India’s leading global ambassadors comprising A-list actors,
actresses, renowned directors, award-winning authors, dignitaries and esteemed
public figures came together in an unprecedented show of unity on the 15th of
January 2015 to show their support via Twitter and Facebook for the launch of
the historic action/2015 campaign. The campaign, billed as one of the biggest
global outreach initiatives in history to address world-changing issues of
climate change, poverty and inequality, saw a massive outpouring of solidarity
from celebrities such as actor Akshay Kumar, who was the first major celebrity
to tweet his support for the campaign reaching over 7.2 million Twitter
followers and over 14 million users on Facebook. He was joined by compatriots
Sonam Kapoor, Malaika Arora-Khan, Pulkit Samrat, Kiara Advani, Mohit Marwah,
Arfi Lamba author Chetan Bhagat, producers Ashvini Yardi (Grazing Goat
Pictures) and Ritesh Sidhwani (Excel Entertainment), TV personalities Gautam
Rode, sport stars Yuvraj Singh and Vijendra Singh to name some of the growing
list of supporters.
The action/2015 campaign will garner further support on the
15th of January 2015, when an open letter, signed by such renowned activists as
Indian actor Aamir Khan, will be sent to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to
encourage further action by India to address such critical issues as poverty,
climate change and equality. Other major names to sign the open letter include
Queen Rania Al Abdullah, U2 frontman Bono, Hollywood actors Ben Affleck, Matt
Damon, Hugh Jackman, philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, UK-Sudanese
entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim, singer Shakira and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Malala Yousafzai among many others.
They issue a stark warning; that while leaders have a
historic chance in 2015 to make progress on some of the greatest challenges of
our time at two critically important summits, currently too few leaders are
playing the leadership roles needed. They set out their fear that if this does
not change, leaders could be “sleepwalking the world towards one of the
greatest failures of recent history.” India, although a country emerging as a
powerful and revolutionary force on the world stage, still worryingly accounts
for one-third of the world’s poor.
The action/2015 campaign is a growing movement of more than
a thousand organisations in over 120 countries, which is urging political
leaders to honour the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) previously set when
they meet at the global United Nations Summit for the adoption of the post-2015
development agenda in September 2015, and the United Nations Climate Change
Conference, COP21 in December 2015. The campaign was announced by education
activist Malala when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
On the 14th January, action/2015 rolled out in New Delhi
with a congregation of over 200 children, youth and members of CSOs along with
the presence of Honorable Najma Heptullah, Union Minister of Minority Affairs,
Amitabh Behar from Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, Shireen Vakil Miller, Advocacy
Director, Save The Children, Kaveree Bamzai, Editor-at-large, India Today Group
and child representatives like Ayonara Khatun from West Bengal. In New Delhi, on January 15, a group of
fifteen 15-year old teenagers will seek to meet the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs. A group of fifteen
15-year old teens will also be meeting political heads (Governor, Chief
Minister, Ministers) in 15 states on the same day with a set of key requests.
For more information please visit www.action2015.org Please get involved by joining on twitter and facebook. To find out more take a look at the website,
the articles around the world - The Guardian, Financial Times, Independent,
Nigerian Guardian, Euractive In Brussels, Economic Times in India. You can also read and share this blog and watch and share
the launch video.
YouTube: http://youtu.be/o0HjIBDB1QY
Twitter: @action2015
Facebook: www.facebook.com/action2015Global
Hashtag:
#action2015
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