Rich World, Poor World


Dining for Masaya

While the “RICH" lord it, the “POOR" go to the soup kitchen

The Leicester Masaya Link Group hosted a vegetarian lunch and film showing on Saturday 18 June 2005 at the Friends Meeting House in Leicester to raise awareness of the MAKE POVERTY HISTORY Campaign and development projects in Leicester’s twin city in Nicaragua.

The day began with a mass signing of a MAKE POVERTY HISTORY Banner.

There was a draw to pick out the “rich" who would be served a three-course meal, and of the 50 or so people attending, only 4 were seated at the "rich table" reflecting the realities of global inequality. The “poor" majority, queued for soup, bread and water and heckled the “rich" as they consumed more than their fair share.

Matt Follett from the Leicester Green Party, addressed the gathering saying:

“One of the depressing consequences of globalisation is how wealth is concentrated in the hand of the few while many live in poverty. We must end the scandal of millions living and dying in poverty".

He emphasised that the MPH campaign was a timely call for us all to put pressure on politicians to focus on trade justice, debt relief and more and better aid.

The lunch was followed by the showing of The World Stopped Watching, a film documenting what has become of Nicaragua and its people now that it is no longer in the media spotlight. This prompted a lively discussion led by Ed Brown, Chair of the LMLG.

Bob Ball, the LMLG volunteer responsible for organising the event commented:

“We were delighted with the scale of the turnout when nearly fifty people gathered to ‘beat the drum' for the Make Poverty History campaign".

"The lunch was ‘tongue-in-cheek' and fun, but the message was serious as it aimed to highlight poverty in the world. We hope that many of the people that came to our Rich World, Poor World event will no doubt head to Scotland on 2nd July. NEXT STOP: G8!" .