wfn.org | [ACNS] UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's at St Paul's Cathedral

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

      ACNS 4002     |	   ENGLAND     |     08 JULY 2005

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's address at St Paul's Cathedral

Photographs for this article are available here:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/40/00/acns4002.cfm

By Robert Bergner, Communications Intern

On the eve of the G8 meeting, UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, addressed
more than 2500 people yesterday evening at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
The event, which included presentations by the Rt Revd Richard Chartres,
Bishop of London, and the Rt Hon Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
was entitled Global Poverty: A Challenge to the G8. More than a thousand
people were turned away from the Cathedral due to space limitations and
health and safety concerns.

After a rousing call-and-response by Salil Shetty, Director of the UN
Millennium Campaign, Mr. Annan began by highlighting the unique confluence
of anti-poverty efforts that is currently taking place in England.
Government, citizens, civil society, business, media, Make Poverty History
campaigners and the United Nations are all working towards the common goal
of poverty eradication. "That," he said, "is something you do not often see
in a lifetime."

Looking out over the crowd which filled every corner of the Cathedral -
nave, aisle, transept and choir - Mr. Annan declared that all present had
been "brought together, under God, under one roof and under the banner of
the white band against poverty." To be at St Paul's under such conditions,
he said, was nothing less than "heaven."

Mr. Annan then stated that Chancellor Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair
are "two of the great global leaders of our time" because of their work on
debt relief and development issues, and explained the extraordinary
potential of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs, he said,
differ from other development policies in four principle ways: 1) Wealthy
countries have accepted their responsibility to support poorer countries
through aid, debt cancellation and fairer trade. 2) The MDGs are "people
centred, time-bound and measurable." 3) "The MDGs have unprecedented
political support." 4) "The MDGs are achievable."

The UN leader warned that, while the past fifteen years have seen a
remarkable reduction in poverty, particularly in Asia, conditions in many of
the world's poorest countries are worsening. Approximately one billion
people, he said, live below the extreme poverty line.

Concluding with a brief reference to William Wordsworth, Mr. Annan said,
"'we who are strong in love,'" must be remembered by history as "the ones
who really did make poverty history."

The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, emphasized the
importance of a new perspective on the part of the developed countries.
Speaking on the role that faith communities can play in the movement to
eradicate poverty, he said that the task confronting the West is no less
than a "change in the consciousness of a whole civilization." Wealthy
nations, he said, must "reign back our desire for more and more." Bishop
Chartres urged students and young people to consider how they might best use
their gifts. He encouraged youth, and everyone, to "overcome the inertia of
selfishness."

Bishop Chartres stressed the importance of the Make Poverty History
Campaign. The campaign, he said, is "one of those spiritual journeys in
which we discover that, the more we go beyond our own comfort zones, the
more we are enriched by those who may be poor but, in reality, quickly
become our teachers."

Chancellor Brown delivered an energetic speech. Mr Brown called the audience
at St Paul's - which, he observed, were drawn from "all churches, all faiths
all denominations" - "our modern heroes." Mr. Brown underlined the good that
has already been made possible by debt-relief and foreign aid. As a result
of debt relief, he said that, by next year, every Tanzanian child will
attend primary school. Equally, in one recent week, a million Kenyan
children presented themselves to enroll in school as a result of aid for
free primary education. Mr. Brown quoted several prophets and theologians in
his remarks and concluded his advice to the children of Britain with words
of Martin Luther King: "All of us can be great, because all of us can
serve."

Wahu Kaara of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty received an
exceptionally warm response from those in attendance at the historic
cathedral. Ms. Kaara spoke passionately to both leaders in Africa and G8
leaders. "Can we have some honesty, please?" she asked rhetorically. Ms.
Kaara demanded transparency in government from the African leaders. "We will
not," she declared, "tolerate corruption and inefficiency from our leaders
anymore." The leaders of G8 countries, she said, must listen to the millions
of their own citizens who are demanding action against poverty. "Don't tell
us you don't have money," Ms. Kaara challenged. "You found money for the war
in Iraq. Now, we want to see your sense of justice, your courage, and your
humanity."

Other speakers included Alison Marshall of the Catholic Agency for Overseas
Development (CAFOD). She called on the G8 leaders to respond appropriately
and adequately to the plague of extreme poverty. When news of G8 commitments
is announced at the end of the week, she said, citizens must ask, "Is it
good enough?"

Also addressing the crowds was Paul Myners, Chairman of Marks & Spencer and
The Guardian Media Group. His focused on the role that business must play in
poverty relief efforts. Africans, he said, must be allowed "fair access" to
Western markets. "We must," he stated, "stop paying ourselves agricultural
subsidies," which "mandate continuing poverty in Africa."

The event was sponsored by the St Paul's Cathedral Institute, under the
direction of the Revd Canon Edmund Newell. It was one of many Institute
programmes which are open to the wider community, including a series of
lectures by the Archbishop of Canterbury which is now available as a book.

In his welcome to the evening, the Dean of St Paul's, the Very Revd John
Moses, said that "cathedrals have an important contribution to make to the
discussion and resolution of issues of today such as hunger and extreme
poverty." The Dean expressed his delight that Secretary General Annan had
chosen to make his last statement before the G8 summit at St Paul's.

The entire event was crowned by a gigantic banner which wrapped the exterior
of the famous dome of Christopher Wren's St Paul's Cathedral. The banner
proclaimed: "MAKE POVERTY HISTORY."

Jim Rosenthal contributed to this article.

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