NEW YORK (AOL PR) - As of today, more than 1 million Americans have put their names on the Live 8 List and the ONE Declaration, both online petitions intended to galvanize the online community to "make poverty history." The lists are part of the build-up to the historic Live 8 concerts on July 2; they will be delivered to the G8 Summit in Scotland July 6-8. Among the signers of the Live 8 List are Bono,
George Clooney, Jamie Foxx, Ashley Judd, R.E.M., Salma Hayek, P.
Diddy and Pat Robertson.
The Live 8 concerts have been organized to help billions of people around the world raise their voices as one and encourage the leaders of the eight most powerful nations to make decisions that will help save millions of lives when they meet for the historic G8 Summit.
Visitors to aolmusic.com can access the Live 8 List and add their names to it urging the leaders of the G8 nations to increase aid to poor African countries, cancel debt, and establish trade laws that will help these countries fight poverty and grow economically. In America, people who join the Live 8 List will automatically become supporters of the ONE Campaign, an effort to rally Americans to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty, which is supported by the Live 8 concerts.
"One million sign ups prove that Americans are rising like the tide to sweep away indifference to AIDS and extreme poverty in the poorest, most vulnerable parts of our world," said actor and ONE supporter Ashley Judd.
"The rallying of voices online is a critical step in our efforts to demand action by the leaders of the most powerful nations to stop the suffering of the poor, sick and hungry," said musician Bob Geldof, the force behind Live 8, a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Africa Commission and a spokesperson for DATA.
"One million Americans joining up is a bold statement to the U.S. government and the world: America wants the U.S. to lead this effort for a breakthrough in the fight against poverty in Africa. And thanks to the Live 8 List, the series of global concerts allows people in every nation to tell their leaders: Make poverty history," said Jamie Drummond, Spokesperson for ONE, the American campaign to make poverty history. "Once you have signed up, you will be joined to the local campaign in your country. We need to raise the volume so the eight world leaders hear us at their historic Africa summit."
Live 8 will feature concerts in Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Cornwall, Toronto, South Africa and Tokyo to raise awareness about poverty in Africa and encourage the leaders of the G8 nations to take action against poverty in Africa.
"Live 8 comes at a critical moment in the global fight against poverty, and the Live 8 List will attempt to harness the power of the Internet to activate people around the world," said Jim Bankoff, Executive Vice President of Programming for America Online, Inc.
As the exclusive online broadcaster, America Online will stream six of the Live 8 concerts live from start to finish at aolmusic.com in addition to a live worldwide broadcast of all of the concerts from around the world. AOL will also make the performances available on demand for six weeks following the event.
