SEATTLE — It will be a night of music at the FNB Stadium at Johannesburg on December 2, 2018, as celebrities from across the globe come together to celebrate the 100th birthday of Nelson Mandela and his outstanding efforts to alleviate poverty in South Africa. The Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 aims to highlight the importance of fighting for the world’s poor and is an attempt to urge world leaders to arrive at more successful solutions to end extreme poverty.
Many celebrities have stepped forward to participate in the festival and show their support for alleviating poverty in South Africa. Oprah Winfrey is set to deliver the keynote address and encourage the crowd to carry forward the golden legacy of Nelson Mandela. Beyonce and Jay-Z are headlining the concert; other celebrities in the lineup include Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder, Usher, the Nigerian artists Wizkid, Femi Kuti and D’banj and the South African musicians Cassper Nyovest and Sho Madjozi.
Using Nelson Mandela’s Legacy to Shine a Light on Poverty in South Africa
The inspiration for the event is the anti-apartheid icon who changed many lives – Nelson Mandela. He was one of the first leaders to address the issue of extreme poverty in South Africa. The legacy of the Nobel Peace Prize winner continues to remind the world of the humanitarian responsibility to support and uplift people everywhere.
South Africa has been battling the issue of poverty for decades. While there was a slight decline in poverty between 2006 and 2011, it increased considerably in 2015, with 55.5 percent of the country’s population now living below the poverty line. Therefore, organizing an anti-poverty festival in South Africa is of extreme importance.
Festival Host Global Citizen Encourages Individuals to Fight Extreme Poverty
The festival is being organized by Global Citizen, a worldwide anti-poverty movement that aims to end extreme poverty by 2030. It has been organizing events around the world since 2012 to spread awareness about the issue of global poverty and to motivate people to become active agents of social change. The events it organizes not only focus on raising funds but also serve as a means to mobilize people to do their bit in uplifting the poor through advocacy and social work.
Global Citizen is offering the chance to win free tickets to the Mandela 100 concert to those that volunteer for the cause through the Global Citizen website and do something effective to bring about a change in the lives of the poor. They may choose to do anything from conducting awareness campaigns to making provisions for free health check-ups to contacting political officials about global poverty issues.
Global Citizen seeks to raise up to $1 billion through the event to help the world’s poor. Of that, $500 million will be used to transform the lives of 20 million women and girls worldwide. Global Citizen told Rolling Stone, “These investments will be aimed at ending hunger and increasing access to good nutrition, ending neglected tropical diseases, reducing HIV/AIDS transmission rates, ensuring every child receives a quality education, leveling the law by reforming and repealing sexist laws, providing funding for women’s health and family planning and ensuring access to clean water and safe sanitation worldwide.”
The vision of the organization, as described on its website, is to build a volunteering team of “100 million action-taking global citizens” who will fight for the cause and help eradicate extreme poverty. Events such as the Mandela 100 Festival can bring greater awareness to its mission and help achieve these goals.
– Shruthi Nair
Photo: Google