NEW YORK CITY, U.S. - A sea of cars hoots and a multicultural throng patrols the famous avenues amidst a bunch of appealing stores struggling to survive. That is the wild city where it is almost impossible to get rid of a persistent feeling of lateness.
On September 20th the big apple was exercising all reasonable diligence to call the world attention to the eight clear cut time-bound commitments to make this world a better place for everyone. It was a joint initiative by the UN Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), dubbed Stand Up.
The first thought which came up to this reporter’s mind and also to some of the World Summit Youth Award winners is that there should be more people. We naively thought that there would be at least three hundred people.
Not even that. Take a detailed look.
But we should have known that it would not be like that. The efforts to achieve the MDGs had already shown us the best and the worst of the international community.
Broadly speaking, although a very well organized event with inspiring people, its message was much like addressed to the wind while the city was more concerned with shopping and going for leisurely 10-minutes strolls.
So it is really hard to measure to what extent it called some attention.
It all came about in the Lincoln Center Plaza and this reporter got some declarations on some very fundamental topics.
Check part II.
Well done Luan! Why do you think it’s like that? Is everyone perhaps too busy working their asses off?
Hello - I don’t think that it’s because people are too busy. I just think events like this in New York are dificult to pull off. If you don’t have a big name then there isn’t much to draw a crowd. Also a 4 hour event isn’t very exciting. I think NGOs need to thin hard about the events that they do. I was there as well and found it disappointing. I think NGOs need to think about events they organise….
Thanks Iris. Frankly, I really do not know why it’s like that. We had big names down there, but no celebrities. And I firmly believe it is also due to ignorance. Most people do not know about MDGs and the UN Summit was always referred to as ‘some event’ of the UN. Those more informed knew only it was to halving hunger and slash poverty. That is all most people knew about. And most New Yorkers to whom I talked to don’t like the UN nestled in NY. It is always some sort of inconvenience to them. I also tend to agree with Ian that a 4 hour event is not that appealing. I will write more about it today.
Yeah, it seems the perception depends on the perspective.
Since all of the Th!nkers awaited the summit, in our eyes it was a huge event. For the rest of the world (local Kenyans and Tanzanians who didn’t even notice the summit) it remained unnoticed.