had a hot shower, ate some 'Coco Pops', got dressed into your immaculate school uniform, hopped in the car or on the train and arrived here ready to let your educated minds shine. I caught the train. It was late…but it still came. Now let's see. How about we take away the bed, the hot water, actually… let's take away all the clean water, and those treasured Coco Pops, and your transport and your education. What do we have left? A standard morning for 7 year old Scolla who lives in poverty in Tanzania like many others around the world.

Poverty is not a matter of "it's just too bad for them huh?" Or even, "oh, how sad, let's go back to eating dinner". Ha. Poverty is a real issue and we can't just keep brushing it aside. Scolla is seven and lives in a mud hut in a rural community in central Tanzania. She lives with her grandmother because both of her parents have died of AIDS. Scolla walks for two hours to collect water in big plastic buckets. She'll be very lucky if she ever gets to go to school. Every day is a struggle. Does she deserve the position she is in? Do you deserve the contrasting position you're in any more than she does? I think not.

As hard as it is to believe, 20% of the world's population, that is 1.2 billion people, live on less than one US dollar a day. That's about 80 cents for us. What can you buy with 80 cents? Millions of children under the age of five die every year and most of them from preventable diseases. Last week, thanks to a breakthrough in medical science by a fellow Australian, I received my first dose of the vaccine for cervical cancer and I know what a privilege that was. We may hate needles and going to the doctor but it's something we take for granted just like the food in our bellies and the shoes on our feet. Do you remember the last time we had 'Giardia' in our water supply so we all drank bottle water for a week and even used it to brush our teeth? Imagine if we never had access to clean water at all. One billion people around the world do not have the privilege of clean drinking water. Women who live in developing countries face the uncertainty of their and their baby's survival during child birth because of simple things like lack of hygienic equipment during the birthing process. In addition some girls don't receive an education. In fact, many children, boys and girls alike, never reach the level of education we possess here today.

If our generation has the ability, the power, to change all of this, don't you think that we also have the responsibility to do so, a moral responsibility? Nelson Mandela said that "overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of fundamental human rights. Everyone everywhere has the right to live with dignity, free from fear and oppression, free from hunger and thirst". He said that "millions of people are trapped in the prison of poverty" and that "while poverty lasts, there is no true freedom". He has seen poverty first hand, as have I. It's enough to make anyone's heart break.

If the government will not act out of the goodness of their hearts perhaps they would prefer to in Australia's best interests. Huge Evans, founder of the Oaktree Foundation and a Young Australian of the Year, agrees. If we invest in increasing aid and development overseas not only are we doing what is right we'll be enhancing our national security, boosting our economy and helping achieve our foreign policy objectives. You see, an unstable region trapped in poverty will eventually produce a refugee crisis and will generate civil war and sectarian strife. Essentially as Huge pionted out " by investing in aid and development today, we help prevent the conditions that lead to insecurity for Australia tomorrow." We are living in one of the richest countires of our region, and in our region half of the world's poor live. If this combimed with the moral responsibility we face is not enough to convice us to wholely committ to Making Poverty History, I don't know what is.

So now I hope you understand why we should Make Poverty History but many of you are still wondering, how? By 2015 world poverty will be halved through eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, ensuring environmental stability and developing a global partnership for development. These are the Millennium Development Goals. Here's the catch, they can only be achieved with the full support of governments around the world. Fair trade, debt relief, promoting good governance and more and better aid will pave the way to Making Poverty History. Really, all the Australian government has to do to help achieve this is push for fairer trade rules so poor farmers are not ripped off, forgive debts owed to us by poor countries because they are struggling to pay it back, help governments of developing countries help themselves and meet the United Nation's modest target of giving 0.7% of GNI to foreign aid and using it effectively, for example making sure that a little girl doesn't eventually end up with the chicken pox's simply because she has been stabbed one too many times with the same vaccine from various aid organisations. This may seem an onerous task but it's worth it, don't you agree?

In the words of Bono, "We have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science. Do we have the will to Make Poverty History?" Martin Luther King had a dream, which seemed nearly impossible, but is now becoming a reality. I have a dream, and I know that it is not impossible, unless we make it so. Share my dream. Let's make poverty history, our generation's great challenge. And remember, you've been lucky enough to be sleeping in a warm cosy bed with access to food, water, transport and education. Think about this…You could have been Scolla who was born into poverty and just as easily you could have been denied these things, these rights, which you take for granted.

"Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice". "

Imagine this...

You are 11 years old and all you want to do is play, run around outside and have fun. But now that your mum is too pregnant and weak to move around you are forced to do everything that she would normally do, including taking care of your 8 years old brother. You and your younger brother are hoping for a little boy so that you can name him after your father who has recently died, of HIV. You slowly begin to realize how much your mum does for you and your little brother and you can't imagine how you would survive without her.

Your mum goes into labor, you and your little brother wait outside of the shack eagerly, waiting quietly you can hear your mother struggling, she's exhausted but she has to keep going. She screams and cries through the struggle until suddenly she stops...and a different cry come from inside, you and your brother rush in and see what was meant to be the newest member of your family, lifeless in your mothers arms. Your new little baby sister did not even get a chance to draw her first breath of air; she was dead when she was born.

As weeks pass your mother doesn't move from her position, you think she is just sad about losing her baby until you begin to notice her coughing throughout the night. The only doctor in the town tells you that she is sick and that without medicine they cannot do anything for her. You bring her clean water every day and spend all of your time with her when you aren't looking after your little brother. You are determined to nurse her back to health.

To your dismay you cannot help but notice that as the weeks go by she is not getting any better but in fact is getting worse.

You decide that you must get the medicine for you mother, so you tell your brother that he must take care of her while you go out to work in an attempt to gather enough money to get your mother the medicine that she needs.

Just when you almost have enough money to get your mother the medicine you return home not to be greeted by the raspy coughs of your mother but the quiet sobs of your little brother, your mother has passed away leaving you to raise your 8 year old brother by yourself.

In order for you and your brother to have clean drinking water you must hike to the nearest river, which is 5 kilometers away. You aren't strong enough to bring a large amount of water home, meaning that you must travel back and forward everyday.

You eat very little in sacrifice so that your brother can have more. This causes you to grow too weak to make the 5-kilometer trip to the river each day so you and you brother are forced to drink from a local water hole, which is often used by locals to dispose of excrement.

Your brother becomes violently ill, he has diarrhea. You attempt to nurse your brother but there is nothing you can do without any clean drinking water, or any medical help. All you can do is hold him close to you as he slowly slips away. Your 8-year-old brother has died in your arms.

Now stop imagining, wake up and realize that this is a reality for the 3 billion people who live on less than $2 a day.

Approximately 30, 000 children die each day due to poverty. 1.1 billion people living in developing countries still have inadequate access to safe and clean drinking water and 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized.

$1000 could successfully immunize more than 1500 children.

So let's stand up, we can make a difference. We can make poverty history.

- By Steven John Gabriel

Australia's biggest photo petition

Australia's economy has never been stronger. Now is the time for you to ask our leaders to FACE UP to poverty and deliver more & better aid
If you can't FACE the fact that 30,000 children die each day as a result of poverty...
It's time to make it personal, it's time you FACE UP TO POVERTY
Face Up provides a unique opportunity prior to the Federal election to show our political leaders the growing number of faces behind the call for policy change for more and better overseas aid.

We're asking people to give more than just their signature to Make Poverty History. This is your chance to go that extra step and help get the Australian Government to Face Up To Poverty by adding your face to the first ever Make Poverty History photo petition.