In Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Valencia, Pamplona, Sevilla, Valladolid, Cuenca, Logroño, Oviedo, Mérida, Zaragoza and Santiago de Compostela… The Alianza Española contra la Pobreza (*Spanish Alliance against Poverty*) has called for, during the week of October 16-18 in more than 50 cities throughout Spain, demonstrations against the causes of poverty and for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals under the rubric “Rebel against Poverty”.
The objective of these actions is mobilizing the citizenry and demanding that the Government fulfill its commitments in the battle against poverty with concrete measures and not just words.
In particular, the necessity of increasing development assistance and moving toward coherence among the various State policies was recalled; the point is not development aid but that all policies contribute to development, whether such policies relate to trade, migration, finance or any other matter. This year, the number of the world’s hungry has exceeded more than 1 billion.
According to Jorge Serrano, member of the “Por un Mundo Más Justo” (*“For a More Just World”*) party, one of the organizations participating in the marches against poverty, “we are convinced that ending poverty is a political decision. We have protested a development cooperation policy that is “stagnant”, lacks boldness and has no long-term vision. We have demonstrated against an unfair international trade system that impedes the participation of more impoverished nations, preventing their development and condemning more than one billion people to a life of misery. We are now convinced that the citizens’ political participation is the only way to force our governments to take firm decisions in favor of the development of the poorest countries on the planet”.
More information at: STATEMENT OF ALIANZA ESPAÑOLA CONTRA LA POBREZA:
*(Translation provided by Iuslingua LLC)*
